How Many SEC Teams Will Make CFP? Plus, Coaching Hot Seat Winners & Losers

All right.

Welcome to the show.

Others receiving votes, the overreaction Sunday edition.

Uh, Pat 40 joined as always by my Sports Illustrated colleagues, Brian Fisher and Kevin Sweeney.

And, uh, gentlemen, I guess I would say Saturday in a way was a save your job Saturday, or at least elongate your job for a couple of guys, make your job look more manageable, perhaps salvageable.

Uh, for some other guys, not so much.

There, there were some hot seat coaches that stay on the hot seat, and then a few who at least improved their standing will decide how much as we go through this.

Uh, we're also gonna see if we can sort out the one-loss teams in the SEC.

Really hard to do.

I went and watched, uh, Missouri, 1 loss, Missouri, hang a very big loss on Florida.

There's 71-loss teams, I believe, now in that conference piled up.

Um, we will talk about, uh, The, the, the remarkable events in Fort Collins and in Boulder, as the state of Colorado, like, goes off the rails.

So, plenty to get to here.

Um, gentlemen, let's start with, uh, Let's start with, with a couple of guys, several guys that, that won games that felt like might be a sign of a turned corner, or at least something that's gonna take the heat off a little bit.

Um, and will you guys tell me, jobs saved.

Job of help doesn't really matter that much.

Uh, let's start with Mike Norvell, Florida State.

They thumped Virginia.

And this felt like one of the first times in a long time that Florida State won a game that actually may help or resonate.

Uh, he would be a very expensive firing at a school that doesn't have a lot of money.

I think a lot of the fans are, Already checked out on him, but still, uh, they've won two games in a row.

Central Arkansas doesn't count, but Virginia, which played in the ACC championship game last year, they beat 38 to 7 on Saturday.

Uh, their losses are to Alabama and SMU.

The SMU loss was not good.

SMU is not that great, and they were at home, and they were like +3 turnover and still lost.

But they're sitting at 3 and 2.

They're hitting a really hard part of the schedule.

Brian, how much did Florida State wamping on Virginia helped Mark Mike Norvell.

Yeah, it, it was huge, you know, and I think Mike is in an interesting spot to where, you know, like the school does not want to pay that massive buyout, but by any stretch of the imagination.

So the more that he can help himself out, it really does help Florida State out.

And look, you know, you, you do look at their schedule and you want to play the schedule game, and you add this win over Virginia to, uh, to the docket, you know what, that game against Louisville, uh, next week.

That is winnable based on what we've seen from the Cardinals recently.

Uh, yeah, you could probably mark the Miami game, uh, especially in Miami as a loss, but, uh, Clemson, winnable, BC winnable.

Pitt now, uh, given Mason Henschel is out, that's winnable.

NC State, that is a winnable game now.

And, uh, maybe you can throw the, the Florida game, it's a rival game, of course, end of the year, you never know what's, what's gonna happen there.

Maybe not only making a bowl for, for Mike Norvello, you're talking about maybe 789 wins.

I mean, this is, um, this is a massive, I think one of those, those games that really can flip a season.

That might be what we saw out of the Knows, and that's gonna be a huge not only for Mike Norvell, but really for Florida State.

that, you know, they, they wanna kind of restructure their athletic department, find a new.

Athletic director, uh, first and foremost, actually make a decision on Mike Norvell.

I, I think that uh that win over Virginia, as convincing as it was, is gonna go a long ways to possibly keeping him there for at least another season in Tallahassee.

It was definitely a good weekend for Mike Norvell.

There's no question, right?

Between to, to look as good as they did, to dominate a game.

To be, like, physically overwhelming in a game, I think is, is a great sign for Florida State.

I think that's been a a a real knock on them is that, you know, they just haven't had the dudes up front on either side of the ball, and to see them grow, I think, especially on the offensive line, that felt like a weakness of their football team in those first couple of games of the year.

It seems like it's turned a corner, that's, that's a really nice sign and As you said, Brian, the schedule has opened up a little bit, it's not easy by any stretch, but, you know, they got some breaks here with with the Hensel injury, with where Clemson's at, with the way Louisville looks, and, and with, with Lincoln Kienholtz a little banged up too, um, you know , I think he'll play, but, you know, maybe not quite himself, like that, those are all big deals.

And I think if you came into the year and you said Florida State has a chance to win 8 football games, like, you would have said, yeah, Mike Norrell's almost definitely surviving that, right?

And so, Yeah, maybe, you know, look, I, I, I think it will never feel comfortable for, for, for, for Mike this year because of where the money is and how much discontent there is within that fan base.

But if they can build some momentum, bring back Chroma, who is a a a stud at running back, there's, there's reasons for optimism right now that probably didn't exist a couple of weeks ago, and uh that, that, that's a big time, big time step in the right direction if you're Mike Norvell.

You guys are more optimistic than I am here a little bit.

I, I, it's overreaction Sunday and, and you're swinging to the positive.

I'm still I'm still in wait and see mode.

That was a great win, no doubt about it, and they did just roll it up on the ground, 280 yards or so rushing.

Ashton Daniels ran for a bunch.

So, they, they, that was significant, as you noted, their, their offensive line had not been considered good.

So their offense is clicking, it's playing better, but I, I gotta see this play out.

I gotta see him win some road games.

Louisville, disappointing right now, but still, you're on the road there.

Miami, I would say no chance.

Uh, rivalry game, so maybe a sliver of a chance.

We'll see about Clemson, BC fine.

Pitt, even without Heschel, I still a, I think a, a solid team on the road.

NC State toss up Florida.

I saw Florida get pummeled in person.

I still think they're a pretty good team, so.

If they, if they can get to 8, then we're talking.

7, I don't know, we have a discussion , 6.

I'm not sure there's enough support for that, but is there enough money to do something about it?

So, we'll see on uh.

On, on Mike Norvell, I'd say, I'd say we're split there.

More optimism from you two than from me.

Uh, Dave Aranda at Baylor, this guy, talk about a survivor.

Uh, there's been multiple years when we thought Dave Aranda may get fired, and he has not yet, and, and the Bears are 4 and 1 this season and absolutely obliterated Arizona State on the road Saturday.

None of their wins previously really resonated very much.

Prairie View, nobody cares.

Louisiana Tech, Conference USA, Colorado, bad.

This time, your first true road game of the year, and you go to Arizona State and absolutely smoke them 55 to 19.

DJ Lagway looked like a guy he can sometimes look like in that game, 306 yards passing, 4 touchdowns.

Uh , that one, that jumped out to me.

And this is another one, you can play the schedule game, and Big 12, who knows, a lot of toss-ups in there.

TCU.

Um, they, they got a week off, and then they got TCU coming to Waco, they're at Kansas, they're at UCF, Iowa State.

I could see them winning all of those.

That if you win all four of those, and you're, you've got 8 wins, and then you're coming down the stretch against BYU, Texas Tech, Houston, that, that could be really interesting.

So, uh, I am, I'm probably a little more optimistic about Aranda than I was about Norvell.

What do you guys think, Kevin?

Yeah, I mean, they're very optimistic based on the schedule, very optimistic based on how they're playing.

Um, Lagway's been great and, you know, the Joe Klanderman hire as defensive coordinator, so the 110th ranked defense in SP+ last year, they're top 30 defense right now and playing really well.

Uh, I, I was very impressed with, with how they looked last night, obviously, but, you know, look, they're, what, 6 inches from being 5-0?

I mean, that, that, that, that Auburn finish was as close as it could have been.

