The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Local Hour: NFL Playoff and College Football Playoff Reaction

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

It's not only a NFL Playoff reaction Monday, it's not only a College Football Playoff reaction Monday, but it's a Greg Cote Monday, and Greg is here and ready to go while wearing the same outfit he's worn for 3 of the last 4 days. Dan, Stu, and the Shipping Container are full of takes from the weekend that was in football, but Dan wants to be sure we start with something we've never seen before from a rookie QB. After discussing Jayden Daniels' excellence with the Washington Commanders, the crew dives into the Steelers loss to the Baltimore Ravens and what it says about the state of the franchise. Then, Zane Gonzalez's big moment, Todd Bowles' strange sideline interview, Nate Burleson's world, Cam Newton's special forces, and Jessica's future Bears head coach. Plus, what have Notre Dame and Ohio State proved about themselves and the 12-team CFP? Also, Wolf Blitzer's entertainment system looks like Greg Cote's, and the crew tries to figure out what to do with Justin Herbert and Jordan Love. Today's cast: Dan, Stugotz, Greg, Chris, Billy, Jess, Mike, and Roy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. 299 plus tax try one for try our full Tim's elects lineup terms apply prices may vary at participating restaurants in Canada What a delightful Monday surprise Greg Cody of the Miami Herald is in and Chris Cody I'm gonna make an accusation now that you'll be able to tell me whether is accurate or not. I'm pretty sure it's accurate He's wearing a Christmas shirt. Brand new, because I haven't seen your father wear a shirt that's not more than a quarter of a century old.

I'm telling you, everything, I'm not even kidding you. I'm telling you that every shirt he brings in here has the wrinkles of decades. Okay, I don't deny that. It does, literally, some of my shirts do have the wrinkles of decades. Okay, I don't deny that. It does, literally, some of my shirts do have the wrinkles of decades. Pardon my voice, I'm still getting over whatever the hell I'm getting over.

You sound somehow worse than you did last week. I know, but I feel better. I feel better. But this shirt, it's true that it's a Christmas shirt, and I'm gonna admit something to you and your audience that I probably should not, because I think I'm in the minority here. The outfit I'm gonna admit something to you and your audience that I probably should not, because I think I'm in the minority here. The outfit I'm wearing right now,

the jeans and this shirt, I love so much that I wore the exact same outfit to dinner Friday night and again Saturday night. And I told my wife Saturday, I'm getting changed. I'm like, no one will know but you. Wait a minute, so you've worn this three out of the last four days? Uh huh, exactly.

You just keep putting, you just keep, it's a good looking shirt. It is a good looking shirt. It looks crisp and clean. Billy is rushing in and Stugats is rushing in from the award winning God Bless football. Fools rush in. I'm just kidding.

Isn't that the name of the movie? Fool's Rush In. It is. It is, yeah. Salma Hayek. Yep. There you go. Ed DePurri.

Decent movie, yeah. Yeah, don't take that literally, Billy and Stu. That's been offensive. It was offensive. I'd do nothing but defend you and this is how I get it. I'm sorry, Billy. It's the way you greet us on a Monday morning. Yeah.

No bedside manner. Good movie? I never heard of it. Sounds like an old-timey movie That's a classic mid-90s rom-com. Is it? All right Rom comes are coming back. I read are that I didn't know they left Put it on the pole, please juju at LeBata show our rom-coms coming back The question I was going to ask Billy is have you ever seen Greg Cody wearing a shirt? That's not a quarter century old is that a new one Can't you tell is why'd you get it? Isn't it obvious? Well, there was a holiday recently really

Yeah, and I got a bunch of gifts that I had to unwrap. Although I didn't unwrap most of them because nowadays everybody put your gift in a bag But mom especially oh she has punted on wrapping gifts our entire tree is just filled with bags It's so depressing to come out and see a bunch of bags under a tree Oh depressing more depressing to not have any gifts under the tree. I would suppose like I don't And she's I imagine she's also a better gift buyer than you are. Do I have that wrong? No, I'm a very, very thoughtful gift buyer. Are you? Yeah.

For the last year, she's been stirring her coffee in the morning with a knife, which really drives me crazy. And I'm like, use a spoon. And she's like, we don't have enough spoons. So one of my Christmas gifts for her was a dozen beautiful silver spoons. That's thoughtful. That was like a gift for you.

