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Predicting the Post-Season Top 10 from the Pre-Season · Run After Cast: The College Football Podcast

• Aaron: This is run after cast the college football podcast. I'm Aaron joined by these two youngins Chandler. Chandler: Go on gentlemen. Aaron: and Ryan. Ryan: Happy to be here. Aaron: Seeing how we're still in the Ides of March, waiting on Spring Games, just reacting to transfer portal news as it comes out, we decided that this week we wanted to jump on the hype train, abandon all reason, and give you all who we think will be at the top 10 at the end of the season. But before we hop into our top 10 list, we did want to take a few minutes to talk about news from this week. So Chandler, I'm going to kick it over to you and get us some updates on something we talked about last week. Chandler: So last week we talked about the White House roundtable discussion with Trump, the big name players, the group of five leaders, the group of four leaders. Urban Meyer was there for some reason, the NBA commissioner was there. ⁓ Nick Saban was there. And that discussion went on and happened. And there wasn't an outcome that is going to take action immediately, like we all thought. But it was interesting, like somebody like Urban Meyer, I know he got quoted and said that he wants to see NIO go back to the old. Aaron: Hahaha Chandler: NIL days, the, where it was all commercials, it was sponsorships. It was, Hey, if you come to the school, Nike might reach out to you. If you come to the school, BMW might reach out to you. Like all these sponsorships, third party that came in once you enrolled in the school and not just the team cutting you a check and having you come to the school for $2 million and then getting a crazy oil and gas royalty and on top of all that other stuff. there hopefully is going to be some kind of guard rail on it. It looked like the discussion went that direction, but Again, there's no ruling on it. There's not going to be any mandate anytime soon. At least I don't think, but I thought it was cool that that kind of discussion came up. Ryan: You know, I'm a little worried. I think that is a dangerous concept because there's gonna be teams like Oregon who's just gonna hand out Nike sponsorships. And for example, like Auburn, they are like sponsored by the Yellowwood guy who's one of our head boosters who has a bunch of the money. And they're just gonna have a Yellowwood commercial before the game and give the guy a million dollars. Or the Texas Tech, they're gonna find some oil guy to sponsor him instead of just give him commission of the oil. I think it is... a little bit of a dangerous route, for it makes unfair kind of things whenever there's these big companies associated with these college teams. Aaron: I agree. It is something that I'm glad we're having the discussion. Like you said, Chandler, like it is something we have to address. I don't want it to make a snap decision. I do worry about having a contractual corporate side of the NIL because it does, feel like give some schools more advantage depending on what side of the corporate world the alum's from, what options are available to maybe a smaller school that a larger school is going to have over them. Because the one thing we don't want out of this is further in balance than we already have where one school is going to have a much higher level corporate sponsorship that puts them into a guaranteed slot. I do think I like the idea of having to have some kind of actual obligation, something that they are doing for the NIL. And if it is something through the school, then maybe it's returned out through like community service hours, things like that, that they're doing. public projects, something good's coming from it or promoting the school at high schools during the off season, things like that, that help the school flourish if they are being paid by the school, because you are talking a lot of money and it could be a token gesture of, Hey, you go out here, you go to children's cancer wards and you spend face time while you're on travel or off season. You just have a positive impact with that. know that gets hairy as well, but I'd rather see some good come from it while we're in the wild west. and just unlimited money. Chandler: I mean, there was a podcast that Ryan Day was on and he talked about it. And he said, before all of this NIL took over, there was still gray areas. And I think there always will be gray areas. There's a, Hey, this is how exactly. Again, like Ed O said, went to the back door and now we're coming to the front door. But even in that pre NIL era where it was still sponsorships, there was still like Ryan saying, Hey, I'll still give you a million dollars. may not come directly from the school, but you can still get it when you come here. So it doesn't really matter. Aaron: Yeah, money will get to players one way or another. Chandler: where the money comes from, it's still going to get to the kids, especially with how much money is being floated around now. I think it's going to be so much harder to kind of bottleneck it up and make it a lot less than it is. So I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen, but it's, there's no end to the wild, west anytime soon for sure. Ryan: I definitely like the idea of them trying to keep hold of it, but if this is their final decision, I just think it's so easy to loophole this around. I'd like to see it little bit more sanctioned, but they'll probably come up with something new. They only did it for a day. So yeah, that's true. Chandler: 100%. Yep. higher than our pay grade. Aaron: ⁓ yeah. I mean, this is, this is a battle for legal accountants to have. And I look forward to seeing them break down the numbers and come up with a better solution. And we know the money won't go away. Hopefully we do get a balancing factor that at least sets a threshold that schools have to then work around in the gray areas. But we still have a playing field that's evened out for the rest of the schools. Chandler: Exactly. Agree. And the second piece of news I wanted to touch on is new this week, but, I guess it's last week as we're recording this. Over in Aaron's neck of the woods in the Mississippi state, there is no longer going to be tax on NIL. So how that looks, who knows with how much recruiting will influx in Mississippi, because we know there's millions of dollars of contracts being floated around. So no tax on that is. a game changer for a lot of these young kids coming out trying to help their families, all that kind good stuff. So being able to have untaxed NIL, you could see an influx in Mississippi State, Ole Miss, like all these teams over there, that could be a hotbed of recruiting now if that doesn't change around the country, if that's only missed for the next year or so. Aaron: It is concerning. is something that in my heart, I'm like, maybe we have a chance in the future. Chandler: Mississippi State National Champions 2027. it. Aaron: Yeah, I do feel like that's going to have to be something that's going to exist for one year. And then it's going to be undone immediately because that feels like this could get into money laundering territory where we're getting players in that don't play football because they're being put in by a relative or something like that, that has multi, multi-million dollars. They sign a $1 billion check. over and if it's not being taxed both ways, you could be transferring massive amounts of funds very quickly. Once again, this is far outside my wheelhouse. This is not a, ⁓ not something I understand or am smart enough to get. So as a Mississippi state fan, we know my level of intelligence. It's not high. So we'll have to see how that plays out, but that feels really risky and completely unfair. Like that feels it could go way out of control. Chandler: Hey, they're handing out eligibility. So let's just see if we have any left. We can go get recruited by Mississippi State or Ole Miss and let's make a couple million untaxed. I mean, I think it's foolproof. Aaron: Yeah. They had $6 million a year untaxed is crazy amounts of money. mean, that's a huge savings. Ryan: Yeah, and- Chandler: Mm-hmm. Ryan: Yeah, and Aaron, I think that was a super interesting take. I didn't even think about that, how it could be dangerous that they're just getting all this untaxed money. I think it's pretty huge though for the football team, because if you go to any other state and you can make a certain amount of money and you're just getting an extra few hundred thousand to go to Ole Miss or Mississippi State, I think that's huge for y'all. I mean, I think it's just a matter of time until other states start doing it though, but it's pretty huge for now. Aaron: Yeah, it's going to be one of those we'll find a legal barrier very quickly of does the NCAA immediately find a way to close that down? It's a state law. I would assume that that's how it's being passed. So NCAA is not going be able to affect that. So it will have to be something where it's like either all states are going to do it or a certain select probably Southern states are going to have an advantage over the rest of the country. And we're going to have to have something to handle that pretty quick. Ryan: Yeah, but it's above them. They can't do anything about it, which is why I think it's so good for y'all. But yeah, other states, like especially the states that don't have NFL teams that their whole thing's college, like Mississippi, maybe Louisiana with LSU and maybe Alabama with Auburn and Alabama. lot of the other teams have big sports teams in them, it's just straight college there. So I could see those teams picking it up too. Aaron: Yeah. Chandler: But that even like Ryan was saying with the NIL package offers, if a team comes in and offers you $500,000 to come play and Ole Miss is $300,000, but guess what, that's untaxed, then you could be right around, they could be offering less and still get players because of that non-tax. So they can really play it into, yeah, exactly, in money saving and player retention. Aaron: Yep. Yep. They can be saving a lot of money. And like I said, I would bet my, my guess of the fallout from this is we're going to find some of those sports that don't have a lot of NIL support. And we're going to see the little cousin, nephew, something from a very rich executive placed into one of those sports. They never play a game and they are the highest paid college athlete in the nation by a huge stretch because that. does seem crazy if they are put as the head of a board or head of a company as well at the same time and that money is just immediately funneled in tax free. That seems like it could. Like I said, I don't know, but that's my first thought. Chandler: This sounds like Aaron's already digging in ways he can kind of get his feet wet in this whole idea. He's thought about this. He's ready to rock and roll. Aaron: Yeah. Ryan: Hehe! Aaron: So if any billion dollar executives are looking for a Patsy to put into a Mississippi state, I might be too old, but I will go out there and throw a shot put whatever you want me to do. Just give me a billion dollars. So yeah. But I think as we wrap up that, not a big news of the week. We still have one mobile provider we still have to talk about. So Ryan, what can. Chandler: That's my starting. Aaron: the War Eagle Nation do to support their school. Ryan: This is just one example. Auburn's doing it, but there's a couple schools doing it where Auburn actually partnered with T-Mobile and they have a phone service called War Eagle Mobile, who all the people in Alabama or wherever you are can sign up. I think it's only for alumni or current students, but like, for example, like your dad's an alumni, he could probably just sign up your whole family and everyone on and just get a family plan. And it's like a decent like price. I think it's like similar, maybe a little cheaper. than like a normal one and then all that money is just going to NIO. It's going to... because the key line, it talks about all the things that it can do for the colleges and the key line is how it supports the athletic department. It's the key little thing in there. So they're just getting all this extra money. So like y'all are getting the tax dollars, you know, we're getting some T-Mobile money and we can give that out to our players. Chandler: ⁓ So Ryan, the million dollar question, I know your dad's a big alumni, big supporter of the Auburn family. Are you personally a War Eagle mobile guy? And if not, how long will it take you to make the switch? Ryan: I think I should be a War Eagle Mobile guy. We should give Alex Golis more money to give it to Byron Brown. Chandler: and him only. Ryan: And him only, because that's what we did this year. I'm excited. Aaron: I just. I just love of like the Dickensian wording of the Auburn email going out to the alums like, please sirs, for the low, price of 49.99 a month, you could have excellent local cellular coverage and also support our struggling athletic department. That small donation each month will go to feed our offensive linemen. And it's Chandler: Yeah. 2G. Ryan: Hehe! Chandler: you Ryan: think it was actually like $15 or something like it's not crazy Chandler: Yes, they're getting like a buck. Aaron: That's not bad. That's not bad. Ryan: It's not bad, but you get 100,000 people to do it. It's an extra meal. That's nothing. That's one guy. One guy. Chandler: $100,000. Aaron: Hey, yeah, that's, that's a punter third, third deep in the roster. But before we endorse War Eagle Mobile, do you want to give Ryan Reynolds a chance to give us a call? If he does our mobile sponsor will be set for us. So anybody that owns a mobile business wants to put me in for shop, put and give me a billion dollars at Mississippi. We're here. Email us at our contact email. You'll find it in the description of the episode. Ryan: Yeah, anything helps though, you know? Chandler: And then Aaron will no longer be a part of the show and it'll be only right that Aaron will be gone. Aaron: ⁓ yeah, I'm gone. I'm done. My eligibility ran out. After the first billion, I won't be here anymore. Ryan: I would do it too, especially if Auburn did it. I would play any sport they want me to there. Aaron: Yeah, so any Ole Miss, Alabama, or Michigan fan that doesn't want to hear our voices anymore, you know how to end it. One billion. Chandler: The low price of 1 billion or Ryan Reynolds reach out either one Aaron: You So I think that wraps up our news segment. think that's pretty much it. The excitement that March has in the college football world. And as I said earlier, we're going to transition over to our end of the season, top 10 list. We did think about starting down at the bottom and working our way up. However, I think like us and everybody else out there that's already starting their prediction train with no information and a little bit of transfer portal energy to ride on. We're going to have a lot of the same choices at the top. So why not start there? Work our way down to where I think we'll get in the mud and start fist fighting a little bit more about who we put. But before we get started into our list, do want to call out and correct the record that last week me and Ryan maliciously conspired against Chandler to limit his talking time to Ohio state to less than 10 minutes because we're fans. Of football and every other fan of football knows that you let an Ohio state person get a runway. It'll take a mile. So in order to show the proper respect to a man. We respect, I want to ask Chandler. You sit back, not say anything while Ryan gives us his pop slot on his list of who is number one at the end of the season. Ryan: Alright, number one, John Sumrall. I'm just kidding. Do it again, you know? No, no. Yup, alright. Are y'all ready for this? Number one, in the 2026 College Wall season, THE Ohio State University. Aaron: I'm ready Chandler: Alright guys, I'll see you guys next week. No. Aaron: I would normally at this point, take it over to Chandler, but we know he's going to have it there as well. And to shorten up our number one discussion, I also have the Ohio state. So Chandler, let's give you the time we robbed you of last week to say why your number one is Ohio state and why they should be there. Chandler: Number one is actually not Ohio State, but I appreciate it. Brian, do you have anything you want to say before I jump in? Or do want to wait until like halfway through? Aaron: That's crazy. Hahaha Ryan: I'll wait five minutes and then I'll start talking about John Somerall again. Yep. Alright, go ahead. Aaron: Yeah, timer's starting now. Chandler: Perfect. So big things for me, think the looking back at last