Is Georgia vs. Alabama the Biggest Game of the Season So Far? | Others Receiving Votes

Hi.

Welcome to the show.

Others receiving votes, I'm Pat 40, joined as always by Gene Wojakowski.

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Uh, Gino, college football is accustomed to tumult, but having both a hurricane and the president potentially visiting Georgia, Alabama, plus me, Saturday is a bit much.

We'll see how it works out.

Right now, it looks like the game is going to go on as scheduled.

Hurricane.

Is, I'm probably mispronouncing that, sorry, but, uh, apologies to the hurricane if I mispronounce his name.

But uh on paper, uh, 2nd biggest game of the season to date after Ohio State, Texas could be played in some interesting circumstances.

Yeah, you know, I, I'm gonna make, you're gonna roll your eyes when I say this, Pat.

I I could make the argument that this is actually the number one game of the season so far.

And I say that not, uh, uh, not because I think the Texas, Ohio State game wasn't a huge game, but I think this game, we know more about the teens now, you know, they were in their infant stages back in, in when Texas and Ohio State played.

Now, we're in week 6.

I think these teams are beginning, or if they haven't already developed an identity, personalities.

So, I, I think we know more about Georgia and Bama, and I think that makes it a more interesting game in many ways to me.

That's fair.

I'll buy that.

I will buy that.

And Georgia, Alabama is never fails to be interesting, frankly.

It's got uh quite a history since Georgia got up the up off the, the map with uh Kirby Smart a decade ago.

But anyway, we can't control the weather, stuff happens, uh, we'll see how things shake out Saturday night there.

Uh, but among the things that have just kind of happened and tend to happen in the modern era, you can spend a lot of money and not win.

We're going to talk more about Georgia, Alabama, and, and other games later, but right now, I want to talk about the uh The lack of return for your investment in a couple of places that is hitting hard, like Ann Arbor and College Station specifically, where the home teams already have 2 losses before mid-season and they've got top 15 NIL budgets according to the Athletic, which put basically $5 million dollar ranges on all the power conference teams.

And according to them, Michigan was in from 36 to $40 million which was between 10 and 15.

Uh, A&M higher, probably top 56, 45 to $50 million.

Yeah, uh, with the roster reportedly paid about $20 million less than the Wolverines, Minnesota and Iowa have taken them down.

5 games into his tenure, Kyle Whittingham and his staff are already being buried in the court of public opinion.

Everyone hates the offensive coordinator, etc.

so on, including a tight end on the team who had some critical comments about Jason Beck in a group chat and then got finked on by somebody else in the group chat, then apologized.

Yeah, he apologized.

He did, he did.

Uh, you gotta, you gotta know and trust everybody in the group chat, man.

That's for sure.

Uh, Kentucky, also about $20 million less than A&M, won at Kyle Field.

Uh, at Louisville , here where I live, there, where they publicly acknowledged in the spring in a story I did that, that we're, they're spending like $30 million a year more than they have.

They're 2 and 3.

I think it could be a little hard to sustain.

OK, but that's the strategy.

If the strategy also involves winning, and they're not doing that, 2 and 3 start has everybody on the hot seat, not Jeff Brum per se, but his entire staff, which includes a lot of family members.

And the AD met with Jeff Brum, uh, last Sunday to discuss staff performance, including Heard's own, just Josh Heard, uh.

Threw himself on the fire too, and said, you know what, I'm part of the problem, cause I guess, I don't know, they're not, uh, you know, handing out tickets fast enough, whatever.

Anyway, Gina, my, my long-winded question to you.

Has the arms race turned every loss into a fire the coach cataclysm?

This is still a zero-sum game, half the teams win, half the teams lose.

How are we processing this?

There is no doubt that the NIL money, and you just, you listed, you know, the millions, the tens of millions that some of these programs are spending.

The ROI is, is a big deal now.

But there is an eternal truth in sports, and it's not just how much money you spend.

But it's how you spend it.

And then, once you get the talent, how you coach it.

I mean, look, you know, the, the New York Mets had the highest payroll in the MLB.

They didn't make the playoffs.

The Cleveland Guardians had the lowest.

And they did.

The Cowboys had the 6th highest payroll in 2025 and missed the playoffs.

The Seahawks were 29th out of 32 in payroll and won the Super Bowl.

So what does that tell you?

It tells you , if you get somebody like Kirk Signetti in there who knows what he's doing.

And has his way of evaluating players, and then spending that money appropriately, and then has a staff that can develop those players, that's what matters.

What did we hear uh from, from that Michigan tight end, uh, that, you, you know, they're in disarray.

They don't trust the coaches.

There, there's this idea that there's no identity on the team, you know, so, it, it, it goes far beyond just the checks that you write.

It's what happens inside the building.

And so, you know, Michigan is a textbook example of what happens when the money isn't spent correctly.

And I know a lot of criticism has been aimed toward the quarterback Underwood, and maybe it is an issue.

Maybe it's, you know, maybe he's the problem.

But I, I think it goes deeper than that.

Same with A&M.

And then you look at a school like um Oklahoma State, and what were they, according to the athletic, 15 to 19 million.

That's return on your investment.

So, again, it's how you pick them and how you coach them.

Yeah, no, without question, the, the, the.

Just throwing money at something does not make you a winner.

You have to know what to do with the money and, and how to coach the players, as, as you allude to, how to identify them and how to develop them.

Uh, near the bottom end of this scale, which the athletic public, Duke, 12 to 15 million.

They're undefeated right now .

Uh, Wake Forest in there at 16 to 20 million.

They have one loss and this to Miami and some great wins.

They look fantastic.

So, that's the nature of this, is you cannot, everybody, you know, I think the, the rush has been.

We've just got to spend more.

And some places, I get it, it's like we're just not keeping up, we, we, we are behind.

But everybody can go ahead and spend more, not everybody can win.

That's the bottom line.

Yeah, well, there's, and if, if we look at the top 5, I mean, they're all spending a lot of money.

