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Presented by DraftKings' Fantasy Sports. Check out what DraftKings has to offer this season with Codan, because life's more fun when you're in on the action. Draftkings, the Crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 Gambler. Agent eligibility restrictions apply. Void were prohibited. See draftkings. Com for details.

It's time for Against the Spread. It's presented by DraftKings' Fantasy Sports. Check out what DraftKings has to offer this season with Coate Dan, because life's more fun when you're in on the action. Draftkings, the Crown is yours. Now, I have a very important announcement to make as a regards to Against the Spread. We have calculated all the math, tabulated the results. I'm honored to say that Billy Gill won our 2023 contest of Against the Spread.

Congratulations, Billy.

You got a massive prize coming to you. However, there is supply chain issues, and it's going to take a couple of months, but you are not going to believe what's coming.

I wasn't expecting this. Thank you.

We begin with you as you try to defend your Crown on Against the Spread.

I didn't know that I had won when I made this pick, and this pick was to to win?

Yeah, I was trying to go against what everyone else was doing because I figured this would be a great place to pick up some ground. I was going to take Michigan minus four and a half over Washington. I think a lot of people like the possibility of Michigan winning, but it's a big spread. They think that Washington will keep it close, but I wanted to pick up some games here, so I'm going to stick with my pick of Michigan minus four and a half. Against the spread. Tony?

I don't know why Dan put back the Bucaneers in the Bucket of Death. I'm going Bucks Who Need It minus four and a half against the Panthers.

Against the Sprint. Jessica?

Billy stole my pick. I've been picking Michigan in this game, but I'm going to go opposite skis, so we don't have the same pick. Washington.

We'll have a new front runner.

Against the Sprints.

Jeremy?

I appreciate how much work all of you went put into the thoughts.

You take my pick, I'll go the other way.

You would bet here. That's how it's done.

You would think after a big grand prize, people would be more determined.

Zero % chance that Bill Belichick loses this game to the Jets when given an opportunity to not only beat the Jets, but screw over the Patriots on his way out. Show him where it is, Jeremy, right here. I'm taking the New England Patriots minus two and a half against the spread.

Roy Supper? Yeah, this team needs it as well. The Jacksonville Jaguars, they are playing the Tennessee Titans on the road. The Jaguars are three and a half point favorites. I'm going with the Jaguars against the spread.

That's the look you should have on your face, Mike Ryan.

No, he shouldn't have that look on his face because I asked him last weekend. I asked him, Mike, why is Jacksonville only a three and a half point favorite against Carolina? He's like, Because Jacksonville sucks. I'm like, Yes. The analysis on the other end is, Carolina also sucks. What is that?

Yeah, but this is not heads up. It's against the spread.

It was C. J. Beather. That was the reason. The Jaguars need it, though. They do need it.

Wait, didn't Philadelphia need it last week? That's the analysis.

Yeah, the last week of needing it.

It was Jonathan Gany Revenge game, though. That's what you guys didn't figure in.

You're right. You asked me who I liked in a game, and I got that wrong. I sincerely apologize.

No, your analysis stuck.

Well, do you think the Jags are good?

They don't suck. If sucks is what Jacksonville gets, then what do you use on Carolina?

They were playing a little bit better after firing, right? Yeah.

Do you think the Jacks need it, Dan?

My face, by the way, was that you were just willingly You have all the sports games at your disposal, and you decided, Yeah, Underdog Mike Vrabel, that's what I want. Give me that. Yeah. This is just a weird choice, but you're entitled to it.

Okay, because there's so much thought given into all these other choices.

Yes, I'm going to to you. At the beginning of the week, I heard that a weather system was going to make its way across the East Coast. So I saw a total that I thought was a little too high in Dallas, Washington, Commanders, and Ron Rivera's potentially final game as that man over there. And I decided, you know what? I like the under there, and I locked it in. So I'm going under because I looked at Doppler radar, sir. I care about against the spread. Go ahead and board a pick out, Dan Leventard. Wow.

Now, here, you judge because of this sacred segment of yours. Did you just go a total when it's supposed to be against the spread? I'm going under. No, but against the spread.

