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Honey, it's Week 5... Sneaky Week?? Full Preview + Pick 7 Review · Honey, It's Saturday

• Sam: What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Honey and Saturday podcast. I'm Sam Grant. We've got Mitch Williams here. we got a heavy hitting podcast today. We're going to be going over our pick seven recap from last week and kind of what to look for this week as well. We've got a bunch of different just great matchups we got coming up on Friday and Saturday. We got our Honey in the Budget, Honey It's in the Budget segment. and we have our one of our favorite segments, the Chat GPT buy, sell, or hold. with top twenty five teams in the highly debated AP top twenty five bowl this week. Mitch: That's right. And I've got a decent amount of mailbag material as well. It might be a little bit off the radar, Sam. So I might catch you off guard, but we do have that in our back pocket for the end of the show. Also, Sam: I love it. Mitch: before we get into it, I want to put this on the front end today. We really appreciate you guys. It's been super fun getting this going. We want to keep it up. So please, if you can help us out, just check. See if you're subscribed. If you're not. Hit us with a subscribe on whatever platform you prefer to listen to, or all of them, even if you don't listen on the others. And then give us a follow on our socials on Instagram, TikTok, and X and interact with us. It makes it fun. We'll also respond to you because we're not very big right now. So if we don't get back to you, we're just horrible people. So, anyways, wanted to plug that Sam: Mm-hmm. Mitch: at the beginning. We do have a lot to talk about. I actually wanted to get into a little bit of a conversation with you, Sam, before we get into our pick seven stuff. Playoff expansion. It's been in the news again this week. When is it not in the news? It's like at some point we just gotta play football games and let the season play out and table that conversation. But decisions have to be made by December for the 2027 format. What are your general thoughts on what you wanna see and then what you think is gonna happen? Sam: think I'll I'll answer that flipped. I think what's going to happen is I think they will they will transition to that 2014 playoff. what I want to happen is to keep it at 12. I think for me, I am a big advocate for keeping the integrity of the regular season. Integ like I want I want those games to be meaningful. I want them to matter. I don't want teams to show up and be like, okay, we lost this week to a rival but it doesn't matter. We could see him again in the 2014 playoff. And yes, you can say that in the 12 team playoff, but it just kind of eliminates some of the the meaningfulness that comes behind those games and that can even go for conference championships as well. it's crazy that we're at the point where this is kind of being talked about in the middle of the season just 'cause I feel like it can take away from just college football and the games itself. But I I think I think I'm I would prefer it to stay at the twelve team. I mean I was a fan of not taking having to go to the twelve team. And I think I think it's worked out okay. But I think for right now, just just to make sure we keep keep everybody on the same page. I I would I would like to avoid the the twenty fourteen playoffs and I and I think everybody knows that's just the financial gain for those big time conferences. Mitch: Nah man, the Big Ten the Big Ten says it's not financial, it's just best for the game. I I don't know if you've heard Tony Petiti, but Sam: Yeah, no. Mitch: Yeah, I don't I don't buy it either. I agree with you. I mean, I don't think that's gonna surprise anybody on here. I it's all the same reasons. Love college football, love the regular season. We don't have to try to be any other sport because college football itself is unique and it has been for a long time. So I don't think the playoff is what makes college football special. I think the regular season is what makes it special. If we continue to go down the path we're going, it's gonna shift. And I don't want that. I don't want any more change that can be perceived as negative to occur in our sport that's already got a lot of chaos going on with NIL portal, no regulations. Let's just take a second and deal with what we do need to deal with. Like let's deal with the calendar. Let's deal with Sam: yeah. Mitch: putting more regulations on the portal. and NIL and the structure of those things. Let's deal with the things that we know need change first before we start trying to pull some money grab with a twenty fourteen playoff. I do think twelve's working out fine. I was an advocate for eight. I really I didn't want expansion at all, but I thought eight would have been fine. I don't know why we went straight from four to twelve. well, never gonna put it in reverse and go back. But yeah, I don't I don't want twenty four. That's that. All right. Other thing. We did our recap on Sunday of all of the games, the slate that, you know, was a really incredible weekend. But Texas, Tennessee, the finish was super fun. Watching it live was crazy. I was watching on my couch. I stand up because I kind of thought the game was over. Tennessee wasn't moving the ball at all. Next thing I know, I come back, sit on the couch. Tennessee's kicking an onside kick and they scored a touchdown. I'm like, what is what just happened? So obviously I went back and watched an amazing finish. But the onside kick itself, the SEC came out with a statement this week saying should have never been allowed. Couple thoughts on that. For me, how are we it's 2026. We've got so much modern technology. How are we allowing this to happen where we play out the game on the field anyways? And then a couple days later, the conference is coming out with a statement. by the way, that shouldn't have been allowed. Because what happens if Tennessee goes down and scores there? Like if you're a Texas fan. And Tennessee had ended up tying or winning that game. And then the couple of days later the SEC's like, by the way, that onside kick was illegal. What do you do? I I don't Sam: Yeah. I mean it goes back to the Michigan one second. They came back and basically the college football committee like, Yeah, Western Michigan won that game, but you can't do anything about it. Mitch: What they couldn't do anything about it. Sam: Yeah. Mitch: I mean, here's here's my honest opinion, too. Like I know you have to do it for the integrity of the sport moving on. So that if it happens again, you've established the ruling and then you you know do the right thing. If you're the SEC, just don't even say anything. Like Texas won the game, it went the right way regardless. Sam: yeah. Mitch: Just just don't say anything, because then nobody's got anything to get upset about, you know. Sam: Yeah, and I I really don't get where it came from. I mean, I think you watch it live 'cause they had originally had that onside punt drop kick where Sarkeesian called a timeout at first. I think he kinda wanted to make sure his his hands team was all in line and then we obviously re kicked it and re Tennessee recovered it. But Tennessee and Coach Heichel would reference that they went back to South Carolina Alabama game two years ago where the same kind of thing happened. South Carolina recovered, no issues were there. They said they had notified kind of the office of hey, this is our onside kick procedure. So it it's kinda interesting that it came about after the fact. but I guess from here on out everybody kind of knows the drop kick's gotta be a very specific way comparative to what what happened on Saturday. Mitch: Yeah, I remember going out in the backyard as a kid practicing my drop kick. When you get it right, it feels pretty good. I never did the onside version, Sam: yeah. Mitch: but it feels pretty good. I can appreciate a Sam: yeah. Mitch: good drop kick. Sam: yeah. We w we used to always do that. Caps just make up some onside kick scenarios and bull rush some of our buddies. It was fun. Mitch: yeah, absolutely. All right, we're gonna get into the pick seven. Sam, why Sam: We are. Mitch: don't you give us a very s for anyone who's new, listening to this show, has no idea that pick seven, what are they talking about? We're just going from onside kick into pick seven. I have no idea what's going on. Sam, for that person, for that listener, thank you for being on here. Can you please explain to them in a simple manner what we're doing with pick seven? Sam: Yeah, so so pick seven at the beginning of the year, Mitch and I each chose seven different teams that are graded on a different point scale. so for example, I have like Tennessee who would be a little bit of a higher point scale. I think they were like one thousand eight hundred and ninety compared to Colorado State, who was five fifty. And so you kinda have these different point scales that you try to get up to a the max amount of eight thousand five hundred. Mitch: And these points were set, these point values for the teams were set before the season started. So it's based off preseason expectations. Sam: Yes, that's correct. And there's a different point scale that these I guess teams can gain points or lose points based off of. so you have top twenty-five matchup, beating or beating a top twenty-five team, beating it's even the top r ranked higher than you. Those are kind of some your your big point point wins right there. margin of victory, and then obviously you got your loss, whether it's loss of victory or how much you lost by, what the margin of was that, and also shutting out on defense. if you're able to shut out a team like I think Mitch last or two weeks ago, Oregon beat some some state, Portland state. Mitch: Portland State. It was Portland State and they won eighty four and they won eighty-four to zero. Which obviously Portland State's not a ranked opponent, so I don't get any of those bonuses, but I do get a ten point bonus for the shutout. I get ten points for the win, because you get ten points for a win regardless. And then you get Sam: That's right. Mitch: every single margin of victory. So I got the eighty four points plus the ten plus the ten. So it's a total of one four just for beating Portland State. So it's those type of things. Sam: Yeah, so it the the points add up pretty quickly is from from last or two weeks ago, I was ahead of Mitch by what, two hundred, three hundred points, and somehow last week you came back ahead of me. so it can change on a week to week basis depending on how your teams do, and it changed it changed a lot this week. so going through kind of my list of teams this week. Tennessee played Texas, obviously Tennessee was my team. I got the loss there. I know we recapped that on Sunday. Don't need to go