Why Are So Many QBs Struggling? Plus, Cody Campbell and Pat McAfee Drama | Others Receiving Votes

All right.

Welcome to the show.

Others receiving votes here on Sports Illustrated SI.

com, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Pat 40 joined as always.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

I , what's this?

We suddenly have a Brewers fan replacing Gene Wojakowski.

Explain this.

You got the coat on, you got the hat on.

They've just won the World Series, and all of a sudden Bandwagon Gene is here.

No, my friend, I've been going to, I went to County Stadium as a kid, all right.

I covered the '82 ALCS where I was.

bundled up against a light, a scoreboard light alongside the right field, uh , upper deck, and I was rooting for 21 counts all the time because it was a 1 or 2 , the light near my knees.

lit up and it provided some sort of warmth.

My family's from Milwaukee.

Still go up there, still go see Brewers games.

I gotta take this Brewers jacket off cause it's about It's a really warm jacket.

I'll keep the hat on just for you, Pat.

OK, well, congratulations.

It was a glorious evening for all Milwaukee fans.

Congratulations.

I will say you, you have the street credibility for, for one thing.

You can say Wisconsin like a real Wisconsin person.

Oh, Wisconsin, Butler, McDonald's.

Yeah, no, uh, it's, it's a real deal.

OK, so I'm gonna celebrate today a little bit.

You should, you should.

Congrats on that.

Uh, we will celebrate and lament a few different things in college football here today.

Uh, we are going to talk about.

A potentially momentous but slightly preposterous college coaching carousel domino effect that I dreamed up.

We have thoughts on a couple of polarizing college football figures who can dish it out but can't seem to take it.

We'll offer first takes on next week's college football playoff rankings reveal.

Yeah, that's coming, and we'll make some more questionable game picks as usual, with yours being more questionable than mine.

This is true.

Yeah, but first, uh, I wanna start with this, Gene, something we've, we've been watching happen.

Kind of incrementally, maybe picking up pace even as we go, the incredible shrinking quarterback class of 2026.

This was supposed to be one of the most talented groups of quarterbacks we've seen in college football in a long time, but now you're, where are they?

They're injured, they're playing poorly.

This is a group that more was expected than has been delivered.

Maybe the defenses are getting better.

Whatever the case, it's looking like a shallow and callow pool that we thought was going to be deep as we hit the stretch drive.

So I'm, I'm gonna give you Phil Steele's top 15 QBs entering the season.

And see where the attrition has been here.

Number 1, Julian Sayan, hurt, probably out for the year.

Number 2, Arch Manning.

He's not hurt, but he's not playing great.

Number 3, Dante Moore out for the year.

45, and 6, Drew Mestemaker, Darian Mensah, CJ Carr, having good seasons.

7, Lenori Sellers struggling, the usual ups and downs with him.

8, Jaden Mayaa, pretty good.

9, Sam Levitt, pretty good.

10, Trinidad Chambliss, good.

Uh, 11, Rocco Beck at Penn State, struggling, 12, Dylan Rayola, struggling at Oregon, has gotten the chance to play.

13, Gunner Stockton, uh, was playing great and then had a disastrous game against Auburn.

Uh, 14, Demon Williams, Washington, he's hurt, he's been bad.

15, DJ Lagway, he's been hurt, he's been bad.

We've also had injuries to Kamario Taylor, Niko Iamalava, Mason Heschel, Cayton Houser, Aaron Philo.

We've had other guys struggling like John Matt and Marcel Reed.

A lot has not happened the way people thought it would with these quarterbacks.

What is your read on all of this?

You could have put JKS from Cal for sure on that, on that injured slash struggling list too.

Uh, a couple of things stuck out to me.

Mostly when I look at the list.

I, I can't help but notice there's 6 Big 10 quarterbacks on it, uh, of that top 15, and only one of them, Ayala, has been fully healthy, relatively speaking, and is having a, a pretty productive season.

Uh, you have Nico on the injury list, but you also could have included, uh, Josh Hoover from IU.

Uh, Bryce Underwood at Michigan has done a belly flop.

Uh, at least up to this point, quarterback play at Iowa has been, um, Not distinguished, let's put it that way.

I will give uh uh Ty Diffenbach, uh, who replaced Nico at UCLA, he He stepped in and he actually almost seems like a step up in a lot of ways.

I mean, am I wrong?

I mean, he's, no, he's done well in a tough situation.

And again, this is a guy who was an OK quarterback at Cal Poly last year.

So yeah, certainly exceeding expectations.

So I guess the question I'd ask you, if we were going to re-rank, let's just say the top 5 quarterbacks .

Of Steele's top preseason top 15, how would it go?

And I'm, I'm not talking about.

How they, what their NFL draft possibilities are.

I'm talking about them as college quarterbacks right now.

And if I were doing it, my top five would be Chambliss, Mensa.

Mess to maker, car, and based on how he's been trending, I'd probably put LSU's Sam Levitt at number 5 right now.

I'm still infatuated by the potential of Arch Manning, but he simply has just been too inconsistent for me to put him anywhere near that top 5.

So, and I'd like to give out a, a, a shout out to Oregon State's, uh, uh, Braden Atkinson, who's had a hellacious year, and he doesn't get talked about enough.

What would be your top five?

Yeah, real quick, the, the Oregon State thing is one of the best stories in college football, frankly.

I mean, it's unbelievable.

They were left for dead.

By the Pac-12 by their rival Oregon, and they are doing very well.

They're in the mix to win the Pac-12 to potentially get a G6 playoff bid.

They've got an unbelievably exciting quarterback, Branden Atkinson, who you mentioned from Mercer.

They've got receiver, the receiver Jesse Legree, who says he's coming back next year, which would be like the NIL, uh, portal coup of the year if you keep him.

Anyhow, so my top five would, would probably be similar to yours.

I put Mensah first and Chambliss second, I think , and then Messammaker 3rd, Carr 4th.

I don't know whether there is a 5th at this point.

There, there's nobody I like that much, um.

You know, uh, it's just, it's every, there's a lot of inconsistency, and of course, a lot of injury, um.

You know, maybe Noah Fafita, you know what, who, who wasn't on that list, who wasn't in the original top 15, but Noah Fafita at Arizona has played extremely well.

So that's it, but it's, it's, it's tough , and I, I went and did a little bit of looking on, so, so we've had all these injuries, and the thought, you know, why, why are all these quarterbacks getting hurt.

It's kind of the age-old thing.

Does your quarterback run?

Then he stands a much greater chance of getting hurt.

Here's what these, a lot of these injuries were, OK?

Niko Yamalava injury was on a run.

Dante Moore injury was on a run.

Uh, Kamario Taylor, his initial injury against Missouri, nobody has pinpointed a play yet, but his re-injury against Texas A&M was on a run.

Uh, Mason Henschel, season-ending knee injury, run, run.

Aaron Philo, uh, shoulder injury on a run.

