Is Notre Dame Under The Most Pressure This Week? | Others Receiving Votes

All right.

Welcome to the show.

Others receiving votes.

I am Pat 40 joined as always on Thursdays by Gene Wojaowski.

Talk us into the weekend here.

You can find us on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, SI.

com.

And Gino, We go through.

All those games against Sanford and Citadel and Florida A&M.

And teams from the MAC, no disrespect to any of them, and the Sun Belt, and so on and so forth to get to weekends like this.

This is where the stuff gets really good.

We got, we, we walk down to the, uh, convenience store.

We take a flyer on lottery.

And this week, we got the, the lottery ticket that really, really matters.

We did, we did.

The, the, the Saturday we've been waiting for 7 blockbuster games, at least, 7 matchups of ranked on ranked teams in the college football playoff top 25.

We have got Miami at Notre Dame.

I'm sorry we don't have Malachi Tony for this game.

That is a bummer.

Get well soon, Malachi, cause we wanna see you, uh, by the end of the season, hopefully.

Uh, we've got BYU at Utah in the Holy War, and those two schools do not like each other.

We've got Georgia and Ole Miss who have some recent history after a couple of unbelievable games last year, Ole Miss knocking Georgia out of the playoffs.

We have Alabama and LSU, which For two decades, uh, often was the biggest game in the sport, many seasons.

We have Texas at Missouri, injured Texas, Mizzou really tough at home, trying to knock it, one of them trying to knock the other one out of playoff contention.

We have Kentucky at Tennessee, another ancient rivalry, it's one-sided.

But, uh, an old, old border battle there.

We have Oregon at Ohio State, two teams trying to pull it out of the ditch at this point.

So, just an incredible lineup.

Can't wait to get to it.

And Gene, let's talk, let's start first, just in terms of your own watchability rankings, the games you, you are most interested in seeing, let's rank those 1 to 7.

What do you have?

Well, in the original rundown, you had a great phrase.

You said curb appeal.

And, um, and to me, this is, this is like going to your favorite restaurant and you love everything on the menu.

Um, of course, I'm gonna need to go to a, uh, for those who are watching this, by the way, uh, I'm gonna have to get, you know, retina surgery, uh, looking at that shirt that you're wearing, but, um, at least so many good games.

Thank you for my number one.

And, and I'm admittedly old school, but my favorite game.

Year in, year out, just from a pure intensity standpoint, like they knocked the hell out of each other, year after year is Bama LSU.

Uh, that is, that is the game that I love to watch.

You know, the, the old school unis, um, I know it's not a night game at Death Valley, but any game at Death Valley is pretty cool.

Uh, you've got the Lane Kiffin factor, uh, you've got, uh, uh, Bama getting some guys, uh, healthy, apparently at the right time.

Uh, it, it's, it, the game means something.

I'm not sure it's a, it's an elimination game per se, but it's pretty close to it.

And so, I, there's a lot that goes into this one.

I, that's, for me, that's the one that I, I, I'm gonna love watching the most.

Yeah, I, I mean, that game has been so great over the years, as you said, and, and just that from your point, vicious at times.

I mean, physical, mean, nasty football.

Uh, it's a lot of NFL talent on the field and a lot of big, aggressive guys just slamming into each other.

That's kind of the history of that game.

Can't wait.

I'm gonna put number one, I'm, I'm putting Miami and Notre Dame, just that.

Uh, let's, let's remind the viewers, I was at that game in Gene in 1988.

Gene thought he was at the game, but I was actually at the game.

I was at the World Series.

You were at the World Series, same day, October 15th, 1988.

Captain.

Those are easily mixed up, Pat.

Shavez Ravvine, South Bend, sure, sure it happens.

It does.

Um, but when, when those two are both on top or near the top, it's pretty special.

It's pretty fun, and big games at Notre Dame are special.

I, I did a top 15 of the most memorable games in Notre Dame stadium history and probably left off a couple that should have been on there, but just going through them and finding games back to the 1940s, um, that You know, that Notre Dame's been #1 or playing the team that's #1 so many times in that stadium, and that's the case here, the Hurricanes, without Tony, but I, I wanna see those two teams on the field again.

Uh, I've got that game number 2 on the, uh, Pat 40 curb appeal meter, uh, for all the reasons you say.

I mean, Notre Dame Stadium, one of my all-time favorite places to watch a college football game.

That campus on a, on a football Saturday is just, It's just perfect.

Uh, early November, you know, it's gonna be in the 40s there, so, uh, a little bit of, not winter in the air, but certainly fall in the air.

Uh, you've got Notre Dame, number 11, college football playoff ranking, which leads me to believe that touchdown Jesus might be making a different gesture toward the committee.

Um, uh , so, uh, uh, and you've got Miami, a, uh, what, 7 point plus underdog, but they're number one in the, in the ranking.

I mean, it's just a lot going on.

And uh so, uh, yeah, that, that's #2 for me, and I've got no problem with you making a #1.

I can see all the reasons why.

Yeah, I, I mean, it, the committee basically has made that a must-win for Notre Dame.

And we're gonna get to some of that.

We're gonna discuss these games a little further in more detail, and we're gonna talk about the CFP rankings, and we're gonna talk about some of the coaching conspiracy theories out there, and so on.

We got a lot to get to in the show, but, um, I've got Alabama LSU number 2, there, uh, for all the reasons we've already discussed.

What, what do you have number 3?

Uh, I've got the holy war.

I think that, uh, that rivalry does not get the attention.

That it deserves.

I mean, it is nasty.

Yeah.

And, um, uh, the 10:00 a.m. uh local kickoff time is hilarious and absurd all at the same time, but it won't make any difference in the, uh, in the football hate level there.

Um, it, it is, it is a rivalry rich in tradition and rich in football hatred.

Uh, I, I think it's advantage BYU because their fans are sober anyway at the kickoff.

Uh, Utah fans now , they've got, look, they gotta crank it up early because they, I, I, I once went in 2004 to a Utah tailgate and just walked around and asked them how different is this from what BYU does.

