The LOWDOWN with Chris Low: Breaking down the top teams for 2026: Alabama, Texas, LSU, Oregon, and Michigan

On today's episode of Andy and Ari on three presented by bet MGM. The great Chris Lowe, our colleague at on three joins us to talk about a whole bunch of stuff across the college football universe. It's the lowdown. We're going to talk Kayla Nabor going into year three at Alabama. We're going to talk Steve Sarkeesian and Texas trying to get back into the college football playoff. We're going to talk Lane Kiffin and expectations at LSU. Plus, can Dan Lanning get Oregon over the hump and into the national title game? And what will Kyle Whittingham do at Michigan? It was the strangest coaching search maybe you've ever seen, but it might have wound up being the best hire of the year. We'll find out. We'll talk about it all with our friend Chris Lowe on today's Andy and Ariane 3, presented by BetMGM. This show is presented by BetMGM, and there's no better place to be during March matchups than Las Vegas. 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Call 1-800-327-5050 in Massachusetts. Call 1-800-BETS-OFF in Iowa or 1-800-981-0023 in Puerto Rico. First bet offer for new customers only, subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in seven days in partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for BetMGM yet, use the bonus code CFB and get your $1,500 first bet offer today. Welcome to Annie and Ari on 3 presented by BetMGM. It's going to be a really fun day today because one of our favorite people in the world joins us. Chris Lowe, our On3 colleague, joins us for the lowdown. We're going to hit five burning topics in college football and tap into Chris's expertise. And Ari, there might not be a bigger expert in the country than Christopher Lowe. Yeah, you know, I've worked at a lot of places and have worked with a lot of people. This might be the single most impactful hire that I've ever been a part of. And you were hired after me at the athletic, if that tells you what I'm saying here. Thank you. Chris is an absolute stud. And he makes our entire team better and makes it more fun to work here. And, you know, I will tell you this, Andy, you know, I'll tell the audience this. There isn't a single college football story that Chris and Pete aren't texting behind the scenes and are on top of. And it's been kind of an amazing thing to watch. So, so happy to have him on the show. but more importantly, super thrilled even all this time later to have him a part of our team. And we're joined now by Chris Lowe. How are we doing? As the great Bo Schembechler once said, the team, the team, the team. That's right. I'll be the walk-on of the team. I'm fine with that. I don't know about that. Ari, you got a Michigan logo on your shirt, don't you? I sure do. It finally came in the mail. $48. With shipping and handling, of course. The Big Ten trifecta shirt Ari is wearing Michigan, Ohio State, and Indiana. Because there's so many Michigan fans that want to wear a shirt with an Ohio State logo on it. It's legit the most ridiculous shirt that's ever been processed in the history of college football. So I'm happy to be the owner of it. And I only bought it for one reason. And this show will probably be live right around the time I make my appearance. So I'm not going to spoil anything. but I bought this shirt with the intention of wearing it on the fine bomb show just to make people mad. So we'll see how that goes this afternoon, but I'm glad to be here and I'm excited to talk about a bunch of topics as he see big 10 and more today. Well, Chris Lowe, we got to talk to you about a program that you know, very well. You, we referred to you when we weren't working with you as the Nick Saban whisperer. You were, you were the one guy that Nick Saban really trusted to tell his story. and so you know the Alabama program inside and out. It is very strange for me to look at this program right now because any other program, if you're coming off 9-3 and then coming off a playoff appearance after that where you won a game in the playoff, people wouldn't be freaking out. It feels like they're kind of freaking out at Alabama right now. You think? A little bit. You know, this is going to sound crazy, guys. I'm not surprised. I am not one bit surprised that Kalen DeBoer sort of is where he is because I knew the transition. I don't care who they brought in after Nick Saban. It was going to be exceedingly difficult, almost impossible. And remember, now Nick had the audacity his last three years. He didn't win a national title either. A loser. Never mind he won six when he was there. But, you know, I knew this would not be something that overnight that Kalen was going to come in, I didn't think anyway, and win a national title. A, it's a different college football than it was during the time that Nick was winning. Now, that doesn't diminish the fact that he won six national titles, but it is a different era, a different landscape. And I knew that he was going to have some time to get guys where he needed to get them, get the right staff. It might take a couple recruiting classes. It might take different portal classes to get the guys in that he felt like we're on the same page as he is. So the fact that they won a playoff game last year and played in the SEC title game, you're right. I think most people just completely forget about that. But I don't think it's a fact that they just got to the playoff and lost. They lost badly to Indiana. It's the inconsistency that that program has shown in the last two years, losing to teams that they shouldn't lose to. And, you know, all Nick's accomplishments, the fact that he won 100 straight games and never lost, never lost to an unranked team. So the Alabama fans, yeah, they're used to winning national titles, but here's something else they're used to or not used to, is losing to Oklahoma by three touchdowns like they did two years ago, losing to Florida State by two touchdowns to start this past year. I think that's the thing that frustrated Alabama fans the most, and yet, to Kalen's credit, he was able to get this team turned around. They played better football during the middle of the season. They got to the playoff. They won a playoff game on the road. But as we know, that's never going to be the standard at Alabama. You know, the thing that I find most fascinating about this is, is that for as big of a meltdown as some people are having, maybe part of this is the way that the season went last year. Maybe part of this is how effective they were in their portal spending. But when the notion or the story popped that Kalen DeBoer would be a candidate for other jobs, they also freaked out. And it's like I kind of feel confused about what they actually would want. Like if you polled 1,000 random Alabama fans and said you could keep Kalen or you could get rid of him, like what do you think the percentage of both sides of those would be? Yeah, it's like you guys aren't coming to take anything that's ours, whether we really like it or not, Ari. But you're not going to take our guy. That was a tough – listen, I had communicated a little bit with Kalen, and I know deep down he did not want to go anywhere. and he told me multiple times that he understood the challenge he was taking on when he came to Alabama but you know Andy we talked about this the other day you can understand I don't think Kalen's eyes were closed they were wide open when he walked into Tuscaloosa but man until you walk in those shoes at that place in that program you never know what it's going to be like You just don't. And I