Katon Houser, the quarterback at Illinois, broke his hand, making a tackle on an interception.

Sure.

Demon Williams injured on a run.

JKS was not running , but he was, he was rolled out to throw outside the pocket.

DJ Lagway was injured on a run.

Nobody's sure exactly when Hoover got hurt.

The only quarterback out of this group that was injured in the pocket while being a prototypical traditional quarterback was Julian Sayan.

So, you know, colleges, you run your quarterbacks more, but when you do that, you certainly increase the risk of these sort of things happening.

And a dual-threat quarterback is really valuable, but an injured dual-threat quarterback doesn't get you very far.

So, uh, you know, I think it's one of those things that the risk reward has to come into play, uh, in terms of figuring that out.

And in terms of just the poor play, that, that's more perplexing to me.

I will, I also wanted to, uh, Shout out Dan Lyons of our staff at Sports Illustrated, who did a more statistical dive on this.

He said he went back and looked at injury reports for the full.

First full 8 weeks for all 138 teams, and at least 40 of them were forced to start a new quarterback explicitly due to injury.

So, roughly 30% of the country, and that's in the 1st 8 weeks of the year.

That doesn't include benchings, but that's, uh, that's a pretty high rate of injury.

So, I think, at some point, while, you know, running the quarterback is a logical, Step against a lot of the defenses that we see these days, you have to again, factor in what are we gonna lose if, if our quarterback is out.

Well, and then, you know, Gunner Stockton got, got popped pretty good in that Auburn game.

I don't remember the exact circumstances.

Um, Faison Brandon at Tennessee, uh, got hurt running sort of quarterback or can run.

Um, so, yeah, it's, it's a great point, uh, by you, and I don't, I don't know what the answer is.

They're gonna keep on running them.

That's part of who they are and what they do.

Yeah, the, the bigger mystery to me, uh, is just the kind of the diminished play from a lot of veteran guys that we didn't expect.

If you look at that, Arch, obviously, Lenore Sellers, obviously, uh, but then, you know, Rocco Beck has played a lot of football and he's struggling, whether that's the change in In conferences, and maybe to step up, but also Marcel Reed and John Mattier, whether it's your confidence gets broken or what.

But along the, somewhere along the way, these guys look very little like they have at earlier points in their career, where you thought, that's a rising star.

And now, the star may be falling.

So, still a lot of football left to play, a lot of backups are gonna have to play.

Um, especially on some teams that really factor into things, so that's gonna be one of the fascinating things of the last month, which quarter, which, who can do a good enough job coaching up your backup, and that's where, to your point, UCLA, among the many reasons this season has gone well, backup QB stepping up.

So we're gonna see what Ohio State, yeah, that's, that's the big reveal of the weekend to me.

I think they're playing at USC.

We're gonna talk about that game more later.

But whether it's Luke Fahey, whether it's Tavion Saint Clair, can you step in and play in an offense that really needs good quarterback play.

So, that's, that's one of the big storylines of this weekend.

Stay tuned on that.

Uh, one of the big storylines of the last week, the coaching carousel finally started to spin.

Maryland fired Mike Lockley, no shock there.

North Carolina State fired Dave Doran.

Losing to Stanford is now a fireable offense in the ACC.

Got Justin Wilcox whacked last year at Cal.

Got Doran whacked a day after, uh, they lost in Palo Alto in front of 14 fans.

And then Baylor fired Dave Aranda.

Uh, I have proposed, here we go, yes, a series of moves here, but it starts with one that could begin a domino effect that would blow some things open, affect multiple Cadillac programs.

Uh, I'm going to go through the scenario here, and Gene, I want you to tell me what sounds plausible and what is completely ridiculous.

So let me get it going here.

This all begins.

All right.

Baylor is open, right?

Deep in the heart of Texas in Waco, who is from Texas?

From Muleshoe, Texas, to be precise, Lincoln Riley.

Things are not going well at USC.

Patience is expiring there.

Is it time for him to jump before he gets pushed, go back to the home state, go to a school that loves offense from the Art Briles days, and take a swing in an easier league that you kind of always wanted to be in an easier league to begin with.

Lincoln Riley to Baylor, what do you think?

Is it plausible?

I I suppose it is.

Yes, I'm, I'm not gonna blow you out of the water on this.

But he just this week.

Came out pretty forcefully and said this is where he wants to be.

This is where he chose to be.

He had, he could have gone to other places, and this is what he decided on.

And so that didn't sound like a guy who was in a hurry to get out of USC.

He says he's the man, the right man for the job at USC.

And I'll, and look, that could just be posturing, who knows for sure.

But let me just put it, let me ask you this, Pat.

They're not getting on a plane this week, all right, which has been their kryptonite heading east.

They're at home against Ohio State.

What is Ohio State, #2?

Yeah, OK, against #2 ranked Ohio State at home against a new starter.

Granted, they've had 2 weeks to prepare, but it's 2 weeks, it's not 2 months.

What happens if Riley and USC Beat Ohio State All right.

And then they pretend they're not getting on a plane to Bloomington.

And they somehow beat Indiana at Indiana, and then they beat Maryland.

And then they beat UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

All of a sudden we're not talking about him going to Baylor, we're talking about them going to the, to the playoffs.

So plausible, yes.

Done deal, no.

Oh no, not a done deal, not a done deal.

I wouldn't say that.

And yes, there's still time to salvage the season.

It's, it's remarkable how quickly people have given up on USC when they've lost.

The Oregon game in September, like, oh, it's over.

Well, Wisconsin game in October, it's over.

It may be over, but it's not over yet.

As you pointed out, they've got big opportunities ahead of them.

Now, they gotta win them.

But Ohio State and they haven't shown they can do that yet.

Yeah, and then, yes, I mean, they've got 3 really difficult games remaining.

They could lose all three of those.

They could end up, they're 6 and 2 right now.

They couldn't end up 7 and 5, but what if they're 10 and 2, and then we get Lincoln Riley on a plane to Waco.

That's what I'm looking forward to.

So, if that happens, domino 1, that's domino 1.

Here's domino 2.

So .

USC is suddenly open.

Who's the athletic director at USC?

It's Jennifer Cohen.

Where did she used to be?

She was at Washington.

She was, yes.

Who was her coach there, huh?

What was his name?

Kaylin DeBer took Washington to the national championship game.

Interesting.

Is DeBer having the time of his life at Alabama?

I'm not so sure.

Every time they lose, everybody tells him how much he's not like Nick Saban.

I think you can reunite Cohen and DeBer at Los Angeles, get him back to the West Coast , and make the magic happen again.

What do you think?

Sure, let's, let's replace Lincoln Riley, who's 6 and 2.

With Kaylin Deboer, who's 6 and 2.

Right, no, I mean, that's not fair because, look, the Boer.

Uh, De Boer has taken his team to the CFP.

Riley hasn't.

De Boer has won, uh, big games against ranked teams.

