MIAMI INDIANA PREVIEW - 2026 COLLEGE FOOTBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

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To learn more about Silverado, visit Chevy.com. Hello, welcome to Unnecessary Roughness brought to you by Twisted Tea. And I assume it's brought to you by Twisted Tea because none of my other shows have presenting sponsors right now because apparently January doesn't exist. But I assume this one still does. So hi, we're brought to you by Twisted Tea, the delicious and incredible drink that goes perfectly with college football. I got it right in my hand there. So does T-Bob, and it's never far from Casey or Big F either. Twisted T brings you this podcast every single week. We have arrived kind of within a week of national championship game. It isn't national championship week yet, I guess, because it's on a Monday night, but whatever. I got two things. Hi, Casey. Hi, T-Bob. Hi, Blutman. Hi, Big F. Shut up. I got two little conversations I want to have before we – and I'm not staying long. I left the yak early today because I had a migraine. I missed Wub. Sorry about that, T-Bob. uh i'm i'm fighting through it but whatever you work like 36 hours a day you're you're okay it's fine i just i i don't use you know i usually get them at night not in the morning i got one in the morning it was weird anywho uh i have two things and they're both transfer portal related um here we go today dante moore announced and i assume i'm not getting balls sacked i believe dante moore announced he is in fact coming back to school uh he will be uh back at oregon next year now this comes a couple days after Dylan Riola said, hey, I'm going to Oregon to be the starting quarterback. All right, we'll see if you still feel that way in the morning. But right now, Dante Moore is coming back to Oregon. My question is this, with all the money, with all the money that the transfer portal promises these players, and it is good that they get paid, is it also upsetting the natural order of things when a quarterback plays a career like he has played and then he puts himself in line to be a top one or two pick because he would probably be a top two pick in this year's draft and instead he's going back to Oregon big avid does it have set the natural order of things of guys going to the NFL when their time has come no I don't think so because I think he's someone who I have to imagine so if I'm in Dante Moore's shoes the reason you come back I think are evident in the sense of maybe you're not quite ready you don't think you still can make a nice trigger change in college there's a lot of this correlation that's being talked about amongst how many starts you had in college correlating to your immediate success in the nfl um the jets may be part of it now i don't overblow the jets thing i think the jets thing might be maybe just a very small part i don't think the jets was his determining factor but obviously i have no idea but no i don't think it i don't think it upsets the natural order because i think he's someone who probably long-term would benefit from another year starting. So, you know, I don't think he does. And even the Raiola thing, I think in the Raiola, Moore's situation is a little different. Because Raiola was basically a two-year starter where Moore started like five games at UCLA. But he was the guy who humbled himself and took a year and sat behind Gabriel and then had a great year this year. So I see a guy like Raiola where his dad was, I think, playing in the NFL for like a decade, was a good player, where he says, hey, maybe take a year if Moore leaves than you play. And if he doesn't, then you take a year, you learn, maybe you're redshirt even, and become a better quarterback between the years. And then you come back and you play the next year and you're great. But no, I guess the answer, I don't think it throws off the realm of how things are supposed to go or whatever. Most of the show is going to be about the Indiana-Miami game, so we're not going to spend a lot of time. He's the only one that got that question. T-Bob, you get the next question, transfer portal related. and and when you do answer your question please unmute your mic so you don't look like a moron yeah look okay i got bobby in the room with me he's gonna be hanging out on show so i will be muting i'm muting but i don't know you let that boy hang out you let that boy podcast okay okay cool podcast okay if he has shit to say let him say it all right here's your question t-bob yeah lsu just landed uh well actually they landed three quarterbacks in the transfer portal looks like it looks like they landed the uh the oh the elon the elon quarterback uh and then they landed uh long street from usc i don't know if that was official but it looks like it's about to be if it isn't and then of course they landed the big prize which is sam levitt sam levitt of course the number one quarterback in the transfer portal and here's your question sam levitt number one transfer portal quarterback what the fuck yeah yeah i don't see it like i've seen so many transfer portal quarterbacks like Mendoza won the Heisman, Jalen Daniels won the Heisman. I watched this guy in Starkville get beat by Mississippi State's defense when he passed for 80 yards. Is this really the number one transfer portal quarterback? If he is, I'm not entirely sure how they're arriving there. I mean, you look around and really just objectively, because I was preparing a segment that we never got to on this morning show looking all the quarterbacks and their stats and everybody who's gone everywhere else but like you look at mess to maker you look at hoover you look at byron brown all three of those guys stats smash what sam levitt even put up two years ago i don't know he was injured this year but especially this year kind of seemed like a step back year in some ways um brendan soresby stats are not great but they still smash that of sam levitt um um raiola doesn't i suppose so it's a weird thing uh brandon where i think a lot of that uh scouting report or that number one ranking does come from either hype or what people view as potential and you can see the potential right you saw it two years ago at arizona state when they went on that run he had the big game against texas along with um uh oh my god i'm a blank thank you geez wow um so yeah i don't i'm i'm with you now i will say this if we're talking i don't know how he gets the number one rating before he goes to lsu but if we're talking about am i excited now that he's at lsu absolutely i mean you're talking about a guy that you can see the natural ability in terms of arm talent in terms of being a true dual threat who can use his legs we know he's tough and now you put him in a lane kiffin offense with Lane's ability to develop quarterbacks. That makes me very exciting. But it is a bit odd to your point that the number one ranking comes before that combination is unlocked. Casey, here's your question. Are you ready? I'm ready. Is Lane mad at Mincy? He was very mad at Mincy, yes. I have not checked in recently about that necessarily. But, yes, it was not just for content. as I told Mincy as I got Mincy'd before we started recording this in the Chicago office Lane was actually very mad at him not because of the FaceTime because he didn't tell him he was being recorded the amount of times I repeated that exact sentence while I got Mincy'd was Mincy it wasn't the FaceTime you simply have to tell someone they're being recorded maybe he's over it