He's going against the over.

Again?

I'm over against the numbers.

West or West East?

West East. It's against the spread. You went a total and you really showed me. Not respecting the game when you've yelled at me any number of times. When I take a total, you say, I don't understand against the spread. You don't understand I don't sound like that.

Don't sound like that.

New year, new game. Go ahead.

Four not a pick.

The Thunder are at Brooklyn. What?

And they are five and a half point-How do you know that? Favorite. How do you know that?

Name three songs.

Oklahoma City Thunder have been great all season, and they're more fun to watch than anybody. And so I take the Oklahoma City Thunder. Even though the Brooklyn Nets are very good, they are. They're an above-average basketball team. They're an above-average basketball team.

Very good and above-average.

Very good and above-average. You got to finish it off.

Yeah, you got to finish it off. The thunder was yesterday. I am going to take the Thunder on the road to cover by more than five and a half points against the Guys just talk in sports, right, Jess?

It's two guys.

Mike, I went with a game where both teams need it.

The Texans and the Colts.

This is a big game. You four all over this game. They are in. And so what I do when both teams need a win to get in, I go with the better quarterback. C. J. Stroud versus Garner Minchew. I am taking the Texans here. I'm a big believer in C. J. Stroud. I'm a big believer in Demeco Ryans. I'm a big believer in the Houston Texans. I am taking the Texans on the road minus one and a half against the Colts.

Against the spread.

I also like the Texans, and you're scaring me off of them with your conviction.

I like them too much.

I feel a degree of shame because I made the argument on behalf of a 15 and 20 Brooklyn Nets team.

You called them very good. Just very good.

Above average. I was wrong on all counts.

Some shooting struggles for Camp Thomas recently. He'll get back together. It's a difficult game.

It happens when you talk sports. Well, I need to admit, I am rattled.

Because Billy won the prize?

By against the spread and how bad I am at it. That I don't understand it, that I don't Do it well, that I'm a terrible gambler.

Just look at Doppler Radar.

Take it under once in a while.

I love Doppler Radar so much.

Take it under once in a while. Put it on the poll, Juju, at Levitard Show. I can't do it.

Is that Doc Rivers?

I just really like Doppler Radar.

Dan, I'm with you. I can't do it.

What was that impersonation? I'd like to analyze this now.

I feel about Doppler Radar the same way I feel about Barry Keegan.

The impersonation, what were you going for there?

It was brave. Really horny, weird woman.

Barry Keegan got you, huh?

My man's got a hog.

Oh, dear God.

Watch Salt burn, Dan. It's not his hog.

They say it is. It's 100% his hog. Yeah, they say it is. They're always going to say it.

I'm not going to say it is. I read the story about the hog pre-watching the movie because it flashed on my timeline and I was like, oh, I got to-The hog? No, the story about the hog. I was like, oh, I haven't seen this movie yet, but I am curious if this is a prosthetic. Good for Barry Keegan.

Who are we talking about? This old man?

Salt There's an old man.

Barry Keegan's Old Man?

No.

It's spelled the Irish way. Keogh. K-e-o-g-h-a-n. They don't spell stuff regular?

I don't get that.

No, they don't. There's extra Gs and Hs, I feel like.

This movie, do we need spoiler alerts all over what she just did?

No, because she's being careful with it. That there's nudity?

No, not nudity. I would love to see.

I would love to just film Stugats and Dan's reaction to this film in case he- Let's do that together. Let's have- Sunday, you're watching is it going to be Bill's Dolphins. Let's do that. It's going to be Saltburn.

Let's do this. On one of the televisions, it'll just be me and Stugats watching Saltburn and being a guest at sex Me and Stugats watching sex scenes together.

I didn't think it was that shocking, to be honest. Come on. I'm judging Adnan a lot postwatching this film. Also, this is a huge storm. Oh, my God.

Makes you want to take all the unders on the East Coast.

Sure does.

Is there going to be a hog spoiler alert somewhere in this segment?