too much into detail with that. Virginia Tech survived against Boston College. Virginia Tech was my team. I think they were down fourteen to six at one point in the fourth quarter and luckily they came back and won twenty one fourteen, but Mitch: Ugly weather game nor'easter this weekend, so you can't take too much from that, but I mean it's a gutty win. Good for them. Sam: Yeah, way too close to comfort. USF played bowling green, same kind of thing. USF was down like six nothing in the fourth quarter and came back to win at the end. against a bowling green team that is really bad. but you know what, a win's a win. and four, yeah. Yeah, Mitch: Yeah, they're and four. Bowling green and four. That's rough. Sam: and I know we had talked about it last week, but Tarleton State was a team that beat bowling green. So kind of says a lot about bowling green, but USF struggled a lot more than they would have. But again, a win's a win. Mitch: Hey, no Tarleton State slander. Tarleton's got Sam: Hey. Mitch: a good little program down there. Sam: They do. I'm I'm giving them the props, but bowling green's 0-4. looking at next, Oklahoma State. They had a huge win against West Virginia, forty-one to twenty-four. I know we broke that game down on Sunday as well. great win for me. Oklahoma State has proving to be the team that I expected them to be after that week one loss to Tulsa and are looking like a very dangerous Big Twelve contender. So excited to see about them as they continue to progress through the season. Wake Forest had a huge win against Louisville, ranked matchup matchup win for me. Got a lot of points on that one, so I'm excited to see what the score looks like at the end of this with Mitches. Michigan State, my other team lost to Nebraska. Not as competitive as I liked it. I would have liked to have been. But it's a Pat it's a Pat Fit Okay. Mitch: Not very competitive. It just straight up wasn't very competitive. Sam: All right. You know, we got blue now. But it's Pat Fitzgerald. It's his first year where I'm gonna I'm gonna take he's gonna get one of those games. I promise you. And then lastly, Colorado State, who is my lowest value team, played UTSA, was an absolute shootout. so I just just couldn't stop Owen McCount on offense and that Frank Taylor team. So not Mitch: Was it fifty two to forty two? Is that right? Something like that? Sam: I wanted to say it was like sixty-two, fifty-two or something. Something crazy. Super high scoring. Mitch: Man. Man. Sam: and I could be wrong on what the final true score was, but it just seemed like they went back and forth to where U UTSA kind of had a 10-point command of the lead. Colorado State would score to get it down to three. UTSA would go back down and score, but very high point scoring, but ended up taking the L on that week. So overall, not a not a bad week for me. Wade Forest was a huge win for me. Oklahoma State. continues to be a team that I'm really excited about that I think's gonna help me a lot as the season goes on. Mitch: Yeah, pretty good week for Sam. I mean, the thing is with the point values, you're always gonna have your top and your bottom. And you you really need your bottom just not to get blown out. They're gonna lose games. You have to accept the fact they're gonna lose games. You just gotta keep that margin of victory down or margin of loss down for those teams. Let's see how I did. We got Oregon. That was a huge one for me. Ranked win on Sam: Big time. Mitch: the road against USC. They turned it around. I needed them to because the way the season started. I put all my eggs in this basket really and if it continued down that road it was gonna be looking pretty dark. But they did pull it out. Sam: USC y USC was ranked higher than Oregon too. So huge point point differential Mitch: Correct. Yeah. So I got Sam: failure there. Mitch: I got a pretty big bonus there, which I needed. You'll find out with the rest of my teams this week. but that was big. I mean, j this week was big, but really for the rest of the season outlook, this was huge. And so I think Oregon is on a good path to move forward. I mean, they got a backup quarterback stepping in, looking like they didn't miss a single beat. Ryola stepped in, looked great. Hopefully more or more is able to come back and Look healthy and sharp for the rest of the season. looks like he's recovering well, which is good. But yeah, that was a big one for me. Indiana, they snuck it, snuck one out against Northwestern. Not a huge fan of how that went down. They're really not proven yet this year. It's a completely different team. Reigning national champions, but so much roster turnover. You love Kurt Zignetti. I do. I trust him. I think they'll still turn it around and end up being a solid team this year, but they're rank six. Based off their resume for this year, they've got one power four game, and it was that northwestern game that they really could have lost. So I think six might be a little bit high, and people are just basing it off of what they think Indiana should be at this point in time, but they could end up getting there by the end of the year. And I'll take the win. North Dakota State by week. Nothing to talk about there. No points, no points lost. Cal did take an L to Clemson. They were favored by two and a half points. At least last time I checked, I think it ended up flipping right before game time. Clemson won by about fourteen. So not a huge, not a huge positive note for me there. I hope they can get things going the way I want them to. I'm pretty I was pretty high on Cal going into ACC play. I thought they were getting slept on a little bit. Maybe I was wrong. I don't know. I just need to get a few more wins. Delaware took a pretty bad loss to Virginia. Virginia was frustrated coming off that West Virgin West Virginia game last week. I just took it to him. Oregon State got a win over UTEP. And then Sam Houston had a pretty brutal matchup against Texas Tech this week. I knew that wasn't gonna go well. I just didn't know how poorly it was gonna go. On a scale of one to ten, it's probably seven. So I lost a lot of points. At the end Sam: Ha ha. Mitch: of the week, if we want to just recap our point totals, like Sam said, I was ahead at the end of last week by about twenty, thirty points total. Sam finished this week with five hundred and fifty-two, so he he netted 20 positive points this week. So he didn't have a fantastic week either, but he did net 20 positive points. So he's at 552. I actually netted a negative 17 points this week. So I'm down to 535. So he's got a little bit of a lead over me. Sam: Yeah, and I I think I think as the as the season goes on, that's kind of a huge thing for us in our seven and the other other guys are in the group as well, is when you get into conference play and especially for some of these these schools where it's a a little bit more competitive conference and you really don't know what's gonna happen every week, if you can kind of stay in that positive range every single week, I think that's gonna set your team up for success or your seven teams up for success to where you can win that ultimate ultimate prize at the end of the year. so Mitch: That's right. Sam: again Got a coup got I got a lot more football left, but I think you and I both feel pretty good about where we're at right now. Mitch: I feel decent. I feel a lot better than I did after week two when Oregon took that beating against Oklahoma State. I think we should remind the people too that the winner of this gets to punish whoever comes out on the bottom. And we don't know what that is yet. I feel like we really need to decide. So we probably need to put a timeline. Next week's show, next week's preview show, we are going to reveal to you guys what the loser of our pick seven competition has to do. Sam: Yes. But also you guys in the comments on TikTok, Instagram, whatever it may be, please drop your suggestions. We'll we'll put out a poll or something and get d couple of different ideas, but we'd love to have your feedback of what you want Mitch to be able to do at the end of the season. Mitch: That's right. Yeah, whatever whatever he says, just go with it. Just go with it. Sam: Ha ha ha. Mitch: He's been wrong plenty of times. So we'll see how this goes. Sam: I have. I ha I have been, but we'll we'll see what it looks like at the end of the year. so looking into looking at my my team schedule for this week, honestly feel pretty good about this week as well. I got Tennessee plays Auburn at home, seven and a half point favorite for the balls. Feel pretty comfortable about that one. Virginia Tech versus Pitt, probably one of the better matchups of the weekend. both these top two games that I'm talking about now, we're gonna kinda break down a little bit more in detail, but feel pretty good about that one on on Blacksburg, on Blacksburg at Friday night. Think that environment's gonna be insane. Mitch: Yeah, we've both got some thoughts on this game, but like you said, we're gonna do a detailed breakdown, so I'm holding my tongue right now. Sam: Yeah, there you go. USF is a is a home favorite against Temple as well. feel pretty good about that. Oklahoma State's got a bye. Good thing for them. They got a tough matchup next week before they go to Houston, which could be a huge matchup for just Big 12 contention and a ranked matchup as well. Wake Forest plays Stanford. Shouldn't be too much of a challenge for the way Wake Forest has been playing. And then my last two teams, Michigan State's a ten point underdog against Wisconsin, who's coming off a big win against Penn State. again I think Michigan State's gonna kind of continue to develop and turn into a a better team as the year goes on. They just lost their star running back for the season, but I think that team is just gonna continue to improve on a weekly basis. So as I kinda said earlier, they're gonna they're gonna g they're gonna win some of these games here at the end. I feel confident about that. this week I'm not so sure, but I I know that time will come. And then a fun matchup to end it is Colorado State versus Oregon State. So Colorado State's my team. Oregon State's Mitch's team. a little bragging rights coming with that, but right now Colorado State is a five point under dollar. Mitch: Yeah, to be clear, they're one of my pick seven teams. I'm not an Oregon State fan if you're a first time listener, but I could be convinced because right now my Texas AM Maggies are not a very good football team. So if you got a pitch for me, let me have it. all right. That's a pretty good slate. I love that we have our first head to head matchup this week. That's gonna be super interesting to break down. a lot of banter. Hopefully my my Oregon Sam: yeah. Mitch: State, yeah, the Oregon State Beavers, they're favored by five, but I don't know if I really trust or like that line that much. We'll see how it goes. I've got another team in Oregon just to to start my roster off for this week, see what we look like. But they're on by as well. So the Oregon Ducks are on by. I've actually got two teams on by this week. I also have Sam Houston on by. Thank goodness. They can't get blown out. That's great. Also, next week they've got a pretty tough matchup against Liberty. So we'll see how that goes. But Indiana is favored by twenty three and a half against Rutgers. I think I'm fine with that. I think I like it. You would think in theory they bounce back from that northwestern scare and they just kinda do whatever they want against Rutgers this week. But then again, they did get scared. We don't really know how good they are yet. I think twenty three and a half maybe a little much, but it's Rutgers. So we'll see. I just I need the win. I would love the margin of victory. I need Hoover to start settling in and looking like the guy I think he can be and the guy we saw flashes of at TCU. Just let it loose, my man. Let it loose. If you're listening, I need you to trust yourself. Let it loose. All right. North Dakota State. Favored by 19 against Wyoming. I love that. Sam: That seemed really high. Mitch: I love that matchup over there. But the North Dakota State Bison have looked like a very good football team. I'm very happy with this pick thus far throughout the season. Wyoming does have a pretty solid program. 