Yeah, I mean, you know, Ohio State, Texas, I mean, Notre Dame, those, those programs are spending a lot of money, and they are seeing a return.

But it's not a, as you say, it's not a guarantee.

It's not, but that and this also, this is part of the reason why.

They want to hand out participation trophies and go to the playoffs.

It's like we've got to justify the fact that we are squeezing our boosters for every penny so that we can have a $30 to $40 million payroll, or in some cases $50 million.

And they, it's like.

We just need to make things easier so that we can tell people to give us more money.

Uh, it's, it's this flawed concept that we are on the verge of as we wait and see if we do end up with a 2014 playoff, but, Uh, that's where we stand right now, is this, this mentality of like, well, you know, everybody just needs to spend more.

But again, there's gonna be the same number of wins and the same number of losses, and then it's gonna, we'll see how people deal with it.

And one of the ways I think they have dealt with it is hammering more on players who are now Paid pair of professionals.

Is it fair game, Gino, to, to rip the quarterback and the receivers and the, the defensive backs?

I don't think it's ever been more lucrative.

To be a, a, a head coach in college football, uh, and the same goes for the players.

But the price that you pay for that is the scrutiny.

Uh, that goes far beyond anything we've ever seen before.

It's never been harder for a head coach in this business, and it's definitely never been harder for a player in this business.

So, yeah, some of these players sort of bring it on themselves when they post a TikTok video of them standing and driving uh in front of their, you know, Maserati.

You're, you're gonna catch grief if you don't perform.

But they're still 18 to 22 year olds for the most part.

And I do think their play.

It is open for, for reasonable, uh, constructive criticism.

Uh, responsible criticism, but there's a difference between responsible criticism and abuse.

And I think we've seen more abuse these days via social media, especially, and, and it's crossed the line 10,000 times.

So, um, that's where we are, doesn't make it right.

Uh, so, uh, there's a part of me that, that feels bad for, for these players in a way.

They're getting paid.

They're, they're simply taking part in the financial ecosystem.

That has been given to them, but in a way, it's also held against them.

Yeah, because there's a lot of people who don't like the NIL landscape .

And so now it's like, this is my way to, to lash out at that and the players.

By golly, they're getting more money.

When I was in college, everybody played for the love of the game, bah bah bah bah bah, whatever, man, whatever.

Uh, the gambling aspect also has amped up the criticism.

I, uh, yeah, you know, I just, I, I, I, I, I, I'm with you that, look, yes, you're gonna, you're just gonna get more criticism.

You're now, you're now a young millionaire, to whom much is given, much is expected, and there's much that you, I guess, have to take, but I do think it's excessive, uh, and I, and with the age of, of who we're talking about and talking to, uh, I think it, it's concerning, you know, because , you know, Most of these people are still working out their, working their way to a perspective on life, and their brains aren't fully formed and all that.

And to hold them to the same standard that you're holding the New England Patriots starting quarterback who's in his mid to late twenties, then they, it's, it's a little bit out of whack there.

I bet you Rose Kennedy never thought her quote would be used for NIL purposes.

Isn't that the truth?

Here we are.

But well done by you.

Well done by you.

Thank you.

You know what, much has been given to USC and much is expected there.

This is my other money-related topic.

Uh, I think USC fans should be questioning the path their school has taken.

They're 5 and 1, great, yay, but they've beaten basically nobody.

They lost handily to their only ranked opponent.

One team they've beaten of any note is Washington, who's also in the disappointment ranks.

And that game, they were trailing by double digits and then rallied to win that.

Uh, they've, the one road game they've played is at Rutgers.

I'm not sure that counts.

The schedule is backloaded.

They could be underdogs in 5 of their last 6 games, 4 of which are on the road.

And if you're a USC fan, here's what, here's what your school has given up for you.

They gave up the Notre Dame series, which USC fans love, so the Notre Dame fans.

Uh, they gave up a lot of regional rivalries to play in places like East Rutherford, New Jersey, or Piscataway, sorry.

But you're not playing the Bay Area schools, you're not playing the Arizona schools games that if you were a USC fan, you could get to easily, or maybe you even lived in those areas.

I don't think there's nearly as many of them living in College Park, Maryland, or West Lafayette, Indiana.

Uh, you're, so you're playing unfamiliar opponents, you're playing in a harder conference where You know, you lose a couple games, and guess what, you're well down the very long pecking order.

And this is what you've signed up for, so you could make more money, so that the school could have more Big 10 media revenue than it was getting from the Pac-12.

You also played the biggest hand in destroying the Pac-12.

Congratulations on that.

Uh, is this the life you wanted?

That's my question for USC fans.

If you were one of them, Gino, what would you think?

It, it's done.

Uh, there's nothing I can do about it now.

I mean, you're gonna get back to Notre Dame rivalry in 2030.

You're gonna get it for 4 years, and you know what?

Things happen.

Uh, there's a chance the Big 10 could expand again, even though Ted Cruz says he's been assured that that's not gonna happen.

Yeah.

Things can happen.

Things can change.

So I don't know how, how much more the Big 10 could evolve.

But it, it, it is, this is the situation that USC is in.

If you're a fan, when you saw it happen, none of this should come as a surprise.

You, you, you're gonna have to travel two or three time zones.

It stinks.

You're right.

They gave up regional rivalries.

They did it for the paycheck.

I, I, I mean, it's really that simple.

Always follow the money, right?

So, that, that's what happened here.

They aren't the, they aren't the only program that, that did this.

So, um, I, I don't.

I don't know what, what the worth is of litigating this anymore.

They, they are where they are, so now, figure it out.

You know, so they've had troubles traveling east.

All right.

Figure it out.

You're traveling east this week against Penn State, win a game.

OK, win a game, change the narrative.

Uh, change how we, how we feel about things.

They have 4 games, uh, where they're traveling this year, at Rutgers, at Penn State.

They get 2 weeks before their next game, where they travel east again at Wisconsin, home against Ohio State, then 2 weeks before they head back, uh, east again to Indiana.