You've got a gift for yourself. Patty Black, yeah. It's going to be crazy. It's not full. That was like a good for you. So yeah, you got a gift for yourself It's a thoughtful gift. She loves red licorice. I sent away for like, you know top-of-the-line Australian Licorice that's good stuff. Yeah No, like the best liquor is from Australia Yeah, I know that not Austria I don't think you can argue that it's a thoughtful gift if at the end of the day, you're the person benefiting from those.

I got my brother and I got my father an Atari for Father's Day one time. Atari. Just so you could play with it. When I was a kid. You were 34 years old. Dad, didn't you also set out this holiday season to get mom the most expensive bottle of Pinot Noir

you could find? I did. How'd that go? It went well. I mean. Or did you end up when you got all the prizes, you're like, I'll. How'd that go? It went well, I mean. Or did you end up when you got all the prices, you're like, I'll take the third most. Well, I'm gonna be honest with you,

I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here. I basically went to an unknown, an unnamed liquor store, brand name Big Time National Liquor Store, with two words in the title. And I asked them, what's your best Pinot Noir? And they gave me several choices and I paid a little pretty penny for it.

Jessica, how do you feel when Greg Cody mentions that he's been wearing the same outfit since Friday? I've been wearing the same outfit since Friday too. Thank you. This is the Don LeBattor Show with the Stugats Podcast. If you had to choose a story from the football weekend to start with, do you start with a winner or with a loser if you can only pick one thing as the most important thing that you're most interested in talking about because I was

underwhelmed by most of the games all the home teams winning until I saw a rookie winning a road playoff game and not just winning a road playoff games, Dugats. Mm-hmm. But winning a road playoff game with no turnovers and no punts. These stats I'm about to read are crazy because road playoff games are obviously hard to win. Only one team did it yesterday. They probably broke Mike Ryan's heart. But this is from OptaStats.

In NFL history, there have been three instances of a team having zero turnovers and zero punts in a game behind a rookie starting quarterback, either regular or postseason. All three games are Jaden Daniels. Week two, week three, and a road playoff game. And then this one is more stunning. clausen jane tannials has more games in his career where his team has your opponents in zero turnovers three including the playoffs than the combined careers of tom brady joe montana pete manning and patrick mahomes combined was stunning to watch yesterday even if you've been watching jayden daniels all year seeing him go in as an underdog on the road and beating Baker Mayfield in Tampa. I don't mean to make that less impressive by what I'm about to say because it is impressive unequivocally but the fact that their

coach goes for it on fourth and one and fourth and two almost all the time even in his own territory does mitigate how many times they have to punt. Well, I mean wouldn't you with that quarterback though? Yeah, I might. I might. And that's the trend. But this guy, man, including in yesterday's game, time and time and time again, he's going for it. He misses it a couple of times in a row.

He goes for it again and they scored a touchdown pass out of one of those gambles. To answer Dan's question about winner or loser and what was the biggest story from the weekend, it's always more fun to kind of highlight the losers. And the big loser this weekend was Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert. Oh. I mean, Mr. Tough Guy, we're gonna stop the run,

we're gonna run the football, and I've got this quarterback that if you were building a quarterback at a lab, this is the guy you would want to be your starting quarterback and he gives you three interceptions in that spot eight terrible job by the chargers terrible i think justin herbert had four interceptions all regular season yet any at three and one game in the playoffs but did he have three interceptions all season was it three all season that's his first three interception game ever. I should say by

the way two of those weren't his fault. They went right through the the run. I mean they were just little passes out to the flat. He throws the ball hard though. Yes he does. The stats here. This one's great. This one's great though. This stat here. Are you familiar with the three leading receivers for the Chargers on Saturday? Because- Well, one of them's definitely gotta be Lad. Yes, Lad had nine catches, so Lad's the leading receiver, nine catches for 197 yards.

That third and 26 play was crazy after Herbert took two straight sacks. The only touchdown the Chargers scored in the game. Can we trust Houston's defense again? No, like where did that come from? No, that was weird. I don't have a good explanation for you It was weird to see the Chargers that constipated I'd be careful if I'm Kansas City, but lad Why What? Stu got minor penalty two minutes before the Chiefs talk. I was talking Texans. Texans versus the Texans.

A couple of Texans cutting it up. The Kansas City Chiefs were originally the Dallas Texans if you happened to be listening last Wednesday when he made that joke. Yeah, it's a good joke. So Ladd-McConkie goes nine for, and then their third leading, the third leading receiver that Justin Herbert threw passes to was Will Disley, two for 16. And then he threw four passes for 108 yards to the Texans. 108 yards, one of them a pick six.

