Big Cat Pitches Ryen Barstool Stunt Ideas, a CFB Playoff Team Draft & the Most Impressive NFL Team Résumés

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Ryen Russillo Show

Episode: Big Cat Pitches Ryen Barstool Stunt Ideas, a CFB Playoff Team Draft & the Most Impressive NFL Team Résumés
Date: November 20, 2025
Host: Ryen Russillo
Guests: Big Cat (Barstool Sports), Kyle Ceruti, Max

---

Episode Overview

In this lively Barstool debut, Ryen Russillo welcomes his now-official coworker Big Cat for a wide-ranging episode. They riff on adjusting to Barstool, the quirks of sports media critics, Barstool-style stunts and events, deep-dive into College Football Playoff chaos, draft the likeliest national champions, and break down which current NFL teams actually have the best résumés. Signature sidebars, playful debates, and the group chat's unfiltered humor fill a jam-packed show.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Transition to Barstool, Audience Reaction, and Brand Fit

• Russillo reflects on joining Barstool, noting that while "the show's the exact same show" ([03:45]), some vocal people insist things have changed:
  • "I think there's a lot of simple people that think they need to be heard all the fucking time." – Ryen Russillo [04:10]
• Big Cat offers a dose of sports media therapy: ignore the vocal minority, embrace your main audience ([05:20]):
  • "You have hundreds of thousands of people that listen to every single show and there's, I don't know, hundred, two hundred people complaining online... If you can just let go of that, it's most freeing thing in the world." – Big Cat [05:24]

Barstool Stunt & Event Ideas

• Big Cat proposes Russillo participate in the annual Barstool combine ("bench press, little run" – [06:17]). Russillo is skeptical due to age but Dave Portnoy told him he didn’t have to do video arguments or be “in the everyday mix." ([06:38], [07:29])
• Running joke: If Russillo skips the combine, Kyle could fill in as the “physical presence” ([08:41]).
• Extended riff about dumb office competitions escalating into deadly serious battles, bench press standards, and athletic “manhood” ([09:18]):
  • "If you can't do one rep of 135, you can't say anything to anyone." – Russillo [11:10]
  • “If you can’t run a six minute mile, you’re a pussy." – Big Cat [11:21]
• More office stunts pitched, like a soccer tournament ([09:58]).

2. College Football Playoff Rankings & Chaos Scenarios

Miami’s Place in the Rankings

• Big Cat and Russillo critique the playoff committee’s odd handling of Miami: their ranking seems like a correction for earlier errors ([15:08]).
• Neither guest feels big outrage: “The doomsday scenarios are what happens if USC beats Oregon this weekend..." – Big Cat [15:53]

Potential Playoff Chaos

• What if multiple Big Ten teams end up with two losses or fewer? Is Oregon in/out? Could the Big Ten get three teams in? Russillo and Big Cat hash out permutations ([16:26–17:31]).

Resume Talk, Eye Tests, and the Rankings Game

• Russillo questions pure “ranked wins” logic, noting that the difference between teams ranked 16–35 is often negligible ([17:31]).
  • “If you really want to pick [Oregon] apart and then look at their offense against the better teams…” – Russillo [17:31]
• Big Cat applauds Oregon for “out-Iowa’ing Iowa” in a tough win, noting the limits of box score/stat rankings ([19:18]).
• Georgia’s in an ideal spot, potentially able to skip the SEC title game and still earn a bye ([20:37]).
• Both are annoyed with endless “ACC scenarios” and especially the neverending Duke playoff hypotheticals ([22:52], [23:01]).
  • "Every one of these ACC scenarios has Duke somehow becoming a really good team in the last three games of the season. I’m done with Duke." – Big Cat [23:01]

Group of Five & JMU Angle

• Big Cat roots for James Madison (shoutout PFT), but notes it’s a weak year for Group of Five contenders ([24:13]):
  • "This year is going to be tough for a group of five team to stay within three scores..." – Big Cat [24:45]

Best SEC/Big Ten Hopes

• Neither host “falls in love” with this year’s SEC teams, except maybe for Georgia. Oklahoma gets some praise, A&M’s “game-speed” noted, but quarterback questions linger. Ohio State gets ultimate respect:
  • "It’s okay to just say Ohio State’s better than everyone and probably gonna win the national title..." – Big Cat [26:27]

3. College Football Playoff National Title Draft (41:04–46:21)

• Format: Each drafts 8 teams most likely to win the college football national championship.
• Draft Highlights (timestamps approximate):
  • Big Cat 1st pick: Ohio State [41:04]
  • Russillo 1st pick: Georgia [41:06]
  • Other early picks: Indiana, Texas Tech, Notre Dame, Oregon, Alabama, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Texas, USC, BYU, Miami
• Notable banter: The draft reveals conference biases (three Big Ten teams vs. three SEC teams). They joke about the meaning of “foregone conclusions” as a band name ([43:07]).

Draft Stakes:

• If Big Cat wins, Russillo competes in the Barstool combine. If he loses, Big Cat must watch every Charlotte Hornets game for a month & deliver game notes ([39:08]).

4. NFL “Résumés” Debate: Who Would Make a College-Style Playoff? (46:21–54:08)

• The hosts apply college playoff logic (best wins, fewest bad losses) to the NFL.
• Big Cat’s Top Four:
  1. Broncos: "They have a road win against the Eagles...do not have any bad losses." ([48:18])
  2. Rams: "Losses are to Niners and Eagles." ([49:11])
  3. Eagles
  4. Colts (by process of elimination)
• Russillo’s Top Four:
  1. Eagles
  2. Rams
  3. Indy
  4. Seattle (“#1 in DVOA” – [51:22])
• Debate Focus: Are “big wins” more important than point differential or other analytics?
  • Big Cat: "Winning at the Eagles is the most impressive win maybe on the season." ([49:07])
  • Russillo: "Number one in DVOA" is his case for Seattle, suggesting advanced stats matter.
• Sidebar: Bears and Patriots have weak schedules, making them “out” despite records.

5. NFL: The “Eagles” Discourse and Jalen Hurts’ Polarizing Persona (54:08–59:14)

• Russillo admits fatigue with watching the Eagles despite their excellence, finding some of the team’s media narratives grating:
  • "I get real sick of watching this team. And that’s probably a little bit of the tush push.” ([54:33])
  • On Hurts: “Jalen Hurts might be unfriendly Russell Wilson.” ([55:52])
• Big Cat: “We do a game on PMT on Fridays: Fortune cookie or Jalen Hurts quote.” ([56:07])
• Max (Eagles fan) pushes back, defending Hurts and the team's GM decisions: "You can't say anything about the defense. Defense is incredible...Work to make your team get better..." ([58:33–59:02])

---

Memorable Quotes & Lively Exchanges

• On Bench Press Standards:
  "If you can't do one rep of 135, you can't say anything to anyone." – Russillo [11:10]

• On Media Critics:
  "There's a lot of simple people that think they need to be heard all the fucking time." – Russillo [04:10]

• On College Football Playoff Debates:
  "Every one of these ACC scenarios has Duke somehow becoming a really good team..." – Big Cat [23:01]

• On the Subjectivity of Rankings:
  "No one's ever allowed to just say, hey, you know what, I think this team's just better than that team." – Russillo [21:41]

• On NFL Résumé Arguments:
  "Winning at the Eagles is the most impressive win maybe on the season." – Big Cat [49:07]

• On Jalen Hurts:
  "Jalen Hurts has some early onset Russell Wilson." – Big Cat [55:37]

---

Notable Segments & Timestamps

• Adjusting to Barstool, media critics: [03:00–06:00]
• Barstool Combine & Stunt Proposals: [06:17–12:17]
• College Football Playoff rankings/controversies: [15:01–28:00]
• Coaching carousel (LSU, Lane Kiffin, Gruden, Fickell): [31:06–37:47]
• Title Draft and Stakes: [38:24–46:21]
• NFL Résumés College-Style Playoff Argument: [46:21–54:08]
• Jalen Hurts/Eagles Persona Discussion: [54:08–59:14]
• Life Advice Segment: [60:42–70:00]
  • Dream job vs. financial reality with a family (entry-level AD job vs. lucrative in-house counsel position).

---

Tone & Style

The conversation is loose, comedic, and filled with playful barbs and digressions, but there’s also serious analysis on sports formats, fairness in competition, and the business behind athletic success. Both hosts and guests keep conversations real, avoid fake-rage or hot takes, and expose the ways that sports media sausage is made—offering both entertainment and substance.

---

Conclusion

This episode serves as both a victory lap and a comfort blanket for listeners: old bits, new Barstool synergy, classic sports arguments, and the right amount of sports-nerd seriousness. Whether you care about bench pressing, college football chaos, NFL rankings, or how group chats spark office events, you’ll find something to spark a laugh or a debate.

---

For Reference:

• Barstool Combine & stunts: [06:17–12:17]
• CFB Playoff arguments: [15:01–28:00]
• NFL Résumé debate: [46:21–54:08]
• Jalen Hurts/Eagles persona: [54:08–59:14]
• Life Advice: [60:42–70:00]

---

Note:
Advertisements, sponsor reads, and outros have been omitted in this summary.

Transcript

[Ryan Rosillo]

Hey barstool listeners. You can find every episode of the Ryan Rosillo show on Apple podcasts, Spotify or YouTube Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[Big Cat]

It's holiday season and if you're a.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Real fan, you already know where to go.

[Big Cat]

Lids, the new 47 brand NFL collection.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Just dropped and it's all heat soft tees, clean logos and those vintage inspired caps that make you look like you've been repping since day one. Get all caps, all tees, all holiday only at Lids. Whether you're buying for your crew or.

[Big Cat]

Just stacking your own lineup, Lids has every team covered.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Literally. Say it loud, gift it louder. Holiday starts at Lids, so hit your.