I think you should have two TVs, one on Saltburn, one on the game, and hopefully, things time out perfectly. Then when that It's a big deal. There's a huge play. I have to guess what your reaction is to what.

This is the best idea we've had.

Sunday Watch Party on YouTube. This and other surprises. We will be watching the game together on Sunday night.

I would have been a part of it if you told me it was a salt burn launch party.

I may even come now to the party.

Me too.

Hey, yo.

It's the me too from Studio God's that I hated. It's that.

Oh, damn it. I didn't toss this GenCFB. Sorry. Jess had the line, though. I can toss a GenCFB here?

You're going to say, And now GenCFB.

And now GenCFB. There you go. Seasons' meetings, everybody. It is Mike Ryan, here to talk to you about Miller light, but also here to talk to you about this festive season and how Miller time can make holiday time even better. I love this winter weather. It's a good excuse to go outside and toast some wonderful memories with some friends. Why don't you do that with an ice cold Miller light in your hand? And in some parts of the country, you don't need a koozie. It just stays cold out there. How wonderful is that? Take a sip, my friends. Look around. Reflect on your year. You made a A lot of good calls, and no call better than having this Miller light right now. A beer that is brewed for taste. You know it's triple hops brewed? They could have stopped brewing it twice with hops, but they didn't. They went that extra mile, and they brewed it with hops three times. The original light beer since 1975, and still the best one. I'm talking about Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to millerlight. Com/dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer.

Taste like Miller time. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2 carbs per 12 ounces.

Don Lebatard. Elton John does not like performing Crocodile Rock, but to the point we were making, I think he still does because he just knows the crowd wants to hear it.

Well, he has to. I feel like that's safe.

He might be litigious, but that was such a poor imitation of the song.

Stugatz. We can all agree, Piano Man. The crowd needs to sing Piano Man.

Yeah, but I want to hear Billy Joel sing Piano Man. That's not most of it.

He just lets you at the end go.

Does he still have a s UI chest?

She just wants sui nominations. She just wants to rack up Sui nominations.

Is that what she's going to be doing?

I'm trying to avoid that. Fake crocodile Rock, fake Billy Joel's piano. You got it. It's all right. This is the done libert Show with the Stugats.

Welcome back to another edition of Gen CFB. I'm Jessica Smetana, and I'm here today with our villain host/guest, Mike Golick Jr. Filling in for Lucy Rodine because Lucy, she's out in LA, living her best life. She went to the Rose Bowl this weekend. Gojo was there. We're going to do a little Rose Bowl recap, talk about the playoffs, talk about some of the bowl games so far and how amazing bowl season is because Mike and I are both in agreement, right, Mike? It's the best time of the year, and sadly, it has now come to a close. We'll also do a little national championship preview, I think, if we have time at the end, we never do because we only have 25 minutes. So here we go, Gojo. Welcome on the show. How was the Rose Bowl?

It was awesome, and it was really cool to get to experience experience it with Lucy because it was also the morning that I was playing that game against Tennessee, and I believe the Citrus Bowl. I think that's what it was. And watching her, it was a nice reminder that every fan base and a lot of fans were all basically the same when we're watching our team, which is mildly unhinged. We all hate our own team because they've made us miserable at so many different junctures. And when the game is over, it's actually the most liberating moment of all time. So getting to watch her go through that and then to get go over and see what is objectively... I understand the Rose Bowl committee can be a little pretentious sometimes about things. No. It is a ridiculously beautiful setting. I've been there twice now this year, and it lives up to every bit of the hype, so it was awesome.

So my hot take on the Rose Bowl this year, sunset wasn't that great, not enough clouds in the sky. It was a little too clear. I didn't get enough gradient. How was it in person?

So I didn't stay for the game in person. I went out there for the morning and just I bopped around and then went home and watched the game on my couch, which the worst part about that was I left right before the game was getting ready. I was going to get home right around kickoff. And as I got to the parking garage where I parked, I heard the Stealth Bomer go overhead, and I just missed seeing it in person, which I was pissed about because that flyover and the picture they take from the blimp over the Stealth Bomer, over the stadium, is the coolest college football picture every year.

