Indiana indiana Wins the National Championship & NFL Conference Championship Previews

Nick (00:07)
We back, it is the height differential we are one night removed from the Indiana Hoosiers doing the absolute unthinkable and winning the national championship in football. We will talk about that plenty. We will break down the NFL divisional round preview the AFC and NSC championships. Talk a little college hoops and a little bit else. That's the six foot six nil. I'm the four foot 10 nil. Like I said, this is the height differential. Nick.

Neil (00:35)
You're the 4'10 who?

Nick (00:37)
What did I say?

Neil (00:38)
You said four foot to kneel. I always knew you wanted to be like me, my dude. I always knew you wanted to be like me. That's cool. That's cool. I get it. ⁓ we got roll with it now.

Nick (00:40)
Oof. Oof. Do we need to start over? Do we need to start over?

Do we need to start over or do we just roll with it? We

just roll with it. The 4 foot 10 Nick, the 6 foot 6 Neil. This is the height differential. How many bottles of champagne did you drink last night Neil?

Neil (01:02)
We popped a couple, we had two in the fridge ready to roll. I mean, it got a little dicey there in the fourth quarter. I wasn't convinced I was gonna be able to pop them. But they found a way, the defense stepped up on that last drive when they needed to and got that dove. So we were popping bottles.

Nick (01:21)
Yeah,

2721.

Miami with the ball pretty, I would say the momentum in the second half after controlling the whole game, it did make you a little nervous on that last drive.

Neil (01:32)
Thank you.

I mean, yeah, they had what 60 something yards of offense in the first half and they finished the game with 342. So the second half adjustments by Miami's offense, I mean, they were moving the ball up and down the field on a really, really good IU defense. So they figured it out and we were talking about it. It's like, know, earlier in the fourth quarter, instead of taking the field goal, Sig rolled the dice and went forward on fourth and five, couple of fourth downs, had that, that

Nick (02:04)
That too on that drive.

Neil (02:06)
Yeah, had two on the drive, had the call design QB draw with Mendoza who made maybe the play of the year bouncing off tacklers and diving into the end zone. But you know, if you're going to go for it in that situation, you got Miami on the ropes. They're out of timeouts with a minute and whatever was left out of timeouts. Fourth. Minute 47, fourth and four. You have four yards and the national championship is yours. And they kicked the field goal in that situation. And you and I both agreed.

Nick (02:25)
It about a minute and 50, it was a minute 47 I believe.

Neil (02:36)
We thought they should have gone for it, especially the way that Sig had called the game earlier and the way Miami was moving the ball. It's like I wasn't convinced and you weren't convinced either that three points to get that six point lead was gonna get it done. So four yards to win the championship, they decided not to and luckily it paid off but I don't know.

Nick (02:55)
No,

in that case, especially after seeing him go for it twice earlier, I was surprised. I was honestly surprised that they did bring out the field goal unit. And look, like I said, Miami did kind of have the momentum in the second half and their offense was moving the ball. whether you're up three or you're up six, the other team's offense can still go win the game.

Neil (03:00)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (03:23)
And to me, being up six was not that big of an advantage of being over three to not take that shot on fourth down to try to just go ahead and win it right.

Neil (03:35)
I agree.

Nick (03:37)
And it did surprise me a little bit because I think it kind of, it kind of was not the mold of what we're used to seeing with Signeady. And look, and I know his thought process is look, now they gotta get a touchdown. If Philgo doesn't send this to overtime. And I get that. But if you give me four yards to win a ship, and even if I don't get it, even if I don't get it, we're still up three. ⁓

Neil (04:05)
Yes.

Nick (04:06)
and they've got to go 80 yards. And it's not a score a touchdown or nothing. They could kick a field goal on fourth down. Even if they get in that area and then you still have a chance in overtime. It worked out. It worked out. But if they go down to score and kick an extra point to win it, I think you regret not going for it on fourth down for a long, long time.

Neil (04:09)
Yes.

Correct.

I agree.

And the one earlier in the fourth, he was gonna kick it and change his mind and decided to go on the Mendoza touchdown. He had the field goal team running out there. The play clock was running out, so he called timeout and changed his mind and it worked out on that one.