He's not wrong when he says that was the disaster of the weekend. Do you go winner or loser? Because a lot of people are talking about the Steelers as well. They're talking about the fact that Mike Tomlin is in this area that Jimmy Johnson used to talk about. The enemy of great is good, where you're just sort of stuck with overachieving seasons and then you get to the playoffs. And rare is that, right? A lot of people are accusing the Steelers of cheating, I'm sorry, of quitting. That is not what happened at the game.

The Ravens just leaned on them all game, gutted them and wore them out. Cam Hayward is not a quitter, but on the first 95 yard drive, because you have to start tackling Derrick Henry, Cam Hayward is already gutted on his own goal line, one series into the game because of how Baltimore plays football.

It's just, it's really hard to defend them. I'd go outside of the pro ranks. Friday's Cotton Bowl between Ohio State and Texas, with Texas driving at the very end, and to have Quinn Ure's former college roommate come up with a strip sack in an iconic moment for a very prestigious program in Ohio State. I thought that that was the coolest moment of the weekend. Billy, what did you talk about on God Bless Football

as the first item of business? Oh, the first item of business. Man, you're really putting me through the ring right here. What was the first thing we talked about? Not the first thing. The actual first thing we talked about? Like on the day or? Like how do we start the show? Am I getting kicked out? I see you fumbling over there.

So I'll just go. Vone, here. Two minutes rambling. Good shift for the GDF crew. How many turnovers do the Bills have this year? Because one of the most stunning things of my football lifetime is seeing the reckless coached out of Josh Allen.

How many turnovers do they have this year? Do they have double digit turnovers? All of them. I'm not even just talking about interceptions. I'm talking about, I don't think that team has double digit turnovers. I don't understand forced turnovers or like on offense, including fumbles loss. No, yeah, no, I'm talking about coaching the reckless out of Josh Allen and seeing Josh Allen and the Bill's steam roll. Okay.

The defensive player of the year probably in Patrick Sertan, who allows them to have the best pass rush in the sport and They just did whatever they wanted in the second half of the football game. You know, it was crazy from that game Knicks to Franklin was the first ever Rookie to rookie touchdown connection in NFL playoff history As well, but then I guess it makes sense because it's hard for rookie quarterbacks to make it to the NFL postseason historically and put up good performances in their first crack at it. But that's wild. The NFL has been around for a while. The Bills tied the NFL

record for fewest total turnovers in a regular season with eight this year. And he doesn't get sacked anymore either. And typically guys that depend on their their physical ability that know that they can escape will hold on to the ball longer and he does, but it's hard to get home on Josh Allen. I marvel at him. He's getting better and better. And now seemingly overnight he's got Jesus hair and it's just, yeah, how do you go up against that? The Ravens Bills game that'll be Sunday evening, 6 30, put the kids to bed. That game is going to be freaking incredible. Winner takes on the Texans. What? No! Thank you!

Stugarts minor penalty two minutes for Chief's talk. No! It's Houston in that one. I have to say we should all be rooting against Houston just in general because we can't let them not have the Saturday afternoon playoff window going forward. That was the perfect way to ease myself into the weekend. I was like, oh thank God, Houston's on. This is a great little appetizer. I watched the Nickelodeon broadcast.

By the way, when the dirty bubble got Jim Harbaugh, it was over for the Chargers after that. I mean, that was it. Great broadcast. But we can't let them be so good that they're now getting prime time billing. Like we just can't let that happen. That Bills Ravens game is the Chiefs benefiting

from what the Patriots benefited from to get seven Super Bowl wins, where you get the first round by, and then you only have to play one good team to get to the Super Bowl. You you only have to play one good team to get to the Super Bowl You don't have to play two of them We would like the Chiefs chances a lot better of getting to the Super Bowl if they had to play both Baltimore and Buffalo in order to get there

But like all of us are sitting there saying of both the Ravens and the Bills both of those teams can be Super Bowl Champions like sure they can beat anyone in the sport in a way that's obvious. They can go into Kansas City. Tell me Baltimore's style isn't suited for a bad weather game, wherever it is that you want to play. If you're just, man, I haven't seen Cam Hayward look like he's quitting. The Steelers are getting accused of quitting because the Ravens just leaned on them all game.

