Introduction and Podcast Preview
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Speaker
It is not lost on me that Carson Beck is playing at Texas A&M before Georgia does.
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Speaker
Welcome to My Got A Podcast. I'm Jim Wood. In this episode, John Powell and I preview the opening round of the 2025 college football playoff.
Game Day Expectations and Listener Engagement
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We talk about what we're looking for in the games and we answer questions from you, our listeners.
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Speaker
As always, remember to check out the newly redesigned MyGottaPodcast.com to see our latest merch. And you can follow us on social media at MyGottaPodcast.
Website and Merch Promotion
00:00:33
Speaker
Finally, if you need help with your website or your online presence, head over to WorkingWebMedia.com slash dogs.
Mid-Season Reflections on CFP and Team Performances
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Speaker
Now, let's join the conversation in progress.
00:00:46
Speaker
Back for another bi-week episode. Bi-week episode number three of the season?
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's a CFP bye week for all who celebrate.
Family Time and Entertainment Discussions
00:01:01
Speaker
Happy CFP bye week for all who celebrate. Yes, yes.
00:01:05
Speaker
ah Kind of weird. I realized a little bit earlier tonight, so we've been watching it. We finished up a ah show a season one of a show with the girls, Entertainment.
00:01:16
Speaker
ah We watched meise Paradise with them. Hey, i just got done watching that too. Dude, great show. It's a good show with the dude from This Is Us. This Is Us, yes. Randall. It was funny when we turned it on because I had seen that season two was about to come out. So I said something Kim. I was like, hey, we should watch girls.
00:01:40
Speaker
And so we did. And they were like, is there anyone in in this that we know? And like he was all I could think of. But then I was like, but you probably don't really know him. Then once it started, they knew James Marsden from I can't even think of the name. He was in a lot of a lot of things. Yeah, he was in the the Disney movie or enchanted. He was in the enchanted movies. So they enchanted at least from that. But he's been in all kinds of stuff. Yeah.
00:02:01
Speaker
I was like, he's Cyclops. All the things with the in the notebook. Was he in the notebook? don't know that they've seen. I don't know that they've seen that. actually I think he was in the notebook.
Bowl Game Updates and Schedule Insights
00:02:12
Speaker
Uh, when, so when that finished, I looked at my phone and was like, Oh my gosh, there's a bowl game on tonight. So did you, were you aware of that? And this is where Josh yells at his podcast player seeing, saying, see, nobody watches bowl games.
00:02:27
Speaker
Um, but there were actually two bowl games today. So South Florida lost the old dominion and, uh, As we're recording, John, Delaware is beating Louisiana 10 to three in the 68 Ventures Bowl. So that's happening.
00:02:42
Speaker
And then we've got we've got more bowl games. in our the The Fighting Owls of Kennesaw State are playing in on Friday. e When is that? have Friday. 11 a.m. on Friday.
00:02:55
Speaker
What? ah That's wild. Okay. And the Myrtle Beach Bowl. Okay, we had the Myrtle Beach Bowl
Analyzing Playoff Schedules and Formats
00:03:03
Speaker
and the Gasparilla Bowl are the appetizers before the CFP first round game at night.
00:03:08
Speaker
that's That's interesting. on ah On a Friday, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm still working on Friday. So um anyway, isn't that, doesn't that like present some, some problems like from a recovery standpoint, when you have one of the playoff games a day earlier,
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and it was so how it was last year. It was. And do you know who played in the Friday game last year? The team to beat us, Notre Dame. They had.
00:03:38
Speaker
o Now, i granted, I guess we had even more rest because we had a bye. But they have more rest than everyone else from that yeah lineup of games.
00:03:49
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. True. That's, that's interesting. So you got Oklahoma and Alabama. So if history serves one of these teams makes it to the. Sure.
00:04:01
Speaker
Yeah. ah Good question. It wasn't. Well, actually, yes. I don't know how they're doing this. So because last year it wasn't the eight, nine game. Okay. Friday night. um I can't remember what Notre Dame.
00:04:17
Speaker
It was Notre Dame, Indiana was that game. I can't remember what they were seated. let's see. I guess we were, i guess that was the 10, six or whatever. We could always look at the 2024, 2025.
00:04:33
Speaker
But the even the 8-9 winner won the whole thing last year, for what it's worth. because that was The 8-9 winner won the whole thing? Yeah, Ohio State was 8. Okay.
00:04:44
Speaker
okay so So if history serves, Oklahoma could be next brother the next. but From the Friday night spot.
00:04:55
Speaker
Right. I will say i do that though is where, again, like, I think they did make a good change from last year to this year and change how the buys work. And that it's just based on your ranking, not the whole, like you have to be a conference champion to get a buy.
00:05:11
Speaker
Cause that kind of threw a wrench in some of it last year. And I think led to some weird kind of weird matchups. So I think that was a good thing. I think that's a good,
Broadcasting Details and Viewer Experiences
00:05:20
Speaker
good change. If you're have the 12 team playoff, I think that's, I think this year is better than last year.
00:05:24
Speaker
Yeah. As far as the format goes. Yeah. ah the whole The whole thing is is definitely going to be interesting because you got some of these games are on like some of these games are on TNT and HBO Max. it's Like what's going on?
00:05:40
Speaker
yeah yeah Yeah, ESPN. then That was their that was your last year, too. got to say, like i mean honestly, like last year, i mean i watched the Friday game. I watched that Notre Dame-Indiana game.
00:05:51
Speaker
Then on Saturday, with the three games, I was not like locked into the TV. I'll tell you that for those for those that first round. um I think I like went to a brewery with some buddies and we were kind of like hanging out. like i I was not like sitting around watching football all day like I do on a normal college Saturday, honestly.