[Big Cat]

Local store, grab the latest from 47.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Brand NFL and show your team pride the right way. Gift without a filter. This holiday season only at Lids. The Ryan Rosillo show presented by DraftKings. On today's show, we go deep with Big Cap. We're going to talk some college balls. I think there's things that we're pretty aligned on. Then we're going to draft eight teams to win a national championship. We go 16 deep. It was a bit of a struggle. And speaking of playoff format, we go back to the four team playoff format with the NFL where we had a difference of opinion on who the one seed would be based on resume so far this season. And we've got life advice. One touchdown can change everything. The crowd, the momentum, the game itself. It never gets old. Feel that same rush with DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL, where every touchdown could bring you closer to cash. Again with DraftKings sportsbook, all the actions in your hands. First touchdown, anytime, TD, live bets, every play, every snap, every game matters. When there's something on the line, every drive feels bigger, every moment more intense. And every trip to the end zone could mean a win for you. Here's the best part. New customers bet just $5 and if your bet wins, you get $200 in bonus bets instantly. With when your team hits the end zone, you could hit the payout. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app and use the code Ryan. That's R Y E N. Ryan. Bet five bucks and get $200 in bonus bets. If your bet wins. In partnership with DraftKings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER in New York. Call 877-8-HOPENY or text hopeny467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsibly on behalf of Boot Hill Casino. Pass through of per wager. Tax may apply in Illinois 21 and over. Age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. Bet must win to receive bonus bets which expire in seven days. Minimum odds required for additional terms and responsible gaming resources. See DKNG Co Audio. Limited time offer. You know him from his weekly hits on Waddle and Sylvie. Big Cat joins us now. A colleague. Well, I guess always a colleague. Now a coworker.

[Big Cat]

Coworker. Yeah, it's. It's a little different when Serutti hits me up. It's like, yeah, of course I gotta.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Come on.

[Big Cat]

It's like we. We work together.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Crazy, huh?

[Big Cat]

The Waddle and Sylvia are the best. They're. They're the absolute best. Shout out, those guys. I just want to say, before we start, there's a 10% chance I might have to run out at any point because I'm dealing with little. I got a. I got a little tummy stinger going on. Everyone's got something this time of year when we get closer to November, you know, or Thanksgiving. So I'm dealing with a little something.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Totally get it. Don't even worry about it. I. You got to go. You got to go. And we'll fill. We'll fill, we'll stretch.

[Big Cat]

I have Max. I have Max here if he. Max might have to sit in my seat. All right, so how is the first three weeks at Barstool been? Has everything changed?

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think the show's the exact same show.

[Big Cat]

I agree.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The staff's been awesome. Like, really great. Everybody on the sales, promotional side. We even have a product launch coming out here pretty shortly, so it's like the George Foreman Grill, but not as much of a lean. But I was excited that Dave was on that one. Just. We were like, can we do this without ripping them off? And it's like, I think just a little less of an angle because you want. You want some of that fat for the flavoring. And that's where I think George went wrong. Although he moved a lot of product early on. So, yeah, there's some product stuff there, but your sales guys. And it's just been. It's been kind of cool to see how, like, things do and then, you know, see it improve and see where it's going. But as far as the show itself, I mean, it's. I only think it's the vocal people that are. I'll just say it. I think there's a Lot of simple people that think they need to be heard all the fucking time that are like, oh, well, now that you're doing this, like, perfect example. Started doing. I was doing tweets for the former gambling partner that I had because it was still part of the contract. Yeah, I've been doing them for over a year and a half. And the second it was announced that I was with Barstool, and then I tweeted out like a pic, it was like, oh, really? You're going to start doing this now? And it was like, I've. I have been. But you found a timeline, a piece in the timeline where you could say everything's different. And look, the exact same thing happened to me after I left espn. The second I was fully gone from espn, it was, oh, figures, you would start doing this now. And it's like, I'm actually pretty much the same guy.

[Big Cat]

Every show I would say I would back you up on that, that you're. You. You're the same guy. Especially with Seruti and Kyle, the show is. Is the same. I listen. And it's. It's funny though, because it's. It happened to me probably, I don't know, 10 years into doing this, where I had the epiphany of. There's always going to be people who shit on you, and there's always going to people who say it's changed or things are not the same as it used to be. And then you have to take a step back and realize that you have hundreds of thousands of people that listen to every single show and there's, I don't know, hundred, two hundred people complaining online. And then if you can just let go of that, it's most freeing thing in the world. And everyone. No one likes change. I fucking hate change. Any type of change, whether it be real or perceived, like, this is made up change. But, yeah, I think you guys, I'm very happy I have my first pitch for you on maybe doing a Barstool event.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Okay, let's hear it.

[Big Cat]

We do do a combine every single late February. The bench press, little run.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Figures you would start with the bench press.

[Big Cat]

I. Look, you don't have to come, but it would be funny if you just showed out. I don't know, just. Just something to put out there.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Cause I think that was all right. I'll ask you this because, like, one of the biggest things with Dave was I was like, hey, we've known each other a long time. It's not like we've been friends, but I've Known him because I met McShay. You know, we were all in our 20s in Boston, so I met him when he first started Barstool. We've always been friendly, but, I mean, we could go two years, three years without ever running into each other, ever talking. So it wasn't like we were best friends. And when we finally sat down and, like, talked about this, I was like, I don't want to be disrespectful. I don't want to sound like a dick, because I know, like, what this brand is to you because you built the whole thing. But I was like, I'm kind of old, and I just don't know that I can be, like, a video with this guy arguing. Like, I'd rather. Can I. Is there a way I can do this where I don't have to? And Dave's like, don't worry about it. He's like, keep doing part of my take and do a couple of the golf events.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Which I've got. I've got people asking me if they can be, like, my caddy for some of these things. They're so excited about how well, you guys. You guys have absolutely crushed it with the golf content. And so I hope I'm not disappointing anybody, because I feel like some people were like, oh, we. We get to play with this new toy. And it was like, no. Dave was like, no, don't worry about it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, no. And. And the arguing with someone was. Nikki Smokes, you were talking about, which he would body you in an argument. But he. No, I, I, I remember when we were talking it all through and I told you, I was like, there's no, it's no different than for. For Barstool fans who know how we operate. It's no different than, like, Whitney and Biz and Yan's, the Chiclets guys, like, like, they do a couple things a year. It's awesome. They're the best guys in the world. It's awesome.

[Ryan Rosillo]

When they're involved, they're cooler than I am, 100%.

[Big Cat]

I mean, they're cooler than everyone, but they aren't. They aren't in the everyday mix. And it doesn't matter. It's like, it just. It doesn't matter. So I think you're going to be perfect. But I just think about the combine. Maybe we send Kyle instead. Maybe that's the answer. Kyle is the. Is the representative from the resillo show at the combine. I'd love to see Kyle compete in the combine.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He would love to have some purpose physically. You know, because he had a trainer. You knew about his trainer from the Frolic Room, right? His name is Blade. Yeah. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

He would just come to the bar and the in. And the guy be like, are we training? Like, no, I'm drinking. I love that story. But, yeah, I love. Yeah, do it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

How much have you drank? Too much to then go train? He's like, today? Yeah, today's out. It's like, okay, so if I just got here a little bit earlier. But, yeah, maybe that's a Kyle thing. I mean, he's got some mass to him. And I mean, in a good way. He's a physical dude. He's a presence.

[Big Cat]

You're a big guy, He's a big guy, I'm a big guy. We got a lot of big guys. Max takes it seriously. We all. It's the beauty of barstool is we do the dumbest competitions and we say at the beginning that they're dumb and they mean nothing. And then within five minutes, everyone wants to kill each other and we're arguing about bench press. And, you know, did you get a. Did you get the right. Start off on a 40, 40 yard dash? I have one other World Cup, I believe, and this might be me talking out of school, but I think there is some thoughts behind potentially doing a soccer tournament in the office. Getting like, field turf, doing like a three on three, four on four. Will Ceruti be attending that?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Ceru's in. All right, perfect. Done. I stopped playing soccer when I was five, I think. So I'm not your guy for that. The bench press thing, though, just. Just to follow up on that, because.

[Big Cat]

People are saying you're.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You're.

[Big Cat]

You're kind of a pussy if you don't do the bench press.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh, well, then if people said that, I guess I'll do it.

[Big Cat]

I mean, we had Tate last year. He couldn't get 135 up. And that has haunted him every single day. He's our crazy Ohio State fan. So anytime he goes after another fan base, if you look at his replies, it's just him not getting the bar up. And it's like, dude, you gotta figure this out. You gotta be able to get this up.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He must have just never, ever bench pressed, ever, because I think there's people that, you know, maybe if you're a decent size, like, you know, average man strength or whatever, not like, just an incredibly weak person, that if you've never, ever done it, then all of a sudden it's in your hands, your body's like, what the hell is this? And why are we lying down and what, what's going on here? But I don't know if there should be a rule just passed in society. It doesn't really have anything to do with a combine or barstool, but it's like if you can't do run one rep of 1:35, you can't say anything to anyone.

[Big Cat]

I kind of agree. I also throw another one on there because this is just a hard and fast rule I've always had and a strong belief I've had for a very long time. If you can't run a six minute mile, you're a pussy.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh wow. Look out. This isn't, this isn't true. Are you six? Was this the whole thing? Because this has been going on forever.

[Big Cat]

I know the mile.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, right, right. But my point was if you run a seven minute mile, you shouldn't be telling anyone. Agreed.

[Big Cat]

Just like if you are benching like £85, you shouldn't tell anyone. Right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You think? Yeah. That's what we needed to do is figure out the perfect correlation of like what's the six minute mile? What's a five minute mile? But then it's like what's a five minute mile at like what age and then what size? Right. I'm not, I'm not going to run a five minute mile anymore because I weighed 168 pounds I think in high school when I ran the mile. Could you imagine I'd rather be slower and look like this.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I would agree. Could you imagine walking up to like someone and, or someone at an office somewhere being like, yeah, I just got into weightlifting. You know, I'm benching now. It's like what's your max?

[Ryan Rosillo]

75 but good form. One reprounded 75. And I'm not arching my back a ton. Like you know, I'm getting in there. Yeah, yeah, I like this. I love exactly what you've done. You, you Mulaney, the seven minute mile, six minute mile conversation here. All right. Little college football. Because I'm not going to do an hour and a half with you here. You got a lot of stuff to do. You got kids. Say hi to them for me by the way. But I will. Yeah, we like to facetime with them every now and then. And let me see the Christmas lists again. See if I can't help it out in case things don't pick up for you guys.

[Big Cat]

I am, yeah, I'm a little hard on money right now.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, well, look, we talk about it out there.

[Big Cat]

I had to give up. It was one of those situations to, like. It was like a Jamar Chase T. Higgins thing. Dave came to me and was like, hey, we want to sign Rosillo. Can you take a pay cut?

[Ryan Rosillo]

And I was like, of course. Yeah. I didn't think you were going to do that.

