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Okay, let's go. Okay, Welcome to Part of My Take, presented by DraftKings. Hoop it up all season long with the newest, most fun way to play fantasy sports, Picks 6 from DraftKings. Download the DraftKings Picks 6 app. Now use code take. That's code Taked for new customers to play $5, get $50 in Picks 6 credits only on DraftKings Picks 6. The crown is yours. Today is Wednesday, December fourth. And PFT, I think that Jameis Winson is my favorite athlete of all time that I didn't root for on my own team.

He is the best athlete to root for of all time on not your team. What we saw on Monday night-460 yards? It was historic. Historic? I mean, truly, It was literally historic, not in the, We love James Winsor, we're going to call everything historic type of way, which we will do. It was literally historic. He had four touch downs. He had three interceptions, two pick sixes.

Almost a third.

If you count every yard that was gained by an NFL football player who received any of his passes, it doesn't matter what uniform they were wearing, he threw for 668 passing yards. I love it. That is the most of any quarterback in NFL history, second as Vinnie Testaverdi. I think he had quite a bit less than 668 combined passing yards.

His passing chart was so funny. 34 for 58, 497, four touchouts, three interceptions. Jameis Winston should play every single primetime game. He should be all-time quarterback. It was the full Jameis Winston experience where it would be one drive, pick six, one drive. He's just dicing up a very good Bronco's defense. It was back and forth. Really good Bronco's defense. And afterwards saying, I know I'm better than this. I'm praying for the Lord to deliver me from pick sixes. He's just the best. I love it. He's the fucking best. Listen, the Broncos are a good team. The Broncos are going to go to the playoff. Bo Nicks, not his best night, but he still played well.

He had a great, great throw. That long, touched on. Oh, yeah.

That was a Boes and rope. Yeah, to Mims, that was sick. And Bo Nicks is the real deal. But this was the in this show. I feel bad because it was going to be Bo'Nicks' coming out party. Unfortunately, he had to play against Jameis Winston, who, good and bad, he steals the show.

The Browns, they went from being borderline unwatchable.

I would say unwatchable. Well, we still watched them. Yeah, but if we could have not watched them, we would have not watched them.

If I could Minn in Black myself and remove those memories, I would do it. To now, they are must-see TV. It sucks that they got flexed out of another primetime game because I want to see more primetime. Jameis, it would have been the Browns and the Bangles in prime time. That game, I guarantee you, that game is going to be just a fireworks display. Jameis might break Norm Van Brockland's record for most yards passing in the game that game.

It's going to be incredible. I'm getting retro I'm retro-mad, where I was already mad that Deshaun Watson played the beginning of this season, and now I'm retro-mad that Andy Dalton played over Jameis Winston last year when we were saying it should be Jameis Winston. Will he make some mistakes? Yes. But will it be maybe the most exciting brand of football you could ever watch? Also, yes.

It's exciting. It's fun. If you want to draw on the casual viewer, well, number one, give us a Simpsons game, or two, give us Jameis Winston.

I'm excited for the Simpson game.

I've been excited. I'm pumped to see what they do with it. Like the Simpson, that was my entire life growing up.

Yeah.

The Browns are officially... I mean, they were already out. I think they officially got eliminated.

Also, Jerry Judy was a hell game.

Yeah. Oh, incredible. Revenge game. Jerry Judy. Although it was perfect because it was like, he got the revenge, and then the lasting image is him having to tackle a Broncos player off another James Winston pick. The Browns are Sorry, are not officially, officially eliminated, but they're out. They were three and nine. Even if they won that game, it wouldn't have really changed anything. They are full on spoiler mode. The Broncos, that was a win where it's like they are now on a collision course with their... I mean, their Colts game in two weeks is going to basically either be their in or out because that's the two teams. The Colts still have to win. The Broncos are, what, two games up? But that head-to-head will... If the Colts win, they have a real chance. If they lose, it's the Broncos. I'm a Bo Lever. I'm a reformed Bo Lever. He's so good. He hurt me enough in Auburn, in Oregon. I love Bo next.

I also love seeing Jameis and Bo side by side when they were doing Monday Night Football graphic where they had them stand in front of the camera and they said, Okay, just stand there and maybe twirl the ball. And Jameis put on a full-on improv comedy routine. Yeah. He's just the best. Jameis Winston is a drug.

That I want to be addicted to forever.

Yeah, and there's no downside except the pick sixes, which the Lord is going to help us. Well, the Lord also said, Jeremiah 27:46, intercept them and give them a message for their masters.

There you go. So we need to get that to Jameis. What other thoughts Anything else for Monday Night Football? I mean, it was just a very fun game. The Broncos, it's also nice. The Broncos are one of those teams that I want them to be in big games because it's just something about Mile High. They are football to me. I mean, we've talked about it before, but up until the Super Bowl when they win with Peyton Manning, if you look back 30 years, the Broncos were consistently just always there, and they've had a really bad decade. Now with Bo Nicks, they got something, and it was cool to watch a big-time game on Monday night, Mile High.

Were you also thinking the same way that this game would be just a little bit better if they weren't wearing those uniforms?

I like the helmets, though.

I didn't like them. I want to see that's Thursday.

I like the white-on-white Bronco.

That's Thursday night.

Yeah. Oh, Max is on the couch, by the way. Hank had a meeting. We were just doing the intro. Hank's on the rest of the show. Max, any thoughts? You didn't watch Monday Night Football. No, I did not watch Monday Night Football. You didn't watch Monday Night Football? No, you I don't watch Monday Night Football. But, Jameis.

I'm disgusted with you.

That's gross, dude. I don't know what to tell you. What did you watch? I caught up on some shows. What shows?

I'm reading your mind right now.

Is there lady shows? Below Deck. You watched the lady show? I watched Silo. I watched two episodes of Silo, made a nice chicken chili. Were you following along a little bit? Yes, I followed along the entire time.

Did you not have FOMO of what is Jameis doing right now?

It's Bronco. He's a winner. He's thinking about winning. He doesn't care about the- These things have nothing to do with the Eagles. If the lines were playing, I would be watching.

Well, no, because if the Browns win, then you could be like, That win against the Browns, that means a little bit more.

I'm looking at winning the division, getting the one seed. You're looking at Thursday Night Football. Thursday Night Football, I will be dialed.

Dialed. I just wish that you watched Monday Night Football. Our friend Joe Buck.

I love Joe Buck. Shout out to Troy. He's giving us a little nod where he said, I'm a big Indiana guy. Listen, I'm happy that Jameis entertained the people. I'll tell you that. So Pug is in Max's seat, President Pug. Did you watch Monday Night Football?

Yes. I love that. That's our President.

That's our President. Good job, Pug. Memes, did you watch Monday Night Football? I did. Okay.

Your thoughts?

James Winston is the next QB of the New York Jets. Oh, I didn't see that one coming. Wait, is Rodgers... Were you just wishing something on Twitter when you said Rodgers is going to retire at the end of McAfee today? No. I'm forced to watch McAfee every Tuesday because my quarterback does an hour long interview, and he was reminiscing on how the Jets impacted his life. It seemed like- Because they said an announcement was coming, and he was reminiscing, and then it was just a trailer for his new show. That's It doesn't sound like- You just torture yourself all week.

It doesn't sound like something that you'd say if you were still planning on having more memories of that team.

It seemed like the memories were over. Oh, and what memories they were. Yeah, he said you met some good people inside the building. Oh, that's always nice. That's always a failure line. Some really great people in the building. Damn. So you didn't retire. Also, Al Sheer got suspended three games after the Lawrence hit, and he also apologized, but it was weird. It was no tap.

Yeah, no tapped it. Dark Mode, which I think is appropriate. Solum occasion. Then Dameiko Ryan's walked back some of the stuff that he was saying right after the game.

Yeah, because he threw him under the bus a little bit.

He defended Al Shahir. I watched the clip a bunch, and I did some ruminating on it on the slide, the quarterback slide. It's weird that the way that you give yourself up to protect yourself in NFL, the rule that's written in for quarterbacks, also puts you in a position where you're very likely to get concussed. How many times have we seen a quarterback slide? Their head is down near the ground. They get even slightly hit on their head, and it bounces off the ground, and they get a concussion. It feels like it's one of those rules where I understand why they did it because they have to protect the Golden Boys. They have to protect the guys that bring in the money.

The alternative is they just get hammered.

They get hammered, they learn not to run, or they dive headfirst.

Yeah, because I have seen Can this take throw around like, Oh, the slide is actually making it more dangerous for quarterbacks. I feel like that can't be right. I know it makes it more dangerous for quarterbacks in the rare occasion where a Trevor Lawrence hit happens. But how many times do we see a slide where nothing happens and guys give up and they're safe?

I think I have no data to back this up. I'm just going on vibes. I feel like the slide, you have a higher likelihood of getting a concussion. Getting crunched and not sliding, you have a much higher likelihood of getting another injury.

But I agree with that. But what I'm saying is the slide, I guess someone has to give us the data. But it feels like you could do It's like the traffic analogy where it's like you could have no traffic for a month, and then the one day you have traffic, you're like, God damn it, traffic is the worst. I can never get out of traffic. We're reacting to Trevor Lawrence, but how many slides happen in a week where nothing happens?

I think it's also like extending the traffic analogy. You're way more likely to get into a car crash than you are into a plane accident. But if you get into a plane crash, you're dead. You're dead.

That's true.

It's very safe to slide.

But it's more dangerous than, yeah.

If it goes wrong, you're fucked. Yeah.

I wonder what two of his thoughts are on this.

He's like, No, let's go head first. Yeah. I mean, some quarterbacks do that. They dive head first.

Yeah, absolutely.

They do the little roll.

I mean, this also was like... There are sometimes when a slide happens, you're like, That was bang, bang. This was avoidable.

Yeah, it was avoidable. But also, we do forget how quickly this-Of course. It was a bad one.

I mean, he had forearm to the head.

Yeah, I think it was targeted, and I think it's probably worthy of some a suspension. But three games is a lot.

Yeah, absolutely.

Max, what are your thoughts? I know you don't watch football, but what are your thoughts?

I see ADD is kicking in. It's a lot more present when it's right here on the couch.

I get a good look at him during During the show, and I just see him. He's looking all around the room. He looks dizzy. Yeah.

Yeah, no, I have ADD, and I think it was a dirty hit, and then the fight was bad. But it's not Eagles, so who the fuck cares? But it's not an eagle. And neither of those teams really affect the Eagles, so that's what I got for it. It's not Eagles. Okay, well, we have a great show because we did an hour with Brandon and Liam Blutman joined at the end. We have Steve Smith senior. We're going to talk a lot of college football because it's the best time of year for college football. Let's kick it to ourselves and let's get into that discussion. Okay, before we talk college football with Brandon Walker, we're brought to you by our friends at Chevy. There's a reason we've never done a Mount Rush more of pickup trucks, and that's because for a part of my take, there's only one pickup truck, the Chevy Silverado. Why is that? Silverado is a partner, a partner you can depend on. We've all spent time driving and using the Silverado for all kinds of, Pardon My Take, jobs, adventures, and other shenanigans. Silverado has been our ride for a cross country trip to the Super Bowl.

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Second episode is tonight, and it is sponsored by Body Armor. So go check it out. Get yours today at Walmart or local grocery store near you. Okay. Brandon Walker is here, our college football expert. By the way, at Memes, I asked you if you could find me their pics so we could do an update at the end between Brandon and Tom Fernelli, because that is to decide the true expert of part of my take.

And Brandon is very paranoid right now. We got a second mic set up.

Gee, I wonder why.

And you think that we're not just going to have you on. You think Andy Staples is walking in the door.

I think Andy Staples could be behind the door. I think Tom Freneli. I think Chip Patterson. I think Danny Knell. I think Josh Pate.

It's just you.

I think Ben Metz could be on the other side.

That's definitely not happening. It's just you, and we're here to talk ball. We're in the office, Brandon.

Yeah, we're here to talk ball, and let's start.

So we'll do a mini recap, and then we'll look forward.

I don't feel good about the standings we had because I didn't even remember we did that on the couch the last time I was here. But I I remember getting the teams. I think I had Oklahoma State, so that's probably not good.

But you guys had to pick a lot of teams. He had Iowa or something. Okay, so I threw out the idea on Sunday's pod, and I know you've probably talked about it, but I think that Ohio State's loss on Saturday was one of the worst losses of all time.

I think it's a top five worst loss in my life that I can think of. But it is time for a recalculation of what we think worst losses can be because they're not dead at and they're going to spend the next three weeks hearing how much they suck and hearing their coach should be fired and hearing how embarrassing this is. And it is embarrassing, but shit, they might get up off the match.

I agree with you that it changes it, that they're not eliminated. But unless they win the national title, Michigan will then say... If they lose in the college football playoff, Michigan will say, Well, it's because Michigan ended their season.

Well, keeping it just a Saturday, you talk about an Ohio State team that was number two, had everything to play for. And not only that, for the In the last 364 days, you had three years of embarrassment built up, and it was all leading to this, when you finally got a chance to play them on an even playing field, you thought, and finally got a chance to take out three years of frustrations, and then you just didn't, and you let them out tough you on your own home field. It's the most embarrassing loss I can remember, because Ryan Day is the one coach who couldn't get embarrassed in this spot, and he did.

Yeah, he's the modern day John Cooper. This is who he is now. He's John Cooper, where John Cooper had great recruiting classes at Ohio State and went 2-10 against Michigan. It's why I love this rivalry. It's why I love Rivalry Weekend. Ryan Day can't get over the Michigan hub. There's something about it. It was similar to when Urban Meyer was getting Ohio to a spot where it's like they would just beat the fuck out of Michigan. They meant more for those guys. Michigan played their bad football team, and Ohio State played so tense, and Ryan Day choked, and they had an outside advantage throwing the ball, and they didn't throw the ball. Also, I did say in our preview, Will Howard was my main bugaboo about Ohio State, and that proved true. But that was so catastrophic for Ryan Day and Ohio State's program, because if they fire Ryan Day, they're basically having to reset for a couple of years because you can't fire him before the playoffs are over.

Well, the playoffs are over. The transfer portal is going to be opening up. I'm going to steal a take from Mark Titus, who did it on Mostly Sports, but he was right. Ryan Day came out the other day, Ryan Day and Chip Kelly, the offensive coordinator, came out, and they seemed determined to win the right way. They wanted to show they were tougher than Michigan. They wanted to show, We're soft? Yeah, we're going to run it right down Michigan's throat. And that played right into their advantage. Michigan has the best defensive line. They have a great defensive line, and you have advantage everywhere else, but they kept running first down, second down, then third down. They tried to throw it, and everybody's covered up. They tried to win a certain way, and they couldn't do it. They never adjusted. It was a shocking failure of coaching. It was a shocking failure of preparation. It was a shocking lack of nuts. And to be honest, your point is correct. They went to the Mercedes dealership this year and got a safety. They went to the Mercedes dealership, and they got a running back, and they went to Dollar General and got a quarterback.

Now, I have no idea why they did that when Miami is going out and getting Cam Ward and everybody else is doing this, and they settled for Will Howard.

Yeah, and I knew. Will Howard is a nice player. Will Howard should not be the starting quarterback for a $20 million roster at Ohio State in a must-win season.

Or you can get away with using him If you're going to throw the ball to your skill players that are much better than Michigan's skill players. So Michigan, when they changed the tide because Harbaugh was like, We're going to beat you playing man football. We're going to just be tougher. We're going to shove you around. And it worked for him. Ohio State still has that advantage of having better skill position players. And now, especially, Michigan is not as tough as they were when Harbaugh was there. But when Ohio State tries to play Michigan's game, Michigan is still going to be able to beat them at that shitty brand of football.

But Will Howard also is not He's not a great passer. He's an okay passer.

He's not a '45 to '14- He's not C.