00:06:09
Speaker
I wonder if that's why they put the eight and nine spot ah on the Friday games because so they could take advantage advantage of the larger audience size on one game.
00:06:19
Speaker
And it's like two teams that are pretty evenly matched and it's an SEC matchup. um So yeah ESPN gets to favor their their brand on ah on a major spotlight as a single single night game.
00:06:34
Speaker
And then all these other games are matchups of, for the most part, the lower ranked teams versus higher ranked teams.
Listener Questions on Playoffs and Team Quality
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Speaker
mean, you can make an argument Texas A&M and m in Miami, but Miami just squirted in at the by the hair of their chinny tinn chin Yeah.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. But yeah, they the afternoon and night game is kind of, I expect those to be very pedestrian games. On Saturday? Mm-hmm. yeah.
00:07:04
Speaker
The 3.30 and the 7.30 game. You got Ole Miss versus Tulane at 3.30. And you got Oregon versus James Madison, which I guess, are we going to see Billy Napier on the sideline in the CFP?
00:07:17
Speaker
I bet he'll be there. I bet he'll be like be in the box or something. Like in like the president's box or something. So amazing Florida's at home watching their coach Walk around the sideline to james name Again, I still think it's crazy That you've got three teams in this Playoff with Either a lame duck coach that Is leaving or Brand new coach um That's wild But yeah, aunt dude, on those Saturday games Ole Miss is favored by 17 and a half And Oregon is oron is favored by 21 Like what are we What we doing?
00:07:52
Speaker
Yeah, where where are these compelling games that Josh was talking about? Should we should we skip to your pro to your listener question that Josh responded to? the The questions are coming from inside the building. I was like, wait, what is this? I was playing the the listener questions was like, what happened here?
00:08:09
Speaker
ah Yeah, we might as well. We can go ahead and tackle that. uh here i i even made a graphic for it for oh you did youtube so this the first time ever that long time listener first time caller john powell is on the screen uh with his questions sources indicate okay this comes from john powell at pal john t on twitter uh
Playoff Qualification Criteria and Team Rankings
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Speaker
Sources indicate that high profile expanded playoff proponents like dog stats are admitting that there are not 12 good teams in college football. Does this mean we can gain support in our coalition to contract runs and hides?
00:08:42
Speaker
ah I will give Josh his, his, ah his moment. Cause he replied and said, there aren't 64 good teams in the NCAAs in the basketball tournament. But I'd rather watch watch meaningful games than exhibition ones.
00:08:56
Speaker
Also, playoffs often don't aren't won by the best team. But that is a feature, not a bug. Man. this I love how much Josh and I disagree on this stuff. Anyway.
00:09:10
Speaker
Love you. Mean it. but i um I'm sorry. When you have a 21-point spread, what are we doing it It does feel weird.
00:09:24
Speaker
um And I'm not even like... like i I think I said this on the last one. like I think they got the field right based on their rule charge or whatever. Yeah, like based on the format. i don't have an issue with what the committee did this year.
00:09:38
Speaker
only i mean i would I think Georgia should have been number two, but whatever. We're talking about like a place. um But it's just... Yeah, you shouldn't. I don't I think it's really weird that you have two opening round games with a spread that big in that it's these teams that are like the five seed getting that right. Like it's not even like a number one seed.
00:10:02
Speaker
You know, mean, the number one seed team is not going to get as big of a spread in their first game. Granted, that's going to be a quarterfinal. But still, I think that's kind of I think it's kind of weird, which is why they're going to expand 16, by the way.
Conference Power Dynamics and Team Qualifications
00:10:14
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I just think it's weird. I just think that it's weird that we have number 22 lane and number 24 James Madison in over a team like Notre Dame or Texas.
00:10:24
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it doesn't bother bother me again with the current format, but I get it. um Notre Dame beat one of the teams that's in the CFP playoff. Yeah. um What I don't or something that I've seen suggested is what if you said so in like the Tulane and James Madison part, like what if you added another qualifier to say like. You get an auto or whatever auto bid. It's the five highest ranked conference champions, but there's another criteria where you have to be in the top X. So like, let's say you have to be a top 20 team or you have to be a top 15 team in the rankings, something like that. You can't be like the 30th ranked team yet the fifth highest ranked conference champion and get in something like that.
00:11:13
Speaker
I think I'd be okay with that. I think that we're a whisker away from having that situation right now because you've got James Madison. I talked about it on the last episode. like That schedule is hot garbage. um i hear i would be i would be okay with a scenario like that, but I would not want it to be based on...
00:11:36
Speaker
i would I don't know that i would I would want it to be based on like, you have to have a ranking of a certain caliber. like i mean, I think top 15, top 20, like, that seems like somewhere in that range feels better than what we've got right now. You've got to be ranked in the top 20.
00:11:58
Speaker
But you also have to have a schedule strength of XYZ if you're not in the power four. Yeah. Or Power 5 conference. Like, your your strength of schedule has to be of a certain caliber to even be considered for this even as a conference champion.
00:12:14
Speaker
Like, the Sun Belt, it's intellectually dishonest to treat the Sun Belt and...
Impact of Transfers and Coaching Changes
00:12:22
Speaker
What's this other one? What's the other conference that... these i'd See, like, I mean, that that in and of itself is probably...
00:12:28
Speaker
a measuring stick for why this is stupid like i can't even think of the name of the conference that we're talking about that got one of these auto qualifiers i it's the american i think the aac or whatever ah yeah well they rebranded they rebranded uh they're now just the american okay so it's the american conference and the sunbelt conference ah Correct.