think when you get there, you're like, whoa. Even someone that is as grounded as Kalen is, and I think that happened a little bit. I don't think he ever deep down wanted to go to Michigan, Ari, but I do think it was certainly a possibility. And I don't know, people ask me the great what if. What would have happened if Bama had lost that first playoff game to Oklahoma? Would he have gone? Would he have stayed? And I know, again, deep down he didn't want to go. because he's never wanted to be the guy that ran to a challenge, quite frankly, that a lot of people want to know part of to go in behind Nick Saban and then look like the guy that ran away after two years. That's just not who Kalen is at his core. But it still was Michigan. It still was a chance to maybe go and restart your clock at another blue blood. So I don't know. I don't know what would have happened. I guess it's always going to be one of those great ifs or what ifs in college football. So I think a lot of it, Chris, is the way last season ended, and not just the Indiana game, but also the way they played in the Georgia game, the SEC championship, where they could not run the ball at all. It's just, it's antithetical to everything everybody at Alabama has ever believed in, where you just can't run the ball. Caleb Warfires is offensive line coach. He brings in Adrian Clem. Do you think they can get that part of it better? because it feels like if they can, then whoever wins the quarterback battle, whether it's Keelan Russell or Austin Mack, is going to have an easier time of it because Ty Simpson was just having to carry the thing. Yeah, Ty Simpson got beat to death too. I mean, whoever's a quarterback, whether it's Russell or Keelan Mack, they've got to protect better and certainly be better at not having your quarterback get out. You know, in some of it, Ty maybe was off script a little bit too much at times last year and took some hits. He was such a tough kid. There's really no excuse whatsoever at all that Alabama should be as poor running football team as they were last year. There's just zero excuse. When you recruit at the level they do, you go look at their offensive line, they went and got guys that everybody in the country wanted. I know back when Nick was there, he really liked Jam Miller. He always felt like Jam Miller was going to be the next guy. Now, injuries hurt him last year, but I don't think there's any coincidence to answer your question that Kalen went out and brought in two guys, Clem, who's going to be the new offensive line coach, and Richard Owens from Louisville, who will be the tight ends coach. Both of those guys in their background have been run game coordinators. They've had that title. I don't think that's any coincidence at all. They know they've got to get that fixed. Now, Miller's gone. There's going to be new faces, the running back position. So much of that too, though, how do you incorporate throwing the football, running the football together? They just never were in sync at that last year. This will be Ryan Grubb's second year calling plays, his second year at Alabama. I think that helps a little bit. He's going to have a new quarterback. But, no, I don't think there's any way you can win at the level that Alabama did and be as putrid running the football as they were last year. I mean, they were down in the 120s. And, you know, as long as I've covered that program, if you would have bet me, you know, yeah, I know the staff's different, Nick's gone, Kaelin's in there. If you would have bet me five years ago that they'd be that bad running the football, I never would have believed it. I know that is right there at the top of their priority list. Because I don't care. Let's not just say Alabama. When you can run the football and bloody people's nose, which they did time and time again over the last two decades, it opens up so many other things, not only just offensively but defensively. And I think if someone asks me where do they have to be better, what's going to change for Alabama, to get back in the playoff and advance deeply in the playoff, it's been able to run the football. So the bottom lower third here says critical third year at Alabama. What do you think is a successful season next year? And have Alabama fans come around to the idea that you're not going to win a national championship every year? No. That would be no. so what what does he have to do i know you're surprised to hear that are you um no i'm not uh again i just think it comes i hate to keep bringing up nick saban and but that's just where we are and that's where caleb deboer is but when you win at the level that they won for two decades uh it that's that's always going to be the expectation and it should be at a place like bama i guarantee you you talk to the folks at ohio state you talk to the folks at georgia they expect to win national titles every year. It's not realistic. I think to answer your question, I think being more consistent is one. I think they've got to be a more consistent football team. If you want to criticize Caleb DeBoer, it's they have seemed to play at times down to their competition in his two years. Even the South Carolina game last year, I give them credit for winning that game, but they didn't play well in that game. The Florida State game, and then of worst the end of his first year. And then you're right, Andy, the way they got – it's not that they got beat against Georgia in the title game. It's not the fact that they got beat by Indiana. Indiana beat everybody last year. They got boat raced. So I think consistency, getting into the playoff and playing – and here's the key, and this is the way I would answer, and maybe it's a little bit of a non-answer, playing better and playing your best football, their best football when they get to the playoff, where you can point to them and say, this team can beat any team in the country. I don't think anybody believed that last year going into the playoff. You're definitely right. Now, one team that everyone believed could beat everybody going into last season was the Texas Longhorns. Preseason number one, slow start. Bad middle with the loss to Florida. They end up 9-3, but they got better as the season went on. They closed with the win against Texas A&M. They close with the bowl win. Arch Manning looks better. They seem to be all in. Pete Nako says a story about how much they spent to get Cam Coleman. Texas feels all in this year. So where are the Longhorns going into this season? Number one, they'll be better at quarterback. I have no doubt that Arch Manning will be a better, more consistent player. I think he'll be a better leader. I think he'll be – not that he was a bad leader, But I think when you play better at that position, a quarterback, it's easier to be a leader, a stronger leader. And I think you rally guys around you. You rally your locker room. And I think that's where it starts is he's been around now. It hard to believe this will be his third year on campus all the talk and all the hype about Arch Manning So he been around He knows what Sark expects Sark knows him the staff I think that's where I would start, is that they're going to get better, more consistent play. Because last year, you go back to the start of the season, he wasn't very good. And then he came on as the season progressed. And I expect you'll see Arch, to start the season, much more confident, much more in concert with what they want him to do. And I think because of that, Andy, I think the guys around him will play better and more confidently. So that's where I would start with Texas this