CFB Program Rankings + CFP Expansion & Schedule Debate

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Those of you in the audience who struggle with like low blood sugar a lot, you know what it feels like when you have low blood sugar. But I didn't grow up with blood sugar issues, but pretty much everyone has those three or four times per year where you just get lightheaded or you get really hungry and you get a little shaky. Ideally, it doesn't happen right before you start a show, but it happened for me tonight right before we started the show. So I had Prez run into the kitchen. It grabbed me a bunch of Oreos, the blonde Oreo kind. So I've just been inhaling those things right before the show. Very healthy. So we're jam-packed. We're reasonably stuffed, not double stuffed, but reasonably stuffed, high atop a soggy downtown Nashville, Tennessee. On this Sunday night, February 15th, the year of our Lord, 2026, Hope Valentines went well for all of you. I don't know. I guess the live chat will tell the tale on that one. But there are some big scheduling debates happening out there. There are some big, I don't know, big's a relative word, but there are some sizable, some very loud college football playoff debates happening. and I'm going to not be distracted by any of it because this is the night that we had identified to unveil our brand new up-to-date 2026 college football program rankings. They were met with much debate a season ago and so we're not going to shy away from it and we're also not going to be distracted by the shiny objects here and there although we will talk about said shiny objects later in the show. No, it's time to let you know what the best programs in college football are. Not to be confused with team, the best programs in college football. I'll do that in just a second. Got some quarterback battles. We're going to be talking about it more as spring ball gets close to us, but I just want to prime ourselves with some early thoughts on that tonight and some observations from a trip that I took over the week. It wasn't a quick trip, although we stopped at several quick trips. Over to the Broyles Award, which is a very, very overlooked event. It's not overlooked by the people who go to it, but it's overlooked by maybe the awards community because it happens in February. But it's smart that it happens in February. So I'll talk about that, some observations. Mike Bobo, dude, he doesn't need to coach anymore. After the weekend I observed him having, he doesn't need to coach anymore. And that's not a criticism. That's just saying Mike Bobo had a really good weekend. So I'll talk about that later. They're watching us in Jefferson City, Tennessee, Garner, Iowa, London, England, Gulf Shores, Alabama. Thank you guys so much. Just do me the quick favor of subscribing If you have, thank you If you haven't, please do so And if you think you have, just check and make sure Takes two seconds, it costs you nothing It signs you up for nothing And we appreciate it Here we go It is that time of year We do this Jesse, we do this once a year, right? Yeah, we only do it once a year Because we rank teams a whole lot I mean, everyone ranks teams all the time But does anyone ever stop to rank programs? Well, we do Bradley, here's your end point. It's time for us to re-rack all the pool balls and let's talk about the college football program rankings. We do them on the show once a year. And the way we define a program around here is a little different than the way we define a team. So college football programs, we try and nail them down on a few pieces of rolling three-year criteria. So we want to zoom in on, for example, how good are you at talent acquisition over the past several years, over the past three years? We want to know how are you doing on field? You know, if you tanked in 2023, but you really surged in 24 and 25, we're going to aggregate all that. We're probably going to lean a little bit more recency bias. I want to know how good your resource pool is. You broke? In other words, we don't want, there's no room for poor. He's in the top 10, top 12 of the program rankings. Organizational stability matters a lot to me here. For example, like Oregon. Oregon's had some churn. They're not the only one, but Oregon had an offensive coordinator in Kenny Dillingham walk out the door to go be his own head coach. And then they brought in Will Stein, and that showed me they really know what they're doing in hiring because now Will Stein is a head coach. So that sort of thing. Ryan Day lost two coordinators and backfilled them with really solid replacement. So that sort of thing matters. And we take all of this stuff, we put it in a blender, we add just a touch of expectation, just a touch of forward thinking, maybe predictive, hey, where do we think the program's headed? And we pour it all out. And those are our program rankings. I don't think I really left anything out there. Portal and recruiting obviously matter combined when it comes to talent acquisition. So here's how I see the top 10 programs in the country right now. I think Ohio State's the top program in the country. Ohio State is 37 and 6 over the past three years. They've got a national championship mixed in here. They are a top five recruiting program in the country. They're a very, very high value portal program. Translation, they don't need to flood themselves with a bunch of transfers because they recruit and develop very well. But when they do need to, they can be very selective and they can be very effective in the transfer portal, and they're just excellent at staffing. I don't know that many programs at all are doing it better. Just think about what's happened within this past three years at Ohio State. You had two coordinator turnover situations just this past year it happened, and then you lose Chip Kelly, who was a foundational piece of that run, and you elevate from within. But then also, you go and you get Matt Patricia because Jim Knowles moves on, and if anything, they improved defensively, which is just really hard to do. So that is supreme organizational structure there. Ohio State is here as long as Ryan Day is there. And then even above and beyond Ryan Day, not to overlook him, one of the best doing it right now, but even to move beyond him, Ohio State as a program has been resilient over the past several head coaches they've had. So it's just been a winning program. I would move on to number two and I would say Georgia. Georgia's the number two program in the country right now per the Pate State program rankings, 36-6. Over the past three years, you've got back-to-back SEC championships woven in here. They're a back-to-back playoff team, and it was a four-teamer in 2023. They would have been in there by today's standards three years in a row. They are the top recruiter in the SEC and the nation, blended, over a three-year rolling period. and it's another excellent outfit when it comes to staffing. If we did a head coaching draft and I had first pick, I'd probably go Kirby Smart. And if you made me go second and I had to take Ryan Day, I wouldn't be upset with that at all. But bottom line is you've got really, really established coordinators there, really great culture, really great way of doing things. So I got Georgia at number two. This is where it gets a little controversial. but at number three I'm putting Indiana I understand that this is a very very extreme example but Indiana's at number three for me in the program rankings they came from out of nowhere they weren't top 10 last year because we kind of try not to fall victim to extreme recency bias this time last year Indiana had come from out of nowhere and Kurt Signitti had risen them from the dead and they went to the playoff, but then they got beat pretty soundly in the playoffs. And we were trying to ask ourselves, okay, that means their team was great, but a program is a three-year rolling blend, right? So we tried to not be prisoners of the moment, but now what did they do as the follow-up act? They went and won the Big Ten. They went to the playoff again. They won the national championship. They steamrolled folks largely in the process. And so now they're 27 and over the last two years. They just won the conference and national title. The head coach, offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator combination here may be as good as anyone in the country has. The talent acquisition profile now is surging. And so, yeah, while I still technically have to define this as a three-year rolling blend, we've got to have extreme two-year recency bias here. And then the part where I do allow myself to look forward a little bit, their program's in as good a position