And the people, there was a lot of mocking and And uncharitable comments towards the Cougars from the Ute fans.

So what you said about the hatred, uh, is very much there and is real.

Uh, my number 3 game from what is Oregon, Ohio State, just because of what's at stake.

Uh, they're both trying to pull a season out of the ditch, a season that began with them ranked 1-2.

We thought this was gonna be the biggest game of the weekend.

And now it's, it's a salvage operation, it's a desperation game, really.

So, Ohio State game 2 without Julian Sean, they lost handily in the first one.

How did they respond?

Oregon has gotten up off the deck a little bit.

They've worked their way into the CFP rankings.

Could a 3-loss Oregon team keep rising?

They only have 2 losses in the conference, not out of the question, they could make the Big 10 title game.

So, just from a desperation factor, that's my number 3.

OK.

Um, I get it.

I get it.

From watchability for curb appeal, yeah, though not so much, it's not as high as my, uh, on, on my rankings, but I, I don't disagree with anything you just said there.

Uh, my number 4 is, uh, Georgia at Ole Miss.

And, um, because it's such a simple equation, it's Kirby Smart and Schumann's defense.

Against Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss's offense.

And it's at Ole Miss, which is a, a cool setting in its own right.

And there's some recent history there that's, uh, that's really interesting, how those two teams have gone back and forth.

Um, I, I just, I, I love the matchup.

I, I love Kirby Smart's sort of ethos against what, what Chambliss can do.

And um so, I'm really interested to see how that game unfolds from that standpoint.

Yeah, um, that one's a little further down on my list.

I'll get to that one in a second.

Um, it's, it's not that far down, uh, but at number 4, I have BYU to have the holy war, um.

And I, I don't know, I, I think there have been times in that game where they've both worn their home uniforms, and it's a good look, the blue against the red .

I hope that's the case in this game.

Yeah, uh, Rice Eccel Stadium, underrated place to play.

The ms, as they call the student section, they get after it there.

What do they call it?

The Mus, M U S S.

I can't remember what it's an abbreviation or it's part of the.

It's part of the school fight song.

It's something like when you, when you see us in the mos, uh, oh, here we go, Mighty Utah student section producer there we go, OK, with the correction there, yeah, and, uh, they, they get after it in the ms.

So the mus will be ready at 1:0:00 a.m. I am sure of that.

All right, what do you got at number 5?

Well, again, uh, admittedly, I'm a Tennessee grad, so I've got, I got Kentucky at Tennessee at number 5.

I think Neyland.

Is, is gonna be a tad noisy.

Uh, people who aren't familiar with that rivalry, you are obviously living in the state of Kentucky, you know, it goes back, uh, you know, 1000 years.

Um, yes, it has been a bit lopsided, but this, this Kentucky team doesn't resemble some of the lopsided, uh, Kentucky teams.

And, uh, so, you know, if you look at the rankings, uh, you know, Kentucky's in the top 10.

Tennessee's at 13.

Tennessee's had the bye week.

I, I, I just think there's that game , uh, that, that intensity in that stadium, uh, tomorrow night is gonna be off the charts.

So, me personally, it, it's a huge watchability game.

Yeah, well, I, yes, I have some thoughts on that as well.

I will get to that one.

For me, number 5, I've got Georgia Ole Miss, as you mentioned, the, the clash of, of strengths there is gonna be great, and they've played they played twice last year, and in the last 19 games, Georgia has not allowed more than 24 points to anyone, 27 points, sorry, to anyone except Mississippi twice.

Got them for 35.

Georgia outscored them and beat them in Athens 43-35, but then lost.

Lost in the playoffs, 39-34.

So , Chambliss has found a way to really bedevil uh the best defensive coach in the country, and Kirby Smart.

So, I, I wanna see if he can do it again.

And yes, the atmosphere in the grove can be awesome.

I was there for the LSU game this year.

They will be lit up and going for that one.

How about number 6?

Uh, I've got Texas at um.

Pat 40 University , Mizzou.

Uh Arch Manning is always compelling.

Football theater, um, Mizzou.

They haven't lost a home game this season, right?

They've been good at home.

Yeah, they've been good at home.

Uh, the, the noon kick is, I don't know, I don't know what that really means, but you, you know, I like, I like this kind of game early in the day.

It'll be fun.

So, um, I know there's not.

Decades of history and all that sort of thing, but, uh, the combination of, of the, the brand of Texas, Arch Manning, and then just Mizzou, this, they're, they're like the, the pebble in your, in your shoe, you know, they, they can, they can cause problems for you.

I'm sure that's what Eli Drinkwitz is shooting for.

We wanna be the pebble in the shoe of, of power teams.

Maybe put it on a t-shirt.

Yeah, right.

Uh, 6, I've got Kentucky, Tennessee.

So , my, my, my experience with that game was this, I, so I, I, obviously , I was the Kentucky beat writer for A couple of years, and then I was a columnist in Louisville.

I went to that game, either in Lexington or in Knoxville, probably.

10 times.

Um, and it was always an absolute funeral for Kentucky, like, let's just get this season over with, we're starting to play basketball now, the fans don't, they've checked out.

Tennessee is like, yeah, we're, you know, we're 9 and 2, we're going to a bowl game, we're fired up, let's stomp the cats again.

So I'm at least intrigued by the change of fortunes here, that Kentucky is playing Tennessee in November with a lot on the line.

More than it's had on the line in a long time.

Um, so I'm sure the fan base is, uh, extremely energized by that.

Um, yeah, games in Neyland are, are just phenomenal and going down there, and it, it was always funny where You're living in a state that is totally starting to check out on the sport, and you go down there, and it's just like, it's as frenzied as it was on Labor Day weekend, and it's as frenzied every Saturday, uh, in, in Neyland Stadium.

So, looking forward to seeing that one and seeing how Kentucky handles that atmosphere.

All right, number 7.

Well, you know, now that I've listened to your .

Many learned arguments.

I, I feel like I probably have this game, uh, too low.

Oregon at Ohio State is, is my last one.

It's nothing personal.

OK, Oregon and Ohio State, but it's, you know, it's sort of battle of the backup quarterbacks.