now I don't know Blutman here's your question you ready that was my question it's better than Blutman's hey Blutman you ready yep how you doing player no not great tired as ever i'm i'm exhausted uh so so is brando so i get it i can i clean up the rail a question yeah yeah he went to oregon with the understanding that there was a decent to you know that there was a pretty decent chance he was going to be backing up in 2026 it's not like he went there planning to start people seem to forget Rayola has a broken fibula and needs to recover. I'm so tired, dude. Recover. Dylan Rayola needs to recover, rehabilitate, and get back to normal in addition to just needing to refine himself and properly develop. The year off is a smart play from him. But, yeah, he's got a broken fibula. He's still a six-month recovery, no? Fibula can be 3-6, 3-7. Well, no. I mean, I don't know. Does he have ligament damage? I'm not a doctor. No, no, no. I didn't know if it was public because if you're talking about just a broken fibula, I snapped my fibula. I got to play a few screws in there. That was actually the easiest surgical recovery I had because it's just a bone healing. If he doesn't have ligament damage, like your ACL that I had, that took like six months. The labrums took four to six months. I feel like the fibula maybe took like six to eight weeks. But I don't know. But your point, Stan, Everything you said is still absolutely true. I have a question for you, Liam. What do you know about Drew Maringer? Because I don't know. Are we just taking it for granted that Oregon's going to continue to be this incredible veteran quarterback turnaround factory without Will Stein? Because, I mean, what Will Stein did with Bo Nix and Adel and Gabriel was unreal and to Dante Moore. Can they keep that going without Will Stein? I guess it remains to be seen I guess we'll see I don't know I didn't know if you knew anything about Mariner I know he's a tight end coach that's been on the staff every year Lanny's been there so he obviously trusts him, he thinks he's the guy I'm not crazy educated Yeah, well it's just something to watch out for I'm not either, but if you're thinking about Oregon you have to remember Will Stein no longer there, I think that's potentially very important Casey, do an ad and then we'll dive into indiana miami i have a question coming i have to pause i almost had some really weird language i have a question for you brandon after i read this ad game time the national championship is next monday we are recording this on a wednesday and if you're still looking for tickets in miami i know they were crazy expensive because miami is playing in miami but you never know at game time they get you the best deals it's incredibly easy to use the game time guarantee means you can trust you'll get 100 authentic tickets on time and at the best price the fees are always included so you see what you pay and now you can save even more when you just choose a section and let game time choose the seats take the guesswork out of buying college football tickets with game time download the game time app create an account use code rough r-o-u-g-h for twenty dollars off your first purchase again terms to apply create an account redeem code rough r-o-u-g-h for twenty dollars off download the game time app today okay brandon my question for you and i know that this is almost a tired conversation because everybody in college football and in sports has been having it But it does feel like until the national championship actually happens, it's a fair conversation to have. It is insane that we have to wait until next Monday for this game. And I know that the college football calendar is broken. Dan Lanning talked about it a couple weeks ago. It almost feels like it's a thing that we always talk about in the last two years with the 12-team playoff. It's even longer and the delays and all of that. But it can't just be something that we bitch about and then kick it down the curb or kick it down the block, whatever. and do the same thing next January. This has to be fixed. This is crazy. So in college football season, in football season, there's a beautiful rhythm to Saturdays are for college football, Sundays are for the NFL. Saturdays are for college football, Sundays are for the NFL. Obviously, there's some Thursday night games for both. There's some Monday night games for NFL. But that's your rhythm. Bang, bang, bang, bang. I'm reacting to this one day. I got this the next day. Bang, bang. Since Indiana beat Oregon, there will have been two full weeks and 10 NFL playoff games. 10. What? 10 times. Six this weekend, four this coming weekend. There will have been 10 times the NFL has a chance to steal a spotlight from college football. The one thing I look back at and say college football used to be a lot more broken than it is now. And people think, oh, it's broken now. It used to be way more broken. We used to have bowl games where we had the best team from the Midwest going out to California, the best team from the South going down to New Orleans, and then we'd guess who the national champion was. And we would wait for sports writers to vote. That was the dumbest thing imaginable. We did that all the way up until 1997, okay? So it used to be way more broken, but the one thing they had right was the college football season ended on January 1st. And if the powers that be in college football took this one idea and built the sport around it, And they said, no matter what, if it's a 12-team playoff, a 16-team playoff, a 28-team playoff, this season is going to end with a national title game on January 1st. I think the sport will get a lot better. I think it would tighten up December, and it would get rid of the distractions, and you're no longer competing with the NFL playoffs. Just the fact that the semis were on a Thursday and a Friday, and then we have to wait for the next Monday. And I know everybody's talking about it, but Dave said it perfectly on WUB on Monday, too. is like the fact we have two full rounds of the NFL playoff before we even know who's going to win the college football national title. That just sucks. And for us who live and breathe college football, we're going to be locked in. But for the casual fan and for the people who aren't as locked in, it kind of does lose its luster. I don't want it to be a situation where everybody bitches and moans and then we forget about it in a month and then we're having the same conversation. It needs to be fixed. Well, I mean, it's not just that. It is not just the casual fans. It is functionally. Coaches have to take new jobs. Players find new homes Everything that happens you know school doesn stop for football players We think it does but it doesn Like these guys need to be able to enroll in new schools or enroll in their other schools Coaches how many coaches do we have pulling double duty Like, the other day, Oregon had two coordinators pulling double duty trying to launch their entire career with their new head coaching job while also balancing the fact that they're playing for a national title. So, like, it would help everybody. It would help players. It would help coaches. It would help fans. Tighten it up. Tighten it up. So what's the friction then? I mean, it's the TV schedules, the TV partners, the bowl partners. I don't, Liam, do you know? Well, there is one obstacle because in Brandon's scenario, if the national championship was on New Year's Day, national champion would be the Rose Bowl every single year. So there's an