19, it did jump off the page to me as well, Sam. Seems like a lot, but I will take it and I just want to win. So please. They were on bye last week. I didn't get any of their points. So I need it. Cal is favored by two and a half. Against Dan Mullen and UNLV. Sam: I was looking Mitch: Yes, sir. Sam: at preparing my honey it's in the budget lock of the week and that spread is flipped to UNLB is now a two and a half point favorite. Just putting that out there. Mitch: In the time that I developed this script to the time where Sam was looking at his lock of the week because he didn't do so good last week. He's really got to lock in. He has made me aware that Cal is no longer favored in this game, which I don't know if that's a surprise to me or not. You and OV hasn't got off to the best start this year either, but we'll see how Sam: No. Mitch: that one goes. anyways, I think that's kind of a pick'em game. I would love for them to get that win. That'd be really big. Delaware, the Blue Hens. our six and a half point dogs against the Liberty Flames this week. I don't I I saw Liberty in person last week. I think they are a beatable football team, but I also think they're going to continue to get better throughout the year. And I saw a lot of positive things. I don't necessarily believe Delaware is going to get the win here. I'd love for them to cover that spread. I I don't know. I know these are your flames, Sam. What do you think? Sam: Delaware starting quarterbacks out. So that that that that should affect the spread here and I'm just gonna say one thing. Don't let the flames get hot. And I think the flames are getting hot real quick. Mitch: QB one, QB two, don't matter, bro. Yeah. We're gonna put out the flames. Hey. Sam: I'm gonna t Mitch: Let me finish. I gotta finish my roster. Oregon State. We already talked about Colorado State. That's that's it. Now say whatever you're gonna say. Sam: No, I'm I'm good. Mitch: All right. Sam Sam: I'll elaborate more on that later. Mitch: All right, this is great podcast content. Okay, we have our next segment. Honey, pull up ChatGPT. Pull up ChatGPT. We've Sam: It's being called out. Mitch: got three random top 25 teams that we're about to have spit out to us. And we have to pick off the rip. We don't know who these teams are going to be. One team to buy for the rest of the year, who we think is going to continue to do really well. One team to hold, because you never know. The potential's there. And one team to sell. No, we're out. We're out. Don't care what the people say right now. Don't care what the rankings say. Rest of the season, don't believe. Not a believer. Sam, you got those teams? Sam: Do. So the three teams that Chat GPT has selected for mention I to review today is number thirteen, Utah, number nineteen, Oklahoma State, and number twenty four Kentucky. I think this is a fascinating three to pick from. That Mitch: Oklahoma State nineteen, Kentucky twenty four, Utah thirteen. Sam: You taught our team, yep. Mitch: All right. Sam: Let's let's see what you got. I'm curious to see kinda how you assess a former Kentucky Wildcat team that has beaten your Aggies. Mitch: I really don't think that means very much. I will be so real with you right now. I Sam: Ha ha. Mitch: I'll tell you right now, I'm actually gonna sell Kentucky. I am not selling Will Stein. I I think he's a great hire. I think they're probably gonna win some more games this year. I'm just comparing to the other two. We've got two Big 12 teams we're comparing against. So part of this is just who are you playing the rest of the year to? I I think Stein in the long run is gonna be a great hire at Kentucky. Hopefully they can keep him. For long term. I don't know what that what that's gonna look like, but I'm getting ahead of myself. I do think he's gonna build a solid program. I just think year one, there's gonna be a couple more stumbling blocks in their path and they're gonna tumble a little bit. I don't think they're gonna sustain that 24 ranking. And I actually it's not that they don't deserve to be ranked right now, but if you look at their resume, their big win is against AM and College Station, which was a top 10 win at the time. But we all know that's not a top 10 win. That's not a ranked win. Based on how the Aggies look right now. So it's a little surprising to me that they did sneak in at 24. But that's the team I want to sell. The other ones, these are a little bit tougher for me. I think what I am gonna do is I'm gonna buy Utah. I'm gonna buy Utah because so far they have looked like they have a strong identity as a football team. They've been consistent. And they're just winning football games. They're doing, they're handling business the way that it should be handled to this point in the year. Oklahoma State, however, I would say has the higher upside. I think if Oklahoma State catches strat and Mesti Maker and the boys, and shout out Wyatt Young, by the way. I don't even know if he remembers this, but him and I have shaken hands before. Stud wide receiver, transfer from North Texas over with the rest of the gang at Oklahoma State. Making plays, caught a touchdown last week. Big stuff. So shout out White Young. But I think if Oklahoma State hits their stride, which it looks like they might be, we'll see. I think they have probably the highest potential out of these three teams. But for right now, I'm going to buy Utah. I'm going to hold Oklahoma State. And I'm going to sell Kentucky. Sam, what you got? Sam: Yeah, I think everything you just touched on at the end about Oklahoma State is the reason I'm buying Oklahoma State. I do there's a little bit a little bit of attachment for them of them being one of my pick seven teams as well, but you just kinda watched these last couple of weeks. I know they kinda had that initial maybe I guess some could call it a fluke of a game where I still think Tulsa's a really good football team. but how they played against Oregon, how they responded this past week against West Virginia, I think this team is getting hot really fast. And I I don't think they're gonna let up any time soon and They're my team that I think now is going to make a really big run at the Big Twelve and potentially a playoff spot. So I'm I'm I'm gonna buy buy Oklahoma State. If you haven't bought your stock now on them, now is the time. It's probably the cheapest you're gonna get it now. I will hold on Kentucky. I like Kentucky with where they're at right now as a program. I know we've kind of gone back and forth on if AM's a good team, that's kind of their their point of reference. I think they showed a lot still against Alabama too. I think Alabama just pulled away a little bit at the end, but I have a lot of trust in Will Stein and Kenny Minchie and honestly that offensive line, I think they're just gonna continue to develop and turn into a pretty good established offense. And they have a good defense already, that I think is just gonna continue to develop and as as the year goes on, I think they're just gonna continue to play really good football. they have a couple big time matchups coming up where it could kind of tell the rest of their their season of what that's gonna look like. And then Utah for me they're like you said, an established team that I think has a lot of good chemistry and have been together for a while. But for me it's just one of those teams that I feel like is gonna look pretty good at the start of the season. There's gonna be some injuries and stuff like that. And just kinda when they get into the the heat of their schedule that I think's gonna kind of affect them, it's where they maybe drop a couple games. And to be honest for them, they haven't really played anybody, in my opinion. Iowa State, who they've played. Mitch: SEC competition. SEC competition. Sam: We don't count we don't count them right now. he's referring to the Arkansas Razorbacks who are just on the struggle bus right now, who have in our moment of silence Mitch: They also Sam: already. Mitch: They also did beat Iowa State this week. Sam: They did, but I I I wouldn't say Iowa State's the most competitive Big Twelve team that's gonna push them for a little bit. You know what I mean? I mean I feel like they're just still not quite there yet all Iowa State is with that whole new staff and pretty much a whole new roster turnover. So again, Mitch: Yeah. Yeah. Sam: buy Oklahoma State, sell Utah, hold Kentucky. Mitch: Don't blame you. I mean, anything could happen. The Big 12 is going to be so fun to watch throughout this year. I just, Sam: yeah. Mitch: I really could not, because I'm not super confident on Houston right now. I think preseason everyone was kind of like, okay, it's Houston. And then there's this second tier. I really don't know. I think it's a lot more level. I think we're about to find out. Another very intriguing game that we'll talk about a little bit later is Baylor, Arizona Sam: Right. Mitch: State this weekend. Very interesting. And there's another Big 12 matchup, not many people are talking about this weekend that could be big too, is UCF, who's 3 1 against Houston, who's also 3 1. Their loss was a close one at Texas Tech. So I mean that race is really gonna heat up and we're gonna find out who's g who's in the mix for real. Sam: Yeah. Mitch: But yeah, I mean, right now I think you can pretty much throw your hand in a basket, pull out a