00:12:53
Speaker
Yes. so tuane Tulane is in the American. i know i know GMU is in some belt. In my opinion, that treating those two conferences the as if they are the same caliber of conference as the SEC and the Big ten just seems intellectually dishonest.
00:13:11
Speaker
Yeah. i mean i know I know some people have talked about should they have their own playoff kind of thing. Yes. Yes. The short answer is yes. They should have their own division of college football and they should have their own playoff.
00:13:24
Speaker
but Yeah. I think ah graham Graham was talking about some similar stuff that kind of feeds into a lot of this conversation is that you know some of these also rands, even in Division I, college football has largely become a... like If you are a team like James Madison or Tulane where you have a a player that maybe is able to, or even in Indiana, because I'm i'm not so much convinced that Indiana is going to be a lasting team in, in a top five, top four kind of vein.
00:14:03
Speaker
I'm not convinced that that's a sustainable situation for them, but I could be wrong, but I mean, Tulane and James Madison by and large are not going to be here next year is, is my expectation. And it's because they, they,
00:14:17
Speaker
hit lightning in a bottle with the player here or there. um And then all of a sudden they' they'll fizzle out when that player ends up transferring to an LSU or a Florida or whatever the case may be, which is kind of what we're already seeing, like these players that...
00:14:34
Speaker
are a part of teams that get scooped up by the bigger teams. And it's like a farm system. And we're already treating them differently from a, from a player standpoint, because the players don't even want to stay there. The coaches don't want to stay there. You mentioned Tulane and James Madison have already, they're already replacing their coaches. Like why if this is so great for the, this the little guys and we're trying to like,
00:15:01
Speaker
foster and build up this Cinderella story like that we get in college basketball. Like to me, it's, it's just, it's intellectually dishonest. Um, it's not a sustainable strategy for these smaller schools.
00:15:15
Speaker
Ultimately it's the power for, and that's the, all that really matters. Yeah. What if we added a qualifier that your coach, if your a coach like is leaving you, you're ineligible for the plan. Yeah. Sorry, Ole Miss. I guess that would involve Ole Miss too. but I mean, I would say that it's not fair to the the the players. Yeah, I know. yeah It's not fair to the players, but at the same time, like we're living in a world where it's it's F them kids. You know what i mean?
00:15:47
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Bring on the contracts, as you say. john i Dude, I've been, ever since this whole thing came out, I'm like, great. Like, let's let's just go ahead and fast forward to the contracts because this is the whole, the whole transfer portal situation is, is not sustainable as well. Like that's a whole other thing.
00:16:06
Speaker
That's a whole other conversation, which we should talk probably talk about that and under this umbrella of these teams don't have coaches and even like the situation like that's unfolding at Michigan where you've
Coaching Changes and Recruitment Impacts
00:16:20
Speaker
got a coach. Yeah. that's fired and then you literally have a recruiting class that by and large looks as if they were lied to or at least deceptively ah manipulated in such a way to get them to sign, get them on campus, get them enrolled and get them into a situation that they would be very difficult for them to get out of and then fire their coach. When you have and when the administration had and knew and knew the information that they were using to fire him for. Yeah.
00:16:56
Speaker
Yeah. It's wild times. um Inculfortable. And i you know, honestly, I'm thinking back to like Julian saying at Ohio State, Ohio State now. Former Georgia commit, by the way, but ends up going to Alabama. ah Signs in December, enrolls early, Saban retires, and left right away, i believe. I don't think he ever was on Alabama's roster during a season.
00:17:23
Speaker
So, mean, you you say hard to leave, and I would agree, but could be done. We'll see. We'll see how they but they are able to keep that i can't remember when Saban retired, though. Right, right, right, right. What was that timing? Well, it would have been in January.
00:17:40
Speaker
It was in January. I'm saying that because it was after they lost the Rose Bowl to Michigan. Dude, I'm floored by this whole... um so is it I think it's Tulane's coach is going to Florida if I'm getting my coaching carousel. Summerall, is that his name? So he's going to Florida. He has taken, he's poached Buster Faulkner from Georgia tech to be his office of coordinator. And now Buster Faulkner is bringing the tech backup quarterback, uh, Philo with him.
00:18:09
Speaker
So that's wild. Um, I'd rather those guys leave and go somewhere that they're not going to play us, but yeah, I'm just thinking back to, we got a question earlier in the season about tech and is this stuff with key, it's like sustainable or was it just Haynes King? And i actually mentioned like, well, the back, the ah the other quarterbacks actually pretty good and all this stuff, but man, that's going to be, that's tough week for Georgia tech fans. I'll say that.
00:18:34
Speaker
Yeah, i think that there I think that's a great example of a team that's probably not going to be able to sustain um not having a coordinator.
00:18:46
Speaker
um you know they're They're the most prolific offense in the country, but then they played Georgia. So like I guess that this is going to be a ah measuring stick situation for Buster Faulkner on whether or not he's If he does well at Florida, like, you know, FTMF and, you know, hope you score six points against Georgia.
00:19:06
Speaker
um But I imagine he'll he'll probably end up doing well. And this seems like it's the next stepping stone for his career trajectory to take a job as a head coach eventually.
00:19:18
Speaker
um yeah That would be my guess is that he felt like he couldn't get a head coaching job as Georgia Tech's offensive coordinator. And I guess that they โ I guess it is interesting to me that they went ahead and, and got, he he took a lateral move. Cause I kind of thought that it could have been done. Like he could have gotten a head coaching job, but maybe there's, you know, if he has success at Florida and you know, there's a higher profile job that he could potentially go to next.
00:19:46
Speaker
Right. Yeah. But it is interesting that they took Philo. he's what He has like the passing record for Georgia High School or something like that. and But he's got Haynes King running running his brains out.