Riley really hasn't.

So I understand the attraction, plus, as you mentioned, it was , it was Jennifer Cohen who hired De Boer at Washington back in what was it, 2021.

Uh, so there's a connection there.

And she did not hire, uh, Lincoln Riley.

And that's, that's always a factor in these things.

So, I, I, I could see it.

Uh, it makes sense, but does De Boer want to go to the Big 10?

Does he want to make those plane trips, uh, east like Riley is doing?

Um, But, but I, I would want somebody who could give USC an identity, and I'm not absolutely positive that would be Deboer.

You got anybody else?

I do not.

OK I'm sorry, you know what, I'll throw out a couple of names too.

All right, all right.

Uh, how about Sataki at BYU?

How about, how about Dillingham at Arizona State?

Yeah, a little, a little bloom off the rose there, I think.

OK, yes, a little bloom off the rose, but I'm talking about someone that could give you an identity and then, and this is, this is a craz, this is crazier than any of your scenarios.

What, no, it, it would never happen.

What would, what would happen if USC drove over a few miles and said, Chesney, what do you think?

Well, I mean, Lincoln has stolen some staff from, from UCLA before.

They've stolen some players, so it would never happen.

But anyway, it's interesting.

Yes, De Boer, De Boer makes sense on a lot of different levels, plausible.

Yes, again.

All right, Dom, that's, that's second domino.

We're, we're remapping the, the country here.

So we've got Lincoln in Waco, we've got Deboer in Los Angeles, now Alabama is open.

Holy moly, that's a big thing.

Last time it was open, they actually, they had a great miss when Mike Norvell said no, and they got Deboer .

And if people think Deboer isn't good enough, Lord almighty, if, if they had had Norvell.

Uh , so here's where they go.

Dan Lanning to Alabama from Oregon.

He's kind of been viewed as immovable, uh, no small part, he has a personal financial deal with Phil Knight.

That makes that an even more lucrative and tied-in job, but can those ties be loosened by the fact that this season's been a massive disappointment?

Lanning was on staff with Saban in 2015, he was with Kirby Smart at Georgia, he knows the SEC.

He's universally widely regarded.

I don't think this 4 and 3 season changes that much at all.

So, I say, Dan Lanning to Alabama.

What do you think?

That one, I mean, again, this is all in our, our magical world of Things that could happen, but that one at least.

Fits.

I mean, he feels like an SEC kind of guy .

Obviously, he coached in the SEC.

He has looked beleaguered this season.

He's looked like the most unhappy person, uh, next to Arch Manning at times this season.

He's, he said he's lost 20+ pounds because of this season.

But if he thinks it's gonna be any easier in Tuscaloosa, he's nuts.

It's gonna be harder.

Uh, but, you know, what do they always say?

You don't want to be the guy who follows the guy.

You wanna be the guy who follows the guy who followed the guy.

And in this case, you would be doing that.

So, I could, I could see that as an, as an absolute possibility.

All right, there you go.

See, you're, you're coming around to me here.

We keep going through this.

Step 4, Oregon is now open.

This is an interesting one.

I think Oregon would probably try to get Will Stein to come back.

He had been the offensive coordinator there.

In a, in a rational world, nobody turns down Oregon to stay at Kentucky, but Stein has been at Kentucky for one year.

He's from Kentucky.

His family is walking on clouds.

Do you want to pull that out from under them in one year?

We always say, coaches always say, I gotta think of my family, and then they never think of their family.

This is one instance where I think he might think of his family.

So, uh, I'm, I'm, I, I'm gonna say Will Stein turns down Oregon.

Kelani Sataki turns down Oregon.

Bob Chesney turns down Oregon for the same reason that Will Stein did .

I've only been here one year, it's not fair.

I can't do it.

Maybe again, that's idealistic thinking on my part.

So they go get Jake Dickert from Wake Forest, who is working miracles there, has some Pacific Northwest history.

He was the coach, head coach and the coordinator at Washington State.

You plug him in and keep on rolling.

Your thoughts on Jake Dickert to Oregon.

I, I mean, if the scenario broke this way, I You could do a lot worse than that guy.

He's, he's, he's a really good coach.

He has West Coast ties, experience.

It makes sense.

I would not want to be Will Stein and have to say, Yeah, I, I, I guess I'm gonna stay here at Kentucky.

Uh, thanks though.

That , that's gonna be a tough, tough, tough, uh, phone call to make.

Sataki, Chesney were the two names I wrote down too, and, um, uh, Sataki still makes sense to me.

Chesney, I, I just don't think he, I don't know, he was asked about it this week.

Yeah, and he just said, you know, uh, this.

This is where I want to be now.

Again, they all say that in October.

They all say that in October.

So things can change, but if you take them at their word.

Then, then Dickert makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, we'll see that one, if Oregon opens, that becomes an extremely intriguing job for the reason we just went through.

The people, like the candidate list would be really good, but complicated.

And so we'll see how that, uh, played out.

Now, Wake Forest opens.

That's not a big domino, right?

Nobody thought, you know, Wake Forest, they, they've, they've overachieved the last couple of years.

They've had some high points, but it is a, A small alumni school.

It's a not a huge flush with cash school, you know, it's not the kind of place where you think you can get a heavyweight football coach , but what if, oh no, here we go.

What if you have a coach elsewhere in the ACC who has won at the highest level and has basically tapped out where he is, and that school's not going to fire him because he's a hero.

But everybody is looking, saying this can't keep going on.

And so he's got to go, and the place where he thematically belongs, Liberty, I don't think is gonna open, and he probably doesn't want to go coach at Conference USA.

So, what about Dabo Sweeney to wake?

My God.

40, you've done it now.

Unless they fire Dabo.

I, I mean, he.

He was in play for the Bama job.

OK, he's gonna go to Wake Forest.

I, I mean, nothing against Wake Forest , but that just seems like.

That's not a lateral move.

No, but it's an escape down move, and it's an escape move, OK, escape move.

I, unless they fire him, I think he's, he's, he's gonna stand there and until his last breath at Clemson.

Yeah, but that, that, that just becomes so difficult , I mean, for everybody, and the problem is Debo is so stubborn, I don't think he realizes that it would be that difficult, you know, it's like, He's, he's living in his own bubble of belief, which good for him, but maybe not so good for Clemson.

I could see him going to another conference, yeah, all right, or I could see him go to an ACC.

Who, who, I, I would like to know who would hire him.

I, I don't know.

I, I, I mean, I haven't thought that through.

Um, if he was gonna go to, uh, you know what, I'm gonna wait till you get to the school later, and then I'll throw it out there.

OK.

My alternate universe parachute special that gets Dabo where I really want him, Shane Beamer to Maryland, Jamie Chadwell from Liberty to South Carolina, and then Dabo can go to Liberty, but I, I'm, I'm, I'm not really feeling that one.

So, all right, let's say Dabo did go to wake and we have Clemson open.