Is TJ Watt just supremely banged up because he's gone a shocking amount of snaps without registering a stat? The last five games of the Steelers season, including the postseason, were about as bad of a stretch on both sides that I've seen from the Steelers in a really long time. So even though the record is the same

and the first round playoff exit is the same as a lot of years, like this has been a pretty bad collapse. And I will say the schedule did them no favors. They had to play three really, really tough games in a short window, but regardless, I don't think that's like your excuse. I think like Mike said, like you've got really bad injury

luck in a couple key positions, and then some of your best players just not producing down the stretch and already a really tough offense to produce with a wide receiver that's hurt and also in it sometimes and not in it sometimes like just a Bad bad stretch of football Aaron Rodgers. No I think first of all, I think the Tomlin conversation that everyone's going to have today, I don't think he's going anywhere, so I think it's just a waste of time to have that conversation again.

But they're probably going to resign Russ and just not give him a ton of money, is my guess. Aaron, I feel like that's a slight upgrade over what we have with Russ. It was weird, because it was kind of unfortunate. I understand the game plan going in there, and I understand the distrust that Russ kind of built up over these last few weeks Once he started stretching the field and taking shots down You kind of started talking yourself back into it and it was almost like you guys went into this game a little too Conservative but that's kind of how Pittsburgh's been able to only want to do it. Yeah, that's how they get these upsets

I get it, but they did look good when they started stretching the field and Russ did look Accurate going down the field. It was just I think I think that they waited too long to trust him I know I'm a cheerleader for the Ravens, but I'm really looking forward to the Baltimore Detroit Super Bowl Which is seems preordained and Baltimore would be my betting pick to be the most likely to get there the Ravens you could make a strong argument have the two most valuable players in the entire league and a Ravens defense that was awful the first half of the season has been great lately. I mean the Ravens, unlike the opposite of the Steelers, the Ravens are really coming on at just the right time. To his point, since they moved Kyle

Hamilton to safety week 11, the ravens are all number one across the board and all the defensive stats but what jessica saying about that collapse of the steelers of their last five games they lost by fourteen or more points for of their last five they lost five in a row by a total of sixty six points they collapsed upon the end of the season but when mike mentions tj watt i don't know what he was doing in the game before last but i thought that the game plan on tj watt

was just to have him on block and let lamar decide every time as he decided to tackle derrick henry without the ball to just run around to where he was and that's how they neutralized him by just having Lamar Jackson stare at him at all game and say you're the only person on this field who can beat me because you're the only person on this field who can take this football from me and if I just do run run pass option the entire time from the very beginning of the game they had no answers for that and then Derek Henry's coming close to 200 yards because you can make the argument based on just statistics that

that's the best rushing offense we've ever seen where the running backs are disposable they've got two of them that aren't disposable. This is the most loaded Lamar Jackson team I think I've ever seen I'm sure that they've had better records but they're peaking right now Todd Monkin should really be discussed as one of the brilliant minds because I was convinced they've maximized Lamar Jackson with this Greg Roman style and Todd Monkin comes in and he shows you exactly how talented of a thrower the football Lamar Jackson can be.

They have first round picks everywhere. Their defense is game. They're gonna like, I know Pittsburgh scored 14 points so you can't hold the 13 point benchmark against Lamar anymore. He finally beat a team that scored more than 13. They scored 14, you know, pretty similar. I think we all have supreme confidence that Buffalo can put up more than 14 points, so

we're going to get a lot of questions answered with that game. There's high drama surrounding that Baltimore-Buffalo game because there's so much on the line from a narrative standpoint, and that's's as good as sports can get. Let's play the sound of George Pickens after the game basically criticizing the Steeler offense that has I did not have that one today Mike Ryan calling for Aaron Rodgers is the next Steeler quarterback. Let's hear from George Pickens here. George you've done with this offense now for three years have you seen signs of growth and how much more is this team still in good offense? Yeah, I've seen signs of growth for sure. From the past first year I've been here, just way more growth for sure.

Does that make you optimistic going forward? Nah. How many people like him? How many people like him? Oh my god. He's unusual, man. Can we play the sound, please, of the commanders winning the game and the radio call? They went on a doink field goal, 37-yard field goal from Zane Gonzalez. A lot of people have noticed that he was twitchy right before that.