obstacle. The Rose Bowl refuses to move. For so many years, it was like January 8th, January 9th. Like, I'm even okay with that. Like, just move it. And I know Dan Lanning talked about like maybe week zero is week one. And I don't know if he said it, but there's been a thought out there that Army-Navy is in standalone. Like there are a lot of things you can do to fix it. But I mean, T-Bob, as much as we loved the soap opera of what happened with Lane and it was great to watch unfold in social media and all that, the fact that he even had to make that decision with Ole Miss in the playoff and had to, quote, abandon his team to go take the LSU job, that sucks. Like that shouldn't happen. No, I mean, again, this is one of those weird problems that I think crop up in life every now and then where everybody feels like it's wrong. Everybody feels like it needs to be changed. There's all the reasons we just laid out why it should change. But I just don't know if it will because who changed it? Like who's in control of college football? It remains one of the ultimate issues with the modern days. How much does everybody want to talk about the portal and I know that's what's wrong with the sport. In my opinion, what's wrong with the sport is there is no guiding voice. There's no overarching person or group that controls the sport, which is kind of insane to say for the second biggest sport in the country. Can you imagine if the NFL didn't have a commissioner? It's fair. I think really, I mean, the obvious, like the NIL, the Supreme Court ruling, I think really cut them at the knees. Yeah, the NCAA can't do anything. How powerless they are. and I think once that like they already were just a shitty organization but I mean that really just they just they're they're they're a limp dick after that like they just they they they're like they're basically their their pillars were essentially just crumbled in that moment of like you're everything you're doing stupid and also this this really probably doesn't have much to do with the actual the structure of the calendar but I do think Oregon Indiana being such a bad game made it even feel that much longer and that much worse yeah it's probably true yeah that's fouled another thing to do to just that break that we have in December we go two weeks without these you know without so many of these teams playing their key playoff games that that's a lot that's 14 days that we could cut down right there yeah landing is right with uh moving it up in August I guess a bit bittersweet is so many of those great rivalry games on the Thanksgiving weekend are now going to be bumped up. That's going to hurt. There will be, we will have to have some sacrificial lambs, like without a doubt. Right? There will be a lot of fallout. But if we're going to do this big playoff thing, I do think it's objectively for the best. All right, Brandon, you want to talk about the game that we're here to talk about? Yeah. Well, let's talk about Cracker Barrel first. Cracker Barrel game of the week? Cracker Barrel, the only game of the week that we're going to be talking about. We'll see who we all vote the game of the week. We'll have to find out. Okay, that's right. Well, Brandon, I know that you're not feeling your best, but even when you're not feeling your best, Cracker Barrel hits, because they've got that warm, comfy food, right, Brandon? It just makes you feel your best. Oh, he's breathing. The hash brown casserole. Yeah, he's dreaming. Okay. The southern food, the fried pork chops on a Monday night. I believe it's Monday night. If it's Tuesday, correct me. But I'm a sucker for their menu, man. You come in, there's a Monday night special, a Tuesday night special. I think Wednesday night is the cheddar, broccoli, chicken. You got it. You got it. Also, snowstorm just rolled in. Could you imagine how nice the Cracker Barrel fireplace would be? Oh, my God. Broccoli, cheddar, chicken is what I was trying to say. Broccoli, cheddar, chicken. It's all good. It is all good. I love Cracker Barrel. And whether it's dinner or breakfast, breakfast all day, fantastic. There's soups. I mean, like I said to you, Bob, you incepted my brain right there. I was thinking about just being in front of the fireplace, having a nice bowl of soup, the biscuits, the Cracker Barrel game of the week is obviously the national championship, which is not this week because as we just mentioned in length, it's too fucking long. I shouldn't have sworn. I apologize, Cracker Barrel. But Indiana-Miami, Brandon, take it away. All right, so I want to do a couple things. A, I want to play devil's advocate for the Miami Hurricanes. Right now that game came out as a 7.5 point spread. is now eight and a half. It feels like a lot of people watch those two semifinal games and they watch Miami mistake its way to a four point win over Ole Miss and they watch Indiana bludgeon to death the Oregon Ducks. They also watch Indiana bludgeon to death the Alabama Crimson Tide and they came to the conclusion congratulations Indiana. This is one of the best teams we'll ever We're talking about them with 2019 LSU. We're talking about them with 2001 Miami. Those are both conversations that better be had after the game. Having them before the game is a bad idea. It's a bad idea for anybody. It would have been a bad idea if Ohio State were here and undefeated. It's a bad idea. Let's let them get through. And if you are putting together a team to take down this undefeated monster, this perfect monster that doesn't make mistakes, what do you want? You want to be able to control the offensive and the defensive line. If you can control the line of scrimmage, well, guess who can control the line of scrimmage? Miami's offensive line and Miami's defensive line. Mesador seems like he's good to go. Everybody seems like they're good to go up front. Miami can wreck you at the line of scrimmage. What else do you need? You need a quarterback with the ability to beat a big-time team. Miami's starting quarterback is 38-5 as a starter. He's 16-3 against AP ranked teams. As much as we make fun of him sometimes, as bad as he looks occasionally, the guy is not scared to beat a ranked team. I think the – Indiana looks amazing, but the recipe for an upset is on the stove, and it's starting to smell delicious, Big Ev. Am I crazy? No, I don't think you are. I think I've, even the last few days, I've started to have that same kind of thought where I'm like, are we just crowning Indiana too early? Are we just writing off Miami a little too fast? Because I've always said in NFL terms, no team's ever as good or as bad as you think they are. And with these high-level teams, I'm starting to think a little bit about them. We're like, as Indiana, as amazing as they look, and they deserve all the flowers, they do. They had a dogfight with us. They had a dogfight with Iowa. They had a dogfight with Penn State. Why can't they have a dogfight with Miami? I'm not even sitting there picking them to lose. But now the narrative is, like you talked about, trying to say, are they the best comfortable team of all time? And that's scary before the game. I think Miami can keep it close. I've started to think, like, if their defense, they just have to avoid the bad mistakes. Because you think Indiana's not going to make them. And that's the X factor. If Miami cannot turn the ball over, they can make this a game. Because I think this could be like a 23-20 kind of game. I think it's going to be lower scoring. I think defense will prevail. You've seen it with the close games Indiana had, they've been low scoring. They've been 13-10 with Ohio State. They're 24, whatever it was, 21 with Penn State. It was like 17-10, whatever it was, they won by five. It was both under 20 in the Iowa game. Like they've been low scoring games. So I kind of think 23-21, 23-20. I think Indiana, I do just trust them more ultimately because as much as we're talking about Miami's offensive defensive line, Indiana has – they got the goods on both sides of the line scrimmage as well. But I do – there's part of me that thinks this game – this game in the middle of the game in Indiana at Oregon, it was like four and a half, five and a half, and it just went up to eight and a half. So does anybody else, the three of you left, want to take the other side? that guys, you can tuck yourself into whatever. Indiana, Casey's hand is raised. Go. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be a blowout. I don't think it's going to be as bad as we've seen the last two games that Indiana has played, but I just think Indiana is so damn perfect. And I'm not going to say they're one of the best college football teams of all time until after they win, but the way that they've been playing, they just have no flaws. They have nothing that you can point out on the field and say, this is where I'm a little bit concerned about Indiana. And we've seen that almost all year, and they played Ohio State closely, but the way that they've continued to build on that and all the narrative as well, if you have a bye, you're going to lose. It's like they just keep crushing that every time. And I feel like for me personally, it would be foolish to sit here and say, a team that I'm seeing play perfect football, a quarterback that's playing perfect football and across the board is going to potentially lose this game. I don't think they're going to, but I do not think it's going to be a blowout like it has been in the last two games. But I do think that they're going to win And I think that it's foolish to say they're the best team of all time before they win. But after they win, I do think that they can be in a conversation with the early 2000s, Miami's 2019 LSU. And they don't have to look the same, but they should be in those conversations. Yeah, I'll add some context to what to to what Big Ev was talking about there. He mentioned the three teams that Indiana got dogfights this year, right? Penn State, Iowa, Ohio State. What was the common denominator in those games? Indiana rushed for less than three and a half yards per carry. They're the only times where they've been kept to a number that low, and every single time the entire offense kind of halted because of it. Well, Penn State, 56th ranked rush defense in the country. Iowa, 17th rush defense. Ohio State, 7th best rush defense. Miami, 6th best in the entire country, only 86 yards a game, 2.8 yards per carry. So in that sense, Miami feels well-suited to potentially battling with Indiana on the line, shutting down that very good inside-outside zone rush attack. Also, how do you stop an elite quarterback that is absolutely dialed? We've seen this every level of football. We've known this since the Brady days, whenever Brady would lose a Super Bowl, like to the Giants. A four-man rush that can get pressure while you drop seven into coverage. Well, you look at Miami, you go look at their PFF grades. What are they? They're the highest graded pass rush team in the entire country with an overall pass rush grade of 92.5. 54 sacks in the year, most in the country. Bain and Mesidor individually are second and fifth in the country. So they do seem well-suited to attacking Indiana's offense. And on the flip side, you mentioned the word control, Brandon, and that's what this is all about. These are two teams that have made a lot of hay this year controlling the flow of the game, fifth and sixth. in time of possession respectively. They both average over 33 minutes a game. Miami, ever since they discovered their identity that we talked about, that smash mouth, efficient, road grader run team, like that's a great way to not only put yourself in third and manageable, maybe convert some first downs against this very good Indiana defense, but it's also an excellent way to keep Fernando Mendoza and company off of the field. And then when they get on, maybe all the defensive stuff we just talked about makes them sputter a bit. So I'm with you. The more I've thought about this game, I think the number is a bit too big. I think this is a close game. I think this is a three-point game. I think maybe it gets to 10 with like a late Indiana touchdown or something, but I don't feel like it's going to be a game that Indiana just controls from beginning to end. And the reason why, though, I still find myself going to Indiana at the end of the day because they look so even in so many different areas, like the skill plays to everything. I do think Fernando Mendoza is just better than Carson Beck. and I like the maturity that Beck's been playing with it. We celebrated him, the $4 million drive, putting his body on the line. Fernando Mendoza is all of that and then some, and he's as locked in as we've ever seen a player on this stage. We all know the eight touchdowns and five incompletions, so I'm just providing some context. I agree with both of y'all's takes, right, in that I think this is going to be closer than people to give any credit for, but I do think that Indiana ends up winning in the end. Blotman, everybody's all over the place here. Casey, after Blutman talks, I'll be going to bed. Y'all can do all the nuanced stuff and get into the stats if you want, whatever. But Blutman, two sides of the fence. Do you have a side that you're going to go hang out with and barbecue? Yeah, I mean, my side of the fence is the Indiana Hoosiers side of the fence. As I've thought about it more over the days, she about touched on it at the end there, it is the time of possession. It's a massive time of possession game. How much can Miami ball control? When T-Bop was talking about the best way to stop a red-hot quarterback in his offense, four-man pass rush is correct. It's also time possession and how often you could keep them off the field. This is going to be a massive thing to watch is what down in distance Miami is getting in their third downs, and if Indiana is able to get off the field, that's what I'm looking for. a broken record, but they're mistake-free. They're as perfect as perfect could be. I don't want to have this, are they all-time good debate going on before or after the game because I don't think they are that. I think that they're a really, really, really good team. I think they're going to win a national championship. I do think it will be by double digits, but I don't think we need to have this 2019 LSU debate and early Miami debate etc etc let's just let this play out let's crown champion let's move on to fixing the sport for the better in this offseason Brandon last thing I say and then I gonna leave without anybody here being able to rebut this so I gonna leave now okay but also make your score prediction before you leave so we have it for social media the drop by gnc it where you find all the newest creatine innovations like new gnc amp creabolic it a first of its kind formula designed to help athletes not just build muscle but also repair and protect it in ways creatine alone can't get it now at gnc you know what no no i'm not ready it's wednesday it's wednesday give me give me let's all put it out on social