00:20:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and DJ Lagway saw one look at that tape and i was like, I'm out here.
00:20:10
Speaker
ah Yeah, I think someone also said that Philo has a a worse touchdown interception ratio than Lagway does.
00:20:20
Speaker
Interesting. I just saw some breaking news during the, as we were recording. Uh-oh. I was looking, oh, it's good news. Actually, I guess it wasn't. I guess I just saw it.
Awards and Playoff Expansion Debate
00:20:31
Speaker
It's old. Sorry. You may have already known this.
00:20:33
Speaker
Kirby Smart is a finalist for the Dodd Trophy. Yeah. That's going to trigger a lot of folks, particularly the the trolls that like to make fun of our graduation rates and stuff.
00:20:45
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And the arrests or whatever, like the the traffic violations that we seem to just not be able to get away from. Well, and now shoplifting gate.
00:20:57
Speaker
Yeah. Which undercurrent of the the charges are going to get dropped. Yeah. thats ive so I saw that on Twitter, so it has to be true. so I read it on the internet, Jim.
00:21:08
Speaker
Yeah. but i was I was trying to look up ah some of the awards on the on the news and notes end because we do we do have an actual Ray Guy award winner now in one Brett Thorson.
00:21:20
Speaker
So that's pretty sweet. And then I think i what I was trying to look for is a Bo Gardner one. Whatever the award is that they give to the long snapper. I found it. The the Patrick Manley Long Snapper Award.
00:21:33
Speaker
The Long Snapper Award. Long Snapper. So that was a thing. How about that Brett Thorson won the Raid Guy Award. He's first-team All-American, but he was not first-team All-SEC.
00:21:45
Speaker
What's going on with that? and kind of Brutal. kind of Yeah, that that is kind of weird. like yeah did he did he miss Did he miss a bunch of SEC games?
00:21:55
Speaker
and Did he miss some SEC games and just didn't like โ because he was out for a minute, right? Yes. ah No, he just got going and kind of... Oh, wait, yeah. Did he miss... Yeah, he did. I thought he missed a game. You're right. He did miss a game.
00:22:09
Speaker
I thought he missed a game or two or something like that. Yeah. He really came on late in the year. Got back to his old form. You love to see it. I miss mullets on the mic, by the way. I miss mullets on the mic as well. I see it in my Apple like library or whatever. It's like, you last listened to this in February. ah yeah i hate everything.
00:22:31
Speaker
Hmm. Hmm. Um, I don't know what what else is going on out there. I don't know, man. I'm telling you what I tell you what i what i don't like, which I feel like is going to be a unification for everyone that's like, oh, I want to expand the playoff. Oh, I want to contract the playoff. like I think we can all agree that posting having your school post that you've re re-signed when you're like a starting quarterback, like Arch Manning, why are we making graphics for people like that to return? like where were you go where where Where are you going? To quote ah Coach Hayes. Yeah.
00:23:07
Speaker
Yeah. Can we please stop doing stupid stuff? I mean, that's nowhere on the level like nowhere on the level of run it back. Remember run it back from 2020 to 2021?
00:23:20
Speaker
That was awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Like just do that. Why do we have to say they re-upped their contract or whatever? I don't know someone's Someone's eventually going to run a yeah the decision video to on on whether or not they're going to come back. And it's like you were very clearly coming back. Like there's no way that you were not coming back.
00:23:42
Speaker
Carter and I got into an argument today about whether or not Gunnar was coming back. And he was like, oh no, he's he's been there for four years. yes he doesn't He can't come back. I'm like, oh, he oh but he can.
00:23:54
Speaker
ah And I made him Google it and I made him Google and he goes, gosh, Tony, you're right. sorry Yeah. He's got eligibility, bro. And he's, uh, I would suspect that he's coming back for sure. But I guarantee i guarantee you what you're not going to see is the university of Georgia putting out a graphic like that.
00:24:13
Speaker
no no, we are what's important now. So. Yeah. I mean, i think the only thing that they might do is to like tongue in cheek, kind of throw a nod to it would be like, i don't know, showing him driving his truck to practice or something like that. Yeah.
00:24:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Post a picture of a cow. Yeah. Yeah. um Yeah. College football is insane right now, dude. I just feel like that that's the the freight train of greed, money, and growth is just on a collision course with sanity, reason, and logic.
Conference Alignments and Playoff Implications
00:24:50
Speaker
Yeah. I saw i need contracts. We need we need contracts. We need um buyouts for players. um I think that if you start doing situations like that, then um it will push people to not try to shoot their wad on a program like Texas Tech or, ah you know.
00:25:13
Speaker
i i just I just think that there's there's got to be some way to prevent justice every year. Every year is free agency kind of thing.
00:25:24
Speaker
Yeah. I think we need, I want to see the Pac-12 come back. I know they they actually are coming back, by the way. Like they're adding teams, but it's like Mountain West type schools. um I want to see it really come back and get the West Coast teams back out playing against each other. To me, that's the that's actually my biggest issue right now. is the conference over expansion and having these West coast teams play in the Atlantic coast conference, things like that. um I think he the, the, the conferences are too big. It's making for really weird schedules, which by the way, the ACC is playing a split schedule next year where some teams play eight games and some play nine as a transition year to hear something. That is actually the moment that college football jumped the shark. is yeah Like, just imagine if ah Georgia, Alabama, and LSU, and Texas A&M only had to play eight games.
00:26:21
Speaker
And everybody else played nine. Yeah, absolutely wild. Absolutely wild. But I mean, this is all happening because the conferences have gotten so big and they're trying to figure out all the schedules. And i mean, that's how you end up with what whatever Duke was, seven and five or whatever.