He was doing a lot of playing with his hair as he often does, and it seems, does he have clinically diagnosed OCD? Because I don't think this is just nerves, he's done this before where he gets, he looks nervous if he's not nervous because of the amount that he's playing with his hair. They win the game at the end, and I'd like to hear the radio call of that Please I'm not sure who these announcers are help me out here with the announcer. They're awesome I don't know their names, but they're terrific It's the way you want your local announcers to call a game like this in a play like that

Gonzales looking to send Washington into the divisional round. Snap good, hold down, kick on it's way. It is done! The cardiac commanders are the clutch commanders! They do it again! We'll see you in Detroit! And Jai Gonzalez kicks in the door and kicks us into the thingamawam! That is the commander's radio network, Bram Weinstein, London Fletcher, and Logan Paulson

on the call. What you don't see is London Fletcher. Why Bram? Because he doesn't want to step on his call. London Fletcher is fist pumping. He is having a celebration in that booth. It was glorious. Can I tell you something that happened to me yesterday

that made me realize how my viewing habits have changed? Yesterday is the first day in my life that I am watching football games. And while watching football games, Stugats, because I've always been somebody here recently that's been watching them on Red Zones, that the Red Zone doesn't have commercials, I am legitimately discovering shows for the first time

that promote during the NFL games, which is why it is that all of these networks are fighting over the NFL schedule, so they can introduce you, of course, on CBS to Hollywood squares making. We're doing that again? Yes we are making.

Nate Burleson has CBS in the sharpshooter right now. Yes, yes. Nate Burleson. He can have anything made. Nate Burleson can go into any office at CBS and be like I'm young, I'm black and you don't have anything like this on your menu. I'm good, just give me everything. So he's hosting Hollywood squares but here Stugatz is something I had not noticed before. Special forces the world's toughest test

here is and can I interest you in some Cam Newton jumping from a boat onto a helicopter. All of this seems a little bit dangerous when I saw it with the sound down, of course, I said to myself, is that Cam Newton? That can't be Cam Newton. Why would Cam Newton be doing that? All of this seems a little bit scary, but he does grab onto a helicopter, and that is a lot of weight he is carrying

onto the helicopter. All of that looks scary. That seems like a show. Billy, this seems like down your alley. Special Forces, World's Toughest Test. I did see that and it is on my list of things that I need to watch. Plus I have a soft spot for Kim, we all know that.

If you walk into the CBS offices with that idea though, that's not gonna fly on CBS. Well this is like the third season of this show. There are certain shows that are Fox shows like we all know there's Fox shows. Was that Billy Baldwin? There's a different Baldwin. That might have been Stephen. It's Haley's dad. It's wonderful. Wait Billy this is like the challenge but like even more Military focused right and with celebrity Adjacent people was so as a challenge. Yeah, I guess it's exciting. This is the third season And this is a celebrity it would be weird though

Like it'd be like look I don't want to put this out there But like what if you were to hear like yeah, Cam Newton was decapitated by a military helicopter. And like, what? Like, yeah, he was filming a show and he's just so tall that he stood up on the side of it and it took off his head. Wow. It'd be a terrible way to go, right? There is precedent for this in show business.

Mike Ryan's been wanting to talk about this. Mike Ryan has been wanting to talk about this. Decapitated celebrities? For six months. No. Helicopters? Helicopter accidents on the set of the movie The Twilight Zone in 1983. Yeah, you covered it.

It's not a joking map. No, it was an impaling. No. It was children, wasn't it? Two children and one movie star, Vic Morrow. Yeah, this actually happened. This was a thing that happened, and if you look into it, all sorts of set rules were broken

and all sorts of set rules have now been put in place because of this. Do you listen to the behind the bastards episode on it too? Mm-hmm. It's a good one. Stu Gott. So that's it, I mean. Was it John Landis?

Yeah. Ooh. Ooh. Wow, Rob Serling turning over in his grave. Kinda altered the trajectory of that career. And it was like three different directors that got together. And when it came time to promote it, none of the other directors wanted anything to do

with the project because, you know, the death. Put it on the poll. Did you love the Twilight Zone at Leventard show? Because I did. I'm still afraid of ceiling fans. This is a message from sponsor Intuit Turbo Tax. Guys, Taxes was dealing with piles of paperwork and frustrating forms and then waiting and wondering and worrying if you're going to get any money back.

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Smart. Stugats. Smart sports. This is the Dan Lebatard Show with the Stugats. Stugats had a great take last week. Off air. It wasn't something I don't think he might have said it on God Bless Football, but he didn't say it here. He just said, you know, who doesn't have any, any stress or pressure headed into the playoffs? Todd Bowles. Yeah, I said it here. I gave one interview. Yeah, I said it here. He lost another playoff game and nobody cares. Let's play the interview at halftime though that

suggests that he he might sometimes get lost in the weeds on certain things. Todd Bowles is not a great interview. Todd Bowles in all our lives listening to Todd Bowles. Todd Bowles usually doesn't say very interesting things, but here's Todd Bowles at halftime, not giving you a lot of confidence where he gets stuck in the quicksand. How do you limit Jaden Daniels? Gotta get him in long third and longer yardage.