So, I, I, I, I don't really have a, a solution other than change the narrative.

It's a good enough program with enough tradition, enough talent.

To change it.

Start winning the games, and then this becomes less of a concern, I think.

Yeah, no, that's it.

If if, if they had come into the Big 10 and thrived, and we're not, you know, we're talking about what a, what a great move it was.

Still doesn't, I don't know whether it's as enjoyable for the fans, but, but it would work out where you can say, we're not only making more money, but we're winning games, and we'll see, maybe they'll do that in the back half of this season, but, uh, Yeah, you, I, I, I hate you saying that basically this is, uh, fait accompli, that, you know, there's no use talking about it.

You're taking the four smallest words in the English language out of my, my repertoire, my life.

I told you so.

Those are my four words for USC.

Why did you do this?

Why did you ruin the Pac-12?

All right, I'm done with Pac-12 was a bit of a mess though, Pat, can't, I mean, you can't acknowledge that , right?

It was, oh, totally, it was a mess.

Yes, a mess very much of, of its own making.

Uh, I still think some effort to save it would have been a better leadership, certainly would have, would have done everybody a lot better than, than the situation college sports is in now.

But I will, I will, I'll holster my told you so gun for now on that one .

No, you're, you know what?

You're right.

Uh, I mean, all, all of the points you make are right.

Uh, if I'm a USC fan, I'm looking very fondly to the days of the Pac-12.

But they're gone.

So now, do something about the present tense.

Yup, that's, that's their task.

And yes, a, a big game could have been bigger, um, if not, if the state of Penn State were, were better, but still, whiteout conditions in, uh, in Happy Valley for that one.

All right, uh, Gino, the, the AP top 25 continues to brew some, uh, Interesting results.

One voter in particular appears to have caught your eye.

Can you, can you enlighten the listeners and watch viewers?

Well, I'll preface this.

Did you used to vote in the AP?

Yeah, yeah.

Did you?

Do you still vote in the AP?

No, I haven't voted in years, and it's , yeah, I'm thankful.

OK, so, yeah, and, and I voted too, uh, for a time, and I hated every second of it.

All right, so you're covering a game, you're on deadline, and now you've got a .

You know, turn your attention to, to the poll, and somebody back in New York's calling you and saying, hey, we, we need your top 25.

So, it's, it's just not optimal conditions to make a, a, a really reasoned and logical uh top 25, at times.

So, it, it has its flaws.

But what happened this past week, and I'm not going to name uh the voter.

You can, you can find the name of the voter online.

It really doesn't matter.

The point is, there was a voter out there who decided That he would move Mississippi State up from number 18 in his previous poll to number 10 this week after the Bulldogs beat Bama by 33 points.

Oh wait, they did not beat Bama by 33 points.

They lost.

To Bama by 33 points, and this voter moved them up 8 spots.

That's not good.

I, I, uh, my, my neurons were like misfiring.

They, I, how do you make that make sense?

The same voter after Pitt.

Beat unbeaten Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

With a backup quarterback after a starting quarterback got hurt during the game.

He dropped them out of the top 25.

Yikes.

OK.

And then we had, then, then we saw the AP poll this week.

Kentucky wins, beats South Carolina.

And drops, goes into our territory, others receiving votes.

And, and so, uh, my guess is if Kentucky beats LSU this, this week, they might get dropped to what, uh, FCS level.

You know, so it, it's mind-boggling.

So, so make it make sense for me, please.

OK.

Um, first of all, I can't make it make sense because, uh, yeah, we, we have.

People doing the polls who that there's, uh you, you described it somewhat, the difficulty of trying to do what your regular job is, to do this unpaid extra thing on pretty tight uh timeline.

And you haven't watched everything, and maybe you didn't catch up to this score or that score, or maybe you thought, well, I had Mississippi State too low last week, so I'm gonna mark it correct and move them up this week, whatever the case may be.

You get some very flawed reasoning, no doubt about it.

My, my problem, and I, look, I think we should have the, the polls.

I think we should have an AP top 25.

I think we should have a coach's top 25.

I don't.

Mind the votes being public in the report in the media poll, which, which they are.

What I don't like is kind of the The mob mentality of we got to get the entire fan base to come after this person who ranked our team too low.

Here's the email address, go get them.

Here's the Twitter handle, go get them.

This is, first of all, it's everybody has their own opinion.

Some people are going to look at this really differently, and they're going to say, I just think this team should be 16 instead of 25, or this team, and it's OK.

You don't have to all think the same.

That's my problem is publishing.

The ballots And then showing there's actually even a little like grade of how far off of the mean you are.

Yeah, you're encouraging everybody to think the same way, vote the same way, act the same way, which I don't think serves a good purpose because I, I want a diverse poll.

Now.

Some of it, you're going to get some nonsense with it, like you said.

But I don't want everybody to say, well, gosh, all these other voters have Iowa number 14.

I gotta have them 14.

If you say, I don't like, I don't think Iowa's that good.

I want, I think Iowa should be 23rd.

So that's my thought there.

Yeah, group, groupthink is a problem.

Yeah, and it's a danger in the polls, and this particular AP voter did write a column explaining his reasoning behind his vote.

Hey, it's your vote.

Have at it.

But if, if, if you do something that literally makes no sense, then yes, you, you are going to catch some heat for it.

I, I'm fine with the polls, all right, but, but they're like NFL exhibition games.

I mean, they don't really have any, any true meaning.

And I, and I hope finally this puts to rest.

I still see this stuff from coaches and, and, and other media people.

The AP vote influences the CFP committee.

Are you kidding me?

Do you think the CFP committee is looking at this latest poll going, you know what, we really ought to move Mississippi State up in our thinking.

No, nobody's doing that.

It's just, it, it's cotton candy, looks nice, a lot of hot air, really doesn't mean anything, but I don't have a problem with it.

I guess the only thing I'd say, Pat, is that Uh, I, I would, I would be fine if like the AP said, you know what, we're not gonna have the, however many voters it is.