as anyone. And the reason it's not some one-hit wonder, the reason it's not some unicorn, Johnny come lately and now they'll fade back off into the abyss type efforts is because they've got elite resources there too, which we've just now come to realize about Indiana, kind of as a college football public. I got Indiana at number three. I know it's an extreme example, but everything about what they have done is extreme or an outlier, so to speak. So yeah, we have to have rules around here, but we have to make room for an outlier that kind of comes in and just challenges everything about your college football worldview. Number four, a team that they beat twice last year, Oregon. I put Oregon as the number four program in the country right now, 38-4 over that last three-year period. They got back-to-back playoff appearances. They won the Big Ten two years ago. They are the top recruiting program in the Big Ten over that rolling three-year snapshot. They have had coaching churn there, too. When it comes to really valuing organizational structure, think about what they've gone through. Think about the fact that Kenny Dillingham was there, and he was so good that he got his own shot to be a head coach at Arizona State, and they had to go make a hire. and they brought in Will Stein. Most people hadn't heard of Will Stein when Dan Lanning went and got him. And then Will Stein and his offense didn't fall off one bit, so much so that now Will Stein himself has gotten a head coaching job and now they're promoting from within again and you start to just blindly trust that they really know what they're doing there. Dan Lanning's one of the best head coaches in the country. They've got excellent resources, love the culture there. Oregon has one or two major hurdles to clear. They've got a lot that they have cleared, although nothing's guaranteed. You start over from scratch every year, but they've got that one big hurdle once they get to the playoffs. Don't let an Ohio State be in your way. Don't fall victim to what Indiana did to you last year. But see, outside of that, there's not much between them and the top. And that's why I've got them behind Indiana. I've got them behind Ohio State. Speaking of the depth in the Big Ten. Being fourth in the country means being third in the Big Ten right now in the program rankings. For a show that reeks of SEC bias, I don't see it in the program rankings at least. I've got to work in at number four. Number five, we debated internally where to put this team, this program. Actually, not all that long. Texas is number five for us. Got Texas as the number five program in the country. They're 35 and eight over the last three years. College football playoff in 23 and 24. They missed out last year, but they're a top five recruiter in the country over that three-year span. They're very elite in the portal, just crushing it in the portal. They've, of course, got elite resources. The thing about Texas being at number five is you could make the argument that you think their best is still ahead of them. If you're doing the predictive thing, If you're kind of cutting one eye over to the side of 2026 and beyond, there's still room to climb for them. They really haven't realized their maximum potential yet. So to be saying that about someone and they're sitting there number five hasn't been a pretty good position. I put Notre Dame at number six. I always get pushed back on Notre Dame. You can't please anyone with Notre Dame. Notre Dame, number six program in the country currently. 34-7 the last three years. There's a national championship berth mixed in there two years ago. The recruiting keeps leveling up. They were always a very good recruiter, but they've kind of leveled up to being a great recruiter. They had the number two class in the country this last cycle per on three. Elite culture, could not think any more highly of the culture at Notre Dame. You've got to love them this year. So again, if you want to do the peak ahead thing, when you're defining a program's status, I'm not pushing back on you if you say Notre Dame maybe should be a tick higher. I think we got them right at number six, though. First whale breach of the show. Yes. Number seven. We got Alabama at number seven. There was a little internal debate here as well. So Alabama, the number seven program in the country right now, at 32 and 10 over the past three years. You've got two playoff appearances there, 23 and 25. You got a conference title in 2023. They've been the number two recruiter in the nation over that three-year span. And there's been a handoff during that period from a legendary head coach to a new head coach, and things didn't fall off a cliff. You could say they regressed a little bit, but I also argue there were some very, very unique challenges that weren't apparent on the surface, at least, to the handoff that came from Nick Saban stepping away and handing it to anyone. It happened to be Kalen DeBoer. So we're rolling three-year snapshot here. Alabama was never going to fall off overnight, even if they did fall off, and I'm not suggesting that they are, but it's important to remember. Now, got them at number seven. So if anyone pushes back, number seven's not number one. Number seven's not two or three. There are programs we got ahead of Alabama right now. The reason I always have to caveat it with Bama and Notre Dame is because Bama and Notre Dame are the two programs slash teams that we always get the most wide variety of comments for in any kind of video we do or any kind of point we make about them. And you can come up with your reasons as to why that is. But I'll take Alabama at number seven right now. Where would you put Miami? Was what we were asking ourselves earlier today. I've got Miami as the number eight program in the country. Currently, it's very tough to nail them down because there's a seven-win season factored in in the past three years. We're valuing the past three years, rolling blend of the past three years when it comes to this. But the thing about that seven-win season is it was in 2023. And then the following year, they went 10-3. And then the following year, a.k.a. this past year, they went 13-3. They played for a national championship. They were at midfield, down six with a minute to go and a chance to win the thing against the best team in the country, the eventual national champ in Indiana. They're the number one recruiter in their conference by a wide margin. They're the top portal player in their conference and one of the top portal players in the country. And they've made big staff upgrades. You talk about organizational structure. They had Lance Guidry down there as their defensive coordinator. Not close. and then Mario goes to Minnesota and gets Corey Heatherman. And immediately, just overnight, using some of the same players they had had the year before. They're one of the top defenses in the country. So I think they're leveling up. They're in the process of leveling up. I put Miami at number eight right now. I'd say the same thing about the next program. We got Texas A&M at number nine. Very similar vibe to Miami. Honestly, Miami beating them in the playoff last year was probably the tiebreaker we needed to put Miami ahead of them. These are very comparable programs, though. So A&M, same vibe as Miami. They've gone from seven wins to eight wins to 11 wins in that three-year rolling period. They went to the playoff last year. They've got back-to-back top eight recruiting classes. They are a very, very elite portal player in their own right. And Mike Elko, when he was at Duke and then when he came to Texas A&M, two of the things that we were counting on when we talked about it on this show was they will evaluate very good. They'll develop very good. The benefit to go into A&M is you get this massive pool of resources just tossed in the mix. And so that doesn't hurt. And I think much like Texas really that I was talking about a second ago, you could argue their best is still ahead of them. So it's going to be really fun to watch them moving forward. And then at number 10, Had a lot of programs in the mix here. We could have put Tennessee here. We could have put Texas Tech here. You could make some outside arguments for maybe an LSU or an Oklahoma or Penn State could be in that mix. I put Michigan at number 10 still. I care about the rolling three-year blend. That's why we're trying to factor that in when we define program instead of just what did you do in the last five minutes. In the last three years, yes, Michigan has had a coaching change, but I would argue it's a weird factor because they upgraded at head coach as part of that coaching change. But there's a national championship