You did what a lot of college football fans do and students do at universities with teams that aren't maybe the best during the game, you went to the tailgate, and then you went home and watched it on the couch. And I respect that. That's a great move, veteran move.

Jess, that was the number one bit of learning I had to do when I was done playing. I went back for my first Notre Dame tailgate after I was done, and it was a night game. And I remember looking around at my friends and my old roommates in the parking lot, and I'm like, I see why you guys always left at halftime now. I'm exhausted.

What your friends left at halftime at Notre... I never did that. If I had to take a nap, I do it right there in the stands.

Wow. You know what? That's why we are friends now, and that's why I'm not on a podcast with a bunch of my friends, ignoring the fact that none of them work in this industry. It's just because you are more dedicated than them, and I appreciate that.

It just means more. Taylor, I need you to tell us what the scene was for the Citrus Bowl viewing party that you and Lucy had before the Rose Bowl.

Yeah. So we get to Pasadena. We're like, Let's go as close to the stadium as possible. So traffic was going to be bad. And Gojo is underselling it a bit how sad the scene was. We're going bar to bar, and nobody will put the Iowa game on for Lucy. They're watching the Oregon game, and then they're watching the Rose Bowl parade, and it's like, Hey, guy, the parade is happening right outside. You don't need to put this parade on TV. And then we finally went to a bar that had the game on, but it was at capacity. They wouldn't let us in. So we're just peering in from behind bushes trying to watch this game. And finally, Gojo shows up and there's an empty table, even though they said they're at capacity, and Gojo is like, We're sitting here. That's how he watched the game. That's when I had the thought, I would rather not watch college football, and I love college football. I would rather not watch college football than be an Iowa football fan.

That's bleak coming from Taylor, who also told me that his main takeaway from the Rose Bowl was, North Carolina is never going to play in this game.

A very sad realization.

But that's the reality for a lot of college football fans. Some teams, you're not going to make it to the playoff. Although everyone, I think, thinks they're going to make it into the 12-team playoff next year, which we'll get to that.

I do think that's also one of the toughest parts about this current national championship we have is I saw everyone writing about how there's not as many stars in these games. That Alabama team was so full of stars. It makes it feel more accessible now because Washington is not one of the blue-chip ratio teams, and Michigan is a little farther down in that list. And so now we're all like, Wait, what is my team doing wrong if it shouldn't be this hard?

That's true. That's actually a great point. I think you can point to the tremendous coaching jobs that both Jim Harbaugh and Calin DeBore have done without those top five star guys. The Rose Bowl, let's talk about the game a little bit. That was really unexpected, I think. I watched Michigan play this whole year. I watched Alabama play this whole year. I still, even despite Alabama's struggles with their offensive line and at times with Jalen Milrow and at certain times with their defense, I just did not expect Michigan to win on the line of scrimmage the way that they did. So I want your O-lineman take on that. And I would also like your O-lineman take on the snap problems that Alabama had all season that came back in the worst possible moment in this game.

That's a nightmare. Anyone who's ever snapped a football at any level will tell you that we all get second-hand hives watching another center go through the yips like that Because you spend so much time in practice. At the beginning of every day, it was the first thing we would do. Quarterbacks and centers go out early, and you go for cue center exchange. You go around with each of the quarterbacks, you get snaps with them under center, and shotgun, you go through the cadence, and you try and make every part of that process committed to memory. You want it to be muscle memory. You don't want to have to think about that because when you get up to the line, you got to think about, All right, what front do we have? Where am I supposed to block on this play? How am I going to reach a 365 pound defensive tackle? All these other things. So you got to have that thing down cold. And the minute there's a mistake, and now all of a sudden, you got to think. Because think about it as a center, too. You don't see it. It's not like a quarterback where, Oh, I throw a bad pass and I know right away, and I can start to autocorrect my brain.