J. Stroud. So it's like they built all the parts around him, and then they gave it to him. And it's like, Dude, if you're going to build this team, you need to actually get a passer.

Yeah, they gave the keys to a race car to a four-wheel driver, like an off-road rider, like somebody that doesn't belong behind the wheel of something that powerful.

Do you use somebody from Georgia to drive that car?

Something like that. Fast.

Do you think they fire Ryan Day? Because it actually is. No, I don't. I don't either. Because I think that firing Ryan Day at this point is going to be very difficult because you're probably going to win your first college playoff game. The schedule is fucked up. Yeah. The schedule is so messed up in college football, and you lose all your stud players and you have to reset, I think they're going to have to wait till they don't make the college football playoff for Ryan Day to get fired.

I mean, signing day, this is coming out tomorrow? Yeah. Signing day is today. Right. This is high school signing day. This is when everybody gets better for the next four years. The transfer portal is going to open and close by the time the playoff is over, so they will not have any window. The players won't have any window to leave Ohio State.

It's why Michigan had a down year, because Jim Harbor had to wait till after the national championship to leave.

Yeah, and they were forced to hire Sharon more. Maybe they were going to do that in Anyway. And who are you going to hire? The coaching carousel will be done by then. You'll be lucky to get somebody out of retirement or get somebody late in the game. It's just the schedule doesn't work. You need a little bit more roadway to fire a guy in this day and age.

And plus, they could still win the fucking national champion. I know. Yeah, they could. That's what would be so crazy about it. So, Brandon, the real reason why I had you on today's show was because- All right. Here we come. Well, I mean, we've talked a lot about Ohio State, and it's probably painful. We have a lot of listeners that are Buckeyes that are going to be listening to this, and they feel down about themselves. They need some advice on how to handle it, how to get over it. You have lost a lot of rivalry games in your life, a ton.

The egg of a lot. That's actually not true. Since 1990, when it went to campuses, it's tied at 17.

You've lost a lot recently. Not really. So Do you have any advice for Ohio State students or fans on what the next couple of weeks are going to look like? How you like to get over that loss?

I'd like to point something out real quick. I don't like to say this a lot.

Brandon's a Buckeye, too, by the way.

I'm not. Our coach died. So that's really unprecedented in college football. Not a lot of coaches die.

It sounds like you're bragging.

I'm not bragging at all, but our coach did die. So we've been in an unprecedented situation. It really doesn't apply to Ohio State at all. And they've lost four in a We've only lost four out of five, so there's no real comparison there.

Urban Meyer- It should also be four out of five. He almost died several times. Yeah.

Anytime he almost lost to Maryland, he would die.

Sure, but he didn't die.

It is so crazy that Urban Meyer was able to Urban Meyer would lose to Purdue. Urban Meyer would not lose to Michigan. No. Ryan Day has it flipped, where Ryan Day... That is also, not to just really pick on Ryan Day, but it's so crazy that Jim Harbaugh broke his brain to such an extent with the born on third thing, where he put so much pressure on himself. That was not only the worst loss for Ryan Day just because it was Michigan. That was the worst loss in terms of quality of opponent that Ryan Day has ever had. He never loses Schematically. To bad teams. And Michigan was a bad team.

They were a bad team. It was bad in every way a loss could be bad. And if you lose to Purdue in a season as Ohio State, your fan base is mad. They're furious until the game. Correct. And then you put it all back together. Well, the next game in this rivalry isn't until 365 more days. The next game on your schedule isn't going to fix this. They're going to be mad for a year.

Yeah, they are. There's not a lot So if you lose to Purdue, you write that off. It's a trap game. You overlooked an inferior opponent. It's not great, but we can get over it. But this is the one opponent that you're supposed to be thinking about all year long.

And you were thinking about him all year long.

Yeah, you've been thinking about him for four years.

So they're detriment, I believe. I think Ryan Day said it right. I think Michigan's in his head at this point. He is not himself against Michigan. They are not themselves against Michigan. They try to pose as somebody they're not to beat Michigan, and that's not how you're beat once you do that.

Yeah, he tries to do a fake tough guy. It's like, you're not Jim Harbor, you're not Urban Meyer.

That's not who you are. You're John Cooper. That's not what your program is.

Yeah, on third base got picked off.

Your program is having the best players in every position. Well, the wind.

They didn't account for the wind. They didn't say who's Windy.

They could have at least... I I'm not saying that Will Howard is the best quarterback in college football.

He's not. Well, he's not.

But they could have at least tried to get the ball to their playmakers.

Well, he threw two really bad pick.

He threw one pick. He set them up at the two-yard line. He did.

And he also threw a pick where they should have scored points, and it was a bad pick.

And It's not like Michigan had this overwhelming... They were the same bad team they were all year. Their quarterback through for 62 yards. Their quarterback through the worst pick in the history of football when they were trying to take the lead with seven minutes left. And that's when I knew Ohio State was done. When Ohio State got that play, that should have been the light switch. That should like, All right, well, we fucked around long enough. Let's go do it. They go run up the middle for nothing, a little dinky pass that gets dropped, and then a run up the middle for nothing. They had to punt it right back, and they just were not ready to compete.

And you know who probably wins that game? Who? Kyle McCord.

Oh, Kyle McCord wins that game by three times.

He can pass. He can't run like Will Howard. Yeah, but they wanted- That's not- Yeah, I know.

It's crazy. Yeah. And Chip Kelly is... Because Ryan Day has been the head coach and has lost so many games. Chip Kelly's game plan and his lack of aggressiveness is killing that team. Because not only did it happen against Michigan, but they had a very slow start against Penn State. They had a very slow start against Indiana. Nebraska. They are not coming out and being aggressive offensively, and it's killing them. Yeah.

And Kyle McCord I feel I'm happy for him because I would say it was 12-1 last year, and he lost by six points to the national champions.

Had the ball for 30 to win the game.

I understand you wanted a mobile quarterback, but you have the dudes to beat them on the outside. You got to get someone to get them the ball. All right. So any other rivalry weekend? I mean, the Georgia-Georgia Tech, here's the take. They have to, have to, have to figure out the overtime rules because we can't have a playoff game in that way.

No, we can't have a playoff game in that way, but they don't want to figure out the overtime rules. They just changed it three or four years ago.

I understand. I'm saying there's different overtime rules in the NFL. Mlb does the guy on second in regular season, then they take that away. You can't Georgia Tech was an incredible game. So much fun to watch. I still don't know what to make of Georgia. I just know that if we have to watch a two-point conversion to decide a national champion, it's going to suck.

It will be absolutely sickening, but that is very much on the table.

Just be like, Playoffs, get the old...

Yeah, put them at the 25. It's easy. Put them at the 25. We had that format for years. One seven overtime game spuked us. I have no idea why one game, out of however many college football games are in a year, there's probably a bunch. I have no idea why one game spurred the change. But college football, I feel like that's an adjustable rule. If that were to happen, they can go back and just say, You know what? For a do or die game, for a game that must have a result, we're going to have a result. Yes.

I think that just doing it the regular way in a meaningful game, that would make by far the most sense. It was so annoying, too, to watch. There's no flow on offense for either team. You don't have any real drop. It's just all or nothing on this one play.

It's coin flip. I'll tell you what I was really struck by with that game. Play calling on two-point conversions, particularly in these situations, have really collapsed. They're terrible.

Okay, so if you have the ball on the two-yard line in a game, in the course of a normal game, what are you likely to do in that scenario? Run. You're likely to run the football. For some reason in this overtime, coaches's brains get broken. Correct. And they think we have to pass the ball from the two-yard line. Can you explain that to me at all? That makes no sense.

There were 12 two-point conversions in the six overtimes after the first couple. There were 12 two-point conversions. There were two running plays, including the one run that won the game. When Georgia finally said, We're going to run it, we're going to win. Haynes King spent the entirety of that game running the football and dominating Georgia's defensive line. He was just running for three, running for four, running for five. He had a slant. When they get to the two-point conversions and they have to have it, they want him to turn into Joe Montana and become a precision passer. I have no idea why Georgia Tech went away from that. I have no idea why coaches try to outsmart themselves and say, You know what? I'm going to roll I'm going to give him options because that's what they're expecting.

I think they just ran out of their place. I think they go into a game and they have- But go back to your place. I know. They have three or four dynamite two, but it's crazy given the way the overtime works, you got to go in there with a lot more than three plays.

But Hayes King and regulation I believe, had 18 carries, something like that. He was a bully. You get to overtime, he had zero? Or he had one carry in overtime. He didn't score, but only one carry.

Sometimes not having options is way better. You know what you have to do. Go that way. Then after the game, the postgame hug between Brent Key and Kirby Smart.

He was crying.

How long... Did you clock that? I feel like it was a minute hug.

I didn't clock it. At first, I was like, Well, that's nice to see. That's nice. Two guys locked in battle. Then after about 30 seconds, I'm like, All right, let's wrap it up. This is getting a little touchy. It's a little much. Too much. It was very close. There might have been some neck kissing. That's how close it was.

Yeah, it was. By the way, we got the list. This is the preseason list where we made Brandon and Tom- Almost. Well, there's no way there's any good teams left. Brandon and Tom, they each got 12 picks. If one of their picks wins the national title, they are our college football expert for an entire year. I'm missing one pick from each of them. I'm going back and listening. But I'll just say the ones that are meaningful here. Tom has Georgia, Oregon, Tennessee, Penn State, and Alabama, which I want to talk about. Brandon has Ohio State, Clemson, Texas, Miami, and Notre Dame.

O'mis. O'mis. Coach Kiffin's making a hell of a campaign. We should talk about that.

It looks very even. Brandon Sure. We're taping this at 2:30 in the afternoon. We don't know what the actual standings are going to be, but we can take a guess. They're going to find a way to get Alabama into this tournament.

Yeah, they are, but given the options.

Basically, as far as I can understand, SMU wins the ACC title game.

There's going to be a spot.

Alabama will get it, in my opinion. I don't think that's the correct pick, but I think that's what they're going to do. If SMU loses, as long as it's not a bloodbath, it will be Clemson and SMU.

To put it frankly, there's 11 spots that are just spoken for right now. There's 11 spots, the four in the Big Ten, three in the ACC, your ACC champ, your Big 12 champ, your group of five, your Notre Dame. All So there's 11 spots. Smu and Clemson play. If Clemson wins, they steal a spot. And SMU, who goes 11 and one the regular season, probably shouldn't get punished. They should take that 12 spot.

I think they will.

I think they will, too. Now, if Clemson loses, SMU wins. Smu is inside the 11, and that opens up for Miami at 10 and 2. That opens up for Alabama, Ole Miss, South Carolina at 9:00 and 3. I think they would give it to Alabama. I do, too. And out of the three SEC teams, that is far and away the best option.

That's where we disagree.

But also, you should preface this, You hate the Gamecox.

I hate all SEC teams, not Mississippi State. Frankly, I see what you're doing.

I see what you're doing.

Oh, I hate the Gamecox? You do. Because that's what every emotional fan base thinks. If you say one thing that isn't sucking their dick, that you hate them. No, I don't hate them. I'm just saying in reality, okay?

You sound like an emotional fan base right now.

If they're in the SEC and they're up against Alabama for this spot and Ole Miss for this spot, and they lost to both of them.

It seems like that conversation is over.

I think this is a fair point. I just wanted to preface it so the people knew- It was a good preface.

You hate the Cox. Yeah, it was unbiased journalism.

No, you're exactly right. Out of this group, Alabama, who I lived next to my whole life and my mother is a fan, and I hate her. And Ole Miss- She's a saint. Who I absolutely hate and wish all their businesses would fail and their marriages would get divorced. I hate them. You're right. South Carolina is the one I hate the most.

Okay, so, Brandon, we actually agree that you can't just disregard what happened on the field, and Alabama and Ole Miss beat them. I think it's going to be Alabama because that's just what they're going to do. Who should it be then? I want it to be South Carolina because I think they're playing the best ball. And in terms of a viewership, I want to see Leonora Sneed in the playoff. Sellers. Sellers, sorry. I was thinking of Sneed from Kansas City. Leonora Sellers in the playoffs. I want to see them. They've been playing great ball. I don't want to see Alabama again who failed three times in one Oklahoma. I really don't want to see Miami. I know that Camor is exciting, but their defense can't stop anything.

I wouldn't mind seeing Miami because they can score.

It'd be a fun game.

But I just think it's a flawed system in the fact that you're If you put in Miami, that's actually the easiest thing the committee could do because they'd be like, Hey, they have two losses. You can't lose three times. I'd totally be fine with that. They're like, You know what? Don't lose three times. But if they do go from the SEC teams, I want the team that's playing the best ball right now.

I think that playing the best ball is a crutch that people are leaning on.

That's my personal preference.

When you say they're playing the best ball, all you're really telling me is they played all the teams capable of beating them early rather than late.

They did get screwed against LSU.

They made a comeback. And Sellers was hurt. They scored a late shutdown to beat Missouri with 10 seconds left. Missouri is not that good at all. They did that. They've won on a last second breakdown against Clemson. This isn't a team that's just rolling everybody all of a sudden. They've won the last six, including four against ranked teams. Two of those teams were Missouri, who's not good, and Vanderbilt.

Let me ask you a question. If they keep an undefeated Florida State team out last year because of quarterback issues, shouldn't sellers being out against LSU be put into the- I don't mind the committee looking at that, but I don't think Sellers being out for a Four and a half against LSU is the reason- It was a three-point game that they got screwed on.

Is the reason they gave up 36 points to an LSU offense that couldn't score 36 against anybody else.

There was also some bad calls.

I think quarterback thing is like, if they want a reason to keep you out and you have an impact player that's not going to play, they will use that as a reason, but they're not going to give you a benefit. I know, which is bullshit. Your quarterback was out for a game.

I hear people saying that Florida State last year, they want to use that precedent. That was a four-team payoff. That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. This is a twelve-team payoff. This team has lost three times. It's not like you're nitpicking to say one thing about them when they lost three times like that.

One thing you did beat Tom Fernelian was in the argument of whether or not the twelve-team payoff is better.

It's way better.

It's so good. All these conversations we're having right now, we not be having these at all.

So many games in November mattered? Matter. So many games in November mattered.

Miami- Syracuse was a big fucking game.

This ACC Championship game coming up, I think we will care more about this ACC Championship than we've ever cared about.

The Big 12 Championship, the Mountain West Championship, all these games that are win and get in. Those are playoff games. They're playoff games. It's so great. I think the South Carolina thing, I don't think they'll put South Carolina in. I understand the reasoning. I'm just saying personal preference. I would love to see them because I think that they- You don't want to see Alabama again. Yeah, that's part of it. That's fine.

But Alabama beat Georgia. Alabama beat South Carolina.

Alabama lost to a really bad Oklahoma team.

That's true. They did. And they got killed. And they lost to a mediocre Vanderbilt. And South Carolina beat them both. But they also, South Carolina lost to LSU, Alabama killed them.

Yeah, you're right. And South Carolina did get worked by Ole Miss.

We're talking about South Carolina and Alabama. South Carolina can't pass Ole Miss. Ole Miss beat them 27 to three at their place.

Pft was right when he said it last week, just don't ever let a three-team lost team in. Just put Miami in.

I don't like seeing the number three. If you're giving an at-large bid to a team with three lost. The problem with it this year is that you don't have that many teams to choose from.

It's not just this year. If you look back over the last 20, 30, if you're talking, All right, we're going to do a 12-team playoff, and you retroactively take that 12-team playoff back 30 years, there's three lost teams inside the top 12 every year. All the time, there's a three lost team inside the top 12. So that's just going to happen. When you say it's a flawed system, you're right. Any system we choose is going to be flawed. But we also are talking on Sunday, they'll have a selection, right? We know 11 of the spots right now.