[Big Cat]

People are going to think all this is so serious.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But it says. I mean, it speaks to your character. It speaks my value. It speaks to Dave, you know, just being upfront about it, though. You know, he could have just said, hey, I'm. I'm not going to pay you as much and not tell you why. Be like, hey, week. That's going to be all remote now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, sorry. We gotta. We gotta make sure Rosillo gets on the payroll. All right.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Let's talk college football.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's official. The Big Shack is out. Now, I tried one only a few days ago, and it lives up to the name. It's a serious burger. Two Angus beef patties, three buns, new secret sauce. It's stacked, balanced, and built the right way. You get everything you expect from Shake Shack. Fresh ingredients, that toasted potato bun, and sauce that pulls the whole thing together for $9.99. It's kind of wild how much burger you're getting, especially one that doesn't taste like typical fast food. It's big, it's fresh, and it's legit. One of their best burgers yet. The best thing about a Shake Shack burger is you're like, hey, I'm hanging out by myself right now. Let's have a little internal debate. Is it the Angus beef patties? Why is their cheese better than everybody else? Why are the ingredients so fresh? Sometimes I didn't even want the extra stuff in a burger. But at Shake Shack, I'm like, please throw it all on there. And the bun is almost softer so that it's less stress on your hands while you're eating. I still can't decide. And the best thing about the Big Shack is that it's all of that and more. If you've been waiting to see what all the hype's about, today's the day. Go to Shake Shack and order the Big Shack. Sounds familiar. Made different. Is there anything with the rankings that you're actually really upset about?

[Big Cat]

Ooh, no.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Because we can always find something, right? Wow. You are just a flat out no. Miami. You're not upset about where Miami is right now?

[Big Cat]

My theory with Miami is that when they did the rankings three weeks ago, or whatever it was when. When we first had the rankings, they fucked up Miami. And then every single week since they've been sl. They've been pushing them up. A couple being like, yeah, we kind of fucked that up. Like, they did beat Notre Dame, and we have Notre Dame at 10 and Miami at 18. So they're just covering their ass as the weeks go along because who's Miami beaten since then? It's like, I think they beat Stanford by a billion. I can't remember who they played last week. So they're. I think they're just correcting the error they made to start. But no, all these rankings, like, they all kind of make sense.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Was it NC State? They kill NC State last week.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Like, I. So they haven't done.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I was watching that game just because I was like, I need to get my eyes back on them. So go ahead.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, they're under the radar. I think the only. There's a couple, like, spots that I could see people getting angry in, like, doomsday scenarios. Otherwise, the rankings are the rankings, and I really don't have a big issue with them. The doomsday scenarios are what happens if USC beats Oregon this weekend and then Michigan beats Ohio State and now you have five Big Ten teams with two losses or less. Is Oregon now out? Which probably. Right. Like, what? That. That would be a shocker, but they probably would be.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. The thing with the Big Ten with this Oregon USC matchup is that there's some theories that if SC beats him, it's like, okay, cool. Now USC could be potentially that fourth team in. And I don't know if it would mean that it's just Indiana, Ohio State. Yeah. Because look, I think. I think Oregon's good.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, you think Oregon's still in, no loss.

[Big Cat]

Would that be in? Cause USC would. Losses. Yeah. No, I think I will confidently say right now, unless, obviously there's a scenario where Oregon beats USC and then loses to Washington.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, let's find.

[Big Cat]

But I think that if you have multiple two lost teams, two or less lost teams in the Big Ten, I think the Big Ten will get three teams in no matter what. So if. Or if USC beats Oregon and then beats ucla, I think USC would get in. I think if Oregon obviously wins out, they're in. But if they trip up, they beat usc, lose to Washington, they're going to find a way to get three Big Ten teams in. I can't see a world where it's.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Two, because there's a strong argument that Oregon doesn't have the resume. Like, if you really want to pick them apart and then look at their offense against the better teams. But like, look, I think Iowa, despite the record, is a good team. I don't think they're great, but I think they're a good team. When you look at their four ranked losses and how those games went down, I mean they, they're really the only team other than Penn State at home. And then obviously Oregon on the road because it's a competitive game. But that Iowa Indiana game was incredibly competitive. So I, you know, I don't, I look at an Iowa win, like that's the part that gets really stupid. It's like, okay, well how many top 25? It's like, I don't know, man. I watch enough. I think like team 16, 18 through 30 through 35, it feels kind of like a coin toss. So anybody that's below that cutoff because maybe they have one more loss and nobody wants to rank them, like, look what's happening with the back end of the rankings. And it's not even just this year. It's like, all right, so whoever 18 to 25 lost. Well, if it was, if it wasn't like against a juggernaut, we're just dropping you. And then they cycle them right back up. You know, these teams just kind of replace each other in this bottom tier. And that's where I think some of the wins, where it's like, well, what if that's like the 30th best team? Is it really that different than, than team 18? So we'll see about that. Because I, I look, I think Oregon's good. I, I could be totally, totally wrong on this. I thought the Penn State win was an impressive win. I thought the Iowa win was impressive. They're down the right tackle, they're down their stud receiver, they're down their first round tight end. They lose another receiver in that game and that throw that like I thought on that day, and pushing IO around on the ground like, that was a pretty good win, but it's just not going to count in the eyes of so many people because they're just going to be like, Iowa isn't ranked and they have four losses.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I, I have. If you don't follow college football close enough, I could see how you'd look at the resume and just say it. But winning at Iowa, at Kinnick, with raining, you know, bad, bad weather, that's not, Iowa doesn't play football in those games. They get you into a street fight in a rugby style game that dictates it. And I Thought Oregon out, Iowa to Iowa, which was very impressive because that's kind of the conversation piece for all these new, you know, former Pac 12 schools now in the Big Ten. Can they play the big boy football? Can they go? You look at USC goes and gets absolutely annihilated by Illinois early in the season. I know it was like a little close, but Illinois had their way with them in terms of running the ball and going up and down the field. USC's corrected that. They then beat a tough team in Iowa. So I, yeah, the season has ebbs and flows. I'm not knocking Oregon. I think Oregon should get actually more credit for getting James Franklin fired. Like, that should be a, that should be an extra win. You ended Penn State's season. So that's the big 10 sec. I got no problem. My big takeaway is Georgia's in the, in the perfect spot because they have an opportunity to not have to play in the SEC championship game and still get a buy. And SEC will figure itself out. They'll probably be what, five teams? Maybe six.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, who's the 16?

[Big Cat]

The six team.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So if I don't, I don't see that. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

All right, so it's so obviously Texas A and M, Georgia, Ole Miss, Alabama, Oklahoma. If Vandy beats Tennessee, is there a chance they can sneak in?

[Ryan Rosillo]

The committee loves Utah.

[Big Cat]

Utah's been playing really good football. They've been teams.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, no, I, I, we talked about it when I was trying to put together my Monday rankings where I had Georgia ahead of A and M. Any issue with that, by the way?

[Big Cat]

No, I don't think so. Georgia, Georgia did a really good job this year of getting everyone off the scent because they had these games where not only obviously they lost Alabama, but they struggled in a couple of these games where they've been down. You know, they were down to Florida. Even, even like the Mississippi State game I think was when we, we started seeing Georgia again and then obviously with Texas. So, yeah, I think Georgia's back to that level where I would trust them more than Texas A and M in a big game.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, yeah, that's just kind of where I'm at now. I might be putting way too much stock into a probably the best Gunner Stockton game of the year. I mean, look, he was terrific against Tennessee, the fourth down throw, you know, but still, Tennessee should have made the kick, you know, so Georgia, you know, over the course of the full season, you know, we get really excited about the, like, it's kind of funny with Notre Dame, the head to head thing that's driving Miami fans absolutely crazy. They don't have a bad point, but what I think is lost in all these conversations, like, no one's ever allowed to just say, hey, you know what? Like, I think this team's just better than that team. It's almost like that's the worst reason you could have for having one team ahead of another one. And that's kind of the whole point of watching this stuff is that, like, why would I, Why would I watch anything on Saturday if you're only going to hit me with resume and strength of schedule?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, no, you're. You're right. And I do think Notre Dame is better than Miami. I do think the game should also matter. The only thing, the only other big thing I had from the rankings is I would like to opt out fully of all ACC discourse because the last two weeks we have done this thing where everyone has their scenario of 4 or 5.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The Duke scenario that we all did.

[Big Cat]

For a week and a half fucking sucks. I'm done talking about Duke.

[Ryan Rosillo]

If you watch what you say, what.

[Big Cat]

Virginia did to Duke, that was a absolute pasting. They were up and down the field. Duke. Duke's defense cannot do anything. They can't tackle. They can't cover. Every, Every. Every one of these ACC scenarios has Duke somehow becoming a really good team in the last three games of the season. I'm done with Duke. They'll probably lose the unc. They'll lose to Wake Forest, and we'll still find a way to be like, hey, Duke could. With eight losses, Duke could somehow get in the ACC title game. And then what happens?

[Ryan Rosillo]

I just like that it was a nice reminder of, hey, they don't have to take the four champions from those four leagues. And if we were to have this outline of a playoff for 20 plus years, we would probably have. I mean, it'd be hard to think that it would ever happen to the Big Ten of the sec. I mean, so I guess the SEC is the only one we're really thinking about here. But I don't know. I still don't think Group of five football. It's just not the same test. I mean, you want to bang on the acc, go ahead, but I just don't think James Madison has the same record as the winner of the acc. I. I just don't even think that that's possible. Maybe back in the day with the old Boise State stuff, but I'm just not there.

[Big Cat]

Well, that. That's where I'm at with group of five. I want James Madison because of pft. I'm, I'm defending the wall with him. This is a year though that you can, you can reasonably say the group of five is just not strong enough that it would like be a competitive game. I do think that I like having the group of five spot there because I do think there are years where, where you could potentially have a team that is strong enough and I don't want to just eliminate that. But yeah, this year is going to be, it's going to be tough for a group of five team to, to stay within three scores of whoever they play in the first round.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Do you like any of the SEC teams this year or we just all doing post George's win against Texas here? Cause that's, that's kind of the thing with me is like these teams used to Destroy another Power 5 then team like those first couple weeks, remember some of those Georgia Oregon games, I mean you got to go back even further where the other team would come out of the tunnel, Dallas against Alabama and then all of a sudden you're down 21 nothing. And so, I don't know, it's an nil thing. I think the previous couple years with the sec you could make an argument it's like this isn't a great group of quarterbacks. Going into this year it felt like they had a ton of depth of quarterback, but you know, all the teams are flawed and I'll, I'll get to you here in a second. But there's part of me that's also like, hey, you're falling in love with Ohio State and Indiana. When you look at their five game stretch versus the five game stretch, four in Oklahoma, four in Alabama, you know some of the stuff that these teams have had to do over four or five weeks and you're going to compare this, no kidding, they don't look as good. Having said that, when I look at previous years where I fell in love with some of those SEC teams, I'm, I've not fallen in love with any of these and I even think Ole Miss is overrated.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I agree with you. Georgia would be the team that I would feel the most confident. I do love, I love, love John Mateer. I'm a huge John Mateer guy. I think Oklahoma's defense can hang with anyone.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But I'm not back yet with Mater. I'm not like I get he's still not because they won the games. People talk him up like hey, everything's better, everything's. He's not the game, he's not the same guy that he was. Even if he's healthier in the beginning of the year.