As a center, you're throwing behind you. You're throwing blind, essentially. And so when you come back up and all of a sudden the quarterback is running around around the ground because the ball's in, there's an extra level of panic that goes with that. If you're not the most elite man, and I've seen all pro-NFL All guys lose it over that. It's a tremendously unnerving thing. So as soon as I saw that, it certainly had been a case all season, but it wasn't going to stop that day after the first time it happened. I felt really bad for that dude.

Yeah, that was brutal. Now, reports that he's in the portal, leaving Alabama. A bunch of Alabama players went in the portal after the game. To be expected that there'd be some of that. But that's just college football these days. But a lot was made of the final play, the fourth down play in overtime, and whether or not it was supposed to be a Jalen Millarro run up the gut after almost fumbling another low snap. I don't think that was what was supposed to happen there. But I thought one of the key moments in the game, this is not like a groundbreaking take here. The key moment in the game was the fourth and 2 that Michigan converted on that final drive. Watching Alabama's defense break, it was like very bend, don't break. Jj McCarthy was having a good game. Blake Horn was having a good game. But the third quarter, I thought Alabama was dominating. Then all of a sudden in that fourth quarter, they let them come right down the field, score 75-yard drive to tie up the game. To me, as soon as that happened, game over. I was like, Alabama is not going to win this in overtime.

And that goes to the point you made earlier about elite coaching for the teams that are in the title right now. Because when I said, Oh, this Championship feels more accessible, it's the same way that people used to say, Oh, well, Steph Curry, he's a more relatable superstar star because I can get like him. No, you can't. He's still the 1% of the 1%, just like these teams are. And even if there are a few more three-star bodies on the field, you're absolutely right. The story of this game, whether it was on the defensive side of the football, everything that they were able to do. When you look, five sacks against Alabama in the first half that everybody saw, none of them were on the same look, and only two of them, in my mind, were guys physically winning. The other three were they forced Alabama's offensive line to make mistakes. They presented so many looks on that side of the ball. Jesse Minner, their defensive coordinator, does such a good job, like a very NFL-esque. They get the Baltimore Ravens comps a lot because of the connective tissue coaching-wise between the two. They made it hell for them on that side.

Then Sherone more on the other side, that play you're talking about. They had taken advantage of Alabama and man coverage situations all day long and put them in a bind. And they had not only the right call for that moment, but just in general, something we had seen even in the games where John Jim Harbaugh was suspended was they had the gumption, the belief, and the plan to go for it in those situations. They were never deterred or afraid of the moment in the regular season. And so it wasn't surprising that with the game on the line, everybody involved was comfortable enough to make that call, and that's a very big deal.

Yeah, I think the flip side of that, too, is the end of what happened in the Sugar Bowl, where you had a situation where Washington needs a first down and they can essentially ice the game. And Calin DeBore decides instead of taking a knee, and maybe there's, I think there would have been 15 seconds or something like that on the clock for Texas to have to go back down the rest of the field. He tries to go for it. The running back gets hurt, although it sounds like he is going to play in the national championship game, which is huge because he's been a huge part of their success later on in the season, as we've talked about on the show. But he made the aggressive call to try to go for it and get the first down. It didn't work because I don't think he expected his running back to get hurt and to stop the clock. But those are the coaching decisions. I don't know if you call them aggressive. I think it's just smart that end up benefiting both of those coaches and winning those really close games. Texas was just not able to make that final play the way Alabama wasn't able to make the final play.

We ended up with probably two of the most exciting college football playoff games back to back because of it.

I think, too, you mentioning the coaching part with Calin DeBore down the stretch. Think about another high leverage moments, winning the Apple Cup, that reverse handoff or reverse end around to Roma Dunzé on fourth down, backed up to let it go. They're all let willing to let it fly. That play by Calin DeBore, by the way, that run on third and five, I know people saying, Neil it, you would still have to have had some form of a punt return on that play, which is a risk, and then 15 seconds left on it versus, Hey, if you pop a five-yard run, the game is over. So I can actually understand that versus everyone running to the Mario Cristobal comparison at the end of the Georgia Tech game. But you are right overall in that I think both of these staffs give their team a decided advantage. Washington's got the Joe Moore award-winning offensive line a bunch of NFL wide receivers, and a quarterback that's steadily climbing draft boards. And you can still point, like we do with the Shanehan stuff in the NFL and say the system helps these guys all out a lot because of the play-calling advantage they have with Ryan Grub, especially on offense.