00:26:36
Speaker
That's how they end winning the ACC because these teams aren't playing each other, you know? So I don't know. I like I 12 team. I get off my line. 12 team conferences with 16 divisions where it was, it was perfect.
Uniform Choices and Fan Engagement for Sugar Bowl
00:26:51
Speaker
back to that. That's my bigger gripe right now, honestly, than the, than the playoff and the other stuff. but that's not going to change either. So whatever. i need to get used to it. When they came out with the schedule, I have a magnet on my grill that is of Ugga raising his leg and peeing on a Tennessee helmet.
00:27:07
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Not seeing that particular shade of orange on our schedule was a special kind of gut punch. Yeah. Yeah, was. It is weird.
00:27:18
Speaker
It is weird. And we start on the road again, by the way. I think i think this is the third this will be the third year in the in a row that our SEC opener is on the road. Amazing. Don't know what's it with that.
00:27:31
Speaker
Oh, and by the way, we have to go back to Alabama and back to Ole Miss again already. so And still know that. We already knew this, but still don't go to Texas A&M.
00:27:43
Speaker
Cool. All right. You want to go through the rest the listener questions and then ah kind of go from there? Let's let's just let's just do it live, Jim. We'll do it live. ah Hey, go head over to workingwebmedia.com slash dogs. A list of questions are brought to you by them. They've helped but helped us out their website. Go check out their work and they'll know that we sent you their way.
00:28:03
Speaker
um Let's see. We have 51 to 7 GATA sent in our first question. um So he says, uniform Twitter. Should the dogs use their white jerseys in the Sugar Bowl, especially with this basically being a road game regardless of the opponent?
00:28:19
Speaker
he And he had attached some pictures of Georgia playing in Sugar Bowls in the white jerseys. I know people do. That is a talking point around a we play better in white.
00:28:34
Speaker
I don't know. yeah We also play pretty good in black too, Jim. Okay. Here we here we go It was a was a uniform Twitter question. um it I think it's interesting twofold. Actually, like to me, the second part is actually super interesting. With us playing in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, that's where Tulane is, and then Ole Miss right down the road.
00:28:59
Speaker
So either way, whoever we play in that game, it's going to be an interesting road game for us, at least travel-wise. i don't know about fan wise, fan presence wise, but travel wise will be.
00:29:11
Speaker
Yeah, the it'll it'll be interesting. i mean, I'm curious to see how this pans out because I've heard anecdotally that a lot of Georgia fans are potentially going to be sitting on the sideline for this game as rematch potential with Ole Miss. And then you know Tulane doesn't exactly present a whole whole lot of excitement from a fan from a fan exposure standpoint. um Everyone's kind of assuming that Ole Miss is going to win. And so that rematch coupled with the fact that the next games are,
00:29:42
Speaker
in you know phoenix and then you win that one you got to go to miami so like there's it it gets expensive quick man and some people don't have pto and yeah you know if you if you only have a certain number of days of pto you got to calculate where how you're going to use it and it may not include going to a quarterfinal game at uh you know at But in New Orleans, and had this game had that game been a home game for us, I guarantee you like there would be a lot more excitement and involvement in that game.
00:30:17
Speaker
But anecdotally, I'm hearing that a lot of folks are kind of sitting on the sidelines for this one. I'm sure that there will be plenty of folks that end up going, but... I mean, think you're I think you're asking a lot of fans, right? I mean, you've already gone to all these games throughout the season. Maybe you just went to the SEC championship game in Atlanta.
00:30:36
Speaker
Right. you and I mean, if we're to go all the way, then you're talking about New Orleans, Phoenix, and Miami. Like, that's a lot. um I do think โ I also think they have it backwards. Like, the games this weekend, those should be at both sites.
00:30:51
Speaker
the teams that won the bye quarterfinals should be on campus, my opinion, but not, not the opening round. I don't see why the, those, those teams um earn this great thing that the top four seeds don't earn. seems kind of weird.
00:31:08
Speaker
And that's where you you find out what everything really means and what everything is about is because the bulls don't want their prestige taken away. Right, right, right.
00:31:20
Speaker
i is the Just play me the Pop-Tart Bowl.
00:31:25
Speaker
I mean, yeah and Oh, it's so cooked.
Georgia Basketball Successes
00:31:31
Speaker
It's Loki cooked. The first part of the question, though, I actually don't know. like so yeah, we're the higher seed. I assume we're the home team.
00:31:38
Speaker
I assume we do get to pick, um but we're going wear red. there's There's no way we pick white. I'll say that. Yeah, whatever whatever happens, I'm sure we're going to end up in red. right, let's go to Fletcher Proctor where we have the basketball minute.
00:31:52
Speaker
Basketball at at least minute because he started off the number 25 ranked Georgia basketball team. It feels so good. Dogs, number 25. I think so the Cincinnati game was a game that Fletcher was pointing to preseason asking us questions about before the season even started.
00:32:09
Speaker
and i don't know if you watched in that game. It was a struggle in the first half. We actually looked not very good early in the game, but then... Finally i started hitting some shots, although not really from three point line, but tied it up at half and then just absolutely worked them in the second half dominated for the, uh, I'm trying to hoops giving, I think in Atlanta. Um, as we dominated that game, dogs are ranked. You've got John Rothstein actually tweeting about Georgia basketball.
00:32:41
Speaker
Uh, what a time to be life. It's pretty amazing. Well, they keep staying number one in the country and, uh, offense. Woof. Yeah. mean, yeah, I know it was like, I think heading into the Cincinnati game, we're scoring like 99 point something points a game.
00:32:57
Speaker
It's fun to watch. Yeah. Yeah, dude. They are. They are fun. um Need to have the threes start to drop at a higher frequency in conference play.