season, the offensive line and the running dynamics were the biggest problem. Their defense was great. Old Matty P did a phenomenal job all the way through. He replaced a lot of new seniors and made a even better defense somehow. But the run game was very vanilla and the blocking schemes very vanilla. We had true freshmen running backs back there. couldn't hold up against 28 year olds coming in from Miami that were paying child support and taxes and all these other things coming up. I think having Arthur Smith come in as an OC with an offensive line background and has a history in the NFL as having a dominant run game like at, you know, the Titans with Derek Henry. Granted it was Derek Henry, but he had a great running offense there. Even at the Steelers, they made a guy that I'd never heard of a team MVP for the running back slot. And I think some of the key players that will have big years or I hope have big years that will lead to this number one slot that I'm putting them at are freshman Legend Bay. Great name. Phenomenal name. ⁓ I think he's going to be a kind of Paris Campbell role like we had in previous years. He came in out of high school as a quarterback, which he's not going to be used as, but he also had like three or 4,000 yards in the ground between his junior and senior year. Aaron: Fantastic name. Ryan: Slack factor. Chandler: They're going to use them as kind of a gadget guy, a slot receiver at times, like a running back screen, maybe an outside pitch, all those kind of trickery reverses, all that kind of stuff. Just get them in space and let your playmakers make plays. But I think he will have a big year and a huge impact. think Julian's saying, but specifically in his pocket presence and being able to extend plays with his legs. I know in the press conference they talked about a couple of ago, Brian Day really wanted to emphasize Julian getting stronger and faster and being able to extend plays and he kind of owned up to the fact that he wanted Julian to be more of a pocket passer last year. And he wants him to be able to kind of extend those third downs and run when he needs to to be able to get those first downs, hard first downs that extend plays and extend drives. And that's something that he didn't really do last year. It could be like first year starting jitters. It could be coaching wanting to make sure you're in the pocket and pass first, run second. But when you have all those different thoughts, when you have the coaching backing to be able to say, hey, I want you to run the ball a bit more this year, I think it'll open them up. and having a full year under his belt, I think it'll be great. My third for offense is Devin McEwen from UTSA. Him paired with Brandon Innis as slot guys, like Devin McEwen runs a, I think 10, 300 meter and like a four, 340. He's incredibly fast. And having that kind of guy in your slot to have those five, 10 yard slants to just get in space, create havoc and just have the defense like middle linebackers and Your safes have to worry about where he is on top of Jeremiah Smith or if the running games pop into. I think that's a big thing of what they missed as well is that middle yardage situation. They ran the screens, they ran their deep posts, their crossers, their go balls, but they didn't really have that like five, 10 yard play where, know, Auburn, they had the five yard curl machine. So I think if they implement something like that, then we'll be good to go. And then on the flip side on defense, I think Perry Moore coming in. from Duke, was the highest pro football focus rated safety in 2024, even higher than Caleb Downs. And he, I think had a BFF of like 92, which was incredible as a safety. And he is going to be a huge plug and play piece. He's a veteran guy. has one more year of eligibility. He'll come in, he can play over the top. He can play in the box. He can come down, he can hit people, but he's also has elite speed. So I think that kind of guy to replace A-level B as best as you can get. I think. On the line, Kenyatta Jackson coming back for his senior year is going to be a huge one. He said in his press conference today that he upped his weight 5, 10 pounds and he dropped a couple percent of body fat. I'm sure it was no performance enhancing abilities required for that. It was just raw, you know, Exactly. Chicken and rice. But I think him paired with Quay Russo, who I saw today in their spring practice on their clips, they look explosive off the edge. He came from Alabama. Aaron: Nope, that's just a lot of chicken. Chicken and rice. Chandler: And I think if they can get home with four blitzing like they could in their 2024 run with JTT and Jack Sawyer, and they can get pressure with only four down linemen, that will be their key. Because last year, unless they blitzed five or six, they weren't getting home really and getting a lot of pressures. So I think if they can. Aaron: then you pair in the elite safety behind that where it's like he's got the support he needs. Now, now it's a nightmare scenario. Chandler: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So I think if they can get going and then allow people like Devin Sanchez, who has a ⁓ sophomore now and he'll be on the outside in week two covering Cam Coleman, unfortunately. I think if we can get those, pass pro or the pass rush going, they'll be in a good spot. So with those key pieces, offense and defensively paired with Arthur Smith coming from the NFL, I think if they can fix up the offensive line on offense and they can keep that defense strong. There's no doubt in my mind they can make a deep run. Maybe not win the whole thing, but I think they'll be a top four seed and hopefully win the Big Ten Championship. Ryan: also excited because you're talking about how good the run game is going to be. I'm excited to see a full year of BoJack starting. I think if not this year, next year, he's definitely getting close to a 2,000 yard season, even in a two running back system with Isaiah West. But I am worried that I saw a clip today of him running drills at practice and their coach said it looks like he's stomping roaches while he runs. I don't know if that's going to be an issue. Chandler: So Bo Jackson and Isaiah West both had shoulder surgery. So they're not allowed to go a hundred percent, but yeah, I mean, I did see that clip, but neither one of them are at full and they're not allowed to go full. I don't even know why they're out there to be honest with you, but yeah, is a, that was a concerning, but Jacoby Jackson, the old Pensacola native, he looked good. Aaron: Yeah. Now. Ryan: I forgot about him. He's gonna be great. Good CJ Donaldson replacement, because he's actually gonna get stuff done, probably. Chandler: Yeah, well, it'll, it'll be a good year. Aaron: Now question for this year for seeing what we'll see on offense is with the O-line coaching shift, do you think we'll see Sayen playing under center more as an option just because NFL lines do tend to play a lot more under center? And I think for Sayen, if that line comes together properly, having him play under center to get that option to extend. Chandler: Mm-hmm. Aaron: to on a loose coverage go and grab four yards. I think that could be a huge boon, but that's putting a lot of faith in your O-line to do. Chandler: Exactly. That's what I was about to say. If he can have faith in his offensive line and he talked about in yesterday's press conference that he has gotten a lot closer with his offensive line. They have four returning starters that have been there for now three years. They have a brand new offensive line coach that paired that came down with Arthur from the Steelers. So with all that coaching, if he can get comfortable in that, like you said, under center roll, as long as he's not getting like the first time he gets back to that drop step on the blind side and gets blasted. coming out under center, he's going to be seeing ghosts. So I think it's a fine line of incorporating that wisely and not just throwing them into it. I think you need that to be able to run an effective RPO. And I think that's what they want to do. And that's what Arthur Smith does a lot. He creates a lot of weird run schemes and read options and RPOs and all kinds of different stuff like that. So I think he will want him to do that. Just whether or not the offensive line wants to step up and be that role. And I think with him having an O-line background, it'll help a lot with technique and and formations and all that kind of stuff. Aaron: Yeah, that was just the first thing that went off in my gut when we were talking about it last week was like, ⁓ if they can get them up under center, especially if they've got a QBRB as a option where they can either, you know, toss it back to him, throw, they can have him run it. They have saying, keep it and run. That opens up a lot more for potential short yard than necessarily having to rely on a deep ball or having saying have to scramble five yards before he's back up to the line of scrimmage and having anything happen. Chandler: Mm-hmm. For sure. For sure. Yep. Exactly. And I think Bo Jackson and Isaiah West having a year under their belt paired with the Jacoby Jackson that's been there for 45 years at Florida. And now he's coming over to Ohio State. I think there's going to be more experience there. And they were just really young last year. They're veteran guys. They thought we're going to step up didn't and they had to fill those roles. mean, Bo Jackson didn't even play in the Texas game opener. He was the starter like week three. So I think having a full year under the belt and postseason reps will be great. So I think with all those pieces together, I think they'll have a good year. Ryan: I you're Ohio State, big tight end school. You got a lot of tight ends. You got the new guy from the Ohio Bobcats and all this stuff. I feel like a lot of time even with when the Will Howard year, I feel like he was under center a lot. It opened up a lot of play action. It's just so good to have. And I think Arthur Smith, like y'all said, will incorporate it. Yeah. But you look at Julian Sane, even his high school tape, like he ran the ball all the time. Just Ryan Day's always had this thing. He doesn't let him run the ball. Chandler: and Will could run. Ryan: It's evident even when he had space he would not run it. He'd throw it out of bounds for something. Aaron: Yeah, I think that could be a big shift if if we see that turn to the O line specialty and we have them go under center. I think that that gives him a huge advantage if the O line is there. Chandler: I agree. When in doubt, throw it at the Jeremiah. He'll probably catch it. Ryan: Yeah, it's too good. Force it deep, you know? Or Chris Henry. Chandler: I don't know if he'll touch the field, but that's as much as people think, but that's a topic for another time. I think he'll be farther down the depth chart than where people think he will be. This is it for now. Ryan: I think he'll be very good. I think it'll be very good. Y'all just do have a lot of debt. Aaron: ⁓ yeah. Now does that wrap up our round one? Who's going to be at the top? All right. Chandler: I think so. I think so. appreciate you, Ryan, for letting me speak on Ohio State. Ryan: Yeah. Aaron: Hey, that was more Ohio state than we got all last episode. So we're sorry listeners. won't let that happen again. Yeah. You can always, we'll start putting markers in so you can just skip ahead and not have to listen to any of that trash again. Yeah. Yeah. I'll mute it. You'll just be. Chandler: Yeah, if you want to, you know, can cut to 35 minutes. We can just ad roll during when I speak. Ryan: Yeah, and I don't want to steal the show and go first again, but that has a very good segue into my number two if y'all want me to go into number two. Aaron: Hey, no, no, I will, we'll keep it in the revolving, ⁓ the revolving steps here. So, yep, Ryan, number two, who you got? Ryan: Okay, as much as it hurts me to say, think Notre Dame is gonna be number two. Is that a crazy take? Do you want me to elaborate or do y'all wanna go? Chandler: Wow. Wow. Yes. Aaron: Here- No, no, well before you elaborate... I have Notre Dame at number two. Ryan: That's crazy. Aaron: I felt like I wanted to throw that out there so we could just have mine and your Notre Dame discussion right now. Taylor, I assume you don't have Notre Dame at number two. Chandler: Yeah, I do not. I do not. do not have them at number two. Aaron: So we'll go through Notre Dame real quick and then we'll hop over to your selection since you got to talk about Ohio State. grateful. So I'll start because I'm sure you have a lot more information on why you picked number Notre Dame than me just feeling it. did take a look at their schedule. The reason I have it at number two, I kind of feel like they're in the top five discussion, but their schedule bumped them to number two for me because it feels like they only have two games. Chandler: Let's do it. Sir, yes, sir. Aaron: That could be stumble blocks for them. And that's not even that crazy. The opener, the big one, you know, going against Wisconsin. It's a good time to go early in the season with how Notre Dame has put up recently. We'll see how that holds up. But then after that it's Rice, Michigan state, Purdue, North Carolina, Stanford to BYU. That's a long stretch of. It could, that's been the curse of Notre Dame. These like struggle at the gate games. Chandler: I tell you what, week one and three are L's. Going up to Madison and cheese curd country, know, that's a tough place to play. Aaron: Yep. Yep. That's a, that's a full tummy game that these players are going into. That's like Mississippi state plan after new years, but that's really it. That's, that's where I put them. So Ryan, I'm to turn it over to your expertise to give us a little bit more of a depth breakdown. Chandler: Absolutely. Hand cramps, Ryan: Well, I think historically, Notre Dame gets unfair treatment because of the independent conference. They get to make their own schedules and everything, which I think is terrible. But even with that, I feel like they're a little bit fraudulent every year. But my only thing in my notes here is what a cakewalk they have. Their hardest game is Miami this year. In my opinion, that's the only one I think could stumble them. But I think they're going to beat Miami. So that just leaves them undefeated. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. In November. Chandler: Where is it at? Ryan: I don't know, it doesn't matter. They're going to beat Miami. In my opinion. Yeah, but in my opinion, I think they beat Miami. I mean, I don't think Miami's going be very good. They'll still be up there. They were pretty good coming off a good season last year, but they got a lot of key pickups. Defense align. They got Tion Gray from Oregon, and they also got Francis Brew from Pittsburgh. I think that'll be very good for their defense. They also got an edge rusher who Aaron: think it's at home. Don't quote me on that. Ryan: they landed from Alabama, Keon Keighley. So the defense can be a lot better, but I think the main thing is an offense. They're keeping CJ Carr, who last year actually played pretty well, especially for the fact that he was a redshirt freshman and he just kind of came out of nowhere and beat out their other quarterback for the starting job. I mean, I think he'll develop really nicely, but I don't really think it matters if he develops at all because my segue here. Aaron: Yeah. Ryan: Was that because of the depth that we were talking about, Ohio State receiver room has, I'm calling it right now, the other than Chris Henry and Jeremiah Smith, I think, and I know you don't think Chris Henry is going play that much. I think they're going to be a great wide receiver duo. I have Quincy Porter and Mylon Graham being the second best receiver duo in the country right now. So I think that's going to be huge for them. They were the second and third best receivers. in the transfer portal in my opinion behind Cam Coleman and I think that even with the easy schedule I think they'll actually be really good they'll go undefeated even though it hurts me to say even though they're usually fraudulent I think they're actually going to be pretty good Chandler: Those are all fair points. Aaron: Yep. I agree. It is something I revised my list after looking at the schedule. I still think they're going to be up there. I know they're a top 10 team this year. I Freeman has put together a good culture there, especially after, after a change up, he really kept things together. think he's got some good ideas. I think he needs maturing as a head coach, which every head coach needs when they make that transition, but it wasn't until I really look at that schedule and I was like, they don't have anything for those first couple of games, which, so if they stumble off the gate, that's it. Like that's going to pretty much cost them. But I think anything else with that 12 slot open easy schedule, could very well take them all the way. They could have an undefeated season. Yep. Chandler: 100%. Ryan: That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking undefeated. Yep. Aaron: I think a two lost season and people will start questioning that because of how simple this schedule seems. Chandler: Mm-hmm. Ryan: Yeah, and I think they're always up there regardless of how good they are. I think they're actually gonna be pretty good this year. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Chandler: And I think schedule plays a big role in a lot of our list, especially when we get down deeper into it. I mean, that doesn't affect my number two as much, but my number two is Texas. I think Texas. Yeah. I mean, I hate to say it. And I know my dad watching this is not going to like the words that are about to out my mouth, but I think Arch Manning is going to have a better year this year than last year with a year under his belt. And he has, I mean, he lost. Aaron: Absolutely. We knew it was coming. Chandler: Key pieces on offense, but he got the, in my opinion, the second best receiver in the country at NKM Coleman. And he's a very for sure guy. You can play anywhere. He's fast. He's tall. He's quick. He's strong. And they got Hollywood's mothers from NC state who was a wrecking ball there. So they have a nice little run game. have a nice little pass game on defense. mean, we'll must champ coming in and being their DC. Now he has two Natties as a defensive coordinator, LSU and Georgia. And they returned to their whole defensive line. Aaron: Mm-hmm. Chandler: They have Colin Simmons, their edge rusher that's coming back in. He was one of the top edge rushers in the country last year. So I think they have a lot of pieces and they have a very senior roster. And unless Sark does Sark things, which I hope he does being an Ohio State fan, especially in week two, I think they're going to be a long run team. I think they are going to be in a nice position to be able to get to the SEC championship. I think they're going to be in a nice position to make. a first round by maybe, but they'll definitely be in the dance for sure unless they just completely fumble or their fool gets nuked or something. I don't know what's going to happen, but I mean, they are going to be in a spot where they can rock and roll. And I'm nervous about that week two game. Aaron: Yeah, no, well, it. That is the reason they're down on the list for me. Like where I'm to be bringing them up soon, but having their second game against Ohio State with Ohio State having a lot of the pieces they already have the defense being as strong as it showed. I think that is a potential stumbling block. And then that goes into kind of a lighter schedule for them. So if they take a big hit team. Ryan: It's gonna be a big game. Chandler: Yes. Aaron: morale wise in that second week and then allow some stumbles to happen, it could knock them out early to the point where they just mentally aren't recovering because they have a difficult final stretch. That, I mean, that that's where all of their heat is. So if they take some beatings, if they have to make some bad changes or if they are stumbling out the gate, they are going to have a bad end of season. That to me is what dropped them numerically. I think they've got the talent. think everything's there. Chandler: Yes. Aaron: If they beat Ohio state in the second week, I think they skyrocket through, but. Chandler: But shout out to, to Sark for scheduling it. know Georgia and Alabama are going to cancel their flip flop games with us in the next four years. So, I mean, and, and they should, I mean, as far as strength of schedule is concerned, why would you want to have a top program that you're playing for one of your non-conference games and you could schedule like New Mexico state or something in there instead and get a win and get your reps in, get your guys settled. To come out last year. Aaron: Absolutely. Chandler: week one at Columbus and play for Arch Manning, tip the hat for him. Aaron: I agree. I, and I think I respect a coach that wants that hurdle in the beginning because it gives you the opportunity to get a team before they're in rhythm and it puts a challenge in your team. So they don't get themselves mentally hyped up of beating non-conference teams four in a row. then the, new circuit is just printing how you're the next NFL team to be birthed in the college era. And it's like, all that comes together and all of a sudden it's a gut punch. So I don't. discredit him for that. think he has done well. Much as I have a hard time giving Texas compliments, they earned it. They are up there. Chandler: 100 % Same here. Ryan: Yeah, but Sark scheduling the Out of Commerce game hurt him so bad. And it was such a bad timing too, because it right after they implemented the 9 SEC Conference game. So his whole thought process was, yeah, like the college football playoff wants to see us have a hard strength of schedule. And he even used that in an argument at the very end of the year, trying to get them in that he's like, does, does this not matter? Y'all want us to have these hard schedules? And they went out and did that. And I think that's the reason that Chandler: Mm-hmm. Ryan: Alabama and George are winning them like you said because they just realized that it could only hurt them then playing Ohio State just giving another chance to lose You're already playing nine hard games every year. I know you don't like to hear that Chandler, but it's a tough It's a tough world out there, but they go to the playoffs Yeah last year they go to the playoffs if they don't schedule that game. They're ten wins They look great at the end of the season and they're the playoffs is entirely different with them in there Chandler: No, I mean it's true. It's true. It's true. Aaron: No, no it is. The new SEC schedule is brutal. Yeah. Chandler: For sure. For sure. I 100 % agree. Aaron: And I think the way it sits right now, college football playoffs is kind of like winning at the Oscars. It's whatever came out pretty recently. So it feels like those last four weeks are where they make the decision. They always say like, we're talking about the whole schedule, but nobody goes back to the second week and really makes a call a loss in the second week hurts your chances. Nobody cares about the win. So yeah, yeah, I I'll give it to Alabama. I'll give it to Georgia. They're making the smart call right now to get out of it. I respect that Sark was still willing to pursue it. Chandler: Agree. And I know in the three slot since you guys had Notre Dame at two, the three slot for me is Notre Dame and it's a lot of similar reasons that you guys gave. The only question mark I have there that was saved by their schedule is losing Jeremiah Love is a huge blow to their game. They used him in the passing game and the run game. But I think like Ryan said with Mylon Graham, Quincy Porter coming in, mean, they have arguably one of the best quarterback rooms in the country. Their defense is going to be great. So. That's why I have them at the three slot instead of the two slot. just, I don't know about the running back situation. Ryan: Yeah, and I, that was kind of a big thing for me, I didn't even mention. yeah, Jeremiah Love was super good for them. But production-wise, he only had 1300 yards on the season. They could fill in some other guy that's worse than him, and he could put up 1300 yards, especially opening up with the new pass game, which I was surprised looking at that because he is one of the most talented running backs that we've seen recently. Chandler: Mm-hmm. But how many of those were him getting pulled or them are already being 45 to zero because of their schedule? Like how many of those yards him in the games that he actually needed to put yards on the board? Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, which is always the tough thing about, which as we mentioned, I like the SEC's change in schedule because I think it makes a lot of the statistics a lot more valuable to look at because so many of your games, as much as I don't want to be one of the SEC is real ball type SEC fans, I do like the new schedule strength. I do think it evens the board out a little bit. The two year rotation on it, I think makes it Ryan: I know, that's true, that's true. Aaron: very consistent, gives us a lot to look forward to as fans in the SEC. But I don't think at any point does that make us a superior football organization than anything else. I just like it as a change. Ryan: Yeah, it makes it so tough though, because I know we might have one peak team that wins all their games or loses one, but then the next three or four are all going to be two losses. And that's like the college will playoff. They're looking for record. They bias record a lot and it has ruined the chances of them getting in. Even though there was a lot in this year, it was a lot of two loss teams that would have been really great and then maybe one loss if they only played six or something. So. Chandler: Yeah, I mean, you'd rather see a Texas in there than a BYU. I mean, or a JMU. I mean, the automatic bid, I mean, that's a whole different conversation, but there definitely needs to be a restructure of who gets in because it's not March Madness. A JMU is never running the table. And if they do, you can come back to this episode and clip it and send it to me. Aaron: But yeah. Ryan: No. But before that, Diego Pavia is gonna give all of Zenio money to them like he said that he would. Chandler: Exactly. So what do you guys have at three? Ryan: Do want me to go or do you want to take it? All right. Number three, Existek. Is that, is that wild or what? Is that wild? Aaron: Yeah, go for it. That's high up there. That feels wild. I understand it. For number three. Chandler: to be the third best team in the country? Ryan: Third, third, no, no, no, not the third best, the third ring. Aaron: Third rank at the end of the season. Yes. Yeah. I do think that's important to remind. Yep. End of the season, not including playoffs. Chandler: You have, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I like that better. Ryan: Yes. That is how I'm doing my whole thing. Chandler: So college ball playoff rankings not end of season because end of season they weren't three. They were like, ⁓ they were, they four. Yeah, so they were, yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah, Okay. Ryan: This year, this year I think they will be ranked third. And when I said that ⁓ Notre Dame was a cakewalk, heck, heck is a cakewalk. My notes for them said, I mean, talk about a cakewalk. I don't think they could have made that, I don't think they could have made a much easier schedule. Their hardest game on their schedule is either Baylor or Arizona State. I would say Baylor's harder though, because Arizona State, Aaron: Yeah, this- Chandler: Yes. Hahaha Houston. Aaron: ⁓ yeah. Ryan: hasn't really been good except the scat of a year and their whole thing is ⁓ we're riding on Sam Levitt but he's like ⁓ he's so good whatever but he's gone now too so what do they really have Baylor hardest team on their schedule so they might go undefeated or lose one game to Baylor and they have a really expensive roster in this new pay to win era I don't think Brendan Sorsby's a very talented quarterback but They don't play anybody. He's gonna look good. He played nobody at Cincinnati and got it done. there's that. They did get Malcolm Simmons, however, which I didn't know before preparing for this episode because I'm a huge Auburn fan and I'm kind of shocked that he went there. That's a very random pick up for them. He did pretty good for us. Chandler: It is. I paid though. Ryan: Yeah, he definitely got paid. And I think it's gonna be like last year. They won't be tested to the playoffs, but they're gonna be up here. They might go undefeated or one loss. I'm gonna say they're undefeated, put them at number three. Aaron: I don't respect it, but I understand it. I will say in my disrespect, I don't even have Texas Tech on my list at all. Ryan: Ooh, that's great. Chandler: Give me Texas Tech and Houston in the Big 12 championship. 100%. 100 % serious. Aaron: It could be, could be absolutely. But I, I thought about Texas tech. I, it might brain knew I should put them on there, but feel like Texas tech has a certain mindset. And I think it's the same issue A ⁓ has. think A ⁓ has dug themselves out of it just a little bit at this point. It's when you go in to buy the championship, but you don't quite have all the pieces assembled to do that. So you drop the big money. But you don't have everything ready to capitalize on it. I think as Ryan, you mentioned that schedule is easy and the problem is what happens if they stumble. If you stumble in that schedule, they will not see that top 12 ranking towards that end. they in any of those games, if they lose to Baylor, they lose another one on top of that. They will not see the top 12. And so I'm taking the bold position here to say. They stumble. think something comes apart. Somebody reads something. One of those teams has the game of their life, that Purdue style mentality that they come in to take down the big dog and something happens. The playoff committee goes, Nope, we're going to put in Tulane again. And that happens. So they didn't make it. Yeah. Yeah. Ryan: mean, I'm with it. I don't want them to be up there. I think they're spending all this money. They're not spending on good things. They're spending 6 million on Brendan Sworesby. That's not good. They lost Rodriguez, who was there. What's that? name, the middle linebacker from last year who went to the Heisman thing. They lost. Yeah, they lost Bailey. They're and and so there's losing all these players that were actually good on their team. They're just spending money to say, I have more money than you. And then you get Malcolm Simmons. That's your main target. It's Chandler: Yeah. Happy birthdays. Yeah. and Brendan Zorsby. Ryan: They're not gonna be that good. They're not gonna be good, but they're gonna be up there. Even if they're one loss, they're gonna put them in. They don't care. They just care about record. Aaron: Yeah, I think two losses they're out one one. still in the discussion. I I'll give you that. Um, but in my pettiness, you have teams that bought their way for my number three. I have Indiana liked what signetti had. I liked what he was doing. I think he is the type of guy to throw the money at. If you're going to buy it, you need somebody like that with that mentality. In fact, I think looking at signetti I think there's very few college coaches that can make the NFL jump anymore. I think that golf has gone. Dignity is one of those guys that I think could see, I think Ryan Day is another one. I think as somebody that plays NFL minded ball, I think those two are really probably some of the only ones I'd put up there as a transitionable coach. And I think that comes with the mentality of a structured, repeatable program. Dignity did a lot with Indiana without A lot of news behind it. He came out of nowhere. There's going to be a lot of cameras pointed at him, but I don't think that changed his system at all. I don't think he's got a big head. I don't think he's different. I think he won the game and he went home and said, let's start getting together on next season. Ryan: think Cignetti is different in a good way. I think he's one of the best coaches right now, which I think will carry them a lot, but they're just losing so much. I mean, you're losing your Heisman quarterback, Fernando Mendoza. I mean, you're getting this little brother, Alberto, but also they had such a strong running game. They had such aggressive, hard runners in him being black. And I mean, with that too, I mean, they had the old one of the oldest rosters in college football last year. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Ryan: I'm pretty sure. all of that... Yeah, so we didn't know a lot of guys coming in, but they had the experience where he could be doing the same thing right now and they're not getting any of big name guys, but he obviously did it last year, but I'm worried that they're losing too many key pieces to replace all of them this year. Chandler: Yeah, their average age is 23. They did it the year before too. And the year before was the same exact thing. They had a bunch of nobodies, but they made the playoffs two years in a row. For the most, the team that has lost the most games in college football history, they made back to back playoffs and a national. Aaron: Yeah. Yep. Ryan: But they weren't as good the year before. That is true. That is true. Aaron: Yeah, there's something there that I'm not willing to put money against. to me, they feel a safe bet. this was playoffs included, if this was all the way to the big game, I could maybe feel a little differently about it. But I think to me, I feel very confident putting them in the three. Chandler: Like the water. Ryan: I think signati is the guy Aaron: So I think that completes our round three. So Chandler, since you kicked us off last time, let's keep it rolling. What's you got it for? Chandler: Before I got Georgia, I don't, and even with the words coming out of my mouth right now, I don't know if they should be that high on my list. But the only thing, just like Kirk Cignetti, I don't want to bet against Kirby Smart either because no matter what, in being around Ryan and watching all the Auburn games, especially the Auburn Georgia game, he finds ways to win, whether it be ethical or non-ethical, that's a different conversation. But he proves year after year. Aaron: Never. Chandler: that he can be a top SEC coach and one of the best coaches in the country. And he is talent recruiting his coaching staff. Everybody around him wants to win. He also has another NFL like program. Now for me, the reason I was juggling with them at four or lower is their key weapons on offense. They lost five of six receivers. London Humphrey is the only one left. They bring back Gunnar Stockton. Aaron: Absolutely. Chandler: So that's a good thing. Another, another year under a belt for starting quarterbacks. Great. But I just, I can't bet against them. So I think I have them that high strictly because of track record. And like Tia always likes to point out the historicalness of them being high. Aaron: Mm-hmm. Kirby is so difficult to bet against. I wouldn't, I don't have them here in this slot, but it's not far off. And I, there was only a few things that made them drop for me from this slot. really wanted them here. Big, that was the big thing was there was the change of schedule, which leaves Kirby a little less wiggle room than he's used to. I don't buy like, like you said, he finds ways to win no matter what, but this is a little more difficult. Chandler: Yes. And their schedule's tough. Mm-hmm. Aaron: to get them all the way there. But I think, I you're insane to go against them at any point. If they weren't in the top 10, it'd be crazy. I'm sure they're in all of our list of top 10. Chandler: Yeah, agree. Ryan: Yeah, and even last year, me and Chywin watched so many games. We watched like the Florida Georgia game, the Auburn Georgia game. So many times. This team is so fraudulent, but they win games. And I'll elaborate on later. I probably have Georgia on this list further down, but. Aaron: Yeah. Chandler: ⁓ you probably do. Aaron: Well Ryan, what do you got for four then? Ryan: Another one that makes me really mad. But, I have Miami, number four. Yeah. This is, I think the reason, I think if it's making me mad, that this is a good inclination to see that this is probably something the, the playoff committee would do because I would be mad at this top thing. So I must be doing a good job. They should hire me. ⁓ yeah. So Miami deals out. Do you think that's crazy? Aaron: Hahaha Chandler: Ryan's mad top 10. Aaron: Miami. Chandler: Hahaha Aaron: too. But Chandler: I have Miami on my list, but not at four. Ryan: Okay, do you want me to tell you why? Chandler: I do think they probably win the SEC. Aaron: I will say I do want to hear it because I don't have Miami on my list. So after you do it, I'll explain why they're not on mine. Ryan: Okay. Guess what my notes say. Aaron: you Chandler: Easy schedule. Ryan: It actually- I did this one after the other ones, and it actually says, again, holy cakewalk. Chandler: And even further, they have four games they open with that are on Fridays. They don't even have a Saturday game till week five. Aaron: Yep. Yeah. Ryan: Yeah, their teams are playing that bad. It's crazy. Their only loss this year will be to Notre Dame. That is their only hard game. As I mentioned, Notre Dame is going to be good this year. They're going to be number four because they're going to be a one loss. They're going to put them at number four. ⁓ They kept all of their integral pieces from last year. They kept Mark Fletcher. They kept Malachi Tony on offense. They also pretty much stole Darian Mensah from Duke because he broke his contract to go there. And he's going to be 10 times better than Carson Beck and he's gonna have the same pieces around them, but they're going to be more developed and he's going to be a better quarterback because now Tony's a freshman and I think that Mark Fletcher was really good too. And I know they're, they're losing Ruben Bane. They're losing Keontae Scott. I think they're losing Akeem Mezador, but I don't think it matters that much. They have the easiest schedule ever. their, their offense is so frustrating to watch. Last year. They just run the ball, they throw screens, they have wildcats, and they have three to four, three to five yard out routes every single play. They could not throw the ball downfield, but I'm thinking that's just cause Carson Beck couldn't. Not that they want it, but he physically could not push the ball downfield. So eat. So I think, ⁓ their new quarterback, I think he's going to be able to do that. I think Darien Mince is pretty good, even though we played at Duke. So that might open it up a little, even though their defense will take a little hit and. I think because of that, offense will be good enough to get it done for the other games because they're scheduled so easy. Aaron: See, I did look at it. I did look at the easy schedule. I losing Bain, I think losing a couple of those players for me is where I was like, they could find some stumbling. Pony almost got him on the list for me because like, we've talked about it at the gym many times. I think that kid's electric, watching a freshman play with such high mentality, patience as a run game. Like I, that is incredible to see a wish he was going to Mississippi state. I wish he was good. Well, I don't because he'd be wasted there. want him to go to a program I want to watch, but I just have a feeling that that pressure defensively they brought last year was, was that they were a defensive team offensive. As you said, they were, they were kind of playing a very safe offense in their defense came in and really, really punch people in the mouth. What they, to me, Watching it as a power defense like that. had so many sloppy mistakes due to discipline in Miami and always has, but they play a rough and tumble game. But even at those high levels, when we were talking playoff games last year, they were throwing out or late hits. They're throwing, you know, hits out of bounds, unnecessary roughness, a lot of questionable things that I think we're going to see. Chandler: Mm-hmm. Aaron: crank down a bit more this year. think as a, as a whole at the college level, they're to be throwing a little bit more flags. seem like they're trying to play a little more conservatively this year, just from the way they're talking. I think that's going to cost Miami. think that with losing some of those key pieces is going to be too tough for them to not get out of there unscathed. Ryan: Yeah, like we had Mark Fletcher try to fight someone after the Indiana game. Chandler: Yeah, I mean, Aaron: Yeah. Chandler: And I think as long as Ruben Vane and Akeem Mesadour had oxygen, they were getting it done with four. I mean, they didn't have to blitz anybody else. They could get back there and get it done. And they'll both be top draft picks because of that. Aaron: Yeah. Yep. That's hard to replace. Yeah, absolutely. Ryan: Yeah, they were getting it done. I don't think they had a lot of other big names on their defense other than Keonte Scott. But he went to Auburn. He's not that good. He shined more on their team, obviously. But I think their defense will be slightly worse. Instead of being a great defense that'll punch you in the mouth, as you said. I think they will just be kind of normal or good, but I think they're just going to be able to put up a lot more on offense. They get away with so much stuff. letting Malachi Tony develop, he was only a freshman. That's just why I put him up there, but we'll see. Aaron: No, I agree. He was almost enough for them to crack into my list, but I decided to go into goblin mode later on. So, ⁓ they, didn't make it. So we'll get there, but I think that leaves me at what we got at number four, right? This isn't that crazy. got. Oregon. I just think Oregon's been a consistent program. I don't even have a lot to say about this. think they've played consistent ball. They've been up there. Their schedule seems like. Ryan: ⁓ Chandler: I'm excited. Okay. Okay. Aaron: They can get out of it as a one loss schedule. If they keep playing the same game that they've played, I think they make it to the bracket. Pretty easily. put that Georgia was up there. I had Georgia originally slated, but I felt like Oregon has just had the pieces for a little while. They haven't really made any changes. They're just kind of running the same thing. And I think that consistency is going to get them there this year. Ryan: Big names this year on Oregon. Koi Perich. Love Koi Perich. And you know I love Koi Perich, right? I talk about him all the time. He's great. He plays both ways. He's not going to play both ways at Oregon. He's big. You know, him on defense, great. Also, they kept a lot of defensive returners. On offense, they kept a lot of returners as well. Dante Moore. I think he's pretty good now. Don't think he'll translate to the NFL. I think he's a great college quarterback though. Aaron: Yeah Chandler: I know you, I know. Ryan: But that's for next year, you know. And also, they kept a lot of their weapons. Two of them was Evan Stort and Dakarian Moore. But I also just think they have an easy schedule, just like Aaron said. They have two hard games. They have one game that's a loss to Ohio State. And they have another game that might be a trap game against USC. But I think it'll be a tester, but they definitely, I think, are going to win in my opinion. So that is why I have them up here. I have a one loss organ. Aaron: Yeah Ryan: Number five. Chandler: Yeah, I mean, I have Oregon at five for a lot of the same reasons. think Roy Perich, I mean, I wanted them to come to Ohio State to replace Caleb Downs. That would have been a great piece, but you know, Terry Moore, you're watching this. I like you more because I, you you went to Ohio State. Exactly. Yeah. So again, just like Kirby, you can't bet on Dan Leading. Yeah, he hasn't won a lot of the big games. Yeah, he hasn't had a lot of postseason success, but he has resources and he has speed. Ryan: Me too, me too, me too. Aaron: We'll have you on the show. Chandler: All the time on every side of the ball is trainers and coaches are probably fast as well. mean, everybody on that team is probably runs of sub four or five. It's unbelievable. mean, I remember playing like NCA 13 and 14, like on the Xbox and like Oregon would always have like 99 speed. Like they just historically have always had fast players. And for those two reasons, I mean, they have deep pockets, resources and speed. And like Ryan said, they're returning a lot of people. think what's Aaron: You Ryan: Hehe. Aaron: Yeah, the water, the water boys. Chandler: What's really funny is Dylan Riola from Nebraska committed to Oregon to be their starter before Dante Moore even decided he was coming back. And then Dante Moore decides he's coming back and now Dylan Riola is a backup for Dante Moore. So that's a very interesting little unfolding there, but he got paid a lot. So good on him. Shout out to those resources. Aaron: Yeah. Well, and Ryan: But see, Dylan Raola, think too, especially if Dante Morgetter or something, I think he's actually gonna good. And I think it's hilarious. Yeah, and I think it's hilarious too that right before he transferred, he's literally like, I'm Patrick Mahomes or whatever. And then I see a video of Patrick Mahomes wearing the Oregon jersey and then Dylan Raola gets the Oregon. Like, it's so funny. Chandler: He's a great backup. Yes. That's the best tandem. Aaron: Yeah. Chandler: Yeah. So the two biggest question marks I have for Oregon, I'm still leaving them at five because like you guys said, the schedule isn't the greatest. And they kind of like had like Ohio State's kind of schedule last year where they kind of got lucky and got the bottom of the barrel big 10 teams, but they lost their DC and OC. And that's something that they haven't battled in this new NIL recruiting era. And now that there's so much turnover on players. Yeah, Ohio State has been through it and it worked out in their favor, but I think if that same path continues and like Oregon's gonna have to deal with it, I think that's a very volatile, not stable foundation to set. And it could be a testament to how good their program is. If they have good OCs and DCs and those are feeders to NFL jobs or head coaching jobs, like great. That's a whole different conversation. But to see how they juggle having an OC and DC replacement with all these new pieces coming in from the portal will be interesting to watch. Ryan: Yeah, that's a great point. also think Dan Lanning will have a hold over it. I think he's a very good coach and he'll definitely handle it some way. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see for sure. Chandler: Agree. Yep. Yep. Aaron: And they have been the thing that draws me to them is every year they're refining just a little bit more. They don't have this big explosive growth that we are seeing in a lot of teams now post an IL. But they just have this, they're not making huge changes. It's just small tweaks that gets a little bit more, a little bit more. And as we said, they don't have that post season dominance that we're seeing out of some of the other schools, but every year they get a little bit further. that That to me that the only reason I have these reverse between Georgia and Oregon from you guys is that. Chandler: Now, they do have a win over JMU now in the postseason, so he's got that off his back. Big night game JMU win. Aaron: That's true, it's off the back. Ryan: also think it's good how you're saying that they have proven they can do it with the same kind of guys. They've already been in the playoff. They beat a Texas Tech team who turned out not to be good, you know, but they beat the Texas Tech team. They got waxed by Indiana, but Indiana was that good. We just didn't realize it till late in the season, you know. They proved they can do it with these guys and they're just getting better and they're just developing more. Aaron: It was, yeah. Yeah. Yep. And if Georgia wasn't facing a conference scheduling change, I would have had them flipped. would have had Georgia above Oregon. think Oregon having the same kind of year they had last year works in their favor. There is the OC DC change up, but I don't think that's going to change the game. I think they're going to find OCs and DCs that play the game they're already playing and they're going to slot in. So I think we're going to have landing coach and coaches and that's it. Chandler: No. Ryan: Yeah, yeah. Chandler: And you guys have stolen my sixth slot. Um, but I have Indiana at six. They, I don't know if they're going to be the same team they were last year, but I also said the same thing coming after their 2024 season. and Eddie went in the transfer portal and brought all those JMU guys over and they played phenomenally. He had a senior team. He had the recipe that worked. He got to the postseason and he just, he had a bunch of turnover and he did it again. He did the same transfer portal magic and he got through. He got his players. He got his pieces. He bet on Fernando Mendoza from Cal. I remember me and Ryan sat there at that Auburn game and that Auburn Cal game and we watched him play and he was phenomenal. We were like, who is this guy? Like, why is he not on a good team? And sure enough, he's a national champion the year later. So clearly he has a tremendous eye for talent recognition. And I think for that sole reason that he can take the most losing team in college football history. and go back to back top 10 seasons in a national championship in two years, it speaks volumes to what he's doing. So I think now Josh Hoover from TCU has to come in and be their starting quarterback, but it's the same kind of