One thing they're not gonna do there is hire defense, cause the offense has been so bad, it's unwatchable.

They've got to figure out a way to juice up that side of the ball.

So, you go to the coordinator ranks, you grab Shannon Dawson, who is lighting up scoreboards at Miami.

Graham Neff, the athletic director at Clemson, can get the background read there from Dan Radakovich, who was the recently retired AD at Miami, who used to be his boss at Clemson.

He could probably be the intermediary here, feel things out for him.

Shannon Dawson to Clemson, your thoughts?

I mean, I'm OK with that.

I guess I can make the same argument for Faulkner, uh, the OC at Florida.

Um, maybe the OC at, uh, I, at Indiana, your, uh, your second university, um.

How about, how about Dickert?

Clemson, but Dicker has to leave, uh.

Um, I, I need Dicker to leave Wake so that Debo can leave Clemson.

So, got you.

OK, I don't wanna screw up with your domino effect.

OK, you can't put the cart before the horse there.

Sorry, you're, you're right.

OK, fair enough.

Yeah, I, I mean, yeah, uh, if you're gonna go offensive coordinator.

Uh, he's certainly, Dawson's cer certainly done a, a, a great job at Miami.

We'll see how the season plays out.

Uh, but he's shown the ability year after year with different quarterbacks to be able to make them successful.

And, uh, and his offense certainly puts up points and hard to argue against that one.

Yep, we'll see, you know, not all coordinators translate to being the head coaches, but I, I think he's gonna get a chance here uh this offseason if he wants it.

Uh, the other two open jobs, hey, there's a lot of talk about Philip Rivers to North Carolina State.

Uh, this is a wild one.

His coaching, uh, experience consists of coaching his kids at a high school in Alabama, done well.

And he's got a four-star son who's gonna be, who's committed to go be a quarterback at NC State.

Uh, do you want Philip, if you're NC State, do you want Philip Rivers?

I love the idea of it.

Um, I think he's, he's a great leader, he's great football pedigree.

Do you see him as a CEO kind of head coach, or do you see him as a hands-on?

Offensive coordinator slash head coach kind of guy, because I think that matters and if you're gonna hire somebody like that.

Yeah, uh, and then, you know, like, I don't know, like, is it like, is he calling all the plays at his high school?

Is that the kind of thing, you know, where he can get in on the board and scheme up stuff and, and handle all that in the game.

I'm, I'm not sure.

I don't know whether that's, it, it certainly as a quarterback, he seemed like a coach on the field kind of guy who could do that, but You know, that this is still a little bit of a different animal.

So, I'm afraid that just smacks of winning the press conference more than winning games.

So, you know what, if , if you're asking me, if, if anybody could pull that off, I think it might be Rivers.

And I think he might get the grace at NC State because of his history there.

Um.

But there's, I mean, you're taking a, a big swing, and, uh, if you miss, wolf, you are , you are doomed for a while, yeah, for sure, but I love the idea of it.

Yeah, they've made a worse hire recently.

They did hire Will Wade.

That worked out great.

Uh, the other open job, Charles Hough has, has been talked about, uh, going to Maryland.

Maryland's open.

He's from the state, um, he's recruited the area, he's worked in the Big 10 at Penn State.

He's done good work.

He's bounced around job to job to job.

He's been, the last 3 years, Marshall Southern Miss Memphis.

Uh, I, I don't know.

I, I think he's, he's got an opportunity there, and I think if he goes to Maryland from Memphis, can we parachute Mike Norvell out of the burning building that is Florida State and back into his old job at Memphis?

What do you think?

W I mean, sure, it makes sense to us I don't know how Mike Norvell is gonna feel about it.

But, um, sure, he might, he might like just to go back to something that, uh, where everybody doesn't hate him every second of the day.

So, uh, that one, that one could make sense.

So then who, who gets the FSU job?

Uh, oh, Jimbo, they just they reheat a, a leftover Jimbo Fisher.

You have not mentioned and, and we haven't mentioned a lot of guys, but, uh, a couple folks who are intriguing to me, uh, Jason Eck New Mexico, uh, Arthur Smith.

At Ohio State, yeah, he was trying to get college head jobs last year or year before.

Well, he might actually have a better chance of doing it now.

He might, um.

Those are the ones that, that intrigue me right now, um.

I don't know.

Florida State, do we still think that's a good job?

Oh, that's a good question.

That is a really good question.

Um.

You know, financially pretty strapped.

They think very, very highly of themselves without much to show for it since 2023.

I, I mean, I, to me, it is no better than a distant 2nd in the ACC because I think Miami has outdistanced everyone else.

I think.

Clemson feels like it's more solid in terms of, can you bounce back and suddenly be winning 1011, 12 games.

And I say SMU has still has great potential.

So I, I am not real bullish on Florida State as a job.

Well, the university president came out this week and sent a, I'm, I'm sure you saw that statement or whatever it was.

Um, I don't know what it was.

I mean, it was basically a, a page-long, please hang in there with us.

Um, I have nothing else to say in this letter to you.

Uh, there was no, no plan, uh, articulated.

It was just basically a half apology, half we're trying to do better with no details attached.

I think it was, uh, you know, we'd, we'd really love to see at least 75,000 people in the stands when we play Clemson this week, and please don't boo the team, you know, like, it was, it was like a band-aid to get us through this week, and then after that, maybe we can win some more games.

Heck, they might be able to beat Clemson, but, uh, yeah, I, I, if they're trying to salvage anything this season , they, they got a long way to go, long way to go.

So, all right, well, you know, that was my , uh, my flight of fantasy there that I, I appreciate you indulging me.

No, it was good , good.

I'd throw out, uh, uh, who's the, uh, uh, DC at, uh, Georgia, uh, Glenn Schuman, Schumann.

Uh, he would be somebody I'd also think of at, uh, at FSU.

Oh sure, yes, yeah, and that like I would think of him at Clemson as well, except I think they're gonna go offense if should they if they do something like that, yeah, yeah, yeah.

This is all predicated on your fantasy world coming true.

Exactly.

All of that, the only thing that has to happen is for Lincoln Riley to walk away from a $70 million buyout and go to a middling Big 12 school.

What, you know, sure, that's it.

That could happen.

Thoroughly plausible.

That's it.

So stay tuned, everybody.

If I turn out to be right, I'm gonna be insufferable, uh , more insufferable.

Speaking of insufferable.

Segue.

Yeah, it's been quite a contentious week in the Big 12, and I'm not talking about the football, the players, the coaches, any of that.

I'm talking about a booster and a TV guy.

Uh, Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell, ESPN omnipresence Pat McAfee both got their feelings hurt.

By what I consider very low-level, low venom criticism, the McAfee thing has taken on a life of its own.

I will address that here in a bit, but uh he ended up a, a, an Instagram post from the University of Utah that was seen by almost nobody that had a couple of kind of teasing comments from students saying, you know, don't take your shirt off and you're gonna be corny.