We're gonna have kind of a quasi-committee also.

And we're gonna pick 2025 uh writers or media people that we know who are really devoted to this.

And, and maybe you get more of a Uh, uh, I don't know, a, a logical, uh, uh, poll each week.

I don't know.

I don't know what the answer is.

If, if you keep it, I'm fine.

If you got rid of it, I, I would be fine with that too.

Yeah, the, well, the Football Writers Association has a smaller group that votes.

They do a Super 16 or whatever it's called.

Um, there you go.

But yeah, that's, that's fine.

They, they have, they come up with things I disagree with too.

But, uh, the, the, yeah, the, the, the, the best news is the polls don't matter.

And there's no way the committee is influenced by the polls.

There's just no way.

I, I, I, I would bet they don't even know what the AP top 25 is.

I wouldn't.

I don't look at it.

Frankly, the only, like, if I'm, if I'm looking for a list of games that I, I need to talk about in the 40-yard dash, I might say, all right, who's ranked on ranked, but I, I think Texas is number one right now, but I, I can't say for sure.

I, I believe they are.

Yeah, what, once the CFP.

Uh, rankings come out, the, the other polls become irrelevant.

Nobody cares.

So, I don't know why everybody gets their shorts in a bunch about it, but this one in particular just was like, what was, so you said he wrote this column explaining what was the explanation.

I, I think the explanation was, he, he takes it week by week, and in the case of Mississippi State, he was looking at the one-loss SEC teams.

And kind of starting his baseline there.

So, uh, you know what, reasonable enough, but The, the, the math didn't matter to me.

Well, that, you know what, so I wrote Saturday from Columbia when Missouri beat the hell out of Florida.

How do you rank these one-loss SEC teams?

And I think I put Mississippi State the highest.

Now, I didn't, you know, like move them from way down to way up, but you get into this cycle of trying to figure out when Florida has beaten Mississippi.

Mississippi's beaten LSU, uh, Mississippi State has beaten, who, who'd they beat?

They, uh, Missouri.

Missouri has beaten Florida, and it's this cycle like, I, I, I don't know how you figure that out.

So, all good.

You know what, good, good luck to everybody.

Fortunately, I would think by November 3rd, when the first poll comes out, uh, first committee ranking comes out.

They'll have some separation between some of these SEC teams.

Otherwise, good luck to them too.

Um, all right, you know, we, we, we, we're blabbing here.

We gotta get to some, some, some storylines around some big games here.

Uh, and the biggest is, as we alluded to early, Georgia, Alabama.

We talked about why maybe it could be the biggest game of the year so far, but how big is this for Kaylin DeBoer, particularly?

It looks like he has the team Alabama fans have grown accustomed to this year.

They are a pretty dominant 5 and 0.

Is he ready to be the next Bama boss of the SEC?

I think it's possible.

I think that they may be able to win the league this year.

Beating Georgia now doesn't win the league later, but it's a heck of a nice step.

It helped get them in the playoffs last year.

De Boer has beaten Georgia, beaten Kirby Smart, the only two times he's faced them in the regular season.

Then they got the reality check in the SEC championship game last year.

So, winning this game is great.

I think it goes a long way towards getting the winner into the playoffs.

It's not a mortal blow to the loser.

Whatever it may be, but I really like where Kaylin DeBoer has Alabama right now.

What have you seen?

Yeah, I can't disagree with anything you said, and, and you made the, you know, the point that really matters is that Bama has beaten Georgia the last 2 years in the regular season.

And guess what?

Georgia ended up winning the SEC in both of those seasons.

So, um, Uh, you know, if you ask Caitlin Deboer, what would you rather do, you know, beat them Saturday or win the SEC championship, uh, I think you'd say win the SEC championship, but, uh, I, I think we're seeing this program now here in year 3.

Really take on sort of his, his vision.

Yes.

And, uh, things that were a real concern last year don't seem as big of a concern this year.

Things that we've known about or I have identified with Alabama in the past, they seem to be bubbling to the surface again, especially when it comes to the running game.

And then when you have a, a, a quarterback like Keyan Russell, that makes every coach look better.

So, I'm with you on all your points.

Yeah, Russell looks like something special.

He's been fantastic.

Re receivers elite.

Defense has scored 4 touchdowns.

They have 4 pick 6s so far, and that used to be a hallmark of, of the Saban teams.

Defense would score.

So, I, I like, uh, and they, yes, they, they look like an elite Alabama team again, but they look like a DeBer team.

They don't look necessarily like Saban.

And speaking of Saban, the Saban documentary launches this week.

What are you most interest interesting Thursday night, Thursday night.

Here we go, yeah, uh, and do you have a saving story?

Well, I'm looking forward to this documentary.

And I know there's gonna be a lot of, excuse me, a lot of football in it, but I'm really more interested in seeing the behind the scenes sort of thing, the relationships, who, who Saban is, and how he became who he is.

And I'm sure that's going to be explored uh in the documentary.

So I, I'm, I'm really looking forward to it.

Uh, you know, when I was, uh, working for ESPN and, uh, and, specifically working at, uh, for College Game Day, you know , Tom Rinaldi did most, uh, of the Alabama, uh, pieces and did most of the Saban pieces.

He had built a relationship, uh, with Nick, uh, and, and they just had a, a good rapport.

Uh, but when, when Tom ended up going to Fox, I got a few more of those reps, uh, because of the opening.

And so, I, I don't know if I have a specific story, but I, I used to love trying to figure out his body language when you're doing an interview with him, and I'm sure you've interviewed him, you know, 100 times too, Pat.

But like, when he would cross his arms and lean back in the chair when we're doing, you know, the on-camera stuff, or if his foot started tapping, and it's like, we gotta get him out of here.

You know, like, I, this, this is like, you know, uh this is 5 alarm, he wants to end this thing .

And I never wanted to go past the number that we'd agreed upon because I knew I'd be back there at another point.

But there is one story that we did, him and Miss Terry.