Yeah, I really, really, really love Michael Pennix, and I have been his biggest fan all season. I'm super excited that we get to watch him play another game. Michigan is a four-point favorite. Well, like I said, we'll do a little bit more our National Championship recap in a minute, but we need to go back to, I think, some of the more fun things from this postseason, Mike. And you were one of the pioneers in a bowl game, edible thing, product branding experiences in your ESPN career. So talk to me about your reaction in seeing the very macabre and disturbing fate of the Pop Tart Bowl mascot in this postseason.

It was funny in talking about this in the lead up, I realized that in so many ways, I'm just biting swag from my dad on a lot of this stuff. But he actually was calling the Outback Bowl once years ago and had spent so much time on air eating a bloomen onion they brought up to the booth. That ESPN, his bosses called him and they're like, All right, we can stop eating now. We don't have to keep doing this.

He was like, I'm hungry. This is not a bit.

You put a bloomen onion in front of me and expect me not to destroy. I don't know what you think this is. So to take the through from that through the Mayo Bowl experience that me and Nisha Taylor had. Now to this, I was proud. To hear them call out the Duke's Mayo Bowl by name, now the brands are getting competitive and the bowls are getting competitive. It netded us a freaking pop tart that sacrificed itself on the altar before everyone. We had a pop tart Christ figure in bowl season. This is my body, which will be given up for you, happened in front of the national audience. He transubstantiated, Mike. And then we watched Kansas State, hair and limb from limb.

I'm just a parade? What's next? Where do we go for every year? The brands just get more and more absurd. How do we top this now?

I think there's a couple of ways. One, and unsurprisingly, most of them involve Taylor Swift in my mind. One idea I had for the Mayo Bowl, Travis and Jason, Kelsey, went on their podcast recently and tried to claim that the mayo dumped on the winning coach didn't look like mayo because the viscosity was a little bit messed up. I think some of this ends with Cincinnati playing in the Mayo Bowl somehow next year, and Jason and Travis, Kelsey showing up as the mayo dumpers. The other thing I think is you just add... Well, for the pop tart, the directive is clear because the one complaint people had was you didn't actually eat the live mascot. You had to do the transubstantiation thing. So I think they've got to spend all their time, tech, and budget next year on actually making a mascot suit someone can wear that the players can actually gnaw on.

That is what I was expecting. And also, when you're talking about the Outback Bull and the Blooming Onion, I always think of Ryan Nanny in the Blooming Onion costume. If you're not familiar, please Google it. I was working for Ryan when that happened, and I was home for Christmas, and I turned on the TV, and I was like, That's my boss. My parents, who already don't understand, or at least at the time, didn't understand what my job was, were like, What? That was a weird New Year's Day. It was hard to expect.

It's hard enough to try and convince your parents working in sports or working as a blogger, or something is real. And then when your boss is now edible, I'd imagine, yeah, that does get a lot more dicey.

They were like, wow, that's really weird. Also, great calves, that Ryan Nanny. Looks great in that costume. Anywho, shout out Ryan. I have another hot take for you, Mike, which is about the Orange Bowl. I don't really care that it was a blowout. I don't really think that it means anything. What say you?

I would tend to agree. I understand Kirby. Kirby's in his nick Saban era now, where because he's the big bad at the top of the sport more often than not, he now is going to take the opportunity to have the microphone and say the things because that's what nick did. But I'm with you. I thought the appeal of college football is always that we can buy in bulk. It's a Costco run. During the regular season, we got 133 teams or whatever it is. And so if one game is bad, you move on to the next. You've got one every night of the week towards the end of the year. And in bowl season, if one bowl game is bad, well, don't worry. Another one either kicks off later that afternoon or at noon the next day. So I get that it's supposed to be one of the prestige games. But in this day and age, all politics are going to be local. Every team situation is going to be hyper specific. Our game, the Notre Dame game in El Paso, was a perfect example of that. Both teams had dealt with some transition, but because enough of Notre Dame's key players were coming back and because there was so much coaching staff continuity versus what you had for Oregon State for obvious reasons once their head coach left, they were going to be vastly different results, and you understood why it happened.