That's pretty good. Yeah. No, I've been a long proponent of the way to fix all of this is you need to actually embrace college football being an NFL model where you have divisions in each conference, and it's the division winners go. And they play out of their own conference, and then you get to the playoff. So it's You decided on the field. Where Alabama and Ole Miss are in the same division. They want LSU, Alabama, Ole Miss, Mississippi State. Sorry, that's a bad division for you. Alabama and Ole Miss will be playing this weekend to see who comes out of the SEC South or whatever.

The real problem is we don't have a set tiebreaker system. In the NFL, you got the divisions, yeah. But every winner of each division, they get in. Every conference champion gets in. But we have no tiebreaker system that's on a national scale for the at-large Under the system, the Super conferences are probably a mistake.

The Super Conferences this year have allowed certain teams, I'm just saying, I'm going to just say it, Indiana. They've allowed certain... Hold on. Let me say what- Undaunted. Let me say what I'm going to say.

We're an undaunted podcast.

You sound a little daunted right now.

You sound super daunted.

You guys are two on the internet. No.

We're two on the internet? A team that goes 11 and one in the Big Ten should be in the in the play. Absolutely, they should.

Everyone's more on the internet. You block half the internet.

I would like you to be undaunted.

Would you allow Would you like me to do the point?

Would you like to be undaunted?

Would you like me to do the point?

Would you like to be undaunted?

An 11 and one Big Ten team deserves to be in 100% of the time. Indiana deserves to be in. However, these big conferences allow schedule disparity that we didn't have before. And the schedule disparity allows Ohio State to play every other team in the top five of the Big Ten, and Indiana to play none of them. Yeah.

I mean, listen, part of my undauntedness, if I'm being totally transparent here, is I have looked ahead in 2026 is the year that I will have to be undaunted for the Wisconsin Johnson Badgers, because if we can put our ship back together, we can be like a 10 and 1 and never played any one team.

I'll use another team.

No, you don't get to say that about Indiana, because if you want to talk strength of schedule for Indiana, though, I believe that their strength of schedule is now better than Notre Dame. Fine. And Notre Dame has a way worse loss.

I'm going to use another team. Schedule disparity has been caused by big conferences, and all the contenders in conference not playing each other. Texas is another great example. There are six nine-win teams in the SEC. Texas played one of them. That team beat them by 15 points. But Texas is in this payoff, no doubt, because Texas and Georgia didn't play the same schedule. They didn't even play anywhere near the same schedule. So what I'm The thing is the system is good. I like the 12-team playoff, but the fact that you've got these 16 and 18-team conferences allows these pockets of bad schedules to affect this.

That's why they need to do the divisions.

And it's not Indiana's fault. It's not Texas' fault. They played the schedule, put in front of them, but we need to make sure schedule disparity is addressed at some point. What are you looking at?

It looks like Indiana. Where's Indiana on this list?

Indiana was-What's the list?

65. Oh, there's 65. I thought they were in the 50s.

Notre Dame was 57.

Okay, so they're close.

I think last year- You also can't, we should say, you can't predict year to year because Indiana did play the reigning national champions and the team that went to the national championship last year. You can't predict that.

Again, not Indiana's fault, but it is a consequence of the big conference of teams playing unbalanced schedules within these conferences.

I feel like you can't even predict what the schedules are going to be. You know what I mean?. Teams will be down.

I think your point is valid. It's not fair to have certain teams have to play a gauntlet and then other teams only dip their toes.

But you guys did what a lot of people on the Internet are doing. If I use Indiana, for example, because they're Cinderella, if I use them, for example, people freak out. Oh, my God. Daunted, all this stuff. But you Texas, for an example, they're like, Oh, okay.

You do sound daunted. It's the same as I've been saying it, the three lost teams in the SEC, Alabama, Ole Miss, and South Carolina. You know who also has three losses at a big conference? Illinois.

Illinois? Syracuse?

Syracuse, Illinois. Illinois shouldn't have lost to Minnesota, but Alabama shouldn't have lost to Oklahoma.

That's why I don't have any sympathy for three lost SEC teams. When Indiana had one loss and there were some two loss SEC teams, I was like, Well, let's take a look at the schedules. But Alabama and OMS, particularly, gave up any advantage they have with strength of schedule when they chose to lose to Kentucky, when they lost to Oklahoma, when they lost to Vanderbilt. You give up any schedule talk when you lose to bad teams on your schedule.

Yeah. Great. You sound moderately daunted, but that's fine.

Yeah, you're I'm the only person in this world. I think you wake up undaunted, and then it slowly wipes off. At the end of the day, you go to bed, you're daunted.

I'm forever going through a daunting throughout my day.

Yeah, right. As the day goes on, it wears on you, and you just become daunted by the end of the night.

It's two o'clock right now. I'm daunted.

Yeah, you're very daunted.

If we were to talk at 9:00 PM- The most daunted.

Yeah.

I'm the opposite. I wake up in the morning a little bit daunted, like a hangover. But then as the day goes on, the world gets better.

You shed your daunting.

I shed my daunting. Yeah. I want to give you the opportunity to talk about- Have you ever been daunted, Bigan?

I'm always undaunted. Actually, no, I was a little daunted. I was a little daunted in the fourth quarter of Ohio State, Indiana, and then the SEC shit the bed, and I became undaunted.

Yeah. Brandon, I want to give you the opportunity to talk a little bit more about Ole Miss because Lane Kiffin is making a very powerful argument online. He's taking upon himself to just- He's embarrassing himself as he has most of the season.

We like Lane Kiffin on this podcast.

I don't give a shit.

Okay. I'm just letting you know that we like him.

That's fine. You can like whoever you want. Okay. Sounds like you guys are daunted. Why do you think he's embarrassing himself? Because Lane Kiffin had a roster worthy of going to the playoff. Lane Kiffin had a roster. He built a roster worthy of winning a national championship. He has probably the best defensive line in the country. He has one of the five best quarterbacks in the country. He has one of the five best receiving rooms in the country. He had everything lined up, and he beat Georgia, and he beat South Carolina 27 to three. This is a team that can compete with anybody in the country. And he figured out a way to lose to Kentucky, to lose to a bad LSU team, to lose to Florida on the road last week. And the entire time, he whined this year about, Oh, the SEC didn't give us any night games. Our fan base deserves better. Oh, a couple of weeks ago, he's like, It would be a big disadvantage if we went to the SEC Championship game. A lot of coaches I've talked to don't want to go to it because if they lose, they might be out.

Lane Kiffin, as the Ole Miss coach, should be saying, We want to go the SEC Championship game. We haven't won the SEC in 60 years. We'd love to go and win and get to the payoff and do all this. And now, he's doing this winding about schedule, and he's winding about strength of schedule, and he's doing all this while all he had to do was beat Kentucky, a 4-8 team who won one SEC game- At home. At Ole Miss. So he is grandstanding. He is out there preaching. He's out there doing it. And the one thing he didn't do was coach his football team, which was a winner. All right.

So a lot of things you said are correct, but- I didn't say He's being incorrect. Well, no, I'll just say this. Nick Saban did this every year.

But nick Saban did it when he went 11 and one. I understand, but I'm fine with coaches advocating for their case.

I would want them to do that. I agree with you. Don't lose to Kentucky. But I would rather my coach try to fight it than just lay down and be like, Yeah, we shouldn't have lost Kentucky.

You got to fight. You got to fight for your guys. But you know when you could have fought? When Mark Stoops was beating your ass at your own place.

That's a fact. Brandon, I I'm going to say, okay, a couple of things here about the college football playoff. One, I think one of the dumbest narratives going right now is that it is bad to go to your championship game because- I hate it, my love. Do people understand what a buy is?

Yeah.

A buy That is very important in a fucking playoff system. Correct. Rest. That's rest. And also, you don't have to win a playoff game. I know that everyone has it. Notre Dame, getting the five spot is actually probably advantageous. I understand that. But I still would rather have a buy.

You have a buy. And for some of these teams, in certain situations, you could be avoiding a road playoff game. There's so many things. A buy is the perfect thing at this time of the year. You have somebody go out the week before and they wear themselves out. A buy would be incredible It's incredible. These coaches should be saying, SEC Championship Game, Big 12 Championship Game, if we make it, we're going to go win. They got to be saying that. Saying that it's loser talk is what they're doing.

It is. It's loser talk. But all those teams getting a buy this week? Notre Dame is getting a buy this week. But it's not in the payoff. But what he's saying is getting a buy for rest.

For rest. But they're getting that this week.

A buy in the payoff. Penn State, who is currently ranked higher than Notre Dame, could play themselves out of that five seed No, I don't- Just because they lose to the number one team. I don't think that they're going to ding teams like Texas, Georgia. If Penn State loses to Oregon, Notre Dame will 1,000% take that five. Well, Notre Dame is always the tricky one because they will always help Notre Dame. I think- But I still would rather- I see it's built for Notre Dame. I still would rather play for a buy because it's a buy in the payoff. That's the thing. You don't have to play. Playing a payoff game is going to be intense. A winner, a one-game In a playoff game, you could have a bad game.

It's going to matter if your buy is the week before as opposed to two weeks before, three weeks before. That's a big deal, too. If you sit out the Championship game, okay, that's a little bit different than sitting at a payoff.

Yeah, but you're all going too deep. A sitting head Head Coach, speaking into a mic and saying, We do not want to go to our conference every day because something bad might happen is bitch made. That's bitch made.

I like that. You said that with your chest. You're undaunted.

It is absolutely bitch made.

Yeah, it's bitch made. Notre Dame, could they win it all? No. I I agree.

But they can beat people who can win at all.

Yes. I think their defense is elite. Their run game is elite? Their run game is incredible. Jeremiah Love is awesome. It's similar to Ohio State, where it's like, do I trust Riley Leonard in a big moment?

Probably not. For me is no. I don't trust the Riley Leonard in a big moment. I don't really trust Marcus Freeman in a big moment. I think they are built to beat an Oregon, to beat an Ohio State, to maybe beat a Texas. I I don't think they can beat three of those in a row, or maybe two out of three. I don't think they're going to be able to put together enough of a passing game. I don't think they'll be able to put together enough of even a consistent run game. I think they can beat... If they met Ohio State in the second round, I don't know how the seeds are going to line up, but they could beat them 14 to 10 and then get beat the next week 17, 6 or something like that. I don't think they have enough consistent offense to win three games in a row.

Each team at their best, whose best is better than everyone else's?

I think Ohio State's best is still the best in the country, followed by Oregon.

Even with their offensive line, banged up?

He asked at their best. Oh, we're back.

No, but at their best right now.

Yeah, with the left tackle and the center out for the year.

Yeah, I'm not saying like, if you can imagine putting their offensive line back in.

It's Oregon or Ohio State.

So who can win the whole thing?

Because I've been Oregon can win it, Ohio State can win it, Texas can win it, Georgia can win it.

I don't know. I guess Texas. I don't know if Texas A&M was good or not. I actually like Texas this week because I think Georgia just went through hell in that game But I don't know.

Texas also got embarrassed the way they played against Georgia the first time.

Big time embarrassed.

Yeah. And I think Sark, Sark as a coach is, I trust him schématically enough to not have that happen again. I'm not even worried about the players. I'm just saying this coach, I believe, will come out here with something to really prove.

Yeah.

I just wanted to say I wanted to revisit the conversation we had a while ago, Brandon.

That's not fair. Or it might be fair.

Yeah, it's fair. I have the exact date that it happened. Oh, boy. It was September 24th, Year of Her Lord, 2024. I said to you, I like Travis Hunter to win the Heisman Trophy. And you said, I would not make that bet.

That is true. I did say that.

You did say that, and he tried to talk me out of it. Big Cat talked me into it. I made the bet in August. You daunted me a little bit in that moment. Stop saying... Okay. No, I'm admitting, self-admitting. I got a little bit daunted after that conversation because I was saying with my chest, I was all in on Travis Hunter. Thank God Big Cat brought me back in on it. Yes, thank God.

August. I placed a bet in August.

You said he wouldn't have the stats.

Correct.

Well, as a cornerback, Brandon, you're a smart guy. You know that stats aren't everything for a good cornerback. Let me tell you something. Wait, you're a cornerback?

I don't know what he's saying.

No, as a cornerback, they don't- He said as a cornerback, Brandon. Cornerback. The stats don't tell the story. They don't give out a lot of speeding tickets.

That's also not what I said.

They don't He give out a lot of speeding tickets in Amish country. That's not what I said. That doesn't mean the roads are unsafe.

That's not what I said. What did I say?

Well, you said- You said he's not going to have the stats because of something, right? You said he's not going to have the stats because there will be a quarterback that separates themselves.

What I said was, if Travis Hunter plays every snap of every game like he is doing for 12 games, he will probably win the Heisman. I said that is virtually impossible. I just cannot see somebody with his usage rate surviving 12 games. Whoa. What?

It's virtually impossible, but then he did it. So it sounds like he should be the Heisman. Yeah.

What are you doing? You don't have to continue. He's going to win the Heisman. You don't have to continue something.

Are you going to vote for him if you had a vote? I don't have a vote. If you If you had a vote. I'm not- Got it in your head if you had a vote.

No, I wouldn't.

Wow, you're a piece of shit.

But- Would you have voted for Melvin Gordon in 2014?

No, I would have voted for Dak Prescott.

You are bullshit. This is why you don't have a Heisman vote.

No, it's not.

You just talked your way out of it.

Anyway, what I am saying is- You vote for losers. I didn't think Travis Hunter's usage rate, or I thought his usage rate would cost him a game or two along the way like it did last year.

It cost him one game this year.

It cost him half a game. Half a game. It cost him half a game. I thought that would happen more often, and I thought his usage rate would slide him down, and he wouldn't be able to do it. He did it. He played every game, and therefore, he is going to win the Heisman.

But you wouldn't vote for him.

But you still wouldn't vote for him. Give it to him.

And even though you said something is impossible, and then he did the impossible.

I said virtually impossible.

And he did it.

He's going to do it. Travis Hunter is going to win the 2024 Heisman Trophy. You guys can stop politicking. You don't have to keep doing it.

We never stop politicking. He could be holding it, and I'll be politicking.

Anyway, I personally would vote for Ashton Genti. I think he has had a remarkable year. I think what he did against Oregon and his one shot against a great team. No, you don't have to shit on Ashton Genti just because you're a Heisman best.

No, it's gotten ugly. It's gotten ugly. No, it's gotten ugly. Ashton Jenty has been incredible. I clicked on one anti Travis Hunter tweet, and I got in the algorithm. It's gotten ugly. They're calling him the cardio award winner, shit like that.

He is winning because of snaps.

He also has a lot of touch downs. He has 15 total touch downs, interceptions and catching.

They're also starting about November, Deion and the coaching staff is like, he's winning the Heisman.

Which I love.

He started to get every touch down.

Who would you have voted for last year?

Buddy, I don't I don't even know who won the damn Heisman last year.

Jaden Daniels, Michael Pennax.

No, you remember last year, I was pushing the Jaden Daniels thing early. Okay, guns are down. I was the first one on Jaden Daniels for Heisman.

Guns are down.

Yeah, there was a caller into Andy Staples' show that said that Travis Hunter is just at Stamina.

Yeah, that's where it got ugly. I didn't get ugly until they got ugly. You go low, I go lower.

I love that take, by the way. For the record, if you're going to be a hater, that's a great line.

But even if that is the take, he's also the greatest in history. Yes.

Ashton Genti has been incredible. I mean, yes, he's very fun to watch. If you don't watch Ashton Genti and you're just like, Oh, he's just doing it against Mountain West teams? No, guys cannot bring him down.

I think in some years, we give the Heisman away, even though there's not really a Heisman caliber guy. And this year, I think there's two Heisman caliber guys. I think Travis Hunter is going to win it, but Genti could have won it in any other year or maybe any other era because it's just hard for a running back to win.

