← The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Ryen Russillo Podcast
The Dud CFB Weekend, the Indiana Convo, and Ohio State’s Title Chances With Bruce Feldman. Plus, Who Is the NFC Favorite?
01:32:47
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- [00:00]
Ryan Rosillo
Foreign. We're gonna wrap up Week 16 in the NFL, taking a look at the NFC. The Kansas City story, which does not change throughout the season. Does it still make you feel good? A lot of college football. 45 minutes with Bruce Feldman. We'll recap the weekend. We'll recap all the arguments. We'll talk Indiana, talk about the head coach and where I'm at with that. We'll also preview the next round of college football games. And we've got life advice with a weird one in there. I don't know that it's great, but it's definitely different. This episode of the Ryan Rosilla podcast is presented by State Farm. Bring home a win with an affordable price when you bundle home and auto with the personal price plan. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can bundle and save with the personal price plan. Like a good neighborhood, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. This episode is brought to you by Chevy. Great football teams are built by having the right capability in the right positions. It's the same with great trucks like the Chevy Silverado. You start under the hood with four powerful engine choices delivering massive towing capacity. Then you've got available onboard technology that gives you extra peace of mind while towing. Finally, the rugged, purposeful design of the Silverado screams grit and determination just like a winning football team. Visit Chevy.com to learn more. I'm really excited to talk college football with Bruce Feldman because we had a first ever this weekend. First 12 team playoff starts off. It was a dud, even though I was really into it, you know, and I was kind of saying that the entire time about I don't like it being 12 teams. Everybody's heard me say this before, but it doesn't mean that on Friday night when you have that opening shot, South Bend. And here we go, Friday night football, the playoffs. Like, like anybody else, I was into it. So Bruce Feldman joins us now. The athletic, more importantly, FOX Sports. Not to rank Fox Sports ahead of the athletic, but it's just, I think this is good perspective along the way. Let me just start with this statement, then I'll get it to you. I know all the games were bad. I don't think it's fair to look at a one game matchup, whether it be Indiana, whether it be smu. You know, the Clemson game was competitive. But then you have Tennessee just getting work, which I should be embarrassed about. Because I thought they had a chance in that game. It doesn't mean that it's like, okay, well, Indiana didn't deserve it. Now SMU didn't deserve it. And by the time Tennessee placed, like, they didn't deserve it either, it's like, all right, folks, we can't keep doing this. Although I understand that Indiana fans who got beat up for 24 hours then wanted to come back at SEC fans when Tennessee was horrendous at Columbus. So it's all cyclical, it's all political, and it all makes a ton of sense. But I think people are conveniently forgetting that we had 10 years of playoff games that were blowouts as well. So I really. I have my thoughts on Indiana. I have my thoughts on Tennessee, smu. I have thoughts on all of this stuff. But I think to just look at a blowout game and then act as if this, this entire slate, this weekend was a waste of everybody's time, I don't know that that's a fair conclusion.
- [03:09]
Bruce Feldman
I agree. I was with you. I mean, look, both of us are on the West Coast. Both of us grew up in crappy weather in the Northeast. And I was excited when I saw pictures of snowy South Bend and frigid Penn State because that feels like football. You know, it feels like the whole, you know, we grew up on the NFL and you remember. I remember being at Lambo for the Randy Moss Moons Lambo game, You know, and that was like, you know, that was awesome. Frigid, cold football weather. You know, a lot of what we get in the playoff in college football is dome stadiums or love the Rose bowl, but it's obviously perfect weather out by us. So I was excited for that. I actually thought the team that would have the best chance of maybe pulling an upset the first week, and I'm not considering Tennessee. I didn't think that would be an upset one way or the other. Was Indiana, right? Because I, you know, like, we'd seen Notre Dame stub their toe. Notre Dame doesn't have a great passing game. We'd seen them, you know, not just this year, but in past years. I mean, they lost the Marshall they lost to obviously lost the NIU this year. And Signetti went in there and he talked his talk. I mean, look, he's been great for Indiana and been good for college football. I didn't watch that much of game day, but I happened to catch him on the set where he went on this little mini Signetti ish rant where it was like, we don't just beat top 25 teams. We beat the shit out of top 25 teams. And I was sitting there thinking about that and being like, you know, Nebraska wasn't technically ranked when they played him, right? And you know who was ranked when they played him was Ohio State. And Ohio State beat the shit out of Indiana. I should ask if we can curse on this podcast.
- [04:48]
Ryan Rosillo
I should have asked before. We're fine. There's a few guys that don't like it, but you'll be fine.
- [04:52]
Bruce Feldman
Okay. So, yeah, but that's the thing. Like, they went in there and then this. The final score was close, relatively, but it wasn't close at all. It was 20 to 3, you know. You know, into the game, not that far. And I think, unfortunately for Indiana, and look, our friend Lane Kiffin certainly stirred it up on social media by, like, kind of mocking the committee in Indiana by tweeting something out about, like, this is lopsided. And I think, you know, because Indiana, it's not their fault that the two teams who played in the national title game last year, who were on their schedule, Michigan and Washington, were nowhere near, what, as good as they were the year before. It's not. They didn't schedule the games. I mean, they had one opponent in the regular season who was a. Who was a good team, Ohio State, and they. And they lost badly. But almost every other game they played, you know, except for Michigan, they blew everybody out. They won by two touchdowns. So it wasn't like they were sputtering around. And my point to this, and certainly to Lane Kiffin, was you. You lost three games.
- [05:54]
Ryan Rosillo
You.
- [05:54]
Bruce Feldman
Also, one of them was to Kentucky, who didn't beat anybody else. If you want to be an out, if you're an Alabama fan and you're aggrieved about this, you lost three games, and you got smoked by a really mediocre Oklahoma team by three touchdowns in the second to last week of the season. And on top of that, you know, that's a Oklahoma team that didn't beat anybody else in FBS football other than Alabama since September. So it was like they had their chances, multiple chances, and they didn't make the case. And the reality is, when you're going to 12 teams, you're going to have teams with a bunch of flawed resumes.
- [06:30]
Ryan Rosillo
I want to. I want to save some of the Indiana stuff because, like, I could go into the Signetti thing, but I have something for it. And it's also really ironic, too, of, like, Signetti's routine and how much it basically mirrors Lane's routine, especially, like, Tennessee Lane, like, it's. It's basically the Big Ten version of. Of Tennessee Lane, where he just was like, look, I need all of this attention. I'm going to do all this stuff. And, you know, it's unfortunate for Indiana fans because, like, you start going through that history, and they were even putting up the graphics, you're like, oh, they have 711 program losses.
- [07:00]
Bruce Feldman
The losing us. I heard that multiple times. The losing his team in. In college football history.
- [07:04]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. So this was. This was a fun year, but it was also, like, it reminded me. Signetti specifically. Not the kids on the team, but Signetti reminded me a bit of, like, a buddy of yours. You go to college in the Northeast, school does pretty well for himself, and then everybody graduates, and it's been a couple years, and you invite him to go out in the Meatpacking District in New York City, and you're like, look, just so you know, like, your. Your whole routine, junior year, hey, do you want to see a magic trick? Like, that shit's not going to work. So just understand that there's levels to this stuff. So I. I. Let me. Let me hold off, because I. I don't want to get derailed and turn it all into, like, Indiana the first 10 minutes. But I think there was an overriding just reaction. All of it, where it just ends up. Everybody's pointing at everybody else, and you're like, look, all of you teams got smoked for the most part. Tennessee, speaking of cold, I can't believe this. And I know, like, Big Ten fans over the years be like, well, if the SEC didn't get to play in Atlanta and New Orleans and all these spots, it's like, okay, would you think those teams were bad? Tennessee looked cold. They looked physically cold. Receivers are going out, running backs are going out, offensive linemen are going out. And as great as that win was now because everybody's looking at Ohio State being like, that might be the team. Like, it'll be funny if the Michigan loss actually propels them to a national championship. And then, as weird as that rivalry is, like, are Ohio State fans still going to be upset because they lost in Michigan instead of winning a national championship because they rolled in that game? There's also a part of me, I'm going, where are these Jeremiah Smith shots against Michigan now? I guess the coverage is different in Tennessee. Thought that they could survive on an island in that one. But, you know, if there was one part of it where I felt like Tennessee, hey, that D line front the questions about Ohio State's offensive line being exposed at times, like two plays on the first series, I was like, okay, Tennessee is going to disrupt this a little bit. And it's like, nope, that's the only time it's going to feel right. And other than a few Nico scrambles, they. They were completely outclassed in that game.
- [09:01]
Bruce Feldman
And actually, Ryan, the score was probably not even indicative of how much of a blowout it was because you had Jeremiah Smith. There's a pass in the red zone where he looks like he's clearly interfered. And Tennessee player makes a great interception to get his feet down. So they, instead of giving up points in the red zone, they get the ball back. And then there's. And you can, I guess you can do this on a lot of plays, but there's a bad roughing the passer penalty where Ohio State doesn't get an interception in the red zone. Tennessee gets. Gets a little momentum. So one point, it's 21 to 10 when it felt like it should have been like 31 to 3. I mean, and the truth is, like, you're right, they did look. They did look cold. They didn't look really prepared for this game to go like the way it did. Just because I felt like once, once Ohio State started to get rolling, you sat there and looked at. You know, I've had coaches who played Ohio State say this to me, or at least one in particular as a DB coach. I know said, you know, until you actually see Jeremiah Smith on. On the field, you don't realize just how talented he is. You. You realize he's a big receiver who can run, but you don't see two. He's 225 pounds. He's not 215, he's not 205. Like, he's. He is a huge receiver. You have to see him in person to realize just how different he is. You know, like, Ryan Williams is a phenomenal young receiver at Alabama. He's 175. This guy's 50 pounds bigger and probably or 5 inches taller, and he's not quite as fast, but he's faster than almost every other player on the field. So he's a mismatch for everybody. Now, I think what's the Michigan game with Ohio State is interesting for all sorts of reasons. I think the biggest one was Ohio State was determined to go. We can be more physical than them, and they just kept on banging their head against the wall. But the other thing that you talk to people at Ohio State, and I don't think this is an excuse or as much as an explanation. There was a hit early in the game that, you know, Will Howard takes, and it just didn't. From, from there. They didn't think he was just the same guy after that. I don't necessarily think that it's like, oh, this is concussion protocol or what that. But like, I just thought he was just not. Just not the same after that, that day. And if you look at what he has done, and I'm not saying he's going to be a first round talent or anything like that, but I think he's a, he's an underrated quarterback. And if you look at what he's done now in games against ranked opponents, he's completing 79 of his passes against. They played four top 25 opponents, really good teams, because obviously they played Oregon, they played Penn State on the road, they just played Tennessee, which, you know, it's in bad weather, it's cold and frigid, and obviously he's fine with it, you know, but. And he's played really, really well. And I think when they cut it loose and they say, hey, we got better guys on the perimeter than anybody else does, yes, our offensive line is banged up still, but we can take our chances. And I think they exploited Tennessee in ways that Tennessee just did not have answers for them. And Tennessee look like once they got punched in the mouth a few times, they just, they just kind of were like not checked out. They were just kind of lost. And I, I don't know if that's a team that just hadn't been in that kind of element, whether it's the weather or just in a playoff environment. I mean, credit to Josh Hypo, he dragged that program out of the ditch. They were awful for a long time, but this was a different kind of stage for them. I know they played Georgia every year, but this was just different than, I think, out of their, out of their comfort zone. And they were also, look, I mean, they were also missing for most of the game their best player, Dylan Sampson. And he was on the sideline, I guess, with a hamstring injury. He played barely. So I think that they were just out of. Out of sorts. And Ohio State dominated them. And I think that was one where this Ohio State team, if they play like this, they can absolutely win the national title.