coming year. You know, I think Texas is really interesting because on one hand, there's no question that Steve Sarkeesian has elevated the profile of the program, the amount of talent they've brought in, a lot of the talent that went out into the NFL draft that wasn't being taken in that month very consistently. And, you know, of course, there are two playoff appearances. But I feel like there was some frustration amongst Texas fans at the end of last year with not only their slow start but not making the playoff and coming up short in the goals as one of the favorites to win the national championship before the year started. Where do you think people are with Steve Sarkeesian? Is this a critical year for him or is he already a made man? I wouldn't say he's a made man. I don't think you're ever a made man at Texas. Even though it's been forever since they've won, I say forever. It seems like forever. You guys were both in grade school when they last won the national title. Of course, I'm at Jess. I was at the game, Chris. I was working. I was a professional. I worked at a newspaper. Remember those? We used to work for them. I do. I was in high school. I actually once upon a time did work at a newspaper. But I don't think you're ever made at Texas, at a place like Texas, Ari. And now with 12 teams in the playoff, and who knows where we go from here after this coming season. But you know, you guys know as well as anybody, that if you're at Texas or BAM or Ohio State, they think it's their God-given right to be in the playoff, at least be in the playoff every year. And we all know that R.A. Texas would have been in the playoff had they not played Ohio State earlier this season. I had to throw that out there just for you. It's true. That's a fact. But, no, I think they – listen, certainly they need to get the playoff. And I think they will. I think the way Sark's recruited, they've continued to lose top talent in the NFL, but they've replenished – you know, you look at their offensive, line. I think they got a chance, even though they lost some key guys the last two years, to be really good up there. And as I said earlier, I think Arts will make them look better with the way he plays. They have spent in the portal, and spending is not everything in the portal. How do you spend wisely? Just go to Bloomington, Indiana to see the blueprint for how to spend wisely. But I do think bringing a guy like Cam Coleman, and they spent a handsome amount of money to get him, you know that Arch Manning's sitting there saying, okay, here's a guy that, you know, get it to him, throw him somewhere in his vicinity, he's going to make plays for us. So I think getting to the playoff, being, much like I said with Alabama, we talked about Alabama, being a team that's playing its best football in the playoff. There were so many teams last year right up there in the top five that, and I think this is where we are, and maybe we all, media, fans, donors, need to reprogram our minds that it's just because you start up high. This is a different world now in college football. The usual suspects aren't always going to be the ones that are sitting there in the playoff. Ask Penn State from last year. We talk about Texas. Ask Clemson. Ask LSU. Ask a lot of those teams that started way up in the rankings, whatever the preseason rankings mean, and what their season. So at least Texas was there. I would say that Texas, again, the consistency part of it, You know, they were really, really fortunate. They get the huge play on the punt return to beat Mississippi State. You know, so, and then, of course, they end the season with a bank, winning their big rival game. But, no, I don't think anybody's ever made at places like Texas. Well, and I was looking at that schedule. Their kryptonite, since they've joined the SEC, is not on the schedule anymore. It's tough because, obviously, you've got to play Ohio State. They've got to go to Knoxville. They've got to go to Oklahoma and Dallas. They've got to go to Baton Rouge. They got to go to College Station. It's not easy. But Georgia has been a problem for Texas since Texas joined the SEC. They lost to them twice in the first year in the SEC. They got blown out. I mean, we were at the game. It wasn't really a blowout, but they did run away from them in the fourth quarter. And so I kind of, looking at that, because Texas feels like it matches up well against everybody else. That's the one. And it's sort of like Kirby with Nick Saban, maybe Sark with Kirby. Just somebody who's got your number, and you don't have to see him in the regular season. You know, I think schedules is your old head coach, Steve Spurr, used to always say you're only as good as your players and your schedule, Andy. And schedules within the league, now it's going to change a little bit, go to nine games next year. I think that's a whole different dynamic for the SEC. But still, when you avoid certain teams, and we're not going to get as much of that, thank goodness. I mean, to me, when people talk about schedules and going to nine versus eight and the imbalance, I always point to the fact that Texas A&M came to the SEC in 2012, and Georgia's never played at Kyle Field. So that never felt very representative to me of what a conference schedule is going to be like. So, yes, avoiding Georgia, because Georgia's not only beaten them and had their number, but if you go look at all those games physically, Georgia was the better football team. I go back to the game up in Austin, not this past year, but two years ago. The bottle-throwing game. Yeah, and you're thinking, all right, this doesn't look good for Georgia. Texas is going to jump on. And then Georgia just sort of like beats them up physically. Yeah. And you're right. Texas does a lot of that themselves to other teams, but that's sort of been, I think you used the word kryptonite, that's the hump they've not been able to get over. Now they played in the SEC title game. Maybe we see them play again, and Texas gets over that hump, but I do think that will be a factor this year for Texas. Again, I'm going to be fascinated, I don't know about you guys, to see how many teams in the SEC end up with three losses. and then what the narrative's going to be at the end of the season. Yay or nay, okay? Because it's going to be so different than most fans are used to because you've got, what, eight more losses automatically. And I do think the league, and this goes back to your question about Texas, the league is much more, I don't want to say balanced, there's much more group together. Listen, for all the SEC people out there, it was top-heavy from 15 to 22 or 23. It was Georgia-Bama, Bama-Georgia. LSU had that unbelievable run in 2019, but there was a gap, a pretty big gap between those teams and everybody else. That gap's not there. There are a lot of good teams in the SEC, but we've seen the last two years where the first or second best team is getting beat by the eighth, ninth, and tenth team. We didn't see that as much from 15 to 22 or 23. Chris, you jabbed me before the show and during the show about my scheduling opinion. What's yours? Is Texas the beneficiary of a boon because they're playing Ohio State, or do you think that's bad for them? No, I think it's good for the sport, Ari. Listen, I've been saying this for several years now, that teams need to go out and play other good teams. The people we forget about in this argument are whom? The fans. Now, I know that a lot of fans and teams say, we don't care if we play a big-time power force school in the non-conference. We just want to get to the playoff. And