I really don't know what I'm gonna get out of either team.

I do know that if Oregon loses, we're waving goodbye to the Ducks.

And, and if Ohio State loses and loses their second in a row, you know, the, the city of Columbus is gonna have to go to trauma treatment.

Uh, so, I, I guess that there's, it's a more compelling game than I originally thought, but from a watchability standpoint, I, I, I don't know.

I don't know what I'm, what we're gonna see.

Partly because I, the quarterback play is, you know, a huge question mark to me.

Yeah, no, it could be a rough watch if you're there to see offense.

I mean, that could be a 1714 kind of game.

Um, I've got Texas, Missouri last.

It does lack history.

Uh, the Texas side of it obviously is compelling.

That was a team that believed it could win the national championship, and now they're pretty much in must-win territory, not completely, but close.

Uh, and the arch factor is always fascinating.

They're injured, they're banged up.

I will say, Missouri now having completed renovations of both ends of the stadium, that place is fantastic.

It is a big-time, really cool stadium, the meeting space and everything.

I've been in a lot of programs just within the last year, and I've been in their building, and I'm looking around like, Missouri is nicer than about everybody.

Uh, so they, they've at least they've built the infrastructure and they've created some atmosphere, as you said, they're, they're undefeated at home and they've won every game by double digits, so we'll see if they can keep the mojo going against the horns.

Wait, wait a second here.

You gave me a hard time for the pebble in the shoe thing.

But you're gonna go out and sell these, these players in the portal and high school recruits on, and we've got great meeting space.

I'm not , I'm not.

I'm just saying it's nice.

We have the best meeting space in the country.

Well, look, this is not the era to sell meeting space.

It was for a while when you had to spend all the money that you weren't giving to the players, but it's nice to have that too.

Missouri's NIL Warch, it's not Texas's, but it's, it's not bad.

They've, they've been spending meeting space.

All right.

Uh, in, in terms of these games, in terms of spite, which team hates its opponent the most out of these seven games?

Why don't you look at the rundown?

What does it say?

What does it say?

It says in terms of will you , you will lead.

00 yeah, I'm leading.

Hi.

Again, I should maybe read my own rundown.

I write these things and I still don't pay attention.

Um, yeah, so I'm leading here.

Uh, I'm, I'm gonna say it's LSU that hates Alabama, and it's, it all goes back to Saban.

I mean, they've never liked each other, but When Saban left LSU and then went to the NFL and then came back at Alabama, and now has, you know, or not now, but did torment LSU for a long time, that drove LSU crazy.

When he becomes the greatest coach in college football history, and wins 6 titles in Tuscaloosa.

That was hard for LSU to handle, especially cause they played each other every single year, and including once in the championship game, when Saban just embarrassed Les Miles and LSU beat them 21 to 0.

So, I think, having been around LSU when they've lost to Alabama, oh, they don't handle it well at all.

So, for me, that's, that's where the heaviest fight lies.

I will acknowledge that I noted like the, the com the sincerere cultural differences between Utah and BYU, but I think uh LSU really wants to beat Alabama.

Well, I'm with you.

But I'm, I'm going BYU Utah, and flip a coin on, on what fan base despises the other more.

Uh, but from a football hate meter readings, I , I think that's way past the red line, and, uh, uh, where I, I see where you're coming from on LSU Bama.

But I just think, man, you know, BYU and Provo are, you know, Salt Lake and Provo, not that far away.

Um, obviously, uh, the LDS presence in Salt Lake, you know, humongous.

Uh, I, I just, I think culturally and sports-wise, there, there's just, uh, w, it's, It's profound, uh, dislike for one another, and they do live with with each other every day, you know, it's a little bit like Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky, Louisville, where You, you are seeing your rival every single day, and you're talking trash with them, and you're sick and tired of hearing their trash.

So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's a great one.

It's, it's a truly like an underrated rivalry, I think.

Yeah.

OK, now, here, the, the rundown says Gene leads, I will follow on this.

So, are you ready?

Which team is under the most pressure of these seven games?

I can make a case for every one of them.

Yeah.

But I think Notre Dame is under the most pressure.

Only because.

If they lose this game to Miami, and they lose it now to Miami without Malachi Tony, and they lose it at home.

Uh, and they lose it when they're favored.

And they lose it when if you look again, I generally don't like to play that schedule game thing, but when you look at what they have left on their schedule, There aren't many opportunities.

To impress people.

Uh, other, other than just trying to, you know, road stomp them.

But from a qua from quality opponents left on their schedule.

No.

So, this to me is Notre Dame's statement game.

They have to win this game.

Yeah, I, I agree.

Especially, yeah, the, the Tony injury makes it even more so.

But, but regardless, I think when the selection committee put them 11th in the initial rankings, like in the last, uh, at-large spot, that was the clear signal, this is a must-win.

That there's really no other way around it, otherwise, Notre Dame's gonna wind up exactly where they were last year with 10 OK wins and 2 losses against quality opponents, and that's not gonna be good enough.

Uh, it looks like in the eyes of the committee, they would need a lot of help.

So, that's it.

I will also say, though, for Texas that began the season, uh, you know, ranked very highly and at one point was, was number 1.

And given everything they invested in the portal to, to put a team together around Arch Manning, that, that, if they're, if they have 3 losses and they're shoved, probably on the wrong side of the bubble and have to play their way back in, That's not gonna go well.

So, I think Texas is in a, in a close to must-win situation as well.

Uh, real quick, I just wanted to mention as well, two other big, Big 10 games.

Undefeated UCLA, undefeated and in my mind, disrespected by the committee at number 8, UCLA is at Minnesota, and Iowa is at Northwestern.

Um, I'm really, I am most intrigued by the UCLA Minnesota game.

I was at UCLA earlier this week, got a story on SI now.

Feel free to check it out.

Spent a lot of time with the Bob Chesney Bruins.

They're delightful, unbelievable, like, it is a, a breath of fresh air going in there.

And you love to see kind of the fresh success stories and get to tell them.