How many touch downs does Jenti gets on Saturday or Friday are we officially worried?

I don't think it's possible.

If he gets eight touch downs, you wouldn't be worried.

If he runs for 621 yards and eight touch downs, you're in trouble. All right.

So we should be worried about that. You're in trouble. I'm going to bet the under on both. No, I shouldn't because I should bet the over on both.

It'd be a hell of a hit. That's probably even better than.

No hedge. We're not hedging. We're not hedging on this podcast.

Congratulations, guys.

No. Stop it. No. You're on your bet. No.

You just said you wanted to- Stop. Why are the guns out so much?

Because you're trying to jinks us, and the guns will stay out.

All right, fine. I would vote Ashton Genti. Most people are going to vote Travis Hunter.

Okay, that's why you don't have a vote.

That's not why.

No, it's definitely why you don't vote. Why don't you? Why don't you? Why don't you? Why don't you vote? They have 870 people who vote on this one.

I have no idea. Do you think one day you will have a vote?

No, I don't want to vote for these things. We should try to get one. Liam Blutman tried to give me votes for the Blitnikoff and something else. I just don't want to.

When they tried to give you one, you said no? Yeah. How could you do that for the sport that you love so much?

Liam Blutman, who has votes for the Blitnikoff and something else.

Does he have a Heisman vote?

He doesn't have a Heisman vote.

Wait a minute. Liam Blutman has votes?

Oh, yeah. No Context College football is big. Yeah. Liam Blutman has votes for multiple things.

I just think that he watches the most ball.

If you call yourself a college football expert, you say that you love the sport, wouldn't you want your voice as somebody who pays attention and knows what he's talking about?

Because these awards are mostly His rewards are mostly bullshit. Travis Hunter, for example, is a finalist for the- See, he's getting dirty. Can you guys listen? Why don't you let people talk?

We actually do, just not you.

Travis Hunter is a finalist for the Blutnikoff, which is for the best receiver, but he is not a finalist for the Thorpe award, the best defensive back. He should have been. He's a better defensive back than he is receiver, even though he's been great as a receiver. There's better receivers than he is. But I don't think there's three better defensive backs than he is.

I agree. Was that a problem? No, I'm fine. I think he should calm down.

He should win both.

I've calmed down in the Heisman. I've calmed down. Why?

How come when they do the Heisman pose, they don't actually do the pose?

I think Desmond Howard broke it. He did. In 1991, when he did it, he hiked the leg up high, and I think he broke it.

It's Berenstein bears. It's like, yeah, the statue, both feet are on the ground.

They're not doing the Heisman, they're doing the Howard.

Yeah.

Right. And Howard broke it. Howard did break it. But the Howard- But the Howard- It's cool. If you were to do the actual Heisman pose and just do this, but when you hike that leg up.

Yeah, after you score a shutdown, you're amped up, and then you just put both feet calmly on the ground. Yeah, that doesn't do it.

It doesn't hit you. Are you pro or anti putting a flag into the middle of the field?

I am anti the furor about it. This has been happening for decades and years and post-rival. If you want rivalries to matter and be great, well, this is what comes with it. There are skirmages, there are fracuses, and that's just reality. They're not real fights. And again, I don't like the phrase, If you don't want them to plant the flag, beat them. Well, they fucking tried to beat them.

But it's just whatever. Here's my problem with anyone who's getting on a white horse, no, Ivory Tower, and being like, Can't do this, don't do this. White nighting. Yeah, white Nighting. Yeah, White Nighting. There it is. Can't do this. Don't do this. I've had some family do that. The problem with it is, guess what? Next year, before Rivalry Week, every single Fox, NBC, ESPN, CBS, you don't think they're going to play video of all those moments to get people to watch? You don't think the Michigan, Ohio State pepper spray is going to get played? So spare me. Spare me, Gus Johnson.

What's the step? Do they ban flags? No more flags?

No, I want all of it. I love it. I think that's exactly what Rivalry Week should mean. I know. That is one of those things that if you take that out of this sport, it's the NFL. It's already becoming the NFL, paying the players, which I'm all for, and my idea for the division, which I think will eventually happen. Keep college football, college football, keep this anger and this real bitter rivalry. It's not going to happen if the Chiefs play the Ravens in the AFC Championship game.

No, it's It's the tip of the sword to college football, right? If you want the passion, if you want the fight, if you want all this, then it comes with this. It comes with this. And this isn't that big of a deal. The pepper spray the other day was crazy. It's just a bunch of players up in each other's face, yelling at each other. That's not a real fight. No. It's just separate them, send them to the locker rooms, and be done with it.

That was a tough look for Ryan Day, by the way. I don't know if you guys saw that.

It was a tough look for Gus Johnson.

No, but Ryan Day, the video of him- He was standing there? He just literally was just walked over, looking like he was a little kid looking at a car crash.

He also took pride in his players defending midfield. After the game, he tried to salvage a little bit of self-respect. He was like, I'm really proud of my guys for what they did right after the game was over.

Yeah, as he just stood silently and motionless as Jack Sawyer is having a meltdown.

I feel bad for Jack Sawyer.

I do, too.

That one was tough.

The defensive players that came back to win a national, and they still can win a national title. Defensive players came back to beat Michigan and win a national title, and they go 0-4 against Michigan. That's a rough. And there was nothing that they could have done. No.

How do you feel about Michigan these days?

I don't really think about Michigan at all.

That's when we talked about Michigan for 10 minutes.

We were talking about Ohio State, not Michigan. Michigan is a non-factor in college football in 2024.

Brandon, which team is most likely to cause some chaos in the college football playoff? Because I'll throw one out for you. Okay. You ready? I'll throw one out for you. What I mean by that is we're talking about Oregon, we're talking about Ohio State, Georgia, Texas. I think Tennessee can cause some chaos. Tennessee's defensive line.

Another good defense, another good running.

Nico is starting to play a little better. Nico is starting to play a little better.

If he plays at his best if this is the new Nico that we're seeing, which we've said that before, by the way. But if he shows consistency, then yes, they can definitely beat anybody.

Yeah. Tennessee went through a midseason slump, and Nico went through a midseason slump. I think they're as talented as anybody.

They're so bad in that Oklahoma Oklahoma game.

They're under the radar.

No, I agree. I think they have, especially if they somehow get a home playoff game, which I think they should probably get one because I think they deserve one over. Well, I think it's going to be Ohio State or Tennessee because Notre Dame is going to be five. Penn State is going to take one of the home playoff games, and who am I? And Georgia will probably take another one or Texas.

They're going to be right in that flip-flops zone with probably Ohio State. One of them might host the other.

I think Tennessee probably has to get it I think they should because they have two losses.

They have the same amount of losses, but they haven't lost as late as Ohio State lost.

But if that's Tennessee, Ohio State at that 8-9 matchup, is that where it intersects? 5, 6, 7, 8, 9?

Because you would assume Georgia and Penn State, or say Texas and Penn State, but Georgia and Penn State because they both would have or Georgia would have three losses. Penn State could get a buy. The way you keep saying Penn State. I'm just throwing out who's favorite in the game, Max. Cool down. It's a three I understand. He's throwing out his slots in. But do you know how annoying it is if I say Oregon, Penn State, Texas, Georgia? The loser of Oregon, Penn State. Okay, the loser of Oregon, Penn State will get a buy or will get a home playoff game. The loser of Texas, Georgia will get a home playoff game. Notre Dame will get a home playoff game. Ohio State in Tennessee.

What are you doing?

It's a college football expert, Liam Blutt.

Can you turn on his mic real quick? So there wasn't- No, there was not. I texted him and I found out he had votes.

Oh, I will always talk ball with Liam Bluttman.

Liam Bluttman, our college football, the number one ball watcher. Mike's not plugged in. Mike's not plugged in.

You can take Brandon's mic.

He's a man of few words, the number one ball watcher in America. I have said that many times. I just said it. Liam Blutman has joined us very quickly. Liam Blutman, I have a simple question for you. A simple question.

You don't have a producer who knows how to plug in a mic? He knows how to plug in a mic.

You hate producers brands. All right.

Yeah, you are. You're like Ellen Degenera around here. Liam Blutman, You look like him. If you had a vote- No, I don't.

A little bit. You do. Yeah, I can see it now.

If you had a vote for Heisman, who would you vote for? If I had to vote for the Heisman, I would vote for Ashton Shanty. Get out of here. I We will happily be okay with Travis Hunter winning because I think that these are the two best Heisman-like contenders that we have had in so long. That's what I said. Neither is a loser. It sounds better coming from him. Shador should be number three in the Heisman voting, too. I don't know what's going on there. I guess split votes. That is a possibility. I would personally vote for Genti. I think it's not talked about enough that the second-laying rusher in the country is Ashton Genti after contact. I think it's insane. I said that he's hard to bring down. It's crazy to watch. His Heisman run- This is backfiring, PFT. His Heisman run was derailed because of injuries. Foot injury.

Stamina is important.

Stamina is important. He was in a boot after he gave it. Didn't win the Stamina Award? What all votes do you have? Tell us all the votes you have, by the way.

What votes do you have? Balitnikoff?

Balitnikoff.

Are you going to go for Travis Hunter for that?

I vote for nick Nash. Yes. Purple Crown. Nick Nash, San Jose State. One of my big One of the things about wanting so badly, again, to the voting scene, personality thing in college football was the group of five representation, representation for all the other people that didn't do it. I thought to myself, if I don't vote for nick Nash- Yeah, nick Nash is electric.

You become who you hated.

Correct. So four years ago, Liam would be livid. Like, Jarrett Sterns got robbed of his Balitnikoff right a few years ago. So nick Nash, triple Crown leader, it's a no-brainer. Yeah, he's electric What other votes you have? Davie O'Brien. Who he voted for there? Shador. Okay.

What else? I'd like to give you a lowman trophy vote. I vote. Okay. North Dakota State's fullback. Oh, okay. All right.

Tough name to say, but… Did you also just out yourself as being biased towards Asha Jenti over Travis Hunter? Yes, he did. That's a great point, Max. That's a great point. You said you just outed your sofa being biased towards Asha and Jenny over Travis Hunter. You did. Because he's G5. Yeah, you did. That's a fair point. Pft, do you want to do the lowman nominees?

Yeah, we actually have the list.

Yeah. So let's finish with that. Oh, actually, before we finish that, Blutman, answer this one question. We're taping this again at 2:30 in the afternoon, but they're going to get Alabama in, aren't that? Alabama is 100% in the play.

Yeah, it sucks, but it's going to happen. So they would go in over SMU who loses, or they go in over Clemson. Clemson loses.

Would they go in over SMU if they lost to Clemson? That would be the Travis thing.

That would open up two spots, wouldn't it?

No, if Clemson beats SMU. Clemson still does. That would be the travesty. Smu should be in over Alabama if SMU loses the championship.

Do you think Alabama is in regardless? Yes.

I don't think they should be, but as a fan I love college football. What a- Not against it. I love the chaos factor of Alabama getting in there and make stuff happen. I don't think they're good enough. The fact that we would get a three-loss Clemson and a three-loss Alabama in would just suck. Zama I'm going to be Dabo. All right, let's do the low man. This is unveiling the finalist for the low man award, which we're going to be announcing the winner in a couple of weeks. Yes. Does Brandon have a vote?

Brandon does have a vote. Okay, nice. He has not given his vote yet, though.

I did not- You didn't submit the ballot.

This is why you don't have a Heisman vote. No, it's not. You don't do the paperwork. I gave you a vote and you- You asked me- Assued it.

You asked me yesterday at five o'clock. You didn't put the clock on me. I didn't know that we were doing this.

I only gave you 22 hours. That's right. That's on me.

All right, Bob, and if you have anything to say about any of these guys at PFT List, feel free. All right.

We consulted the panel, very prestigious panel of current former fullbacks, and they submitted omitted these names. These are the most common names, and then we will narrow them down and have a winner in due time. Max Breedison, Michigan. Kanye Udo.

I like that name.

Kanye is great.

Christian Moore, UNLV. Steve O'Clots, Iowa State.

You like Clots?

I like the most so far, Preston.

It's a great name, Steve O'Clots. Steve O'Clots is great. That's what you think about when you think about a fullback. Gabe Fisher from Vandy. Eli Heidenreich from Navy. That's also a great name. It means Argentina. Heidenreich. Tyler Crow from Boise State.

He was very good. Even took a few carries over for Genti because their RV2 and RV3 were hurt.

So Genti system back.

Sounds like it.

You can't say anything around these guys.

Jump on it. They're very good. We allow them to say what they want. They are great for college football.Thank.

You.thank.

You.

You're great for college football. Thank you. Why are you talking down to me? I think William might be our college football expert.

They're single-handly going to win Travis Hunter, the highest one. You got to give him some respect.

Thank you. I think he had something to do with it.

He definitely had. Yes. I like 50-50.

I don't think two people can do anything single-handedly. Double-handly.

You can.

Quadruple Hanley?

Okay.

That was what I thought.

That's what I thought. Then the final. Actually, no, I'm going to add yours, Liam. Yeah, Truman Wehremaier. How do you pronounce that?

Truman Wehremaier. How he just said it. That's Truman Wehremaier. Straight out Fargo. Fargo Kid went to play at NDSU.

North Dakota State.

Now look where he's made. Rich heritage. Still at NDSU.

Then the final nominee. This was actually from the AWLs. I allowed them to nominate somebody. Truthfully, I would have nominated this guy as well. Brock Lampy from Northern Illinois. Instrumental in their defeat of North Illinois. Yes. That's your list. Max Bredesen, Breedison, Kanye Udo, Christian Mohr, Steve O'Clots, Gabe Fisher, Eli Hyden-Reick, Tyler Crow, Blutman.

Oh, Tyler Warramier.

And Brock Lampy. Truman Warramier.

Truman Warramier.

So that's the list, and we'll get the final votes.

Is this given to the fullback who had the best season or the man who looks most like a fullback?

This is given to the top fullback.

However you interpret. I'd say both of those meet the criteria.

If your name is Brock, you have a much higher percentage being nominated.

Klotz is in good shape.

Steve Klatz, yeah. Historically, if you played for Arm Forces Academy, Wisconsin or Iowa, you had a good shot.

Yeah, but I mean, that's just where the best fullbacks go. I think we do a good job of awarding them because we have professional fullbacks, people that take this seriously.

He just showed me the North Dakota State fullback.

Let me see him.

He looks awful fullbacky.

He looks very fullbacky. We're talking neck roll. He's extremely fullbacky.

I'm talking 34. I'm talking...

Oh, yeah. That's a fullback.

He's got the nice fullback tilt right there where he's not all the way hunched over, but he can still run your ass over. I love that.

Okay. Well, this has been fun, boys.

You know what I love about the college football playoff? What? I just realized after having all these conversations, they've secretly turned us, they've tricked us into doing math, but just with names of schools. We're doing algebra, like probability. If this team beats this team. They made us learn a quadratic formula, a brand new one in 12 months.

Our critical thinking skills are off the charts right now.

You could have just looked in the back of the book and seen written In Alabama.

Yeah, the entire time. You could have figured this out. It's like how your dumbest friend from high school was tricked into learning the metric system, buying and selling drugs. Yeah. Like, Nicki Smokes could do grams to ounces. Oh, easy. Faster than Google Calendar.

Yeah. All right, boys. Thank you. Brandon, great job. Yeah. Two-time PMT guest. Liam Blutman, one-time PMT guest. Three-time.

Oh, yeah. Dingers only.

Which, are you ready for that? I'm ready. We're finally going to do it.

I won Dingers Only. You did. I've received no prize.

No, your prize is you get to come with us, and it's going to be a hell of a video. All right. It's going to be a hell of a video.

I'm excited. I'm sorry. I called you Ellen Degeners. It's okay. You're not generous.

Liam, first time PMT? I think.

I love that. I love it. Yeah, college football expert.