team and say, Yeah, they could do it. that's how the Sam: Yeah. I mean, Mitch: conference feels. Sam: looking back at our our playoff projection, I have Arizona State as my big toll winner. So I think Arizona State still has a really good chance to come in there and win that thing and make a playoff spot. Some people may not believe that now after AM's how they've turned out, but they're still again, it's just a lot of it's up in the air. So I think I think they're always the most exciting conference to watch because every single year you truly do not know who's gonna win that conference. Mitch: Yeah, you never know. You never know. You're right. I think we're really Sam: No. Mitch: gonna find out about Arizona State this week. That's why I'm so intrigued by that game. Because I don't think we really know anything based off what we've seen from A and and who knows what's going on there. But yeah, that that Baylor Arizona State game, it's at Arizona State. I think we're gonna find out a lot. Sam: Yeah, I agree. And I think that segues really well into another conference who, besides Miami, I don't feel like we know very much about. And that is a matchup on Friday night in Blacksburg, Virginia. Inner Sandman is going to be absolutely insane. The hype and the environment for this game, two undefeated teams, first big tests for James Franklin and the Hokies. Narduzzi's been here before. He's been at Pitt for forever. but it's Pit Pittsburgh against Virginia Tech, seven PM on Friday night. Virginia Tech right now is a four point favorite. Mitch, take it away. What are your thoughts on this matchup? Mitch: I love Inter Sandman. I love Blacksburg, Virginia, having experienced that environment and that atmosphere. It is so much fun. I can't wait to see this on Friday night. They've got the spotlight, and it's two undefeated teams. By the way, this game, fun fact. I don't know if you guys have seen this. I don't know if you've seen this, Sam. First time we've got two 4 0 Power 4 teams playing each other, and neither one is ranked. First time in AP poll era. Very interesting. But we've got three and one Kentucky. Sam: Yeah, I think that says a lot about the A P poll. Mitch: We've got three and one Kentucky at 24. We've got some other ones in there. I'm not saying Kentucky doesn't deserve it, but we have two four and powerful teams squaring off on Friday night, prime time. Neither of them are ranked. A little bit interesting. I'm sure Sam: Agreed. Mitch: the ACC as a conference has some thoughts on that. Now, to the game itself. I'm very curious. Virginia Tech's coming off a little bit of A a little bit of a just an ugly game. I don't think anyone expected that Boston College game to be close and look up in the fourth quarter and they're down. Now, it was a monsoon, heavy rainfall, windy, all of those things. So that always affects the flow of a football game. But this is gonna be a really, really big bounce back opportunity for them, and they better show up because Pitt and that offense specifically, man. Can they move the ball? At least to this point in the year, they can move the football. I'm very excited to see what this looks like against that defense by the Hokies. I'll tell you right now. I think Narduzzi and Pitt are going to walk in and sneak this one out in the fourth quarter. Sam: Wow. Mitch: I think this is going to be first James Franklin's first loss at Virginia Tech. I still think Virginia Tech's got a lot of upside this year in that conference. But the more I watch Pittsburgh, the more I become a believer. So I am going to ride with the Pitt Panthers this week in Blastburg. Sam: Wow. I I would consider that a little bit an upset from the the media narrative. Mitch: yeah, it's a four point four point underdog. Sam: Well, but I meant from like the perspective of kind of the national college football environment. I think a lot of people are picking the hokies on that. And that's who I'm picking. I'm gonna go with my hokies, one of my pick seven teams. honestly, it I just trust James Franklin in this spot a little bit more. I think he's a little bit more of the more proven head football coach. He's the more consistent head football coach. I think with Pittsburgh, like you said, they've had some pretty good offensive showings. But they've also had a 12-7 win against UCF and a 27-13 win against a really struggling Syracuse football team. So I think the offense can be there, but it's a matter of when they play a pretty competent defense comparative to Bucknell. No offense to the Bucknail. But just a little bit of a different environment. And especially especially in Lane Stadium as well. I think that's something that Pittsburgh honestly doesn't see very often in the ACC. So I think that's gonna kinda throw them for a for a a whirlwind a little bit. but I think for me, I Virginia Tech in this spot, I think they're just gonna keep trending upwards. Pittsburgh for me is looked decent at the start of the year, but I think this is gonna be one of those Narduzzi teams that's like six and six, seven and five. I just haven't seen enough from them to confidently see them go in there and win this game. So give me the hokies. Mitch: You think that this pit team with Mason Heinchel is gonna go six or six and six or seven and five. Let me let me run some numbers by you real quick, just to back up my pick. Are you ready? Heinchel's got 13 touchdowns to one interception so far this year, through about 1200 yards through four games. If you do the math, that's about 300 yards per game. No slouch, pretty good. Hasn't played the full game in some of those as well. I want to take you back to a couple weeks ago, Virginia Tech goes on the road, plays Maryland. They win that game. They they won by nine. I'm not saying that they walked out of there like scared. But I want to focus on Malik Washington's stat line in that game for Maryland, starting quarterback, who we know just lost 52 to 3 this past week to UCLA. Completely shut down. Okay. Context. 359 yards and three touchdowns from Malik Washington in that game. I think there's a little bit of a vulnerability in this Virginia Tech secondary that has potential to be exposed this week. And that's why I'm riding with Pitt. Sam: See, I I'll throw you one back. Mason Heinschel against Syracuse last or two weeks ago was ten for twenty three, a hundred and twenty three yards and one interception. And I think most people would sit here and say Virginia Tech is a much better defense than Syracuse. So Mitch: Yeah, we don't really know yet, but that's that could be true. Sam: I mean you got you got a whole other player on that field with the crowd, so I I think we'll learn a lot about both I think we'll learn a lot about both these teams. I think it's exciting. We got a little bit of back and forth going here. but I I feel pretty confident about my pick. You do as well. Maybe we should throw a Mitch: Yeah. Sam: little wager on this one. We wanna add something in. Mitch: I will let you lead that out. I will just also remind you you're okay for two on Honey It's Saturday side wagers thus far. Sam: Well please remind me what those side wavers were. Mitch: All right. A couple weeks ago, Sam had three matchups in his pick seven where they were pretty heavy underdogs. And he told me at least one of them was gonna win, which at the time was pretty ridiculous. Did not happen. Now, last week, We started our Honey It's in the Budget segment, in which we each pick a lock of the week against betting odds. And if it does not hit, we owe the other person a soda. I drank a soda on the Sunday episode this week, I drank a soda the week before for the other side wager. So there's the receipts and you may proceed if you would like to continue. Sam: Okay. Well we we do soda for a ton of yet in the budget. Let's do like a favorite candy bar or candy or something like that. Mitch: Twigs, gotta be. Please sponsor us Sam: Twix. Mitch: by the way. Sam: Twix? Okay. I'll go Reese's cup. Mitch: All right. I like it. Let's move on. We Sam: So we we're calling calling calling that a deal. Mitch: Yeah, let's call it a deal. Virtual handshake. We got a lot of games to talk about. This next one's pretty huge. Keelan Russell's looking better and better every week. He's looking like the guy we all thought he could be, but he's also facing off against one of the most talented quarterbacks in college football right now, Kamario Taylor, who's got an absolute rocket of an arm. Bam was favored by six. This is at Mississippi State. We saw what that atmosphere looked like last week against Missouri. It was electric. I'm sure it will be just the same, if not even better, even though it's a twelve o'clock kick this week on Saturday. I'm sure they're gonna be up for that game and rolling. What's your feel on this one? Alabama at Mississippi State. Sam: See, I I'm honestly really struggling with this game right now. I don't know if you've kind of seen some of the reports. I know I know if you're going to Texas this upcoming weekend, you got a lot of weather coming your way. I think Mississippi's getting hit by some of this rain too. So if it comes Mitch: Mm-hmm. Sam: down to a rain game where it's hard to throw the football, I I'm not sure kind of where where this goes for me. But from just a perspective of say this is a perfect condition game, I think this is probably one of the most fascinating quarterback matchups we've had. all year. I think this is your number two and number three quarterback in the SEC behind Jordan Dan Chamlis. Starkville is gonna be insane. I think this is something that Mississippi State fans have been waiting for for years. I think Mississippi State should be ranked higher, to be honest. I think they have a better, better resume honestly, than Alabama does at this point in the season. I think for me, I'm struggling with Mississippi State being in this spot. And this is something I've picked against Mississippi State and I've been wrong. but when you got a team like Alabama with a pretty significant talent gap, them coming in, I think I think Alabama's gonna go into Stark Vegas and get the win. I think it's gonna be close. I think it maybe it comes down to a field goal at the end. But up to this point from a talent perspective and just kind of where these two teams are at in their in their career path, whether it's Jeff Levy or Calen DeVore, I think Alabama just has a little bit too much for Mississippi State. But I think it also shows Mississippi State can compete with the best in the SEC because I think Alabama's a real contender this year. Mitch: I agree with you on the tide. I agree with you Sam: Yeah. Mitch: on the tide. I think they're they're proving themselves to be back in the legitimate contender category. the one thing I'll say on this game, if the conditions end up being pretty rough and there's rain