mixed in in the last three years. There's a two-in-one record against your biggest rival in Ohio State in the past three years. They're a top 15 recruiter in the past three years. It's a big year coming up. Now, the difference with them versus some of these other teams is some of these other teams you look and you feel pretty good that they're about to kill it this upcoming year. I feel great about Notre Dame this upcoming year. I feel okay about Michigan. I mean, you really got to take advantage of Bryce Underwood while you have him, and they're trying everything they can, but I put Michigan still at number 10. That's how much we value things like winning a championship and being very competitive, if not better, than your rival over a rolling three-year stretch. See, here's the difference. The difference is if you just judging teams Michigan 2 How could they be 10 with Ohio State at 1 Because those other factors outweigh the on head as much as on results are what it about that how you grade teams We grading programs here, so there's more to it than just that. Like I said, we'd put Texas Tech there. Couldn't argue with that. Tennessee, I'd put it 12. Texas Tech and Tennessee would be my 11 and 12. Probably have LSU somewhere close, Oklahoma, Penn State. So those are the program rankings. Send them out, send them in. Can't wait to get the feedback. Always constructive feedback. You'll notice. Yes. Always constructive feedback. It'll sound a little something like, I'm not hating on people. We have fun with this. I'm just saying the most popular form of feedback we would get on this is, let's take A&M for example. A&M's way too low, period. That's it. You're crazy for having Oregon where you do, period. There is no follow-up with, here's how the entire top 10 should look. This is a comparative thing. You can't just hate Oregon and say Oregon's overrated. What are they rated? What should they be rated? Who should be above them? Do you define the criteria the same as I do? If you don't, we're having separate arguments here. One argument we should all agree on is Quick Trip is great. Quick Trip, one of the things that makes this country great. Now I had to head out from Nashville and drive all the way to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I didn't have to, I got to, but anyway, we did that this past week. We went to the Broyles Award there, more on that later, and stopped at three quick trips on the way and two quick trips back. And it was a great time. Cold brew on tap every step of the way, reasonably priced gasoline every step of the way. You know that they fueled the Fall Don't Lie Tour this entire year and the t-shirt commemorating said tour can be found right now at patestatematerial.com. Let me get out of the way there so you can see the beautiful graphic the guys made. Look, there are very few relationships between show and brand as the one that we have with Quick Trip. I go as far as to say it's almost romantic given the nature of this weekend. Almost romantic. I don't know legally if we can claim that. But we have a lot of fun with them. They're the presenting partner of the show. I don't know what more you can say. You really need to go to Quick Trip when you get an opportunity. Let's continue. I hate the piece of paper that I hold in my hand right now because it's February and I don't want to be talking about this. But apparently you guys do because by the hundreds, we got asked about it. Maybe thousands. I stopped counting. Douglas from Glenallen, Virginia. He said, what did you make of Pete Thamel's article for the 2014 college football playoff that the Big Ten is pushing? I'm sure it got you excited. It got me something. It did get me something. Now, I did make a solemn vow to you over the past month. And I said that when we went back and we looked at all of our content from last year, we noticed that there was a strong negative tilt in these months that casuals would call the offseason. because the theory is only diehards are really living, eating, sleeping, and breathing college football 12 months a year. We consider ourselves among that group. But since you don't have games happening in February, March, April, May, June, you're kind of left to just talk about what's wrong. And we fell victim to that. I thought we fell victim to that a little bit last year. And so I told you guys, it's not that we're going to ignore what's happening in college football, but we're going to try and stay away from doom and gloom in folks. No need for it. It's the greatest sport on the face of the earth, even with all of its blemishes. But I cannot ignore this. So I just want to float a stat to you. And if you've missed what was being asked there, Pete Thamel over on ESPN got a hold of an internal document that's being circulated around the Big Ten, where Tony Petiti and his crew up there, that's the commissioner of the Big Ten, they are really, really all in on this 24-team college football playoff, which of course would be a disaster. That's my personal thought on it. I hate it. And just to give you an idea of what we're talking about here, in this format, Oklahoma State would be a seven-time college football playoff participant over the past 12 years. Whatever you think about Oklahoma State, do they strike you as a team that should have been to the playoffs over half a dozen times in the past 12 years? My answer is no. Maybe your answer is yeah, I would imagine most people in Stillwater, Oklahoma don't think they should have been to the playoffs seven times in the last 12 years. But I digress. You can go read Thamel's article. I mean, it's not like an opinion. It's not a column. He got a hold of a document and shared the information. So for that, we're appreciative. I hate every bit of it, but we're appreciative of it. So one thing that you'll notice as you go and read that article is you'll notice the internal document name. Every internal document that gets socialized, as they say, it has to have a name. It can't just be unnamed doc. It has to have a name. And according to that article, the unnamed document is called, quote, a 24-team CFP format compromise. You hear that word? Compromise. Now you may be thinking to yourself, 24 teams isn't a compromise? That's insane. That's all the way to the left or all the way to the right on the spectrum of believability or logic or anything that competitively should exist in college football. Well, who could have seen this coming? Who could have seen the Big Ten touting a 24-team playoff and calling it a compromise? Well, as I sometimes need to remind you, you're not wasting your time watching this show. So I want to briefly take you back to last August. Last August, I think also Pete Thamel at that point reported that the Big Ten was exploring playoff expansion, but you know what? It didn't stop at 24. There was a 28-team proposal thrown in there. Now, at the time, your Uncle Josh here took to the microphone, and I said the following. So the Big Ten had an idea. They wanted a 16-team playoff. How do you get a bad idea across the finish line to people who hate the bad idea? And the answer is give them an infinitely worse idea. So let's say your Uncle Frederick says, oh, family vacation time this year. You know where we're going? Spin the globe. St. Louis, Missouri for the entire week. Nobody wants to vacation in St. Louis, Missouri. What is Uncle Frederick to do? Buy tickets for the entire family to go to Key West? He can't afford it. So what Uncle Frederick does to make the bad idea seem less bad is he says, fine, we're going to Kosovo. See how you like that. And then the kids start crying. And then Uncle Frederick sits there stone walls for a little while and they cry and they cry and they cry and he goes, okay, St. Louis it is. And the kids are dumb enough to say, all right, I guess that's not so bad. It is bad. Nobody wants to vacation in St. Louis. But when Kosovo is put on the table as if it's actually a legitimate option that Uncle Frederick is actually considering. No, no, give us St. Louis. The two most popular bits of feedback I got on that is, what's your problem with St. Louis? I've got no problem with St. Louis. It's just not a vacation destination. And secondly, I had a Big Ten athletic director. I went at it with him. I don't want to name who it was, but I went at it with him in good spirits. Okay. We shook hands and smiled at the end of the day, but he was adamant. That's not what we're doing. That's not what we're doing at all. No, no. We're steadfast behind this thing. Uh, we're serious about it. Well, you can't be serious about it because it's not even a serious proposal. I don't doubt that you're serious about it. I don't doubt that you feel