He, he inserted creepy, which they never said.

Uh, McAfee said, I hate this place on his own TV show, kind of went after Utah, took it.

Way too far in my opinion.

Uh, anyway, meanwhile, Cody Campbell got mad.

Because this is coming off of Texas Tech's utter face plant at Cincinnati, which I attended.

It was an amazingly bad performance by an undefeated top 10 team.

And he got mad at a Lubbock sports talk radio producer who asked Campbell to please stop tweeting when Campbell said that the performance was, you know, I'm not sure whether they he used the word unacceptable, but he said that we have to do better with, with my money, basically is what he's saying.

Uh, so Campbell's calling for Texas Tech to boycott the station in the wake of the Red Raiders' loss.

Uh, Gino, your thoughts on Campbell, who was, uh, triggered in this situation, who, again, loves to, to, to play with sharp elbows and throw them around, but if somebody elbows him back, didn't seem to handle it well.

Not only shouldn't be on Twitter, he should also shouldn't be doing documentaries, because he was.

In a documentary, he said, we're not gonna talking about the Cincinnati Sosby thing.

We're not going to forget about that, and I don't think they'll forget about it either when we're up by 40 and still throwing the ball in the 4th quarter.

That's where the retribution will come.

Final score, Pat, you were there.

Yeah, that was, uh, 37, 37-24, Cincinnati, and it was actually worse than that.

That was a late touchdown.

It was a three-touchdown game and they scored one late.

5 years ago, had anybody outside of Lubbock or the state of Texas ever heard of Cody Campbell?

No, no.

It wasn't until he started writing eight-figure checks that anybody started paying attention to him.

And yes, he, he turned the paradigm upside down.

All right.

So you, you have to give him, I don't know, credits the right word, but he certainly uh uh changed the dynamic when it came to uh uh uh trying to figure out a way to be successful in the NIL age.

And his way of being successful was writing very large checks, and buying players, and turning Texas Tech into a, into a bit of a , uh Uh, warship, uh, you know, battleship.

And, and it was successful.

But just because you write checks, and just because you're, what, the chairperson of the, uh, university's board of regents, university systems Board of Regents, um, doesn't make you infallible.

It certainly doesn't put another coat of skin on you because he is ultra sensitive.

Yeah, and as they say in Texas, uh, big hat, no cattle, and that's kind of how I feel about Campbell.

Um, he, he is willing to pop off, but if anybody questions him.

He goes after a Lubbock radio station and, and says, don't, maybe we shouldn't do anything with that station because they had the audacity to suggest I should stay off Twitter.

Uh, it, that sort of mentality drives me nuts.

And I, I live here in the, in the Chicago area.

Let me tell you the difference between loud.

Boisterous Sometimes laughable power, which is Cody Campbell, and then quiet, understated, effective power.

And, and that would be Pat Ryan Senior, who bankrolled, didn't write a, a, an eight-figure check.

He, they wrote a $480 million dollar check toward the stadium that they built at Northwestern.

Yeah, he has been.

The foundation of what Northwestern athletics has been for decades.

He's a Northwestern grad, his wife, Northwestern grad, you know, they write the checks, and then they get out of the way.

I'm not saying they don't have power, uh, behind the scenes, of course, they do.

I'm not saying they don't, they don't have an opinion.

Of course, they do.

But they don't tweet.

And they don't say silly things, and they don't go in documentaries and say retribution and that sort of thing.

So, to me, there, there's a, a stately, and understated and effective way of doing it, and then there's Cody Campbell's way of doing it.

And we, and we saw what happens when someone challenges the bully.

The bully doesn't handle it very well.

Did not handle it well at all.

And uh speaking of which, Pat McAfee has not handled things well at all.

And speaking of people who would probably be better off logging off.

Pat McAfee, um, Obviously, the, you know, his reaction to the Utah thing was.

Was outsized and drew plenty of reaction itself from other people.

And then McAfee uh put out a long tweet last night, October 28th, 8:16 p.m. Included some screenshots of people saying extremely vile things to him.

Uh, ugly, bad stuff, really bad stuff.

Nobody deserves that.

Uh, but McAfee then went into a, a long thing that I kind of basically was like , this is how hard it is for me.

It doesn't, uh, these, what the things that were said to him are not demonstrably provably addressed in any way or connected to the Utah thing.

So, this is kind of like, I overreacted to Utah, but here's how bad things are for me.

This is what I put up with.

And I, look, I unders, I, I wish nobody in media or any other walk of life had to put up with the things that are said, were said to, to, to Pat McAfee.

That happens though.

It's happened to me, it's happened to a lot of other people.

Death threats in the mailbox by name with my kids' names on them, not enjoyable.

Not sure that I want to make it public fodder though, and that's what McAfee did, and I know a lot of other people in our business who have done the same thing, especially in the modern that have experienced the same thing in the modern social media era where everybody can find you and attack you if they want to.

It is unfortunately a product of our times and our business, and I'm sure it's worse in politics in some other areas than it is in media, but it's also what's there.

At this point, after reading all of that from McAfee, I mean, my advice truly.

Log off, take a week off.

What's going on with him is consuming him, and , and that, by extension is consuming college game day.

And college game day used to, in my opinion, be one of the great parts of college football.

I barely watch it anymore .

I don't think it's anywhere near as fun as it used to be.

And part of it is, Pat McAfee has sucked all the heat and energy, and frankly, some of the joy out of the production .

He, it has become about him.

And we saw Jerry Brewer from the Athletic wrote a sensible, uh, fair column that basically made that point, that this has become a McAfee show instead of a show where the fans interact with a, with a set of, of, of people, you know.

And look, you were part of the show much longer than I was, but there is a synergy that belongs between those fans.

And that desk, and then it's become those fans and McAfee, you know, playing to a, a ridiculous degree, in my opinion, you know, taking off the shirt, barking, whatever the case.

We, you can have a goofball in that role , right?

Lee Corso was kind of that guy, but Lee Corso was not on every channel at every moment all week, and then, you know, carrying over to Saturday, he came on on Saturday with his Dixon Ticonderoga pencils, and you saw him for 2 hours, and he was fun, and the last 5 minutes were Corso taking over.

Otherwise, it was an ensemble show that celebrated college football.

This is a one-man show that celebrates Pat McAfee.

That's how it feels like it's becoming to me.

I would love to see him and ESPN just say, let's, let's, let's chill just a little bit.

Take a week off, if you are so bothered by what's going on right now.

Take a week off, let's think about things, and we'll reconvene in November.

I don't know whether that's gonna happen, but that's my thoughts on this.

I'm in a tough spot here.

I, I spent more than a decade on that show and, uh, 2 years of it, uh, uh, when Pat had first joined the show.

I have great respect for what he has has accomplished professionally.

He has built a, not a cottage industry.