that is sort of a byproduct of the playoff. I don't think it's a good one. but I do think that's where we are. But no, I think if you play good teams, ultimately, and maybe Texas would argue with this, you're going to be rewarded. And we'll see how things continue to evolve with the committee. I do think it's a little bit of a moving goalpost, depending on who's on the committee from year to year. I know in talking to people that have been on that committee, coaches, just in that room former coaches when they're evaluating these teams and evaluating schedules may look at it differently than say the media person or a commissioner or a an athletic director they're looking at it like a coach to look at tape well I don't want to play this team because their offensive line is outstanding or they're a little suspect in the defensive secondary so even within that room and I'm not saying that's necessarily bad but I do think their different opinions on the way they dissect things. But, man, I'm 100%. Here's what I would say on scheduling. I don't think it's out of the realm that every Power 4 school should play 10 quote-unquote good games. Nine in your league, and you play somebody else in the Power 4. I think everybody wins. And then it's a little bit – there's a little bit more uniformity at that point. It's easier if you're on that committee to evaluate teams. And I get we're going to have the SEC and Big Ten. Well, our nine league games are harder than playing nine in the ACC and the Big 12. I get that. But as our dear friend Roy Kramer once told me, Chris, in college football it's never going to be apples to apples when it comes to scheduling and trying to figure out a way to best determine the national champion. But I'm all about it, Ari. Let's play ten games, everybody. If it's nine and one, eight and two, I don't care. But I'd love to see ten good games. Well, and that's what I want to see a 9-3 team that really challenged itself getting in over a 10-2 team that didn't. I think that's when it'll be fair, and that's when people will back off this, we need to get rid of the good non-conference games. We've been dogging Texas because of the Arizona State thing. We dogged Texas because some of their fans were saying now drop Notre Dame. But they are playing Ohio State this year, and they are challenging themselves. And it is going to be a fun game. And I hope they get rewarded for that. I really do. Because that helps the whole sport. I agree. And listen, if we lose those games, call me a traditionalist, call me old, old school. If we lose the Ohio State, Alabama's, Oklahoma, Michigan type games in the regular season, the sport suffers. I don't care what anybody says about the playoff. That to me, those types of games, those intersectional games are the fabric of college football. Yeah. Cannot wait for Texas and Ohio State. It's going to be so much fun. Also fun this year is Lane Kiffin in Baton Rouge. Now, the Ole Miss fans aren't going to consider it fun, but I am very intrigued to see what Lane Kiffin can do with the LSU brand, with LSU's recruiting footprint, with everything he can do, and with this roster that he partially inherited and retained and then went out into the portal and added to. Chris, you know Lane Kiffin about as well as anybody in this business. What do you think he's going to do year one in Baton Rouge? He'll make it entertaining. I can guarantee you that. It won't be boring. It won't be dull. Is anything ever dull with Lane? No. Absolutely not. Now, in a good way and a bad way. But this is the honeymoon phase, So it's probably all good way other than when he goes back to Oxford. Yeah. By the way, I'm trying, I'm looking for eight tickets in the lower section on September 19th in Oxford when LSU comes back. Do you guys, can you guys help me? Anytime has been one of our sponsors. So we can, we can probably get you 20 bucks off with the, with the code Andy, but that's, that's about the best we can do. It's going to be four grand though. Sorry, Chris. And this, this is not a, I'll answer your question in a second, Andy, But I was thinking back several months ago, games over the last 10 years, regular season games that have been anticipated. You had the quote-unquote game of the century with LSU and Alabama in 2011, the one in Tuscaloosa that LSU actually won. Nobody scored a touchdown in that game. There's been some Ohio State and Michigan games, one versus two. What year was that when they played one versus two? 2006. 2006. I don't know that I can remember one that has been circled or will be circled or this anticipated as LSU going back to Oxford on September 19th. It's going to be just complete bonkers. And I don't know how does Lane come in an armored car or what, armored truck, but that place is going to be just absolutely off the charts. See, I think he's got to treat it like a pure WWE villain, which he's the one coach who can embrace that, I feel like, who understands the showmanship involved there. Because, I mean, he should come in in a fur robe and just throw it off and start calling ball plays. Maybe have Ric Flair lead him in down the aisle, walk that aisle. No, he will. You're exactly right. He will embrace that. He'll eat it up. He'll tweet about it all week. What do I expect? What are the expectations? Here's what we know aren't the expectations in Baton Rouge, and that's winning 10 games. Kelly won 10 twice, nine. They won nine. He was canned. So if Lane wins 10 games next year, first of all, if he wins 10 games, he's probably going to make the playoff. But not necessarily. Ask Vandy. Doesn't always work that way. They won 10, didn't get in this year. But if he wins 10, he's probably in. Who are the 10? Who do you lose to? How do they play in the playoff? It is a honeymoon phase. But here's what Lane has offered, and this is what everybody I talk to there, on staff, fans, donors, is there's the kind of hope with the way they've recruited, the way they have gone into the portal and brought in key guys. You go get a marquee quarterback in Levitt to be your guy, and you spend a ton of money to get him. that there's hope that LSU will get back to being a team in the playoff that you look to when they go into the playoff and say they've got a chance to beat anybody in the country. And I think that's sort of what people there on the bayou want to see is a team that certainly plays with swag, and Lane's got plenty of it. But he also understands, and I think he doesn't go there making $13 million a year and being a guy that Florida wanted, LSU wanted a lot of people. He was the commodity this past year and understand what the expectations are, and that's to win a national title. Listen, they've won three in the last, what, 22 years, three different coaches. Saban won one, Les Miles won one, Ed Ogeron won one. So they've had different guys. One of those is a Hall of Famer. The other two, I mean, we can sit here and debate all day, but they have shown the propensity there on the bayou to win at the highest level over the last two decades. So certainly within the first couple years, he's going to be expected, if he doesn't win one, to be right there playing for one. And I do think the thing that Lane does as well as anything over and above being that guy that kids want to play for I mean players do They like his swag They like the fact not every single one of them but most of the ones I've talked to, the fact that he's on Twitter, that he's a bite-back type of personality, whether you hate it or love it. But the thing he does, I think, as well as anybody, is the way they evaluate. And all you've