falling and the weather's not great, it becomes a trenches battle, fluff bothwell knows how to tote that rock for Mississippi. That could be a name that gets said a lot on Saturday. And you could very well look up at his line at the end of the day and say he carried that team and there he's the reason that Mississippi State was able to pull off an upset. That's the scenario where I see Mississippi State winning, especially if the conditions are bad. I hope the conditions are are not like that for the record, because I really want to see both these quarterbacks showcased. I think that's what everyone wants to see. I think it'll be an amazing battle to watch on the field. But I agree with you. At the end of the day, I'm going to take Bama, but I do think it'll be a close game. I think it'll be a one possession Sam: Yeah. Mitch: game in the fourth quarter and it'll be definitely one to keep an eye on. Sam: Yeah. I think you and I can both agree though, we would want Mississippi State to win this football game. Right? Mitch: I'm actually an a completely unbiased neutral reporter. I have no opinions. Sam: Okay. Mitch: But yes, I would I would really like to see the Bulldogs continue this season. I think it's very fun to watch a program like that come to life. And if I can't root for my Maroon and White, I'll root for theirs. We're Sam: There you go. Mitch: no longer SEC West rivals because there's no East West anymore. So I feel like I could say that. Sam: Yeah, that's fair. All right, continuing down, next game on the lineup, another SEC game. Got Auburn at Tennessee. This game is an at Nealand Stadium and Tennessee currently is a seven and a ha seven and a half point favorite. Mitch, take it away. Mitch: Yeah, Tennessee, this is an opportunity for them to take what they learned this past weekend and implement it and flip the script. And I think Auburn's a a good opponent to test the waters against. I think Auburn is they're not somebody you want to play around with. Because any given week, they're one of those SEC teams that may not be having the best year and they're still working on putting some pieces together with a first year head coach, but they still got a lot of talent and they're a team that any given week could pop and you're like, What who do they beat? What just happened? So you don't wanna be in that situation if you're Tennessee right now, but you got at home. So you got back to back weeks at home. You haven't had to travel. You get to lock in, hit the film room. Offensive line's really gotta step up. Offensive line's really gotta step up this week. You gotta give your boy FaZe on. Is he is phase on he's he's fine, right? No injury issues coming after out of last week. Sam: No, he he's as of right now, he's playing on Saturday. Mitch: Yeah, give your boy FaZon some time in the pocket, let him see the field. FaZon. Slow yourself down. See see the field. Keep your eyes downfield because he did he did miss his pocket was not clean last week, but he did miss a few opportunities that were pretty significant. So I just think this is a spot that lets Tennessee lock back in. But if they get off to a slow start here, and Byron Brown, you know, builds his confidence up a little bit on the first couple drives of the game, you just don't want to let Auburn hang around. If you're Tennessee. You don't want this to be a tight game going into the fourth quarter. You want this to be one where you cover that seven and a half point spread fairly easily, probably win by 10, 15 points somewhere in that range, and you move on to next week. I will pick the Valls, but I am intrigued. I I would like to see which version of that Tennessee offense shows up this week. Because I'm not worried about Sam: Yeah. Mitch: the defense. I'm not worried about the defense over there in Knoxville, but I want to see which version of that offense shows up this week. Sam: Yeah, I think that I think that's the key right there is to which offense shows up. Honestly, I think Auburn and on on offensive standpoint, they're still not there. They still haven't fully clicked. They still looked a little bit rough last week against Vanderbilt and kinda looked all out of sorts against Florida the week before. I don't think that cli Mitch: They did put up they did put up a lot of points in that Florida game. Sam: They did. but I I think they got a lot of those a little bit later in the time frame. But last week against Vanderbilt, it almost looked like they regressed a little bit to me. Tennessee's defense, I think, really impressed me on Saturday against Texas to where I I think there's a lot more confidence in the in the defensive standpoint in the Jim Knowles first year defense. so I think they'll be able to contain Auburn. I think it's just gonna be a matter of, like you said, Tennessee's offense has got to show up. This is a great get back spectrum. get back spot for the balls after last week. I think with Alburn's defensive line in their front seven, there's going to be opportunities to kind of get back to our natural instincts that Tennessee has of just running the football, which is what they need to be able to do. But also I think for phase on, he's just got to be able to open up the playbook. I think there's some times where he has throws there that he's a little t little bit hesitant of because he's so focused on not turning over the football, which he hasn't turned over the football at all. Like zero zero interceptions in his first four games, which is really impressive. But I think it's prevented him from taking some deep shots down the field. Mitch: I was about to say, I think, I think taking care of the ball is very important, and I have been impressed by that. I would say part of my takeaway from the Texas game is he seems a little bit risk averse. Like I think sometimes, which is fine, you don't want to be risky, but I'm just saying I think sometimes there were opportunities downfield that he didn't take because I think he was trying to be overly conservative. And you don't want to see that. Just let it loose. I want him to feel comfortable. Sam: Yeah. Yeah, and I think that's his big thing. He's just gotta he's gotta sling it. He's gotta not be afraid to maybe throw the interception here or there. It's happened. It's gonna happen. It's football. I think he was he threw maybe like a handful of interceptions in high school and just do just just wants to prevent that, especially as a true freshman starting. But just I think for him to be able to get comfortable, he's just gotta he's just gotta let us let it fly. and I I think he takes a step this week and I think the ball's the ball's beat Auburn. Mitch: I love it. We both got the balls there. Will be one to keep an eye on. We've got Jaden Ball going to Missouri this week. So Florida's fresh off that huge win at home against Old Miss. Now they're hitting the road. They're going to Mizzou. Mizzou's kind of in wounded animal mode, coming off that Mississippi State loss, but they did play well. What do you think on this one, Sam? Sam: Yeah, I think this is a this could be an interesting game to where it's a little bit of a letdown spot for Florida after Ole Miss last Mitch: Yeah. Sam: week and also a get back spot for Missouri against Mississippi from how they how they played last week against Mississippi State. Especially with this game being at home. I think this is another fascinating quarterback matchup. I think Aaron Philo's looked really good this year. I know we've talked about him on the podcast. he's been a lot better than I anticipated him being, but for me, Austin Simmons is ball out. I know they lost that game on Saturday, but he's been more one of the more impressive quarterbacks for me in the entire SEC. And you can kind of see, or even the country for that matter, and you can see why he started over Trinidad Chambliss just from a pure performance standpoint. Obviously Shambliss is much better and he kind of got thrown into action. But you can see why that old miss staff last year rolled with Simmons. so I think that's that says a lot about him and I think Drinkwitz is a good quarterback developer. some of the way they manage the game at the end of Mississippi State with zero timeouts was just mind boggling to me. I don't know if you've if you guys have been able to go back and watch that, but there's a lot to learn from him from a coaching staff standpoint, I believe, just on that on that final drive. it's a tricky matchup for me to pick. I think the spread's pretty accurate. I think Florida will go into Missouri and get this win, but I think this game is a lot closer than people think it will be. Mitch: I agree with you. I also think even though it is a a ranked opponent on the road, I I do think people would probably be a little bit surprised Florida's only favored by four and a half in this game, especially based off what they saw against Ole Miss last week. I I think there's a reason for that. I mean, it's on the road, let down spot, all those things, but I do think Missouri's a solid team. And like you said earlier, I think Mississippi State's a better team, people are giving them credit for. And I think they're getting a lot of credit right now. So that says a lot too. The one thing I'll say here, because I don't want to expand on it too much. I think you did a good job of breaking it down. For Missouri, you gave up 120 yards on the ground and a touchdown to fluff Bothwell last week. Bothwell's a great running back, but you did give up 120 and a touchdown. And now you've got the best running back, in my opinion, in all of college football coming into town. You got a week to figure that out. Because if you don't figure that out, Florida's gonna be able to possess the ball. They're gonna be able to control. They're gonna like they're just gonna feed him. And that's the one thing I am a little bit worried about for Missouri this week, because that also can take the air out of that environment there in Como. So I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with Florida in this game. And I actually I'm gonna take Florida in this game and I'm gonna take him by double digits. So I Sam: Wow, okay. Mitch: I I I agree with you on Austin Simmons. I think he has been impressive through throughout this year. I think he's got like a sixty-six percent completion percentage. He's starting for eleven touchdowns. He's looked really solid and he even looked good last week at at Mississipp State. but Florida played the best quarterback in college football last week and they won by twenty plus. So I'm just I'm just gonna roll with the Gators right now. I think they're hot. I Summerall's got something good going on. Sam: Yeah. I will say one thing about Missouri. I think a lot of people are wondering what this Missouri offense would look like if they had Ahmad Hardy. I think arguably