Let's make sure you get to four before Brandon gets to four.

All right, see why? Five years, man. 3,9, 25.

All right, see you guys. Okay, Hot Seat Cool Throne Time brought to you by our friends at Coors Light. No matter what happens between your favorite rivals this week, You got a chance to win. Just go to the PMT Instagram and tell us how you prepare for a rivalry game with Coors Light for an opportunity to win the Coors Light rivalry shirt. Five winners will be selected every Saturday until December seventh. So remember, when rivalries get a little overheated, choose chill and keep things cool by reaching for the mountain cold refreshment of Coors Light. Coors Light's mountain cold refreshment literally made it chill. Coors Light is cold lagered, cold-filtered, and cold package is as crisp and refreshing as the Rockies. Perfect for a moment to unwind. Even the biggest rivals agree, when it's time to cool things down and enjoy the game, you choose chill and then reach for a Coors Light. Get Coors light delivered straight to your door. Visit coorslight. Com/take, or you can find it pretty much anywhere that sells beer. That's corselight. Com/take. Celebrate responsibly Coors Brewing Company Golden, Colorado. Henry, Hot Seat, Cool Throne.

My Hot Seat are the best players on NBA teams that don't play back to backs.

Oh, shit. You stole mine.

Load management?

Maybe you didn't.

Jalen Brown.

Yeah.

Eastern Conference Finals MVP. Okay. Nba Finals MVP.

Aura MVP.

Nba champion.

King of the Aura on the Celtics.

Batman.

99% of the Celtics Aura. Actually, no. 50% Joe Mizzula.

49% Joe Mizzula, 1% Payton Pritchard.

Yeah.

At the end of quarters.

Yeah. Luke Cornet. He didn't play Sunday because he was sick, and then he played on Monday. Celtics won. I think he was talking about missing the back-to-back. He said, It's It's hard for teams to be great if some of your best players don't play back-to-backs. I don't know who falls in that category. I guess you could probably look at the... There's probably some website that shows percentage of NBA players that don't play back-to-backs.

I think after everything- Anyone that wants It would be great. After everything he's done for the city, I think Boston can give him a pass.

Yeah, no, he acknowledged it. He's like, I want to play back to back because I was just feeling sick. The reason you want to play is because it's hard to be great if you don't.

Yeah, showing up. You have to show up to be great. I think that star players can get away with doing that if they've got results, if they've got pelts on the wall. If they can say, I want a championship, there's no doubting my commitment to this team.

Also, they lost Sunday? I mean, it is an interesting strategy if you're the Celtics and you have a pretty loaded team to schedule your back-to-backs correctly where it's like one night Jason Tatum sits out, one night Jalen Brown, you'd probably win both games. But this is also- No, that's loser mentality.

Okay, all right. He said it. He said, If you want to be great, it's hard to be great if your best players don't play back to back.

It's true.

It's a good point.

Is there anyone who doesn't play back-to-back? There's got to be a bunch.

There's got to be a bunch.

Lebron.

No, LeBron plays back to back. That's my cool teron. I'll get to it. Lebron played back to back at 40 years old. 39, about to be 40. Is there anyone else? The guy you're referring to doesn't even play single games anymore. I don't even understand his pitch. He doesn't play backs? Oh, Kawhi? He doesn't play backs? Let alone back to Max?

Oh, no. Paul George. Paul George.

I think Paul George is back tonight. By the way, NBA Cup, we do release our pics every Tuesday. Max is really bad. Yeah, really bad. What's your record, Max? I am sitting out this NBA season.

What's your record, though?

Bad. I don't know.

Bad. Even the NBA Cup season?

So we're in a competition. No, I'm going to keep doing my pics, but I'm just so bad at it.

What an endorsement.

I'll say it. I'm a full NBA Cup guy. I thought that it I was lame last year, but the courts I love. The what?

The courts I love. You're just taking your heels into that.

I do. I like the courts. I like something different. The courts I love. I also love the fact, and this is probably because I like to gamble on overs, that teams are playing for point differential. That makes it fun where it's like at the end of a game where it shouldn't mean anything. Teams are still trying to score to get the point differential up. I'm an NBA Cup guy.

I am locked in on the NBA Cup. I've never been this hot.

No, You're blazing hot.

The Wizards, because it started last year, I think they're the worst team in NBA Cup history. Oh, no.

Yeah, set in records. This is part of the plan. It's the process. But Max is getting Cooper. No, he disavowed. Wait, Max, what is your record for the NBA Cup?

I am two and seven on my picture.

That's tough. That's not good. That's tough. Where are you, Big Cat?

I think I'm like six and three or something. Yeah, you are exactly six and three.

No idea.

But I-500?

Dufaus, we're playing it. What am I? Oh, five and four. Just curious. You're eight and one. I'm eight and one.

While we're asking for records, Memes, what did you go on Sunday in the NFL Picks? I went on one. On the NFL Picks? On Sunday? On Sunday, I went on one. Oh, semantics. But yeah, the NBA Cup. We're releasing our pics on all of our socials on Tuesday. We're in a competition. So follow along. Follow PFT. He's hot.

Where's the winner yet?

$10,000 free bet.

You know what? If I get the free bet, I'm going to Mississippi. I'm going to hang out for a while. That's the people I see.

Here, say something nice about the Sixers. Ready for it? I am a full-This wasn't about the Sixers, by the way.

It was just a hypothetical of players that don't play back to back.

Say something nice about the NBA. I'm a full-blown Jerry McCain fan. Stan. I've watched all his TikToks. The fact that he pisses people off makes me like him. But then more than that, watching his TikToks, it's the old rule of if you watch someone do something that they genuinely love, it puts a smile on your face. He genuinely loves doing TikToks, and I find myself smiling when I watch him.

I also love the fact that he's awesome. Yeah. No, he's really good. If he's making the TikToks and he stunk. Would be different. Then everybody be like, Fuck this guy.

I'd still be a fan of the TikToks.

Well, what happens is he makes people so mad with the TikToks, and then he goes out and he just drops an insane game on you. He tells you that he's Rookey of the Year, and it makes His opponent's so much more angry at him. Yeah.

I have a yes or no question. Okay. That would be good, I think, to get on the record.

It's a good segment.

Three years from now, will the city of Philadelphia have broken McCain?

No, I think they're embracing him.

They broke Simmons. They broke in Embiid.

Oh, man, that's a good question.

It's a good question.

Titrish McEed might be broken. No. Mentally, he's got to deal with Joel Embiid because you're an elephant in the room. You're forgetting about the elephant in the room.

Max, he's always been. He's 1A, but he's never been like Embiid got all the shine. Simmons got all the shine. Now, McCain is really getting all the shine on the Sixers and still not Maxy.

Max, I will fight for you to not have that happen because I like Jared McCain so much. Is this a yes or no question? I'm going to say yes.

I think it's completely fair to ask that question because it is the second thing start going poorly, it's very easy to be like, this guy needs to get off TikTok.

How are the Eagles playing? That's the question. There has to become a point where we stop talking about the Sixers every week. We're talking about the NBA. We're talking about the NBA Cup. We're talking about- And then named Ben Simmons and Joel MB. We're talking to me how that is not talking about the Sixers.

Max, we're talking about the Rookey of the Year.

Yeah.

Max, we made- National Sports Podcast.

Hank just brought up Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. See, I disagree, Max. I think we're allowed to talk about the Sixers until Christmas Day. If they They don't have 10 wins, then they're done. That's the deal. End of Christmas Day. End of Christmas Day, they don't have 10 wins, then they're done.

Philadelphia is broken. Embiid, Simmons, that robot.

The Liberty Bell. The Liberty Bell. That robot. Fuck that robot. The robot, yeah.

Yeah, I'm with you.

nick Seriani's brain. Fuck that guy. No, Siriani's all the way back. All the way back. Oh, my God. If you don't think he's got a little crazy that he's just waiting for the first crack, he's going to shave his head again. Baldeani, undefeated.

They broke Corson Wendt. Baldeani.

Donovan McNabb.

Yeah. Well, no.

Ryan Howard.

Mike Shanaan broke him.

You guys booed him on the way out, didn't you? Not me. Okay.

Ryan Howard broke him. You broke Trey Turner, then you put them back together. Yeah. How about that?

He's like Humpty Dumpty.

Yeah.

All right. Good hot seat, Hank, about the NBA. What's your cool turn?

My cool throw is getting hacked.

Oh.

Did you guys see this?

No.

Obviously, congrats to Josh. He got engaged over the holiday break. Josh Allen, our guy. Hailey Steinfeld. Steinfeld?

Steinfeld. Steinfeld. His ex, Brittany, was someone I think she posted a TikTok and someone commented asking her when is she going to get another athlete boyfriend or something?

And she replied. Her account replied, sorry. Luckily, my boyfriend owns a team and doesn't play for one. Don't have to with another brain dead CTE athlete.

That's mean. But also, listen.

About an hour later, she posted on Instagram. She said, I got hacked.

That's definitely what a hacker would do.

When was this? This was on Friday?

It was after the news broke.

Most I think she got hacked by Pino Grigio.

Yeah, most hackers will have a very specific reply about how you're actually living your best life. Is Brittany... That's the nicest hacker ever. To just be like, No, I'm going to come to my girl. I hacked this girl's account, and now I'm going to come to her to defend.

Actually, the person's account who I hacked, they're doing great.

Yeah. You don't even know.

She got hacked by a Chief's fan trying to slander Josh Allen. They're thriving.

She's focusing on herself, which honestly, she deserves to do. And by the way, Brittany is the most ex-name of all time. Yeah. Every Brittany is somebody's ex. It's Brittany Bitch.

Good job, Hank.

Nice job, Hank. Thanks. My hot seat is Hank. Hank, who are the members of the Four Aces?

Dustin Johnson, Varner, Perez. It's not U-Line because he just won a DP World Tour event.Double.

Penetration?it is.

Come on, Hank. I don't know.

You know this guy.

Is he old? No.

You got to make sure you keep Keep track of your wallet.

His wife has burners, maybe hacked.Oh.

Pat Reid.Yeah..

Actually, incorrect, Hank. There's a fifth ace. They just acquired Thomas Peters from the Rangegoats, so there are five, four aces right now.

You knew that Thomas Peters was on the Rangegoats?

Yeah.

So there are five, four aces. Pat Perez's contract ends on January first. So as of right nowThat's awkward.there are five, four aces. That's very awkward. So can you remember those? We'll quiz you on those later.

So Perez out.

Perez out, Peters in. That's a stacked team. Yeah, my other hot seat is Mike Greenberg because baseball is implementing some very dumb rules. Maybe. They're floating some very dumb rules. Oh, I haven't heard this. This sounds like it's right out of Mike Greenberg's brain. That's why he's on the hot seat for not thinking of this first. Rob Manfred is talking about the winter meetings and all the stuff that gets discussed in the offseason, baseball, whatever that might be. There's a new rule that he says, It has a lot of buzz going around the meetings. It's called the Golden at Bat. The Golden at Bat is a rule change that MLB is considering implementing.

Can I guess what the Golden at Bat is?

Yeah, I guess.

Because I actually think this would be awesome if this is what it is. At any point in the game, you can go out of order and put anyone up.

You can put one player up. Yeah.

Is that it?

That's the Golden at Bat. Oh, I love this. Now, they're floating out. It's a Shohey rule. They're floating out the idea that it might be only if your team is trailing. Then they have to figure out what's going to happen if you want to move Shohe up two spots in the lineup, and then he gets on base, and then his turn comes around in the order. Does he get to bat again? Or do they have to flip flop positions? Ghost Runner. I would love a Ghost Runner. Ghost Runner would rock.

Ghost Runner would be awesome.

Isn't there a mathematical way, though, where you could just put him five spots back, where it would basically be mathematically impossible for him to be on base with the amount of outs? No.

Five spots back? Or whatever. Yeah, it would be a certain amount.

I don't know what. Five is just a random number.

Yes, where it could be bases loaded and you have two outs.

It's that number. Worst case scenario, yeah.

Let's just say he bats first, the second guy gets on, the third guy gets on, that's bases loaded. Then let's say-The fourth gets out, the fifth gets out, so seventh.

Six would be up seventh, so first and seventh.

You could do it, but I think the idea is that when you have a hitter that's up that you don't think is going to get a hit, then you can be like, Hey, instead of Aaron Judge hitting, let's just have Giancarlo Stanton hit twice. I like this rule.

I think that makes it cool. Baseball hardware is going to be so mad. Oh, so mad. But think about the ninth evening when you're like, Oh, Shohe made the last out, but he can bat again, and we're down two. That's cool.

This is one of those rules that it sounds fun to talk about because this is what baseball does. There's just so many different opportunities to make the game more entertaining that you have an endless supply of wrinkles that you can put in. But once it gets in the game, I feel like that's going to be very to watch. I don't think I'm going to like it. I like it.

I like it.

It's a great idea.

You know what they need to do to make it even, though, is the defense, the pitcher, you should be able to bring one pitcher back.

Golden arm.

Because then you could bring in a guy to pitch against a lefty, then put him back in the bullpen and then bring them back in. I don't know. That would probably get confusing. I like the golden bat rule, though, because it just makes it so that games will be exciting at the end.

What I really want them to do is to implement the idea of having challenges for strikes, but it's just done by the batter at the plate, and he has to say it immediately.

Yeah, they have that in- There's some minor league baseball teams. Yeah, where they have one challenge and they just immediately look at it. Yeah, I like this.

I see.

Golden at bat, but you start 0-1.

No, I think it's just Golden at bat. You just get to do your order over where you get to put your best guy up because it's just... What does that mean anything to you guys anymore?

Am I the only one that loves the numbers in baseball?

No, numbers mean Jack shit at this point. I mean, think about it. It's just if you get to the bottom of the ninth and you can be like, Our best guy is now going to bat.

That's cool. The numbers that actual baseball fans care about now are the dumbest numbers. It's like, if you talk to a true Seamhead, they're talking about the random war, OB, GR. The numbers that they're like, the actual important numbers are like, who cares? Let's make baseball entertain.

I also think PFT, they It's the point of no return as soon as they did the pitch clock, which I'm in favor of. The pitch clock, the rule that if you come in the game, you have to face a certain amount of batters.

Slightly bigger bases.

Yeah, throws over to first. As soon as you do that, you've changed the game and how it's played. So it's like, why not?

Okay, I could be on board with this, but what I really want to see is some nerds go back and do projections for what Babe Ruth's numbers would have been if they had the golden at bat.

Well, if you can only do it when you're down- It's an extra at bat If you only can do it when you're down, it's probably going to end up being like, what, 20 extra bats? If it's a certain amount because you probably wouldn't- I think you can't do it only when you're down. I think both teams got to be able to do it. Yeah, but it won't happen as often because think about it, It has to be... If they did the rule where you're only down, it has to be every game you're down, so it's whatever, split that in half. Then it also has to be all the games that your guy wasn't going to come up anyway. Yeah. So it could maybe 30, 40 at bats extra.

What they really need to do is just make red zone for baseball.

Yeah. They should make it that if the player, if he's on base, he can come out, but the opposing team gets to pick the pinch runner, so they can pick the slowest person.

The fattest guy.

Yeah.

Maybe there's just every team has to carry a 26 guy that's over 300 pounds. That would be awesome. You get the golden at bat, but how awesome would be like, Oh, Golden at Bats coming up? Hopefully, he gets a single so we can watch a fucking fatzo run around the bases.

I like that idea. Also, one of the infielders gets a knife.

Yeah, I'm in for that.