got to do is go back and look at Ole Miss' roster. And he had a good staff there. He had a lot of help at Ole Miss. guys that sat in in that room and looked at tape and found guys like a Trinidad Shambliss. But that's what he did better at Ole Miss than anything is they went and they found guys that fit and found guys that were willing to come to Ole Miss. And I think at LSU, whether you like it or don't like it, it is a bigger brand than LSU. Does that mean they'll be better? Does that mean that Ole Miss won't kick their butt next year? No, I'm not saying that. but LSU is one of the top jobs, one of the top football programs in America and has been for a long time. So anybody wagging their finger at Lane Kiffin for taking the job, well, I can't believe he would leave Ole Miss. Now, we could talk all day about the way it went down, but the fact that he went and took the LSU job, there are a lot of coaches who would have done that. It's the way he went about it. Would he want a mulligan? Are there a lot of things to criticize him about and the way he did, some of the things he didn't do, those absolutely, absolutely, he could have handled it a lot better. But I do think the LSU job, and I said this before, when we were sort of all talking about is he going to go to Florida, is he going to go to LSU, is he going to stay at Ole Miss, and talking to Nick Saban and other people that know in the sport a lot more than I do, I still think LSU, if it's not the best job in college football, it's one of the top three. Chris, I'm just curious. You were really connected behind the scenes during the circus. What was it like covering it? Do you have any funny stories or any takeaways from talking to both sides of that whole thing? Because that was one of the most compelling coaching hires and coaching carousel stories of all time. Yeah, right up there, Ari. Man, we could sit here all day and talk about the circus that it was. Hey, listen, let's be honest. Lane made it a circus he's the main one that made it a circus but I don't know that Lane is uncomfortable being a part of the circus as you pointed out earlier in our discussion Andy, he likes the chaos, he's not afraid to stir it up I think at the end of the day I know in talking to Lane leading up a little bit to the Mississippi State game he was wrestling with what he was going to do he just could not wrap his hands around the fact that Ole Miss was going to the playoff, again, whether you like it or don't like it, a program that he had built into a playoff team and not coaching that team in the playoff. Well, hey, it was his choice to go to LSU. He took the job. I think in his mind he felt like he could finagle it, he could work it out where he was going to be able to take that job and still coach Ole Miss in the playoff. That was never going to happen. The Ole Miss people were – and talking to him, talking to the Ole Miss people, even talking to some of the players, because it got pretty ugly with the leadership council that last day. At that point, they were done with him. They didn't want him to be the coach. And so it was just sort of back and forth. And early on, I know the Ole Miss fans I talked to wanted him to stay. They didn't want to lose him. Hey, look at what we've done. And I get it. If I'm Ole Miss right now, I'm like, hey, good riddance. He didn't want to be here. He went to LSU. We're going to beat their ass next year. from here on out. Ari, it was surreal to sort of see the way that thing went back and forth and all the different opinions and the feelings that were hurt along the way. Listen, if you're Ole Miss and for the first time in forever, you're relevant nationally. You've got a guy coaching your program who is a commodity. He almost went to Auburn a couple years ago. He stayed. and I think a lot of that was because of family. He brings his family to Ole Miss. More of them come to Ole Miss. Everybody's like, okay, we're good now. His family's here. He's going to be here for a while. And listen, they were willing to pay. The thing that I think is misunderstood by a lot of people is Ole Miss would have paid him every bit of what he got paid at LSU. So it wasn't like Ole Miss said, hey, we can't go to that figure. Now, I know there's some debate about what LSU gave him, as far as being able to build his roster versus what Ole Miss did. But Ole Miss was very good to Lane. They were very, very good. Their collective was outstanding, the kind of money that they generated for him to build his roster. And I think they would have done what they needed to do. Would they have matched them dollar for dollar? I don't know. But you could talk to six different people in a day, LSU, Florida, Ole Miss, administrators, Keith Carter, people in the LSU administration, players, and you'd get a different story, a different vibe about what was going on. At the end of the day, I don't think that Lane was ever going to be able to say no to LSU. Yeah, and the money thing is so interesting, and I've had to explain that to people at Florida. The Florida fans ask the same thing. They say, was it a money thing? It's not a money thing. It wasn't a money thing with Ole Miss either. It was he thought LSU was the better job, and that's why he took it. And I know that makes people mad, but I'm sure the LSU fans are like, hell yeah, you're right, it's the better job. And that's what he had people in the business telling him, that most of the people he trusts who give him advice told him to take the LSU job. And guys, I was just thinking of something. We haven't talked about this much because the other team has been down some. the first game of the season is between Lane Kiffin and Dabo Sweeney. The press conferences are going to be incredible that week. What are you saying that Dabo will be outspoken? He might speak his mind? He might say what's on his mind and Lane might respond in kind. It's going to be incredible. You think back to that game last year. Remember how big a buildup there was? I was actually there. That was my first assignment for on three. Yeah, we were all there. Clemson's version of Death Valley. And I'm walking there thinking, man, this game's going to – we're going to have a pretty good idea which one of these two teams has a chance to maybe make a run in the playoff. And both teams were pretty bad on offense. Little did we know that neither team, you know. And now we've got Dabo still there. And as I talked to somebody on the staff, he said, hey, we're in the portal. Dabo's a little bit more in the portal, and you've got a Lane coach in LSU. To segue off what you said, though, Andy, and you said it well, I have so many people there at Ole Miss on the staff, they're in that community that I've talked to so much over the last two months and have a ton of respect for their passion and their loyalty and hanging in there the way they have. I get completely why they're pissed at Lane. I would be too if I was on the Ole Miss side of things. the way it went down, the way that thing dragged out. I don't think he was completely honest there at the very end. But here's what you've got to understand to your point. He absolutely did what he felt like was best for him and gives him the best chance to sustain success. Again, I want to repeat that, to sustain success at the highest level. As one coach told me who coached there, he's coached at several places around the country. There's no place in America, when you look at the talent pool in that state, they all grown up wanting to be Tigers, as Coach O'Jaron said, and you look at the money, the tradition, everything else, there's