And you think about how much that result might mean later in the year for for Baylor if they're in the playoff conversation, which is not out of the realm of possibility with how wide open the Big 12 is, with how well DJ Lagway is playing, and with how open up the schedule is.

So, um, yeah, if I'm Dave Aranda, I'm walking around with quite a bit of confidence here, uh, at least, at least throughout the month of October right now.

Yeah, at least for now, because you do look at that schedule and you look at the end of it, and you see, you see BYU, you see Texas Tech, and you see Houston, 3 ranked foes right there .

And that's where you say, all right, if, if you end up losing 3 straight teams of the year , maybe things are a little bit more precarious than they are right now.

But, uh, I, I mean, that, that was a statement of intent, kind of, kind of win, uh, you know, at Arizona State.

The, one of the teams I think that was in the running before this week to, uh, to possibly be that uh uh team opposite of BYU, um, you know, to make it to Arlington for the Big 12 championship game.

And, uh, it wasn't just, just the defense.

It was everything clicking on, on both sides of the ball.

And I think, I think that does give them optimism going into it, you know, a rivalry game against TCU, going in against a very winnable, uh, November slate before they do meet those.

opponents and, you know, look, uh, you know, this is a team that I, I, I don't think, you know, any, anybody's taking them in terms of the Big 12 race truly seriously, but they're probably gonna be a factor in terms of who's actually going to make it to Arlington given who they play down the stretch.

So, um, you know, kudos to Dave Van.

He, he was a lot more confident, I think, going into the year about this, this, this crew, but, uh, you know, it needed a little bit of time to, to mesh and, uh, we, we saw proof positive there against the Sun Devils.

All right, uh, Dave Doran, North Carolina State, got the big home win against Louisville there.

It was back and forth, but Really pretty well controlled the game.

That's their first significant win of the season.

App State, not a bad win.

Richmond, nobody cares.

They obviously, they started with a brutal performance against Virginia, and then gave away the game against Vanderbilt.

And I thought the way the Vanderbilt game ended could Cast a cloud over the rest of the year, but it doesn't look like that's happening.

So, kudos to the Wolfpack for bouncing back, for circling the wagons, if you will, and uh coming back and getting a good win there.

Uh, Brian, what, where would you say that, what, what does this do for Doran?

You know, he, he, he's one of those coaches where it seems like, uh, you know, he just can't keep getting away with it, and, and he just ends up doing that.

Like that, that is Dave, the Dave Dorn experience, you know, in a, in a nutshell, you know, you, you lose a game you're not supposed to, and then you run off a couple of wins in a row, uh, that people weren't expecting.

And, uh, you know, you wind up 8 and 49 and 3, you know, 7 and 5, and Uh, we, we roll on over to the next year, and, and that just kind of seems like where, what the Wolfpack are, you know, under him.

And, and maybe that does lead to maybe a mutual parting of the ways at the end of the year, uh , in terms of, hey, let's just, let's try something new on, on both sides.

Maybe, maybe that is ultimately where the Wolfpack and, and Dave ended up landing.

But, uh, you know, look , CJ Bailey played a little bit better.

Uh, certainly, the defense, uh, outside of a few big plays they allowed Louisville, um, you know, looked improved and, and, you know, this.

This is the more complete, uh, NC State team that I think we expected coming into the year.

We really haven't seen it.

We really haven't seen 4 quarters from them, but, uh, you know, kudos to, to Dave.

I, I think this was a, a massive win, especially for the program, just to, you know, kind of at, at home in that environment.

I, I think that was big for not only his job security, but I, I think to give the confidence, uh, you know, to his team moving forward in the ACC play where it seems like every game probably is gonna be much more of a toss-up moving forward.

Yeah, I agree with that.

I, I think the 3 games you circle are the 3 in-state matchups that they still have in the ACC slate, right?

You have Wake next week who By the way, Jake Dicker should be in the national coach of the Year conversation.

He's done an unbelievable job with how good they look.

They, they beat the brakes off of Stanford yesterday, but that's a, that's a very important game at Carter Finlay, like it's a game, like, if you want a stick, you probably need to have it if you're Dave Doran.

You have Duke a couple of weeks later, also at home.

This is not a great Duke team, but it's a better Duke team than I think we expected.

Again, if you're NC State, you're trying to, you're trying to hang on, that's really important, and then you close the year at Carolina and could, what could be a, uh, It could be quite the hot seat bowl between him and Chapel Bill, see how that one shapes up, but I think you want 2 out of 3 of those at minimum to feel, feel good about yourself for Dave Dorn.

Yeah, and 2 out of 3 is gonna be tough, I think, the way, the way Wake looks and the way Duke has played.

Now, you know, we'll see health and and momentum and all those sort of things, but I mean, Wake Wake Forest is good, and Duke is very, very solid, uh, looks like the kind of team that will not beat itself, then who knows with North Carolina.

But yes, the tobacco road pecking order and hierarchy there could be really important, because you don't want to slip down and be 3rd or 4th out of those four.

So, where does NC State end up in that?

And yeah, what's the, what's the level?

Is there a level of fatigue between Doran and the fans where we're just like, OK.

You know, we've been doing this for a long time.

Do we, do we need to keep going or not?

Uh, Luke Fickle, who got his first big win last week, added on to it this week, uh, taking care of business at home, beating Michigan State by 4 touchdowns, to go on the road and beat Penn State, that got everybody fired up.

Then you come back home and just clean the clocks of the Spartans.

And all of a sudden, they're sitting there 4-1 and their one losses to Notre Dame, and it wasn't like an absolute colossal mismatch of a game.

So, I think you're feeling pretty good if you're fickle and if you're Wisconsin.

Now, boy, there's there's some schedule left coming up here.

UCLA on the road, USC at Iowa are the next three.

After that, Some winnable games, but, uh, it's intriguing to me to think that.

Like if, if they do well in Los Angeles, they got a week off and then they're at UCLA on the 17th, that game could have some repercussions in terms of the Big 10 race.

So, uh, a lot to be watching out there.

Kevin, what, what's your feelings on where Fickle stands?

Yeah, this has been the start they needed, um, a ton of confidence, I think they're playing with now, and Joseph's been really good of late.

That being said, like, Winning at Penn State felt a lot bigger than it does right now with how Penn State got absolutely destroyed by Northwestern on Friday night.

Um, I think Northwestern's a good football team, we've talked about this, Kurt Signettti thinks Northwestern is a good football team.

A lot of people seem to think that the Wildcats are pretty darn good, but, yeah, I mean, if, if, if we swap out Penn State's branding for uh a Big 10 also ran, maybe this doesn't feel quite as optimistic as it probably does right now.

Well, and, and hosting USC, I mean, that is like the, you know, the feelings and, and, uh, you know, hot seat talk coming in and around that one.

It's gonna be massive, really on both sides.

And I, I, I'm just curious, you know, as good a start as this is, can, can you keep running Colton Joseph like that, like game after game after game, you know, when you are playing Iowa, and then you know, you got Purdue and you got Minnesota, some of these tough, tougher defense.

Defenses, um, that, you know, they're just gonna load up in the box.

Like, you know, I, I know Bob Chesney, he, he is like, all right, we, we are not gonna let this guy's legs beat us.

Like that is going to be the keys, uh, going into this week, you know, can, can they keep this up?

You know, where's the depth, um, you know, from the Badgers?

That's, that's really my big question going into this kind of Big 10 West type of schedule that they, they're gonna have.

And yes, it certainly, you know, looks good to where you could win 89 games.

Uh, but actually getting over the line, especially as you've gotten kind of the hopes up of the fan base, can you actually rise up and meet those?