I mean, I'm putting the ball, I would rather put the ball in the Heisman Trophy's winner to get me four yards and win that national title than risk Miami coming back, especially when Miami put up, like I said, almost 300 yards in the second half. Your defense was tired, they were allowing yards, and even on the last drive, Miami was, they were moving it, they were moving it until Carson Beck turned into Carson Beck finally at midnight.

Nick (04:59)
Yeah.

They're moving it.

Well,

to be fair, he didn't throw the ball downfield a ton yesterday and hasn't really been asked to do that a lot in the playoff. And maybe that's something that you're relying on. The fact that, you know, he's not throwing the ball downfield a ton. And if he does, he doesn't have the arm strength to some other quarterbacks and it's going to hang up there and it's going to get picked off. And that's what happened. But even on the play where Mendoza had the fourth and five.

the clock management and the timeout management was still a little bit odd with SIG. even at the end of the half, where they kind of just...

Neil (05:47)
You thought they were, yeah, they were gonna run the ball

and just go to halftime because they had the ball start the second half and they ran the ball, didn't call a timeout, then all of sudden they're just starting to throw it. It's like, well, if you're do that, then you...

Nick (05:56)
Yeah, and they get it to the 50 and you get it to the 50

and you have two timeouts and there's really nothing you can do with it. So.

Neil (06:02)
Yeah,

it was odd. It was very odd.

Nick (06:05)
So there were some moments, but the fourth and five by Mendoza and SIG talked about this after the game how they kind of thought that that play that draw would work against the defense that Miami ran on third down. And they were just banking on the fact that they're gonna run that same defense and they did and I'm telling we were watching it together and I'm like, he stopped, he stopped and he bounced off tackles and

Neil (06:21)
even and they did.

There were two dudes right there. Yeah.

Nick (06:34)
In every championship game or most when it's a good game, there's a play that is just that iconic play that you're gonna see over and over again. And it reminds you a little bit of John Elway in the Super Bowl with the flip to get to the end zone. least that's what it reminds me a little bit of him just flipping and giving his all to get in the end zone. And I mean, it was a Heisman moment for the Heisman Trophy winner.

Neil (06:51)
Yes.

Yeah, and he won the game's MVP. mean, his stats weren't eye popping. He didn't throw a touchdown, 186 yards, was 16 of 27. So he now has more incompletions than touchdowns finally in the playoff. But the guy that I thought really stood out and I thought won the game and was also deserving of that MVP was the plays that Charlie Becker was making.

The fourth down conversion that they had was to him on the back shoulder. And then he made another outstanding back shoulder catch on a third and think was like third and ten ⁓ in the fourth quarter to keep the chains moving and the clock running for Miami started having to use their time out. I mean, Charlie Becker in the second half of the season has just been an absolute monster. He had I think what six catches through October and all of a sudden in November, he's a monster.

Nick (07:45)
Well,

Sirah got hurt in the Penn State game and that's kind of where his coming out party was. But no, a lot of it was Miami's defense. They were getting pressure the entire game and really taking Indiana out of what they wanted to do in the passing game. They really didn't have a lot of opportunities to throw downfield. And I mean, those back shoulders were about the only thing that was working. And Becker was, they made unbelievable catches.

Neil (07:49)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yes.

Nick (08:14)
So can you tend you some drives and yeah, he deserves the total credit. mean, without Mendoza, I mean without Becker, Mendoza might not be the MVP because I don't know if they win the game.

Neil (08:24)
Correct. That is correct. Yeah.

Nick (08:27)
But

on Miami's defense though, the pressure that they got the entire game, Mendoza was under duress the entire game. We both said last week that we thought if Indiana played the way that they've been playing, they're gonna win by 20, 30 points. Maybe we underestimated the Miami defense a little bit because they did things that we hadn't seen since that first drive against Alabama where Mendoza got sacked to.

Neil (08:31)
They played a great game.

Nick (08:57)
out of the first three plays.

Neil (08:58)
Yeah, painted with

three sacks total, I think, on the game.

Nick (09:02)
But

even with just that, he was under pressure the entire game.

Neil (09:06)
He was in the IU plan of attack. I mean, it was, it was a run heavy attack. They ran the ball 45 times compared to only 27 passing attempts and you know, 45 carries for 131 yards, only 2.9 to carry. So when it wasn't much, they did give up a couple big chunk place, a couple, maybe a 20 yard, they had a 20 yard run from black and a 15 yarder from him be, but the, the IU plan of attack was, was run it, run it, run it.