I, I, I'm still the, I asked Colin Hitler, the, the defensive coordinator, said, I still don't know that we're good.

So that, you know, I, I, I'm not sure.

What did he say?

He said, I'm, I'm not sure we're good.

Huh.

Well, I think that's what the committee said.

I think you're right, they sure did.

Uh, winning at Minnesota, Minnesota's been a, a tough opponent for a lot of teams this year.

Could have, should have perhaps beaten Indiana, uh, did beat Iowa, he's got some other good wins.

So, I think this is a huge game for UCLA.

Go on the road, uh, get a win, go to 9 and 0 and say, OK, committee, seriously, take, give us some respect.

Well, absolutely could have beaten IU.

Probably thought they had beaten IU.

Uh, UCLA hasn't been on the road for nearly a month.

This, I, I'm, I'm with you.

Same game that intrigues me too.

Hasn't been on the road for nearly a month, hasn't traveled east since September.

We've got a 9:00 a.m. body clock kickoff time for UCLA.

Temps will be in the 40s, uh, you know, that's, that's entirely doable.

But I, I think Minnesota will keep this game.

Um, close.

And, um, and I think really the question is, does Minnesota have something left emotionally after losing that game against Indiana the way they did?

Yeah, that was a gut punch, went into OT the whole thing.

Um, another game though, I mean, that's gonna be low scoring and defense, a new, a new backup, uh, quarterback who's played the last few weeks for UCLA Ty Deeffenbach, transfer from Cal Poly, done a nice job.

Yeah, he's done very well, um, but some pressure there to perform.

Uh, all right, Gene, the, the first playoff rankings are out.

The TV show that I love so much, you do, uh.

Some, uh, plenty of controversy, a lot to react to there.

Real quick for the listeners, viewers, if you, if you didn't see it or if you've forgotten, whatever.

Number 1, Miami, 2, Georgia, 3, Utah, number 4, Indiana, 5, Alabama, 6.

Kentucky, 7, Texas, 8 UCLA, 9 BYU, 10, Mississippi, 11, Notre Dame, and then the 12th spot would go to number 25, Boise State, and Ohio State would be the first team out with Tennessee, the 2nd team out.

Uh, what are your thoughts on the first worksheet and who's too high, who's too low?

Well, I'm unlike others, I'm not going to fire up the CFP committee outrage machine just yet.

I'll do that.

That's fine.

I , I know you will.

I, I have great respect for the committee.

I do not think this is an easy gig.

And I think this very first ranking.

was really tricky.

I think if the first ranking was after this Saturday, I think it would have been much easier for them.

Yeah, but it isn't, and they did what they did.

And so since you asked, I do have some questions, OK, maybe you can answer some of them for me.

Why is Alabama number 5?

I can't answer that one.

OK.

Why is Tennessee, which has the same 6-2 record as Alabama, and beat Alabama by 16?

Ranked 8 spots below Bama.

Why is Ohio State 8 spots below 4 Indiana, even though it beat IU at IU?

Admittedly, you know, by this much, you know, by a toe.

I do have an answer for that one, but I'm not outraged by this.

But why is USC, which has one more win than Ohio State, 8 spots below the Buckeyes and they just beat Ohio State.

Why is 8-0 UCLA, which treated you like a king, and I hope they didn't give you that pullover.

Um, Why are they 5 spots below 8-0 Utah?

Uh, so I, I couldn't, my main gripe.

I couldn't get a feel for what the committee really valued in this ranking.

Head to head, uh, strength to scale, I mean, it, it seemed like the committee was sort of all over the place on this first ranking.

What say you, I agree.

I, I don't see a whole lot of consistency.

I don't see a lot of.

You know, easy to identify thought patterns, per se.

I do think, I think they gave credence to the SEC's drumbeat of strength of schedule, and that's why, I mean, That I, I have no explanation for the Alabama thing.

And this is a pattern with the, the, the committee.

This is my problem with them.

We're a long way.

As your point is perfectly well taken that this first ranking is kind of a fiasco, and if they've done it after this next week.

And when all these ranked teams playing each other, it should be much easier.

But they didn't.

This is the ESPN television schedule.

They had to have one out on election night, and so that's what we got.

But the Alabama thing makes no sense.

They were overrated last year.

They were overrated in 2023.

Uh, I, I, I am mystified by where they are in relation to several other teams, Texas for sure, Tennessee, absolutely.

Um, So I don't get that.

Uh, the, yeah, the, the difference between Utah and UCLA, I don't really get that either.

The Ohio State thing, putting them that far below Indiana, I, I don't think anybody knows what to do with Ohio State yet.

That far below Indiana, but that far above USC.

I just think we have a one-game sample of what they're potentially going to be with Luke Fahey at quarterback and Julian saying out.

What do you do with that?

I don't know.

Um, so that, that's a question, and I tell you what, it's gonna be a question for what to do with Miami.

The, the talk with Malachi Tony, ankle injury, surgery, probably a tightrope surgery, although I don't think that's been.

Um, explained as such yet, that he would potentially be back in 4 to 6 weeks, that would put him back for maybe the ACC championship game or the college football playoff.

I'll tell you what, like, Uh, if I'm, if I'm Miami, I certainly present the Uh, the appearance that he's gonna be back, because you want them to praise you as a team that's gonna have Malachi Tony on it.

Hopefully, you're telling the truth when you're appraising that he's gonna be back, but, but that's gonna be a huge X factor for them as well.

So, Well, if it, if it is that tightrope , and I should have looked this up before we did the podcast, but it, it does seem like that's That's a doable time frame for Miami.

I mean, easy for me to say, Malachi , get out there after the tightrope, uh, surgery, if that's in fact what he's getting.

To your Bama point, honest to God, Pat, I'm watching the program, OK?

And I'm looking at it, and I was like, They, they haven't put Alabama up yet.

Did, did Alabama not make the top 25?

Yeah.

And then, then it like dawned on me, oh my God , it looks like they're gonna be 5 in this ranking.

I, I, I could not believe it.

Now, look.

Bama beats LSU.

All of a sudden, they bailed the committee out.

Uh, we'll, we'll see.