I, I think that's going to be key for Luke Fuel.

I think, I think that USC game, that's, that's gonna hinge a lot on this season and kind of where the fan base is ultimately gonna, gonna jump on in and, and say, let's, let's bring them back.

Let's keep investing in this roster.

Let's, let's do this again, uh, next year.

I, I think that's gonna be a, a big key game, uh, on the conference slate coming up.

Yeah, I, I, see, Colton Joseph right now, the usage is, is manageable.

He's averaging 10 carries a game.

If he was averaging 18 or 20, I might be a little more concerned.

They've upped it, he's ran 13 in each of the two Big 10 games, 13 for 141 on the ground for your quarterback, uh, very good against Michigan State.

So, you know , sustain, like, do you want him carrying 20 games?

No, but do you want him 10 to 15?

Absolutely, and I think you can do that.

Uh, and then play good defense around and behind them.

So, then the defense has been pretty darn good after falling behind 17 to 0 to Penn State.

They haven't given up a touchdown, uh, in the second half against Penn State or the entire game against Michigan State.

So, it's starting to look a little more like a Luke Fickle operation that we've been waiting for for years there.

Uh, but speaking of that USC Wisconsin game on October 24th, USC Lincoln Riley came back from, uh, Inglorious loss to Oregon, fell behind by double digits to Washington at home, then the Trojans rallied and won, um, maybe not in overpowering fashion, but the key word is won, and they're sitting there at 5 and 1.

Cause they played, they started early.

And uh how are we feeling about Lincoln Riley?

I, I, I'm curious, Brian, uh, your thoughts on, on where he stands.

You know, I, I, I almost think he, he, you know, his, his hot seat got turned up even worse, you know, even after a win, you know, I just, the way USC played, like it was the same old things that we not only saw against Oregon, but really you've seen throughout his tenure, right?

You know, penalties, you know, backbreaking penalties in particular, bad tackling, just really a lack of defense.

I mean, that, that one touchdown Washington had.

In the second half, it was like they were pushing the guy straight to the end zone, you know, that was incredible, uh, like, you know, like you just want to pull your hair and, you know, it was homecoming, you know, that week for USC.

So like you got a lot of alums coming into town, a lot of big boosters, you know, coming to watch the game, you know, expecting, uh, you know, to see a Washington that kind of came in limping, you know, to the Coliseum.

See him and then they end up taking a, you know, a 2-touchdown lead and, you know, give credit to the USC players for, for, you know, coming back.

But like this is not in any way, the, the, the kind of promised land that Lincoln was, was advertising for the season, saying, all right, we, we've got alignment, we've got the players , we're gonna have a better defense.

None of that is showing up so far.

It wasn't just last week against Oregon, it was this week against Washington, and Um, you know, I, I think that the Wisconsin game, taking a long trip to Penn State in the whiteout environment, no less, like even as bad as Penn State is, we, we all know that, that, uh, that Beaver Stadium environment, it, it, it's, it's, uh, I, I think still questionable there for, for Lincoln Riley because this is a team that's nowhere playing up to their potential and nowhere playing up to their talent that they have on hand.

And, uh, you add on to that, just kind of the mental mistakes like this is, this is the same old story.

And I think that's what USC fans are ultimately really frustrated about uh with, with him and, and, and this program.

Yeah, I, I don't know how you came away from yesterday feeling overly confident that they're certainly not competing with Ohio State or Indiana, but that they're beating UCLA, that they're beating Penn State in the whiteout, that they're winning at Wisconsin, and they probably need All three of those to feel good about Lincoln's future, right?

Ignore Ohio State, ignore Indiana, like, you, you better win the other ones, and I, I, I, I don't see that happening right now, maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I, I did not think that was a performance that inspired much of any confidence.

No, really, all it did was avoid disaster.

Yeah, I mean, you lose and it's really bad.

You win, and at least you can turn the page and say, OK, we better improve for the back half of the schedule because it's hard, and we're not very good at this point.

The one, yes, the, the clip that Brian was referring to a pass, I believe, to a tight end from Washington, where the USC defenders, it really did look like they're playing two-hand touch.

Like, if we just touch him, he's down, right?

Oh, no, no, he's just gonna roll on for a touchdown.

I mean, just truly pathetic and, and in a play that does seem emblematic of the lack of toughness that USC has played with, uh , kind of throughout Riley's tenure there.

So, to be determined there, nobody's, I think, coming up and saying Lincoln turned things around with that win.

Uh, one more, on the, on the, on the winning side, Matt Rhule, Nebraska.

They absolutely bludgeoned Maryland, but what else should you do to Maryland?

Uh, they actually were behind Maryland, trailed Maryland for a while, and then came back at 1.

They're 5-0.

They have beaten nobody.

They've beaten them all fairly convincingly, but they beat Ohio by 28.

They beat Bowling Green by 49, they beat North Dakota by 27, they beat Michigan State, who's not good, by 18, and they beat Maryland by 25.

Kevin, your thoughts, where is, where does Lin, uh, I'm sorry, Matt Rhule stand, uh, midway here?

I mean, I think you feel pretty good about where they're at.

That was not a good performance yesterday, um, especially in the first half, defensively, and Calandria missed a ton of throws.

I mean, it was, it was jarring to watch how far off he was.

I watched, I ended up watching, like, a weird amount of that football game, just with the way the schedule ended up working out.

And it was like , oh my God, receiver running wide open that Anthony Calandria misses by 7 yards, and then the next play, it's like 3rd and 13, and here goes Calandria scrambling and spinning his way to a 1st down.

It was, it was quite the show, um, much easier show to, to, to pull off against Maryland's defense than it will be against Indiana.

So, look, I, I, I think you feel confident, and that being said, I mean, if, I, I was impressed when they blew out Michigan State.

Michigan State looks like a dud.

Uh, yeah, they've, they've got a lot to prove with , with the, the next 3 weeks, Indiana, Oregon, Washington, see if they can win.

Win one of those, beat beat Washington at home, be 6 and 2 at the November turn, that would be a, that would be a nice step with a manageable close to the year.

I don't know, that seems realistic, like 8 and 4 for Nebraska this year with a harder schedule than they they had last year, that would be a nice step, I think, for Matt Rhule.

It, it would be a nice step, and, you know, the thing about this team is it almost seems like they sleepwalk for, for, you know, a quarter, a quarter and a half, and they just need a spark, you know, kind of get them going and, and then they kind of like wake up and say, all right, all right, we're actually playing a game, you know, they, they got the pick 6 against Maryland that kind of, uh, you know, turned, turned the tables and, and really got them going, uh, this past week, and, you know, even though Ohio in, in the opener, you know, there was, that was a close game in the second half, and then they started to kind of pull away late.

Um, I, I, I'm just gonna be curious .

I, I don't think Matt Rhule's in, in any like particular danger to, to, to get axed given that where his num the number on his buyout and the fact that they're doing stadium renovations and, and a whole bunch of stuff, uh, there at Nebraska, but like, I, I do wonder, is this gonna be a little bit of, of an empty calorie season, you know, like if, if you don't end up beating.

In Indiana or in Oregon or, you know, threatening, uh Ohio State later in the year, you know, possibly be in Iowa late.

Like, I mean, I, I think there, he's, he's gonna have to get one of those kind of marquee wins to really get the fan base, I think back around him, and I'm not sure that he has the talent, but, um, you know, in terms of the overall roster and, and Anthony Calandria, like that's, that's like you, you know, you shake up your dice and, and, and you're gonna be surprised by whatever you roll at this point, uh, give, give.