Yeah, for me, when I see a team like Georgia win that game, and it was a just massive massive blowout. Was it 65 to three? Was the final? It was incredibly lopsided, to say the least. My mindset is for the winning team like, Oh, wow, good for them. That's a great way to end your season. For the losing team, I'm just like, Okay. I don't really have any valuable takeaway from that because there were so many reasons why Florida State had the opt-outs that they had. And Georgia had opt-outs, too. But you just can't compare like, oh, well, 30 opt-outs here equals 30 opt-outs there. Of course not. It matters what position and the depth and everything else, how many practices you get as a starter and all of these other things. It just is completely impossible to compare one to another.

The people that wanted to use that as like, oh, see, Florida State never should have been in the CFP. I'm like, That's not how this works.

Please don't. No, I don't think that's a genuine argument. I think that a lot of people... I don't know. Maybe that is... Maybe some people do genuinely believe that. That's fine. I mean, the college football playoff games were great. I don't even think it's worth even continuing to argue about it. But yeah, it's okay that sometimes some of the New York Six games aren't ultra competitive. I think we had enough really fun games. Bowl season is a mixed bag. I think you get rewarded for tuning into all of the games and accidentally getting a famous toastery bowl when you're not expecting it. That's the beauty of it. And 5 million people almost tuned in for the Pop Tart Bowl between two teams that I don't think anyone will remember played in the Pop Tart Bowl in a year. So that's great.

That's a great call, Jess, is we We need to consider it in totality. Playing Black Jack with a table full of people you know sucks because you're just basically handing money from one of your friends to the other. None of you actually come out on top in the end. And that's like this bowl season because think about how many years we've had terrible CFP semifinal games. We just outsourced that to a bowl game that wasn't a CFP game now in exchange for really good semifinal games. That seems like a pretty fair trade-off for all of us.

And also it's just going to change. It's going to change next year. There's 12 teams in the play-off. And the thing that I love, which I have heard from probably every program that missed out on the play-off or was in that 9:00 and 3:00, 8:00 and 4:00, 10:00 and 2:00 range of the season was like, Well, next year. Next year, It's a pass fail grade. Basically, you make the playoff and you pass, you don't, and you fail. And there's probably, I want to say, 35 plus programs that have that mindset going in next year. And so for anyone who thinks that the 12-team playoff is going to devalue the regular season. I think, especially because it's the first year, coaches are really, really, really going to have the pressure on to make it.

I do wonder if, because a lot of people have brought this up, because more teams make the playoffs, I wonder if that's going to help coaching longevity in certain jobs, where before, if you were Michigan and Ohio State and you missed the CFP for three years in the four-team version because you lose to the other one, you're on the hot seat immediately after three years. Now, if you're making every year and you have another chance to do that, great. But I do wonder how this affects coaches down in that 15 to 20 range, where maybe your job would have been pretty safe before because expectations were guarded, but now the expectations got ramped up. And I wonder if some of those schools are going to become a little bit less patient.

That's a great take. I would love to do a little infographic tracker on coaching hot seat situations for coaches that make the 12-team playoff, especially in the first year, because I think a lot of teams It's been a small group of teams that have made the four-team playoff. If you're one of them, you are very special, and you are very, very good. You did a good job. And now that's going to expand. And I think everyone wants to be part of that select few very special programs that have made, especially the programs that have made it twice. So let's pivot ahead to the National Championship game on Monday in Houston. Here's another hot take. I've seen a lot of like, Oh, the Rose Bowl should be the National Championship Game takes over the last week, Mike. Not sure if I'm sold on that. However, I would like to see more of a college environment in the National Championship game. I hate that it's on a Monday. It's going to be super late. I'm going to be in my jammies again on the couch, but I am looking forward to it, and I am Very excited to watch Michigan and Washington play each other because guess what?