He's built an empire, and he sort of has built it from scratch, and he's built it.

On the power of his personality.

That is a common thread through it all.

He energized, uh , college game day.

Uh, Kirk Herbstreit has said that McAfee's arrival energized him.

We certainly can see a, uh, a great rapport between, uh, McAfee and , uh, coach Nick Saban.

I mean, the, the, that's just a fact.

Uh, uh, he has had A, a positive effect from, uh, from that angle.

Uh, but you make a, you make the point.

Um, this business, when you become a sports commentary person, when you become a sports opinionist, when you put yourself out there.

Not everyone is going to like you.

It, it, it's, it's not a universal love fest.

I mean, I've had, I mean, you mentioned what happened to you.

Of course, that's reprehensible.

What, what, uh, Pat referenced is reprehensible, uh, what's happened to him.

Um, I have had people tell me, I hope I get stomach cancer.

Um, I, I, I still, uh, get emails, uh, from, uh, a column because of a column I wrote .

Uh, from the Ryder Cup when it was at Medina, and I said that the Uh, that it was over.

The USA was going to win, and of course, we had the miracle at Medina.

I still get emails from, from, uh, Euros telling me basically to, to f off.

Um, uh, I mean, I've had players threatened to, you know, wanna kick my ass.

I mean, that's just part of the job.

And you can't, I know it's easy to say, but you can't take it personally.

And, and, and here's how I know that.

I watched Charles Barkley, OK, and Charles Barkley puts himself out there more than anybody.

On, on television, sports television.

And he takes a lot of heat.

But he's able to take it in a way where it doesn't become personal to him.

And so, um, you said Pat should maybe just, uh, log off.

And, and I would say, just remember, there is no universe where you can do this job.

Where there's not gonna be a faction of people who, who vociferously disagree with you and sometimes cross the line way, way too far.

So it's just the nature , sadly, it's the nature of the business.

It is well said.

I, you know, I think you added some good perspective on The benefits that McAfee has brought to the show, and, you know, to, and building his own brand, which is a word I hate, but what comes with that is inevitably some element of blowback, and probably the more you're out there and the louder you are, the more blowback you're gonna get.

And if you put out an album that's called Diary of a Polarizing Figure, An album about yourself, guess what?

You, you, you should be expecting it.

You should understand that comes with the territory.

It doesn't mean you deserve death threats, but it does mean in this culture, in this day and age , you know, you, you, you get that sort of thing, if you, if you are, that sort of personality.

So, we'll see where this goes, uh.

Uh, uh, going forward, but right now, it, it almost feels unsustainable.

We'll see what happens.

I, I'm not predicting the future of game day.

We're gonna predict some games in a minute, but first, let's, we're also gonna predict this, Gene.

uh, CFP rankings coming out next week.

The first ones, the television show, the TV show.

Oh boy, uh, the last twelve-team playoff.

So let's put on our selection committee hats.

We've followed this stuff.

We know people who have been on the committee.

Uh, you are sitting in the room.

What are your biggest questions going into and potentially coming out of this weekend?

What do you got?

You give me one, I'll give you one.

We'll go back and forth.

All right.

Well, my number one question would be, what is Ohio State going to look like without Julian saying?

Yup.

I mean, that's just, it's a no-brainer.

I'm sure you, you had the same thing, but I, I, I think if I'm on that committee, I wanna know.

I mean, I, I, I know what Ohio State is defensively.

I know what kind of, uh, quality of coaching it has, but now I don't know.

I know they have this, this generational talent at wide receiver.

But I don't know if they have somebody that can get him the ball, and you can win a game in crunch time.

Yeah, that's, that's, that's question one, and that's why like the anticipation for this USC game is, is immense in my opinion.

Saturday night, 7:30 Eastern, 4:30 in LA.

Uh, my Other than that, my number one question, what is the rank order of the, the SEC teams?

There's so many of them piled on top of each other.

How are they differentiating between, I figure, Georgia's on top, but then after that, 1 loss Kentucky, 2 loss Alabama, 2 loss Florida, 2 loss Ole Miss, 2 loss LSU, 2 loss Tennessee, 2 loss Missouri, 2 loss Texas.

It is really difficult to decide how to order them, especially when they have taken turns beating each other.

So, I think that is a big job for the committee.

It'll be influenced by the games down the stretch, but they've played a lot of big games already.

So, I think that first glimpse there is gonna be pretty instructive about what they're feeling about that SEC mosh pit.

That is a great question, and.

I would add to that.

I hope the committee has learned from the past .

That you can't lock yourself in to something, especially in the SEC and, and to your point, things are going to, it's, it's so fluid.

Uh, so, it's going to be instructive, but I assume they're gonna leave themselves some wiggle room on this, uh, as the weeks go on.

They'd be dumb if they didn't, for sure.

Uh, my second, my second question I would ask is, what time is, is kickoff for the Utah Cincinnati game?

Because I wanna watch that.

Yeah, that's, that's a mid-afternoon.

That's like a 3:30, I believe.

OK, so, I mean, just because I, I still don't know what Utah is yet, right?

I got a little better sense of it last week, but now they're going.

Uh, to Cincinnati, which just beat, uh, Texas Tech there.

I need to see, I need to see more out of Utah.

I need more information as I try to figure out what's going on with the Big 12, if it's one team or two teams.

Uh, so, that's a game I'm paying really close attention to.

Yup, that's, uh, so my second is, is along those lines, is what's the respect level for the Big 12, which has several teams that look pretty good and have pretty good records, uh, but the non-conference play other than BYU beating Notre Dame, which was huge.

But other than that, there's not a lot of meat on the bones.

So, are there multiple Big 12 teams in the mix?

Utah 7-1, 7-0, BEO 6-1, Arizona 6-1, Texas Tech 6-1.

Arizona and Texas Tech also play each other this weekend.

So you've got two really big games in that league.

And what do, what does the committee think about where the really, first, the, the top team in the Big 12, but then 2nd and 3rd as well?

I'm curious about that.

Yeah.

All right.

Then my, my third question would be , Do I need to pay attention to Northwestern?

Uh, they're at Oregon Saturday.

They're 6 and 1 overall.

Their one loss is a 6-point loss at Indiana.

Uh, you know, uh, are we sleeping on, on Northwestern here?

So, I, I think if I'm a committee member this early in the process, I'm paying close attention to that game.

Just like Utah, I want, I want more, more, uh, feel for, uh, what Utah is.

I feel the same way about Northwestern right now.

Yeah, that's a good call.

I was at the Northwestern Indiana game too, and it's like they had a They, they had taken over the game, and Indiana had like a 3rd and 21, yeah, and threw like a 5-yard pass and Northwestern face mask and kept the drive alive.

And that was their chance to win.

That they, they are not far from being undefeated.

So, I'm intrigued by that.

I'm intrigued also by UCLA.

Do they love UCLA or do they think UCLA is the product of an OK schedule?