00:33:07
Speaker
But hey, man. This team is nine and one. And I think I have learned the roster for the most part now. I think I'm good. I'm i'm broken in. I know who these guys are. um And about this? I'm looking ahead, but we've also scheduled a home and home series with UNC with North north Carolina.
00:33:28
Speaker
so i saw that i saw that so we'll be at chapel hill uh next year and then i think two years after ah they'll do the return trip to athens so that's that's pretty sweet that's fun that'll be a fun one yeah to send to send a bunch of georgia fans to what is it it's not it's not cameron because cameron's the one for duke right what what do they call it You know what?
00:33:53
Speaker
I have no idea. Yeah, Cameron is Duke. The name of the the name of the chapel Chapel Hill Stadium, I feel like, has ah has one of those kind of names, but I can't remember it. I don't like the Dean Dome?
00:34:04
Speaker
The Dean Dome. know that's something they say, i think, from for Dean Smith, but I don't know what the actual name is.
Alabama's Performance Critique
00:34:12
Speaker
Um, okay. So Fletcher, hopefully that was, uh, I think that was basketball minutes even potentially, but, um, he also said how many, just how many excuses is Bama going to use if, and when they lose to Oklahoma is, have you seen all the, like Ty Simpsons back is hurt stuff.
00:34:30
Speaker
Did you see that floating around? I did see some, I said, I did see a little bit of that. I mean, they've, they've never lost a game when they had a fully healthy roster or they've never, Yeah.
00:34:41
Speaker
Yeah. The whole, the that whole concept is, i mean, they're talking about that. They're talking about lights and Norman, like, come on guys. Like there are so many, you missed that. yeah What is that?
00:34:57
Speaker
So Jeremy Bernard made a comment that their struggles against Oklahoma in Norman recent as of recently is because the lights in Norman are oriented in a weird way, and ah in a strange way to make it hard to see the ball.
00:35:14
Speaker
So like literally Jeremy Bernard was saying that they struggle in Norman, Oklahoma, because it's hard to see the ball because of the lights are too bright. So effectively the lights are too bright for Alabama and Norman, Oklahoma, apparently.
00:35:27
Speaker
I was going to say like, he walked right into that one. Yeah. I really don't understand why that's a thing because it, yeah. yeah I mean, Oklahoma has to play there.
00:35:40
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Everyone's playing in the same positions. um And then the last one, I guess we kind talked about this, but why do we have to pretend GMU and Tulane deserve to be in this CFP field?
00:35:52
Speaker
I'll say they deserve to be in based on the parameters that were set where you can. ah I think it's fine to disagree with the parameters, but based on the system we have, it's fine.
00:36:05
Speaker
And we all know that I don't, yeah we all know that I don't like the system, but neither here or there. Yeah, seriously. It is what it is. is what it is. ah All right. We already, we already, we skipped ahead earlier and answered this John Powell guy's question and dog stats.
00:36:21
Speaker
So we'll we'll go to a friend of the show, Tim Riley. Yeah. Sorry, Josh. There's not, there's not 12 good teams contract the playoffs field, play games on college campuses.
00:36:33
Speaker
um Yeah. Make the conferences smaller, make the regular season matter. Give me, I'll take more soul crushing losses. Yeah, seriously.
Playoff Evolution and Team Dominance
00:36:42
Speaker
Someone also did an analysis about the upsets that have been happening in college football and how that those have been remarkably dropped in in frequency because of the the way that we're structured.
00:36:55
Speaker
I mean, okay. So we can we can keep talking about the playoff format for a minute there. Let's hang on that because I'm going to go into the way back machine, John. Okay.
00:37:05
Speaker
Remember when we went on, trying to remember what the show was called at the time. I think it was called Dog Sports Live with Josh and Graham, and grandhamma we we sat and argued about playoff for like an hour before it expanded.
00:37:20
Speaker
I think that was actually one of your one of your like counterpoints on expanding the playoff was, like look at the FCS system. FCS has this huge playoff, but you actually have like more dominant teams in FCS.
00:37:36
Speaker
arguably even than in, in FBS. Like you've got like, and I don't, I'm not going to pretend to know which one it is, but like these, like the Dakota state schools, like North Dakota state and like South Dakota state.
00:37:47
Speaker
mean, those teams are like pretty dominant and they're like winning year after year, even with this, ah you know, big FCS playoff. So I don't think that,
00:37:58
Speaker
And I'm not saying this is the goal of it, but like the expanded playoff, I don't think like brings parody, you know, to the national championship winners. think you still end up with these dynasties.
00:38:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, basically you have um the haves and the have-nots, and i think that you still have a situation where about the the only thing that I think that the current platform is good for is um helping players get identified that can then transfer to away from the have-nots to the haves.
00:38:32
Speaker
ah Right. Yeah. um It's a farm system. It's a farm system to identify like talent that you maybe missed out on because, you know, maybe this person went to, let's just say, for example, i don't know, you're a Bear Alexander person and you went to USC to take a paycheck and then realized that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. And now you've moved to Oregon, who's in the CFP. And now you can get your your championship your championship run.
00:39:04
Speaker
Or you're a situation where you're in a school like um Texas and you're not happy with, you know, where you're at, you know, justice Terry, um you know, you, you move, move on. Or um I mean, there's, there's a couple of different examples of of this happening. Like, i mean, Diego Pavia got, got kind of discovered right at New Mexico and now, now he's at Vanderbilt and,
00:39:29
Speaker
um you've got these guys that are taking, taking these players because they have a higher profile in the in the way that the things are structured right now. And I just think that it, it just waters down everything.