How, how, uh, you know, loose with the football he is at times.

So, um, you know, it's probably gonna be an entertaining season, probably a quality, solid, uh, solid year for the the Huskers.

But, uh, you know, I, I think for Matt Rhule, you know, to, to really say momentum is going to be behind him, he, he's gonna have to knock off one of those highly ranked opponents that's still left on the docket, and I'm not quite sure that, uh, based on what we've seen so far that Nebraska has that, those 4 quarters to kind of pull that off, um, you know, moving forward.

Yeah, I, I think empty calories is the way I would describe the entire Matt Rhule tenure so far.

They've, they've beaten a lot of teams that they should beat, they don't win the big games.

Sometimes they lose, uh, games they should win , and they haven't been good in close games.

Now, they haven't played close games yet this year, so we don't, can't put that yardstick on them, per se.

But the Indiana game provides a, a great yardstick because one of the things that Truly reinforced that Kurt Signnete means business was when he beat Nebraska 56 to 7 his first year.

Uh, at Indiana.

And so, two years later now, they go to Lincoln, and, hey, Lincoln, they'll get some atmosphere.

They will get it going there, 80,000 people, uh, but we'll see whether the team gives them enough to, to get excited about.

And defensively, they, like, Indiana's offense is a wagon.

Defensively, they, they kind of still wax and wane a little bit, but they got two backs, two receivers, and a quarterback who can absolutely go.

And that's a lot to stop.

So yes, Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State, Iowa.

I feel like Matt needs to win at least one of them.

Not saying he's gonna get fired if he doesn't, but if you want the fans to actually buy in, uh, heading into next year.

All right, some guys who did not.

Help themselves on the hot seat.

Gotta start with poor Shane Beamer at South Carolina, where they have this season, they have specialized in getting leads, getting people excited, and then falling apart.

And this was, uh, happened again.

Kentucky rallies, beat them 35-34 in overtime.

Uh, I believe, gosh, they're up 17-0, I think, in that game.

Uh, they led Alabama, they led Mississippi State.

They've lost 3 of them.

Defense, not very good right now in South Carolina.

Uh, Brian, where do you think, uh, Shane Beamer stands?

They are 2 and 3, and the schedule ain't easy.

Uh, oh, to the, to the point where I was like, uh, worried that, uh, I might be in transit on, on Sunday and, uh, get, getting the notification that, uh, maybe, maybe the school is gonna pull the trigger.

Like I, I do think the, the frustration in that fan base is very palpable and he's playing for an AD that, that didn't hire him.

And, uh, you know, as, as much as we talk about the, the buyouts, like it's not.

The most prohibitive buyout and, you know, for, for an SEC school at this point.

And look, you know, in, in their last six SEC games, did not lead against Alabama recently.

They've blown leads of 22-14, 7-0, 30 to 3, 16 to 0, and 17 to 0, and in those last two, this year.

So like it's, it's, it's a thing now in terms of blowing these big leads for Shane Beamer.

And so like, as much as you like to say, you know, yes, we, we finally saw a little bit more of the Lenora Sellers that we expected to see.

This season, uh, you know, against Kentucky, um, you know, it's just been one thing after another, uh, you know, they're in Columbia.

And I think if, you know, it would be even worse, you know, if, if Clemson actually got their act together and, and we're, we're, you know, moving in the right direction.

So that at least they could, you know, point across the, across the way and say, uh, well, you know, uh, it's more of a statewide thing at this point in South Carolina, but, uh, I, I don't think it helps them at all, um, you know, in terms of blowing these big leads.

It's just the, the same old show time after time.

And I think that's, that's, that's gonna wear on a fan base, and that's gonna wear on a fan base when it comes to giving for NIL, giving for that roster, moving forward.

When, when the guys like Leonor Sellers and, uh, Dylan Stewart are off to the NFL.

So, like, uh, what is the plan going to be moving forward to actually get the program back on track to where you can be a solid, even mid-tier SEC team?

Like, I, I, I don't know.

And I think that's that's gonna be a big, uh, question, I think facing Shane and the Gamecocks, uh, moving forward against a pretty brutal schedule coming up.

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot you can say, but at at the core of it, the issue for Shane Beamer is that he has lost at home to Mississippi State and Kentucky.

Kentucky has a first year head coach, like, I, I, I have a hard time believing there will ever be a time in the SEC where losing at home to Mississippi State and Kentucky will not be a, a good way to be on the very, very, very, very, very hot seat, so.

Yup, no, that's no doubt.

I, I, I talked about it, uh, last week, I think, um, that Kentucky, South Carolina tends to be a latter game.

You win and your season is pretty good, you lose, it's probably not very good.

And to lose that one, especially in the fashion that they did, that's rough.

And then, yes, you also lose in Columbia to Mississippi State, and I am looking, other than Arkansas, and even that one's on the road, I'm not sure they'll be favored in another game.

Texas A&M maybe, depending on the state of the Aggies, uh, when they come to Columbia on November 7th, but there is not a lot of obvious wins there.

They're -6 turnover margins so far this year.

Uh, they, you know, they're mistake-prone.

They don't make plays in the clutch.

Not a good combination.

All right, two guys, I, I kind of look at them in tandem cause I look at their schools in tandem, Maryland and Rutgers, who joined the Big 10 at the same time, to the Big Ten's everlasting regret other than cable subscriptions, and Mike Lockley and Greg Schiano, both of whom lost again.

Um, it was Lockley did get, they, they led.

Which is a big thing with locks, as, uh, Kevin's pointed out that one of his rallying cries at Big 10 Media Days in July was, hey, we led 11 of the 12 games last year.

Well , that's great, that's nice.

Um, they led this one too.

They lost.

And, uh, Schiano, I, I'm not shocked at all that Rutgers lost and lost handily to Indiana.

But where do we think these two guys stand, Brian?

Uh, probably both on the way out.

Um, you know , look, especially with locks, I mean, 17 and 50, 17 and 50 in Big 10 play, uh, is Mike Locksley , and you, you don't see it getting any better anytime soon, like just the, the amount of uncompetitive losses amongst them.

And I, and I think this is, you know, one of those jobs where you, you could probably, if you're, you know, an up and coming coach, can, can look at it pretty attractively, you know, in terms of, yes, your, your roster is not gonna be.

Necessarily like super high-end in terms of the Big 10, but it's gonna be somewhat competitive .

And you know what, there's a lot of winnable games, you know, in, in the Big 10 there for the taking.

Mike Huxley has not taken any of them, uh, certainly with the Terps in, in recent years.

Uh, I mean, he's won 2 Big 10 games in the last 3 seasons, like that's, that's just not gonna cut it.

And, uh, you know, I think it's more of a, a win, not, not if it's kind of scenario there, there in uh College Park.

And I think the, the same probably applies, um, you know, further up at Rutgers as well.

It's just like, you know, at some point, um, you know, especially given how ambitious, you know, these, these ADs, these presidents, these, you know, boards are at this point, you know, for, for a lot of these Big 10 schools, like it's like, you know, put up or shut up time and, uh, neither of those coaches are, are getting the kind of wins they need, they need to really cool things off with their fan bases.

I don't know, man.

There's, there's a lot of excitement in College Park this weekend because last week there was all these posts about how tickets were going for $1.

I've just checked a couple of the secondary markets.

There's nothing cheaper than 6.

now.

There's been a 600% increase in ticket prices for Rutgers versus Maryland, so, I don't know, these programs might be headed in the right direction after all.

$6 to get in for that game.