no place in America that year in and year out, you're in a position to recruit the kind of talent that it takes year in, year out, and now recruit talent both in the high school ranks and the portal that it takes every single year to win a national title. and lsu is that kind of place and and now lane kiffin is their coach it's going to be fun uh just a little bit yeah yeah a little bit let's move to the other side of the country where there's a guy who has been given the resources to build a national championship team and he's gotten closer and closer and closer but he keeps hitting hitting walls And the question is, can Dan Lanning get Oregon over the hump? So we saw him win the Big Ten in year one of the Big Ten, and then they're knocked out in the quarterfinals by the eventual national champion Ohio State. This year they get to the quarterfinals, they win a game. They shut out Texas Tech, but then they're knocked out in the semifinals by the eventual national champ Indiana. Can Dan Lanning get them that next couple steps at Oregon? Man, everything's in place there to win it all. I spent half a week out there last year leading up to the Indiana win, in fact. Well, the Indiana's win, Oregon lost to Indiana. And had a chance to talk with Dan, talk with several people there in that organization, sat down with Dante Moore. When you go out there and you see, I mean, they're building a brand-new Taj Mahal. And it's really nice what they have now. But they're building a brand-new Taj Mahal for football. they've recruited a high level, they're spending tons of money, they've got all the resources they ever need. There's no reason. And he told me, I asked him point blank, a lot of coaches don't do this. Very few coaches anymore, guys, will say never, never, never. You know, remember the old Tuberville? He'd have to carry me out of here in a pine box when he left Ole Miss to go to all over. I know I'm dating myself. Lanning actually – That's Senator Tuberville to you. Right, Senator, the Senator. Lanning, Dan actually referenced that when I asked him, is there anything else out there for you? Is there any other horizon in college football? And he said, no, I'm not leaving. There's no reason to leave. Everything I have and I need is right here. So, yeah, I think you just sort of – sometimes it takes – you mentioned getting over humps or taking those steps. Sometimes it takes the right draw. I don't – you know, Indiana. I don't know that anybody was going to beat Indiana this year. I just think it was their year. I don't mean that in a fluky-side way. And I don't know that anybody would have beaten Ohio State last year. Exactly. So they caught two teams the last two years who were the best teams in the country, who were playing at that point the best. And sometimes that happens. It's like the NCAA tournament in basketball. Sometimes you get a bad draw. You look at all the years that teams have gotten to the Final Four that you're like, how in the hell did they get to the Final Four? Well, they had a good draw, and they got hot at the right time. So, no, I absolutely think Dan Lanning has that program on a trajectory to get back. He's got, if not the best quarterback in the country, certainly one of the most talented quarterbacks in the country coming back. And I always look at two or three things. I'm old school, Andy. We've known each other for a long time. Where are you at that position, at the quarterback position, the most important position in all of sports? Okay, they got the guy who's been there now for a few years. Okay, and he knows and understands he'll be a lot better. then where are you in the middle of that defensive line? Well, oh, by the way, bring back Bear Alexander and Mario Washington right there in the middle of that defensive line, two guys that I think will play pro ball for a long time. They're good at linebacker. And then look at the secondary. They bring back one of the best young players, certainly one of the best young defensive backs in college football. So all the key spots, middle of your defensive line, lockdown corner quarterback i think if you compared those positions to every other school in the country next year i'd say oregon would be right there at the top that's and that that defense is loaded by the way guys like chris is going down the list and and brandon finney the the corner who had a billion interceptions at the end of the season uh joined by coy parrish the the the miss the right minnesota transfer getting my m schools mixed up but coy parrish the minnesota transfer who pretty much fills in for Dylan Thienemann. And Mateo Uyungle is coming back, coming off the edge. Like, did anybody see the strip sack in the Texas Tech game? I mean, the guy's a freak. So it's unbelievable. I didn't even mention the two receivers. Remember, they played last year, all year without perhaps one of their best, well, most talented receivers, Evan Stewart. Evan Stewart, yeah. Okay, he didn't play at all. And then you've got DeCorey Moore coming back. So playmakers on the perimeter. As I look at teams around college football, and I don't want to be the kiss of death here for Dan and the Ducks, but they, to me, seem as equipped as anybody to make a deep run and be right there playing for the national title next year. And I think having the disappointment each of the last two years and sort of, you know, you're right. You win the Big Ten your first year. You know, you win your first-round game. You come up against Indiana. You lose that game. But sort of making steps, taking steps. You know, it's the old cliche, man. You're going to go catch the great white shark. You better be out there fishing in those waters. And Oregon certainly is fishing in those waters. What went into the Conte Moore decision to come back? I'm fascinated by it. Well, hey, Ari, retention to me now, we talk about adding, you know, adding in the portal, which is important. You've got to go get, you know, the Cam Coleman's of the world, the Levitt's of the world, those type of guys that switch schools. But, man, you better be able, whether it's cash, as Randy Moss used to say, straight cash, homie, whether it's you figure, hey, I got a chance if I stay to better develop and improve my stock in the NFL, or you just love playing college football. I mean, I don't know. That's probably in that order, cash, develop. You love playing college football. But, man, you've got to have the ability to retain your best players. And whether they're considering going pro, whether it's they're thinking about getting into the transfer portal. In fact, I think if you talk to coaches around the country, they would tell you that may be as important as anything right now. Yeah, you've got to evaluate and make sure you're bringing in the right guys, guys that fit in your locker room and your system. But when you've got guys that are cornerstone guys, guys that are talented, guys that can make a difference, you've got to retain those guys and bring them back. Well, I am very excited to see what Dante Moore does, especially another year of Decorian Moore, Evan Stewart comes back. They'll have healthy backs. I mean, this is one thing I think people forget about that Peach Bowl is all of their running backs were hurt. You basically can't run your offense because the pass pro part of it becomes a mess without your starters. But what is it about Dan Leaning? Because you mentioned this earlier, Chris, and Dan Leaning is the only coach who will say this, who will say, I'm not going anywhere. Everybody else is never say never. He's the only one. Why is he like that? I