- [13:06]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, that's how it feels. And you know, I wonder if that Michigan loss is going to be the thing that leads to them winning a national championship because clearly they were pissed off about a lot of stuff. And I think throughout the broadcast, like, Herb Street's perspective on this is as unique as anyone. He played there. He lived down the street from the stadium. We used to all go visit him whenever they would have a college game day in Columbus, and we'd all go there the night before, hang out, grab food. I mean, he was just an awesome host. And then it got to a point where I think it was, like, untenable for him to live that close to campus, because if he went on TV one year and was like, hey, I don't think this Ohio State team is as good, that fan base can become unhinged. I mean, there's an element of the Ohio State fan base that is as difficult. I'm being nice here. As difficult as anywhere else in the country. I'd put it up there with any other SEC crew of, like, what is up with you guys? It's not everybody. And so for Herb street to understand that experience and then to sell that storyline multiple times during the broadcast with Fowler, where they were getting into it and they were talking about, like, this come to Jesus moment, and he was kind of like, letting the fans have it. And then he even took a shot at first take for suggesting Ryan Day should be fired, which, again, I don't go to first take for my college football. It's not really what they do. But Kirk wanted to make sure he. He made that comment. I thought that was him. Like, I wish I had known that before the game because it felt like this was a boiling with rage program for two weeks, not just because of losing to Michigan, but everything that everybody was saying about Day and who he wasn't and what they needed to do. And it's something that really. Herbstie Herbstreak can speak to with a much more specific experience than anybody else that would be in media.
- [14:51]
Bruce Feldman
Yeah, I mean, you're right. I mean, I don't know, it was probably a dozen years or so ago that he moved to Tennessee and he talked about it. You know, he left the area. And I think because the game was such a blowout, Ryan, there was a big opportunity. There was fill time for him to kind of elaborate on some of this. And he has a unique perspective. He played there. His dad was a coach there, you know, and he. I think because he was at game day and saw, whoa, this is like the biggest, you know, rival fan base infiltrating ours. It's like, what's going on here? I think there was a lot of. It was a complicated dynamic because, you know, you and I both know Ryan Day probably better than we know a lot of other coaches. And I think, by all accounts, you know, he is a, you know, whether he's a, you know, he's a decent guy. And I think. I think his players feel that. And I think that. That because of that, I think they also felt like we might. You know, our Fox crew did a lot of Ohio State games, and you could. You could get a sense when it felt like they were tight. They definitely look tight in, you know, in that Michigan game. And I think I, you know, even Kirk, I think, probably can't exactly put it. Put himself in the shoes of. Of Ryan Day's family as the head coach, of having young kids, of being in the middle of it. You know, I. I think he has a better perspective than the rest of us for it. But I just think, you know, what that. What that life is like for them is because you're right, it is a. It's a unique fan base in this regard. It has all the elements of the sec, except there's nobody else in the. In the conference that is really like you because Alabama has, Auburn has Tennessee has lsu. You can certainly throw Georgia and Florida in there, there, but they're all kind of punching at the same thing. Michigan's different than Ohio State. It's not saying Michigan isn't a great program, but it's different. Oregon is different. There's nobody like Penn State, you know, is not quite like Ohio State. Ohio State is the one school that has not only expects to be great every year, but they've been, you know, except for that, like, year Luke Fickle had to step in after Trestle was forced out. That was about it. You know, and then when the guy who Ryan Day followed and took over for Urban Meyer, you know, everything about Urban has been about beating his chest about seven and. Oh, you know, and I think because of that, you know, that only ratcheted up the whole, you know, Michigan dynamic there, that it's. That it becomes toxic, you know, in the air there. And so I think a lot of what Kirk was saying and look, you know, having been at those the last two games, you know, two years ago, and then this year where it's just. You leave that. Leave the shoe in disbelief that they lost that game. I, you know, I think it's hard to say how that was going to play out, certainly with the fan base and certainly with the Buckeyes, but now that they exercise some demons, I mean, they're a really dangerous team. Remember, they almost beat Georgia now they had C.J. stroud in the playoff game. I think Will Howard's good. I don't think he's great. I think CJ's great. But this is a more talented team on the defensive side of the ball. Now you look at what they've done, you look how they got after people, you know that they're. They're really interesting coming out of this. And I think I was a little surprised how much traction the Kirk comments got. But as you said, like, you know, you throw the first take dynamic into it. It's like a little ESPN on ESPN crime. But as you know, ESPN is such a. So big and has so many hours to fill and there's so many voices in there, like you said. I mean, I don't think anybody goes to, To. To Chris Russo or Stephen A. Smith for, for college football, but they're still thrown out there. And I think they have big. They have a big microphone and that's. It's not like that doesn't get traction.
- [18:43]
Ryan Rosillo
Is Clemson just good and that's a nice win by Texas, or is this Texas thing just kind of alarming still? Because, you know, I love that defense. I thought Clemson fought back in that one. I think Club Nick's been really good. Clearly, you know, the development for some of the skill guys we saw over the course of the year because it felt like Clemson was just down at the playmaker positions. And I wouldn't say this is still like Pete Clemson. We were like, look at all these dudes they have to throw to. But it's better now this year than it's been the previous couple. So you factor that in, you factor in. You are still not looking like he's all the way back from his oblique injury midway through the season. I guess I just felt like, hey, finally Texas cannot get Georgia. And yet I think I should feel better about Texas. But they advance and maybe I'm being too hard on them.
- [19:29]
Bruce Feldman
No, I think it's fair. Look, I thought Cade Klubnick was the most impressive guy in the playoff on a losing team. I thought he kept them in there. This was a Texas pass defense that only gave up four passing touchdowns all season. He got them for three. I thought he played terrific. You're right about the. The receivers. Wesco is. Brian Wesko's a really talented true freshman. And you saw those guys. You saw those guys blossom as the year went on. I certainly. Kate Klubnick did remember Phil Moffa, who's a good running back. He was not. He was banged up. He Barely played. I think the biggest issue why Clemson is no longer Clemson is because their defense has gotten a lot worse over each of the last four years. They are really, really bad run defense. I mean, it used to be four years ago, it was really, really good. You know, they had those, you know, a dominant D line. They're not good at all on that side of it. And they ended up giving up a ton of rushing yards. You could kind of see it coming if you looked at what almost everybody did to Clemson. And, and Trey Wisner has become a really good running back.
- [20:30]
Ryan Rosillo
He.
- [20:31]
Bruce Feldman
He gets a lot of like six and seven yard carries and they just had a lot of busts and gave up big runs. I. I'm with you. I'm not sure. Like, I, I think Texas is a good team. Very good. The part about it that I'm a little skeptical on here is, you know, yours is still very inconsistent. I think the best thing he did in that game the other day was he made really smart decisions audible to the two long runs. You know, he can make some really good throws, but then you see some other stuff where you're like, you know, like. And I think it's not his fault that the recruiting guys on the online world anointed him as like the highest ranked quarterback recruit ever. He's not that. I mean, I think depending on, you know, you and I both have buddies who are in the NFL draft world who are like, yeah, he's probably a third or fourth round talent. That's not what, you know, he was hyped up to be. He could still be good enough to lead them to a national title. But I think, you know, I just have like, probably you. That Georgia game in the, the first one especially. But even the second one where I'm like, man, you know, I don't. I think they're good enough to get there. I don't know if they're good enough to win it unless he, you know, is at his best for four quarters. Because if he's not, I just feel like, you know, they're. There's something else will pop up, you know, I just. Again, I don't. I. Clemson's was the 12th seated team for a reason, and that was the one game that was remotely competitive.
- [22:06]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, the most alarming thing is they're 103rd on touchdown percentage in the red zone at 79%. And you go, okay, well, how does that happen? Well, O line's really good. Okay, what about the running backs? Both the running backs went off against Clemson and Wisner's terrific. Blue is really good. You were really good.
- [22:20]
Bruce Feldman
That should be great.
- [22:21]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, Gunner Helm's an awesome tight end. And you know, sure their number one receiver isn't number four in Columbus. Nobody is by the way, but there's still a bunch of dudes who I really like at receiver over the course of the season. I know Bond didn't play in the Clemson game, but you would just think with Sark and the combination of everything we just laid out, like how are you 103rd in touchdown percentage and this is continuation. I mean again, the A and M game should have been, if I'm being nice, it should have been 28 nothing. And I think that defense in the A and M game was a defense that I didn't necessarily see against Clemson, but maybe they just knew what they could do. You know, 40 plus rushes. These guys can't stop us. And then your defense starts feeling that a little bit. Not the sense of urgency because they just didn't feel like Clemson was going to stop whatsoever. Let's, let's get to the last game then. I kind of have some final thoughts before we look ahead here. If you're going to get a bad Jennings game with smu, you have no chance. And so I don't think Penn State needed to control the line of scrimmage. Like I still think that Penn State, Oregon game, even though it was like, yeah, but Oregon gets the ball back. So like how, how much faith do you have in Penn State of, of getting back to back stops here. But I liked Aller in the game. I love their offensive line domination of an Oregon front. That's pretty good. You know, I, I, I don't know that we would put it in the top five of college football but I mean all of these little things and observations and they just, it's all irrelevant when Jennings is going to be that bad.