Oh my God, yeah, that's, uh, October 17th.

Rutgers has the week off, so they can, they can spend two weeks preparing for Maryland.

Just imagine what the ticket price is their Super Bowl.

Yeah, it is their Super Bowl.

It's the only game left that you may win.

So look at it that way, uh.

And that, you know, I, we often look at the, the open date.

OK, that's when the trigger's gonna get pulled.

So far, this is Sunday afternoon at 2:46 p.m. Eastern.

Greg Schiano still has his job, Mike Loxley, who doesn't have an open date, but he still has his as well.

All right, one other coach who I don't believe is on the hot seat in terms of tangible job insecurity with his athletic director.

But with the fan base, you were there, Brian.

Dabo Sweeney, Death Valley, another loss, lost handily, 4 touchdowns to Miami.

Dabo still tried to spin it like, oh, they're, they're gonna be a factor in the ACC race.

Uh, what do we make out of it?

You know, it, it was amazing.

Like, you know, it's probably, you know, it's, it's pushing almost 1 o'clock, but by the time Daba actually finishes up, you know, his press conference for, for a 7:30 p.m. kick, you know , on, on top of being a 4-hour game, uh, but that's neither here nor there, and I, I think just Like, what are you, like, they, they've scored 30 points against a powerful opponent, you know, 3 times in the last 3 years, you know, like there's just no offense.

The offensive development is not there and I feel like I was getting gas lit there in the press conference.

Like that was thinking, all right, we, we got young guys, but we're so close.

We're still an ACC contender, you know, and, and this is kind of, kind of what I wrote.

You know, about my column.

Like, I mean, that's, that's delusional.

Like, that, that to me would be a bigger red flag for that fan base, for that administration at this point to say, he still thinks we're that close, you know, when you get blown out by 4 touchdowns against a team that, that is the measuring stick right now.

Miami is the measuring stick.

You're not even anywhere close to them.

You're not anywhere close to the LSU's of the world, uh, you know.

And that's who Clemson thinks is, is their peer institutions right now.

And on the field, they're nowhere near that.

And look, they, they have a pretty soft schedule, not only in terms of the ACC like, you know, they're gonna have a week off, they're gonna play, uh, Charleston Southern or, or, you know, some other, uh, you know, Sun Belt type of school, and like, yeah, they'll, they'll get a win, but what, where's the progress, you know, out of this team?

And I, I think there's real frustration amongst the fan base that Dabo is just not listening and not opening his eyes to, to what he's seeing.

Uh, on the field, you know, was there, were there a couple of plays where they could have made the score a little bit closer?

Absolutely .

But in no, there was not a point at, at, at any time throughout that 60 minutes where I thought, you know what, Clemson has a chance in this one, like from, from the opening, uh, from the opening play because Miami took their, their first.

Offensive play all the way to the house on a screenplay.

Like this, this was a game that was completely one-sided.

And, uh, you know, Miami after, afterwards, I mean, Mario Cristobal is like, yeah, you know, you know, they, they probably got 2 or 3, you know, first-round picks eventually, you know, and, and maybe a dozen, uh, you know, guys that might go to the pros.

They, they had 9 guys drafted last year and they won 7 games like that, you know, this is, this is a big issue there, uh, I think for Clemson and really for the ACC because they need a program like Clemson for the state of the conference in, in general, uh, you know, to, to be one of those teams that's regularly contending for the college football playoffs, but they are, they are nowhere near that, uh, based on what I saw, really, and, and not only this game, but, uh, I was there for the opener against LSU.

This is a team that, uh, will be lucky to win, I think , 77 games at this point.

Yeah, delusional is probably the right way to put it, um, and it's , it's scary that it would be the most scary thing, and quite frankly, it's scary that there's enough winnable games out there that maybe there won't be insane pressure to shake it all up, right?

And because they sort of randomly stole that North Carolina game where they were getting clearly outplayed before the rain delay, and then they won at Cal and Cal was, I mean, That is a disaster of a football team right now, and, like, they, you know, Charleston Southern, all right, like, Syracuse, not very good, Georgia Tech, disaster of a football team right now, like, South Carolina might be an interim coach situation, again, like, I don't know, maybe they are winning 7 or 8 games, and, like, that might be worse, like, that may not be the best outcome for Clemson, because anything that continues to feed this beast of delusion that we're not that far away and, hey, we're knocking on the door, no, no, no, you're extremely far away talent-wise, like, yeah, there is a chasm between you and the teams you want to play against right now.

Absolutely.

I mean, they, they, they played two quality teams this year.

They absolutely got run out of Baton Rouge by 41 points, and then they lost at home to Miami by 28.

There, there is no there there for Clemson, and So it's just a very difficult situation.

I still think it's very hard.

To even contemplate saying, Dabo, you've gotta go.

You've won 2 national championships, you took us to 7 college football playoffs, you've gotta go.

I, I, I, I would like to see a school, a, a president and athletic director that are gonna do that.

I, I'm not sure they can get there.

Problem is, anything short of that, I'm not sure he listens and says, you know, you've got to change it, cause we've been doing this dance for a couple of years now.

And it's the same dance, and the same rhetoric, and largely the same results that are nowhere near what Clemson is used to.

Football is back and the season is already moving fast.

If you're just betting the spread before kickoff, you're leaving most of the game on the table.

That's why you should use my Bookie.

If you're new, use your promo code, Vs, V O T E S and claim your risk-free bet up to $500 plus 5050 free spins on Golden Dragon Inferno.

If you see a player matchup you love, build around it with the props builder.

Plus, my bookie rewards your action with weekly cashback and bet and get offers.

Football season moves fast, so don't be left out.

Every weekend you wait is another full slate left behind.

Sign up today using promo code votes and make this weekend count.

My bookie, bet on anything, anytime, anywhere.

Must be 21 or over, 18 and over in select jurisdictions.

Terms and conditions apply.

Gambling problem, please call 1-800- GAMBLER or visit 1-800gambler.

net for free confidential support available 24/7.

Now.

We did have one firing on Saturday.

Uh, in the middle of a game, this was an all-timer, Fort Collins, uh, Colorado State.

My goodness, uh, Jim Mora, first season there, started off pretty well.

Then uh things have have deteriorated, and here's the situation on Saturday.

So they, they beat Wyoming and Southern Utah.

Wyoming's awful, as it turns out.

Then they, they lost handily to BYU.

They gave up 59 points to UTSA , and then they gave up 56 to Oregon State.

And in the process of that happening, in the first quarter, Jim Mora, who's, he's had some temper during games before.

Uh, fired his demoted his defensive coordinator, Tyson Summers.

He told him he is no longer calling the defense in the middle of the game, handed delegated that to another assistant.

Summers' reaction, he left, left the stadium, left the team, and summarily was terminated as Moura passed along after the game when he was asked about it.

Fellows, Have you ever seen that one before?

That was a new one for me, I mean, that was, I don't understand how he wasn't fired after last week, that's really, like, that that's that that that's my only hold up, like, if you're gonna do it, like, what, what, what were you hoping to see change going into this Oregon State game?

And also, like, like, why did you keep Tyson Summers in the first place?

Yeah, like, that was not a top 100 defense last year, it was a 2 and 10 football team, and You know, by the way, they have, like, 75 new players, so it's not like, oh, we kept the defense together, they, they lost their they they flipped the entire roster, so, yeah, this was a disastrous one.

I do think they're like, kind of a sneaky, dangerous team when uh the the quarterback, uh Has Hejney from Oklahoma State's in there, they can, they can move the football, but, I mean, Their defense is so catastrophically bad that it might be, might be quite the, quite the year in in Fort Collins.