00:39:42
Speaker
And just at the end of the day, like, okay, we've, we've done, ah we've done this for what the expanded playoff. When did
Underdog Predictions and Listener Picks
00:39:50
Speaker
we go? how How long has it been since we went from four teams?
00:39:53
Speaker
This is only a year two. I mean, year two, like, I just, I mean, even when the even with the 14 playoff, like who's, who's won, who's won the national championship. It's the blue blood.
00:40:03
Speaker
Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. And I don't, I don't see that changing anytime soon. You totally are going to make Indiana win this whole thing now because of saying that.
00:40:15
Speaker
I just don't. Okay. Hot, hot take Jim. Yeah. I think Indiana is this year's TCU. Yeah. Hmm. Man. Okay. Okay.
00:40:26
Speaker
I think they're going to get, i think they're going get exposed in this playoff. Definitely possible. Definitely possible. Well, they're going to get either Alabama or Oklahoma in round two. So, I kind of hope that Oklahoma wins just because that Alabama defense is garbage, hot garbage. um I'd like to see, I'd like to see Indiana play this Oklahoma defense. Cause I still think that there's a, a world where the Ohio off state defense is still kind of unchallenged for lack of a better description.
00:40:57
Speaker
Gotcha. They struggled. They struggled with Texas and Texas got boat raced. so Yeah. Yeah. ah Okay. Let's hit friend of the show, Tim Riley. He has a three for, he says, ah why would Georgia not want to see Ole Miss for a rematch?
00:41:11
Speaker
Cause it's hard to beat a team twice. And because two lane isn't as good. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, i think that it'd be nice to not have to play these rematches. That's another thing that I don't like about the expanded playoff is that it it creates so much opportunity for for these rematches. And yeah i hate i hate that.
00:41:33
Speaker
i mean Tulane Ole Miss is a rematch. like That's rematch. like ah That's a rematch. We've got Oklahoma, Alabama. You've got Tulane, Ole Miss.
00:41:44
Speaker
What else? We will have, well, not necessarily, but odds are we're going a rematch in the quarter of Ole Miss. if your If your whole mantra is like settle it on the field, play the games, you know that kind of thing, like we already did play the games. Yeah.
00:42:04
Speaker
ah I agree with you so much. Okay. You're speaking my language there. um Who has the toughest first round game? I mean, JMU. i don't know if that's the answer he's looking for Yeah, JSU for sure.
00:42:21
Speaker
um i would say that Alabama probably has the toughest game. you know let's let's Let's just exclude the Tulane and James james Madison. um Yeah, I would actually say James Madison maybe has the toughest game, but um let's just ignore those two outliers because they just stick out like a sore thumb. like what Who do you think has a tougher game, Texas A&M versus Miami or Oklahoma versus Alabama?
00:42:47
Speaker
I mean, the line is closer for Alabama-Logalama. I'll say that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. i think I think Oklahoma and Alabama is probably the the toughest game on that schedule.
00:42:57
Speaker
Alabama on the road with their back up against the wall. Coach has got something to prove. That black hoodie is just stinking of stinking of loss. Yeah. I mean, does he keep wearing it at this point? like Yes, of course he is. He's going to wear that stupid black hoodie. Okay, okay.
00:43:19
Speaker
Until someone tells him to not wear it. Right. Or until he takes the Michigan job. Oh my gosh. after coming out After coming out and releasing his ah vote of confidence for the University of Alabama.
00:43:33
Speaker
Yeah. I was like, he's gone. into that You know what I think is hilarious is people are putting on the Photoshop of Kirby Smart and Michigan gear. And I just think that that's that's amazing.
00:43:44
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know what's going on with that. yeah kirby Kirby is listening to Michigan's offer. Yeah, i saw I saw that today. That was hilarious. is he Is he listening to it because he thinks it's funny? Like, what's going on?
00:43:58
Speaker
Right, right. That's his agent trying to get more money. Yeah. Jimmy Sexton's. I mean, based on the money that's flying around, I don't see how that doesn't happen, but... Yeah.
00:44:08
Speaker
Yeah. Okay, Tim's last one was, outside of X's and O's, do the teams that have a buy have a disadvantage? I guess it just remains to be seen. where as Jim mentioned, we're on year two of this this expanded playoff situation. But yeah i I think taking a month off is an awfully long time to be idle, as we've seen from the police report in Athens.
00:44:35
Speaker
Yeah. It is. And in that the team that you're, you know it was one thing when you were waiting to play in the New Year's Day game, but so was your opponent.
00:44:46
Speaker
And the fact that the opponent has a you know, a weak head start after they also got a layoff, by the way. Right. So they get at least a week off before their game and then they're going back to back.
00:44:57
Speaker
So. I don't know. i do i I definitely do, though, agree with something then I've been repeating of that you know small sample size of just last year. Let's kind of wait to see how this year plays out, and especially with the the changes that they made you know where last year you had two teams that got buys that would not have received a buy in the current system. in Arizona state and Boise state.
00:45:22
Speaker
So I feel like that, you know, that's half of the teams that, that had that happen to them. So but let's, let's kind of see how this year goes. Yeah. Cool. Agreed. All right. That's what we got for listener questions.
00:45:34
Speaker
um You want to some picks? we do some picks for these playoff games. We can do some picks.
Playoff Predictions and Future Outlook
00:45:39
Speaker
Just to clarify, this is for fun, not for is coaches pick them, correct them.
00:45:45
Speaker
I mean, I don't know. I don't know. if if i play the if I play the music? Does it mean it's freaking... Oh, should have kept my mouth shut. I could play it on on a technicality.
00:45:56
Speaker
Oh, my God! My God, a person. Shenanigans! I put glasses on it. 9080, who, brother?