So Mendoza, especially with the pass rush, mean, Miami did a great job, I think, on slapping the run and the pass.

Nick (09:41)
Yeah,

but I will say to their credit, they ran the ball even more in the second half and they just stuck with it. And there were a lot of times where they lost a couple yards on first down where it was second and 12. And they still run it on second down and be able to get five, six yards to get back on schedule where they have a chance on third down. And I think that was a big part of the game.

Neil (10:00)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (10:03)
But I mean, Miami's defense, I think, just deserves a ton of credit. And you knew Fletcher was gonna make a play eventually. You knew Malachi Tony was gonna make a play eventually. And they both did in the second half to give them a chance. And I I ain't alive for a second. I thought Miami was gonna figure out a way to pull this thing out. And then you're right, just had to the ball downfield and it hung up there a little bit and it-

Neil (10:08)
Absolutely.

Yes.

Nick (10:32)
fell into the hands of Jamari Sharp.

Neil (10:37)
Yeah, I mean, every time that Miami, like after the Fletcher play and like they would draw close, IU had an answer. So like Miami, that Fletcher made it 10-7 and then IU has to have a big play. What do they do? They block the punt for a touchdown. Yeah, I mean that was.

Nick (10:54)
which yeah, we haven't even touched on that yet. That'll be such a big

play.

Neil (10:57)
That

put them right back up by 10 and then Miami starts the fourth quarter with the touchdown. It's back to a three point game and that very next drive Mendoza goes down. I mean that was the the the play we were talking about they go 12 plays and 75 yards and once again They're right back up by 10. So every time that Miami cut it to that three-point, you know score that one score game Indiana needed a big player a big drive and their players stepped up to the occasion and they made those plays that they needed to make

Nick (11:24)
And with the punt, mean, that's their eighth blocked kick in two years. And which is just a phenomenal stat. And the possession before Malek Hahtoni tries to catch the ball at the four, trying to make something happen. They get caught, what, was tackled at the five and they go three and out, they punt on fourth and one.

Neil (11:30)
Yeah, yeah. Crazy.

Yes.

Yeah.

Nick (11:54)
And then you get that block punt and it just changes. You win by six and you get a block punt. Block punt's a big reason why you won the game.

Neil (12:03)
That

is a huge play, no doubt.

Nick (12:06)
⁓ but just a couple, like they talked a lot about Mendoza growing up, you know, just a mile from Miami's campus. his dad was a teammate with Mario Cristobal. mom played tennis at Miami and how him not, not getting offered a scholarship to Miami and the whole story. mean, it is, it's going to be a 30 for 30, but how about Jamari Sharp too? Also a Miami native.

Neil (12:32)
Yeah.

Nick (12:34)
Also not offered a scholarship at Miami. The nephew of Glenn Sharp, the nephew of Glenn Sharp, who had the famous pass interference against Ohio State in 2002. Just a lot of connections there. It wasn't just Miami playing at home, it was a lot of Indiana kids going back and playing in their hometown.

Neil (12:34)
Yes. Yes. Makes the game winning pick.

It was a pass or a Yes. Yes.

Yes,

yeah, no, a lot of good storylines in this game. Good for those kids, they weren't given the chance at the hometown school that they probably wanted to go to in Miami. They got passed over and they got their revenge last night.

Nick (13:15)
Yeah, ⁓ I'm glad we both predicted to be a 20, 30 point game. I'm glad it wasn't because it was an entertaining game.

Neil (13:23)
It was a very good game.

Nick (13:25)
They, so Indiana obviously their first championship in school history. ⁓ They entered the season with the most losses in FBS history with 715 and now they're national champions. ⁓ They had six wins versus AP ranked teams this year. The previous record was three. Under Cignetti, their record when scoring 20 plus points is now 26 and 0.

Their record when allowing 27 or fewer is 26 and 0. When they outrush opponents, they're 25 and 0. They're 2 and 2, the games where they don't outrush opponents. ⁓

Neil (14:04)
Well, you throw these stats

out, Cignetti's only lost one, what, two games? Since he's been at IU, so there's gonna be a lot of something in O's going on here because he's only lost two games.

Nick (14:08)
two games.

Well,

will we continue on that note? Indiana, three bowl wins this year.

From 1899 to 2024, three bowl wins.