media monday on the ur account can we do that lukey can we do that oh lukey says we can do that yes we can do that for a graphic you're muted i'll give a score prediction but i gotta be able to well he i ask him because it's a social it's a paid thing listen if it wasn't paid i wouldn't ask lukey but it is okay fair enough fair enough i didn't know we had ads in january okay we have flip six brother my last thing that i'm gonna say is i'm a little sick of every single time a team is real good and wins a national title we can pair them to 2019 lsu 2019 lsu could score a lot of points but that defense gave up a lot of points too okay there's been 2001 miami there's been some elite elite elite elite elite teams in this world why does it always fall back to lsu they scored a lot of points and they were pretty but i don't think they're the best team in college football history and I'm tired of people acting like that and fuck LSU fans that's what I say goodbye everybody feel better Brandon you know I mean I don't want to have the conversation but well he's gone and the reason why people talk about LSU that way is just because what the guys went on to do in the NFL well I also do think that the way that like the thing with college football and I put 2019 LSU up there because of how good the offense was like that was an elite all-time offense in college football you're allowed to say that it's okay to say that but when you have a perfect team and I know Liam you just said you don't want to have the conversation it's really hard when you have a a perfect team regardless if it's because their offense their defense both sides of the ball if you're perfect in this day and age in college football and you're able to especially in a 12-team playoff you do have to have those conversations even if you disagree with it well I think at LSU I think it was see I would lean more obviously how great the offense was but I think it was more they were dominant throughout the season like even obviously their two playoff games they won by big margins. Oklahoma and Clemson both were never close. So I think that plays into it too. I think that being the last two images of seeing that team in your mind are them just bludgeoning Oklahoma when he throws seven touchdown passes in the first half or something. And then Clemson with Lawrence who obviously is very good and they had a lot of NFL talent on that team and they just bludgeoned them as well. Although it should have been Ohio State. We got fucked. But I'm not even sitting here saying we would have beat LSU, but we got fucked against Clemson. Last thing on this, it is also, I mean, it's just the fact that Burrow's stat line was 60 touchdowns to five. Oh, yeah. Like that plays on like the human psychology. 6,000 yards. Yeah. Anyway, that's good if you saw it like Western Kentucky, not at LSU. And Brandon also is not here to have a rebuttal to this, but when we put out our list throughout the years, he always has 2019 LSU like second behind Miami. So anyways, before we get anything more and Liam I have a question for you after this we have to talk about IQ Bar this episode is brought to you by IQ Bar which is our new snack and coffee sponsor and uh I mentioned this last week I was exhausted so it didn't really come out as as well as I wanted it to but they have instant coffee in little packets that you can just take wherever and it doesn't have to be in hot water it can be in cold water I have been on record for a long time saying that I don't like when you fly you can't just get a cold brew because I don't like coffee. Now I can have my delicious IQ Joe mushroom coffee. And it's not just about the coffee aspect. It's delicious, low sugar, brain and body fuel that you need to win your day. But also the IQ bar is incredibly healthy and they are fantastic. I had the chocolate peanut butter one this morning and you can get the ultimate sampler pack, which is a great way to try all the IQ bar products and flavors. You get nine IQ bars and four IQ Joe sticks. The new year gives us a chance to reset, maximize your brain and your body's potential with IQ bars, protein bars, and mushroom coffees. And their ultimate sampler pack includes both. I've tried all the flavors. They're fantastic. Again, the coffee is great. And again, it's healthy coffee. A lot of people look at coffee as not being good for you, depending on what you put in it. These mushroom coffees are great for your brain and your body. And right now IQ bar is offering our special podcast listeners 20% off all IQ Bar products, including the ultimate sampler pack, plus free shipping to get 20% off text roughness to 64,000. Again, that's text roughness to 64,000, roughness to 64,000 message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. Liam Bluntman, I have a question for you. When you look at this national championship and throughout the year, you know, we all argued, you know, Indiana, Ohio State, whatever it may be. But when you look at this Miami team and we and we've talked about if Carson Beck doesn't turn the ball over, you and I seem to be the reason I'm asking you this first, because you and I seem to be on the same page that we're on Indiana's side of the fence. If Miami is going to beat Indiana and I know T-Bob and everybody else has mentioned the rush defense and all of that. But if you're looking at Carson Beck and let's picture next Monday, what is Carson Beck need to do? What is his stat line need to look like? Not, you know, specifically, but in your head to beat Indiana. honestly dead honest yeah like a 16 for 21 for 160 in a touchdown because that means they had so much success on the ground and that he took what the defense gave him underneath because that that to me is so key here that and it's the same stat we've all everybody's brought up throughout the year big ev that when they did lose those games they had no business losing it is because he turned the ball over. And I think I've said it a hundred times now, six turnovers in two games. So we know they have to protect the ball, but there's also that Carson Beck factor that we saw in the Fiesta Bowl 10, 12, however many days ago it was. Like he does have that next level athleticism that he can bring out. So it's like, if they can beat Indiana, he's going to have to do something special at some point, right? I don't think so. Really? I don't think he has to be, like, special. I kind of agree more with Liam that, like, he needs to just control the game and not turn the ball over and make it a low-scoring game, and who knows what happens at the very end. Yeah, because I think if they ask him to do too much would be a problem. I think if they're able to establish the run and he's able to just, like, hit check downs, make a throw on third down here and there when he needs to, and, again, just not turn the ball over. If he has no fumbles, no picks, I think this is a close game. See, I think I'll actually go the opposite way here, where I don't know that Miami's going to be able to establish the run. It is one of the things that I'm most looking forward to. It's going to look a bit like the Alabama game from a pure visual standpoint, where Miami is going to have a distinct size advantage when you're talking about their O-line going against that Indiana D-line. Now, Alabama's O-line had that too, but they weren't any good to begin with. Miami's is. however this Indiana team man they just play bigger than they are it's because they play their scheme and technique you know at a 90 plus percent rate and