Mitch: Mm. Sam: he's he's probably one of the best, if not one of the best running backs in the entire country. He he suffered a gunshot wound this past summer. so I I think right now it's looking like he's gonna be out for the year, but just kind of one of those hypothetical games of what could this team look like if he was on on the field. Mitch: Yeah, he is a very good runner. Very tough runner. That one is a huge blow for them. hopefully he's able to get back on the field this year. Would love to see that. Sam: Yeah, for sure. next game on the lineup for us, we got the Ohio State Buckeyes going to Iowa. College game day's gonna be here. Ohio State's a thirteen and a half point favorite. Iowa just had a huge win over Michigan in the big houses past week, twenty to nineteen on a last second touchdown. a dime by Hank Brown. What what are what are your thoughts on this one? Mitch: I loved that game last week for Iowa. I was very glad they came out on top because I predicted that. And it was also my lock of the week that they would cover the spread. So that was huge. Shout out Hank Brown for pulling that off. We're big Hank Brown fans on this show. Let it be known. We've also got some subscribers apparently who are big Hank Brown fans. Did not know we had a big Iowa demographic at this point in time, but I love it. So shout out to them for getting that done. I I don't think this is going to be a pretty week for them. They got college game downtown. That's awesome. Congratulations. That's really great. And maybe you can prove me wrong. The defense is solid. The defense is always solid. But based off what I've seen from them offensively, I think they're going to have a really hard time this week. We saw Texas play Ohio State earlier this year, and that was a great game. Obviously, Texas figured it out in the second half offensively and they were able to come back and win that game. This Iowa offense is not the Texas offense. As much as I think the Texas offense still has question marks, this Iowa offense is not the Texas offense. They don't have the same level of talent, especially not in the wide receiver room. And so I just think Jeremiah Smith's continue to do his thing. I think Julian Saiyan and those guys are going to really, really make a point this week. I think this game, I mean the spread's thirteen and a half. You'd think for a game with college game day, two undefeated top fifteen teams, you'd think the spread be a little closer than thirteen and a half. But I think I think there's a reason for it. I think Ohio State handles this one. Sam: Yeah. I think this is a really tough matchup for Iowa. One thing that I went back and looked at for the Iowa Michigan game that I was completely caught off guard by and admittedly I wasn't able to watch that game fully on Saturday. But going back on Monday and kind of watching a little bit more highlights and a little more film on it, Michigan had two receivers that were both over a hundred yards receiving. Mitch: Uh-huh. Sam: And that is a much lesser quarterback and a much lesser receiving core. No offense to those guys, but When you have Julian Sand and and Jeremia Smith, I mean that's the the the mass murder that Jeremiah Smith committed on that Illinois secondary last week was just flat out disgusting. That Mitch: It was brutal. I mean it was like it took half a quarter too. Sam: yeah, it took no time and I I think that continues this week. Mitch: Yeah. Sam: we we had a we had a comment this this past week on one of our posts of from Ryan Snedeker, former college friend of mine, big Ohio State fan. asking about Jeremiah Smith Smith being one of the greatest or if was the greatest college football player of all time. I think he is solidifying himself as one of the greats. I'm not gonna sit here and say he is the greatest college football player of all time, but I think his ability to create separation, the ability for him to just dominate on a weekly basis. Ryan and I are both in a fantasy football league together. Him and I are both contending every single year. We're usually that one and two spot. I think him and I would both agree that we would probably try to find a way to get Jeremiah Smith no matter what. Trade whoever we want. I think the potential for him, I think just his career trajectory at the college level now to the future in the pros is just something that I've never seen before at his level and the way he's playing. I don't know how Ohio State keeps producing these these freaks, but I I think he's the best to come out of there from a receiving core standpoint. Mitch: when you start getting into the conversation of greatest college football players of all time, I think there's a long list that we would need to evaluate, go into before we start declaring a guy who's currently still actively playing football as the greatest of all time. But you look at his line from this past week against Illinois to your point, twelve receptions, two seventeen, four touchdowns. That's that's just ridiculous. I mean Sam: I feel like that's every week. Mitch: Yeah, I mean it's not quite that every week, but i it well could be. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he puts Sam: Yeah. Mitch: up a line like that against Iowa. That's why I'm taking the Buckeye's and I feel pretty comfortable about it. Sam: Yeah, I think that's gonna be a blowout. Sadly. We love Hank Brown and the Iowa team, but I don't think he's gonna be close. Mitch: Do you do you feel a similar way about this BYU TCU game? We got unranked TCU hosting, number ten ranked BYU. This is our first time really, I guess, in a prime time environment seeing the Cougars. What do you think on this one? Six and a half point spread, BYU. Sam: Six and a half seems low to me. I think TCU has gotten better as the year has gone on. I think Jaden Craig's looked a little bit better at the quarterback position, but there really wasn't much worse it could get after that Chapel Hill game in the way that they played. And BYU has looked really impressive to me. I think offensively they're gonna be able to move the football kind of at ease, to be honest. And defensively, TCU hasn't seen a defense like this. I think BYU's legit. Again, I think this is one of those big twelve teams that's really gonna be able to contend. this TCU's not the team that's gonna kinda provide them a scare, I don't think. I think BYU goes in there and handles business and and wins by double digits as well. Mitch: Yeah, I don't I think Craig is definitely improving. I mean, he's got twelve hundred he's got a sneaky twelve hundred yard season already, which it's a little bit surprising. But yeah, I don't think, especially not coming off that loss to Central Florida last week, I just don't think this is the week for them to go and get that top ten win. But I know they'll be feeling it. And it's a it's a night game at home against a top ten opponent. So the environment is gonna be there in Fort Worth. It's gonna be there in full, in full fledged everything they got for the Horned Frogs. But I agree with you. The defense for BYU's been very impressive. The offense, I I do still have some questions. I still have some questions about Bachmeyer. I don't know how consistent he can be. He uses his legs really well, which is gonna be a threat. He'll probably do that effectively in this game. But yeah, I I'm gonna roll with BYU. Again, two Big 12 teams. TCU, I'm not sure if I'll right now put them in that contender category. BYU is definitely up there. I mean, if anyone was in the conversation with Houston at the beginning of the season, it was BYU and they're still there. They haven't gone anywhere. So this is an opportunity for them too on the national scene, just to let the people know who are maybe questioning their consistency or questioning their top ten ranking. We're here and we deserve to be here. So it'll be a fun one to watch. K Kalani Sataki. Sam: Yeah, I agree. I think I I Mitch: Kalani Sataki just knows what he's doing, man. Sam: He does. He really does. He's he's he's as consistent as I get. Mitch: Absolutely. Absolutely. Talk about okay, consistency. That's a perfect transition into our next one, actually. Sam: That is. Mitch: How about inconsistency in recent years? Dabo Sweeney and the Clemson Tigers are hosting Miami this week. And by the way, in case anyone wrote Clemson off after that blowout in week one, they are a three and one football team. It hadn't been pretty, but they are a three and one football team. Now, I think we all know. This is some pretty tough competition. Definitely the toughest they've seen since week one. Probably even even tougher. Seventeen to a half point spread, Miami. It's at Clemson. There is also weather forecasted for this one. I will throw that out there. Night game in Death Valley. Rain. We've seen this before. Sam, what do you think? Sam: So when you when you started the intro with this and you were talking about consistency, you went a different direction than I thought you were gonna go. I was thinking you were gonna go with a consistency with Darien Mensa and just his completion, Mitch: We can go there. Sam: completion percentage. Mitch: Yeah. Sam: so that's for me, that's that's the big standout for me. I think Clemson has improved weekly. if there obviously is another weather delay, I think that's Clemson's advantage up to this point. Gideon Davidson has looked a lot better at running back. The offensive line is finally generating some push. Granted, lesser competition compared to LSU. but I I think Miami is just too much. Too much manpower, too much talent. I think this game will be a little bit closer. I think Clemson will cover the spread, but I Mitch: Mm-hmm. Sam: think Mensah and just I think Mensa's just gonna just dot up that Clemson defense at to this point and I think they're gonna force Tay Reynolds to throw the football. And I don't think that's a spot Clemson wants to be in. I don't think that's a spot Tate Reynolds is comfortable in. And I just haven't seen enough from him to really even think Clemson has a chance in this football game. Mitch: Yeah. You make a lot of very valid points. And on the mince and consistency thing, I mean, dude, more touchdowns than incompletions at Sam: He's crazy. So Mitch: this point in the season is pretty ridiculous. I mean, that's just flat out ridiculous. So shout out to him for that. And I I agree with you. Miami is I I mean, I I would say this if they weren't playing Clemson too. I I they'd be favored against a lot of teams in the country, even a lot of teams that are inside the top ten right now. I am getting a live on Tuesday nights when we're recording this this week, a live weather forecast for Saturday in Clemson. It's looking like rain. It's looking like rain. And if the conditions are such that it does make this a little bit more of a ground