Curt Cignetti has a .931 winning percentage. He has 3 bowl wins and 1 national title. All others have a .414 winning percentage. Mendoza becomes the 5th quarterback in the BCS CFP era to win the Heisman and the national championship in the same season.

Do you know the other four?

Neil (15:04)
Joe Burrow.

Nick (15:05)
In 2019.

Neil (15:07)
Wasn't it, was it Eric Crouch maybe from Nebraska?

Nick (15:11)
Nah, I think that was before the BCS era.

Neil (15:14)
⁓ BCS there. Sorry. Sorry. All right, so Joe Burrow. It's gonna be in Ohio. Troy Smith, Troy Smith, was he?

Zeke didn't win that one, no Ohio State. No Ohio State. ⁓ Alabama quarterback, right? Or not, I'm sorry Oklahoma quarterback is what I meant. Oklahoma quarterback? Tim Tebow. What? Not even Tim Tebow?

Nick (15:27)
No Ohio State. No Ohio State.

Nope. Nope. Nope.

No. You got, no, it's no Alabama. You do have one SEC school, one ACC school, and then they were a Pac-12 school at the time.

Neil (15:43)
Hey, Mark Ingram, Mark Ingram?

from Clemson, ⁓

Nick (15:59)
It's not a Clemson, that's why.

Neil (16:02)
⁓ Jameis Winston. Yup, forgot about Jameis. One SEC school?

Nick (16:04)
Jamus in 2013.

Neil (16:08)
You said no Alabama.

Nick (16:11)
It's not Alabama.

Neil (16:12)
Are we counting Texas in this or Oklahoma in this? Is it an SEC school? Dude, this is hard. This is hard.

Nick (16:15)
though it was in SEC school at the time.

All right, 2010, Auburn.

Neil (16:26)
Okay. Yup.

Nick (16:27)
Cam, 2004

USC.

Neil (16:32)
Reggie? ⁓ Lienart Okay.

Nick (16:33)
Matt Lienart So it was a year

after Reggie. But just so many stats and what we learned yesterday, Indiana was the first first time champion since Florida in 1966. They said that on the broadcast. Really just an historic night. And do you think the party is still going at Kilroy's, at Nick's?

Neil (17:01)
100 % as you see they were lined up the night before Camped out in single degree temperatures to get a spot in the bar at 11 a.m. When the bar opened I Mean just the amount of time that you spent in At the bar so you get in at 11. You're probably not leaving until they closes it to or whatever it is. I Mean, no, I mean the scenes were absolutely on Kirkwood were absolutely electric dudes climbing on poles and light poles and trees and

masses amount of people in the middle of street. And if there's one thing that IU knows that students know what to do, they know how to party at IU.

Nick (17:38)
Yep. Yeah, they do. Kurt Signetti, one thing that he earned last night was a lifetime supply of beer from the, what's the Upland Brewery in Bloomington.

Neil (17:41)
You've been there. You've dabbled in that scene before.

⁓

Apple and brewery? Lifetime

beer? So does Kirk Signetti drink beer? He looks more of a wine guy to me.

Nick (18:04)
Did you watch the post game?

Neil (18:06)
I was too busy drinking my own beverages.

Nick (18:09)
The first thing

he says, they ask me how he's gonna celebrate, I'm gonna get me a beer. And then in the press conference, he said, that beer tastes pretty dang good. I wouldn't mind tasting another one. And by another one, he means doing all this again. But Hoosier GameDayLogger from Upland Brewery, he mentioned that by name in the post game.

Neil (18:17)
Alright.

That's good.

I had two of those last night.

Nick (18:29)
and he has landed lifetime supply.

Neil (18:33)
Good for him.

That might be a little bit better than any bonus in this contract. A lifetime supply.

Nick (18:43)
lifetime supply and says his favorite beer.

Good night for Sig. And I hope we don't own our t-shirt company. We used to, we don't, I used to, we don't anymore. But have you seen anybody print the Sig Natty t-shirt yet? Is it?

Neil (19:05)
I

have not seen it. I have not seen it. It's a good idea though.

Nick (19:08)
How much gear did you buy last night?

Neil (19:11)
None yet, none yet. I haven't had time to get on and really look at it. We gotta get some gear, gotta get some stuff for the basement. Maybe the Sports Illustrated cover where Mendoza's diving over the end zone was pretty cool. It might look good on the wall down here. But we will get to that this week.