they just don't miss tackles in fact that's another thing to watch like will Malachi Tony be able to force the missed tackles they do us every single week against a team that just does not miss tackles and so if you can't establish to run and if we're giving credence to Indiana and Signetti as being these game planning experts which we believe them to be and I believe them to be and they see a Miami team and they know that Carson Beck when this when they got good is when they stopped asking him to be explosive and started asking to take what they're giving him and throw the ball underneath and and not really try the defense or rely on the running game I think Indiana is going to put everything into trying to force Carson Beck into being explosive and so I kind of feel if Miami is going to create this upset they're going to have to come up with some explosive plays against an Indiana team that just doesn't give up much because otherwise I do feel like Indiana's got a bit of a What's the old Belichick philosophy? It's basketball. It's everything. I can't attribute it to that. It's like take away the guy's right hand. He likes the right takeaway. He's right here. They know Miami wants to run this smash mouth style of football. They're going to put everything in and stopping that. And the key for Miami then is can they take the top off the defense or at least appear to have the threat to? Because then that could come back and get the run game going again. So I think that Beck is going. I don't know about stats, but I think he's going to have to create some big plays that he hasn't been asked to as much yet on this playoff run. I think Miami needs one really long touchdown drive a half minimum. Yeah. I think in each half, and I'm talking just to make it like a game, like make this competitive close football game they have a chance to win. They need at least one seven, eight-minute touchdown drive a half. They got to keep the ball to their hands. Indiana is too efficient. and I agree with you team I'm not sure if they're going to be able to establish the run Miami but I think they're gonna but I really think to win the game they're going to need to I don't know if they can't I think they have a chance to because maybe they can use the size against them they could look maybe can maybe yeah like maybe they do just come out and they just run it well and they don't have to take off the top I just believe that they may have to go tarps off to get that run game going it's fair that's fair they might they're gonna hit it one or two probably keep him honest well there Liam there was that the graphic going around the stack going around that because and T-Bob just mentioned the size advantage that Miami has there was like yeah it was yeah it was from us what was the the numbers on that again Lukey it was something crazy it was the the O-lineman from Miami the way he's like 6'9 is it like like 380 yeah 375 or something crazy their biggest D-lineman's like 6'3 like 3-0 three and change like 3-0 something real time. Yeah, those posts just have a way of doing numbers. No meaning or nothing. Just a straight up fact. They make people so mad. And it's just numbers. But I mean, what is it, Lukey? You have it? You're pulling it up? I mean, look at that. That's crazy though. That is objectively crazy. 6'9", 345, and I think, what does it say? 6'3". That can't be. Their biggest alignment is not 6'0". No chance. that's true they don't have a defensive lineman that's over 6 feet tall there's no way because Camara's tiny this was based on weight ok ok but still that's their heaviest D lineman no no no 302 is small for your heaviest D lineman 100% that's small what's the tallest they got a guy at 6'3 6'4 but in 200's that's not great yeah 270 I mean, that's like a good D&D. That's a good size D&D. I love that the first response to this is the subtle manipulation of this one is hilarious. He knew what he was doing. He did the Judge Altuve meme. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just a subtle manipulation of the edit, Lukey. Hats off to you. You know how to do this. Rocket Money. Have you ever had a moment when you realize you need to help get your finances under control? rocket money is a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions monitors your spending and lowers your bills so you can grow your savings i say this around this time of year every year because rocket money has been a part of this podcast for a long time after the super bowl things start looking a little bit different you know in football season you start clicking some things you subscribe to some things and maybe it's time uh to to get rid of those subscriptions and rocket money can help you look exactly where those are and not only that they can cancel them for you, which is absolutely huge. But the app also consolidates checking savings loans and investments into a single dashboard and gives users a clear view of their financial picture. 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I know T-Bob, you're new to the rocket money game yeah i've been really loving it yeah it's been great for me i'm trying to like everybody else you know life's very expensive so trying to tighten up the budget and i immediately cut out like uh a few hundred dollars worth of stuff that i had no idea i've been paying for uh for years even in in some cases it is crazy how easy it is to subscribe to things like especially like on different platforms and i've noticed and i like my son is almost three He turns three in February, but he has started to learn how to click around on the TV remote, which I've been told is also very dangerous in that game. Once they start to have an understanding of you can just press OK and the next thing you know, you have a subscription that you had no idea existed. These are things I have to pay attention to now. Yeah. And it even goes into like it's really good just about budgeting. You see like, holy shit, like we're spending too much on groceries. Like we should probably dial it back or we're spending too much here or there. See, I'm a massive rocket money proponent. You should all take advantage. Okay, so we have, you know, one game to talk about here. And then obviously, from a housekeeping standpoint, we will be live after the College Football National Championship on Monday. So I know, T-Bob, you're a big stack guy. Liam, Ev, I'm just going to, as Brandon normally does, just leave the floor open for your last thoughts on this Wednesday. We do have like five days until the game is actually played. But on this Wednesday, talking Indiana-Miami, Liam, I'll start with you. What are your last thoughts on this before we see ball played in Miami? My last thoughts on this are consistent with my last thoughts on the last show we did. What is this stadium going to look like? It's a Miami home game, but how much of this stadium is going to be filmed with Indiana Crimson? And I'm so excited to just see that first crowd shot as they pan in over the stadium, look around, give us a good look right before kickoff. And that roar, that pop on the opening kick, it's going to hit different. So we've talked extensively about the game, but the game inside the game, what that stadium is going to look like if Indiana takes over Miami in their own place you got to talk about the Indiana fans as maybe one of the greatest fan bases of all time You got to put 2025 Indiana up with I don know some SMU Pony Express fans or something Hey, I mean, Ev, you've won national titles pretty