recipe as Fernando was. They took a shot on a guy that had great numbers and great awareness, but he was on a lower end team and now they're going to take a shot and bring him in and let him ride. But I mean, if Kurt found Fernando and he's finding this guy, I you have to give him the benefit of the doubt. Aaron: Absolutely. Chandler: And then bringing in pieces like Nick Marsh from Mississippi, or not Mississippi State, Michigan State. He was one of the leading receivers there. So he's going to be a great piece and plug and play. He's a senior guy. He's fast. So they're definitely going to be a top 10 team again, but I don't know how high they'll go up in that list, but I think six, like right around the middle of that five, six slot is where I felt right putting them. Aaron: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Especially for a team where we just don't have the history to pull from. Like we have not known signetti that long, but I think he's one of those phenomenal restart. I coaches. And I think that is something that you cannot bet against when a coach has a great eye for three stars, you can build such a strong program for much more effective, especially now where money is a key component. Chandler: I love you. And after learning that there's only 404 stars and 32 five stars, that even makes it more impressive that he has such a huge pool that he's looking through in the three star film. I mean, his staff that's watching film has to be unbelievable to be able to be on the same page and pull in all these guys from these schools that nobody's ever heard of. And then they turn out to be a first overall draft pick going to the Raiders probably in a Heisman winner. So it's, it's unbelievable what he's doing for sure. Aaron: Yep. ⁓ yeah. Ryan: Yeah, and those three star guys want it bad. They're willing to work for it. And I love that, you know, and they're just gritty players like Charlie Becker last year. He was amazing. And even Fernando, but I mean, we saw how good Fernando was. I couldn't believe my eyes. The game we went, we were like, Oh, we're just going to go watch him beat Cal. Little did I know, paint and thorns going to have the worst game I've ever seen. then Fernando Mendoza at some point, I think he was something like 15 for 16. Chandler: Yes. Ryan: And we were like, who is this guy? Just random guy at Cal is just completing every single pass and he looked amazing. And like, he saw that in him. No one knows who he is. No one knew who he was at Cal. And he finds these guys at these low schools and that's what's going to give him the edge. Chandler: And I mean, look at the... Aaron: Yeah. Chandler: And look, look at DeAngelo Pons. He's a five nine corner that was told he was undersized his whole life. And then he comes out and he's locking up anybody that comes his way. I mean, he's the, he was the guy for their team and he was their shortest corner by a landslide. I mean, he was lined up against Jeremiah Smith and Jeremiah is six four and he was still doing just fine. And so, I mean, it's, it's crazy the people that he brings in. Aaron: fantastic. Yeah. respect any coach that recruits ballplayers, not positions where it's like you can make it. And I think that's my, that's my piece on his scheme is that he doesn't really run a scheme. It looks like he runs to the strength of his roster. Yeah. You know, there was a lot of plays that had good route running that would, you know, confuse coverage, but it wasn't anything like, okay, we're relying on a 20 yard deep ball bomb. Every few plays to try to make big explosive. wasn't that need for explosive highlight plays. It was just like who plays first down to plays first down. Touchdown, you know, it just when something broke loose, something broke loose, but they weren't trying to make it happen. They just steadily march their way to the end zone every time they had the ball. Ryan: Yeah. And I think that's a great quality to have too. Because when you're talking about the safe plays, I know that I have seen an interview that Nick Saban was talking and Nick Saban is the best college football coach ever. I know I'm an Auburn fan. He's a great football coach. I saw an interview he was talking about one of his coaches when he was younger, told him that the best thing you can do is get your star players the ball, which I think is a safety thing that he's getting his star players the ball. He's taking that same kind of approach and we're calling it safe, but it's safe because they're so good and he's relying on the skill to make something happen. Aaron: Exactly. and building the play around that skill instead of saying you're going to have to conform to this particular style. He's just like, if that's what they're good at, we're going to make them run it. Chandler: What do you have in that sixth slot, Teal? Ryan: Number 6, it's funny how this keeps working out, I have a little piggyback off your organ. Similar scenario on how the Dylan Raola came over and Dante Moore stayed. Can y'all guess who it's gonna be? Chandler: blinking. I'm going to know when he say it. Okay. Yep. Cause Trinidad Chambers that whole shuffle. Aaron: Yeah. Ryan: Ole Miss. Aaron: Okay. Ryan: Ole Miss is my number six. Trinidad Chambliss was gonna leave, but they appealed it and they allowed him to have another year. And Deuce Knight, not knowing that, went over there and he's going to be their backup now, but he's next. I think Ole Miss will be very good. I know that Kiffin's gone, but there's a lot of remnants from him. And then they didn't just get rid of these things. And I know it's easy to in the transfer portal, but they capitalize even more. and kept all the remnants that Kiffin left. And I think they looked amazing last year. They looked really good in the playoffs. I think they should have beat Miami, in my opinion. They were the better team on the field that day when they played, but sometimes it just works out that way, and Miami won. Aaron: Yeah. I think if we go back to that last play, the deep ball into the corner, they would have thrown the flag. was, I mean, there's pass interference all the time. There was some pretty blatant, he grabs the guy while he's up in the air and slams him down before the ball came. That was pass interference. If that flag was thrown, that 15 yards is tacked on. I think Chambliss gets it in the end zone. I think it's Ole Miss's game at that point. Without Kiffin there, with the shakeup that happened, the fact that that team pulled it through, They make a spot on my list. I'm going to, I'll say it now. They're a little bit lower, but Ole Miss was there for me because I saw that you, they gave Ole Miss the chip on their shoulder. They were going to need to carry into the season. A team like that, that's got the world to prove and they've got a villain to prove it to. That's going to be fun to watch. And as much as it hurts my heart to be excited to watch an Ole Miss team. Ryan: Yeah, and I'm sorry I was gonna say I'm sorry that you're Mississippi State and I put him this high. But, yeah. Aaron: Hey, I put him on the list without Mississippi State being on the list, so... I'm the one who should be sorry. Ryan: Yeah, but I think that, yeah, people joke about like, it's us against the world, whatever all the good teams say that, but they really had everything going against them. And I think Trinda Chambliss is one of the best quarterbacks in the country. I can't believe they let him come back another year knowing how good he was seeing that playoff performance. He just got better. The more the year went on. He won Lacey is also one of the best and hardest running. Aaron: Yeah. Ryan: running backs that I've seen. And I think right now he's one of the best running backs in the country. My opinion. I love his speed. I love the way he churns. I kept using that word. He churns when he gets the ball and he gets the extra yards. was shocked the first few times that I watched him just see how good he was at it. And he's a difference maker. And I'm really excited to see him healthy because he had a hurt shoulder in the Georgia game and it didn't matter. He was so good in the Georgia game and I think they would have beat Miami if he wasn't hurt because he also tore his hamstring halfway through the game still at the hurt shoulder and it killed his yards after contact, which I was just saying was his biggest strength and he couldn't turn. He had a torn hamstring. He would just go down and I think that ruined it and I think that would have been a big key in the Miami game. And even with both of them, they got Deuce Knight out of the portal who won't play, but he's an amazing asset. Aaron: Yeah. Ryan: If Trinidad ever goes down, he's next up and he will come in and he will perform. Also, they got Aaron: Well, and I also think, ⁓ sorry. Well, I also think while we're talking about that, that's something we are losing in this transfer window era. It's really important to have a backup. And I feel like a lot of schools are built on their first line. And when we see AP polls, AP polls are a lot of reflection on first line and not necessarily depth. But when we don't have backups, that means your starters stay in as much as possible. Ryan: No, no, you're good, you're go ahead. Chandler: Yes. Aaron: Which is normal, but what happens if Chambliss is cramping? You can pull them out if you've got a backup that you can trust. You can pull them out for a couple plays and let them reset. If you're Mississippi State's case, can throw them with a saline IV in the tent. You you don't have to put a player at risk of injury as much if you can pull him for a trusty backup. Ryan: Yeah, and I think we're losing the development. That's why it was so sad when we lost him. He was supposed to be our guy this year. And even if somehow Byron Brown goes down, or if he wasn't even the guy and he beat him out somehow, it'd be so nice to have that and we don't have that development anymore. But it's funny because we were going to keep him and then Trinidad appealed and they said no. So he immediately transferred and then they appealed again. They said yes. So he would have just sat either way, which is kind of funny it worked out like that. But also another Auburn guy, Jay Crawford they got, who was the best player on our defense last year. And I can't believe we let him leave. Even if he wasn't, he might've been the best player on our entire team, the best football player. But if not, he was at least the best on our defense. And they're just getting all these guys. They have a lot of people from last year. I just think they're going to do really good. They have a hard schedule, but they're, they're going to get it done. They're a great team. Aaron: Add a chip on their shoulder and chambliss at the helm. I I'd put money on them, but for mine, we've also got a pick. We've already talked about here. My slot. This is where I threw Texas. It hurts to, it hurts to have them. Don't think, I think they end out the season pretty good. As I mentioned earlier, I think they've got a stumble here. There's a chance they don't make it at all, but if they do, if they do make it out the block, even with a loss to Ohio state in that second, if they do have a clean back half that Ryan: Mmm. Aaron: Having those tough games, if they come out on top on all those tough games, I think they get the slot high because that's what the committee's going be looking at is that last couple of weeks in their schedule, which is a solid roster of SEC teams for them. Chandler: Yeah, I think to piggyback on the teams we've already had in the slots for my what are we on seven? Seven is Miami ⁓ and again it a lot of it was schedule I couldn't put them higher than five for sure they might win the in the ACC just because of Who's gonna be their competition FSU? No, Thompson. No, I mean Miami is gonna be the favorite to win the ACC so that might get them that bid but Aaron: Number six, ⁓ seven, number seven. Chandler: They don't have a lot of pieces coming back. mean, they have Malachi, Tony, like we said, they're going to still have a great offense. Probably their defense, like Teal said, is going to have a step down. I just don't see Miami being anything higher than, I mean, they're going to be in the playoffs probably because of how the ACC is going to unfold. If they win the ACC, they'll definitely be in. But I couldn't put them any higher than seven. And I really, seven might be too high as well. Aaron: That's how I felt. kept bumping them down the list until I found they weren't on there anymore. Ryan: That's crazy, yeah. I don't want him to be on there, you know? Aaron: No, I mean, I feel like there is a timeline both ways. There's a timeline where they're up there. There's a timeline where they're not. That's going to be a wait and see. Chandler: Yes. Ryan: Yeah, and they always put an ACC team in there. It's just how deep will they be? You know, that's what we're really debating here. What number will they be? Aaron: They have to. The ACC has had a rough go for a while now. It's been tough football to watch. Yeah. The right who you got for seven. Ryan: Yeah, for- like forever. Chandler: Yes. Ryan: My number seven hasn't been mentioned yet. I thought it was going to be higher than this for one of y'all. I have Ellis. Is that crazy? Aaron: I think so. Chandler: I have LSU coming up. Aaron: I do not have LSU on this list. Ryan: Okay, do you want me to say why I have LSU here? I think Lane Kiffin is that guy. He will win games, even though it's a tough schedule, and it's nine SEC conference games, I think they'll do well. They did the... I think they did the best in the country this year in the transfer portal, and I would almost venture to say they dominated the transfer portal. They secured 40 new people. Chandler: Of course. Aaron: Yeah. Ryan: including big players like Sam Levitt and Jordan Seton who I know we've mentioned last episode. And I think Sam Levitt might do good. He's very untested. I think he'll do good, but I don't think he's gonna do as good as people are hyping him up to be. I think he will perform. He has a lot of weapons around him. But I think he's gonna have a more game manager kind of thing. He hasn't shown me anything that really really stands out. But I will say, I think they have a trap game. October 24th, Auburn University at Jordan Hare. I think that's a trap game this year. I don't think we're going to be very good, but that's a weird, sneaky one. It's near Halloween. It's in Jordan Hare, you know, and we're probably be coming off a bad couple of games. They're probably going be doing really good, come off the high of their season. And we're, we're going to, we're going to ruin them probably. But if they win that game. Aaron: Ha bad couple. Chandler: The Auburn Bulls are coming. Aaron: Auburn's gonna be the scariest team with three wins in the league by that point. Ryan: Yeah, but at the end of the day, like they have all these new additions. I think they win 10 games. They have a couple hard ones, Old Man's who I've already mentioned, Texas who y'all have mentioned. Those are really hard games. Worst case they lose nine if they lose both of those and to Auburn, but they'll probably not lose to Auburn. So I'm going to say 10 wins and I'm going to put them at number seven. Aaron: I so strongly disagree with it. I think LSU is a four loss team this year. I think the game I'm most excited for this year, the game I can't wait to watch, week three at Ole Miss. mean, they're going to have security needs to be tripled. Ole Miss going to be there, wrapped. will be bullets heading. He burned the bridge so hard. You got Ryan: That's fair. Mm-hmm. Aaron: An Ole Miss that was still firing really well with a familiar team out for blood against the guy who did them dirty. That is not the game you want early in the season when you're putting together a brand new program. I think as you said, Levitt, I went to Batform last episode and I'm still there to Batform. The SEC is a tough, tough place to learn what it's like to go that next level up. They are. barred hitting defensively. know, we could say, you see offense all day. can have that discussion defensively. They're a powerhouse always have been always will going into Ole Miss early on after Ole Miss. got A ⁓ A ⁓ is on my list, but in fact, A ⁓ is my seven because they have done really, really well recently. As I said, they're kind of starting to dig themselves out of that mentality of just throw money and you get the championship and now they're having to build. So Ole Miss is going to be brutal. That's going to be a bloody game. And then to have to go next week into A ⁓ I just don't see LSU surviving both of those unscathed. You know, you said they got