You can take the, the, the Pac-12 and, and spin it up again, but, you can't take the Pac-12 after dark, uh, uh, out of the conference.

Um, and, you know, like, coming into the season, you know, to, to Kevin's point, I was a little surprised that he definitely did, keep, uh, Tyson Summers around like from a scheme standpoint, from a personnel standpoint, from personality standpoint between Jim Moore and him, like, I, I, I, I never thought that was like, all right, that's , that, that's gonna mix well.

Um, and, and we certainly saw that uh kind of blow up in everybody's.

This week.

And I'm actually surprised that we don't have more of these type of stories, um, you know, come out.

Like, uh, I mean, especially in terms of some of these, you know, heated games, you, you get coaches, you know, yelling at each other on the sidelines, like, uh, I'm kind of surprised we, we don't have more of these, especially at the group of, group of six level, you know, where, where they might go a little bit under the radar.

But, um, you know what, uh, more, more things, uh, you know, to, to, in there in Fort Collins going on.

And I, I'm I, I, I, I remain fascinated by the Pac-12 in general because like the, the amount of like shootouts that are gonna happen in that league, not a crazy result that we're gonna see as we go into November and December.

Uh, like there's, there's, there's definitely the entertainment factor, uh, it gets, gets turned up a few notches, uh, as, as soon as the sun goes down in there in the west.

The, uh, Tyson Summers, uh, curriculum vitae is interesting.

Uh.

He was a head coach before at Georgia Southern.

They got rid of him incredibly fast there.

Middle of his second season.

His first season, he was 5-7 in 2016.

2nd season started 0-6, and they yanked him right there.

Not very good.

Uh, he was the interim coach at Colorado State last year, after Jayne Norvell got fired.

He went 0-5 in that role.

So, he has lost, let's see here, 11 straight games as a head coach, either uh as the permanent head coach or the interim, and now he has been fired in-game during the 1st quarter.

Uh, of a, of a game as a defensive coordinator.

That's a, uh, that's a wild one to me.

I, I don't, I don't know, you know, like, I'm, I'm sure.

There have been times when, when, when, like play calling duties have been yanked during a game, but I, I can't think of many, and then, yeah, what's the reaction?

How do you react to that?

You would like to think you're professional enough that you, uh, hang in there and finish the game, but I wanna know if he like left the stadium altogether.

That, that's what he did.

Was he, did he watch the 3rd and 4th quarter from home?

Like, what did he, did he put on other games?

Did he just go to the bar?

He went down to the Fat Tire Brewery and had a couple, man, I watched, you know, watched it on TV, I, I guess.

I, I think, yeah, there's more to this story we need to know.

Where did Tyson Summers go?

I mean, right up the road in Boulder, you know, a couple of years ago, Dion kind of did this midseason with his offensive coordinator, you know, so like it's, it's not, it's not out of, out of the realm of, but maybe it's just the state there, Pat.

Maybe, maybe, maybe your home state's got some, some interesting, uh, home cooking there.

The, the edibles are growing around, so you, you see some strange things happen in the state of Colorado.

Uh, speaking of which, good segue there.

The Buffaloes, oh my, there's circus there too.

They're bad, they're bad at football, uh, scored 7 against, uh, Texas Tech.

They actually led 7 to 6 into the second half, which was not a good sign for Texas Tech, but then never scored again, lost 29 to 7, 3rd straight loss, included, uh, in the, in one of the Texas Tech touchdowns.

Quarterback Isaac Wilson dropping back, rolling out in the end zone through to a Texas Tech defender in the end zone.

It was a 0-yard touchdown interception return.

That's not really ideal.

But, here are the two things that stood out from that game as we wonder what the hell is going on with Coach Prime's program.

One, according to DE DNVR buffs, uh, outlet there that covers the buffs.

At one point, they sent, the Colorado sent 8 players out for a field goal block.

Timeout was called, then they sent out 9.

Still, the math is still not mathing when you only have 9 guys on the field coming after a timeout.

And then there was a report.

That seems to have some veracity to it, about a Colorado playbook, or play script being left in the hotel, and some Texas Tech fans finding it.

And like trying to get a hold of tech, and I don't think they did because this was the opening script and it actually worked.

But somebody on Twitter actually paired up the, the, the schemes from this with what Colorado ran, and it looks legit.

It looks like this really was the script.

And so somebody is just leaving the game plan laying around the hotel.

You got 9 guys on the field goal block.

Uh, Dion, what, what are you doing?

And fellas, is this, are we done with Dion or not?

Where are we at, uh, Kevin?

I mean, I, I'm done.

I mean, it, it, it , it, where is this going, right?

Like, they, they are really bad, the offense is a joke, um , he was, he said that you'd have to ask Julian Lewis why Julian Lewis isn't playing, and then said he didn't bench him, but why would Julian Lewis not be playing?

Does Julian Lewis not wanna be playing football?

I find that hard to believe.

And the special teams stuff, like, it's one thing if it was, oh man, like, we accidentally ran on 8 guys, it's been like every week, they also had a disastrous, they, they, they faked the punt, it was, it was a disaster.

This coaching staff has 14 guys listed as assistant coaches, it has 9 analysts .

They don't have a single person devoted to special teams.

They do not have a special teams coach.

How do you not have a special teams coach?

One of these 23 men in this organization can't be in charge of making sure there's 11 guys on the field.

Is that too much to ask?

Like, I don't know, man, like, they're, they're a really bad and, like, there's like, there's different flavors of bad football team.

This is like the particularly embarrassing one where you do some just, like, mind boggling stuff every time you step on the field.

Yeah, that's the problem is it's just there's, there's a level of dysfunction, it looks like that uh.

That's tough to overcome, and while the Big 12 is wide open, The rest of their schedule is daunting.

Um, you know, they got Utah in 2 weeks, they're off this next week, they got Utah in 2 weeks, they're at Oklahoma State.

Uh, K State is not bad.

They've got, they got Houston, they're at Cincinnati, I mean.

If they win more than 4 games, I'll be surprised.

Uh, all right.

One thing I, I, my, my homework assignment for you guys was uh.

was to help me figure out the muddle in the, the upper middle class of the SEC.

I attended Missouri, Florida.

It's an absolute beatdown of the Gators, and to me, it illustrated how the schedule can get you, if you, if you have a hangover after a big win, the schedule's gonna get you in that league, because Ole Miss had the landmark victory over Lane Kiffin, and was just ripe to get plucked the next week at Florida and did and lost by 24.

And now it was Florida's turn, you're undefeated, you're moving to the top 10.

Dummies like me write about how great John Summallall is, and then they get absolutely trucked by Missouri.

Missouri has lost to Mississippi State.

Uh, so there's 71-loss teams right now in the SEC.

We got Georgia, Alabama, and Texas who are undefeated.

One of those 21 of either Georgia or Alabama is gonna lose next week, but for now, they're all undefeated and look like they're probably a cut above everybody else.

And then we've got Mississippi State, Missouri, Florida, Mississippi, LSU, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

And I don't know how to tell them apart or how to rank them, but some of these teams are gonna get playoff bids.

I would anticipate.

So, how would you put those 7 in order?

Who wants to go first, Brian?

Oh, I thought there was not gonna be any homework involved in the making of this podcast, but I will go, uh, I, you know, I, I still think from a talent standpoint, you know, I, I, I'd go with LSU, you know, and what part of that talent is, is injured, and so like that, that is, uh, the other thing that you got to keep in mind with the Tigers.