00:46:10
Speaker
Uh, sorry. That was fun. Let's do some picks. Let's do some picks. Um, shout out coach trouble. Uh, all right. So let's just do these like in, in order of when they occur.
00:46:23
Speaker
So first one, Friday night, uh, Alabama at Oklahoma, 8 PM on ABC. Oklahoma is actually a one point favorite. in this game.
00:46:33
Speaker
Um, here, I actually, I actually pulled up some stuff here. Um, the CFB graphs like Parker Fleming, he has Oklahoma winning super tight, uh, 21.39 to so definitely um so definitely looks like it's going to be a close one. I went to to Josh's, uh, and John's what they've got the dog stats and speakeasy.
00:46:57
Speaker
um, he He has the live win probability from, what is it? I don't even know how say it. Is it Kalshi? And it's like a split 50-50.
00:47:10
Speaker
Maybe this doesn't matter, but i I just am looking at it from, is Oklahoma really going to beat Alabama the first three times they play in this, you know, since Oklahoma joined? Um, and I think like, had I not seen what Alabama looks like when we played them, I would have taken Alabama as well.
00:47:26
Speaker
Um, so I know. It's like from that reason leaning Oklahoma, but I don't know. I had feeling like these guys never go away for some reason. So I think going to actually take Alabama. Uh, um, give me, give give me giveme Oklahoma and Norman. Okay.
00:47:42
Speaker
That's probably the smart pick. I think that i think that i think that they've got they've got the home field advantage. They've got a wounded elephant, so to speak. Yeah.
00:47:54
Speaker
And as long as โ actually, I tell you what, I'm going to make this basis a lot a lot simpler. Is Jam Miller healthy? That is a great question that I do not know the answer to.
00:48:06
Speaker
Jam Miller injury. Let's see here. Oh, says that he is available. Jam Miller available for Alabama football. um When do they, have they already posted? It's Wednesday that they have to post the availability reports, right? That's also, that is an sec thing.
00:48:23
Speaker
So that's a conference game thing. Is this a conference game? I mean, technically no. Yeah.
00:48:31
Speaker
Good question. Got it. So they don't have to post injury availability. injury availability. they hunt post availability I do not believe they do. Yeah, that's my understanding. I'll still take i so i'll still take ah Oklahoma, but yeah, Oklahoma definitely if Jim Miller is unavailable.
00:48:52
Speaker
Okay. for the reasons For the reasons that I stated in our review episode of of this game. Yep. Yep. Yep. Okay. Let's see. The next game up Saturday, the 12 o'clock kickoff on ABC. You got number 10 Miami at seven seed Texas A&M.
00:49:11
Speaker
A&M is favored by three and a half. And it is not lost on me that Carson Beck is playing at Texas A&M before Georgia does. Yeah.
00:49:25
Speaker
Got him. i I'm actually not sure about this one. So A&M's running back that's been hurt is like still hurt.
00:49:36
Speaker
And I think he's kind of like questionable on if he's going to be back or not. um I'm going to go with A&M just off defense because I think Carson Beck will probably like start turning the ball over. But I actually do think this could be a good game.
00:49:48
Speaker
Give me Miami on this one, Jim. o I think Texas A&M is about as fraudulent as it gets. Okay. Okay. All right. Next up, the 330. And then, like, I can't believe these are. Do we need to pick the other two games?
00:50:04
Speaker
Number six, Ole Miss hosts 11-2 lane, 330 on TNT. Ole Miss favored by 17 and a half. What is going on? Yeah, I'm going to take Ole Miss on this one, Jim. Yes, I agree.
00:50:16
Speaker
um And then, i don't know, like ah that should be a playoff game. Sorry. um I need to stop being so negative. um Rounding it out, Saturday night, GMU, number 12 GMU at number five, Oregon. Oregon favored by 21 points.
00:50:31
Speaker
Dan Lanning makes it back to the quarterfinal. Ducks roll. curious. Ducks roll, yeah. I'm curious, what the what was the weather report for you, Gene?
00:50:42
Speaker
o let's see here uh it's supposed to be a high of 48 degrees just trying to see is it going to be snowing there high of 48 low of 38 does not appear to be snowy weather conditions um yeah give me oregon in this one for sure i' just wondering if we were going to potentially see a blizzard bowl gotcha gotcha um what's college stations weather like cow field isn't college station like hot oh yeah it looks like it's like 50 right there now so never mind yeah warmer it's a warmer i did see someone saying the norman could potentially have had snow but um i think it's going to be fairly warm there gotcha gotcha well cool that's your that's your cfp it's gonna be degrees in norman
00:51:36
Speaker
Okay. Okay. So no, no snow stuff. I do think that Indiana, uh, Notre Dame game, I feel like there was light snow last year, if I remember, but could be wrong. All right. Like but those are, those are all reasons why like we should be playing some of these games on some of these college campuses. Cause mean, if you were playing in Indiana and it was playing game from the South, like that's, that's a major, that's a major benefit.
00:52:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent for sure. Look cool, man. Um, apologies on the schedule. I am unable to read text messages apparently. Uh, you may be reading this Saturday morning.
00:52:22
Speaker
perhaps Uh, so my, my bad on that. Uh, but yeah, no, was fun to get together, preview this. Um, and then, ah that's, I will, we got to figure out the timing, but at some point we'll, uh, at least after this weekend, um we'll be back to, uh, preview the sugar bowl against whoever we're going to play.
00:52:42
Speaker
Yeah, we're going to at least wait until the after the Ole Miss game. Ole Miss two lanes until we see a winner. um But yeah, let's ah let's sit back and relax and you know enjoy enjoy your kids and wife. And then next week, we'll be back to ignoring everything. Go Go Dawgs.