[Big Cat]

I agree with that. It's a question of can he get healthy if they can survive these last two games because you get a little bit of a break and Oklahoma's defense has been very opportunistic. If you watch the game against Tennessee and if you watch the game against Alabama last week, that's. Those are two offenses that were moving the ball on them but they were getting the takeaways. And will that sustain itself? But yeah, the long answer is no. I think Georgia Tech A and M, can they defensively stop someone? Are they going to get into a game where someone can just run the ball down, down their throat? And then Georgia would be the team that I'm would say I trust the most. And I've been a take my take from September that I think is still here. Ohio State. It's okay to just say Ohio State's better than everyone and Ohio State's better than they were last year and it, they're probably gonna win the national title and we try to find other ways and cute different teams and all that. Ohio State might just be that good.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Is there any way that you could let yourself get talked out of the emotion of picking Indiana outright in that game?

[Big Cat]

Hmm. I, I, I do like Mendoza. I just think it's, it's, I've seen this with Ohio State and Indiana is so good. Indiana's the, you know, a top. They're the second best team in the country right now. When they, I think they'll win a couple playoff games. I think you just, when you get into these games, it's the difference between having 10 dudes and having 30 dudes. And that's where it's just, you have to kind of play perfect against an Ohio State. You know what I mean? You can't, you can't make. Mendoza's had some really awesome moments where he's bounced back from bad moments. The Oregon pick six drives him down the field. The Penn State pick drives him down the field. I just don't know if you throw a pick against Ohio State, you have the opportunity then drive down the field like that's, those are the mistakes you can't make against an Ohio State. And I'm of the belief that Ohio State, they have been slow playing this entire season. I do not think they have really taken it off with, with their offense. You've seen it in flashes. I always go back to the Washington game where they were they Julian saying's first road start, tough place to play. They're like, hey, we're going to have this game plan where we're just going to run the ball. We're going to take care of business. And then there was a stretch. I think it was like, end of second, maybe third quarter, where, like, you know what? Let's just do the Jeremiah Smith thing for a minute. And they did it. And you saw it. You're like, oh, yeah, that's right. They could do this at any time. And there's really no one who has.

[Ryan Rosillo]

An answer for it. Agree on all counts. I still can't believe they're better. You know, you change coordinators. Knowles, who gets millions to leave, and you're like, all right, we'll go with Matt, Patricia, my guy, Chip. It's like, all right, you know, there's just no way. And it's. It's saying. And now saying went from I wonder to this list of unproven guys. I think he's the best quarterback in college football. Like, I. I have him on in games because I find him that much fun to watch because of his talent in games that it doesn't matter. Like, I'll get Ohio State up in the first quarter because I'm like, all right, I want to see, like, the first few possessions before it's 21 nothing here. And they've decided to dial back everything they need to do. And even against UCLA. And look, UCLA's got a backup in there. Nobody's telling you UCLA has any chance in that game, but, you know, he's got Smith for barely the first half. Tate's out, and it's like, it doesn't matter. Like, I just. I'm with you. I. I think they're horrifying, and I'm probably going to pick them again before the playoff starts because it's just. Especially because there's not that one SEC team where I would go, all right, you know, enough of this. Like, Ohio State gets the beat up on all these other teams, this is going to be a little bit different. There's just not a team from the SEC that I feel that strong about, that's even undefeated A and M, where I. I feel like I'm personally being a little too hard on a team that had a historic comeback. Because. Because everything I saw in that first half from Marcel Reed, I was like, this is why I'm scared to death of you guys having. You know, look, if they get the buy, that's one thing. But four, three, four games against these other teams in this playoff field. I don't, I wouldn't put that guy at the level of the other quarterbacks that we're talking about.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And you can't, you, you can't have a half like that in a playoff game. I do, I do think Texas A and M. The, the one thing about Texas A and M is they do have like shocking team speed. Some of those dudes are just.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Concepcion's awesome.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Owens. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

So they have, they have guys that are. Can compete with anyone. Because that's what a lot of these late round playoff games come down to is like who's got the fastest guys? You know, I mean this is what SEC did for a really long time. They were just. You'd have a Big Ten linebacker in coverage against what was the. Was it devonte Smith in that one national championship where against. Was it Ohio State? Alabama play Ohio State. And it was like devonte Smith was in. Was. Was. Was matched up with the linebacker. And it was. Is the saddest thing I've ever watched. Like that would happen and so, But I don't. So. So that would be the only thing. They do have that type of elite speed. But yeah, I, I agree with you. I don't, I don't trust Texas A and M all the way.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Who would be the best fit at LSU for you guys to get back on that Tigers bandwagon and kind of piss me off? Like, what would be the best case scenario of this is going to bum out RO so much because we're so much more aligned with this head coach.

[Big Cat]

Coachell.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think you guys got me on Kiffin too.

[Big Cat]

I do think we have you on Kiffin.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's not even close. It's not even close. You're way ahead of me on Gif, Kiffen. Like, I don't want Kiffin for that reason alone because I'm like, oh, well, I'm gonna be aaa. I'm gonna be AAA podcaster again if it's Giffen.

[Big Cat]

I thought about that when the. All the came out. Oh yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I was like, first thing I thought about.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Because we're in PFT and I are in a text group text with Kiffin and like two of his right hand guys and we like joke around and they send us like we'll send them just random like, like, hey, try this play. Try that play.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it's a rap if it's Kiffin. Although does he. Does he still have a place. Does he still have a place in Southern California? You could get in there off Season.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I ran into him Christmas morning. You know, I. When I didn't go home for a bunch of Christmases, I would start my day, I'd give myself a gift, the gift of basketball. And I went down to the park. Although Manhattan beach, it's like they don't even. It's like Christmas, but it's open. It's the strangest thing. This Los Angeles way. Like, again, I don't know if it's different in the Midwest, the Northeast, but in the Northeast, like, you didn't. You stayed inside go do anything. You go sledding maybe, but like, you can't hang out. Manhattan beach, like, restaurants are open, the whole thing. So, like one day I walked down from my modest townhouse and, you know, laced him up, grabbed a ball and I was like, oh, there's actually like dudes playing. It's like, all right, this is great. Maybe I'll give myself a little double double. And Lane was out there with his kid because they had just gotten like a hoverboard or something. So, you know, he was just gonna. And I was like, oh, hey, Lane, I'm. You know, Ryan had you on. He was like, what? What's going on here? Again, like in classic Lane. I was like, never mind, I'll be over here playing basketball. Might have been the last time I went up to anybody just cold said, hey, what's going on? Then the other time, we ended up getting Lane on the show, the podcast, and the zoom was up. It was bad. It was bad. I don't even blame Lane. I blame no one. But he was like, what are we doing again? Who is this guy? Why are we doing this game week? Like, we have a. He's like, we got a game to prepare for in two days. Like, why are we doing this? So I would say, yeah, it is. It is a. It is an accurate statement to say that I can't make up that ground. If Lane ends up in Baton Rouge, there's nothing I can fucking do.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I think, I think Lane or Cocho, you gotta root for maybe Luke Fickle to take the LSU job. I did, I did Photoshop some message boards when. When Florida got open and Brian Kelly got fired, I photoshopped a bunch of like, SEC being like, you know who's a proven winner who got to a four team playoff? Luke Fickle. And it got people so upset. I was like. Because I just tried to reverse it, being like, I'm hearing Luke Fickles name out there. I really don't want to see him leave.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So who got upset with you fickles people in Wisconsin, your school?

[Big Cat]

Well, I have other. I'm in the doghouse at Wisconsin for other things that I've said. And people who, who listen to, to all my shows will know I might have been quoting some Jon Gruden emails. Allegedly at one point. You listen, women don't like it when you call them a pussy. Especially when they're in very high level positions like Chancellor UW Madison.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Write that down.

[Big Cat]

Either way, I'm in the outs right now. I got to write an nil check. I think, I think I'm in that spot to get back in. I got to write an nil check at Wisconsin.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Are you still good with Boston College?

[Big Cat]

No, I'm not. I've not had a conversation with Bill o'.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Brien.

[Big Cat]

I should. He's freaking out every single week.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Here's the thing. What about Gruden? I mean if Gruden got the LSU job, you guys might be on retainer.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we'd be good. We, we would. I mean that would be. Although we, we have a weird thing with Gruden right now because his right hand guy, one of the weirdest guys we've ever had, Jake Mal Sec who came up here, like he was working here. Gruden got hired. He applied to be Gruden's right hand guy. He now is with Gruden for life. I have a feeling that he, if Gruden takes a job, Malasek is going to be like, oh, I don't know you guys anymore. Like you're my old friends. Like I'm, I'm an, I'm a college fucking SID now. Like, get the fuck out of here. You guys are just going to bust my balls. So we might be out if Gruden goes somewhere.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think generally some sids could chill the fuck out a little bit.

[Big Cat]

I'd agree.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So, I'd agree. Yeah, but I, but if that's like new money for him success wise and sometimes with the people that I'm on the fence about, I'm like, I actually want you to become difficult and be weird.

[Max]

Right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So go ahead and do it. So yeah, I might have to hope like Tommy Reese gets it. Maybe that's my chance. Yeah, I'm trying to think of a list of guys that have like if he gets the job, then I'm, I'm back and I'm in. Cause Brian Kelly and I didn't text.

[Big Cat]

A ton, not a ton say so I would say Brian Kelly all time. You. When he got fired, like James Franklin gets fired. And there were some nice stories that were released. Like people like, hey, I was a walk on at Penn State.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And James, hey, not my favorite, not my favorite. I still kind of can't believe they fired him.

[Big Cat]

Same, same. A little bit. I mean like if they don't lose ucla, I think he gets it back together and they, they finish out the season losing Ohio State, whatever in Indiana, but he keeps his job. But James Strangling gets fired. There's a lot of stories like, hey, I was a walk on at Penn State and you know, James Franklin barely knew my name. But when I went to apply for a job, he actually called in advance and gave a reference and all these nice things. Like, seems like whatever you want to say about James Franklin seems like a decent dude. Brian Kelly got fired. The nicest thing that was said about Brian Kelly was when we had Zach Martin in studio the week that he got fired. And I asked him about Brian Kelly and he said, we don't really keep in touch. That was the nicest thing. That was it. He got trashed by everyone because he's a dick. And it was just so funny because usually there will be that zag on it like, oh, you know, he's got to move his family and like, hey, these and all the staff, everyone's like, no, Brian Kelly. We're going to bash this guy to the ends of the earth.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. I mean that one thing that Feldman had was like went to a raising cane's once and walked in and said, hey, is Graves here? Because I'm not sure about this breading. And people were like, get this fucking guy out of here.