a trap game at Auburn. Well, they don't have one against Mississippi State the week before. They will walk all over us. But then a bye week till Alabama, Texas. That's another back to back blender. That's tough. That like. I just don't see them having all the the balls in play ready to go for the season they are staring at. Chandler: Everybody that is watching, everybody that is watching this episode right now, I want you to go to prize picks. I want you to go into season projections. I want you to go to the Ole Miss LSU game and I want you to smash the over on whatever point line is in that game. And that will be your lock and put whatever you want on it. It's a guaranteed win. Ryan: Yeah, and that's what I was- Aaron: ⁓ That is a violent game that I can't wait. Chandler: Shout out to prize picks for going to hopefully sponsor this show eventually. That's, that's my price picks back. Aaron: You might have heard a bleep until, until we get paid, but. Ryan: Yeah, and that is a must-win game. Yeah, Aaron, that's what I was saying. I mean, I put Ole Miss at 6. Really, my 6-9 can kind of be like any order, but that was a definite one. I had LSU up there. I had to put Ole Miss 1 in front of them because I think they lose that game. I mentioned they have a hard game Ole Miss in Texas. Ole Miss will not lose that game. They will do everything they can to win that game. Aaron: Yep. I do too. not without a player dying on the field. There is nothing that will stop them. Ryan: Yeah, they'll nuke that stadium. have to, yeah. Yeah. Aaron: a fan will shank them. This is the game I'm like, I don't know what's gonna happen. Like I love my Egg Bowl, it's what I look forward to. Egg Bowl is almost a guaranteed fight every year. Something crazy is gonna happen. This time I'm like, the Egg Bowl is gonna be our calm game because that's gonna be the blood game. Ryan: Yeah, I'm so excited for that game actually. I cannot wait. Yeah. Aaron: Me too. Me too. You know, we'll see a downs of football played between fights. We might have to see a game get stopped. That's my, that's my goal for this game is that this is a forfeit. It stopped by the first half. Yeah. Chandler: The Red River game goes up week three, Ole Miss LSU. Ryan: Even in a hundred years they might be talking about how Ole Miss and LSU's rivalry started because of this game this year. Aaron: Absolutely. This could be a historic one. Ryan: Mm-hmm. It's gonna start something new. Chandler: So do you have anything else to touch on for your seven slot, Aaron? Aaron: Yeah, I guess. ⁓ so for A ⁓ Elko has been a great addition. I think he's pulling stuff together. They had such a run last year, but battered Aggie syndrome, very hard to escape from. A ⁓ has a curse on them and it's going to be something that's going to take a little bit longer for them to shake. It comes down to that regular season play. They've been so tight. They have been so good. I schedule wise, they are ready for trench fighting like they have been. I don't think they're going to make it out undefeated, but I think they will be pretty close. I think we are going to see an 11-1 season from A ⁓ again. Ryan: Aaron, I'm really sorry. This is the one thing ever I think I might disagree with you on. My only thing is because last year, I just think they weren't actually as good as people thought they were. They played the Notre Dame game. They kinda came out unscathed, but Notre Dame actually wasn't that great. I know they were hyped up to be. And then, they did kinda just haven't... I think they had the easiest SEC schedule in my opinion. Aaron: Mm-hmm. It wasn't difficult, no. Ryan: But then they find... Yeah, but like most SEC schedule hard, I think they had the easiest one you could conjure up. If you look at the bottom nine, you put them up against Texas A ⁓ and then they barely beat Auburn. They... That was like the hardest game and then they barely beat Notre Dame. There's barely coming out and then they finally play Texas when Arch Manning's ramp it up and then they just get killed. So I'm a little worried that we're have a repeat of that this year. Aaron: Mm-hmm. Ryan: Similar players, similar talent. But I'm just a little worried if their schedule's a little harder they might lose a couple more and it might knock them down. Aaron: But they, I think they've actually kind of got a similar schedule. They, they're not really tested till LSU, you know, it's Arizona state, Kentucky, LSU, Arkansas, Missouri, Citadel, Alabama. Like that's, that's a pretty good, get your feelers out, get your game play. We'll see. The big question is going to be Alabama, Texas. I think for them, I think Oklahoma was still really good. have that they have, they have kind of a slog towards the end. So how they build up, we'll see. But. It's going to be how they come out, but I think they've been building. Ryan: You know what, that's great point. I think they will do better than I think they'll do. But I'm just worried, that's all I'm saying. I'm just a little worried. Aaron: ⁓ no, I, I think anybody that puts a in him anywhere should always be worried. if anyone can lose, even if they had the best draft class that you could maybe argue an all-timer and then still have nothing come from it. You got it. You got to be wary, but I'm going to put my faith in them that that competition with Texas with them fuels them and it likes, they like to not fall too far behind. Ryan: Yeah, I like it. I also like Marcel Reed a lot. He's fun to watch. He's fun to watch. Aaron: I did too. I did too. Like they, they have so many more issues that they need to step down on and get under control. But Marcel Rita QB is not one of them. And that is unusual for A ⁓ having a consistent quarterback where they normally have somebody that's either a five star or one star. And it just depends who shows up that day. Chandler: attitude. So my number eight slot is again, team we've already talked about, LSU. Only thing that scares me about them is everybody's on the, they dominated the transfer portal. And I get, they bought 40 players. But the transfer portal in NIL is a numbers game. Especially being ranked in the transfer portal, it's a quantitative assessment of where you get ranked. Whoever buys the most players will be number one. Aaron: Mm-hmm. It is. Chandler: It doesn't matter who you buy. And I think they did get a lot of pieces, but I think their X factor, like Ryan said, is Sam Levitt. If he can show up and be a big 12 freshman of the year and a playoff birthed quarterback, then I think they will be fine. And I think retaining their defensive coordinator at LSU is phenomenal. I think that helps Lane a ton because their defense was a top 10 defense in the country. They kept them in every single game when Garrett was throwing Aaron: It was absolutely. Chandler: 18 yards a game. So I think them having that defense, they'll be veteran, that DCE retaining. If Sam Levitt can live up to the hype where he's worth that five or six million dollar NIL deal that they gave him, then they're going have a great season. And that's why I think they're going to be in that top 10 conversation. It just scares me because they do have so many new pieces and not to just blast you, I wasn't talking about you with the 40 players, but that's the narrative around the country. So I think if those players work out great, but there's also the question of with that many new players coming in, how's the culture going to look? How is lane going to be able to control those guys coming in being paid this exponential amount more money than these players they already have on the roster because everybody knows that NIL and this transfer portal, they overpay in that portal for players. how, yes, that's a lot of people coming in. Aaron: Oh yeah, yeah I know. Yeah. Well, and I, I worry about that locker room vibe as well, because my biggest, my biggest tell too, how many people from Ole Miss did not go. Like, you know, a lot of times you bring a coach in, they're going to pull some of those, some of those stars and none of them went. And so he's bringing together a power team. I do worry about Levitt. Like I said, I'll go to bat for him. I hope he does have a phenomenal transfer over, but without Scataboo. Ryan: Yeah, innit? Chandler: They believed. Yes, and- Aaron: It was a different team and like Scataboo was a great guy to have as an option. If you didn't see the, the past developing, you give it to him and he's going to go get 40 yards on nothing. Without that, we saw a very stagnant season out of him last year. Once it was Arizona state. So we could talk about availability, lot of. Talent that they had access to. Lane is very hard to bet against when it comes to QBs. He has an eye for it probably. Chandler: Yes. Aaron: Better than most in the league. I'll say he is up there as being able to spot talent. And I'm going to use that as a later discussion point towards my favor, but I just think he's in a PR nightmare. He's going to, I just don't think it's a mental place where lane's going to be a hundred percent and the team is not going to be a hundred percent because of it, because this is, this is a big year that a lot's going on for. Chandler: Yes. Well, writing what Ryan said earlier, it, he does win. He turned Ole Miss into a program that was a 10 win season and that's great. But he also doesn't have any postseason credentials. had, but all of his credentials were on a filler coach this past year that he didn't, I mean, he got a paycheck for because LSU is gracious enough to get him the money that he was going to be promised for every Ole Miss playoff win. Ryan: Yeah, and you have a- ⁓ sorry. Chandler: But he doesn't have any postseason credentials to back on. And I think he's going to be a great coach at LSU, but until he wins those big games postseason where it's where your money's really made and where your legacy is really made, then I can't put them above that eight slot. think he's going to be in the playoffs. Probably that might be a hot opinion, but I just don't, I don't see him making that deep of a run, but I hope I'm wrong, especially for Matthew that's watching this. Aaron: Absolutely. It could, yeah. ⁓ I think he, my only thing is LSU is a different place to coach. Brian Kelly just found that out too. You guys, no, no. ⁓ I think LSU, you gotta have an attitude for LSU. You gotta be thick skinned. You gotta be, you gotta be tough. mean, Ed, a great coach for LSU. He was, he's the archetype. Like you gotta be. Chandler: I don't like bring a killer at all. Yes. Aaron: somebody who looks like you could hold your own in a fight to be an LSU coach. Chandler: Lane might bring a hot yoga like NIL package for his players in too and that could be the game changer. Aaron: Yeah. Ryan: Haha Aaron: It could, it could, but LSU right now as a fan base is not happy. And as we mentioned last week, I think they've got the knives ready. They've got the alcohol flowing. It's going to be a completely different environment than lanes used to. So, you know, I don't think, I don't think he's ever had a crawdad thrown at his head and he's about to. Chandler: But boot and cooking? Ryan: Yeah, I have a couple things here too. I mean, I think we keep talking about this Notre Dame. They don't have a lot of hard competition and stuff that I don't think Brian Kelly was really ready for the level that the SEC would bring. know, Chandler, you hate the SEC, but I mean, Lane has got it done. We're talking about the 40 new people and I understand it's quantitative because I think a prime example of that is Brendan Sworesby. We are giving him talent. We're saying he's this good quarterback. Aaron: Mm-hmm. Ryan: because someone gave him $6 million. That doesn't make him any different. His skill level didn't change at all, but we were just deciding that he is good because of the money we're giving him. We're deciding the team's good because they have 40 new things. I think it's hilarious that we use that same reference. But like you're saying, the quarterbacks, he has an eye for them. Two of my favorite college quarterbacks in this last five years have been Trinidad Chambliss and Jackson Dart, and both of them were handpicked by Lane Kiffin and they were amazing. So maybe Sam Levitt will do that. And we're talking about the locker room. And we're talking about the locker room scenario. He only had two returners on his Ole Miss team last year, and this is the best he's done so far. So I think he will have a way of kind of getting under control. I think he's had success in the SEC. It's just so hard to have success in SEC school, especially a new one, because he's established himself and built it up over the years. Chandler: Hopefully he is. Aaron: Absolutely. Chandler: shit. Ryan: And yeah, you are just getting thrown in all of a sudden. So it is hard. Chandler: Yep. Yep. Aaron: I mean, I'm sure later on we're gonna have a discussion on Kiffin leaving Ole Miss at the time he chose to. To me it's insane. Having like a guaranteed path to the playoff and then being like, I'm not gonna worry about that. When Ole Miss was offering decent money for him to stay, low consequence school to stay at and you had the chance to get a title under you. Just don't know what he was thinking to make that, you know, that paycheck could have tripled quadrupled if he took home the championship and there was the talent there to even make a case for it that he could have gone all the way, but he, he made the transition over, burned every bridge, went everything crazy. just don't know if he's ready for this year. think next year, year after that, they would have made the top 10 list for me. ⁓ I think you give him a little time. He's going to make something happen. He that's the frustrating thing about him. He is going to make your program better, but he's going to need some time to cook. Ryan: Yeah. And I think he did the worst. mean, he could have handled it worse leaving Ole Miss. Timing, trying to bring the coaches over and having to extend their contract because they ended up winning more games in the playoffs than he thought. All of that was just pretty bad, but he wanted that big time job. He's just trying to work his way up. And in his mind, LSU is like, yes, this is a prime, huge school. They have the tradition. That's the job I've been working my way up for. And it is a little selfish. And I'm not trying to harp down on you about Mississippi State again. I know it keeps happening. But me and my dad, we always like, ⁓ yeah, the little brother Mississippi schools, Ole Miss Mississippi State. I'm really sorry. I'm not doing this to you. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ no, no. Hey, it's fair. One of the things I have against Sam Levitt succeeding at LSU is that we beat him last year. And if we beat him, that's awful. Like we were one of the worst defenses I've ever seen. So yeah, no, I, I use us as a bottom metric. Ryan: Yeah, but my whole point is like, Ole Miss has always been good, they've always been scrappy, they've never been a historically successful team, which he's brought them to that, but I think he wanted that tradition and wanted the fan base, and he wants that prime time light to be in front of. Aaron: ⁓ I, yeah. ⁓ absolutely. He is going for the biggest and best, but I think there was a case that if he went hard in the championship last year, he may have made the NFL jump. Like if he wanted the big jump, if he wanted big bucks, he had a path. And I feel like LSU can be a career ender for him where he's going to tell you he's going to be watched very, very closely and expect results. very, very quick at LSU. And I think he's capable of delivering. But if he crumples as a coach under that, it could be very difficult. Ryan: Yeah, it's definitely high risk high reward. It's like if he does bad, he's gonna be ran out of there. He's not gonna have a job in other school like an urban Meyer at Florida. You're just getting kicked out, you know, but there is potential that if he does really well there, he will be like the next Nick Saban who's done so good. Like they might look at him like that. If he has success, it would be, it would be, but like he has so much potential. It's just so high or low. Aaron: It would be very frustrating. Yeah. Absolutely. Ryan: I don't know what's gonna happen. I'm excited to see what happens, but... Aaron: Me too. Me too. And like I said, it's always fun to have a villain and he is really good at putting himself in that role for any other fandom because he's successful, but he's also a bit of a douche about things. Anytime you put a mic in front of them, but not in the way that like you can completely turn against him. doesn't blame the players. It's just, he's very self pedestal. Like he'll play any chance. He can talk about his adversities or You know where, where he's come from. And it's like, you've come from a lot of great schools that you have done a lot of work at, but you know, as soon as you kind of find the first taste of success, you move and you go on to bigger, brighter pastures. So we'll see, we'll see if that's just where it's going to keep going. Ryan: Yeah, do y'all wanna hear my number eight? I know we were mentioning earlier how we wanted to see Kurt Signetti build his team around his guys and use his weapons, right? For that, I picked Texas. And I'm a little shocked myself that I put them so low whenever I was thinking about it more when I started ordering them. But my whole thing was like my sneaky pick this year was Texas is actually going to be good. Aaron: I'm ready for it. Ryan: I think they will be very good. think Arch developed a lot. He looked a lot better through the end of last season especially. Halfway to the end he looked amazing. I mean Texas kept Ryan Wingo. They got Cam Coleman. And if they develop a pass game that they didn't have last year throwing it downfield a lot but they use Cam Coleman to the best of his abilities. I think they'll be very very good. It's just Will Kurtcignetti. Aaron: Yeah. Ryan: Steve Sarkeesian opened up that ability to use Kim Coleman and change up his offense a little bit. Because last year they didn't have it. But I think they'll be very good. I'm surprised myself I put them at 8. Chandler: think Kurt Signetti could make that change. Ryan: Yeah, my bad, missed it. We were talking about cursing, thank you so much. Yeah, that's what meant. Aaron: No, that's the problem though is dark has a lot of good ideas. He likes running the game. He likes running too. There's going be a lot of pressure on Manning again. They're already talking about him as a Heisman favorite again. They're going to keep running screen passes again. There's going to be a lot of that going on though. I is cam even going to be ready for that. Is he ready to do some heavy blocking and stuff like that to get used to it? I do. I put them higher in the list. I do think they are. Definitely qualified to be five and below. They could easily be a number one. There's, there's a lot of patterns for them to end up going to. I think we're going to see them play off time, but I think they're going to have a lot of bumps along the way that they are going to have to fight through and hope they don't crumple underneath. Ryan: Yeah, that's what I'm mainly worried about. I think they're gonna be a great team, but you have to play Ole Miss, you have to play LSU, you have to play all these hard teams that I'm thinking are gonna be really good. So it's just hard to put them higher than them. Aaron: Yep. And as we said earlier, that Ohio state round two can be a season ending loss. That can be one where the commentary turns against them. Everybody starts going, was Arch Manning never the guy the whole time? And it's like, no, he's still doing really well. He's just two weeks into the season and got absolutely decimated by the Ohio state defense. And we'll see how much you developed. It is. Yeah. And that, that's a hard one to recover from. Then you start making mistakes. You're in your head. Chandler: And it's in Texas. In Texas. Aaron: For the easy part of the season, then you go into a difficult part of the season. think it's just, it is one that you can easily slump into and fall apart. So nothing on the team, nothing on the talent. It just is a scary lineup for them to go into. Ryan: Yeah, that too, because they pretty much are starting the season with a loss by playing Ohio State. They're starting as a one loss. If they win one of the Ole Miss or LSU game and they lose another one, they're auto two, maybe even three loss just because the Ohio State one was already one. So it's like they're already just shifted back a little because of that. That's, think why I had a hard time putting them up there, but I think they're going to be a very good football team this year, especially with the hype they had last year. I think they'd be better than they were last year. Aaron: Yep. I think they're going to be scary no matter what. Yeah. Yeah. I think they'll be grounded a little bit more than last year, which I think will help them. But for mine, this is where I got Ole Miss. I got Ole Miss in here as the eight dog is something where they got that. They got that fight. We've already talked about it all. So I don't have much more to add to it. I just think they're spunky. I think they're going to have, they're going to have the talent. Chandler: I think so too. I Ryan: Yeah. Chandler: What's your eight slot Aaron? Aaron: And they're going to have the drive. I think this is a life or death season for a lot of those players. So I can't wait to see what they produce. And that is a deep blooded Mississippi State fan saying it. It hurts, but I'm more excited for their season than I am for ours. Ryan: They'll be excited for sure. Aaron: Yeah. Chandler: So in my nine slot, Ryan's going to really, Ryan's going to really like this one. And to be fair, I can have an argument for them to be on or off. just, the defense I'm in love with and it's Oklahoma. Number nine is Oklahoma for me. I think John Matier, if John Matier can have a healthy season and play pre-injury to when Auburn just really banged him up, then I think Aaron: This is where it's gonna get spicy, I think. Oklahoma! Ryan: You scared me, I didn't think that's where you were going. Chandler: He's going have a great season and Venable's defense is phenomenal. Always has been. That's what he makes his bread and butter on. It'll keep them in every game they play. If John Matier can stay healthy and he can be the, the pre-injury John Matier, I think they're going to be a top 10 team. And I think getting Parker Livingston from Texas, that's a great receiving option for him. He's that's a big body. That's a consistent guy. mean, the returning Ryan: Beat him up is understatement. Aaron: It's really good. Yeah. Chandler: their whole offensive line, I think they have a lot of pieces that they can have a nice veteran team and that again, that defense they can lean on without a doubt. Aaron: Absolutely. I, I thought about Oklahoma for my list. They didn't make it only because of strength of schedule. They've got a very tough schedule. And they, and the problem is that strength is every other game for them. And that is so tough. There is no recovery for them. It is something where it's like third game, second season, Michigan. Then they got New Mexico back to Georgia, Texas, Kentucky. Chandler: They do. It means more. Aaron: Mississippi state and South Carolina. That's about the easiest lineup they're going to get. ⁓ then Florida, Ole Miss, Texas A ⁓ and Missouri. That's a, it's just, there's so many pitfalls for them, but I do like Brent Venables. I think he has the defense. love seeing a great defense. know it can sometimes end up with being boring ball. If you get too defensive games, but It is still something to see, but he's also been slowly developing that offensive game like as a DC coming in and head coach keeping that power and then slowly getting that material was fun to watch. He has a lot of promise. And as you say, if he can stay healthy, they've got a weapon. I don't know if it's able to overcome some of the hurdles they've got this season. I see them as a three loss team by the end. I think a good season is them a three loss. I'd love to see him at a two loss. I'd love to him in contention again. Chandler: Yes. Aaron: I think it's fun that they have come in. They've really kind of made their name in the SEC already, but they've done it quietly. And I love that about them that they are just kind of doing their own thing. They're focused on their game and they're executing it. Ryan: Yeah, I mean same here. I think that's a great pick. I think John Matier is good. I do think he was a little too hyped up before the injury. Or even after the injury. They were talking about, but he was so good, but he was so good. He was good. I think he will improve and be better. And yeah, I think their defense is very good. They just have so many hurdles like Aaron's timeout. I see them losing a few games. It was too hard for me to put them up here. Chandler: Agree. Ryan: You know, but I think they will be a very hard team for anyone who plays them. Aaron: I think they are a solid 10 to 15 plot in my book for this season. Like they're going to be somewhere in that bracket. Chandler: What you got, Ryan? Ryan: For my number 9, I have Georgia. They fell down my list. Yeah, they fell down my list. Y'all had them a bit higher. Georgia's just kind of a weird one. Kirby Smart, very, very petty. He will win games. The way he coaches is so annoying. It's very petty. They run very simple, short, I'll pound away kind of offense. Chandler: Wow, I forgot you haven't mentioned them. Aaron: Yeah Ryan: They kept Gunnar Stockton, who I think is okay, but he had the highest QBR in the country last year. It's like he might be that guy statistically, but watching him, I don't know if he's really done the things that I think he needs to do to show me that he's a great quarterback. They're losing a lot of their great receivers. Zachariah Branch is gone, but I mean, other than that, they've had some new additions. They kept a lot of their players from last year, but Kirby just finds a way to win. I had to put him up here. They might lose a couple of games because I think a lot of these SEC teams in my pin are going be very good. But he does stuff like there was a game two years ago against Georgia Tech, which is their rivalry game. And they were in overtime. I think they went in a couple of over times and every single time he used that one overtime timeout before they snapped the ball to see what formation they came out. Just stuff like that. He does stuff like that. He comes on the field and screams at his players on the field. But he wins games, that gets points across, it is very annoying, but it's like, that works? And like, you can't bet against him. Aaron: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's, it's like being a patch Mahomes. And at the same time he gets stuff done, but he also uses every single available rule to his advantage. And you can't blame somebody for that, but it is when you were not part of that team, you're like, come on now, come on. Don't use that timeout, but he did. And I was, that was something where I was like, why aren't more coaches doing that? They're in overtime. They've got the timeout. They don't use them. Kirby uses. Every single tool. And I think the thing that makes it so hard for me to bet against Kirby is that he never really has an amazing quarterback. He's always got somebody I would consider a B roll quarterback. And he makes the scheme do the work. As you said, it is like every yard they fight for and he finds some key players to get the ball to in safe yardage type. Scenarios and then eventually a deep ball happens after they bring that defense in he's very good at the mental side of the game and knowing the response he's gonna generate he knows how to get the other team frustrated I mean one of the most annoying things to watch on Georgia is that pre play motion that they do on the defensive side where all the defenders hop like a half step and right before the ball snaps and then they get the the full start on him and you're just like, this feels illegal. Like this feels dirty, but he could do it and he does it and they do it well. Ryan: Yeah, he uses everything to his advantage. And I think they'll be good. They always have a great defense. It's a little worrisome because they're losing a lot of their secondary this year. But like he'll always find guys. And yeah, they always have good plays and offense. But it's so annoying to watch if you're not a Georgia fan. Feels like how some of the Miami defense or the Miami offense was annoying to watch. It's short little things. It's runs. It's quick out routes. It's screens. Aaron: Always. You Ryan: And they do a ton, a ton of that, but it opens up the play action. They always have a good tight end. They had Darno Washington. They had Oscar Delp this past year. They had Brock Bowers and it always opens that little quick block release and little play actions out to them and the screens. Yeah, but it's like five yards, five yards, five yards, five yards. And then they just do nothing on offense, but their defense will get a big stop. Aaron: a little dump route two yards in. Yeah. Ryan: They'll get the ball on the 20, they'll score in four plays, and the rest of time they do nothing. And it's terrible to watch. It's so annoying. But it, it works somehow. And it works. And it always has worked. So I'm going to just pretend it's going to keep working. Aaron: Yep. Yep. It works. But since we're down in the final picks, this is where I started to get loosey goosey. This is where I was going for big money bets. I'm going with my first dark horse pick at number nine. And this is where I put Mizzou. I don't have a lot to back this up for my nine and 10. This is all gut. I Mizzou got Austin Simmons this year. They've got a couple of quarterback options. Austin Simmons under Lane didn't get really a good chance to show off anything. In fact, Kind of showed the opposite. think he had more interceptions than he had touchdowns. But I think Mizzou has this opportunity to kind of put them front and center. They have been so close these last couple of years, but they have this mid season tumble where it's just like all of a sudden it's like, they just don't know what they're doing anymore. They lose games. They should absolutely win. And those have been getting less frequent. I don't really have any substance to say it's not going to happen again this year. But I did bring it back up. I was taking a look at their schedule and I think for the sec side of things, they don't have the worst one and they've kind of got nothing crazy till a and in October. And I think maybe if they can get that rhythm established early on, we could see them pushing farther up the sec ladder than they have been recently. Ryan: I actually really like your Missouri pick. love Austin Simmons. I know he didn't do that great. But even the year before when Jackson Dart was still on the team, there was one game where he hurt his ankle and he came in for a drive and he looked amazing. And I was like, this guy's yeah, this guy's up next. He looks great. I know he didn't look that good. And Trinidad just kind of overshined, but Trinidad ended up being amazing. Aaron: He did. I know exactly the one you're talking about. I he's gonna I mean, yeah, any quarterback that isn't. Chambliss is going to look worse than Chambliss. Ryan: Yeah, but Missouri's been doing this thing this last year. They've been getting better. But Missouri's one of those teams, you can never count them out. They're always scrappy. Me and my dad call them a scrappy team. They always hurt you. They're hard to beat. They're always like a 15-ish ranked team. They'll lose a few games. Yeah, they don't have that hard of an SEC schedule. Where I think like if they're playing the brunt of it, where they're playing OMS and LSU and Georgia and Texas like they would just get beat up every single week. They might get away with it. They're hard against those hard teams. They might give Texas A ⁓ a hard time. You never know. They're unpredictable. Aaron: They are, and that's where I'm going is I think with the schedule that they have, this could be that time where like they are wild card to me. Like they are somebody that could be one of those and in two teams that squeaks their way where some of the other giants fall, stumble. I think Mizzou can come up underneath and you know, hop up unexpectedly by the end of the season. Chandler: So for the final 10 slot, the team we've already talked about. So it ruins the hype about it, but this is where I had Texas Tech. I couldn't put them any higher. I know they're going to be in the playoffs because they don't play anybody, but I think Texas Tech is going to be my 10 slot being the big 12. Again, this is I'm throwing out Houston. I think Houston is going to be the only game that they're really testing it. That's the same thing last year. Aaron: The big one. The Drum Roll Chandler: That was the only game they really like had a little trouble with. So I think outside of that, have ASU like we talked about, have TCU. With NIL resources, with their strength, the strength of schedule, I think Texas Tech should be in the playoffs unless they just stumble real hard and Brendan Soresby, the second coming of Jesus does not end