Uh, we're very involved in Habitat for Humanity.

And, and the genesis of it was when, uh, when the tornadoes came through, uh, that part of Alabama a number of years ago, and, and, uh , Ms.

Terry and, and Saban became, uh, they sort of underwrote, uh, the building of homes, the championship homes they called them.

Every time, uh, Bama would win a national championship.

Uh, the, the savings would write a check.

And so I, I went down there and sort of chronicled that.

And the savings didn't really want to do the story because they didn't want it to be about them, but they also understood, if we do this story, then more publicity will be paid to the cause.

And so, what I saw were two people from humble beginnings in West Virginia, who are trying to help people who were at their lowest point financially, spiritually, emotionally.

And I, that's the part of the savings that, that I, I got a glimpse of.

And that's the part that I'm really looking forward to in, in this documentary.

Yeah, that's great stuff, and I, I, I remember my, my, one of my first stories, maybe my first one at Yahoo, after I'd come over from ESPN was Uh, Kind of saving the human being.

And they were getting ready to play LSU big game, and, uh, I talked to Tom Izzo, who had worked with him at Michigan State when, right, yeah, and he said, yeah, I went over to his house and, uh, Nick's in the backyard chopping wood with an ax.

He's like, that's a real man.

So that, you know, Izzo loved that.

That was, that was, yeah, but, but they bonded in a different way over adopting kids, and Nick was adopted.

And ended up becoming an adopter, and so did uh Tom Izzo, and that side of him, you know, I, I think had been put so far into the background of the aura of, Tough, serious, relentless Nick Saban.

And there's a definitely a different side to him that I think has come out more, and I hope continues to come out more.

And you see him more as a human being, and, and part of that is like, hey, I was an orphan, and I wanna help kids who had been in that same situation.

And Uh, I think it's pretty cool.

So, looking forward to seeing this documentary as well.

Yeah, and, and Tom, by the way, is an integral part of that documentary.

He did, I, I think he did the majority, if not all of the, all the Saban, uh, interviews and maybe the Miss Terry interviews also.

Then you know it's gonna be great interviewing.

Rinaldi is phenomenal at that.

So looking forward to it.

All right, not the Bama, Georgia, not the only big game of the weekend though.

Indiana, Nebraska.

And, you know, there were many decades in the history of college football where you wouldn't even want to talk about this game because it would be such a mismatch.

But instead, it's a proving ground potentially for Nebraska.

Indiana has proved itself.

Indiana's won 21 straight games.

How big is it for Matt Rhule?

It's year 4, hadn't done much in terms of beating ranked teams or factoring in the Big 10 race.

This could change it.

I think this is huge for Rhule and for, for IU.

I, Indiana has not played a great schedule so far, but digging into the stats, uh, I'm starting to believe, I know you know that I, I've been a believer, but I'm becoming more of a believer, frankly.

Uh, I'm, I am a true believer.

I think these Hoosiers are good.

Nebraska ain't played nobody yet.

This is going to be big.

I think Rhule needs.

If you don't win, fine, but you need to step up and make this a heck of a game, I think, in my opinion.

What do you think?

Well, I'm more of a Nebraska believer than you.

You mocked me in an earlier podcast when I stood up for the Huskers.

I'm not saying they're Indiana.

They aren't.

And, you know, you, you were very kind to rule when you said he's had some struggles against ranked teams.

He's 0 and 9 versus ranked teams since coming to Nebraska.

Whoops.

2 and 25 versus ranked opponents.

And Nebraska hasn't been a ranked team since September of 2016.

So, yes, there's a lot riding on this.

I'm with you.

That, are they gonna beat Indiana?

Well, it's at Nebraska, and certainly that crowd's gonna be there and, and, and Nebraska has shown progress and Rhule has said this is his best team he's had at Nebraska.

It's still gonna be tough But if they can at least.

Play near the level of an IU and show that they're capable of winning these kind of games, or have the potential, that's gonna be a big deal.

Uh, so they're home against Indiana this week, at Oregon the following week, win one of those.

Somehow win both.

I mean, now you've really got our attention.

So gonna be tough.

Win both tough, yeah, it, it then we're really talking, but, uh, we'll see anyway, we'll pick that game.

We'll pick Bama, Georgia in a couple of minutes.

Uh, we will pick this game as well, Oregon, UCLA.

How big is this for UCLA?

Uh, been a punching bag for the Ducks, they've lost 11 of the last 12, but they're undefeated going in, and it's been pretty strong undefeated, I think, uh.

Is Bob Chesney the king of LA with a win if they get this?

No, no, no, King of LA, uh, it's the Dodgers, it's the Lakers, uh, uh, oh God, it's the Rams, it's still USC football, and then it's UCLA football.

But what if, wait a minute, I, if they're 6 and 0 and they beat Oregon, which beat USC, doesn't he have to at least be ahead of Lincoln Riley?

Pat, they, they haven't drawn over 32,000 at the Rose Bowl.

It is.

OK, so, you know, tough to, to, to say he's a king when, when they still got the tarps up at the Rose Bowl.

OK.

So, I, I, I mean, yes, it would help if they lose.

I don't think it, it changes the, the, you know, the good vibes, uh, directed toward Chesney.

Uh, you know, I, I think any realistic UCLA fan is going, we're, we're playing this at Otson.

We're 11.5 point dogs.

We're optimistic, we're hopeful, but it's still Oregon.

So, uh, I, It'd be great if they won, and if they win, yes, nationally, uh, uh, it's more Chesney love, locally, more Chesney love, but I'm not sure they're quite there yet.

Yeah, I mean, we'll find out that like if they win all of a sudden, I think we really look at UCLA in a different light, but they've got to win.

Fair enough.

I would be surprised if they win.

So, all right, rapid-fire segment.

Some people have, uh, have dug this and we've done this before.

We're gonna do it.

We're each gonna ask, uh, 5 questions, all right?

I'm gonna hit you with 5.

You hit me with 5 quick answers.