it, but it's not a serious proposal. It's a pile of crap. They got dropped in everyone's lap. And, uh, I just want, Look, if you're a soundbite person, I hope the soundbite will do. If you're more of a snapshot person, Bradley, show me what this playoff would look like. Many of you that grew up in the 90s, early 2000s may have seen the movie Basketball from the creators of South Park. And it just blended the principles of baseball and basketball. And it started as a sport they played in their driveway and they turned it into a major league of basketball. Funny part about basketball was that they had this absurd, massive playoff bracket that you had to zoom out to be able to see. And they had like the East-South-Northwestern division, two-man sack race on consecutive Sundays if there's a tie at the end of it. And I'm just telling you, everyone laughed at it at the time. The Big Ten gets us closer and closer every day to a true basketball situation. situation. We are drifting further from God's grace and closer to basketball every single time the Big Ten floats a new college football playoff proposal. You won't be too shocked, I would imagine, to discover that coaches and ADs largely support this in the Big Ten. I bet they do. You know where else most of them would largely support it? The SEC and everywhere. You know why coaches and ADs support it? Because it's not their job to look out for the best interest of college football slash college athletics. It's their job to keep their job, if they're coaches, and it's an athletic director's job to be able to tout success. And what better way to tout success than, man, we've made the playoffs seven times in the past 12 years. Because if you're the AD at Oklahoma State, you'd be able to accurately say that if this had always been the format. Mike Gundy would have been able to accurately say that if this had always been the format. Now, the reality is the effort that was put forth that ended up getting people fired at Oklahoma State still would have been the same effort that had been put forth. It's just when we changed the dynamics and we changed the way we define success or we just made the playoff big enough where everyone could be included, all of a sudden your Wikipedia page looks a little bit different. He's made the playoffs six times in the last eight years. What a stud. No, no, actually, he may have a program that's perennially recruited in the top 10, but he's perennially finished outside the top 15. The guy's underachieving. And by every historical metric, we would call that underachievement. Until someone walks in with a 2014 playoff, all of a sudden, you're the 19 seed. Congrats, man. You've made the playoff. Only an idiot falls for that. But then again, most people who float these kind of proposals out there think you are an idiot. What you will notice, though, is once upon a time when they would float playoff expansion, they used to talk about fan excitement. They used to talk about doing it for fans. You remember that? They never really talked about what the players wanted, but they talked about the fans. You know, when they expanded from 4 to 12, they talked about the fans. Because even though I didn't want expansion then, it is true most fans supported expansion from 4 to, well, they would probably have preferred 8. But even 4 to 12, the general public preferred 12 over 4. Let me tell you something about the general public. I know the general public very well. I converse with them daily. The general public watches the show. The general public hates this to a super majority extent. And that's why you never hear fans talked about as the motivation for expanding the playoff anymore. What's the motivation? Well, the motivation is, of course, money. Money being a motivator is not inherently a bad thing. It is a bad thing when you've got a group of people that lack any kind of creativity and any kind of ingenuity, and they can't come up with a good idea if their lives depended on it. So they just look at the ATM over there that's disguised as a playoff, and their only answer to get themselves out of financial issues that they created for themselves is to just print more money. Or in college football terms, make the playoff bigger. That's it. That's the only idea, to save college football. Every time you get in a little bit of a trouble financially, just make the playoff bigger. Make the playoff bigger. Well, Josh, what would you do? How would you fix it? Well, I'm not the commissioner yet. But let me just float this to you. Let's say I am the college football commissioner. One of the first things I would try and do is burn every bit of equity I have and burn every resource necessary to wrap every major media rights deal that exists in this sport as soon as possible. And I know what the ink says on some of those contracts, but I also know what desperation does to contracts. and I try and wrap those things as soon as possible so that every major conference is sitting here wide open. Could be 2028, could be 2029. I probably, if I ever needed to use private equity money in this sport, I'd use it to bridge the gap between now and them and I'd renegotiate a college football media rights deal just like the NFL's done. Instead of each of these conferences being siloed off in their own media rights deals, come together. I don't care if you hate each other. If you want to rid yourselves of your financial issues, then come together and sign a deal that brings you 3 or 4x the value that your current individual media rights deals do. Also, as just a fun little byproduct of that, it may greatly ease the concerns that you keep having when you try and get agreement and cooperation from Congress about hoarding and about inability to distribute money properly if all of a sudden you got 3-4x revenue and it's bleeding down. And not just SEC or Big Ten players are benefiting from it, but a player there at Sam Houston State or a player there at Missouri State, they're benefiting from it too. Just a sidebar. It's not really what we're talking about here. So how about exploring more things like that and trashing more things like this? Those would be my humble thoughts. They're watching us in Rossville, Georgia, Troy, New York, San Diego, California. Thank you so much for being tuned in. I didn't even bother going over all the normal reasons I'm against playoff expansion. Those are some new ones. Let's see. Paul is in Pittsburgh. He said, I saw Paul Feinbaum say Bama and Ohio State are likely to cancel their regular season series. Is this a trend we will see moving forward? So I did not actually see this. I heard that it happened. So I don't know where Paul was when he said this. But he said something along the lines of if what he's heard out of Alabama is true, they may be looking to cancel their upcoming home and home with Ohio State, which I believe is in 2027, 2028. So it would be year after this upcoming year. And Paul's asking, is that something that's going to be the norm? And I'd say probably. It's maybe a case-by-case thing, but I'd say probably, Paul, if you've got SEC schools that scheduled home-and-homes out of conference when they used to play eight conference games, and now they're going to play nine conference games. Yeah, I would imagine you would see some of that at least. Also, I went and looked. At least one of those years, Jesse and Bama play in Oklahoma State too. So they still have, they got nine league games and still have a major out of conference game. If they played Ohio State, it would have been 11 of them. No one's doing that. No, it's not, it's totally impractical. So it'd be fun to watch, but it would be totally impractical. You remember for a long time, if you've watched the show or if you've listened to the show for a long time, I appreciate that. And if you've watched or listened for a long time, remember probably the single biggest beef I've had with the whole concept of the playoff committee is that I have never believed they properly account for strength of schedule and strength of record. I don't think they properly define it. And I always pushed for an overhaul of the way they define strength of record slash strength of schedule and incorporate much more of a Vegas profile about that. And what I meant by that is I wish we had an environment where we really understood, like a Texas last year, for example, they play Ohio State week one. Well, they lose the game and there's a mentality that looks at them and says, oh, they're 0-1, man. Well, a win's a win. A loss is a loss. That's so stupid to think that way in college football, in college football specifically, but kind of college athletics too, but especially college football, it's not pro football. You