The cool thrown today is going to be Instagram Hockey. There's a guy that does Monday Night Hockey. I forget his name. It is Steve Valliquette. He works for the Rangers. He means maybe you can provide some insight as to this guy. He went after Jack Hughes because was in the game on Monday night, Jack Hughes had a takeaway, and then he did a few too many moves on the takeaway and tried to score with one hand on a stick. Steve Valliquette went after him and was like, This is a clown show. You're trying to show up your opponent. You're trying to embarrass the other goalie. In my day, we would have had guys coming over the boards at you. This is Instagram hockey. This isn't real hockey. Also, a side note, he didn't end up scoring on it. Shester can stop the shot. But in hockey, the The idea is to beat the goalie on a breakaway. So who cares if you juke him out too much or use my hand up and stay.

A goalie is going to be embarrassed by any goal.

Yes, correct. But I also... This goes back to- And this was a safe. Yeah, it was a safe. This goes back to how we love these type of guys being around sports. Don Cherry needs a guy like this to step up and take the torch for him in the future who just hates fun stuff.

Yeah, it's Ian Rapport crying about Mike Malarkey.

Yeah, we need old guys that get pissed off over stupid shit Because that actually makes sports more fun for those of us who aren't old, who get pissed off.

Yeah, Prisco. All the people who were tweeting that the flag stuff during Rivalry Week was too far and someone's going to get hurt. I love those guys.

You need them. It was a big day for flags.

It was a big day for that. But it was one of those situations where I need someone on the other side to be like, this is actually really bad and dangerous.

Yeah, because I don't want to have to invent a straw man in my head that I can argue against and be like, I can't believe there's some people out there that think this isn't fun. Right.

Then we would just be Rassillo.

Yeah, exactly. It fills a valuable role for us to have somebody who actually believes this stuff. So did Jack Hughes say something about it? What do you say, Memes?

Yeah, I had Max pull off the clip.

Okay, let's see.

You were trying to embarrass Sesterken. Just take me through that What was your reaction to hearing that? What did he say? He said he thought you were trying to embarrass his circle on that breakaway.

Wouldn't you come to the Forthberg?

Yeah.

I don't even know what that means.

What does that even mean? Yeah, I don't even know what that means.

It's literally like Allen Iverson was trying to embarrass his defenders when he crossed them up.

I like to imagine that Jack Hughes actually just didn't understand what those words meant.

I think he was being nice, but his real answer was probably like, Yeah, no shit. I was trying to embarrass him.

Yeah, that's my It's literally a shootout.

I want to do the filthiest, nastiest, most embarrassing goal that you can score.

And score, yeah.

I'm a fucking goal scorer.

And it's good for the sport.

It is good for the sport. Also, this guy's good for the sport because we're talking about the sport. And hockey season hasn't even started yet.

Yeah, it hasn't started. All right, my hot seat is beta males because the bears did a press conference. They're looking for leader of men.

Yeah, they're very clear about that. Leader of men. I think they've said the phrase leader of men too many times. Way too many times. Dj More says, they asked him, What are you looking for in a head coach? He's like, Well, Kevin Warren told me we're looking for a leader of men. It seems like they're obsessed with the phrase leader of men.

I'm staying cautiously optimistic, but I will say that the immediate Press conference after with Kevin Warren and Ryan Polls did not give me a lot of confidence because it feels like Kevin Warren is now running the show. I feel bad for Ryan Polls because I honestly think there was a report that he wanted to fire Iberflus after the Patriots game. Also, Jalen Johnson basically told Iberflus to fuck off in front of the whole team after the Lynes game, and that was the moment where they're like, Oh, we should maybe fire this guy. But yeah, it looks like it might be a mess, and they're looking for a leader of men.

During the postgame speech, apparently, Jalen Johnson was just like, The same fucking thing happens over. I've heard this speech five times in a row. Shut the fuck up, Matt. Then Matt Iberflus just, in a very non-leader of men fashion, closed his mouth and just ended the speech after a couple of seconds. There was also something that I read, Big Cat, where did the press conference on that Friday morning, and they started the meeting behind the scenes with Kevin Warren, Ryan Polls, and- McCasky. George McCasky. They started that meeting at 07:00 AM. Matt Iberflus' press conference started at 9:00 AM. Yeah, I can explain this. But the meeting of whether or not to fire Matt Uberfluce wasn't concluded until 10:00 AM. That tells me that in this meeting that lasted three hours, there was somebody who was passionately trying to defend Matt Uberfluce and not let him be fired. No.

What I think happened was George McCasky was Michael Scott being like, explain this to me. I'm five that I have to pay this guy to not work. They just had to go over that over and over and over.

He was just looking at what the future bank statements were.

Yeah, he was like, wait, so he's not going to coach anymore this year, but he's our head coach and we have to pay him? Because I feel like- And they're like, All right, let's go over this for the 75th time, George.

We have to get a new head coach. But we're paying one already.

Yeah, we're paying one right now. How does this make sense? I feel like in a three-hour meeting, somebody probably had a dissenting voice.

No, they probably were just...

I mean, it's bad. It's bad.

Paul is like the clip, which was a great, the hard knocks sequo on clip, where there was the one guy in the room being like, someone's going to pick him up. They're like, Who's going to want Saquon? He's like, Anyone that wants a good running back? You could tell he was fighting for it and we're just getting overrun.

Ryan Pauls deserves a lot of criticism for how this year has gone, but I do think that it's pretty clear that he is being held back and not being able to do what he wants to do. Because there also was a report that he wanted to fire Iber Fluss last year and was told not to. Yeah, it's fun times. But leader of men. We're going to get a leader of men, someone who can lead some men. I like that. Also, really, I don't feel bad for Eber Fluss because he got paid to not work, and I'm sure he'll get a job somewhere else because that's how all coaches work out. But what a terrible, terrible 48 hours where essentially every single person called you a pussy. Yeah. They're like, We need a leader of men. What we had was not a leader of men.

We didn't have one of those guys.

You could lead a man, maybe.

But men- It's so funny that they're going out and they're looking to hire somebody to lead them. It's like, I want you to come into this office and show me how you would dominate me. Yeah, exactly. I made a lot of money for that. Yeah.

Okay. My cool thrown-My last question is, what's the timeline?

Just offseason?

Yeah, they'll probably hire someone within the first week of the offseason. I mean, Guys have to... Well, unless they hire from outside. Do you know what I mean? If they hire someone who doesn't have a job right now, it could be sooner. But if it's Ben Johnson, it's going to be longer. I'll read the power rankings to you real quick. It was interesting what the computer spit out this morning.

There was-I think Ron Rivera is available. Stop.

The 49ers power ranking was, Should probably start fresh and fire Shanaher. And then the bears were below the 49ers and it said, Need a new head coach if anyone could think of a team that Probably should start fresh and fire their Shanahan. It seems like that's a match.

Well, you guys play Shana Hane this week, right? Yeah, it's true. You guys are on back-to-back weeks trying to impress other coaches.

Yeah. I actually think the bears are going to win that game. I think they're going to play for Thomas Brown. My cool drone is I have two. One is for LeBron James. So LeBron played a back-to-back. Is there any big players that don't play back-to-backs?

It's tough to be a great team if you don't.

Jelen Brown.

Yeah, Jelen Brown. He had his tummy But also, Championship. He played the back of the back-to-back. Eastern Conference. He didn't play the first back.

He didn't play the front.

Yeah, he played the front. Lebron James kept his streak of 10-point games alive in his back-to-back. It was when he was down 25 points in the fourth quarter with eight minutes left when LeBron James usually is not in a game, but they kept him in so that he could get that.

Well, I mean, he probably only played for what? 15, 17 minutes?

He played. So yeah, I mean, credit to him, he did play back to back. He played 31 minutes. Lebron's old.

No, he's not. He's not old. Because the second I admit that LeBron is old, guess what? We're old. We're old.

But I think it's happening. He's not old. I think it's happening. It's been incredible that he's almost 40 years old and he's still in the league, but it's happening.

You know what I realized the other day? Derek Henry, you would consider him to be old, right?

He's like, what, 29?

I think he's I think he might be a year younger than Hank.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, no, he's ancient. Yeah. He's 30 years old. So old. Cooper DeGene also fucked him up. Okay.

We're not talking about why do you have to inject Philly into every conversation that we're having.

You guys inject Philly into everything. That was a It was a really nice tackle. I mean, Derek Henry caught the ball and turned around. It wasn't like they were both squared up. Yeah. Okay. Took him off his feet. All right. Yeah, no, it was a really nice tackle, but it wasn't It wasn't like Derrick Henry was running full force. Cooper DeGene was running full force. Cooper DeGene fucked him up. Yeah, Derrick Henry also had 60 pounds on him. Okay. He lifted him off his feet for him to tackle. They should put that in textbooks.

Textbooks? What textbook would that be in?

Form, tackling. What? Now we're above football textbooks?

No, I took football in college. We're down for football textbooks. I took football in college, but we didn't have a textbook. We had film.

Relax, buddy. We're down for football textbooks. I forgot I remember my other Cool Throne. God damn it.

This should be a football textbook.

Oh, I remember my other Cool Throne because it's right there. Ryan Day's on the Cool Throne. Because I don't know if you guys saw this. This is from the Eleven Warriors podcast. Now, it is not out of context, but it's a one-minute clip, so they could have been joking. I'm going to give them at least out there that we don't know the full thing. But the one-minute clip is very, very funny. I respect these guys because every fan does this where if you have a tragic loss, cope as hard as you can. Have you guys seen this clip? No. Okay. It is quite something. So Ryan Day, officially on the cool throne. And here's why.

If you want to... Every Ohio State fan I know has spent the last, I don't know what, 15 months screaming that Michigan cheated.

Michigan cheated. Michigan cheated. Me as well. All of us. I think everyone in here was probably... I'm not pointing fingers. I'm one of those people as well. And if that's the case, you'd probably put an asterisk on '21, probably put an asterisk on '22. '23, maybe a different story because they had time maybe to change signs that had come out by the time the '23 game came about. So on that thinking, if they cheated to win in '21 and '22, then does they only have two losses to Michigan? Only one of them really considered a bad loss? I mean, is that a fair question to ask? Because they lost to a national championship team game, probably their closest game, one of their closest games of the season, in my opinion, the best offensive drive any team had on that Michigan defense last year, that third quarter running drive.

Drive of the Year.

Drive of the Year. If that's the case, he's only got one really bad loss. I love these guys.

I want to stand up for these Guys real quick because- Best offensive. Really, they undersold it. That's satire. They undersold it a little bit because this year, Michigan probably also cheated because they had cheated in the past. So now Ohio State's like, How are they cheating this time? And that got into their own head.

I love these guys because this is what Fandam does to you, where you do a podcast after a horrendous loss and you've spun zone it into... Actually, Ryan Day, if you do it, he's actually only lost once to Michigan and the best drive against the national championship.

Nobody's talking about that.

For that drive, Ohio State was national champions.

No one's talking about that drive and how they basically won a national championship.

Raise a banner in the Horseshoe, 2023 National Champions third-quarter drive against Michigan.

Also, I feel like protecting legacy is more important than winning a football game, and the players protected the legacy of the school by defending their midfield against having a flag planted on it.

That's facts. I can't tell. I probably have to go listen the whole thing, but shout out the Eleven Warriors. This is what we sound like when our teams lose, and we're like, Oh, well, it was this, it was this. We make every excuse. But I didn't expect that spin zone. One loss for Ryan Day against Michigan.

I like that. I honestly do like this take. I don't know if we've talked about this with Brandon Walker earlier because we haven't recorded that yet. I really want Ohio State to win the national championship. I think that would be the funniest thing ever. It would. It would be so funny. In my dream scenario, I like Root for Chaos and just for ridiculous things to happen. Ohio State winning the national championship by going through the easiest schedule ever. Yeah. They don't have to win- Upsets everywhere else. Upsets everywhere else. They don't have to win a single big game. They win the national championship, and then Ryan Day gets fired. Yeah. That would be the funniest possible outcome to this season.

Dave can claim that he's won two national championships in a row. Yeah.

I mean, if you don't have a horse in this race, that's a pretty funny one to back. Yes.

I like that a lot. I'd agree. Yeah, no, I actually had a similar thought because I went to look to bet Ohio State to win the national championship, but it's 475. Not enough. I need a little more. I need a little bit more because there's a chance they just crumble.

I might do I got Oregon. I might sprinkle in some Ohio State.

I'm doing Ohio State.

All right, let's do it.

Let's do it. We'll do it as a pot.

Are you actually? Are you rooting against my bet?

Are we cashing out? Is there a cash out or no?

I'm putting it in right now. I also already have All right, fine. I'll do it. The other night, the eagles bills parlay. So I'm going to parlay them as well.

I'm going to wait until Saturday night to make this future bet.

Because you might go up.

Well, because I- Well, no. At the moment- No, it's not this Saturday. That's Saturday night is what I'm talking about. Two Saturdays. Two Saturdays. I'm going to wait to put in this bet in two Saturdays.

That's responsible gambling. Yeah. It would be very funny. It would be very, very funny if Ohio State was able to do it and then they fired Ryan Day. Or it would actually be funnier if Ryan Day won the national title and then went and took the North Carolina job. It's like, I don't want to do this anymore. You guys drive me nuts.

What do you think would be a funnier outcome? If Ryan Day goes through the easiest possible road, wins a national championship, and then he gets an extension afterwards? That would be funnier? Yeah. Either way, I'm rooting for that.

Okay, let's get to our interview with Steve Smith before we do that. Pft, We got a couple of ads before we get to Steve Smith.

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Okay, we now welcome on Recurring Guest, friend of the program and future Hall of Famer, which we have to talk about off the top. It is Steve Smith senior. Steve, first of all, thank you for coming back on. You're a semifinalist this year. I know we talked about this last time you were on. This is the year, right? You need to be in the Hall of Fame. This is crazy that Steve Smith is not in the Hall of What's your theme?

Well, I'm not really sure how to go about it. I'm honored and it's cool, and I don't know how the voting goes. I just wait for my time. And do that. But the real reason I have avoided coming on you guys. Yes. One, I owe you hats.

Yes, you do.

You notice I'm not even wearing an LA hat just because it was so bad and you guys were so right. I just wasn't sure what to do. You know what I did? I deal with any middle-aged father would do. I put my head in the sand and hoped it went away.

Yeah, that was a smart strategy. For people who don't remember, last time Steve was on, it was last year, we made a bet. I think it was Panthers four, four and a half wins.

It was a wager.

Wager, not a bet. A wager. Four and a half wins?

Was it? I I thought it was even higher than that. It might have been five or six.

Yeah, and they didn't even come close. It doesn't matter how high it was.

It was real low.

It didn't happen.

Yeah. You owe us some Steve Smith's signature flat brim hats, which we expect to receive. We'll send you our info. But at least-Yes, please.at least you acknowledge it off the top because that was definitely on my list of things to talk about.

You got to. Yeah. You got to. When you owe people things, you have to be willing to to follow through. I planned on following through, but it was like when you owe somebody some money, owe that bill and they call. When they used to call you and say, Hey, check's in the mail. So I was, Checks in the mail. I don't have your address, It's the mail.

I feel like you ignored it for an appropriate amount of time where it was just you were annoyed by the fact that not only did you lose the bet, but you lost it by... It wasn't even really close.

No, never close.

So then you were just like, I just don't want to have to admit that I was very wrong, but I will eventually, and I'll make it right. And I I actually think, listen, Steve, this goes a long way towards the Hall of Fame case for you, being nice to journalists, the guys that are being in that room, writing your name down. Do you have a sappy story you can tell about a time Peter King convinced you to keep playing football when you felt like quitting, and then he'll feel important and he'll write your name down for the Hall of Fame?

Peter King is important no matter what. It has to do with Steve. Peter is a dude, man. I like Peter. In training camp, he doesn't get a lot of credit, but in training camp, he goes around a whole bunch of different teams and he talks. So a lot of stuff that you're seeing him print up and do. It's been seven or eight months of accumulating data information. So Peter King is one of the good ones, man. It's a lot of good journalists out there. It just sometimes the way they write articles, sometimes it... It skews your perspective on the individual when you see them in person.