Yeah, but if it's just based on what we've seen so far this season, that, that was, that was stunning to me.

I, I was, I was floored, and that, yeah, when, when I saw UCLA on the board at 8, I was like, wait, they're gonna put 7 teams ahead of them, and then you start thinking, it's like, and yeah, at least one of them is gonna be a 22, and then 2 of them are 2 loss teams, and one of them's Alabama.

I, I was blown away.

I I could not, uh, figure that one out for sure.

Um, if it is the tightrope thing, so Tuatangavaloa had that back in like, I think 2019, right?

And I think that was about a four-week recovery.

Brock Bowers had it at Georgia in, I believe, 2022.

He missed a couple of games.

Um, and they had an off week too.

So, yeah, he had like 3 weeks off, and then he played a couple, but then he was out again, and then he played again, and then he was out again.

Um, you know, I, I don't know, I'm not a doctor, I'm not here to guess, but given what Malachi, Tony's quickness and speed advantage is, if he's, if that's hampered, That's a, that's a big blow, and, uh , I would hate to see it for Miami.

I love watching him play.

He's just, he's a great player.

Well, they've got, they've got Duke at home, Virginia Tech at home, BC at home.

That's what's left on their schedule, their regular season schedule.

So, uh, regular season looks like it ends on November.

20 twenty-eighth, twenty-eighth, so.

Yeah, is he back in time for the ACC championship game?

Uh, maybe if you, you know what, here's the thing, I, I don't know.

It depends, but if you're 12-0 at that point.

And you say, look, we can lose this game and still be in the playoffs.

I, I might hold him out then.

I don't know.

Yeah, why not?

Um, OK.

The other big news of the week, uh, Florida State fired Mike Norvell finally.

It took a long time.

They got it done.

Uh, Gino, you've done some spadework on where you think the FSU job ranks in the P4 hierarchy.

This is great.

Gene putting on his reporter hat.

What did your research tell you?

No, it, uh, actually, it's my super subjective guy hat.

Well, that's fine.

I'm, I'm basically.

That's what this is.

You're, you're giving us your columnist.

I'm asking you.

How good is this job, really?

And, and there, there are people who think this is still, this is one of the elite jobs.

I mean, this, this, this is a top 10 kind of job.

And I'm just not so sure anymore.

And so, I just, uh, I, I think it's dangerous if you live in the past.

If you live on, on, you know, your trophy case.

And if you need evidence of that, just go visit Lincoln, Nebraska.

And so, uh, since 2018, Florida State has had six losing seasons.

It, it might be a 7th this year, so I'd be 7 in 9 years.

Uh, by replacing Norville, that, and they're hiring the new guy, whoever that's going to be, that's gonna be 4 head coaches in 11 years.

The athletic department is $430 million plus in debt.

It doesn't have a full-time athletic athletic director yet.

If you're a high school senior right now, you were 5 years old when FSU last won a national championship.

So, for the purposes of this exercise, Uh, uh, there are 67 power conference teams, Power 4 conference teams, plus Notre Dame.

So we're saying there's 68 teams out there.

That's my pool.

And so, Based on just going through all those teams and evaluating them on what I think is sort of the health and vitality of those specific programs , or their brand, or their uh ability to be successful.

I, I have Notre Dame.

I have 40 of those programs ranked ahead of Florida State.

40, so 41 you got them right.

So they're 41st, and part of that, and, and giving an assist to the athletic, 27 of those 68 teams spend more money on their programs than Florida State.

All right, if, if you go by the, the range and the estimates that the athletic put together on spending on and I owe and I owe money, or yeah, and I owe money, yeah, yeah, yeah, and then there are programs that spend less than Florida State, all right, such as Kentucky, Northwestern, BYU, Utah, SMU, Iowa, among others, that they're just better built.

The program's more stable.

Uh, and they get a return on their investment.

Uh, so, and then finally, what is Florida State's leadership done to make you think that this is all magically going to change?

And to me, the, the, the real tell in all of this.

is who they hire as their next coach.

If it's Jimbo Fisher, and there's nothing against Jimbo, OK?

But if it's Jimbo Fisher, that tells me they're hiring a guy because they can save money.

And that's not a good enough reason these days.

And so, um, that's why, you know, look, you might disagree .

I got my little list here of, of the programs that I just think are better than Florida State.

Some of them, like Louisville, I think it's a better program than Florida State.

V Tech, a lot of the Big 10 teams, a lot of the SEC teams, not as many Big 12 teams.

Not as many ACC teams, but certainly enough to kind of leave Florida State, uh, in the dust.

I don't know if you had a chance to go through those and look, but Curious what you think.

Yeah, I mean.

If they warm up a leftover Jimbo Fisher, that's a sign of defeat, in, in multiple reasons.

It's, it, it's, it's, it's, again, yes, it's, it's, we, we have no money, and B, we're just gonna try to dial it back to, to what we used to be, which is not easy to do.

So, if they go that way, I think it's a really bad sign.

My question for you on that list there, is Missouri above or below Florida State?

Well , I have, I have Missouri above, and partly because Um, of, of drink wits and the job he's done partly because of the meeting space.

That you mentioned, uh, and by the way, Drinkwitz came out publicly, I think this past week and said, I'm, I'm not a candidate for the Florida State job.

So to me, what does that tell you?

You know, do you wanna go to a place where you have a president sending out letters saying, hey, just hang in there with us.

I don't really have any solutions for you right now in this letter.

We're really bad right now, but hang in there with us.

And below him, we don't have a full-time athletic director, and below him, we don't have a head coach either right now.

Other than that, what's, what's the problem?

We're, we're in great shape.

Come on, join us.

Yeah, that, so, uh, like, uh, I, I would have gone after drink if I were Florida State, and I would have thought I would have a chance, but he's pulled his name out just because the question becomes, do you want to try to be a top two program in a Power Four conference, or do you wanna be battling to, you know, try to just be in the upper half of The SEC.

And sometimes, Missouri is better than the upper half, but a lot of times, you know, that's kind of where you, where you are.