don't know. He had a little spurring last year when I talked to him about that He said that It was the Thursday before the Indiana game And he said Chris I not going anywhere else I don want to go anywhere else I got everything right here As a writer as a reporter you sort of sit back and you like you look at him, are you sure? It was sort of one of those old head ball coach moments. Yeah, go ahead and write that. Put that in there. Yeah, I want you to write that. I want you to report it because I mean it. But I think his players see that. They hear that. They see that he's a younger dude. And I think he still relates really well with those guys. He's very honest. And I think that's a big part of it. But he just does not want to go. And you know what? His buyout, now it's not as big as it was. His buyout was pretty massive. I remember his name. There were reports. when I say reports, when Nick left, retired in Alabama, that he'd been seen in Tuscaloosa. I'm sure you guys remember that. Well, number one, his buyout was pretty massive at that point. I don't think he really was on Alabama's radar. Number two, he wasn't leaving. He had just gotten to Oregon, and that's something I think he feels like there's just nothing else out there that's going to give me any better chance to win at the highest level. And I think the last two years, as you point out, proves that, that they're sort of making progress. And fans can be impatient. We in the media can be impatient. Well, you can't win the big one or you can't get to this game. Let's wait and see because I do think they're equipped to absolutely get there. Yeah, I am excited because they bring back a ton. They're filling in where they need to fill in on the portal, but it really is Dan Lanning's team. It seems like a matter of when, not if. I agree. They're going to do it eventually. I agree. And you know what? That program is – and I know you guys have been out there. Duck fans are really great. I mean, it is the thing there. Oregon football. 60,000 sounds like 100,000. It does. It does. And I think he has actually taken that to another level, the pride and the interest. It's pretty cool. If you've never been to a game there in Oregon and you're a football junkie, go. Yeah. Yeah. I'll have to say he was so much fun. and it gets so much louder than you think it can. It is very cool. Chris, let us go to the biggest stadium in the country, the big house, where there's a new guy in charge, Kyle Whittingham. And this is one of the strangest coaching transitions you will ever see. Old coach wins nine games, gets fired for something happening off the field. New coach is a guy who just resigned his old job because he kind of felt the nudge from the folks who wanted to make the coach in waiting the coach. But Michigan may have upgraded in a serious, serious way with Kyle Whittingham. And I know I'm going to get skewered for saying this, but my favorite helmet, by the way, you guys agree in college football? The wing helmet? Oh, it's beautiful. Yeah. And I know I'm going to get emails from 10 different fan bases. Probably my alma mater will be one of the first groups of people I hear from. But it's funny, coach searches, you know, we all – we do fantasy coach searches. We do them in the media. Fans do them. Donors do them. A, B, C, D on our list. We want this guy first, this guy second. And rarely does it work out that way in coach searches, especially now. But when you look at everything Michigan was going through and all the – let's be honest, the embarrassment with the way everything went down with Shrump Moore, and no one really knew. You heard Kalen DeBoer's name. That was sort of the hot name where they were going to wait to see if Alabama wins its first playoff game and maybe we can get Kalen DeBoer. and then sort of out of the – completely off the radar, here comes this guy who's personified toughness and physical football and consistency. Now, granted, the last couple years, maybe at Utah, wasn't what anybody wanted. And he's, quote, unquote – of course, I get mad now when I hear anybody say anybody in their 60s is old because I just reached 60. So I got news for you. It ain't old if you're 60, okay? Well, Kyle Whittingham is in his 60s and is in better shape than most 20-somethings I've met. Absolutely. He's 60, whatever he is, 65, going on about 45 or 40. But, you know, you better be careful. And this goes not just for Utah but all fan bases. You better be careful sometimes if you're looking for a new penny. And I go back. I'll use a basketball analogy. When Texas ran Rick Barnes out however many years ago, a decade ago, he was done. He was never going to get them to where they wanted to go. He'd only gone to one Final Four, nudged him out, fired him. Well, all he's done at Tennessee is make Tennessee – now, granted, they hadn't gone to the Final Four, but they've been as consistent really as anybody in basketball. And he's taken that program to levels. Certainly Bruce Pearl reached those levels, but maybe even surpassed those levels. I think Kyle is that same kind of coach. And I think more than anything else right now in Ann Arbor, they need stability. They need solidarity. They need a guy like that who's no nonsense, who doesn't really care what anybody, me or you or anybody else around him thinks. He's going to coach it the way he wants to coach it. He's going to coach it hard. He's going to implement his system. And he understands, I mentioned physicality a minute ago, what it means to play good, tough defense, to run the football, and to be stronger and more physical than the other team. And you look at Michigan football over the years, that's a lot of what they've been. They're always good up front on defense. They've been able to run the football. I think though Kyle coming in actually helps them not only continue to do that, but take it to a level certainly with his ability to, as I said, bring some stability that they so desperately need right now. Andy, I agree, man. I didn't know what they were going to do. I didn't know who they would end up with. I knew down deep that DeBoer really didn't want to go. I knew there was a chance he might. But after that, I mean, I don't know. What did you guys think? I thought, you know, who else can they go get? And there were names that were being floated out there. But not until right there at the very end did we hear that it was Kyle Whittingham, who, as you say, sort of had a – I won't say had a foot on his back out in Salt Lake City, but maybe sort of just a slight nudge from the back. I mean, I think that it probably worked out as good as it possibly could have, given the circumstances and the timing of everything that happened. I can't imagine when you start looking at realistic replacements, Ari, who was really realistic that they got anybody who was more accomplished, who's a better fit, because I do believe in fits at certain schools. I know sometimes that word gets overused, and someone who's clearly still hungry to prove that he's got a lot left in his fastball. And maybe even hungrier because last year Utah was really good. They were 11-2, and Kyle coached them all the way through the bowl game. So he won 11 games there last year. The two previous seasons were probably all kind of fallout from the quarterback injury from Cam Rising getting hurt at the end of that Rose Bowl, and they never could quite get that right. They got the quarterback part right. They got the OC part right. The OC's coming with. Bryce Underwood's staying. It really worked out about as well as you think. And guys, think about this. I had to go