Nick (19:30)
Before we move on I'm gonna give you one more stat best point differential in a season in the A-Pole era the number one is the 2013 Florida State team their point differential was 553 points second I would make you guess this but it's 1944 and it's Randolph Field never heard of them

Neil (19:35)
Okay.

Yeah.

Nick (19:58)
489 points. Indiana ranks third all time.

with 479 point differential.

Neil (20:07)
I mean, they were, what was the average over, was over 20, I think 27, somewhere in the twenties, but yeah, it's incredible.

Nick (20:12)
I you just have to do that divided by 16.

And look, that's why after saying, well, you kind of say it, you were worried in the first two rounds when they're facing Alabama and Oregon. I think that's why we finally both had the gumption to be like, hey, if they do what they're gonna do, they're gonna win this thing by 2030. And I do think they didn't play an A game. I think they probably played a BB plus game.

Neil (20:42)
Yeah. Fair.

Nick (20:42)
And I thought

Miami's defense played exceptional. Their offense didn't have an A game, but we said Indiana didn't have to play their best game to win, I kind of think that's what happened.

Neil (20:55)
No, I agree. mean, the Miami defense is a big part of that. yeah, it was not their best. But it wasn't their worst. I mean, think probably the Penn State game might have been their worst, and they still ended up winning that game. But no, I would agree with the BB +, and that was good enough to win.

Nick (21:13)
And now they're running the portal. So just go do it again. But this is also.

The fact that a program like Indiana, who historically is the worst Power 4 program in college football, the way that everything is designed now with the portal, with NIL, it allows something like this to happen. look, there's a lot of negative things with everything that's going on. But the fact that a team like Indiana can come out of nowhere and hire a new coach and two years later make two runs of the tournament.

Neil (21:28)
Yeah.

It does. Yes.

Nick (21:51)
And then win the whole thing is a positive because I do think people get tired of seeing Alabama, Ohio State every single year in the national title game. And I think it was refreshing to see Indiana play Miami. And I know Miami is an historical program, but they haven't been there in the last 20 or so years.

Neil (22:00)
yeah.

Right,

No, mean, it starts with fan support and donor support. you got to get the money flowing in to get the players and the coaches. you know, it's been talked about a lot that Indiana has the largest living alumni base in the country. So when you've got that kind of support and those big numbers behind you, you know, it's possible to do something like this.

Nick (22:35)
And now Mark Cuban has seen what Sig can do and he's got the wallet open.

Neil (22:39)
He's writing checks. He's writing checks. I'm surprised you didn't blow out the fumble stat on IU. Did hear about the fumble stat? Only one lost fumble on the entire season for IU. It happened in the first quarter of the first game. Never lost the fumble again. Longest streak in college football history, which is what, 15 games now? I think the previous was 12, is what I read. So.

Nick (22:42)
So.

Pull it out. I'll provide like 20 something stats. You can provide one.

Well, and-

I just really, and they didn't turn the ball over in the postseason.

Neil (23:09)
No, that's big part of why they're national champions is they take care of the football.

Nick (23:14)
Yeah. Well,

and we've talked about it over and over again. They're just so fundamentally sound. And maybe a lot of that has to do with the fact that their roster average age is the age of some of the youngest teams in the NFL.

Neil (23:28)
Yeah.

Nick (23:30)
But they didn't make mistakes and neither did Miami until the last drive. And they had a chance there and just ironic that Sharp would get the pick 20 years after his uncle got called for pass interference against Ohio State. I still don't think it was a pass interference. And I haven't looked at it forever, but I just remember seeing it when it happened. There was no way.

Neil (23:52)
No. No.

Correct.

I agree. It was on fourth down, it? It would have been the of the game. No pass interference. I agree with you on that.

Nick (24:01)
Yeah. Yeah.

And when we transition to the NFL, we get to talk a little bit more about pass interference.

Neil (24:12)
some controversial ones.

Nick (24:13)
there were. Just to put a bow on it, and we've mentioned this several times, just nothing like it in the history of sports. There's nothing that you can compare this to.

Neil (24:25)
No,

it's one of the greatest sports stories of all time. Has anybody checked on Michael Irvin this morning?

Nick (24:29)
And it.

They didn't show him as much as I thought they would last night.