I, I'm, I'm, I wanna know, you know, if, if you look at the, the human polls, which, of course, you slot vote, and that's what, that's what the humans tend to do.

UCLA was never ranked at the beginning of the season, so their move up, their, their upward mobility has kind of been capped to a degree.

I have them absolutely in the top 4 in the country.

But what does the committee think?

They've got one ranked win over Wisconsin, Wisconsin, uh, a couple of weeks ago.

They, they have no ranked opponents left.

So that's gonna be one where the litmus test, how far does undefeated take you?

Yeah, what they're Nevada, yeah, am I reading this right at Minnesota, Illinois, at Michigan, and then USC, yeah.

Could be one of the more meaningful USC UCLA games at the end.

We'll see.

They were both wear the home uniforms.

It's awesome.

Love that.

That's gonna be uniform heaven, yeah, uh, all right, winners of steak dinners.

Let's get these, uh, picks in here.

Pat, we've run out of time today.

Thank you.

Last week, I was 3-2 and 1.

Gene, 23 and 1, which means my lead over him is now 5 games.

I'm 25, 24 and 1.

Gene is not doing as well.

Go ahead.

You can 5 up plus the bear.

So you've got some uphill work to do, my friend.

Let's get going here.

All right, we've talked about some of these games.

Ohio State giving 6.5 at USC.

Tough line to make cause you are guessing on what Ohio State's offense looks like.

And then, yeah, we're, we're left to see, is, is USC gonna fight back after last week's beatdown at Wisconsin, or are they caving?

Are they done?

Where are you going with this one?

Golly, Pat, I mean, honest to God, I've gone back and forth on this one.

Um, Ohio State is 4 in scoring defense, 5th in total defense, well coached, beat Iowa and Indiana on the road, lost by a point.

Um, at Texas.

But all that was with Julian Sand.

And so, you know, you're right.

You have to sit there and go, OK, is 2 weeks long enough for Ryan Day to put one or both of those new quarterbacks in position to beat USC on the road.

So much of me wants to take USC in this game.

They're at home.

This is just a massive moment uh for, for Lincoln Riley and his team.

I mean , to me, this is the season for them.

But I haven't seen them do it this season.

And so, I think Ohio State's defense is good enough to shut down USC.

I think these quarterbacks can make just enough plays.

I think they have Jeremiah Smith.

And I, I will reluctantly lay the points and take Ohio State in this one.

Um, I'm gonna lay the points as well, less reluctantly.

As you mentioned, I think their defense is excellent.

I think it will travel.

I have faith in Ryan Day and Arthur Smith to coach up, uh, whether it's Luke Fahey or Tavion Saint Clair to play well enough at quarterback.

Uh, and I don't have confidence in USC.

Again, that's for the reasons you mentioned, they, they, They have had many chances to prove themselves.

They've had some breaks this year.

They took Notre Dame off the schedule.

That hasn't helped them enough.

They catch Ohio State without a quarterback now or never, man.

Uh, I say never.

I'm going with the Buckeyes.

All right.

The world's largest outdoor cocktail party is now an indoor cocktail party this season.

Florida, Georgia is in Atlanta, in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

I don't love it.

I like that game in Jacksonville.

I know that the schools have, you know, in, in varying times fallen out of love with going there.

They're eventually going back, but they're in Atlanta this year and Tampa next year.

Uh, Florida, this is an interesting game.

Florida is getting 11.5, a pretty big number.

Gators have been all over the board.

They've had great wins.

They've had ugly losses.

Georgia is coming off of an ugly loss, a shocking loss.

Which side are you landing on here?

What do they call them?

Don't they have some really lamo name for the game this week?

Oh, it's, yeah, yeah, sort of corporate kind of, yeah.

I, I can't remember what, whatever it is , it's awful.

It is.

I think, uh, producer Kent sent it to us earlier in the week.

Kent, if, if you got that, drop it in the chat here because I can remember when we last saw Georgia, they were getting beat at home by Auburn.

Gunner Stockton was getting beat up.

Both teams have had 2 weeks to get ready for this game.

11.5. That just seems almost impossible to me.

That's the spread.

So there's like part of me, all right, are they, is this just, are they trying to sucker me into taking Florida?

Well, if so, it worked.

I, I will, I will take Florida and the 11.5 points.

I, I think Florida, while, while inconsistent this year, There's still, it's still a dangerous team, and I like, in the two weeks.

Um, I, I think that's gonna be helpful for both teams, of course, but for Florida too, so I'll take, I'll take the Gators.

OK, Ken, Ken informs us that the Atlanta Gridiron Classic.

Sure, yeah, boy, yeah, whatever, cocktail party, much better, um.

I'm all over the map.

I was gonna go Florida, but you know what?

You're typhoid gene.

I'm going the other way.

I'm taking Georgia under the theory that 2 weeks with Kirby Smart after an ugly home loss to an unranked team is like the most miserable 2 weeks any team could have in the country.

Like that is, that is gonna be brutal.

Uh, we don't know Aaron Fio's status, but I have to say Tremell Jones has played very well at quarterback for Florida in relief.

And, and that was actually a, a legitimate competition, I think, in August.

So, they've got a good backup, but I'm gonna say Georgia comes out and plays the way Georgia sometimes does, often does, and that's with absolute fury and focus and violence, and they take care of the Gators.

So this is an anti-Gen pick.

Thank you, Bulldogs.

Well, it's kind of a home game too in a way.

I mean, yeah, it is.

I'll be interested to see what the, the Florida turnout is.

I, I would, I would imagine it'll still be.

Relatively close to fifty-fifty, but maybe not.

And you notice how I didn't take your digs personally.

I mean just laughing, having a good time.

It's fine.

That's good.

That's one of the themes of this podcast, right?

But after, after the podcast is done, I'm gonna Twitter hate you like you've never seen.

Join the crowd, brother.

All right, uh, we talked about it, Big 12 games.

We got two of them to pick here.

Utah, giving 6.5 at Cincinnati.

This one is fascinating.

I was there last week.

Hey, Cincinnati got that, they got the atmosphere going.

I gotta give them credit.

That was really, it was fun.

I love Nippert Stadium.

Um, is Utah good enough to cover that, to win outright and to cover 6.5?

What do you think?

I'm taking Cini and the points, partly because of what you just said, partly because I'm not sure Cincinnati is going to have Utah's full attention, what with BYU up next week.

And so, is BYU is Utah maybe looking a little bit ahead, even though they know they're not supposed to.

It's just human nature to me.

Uh, they have to travel cross-country or partly cross uh cross country.

Cincinnati knows how to score points.

I, I'll take Cincinnati and I'll take those points.

Uh, I'm, I'm gonna go with you here.

Uh, this is a tough one to me.

Scott Satterfield is one of the hardest coaches to predict.

I think he, he's one of those guys that usually when you start giving up on them, they play really well.

When you start thinking they're good, they start playing really poorly.