to pound A little bit more of an ugly who can establish himself in the trenches battle. I think that I'm not saying it favors Clemson as a whole, but I think compared to what it would be otherwise in perfect conditions, I think that does favor Clemson a little bit. I think if you get Gideon Davidson going on the ground, which they have the last couple weeks, a little bit better. Mark Fletcher's a great running back from Miami as well, by the way. He hasn't quite gotten going the way that you would think throughout this year. He's got 230 yards, but I think a lot of that's because he just hasn't really been needed on the field quite as much and their air attack has been so effective and efficient. Based on the live weather forecast in the rain, I think that's the script Clemson needs if they do want to win this game, or at least make it close. Because I think if you can get Gideon Davidson going on the ground, if you can control the ball, keep it out of Darien Mintz's hands a little bit longer, maybe create some turnovers. I don't know. Crazy things can happen, crazier things have happened. I think that's the script that Clemson needs, but I'm gonna take the hurricanes in this one. I don't know if they cover that 17 and a half. That that is a lot on the road. But I do think they're a much better team. I don't even think they covered seventeen and a half against Wake, though, if I recall that correctly. Now Wake Wake's a pretty good team. But yeah, I I think Clemson probably covers, but I'm gonna take the Hurricanes. Sam: Yeah, agreed. And now transitioning to probably probably my f one of my favorite matchups of the week from again, we we've got we've had a lot of Big Twelve talk on this on this on this episode and I love it. They do. It's America's America's Conference. Mitch: A Big Twelve needs more love. It needs more love. If no one else is gonna get the Big Twelve love, Honey is Saturday is gonna give the Big Twelve love. That's for sure. Honey, we love the Big Twelve. That's us. Sam: That's right. Everybody's everybody talks about SEC bias, Big Ten bias. What if we're a Big Twelve bias? Somebody Mitch: Put it on a t shirt by the way. Honey, we love the big twelve. Sam: somebody's gotta do it. Mitch: Yeah. Sam: October third, ten thirty at night, Saturday night. I don't know why I said October third. Baylor at Arizona State. Arizona State's currently a four point favorite. I think this is a huge matchup. Good quarterback matchup. Baylor had a good bounce back win last week against Colorado. DJ Lagway slowly getting back to being healthy. Arizona State trying to continue to make their mark in the Big Twelve after that loss to A and They've kind of improved since that loss ever since then. I think this is gonna be a really competitive matchup, but who who you got winning this one? Mitch: It's interesting. I thought I had a little bit of a read on Arizona State, just based off familiarity from the AM game. And I think the jury is still a little bit out on them. I think Reed Harris is a fantastic wide receiver, by the way. It's kind of fun to watch him. And we also got Gavin Freeman on the other side of the ball for Baylor, who's been looking absolutely electric. So I think this game has potentially really fun out there in Tempe. I don't know. I think If Lagway continues to progress health wise, I like the trajectory that Aranda's got this team going on right now. And I do think I lean Baylor at the moment. So I am going to take them in this game. Even though Arizona State is favored by four at home, I think that number's a little bit juiced. I think this is very much a pick'em game in my mind. I'm going to go with the Bears. I think Arizona State. Has a little bit more questions and Baylor's secondary has been sneaky good this year. It's been very good. And I think if Arizona State is going to run away with this game, it's going to be with their air attack. I just don't know if they're going to be able to do whatever they want this week. I don't think they are. I think people are going to be a little bit surprised by the strike to Baylor's secondary. So I'm going to go with the Bears. Sam: Interesting pick. Yeah, I I get I get where you're coming from with Baylor, but I think for me, just I mean, you look at this year, this is Dave Aranda on the hottest of hot seeds. DJ Lagway and a DJ Lagway and a prove it prove it kind of year. And at this point, they really haven't, to me. Auburn, they struggled. They didn't really look all that great last week against Colorado. It was a good get back spot for them to kind of gain some confidence in a win. But There's still a lot of room for them to be able to grow. From what I've seen from Arizona State, same kind of vibe, a lot of room to grow. But at this point, I trust the quarterback better at Arizona State. I trust the head coach at Arizona State at Kitty Dillingham. At Mitch: Mm-hmm. Sam: home in Tempe, Arizona. I think I think this is Arizona State's chance to kind of make a statement. I think they cover that spread and I th I think they win maybe by double digits. Luke Bohemier, I don't know if you're watching, Baylor football. equipment manager, whi equipment assistant equipment director. would have loved to have picked your Bayl Bears. Maybe if you sent me some gear I would have picked Not to be bribed, but I'm gonna have to go with Arizona State Sun Devils this week. Mitch: Yeah. Well, we'll have to see. We're split on this one. I like it. I mean, I I really truly truly in my mind, I feel like this is a little bit of a pick game. I just I lean more Baylor based off trust what I see right now. But you're right. Dillingham Dillingham knows what he's doing, so it's hard to bet against him at home in that situation. Especially they got their back to the wall a little bit right now, so they need it. All right, we've got Sam: Yeah, definitely. Mitch: some honorable mention games. That's our pick'em. That's that's what we're doing this week. By the way, if you guys are wondering how credible we are last week. I went eight and no of my picks, and same went seven and one. So we had a pretty solid week. Sam: Great week. Mitch: You guys better be tuning in because we we we got the information for you. But these are our honorable mention games. These are ones we're not going to put on our pick for our record, but these are games that we also think are very interesting. I'll just go through them quickly because these are we want to mention them. So they're out there. We'll share some quick thoughts and then we'll move on to our next segment. But we got Penn State coming off that loss of Wisconsin at Northwestern, who also. Had a pretty sneaky one at Indiana last week. Penn State's favorite by two and a half, but it's at Northwestern in their new, Sam: Watch out. Mitch: their new stadium over there. So watch out for that one. Matt Campbell, watch out. You don't want to lose two Sam: Yeah. Mitch: in a row. But that that's a very losable game for Penn State. That's very interesting. We've also got the toilet. Sam: yeah. Definitely. Mitch: Yeah, we've also got the toilet bowl in the SEC. We've got Arkansas at Texas AM this week. So I w one thing I'll say here. The Aggies have dominated this series as of late. The Aggies are probably still the better team this year, even though we don't look great. It's I don't know. Arkansas, they're definitely struggling. What I will say is Arkansas is the leading receiver in the SEC right now and Chris Marshall. I don't know if you know that. Leading receiver. And AM secondary has burnt toast the last couple weeks. So y'all might want to keep an eye on that. And also, there's weather that could probably be a factor in this game too. So just just keep an eye on that. Sam: Chris Marshall really is the leading Mitch: Next one. Sam: receiver. Mitch: He is. He's also, by the way, got Aggie ties. So very interesting dynamic there. UCF at Houston, big one in the Big Twelve, two, three and one teams. Very, very major implications, potentially. Can Connor Wigman continue to get it done? Will they stumble? I don't know. We'll find out. Washington at USC. Bounce back opportunity for the Trojans. They've got another one at home. Washington sneaky. Damon Williams is starting to get his. His stuff together, that one's very intriguing. Because Lincoln Riley, I mean, dude, the last thing he needs right now is to lose back to back home games. That's the absolute last thing he needs right now. So, I mean, Sam: Yeah. Mitch: hey, they're already might be writing on the wall at this point, based off expectations they've got for that program. But you really, you really, really need that one. No more mistakes. You you don't really have any margin for error throughout the year anymore. We do have, as the Honey is Saturday podcast, we keep track of our honeys, our wives, their picks every single week. They pick the same games we do. And we got to make sure that we are men of integrity. So we check ourselves against our wives every week. And Sam has already actually had to wear a hat that says, My wife is always right, twice because his wife has somehow outpicked him. I have yet to experience that, but I've been very close. So we're tracking week by week. We're also tracking full season total this week. Sam, you wanna go over the the results or their their picks from this week? Both wives, by the way, went five and three last week. Like I said, I went eight and no Sam went seven and one, so we're safe. But we're gonna go over the picks for this week. Sam, what did Cameron go for? Sam: Yeah, but before I get into that, I just kinda wanna express my gratitude to my picks for this past week for not only beating my wife in this in week four, but now being tied with her. I think that's something that has caught me off guard. I don't wanna wear the hat anymore. And if she beats me in the overall season, I I'm gonna be at a pretty low place. So thank you to my picks. I'm glad we went seven and one. Wish I could have went eight and eight and like Mitch, but you know what? I'll take it. going with our picks this week, Keaton starting with her, Virginia Tech, she picked them to beat Pitt, she picked Alabama to beat Mississippi State, Tennessee to beat Auburn, Florida to beat Missouri, Ohio State to beat BY Ohio State to beat Iowa, BYU to beat TCU, Miami to beat Clemson, and Arizona State to beat Baylor. So pretty much the same exact Mitch: Yeah, so we've got Sam: picks that I have. Mitch: We've got some potential, Keaton and I, to differ. So I'm really hoping that I pull through on that Baylor pick and the pit pick. Otherwise I could be wearing that hat next week. We'll see. Sam: Yeah, so so you're missing so Pitt and Baylor are the two ones that are different for you guys. And then from Cameron's pick, she's got Virginia Tech, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, Ohio