And so, I think, you know, if Drinkwitz is, is willing to say, I'd rather stay at a Top 78 program in the SEC, then go to Florida State, that tells you a lot.

So, I, I would not be shocked if they end up turning to Manny Diaz, who's a Florida State alum, who's had success in the ACC at Duke.

Um, you know, won the ACC championship last year, and has, I think, generally outperformed , certainly outperformed his payroll, if you look at those athletic figures, but secondly, he's outperformed expectation and, and even fan passion at Duke.

And I think Mike Elko.

Kind of went in there and did well and came out thinking, you know, There's just places that care more about football.

And, and Florida State certainly would seem to, to pass that test.

Also within the ACC Jake Dickert, I think, um, is an absolute star.

He's at Wake Forest.

I don't know, you know, what his, his range of options could be pretty wide.

Uh, but if I were Florida State, I'd sure want to talk to him.

And then if you go down the assistant route, Glenn Schumann from Georgia, defensive coordinator, or Shannon Dawson, offensive coordinator from your hated rival, Miami.

But you're right about where the , where the program sits versus where the fans think it sits is a wild disconnect.

They are literally the worst program in the ACC since they expanded and added Stanford and Cal, and it went to 17 teams.

They have the worst record in conference play, worse than Boston College, worse than Stanford, worse than Cal, worse than anybody.

And I'm not sure that really has gotten home because all, but look at the TV ratings, people watch us.

Yeah, they watch you lose.

You need to win games.

And if your aspiration is to be in the, the SEC or Big 10 magically, which they kept, kept talking about, uh, you really need to win games.

I'm not sure you've got enough to sell even if you do.

So, uh, I, I, that's my thoughts on where they're going for a, a successor.

It is not gonna be easy to your point, but you got any thoughts on who they should hire?

Well, I, I, I mirror yours in a way.

I mean, I do think it has to be.

If it's a head coach, they're going after, it has to be a head coach from a program that's gonna consider this a step up from where they are.

And so, Manny Diaz certainly would fit that, the Jason X of the world would fit that.

I think, to your point, I'm not sure Dickert needs to say yes to Florida State.

He might have other options.

Uh, if it's the coordinator, uh, route, I, I wrote down what you wrote down.

I said, go.

Go make that, you know, your, your solution is 278 miles away in Athens, Georgia.

It's, uh, it's Schumann.

Um, so, You know, and by saying that, of course, you know, Georgia will give up 45 points to Ole Miss Saturday, and I've, I've doomed Schumann.

So, I think, I think that's the way they have to look.

Tell you what, another reason Jake Dickert might be looking around though is, is 7 and 1 Wake Forest team, which is killing opponents and lost a competitive game to the number one team in the playoff rankings, is number 16 in the CFP rankings.

Not a lot of respect for the Deacons there.

Yeah, all right, in terms of disrespect , uh, a lot of angst out there about kickoff times.

Ohio State is mad because they keep playing at noon.

Uh, BYU and Utah are mad cause they're kicking off at 10:00 a.m. Uh, but specific, like with Ohio State, that's where a lot of the caterwauling was this week.

I certainly have some thoughts about kickoff times.

Uh, I think you do too.

What, what are you, what are you thinking?

It's not going to change, and any Big 10 team, and look, I get where Ohio State's coming from and their fans.

I, I'm sure they're frustrated.

I don't blame them.

But, you know, this isn't a surprise.

The, the, you know, Fox's branding for it is Big Noon.

All right.

Big 120 kickoff, big 120 Saturday.

It's not big 120, 7:00 p.m. OK, it's not big noon sunset, it's big noon.

So, they're going to put their best product in that time slot.

Yeah, it stinks for those fans, but You know, it, it's not a surprise.

Everyone who signed off on this knew it.

So, yeah, the fans kind of get hosed on it.

Um, but I, I just don't think it accomplishes anything to, to whine about it, cause I don't, I don't think it's gonna change.

I mean, the, the BYU Utah thing is preposterous, but Hey, that, that's life in the NBA.

So, exactly, um, you're naive to think that you complaining is going to change anything.

Yeah, right.

Have you been paying attention the last couple of years when Purdue is playing at 11 o'clock on the West Coast or Rutgers is or Maryland or what, whoever, you know, then they go out and play USC or UCLA or Oregon or Washington in a night game, a night West Coast game.

That's the way, there the, to your point , they, when you sign up for the $80 million a year in media rights revenue that each school gets in the Big 10, you get, they decide when you play.

That's how it is.

Don't complain that you made that deal.

The other thing, What is a good time?

Because here's what, fans, uh, it's too early, we don't wanna play at 120.

When you're playing at night, guess what?

All the people that have been season ticket holders for 40 years who live in Cincinnati or Cleveland and are 70 years old, they don't wanna play a night game.

They don't like that.

It's too early, it's too late, it's too hot, it's too cold.

Fans love to complain about when teams play.

I'm not, you know, if you wanna play.

3:30, it's harder to complain about that.

Fine.

But this, this constant of, oh noon is terrible or 0 7:30 is too late.

Uh, you, you, you have an almost impossible task.

I remember Howard Schnellenberger, many years ago when he was at Louisville, he, he had his own spin ice at 4 o'clock is the perfect time to play a college football game.

You can have your big tailgate.

You can go out on your boat in the Ohio River.

You can come watch the Cardinals win, and then you can go out and have a nice dinner.

So, you know, he, he thought that was perfect.

I don't think anybody these days, no, he's not, he's not, but.

Uh, you know, it, it's wild to me, the, the, just the amount of complaining that goes into and, and the conspiracy theories, Lane Kiffin, oh, we're playing at 3:30 because the SEC doesn't want us to win, as opposed to a night game in Death Valley.

Get over it, everybody.

Play when you're scheduled to play.

All right, uh, speaking of, speaking of conspiracy theories, Kurt Signetti and Kirk Ference each, uh, chimed in this week.

Sig said that uh ESPN tells all the writers of the media what to think and how to, how to respond to the rankings or how to rank teams, and, and that's why it turns out with the SEC apparently doing well in this week's playoff rankings, Kirk Ference said that, uh, Uh, the, the networks only show what they want to, or they only, only promote what they're showing and brought up the World Series, complained about it, you couldn't find anything about that on ESPN.