I just think in terms of the overall program.

In terms of the investment, in terms of the coaching staff, in terms of Lake Kiffin kind of getting the maximum, uh, you know, out of the roster, I still would put, um, kind of LSU right there.

Um, you know, I, I think Florida might be right after them, you know, and I think it was more of just a, a one-off for the Gators, um, you know, they're in Missouri, and it's kind of one of those things where it's like, all right, you know, things don't quite go your way, you know, they tied it at 10 and, and then just kind of, kind of got away from them, and, and it just snowballed from there.

I still think Florida.

In terms of that ground game, in terms of Aaron Fio, in terms of playing good defense, I, I still think that could be, you know, probably, you know, 10 to 29 and 3 type of team, and that probably is at least getting you in the mix, uh, you know, for the playoffs.

Um, I'm probably most, you know, more, uh, skeptical about the Mississippi schools.

Um, you know, I think Ole Miss's defense, you know , I don't know if that's playoff caliber, uh, you know, based on what we've seen out of them , certainly, only the last week in, in Gainesville, but, you know, even, even against LSU in that second half, uh, you know, you were able to move the ball on them, and I think as they come up against better off.

Offenses as well.

Um, you know, that's gonna be something that Ole Miss is gonna have to keep an eye on.

And I'm not quite sure they have the personnel .

They they've got an eraser in terms of Trinidad Chambliss, and that always gives you a chance, uh, offensively, especially when paired with Keylo, Keyan Lacy if he's healthy.

Um, you know, I, I think, uh, Mississippi State a little bit more of an issue.

Same, same thing, you know, do they have the defense to kind of pair with a quarterback that can, can be so dynamic.

Um, you know, I think there's, there's gonna be some real question marks, especially as the schedule, uh, certainly ramps up in in, uh, you know, intensity.

Missouri.

I , I still don't know, even after beating Florida like that, like, I, I, I still don't know what to do, you know, with, with, with the Tigers, and, and, I mean, you would be in a better position to tell me, Pat, but like, you know, I, I, I just, I, I, I remain skeptical overall in terms of the talent level.

Uh, you know, I, I do think, you know, on his day, uh, Drake can, can scheme up some plays.

He, he can pull off a win, uh, but he's probably gonna lose to somebody, you know, maybe even this, this coming week that he probably should, you know, and, and turn around.

So like that's kind of always been, you know, the, the, the juxtaposition with, with Missouri, and then, You know, I mean, I, I think Tennessee is probably uh above those, but like it, it really is kind of like reach into a hat and pull out a team and, and maybe you could just go with them for this week and uh you, you reach in the hat the next week and, and pull out another team in a, in a, in a different order because that's just kind of the nature of the SEC.

It does just mean more, but it also means, you know, everybody's closely bunched, everybody's gonna play each other.

You know, I, I don't think the home and road splits matter, uh, quite as much as they used to, uh, you know, in the conference.

So like you throw in all that, you throw in some good quarterbacks and, and, uh, it really is like, you're gonna have to hit 3 or 4 plays, you know, every single weekend if, if you want to emerge victorious.

And, uh, you know, I think that's probably just gonna be the nature of what we're gonna see week in, week out, uh, moving forward in the SEC at this point.

For, for, for my rankings, I did, I did Ole Miss #1 just because I trust the quarterback, like, I, and look, obviously LSU moved it in the second half against them, but that was an awesome showing in the first half, and the, the, the game spiraled from them, uh, in Gainesville, but that was a game, I would say, most of the way, uh, until it wasn't.

Uh, I had Florida, LSU, Ole Miss, though, very, very close.

I, I think they're probably a little bit above the rest.

I think Missouri is like the big wild card where Simmons' highs put them at a, a very, very, you know, elite place and, you know, some of the lows are, are a little bit more bumpy.

I put Kentucky 5th in terms of, like, I just don't know yet.

Um, it feels like every time a team has lost to Kentucky, we have used that as an indictment on the other team.

At some point, it has to be an indictment, it has to be an illustration of what Kentucky is, uh, they're pretty good, and then I, I put the two that I don't see making the playoffs in Tennessee and Mississippi State.

I mean, look, the Kamario thing was fun, but it's so many mistakes, so much work to do, um, after the Alabama game.

That was very obvious that he, he, he still has some work to do.

And then Tennessee, I mean, the quarterback position is just, it's just a mess right now.

Um, I, I don't know how they score as they get later into the year.

If we're looking at, like , how do you get to 9 wins in the SEC, let alone 10, I, I, I just don't see it with Tennessee right now.

Yeah, well, this is a fascinating exercise.

I tried to look at this on resume to date as opposed to projecting really, and it's still really hard.

But I put Mississippi State at the head of the class because they've not just won twice on the road , they crushed Minnesota.

And hey, where's Minnesota right now?

Other than sitting there 4 and 1, in the Big 10.

Their loss was, I mean, Alabama trucked them, but that's Alabama, and Alabama's offense right now looks spectacular.

They did beat Missouri, so they've got a ranked win.

Uh, so I'm, I'm putting them an inch above Missouri, which was completely dominant yesterday and completely shut down Florida's running game.

Uh, yeah, yeah, wild card, don't know, you know, from week to week.

After that, I've got Florida, Mississippi, LSU, and they're all, there's an inch separating all of those.

I don't really know for sure how to rank them, but I'm putting Florida ahead of Mississippi cause they dominated them, and then lost to a ranked team on the road.

Uh, Mississippi did the same thing.

LSU doesn't have as good of wins, I don't think.

Like, uh, who has LSU beaten so far?

Nobody that really, you know, catches my eye.

Clemson is no good.

So, beating Texas A&M, I don't think Texas A&M is any good.

And then I got Kentucky, even though they have two road wins, uh, good for them for that.

And then I got Tennessee last of the group, just because again, I, I don't see, I don't see them having done anything to really plant a flag yet.

So, Uh, my thinking though here, guys, like, if the other 3 are making the playoffs, if Alabama, Georgia, and Texas are all making the playoffs, probably, certainly at least 1 of these 7, if not 2, or even 3.

Could make it.

What is your tolerance level for how, how many SEC teams can you tolerate seeing in the playoffs, Kevin?

Man, I mean.

The thing, like, I can tolerate probably the top half of those, I think of, of the group we talked, Ole Miss, Florida, LSU, Missouri, I would be interested in all of those right now as playoff teams.

The other three, I think, you know, more, I need to see, see a lot more.

I just like, I'm so fascinated by the resume conversation with some of these, because I just, I, I, I think we're headed towards 8 and 4s, like, I really do, and I don't know how you a 12 team playoff and 8 and 4 teams in the playoffs, but, like, do we really think Ole Miss is going 10 and 2?

I mean, probably 9 and 3, maybe, right?

9 and 3 seems realistic, but oh boy, I mean, It's gonna take some, it's gonna take, take some serious work in the next two months, kind of parsing through who, who this is, and, like, I think the, right now, I think the, the common refrain is that the SEC is going to dominate bids wise, because the Big 10 doesn't seem like it has quite the depth that we expected.

I don't think anyone's excited about the Big 12 teams, um, the ACC has not had a great, great go of it.

It feels like, OK, it's gonna be the SEC's run, but Again, what happens if the SEC cannibalize itself too much?

I think we're headed towards that, and I'm fascinated to see the, the politicking that comes with that, if nothing else afterwards.

Yeah, there's, there's, there's gonna be plenty of that, that, that's true.

And, and, you know, to your, to your point, like, I mean, it does look like the Big 12.