So Utah.

No, no, no.

I, I, they're streaky.

They're also streaky.

If you go back and look, they win a bunch in a row, then they lose a bunch in a row.

They lost two in a row, they turned it around and beat tech.

I think they keep the heater going.

I'm not sure they win, but that's a field goal game, I think, against Utah there, um, in a pretty tough environment.

So I'm gonna take the Bearcats as well.

All right, the other Big 12 game, we talked about it, Arizona at Cody Campbell University.

Arizona is getting 3.5 in Lubbock.

What do you think?

I'll be cheering like Cody Campbell this week.

Give me tech and I'll lay the 3.5. All right, I I'm gonna go with Arizona.

Hot team, you're getting points.

I think they can win outright.

Uh, I, I would, I think Tech was shell-shocked by how they performed at Cincinnati.

And sometimes that can, that can galvanize a team, like I think it will galvanize Georgia, but I think it could also rock the confidence a little bit, and that was kind of a cocky program that you take a little bit of the swagger out.

I'm not sure they've got it all there, so I'm gonna take Arizona.

To not just cover, but, but I'll, I'll go ahead and say win outright.

Hey, and, and Texas Tech's defense is, you know, it is not what we saw last year.

So I, I, I certainly understand your thinking, um, but, uh, obviously I'll be rooting against you.

There we go, yeah.

Uh, all right.

Uh, last one we talked about this one a little bit too.

Northwestern game 3.5 at Oregon.

Oregon's season has been absolutely in the dumpster.

Northwestern is flying high.

What's your call in Otson Stadium?

I have no idea what to expect from Illinois.

I mean, from, uh, Oregon.

I mean, they, they just lost to Illinois, um, what was it, 21-10.

Mhm.

Uh, so, I, I, I just don't know what's happening with Oregon, but I know what's happening with Northwestern.

And, uh, even though they're traveling west, it's a humane time for kickoff for them.

Um, I just trust what Northwestern does.

I like what Chip Kelly has really done with that offense.

Um, So, I, I actually think Northwestern, you, you said Arizona is good enough to win outright.

I think Northwestern is good enough to win outright.

So I'll, I'll take the Wildcats.

Uh, I, dangerous, but I agree with everything you said.

I, I, I, I think they can, are good enough to win outright.

Oregon scoring the last three games, 1517, 10.

That sure ain't the Oregon we've gotten to know.

They fired Drew Maringer, the offensive coordinator, they replaced him with Jay Johnson, who's been an analyst on the staff.

I don't think that necessarily fixes things.

I think Northwestern is just playing much better football and Chip Kelly's gonna have a little something something going back to Otson too, so I'm, yeah, I'm taking, I'm taking Northwestern to win outright there.

Do you have a lock of the week?

Well, I got my lock of the week right last week, by the way.

You did mention that.

Oh, OK, it's always about you.

You just can't let me have one moment.

Congratulations on your lock of the week.

Oh yeah, thank you.

My lock of the week, uh, is the Stanford at the, uh, at your hometown team, Louisville.

And I'm going to, well, Stanford has won its last 2 games, OK?

At home against Elon.

And I, I, I mean this in the most loving way.

I have no idea where Elon is located.

Is it in North Carolina?

It is.

It's in North Carolina.

All right, OK, I got that right.

Uh, and, uh, of course you mentioned, uh, at home they, they beat NC State.

Uh, but here's a little stat for you.

Uh, Stanford is 0-3 and has been outscored 40 by 44.3 points per game on the road.

So I'm gonna take Louisville in this one and give the 22.5, 22.5, big number, big number.

I'm gonna make fun of me in Miami and Florida A&M earlier in the season, yeah, big number.

Uh, yeah, I did.

I did.

I also know this.

Louisville lost at home as a big favorite against Cal last year, and in 2024, they lost to in like incomprehensibly lost to a horrible Stanford team on the road.

They don't, they don't fare well with the Bay Area.

So, all right, careful, good.

So you're gonna be taking Stanford then as your lock of the week.

I am not, as a matter of fact, I am not.

Uh, I'm going Big 10 here, and it's just I'm going against my second team, as you put it.

I don't know why Indiana is favored by 20.5 points against Minnesota.

That's probably a trap, and I am probably walking straight into it, but I am, I'm taking the 20.5. Minnesota is a grinded out team.

Indiana has become a grinded out team.

Other than Rutgers.

Which is Rutgers.

Indiana's margins of, of either victory or defeat in Big 10 play are 635, and 7.

All of a sudden, they're gonna win by 21?

I don't think so.

I've seen too many problems with the Indiana offense.

So, if you're gonna give me the Gophers and basically 3 touchdowns, you give me 20.5, I'm taking the Gophers.

Yeah, that's a good one.

I mean, what , Minnesota got.

Uh, pardon the pun, boat raced.

Against, uh, Mississippi State and Taylor, but Josh Hoover isn't Taylor, so that's an interesting call.

Yeah, I like it .

All right, last thing before we go here, Gene, I gotta get your, gotta get your, uh, your input here.

Uh, we've all, we've ridden on planes plenty.

You get tired of it, you, you know, you, you get to a point, maybe you're, you're, it's almost driving you crazy, you're like, I, I do not want to get on this flight.

I just, I've, I've taken one too many flights in my life.

I, you're at the, you're sitting at the airport like, man, wouldn't it be great to just not get on and go, just go do something ridiculous, irresponsible.

How about this guy, earlier this month, John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, California.

About 5:30 p.m. one day, uh, A man, a Delta Airlines passenger, stole an airport towing vehicle, then crashed it before attempting to escape in a truck that holds aircraft lavatory waste.

He was arrested, shockingly.

Uh, and, uh, I, I don't think he offered any explanation for what he was doing.

26 year old guy from Everett, Washington, scheduled to fly to Seattle, said, hell no, I ain't going home.

Decided to steal the airport tug car, or whatever.

I think it'd be kind of fun.

Now, eventually you'd run into trouble.

What would, what do you think?

Are you, are you lenient to this guy, or are you throwing the book at him?

You know, when I worked for the LA Times, I lived in Mission Viejo and flew out of Uh, John Wayne all the time.

Uh, was I ever tempted to, um, To hijack one of those vehicles?

No, uh, but I give him great credit for making the effort.

Um, I don't think it's gonna go well for him, uh, from a legal standpoint, but, uh, God bless him, and, and, uh, I wish him well.

Perhaps he was trying to get some sort of, um, uh, hours in as far as some sort of, uh, license that he needed to get to operate those vehicles.

Maybe, maybe.

We don't know.

We don't know.

Don't judge.

Don't judge.

Leave the guy alone.

There we go.

The Brewers hat is back on.

That's a good, that's a clear sign it's time to go.

We leave Gino and revel in his glory, uh, with the brew crew.

Thanks for listening, everybody.

Thanks for watching.

Uh, we will be back again next week.

Enjoy the games.