[Big Cat]

Give it up for Chicago.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Sebastian Maniscalco's new stand up special It Ain't Right is now streaming on Hulu. Thirty years ago, Jeff Bezos, complete nerd.

[Big Cat]

Bezos now ripped the shreds on his super yacht. And the boxes keep coming.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Watch. Sebastian Maniscalco it ain't right. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney plus for bundle subscribers terms apply. Okay, let's do, let's do a little draft. No Snake draft. Okay, Draft with two people. You know, just.

[Big Cat]

I think we should Snake, but okay.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well it should be maybe with this number one overall pick here. I'll let you go first because you're the guest. We'll go eight teams each. Seroty will assign points for this. Okay, we'll draft eight teams, each win the national championship. Points for each win along the way. So there's a value to who you think and win the whole Thing, and then, you know, whatever. But granted, there's not going to be the ridiculous thing which drives me absolutely crazy, where for the 2024 playoff bracket, somebody's going, hey, do you realize how dumb this could be? It's like, well, let's have it be dumb for real, and then we'll change it if it happens.

[Big Cat]

Okay? I want. I want stakes on this, and I'm going to propose some stakes. Are you ready for it?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Do we get Mikey involved here so he can text us every weekend?

[Big Cat]

Listen, here are the stakes. I think these are fair stakes.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Watertown, Whiskey, Mikey, just for the reference.

[Big Cat]

Mikey texts a lot. He's. I mean, I enjoy texts.

[Ryan Rosillo]

We're on the other side of something with him, and it's.

[Big Cat]

It's just he's a Caleb Williams hater. He's got Caleb Williams derangement syndrome. All right, here are my stakes for you. If I win this, you come and compete in the combine. If I lose this, for the entire month of February, I will watch every Charlotte Hornets game and give you game notes. That seems like, what, Take some off your plate? No, this is like the Mikey schedule.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Mikey and I were golfing, and he was like, shanahan's never going to win a Super Bowl. And I was like, well, whatever. I was like, I just think that's stupid. Like, you don't like Shanahan. I get it. And then he was like, let's bet. I go, I have to bet you that he wins a Super bowl, and then you win if he doesn't like, this is like the Chris Paul first take argument on first take. And it was like, well, do you think he's ever going to win a title? I'm like, it's hard to win a title. Yeah, this seems like. I don't really. You're not. I mean, look, I wouldn't. The Hornets with Kipple. That's not even a punishment.

[Big Cat]

Okay, well, all right, I'll do the Nets.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It has to be something worse.

[Big Cat]

Okay. By the way, that bet with. With. That Mikey was trying to do with the Shanahan. I. I big dogged him because I was like, let's bet $10,000. But I get my. I get Kyle Shanahan's son in the future, too.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And he said, that's right. Yeah. We were trying to work that out.

[Big Cat]

All Shanahan's in the future.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Mikey's the best.

[Big Cat]

I wanted that bet to go for 50 years. I wanted him to be like, hey, you owe me 10 grand. I'm like, listen, Kyle, Shanahan's son is coaching at Bemiji State right now, and his offense is fucking sick. So you don't know where this is going.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Dialing it up, a lot of 13 personnel. All right, you go first.

[Big Cat]

Later. All right, I'm going to take Ohio State.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Easy. Okay. I will take Georgia.

[Big Cat]

Okay. I'm going to go. I'm going to go Indiana.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think that's smart. Yeah, I'll go A and M. Okay.

[Big Cat]

This is where it's going to get interesting, because I don't know. Oh, no, actually, I have an easy one. I have an interesting one after this one. I'm going to take Texas Tech. I actually have a Tech ticket. Texas Tech. I don't think it's going to hit because I don't know if they can win the whole thing. 60 to 1.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Pretty good payout. Pretty good payout. Pretty good payout. I'll go Notre Dame.

[Big Cat]

Ah, that's what I wanted. I think Notre Dame. People got off of Notre Dame too fast because their defense looked like shit in the first two weeks. They have figured out their defense. C.J. carr is good enough and their running backs are electric. Jeremiah Love should be the Heisman. That's not because I bet on him, but yes, he should be the Heisman. If I had a vote, I'd vote for him.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He should be a finalist. You know, again, a Heisman's supposed to be best player in college football. Although I do think so. I think I am way more for saying boats now than I was when it was first starting, like five, six weeks ago.

[Big Cat]

Okay, so you just took Notre Dame.

[Ryan Rosillo]

That sucks.

[Big Cat]

I really wanted Notre Dame. I'll take Oregon because they got dudes. I don't like it. This is where we're picking teams that are not going to win the title, but could win a playoff game.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, but this is the depth. This is where the money's made. I'll go Bama.

[Big Cat]

Okay. I will take.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Hmm. This is working out perfectly. You've taken three Big Ten teams and I've taken three SEC teams.

[Big Cat]

I know.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I just spent like two minutes. Once again, I've done it every week for like four weeks. I'm like, I'm not in love with these SEC teams this year.

[Big Cat]

I'll take Oklahoma.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I think that was smart.

[Big Cat]

It was. It's between Ole Miss and Oklahoma. I. I'm not going to say it's a. It's a foregone conclusion that Ole Miss gets in the playoffs.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Great band name. What? Foregone conclusions.

[Big Cat]

Foregone collusion Yeah. I. That Egg bowl is going to be nasty. And Mississippi State is, is not a pushover. They've taken some teams to the limit.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I mean, now I have to take Ole misses, the value picks. Now I have four SEC teams, which is not what I wanted to do. That's all right.

[Big Cat]

Okay, I'll take. Who's going to win? The acc. Does Miami control their own destiny? I don't think they do.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, I don't think they do either. They're in fifth place.

[Big Cat]

Should I take Duke?

[Ryan Rosillo]

They're in sixth place.

[Big Cat]

I'll take Georgia Tech.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, that's. That's the right answer, by the way. He should be mentioned for every opening key. He.

[Big Cat]

He should. And I think he has been. But that's also not as.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Not as much as other guys.

[Big Cat]

But the new nil, like, you can win at Georgia Tech. He's. He's an alum there, right? It's like the Clark Lee stuff at Vanderbilt. I. This is what the new. We have to wrap our head around. Ten years ago, James Franklin gets fired. Kurt Signetti is the next coach. Penn State the next day. Now Indiana's like, fuck it, we'll pay you whatever you want and you can win here. So people got to wrap their head around it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Now it's. Now I think that was the last good pick. Maybe we should have made this seven.

[Big Cat]

How many. How many picks do we have?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Eight a piece. That doesn't.

[Big Cat]

What are we at?

[Ryan Rosillo]

That was the six pick.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Do I take Texas just to round out the. The SEC field? You take.

[Big Cat]

You take Texas, I'll take usc.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think Texas is a better pick than. Or, look, I'm going to take BYU just in case they get the rematch against Tech.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Like, it's a smarter play here, so go ahead.

[Big Cat]

All right, I'll take. I'll just do my last two picks. You're not going to take usc. I'll take Vanderbilt and I'll take USC as a handcuff on my Oregon pick.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, Football stuff right there. I'll take Miami. And then if Texas beats A and M, we have other weird stuff happen. And then the committee goes, hey, you know, they did play at Ohio State, which once again proves don't schedule anyone ever.

[Big Cat]

That's all I ask the committee to do. If Texas beats Texas A and M, they need to come out and say Texas is not in the playoff because of their loss to Florida, because they struggled with Kentucky, because they went to overtime with Mississippi State. It has nothing to do with their loss to Ohio. State because I don't want those games to go away. Because I agree with you. They could have scheduled anyone and they could have been in the playoffs. So I just need that. Like, that's what they need to say is here's why it has nothing to do with Ohio State.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Right. But if they played Chattanooga Week 1, they're in the playoffs, but they also.

[Big Cat]

Sucked in so many games.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You're right. You're right. It's not like a 7 and 3 where it's like, oh, my God. Like, this is incredibly unlucky.

[Max]

Right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You know, again, Iowa kind of an unlucky season. Very much so. Very much so. Okay, before we let you go, an exercise that I think everyone should steal.

[Big Cat]

I loved this, by the way. I did real research.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I do this every year.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So. All right. If we were the NFL committee and so we're not going based on standings and we had to seed four teams for what was probably the best version of the playoff. It left somebody out. I like things being exclusive, whether it's country clubs or college football playoff brackets. I think it's okay to be like, yeah, no, thanks. So instead of 12 or 24. So we're going to go anti big 10 philosophy here. We have to come up because this will be quicker, too. By the way, the top four seeds in the NFL if there are a 14 playoff.

[Big Cat]

Yes. I like this exercise. Well, it was. It was hurtful and it was also helpful. One the looking at the Bears. Obviously, I know the Bears schedule very well, but that they. They don't really have a case because their best.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's even worse than you think.

[Big Cat]

It's. The commanders with. With Jaden is their best win. So that was tough, but I liked it because the packers would not be ranked. The packers have one good win against Lions and they've lost to the Browns. The Panthers and the tie against the Cowboys was a loss. I count that as a loss.

[Ryan Rosillo]

That's absolutely a loss. I made it worse loss of the week when it was a tie. They have a worse point differential than Houston, who's 5 and 5.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So how about that? Texans D, though.

[Big Cat]

Texans D. They're. They're doing something. So I actually. The fun thing about this is it actually all kind of is intuitive and makes sense. You're like, oh, yeah. These teams, like where everyone is slotted is pretty much where they should be. But if we're going four teams, I think we have three guaranteed in and then the fourth is the debate. So my three guaranteed in are.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Let's go One seed first. Just to see if there's any difference.

[Big Cat]

All right, so one seed first. I would have the Broncos.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh, my God.

[Big Cat]

The Broncos have a road win against the Eagles. They have a win against the Chiefs. They do not have any bad losses. They have that weird one 1 point loss against the Colts in Indianapolis where they should have won that game. They lost on a game winning field goal. Remember the penalty and everything. And they have a three loss, three, three point loss in division to the Chargers. And that was on the road as well. I don't think the Broncos have a bad loss. If you're going on bcs, if you're going on college football standards, I think the Broncos are the 1 overall seat.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't even have the Broncos ranked in my top four.