I didn't need to see him first, but out of largesse, I gave Gene the list so he would be prepared and witty, clever, and insightful.

And we are starting with Red River , Oklahoma, Texas this weekend.

And of course we've got to start with Texas State Fair food.

Which would you rather eat, candy watermelon, which I'll describe, or fried broccoli?

The candy watermelon, what a concoction this is.

Uh, a giant ice cold watermelon slice the size of your head is wrapped in 6 ft of fruit by the foot, drenched in sour chamoy.

I don't even know what that is, and topped with a heavy sprinkle of tajin, which is a spice.

Uh, are you going you know what that is?

That's hilarious.

Are you going with the, the candy watermelon or the fried broccoli?

Well, if you're gonna go to the Texas State Fair, you gotta get something that's fried.

Right, yes, so I'm going with the fried broccoli.

Uh, also, if, if I were a, uh, trying to develop my, uh, uh, heart surgeon, cardiac, um, uh, practice, I would camp out at the Texas State Fair and just hand out business cards.

Uh, really, the one thing though, that, that I would like to try, and it's, I looked it up, it's called, uh, Twinkle Twinkle Brisket Star.

Oh, I meant to mention that.

Yes , it's a hollowed out Twinkie.

What, what sort of mind comes up with this?

A hollowed-out Twinkie with brisket, bacon, jalapeno, cream cheese, battered, of course, and then deep fried.

You, you, you can already just go ahead and make your angioplasty appointment after eating that.

So, yes.

OK, so I'm going with the fried.

OK, but like, how do you even hollow out a Twinkie?

Like that's labor-intensive, isn't it?

I don't know.

They're geniuses there.

Yeah, they are, I guess so.

Look, I, I'll take the fried broccoli any day because I'm thinking about this watermelon thing.

First of all, big as your head.

That's a problem if you're gonna walk around.

Yeah.

Secondly, you start trying to bite into this thing with this wad of fruit by the foot around it.

And then you get down to the watermelon, it's just gonna be a massive mess.

It's gonna be all over the place.

So, I'm putting some logistics behind this, Gene, and I, I just feel like eating the fried broccoli is gonna be easier than eating the Twinkie.

Well, and, and also as someone who made the mistake of agreeing to go on, um, I don't know, I think it's called the slingshot or something like that.

It's one of those, uh, What, what do they call it, like a bungee thing, like a super bungee thing.

You did this.

I did this, and there's a point where you're in this metal cage, and you are hurtling toward the earth, and you're face down and like, The, the, the asphalt is, is coming at you really fast.

So I want to eat something that, you know, fried broccoli, when, when I rap that up, it's gonna be easy to clean up.

The watermelon, I think, is gonna be more of a problem.

Uh, it'll look bad too.

We got red stuff all over the place.

Yeah.

That's, that's the way to think of that, that you're thinking of all angles.

Good job.

Absolutely.

OK.

Better atmosphere Saturday, Memorial Stadium in Lincoln or Beaver Stadium, Penn State whiteout for USC?

Whiteout.

Whiteout.

I mean, nothing against Memorial Stadium, Nebraska, great fans.

Whiteout is a scene, of course, UCLA wants a blowout, not the whiteout.

But, uh, no, I take whiteout.

I would under normal circumstances, but I think Penn State fans might be a little beaten down after two losses, and I think Nebraska fans are saying, hey, this is our chance, and we're gonna show Indiana what Nebraska can be.

So I think in this particular Saturday, Memorial Stadium will be louder and prouder.

So you're gonna take Nebraska when we pick the game.

I, you know what, we'll get there.

We'll get there get there.

We'll get there, and we'll talk about the overall standings, which are quite interesting.

Uh, which is your favorite PJ Fleck, vampire PJ wiping his own players' blood on his face or brown jug chugging there surfing PJ stop.

Just stop.

He's on a heater, man.

He's been wild, absolutely wild when they have won Big 10 games.

I, I, I hope they keep winning because I want to see what's next, but I, I'm going Jerry Maguire on you.

You, you, you had me at blood on your face.

All right, yeah, there's no 2 after that.

It's kind of unlike anything I've ever seen before.

Yeah, that was fantastic.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, Heisman winner, Jeremiah Smith of the field.

Do you know that Smith has more receiving yards by himself, 823.

Than almost Tennessee has total.

It's more than BYU has in receiving yards, more than UCLA does as a team, OK.

Those, that's according to Iron College football stats.

No, no, I'm gonna take that back.

According to Iron College football stats.

The last 9 Heisman, so-called leaders in September.

You know what happened to them?

They didn't win.

They didn't win.

Yeah, so I'm gonna go with the field right now.

Nothing against Smith.

He might end up winning it, but right now, I, I'll still take the field.

All right, you can have the field.

I'll take JJ.

I think that dude is next level.

Anyway, we'll see.

All right.

Better LSU Kentucky miracle.

They play each other and they play in Commonwealth Stadium, where this happened 24 years ago.

The bluegrass miracle, the football bomb.

75 yards, multiple deflected touchdown on the last play, with Kentucky fans already hanging on the goalposts, or Kentucky's basketball Mardi Gras miracle comeback in 1994 when they're behind by 31, I believe, in the second half, and still 1 in regulation.

Is this, is this a football podcast or a hoops podcast?

We can do both.

We, we're multifaceted.

I'm not doing both.

OK.

We're, we're going with the bluegrass miracle.

They had, they had dunked Guy Morris in Gatorade.

The fans, as you said, were, were hanging on the goalpost.

Uh, Nick Saban was on the LSU sideline that day.

Um, I mean, nothing beats that.

It, it was, it was incredible.

There, I mean, when he threw the ball, there's no time left on the clock.

Uh, Randall to Henderson.

Uh, 70+ yards , right?

So, I, you know, to me, that's a no-brainer choice.

If, if you take, if you take the hoop out of this.

I, I don't know if we can continue this podcast.

I think I've been threatened that I have to take the football bomb, but I will take the football bomb because I was there.