They get to play each other again in the Big Ten next year. So this is going to probably be the start of a little bit of a rivalry, I think. So who you got in this one?

I'm picking Washington Washington in this one, and I think some of that's caked in the recency bias of just watching the way offense looked in the Michigan-Bama game and then watching against a Texas defense that's not certainly as good as Michigan, but has a lot of big bodies up front, a lot of similar things that they did to have success that I think Michigan can replicate. Just seeing the way that Michael Pennix Jr. Played. If Michael Penix Jr. Can muster another game like that, they're going to win because I don't know if Michigan is built to win a shootout like that. But yeah, I'm going to pick Washington to win. I'm going to say that that same combination of things that worked for them, including Penix's ability to evade pressure, gets it done. And then their defense has to make just enough plays against the Michigan offense that we know, especially we saw at the end when it was nut-cutting time. They wanted the ball on the ground. Jj McCarthy made a couple of big throws, but that's always been the formula. And so Washington made enough plays against Sark's group. I think they can do it again here.

I love nut-cutting time. Tell me more about that next time we do this segment together. I feel like I'm going to take the opposite approach of you just based on vibes, not like that Washington has bad vibes, but just because I thought Michigan going into this game after the entire season where they've been like, Oh, it's the world against us. They have this chip on their shoulder. This could be Jim Harbaugh's last game. It sounds like he has serious NFL aspirations. Reece Davis said on the Levitard show this week, he thought, it's looking like he might be gone next year. So I don't think that necessarily they have any talent advantage over Washington, or they're more physical than Washington even, although they certainly looked like a very physical team against Alabama. I love Washington. I have enjoyed them this entire season. I think that they have some of the most special wide receiver skill position guys in all of college football this year, and it shows. They've won 14 games in a row. But I don't know. I just feel like the scales are tipping towards Michigan right now for me. And all it takes is for some of those long Michigan just hand off the ball 40-time drives, and that's all.

That's game.

I think you're right. And I saw Parker Fleming, stats of war on Twitter, say this before that he feels like there's more ways Michigan can win this game than there are Washington can win this game. I think he's right. Michigan is the more complete team, especially because of what they are and what they represent defensively. I'm so excited about Washington in a very NFL style. Washington's offense versus Michigan's defense is like college football's version this year when the 49ers played the Ravens. Scheme, quality of players, all that stuff's great. But the other side is on paper, advantage Michigan in a pretty big way with their offense, what they can do on the ground versus a Washington defense that's been timely but never consistent.

Yeah. I think despite what I just said, Washington's offense keeps them in the game no matter what the margins are, right? Because they just... I If you watched Michael Penis throw those absolute dimes in the Sugar Bowl, all it takes is one of those, right, to break open a defense and score six points. So I'm hoping it's a good game. I hope it's a close game. I hope it's a fun game. I would hate for such a fun college football semifinal day to be followed up by another national championship blowout like we had last year. But right now, giving the edge to Michigan.

Man, does that hurt you to say? I don't know what your relationship with Michigan is as a Notre Dame fan.

Despise them. This is me giving an emotional hedge. I'm going to accept the worst case scenario. And then if it happens, I accepted it. It's already the hatred is coursing through my veins already, and it can't hurt me. And if I put all my hope in Washington and then they lose, it's going to crush me, Mike. There we go. So this is me giving Michigan their flowers.

This is, again, your ever present reminder. Sports fandom is a mistake. It's a sickness that we all willingly allowed into our body, and we're worse for it.

I'm disgusting. But anywho, that's our episode of Gen CFB. I hope people have enjoyed it. Lucy should be back next week, I hope. Right, Taylor?

Yep, I believe so.

I'm pissed. I thought this was Foot Girls. I came prepared. Oh, God. I was ready to do the damn thing.

What's on the side of your foot? Is that a callous?

I think it's a callus. Yeah, I've been putting in work lately.

Welcome to the Foot Fam.

No, there's no Foot Fam.

It's Foot People. We are Foot People out here. Let's go.

You're not invited back on.

I'm sorry.

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