[Big Cat]

What? How? Yeah, how? What? Winning at the Eagles is the most impressive win maybe on the season.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So that's why you have Philly too then, I guess. Right, because the head to head.

[Big Cat]

No, I have. I have the Rams too. The Rams also don't have a bad loss. Their losses are to the Niners and the Eagles. They have.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, but they have the head to head against.

[Big Cat]

Hold on.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Philly has the head to head against.

[Big Cat]

If we're doing this true college football style, the Rams are my two seed. The Eagles are my three seed. Them getting blown out by the two win Giants is a huge, huge. That's niu.

[Ryan Rosillo]

That's NIU beating Notre Dame conference game on the road.

[Big Cat]

I'm just saying that was a blowout, an absolute blowout. And the coach got fired after. You know, the only thing that's saving grace and Max is in the booth right now. The only saving grace that you could say, you could. If you're. If you're sitting in the room and we're doing the committee and I'm defending the Eagles, I'm. I'd be like. But listen, the Phillies had lost like an hour before, so the boys just weren't ready. Like that was. That was obviously on their mind. Vic Fangio is.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I feel like you're referencing something else that we can't. We can't even talk about here. Yeah. Wow. All right, so Broncos seventh, best point differential. Yeah, there's. That's. I'm just going off in there and they have.

[Big Cat]

The best win on the season is.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The best win of the season. What is At Philly.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Do you think that wins better than Buffalo's win against Baltimore Week one?

[Big Cat]

No, because Baltimore. You might be. Right now. Yeah. Baltimore's unranked.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. But if I'm in the committee. I'm going, hey, they didn't have five of their six best players for like a month. Lamar didn't play, but everyone was suited up. It was week one historic comeback. Buffalo gets that done resume wise. Like, hey, math to math, you would be right because you'd be plugging in this average Baltimore record into the whole thing. But that's why the committee's better. That's why humans would go, hey, listen.

[Big Cat]

I understand injuries happen and Lamar and everything and all their defensive injuries. The Ravens best win on the season is the Bears. They have more to prove, but that's their best win on the season. They've lost every team they've played that's above them. The Lions, the Chiefs, the Texans, the Rams, the Bills. They lost their best season.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, so I went Philly, Rams, Indy, Seattle.

[Big Cat]

Oh, why Seattle?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Number one in dvoa.

[Big Cat]

Okay, so we did that. We did the opposite things.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, no, no, no. We, we didn't do the opposite things. I had to come up with something for this. Look, number two in point differential. Everybody loves Seattle. Before this loss, the Rams, I would say even a good loss against the Rams, the best win stuff, the best win Steelers is hard to find is Steelers. Right.

[Big Cat]

So. So yeah. All right, so we, we disagree. So I, yeah, I went Broncos, Rams, Eagles, and then the. The four seed would be between. I think it's probably the Colts because the, the Patriots I was looking at, they obviously won at the Bucks at the Bills, but they lost the Raiders. That's a really bad loss. And the Colts only loss, bad loss is at the Steelers and they also beat the Broncos and Chargers. So it's probably Colts number four seed.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The Bears are last year's Indiana. Yeah, that's the worst. So the PAT strength of schedule is 366. Right. Opposing percentage, winning percentage here. 366. The Bears are the only other one that's the only. The only thing worse than that slash easier than that is 348 with Chicago. So the Bears are not in this. The Pats are not in this.

[Big Cat]

The Bears have the Bears season comes down to four games. They played the packers twice. They play the Lions once. They play the Niners. The nine. If you want to actually say it's comes down to one game, it's probably going to come down to that Niners game because that's, it's basically, if you look at the playoff picture, the NFC north and the NFC west, which division is going to get three teams? Which division is going to get two and it's. It feels like it's going to be either Bears or Niners as the third team.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Because when you look at the standings, I like that we didn't just go standings on this because I was afraid that that was what would happen. Because it happens sometimes in these exercises where you're like, well, let's look at the conference standings. Because right now you're one and two seeds in the AFC are Denver and New England, and then it's filling the Rams. So maybe you did kind of do that. Maybe you did kind of. But see, you're right. The best win of the season is probably them at Philadelphia, because Baltimore doesn't look as good. But this is a bit like my Indiana Penn State argument. I thought that was a tough game and a nice win, despite everything that's happened with Penn State this year.

[Big Cat]

I'd agree with that. I'd agree with that. I think if the. If the Eagles had lost by three points to the Giants, they'd be my one seed. It's just the way they lost to that Giants team. That's. That's how I ding them.

[Max]

They do.

[Big Cat]

The Eagles do have a. Like, if. If the Eagles are basically running Oklahoma schedule right now, where they, you know, they played the Chiefs, they played the Rams, they played the Bucks, they played the packers, they played the Lions, they played everyone. So that would be the argument for the Eagles is the amount of ranked teams, so to speak. If it was. College football has been pretty crazy for the Eagles schedule.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And by the way, on the podcast, I said I might hate the Eagles now to good friend Willie Cologne, the graphic said, ryan hates the Eagles. So I know that's the game, but obviously I don't hate him that much if I'm arguing with, they're still the one seed. Do you.

[Big Cat]

Do you want to say anything to Max? Cause Max is sitting right here. And you did say before we started taping that you hate the Eagles and you don't even want to watch them anymore.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It dawned on me that Sunday night against Detroit where I was like, I get real sick of watching this team. And that's probably a little bit of the tush push. And then when Sirianni, who I like, and we know a couple guys that played for him that are like, he's the absolute best, that means a lot. When it's like, guys that I really like, I'm like, what's up with this guy? Like, he's fucking awesome. Sirianni's awesome. So I feel a little guilty when he's losing his shit about a false start. That's not called. When it's like, dude, give me a break. Like, you guys. You guys are built by false starts, right? So the bad hats from Jalen, the AJ Brown stuff, and then having all these players that I really enjoy individually, and then it's like, why did they have to trade for more pass rush help? Like, what happened to all these guys they've been drafting? So I have too much Eagles in my life. I've just watched it. Too much is probably the general point, but the graphic was a little misleading on it, but people probably clicked on it. And Philly's been cool about it, though. Philly's been totally understanding and pretty chill.

[Big Cat]

So knowing you as well as I know you, and knowing that you will most likely never see a therapist, so I can be your therapist for a second here with the Eagles.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Hate.

[Big Cat]

And I think I diagnosed this with you a month ago or two months ago. You are one of the. You were one of the first to be like, hey, Russell Wilson's pretty lame. Jalen Hurts has some early onset. Russell Wilson.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I think he might be. Jalen Hurts might be unfriendly Russell Wilson.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I know what you're saying.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Because when you hit me up with it, I was like, hey, I mean, I was so early on the Russell Wilson thing, people were like, mad at me.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah, I remember. You nailed it. And Jalen Hurts. We do a game on PMT on Fridays. Fortune cookie or Jalen Hurts quote. Because every single time he opens his mouth, it's a fortune cookie.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And the other thing I did with Rossini, where I'm so glad that we did this, I was like, people, because the Eagles are awesome, okay? And this isn't because they win all the time. And that's why I felt so stupid saying it. And I remember having the Shield Kapadia conversation about Jalen Hurts because people were outraged that he was ninth in Sando's QB tears. And I'm going, you're mad he's ninth. Like, what the fuck? It's like, oh, because he just won a Super bowl and all these different things. We actually did our NBA comps with NFL quarterbacks, and I did Draymond Green for Jalen Hurts. And then I said, think about it a little bit. But the AJ Brown part of it, where he read the book and everyone celebrated it, and it's how. It just was so fucking stupid. Like, they win, and it's like, are you serious with this shit? The guy in the middle of an NFL game is sitting down to read, and we're supposed to think it's awesome, and now guess what? Like, it's just a continuation of all the same stuff with it. So I think I said A.J. green in there one time by mistake. A.J. brown loved A.J. green at Georgia. But that's my CC bias kicking in again.

[Big Cat]

Max has been shaking his head the entire time. Max, you get. You get 30 seconds here.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'm setting a timer right now.

[Max]

I've. I saw all of this.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I saw the clip. I saw the. The NBA comparison.

[Max]

Draymond Green's ridiculous.

[Big Cat]

I would.

[Max]

I would be willing to hear Jaylen Brown or Jason Tatum, though.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Probably more like Jaylen Brown.

[Max]

Jalen. Jaylen Brown, finals mvp.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Shouldn't want it.

[Big Cat]

He's got you there.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Every. Everything went through Tatum.

[Max]

I, you know, just like I'm. I'm fine with Jaylen Brown. I'm fine with Jaylen Brown.

[Big Cat]

Max. Max.

[Max]

Draymond Green's ridiculous.

[Big Cat]

Max has been. This is. This has put Max.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I thought it was kind of insulting to Draymond.

[Max]

You're such a piece of.

[Big Cat]

Max had to publicly opt out of all Diana Rossini reports for the rest of the year. And we love Diana.

[Max]

Nothing against Diana. Can't read them.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Can't read them.

[Max]

They're all bad.

[Big Cat]

He's opted out. He doesn't want to hear it. He does not want to read the bad news.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Oh, that's good. That's self preservation. And look, they're probably going to be. I just ranked him number one. Like, they're. They.

[Max]

No, but that's bullshit.

[Big Cat]

You.

[Max]

That's. That's just an easy way out.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, this is your real thing.

[Max]

But you can talk shit. And then you'd be like. But you can always go back to be like, look, I ranked him number one, so I can't hate him that much. And then everything you say is negative.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we know what you're doing.

[Max]

Except for the defense. You can't say anything about the defense. Defense is incredible. Also, you're like, I hate that they have all these good players and then they go get more pass rush. What's wrong with getting more pass rush? Keep the boys fresh. You should every end of. I don't know why NFL teams don't do it enough.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The Eagles are the. Are one of the only ones always.

[Max]

Work to make your team get better. So many NFL teams get complacent and the Eagles don't.

[Big Cat]

Facts.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I sense a change in Max's tone now that I'm working there.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, this is A. This is a nice bookend. Max has changed on the Rosillo show.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Thank you, Big Cat. That's all you guys. What do you guys. What do you guys release pods again?

[Big Cat]

Monday, Wednesday, Friday. By the way, did I hit you up? You need to talk to our ghostwriter for our book?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I did. I heard from him and then he thought I had was like free the next morning. He's like, I. I don't. And I don't.

[Big Cat]

I don't have.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I will make sure I'm involved in the. In the ghost book. I love talking about ghosts. Thank you, Big Cat.

[Big Cat]

Book about ghosts.