I covered that game.

Oh, were you?

OK.

Oh yeah, yeah, and I remember jumping to my feet and I was working for the Courier Journal.

Michael Smith, our Kentucky beat writer, was next to me.

He jumped to his feet in disbelief, and we're just staring at the field, and all of a sudden, he kind of like elbows me in the ribs like, oh man, we got a story.

I was like, oh yeah, oh yeah, we got a story.

Yeah.

Yeah, uh, that was great.

I, a small shameless plug here.

There is an ESPN, uh, uh, documentary movie that I was on called Miracle, which discusses both of those games.

Uh, it'll probably get back in circulation this week if you want to check for it.

It's well done.

Do you get, do you get residuals for that?

I get nothing.

OK, I get nothing, but you do get the chance to see my handsome face.

Very good.

All right, hit me with some stuff, Gene.

OK, here are my 5.

You're, you're gonna laugh, OK?

You've already answered it, unfortunately.

I had Jeremiah Smith or the field.

OK.

All right, so we know where you stand on that one.

You're taking Smith.

You know what, I got no problem with that.

I'm just going with the, with the math right now.

All right, number 2.

Chip Kelly is having a renaissance season as the offensive coordinator at Northwestern.

Is he an OC or a head coach next season?

Great question.

I think he's an OC.

I think he , I think that's his happy place.

I think he wants to coach ball.

He wants to draw up plays , and what they're doing at Northwestern right now is phenomenal.

They ran wing T against Penn State and ran him off the field.

They had Indiana on the ropes in Bloomington.

So I think he's doing what he loves and what he's best at, and I think he stays as an OC.

All right.

You can only pick one who deserves to be in the top 25.

Nebraska, Kentucky, Wisconsin, or Wake Forest.

Oh man, it's a great group.

I, I was leaning Kentucky as you started going, but I'm going Wake Forest.

I, I'm super impressed with what Wake has done.

Uh, good wins, and the loss is nothing to be ashamed of to Miami by 13 points .

All right.

Who will be in the same place in 2027?

Deion Sanders or Mike Norvell?

Oh, I'm gonna, I think right now, Norvell, and I, I, I, I don't think Colorado fires Deion Sanders.

I just, I'm not sure whether Deion Sanders is gonna want to keep going if this season continues down the drain.

And I think Norvell has shown signs that of getting it together, if they continue to, to do that, they win, win 8 or more games, and he's super expensive to fire, I think he's there.

OK.

And then, because you're about to inflict pain on me, referencing the uh last week's picks.

So I , I, you know, I feel like I'm gonna do something preemptive here.

What is more painful?

Uh, losing.

Like Kentucky did in 2002, which of course you witnessed, or the way Mizzou did to Colorado in 1990, it's the thirty-sixth year anniversary almost to the day it happened on October 6th, 1990 with the fifth downplay.

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

There's no doubt the fifth downplay is worse because it was a miscarriage of justice.

It was just an absolute stolen game.

So, uh, that, that is worse even than the multi, uh, tipped ball coach already wearing Gatorade loss.

OK, so are you, are, I mean, are you feeling hollow and, and, and angry at the moment?

Does that bring back some terrible memories for you?

I, I, I, you don't even want to.

I could go on and on about Missouri's north end zone and the crimes that have been committed there.

OK, good.

I just want you to, just to suffer just for a few moments before we get to the picks.

Yeah, because, because you're gonna suffer here as we go through.

I am now, I was 4 and 2 last week.

Gene was 2 and 4.

I have a 3-game lead plus the bear, plus the fat bear.

I'm 18 and 14, kind of respectable now.

Gene's 15 and 17, trying to get to 500, working on it.

Let's see if you can, uh, catch up to me this week.

You ready?

All right, start with the big one in Bryant Denny.

Georgia getting a 1.5. That thing's flipped.

It started.

Georgia was giving 1.5, now it's getting 1.5 at Alabama.

Your thoughts?

Games at Bama.

Running back situation at Georgia, uh, those guys are, are banged up.

De Boer has shown that he can.

He can beat Georgia during the regular season, at least.

I'll, I'll take Bama.

Uh, yeah, me too.

Uh, and I think it's gonna be a shootout, which every once in a while has happened in this series, kinda, but mostly, you know, when it was Nick against Kirby, it was usually, you know, blunt force trauma, defensive battle, but both these teams can score.

So, I, I think this.

The winning team for sure gets in the 40s, maybe both of them, but I'm thinking if the weather holds up, if the weather, that's right, that is, that is a prediction based on a clean track, so to speak, and we have no idea what that's gonna be like.

I'm sure they'll have the field covered, but we'll see what, what that does.

Um, all right, then we've talked about this.

Indiana at Nebraska.

Hoosiers giving 7.5. Where are you going?

Well, yeah, we, we sort of discussed this one.

As much as I think Nebraska's improved, I don't think they're Indiana improved yet.

I think they're getting there.

Uh, but I'm, I'm gonna take Indiana and lay the points.

So am I, shockingly, I know, but, uh, in digging into Indiana some this week, like the.

The stuff they do well is incredibly consistent and holds up.

The things they did well last year, they are doing well this year.

They have one turnover.

It was on special teams.

They fumbled a punt with less than 2 minutes left in a 55-0 victory over Howard.

The guy that fumbled the punt hasn't returned another punt.

That's Signetti.

Ball security is everything.

You lose a fumble, you're out.

Here's my stat.

Indiana has run 1,359 consecutive offensive plays without losing a fumble.

It's unbelievable.

Has to be an all-time NCAA record, has to be.

So you don't do that.

You, you don't turn the ball over.

You don't commit penalties.

Nebraska, uh, has lived on turnovers.

That's one of the reasons they're undefeated, and you're not gonna get any this week.

So I am taking the Hoosiers.

Yeah, because usually, you know, that worm turns on the turnovers thing, you know, with IU, you know, at some point they can't sustain that, but somehow IU does.

Yeah, led the nation in turnover margin last year.