recently. T-Bob, you have as well. But Brandon said this perfectly on the last episode when we talked about this. When you've never been there, I mean, Indiana has quite literally never been here. And they were the worst program. Like, everybody goes. every single person goes because i mean you know even just being in the playoff like the first time we'd ever been in the playoff this year like everybody was in college station and i can't even imagine what it would be like to be in a national title so i agree with liam i i think it's going to be very interesting you see i know that the tickets were crazy expensive so i don't know how much that plays into it but in the microcosm just buy tickets for everyone the microcosm of the audience i'm also very excited to see the dynamic of michael kadek white boy rick and danny boy kane like we saw what happened with danny boy kane at the fiesta bowl but but those three also very interesting okay ev what are your last thoughts oh go ahead well no just on the crowd stuff real quick we got to remember too you mentioned everybody wanted to be there and then indiana is anywhere from the first to third largest alumni base in the entire country so they have a shit ton of people who could find their way there also just think about what an Indiana home game fills up, they pretty much double that when they're down there in the South last week. Yeah. They're getting bigger home crowds at neutral sites than their actual stadium. Because they're shutting everything down. It's like the shows and the movies where the town shut down for the high school football games and nothing's open. I have to imagine that's what Bloomington's like when these games are happening. They just shut everything down. They moved high school basketball games that's like unheard of like saying these like he's like sanctified like rivalries that apparently are just like go on for like a hundred years where they fill up more people in a high school gym they move these games for the last Iowa Indiana game which apparently is just like on uncharted territory it's not hyperbole to say that it is like one of those movies where they shut this down so and I'm sitting really far away because I'm sitting in Titus's seat right now, but the lovely Darren Revell, everyone's favorite. He said that the worst seat, the current to get in for the worst and including fees is $3,600. Is that right? That's crazy. Wow, look, Revell says largest living alumni base. I thought it was the largest, but Michigan and Penn State always push back on that. Ohio State's up there too. I know. And Texas and A&M are also both up there. I mean, just the sheer size of the state. $3,600 to sit in I'd assume nosebleeds is insane and again you want to be in the stadium for those I think you don't know when you're ever going to be back but a couch sounds far better than nosebleeds for $3,600 especially if it goes wrong for your team what Revell doesn't tell you is the mincy game plan you gotta wait it out you gotta wait it out to the last second maybe you'll find the ticket for $700 maybe you'll find the seat for free what's the capacity of Hard Rock? it's not i mean you're on 70 i looked at it sounds like it's not 65 000 65 so that plays in this as well like that's like half of some of these stadiums i i have to i'm about to have to leave in like three minutes well yeah we're ending anyway to go bring alice to hockey give your thoughts uh one more on the home stadium thing the only because i don't think they're gonna have a crowd advantage miami there might be something to be said for being in your building where everything is completely familiar, right? Football coaches crave routine and having the exact same game day that you have for every single home game and being in the same locker rooms, like there is some intangible effect there that could potentially be small advantage Miami. But ultimately this Indiana team, remember, wasn't like being rusty supposed to be a disadvantage for them, beating a second team twice, or a very good team twice supposed to be a disadvantage. like I just don't see it last matchup I wanted to highlight here uh Bain and Mesut are like we said second and fifth in the country on pass rush grades who's the second best offensive tackle in the entire country Carter Smith Indiana's left tackle 93 7 grade so like if you want to watch O-line play while the quarterback's dropping back before he throws the ball instead of just watching the quarterback stand there zero in on the left tackle from Indiana and whichever one of these two he's doing battle with because that is nfl good on nfl good as i said i think this game is close uh so i think miami probably covers but i do think that indiana ends up as 16 and 0 national champions okay i'll go uh 20 you don't have to do it yet 21 17 is how i feel today i might so when the graphic that lukey said we can put out for brandon it comes out on monday it could be different uh okay i know you have to go uh ev i'll give you the last the last say and then i'll do an ad and we're out of here yeah i mean liam brought up the game within the game within the fans and i think that's valid i kind of like the game within the game within the coaches big signetti's been such a killer and talk about for the last game where a lot of people thought oh like oregon maybe maybe it's an advantage for them to play them again and then signetti i think just got more data and just the gap just widened even that much more obviously they haven't played Miami so it's a little different but I wonder as much as good as Miami looked in the last game I mean they should have won the game by way more and the fact they let Ole Miss even have a chance was crazy with how much they should have dominated all the picks they dropped uh things like that so I'm curious can Cristobal kind of I know he's he's definitely uh got rid of the Cristobal name like getting to a national title in this kind of run the teams he beat very impressive but I wonder the, how big that gap is going to be with signality and even having a little extra repair, but it was a true week, week, week and a half, basically how much of an edge that will be. Or if Christopher or Christopher ball, can you choose not to be Christopher and have a good game plan and execute it and make this a game. But there, that's the part. If I had any hesitations about betting Miami, even with the points, it would be signality. just having like an insane game plan and just running everything to a T. And even if my team doesn't make the mistakes, they're just able to execute. So I think that's the thing that I'm most, not most excited, but I think like a big X factor that hadn't gotten mentioned throughout the show yet. Yeah. There's like little storylines throughout the bigger storyline. And it's definitely that. And you talk about two coaches who, you know, get a lot of attention for the way they act on the sideline and impress conferences and in interviews, like these two guys are that. And so I agree with you. That's a very interesting storyline. I will give my last thought after I talk about DraftKings. Obviously, the college game of the week, it's the only one that we have left. So it is the national championship next Monday. Make sure you go on to the DraftKings Sportsbook and you opt in and you can use a single-use profit boost token for that game. So whether you're betting on this game or the NFL playoffs or the NBA, whatever it may be, it's yours to own with the DraftKings Sportsbook. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code ROUGH. That's code RUF for all customers to get a special profit boost on the college game of the week, the national championship in partnership with DraftKings. Sportsbook, the crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. In New York, call 877-8-HOPE-N-Y or text HOPE-N-Y-467-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas, fees may apply in Illinois. 21 and over age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction void in ontario one profit boost per customer for dk game of the week only bet odds of minus 250 or longer required boost amount and maximum bet vary expires at the end of the game boost only applies to winnings see terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com slash promos so my last thought on this game and this is something that and i know liam you know you're somebody that wants the purity of college football and the evolution sometimes upsets you and things change um but this indiana team and kurt signetti and what he's done in his second season at the historically worst college football program in history is proof that college football has changed so rapidly and it's something i've said all year uh when we talk about lane and lsu and old miss and we and kurt signetti not taking the Penn State job. This is why he is absolute proof that anybody in the country, if you can build in the transfer portal and you can get help in the NIL and you can build a roster and get those guys to all be playing well, you can win a national title at anywhere at these big schools in the power four. And it may not happen overnight and certainly like it did at Indiana. But I truly believe that what we're seeing with him, and this is why he will be talked about for a long time in the history of college football is that you don't have to be at a brand name. You don't have to be at a blue blood. You don't have to be at somebody who says, oh, look, you know, you're buying a Miami shirt at Target or whatever, because you remember those teams back in the early two thousands. You can build when you get the right coach, the right support and the right transfer portal guys, you can build a national championship caliber team. I believe they will win the national title this year, but even if they don't, the fact they were in the national title two years after being an absolute mockery of college football. That to me is why this is changing. And Kurt Signetti has completely changed the game in coaching. And I don't believe that coaches have to, especially making lateral in conference moves to be able to have their team in these conversations, because Kurt Signetti is living proof of that. Fernando Mendoza is living proof of that. And I am so excited to see the way that this moves for college football. Liam, I know you don't necessarily agree with me, but it's pretty awesome that we can now see the evolution happening that you don't have to be Ohio State. You don't have to be the University of Texas. You don't have to be all these, you know, go down the line. You can be Indiana and you can win a national title. And that's pretty cool to me. Yeah, I love that part of it. Well, good. I'll tell you this. We're coming too. And we're coming too, baby. Okay. We're all coming. Listen, listen, I know you're a winner. Okay. You're a winner. You know how it feels. We're coming. We're coming. Last week. I'm just, just me and Lukey just trying to enjoy these basking, these last few days of the champs because you're the champs you ain't the champs no more and until monday night at about 11 12 p.m 11 30 p.m we're the champs so me and lukey we're we're basking in we're enjoying the last fruits of our labor before we're just not the champs anymore listen you're like the you're like you know the beauty queen right that you're wearing the crown until you physically put it on the winner's head we're like jr smith just run around for like a year straight with no shirt on after winning the championship hey i'm all for it we're wearing nothing but tats and liquor i i uh i know we've had this argument that's our diet for the next next four or five days we've had this argument on the college football show you are the you know the reigning national champ until you are no longer and i know dave always said that with michigan and you know it was poo-pooed a little bit but if i'm just letting you know if i was in your position ev and lukey i would be doing the same thing like it's my crown until someone actually physically wins it off of my head so we will be live after the game on monday um i know some of us will be streaming it as well so make sure you tune into that and that is unnecessary roughness we're uh we're gonna cook up a quick parlay though casey oh oh you guys got a parlay just a maybe three maybe three touchdown scores i feel like that would uh you know i'll throw my i'll throw my hat in the ring for one of them um okay i want to throw elijah straat in there because when I watch this guy I see like an Anquan Bolden I see like a Keenan Allen type I've seen people say um he's the kind of get that that back shoulder fade the way he just it doesn't even matter if he's covered or not he just Mendoza makes a throw he makes the catch so I'll throw I'll throw Elijah Surratt in there to find Payder on Monday night all right Liam what do you got well you know what Plus 450. Give me Riley Nowakowski. The H-back, the tight end for Indiana. Why not? Old number 37. What is Fernando Mendoza's odds? Or I guess we probably shouldn't have three Indiana guys, huh? Should we not? Fernando. I want to know what his odds are. I love Fernando Mendoza so much. Fernando's plus 210. I mean, can we have all three Indiana? He was plus 300 the last game. Lukey, can we do all three Indiana or should we throw a Miami guy in there? you guys want to do should we do all three indianas you do it yeah do what you want do mendoza i want fernando mendoza i i just fucking love fernando mendoza and if i'm gonna be sure i'm on indiana i want my boy kate to be happy but i also just want fernando mendoza to be happy so okay liam what are the odds on those three so we're just doing an indiana touchdown parlay yeah 36 to 1 36 to 1 hey we i don't think we hit one all season so maybe i've seen crazier things. Unless we should throw Miami guy in there too on behalf of T-Belvin Brandon. Should I take out Surratt and go? Should we just go all big like big dogs? Listen. I don't hate it. I bet Surratt's not a crazy good juicy name or anything. He's 1-15. Alright, so I'll take... You know what? I called it last time and it hit an insane number. Give me Carson Beck to find Bayner again. Oh, geez. 171. I love it. Let's go big, baby. It all clears out. Just like last time, everything clears out. They're focusing on Tony so much, then the seed just parts, and veteran Carson Beck just takes it himself. Okay, so Liam, recap it for the people. So this is our touchdown parlay, thanks to DraftKings for the national championship. It's both quarterbacks, Fernando Mendoza and Carson Beck and Riley Nowakowski. and what are the odds on that you said 171 170 plus i can see brandon's face right now you put 10 bucks on that you're walking away with 1.7k one what a monday night for you if this hits you're an honorary national champion think about that the entire offseason until that crown comes off in 2027 you are a national champion too if this parlor hits love it okay ride with us on the DraftKings Sportsbook and we will be back on Monday. Now that was Unnecessary Roughness.