[Max]

All right.

[Big Cat]

Thanks, boys.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'm not going back to college to be your friend. I'm going so I can get Uber one for students. It saves you on Uber and Ubere. I'm there for $0 delivery fee on cheeseburgers, up to 10% off smoothies, and 6% Uber credits back on rides. Just to be clear, I'm there for savings, not whatever you think college is for. Get Uber one for students a membership.

[Big Cat]

To save on Uber and Uber eats. With deals this good, everyone wants to be a student.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Join for just $4.99 a month.

[Big Cat]

Savings may vary eligibility and member terms apply.

[Max]

You want details? Buy.

[Big Cat]

I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine, and best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Lifeadvice.rrmail.com. that is the email to get in your questions for Kyle Ceruti and myself. Let's get right to it. Dream job. 6, 2, 200 pounds. Nice. 35 years old, haven't seen the inside of a gym since one week before spring break freshman year of college.

[Kyle Ceruti]

You're still clocking in at 200.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Good for you, bud. Yeah, but dude, nothing better than the kids working out. That never worked out, by the way. I didn't work out in college. I didn't either.

[Max]

Still don't.

[Ryan Rosillo]

My dudes were like, again, no cheese, no mayo, chest and buys seven days. Like, looks like somebody's ready for Puerto Vallarta. Unbelievable. I'm an attorney. I'm an attorney and have worked in litigation the past 10 years. I was burnt out when a client called and said their in house counsel was leaving and asked if I'd be interested in going in house. This is typically the dream. Less stress, better work, life balance, more perks. But it usually requires a Pay cut. And this client is in a different city which require a move. So I was non committal. This was until they told me the salary before I even interviewed. And it was a 50% raise. I took the interview, got the job started a few weeks ago. All was well until I got an email asking me to interview for another job. Several months prior to taking the in house job, there was a job posting for an attorney position in the athletic department of my alma mater. He's not going to tell us. That's fine. Glad you didn't. Wouldn't have said it. This position would handle nil contracts and work with the teams and coaches to manage nil and compliance. I sent him my resume and never heard back. Then two weeks into my new gig, I got an email asking me to interview. The interview goes great, but at the end of. But at the end, they tell me this is an entry level position and I need to tell them whether I will agree to the salary before the second interview with the athletic director. The salary is half of what the new job pays. For reference, that's your old job, right? He doesn't want me to say, but he was. Yeah. So it's double. It's double. And the job he has now is. Is paying really good money. And the job with the AD is. Yeah, it would have basically been a.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Lateral move before because he said he got a 50% increase and now it'd.

[Max]

Be half of it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was a pay cut before, actually.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Oh, really?

[Max]

Isn't it two pay cuts. This is two pay cuts.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Basically off of the job. So he was at one number before, and this new number is a lot more than the past number. And the new. Well, not new job because it's not his job yet. But the job with the athletic department is still significantly less than the job that he just left, so.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Oh, that he lives.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Damn. Okay, yeah, like, this is the kind of money we're not talking millions here, but it. It's a different lifestyle, a different level of comfort that he's in now.

[Kyle Ceruti]

All right, so doc fees on that new job, huh? Not even thinking about it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, no, you're not. You're not. Even your wife's like, don't even look at that boating license. This is quite literally my dream job. Being a lawyer is fine. Not my passion, but a good job pays the bills. Working in the athletic department, however, would be incredibly interesting and fulfilling. Here's the problem. I'm married with four kids. Well, I think we got your answer.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Well, if they all want to go to one School, maybe it's worth it. I don't know.

[Max]

There's your fulfillment. Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

The cut salary would have been an. Would have an appreciable effect on how my family lives. Yep. I would agree. The house we live in, the activities we do, the vacations, everything. My wife is supportive, but I know it would make our lives less comfortable. On top of that, I'd go from a cushy in house job to grinding to find and sign the next Jared verse. Is it worth it? Well, I mean.

[Big Cat]

There'S.

[Ryan Rosillo]

There's two problems here. I mean, one is all the ones you just laid out, but it's also, how would you feel about going to the place that just gave you this raise? That's a better lifestyle and everything. Like everything that you would want as a lawyer. As you line outline for us, how would you feel about going to them and be like, hey, I'm actually already out of here. All right. It seems like you may not have any issue with that. And sometimes I think in life, like, I know there's so many different times, I'm like, hey, this is the right thing to do. I'm going to do this. And then you do the right thing. And you're like, yep, should have looked out for myself. That was fucking stupid. So, you know, I. You gotta pick and choose how you want to play every single one of these things. So if that's not even a factor and you don't even care, then cool, that's fine. I kind of feel like, especially with these schools getting all this new money, right?

[Kyle Ceruti]

Big 10.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I kind of feel like you say, hey, I'm 40 and this is what my salary is at the new place, and this is my dream job. And that's just not good enough. Is not good enough. And it's just not even close. And I wonder if they would come back with a number that's. It's not matching what you're making now, but close enough where you don't feel like you're sacrificing. More palatable.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Too much. Yeah. Like you haven't even negotiated with them whatsoever, so why not go back to him? Be like, hey, I absolutely want this job and I would take it. I think I should meet with the athletic director anyway, but I can't do it at that salary. And this could be one of those cases where they're like, hey, this guy went here, he's good. He's this age. He's not younger. Like, he, he wants this job. Like, can't we find say 50 grand more so. You know what I mean? Can't we find it for this guy? So you might want to play that move. And if they say no, then it's almost like they're making a decision for you. Because I think financially, like, you've laid it out with four kids, and your wife may be supportive in the whole thing, but, like, the whole point of working this hard is kind of getting to a place where you're not constantly worried about what's coming in and going out every single month. So you might want to just play that one where you. You become the hot girl in the whole thing. Be like, I love this. I'd love to do this job, but that number's just not going to work. But let me meet with the ad anyway. And then if they say no, we can't do any better than that. Who knows? They could come back to you in two years, you know? Right. Yeah.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Yeah. I mean, Ceruti is a parent, so, I mean, he probably has the most valuable stuff here, but I don't think, like, four kids deep is the time to pivot to sports at all costs. You know what I mean? Like, I just have to make this work. And, like, go ahead, buddy.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Max]

Well, I mean, obviously, we are at a new position now. I had plenty of people who are like, dude, you got two kids. What are you thinking? Can't do that. And I think it's just, what's the circumstance? How comfortable do you feel with it? Like, how is there room for growth? Like, I will say, leaving the job that you just took. I'm sure they're nice people. I'm sure it's great. And you. And you seem like a nice guy and want to do right by them, but just, like, the state of how corporate America is these days. You got to kind of look out for yourself, man. And I don't think it's the end of the world if you are just like, hey, this is kind of like a dream job. I'm sorry, but, like, this is what I want to do.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Yeah, they'll just call the other guy that didn't get the job.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Like, hey, actually, well, we've screwed up. Do you want to come back?

[Max]

And they'll probably pay him less, and.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So they'll be good.

[Max]

Like, yeah. So I don't think you have to worry about that at all. The kids thing, man, it really complicates stuff because, yeah, like, you're, you know, when. When you're operating, obviously, on your own. I mean, I'm not telling this Guy, anything he doesn't know. But, you know, when you're operating on your own, it's like, yeah, I could fail and it's fine, I'll figure it out. And then when you got obviously little ones in the mix, you're like, okay, well what's the five year plan? You know, that's a 20 year gig though.

[Kyle Ceruti]

If that's a 20 year gig, I mean, then, yeah, that you might get a huge cut. Well, you might get a huge cut off tuition. I mean, dinosaurs alone.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Certain schools, it's like, dude, if you're, if your mom works here and you can get in, like, you could probably just go here, man.

[Max]

They still do that? Do they still do the, like employees get. I wonder.

[Kyle Ceruti]

They did it when I was growing up. I didn't go to that school, but.

[Ryan Rosillo]

They did do it anyway. Yeah, Yeah, no, go ahead. I gotta be honest, I'm still a little fixated on like social media, Cerruti deciding to stay with me and people being like, well, you have two kids. Like, oh, yeah, I wasn't starting a taco shop. True.

[Kyle Ceruti]

I mean, the last, the last gig was given six months paternity, though.

[Max]

That's the thing, like, you know, having kids. So that's the good.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Yeah, we know that. We do know that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

No, but it's just such a ridiculous thing. It's like this.

[Max]

Oh, yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was multiple people and it really.

[Max]

To be honest with you, like, it really did.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. You just hit my guy.

[Max]

I don't think I, I don't think I did it. Yeah. And like, you know, my wife is, is fully on board with things I want to do and luckily, you know, luckily she does. All right. So, like, we're okay. But like, yeah, plenty of people are just like, you sure you want to do this? You got two kids now. Like, you can't be. You can't be taking risks like this in your career starting from zero. Yada, yada, yada. I'm like, well, I'm not starting from zero. I still feel like I have. I'm still me. Like, I still do the things that I do well. I feel like. And yeah, no, it was, it was it.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Kyle Ceruti]

We didn't start the Roots, Chloe. The Root show available on SoundCloud or something. It was.

[Max]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[Ryan Rosillo]

That's my point. I'm offended.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Yeah, I can tell. I can totally tell.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He's offended.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah. Fucking Rosillo startup, ham radio. Sure you want to do that?

[Kyle Ceruti]

The Spotify. The Spotify benefits were just a little bit like it's just above and beyond where like almost anywhere else that you could find the six months paternity leave. Or was it four months?

[Big Cat]

Whatever.

[Max]

Paternity, for the record, didn't take six.

[Ryan Rosillo]

But it was take six. Yeah. Didn't take six.

[Kyle Ceruti]

There was one guy that had like three kids.

[Max]

Oh, you loser.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Yeah, there was one guy that had like three kids over three and a half years and took the full six months every single time. You know who I'm talking about?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Steve.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Which. Good job for that guy. But I mean, he worked a total of like a half a year and.

[Big Cat]

Two years or something.

[Max]

Three years.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It was crazy.

[Kyle Ceruti]

That's. I think that was the thing when people say with kids, it's like they were just. They were just overboard with all the stuff you got.

[Ryan Rosillo]

All right, let's all calm down.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Let's all calm down and read the next email.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, yeah. No, the fire's been burning. Right. For a while. I didn't need that to motivate me. I just. Moving on. All right. Hey, guys. Six foot one without shoes, tipping the scale. 180 pounds. I don't lift weights, but do dips and push ups when I can. I can't be the only one who straightens their back and sizes someone up as I walk by them. If they look taller than me from afar. Am I. Well, I might correct my posture, but I'm not sure. I'm sizing up everybody that I'm. Anyway, yeah, Ryan, I had kind of.