are not what your record says you are, merely, in college football. But that's kind of the way people think. And even when the committee said, oh, we're going to overhaul our protocols and the way we go about defining that, they really didn't all that much. So let me ask you a question. I try and stay away from this debate because, truthfully, very few people are capable of having this debate logically. It just devolves into a crap-throwing fest between SEC fan and Big Ten fan and everyone's carrying a torch and pitchfork for one or the other. It just gets stupid. But let me try here. I'm not even necessarily taking a side on this. Like personally, I love that the SEC went to nine league games, but I get someone who has a problem. And I'd certainly get someone who's opting out of future out of conference games because they went to nine. I don't have to love it to understand it, in other words. But let me ask you a question about Texas last year. This will kind of determine how you land on this whole debate. Do you think Texas cost themselves a playoff spot by scheduling Ohio State last year and losing the game? I understand that's an important follow-up, and losing the game. So do you believe Ohio State, or do you believe Texas cost themselves a playoff spot by scheduling Ohio State and losing that game last year? I think the answer is yes. Sark thinks the answer is yes obviously There are many people who think the answer is no There are many people who would push back on that and say no because they still had plenty of opportunity to make the playoffs after that game was over They were only 0 They still had a whole season left ahead of them They shouldn't have gone and lost to Florida. They shouldn't have gone and lost to Georgia. Well, it's true that had they not lost to Florida or Georgia, they would have made the playoff even with the Ohio State loss. However, if you keep both of the conference losses and remove Ohio State and put UTEP, or, well, UTEP was on the schedule, so put someone else, I don't know, put a, I always say Sam Houston State and they get pissed at me. So I don't want to do that anymore. So put Arkansas State on there. Put Arkansas State in week one instead of Ohio State. Keep everything as is the remainder of the way. Give me their two losses. Where's Texas at the end of the year? They're in the playoff. They're in the playoff. So you could really make the argument that, yeah, they cost themselves by scheduling up. Now, someone like me looks at that and says, if I were on the committee, I can't 100% say if Texas would have made the playoff, but I can say Texas's profile would have been a lot more impressive than the one the committee probably had spat out in their piece of paper, in their packet, by the way they currently go about doing things. Because my way of doing things would be, I look at the fact that they went and played Ohio State in week one. What were they, one or two or something like that, Jesse? And I would have agreed with that. You voluntarily go on the road to play the number one team in the country to start the year, and you lose by a possession to them. I'm not punishing you one bit. I'm rewarding Ohio State for beating you. But the worst you're going to do is just draw a blank from me. Because I know what you could have done. I know you easily could have scheduled Northern Arizona. And you can especially do that as an SEC program. because you know the rest of your strength of schedule is going to be more than enough that as long as you take care of business, you'll be in. So Texas didn't have to play that game. Now, if you listen to that and say, oh, that's pathetic. They should do it anyway. I don't know that I agree with that, even though the Texas athletic director does. I give full credit to Chris Del Conte. He came out recently and just flat out said, I don't even care if my head coach doesn't like it. We're going to continue to schedule this way because we think the fans deserve it. That's what you come to Texas to do. And look, I wish that attitude existed everywhere. That's my personal attitude. That's my personal desire. I like that the SEC went to nine league games. I'd love to still see Alabama and Ohio State. I personally, selfishly want it. The question is, is that how I'd operate if I were an athletic director? I don't know that I would. It's largely contingent on the playoff committee following through on what I always thought the SEC should have demanded from them. The SEC's got a lot of sway here. They got a lot of pull. And I always thought the SEC probably moved a little too quickly to that nine-game league schedule without full guarantee from the committee that they were going to properly factor in strength of schedule and strength of record. And I still don't think they do it. And there are a lot of people in the SEC upset. There are a lot of coaches in the SEC upset that they just went. It's almost like they got baited into going to nine league games. Now, there are many reasons why they did it, but it doesn't matter what the real reasons were. The perception is y'all got made fun of and you took the bait and you took the league to nine conference games per year without any solid, tangible guarantees from the committee that they'd quote unquote understand it and then take it into account. Strength of record, strength of schedule will be properly weighted. And then you've got another growing class of people out there who just claims the SEC schedule is really not anything it's cracked up to be. And so what's the difference? Eight or nine? It's an overrated conference to begin with. I kind of dismiss that. I still think the average SEC league schedule is the toughest league schedule you're going to play in the country, on average. Now here's the thing about that. Nobody plays an SEC schedule. Nobody plays a Big Ten schedule. A team plays their schedule. So Florida's schedule this year and Missouri's schedule this year aren't the same. So it's kind of lazy to say, oh, they're playing SEC schedules. No, here's what we know. Each of them are going to play nine SEC teams. And likewise, in the Big Ten. Maryland and Ohio State, they're going to play nine Big Ten teams. But you've got disparities still in strength of schedule there. But I'll just tell you this. The answer is not playoff expansion. The answer is not, oh, don't worry. Yeah, you're going to play a tougher schedule. Your teams are going to average more losses, but we'll just expand the playoff and we'll take care of it. No, urgency is still a good thing. It's a very good thing. It's the bedrock of what makes college football's regular season the best regular season on the planet. But logic is okay, too. It is okay to come in and say, well, wait a second now. Texas had the stones to schedule Ohio State, and they've got them again this year, by the way, when they don't have to. And you're telling me because they lost that game on the road by one possession, that was just treated as a loss? Like how many people did you hear at the end of the season last year say, you can't let Texas in with three losses? Really, it all still boils down to that win-loss column. It still all boils, mostly, I'm going to say mostly, it still mostly boils down to what your record says you are. It is a tough mentality to divorce yourself from. So if that's the way it's going to be, I can't hate on these athletic directors that opt out of these out-of-conference games because I don't know that I wouldn't do the same thing, even as I sit here selfishly behind this microphone and say, I hope none of them do. Got bad news for you. There are no college football games this month. Now, the good news is, and I've confirmed this with SeatGeek, there are several concerts all over the country. I'm told basketball season is in full swing. Conference tournaments even around the corner. It'll eventually be March Madness time. You've got the NBA. All-Star game was electric the other night. My goodness. Going to go watch the replay again tonight. Nevertheless, look, there are some events that you may actually want to attend. It's a great concert season, ladies and gentlemen. So go out there. Go see a play. Go see a comedy act. Go see a concert. But make sure you get the tickets at SeatGeek, and you may ask why. Wait, is that a company you own? No, I don't own them. I just own a promo code for you. PATE10 at checkout. 