He's gotta win first down, he keeps getting out of the pocket to his left, to his, our left, his left, I mean our left, his right, and we gotta cut that down. That matters. It's confusing though. That's when I started getting worried for old right. We gotta cut that down. That matters. It's confusing though. That's when I started getting worried for old bake. We've all been there.

That's hilarious. Go ahead and play it again. And this might suggest that the coach of the Tampa Bay Bucks was slightly confused about which direction Jayden Daniels was going all night. How do you limit Jayden Daniels? Gotta get him in long third and longer yardage. You gotta win first down.

He keeps getting out of the pocket to his left, to his, our left, his left, his left. I mean, our left, his right. And we gotta cut that down. Thanks Todd. Yeah. He always looks confused though. I mean, if you watch Todd Bowles on the sideline, he looks confused the entire game. No coach looks more confused than Todd Bowles.

That's not true, Eberfluss. Oh, that's a good one, but he's a former coach now. I'm still confused by stage left and stage right. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. Our left, his left, I mean our left is right and we gotta cut that down. If you think about it, the left tackle's also the right tackle.

I wanted to ask the group based on Mike Ryan saying that the best game of the weekend was Friday night a couple of different questions about college football. I don't know if Ryan Day has changed your appraisal since December 21st but he's beaten two of the top three teams in the SEC and also the number one team in the country in the last three weeks. Blew them out. But two of the top three SEC teams and the number one team in the country.

I don't know if your opinion has changed on that. You have heard me recently lament. I really don't like any of the measurement systems in sports playoffs outside of basketball for being an accurate measurement, but I do believe that most of us would agree that the two teams at the end here are probably the two best teams. And I'm just super bummed out that Notre Dame is clearly suffering the ill effects of they shouldn't be playing 15 games a season.

They've got almost double digit people hurt trying to play this game against Ohio State. And so it makes for an imperfect measurement where they're a 10 point or a nine and a half point dog playing against an Ohio State team that is healthier than they are. Yeah, I've been given that a lot of thought and it can get really stuck in the mud

by also justifying that, well, they don't play a conference championship game, so that's one less game, but if they did play the conference championship game, they would have won the conference championship. Ohio State didn't either this year. Yeah, and they would have gotten maybe a bye week there, but to the original point,

yeah, I've never had more confidence, really, I think in my adult life, that the two best, safer, one of those Alabama-Georgia championship games, these are the two best teams in the nation and one of the teams probably wouldn't have been in a four-team playoff. Notre Dame probably would have, but we have all sorts of questions about Notre Dame. Can they do it? They've done so much for their brand. Marcus Freeman has done so much for himself particularly with the path that they've taken to get here. We've had two great semis back-to-back which is kind of an

outlier historically with the CFP the semis are usually very underwhelming so I think also when you look back once Clemson won that game, the committee got it right everybody was championing those SEC teams and the SEC teams did not acquit themselves nicely. The teams specifically that they were talking about being left out, did not win their games outside of Ole Miss. I think that this is a great year one for the CFP. There are obvious changes that they're going to make when it comes to the teams that get the buy.

But all in all, great experience so far. And I think this is tremendous. How about Marcus Freeman and the Bears? Huh? I mean is that a face of a franchise or what? You don't like this no He goes from one team to another one of your teams. I mean, okay full disclosure The Bears are not one of my teams. It's like a bit. I've been doing for like seven years and I hate the Bears but He's making he just signed a huge extension at Notre Dame. I think he'd be stupid not to take an interview but I would be surprised if he left. I think he does like college. But um back to Mike's point about like what the final four would have been without the 12 team playoff

this year. I've seen a lot of takes that like these two teams wouldn't have even made the playoffs. So it's like devaluing the playoff system, like devalues conference championship games, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think it's fairly, shouldn't be controversial to say that the top four of this final playoff ranking would not have been the top four if there was a 14 playoff.