- [23:43]
Bruce Feldman
Yeah, I, I, you'd be hard pressed to find a, a considered a really good player play as bad as he did in that game. It was, you know. Yeah, it was like, it was painful to watch at first. He had the G, the play. It's a fourth down conversion and he's going to run for it and then he decides to throw it and so they turn the ball over. Then it's like a couple of horrible interceptions and you're sitting there thinking, okay, we know Preston Stone was the starter of the year, we know he's leaving. But still you got it, you know, like this is not working out, this is getting worse. And it just felt like he was compounding his mistakes. I do think that again, not just. I don't. I'm not saying SMU didn't belong there, but I think the people got a little over their skis, I think, on Jennings, because if you looked at. They didn't play really any very good defenses this year. The two best defenses they played were probably Duke and byu, and he really struggled in those games. Now, I think also what happened here is they played five road games this season, and probably if you packed all the fans that attended those games, whether they're in Charlottesville, Virginia or Louisville or the really smaller venues they played in, they would only had about 140,000 fans in all five games combined. They had like 110 in this one game alone. In this massive structure. And it's frigid, cold. I think those are two elements that SMU and Kevin Jennings had never, had never fathomed was that kind of crowd noise and that kind of cold. And also, Abdul Carter is better than anybody else. He. He had been on the field. And there's probably four other guys who are probably better than anybody else. You know, Louisville has. I don't want to completely knock it. Louisville has some good, you know, D linemen and some talent there, but, you know, it was just a different ask. And I just felt like you had a quarterback who was really rattled and Penn State won. It was almost. And I'm not saying Penn State didn't deserve to win because obviously they did, but I just felt like that was like, oof. That was one. One guy having a horrible night on a big stage.
- [25:53]
Ryan Rosillo
So let's get back to kind of the original thought that we opened here with is that, you know, there's nothing easier than if you're an SEC fan and you watch a Friday night game with Indiana and you're like, hey, they don't belong. I'm like, okay, cool. And then it's like, oh, SMU doesn't belong. And then all of them are pissed off at the SEC because then Tennessee gets smoked. And, you know, we've already covered this, so it all made a lot of sense. I will never defend a team like Indiana with that resume again, ever. And I feel I'm mad at myself for even having them in the top 12 because I just kind of gave up. You know, I didn't have any sympathy for Alabama. I was fine with Alabama not being in. And, you know, you want to sit there and say, oh, Alabama would have given Notre Dame a better job. Okay, fine. But, like, don't Lose the Oklahoma game on top of everything else I don't love. They didn't just lose.
- [26:40]
Bruce Feldman
They got blown off the field, by the way. They got embarrassed.
- [26:43]
Ryan Rosillo
Right, right, right. Ole Miss with the head to head to South Carolina. I understand it a little bit, but the Kentucky loss, and it was awful. Like Jackson Dart had a chance there at the end and he was a disaster on that last series. I think to have a committee of people, right? The whole point of having a committee is to talk these things out. And you should have said, hey, South Carolina got kind of hosed and they just beat the ACC champ and the LSU game. Lenora Sellers goes out, Robbie Ashford's in there, who's been on like four programs, can't throw pass, like, can we talk this out? And maybe. But then it just became the records over and over again. And for Signetti, like the first time, like, good for him. First of all, I'll start with a positive. If you're going to become the head coach of Indiana and you want to start saying Google me and like getting attention and all that stuff, that's kind of the job for a program that's never had any attention and plenty of coaches have done it in the past. And even though it can be annoying, I think we all understand what the game is. And so who is he supposed to apologize for winning games and wanting attention and all that kind of stuff. All right. But then he goes on game day and says that about not just beating the top 25 teams. To your point earlier, we beat the shit out of them. Nebraska wasn't ranked. Okay. And then he had to go back four years to come up with the other time they beat the shit out of a top 25 team when he was at James Madison. They beat Coastal Carolina 47. 7. Coastal Carolina was 23rd in the country. They also were missing Grayson McCall, the quarterback. All right, So, I mean, you know, Google it. We also have Google. So when he said that, I was at home and I'll admit, I was like, I hope they get smashed tonight. Because this is whether it was the Mercer comment about Alabama, you know, which all the Big Ten guys love doing that. Be like, oh, look at, look at who Bama's playing. Well, you know who else Bama played? They went on the road and played Wisconsin. Do you want to talk about year out of conference? And if you want to sit here and brag about your extra Big Ten game because you're playing nine and the SEC is playing eight like you played the bottom half of an 18 team conference and so they would, during the broadcast, have a little Indiana stat up where it's like, hey, number one in points. And look at what they've done here. It's like, it's all, it's all irrelevant. So I don't know if there's an Indiana lesson in there. I mean, the funny thing is, if Penn State had lost to sc, which they could have if Indiana gets destroyed by Oregon in the Big Ten championship game, would the committee have kept Indiana in again because they kept SMU ahead of Clemson after they had lost the ac? Like, the committee was so married to not penalizing teams for the extra game, which I kind of admire. But you also can't be married to any of these rules or any of these processes of trying to sift through all this stuff. And I think we're getting further and further away. Even with 12 teams of watching games and caring about what we see and just going through it and being like, hey, it's just standings and this is what we're going to do. There will never be an SEC team that will be 11, one with the same kind of opponent, strength of schedule as Indiana. It's just not going to. I don't even know if it would happen in the Big 12, to be honest with you. We'll see what happens with a team that has that Indiana profile moving forward. But 11 and 1. I don't know if the Notre Dame game is going to make a different group of people in the room change their mind about this, but this is my point for months that none of them seem to ever be able to decipher the difference between what was their schedule experience and what was another team schedule experience. And I don't have a grade up, but hell, I was at the point going, maybe I should have argued for Miami. Not that my voice matters at all, but I, I know moving forward, like, I don't want, I never want to give in again for a team. And honestly, Signetti just put the frosting on the top of the entire disdain that I had for it with his routine on Saturday and the fact that he coached the game as scared as he did against Ohio State, punting on fourth down, down three scores. And I'm thinking, does he think the committee recedes next week? Like, what is he doing? And so you're going to talk all of that shit and then coach scared against the two biggest opponents all season long. I'm just not going to have a ton of sympathy for you.
- [30:37]
Bruce Feldman
Yeah, I think the couple things there, I thought the, the, the coaching Scared when you punt when he did, because that basically said, hey, we have no chance to actually win this game if we do this. And he was okay with it. I mean, ultimately, you know, that's because he talked so much and talked so big before the game. That was disappointing to see how he handled that. Now, the flip side to. To me on this is there was nobody else that had a good. You know, like, if you. I don't think you can put Clemson. I'm sorry, I don't think you put South Carolina in there when they had got blown out by Ole Miss, who would have the same record. And you got out like, it's. Yeah, it was almost, like, untenable. You have to put somebody in there. You can't put Alabama in there. It's like they have three losses, and honestly, two of them are bad loss. You can have one bad loss, but you can't have, you know, like, for them, they give up 40 points to Vandy Van Dy. 6 and 6. It's a nice story that they're improved, but it's still vanity. Who was six and six. And then to get embarrassed at the end of the year by Oklahoma if they had lost like 24, 23 or 23, 21, I think they're in. But they got embarrassed. And then on the Ole Miss side of it, you know, not only they lose at home, but then after Georgia, where you're feeling good about them, then they lose to Florida, where Jackson Dart throws three picks. Don't turn it over. Don't pee down your leg in a. In another big. You got another chance. And then you squander it. You know, that's the.
- [32:06]
Ryan Rosillo
I think Florida's good, by the way. But, you know.
- [32:08]
Bruce Feldman
Yeah, but still, it's a. It's a seven and five Florida team. It's. It's un. They. All three of their losses were to unranked opponents. All three of them.
- [32:16]
Ryan Rosillo
They were two different teams. I mean, Florida was a different team in the second half of the season. But look, I wasn't pounding the table. I wasn't. I don't have a great option to go, hey, I feel so great about this team. I'm just telling you. And it's not even about the Hoosiers. It's about a team with that profile competing for a national championship. And that was my point before we even had the expansion.
- [32:37]
Bruce Feldman
I do think they were 11 and one in a big 10, you know, in like a power. I don't think the Big Ten is. And I'll say this I don't think the Big Ten is as good or as deep as the sec. I don't think that's like a big revelation. But I, I, but I do think it's better than the Big 12 because I think you still have Ohio State, you still have Oregon. They didn't play Oregon, but they did play Ohio State. And I think when you look at it, the regular season has to count for something. You know, like the people who are going to say, hey, if you played on a neutral field or Vegas says this or the NFL draft guys say.
- [33:14]
Ryan Rosillo
That I don't like all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [33:16]
Bruce Feldman
I just think I'm not used what happened because honestly if that was the case, like a lot of this, like Ole Miss wouldn't have lost to these teams that they lost to. Vandy wouldn't have scored 40 against Alabama, wouldn't have gotten embarrassed by Oklahoma. You know, it's still like what happens on the field has to count for something. And I think what we're talking about here is you're going to get, and this was my point in the column I wrote the other day, now that the field is up to 12 and if it expands to 16, you're going to get teams that are really flawed in there, you know, and you're going to get probably some four loss teams in there. I'm actually surprised and I, if you had told me before the year that a three loss, you know, SEC team would have got left out of the playoff, much less a couple of them, I would have been shocked. But I would never have thought that they would have like the construction of it, like if Ole Miss loses three games but their, their, their third loss isn't at home to a, to a team that went, you know, like if Kentucky was Even, you know, 6 and 6, then I think they probably, but it was just such a bad team they lost to and it was such a bad loss that Alabama had. You know, like, I mean if it's crappy to say it like this, but if, like if, if Ohio State plays Indiana and Indiana was like, looked pretty good for the first half hour of the game and then after that it got away from them. I mean it was like. No, it was the first, first quarter.