10% off your order. P-A-T-E-1-0. And look, if you want to go check out the Thunder, go check out the Thunder. Like, that's not on me. To each his and her own. Yes. Hey, I got an idea for the rest of the show. So maybe some actual football talk. Yeah, our research indicates it does work. Got a lot of quarterback battles we're looking at. Someone asked us, you know, we're kind of trying to head towards spring. Hey, which quarterback battles do you have your eye on? I got to think Alabama's is the most high profile quarterback battle that's going to happen here. Now, remember when they played Indiana in the Rose Bowl, they got smoked so bad. And then Ty Simpson gets hurt and he's out of the rest of the game. who came in. Austin Mack came in. Now, I got to tell you what I was thinking. What I was thinking was, I think Keelan Russell is the future of that program. Austin Mack is going to play a half in the playoffs here. And it's basically his audition tape. And he didn't play bad. And I was just sure that he was going to go in the portal. And it turns out Austin Mack kind of loves to be at Alabama. So he stayed at Alabama and they're going to have a really high profile quarterback battle this spring, it is still my belief that Keelan Russell is going to win that job. But that's just, that's belief. And that's me being really high on him as a player. But I mean, Austin Mack's a really, really good player too. And I think that's going to be one that's looked at, and there are going to be a lot of people who use like their own slant on things for whoever loses the job. Let's say Austin Mack finishes runner up. Let's say he goes into the season as the backup quarterback. There are going to be a lot of folks who look at it and say, oh, what a mistake on his part. The only mistake would be him doing what he didn't want to do. That would be the mistake there. So let the man live his life. Or maybe he wins the job, you know, and then Keelan Russell's the one who has to wait another year. What about Clemson? Cade Klubnick's moving on. So we'll have our eye on this one because they brought in Chad Morris, an offensive coordinator too. So Garrett Riley's out. And Chris Vizzina was a guy that we talked about several times a few years back. And he came in and he was a pretty high-profile recruit. He was number 155 overall per the on-three rankings in 2023. Well, all right. Now he's immersed himself in the program. He's 6'4", he's 210, he's ready to take the reins now. I know Chris Denson and Tate Reynolds are there, but it's Chris Vazina's job to lose to me. And he played against SMU last year. 317 and three touchdowns in that game. Again, I don't know how much of a battle this becomes, but it's a quarterback situation. I guess I'd say that I have my eye on. Tennessee's kind of the same way because at Tennessee, we got to find out what's going to happen with Joey Aguilar because in today's college football, you don't just get to pick up your preview magazine and find out who's in the mix. Now you have to follow court cases, you know. So whatever. Joey Aguilar though, That situation, like if he gets granted another season of eligibility, he's the odds-on favorite, obviously, to win that job. They brought in Ryan Staub from Colorado. As of now, I don't expect him to be in the mix for the starting position, but George McIntyre and Faison Brandon, those are the ones who are going to battle it out. Brandon comes in there, going to be a true freshman, high-profile guy, five-star caliber guy, and George McIntyre's been there a little while longer. I think right now, if it's not Joey Aguilar, My guess, if I'm throwing darts at a board in February, is that George McIntyre ends up winning that job if Joey Aguilar is not there. But the other thing you always got to pay attention to with legitimate five-star caliber quarterback talent is it's one thing if the guy's ready to play in August. That's great. But not everything is just set in stone as it's always going to be by week one. Especially if you're a true freshman and you're head swimming, sometimes the light comes on in week five or week six. So Faison Brandon, week one, versus the same guy in week eight, could be two totally different stories, so that's something else to keep our eye on. Nebraska had a very contentious situation there for a little while. Dylan Raiola transfers out, and then it was Kenny Menchie. Kenny Menchie is going to be the starting quarterback at Nebraska, and the graphics went out, and the announcement went out, And then all of a sudden the breaking news went out. No, he's not. He's actually going to Kentucky. Will Stein. Will Stein, breaking hearts in Lincoln, Nebraska. So then Anthony, I call him Calandria, but it could be Calandria. I'm a Calandria guy. He comes in and they really, really fell in love with him. Now, partly because they have to love him. He has to be the guy. This has to work out. Because candidly, I know TJ Lateef stepped up last year. I know Daniel Kalin's still there. I think for them to maximize any kind of potential as a team this year, it's probably going to have to be old AC there. If we can go that far as to use initials in February, I think it's got to be him. And if you think about the opening they have to their season, Ohio, Bowling Green, North Dakota, at Michigan State, Maryland, they don't play in all likelihood, I guess, they don't play a ranked opponent until Indiana comes in there. And that's in the second week of October. So there's time. I actually didn't know that about Nebraska's schedule until Bradley threw it up there. So there's time. What about Duke? I wanted to talk about this because Duke is one of those, they were a beneficiary of the way the portal works a year ago. Now they're a victim of the way the portal works. So Darian Mensah leaves. and it's very significant that he left first off because you lost your starting quarterback but also because their backup had already transferred out thinking well I'm not going to beat out Darian Mensah not knowing that Mensah was going to just disappear and go to Miami so the backup had already left so they had to go to San Jose State they got Walter Eagert or Walker Eagert Eagert Eagert's an animal right yeah never owned one don't know if they're legal in Nashville, at least in Davidson County. Williamson County is different. That's a different world down there. All kinds of exotic pet ownership down there. But in Davidson County, no egrets. However, at Duke, Walker Egett, he's there by way of San Jose State. My guess, and this is just a guess at this point, is that's probably the guy, but he still needs a waiver. So we don't even know. Manny Diaz does not even know if that's his guy yet. And if we're down Darian Mensah and the backup, and then EGIT or Ygritte, either one of them, doesn't get a waiver, then what are we doing? Well, we're looking at a transfer from North Alabama, and we're looking at a redshirt freshman. Translation, not great vibes ahead for Duke. And I also want to put something else on your radar. Not that I love this, but I cannot ignore that people have been telling me this. I know that your friendly NCAA source has informed you that there is only one transfer portal window in this sport now. I wish it were true. I wish it were true. But it is not. And so it is my humble duty to inform you. This may come as a shock, but it is my humble duty to inform you that there are many people out there, namely players and coaches who do not think that the NCAA's transfer portal window rule is worth the paper that it's written on. And so there are many staffs that are moving forward with plans to make moves after the spring period is done with the thinking that as long as we can get a kid enrolled in fall semester, NCAA is not going to be able to stop us. And you just got to go judge shop. That's all you have to do. Get your temporary restraining order. The old NCAA playbook these days, just run that and we'll be good. I don't like it, but I'm just telling you what I'm hearing behind the scenes. Do with that what you will. Let's move on. We had another question about scheduling. David from Fort Worth, good weekend at the Stockyards. I saw there on social. David at Fort Worth said, I saw the hardest schedules. You talked about those last week. Now I need the easiest ones. You don't have to yell, David. I mean, just calmly ask and I'll give it to you. What I want to do here is I want to point out one team per conference. I think that's a more agreeable way to do this. Let's start with a team not in a conference. Notre Dame's schedule is insanely soft this year, and I'm normally the one pushing back on people who say Notre Dame doesn't play anyone. Because most of the time, that's a lie. Most of the time, people are just hating on Notre Dame. Notre Dame actually normally plays legitimate schedules. This is not one of those years. Now, part of this is USC, that game disappeared. So there is no USC on this schedule. Here's what is on this schedule. One team in the top 20 of the FanDuel odds