State, BYU, Miami, and Baylor. So Baylor, Baylor and Arizona State's our only flip flop pick of the week. So guess we'll see. I think you guys both have in Baylor and Keaton I have an Arizona State. I think I think there's some the chance for this is obviously isn't the most action packed. week, I'm never gonna not say that about college football, but in comparative to other weeks like last week, a little bit more I think clear cut picks comparative to normal. but you never know. This can always catch us off guard, but a lot of similarities in our picks that could kinda keep our records consistent with with each other. Mitch: We know college football, Sam. You can't be saying stuff like that. As soon as you start opening your mouth and saying stuff like that, Iowa goes and beats I Ohio State. Like that's just how it goes. Sam: Yeah. Don't Mitch: Stuff like that is gonna happen now because you said this is one of those weeks where it's a little bit more predictable. Incoming unpredictable. Sam: You know what? I want I want turmoil. That's great. Everybody can come back and thank me for that. I am I am I'm all Mitch: Yeah, I mean I would love it too. I'm just Sam: for that. Everybody in the entire country is gonna pick Ohio State to win that football game. If Iowa goes in there and wins, maybe one of these one of these games Ohio State's had in previous years where Purdue beats them fifty two to fourteen, whatever it may be, that's great. Please do it, Iowa. I would love that. And just come back and thank me for that. Mitch: Yeah. Yeah. Sam: Ha ha. Mitch: I love it. All right. Hey, we gotta we gotta go into our honey it's in the budget lock of the week segment. Each of us have one betting lock of the week. This is not gambling advice. We're not recommending you guys to do anything. We just think it's really fun to pick one. And we've got that side wager on a soda. Last week I picked Iowa to cover the spread against Michigan, which they did. They won outright. Fantastic. Sam, on the other hand, picked South Carolina to cover the spread against Alabama. I think. Didn't quite who can blame him? Who can fault him? But it didn't quite go the way he wanted it to. And so I had a nice little cheer one on Sunday to drown my A and sorrows. So thank you, Sam. We're gonna go into our locks this week. I'm very interested to see who you've picked for your lock. Can you share with the world? Sam: can I am I've debated a couple of different games in here, but for where I'm I feel the most confident, I've got to get my get back against the South Carolina Game Cox. Right now they're a three and a half point favorite over the Kentucky Wildcats. I'm gonna take Kentucky to cover. I'm gonna take Kentucky Kentucky to win outright in the night football game. I I I I gotta get my win against South Carolina. I picked them against Mississippi. I've had them as my lock of the week last week. They have let me down consistently and it's time for me to get something in return. So Kentucky, please go into Williams Bryce. It's Cocktober. I get it. They haven't been super successful in October. I think this is Kentucky's chance to go into Williams Bryce and make a statement. Kentucky's my pick. Mitch: I now I love that lock. I mean, when I was looking at these lines before, I was very surprised South Carolina was favored by three points in that game, based off what we've seen the last couple of weeks. I know it's at Williams Price and anything could happen, but you've got just lo it seems like locker room turmoil on top of everything else in Columbia. I mean, you've got the Dylan Stewart mess, you've got Lenoris not looking his best. I I don't think that's a great recipe against Kenny Minchie and Will Stein and And that squad is already proved they can go into a tough road environment, which they did in college station and handle their business. So, and on top of that, it's a it's a 415 kick, so it'll probably get dark towards the end, but it's not like it's a night game either. So Sam: Yeah. Mitch: I I like that for you. I think that's a great choice. for me, I am gonna take I I'm just gonna take the Clemson to cover 17 and a half in Miami, which could go south, but Sam: Whoa, okay. Mitch: I'm I'm doing it mostly based off the weather forecast. If if it's raining, I just I've there's a world where Miami covers seventeen and a half in the rain. But if it's raining that way, I I think Clemson can at the least cover and keep the ball out of Mentz's hands a little bit. So I'm gonna roll with Clemson plus seventeen and a half. Sam: It's a that's a that's a that's a gutsy pick right there. Mitch: I'm I I'm a believer, what can I say? Look, shout out the Tigers. Shout out Sam: Hey, I don't blame I don't blame you. Mitch: the Yeah. Sam: Hey, before we go to this next segment, what is your soda of choice? If if you were to not win your b if you're not gonna win this or if I don't win mine this week, what is your soda selection? Just just so it you did. But just just so we have it out there. Mitch: I went with Cheerwine. I went I I went with Cheer One last week. That that's my Drown My Sorrow soda. So if the Aggies lose to Arkansas, I'll be going straight back to that cheerwine. Cause it makes me happy. However, my favorite and forever soda is Dr. Pepper. Probably Dr. Pepper Zero. Maybe even the cream soda. I would really love for Dr. Pepper to sponsor the Honey It Saturday podcast. Please. If you're out there, please. Love you guys. I promise we'll get big. but yeah, I Dr. Pepper's not sort of choice. What about you? Sam: Dr. Pepper. Okay. I think cheer wine. I think seeing you crack open that cheer wine on Sunday just almost Mitch: Mm. Sam: made me shed a tear. It had been a while since I've had a cheer wine, so it Mitch: He did. He I could see the tear forming in his eyes. True story. Sam: it was right there. I had to just freeze my camera for a second to wipe it away. Mitch: It's a true story. man. Sam: Ha ha Mitch: That's good. All right. We do have a couple mailbag questions to touch on just before we hop off here. I'm pulling them up. Thank you for the interaction this week. I'm gonna go for a random. Sam: I'm excited. I'm excited for this. Mitch: Yeah, I'm gonna go for a random Mailbag question. Which school would you not send your daughter to? Maybe for another day. We're not gonna do that one today. Hayden wants to know, Hayden Shields from Dripping Springs, he would like to know our thoughts on the actual hit itself in the USC Oregon game on Dante Moore. Do we think it was dirty hit? What are your thoughts there? And then obviously the celebration's a different story. Both of us have condemned the antics after the fact. When you've got a man down in critical condition and you're celebrating and laughing and jumping up and down, that's just there's no excuse for that, no room for it anywhere. But he wants to know. The actual hit itself, what were your thoughts? Sam: Yeah, I think for me looking back at that clip, I think Dante Moore made it clear he was sliding and I think there was a little bit of room for the US C player to be able to let up, and kind of maybe jump just over top of him. And I think by the way he celebrated at the end at the end to kind of throw for the rest of that kind of antics that were happening on the field, I think for me that was kind of a telltale of he wa he was going in there to kind of make sure Dante Moore was out for that game. And obviously now he's out for the foreseeable future. But I don't know if you had a chance to watch the Oregon video today that they put out, kind of their recap from their weekend at Southern Cal. They had this live clip of the USC broadcasting team. And there's this one dude who's like, Yeah, that wasn't dirty. It looks like Dante Moore was sliding forward, like all this kind of stuff, and you got these two other USC guys who are a part of that radio team just going there like shaking their head. One dude's like smirking at the camera like No chance. So I I think there's a consensus around that that that was a dirty hit. I think he should be suspended for more than one game. and I mean just the effect that that has had and probably will have on Dante Moore, I think is not something you can take lightly. Mitch: No, I completely agree with you. I do think it's interesting 'cause we've seen it not just with the Dante Moore thing. We've seen it even in the NFL in recent weeks. Like quarterbacks sliding late, it it is a it is a potential issue because there are genuine situations where a guy's already into his hit and he can't pull up and then you put yourself into a bad spot. So I think quarterbacks do need to learn. Like if you're gonna go down, you gotta just get down. But I will say this situation, I thought I thought he gave him enough warning. Now, it was a little late. just off off the initial replay that I saw, it was a little late. And so I wasn't I wasn't extremely all in on the that's a dirty hit category. I I didn't like it. But I could see a world where he just wasn't able to pull up. The antics afterwards, like I said, that's that's just where it becomes inexcusable. And if you're gonna act like that, then everyone's gonna assume you did it on purpose. That's just how it is. Sam: Yeah. Mitch: Like if you're gonna behave that way, people are gonna have no reason to believe you didn't do that on purpose. So you need to figure your stuff out. But I appreciate that. Sam: Yeah. And that that's exactly how it looks. Mitch: Yeah, yeah. I mean that's just how it is. And I I appreciate that question from Hayden. I I just I wanna close on this one note. It's Tuesday night. I can't get it out of my head. Marcel Reed is seeing ghosts the last couple weeks. Texas AM is introducing some beautiful, I I think they're beautiful, camouflage uniforms this week for military appreciation. What better week to introduce camo uniforms for your wide receivers when your quarterback already can't see anybody? I ch it's a recipe for disaster down in college station this week, man. If they if they go down to Arkansas, where do you go from here? Sam: No. I'm I'm gonna take Arkansas to cover the spread though. Mitch: You go for it. That's probably a great idea. Thank you guys so much for listening. again, please continue to interact with us, subscribe, follow us on all of our socials. We stay active. Y'all stay active. Have a great week. This is Tuesday night. We'll see you guys back again on Sunday for the recap of probably a lot of surprises because Sam went and ran his mouth. So we look forward to talking Sam: That's right. Everybody, you're welcome. Mitch: to you guys. Yeah, look forward to talking about the crazy weekend ahead. hope you guys all enjoy it and have plenty of time to sit on the couch and watch all the ball you want to. Honey Saturday is out. God bless. We'll see you guys soon. Sam: So