- [34:44]
Ryan Rosillo
Was fine, the first quarter, the drive took so long.
- [34:47]
Bruce Feldman
But I don't know still then, I mean they forced into a field goal after that, whatever. I'm just saying if that game was like they lose 31, 17 or whatever and I know the score was not, you know, they had a, like a last you know, gift touchdown late in the game or whatever. But still, I, I mean, are we really doing that where it's like, okay, did they not get embarrassed like that? I mean, they only had one loss. I, I think if Signetti didn't come in with all the bluster that he. You didn't. He did that before. But as you said, I mean, it's a great point about the Grayson McCall thing. I didn't even, you know, because it's so long ago. I didn't even remember, you know, that game. You know, I remember the Nebraska game because it was this year and we were at it.
- [35:30]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, because as soon as he said it, I went, wait, he had to go back four years to come up with the other one to this resume of just, we beat the shit out of all these top 25 teams.
- [35:36]
Bruce Feldman
Unless he's thinking about teams in the FCS when he was in the fcs.
- [35:39]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, you know, I don't know that you should be going to the FCS reservoir for that. Look, all my points, I've. Bertie, I'm sick of saying them. I'm sure some of the audience is sick of hearing them about, well, cool. Like, this is, this is what it's going to be. And I think it should be special to have a chance to play for the national championship. I think you should have to do one thing. Like, I'm asking for one thing I can look at, be like, that's an awesome win. That's a nice win. You know, that's a nice win there, but probably have 16 teams here soon enough. All right, moving forward, as we finish up here, do you have like a big change in how you feel about the next four games based on what we saw this weekend?
- [36:23]
Bruce Feldman
So before the tournament started, I picked, you know, every game that was going to be in the bracket and I had Oregon winning the national title, which was like a flip flop for me because in the preseason I had Ohio State. And even at mid season, after Oregon had beaten Ohio State, I still had Ohio State. But coming out of that, I said, you know what? Who do I have the most confidence in at quarterback? And it's Dylan Gabriel by a long shot, right? And I felt like, and I should still feel this way, despite what Ohio State did and how they look, I still feel like Oregon has been in kind of the sweet spot where Dan Lanning has a good feel for this team. They play, they seem to play fairly loose. Like I said, they have a. They have a quarterback who's played in a ton of big games. And plays well in big games. Like if you want to go back to a year ago and I kind of put that brought this up. Like when he was at Oklahoma, he beat Texas and he ran for like 100 some yards and Texas had a good defense then too. It's not like they didn't. So I just have, I'm going to stick with Dylan Gabriel and be the team that comes out of there. I know that they didn't have Jordan Birch when they played Ohio State the first time, but it was also in Austin the first time. And now maybe, you know, I, I, I'm going to be at the Rose Bowl. I cannot wait. To me, this is, this feels like it should be the national title game. It doesn't mean that the other teams who are involved, you know, whoever wins this is going to be a lock because I think, you know, when George is on, we'll see what they're, what Gunnar Stockton looks like in a, in a big game now because he's, you know, when teams have time to prepare for him, the Georgia backup quarterback who now is going to be the guy. But you know, I don't know. To me it's like that Rose bowl and then, you know, if Notre Dame, I'm, I'm having a hard time buying all the way in on, on Riley Leonard, you know, passing wise. But they do have good running backs. They're really good on defense. And Georgia, except for that Texas first game they played, been, been pretty inconsistent. And so that's the part that's given me a little bit of pause on them, you know.
- [38:29]
Ryan Rosillo
But yeah, give us, come on, man, give us some good Georgia info here. What do I do with this team right now?
- [38:35]
Bruce Feldman
And so I have a, I have somebody really dialed in at Georgia and they keep saying that's why I asked, yeah, we're going to smoke these guys. And I was like, yeah, you know, like if Michael Williams and those guys get after, you know, but, but the thing is, naked after a still fairly inexperienced offensive line who has played very well, I mean, this isn't the opener at Kyle Field anymore for Notre Dame. They have two explosive running backs. They have a good tight end. And I think, you know what, what bodes well for them is they're used to playing like this. You know, this is a style like, you know, like go back to the Georgia Tech game. We saw Georgia when they were, should be rolling. They had all sorts of problems with Haynes King and a running quarterback. You know, if you ask me right now, I think Haynes Kings are actually A really good college quarterback. I think he's kind of a lot like Riley Leonard. And the difference is Notre Dame, I think, has a better defense and Notre Dame has more explosive running backs. Like, if it wasn't picking against Georgia, like right now I'm very tempted to pick Notre Dame just because I have that Georgia game in my head where running quarterback who's a willing runner, who can run and you again, you know, I think you'll see a lot of the same things that Buster Faulkner, the Georgia Tech offensive coordinator, who by the way, spent more time on Kirby Smart staff than probably anybody else who's, who's in this playoff. I think they're going to, they're going to try to snag a couple of things like that and implement them.
- [40:10]
Ryan Rosillo
The biggest win for Indiana in that game was that I don't think they got gashed. Like I thought the USC game, Notre Dame's offensive line, I kind of was like, all right, this is, this is there. Because the Riley Leonard part of it is not something I would put at the same level of some of the other, you know, obviously passing attacks that we see in college football. And look, Notre Dame didn't necessarily need it because they smashed somebody teams this year. But you can look at the total yardage for the Irish in this and say it's 35 or 193. Five and a half a carry. That's pretty good. But you know, 98's on the Jeremiah Love touchdown where they're backed up. So this was not a front that controlled Indiana.
- [40:51]
Bruce Feldman
No, but Indiana did have. Indiana was very well coached on defense. They had the number one run defense in the country.
- [40:57]
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, they did. They had, they had an awesome regular season stat. I'm not being, I'm not being fair. Well, maybe I am being fair, but there's like three guys on that D line you saw throughout the course of the season. You're like, okay, these guys, like look like real players here. The problem was they're. I mean, that's the best. I think I've seen Notre Dame's defensive line all season in that game. So that's part of, like when I start thinking about. I get the skepticism. Yeah, right, right. Going to overwhelm them because Notre Dame didn't really overwhelm Indiana in that part of the game. Even though I know some people, people look at the total stat part of it. But yeah, I think the Stockton part of it is, is the hardest because I think people look back at that Stockton game against Texas and be like, he gave him a real sport.
- [41:40]
Bruce Feldman
Yeah. Yeah, he did.
- [41:42]
Ryan Rosillo
And then they stopped trusting him to throw the football. And then he threw one of the worst picks you would see that weekend, which is to be sort of. I don't know, man. He had three guys in the middle of the field and they threw it all the way to the right. It was like, what. What the hell? He just freaked out. He obviously freaked out. Not used to that situation. And then he has the run where it looks like he gets decapitated and he gets back up. So I, I don't. I'm like, George is really tough for me because I just want to pick him because the D line, O line matchup in this one, that's just not even about Notre Dame's.
- [42:11]
Bruce Feldman
Yeah, I think the thing. And I had. I had a NFL person go through Georgia and the thing he. Early in the year and he said that, you know, front seven guys, they're as good as you get and the O line is big. And, you know, the line was banged up for a while this year, but. But then it gets back to. Receivers are pretty average. DBs, one great safety. DBs are. Are pretty good. They're not great. Linebackers are big. They didn't. This guy did not think they were great. He was like the guys in the trenches. That's the. Wow. But then you take out. And also, you know, this is when Carson Beck was there. It's just. I think the question for me is, is Trevor Atn, who was like in and out most of the year, is. Is. Is he the equal to like, Jeremiah Love? I don't know. I mean, I feel like my, my hesitation at this point is he's not. He's not quite as dynamic and not quite as good. And to me, he's the wild card in this. If he, if he looks like a special skill guy because. Because that's the difference. Like before, they had a complete game changer in Brock Bowers and another high end receiver in lad McConkey. They don't have like anything like that right now. And now you're putting in a quarterback who, you know, I think he probably caught, you know, the other team off guard a little bit when he had to jump in there and he made some plays. And I think he was. They were all amped up to. To pick up for not having back there. Now you have, you know, two weeks for. And I think Al golden. You know, Miami fans may want to vomit at this, but Al Golden's been a really good hire as a defensive coordinator There At Notre Dame. He's done a really good job. I mean, you know, if we do this podcast for another hour, I will talk myself into Notre Dame winning this going away. But I, I, I'm, we're not. Yeah, I know, I know. Thank for the thankfully, not thankfully for no Signetti and thankfully for me not talking to Notre, but like I can see, definitely see a scenario here where and Notre Dame ends up winning this game.
- [44:17]
Ryan Rosillo
You know, we're running through it and I'm thinking about all the different matchups, unit wise and everything. And I'm going like, I love that secondary for Notre Dame. I just love how they battle. I love that they can hold up in single coverage and the distance that they seem to cover.
- [44:32]
Bruce Feldman
Watts is a magnet for the ball. I mean just, and we, we've been.
- [44:35]
Ryan Rosillo
Talking about George's lack of like playmakers and receivers. So you factor in Stockton and the receivers, like how much, how many wins are those guys going to have against Notre Dame in the secondary? But again, maybe coverage won't be the factor if that, that Georgia front is peak disruptive because I'll, it's good. I'll never be able to forget that night in Austin when they just destroyed everything that Texas had planned for. All right, last thought here. Better chance of an upset. Boise State or Arizona State? Arizona State. Texas. Old Big 12 rivalry. So it's good to see that one back in the mix. Give us your, your upset better. You don't have to give us an upset. I'm not forcing you. Like sports.
- [45:10]
Bruce Feldman
Yeah, you, I mean you have, you have two great college running backs here. I just think, man, I wouldn't be surprised if you got Superman out of Genti. You know, they get him the ball different ways. He's a great receiver out of the backfield. Like, you know, Boise has a belief still, even if Coach Pete's not there. I, I do think there's something like it wouldn't shock me if they, they won that game. Arizona State, you know, they're, they're a hot team and I think, you know, I like a big scaboo story coming out this week and I, I mean there's amazing stories about him, like just blow your mind stuff. But you know, I just still think they're going to have a hard time with, with like, I think Texas takes the game over in the second half. It's the genty part of it. Like, I don't know. I, I, it wouldn't shock me if they pulled an upset here just because I think he's really good. They actually have a pretty good D line and I think they can get some pressure, you know. So the, I'll, I'll say Boise State, I don't think they're going to win, but I think they have a legit chance of pulling an upset.