Yes, it looks like a big, you know, one bid league at this point, you know, especially given the way Texas Tech is not kind of lived up to expectations there.

But, you know, what happens if, you know, BYU ends up beating Notre Dame and then, you know, Utah comes in, comes in and, and beats BYU.

Like that's kind of a almost a bid stealer type of, type of situation, the same with Miami and the ACC.

Like what happens is they get to You know, Charlotte and Duke pulls off a miracle upset, you know, that kind of locks in ACC teams.

That's gonna impact, you know, the Big 10, uh, bids.

I, I look at really the key to my, from my vantage point is Iowa, you know, it's, it's not even after, uh, losing to Ohio State and, and just letting Jeremiah Smith do whatever he wanted on the field there in Kinnock.

11 and 1 is not crazy to, to think that Iowa is just kind of sitting out there as an 11 and 1.

Yeah , they might be a 10 or 11 seed, but you know what, they're, they're gonna be in the playoffs if they're 11 and 1, and, and you're definitely gonna be hearing about that from Big 10 territory.

You look at Oregon out there, 10 and 2 as a possibility.

How is that gonna stack up against some of these teams, especially in the SEC that might be 9 and 3?

You know, we're, we are gonna get down into the details with this committee in particular in terms of strength.

Schedule.

And we've been hearing, oh, we've, we've been throwing those out, we've been throwing the metrics out.

This is going to be a war between the Big 10 and the SEC moving forward in terms of who's, who's really, you know, deserving of those wins and who's really deserving of those playoff bids.

And I think we're, we're gonna get down to brass tacks come, come November in terms of really going through the, through the minute details of all these, who has those quality wins and who has those quality losses.

No doubt, that's where this is, the, that's where the, the, the arguing is going to be, and oh my God, it's gonna be incessant arguing.

But over those, those last few bids, and Big 10 SEC and we're gonna hear so much about the SEC.

We're playing 9 games now.

We're playing 9.

but then, yes, if there's a second compelling Big 12 team, if there's a second compelling ACC team, then how does this get sliced and diced?

Uh.

It is gonna be, uh, like , if you, if you thought there was a lot of politicking and arguing last year, there's, there's gonna be more this year because we're just gonna have a lot of teams losing a substantial number of games.

So, prepare yourself.

All right, we're not gonna fire coaches today cause we just, I think we did fire several of them as we were talking about the hot seat, but we will hand out the Heisman, as always, on uh Sunday here.

Who do you guys want to give your Heisman Trophy to for the first weekend in October, uh, Kevin?

I'll, I'll head to Evanston, uh, shout out to Joe Hyman the 2nd.

This guy has been all kinds of dynamic, 10 carries, 162 yards, uh, I believe 3 carries of 30+, uh, and a couple more that would have gone that far if he hadn't already hit the end zone because Penn State's defense was getting thoroughly gashed by the, uh, the Chip Kelly flex bone, um, wild world we're living in.

But Joe Hyman has long been the Northwestern scat back.

Every, every, every team has that, like, one creative player that, like, the fan base is dying for more touches.

How do we get on the ball, how do we get on the ball?

And every year it's, uh, we're gonna get on the ball this year.

Well, Chip Kelly's getting on the ball and he is finding pay dirt, so shout out to Joseph Hyman and the Wildcat rushing attack.

Excellent, Brian.

Well, it's kind of debating, uh, in Florida at Iowa State, uh, given that uh crazy game that they had against West Virginia, but, uh, I'm gonna turn around and give it to, uh, to Ashton Daniels.

Uh, you know, it's rare that a quarterback is gonna have more rushes than completions in a game, uh, but man, he 5 touchdowns on the ground, just the, the beating, uh, the.

Lacking, if you will, uh, of Virginia in a big win, as we talked about earlier, uh, for Mike Norvell.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna give it to Ashton Daniels.

He's taken his lumps, uh, certainly from, from the fan base and from, uh, well beyond Tallahassee there in terms of his play, but, um, that, that was an impressive performance as a rushing quarterback.

Almost like an old, old school option guy, uh, there for the Knolls.

Uh, I am going to the Ivy League, and maybe the most poignant story of the season, certainly of the , of the week.

Uh, Yale quarterback Dante Reno.

First of all, it was, it was an unbelievable day in the Ivy League.

You saw Harvard win a game on a Hail Mary lateral against Colgate on the last play, that was something.

But then Dante Reno, Yale, uh, playing against Merrimack.

It was the day after his father, who had been the coach at Yale, Tony Reno, passed away.

He'd been on medical leave for a long time.

Uh, rare neuro neurogenerative disease.

And so, you know, this was a, a chronic condition.

It was, it was clearly coming, very sad story.

Tony Reno had done a great job there.

He was actually the first guy to offer a scholarship to Fernando Mendoza.

And Mendoza was committed there until he ended up at Cal and everything changed from there.

But Dante Reno plays the day after his father passes.

Throws for 298 yards and 4 touchdowns as Yale beats Merrimack.

And really, I don't care what his stats were, he could have thrown for 4 interceptions instead of 4 touchdowns, but I think, uh, putting on the uniform probably meant a lot to his family, and certainly his father would have enjoyed him doing that, to have him play that well on top of it, all the better.

Uh, he put on Twitter, this one's for you, pops.

So, very touching story there.

Dante Reno, you win my Heisman.

All right, last thing here, guys, uh, it's always a great thing when Texas A&M plays a home football game, because when Texas A&M plays at home, the A&M police Twitter account.

Uh, documents all of the carousing and misbehavior going on in and around Kyle Field, and usually does so in tremendously droll, dry fashion.

And uh this was the report, let's see when this came out.

8:12 p.m. on Saturday, they were playing Arkansas, they were thumping Arkansas.

I think I'd probably be drinking a lot if I were watching Texas A&M Arkansas myself, but here was the report.

Public intoxication, men's restroom behind Section 413, unable to close zipper.

Unable to close zipper, released to sober friend, ejected.

Uh, Have you ever been in that state yourselves, fellas, where you could not close zipper and knew somebody who was were you, were you in charge of a friend who could not close his zipper?

Anybody?

Uh, I'm tapping out of any and all, uh, zipper-related aid.

If I, if, if I got a call from a friend that said, hey, I'm, I'm having some zipper trouble, I, I would tell him I was busy, I think.

Something came up.

Yeah, I'm, I'm not going anywhere near that one for sure.

Like, I, I'm just curious, like, you know, I always say released a sober friend.

Like, you know, what, what's the story with that?

Like, is, I need some enterprising reporter there in College Station to start interviewing all these sober friends that all these guys are getting released to, uh, you know, as part of the, the, the, the police account.

Like, what, what, what, what's the situation there outside of College Station?

Cause that's, I mean, there's, there's a lot of people, you know.

The Texas A&M game.

It's not just 100,000, like that entire area gets, gets taken over.

So like I'm, I, I'm very curious to see if we can get some follow-ups on some of these, including, uh, Mr.

Zipper here.

True, they're, everybody seems to have a sober friend at Texas A&M, which that's great.

That's good.

Maybe helps keep you out of trouble.

Maybe does your zipper for you.

I don't know.

But, uh, at least they, they allegedly more sober than this guy.

Maybe it doesn't mean true sobriety, but.

Uh, we, we'll see if we can do a little further investigation on that and get back to you guys next week.

All right, that's the show, uh, for this Sunday, Overreaction Sunday.

Feel free to like, subscribe, comment, tell us where we're wrong in terms of our SEC pecking order or anything else we've talked about, and we will be back next week.