He's not wrong about that.

Not wrong about that.

But, uh, also said that ESPN would control what was basically in the, in the, the first CFP rankings.

Uh, Kurt's 71, Signetti's.

Spiritually 71.

They're, they're both, you know, they're, they're at an age where they're gonna say what they think.

What do you think, Gene, about what they said?

This, this stuff drives me out of my mind.

OK.

I don't work for ESPN anymore.

I, I'm not gonna get paid $1 more.

When I worked there, I didn't get paid a dollar more if an SEC team did well.

All right.

Um, this idea that somehow ESPN controls the committee, controls this, controls writers, that, that was, that was hilarious.

Yeah, uh.

It is just absurd to me.

Uh, first of all, to Kirk Ference, I, I don't know if he noticed.

The college game day was on his campus on, on week 5.

OK.

I, I mean, ESPN was there.

Ohio State at Iowa.

They were Game day was also on Indiana's campus last week.

Yes, uh, week 7, game day was at Notre Dame at BYU.

8, Houston at Utah, 9, Minnesota at Indiana, 10.

Today, at Miami at Notre Dame, I mean, Yeah, they do SEC games, of course they do, but they also do a lot of other conferences games.

And so with all due respect to, uh, uh, to the other network and its show, I don't see them going to any other conferences for the most part.

All right.

You certainly don't see them at any SEC games, uh, so, and that's fine, you know, again, that's, that's their constituency.

But to accuse ESPN of not paying attention, of not promoting other conferences, of somehow using a mind meld on writers to convince them to, uh, to vote SEC teams high.

I, it's just, it's just nut job stuff.

And by the way, Sis, you're, you're ranked 4th in, in, in the, in the rankings.

I, I, it just doesn't.

Just doesn't make any sense to me.

It's a, it's a lazy narrative to me.

Continues to be a lazy narrative.

It is, it, yeah, it, it's, you know, kind of bizarre, conspiracy-oriented, that, that doesn't, any critical thought doesn't back it up.

It's just the kind of thing that you'd spew out when you're, you know, you're sitting around talking with your friends about how your team's always getting screwed in the, in the rankings or whatever by the media.

It's not actually true.

All right, here's what is true.

I'm beating you in the, uh, in the, the, the winners in steak dinners picks.

Uh, my, my, my advantage now is 5 over you plus the bear, so 5.5, 5 plus the tiebreaker.

Uh, we did not have a great week last week.

We both went 2 and 4.

I'm now 27, 28 and 1.

Gene is less than that.

You can tell.

I, I, I can take it.

What, what's my total now?

22, 33, and 1.

Yeah, that's not good.

It's like Mike Locksley level.

You may get fired here.

I just got compared to Locks.

Oh dear God, you need to step it up.

Well, you didn't go Norvell on me, so I appreciate that.

No, no.

Um, all right, we're gonna pick all these big 7 games, the ranked unranked.

We're not gonna do a lock of the week, we're gonna do these, but we've discussed the games a fair amount, so we'll try to get through these relatively quickly, and then we have a point after here.

But let's start in South Bend.

Miami, as you noted, number 1, but getting 7.5. At Notre Dame, what do you think?

Losing Tony is like Ohio State losing Jeremiah Smith to me.

Tony accounts for 35% of the team's receptions and more than 46% of Miami's TD receptions.

Uh, hello, Notre Dame.

I'll, I'll give this 7.5. Yeah, I'm going there too, especially Miami's defense has been rough the last couple of weeks.

They, they pass defense, especially, Notre Dame has a quality quarterback, they've got a balanced offense that I think is gonna be able to move the ball and score quite a bit.

And without Tony, I'm not sure they keep up.

So, laying a pretty big number there.

BYU getting 5.5 at Utah.

What do you think on the Holy War?

It opened at +3 for BYU.

Now it's 5.5. Uh, BYU's last won the last 3 meetings.

Yep, uh, but before that, Utah won 9 in a row.

I don't have any idea what that means in the grand scheme of things.

I'm probably gonna regret this, but I'm gonna take BYU in the points.

OK, um, I'm rolling with the hot team.

The Utes are smoking people.

I was dazzled by.

Them going to Cincinnati and just crushing Cincinnati 42 to 6 at halftime.

Yeah, they did , uh, explosive offense, opportunistic defense.

I will take the utes and the muss to cover the 5.5. What does that stand for again?

Uh, mighty Utah student section, according to Kent .

OK.

We're going with that.

Uh, Georgia road favorite, 3.5 at Ole Miss.

Wouldn't surprise me if Ole Miss wins this game.

But I, I believe in Georgia's defense, and this is, and, you know, look, Trinidad Chambliss is unbelievably good.

Love watching him play.

But , you know, Gunner Stockton, this is the kind of game that he's kind of sneaky good.

I mean, he'll make a play.

He, he's fearless.

I, I'm, I'm gonna take the, the Bulldogs on the road and give those points.

Yeah, I'm, uh, I'm, I'm going there as well.

I, I think they got their freak out game out of the way against Auburn, learned a lot from that, came back and just smothered Florida, held them to 246 yards, 48 rushing, defense got back on the beam, I think that, uh, and Stockton got back on the beam.

So, I, uh, I'm going with, uh, with the dogs to, to win and cover on the road.

Uh, Alabama getting 5.5 at LSU, another one that the CFP rankings doesn't really support at all.

Afternoon kickoff as noted, Ted Tigers, what do you think?

This is great.

I've been making, I've been like questioning Bama being ranked that high the whole show, mocking it.

And here I am, I'm, I'm gonna take Bama, uh, uh, you know, they're, they're getting some players or, it appears they're gonna get some key players back.

Um, I think that's gonna make the difference.

Uh, maybe they don't win the game, but I like the 5.5 points.

Uh, I, I'm, I'm saying LSU's got the ambush set and ready, and they're gonna beat them, uh, and they're gonna cover the, they've been a very good home team.