- [46:19]
Ryan Rosillo
It would be nice if we got through a second round of college football playoff games where the lead story isn't. One of these teams didn't deserve to be in the playoff because I think at this point, you know, but if Boise State were to get smashed, if Arizona states get smashed and we could just, we can do it all over again, folks. But look, even though the games weren't close, you knew that when the lines came out for the conference championship games, everything was a field goal. When it came out for the first round of the playoffs, everything was a touchdown or more. So Vegas was telling you, hey, look, this could be a possibility here. But despite all of my complaints and warnings and things I will still not change my mind on. It was was a lot of fun cold setting football Friday night Saturday it was. I know the game sucked, but I was at least for 10 minutes when you thought there was a chance it could be a game. It was a lot of fun. So I still enjoyed it and can't wait to see where the rest of this goes. Thanks man. Appreciate it.
- [47:07]
Bruce Feldman
Always.
- [47:08]
Ryan Rosillo
Pleasure.
- [47:08]
Bruce Feldman
Thanks Ryan.
- [47:12]
Ryan Rosillo
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I mean look, 33 rushing yards. Does it mean he was terrific on the ground? No, but it's actually the most rushing yards he's had in a month. And I've talked about it a few times this season. But just what kind of beating he seems to be taking back there and how many hits. When you look at those total numbers, he's like top of the list for NFL QBs. But this Houston defense has been really good this year. There's a lot of stats to tell you. I mean it's right up there with everybody else. I don't know that we talk about them that way. But on 27 drop backs in the first half from a Homes, there was 12 pressures. Kansas City's on their fourth left tackle of the season. But on the last drive of the game to look to go up two scores and put this one away. Mahomes converts two third downs. Granted, one was a rushing yard. So you say Kansas City converts two third downs and I think this is a nice question. Guess who leads the NFL in third down conversion rate? I'll give you a few minutes to answer that one. So despite Houston's O line issues and the Tank Dell injury, that's obviously devastating because when they're healthy receiver, it's a really nice group. I actually felt good about Houston throughout the game and then after the game because I'm like look, they were competitive against Kansas City. But then you run through the resume of Kansas City at home this year, it's like, so is that the standard competitive at Kansas City? So now you feel good about Them. Well, do you feel good about Baltimore Week one? Well, yeah, of course. I felt good about Baltimore all season long, despite having more losses than some of the other top teams. Does that mean you feel good about Cincinnati? Yeah. Most dangerous below.500 team in the NFL. What about the Saints? It was 16:13 in the second half. Well, I don't. Yeah, I don't. I have to feel good about them, too, based on this Houston standard. What about Tampa? Competitive game. What about Denver? The Raiders? It was a 1917 win for the Chiefs. Well, they always have problems with the Raiders. How about the Chargers? So the point is, if you look at the eight home games that Kansas City's played this year, now they're done because their last two games are on the road. They're all competitive games, which kind of blows my whole Houston feeling good theory out of the water, because that's just how it was. And in Houston's just been kind of strange for me. And I think it's been strange for a lot of us where when you're new and it's exciting and CJ Looks just from the jump as a top pick to be the quarterback answer, which is kind of rare, there's these ups and downs. There's also guys that light it up early on, and then you're like, man, that was kind of misleading. I don't know that any of us said that about C.J. because I still think physically there's just some really special stuff that he does. So I'm sitting there watching a game for three and a half hours, being like, all right, whatever. Houston, losses, Kansas City, it's not that big of a deal. But at least they're out there competing with their own O line issues. And yet you go through the eight games and this is just. This is what it is every time Kansas City plays at home this year, which leads to other Kansas City questions that we would have. Because I keep asking myself, are you going to pick Buffalo in a rematch in the playoffs against Mahomes? Because Buffalo has beaten them in the regular season and going into last year with all the Kansas City offensive questions, like, I picked Buffalo last year. And then every time you pick against Mahomes in the playoffs, which I haven't done often, but last year I did it twice until I finally smartened up in the super bowl, you know, it's. It's leading to this all over again, where I'm already prepping myself for what I'm going to put into whatever pick if those two teams end up facing each other because there's obviously some other AOC teams that could change things up. Let's talk about this KC offense for a second because Bill Barnwell of ESPN put together a really good timeline of who the Chiefs have been offensively because we thought it was bad last year. There's some stuff happening on deep balls this year that makes it even worse. So post Tyreek Hill. Now Hill's been with the Dolphins for three years. The Dolphins in another game this week where I go, will this mean anything? Any outcome whatsoever, beating the Niners. And I'm just kind of like, I don't know. I don't know what to do with them. I don't have much Dolphins for you today. So anyway, Barnwell points out that Mahomes was 10th in QBR of throws traveling 20 plus yards in the air in 2022. All right, so 10th, you're like, whatever. You know, deep throws, that, that makes sense and it's not that big of a deal. He was 27th last season when we started thinking like, what's going on with this team? Well, they're 28th now. Or Mahomes is 28th now. As far as quarterbacks on those throws, he's 11 of 44 for 387 yards, four touchdowns, four interceptions. His deep passes have an 8.8 yards per attempt average. In 2018, those deep throws were 16.4 yards per attempt. All right, 8.8 puts them ahead of only Cooper Rush and DeSean Watson this season, although the Cowboys keep winning. And last year it was the drops. Because I know some of you were thinking like, hey, there's a huge drop yesterday. Well, that's not really the case. Last year it was the case. I think 10% drop rate on those deep passes in the air. This year it's a 2.3% drop rate, which is below the league average on those. So it's the same as last year, if not worse and less of an excuse. But remember when I asked you about the third down conversion? You probably figured it out because the Chiefs lead the NFL and third down conversion rate at 51%. And ultimately, even though aesthetically it doesn't look like a weird used to look like from Mahomes, that might be the only number that really matters. On the NFC side of things, Detroit takes care of Chicago. If Detroit were healthy, I think we'd all look at them as the favorites to win the nfc, and Vegas certainly still does. If you look at the FanDuel sportsbook odds this morning, Detroit's plus 200 to win the NFC Philadelphia's plus 310, Minnesota's plus 550, Green Bay's plus 650. But I feel like it's way more of a toss up with those four teams in the nfc. And the odds can change here depending on how the last week shakes out and how the seating shakes out. And if Detroit ends up retaining that one seed, the buy in the home field advantage. But with their injuries that weren't going to be exposed against the Chicago team, that's just a mess now after the good start, they can't win a football game. Their defense is regressing big time. Detroit gets up early. I have a couple things on Caleb that I'll get to here, but we know the story with the Detroit defensive numbers. What's happened injury wise and I think yesterday when they listed the inactives like IR combination and some of that stuff can be a little different depending on what number you want to look at to prove your point. But I think Detroit started the week going into Sunday with 16 inactives of like projected starters, which I don't even know if that just means that there are other players that at one point were starters replacing the other injured guys and you have some teams of like three guys on that list and Detroit goes into it with 16. So it's, it's not just about Detroit's injuries. It's also the depth of what else is going on in the NFC because Minnesota keeps the division and the one seed alive with a great touchdown drive. Down 24:20 at Seattle. 421 left, there's a play where Darnold gets the face mask which at first it looked way worse. But look, the defensive lineman got his hands in there. The rookie out of Texas Advisors defensive lineman and Then Justin Jefferson 39 or yeah, 39 yard touchdown to kind of not put this one away because Seattle did line up for a 60 yard field goal attempt but they had no choice at 4th and 15. But now Minnesota is 8 and 1 and 1 score games. And the Darnold narrative, and I despise the word narrative because I think we need to update sort of the modern definition of what it means is that narrative kind of becomes something that's probably true that you don't really like that's being said about something you care about. But if you'll allow me to use it here and I really regret even using it in the beginning of the year with Darnold looking terrific in Minnesota putting together all these wins, it's like, well, he hasn't thrown many passes trailing that thing is just done. I think it was at least interesting to bring up because you were wondering if this was sustainable for Minnesota. You wondered if Darnold was actually going to be this guy, which leads to a whole other dynamic with the quarterback question with J.J. mcCarthy, which I think is fascinating and what the market for Darnold is. He's got a great O line in Minnesota. He's got the receiver options, tight end, the whole deal. So would he really want to go somewhere for every last dollar somewhere else? Maybe he would. You know, I wouldn't really blame anybody for doing that, but it could be one of those deals like is 45 million worth more than 35 million to go somewhere else? It's unknown and have to start all over again after getting to this point in your NFL career where everything seems set. And who knows, maybe they just like the idea of JJ McCarthy not costing much and having faith in what they're doing and liking him enough to draft him that maybe that's where that goes. But like Darnold's, he's not going to win the mvp. And I don't always love he needs to be in the conversation because that just means like, oh, you mean the guy nobody's actually going to pick as their mvp, but you feel like it's just nice to mention them. But that's who he is. And with the trailing thing no longer being a concern because look, they were down 196 to Arizona. They come back and win that game. They're tied 27 apiece. Chicago late drive to get the field goal there. I don't know what to do with the 76 game. It's Jacksonville because there's still plenty of time. And that game was just a mess of a game, but it also led a lot of us to go. What is going on with Minnesota? Well, what's going on with them is they're alive. They've got the Detroit rematch. They lost on a final possession, field goal 31, 29. We know that weeks ago. And then once we see the outcome of that game, then I think those odds, whether it's Troy winning the rematch and going two zero and just staying clean in the division, you know, maybe that's what happens. But I think all of these teams are alive and that even speaks to Philadelphia, who I don't put anything in that loss yesterday to Washington, you know, they have a game where Hertz throws four pass attempts. Pickett is in. He's certainly not ready. Washington's gifting them the ball. Five turnovers for the commanders in this one, I actually think in a weird way, if it had just been Pickett and the Eagles get smashed and there aren't the turnovers, it's like an easier loss to digest for the Eagles, but it still doesn't really mean anything because Hertz isn't out there playing. I think it just speaks to Jane Daniels. Game