back and check my dates because I wanted to make sure. Kyle Whittingham was not available on the day they fired Sharon Moore. Kyle Whittingham didn't resign at Utah until two days later. I don't think one had anything to do with the other, by the way. Chris, you mentioned you thought he felt the nudge. I got the same sense. Morgan Scali been the head coach and waiting for a while. I think they were ready for a new thing. But I'm with you on the new penny thing. And I think Rick Barnes is a really good example of that because I think Texas would take what Rick Barnes has done in basketball at Tennessee over what has happened at Texas. And I think Michigan may be the one that winds up the winner here. Yeah. Listen, we'll find out in two or three years how this works out. It's always the case no matter who you bring in in coach searches. But, again, if we're not playing fantasy coach search and we're looking at things realistically, I don't know that they could have done any better. And, again, a guy, his consistency. Yeah, the two years when Rising got hurt, that was not what anybody was used to. Certainly Kyle was not used to at Utah. But when you look at him over the course of his career there, who he beat, what he did, and I think a lot of times, and this is no diss on kids they brought into the program or what you think or don't think about recruiting rankings. I think there's a pretty strong case to be made that he did as much with less as anybody in college football for a decade. He certainly would be right up there at the top among coaches. You go look at recruiting classes during all those years when they were beating other teams that you wouldn't think they would beat consistently. they weren't quote-unquote out recruiting those teams, but they were out developing and out coaching. He built a culture there at Utah. Anybody who's ever been there, talked to people who coached with Kyle, who have coached and played for him, you hear the same thing. So I was a big fan of this hire. When I heard his name initially, my first thought was, wow. And then you're like, well, it makes sense. And I remember covering Jim Harbaugh's first game at Michigan. You know where it was? It was Utah. Utah, Salt Lake City. And that was his very first game, and sort of here we are. Not that that really matters, but it is sort of ironic. And I think going back to retention, Ari, you know, you could make with a new coach and everything that's happened there, and he's bringing his OC, I think you could also make a case that retaining Underwood maybe is the biggest win of anybody this year in college football. as far as retaining guys. Because you've got your quarterback now who's mega talented. You know, you don't have to groom anybody. You don't have to sort of bring a guy in that hasn't really played before it started. You've got a guy that anybody in the country would have taken out of high school. Yeah, I'm excited to see how he does. Andy and I have made this point quite a bit on the show, but it's like now that we know the circus of what was going on behind the scenes last year, it's almost a miracle he played as well as he did. I can't wait to see what it looks like if everyone's locked in. Yeah, and certainly being the guy for the second year. Those second years with quarterbacks, you go back and look at guys, and I know he's not a transfer, but even a guy like Joey Burrow. Joey Burrow was solid his first year at LSU, and I'm not comparing him to Joe Burrow, okay? I want to preface that. But when you're in a program for the second year as the guy and everybody knows you're the guy and you're starting for a second straight year, if you've got the medal and you've got the talent, which I think Underwood certainly does, there's always a huge, you know, there's a lot of improvement. But, you know, Burrow, his first year after transferring from Ohio State to LSU, was a solid guy. He was a tough guy. I think he won over his teammates. But he wasn't close to me in what he was his second year when he won the Heisman. Yeah, and the thing is, so Underwood may be making the lead. Jason Beck comes with Kyle Whittingham as offensive coordinator, which the one caveat in Kyle Whittingham's history is offensive coordinators, there was a period where they were kind of like spinal tap drummers, where one might spontaneously combust and you've got to go find a new one. But Jason Beck and Kyle Whittingham got along very well in their first year together. Beck comes with him to Michigan. They keep Andrew Marsh, who was really good as a freshman receiver at the end of last season. They bring in John Henry Daly, who was Utah's best pass rusher. Yeah, this is probably the best it could have worked out given a very strange set of circumstances for Michigan. Yeah, I'll make a prediction. Daly will be one of the best four or five defenders in the Big Ten this year. I really like that. And watching him, and when we did our on-free way-too-early All-America team, I always do my best. And I understand when you're talking to scouts, they're sometimes looking at it a little bit differently than we are and who will be the best player that next year in college. But I did not talk to a single guy that I know in pro personnel departments, guys who are college personnel guys. And I think I talked to four or five of them who did not mention his name. Yeah. And, and that's, listen, Michigan's had a lot of that in the last few years. You know, you go back to Aiden Hutchinson and then the edge guys they had at the tail end of the Harbaugh era, like that, that is when, when Michigan is at its best, they also have somebody scary coming off the edge. So it's going to be fun to watch. This has been a blast. Chris Lowe. We got to get back together. We're going to have to make the lowdown a regular show. Love that. Anytime I get to hang out with you guys and I get a Spinal Tap reference, it's worth it, man. Listen, I can reach back into the generations. Next time we do this, Chris, we're both doing Larry Munson impressions because Ari's never heard us both doing Larry Munson impressions at the same time. We'll have to save that one for next time, guys. You don't want just one? it's just a taste my god a freshman it was a big five I broke my chair it was a steel metal chair with about a two inch cushion the stadium fell down I just I hurt for those people who love college football who didn't grow up in that era when you had the golden throated play by play announcers all over the country and, you know, no games were on TV and you got to listen to Munson on WSB in Atlanta on a Saturday night, crackly ready. I lived right outside Charlotte, but man, those were glory, glory years. Glory, glory to old Georgia. Chris, we also need to have you back on to educate the youngins. Producer River is texting me. Who are you talking about? Oh, no, don't tell me. Larry Munson, the greatest college football announcer of all time. Second greatest. Keith Jackson's a different animal. I know River. Radio division, TV division. I know River's referring to the great John Ward, who always will be near and dear to my heart, too. But, no, that whole era of broadcasters was the best. Well, now you're one of those broadcasters, Chris Lowe, on the lowdown. I love it when I finally brand something well. I'm not as good at branding things as other college football podcasters, but I'm working on it. Chris, thank you so much. Everybody else, Dear Andy, Dear Ari, tomorrow, you know where to find us. We got some good questions this week. We're coming strong with the questions this week. We'll talk to you tomorrow.