Yeah. So what's an example? Where's the line where players are like, All right, this is bullshit, because obviously they got a job to do, you got a job to do. But what- You're asking the wrong person. Yeah, I guess that's true. Yeah, you're lying.

I'm one of those journalists that players have said. But I think the toughest thing is trying to figure out and find out which guy really actually watches a film. How much do they watch film? Because there There are times where I've had guys who say, You obviously aren't watching a film. I've had some people even on my podcast to say, Steve, you don't understand. You don't watch the games because they're looking at it from their point of view. A great example is we're talking about Miami Dolphins and how they struggled in the cold weather. Having one. And a fan said at the bottom of my podcast, a comment was like, You don't watch the games. We We lost those three games by one point. A L is a L. It's not about what you see. It's about the end result. Sometimes the end result, you get distracted because of the way someone articulates it that you disregard the actual content that they're talking about.

Yeah. Let's Let's talk about the Dolphins real quick, because we were talking about on our show, there were two things that stuck out. One was Mike McDaniels shivering on the sidelines. That was not a good look. It was nifty. The second was they had 20 missed tackles. That, to me, is cold weather affecting you, where it's like you're not getting physical, you're not putting your nose in the pile and that stuff. So the Dolphins have a couple more cold weather games. What is it that they have to fix? What's the mentality? Or is it just, Hey, this team just can't play in the cold. It is what it is?

I think they can play in the cold. I just really think sometimes that people aren't looking at the teams that they're playing. Green Bay isn't a cakewalk. Yeah. And just like last night, when we watched the 49ers play the Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills are on a cakewalk. And also, too, the 49ers are injured. They're not extremely healthy. They're not firing all cylinders. So to blame everything on the cold weather, to say the cold weather has these guys not playing. Man, you go miss tackles happen in the heat. True. It doesn't necessarily matter. What happens is when the elements are what they are and the outcome, then all of a sudden, the overreaction and the reasoning behind it is always front and center, where sometimes it's just we don't want to really give credit to the people who get paid, who maybe had a better and executed a better game plan than a Pauls and Tate.

Yeah, it's easier for us. We like to just say it's their candy ass uniforms. As soon as you put them under 40 degrees, it's as simple as that. Nothing to do with the Xs and O's.

The Aqua doesn't play in the snow.

Yeah, they put on- The South Beach uniform. Yeah, I mean, the Panthers have some candy ass uniforms every now and then where it's like the blue. I'm just saying, did you feel it? Did you feel it the cold? You're like, I know you did rip up the bears.

I mean, when you wear the black uniforms, those travel. You can play in cold weather in the black, but in the blues, you don't want to see that in an ice game.

Yeah. I'm being teacher, though.

I think you know that we're right. Yeah.

We watch the film. You know that, unfortunately, your life has been about football, and sometimes dumb people like us can boil it down to just candy ass uniforms, and that hurts.

I don't like that color. You don't have to like the color.

One, candy, I I agree. Then I don't think you guys are dumb. I just think you have your perspective that you're willing to die on the hill about.

Candy makes sense. If I handed you a lollypop that was orange and teal, and I handed you a lollypop that was green and yellow, you would be like, I want the orange and teal that looks yummy.

First of all, two grown men handing each other lollypops is a... That's the problem.

That's probably a problem.

I'm not necessarily sure why you're handing me lollypops, and I'm taking it, but I think we can normalize giving candy to your friends as adults.

I think that's fine. You know what? We're going to do that. As soon as you give us our hats, next time we see you.

When was the last time you all two?

Yeah.

What did you say? You popped for- Yesterday.

Oh, lollypop for you. It was yesterday. That's a bad question for us.

There was nerds gummy clusters yesterday, and I ate 10 of them. They actually looked like Dolphins' uniforms.

That's a different situation.

We're not talking about that. You're talking about just regular old Tootsy Rolls and Dumb Dumb.

Yeah. I have a secret candy stash here that I'll put people onto it. I'll be like, Hey, you want to see this? And I'll hand them some candy. So yeah, you're asking the wrong dudes. We're passing around candy all day.

That was talking Miami Dolphins.

We're not talking about the candy that you guys are talking about.

Yeah. Steve, I got a question for you. So I'm a bears fan. They fired their coach. The line that's coming out of Hallis Hall right now is they need to find a leader of men. Can you explain to me what a leader of men is?

I think so. A leader of men, When you compare this talk, it's really about holding everyone accountable, not based on your draft status, not based on what this individual means to the franchise, that everybody is treated as the same. However, there are certain people with veterans where they have different opportunities and different things to do. I think there's a lot of mixed messages going on, a lot of things that probably do not live up to the expectation based on the talent of that team. And so that's what the leader of men is, that someone not silly-shaly and someone sticking to what they believe and making sure that they hold the rest of the team accountable to that as well.

Yeah. Who's the best leader of men that you've played for?

Obviously, let's see. Recently, so John Hardball, John Fox.

They tried that.

Yeah, we tried that. John Who else?

Ron Rivera was a players' coach. I wouldn't say he's not a leader of men, but I think players' coaches sometimes hit a pass where they make themselves more about the players. He's a leader of men, too. I don't even want to go there.

When you have a coach, though, and it obviously was the bears, the Iberflus had the locker room. Can you feel that shift in a locker room where it's like, Oh, this is- Oh, definitely. Is there any coming back from it? You can feel the shift. Yeah. Is there any coming back from it, or is it once it happens, it's over?

The only thing you could do is win games to come back from. The way they were losing games, how they were losing games, it got worse. It wasn't improving. It was getting worse each and every time, so you got to make a step. I would imagine probably something was said in that locker room after the game that probably was about, Hey, we. And it wasn't a we, it was a he. That was a strut of broken camel's back.

Yeah. In your career, have you had the experience of playing for an interim coach?

No.

Okay, because I was wondering- That was a great question.

I have to think about. Great question.

Thank you. We always like to bet on interim head coaches when they step in that first week because you get the bump of having a guy that's gone that probably had lost the locker room. And then usually the interim coach would be somebody that's big, tough guy, strength and conditioning background, might just get you juiced up to run through somebody's face that game that week. But yeah, I guess if you haven't been through it, that's probably a good thing because you never had a coach that was fired in season for you.

No, I haven't. I just had a coach get fired right after the team meeting and was talking to us. It was George Ceefer as if he was going to be coaching us next year.

Yeah, that's weird.

That was really weird. Yeah, that was extremely weird. Like, Hey, make sure you do this. I'm like, Let's do it. We're about to get fired. What is he talking about?

The other thing that happens a lot during losing streaks is the players only meetings, and we're big fans of players-only meetings, but sometimes you might have too many players-only meetings. At what point in the season do you decide, Hey, it's time to have a players-only meeting? And then what gets discussed during those meetings?

Since you two aren't a player, I can't I discussed it with you in the player meeting.

Madden.

Too many is too many. Two is too many. The first one, you got to do it. After that, if it's not getting done, then you just have to have a little conversations on the side. Yeah.

I want to talk about your Panthers. Bryce Young. Okay. Incredible what he's looked like since he came back from that benching. He ain't lying. What happened in those three weeks? I want to study those three weeks because it looks like a completely different guy. Obviously, he's still got a lot of work to do, but the confidence and how he's seeing the field is night and day versus what we saw last year, all of last year in the beginning of this year.

Are you just getting a guy that gives the opportunity to see the game from a different perspective, seeing it from the seat versus seeing it from behind the center and getting an opportunity to be coached and seeing... Not everybody deals with that version It's the same, but obviously, Bryce has shown you that he could deal with adversity. He's used to it. He has a good pedigree. I think I've said it from the beginning. I thought it was a great idea just based on how the situation went. He was the first overall pick, really didn't have to fight for his job. It was handed to him. That team obviously wasn't great looking at the record, offensive line sustained some injuries. So there's a lot of different things, and you just throw out there and expect Bryce Young to fix all the elements of all the other areas that are needing improvement. And so it didn't go well, and it picked up where it started with the firing of Coach Wright. And then with Coach Canales, same thing. Coach Canales had the authority and also had the perspective, Hey, I think this is the best thing for our team moving forward.

And it looks like that was the right Yeah, it's been fun to watch him.

I think a lot of people wrote him off, maybe us included at some points, but it's fun. No, we definitely did. We watched a lot of the bad games, but it's been cool to see him come back and play well. What is Dave Canales doing that is helping Bryce out specifically?

Well, one, I have a better offensive line, play action. He's under center. You're seeing a lot of different things. The RPO game, some of the things he did in college. And then his offensive mind is bringing a different perspective. They're running a football. They're doing a lot of different things compared to last year. I mean, you name it. I mean, heck, the points they're scoring, how about the type of throws that he's making down the field.

Yeah, he just seems to be way more confident in every throw that he's making. It was a great game on Sunday. I want to give you the opportunity to say something nice about Baker Mayfield.

We lost him. Is he frozen?

I'm not frozen.

He's a dog.

Is he a dog?

He's a dog.

Baker. Baker.

Yeah, I guess so. I don't believe it.

I'm not buying that dog.

That's how it was. I sell him.

That was a little purse dog you just had right there.

Has he been better than you thought he would be?

I don't care. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him.

I like that beef. I think Yeah, he probably would respect that. There's no beef.

Sounds like a little bit of beef, Steve. There's some beef there.

Absolutely not.

I'll bet you a flat-brim hat. There's beef.

I bet you 10 flat-brim hats is not a beef. There's no beef.

Okay, so if there's no beef, can you say one thing that he's done well?

He's doing really good. He's throwing a football. He beat the Panthers. He's doing a good job, man.

Yeah. What I try to do is I try to leave that alone, man. Okay. No more beef. Okay.

Got it.

There is no beef.

What quarterback can you be critical of right now? Because you do like to be critical of quarterbacks. Which one you expect more of coming down the stretch?

Kirk Hudson. I expect him. He got to be better, man. Yeah. Kirk was out there. Kire was killing it for the other team the other day. Just didn't see that coming.

Do you think they make the switch?

What do you say? I don't think they'll make a switch. They got too much. I don't know if Michael Penix is ready to make that switch. I also think the offensive line is for the Atlanta Falcons. It's not great, but Kurt is moving a lot, moving around in a pocket a lot more than he should be. That's not his specialty. But he just got to play better. Four picks, so that's Heuristic of Kurt.

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What about the defensive side of the ball. Is there a cornerback that you've seen recently, maybe a new guy on the scene that you're like, That guy can play. That dude will be very tough to go up against.

I mean, those fifth-round pics from the Los Angeles Chargers, man, those dudes out there playing well. I'm pretty impressed with them. The defense a little bit this year is big hit or miss. You've seen guys play well, and then you've seen guys disappear. Guys are playing a lot of zone coverage like the Philadelphia Eagles. Their draft picks are rolling. There's a lot of guys that aren't first-round draft picks that are really contributing to their teams in ways that people were not expecting it.

Yeah. Did you see that Jim Harbaugh said that Lad McConkey reminds him of you? Yeah. I like Lad. Is that a good compliment? I like Lad. Yeah, Lad's been awesome.

Man, Lad's a dog. I like Lad. I did a breakdown on Lad. I liked him at Georgia. He was very consistent. I take that as a compliment. I'm not worried about falling into the, Oh, he's this, he's that, or who reminds me. Man, if Co says that Lad can play, I agree Lad can't play. When I I look at Lad and then I look at myself, I was like, Man, is this Lad or Steve? Steve or Lad? That's how I feel.

All right, so I have another receiver I wanted to ask you about. One of our favorite.

Wait, does that mean that you're rooting for Lad to do well? Because that way, the comparison to Steve Smith is good. Are you rooting for Lad to not be as good because then you can be like, I want Lad to ball.

Just because I've been watching. I watched his film last year. He's coming out of college at Georgia. He's steady, eddy. He's consistent. What you see is what you get. This has nothing to do with me. This has to do with, man, the two can just ball flat out.

All right, so the other receiver I wanted to ask you about one of our personal favorites, George Pickens. Okay. What are your thoughts on George Pickens? Because he plays with an edge that sometimes goes over the line. You don't want to take all the George out of George Pickens. You want him to be that fiery guy. But what does he have to do that maybe tone it down a little? Or do you just say, Hey, no, George, go be you?

He got to tone it down a little bit just because people are talking about it. I've been a guy that understands people are talking about you like that. It's going to be this assumed disposition about you. People are going to believe what they see or believe what some other people may say, even though the context may not be all in line. But George is going to have to calm down. He's a heck of a football player. He has one of the best coaches out there who really rocks with you. So if Mike Tee is telling you, you need to rein it in, then guess what? You need to rein it in. Because Mike Tee, if you think about it, Mike Tee has been around a lot of special wide receivers, guys who can change the game like that in your favor. He's also seen that some of these guys haven't managed themselves well. And so he's speaking more from not a I'm better than, but I've seen this movie before and I know how the ending is, so you need to be careful.

I think he likes having guys like that around, though, because it gives him a good challenge as a coach. He likes being able to take somebody and help them reach that next level and maybe battle some of their internal demons. But with George, I feel like you can't really tell George to stop being George because that's who he is and that makes him special. I think you need to tell his teammates, almost have a quarterback rule where the second he gets tackled, just have everybody out in the field run up to him, help him up, and walk him back to the huddle. Just don't do the gun sign, don't grab anybody by the facemask, don't pump the ball into the stands. Just let's all work as a team to get George back to the huddle after every reception.

Okay. Sounds like a plan.

Yeah. I feel like you got those reputation calls at points when they be looking at you. Another guy that gets the reputation calls, I feel like, is D. K. Metcalf, where now he's He's under a microscope for Seattle. Have you watched him recently this year?

I don't watch him. He's been hurt a little bit, but they're doing a really good job. I don't think you could put D. K. In the same category of some of the stuff that's going on. I think every situation is different. To lump all these guys together and say they're troublemakers, man, I don't think that's fair.

No, I don't think Dike is a troublemaker at all. I love the way that Dike plays the game. I'm just saying that I feel like the refs, after there's enough times where you get a penalty against you, I I feel like the refs, they start to zero in on you and you get reputation calls that maybe you don't earn. I think that that's what's happened sometimes with Dike.

Okay, I'll go with that.

All right, Steve. It's December. It's winning football time. If you had to pick your Super Bowl right this second, give you a second chance. I don't know what your Super Bowl was before the season.

I didn't pick anything.

You didn't pick anything? All right, so this is your first chance. You get a good chance here. Who would you say in December is be in the Super Bowl?

Let's go with... I'll give you two.

How about, Can I give you two? Yeah, you can give us as many as you want.

All right, let's go with Detroit, Kansas City.

Okay.

Or Philly, Buffalo.

I like that. Those are both good picks. With Kansas City, they are playing with fire. They've had a bunch of really, really close victories where it seems like they're going to lose, and then somehow they manage to pull it off. Do you think that's more of a weakness in Kansas City, or has it become almost to the point where it's a strength, where they know how to win these close games?

Man, people always looking at, especially the way Kansas City is winning, they're looking to really be critical of them. I mean, there's ugly wins and there's pretty wins, but the thing you want to just really focus on on the wins. They've sustained a lot injuries. It's really hard to say that, Hey, next man up, when the... Pacheco is not a guy that you just... His backup is not the next Pacheco. So it's hard to really replace him. Rashe writes, Well, he's been able to do Hollywood. All these guys had a role, and that offense and defense was constructed based on those individuals' roles, and then now those guys are gone. And so the next guy that's filling in, he won't be better. If he was better, he would have been starting. So that's why they went got D-Hop, because he's more of a guy that can freelance a little bit. That's what he does. And then with Patrick. So I don't really think that them winning by less is anything. I think sometimes they maybe play down to their opponent, but they've only lost one game, so I don't really understand all of it. It's just more of the hate more than anything because they've been so successful and trying to get that three-peat.