winning drive on that touchdown. You could bring up some concerns about a Philadelphia secondary or not expecting that Philadelphia defense to give up that touchdown in that spot. But Jaden's done it a few times before. It's a nice little reminder of what he's been like as a rookie. And the throw was against the linebacker, which we all love on this podcast, is throws against linebackers that get turned around. So ultimately I don't really like ding Philadelphia for any of that. And they're in that conversation with Detroit, with Minnesota, with Green Bay, with Philadelphia. If you are adamant about one in one of those teams being far superior than everybody else, good for you because I can't get there with it. Finally, Baltimore. If they hadn't beat Pittsburgh yesterday, man, I would have given up. Everybody knows I like Baltimore more than Pittsburgh and they don't beat him. Except yesterday, finally or except, excuse me, two days ago. Baltimore second win against the Steelers in 10 tries. Four of those games were without Lamar up 24 17. Feeling good. Lamar throws his worst interception of the season into triple coverage. They go right to the offensive coordinator, which I want after bad interceptions, I want to see the coordinators in the booth. And it was like a lot of like, what is he doing? Which is weird about a guy who may win mvp. But it feels like Allen has surpassed him in that race. But I'm, I'm watching that game play out, just being like this again because again, I like Baltimore better than Pittsburgh. There's no way if they play each other in the playoffs, I'd be picking Pittsburgh. And yet it felt like Pittsburgh. Here we go again. But you have the fumble by Russell Wilson, which really wasn't. He just got blasted on a great run play where he was just extending the play. Looked like he might have gone into the end zone. He gets worked, so I wouldn't really ding him there too much. And then there's the pick six. But there's something else going on here with Pittsburgh in that. Look, a win yesterday would have clinched again. I keep saying yesterday because I'm lost in all the football. A win this weekend against Baltimore would have clinched the division for him, but they're now both at 10 and 5 Pittsburgh does currently have the tiebreaker over the Ravens because of a better AFC record, 7 and 3 to the 6 and 4 for Baltimore, but really for Pittsburgh. The reason why I'm not too freaked out about any of this is that it's a third straight game without George Pickens and Mike Sando. The athletic we have on all the time points out and he looks at the EPA on offense here. This is the third game in a row for the Steelers with a negative 10 or more EPA on offense. Right. That's the worst stretch for the Steelers since 2003 in the regular season. Why? Because Pickens isn't out there. And when you have that much of a drop off from your number one receiver to whoever you want to name as number two for the Steelers, you can just see it. And you can see the reluctance for Wilson to make the same kind of just deep. He's just not going to say, take the same chances that he will with Pickens because Pickens wins so many balls. All right, Waron stats. Stats to impress people. So Caleb Williams put up some numbers. I thought he was okay. And I think the entire rookie season for Caleb Williams is actually a win. You know, the coach is fired, they changed the coordinator. You know, this, this wasn't ideal. There was a lot of skill at the receiver stuff. The O line hasn't worked out. But overall, like, when this rookie season is done, I, maybe it's because I like them too much and you don't want to hear from me. So it's confirmation bias. But I, I think we need to kind of just step back and go, you know what? Like, there's a lot of rookie seasons have been a lot worse. And when it's all said and done with, with his full rookie resume, I think it's, it's a decent enough season. Still feel good and again, we'll see what happens with the coaching staff. But he has a number here that seems awesome as the headline, but you know my rule with not throwing any interceptions. So it's his ninth straight game for Caleb without a pick, which is A bears record 326 attempts without a pick, the longest in NFL history. For a rookie, that sounds, I'd rather that than, hey, this guy threw 40 picks. But it also tells me that there's some throws that he's leaving out there that whether he's reluctant or he got beat up so much at the beginning of the year, I mean, he's going to end up being what, sacked 60 plus times this season. So I think it's A nice headline. And look, I'm a Caleb fan, so I could be just screaming it from the rooftops, being like, look how good this guy has been. But when you're avoiding interceptions that much, like, there's a positive and there's also maybe an underlying negative that he just doesn't want to pull the trigger on Some of the other throws with that group. We'll see. Final, final thing here, the SVP approval award. Some of you may remember the story and it's always kind of a funny story. There's no, like animosity about it. But they did a survey and some kind of study and it was nice enough that ESPN did that for us because it took money and it took time and resources put into it to try to like, have a real kind of like conservation consumer feedback to SVP and I doing the radio show. And they started with Van Bell. They were like, you're one of the most well liked people at espn, which is deserved and also one of the least surprising things ever. And then they got to me and they were like, oddly, people liked you. Like, okay. They're like, yeah, it was weird. Like, what was what? What is weird about it? They're like, I don't know, you know, you never know with some of these numbers. And it was just. And Scott and I talked about it afterwards. He was like, that must have been fun for you. I was like, yeah, that was sort of weird. Like, I felt like I was doing a good job and, you know, maybe the audience would respond to it. And yet they did. And it was like, yeah, that's weird. They liked you. The approval rating stuff for Caleb Williams and Bryce Young, they're connected because of storyline. Granted, Caleb's a rookie, Bryce is on his second year. I just find it interesting. It seems like there is no neutrality with Caleb Williams. You're either a guy like me who used to be a Bears fan, who thought he would be good, thought he should be the number one pick and still has a ton of faith in him. And if you're not one of those people, it seems like you hate him. I don't know if it's the painted nails, I don't know if it's crying. I don't know if it's the bullshit rumor that really didn't have as much to do with him as it had to do with his representation about hoping to own a team because he caught a ton of stuff. And I'll still hear that, like, brought up every now and then. It's like, yeah, I don't really know that that's something we should get that excited about. But people seem if you don't like him, you hate him. We're on Bryce Young on the other side. I think that's an awesome story because it seems like everyone likes him. It seems like everyone is rooting for him. And he was terrible a week ago. Bounces back in a big way. Some great plays, gets smashed, throws a deep ball, smiling, looking at the defensive player that knocked him on his ass, there is a collective appreciation. Maybe that's not the right word. It's just maybe they're rooting against the Panthers or they're so mad about the way the Panthers handled him. But, I mean, does anybody want to admit that maybe the Panthers sitting him down for a bit and giving him a mental reset because he looks shot to build his confidence back up, Just give him a break. Has kind of worked. And I know last week was ugly, but I mean, think about what the standard was for Bryce Young and what we were hoping for. Just like, hey, can you not look like you'll never play in this league again? And it looks like he could be the starter going into next week. And it feels like everybody's all for it, which I think is great. It's nice when everyone is collectively positive about one thing, but it is a vastly different experience for the other number one pick in Caleb Williams. You want details?
- [66:11]
C
Fine. I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet.
- [66:15]
Ryan Rosillo
What's up?
- [66:17]
D
I have a ridiculous house in the south fork.
- [66:19]
C
I have every toy you can possibly imagine.
- [66:22]
Ryan Rosillo
And best of all, kids, I am liquid.
- [66:25]
C
So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.
- [66:29]
Ryan Rosillo
The email address, even a holiday week. Very excited. The boys have enough time to be able to do this with us. Lifeadvicermail.com or we've got Monday, Christmas, Rudy and Kyle and Worgon, who knows, may check in with him because we're also taping Friday. So that's a schedule this week on Monday and Friday. And I thank my staff for being available to do that. Although maybe, you know, one day we'll all get successful enough and be like, we'll see you guys January 15th. We're doing trimesters this year. All right, let's get to it. Do I need to check in? You guys got anything? Any updates? Anything going on?
- [67:01]
C
I think this is the first time golf might be becoming a problem in my relationship. This was the first time I told her I was golfing today. And there. There was like an eyebrow Raise. Yesterday, it was, like, the 23rd. This was, like, the first one. I was like, wait a second. Was this. Is this not a constructive thing in your eyes for me anymore? So I don't. I don't know. I think I'm just gonna have to, like, put my. My golf cooler in another place. I think once. Once she put two and two together, they're like, you guys are drinking out there. Sometimes I think. I think she was like, well, this isn't the extracurricular I thought it was.
- [67:32]
D
Wait, wait, wait. And I mean this with, like, all due respect and keep your privacy wherever you want to keep it. Is it, like, she's cool with the midday Frolic Room scene, though? Like, that. That's not an issue.
- [67:45]
C
I'll tell you what. Dudes are, like, calling me, like, a. Like, a lost soul. They're like, dude, we haven't seen you in a lot. It's like, yeah, dude, changing my life. Huge golf guy now. So you're just drinking this in a different.
- [67:56]
D
In a different area. You're outside.
- [67:57]
C
It just kind of felt like a cheat code until it was like, oh, wait, this isn't. You don't love this for me as much as you once did. I think she's still happy that I'm, like, getting out there and, you know, spending time outside. But I think. I think it's starting to become what a lot of dudes, significant others think when they go golf. And I think the honeymoon period is almost over. But, you know, get what you can while you can, I guess.
- [68:20]
Ryan Rosillo
So the Frolic room crew is upset about your lack of attendance. They don't like that you're outside drinking.
- [68:26]
C
No, they're. They're smart enough to be like, hey, that guy's doing something for himself. Good job. You'll be back. But, you know, that's the. I was there yesterday to watch the. To watch the Middle Window games, and it was like. Everyone was like, dude, you're here. So, anyway, it's nice. It's nice. I still get, like, a big round.
- [68:43]
Ryan Rosillo
Of applause when I go in there. Huh? Did I save Kyle's life?
- [68:49]
D
Yeah.
- [68:49]
Ryan Rosillo
I was going to say use golf clubs. I don't know. It's a good excuse. We don't know yet. Well, yeah.
- [68:53]
D
Rossello gave me these clubs. Like, honey, I have to use them.
- [68:56]
C
Right? You gotta show respect to the man that he gave.
- [68:58]
Bruce Feldman
Yeah.
- [68:58]
D
Like, that's disrespectful.
- [68:59]
Ryan Rosillo
He's never coming up here ever. But I'm glad I asked. Yeah. Yeah. I. Glad I'm glad I asked. Okay, let's do a simple one here. I love this one. Lunchtime etiquette. Five seven, one seven. Two weeks back into my pickup hoops return. No real comp. Working my way to high school era. Jimmer for debt. Jimmer was throwing them down two hands. I remember just watching him dunk at the combine. I was like, damn. And now we're best friends with the Northeast College national championship talk. I wanted to shout out the Clarkson University women's hockey team. Three times national. Three time national champs.
- [69:33]
C
I know about Clarkson.
- [69:35]
Ryan Rosillo
Hashtag slew sucks.