Uh, could do it again this year.

They, they only have 3 takeaways so far.

That's the 1 departure from last year.

Uh, all right, Red River, Oklahoma, reeling a bit, getting 7.5 against Texas in the Cotton Bowl.

Under normal circumstances, I would take the 7.5 and run.

I, I still believe in OU's defense.

I'm not entirely convinced about Texas's offense, but.

OU's offense gives me absolutely nothing to cling to.

So, I, I, I will take Texas in this one.

All right, I'm going Sooners here.

I've just seen many, many Red River games where the team that comes in in disarray rises up and plays one of its best games.

Yeah, you're right.

You're right.

I'm not sure they can win, but I think they turned this into just an absolute defensive slobber knocker.

And it's 17 to 14 or 14 to 10 or whatever, because that's really all, that's Oklahoma's only chance.

They also, they have both, both teams have had to add a week off.

But if you're going to try to get a quarterback mentally out of the ditch, 2 weeks is a good time to do that.

And so we'll see if they've been able to get John Matier uh out of his own head and to a point where he can play better in this game.

Well, and Venables, uh, seems to have made it clear that if Matier Isn't doing the job, they might turn to somebody else.

The other guys have been getting first team reps.

Yeah, I mean, uh, it's possible.

I also think you say that because the way Matier plays is probably not the way the other two guys play because he's kind of a single wing quarterback.

Uh, all right, UCLA at Oregon, we've discussed that.

Bruins getting 11.5. Your thoughts?

Both teams have had 2 weeks to prepare for this one.

No Dante Moore, he was officially ruled out.

Uh, I, I think, uh, UCLA can keep it within that 11.5. I agree.

Uh, it's great to have Dylan Rayola for your backup, uh, if you're the Ducks, and the home atmosphere is something, but If UCLA can run the ball and shrink the game, which they have been able to run the ball incredibly well, uh, I'm gonna give the Bruins at least a chance to cover.

I can see that being a 7 to 10 point game.

So we're in agreement there.

Last one before the lock of the week, USC getting 1.5 at Penn State.

I'm sure you're not gonna be with me on this one.

I know USC has shown that it has problems when it travels to the east.

Uh, we saw it earlier this season against, uh, uh, at Rutgers, and in the past, when, when they, when they got on a plane and head that way.

I just simply think USC is a better team.

I think it has more talent, and, and Penn State certainly has some, uh, some profound issues right now.

So I will take, I'll take USC and cross my fingers, I guess.

Well, darn it, I, I actually agree with you.

I just, I, I am out on Penn State.

I don't think that's a great team right now, and I just think in terms of talent.

Uh, USC has more of it, so we're in agreement there.

All right, do you have a lock of the week?

Well, I never get these right, but sure, I'll throw one out there for you.

Uh, Pitt is, I believe, and our, uh, producer Kent can double check, is -4, uh, against North Carolina, uh, Carolina at Pitt, and, uh, I, I think that's a, a small price to pay for Pitt.

I know they lost Heinsshall.

Uh, but Gerner, uh, did a nice job in relief.

He's had a whole week getting, uh, the first team reps.

I think Pitt has a chip on his shoulder pads, and, uh, and, and I , I just like that team.

I like Nardduzi, I like the, I just like the vibe that they have.

Uh, so I'll, I'll go with Pitt and lay the points.

OK.

That's, uh, can't do that will be in charge of, of figuring out the line on that, but uh, I don't necessarily disagree with you on that one.

I, I think that's got a chance to pan out.

I am going to, uh, Morgantown, West Virginia, and I'm gonna take the home Mountaineers getting 3 against Arizona.

Uh, Arizona coming in as a three-point favorite going across the country, play, uh, what should still be a pretty, uh, charged atmosphere.

I know the, the West Virginia defense hasn't been very good the last couple of weeks, but, did you hear what the defensive coordinator said about no.

He said they're like, we're the worst defense in the country, like we're awful.

I mean, he, he, he, he just, he just blew them up.

Well, I mean, he's not wrong necessarily, but he's not.

I, sometimes, uh, hitting yourself in the face with the cold water of truth can, can wake you up.

So I, I think they're gonna play better.

It's also, it's a 9:00 a.m. kickoff for Arizona, which is not ideal body clockwise.

So, give me the Mountaineers to cover the 3.

All right, uh, one quick story for you here from Uh, uh, Vernon, Indiana.

We've got.

We have a, a, a driver under the influence.

uh, yes, we do, in broad daylight, turning backward doughnuts and the lawn in front of the courthouse, like tearing up the grass to an incredible degree.

It's on video, there's, I mean, this person is going at it.

Uh, hard worker like your Ricky Bobby, your stock car driver, they, they are impressed and jealous of what this, uh, this driver's doing.

Can you tell me, uh, guess, give me, give me the age range of the driver here and, and gender.

Well, since you dig these crazy things up, I have no idea what it is.

I'm going to say it's a uh a 77 year old woman.

God, you're close.

Have you heard about this?

No, I have no idea.

I thought, I thought you were doing the, the Nebraska urinal thing.

Oh, I forgot that Nebraska urinal thing.

00, well, you know what, that's the problem.

Sometimes the rundown gets away from me.

Uh, but yeah, no, that's, we, we can also, we can buy a Nebraska urinal if you want, but I just, I'm entranced by a 67-year-old woman tearing up the courthouse lawn at 7.

OK, yeah, yeah.

So I wanna see you spelling out Ohio, she's an Ohio State fan.

I don't know.

Vernon, Indiana.

I, I, that's, that's Southern Indiana , uh, pretty sure that.

You she's probably a Hoosier, so.

All right, and then, yes, all right, if, if somebody wants to bid, you can buy a urinal from the Lincoln Memorial Stadium uh in Nebraska.

I kind of don't want one, thanks.

I'll pass on putting that in my house.

Uh, clearly that's enough of this show.

It's gone down the drain.

Thanks for watching, listening.

Uh, enjoy the games this weekend.

We will be back next week.