Yeah. We had our good friend, Fred Smoot, stopped by the office last week, and he's an all-time shit talker. You're an all-time shit talker. Did you ever line up against him, and how did that shit talking go?

Me and Fred, we had some pretty fun times. It's just now we're chilling, two old men now.

Yeah, but I would imagine that's fireworks when you… I feel like that's a match for both of you. If you're like, Who could match up against Fred Smoot in the shit-talking Department? It's Steve Smith and vice versa.

Yeah, Fred is British. He still talks some good stuff, though. Yeah.

Was there any cornerback that would get in your head that would know to piss you off?

Brenner Browner got in my head a little bit. Scherm got in my head. I got in Scherm's head. It's funny is when me and Scherm are in the same area when we're working, we always end up talking, and somehow, someway, I end up always apologizing to Scherm for something I did to him. Every single time, and I don't understand it, he's the victim every time.

Yeah, that's how he gets you. Don't let him do that to you. He gets me every time. He gets me every time. He stand up for himself, Steve.

The way he talks about it, I actually feel bad, too.

Yeah.

He was doing some of the talking, too.

Oh, a lot of the talking.

He needs to apologize to you for some stuff. That's all right.

We all We can't live in the past, man. Some people need to move forward. Yeah, that's true.

Steve, I had one last question for you. It's a rowback question. Ro, B-A-C-K. Com, promo code take 20% off your first purchase, Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. You are a big golfer. How's your golf game going? And how's the shit talking on the golf course? Because I would love to see that. We got to do a video with you.

Let's do it. I'm enjoying golf, man. I'm enjoying golf big time. Like one of my guys right here out of the office right here with Ghost Golf. I've been hanging with them a little bit. That's one of my partners, so I've been enjoying it. Golf, actually, it's weird. Golf is that place. There's some stuff about '89, some stuff about Smith, Steve, and I didn't even know it was there. I can't play a lot of rap music, no trap, none of that stuff on the golf course. One of the big things I've been in There's a fan country music on the golf course, bro.

That's it? That's the stuff?

Man, some little Jelly Rows, Shibuzi. Morgan Wallen. I've been rolling on this. It's been dope.

Yes, nice chill stuff.

What's your handicap?

It's about a 15. The last couple of weeks I've been working, I played the other day and I was terrible. I mean, terrible. It was so bad. Me and my driver are not seeing eye to eye.

Yeah, that's the worst.

It cost too much to where I got fitted, so I put it in there. I put it in the bag and I was just playing with my irons, which helped my game a little bit. I was just... But I'm doing pretty good.

That's perfect. A golf company called Out of Office. That's Hank's two favorite things. All rolled into one. Our producer would absolutely love that. Yeah. So have you Have you had a hole in one yet?

No, I have not. Bro, I missed the eagle for a birdie. I missed the birdie for a par. I missed the eagle for a birdie and a par. Okay, so my putting is, as my son, Payton, was saying, my putting, I put like Ray Charles. He says, Dad, what are you reading?

I love it. You should invite journalists to play golf with you, to be friends with them so that they put you in the Hall of Fame. We need Steve Smith in a gold jacket. I want to see how they make your bust. I want to see what that statue looks like.

It's going to happen.

I just hope it's not the same people that did the Wayne Wade bust.

Yeah, that was a bad one. We'll make sure that guy's not involved. They usually do a good job with the Hall of Fame, though. Yeah, they do.

All right, well, Steve, we look forward to getting our hats. You're going to actually do it this time?

You're going to give me your information?

I'll give you all of our information. We'll have it texted to you right now. We need the hats.

Send us as many as you want. I'll do the LA hats, and then I'll get you some of my own because I'm driving down there. I'm in LA right now, so I'm driving down there to go to Ghost Golf today.

Okay, perfect. Love that.

Love it. You want to make another hat bed at any time, just let us know. We're game.

Where are you guys located?

Chicago. You got to come check it out. We got a whole studio.

It's Nippie in Chicago right now.

We got a golf simulator, though, inside.

We got a golf simulator coming in the summer. We got a full-court basketball court. We got everything.

Can we get out there?

Yeah, that would be awesome. We'd love to have you. We'd love to host you. All right, Steve, thanks so much, man. Be well, and we're looking forward to the Hall of Fame. We're excited for it. All right.

Give me you guys information, too. All right.

Okay, perfect. All right. Thanks so much, Steve. Thank you. All right, Steve. See you. All right.

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Okay, part in your take on re. Give it to us.

What's I'm going to play Guess That Age with this question. All right. Nfl kicker should have to finish a twelve-pack of beer between the beginning of the game and their first field goal attempt or extra point in the fourth quarter.

19.

How old is Malasek?

25, 26.

Wait, NFL kicker should have to finish a twelve-pack of beer.

Actually, I'm going to guess 46. How old is Sebastian Janakowski? This is definitely from him.

Yeah, it might be him.

He would be the greatest kicker all time if that were the case. Yeah.

They should just put NFL kickers on something like a downer.

They just need to put them on. So they just don't get hyped up. They got to put them on Xanax.

Yeah, put them on Xanax. Have them go out there on Xanax.

There's something going on with kickers, and we're going to find out what it is. There really is.

What's up, Henry Lighthouse, Big Fat, and Ski Yee, EFT. My girlfriend and her brother are massive Ravens fans, and her brother recently said, If Lamar wins a Super Bowl this year, he'll begin to unseat Mahomes as the best QB in the league. Is this crazy glazing or is there some merit to this? Absolutely some merit.

Oh, okay.

Interesting that you would chime in there. How many MVPs? Lamar has two. Mahomes has two?

Does Lamar have two Does he have-Lamar has two. Does Mahomes have two? Or does he have-I think we made this abundantly clear that MVPs don't matter on this show.

With Mahomes individual numbers-Combined with Super Bowl. With Mahomes individual numbers falling off this year, is there any chance people begin to declare Mahomes as best QB? Or is that too far fetched?

I think this happens a lot with quarterbacks that are considered to be the greatest of all time. There will be doubters and haters along the way that predict their demise before it actually happens, and then the great ones bounce back against them.

What have you done for me lately?

Mahomes has two MVPs.

They won a Super Bowl last year.

Three Super Bowl MVPs, three Super Bowl. I think that's pretty tough to say one Super Bowl would now unseat Mahomes.

I got a question for you, Biquette. Hank just said, It's a what have you done for me lately league in regards to Patrick Mahomes.

Yeah, he's back to back.

This is, I'm saying- He won two Super Bowl in a row. That's this conversation in March.

Eleven and one.

Listen, Mahomes is going to be braided. He's going to win probably a couple more. If you're Lamar, if you're Josh, or if you're Joe Burrow, your hope is that you are Rottesberger, Bries, or Manning. I'm just being honest with you. Lamar is not going to win five Super Bowl. But if you can win one or two, then he's going to go down in the Hall. He's already a Hall of Famer, but he's going to go down as one of the greats. But Mahomes is so far ahead.

The good news is there is time to rewrite the narrative. We know what the narrative is going to be, and it's what Big Cat just said. But at this moment in time, you can think and use your imagination and say there's still time. What if Lamar just rattles off four in a row?

Yeah, no. If Lamar wins back-to-back Super Bowl, then we will start having this conversation because then it would be three Super Bowl to two and same amount of MVPs. You got to get to two before we can start talking about unseeding Patrick Mahomes.

I think if Josh Allen wins MVP in a Super Bowl, he's in that conversation, too.

He's got to get to two to start unseeding. I think if it's three to two, you can start having a conversation. But three to one is not. You can't. You can't have that conversation.

What about Russ? Russ wins a Super Bowl this year. He went his second. Yeah. He's got to be in the conversation. That's true. I agree. You think of 2000's quarterbacks, you think of Mahomes, braided, Russell Wilson.

That's Stafford.

Eli.

Stafford wins his second. I lose a piece of my pinkie.

Michigan fan here. I'm buzzing from Saturday. Last three years have been nothing short of amazing with all the massive wins and championships. Something about watching Ohio State and Ryan Day shit down their pants was maybe even more satisfying than any of it. I don't know why that is. I can't explain it, but we were just so bad this year. It didn't matter at all. Then the meltdown they had after the game with the flag, it was like good porn. The game had me damn near having to cross my legs, hiding a chubby, even though the football was so awful. Am I way off base for feeling like this? No. I know Hank would say I'm crazy, but I don't know what it is, man. That win hit like crack. That... All right, so I'll say this.

He just explained a rivalry.

He can't exist.

You explain winning. I understand that feeling. That's the Patriots beat the Seahawks, Patriots win 28 to three. The buzzing feeling you have after winning a good game literally lasts you for for months, maybe even years, like the Celtics win the Championship. I'm still... So I get the riding that high. I do for Michigan fans. I understand the rivalry and that Ohio State fans should be devastated But I was more surprised at the lack of like, Let's keep fighting because their season is not over. But I hear the point of them being like, well, it doesn't matter. But that's what I feel like. If I was Ohio State, I would be crushed, but also Let's win a national champion.

Yeah. I think the part you're missing is basically- But the Michigan part, I guess. It's been four years of Ryan Day being like, We have to beat Michigan. We have to beat Michigan. And then they spent all this money and they couldn't beat a dog shit Michigan. Yeah.

I mean, you find a lot of joy in winning things and being a personal champion. You find almost as much joy in watching your biggest rivals just piss down their leg and fuck up. Being a hater is very, very fun. But what adds to that is if your biggest rivals can absolutely shit the bed while you're still buzzing in the afterglow of a championship yourself.

And it's a full- Then that's a speedball. When you play once a year and you've been playing for 100 years, you win that game, you get to talk shit for literally 365 days. They have the counter like, It's been this many days since Ohio State's beaten Michigan.

It's brutal. Well, two of those were wins because Michigan- Yeah, that's true.

And that quarter. I guess the difference, too, between the Celtics or some of the other championships that were easy wins, essentially, or never in doubt.

Winning games you're supposed to lose or you're a big underdog or you're down a lot. Then that next week of searching the opposite fan base's cope is the best.

The best. Also, Ohio State, this year against Michigan, they're one and oh in having better players.

And spending more money.

It's also great. Again, I'm not completely oblivious to the rivalry thing. It is great. Michigan fans, they lose Ohio State. They're watching the playoff games with pure hatred. Now they can watch the games and laugh. They can be like, Oh, this is going to be funny. Even if they win, this is still funny. Yeah.

Our good friend Tom Freneli suggests that maybe Hank should go to the Big Ten Championship game en route against his hated rival, the Oregon Ducks. I mean, Hank has two favorite teams in college football. It's the Washington Huskies and whoever's playing the Ducks.

I got a new one.

And whoever's playing Wazoo.

No, there's a new one. What? Nebraska.

That's your new favorite team?

Second to Washington.

Dana signed a contract.

That's my best friend. That is your best friend.

But those are two Big Ten teams.

I know. I'm going to... I mean, Belichick and Dana, those are two heavy hitters.

Yeah. Rivalries in college football mean more than in pro sports. They just do. It's just why the sport is so much fun is because the hatred is so deep and it's all that matters. Was that it? Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah, no, that guy, by the way, is everything he said is completely right. If I were a Michigan fan, I'd just be watching. I saw a hype video where they had the Michigan team going into the shoe, and it was a song from Sicario. It was one of the coolest hype videos I've ever seen. I'm not a Michigan fan. I I would say that I don't like Ohio State more than I don't like Michigan, but I don't like either. I watched that and being like, holy fuck, this is incredible.

I would like to see more.

I don't know if it wasn't as- That was from Richard, not down bad right now.

Okay.

I think the only thing I would like to see more of, I would like to see more Ohio State bar reactions. I feel like there wasn't a lot of those. They were all together. Those are always good, crushed. But there wasn't really- I guess there wasn't a moment where they got- It was a slow death. Because those, thinking about the Seahawks like that, those are the greatest videos of all time.

Yeah, you have to have a big swinging moment where they thought they're going to win.

Like the Yankees, like Billy's.

The Ohio State had the ball for two minutes in the fourth quarter. It's crazy. It's nuts. All right, Good show, boys. Numbers. Three. 52, 11.

Memes, I'm going to give you...

99, Pug.

58, 44.

You got it. Oh, oh, oh. Hey, Memes, have you ever gotten this?

I did get it. No, you didn't. No, you did. I got it. No, you did. I got it. No, no, no, no. I got it. Pft got it. I got it. I got it. President Pug. President Pug. Wait, why don't you talk to the mic, President Pug? Hey, respect the office. Dumb fucking rule. Who out of Me, Max, Memes, Hank, PFT, who has never gotten it? I believe it's Me. Oh, good pick. I got it.

I get that right. Good pick, PFT.Thank you. I appreciate it.

Way to go. No, that was his number. That was my number. That was his number. That was his number. You don't get to turn President Pug's mic off. You didn't pick that. We live in a society. That was his You got deep state memes over here. You technically did not pick that. No, that's his pick. I got it.

You're the one that got it. You're the one that I got it. You're the one that I got it. You're the one that I got it.

You did that. I got the number. That's his pick. Guess what?

But I got number two. No, no, no. You said, Have you ever picked it right? No, no. Have you ever gotten this? No, the question is, have you ever gotten this? Have you ever gotten this? That's what I was asking. Technically, yes. No, you have not. You've never gotten this.

I think the question should also be- No, no, no. Technically, I have gotten it because I said, if you get two, then I picked it right. Have you ever, ever, ever gotten this?

Not in the old studio, but- No, you haven't. Never, ever. This is a win. He's never gotten it. This is a win. No, it's not. Well, Hank took the three ball out in the old studio.

Here come the excuses. What?

Remember who went missing?

Hank honestly lives in your head, Mims.

Pft has a win here. No. He has gotten the number. You are the only one who has not gotten the number. I'm now rooting so hard for Shane and Jack. Oh, my God. Oh, Shane's gotten it. Oh, Jack. Jack's guess four times total. Oh, my God. We must get Jack a win. Oh, my God.

That's way longer than last week.

Mims, you were so close.

Yeah, you have the longest This is the streak by far. No way. Four years. Someone's got to crunch the data. Hank's streak was long, but I think you went to the old studio, to this studio. But I just guessed it right.

No, you did it. I got it.

Memes, what was your number? I guessed two. No, no, no, no, no. What was your number? I'll ask PFT. Pft, what was your number?

I think it was at 58.

Well, PFT is bad at picking numbers. What was your number, PFT?

My number was two.

Okay, two is up there. Yeah. Pft got it. I picked that.

No. No.

And also-Pug, you motherfucker. You're a genius.

No, his mic's off.

I picked the right number.

His mic's off. Respect the President. Secret Service, please turn the mic back on.

Hank's mic is off.

I picked the right number. He's drunk with power right now. But the thing is, Memes, in picking my number, you knew that he would not want me to get it before him, right? So he was trying to pick a number that he didn't think would hit, and he's even bad at that.

Is PFT still picking Memes' number, Pug, and vice versa?

This is Memes. I would say yes.

What do you guys think?

I'll continue to pick Memes' number. Okay. If it pleases the President.

I would say for now. I mean, Memes, we're trying to have a conversation.

Memes, we're trying to do a podcast. The podcast is over. Okay. Great job. Great job, PFT. Congrats.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it, guys. I want to thank everybody out there that stuck with me. All the PFT writers appreciate I appreciate you. There's so many people in the room to thank Big Cat. I want to thank you. All right. Thanks for coming out.

Great show.

Max, thank you very much for sticking with me through Thick & Thin, NFC beast for everybody. Pug, great job as President. You've done... This has been a great era for the podcast. Shane, awesome as always. Never forget that really cool letter that you designed that one time, and the chargers look great. Jack is doing an awesome job, too. And most of all, there's one other person I forgot to thank, and that's you. Love you, guys.