- [69:38]
C
Oh, it's fine. I didn't go there either. It's okay.
- [69:41]
Ryan Rosillo
I think we're. I don't know. But I always feel like we're such a positive slew pod. Uh, I actually think. Yeah. What?
- [69:48]
D
No, shout out to Clarkson. Like, Quinnipiac, ecac, Great hockey conference. So, you know what's up? I'm not trying to be like SEC guy, but, you know, ECAC guy.
- [69:57]
Ryan Rosillo
It feels a bit like SEC guy. Like, you've got Quinnipiac in there. Wait, do you think it's wrong to have pride in a conference that wins a bunch of national championships with multiple programs?
- [70:08]
C
Oh, no.
- [70:10]
D
That's what the ECAC does. So, no.
- [70:12]
Ryan Rosillo
There you go. All right, with. Here we go. Have a simple one. I wanted the brain trust take on. I work for a small company, less than 60 employees. We have a small kitchen break room. Some people eat there every day. Others at their desks, in their cars, in the parking lot or elsewhere. Off site. Site. I tend to mix it up. What do you think is the most normal option? What would you do if you worked in an office setting? Thanks. Love the pod. I'll let you guys go first because I. I know specifically what my answer is on this.
- [70:42]
C
I think lunch is super malleable. I think you can do it anywhere. In a box, with a fox. Whatever. Like, I think. I think you can have lunch anywhere. Some people are like, I'll have a salad. And some people are like, I'm getting a foot long from Subway. Been both of those guys. Mostly the latter. But, you know, I'm changing. Just like I changed my plane stance on where to sit, I'm changing on what you should be eating in the middle part of the day. But I think it just depends on, like, what. What the culture is like. Jim Cunningham, like, hated. Hated me eating in that little shared office we had together. Just hated it. And he was, like, disgusted. He just didn't think food should cross that threshold. If there was Any odor whatsoever. It's not like I was bringing in a hot tuna sandwich, but still it was just.
- [71:20]
Ryan Rosillo
He.
- [71:21]
C
He didn't like it. So I mean, I would just kind of, I would just eat on this little outside patio. But I think it just matters like what the people around you are doing. But you know, as long as you can enjoy whatever you're having, I think just do what feels right. As long as you don't feel like you're offending anyone.
- [71:36]
D
That's the thing is, you know, don't, don't do the tuna fish, the egg salad scene where you're like, ruin everybody else's day. I personally am a very shy public eater. Like, I don't really like to eat unless I know you. Well, I don't really like this. Yeah. Even we had a little. Well, we had it.
- [71:54]
Ryan Rosillo
We.
- [71:54]
D
Yeah, I mean we had a function Saturday night with some family, you know, some cousins and whatnot. Brought the daughter over, play with the other kids. It was fun. And we got like just a ton of Italian food and like, you know, if I was at home, like I'm taking down the chick, the whole chicken parm platter. But like, I just, I don't know, I just feel weird about like eating a ton of food in front of people. So I feel weird about the act.
- [72:15]
C
It's. You don't want people to be like that guy.
- [72:16]
D
All of the above. It's all of the above. Because then I'm like, oh, what if I get messy? Or like, I don't know, I just, I'm like very self conscious when it comes to eating in public. So I would find a place all by. I like, I love eat by myself.
- [72:27]
C
Find a place?
- [72:28]
D
Yeah, like find a little nook, you know, are you near a park? Can you just. Somewhere where it's like public but also like, no one's going to come and bother you.
- [72:35]
Ryan Rosillo
That's what I would.
- [72:36]
C
Where did you eat? At espn. Would you just go to your car? What would you.
- [72:39]
D
ESPN was weird. No, no, because I had, I actually had a group that was like we. It was weird.
- [72:43]
C
You felt comfortable enough in front of my.
- [72:45]
D
My ESPN schedule was so strange where I wouldn't eat breakfast. I would go in at like 10:30ish, and we would eat lunch at like 11, 11:30. So I'd get in, settle down, like go right to lunch. Because then I worked till like 7 or 8, but we had a good group of guys that would do that. And you know, you had like the dining halls, whatever. So it was kind of like, that was a little bit different, but I don't know, like, it's. I wouldn't. I wouldn't necessarily get.
- [73:05]
C
So you're looking for a safe place when you're thinking about when lunch rolls around, you're looking for a safe space.
- [73:09]
Ryan Rosillo
All right.
- [73:09]
D
Definitely. Definitely.
- [73:11]
C
I couldn't be.
- [73:12]
Ryan Rosillo
More cars. Insane cars. Insane.
- [73:14]
D
It's a little bit of a loaner move. Yep.
- [73:17]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, people might put you on a watch list if you keep doing that.
- [73:21]
C
I think more people do it than you think.
- [73:23]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, it depends on what kind of car you have too. Like, if you're entry level, your job, you don't really care. No, but I mean, if you have a really nice car, do you. Do you want French fry grease all over your dashboard and your steering wheel and everything? I mean, I know there's like a level of car.
- [73:36]
D
Wait, quick aside, quick aside.
- [73:38]
Ryan Rosillo
Kyle, you think I'm not saying anything.
- [73:41]
C
I'm just laughing here.
- [73:42]
D
That just brings me like. You ever watch all those Instagram tick tock videos? These people just like eating chick fil A in their car, doing a taste test. It's like, what are you doing?
- [73:50]
Ryan Rosillo
Like, this is. Cars are stunt cars.
- [73:52]
D
Yeah. There's just out for us that. Yeah, that's a rental 100.
- [73:56]
Ryan Rosillo
It's like the private jet tube that you can go hang out in in Los Angeles. Oh, my God. Yeah. Tulum. So excited. Anyway, wait, so you're. Well, look, obviously Kyle's a car eater, but do you think you'll grow out of that?
- [74:10]
C
Yeah, I think just like anything else. I think so.
- [74:14]
Ryan Rosillo
I don't know. I just. I don't want to eat in my car, man. I don't know.
- [74:16]
C
Yeah, I mean, if. If time doesn't permit, you know, it's not like I would leave. Wasn't sitting at models in my car, you know, eating in my car. But if time. Time permits. And it's like, God, I got to do something. I'm gonna be booked for the next five hours. We just pick up something on the way. Yeah, I'll do it and I'll eat it really fast in the parking lot and then feel gross so that I don't have to eat and drive. Listen, I got stuff I'm working on just like anyone else, but all those.
- [74:38]
D
Like, college young adult jobs. Like, I remember when I was at Sports Authority, I would just, like, go to Wendy's for my lunch break for a half an hour every single time, sit by myself, get the five dollar meal. You know, you get a sandwich, fry and A drink and you're there for half an hour. Just me and my. Because I don't want to talk to anybody. I'm talking. I'm trying to sell people protection plans on basketball hoops I don't even believe in. So like why I don't want to talk to anybody else while I'm eating lunch.
- [75:01]
C
Those goddamn plans, man.
- [75:03]
Ryan Rosillo
Crazy. Kyle, did you believe in the plans?
- [75:05]
C
No way, man. No way.
- [75:07]
Ryan Rosillo
Van believed.
- [75:08]
C
I've almost felt bad doing that. I think it was. I've probably been talked to. Like, man, you got to push the plan. I just try to put a hoop up.
- [75:15]
Ryan Rosillo
I'll tell you what, this basketball doesn't work in two months. Guess who's coming back? Plan or no plan? I look, I think the desk thing, it's probably the most efficient. But I think, you know, I've talked about how my high school was really weird because I lived on an island. And if you played sports, you left school early so that you could make an early boat, get to the mainland in time, play early back to back games, JV varsity and then make it back for the last boat. Like the whole thing was based on making it to the last boat because the high school school budget redundant, didn't want to have to pay for like dudes staying at hotels all the time and missing the last boat and then coming back to the main or coming back to the island in the morning and then going back and changing the whole thing. Disruptive. So because if you played, especially if you played three sports and if the classes were the same structure the entire time, you would just miss your afternoon classes every time there was a game. Wow. So what they did was they did this very. And it was great. If you had like ADD or anything, they would change. You would have cycles and every few weeks the cycles would change. So your first class would be your last class and they would reverse it and they'd have all these four different cycles. The point is, is that at a very young age, my teenage years, some of my formative years, although that was sort of pre formative years, like the pre workout of formative, I loved that it was being changed all the time. I like that disruption because it kept me kind of thinking about the day instead of becoming redundant. And so to sit at your desk, I think you need to break it up. So if it is a car, I mean if you are lucky enough to be off site, like apparently Ceruti was at a minimum wage job where they just let the guy go to Wendy's or maybe they Were so psyched with a minimum wage wage job that he showed up the next day all the time that they were like, take your time. Eat as many nuggets as he's got to, brother. The only time I've really had anything that resembles a corporate job was the minor league baseball thing. And Even though the ESPN radio show was 9 to 5, the eating part of it was weird because I would eat in the morning, eat my office, and then usually it was always like a rush to get chicken and rice, and then it'd be in the hallway and you'd be smashing it during commercial break just for the calories, which then could be dangerous if you took a couple bites right before you come back on the air, which all of us as hosts did all of the time. Crack the mic, realizing you haven't even swallowed all the food yet. But when I worked for the baseball team, you know, those were really long hours during the season. And so lunch became really important. They let us go and get food off of site because there was nowhere else to eat. But then it was kind of understood that you would come back and eat it at your place and, you know, desk was the move for a while. And then the shift started to be from 8am until like 10pm 10 days in a row for the homestands. I was so depressed towards the end, I went into the third clubhouse and would sit in an empty locker, in an empty baseball locker and sit there with Baseball America and read as I ate my chicken chopped up on top of a salad. I would fucking disappear for 45 minutes because I needed those 45 minutes and that salad and Baseball America for my own sanity. Because I was like, so I'm making what, a week? Making 200 bucks a week. And I worked like 89 hours this week. So at that point, I had made a. There was an agreement that I had made with myself where I was like. Because there was another time I would go in the break room and if then I went in the break room, then the manager would be like, oh, taking a break again. Like he was just going to ride you. No matter what you did every single time, you couldn't make the right move. And it never started with all those remind somebody else Seruti. And I know every entrance into the room was, I'm just gonna give you about something. And you're like, cool, man. Can I finish my salad now? So towards the end, the last couple months, I was in a pretty dark place. And there was the home clubhouse, the visitors clubhouse, and the magical third clubhouse. And I used to take my salad in baseball America and read about Cavelli Crisp and just park it in there for 45 minutes, and I didn't give a if no one knew where I was. Maybe the most defined I've ever been as an employee. All right, that checks out. Yeah, and it's stunk in there, too.