Tredez Green is back at tight end, that made a difference, uh, last time out.

And I think, uh, I think we've been sleeping a little bit on LSU since they lost to Kentucky, everybody kind of stopped paying attention.

But I still think that's a very talented, dangerous team.

So I'm taking LSU.

Both teams coming off the buy, both coming off a buy, chance to get a little healthier and, and spend a lot of time getting ready.

Yeah, uh, speaking of an unhealthy team, Texas is a 2.5 point road favorite at Missouri , and the spread tells you that Texas is banged up, pretty low number.

What do you think?

I'm taking Mizzou for all the reasons you just said.

Yep, I am too.

Good home team, beat up road team, give me Missouri as a home dog.

Uh, Kentucky getting 6.5 at Tennessee.

Checkerboard City, Smoky, Rocky Top, what do you think?

This is a tough one, Pat, isn't it?

Or just me?

Yeah, that number makes it tough.

Yes, uh, Tennessee really needed a bye week.

And, and they got it.

So I, I think that helps them.

Kentucky, uh, I mean, they, they lead the SEC what, in a +13 turnover margin, that's 4th best in the country.

That's no small thing.

Uh , dark mode unis for Tennessee in this game, which means absolutely nothing, but Josh Heiel is 20-4 after a loss.

So, in Heiel, I trust on this one.

I'll take the balls.

Yeah, I'm taking the balls there as well.

Uh, it is a new day and a new era at Kentucky, but I have seen this movie before.

Tough place to play to go into.

Both teams had the week off.

I think Tennessee did need it more probably than Kentucky did.

Kentucky, when you are rolling, sometimes you don't want that week off, and they have clicked off 6 wins in a row.

And the other thing, the turnover margin is huge, it's vital.

But I also wonder, You know, sometimes the ball is just not gonna bounce that way, and if you've been living off turnovers, inevitably, it maybe evens out a little bit more.

They've got 18 takeaways, which is Kudos to that defense, but I just, I'm not sure you can count on having a + 234 turnover margin uh in Knoxville, so I'm gonna take Tennessee.

And lastly, Oregon getting 7.5 at Ohio State.

That is a big number.

I, I don't know what to think there.

You have to go first.

You tell me.

I, I don't know what to think either.

It just seems nuts, doesn't it?

7.5. Uh, I, I'm guessing Ohio State sat there and listened .

Uh, to the committee telling them that they give up too many explosive plays and this, and they're, they're not that, and we're worried about this.

I think that's gonna fire them up.

Being in Columbus is going to help.

Another week of prep work.

Uh, for the quarterback, I think that makes a difference.

I think they're going to get the ball to Smith, uh, more this time around.

I just don't know what I'm gonna get out of Oregon.

And I feel like I, I, I have a little bit more of an idea what I'm gonna get out of Ohio State, especially at home.

So, I guess I'll give those points, so it seems like a lot.

I think with the hook, I'm gonna take Oregon.

Uh, it's, it's fraught with peril.

I don't really like it.

I also don't wanna go with you, um, so that's.

OK, at least you're honest.

I appreciate that.

When Gene Ziggs, Isaac, um, but I, it, it, I think it's gonna be pretty low scoring, and I, I could see this.

You know, Ohio State wins 20 to 14 or something like that, 23 to 17, and Oregon covers.

So, but I don't know, another fascinating one.

So we've got 3 games we differ on, we'll see how that works out.

All right, last thing, Gene, um, gotta get to this before we go.

All right, Scotland, we're going to Scotland here.

Oh, it's usually Florida.

Yeah, we, yeah, Florida you can usually count on, but this one we're, we're going to Scotland, OK.

A man who was caught in a car with 14,000 pounds, that's English pounds or European pounds of drugs, uh, euros, I guess, maybe, I don't know.

But anyway, a lot of drugs, while a lamb ate ate from a bag of chips in the back seat.

has avoided jail.

Bags of heroin and cocaine were later uncovered by a police dog underneath the front passenger seat of the Volkswagen Golf, driven by John McNeil, 56 years old.

Uh, he was actually, he was a passenger in Lindsay Sangster's vehicle.

Uh, he had all these drugs with the intent, obviously, to distribute.

Uh, the pair claimed they had tried to save the lamb.

Named after Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar from a dangerous situation on the middle of the, in the middle of the road, the lamb was named Pablo.

The woman Sangster was a trainee shepherdess.

Uh, is the lamb a good enough reason to get out of jail?

Commissioner, Judge, Judge Wojakowski, support lamb.

Does the support lamb get them off out of jail?

Something did.

Pat, what the hell are you talking about on this podcast?

Uh, BBC reported this.

I, I just listened to this.

I don't even know what the hell you're saying.

Uh, with the lamb, uh, yes, absolutely.

You got a lamb in the car .

They weren't on the lam.

They were not on the lamb.

They were using the lamb.

Yeah, to get out of this.

Yes, yeah.

First of all, you, I, I talked to you during the course of the week.

I know how busy you are.

So where do you find the time to find these ridiculous stories?

I don't, I'm gonna have to look this up because I don't really know if it's true.

I , I don't know if I believe you reported.

If it was Daily Mail or something like that, one of those London tabs, I might not think it was true, but this is true.

I, I, I will admit.

I have a source who often sends me a ridiculous story.

And so thank you to my source.

I do not wanna give it up publicly.

They may not want to be known, but this is one that came from the source, and I, and I appreciate it because I did not have time this week to find a ridiculous story.

But here this was ridiculous.

Yeah, yeah.

They did, uh, like 3 ordered to do 300 hours of unpaid work, uh.

Tagged for 6 months, I guess that's like an ankle bracelet.

Must stay indoors between, uh, basically overnight 10:10 p.m. to 5 a.m. So what does the lamb have to do?

The, the lamb hopefully gets to run free and go, you know, gambo about the, the green sward of Scotland and be a lamb.

We'll see.

All right, uh, clearly that's enough for this show.

That is enough, yeah.

Gonna be an awesome week.

Enjoy the games, everybody.

Uh, we'll talk to you again next week.

Thanks for listening.