The playoff committee changed the way they address conference championship games this year because of the bye weeks and 12 team playoff. The playoff committee changed the way they address conference championship games this year because of the bye weeks and 12-team playoff. So while the final ranking I think was Oregon, Georgia, Texas, Penn State, they were the top four. They're also the four teams that played in the SEC and Big Ten championship games. I don't think that would have been the final four if we didn't have 12 teams. And like it's up for debate who the four would have been. Obviously Oregon would have been in there and Georgia would have been in there. But I could have seen Texas Notre Dame be the other two. I could

have seen maybe you make a case for Penn State. I just don't think they would have picked the four teams that we just saw play on conference championship weekend in the playoff. And so I've seen that take a lot and I just don't necessarily agree with that. I'm just really excited that we have a championship game in which both these coaches and these programs have proven a lot just to get here because their path has been pretty crazy. Ohio State erases a loss that they had to Oregon and totally throttled them. So entering a game I don't think I've ever really had that much respect for two teams playing for the top rise. I think the college football playoff totally got lucky to

end up with what is a really, really attractive championship game. Notre Dame was seated seventh, Ohio State was seated eighth. They were so low, they had to prove that they deserved this. If you go by the top four seedings playing out, we would have had an inordinately less attractive championship game. But the seeding is wacky, right? It's one of the things they're gonna have to change. Absolutely. It's funny that you count it as a strike against. I actually see Less attractive champions, but the seating is wacky right it's one of the things they're gonna have to change absolutely It's it's funny that you count it as a strike against I actually see like this result like saying like well no feather in our cap That's why we expanded my going into the playoffs No one thought Ohio State was the eighth best team in the country everyone knew

You have to see it according to the regular season in Ohio State. They had a huge stinker in there last week I don't think you can account for that when you're seeding a tournament that the best team in the country with the best roster in the country can't beat their rival in the last week of the regular season. Like that's a bad loss. That's a bad loss. But I also think Ohio State and Notre Dame, they had the two toughest draws in the playoff. Notre Dame had to play against the SEC champion.

They won. Then they had to play against the Big Ten runner up. They won. Now they get to play in the championship. They also had to play Indiana, obviously, which was a blowout. Ohio State had to avenge their loss against Oregon. They had to beat a top three SEC team,

and then they had to beat Texas, which was the SEC runner-up. For all the crap that Kirk Herbstree gave Indiana after they lost, look at Indiana's season. They have two losses. The team's playing the final game of the season. 100%, but they were totally outclassed. Jessica mentioned before the show today, Stugatz,

this shouldn't surprise us too much, that she rewatched the, the watch! She rewatched the Notre Dame game, just because it was one of the highlights of her life. The reason that I did not just kick her out of the room, though, because I believe that she's got to stop breaking this rule around here that we've had for a long time of telling people when something's a bit.

Like, she's the only one who does it. We pride ourselves on, there are things here, there are a number of things. I could shock you right now by giving you any number of things that people think are a bit That wasn't a bit and think that people who think things were a bit. We should do this one day But this started before the level before I started working here This is a bit that started the double doink season when the Bears were actually good. So this predates me being on the show

I feel like I should be like this is a me bit not a show bit grandfathered bit I just don't think we should be, this is a me bit, not a show bit. Grandfathered bit. I just don't think we should be telling, I think we should keep things mysterious. I'm just sick of people texting me bear stuff, honestly. Like this is for my personal piece. You did it to yourself. I did, and I'm a Steelers fan.

It was a tough weekend for me. I'm not a Bears fan. The bears stink. I think Tomlin's going to the Bears, so to have that, I mean, it's all right. I mean, honestly, that might be the worst. Is Steelers fan a bit, or that's real? No, that's real.

I have one NFL team, guys. And Notre Dame? Notre Dame's real. Clemson, though. I graduated from Notre Dame. I went to Clemson for one year. That's a bit, I know. But I don't really root for Clemson that much anymore. Just whatever it takes to have Al Golden

be the head coach of Notre Dame week one next season. Can you guys get for me, please, the Wolf Blitzer entertainment system? Greg Cody was being mocked by his son before the game or before the show today because he was saying that Wolf Blitzer has exactly the entertainment system that Greg Cody would have if Greg Cody didn't have

a wife who takes care of these things and cares about technology and electronics. That is stunning to see that famed media star, Wolf Blitzer, doesn't have a better setup than that one. Is that a VCR? Or a VHS, what is it? Is that a VCR, is there a DVD there as well? Is that a TiVo? Well, I've got a TiVo.

Looks like a TiVo top. Do you use your TiVo? I do, yeah. What does it do these days? Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what I love about TiVo that I don't love about YouTube, my ability to pause and slow down things in football.