- [79:14]
C
So the answer to this guy is just follow your heart.
- [79:17]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, we didn't even really answer that. We just talked about it for 10 minutes just to bring it back. Also took me an hour and a half to realize that my camera was wrong. So that's good.
- [79:26]
C
I think it looks good like that Providence shirt.
- [79:28]
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, yeah. No, we're big Rosillo family. A lot of Providence ties. Okay.
- [79:33]
D
Didn't have a Coco Crisp reference in this pod, but happy it's there.
- [79:35]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, it used to be Cavelli Crisp back when I was around. Yeah. When he was coming up easternly. But I think that's. I think that's a good one. Ooh, we got a PJ invite here that somebody sent me, but we're not going to read that one. Let's see. I think we read all of those.
- [79:54]
Bruce Feldman
Gosh.
- [79:56]
Ryan Rosillo
I think we talked about Indiana enough today. I'm not going to read any college football ones. All right. Blind one, 35. 510, 160. No gym stats, basketball, comp. 2025 Ty Lawson. 2025 Ty Lawson. I kind of like that. Current claim to fame is bicycling from Kansas city to Washington, D.C. this past summer.
- [80:17]
C
Dude, congrats, dude. That's a commitment.
- [80:19]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. Wow.
- [80:20]
Bruce Feldman
Yeah.
- [80:20]
C
Hey, probably have an awesome bike seat.
- [80:22]
Ryan Rosillo
If you're going to do that.
- [80:23]
C
What kind of bike seat would you need to be like, I'm just going to be on the road for weeks or days, however long that takes. I would need, like, a couch bike. I feel like sidecar.
- [80:34]
D
A motorbike.
- [80:36]
Ryan Rosillo
Could you weigh 230 and do that?
- [80:39]
D
Yeah. Leg power.
- [80:40]
Ryan Rosillo
I feel like that's, you know, leg power.
- [80:42]
D
Yeah.
- [80:43]
Ryan Rosillo
Hey, look, you mentally to be able to do something like that. We're not. We got nothing to say except praise, brother. All right. I ran away from my home to winner O. I thought I was like, how old is this guy Been ran away from home. Just wanted to ask you guys. Ran away from my home to winter in Tucson, Arizona, under the guise of being an anthropologist. The old Pueblo is muy bueno. Muy calientat. What? I don't. I already sort of. Well, I guess we have to finish it at this point.
- [81:20]
C
You should Squeeze some more emails at lunch today?
- [81:23]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah, no shit. During my research at a local watering hole, I was watching a Thursday night football game, was being antisocial by writing a postcard to my grandma. A waitress came up with a wry smile and said, someone on that patio would like to get you a green tea shot. As a high functioning idiot, my response was. Is there alcohol in that, Kyle? Is there?
- [81:42]
C
There is.
- [81:43]
Ryan Rosillo
Okay. You wouldn't taste it.
- [81:44]
D
Wouldn't have done that.
- [81:45]
C
You wouldn't taste it though.
- [81:46]
Ryan Rosillo
So it's a smooth one. Nice. Kind of like a woo woo in the 90s. Of course, I accepted the drink when the bartender made it. Even she seemed a tad giddy. Delivering the cocktail, not down the shot. Immediately, I looked around the bar for anyone making more eye contact than normal, or even a group taking shots themselves. Nobody stood out. Nobody claimed responsibility for their good deed. Once I finally started sipping on the gift, the questions kept piling up in my head. Who sent the shot? Was it a girl or a guy? Was it out of the simple kindness of their heart? Or was it a pity shot for the loner writing snail mail asking friends who have been bartenders and other bartenders during other research trips? No one has a good answer. I thought the shot itself was particularly ambiguous. Seems girly on its face, but it's made with Irish whiskey. So, gents, who sent the shot? And please do tell about the last time you sent a drink to a stranger. All right, he's got more details here. Wearing a lavender purple long sleeve shirt. I think I look good while wearing it. This email's so crazy. I actually like it.
- [82:47]
D
Now you're asking us. We aren't there.
- [82:50]
Ryan Rosillo
Who sent us the shot? Right? Right. He wants. There's still more facts. Don't worry. The bar was Gentle Ben's Brewing next to the University of Arizona campus, but had a good mix of all ages that night. I was not in the club upstairs. There was a Santa's Sleigh bar crawl going on that night where the college guy was trying to get to a dozen bars over the weekend. The T shirts they were wearing were the ticket and had the bars listed on the back. Recipe for a green tea shot. Equal parts Irish whiskey, peach schnapps, sour mix, a splash of citrus soda. The sour mix is going to just ruin the taste of any alcohol, by the way. Right? I mean, especially talking gun sour. Come on. The white tea shot uses vodka. This will be added to my booze rotation. Also, I am not an anthropologist. Mahalo for your time. One of the weirder emails.
- [83:35]
D
No green tea and a green tea shot. Okay.
- [83:37]
C
No, same thing with a woman.
- [83:39]
Ryan Rosillo
We're supposed to tell this guy who sent it?
- [83:41]
C
I don't know. Well, in my experience, it's been women that ordered green tea shots, but really, the only time somebody's bought me green tea shots, it's been a dude. So this is a. This is a real conundrum. So I gotta say, how did you. Like, she just vaguely pointed to the patio. She's like, someone on the patio, this mystery person. So it makes me think there's like no ulterior motive for that person to want you like, no motive for the person to want you to know who it was. So I don't think it was someone trying to hit on you. I think it might be a girl playing a joke. I think that might. I just saw this thing on the Internet. The Internet on. I think Instagram about these girls said a group of guys, like something that looked like tequila shots, but it was water and they laughed. So maybe.
- [84:22]
Ryan Rosillo
Did they.
- [84:22]
C
That was a joke they made.
- [84:23]
Ryan Rosillo
So it's like they laughed and laughed.
- [84:25]
C
They laughed and laughed. So it's like, maybe that's what it is. Maybe it was like a group of college girls, like, let's send that guy a green tee shot. But they didn't actually want to follow up with you. They didn't want you to be like.
- [84:34]
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, hey, it wasn't college girls. College girls are too into their own deal. Now, granted, you know, some colleges are different. You go to the Walrus in your 30s, you're not. Not an outcast. There's other places where, dude, if a guy who's 26 started talking to our college crew, be like, what is wrong with this guy? Like, hey, grandpa, beat it. Right. So it also depends geographically where you're at. I think Arizona has no rules. That's been established. But I still don't think it would be college girls sending a dude a green tee shot that was there by himself. Maybe you're a really good looking guy. But you also said you were 35 in a lavender shirt. So I just don't see the college crowd kicking in. I think it was probably a bartender and you just didn't realize it.
- [85:14]
C
But he said somebody on the patio. Like, why would.
- [85:16]
D
Why would he just. Maybe that was just a disguise of like, hey, you kind of look.
- [85:20]
C
What a weird disguise though, man. Why would you just be like, hey, I got you that one. And then maybe that works its way into your tip. Like, oh, that guy's not like why would you, why would you do this whole goose chase thing especially you're going to put this image in the guy's heads, like, who wants me to have this? Is there someone out there that likes me? Like, that just seems like really up if it was a bartender. I don't know.
- [85:37]
Ryan Rosillo
I also think there's an age where you probably just go, no.
- [85:40]
C
You would say, no, I know that for a fact. No, thanks.
- [85:45]
Ryan Rosillo
Well, it could be an Indiana fan. They're like, hey, put, put something in this and then send it to that dickhead who's by himself.
- [85:52]
D
A quick Google of I just. Who drinks green tea shots. The AI Google machine says millennials and older men. So there you go.
- [86:02]
Ryan Rosillo
He's not a millennial.
- [86:03]
C
He's not buying me green tea shots and older man.
- [86:05]
Ryan Rosillo
He might just be. Does this whole anthropology thing makes me think he has a little. Maybe he was just good looking and charming and they were like, he's by himself and let's do this. And he's writing out stuff kind of interesting with a pen. Yeah. I mean, granted, there was a guy like kept a journal at one of the bars I worked at. Like, that's. Yeah. But it was also like his move. And he was like, get the out of here with your journal. There was also another guy who did like these mazes, used to draw mazes. And it's like, I don't know, just ask somebody how they're doing. You know?
- [86:37]
C
That's pretty cool. That's interesting.
- [86:39]
Ryan Rosillo
Oh, really? Yeah.
- [86:40]
D
But I don't really buy people very often.
- [86:43]
Ryan Rosillo
Yeah. When's the last time you bought a girl a drink that wasn't your wife?
- [86:46]
D
Well, the last time I bought anyone a drink was when my buddy hit. It was this last summer. My buddy hit somebody with a golf ball in the group ahead of us and he's kind of like, hey, we kind of owe them. So we all just chipped in and bought drinks for the guy or the group. But the last time I bought a girl a drink that wasn't my wife. Oh, man. 2013, 2012. I don't know. A long time ago. I don't, don't remember.
- [87:10]
C
Dark room for me. I think in college I was just too poor to. I'm like, that's not how I'm going to win. I'm not going to win by buying drinks for girls. I'll find another route. And that's just kind of how that just changed my game a little bit. And I think in la, I was like, all right, you got to do something. You gotta have to be a drink guy. You gotta. You gotta show that you make some money out here even though you don't. So I really had a very short window of, like, actively, like, using that as a move. So, yeah, college. It was just not an option.
- [87:36]
Ryan Rosillo
Fair. Totally fair. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I get stuck with tabs all the time now. Way too many. All right, that'll do it for the pod today. Thanks to Wargon, thanks to Kyle, thanks to Ceruti. Merry Christmas, everybody. We'll be back on Friday. Check out the YouTube page, even though we didn't put in anything new on it, but some of this will be on there and you can see the awkward camera angle. I rocked for the first hour. Plus the pod. And of course, as always, subscribe to the podcast Ringer. Spotify must be 21 and older president. Select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18/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 gamblinghelp linema.org or call 800-327-5050. For 24. 7 support Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text HOPE NY in New York.