to win the playoff. One. And that's Miami, and that's in November, and that's at home. Best we can tell, you got Miami, SMU, and Brigham Young on this schedule. well, those are the only teams in the top 40? And then there's this massive cliff, and it's just a bunch of Purdue's and Stanford's and Navy's and Boston College's and Syracuse's. This is ridiculously soft. To the point where I could see a debate if Notre Dame were to lose two games again. In fact, it wouldn't be a debate. They'd probably miss the playoff again. The exciting follow-up is I have Notre Dame rated number one right now in my preseason poll, and I don't think they're going to lose two games. So take that, haters. Next up, what about the Big Ten? I think Penn State. Penn State's probably who I would say has the easiest schedule in the Big Ten this year. There's no Ohio State. There's no Oregon. There's no Indiana. The out-of-conference is a complete joke. Marshall, Temple, and Buffalo. There's no back-to-back road game here. They get USC at home, and we are trying to figure out what the whiteout's going to be. No word on that yet. Unfortunately, I do not have the power to just dictate what the whiteout game is going to be, but that is a very workable schedule. And listen to November. At Washington's not easy. I will grant you that. But Purdue, Washington, Minnesota, Rutgers, Maryland, those are the final five games they play. So I like Penn State's odds to sneak around the playoff bubble this year, even though it's year one and the ceiling of that team is probably well beneath that of national title caliber, but it's just, I mean, it may be a product of schedule in year one. Vanderbilt, I guess, is where we go in the SEC. Look, I've been one to hate on the schedule makers a time or two in my day. The SEC schedule maker this year, and I don't know if it's AI generated, I don't know if it's some dude whose name we don't know, I don't know if it's a whole cabal of people, they did a pretty good job of flattening out the easiest and hardest schedules in the SEC. Everyone's really, really crunched together. The reason I chose Vanderbilt is their big out game is NC State at home so don know what to expect from them necessarily but there a long stretch Pretty much everyone only has one bye this year So you trying to find out where the bye And these teams are inevitably playing a chunk of like seven or eight games in a row at some point. Vandy, likewise, I think they play either seven or eight games in a row at one point. It's important to note that the last two teams on their long stretch are Arkansas and Kentucky. If you're picking teams out of the SEC, those are probably two of the three or four that you would pick if you could hand pick how to end your long stretch. Florida and Auburn are on the schedule. Those are total wildcard teams. They could win nine games. They could win five games. If you're Vanderbilt, obviously you're hoping for the latter. So I'd go Vandy in the SEC. I thought about going NC State and the ACC because they don't play Miami or Louisville or Florida State. They don't play Notre Dame. Notre Dame plays five ACC teams. That's why I mentioned them. They're big out of conference games, UCLA. But NC State, that travel is not easy. And they end the season with, well, no, hold on. Cal. Cal was the one. So take everything I just said, and that applies to Cal. I landed on NC State because NC State's schedule travel-wise is not nearly as tough as Cal. So there you go. NC State, also no Miami. NC State, no SMU, also no Notre Dame. We think they probably stand to have the quarterback edge in every game. I could make the argument CJ Bailey has the edge quarterback-wise in every game they're going to play this year. They play back-to-back road games to end the year, but these are not long trips. It's Florida State and it's North Carolina for them. Side note, what does North Carolina look like by the end of the year? And then in the Big 12, this is very easy. Texas Tech is far and away the best program slash team in the Big 12 right now, and they cannot play themselves. So you will not see Texas Tech on Texas Tech's schedule. Now, this is cutting-edge analysis that I'm giving you right now. But Texas Tech's got the softest, easiest, whatever you want to call it, schedule in the Big 12 because, number one, they don't play themselves, and number two, they don't play Brigham Young. I don't need to go any further than that. There could be some fine forensic analysis of this, like Pete Mundo and the guys who cover the Big 12, they could break this down further. I'm just telling you, there's no Texas Tech or Brigham Young on the schedule. That's going to qualify as the easiest schedule in the Big 12. Let's move along. Sorry, just looking at text there. We had a, I would say a concerning question from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It comes from Jeffrey. And I say concerning only because, Jeffrey, I can tell you're hurting right now. He said, I'm a diehard Gamecocks fan, but I don't know what to make of Shane Beamer at this point. It feels like we're going to waste Sellers and Stewart. And then what? Do we just settle for what we've been getting? This is like the last scene in Mrs. Doubtfire when that little girl writes in and talks about, hey, my parents are splitting up and Robin Williams just soft audio bed underneath and he makes the little girl feel better. Everything's going to be okay. And I don't know that I can do that because Robin Williams is a better actor than me, was a better actor than me. Rest in peace. Jeffrey, here's what I'll tell you. Let's not forget that as recently as season before last, you guys were flirting with the college football playoff. You were right there. You were one of the first two or three teams out. Now, there is that small matter of going four and eight last year. Yes, that's not great. No, that doesn't make anyone feel good. And it doesn't matter that you almost beat them or you almost beat that team. I get that. So Shane Beamer about to enter his sixth season, right? Seven wins, eight wins, five wins, nine wins, four wins. I know what Indiana has done to everyone. Indiana has poisoned the brain of everyone because everyone is now saying if Indiana can do it, we should be able to do it. Which I would say is kind of disrespectful to what Indiana did, but I do get the point. The point is taken. Total offense last year fell off a cliff. It went from 45th to 109. They were 131st in sacks allowed last year. So here's what they have to do. I mentioned Indiana for a reason there. Partly because they just won the national title and made everyone look foolish. But the other part is everyone's got a theory about why Indiana won last year and why Indiana's flying at the level they are right now. And some people say, oh, they got a bunch of old players. And other people say, well, most people just flat out pointed out the experience level last year. And yeah, I mean, that was a big beneficiary for them. Here's what they did. They found edges. They found program edges. That's what everyone has to do. unless you're Texas and you just get to cherry pick the best players in the country every year, unless you're Oregon or Georgia or like Ohio State, these teams that just get to cherry pick and fill their roster with the best players in the country every year, you got to get creative and you've got to find program edges. And I'm a full believer. I'm firmly convinced that the way Kurt Signetti runs Indiana has found them a few edges that they have unique to Indiana. And that, when you add them all up, the cumulative effect of small edges ends up pouring out what you saw them achieve on the field last year. That's the lesson people should be learning from Indiana right now. It's not, let's go get a bunch of 23-year-olds. It's, let's define our edges. Okay. So, so Indiana does ABC. How do we do DEF better than anyone? How do we find a way to where someone thinks about something and they say, oh, that's South Carolina's thing, man. South Carolina's perfected that. This could go for anyone, but that's kind of what you got to do there. Cause you, you can't possibly think that you're about to start acquiring talent at the top 10 level. Look, they went and got your carriers peak best tackle available in the portal. that's wonderful. And they do have Dylan Stewart there. And they do have Lenora Sellers there. They got great players there. They don't have a great roster, but they've got great players. Now they got a good enough roster to improve a four and eight. I promise you that. But they shook up the offensive coaching staff. There's a new coordinator. Kendall Bryles is there, by the way, in case you haven't