[Max]

I feel like you're. You take. You scope out the scene. I feel like you're like, hey, who could I kind of take in the situation?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah, I mean, Jason. What would Jason Bourne do?

[Max]

Yeah. Where are the exits? You know?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Do you want a seat at the bar? No, I want a seat over there at the table where my back isn't open.

[Max]

Smart.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Have you. Have you not seen any of the movies?

[Kyle Ceruti]

Takes way longer to get your orders, but I guess if you want to be safe.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I don't know. I had a guy working the. I sat at the bar last night and I don't know if the bartender worked there.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Oh, really? Think it was an American thing.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Didn't talk to me. Didn't ask. Water, nothing. Fucking plates with bugs on them. Wouldn't. Wouldn't move them out of the way. Never talked to him. Never talked to him the entire time. Fascinating.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Do you have that USA stank on you, you think?

[Ryan Rosillo]

And they're just like, fuck this guy. No, I don't. I don't think that was it. I think he just sucked at his job. Like, sucked. Okay. Lucy's the obvious choice for a true nicotine pouch connoisseurs. That's why they're official nicotine pouch partner of Barstool Sports. They go up to 12 milligrams in strength and have unique shape. That feels great. We all use the breakers. They're the only pouches with a hydration capsule inside. They're a totally new kind of pouch, only available from Lucy. You pop it in your mouth, break it with your teeth, and it's instantly hydrated, releasing that nicotine faster, and it's a burst of flavor. No other pouch as that. I promise you that. Gas station pouches get the job done. But once you've tried Lucy, you won't want anything else in your pocket. All right. Player comp is Brian. Is that Mooton? Byron Mooton. Why did I want to pronounce that different of Marilyn Laura Hustle player? That fills the stat sheet for context. I'm 38. Is it moton? No, I don't think so. Anyway, I don't remember him. Sorry.

[Max]

I don't either.

[Ryan Rosillo]

He a Terp? So I haven't played EA College, EA Sports college football in 15 years. But after his return in 2025, a group of friends decided to buy the game so we could play Dynasty mode together. Basically, we each select a team and play at our season with a mix of computer game and user game. I'm not much of a gamer, but I can hold my own. In our group, there are five guys, including me. In the ENT of the 2025 season, I was the dynasty punching bag, the easy W on the schedule, et cetera, et cetera. We got through 10 seasons over the course of the year, and I didn't win a title and maybe made the playoffs once. If you'd expanded to 24 teams, you probably would. I knew my role. Throw bones to the other guys, then get their W so everyone stays happy and keep the good times rolling. Or maybe I didn't win because I just wasn't good and everyone was better than me. But I never quit. That brings us to 2026. New year, new game, new season, new me. I came out of the gate hot. We played five seasons or so, and I've won the national championship twice. No one else has won a championship, leaving me alone on the mountaintop. I've won four consecutive Heisman. In just about every other award you can think of, one guy had a bow out because he had a second kid. Yeah, I don't. I. I understand That a second guy since bowed out to take a break from gaming, presumably from being this year's version of me last year. I've been accused of spamming certain plays and not playing the right way. That used to be me with Vic and then Culpepper, Randy Moss. Guys are like, is this even fucking fun for you? Like another W. Blackhawks though.

[Max]

94.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Not fun for anybody. We're down to three guys and I keep winning. We're currently set on Heisman level play and everyone has a pretty good team. So the playing field is even. I'm giving myself. Am I giving myself too much credit for the downfall of this dynasty? Because should I win less often so the other guys can taste the glory? How else am I supposed to play a video game if not to win at any cost? Spamming plays or not, we all have access to the same offensive and defensive playbooks. I've been told to play the game more legitimately and less video game. Like, I can't do that. I'm here to crush records and win natties. What do I do? Do I scale back, let others win quietly quit? Have I broken some unwritten rule? Some video game etiquette? Note the league commissioner has changed sliders and gameplay options, like limiting the number of times you can run a certain player, how frequently we can run plays, presumably to slow me down. It hasn't worked.

[Kyle Ceruti]

It just moneyballed this whole league.

[Max]

I'm a little nervous. This is one of my buddies writing in.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Oh, really?

[Ryan Rosillo]

Yeah.

[Max]

So we have a. We. We did. We did five guys. Nobody quit. And somebody definitely didn't quit because they had two kids. So it's a little bit different. But we have a very similar situation going on.

[Ryan Rosillo]

You can quit on your second kid.

[Max]

Yeah, I wouldn't quit. I'll always find time, you know, late night, you know, get a little grinding. So. So 2025, we had a. We did probably 15 or so seasons. Maybe I wasn't bad. I was. Virginia Tech made the playoffs a lot, but never won a title. And there were guys that were better than me. There were guys that won titles. It was fine. And then this year we were like, hey, we're going to be worse schools because it was too easy last year. Like we would just make the playoff every year. It was kind of dumb.

[Ryan Rosillo]

So I got it.

[Max]

We were school. So I'm New Mexico this year and third season in, I won the first title of the group. And I think that. I think. I don't know if it was necessarily me winning the title, but There are dudes in their feelings. Like, sliders were changed. There's a group chat dedicated to people just kind of bitching about gameplay, which is kind of annoying to me a little bit because, like, you know, it's not like you could look things up on how to play the game. I'm not saying the game's perfect. It's certainly not. It's incredibly flawed. There's a lot of dumb things in the game, especially the recruiting. But I don't know, man. Like, all these. I'm with the emailer. All of this information is available for people to learn. Like, you. You can. You can play whatever version of the game that you want to play, and everybody wants to win. I feel like there's just kind of some sore losers here. So I. I don't know. Like, it sounds like some of your friends kind of can't take it, which is a bummer because the game's supposed to be about having fun and camaraderie with your buddy.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Well, I. I don't. I don't really understand. It's like, again, going back years, if you dialed up SEGA hockey and you picked Chicago Blackhawks, like, people just ask you to leave the room. Right? But that's not what's happening here. The Culpepper Moss thing was probably pretty annoying. Four goes. And then you just be like, all right, let me slide my guy over. I'll, like, kind of throw it sort of on the seam, and then, you know, Moss is going to win it every single time. I. I mean, look, this guy was getting his ass kicked before, and now he's winning. So now that's his problem. It's his. What's wrong with improving yourself?

[Max]

Well, they think he's cheating because there's, like. To play the game. You know, there's like, the ways that, like, the streamers play that everyone thinks are kind of. It's basically just, like, exploiting the game, you know? Like what? There's, like, you know, certain formations, certain plays, certain, like, archetypes of players that are not kind of. They're just better than everybody else.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I'm not a big guy, so I don't know this. Yeah, me neither.

[Max]

Neither am I. I just know these things to be true.

[Kyle Ceruti]

Yeah, it sounds like you might be late at night in the basement after the kids go down.

[Max]

I've watched a YouTube video or two about defensive schemes in the game. The game.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Welcome to Ceru Cement Dome. I'm in the basement again.

[Max]

I wish. I wish.

[Ryan Rosillo]

It's a great name, being a ball Huggers. We're kicking it off here pretty soon. Oh man.

[Kyle Ceruti]

I mean the only thing.

[Ryan Rosillo]

And over here's a girl with boobs.

[Kyle Ceruti]

The only thing I have that's kind of like that is I. There's a nine year age gap between me and my younger brother. And I think I was like circling around 20. I might have been like 19. I think I was fresh out of high school. And we would play Madden together and there was like. I couldn't figure this out. He just figured out that if he did the fake field goal he could march down the field on one of the Maddens. I don't know what it was. I changed defensive. I was, I was, I was trying to do like all the like punt. I was trying to do everything. I couldn't do it. He would march down the field like 10 yards at a time. And it was just. I stopped play. I, I don't know if I've played Madden with him since. Cause it was like four games in a row and I just, I tried everything I could. I guess I wasn't a big YouTube guy back then. Like how to stop fake field goal.

[Ryan Rosillo]

I just figured it was terrible. It was terrible.

[Kyle Ceruti]

I mean it's different. Like you call it spamming plays, but that's the only. I remember the rage I felt and having to let my little brother down after he's on a high because he's found this cheat code to beat me. You know, four, four separate games in a row where I'm just like, I don't think we're playing Madden. You just lost your best bud for Madden. I'm sorry. And. Cause he just wouldn't stop doing it. So that's the. I just remember that rage. That was real rage.

[Max]

I had a buddy, still a friend of mine, a good friend of mine, he used to like spam with Julius Pepper. So he would basically just like drop back with Julius because Julius Pepper's in Madden in like 0506 was unbelievable. So he would literally drop back with him and just like patrol the middle of the field. So he had like four interceptions a game with Julius, 10 sacks. And you're just like, what am I supposed to do? Like I can't do anything. I can't play like Julius. He's six, six. He moves like a, like a cornerback. Like what? How am I supposed to play this game? How am I supposed to play offense? And he used to just dominate us as you know. I don't think I ever really ever beat him growing up because he was just so good With Julius Peppers and now, you know, ncaa, you kind of can't do that anymore. It got nerfed a little bit.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Hmm. Well, look, if they change everything around, I don't know how you're playing. I don't play the games anymore. But if they've adjusted the sliders to the whole thing, I mean, maybe he's doing something that's annoying to these guys, but I can't tell if it's because of his gameplay or they're just used to, like, hey, you weren't. You weren't good. You weren't supposed to be good. Like. Like, I keep bringing up hockey, but. And there was just guys that were marks. And then I remember I was a mark for a really long time. And then I learned the move. I learned the deke. And then guess what? Guys weren't comfortable with it. I had an entire. There was an entire year I was behind everybody. And then I put some serious time in, was like, oh, this is the move. This is all you guys been doing the entire time. Like, all right, this isn't that hard. Next thing you know, you're playing with the Capitals. Three, two, win. The guy that owned the room for a long time is like, I don't. I don't like this. I don't. I don't like that you beat me. Next thing you know, you're beating everybody. Maybe your coursework's falling behind a little, but, you know, it's not your fault. Fedorov's sniper. All right, Eiserman. I don't. I don't. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, we probably. Maybe we didn't get to read that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Kyle Ceruti]

We don't need to follow 10 minutes on that.

[Ryan Rosillo]

Jesus Christ. That was long. A little long for that one. I don't know if that. I have to apologize to the audience, but we'll just. We'll keep it moving. All right? Thanks, Kyle. Thanks to Ceruti for this one. Thanks to Big Cat for stopping by the podcast. Make sure you subscribe to the Ryan Rosillo show, part of the Barstool Network. Sam.