up being a hundred million dollar quarterback that they paid him and all the oil companies in the world. Ryan: He sure isn't... He sure isn't that... Chandler: 1 % of the Ryan: Yeah, see if I was if I was voting these things with my heart, I'd probably put them down at like 10 But it's just a harsh reality Aaron: If I was being a smart man, I'd put them there too, because it just feels wrong not to because of the money they spent. Like there's part of that preseason feeling of like, they've got everything they need. I just don't know if they have the ability to put them where they should be. Chandler: Do they? They have the schedule they need, that's for sure. Aaron: That's the big part is like, this was how deep would they go into the postseason? Not very far, but they could show up like other than them being in the ACC. That would be maybe the only place. And even that would probably give them a couple more tough games. Ryan: That's true. Chandler: For sure. So Ryan, me the wild card that we have not talked about yet, or is there going to be a repeat as well? Ryan: I had a very, very hard time coming up with the number 10. I don't think there's a lot of deserving spot. It took me forever. I was up to the start of this episode thinking who is going to be my number 10. I think I probably should have put Oklahoma, but I did not put Oklahoma and I did a fun route where I couldn't think of anyone else. So I put Auburn and here's my only reasoning they could maybe do that. Aaron: ⁓ we know. Literally. Chandler: Auburn. Aaron: You Hahaha! Ryan: I told you trap game at LSU. If they beat LSU somehow, and LSU does good, and every year we gotta hope that we beat Alabama, they might say, okay, so those two wins would bring us up to five and seven, and then they might say, okay, you know what, let's put the five and seven Auburn at number 10. Let's put them in there. You know, it makes no sense. It will not happen. But it's better than putting Alabama or Oklahoma up there, so... Chandler: And just for disclaimer for the viewers, I want to put this out there that he said, not on record, so he's gonna backtrack it, but he said he's taking this seriously and he's putting his top 10 a lot of thought into. So he, regardless of what he said, thinks that Auburn's gonna be a top 10 team. Aaron: Bye! Ryan: No, no, 1 through 9 I took very serious. I was trying to take this so serious that I, I like, could not put someone there because it would have jeopardized my, my system. Without making a joke. Chandler: Ha Aaron: Hey, I respect it. The two of you were brave enough fans to put your team on your list. I can't fault you for that. I'm not a good enough fan to have done that. I was going to say it is wild to put Auburn there. It'll be the first time a team has ever not reached bowl eligibility, but stayed in the top 10. So I like that should be your goal is to aim for bowl eligibility, but. Ryan: That's team of the country! What is he supposed to do? Chandler: Yeah! and be a Top 10 team. Ryan: Yeah. Aaron: I respect the spirit and there's a timeline where it does happen. Chandler: Maybe this year. Ryan: If we can put Alabama in, if we can put Alabama in last year, we should make the playoffs like every single year. Because like they were the most illegitimate team that ever make the playoffs ever. Like, ⁓ man. Aaron: Hey, I know being a dumpster team's new to you guys over at Auburn. Come on in with us. You can come stay. We got room. You know, there's old pizza boxes in here. You can put a divider up. Ryan: I'm allergic to pizza, can't even... I mean, ugh, man. Chandler: So hey, maybe y'all should write in something like Notre Dame did where you can go, hey, if USF or Auburn make it in the top 12, then you can be in. Because y'all are like, kind of like the Auburn Bulls, USF Tigers, you know. Aaron: Yeah. If, if Alabama gets put in when they don't deserve it, Auburn should take an additional slot. Yeah, there's it's now a 14 game playoff. Alabama Auburn always receive a spot. Chandler: Yes, that could be could be clause two. Yeah. Ryan: Okay, how about this? You know what, that's a great point, because we do have the best rivalry in your face. What?! It's... Okay. Aaron: It's not the best rivalry. isn't. I'm sorry. can't best. Best is I think the most deep-setting hateful rivalry is easily Ohio state, Michigan. I think they are the most hated rivalries. think the ones that are in the blood and in the bones is Texas and Texas A ⁓ I think those two absolutely despise each other. They can't be in the same room. Ryan: Go. Chandler: is definitely the oldest. Aaron: but they will not kill each other like Ohio State and Michigan will. Chandler: They hadn't moved the slot to 11 o'clock because of that. They couldn't like have it as a late game. Aaron: Yeah. Yeah, it's too, they didn't have enough ambulances around to sustain the population. And then, you know, you guys aren't the egg bowl, which is the best rivalry bowl game. Yeah. Chandler: Yeah, enjoy the four slot for Auburn, Alabama. Ryan: I mean, the Auburn, Alabama rivalry was so bad, they had to take like a 40 year break because they could not play a game. They could not finish a game. So they had to take a break. Chandler: What year was that? Ryan: 1900s because it's such an old set rivalry like you were saying y'all's is that was your only reason Aaron: Yeah. Yeah, the civil war got in the way of it. Chandler: Hmm. Yeah, yeah, the World War I and World War II had to come in and- Aaron: Yeah, they didn't have enough young men to play football back then. Ryan: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chandler: No, I think, I think Auburn is definitely a top rivalry. Aaron: No. Ryan: It's up there. It's up there. I can see you're gonna say you're- it's not. Aaron: It is, it is. will, No, I'm going to say iron bowl is up there. ⁓ I got it. I got to give it to Texas, Texas A ⁓ Chandler: No, I think it's one and two Ohio State Auburn, Alabama. I think it's, they're definitely number one and number two. Here's the thing though. You have to look at over the historic run of the rivalry too, like meaning of game as far as like rank goes and like season ending is also a factor in there. And for a long time. Aaron: Yeah. I will say historically it is a historic rivalry. It just, I do feel like it is one that you have to be near. You have to be a little bit closer. mean, I love the iron bowl is a one that I always watch because anything can happen. Like Auburn can be where it's been in the last five years. Alabama can have Nick Saban and still the game's up for debate on who's going to win or not. And I appreciate it, but ⁓ absolutely. Chandler: Especially at night. Aaron: And some of the greatest plays in college football history come from it. I, I respect the iron bowl, but I do feel like if you're in this area, you're going to feel a lot more than if you're, you know, in the Midwest up North, somewhere up there where I don't remember it being talked about as much back when I was a younger kid, all them years ago, near world war two time when they weren't playing, but Chandler: Mm-hmm. Aaron: I just, yeah, I don't, I don't remember hearing about the iron bowl as much as I heard about Ohio state and Michigan. Like that's the one when people talk rivalries, it was it in a and ⁓ and Texas of the hated Texas, Texas football is such a different beast. And then them coming at it at each other's throats every year was always a big one. Ryan: And that is true, Texas is so big in football, even the high schools do, they look like college campuses out there. They make, they make it a big deal. I grew up in an Auburn household. I was at all the iron balls. I grew up, I didn't hear about Ohio state, Michigan being that big of one really until I met Chandler. I was just like the rivalry games, the rivalry games, Auburn, Alabama. And then like, think Texas, Texas A ⁓ is actually very funny because I think there is a lot. Aaron: Absolutely. Chandler: you're in the SEC bubble. Aaron: Yeah. Ryan: of the same kind of dynamics that Auburn Alabama has. You got the rich lawyer, doctor people, and then you have the agriculture side. And like, they just want to be each other and they're mad and they're like looking down on you, but I'm that good. And you're like, have to like prove yourself. And it's a kind of fun dynamic that it's, they seem similar, but they're in just like different areas. It's the same thing happening. Aaron: Yeah. I think, I do think it's the good blood of good rivalry. Do you have a tech ag school versus the law tech school where like Ole Miss Mississippi state, same thing of like, you know, education's probably the worst that's ever existed in, in our country and they still fight over who's better. But no, I think the way we can boil down who's the best rivalry is I think. Ryan, me and you could be convinced to wear, you could wear an Alabama hat, I could wear an Ole Miss hat, if there was a high enough bet that we'd go for it, but I know Chandler would never wear a Michigan hat. I don't think there's a single thing we could ever do to convince him. Ryan: Mm-mm. Chandler: I but I think Ryan would never wear anything Alabama either. I think it's how deep you are, think. I don't know. Ryan: I don't think I could wear Alabama. Aaron: Heh. Really? That deep? Yeah. Yeah, I'm far enough removed. Ryan: I do it. I'd feel weird. I'd feel weird wearing like an Ohio State jersey, even though I'm almost as invested in Ohio State as Auburn. I feel like I'm like cheating on him a little, you know? Chandler: Maybe that's the reason every time I go to an Auburn game with you guys, I have to wear an Auburn jersey and then they probably lose. maybe I should stop wearing Auburn jerseys and wear Ohio State jerseys at Auburn games. Aaron: The hallway. Ryan: Yeah, wear your Caleb Downs jersey. Chandler: There we go. So, Aaron finishes off. What's our 10 slots you got? What's your next dark horse? I know you got something cooking up that you've been pondering on, waiting to get out. Let's hear it. Ryan: Love you some KO Down, sir. Aaron: This is dirty. is impossible, but there's, there is a little, there's a hope. There's a glimmer. I'm going Virginia tech. Chandler: I don't know where you're going with this. Wow. Shout out James Franklin. Aaron: This is... Ryan: That's crazy. Aaron: I'm putting money on Franklin to turn that program around. And I think, I think what he did at Penn State was incredible. I think he has the pedigree to pull a team along and get them 10, 11 wins a season. Virginia Tech would be a miracle to see happen. They are in the ACC. And if we look. Chandler: Big game Franklin? Aaron: at what's going on in the ACC right now, if there was ever a time for there to be a huge splash for somebody just to run the carpet all the way down, it could be this year. There are some stumbling blocks for them, but I still think when I took a look at their schedule, there is not a lot that they have to beat. I think they have pulled... Chandler: You know what? I don't hate it. I don't hate it. Ryan: I hate it either. Aaron: I if you start to look at some of the pools, they've done some really quiet moves. Like they pulled, I think it's Cameron Morgan from Baylor for their edge. I think they're getting some of these little tiny pieces that are really quiet. There is nobody in the ACC that's been watching Virginia Tech footage for a while. They've turned that off. They were like, we got to prepare for a real game. Virginia Tech does have a football blood program in them. Chandler: Mm-hmm. Aaron: I grew up in that area. remember when they had Beamer as the head coach. There's, there's a love there for the, for the game. I can't imagine they have felt it recently because it has been tough times. The fact they scooped up Franklin out of the blue. I couldn't believe he wound up at Virginia Tech. So I was like any school that's looking for a coach right now, he should be number one. He should be the guy they're aiming for. I was like, Florida didn't walk away with him. I couldn't believe that. Chandler: Yeah, I mean... Mm-hmm. Aaron: ⁓ that him and just quietly walking into tech was crazy to me. just, him getting fired, him getting to tech, was, it was nuts. I'm putting my money on him. This would be the one if I put my money down right now, Virginia Tech takes the whole thing in the end. I don't think they'd take the title, but I think they could take the ACC championship. And if they get the ACC title, they got a slot. Chandler: I like it. Ryan: Yeah, I don't hate it. I didn't even really think about it at all. I mean, it is kind of a sneaky one. And I feel like all this time we're talking about these coaches going up in the ranks, going up conferences, but he went from the Big 10 down to the ACC. So if anything, he'd do better. The only thing, can he find another Drew Aller to be his guy and take him to the promised land? Aaron: Yeah. Yeah. Chandler: For sure. Anybody. Aaron: That's it, it's like. Ryan: No, it's...Drew Outer Special! It's hard to find a Drew Outer. Chandler: He might go to the Raiders over Fernando. Ryan: Dude, I will say he's very good at making people think he's a good quarterback. People are looking at him high. Even my roommate is like, ⁓ Drew Howard, he looks good. I'm like, Nope, don't beg him. Chandler: ⁓ yeah. Crazy. Crazy. Aaron: Well, and that is the one thing with Franklin is that bringing that Big Ten energy from Penn where they have a great Running game. The one thing he develops And I think you put that in the ACC and it's a threat. Chandler: Here's The other sneaky thing that you talk Big Ten to ACC is Virginia recruits against Pennsylvania. And for James Franklin to have feelers already in Pennsylvania and in Virginia now, he's going to have a pretty big pull. And I'm sure the resources, especially if you can string together an eight, nine, 10 win season at Virginia Tech his first year, that could be a sneaky thing to watch too when he starts landing these. Aaron: Yep. Chandler: High three stars, low four stars, maybe a five star here and there. mean, you could really start seeing him take over that whole Northeast portion of recruiting if he, if he has good. Aaron: I could, if they go, as you're saying, I could see them dominating the ACC for a little while because like, think Duke regresses this year. I think they have some rebuild come in and they were kind of the threats for a little while with Delco. I think Clemson's been sliding for years. There's what 13th overall rated in the transfer portal and the ACC alone where it's like, man, Devo just won't use it. He doesn't like it. Chandler: He doesn't believe in it. Aaron: Miami is still the threat, but I put money down that we were going to see a slide in them. ⁓ I think Franklin very quietly pulled some great talent from Penn. I think he brought talent that Virginia Tech needed to fill these gaps in with him. And then I think he recruited a very quietly, a lot of high power three stars. He didn't do anything that made too big of a splash. There's just something in my guts. There's just something saying, go with this, ride it. Chandler: I like it. Well, that's what we got. Yeah. Aaron: And does that wrap us? Is that our, is that our top 10? Man. So I do think, I think for the most part, there was a lot of common, or there was a lot of common choices for us. Like I I'm surprised we were as tight as we were. I really thought after five, we were going to get some craziness in there, but it seems like we were all on pretty similar pages. A lot of teams came up again and again. It's reckless to make a prediction at this point. I love that people start doing it now. Ryan: Alright, bye bye. Aaron: Because it's crazy. We're going to see the AP poll come out. It's going to be so biased based off of whatever's been. Dead the week before it's going to be fun, but we'll have to see. We'll have to see who's the closest at the end of the season. I'm going to pull these up. And when we get to the playoff time, we get that little downtime in between playoffs. We're to plenty to talk about, but we're going to see who was the closest and true. We'll have something fun for it. But in the meantime, we're at more for you next week. We come back. Keep talking about what's happening. You can follow along with us on our socials, which we're going to post in the episode description. We should have stuff rolling out as soon as we're live. You can also email us at an email. We'll have listed in the description as well. And if you can follow and rate the show for us, it's going to get us out there, get eyes on the show. Helps so much. We appreciate you all taking your time and listening to us. So we'll see you next week. Ryan: Thank you and bye bye.