Like YouTube, my Apple controller makes that stuff much less fun than it used to be. Dan, to your credit, I found that people that have TiVo are extremely loyal to TiVo. They're TiVo lifers. And I'm with you, on YouTube TV I try to pause and rewind and go back and re-watch plays. It's terrible, it just never works.

I will tell you that it is great fun to have the TiVo on the occasions where I can watch in slow motion Dallas Goddard, stiff-arming Valentine three different times. I want- Jesus, how humiliating was that? Well, not as humiliating as Minka Fitzpatrick getting one of those from Derek Henry. Derek Henry did with one what it took

Dallas Goddard three to do, but Dallas Goddard did- I'd rather get one than three. But Dallas Goddard, to do, but Dallas Goddard didn't. I'd rather get one than three. But Dallas Goddard, what he did to Valentine is basically what a father does to his eight-year-old son as a stiff arm, and I love slowing down football and seeing all of the minutia that I don't see when I'm watching it at real speed.

Mike is right, though, about getting one as opposed to three. Just get it over with. All of it. Just put me out of my misery. Just one moment. It's Derek Henry. He does that to a lot of folks. Fine. I'm not going for a 25 yard just joy ride. His Dallas Goddard just smacks my head. Just three times hit him in the forehead. Humiliating. times hit him in the forehead. There were a couple of things like that that I saw this weekend. Stugats, the Texans D-line, Mould, the Chargers offensive line. Like I saw the center thrown into Herbert. I'm darn trying to handicap this sport man. If the Texans

are just, if their defense is just going to decide they're going to show up and look like that in that game No, I'm done. I'm out. It's hard to handicap But we can't be surprised that a home team will won their division when a playoff game. I know no I don't teams winning a game. I'm never surprised wait those weights to God. I don't believe Like first of all the Chargers were a road favorite first of all I know second of all there was not a team being doubted more outside of maybe the Steelers because of their last five

games as being playoff worthy to go on a run and goes right back to, oh man that's too easy for the Chiefs. Goes right back to right now everyone is saying that's gonna be something that is too simple for the Chiefs because nobody believes in the Texans. Right everybody not everybody obviously but i and many many many others pick the charges to win that game and the reason justin herbert looks so awful that the texans had the best quarterback play cornerback play in a game that i have seen stingly stingly so good stingly is so good

and and parenthetically this isn't talked about enough he's the grandson of the guy darrell stingly who was paralyzed yeah on the football field and this guy two generations later has turned into a legit deep or a candidate where the rest of you a stunned as i am and was by the fact that not one but two deflections ended up perfectly intercepted by Texans cornerbacks where I'm just so used to defensive backs always dropping those

interceptions. I kept thinking my TV kept rewinding back to specific turnovers I was like oh this is a kooky broadcast. Can we talk about the Dicker play? So stupid. Why does that guy just totally implode in this round of the playoffs? You're on special teams. How do you forget? Hold on, what was the best part of the Dicker play?

Because to my- He thought it was a Hail Mary. My favorite part of the Dicker play. So Dicker gets the, Dicker the Kicker gets the field goal blocked and as it comes down from the sky, he tries to knock it down. It's still in play.

All he's done is create a fumble that gets run the other way. But not knowing the rules was- Trying to make a play, man. Yes. Well, he wasn't trying to make a play. He heard Boomer and Deege in his head screaming, knock it down.

Stugats, he wasn't trying to make a play. He was trying to prevent Houston from making a play and instead made a play for Houston. But not knowing the rules is one thing. He got annihilated as soon as he did it. Like he got, he should have ended up in the concussion protocol after that just before he got hit because of the decision that he made. Like as soon as he makes the decision to knock the ball down, they should have just put him

in the concussion protocol. He was trying not to get hit. And it did not work out that way for him at all. Such a funny play. What do we do with Jordan Love? Do we put him in the Justin Herbert class or do we, I mean, there's more injuries on that Green Bay team. I was gonna say, like they lost their best playmaker

the last week of the season. So not a great. They lost Watson to the ACL. Reid goes out. Dobbs has the the rare concussion with the the goofy helmet on top of the helmet. But even so, oh Mike, they were down their top three receivers their center and their two left guards. But it was also really bad too I mean my homes will win that game What a year 2024 was. Happy new Year's everybody. New Year is this week. And some of you are going to be counting down to the new year with a lot of friends and a lot of family around. That's a lot of pallets. How do you make everybody happy? You make them happy by

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