been keeping score. Running backs coach, offensive line coach. They have to find edges. And I say that generically because I'm not claiming to be coming to you with the specific edges tonight. That is, I have always argued, one of a few reasons Shane Beamer gets paid way more than we do. He's got to find them. And you've got to exhaust yourself to find them. Now, I say that so easy, man, because it's easy to say. Yes, it's hard to do because you've got a bunch of the best in the world at what they do coaching this game. Everybody's looking for an angle. Everyone's looking for an edge. What I'm telling you is the formula for success, if slash when you finally get there will include having done that. That's what I'm saying. There was a question about this past weekend I wanted to get to right quick. A lot of papers in front of me. James in Indianapolis said, hey, what was the deal with the racetrack video? Not the gas station. No, James saw that I was in Hot Springs, Arkansas. I was at the Broyles Award. I got to tell you guys, not every one of you get to attend the Broyles Award. If you just have a free weekend in March, you need to go check out Oak Lawn, a casino and resort there in Hot Springs. I don't care what you think about a trip to Hot Springs, Arkansas. You know nothing of Oak Lawn. You know nothing of that place until you go. I felt like I was at the French Riviera. It was unbelievable. So we go there every year. Well, let me rephrase. I've gone the past two years and plan to go every year because that's where they do the Broyles Award, which goes to the top assistant coach in the country. So I'm a voter, and it's a free trip, almost free, to Hot Springs to go to the Oak Lawn Resort. I only get to watch horse racing once a year, and you get to literally open your window in your hotel room, and there's a massive racetrack there. They run the Arkansas Derby there. Several Kentucky Derby winners have come out of that place, took a stable tour, Jesse, took a stable tour with several head coaches, current head coaches, and several assistant coaches. So it was really fun. That's where I was. That explains the racetrack video. Joey McGuire, great keynote speaker on Friday night. That's when they do the high school broils award. Bryant Haynes, congrats to him from Indiana. They won everything else this year. Why not win the broils award? Interestingly enough, and it will bring great joy to our friends in Bloomington to hear this. Bryant Haynes was the first dude I saw when I got to the hotel Thursday night or Wednesday night whenever I got there. So he's in the lobby, said hey to him. He brought up the clown nose. He brought up the clown nose within the first five minutes. And he didn't even do it with a smile. He nonchalantly mentioned the clown nose. For those who are new to the program, I do believe in taking ownership when I'm wrong. It does happen two or three times a year. And I was fantastically wrong in Indiana this past year too often. So I had to put on the clown nose after they won the national championship, which I picked against them to do. I have it on pretty good authority. The video made its way around the Indiana coaching staff. It brings me no joy, but I know it brings you guys a lot of joy. So congrats to him. Really, really a fun time up there. I look, I'm just telling you, I know Georgia fans find a way every year to complain about Mike Bobo. Mike Bobo had a good weekend, man. Like, I saw Mike Bobo in action. Competitive, like, race horse aficionado Mike Bobo. Dude was on fire. Unbelievable. And that was a fun time, man. Fun time. And I would highly encourage you guys, just go check that place out, even if it's not for the Broyles Award. 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Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPE-NY in New York. All right, let's move on. Let's wrap the show with this. We've been doing the Mood Tracker, one team per show, every show for the past several shows, and it's Oregon's time tonight. All we want to do with the Mood Tracker, quick reminder is we want to get rid of the most optimistic and pessimistic portions of the fan base. Not that you guys don't count, but you don't reflect the true mood of the middle 80% of your fan base. Because I kind of want to figure out what the majority feel right now. How do the majority of Oregon fans feel right now? What is their mood? Well, in keeping with the theme of Nike up there, I think it would be very appropriate to say the mood is kind of just do it. Maybe just do it now so we don't outright steal the slogan. But you know, if you're an Oregon fan, that you're going to recruit at a high level. You know, if you're an Oregon fan, that you can trust Dan Lanning to portal at a high level. You know that you can trust the intensity there to be off the charts. You know that it means something to put that O on. So there's a lot of stuff you know that all just adds up to what you're capable of, right? And so an Oregon fan has watched your team win 10, 10, 12, 13, and 13 games. Over the past five years, you got the third best winning percentage in the country. There's been no shortage of success. You got a Big Ten title a couple of years ago. You've gone to the playoff last couple of years. Now, the follow-up, you can't finish those sentences without talking about blowout to Ohio State, blowout to Indiana, and it just leaves this terrible taste in your mouth. It's not that you don't give up. Like, you're still really happy with the program, but you're like, man, I'm watching Ohio State do it. Now I watched Indiana do it. Why don't we do it? Like, whatever it takes, just do it. Just find a way. Just do it. what did they learn from Indiana? Out of all the questions I had about Indiana just going scorched earth on everyone throughout the playoffs was team like Alabama, team like Oregon, a team that just got victimized by Indiana. What did those staffs learn? But especially with Oregon because they had to deal with this twice last year. What did they learn? I could just sit here and say, wow, man, Indiana dominated them twice, really dominated them the second time around. Okay, great. How does that apply to the future? And if I'm an Oregon fan, I'm thinking to myself, all right, well, we can't change the past. What are we going to do about the future? What did we learn? What kind of staff cues did we take? What kind of preparation changes do we make? Because we had to experience that. It's okay to lose as long as we get better from it. and our staff gets better from it. So there's not a lot of room to go up here. And that's the privilege of being in a position that Oregon's in. But if I'm an Oregon fan, hey, look, I mean, if you're treading water, most of the country, they're happy to trade places with this resume. But you've lived the resume for a few years now. This is not new to you. You're winning double-digit games every year now. You're in the constant conversation for the playoff every year now. So it may not be right, but it's reality that you start to take it for granted. You can afford to do that as a fan. Dan Lanning can't afford to do that. His staff can't afford to do that. His player personnel guys can't afford to do that. You can afford to do that because you've got a normal 9-to-5 job. It's not your job to run Oregon football. It's your job to support Oregon football, and you do. And they give you a pretty darn solid return on your emotional investment. But so does Ohio State. but it's been just a little bit better lately. So does Indiana. It's been just a little bit better lately. That's all we're asking for. We're not asking for much here, just the entire world. That's all we're asking for if we're Oregon fans. That's our show. It's been a good night. Blood sugar, as it turns out, stabilized. Got one more spare emergency Oreo here if I need it. We're going to have a show Tuesday night, getting really close to kicking off the speaker series, so we're making preparation to go out on the road. Going to have a whole lot of head coaches on the Speaker Series this spring. Probably sprinkle in like three, four, five high-profile non-coaches. We've gotten a lot of interaction and feedback and requests on that front. So you never know where the Speaker Series will end up. But it's going to be a fun spring. So we'll be here Tuesday night, and then we'll be on the road for that later this week. Make sure you're subscribed to the channel if you haven't already. And that's a double please, all caps please. For Director Bradley, for Producer Jesse, I'm Josh Pate. Take care. Have a great start to your week and God bless. Thank you. or text Hope NY in New York. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.