Neil (24:36)
They

weren't winning, so you're probably not going to show Michael Irvin when you're not winning. We need a welfare check on Michael Irvin.

Nick (24:40)
Well, even on the big run,

I just thought they would show me more.

Neil (24:46)
Yeah. ⁓

Nick (24:48)
But he definitely needs a welfare check.

Neil (24:50)
Yeah.

Nick (24:52)
He had a nice little run, got a lot of pub out of it. I think he's doing okay.

Neil (24:55)
He did. Yeah.

Nick (24:57)
So Indiana Hoosiers are your 2026 national champions in football. And Indiana University has the last two teams to go undefeated in both college football and college hoops.

In NFL, divisional weekend, I will say, I think it's the best weekend of the NFL calendar.

Neil (25:25)
Yeah, mean this one had its ups and it had its downs. We had two great games and two games that were kind of not so great.

Nick (25:33)
I'm just saying in general though, year after year, I look forward to the divisional round because you get four games, get two games on Saturday, two on Sunday.

Neil (25:35)
It is. Yeah,

I agree. I'm a big fan of the divisional round and I mean, I just want to make sure. Are you OK? I mean, I know you became a big 49ers fan here late in the season and they just absolutely got destroyed by the best team in the NFL, the Seattle Seahawks. I just want to make sure that you're doing alright today. You alright?

Nick (25:57)
The Seahawks made the 49ers depleted roster look like a D2 team. It was like a D1 team and a D2 team. I mean, we don't need to get into that game, just an absolute butt whooping. I I turned it off at halftime and did not turn it back on. And then I was like, I need to look and see to make sure the Seahawks won and they won by what, 35?

Neil (26:01)
It's a pleated roster.

Yeah.

41 to 6. Yes.

Nick (26:25)
I was banking on that Sam Darnold, lost as the number one seed last year with the Vikings and then you're like, is he even gonna play? Well, they sure didn't need him to play.

Neil (26:36)
Well, I mean, right off the jump, they returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. I mean, right off the jump, it was basically over.

Nick (26:43)
But not much to go into that. Who's gonna go into Seattle and win? It's gotta be the Rams, the only option, but they just looked unstoppable.

Neil (26:52)
That's the only option.

I mean, they have, we watched that game. Well, I don't know if you were there. We were watching it at Brownies the last time that the Rams played the Seahawks, you know, in November, actually it was early December. And they were up what 16. They had that weird two point, was it a two point conversion where the fumble that, yeah, like whatever that was.

Nick (27:08)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

The fumble that ended up being converted to, yeah.

Neil (27:19)
So it took the Seahawks kind of some fluky things to beat the Rams that day. So I wouldn't put it past the Rams to be able to do it. But I've had Seattle at the top of my rankings almost every week that we've talked about it. So I expect Seattle to still win.

Nick (27:36)
Well, since we're talking Rams, we can go ahead and talk about the Rams Bears, the finale on Sunday night. Do you get that fourth downplay on Caleb Williams? He's running for his life. Running for his life. and like, honestly, like we talked about how in college, like all these teams are it's new. It's, it's nice to have it. So.

Neil (27:53)
He's running backwards. Yeah.

Nick (28:04)
I'm pulling for the Bears a little bit to have a new team and I'm not pulling for anybody else. So and you're like, well, it's over and he just flings that thing.

Neil (28:06)
Sure.

Yeah.

I mean was a Hail Mary. was the equivalent to a Hail Mary. Just throw it up.

Nick (28:16)
I mean, yes.

And Durant just looked like he was in position and kind of just, I don't really know what he was doing. And Komet is right there, catches it. We talked to Tau Sig. We thought he should have went for it on fourth and four. If I'm Ben Johnson, I'm going for two. You have all the momentum on your side. That Rams defense is completely flustered.

Neil (28:23)
He ran forward. I don't, he just ran forward. It was weird.

Nick (28:46)
You thought you had the game won. Like, their defensive linemen are celebrating because he's just flinging the ball thinking it's over. And then you gotta regroup right away and get a two yard stop.

Neil (28:56)
I don't know, man. I'm gonna disagree with you on that. Especially not at home. Not at home and not in those weather conditions. You you play for overtime. They got the stop that they needed in overtime and then they were moving the ball before the pick. But you play for overtime, you try to, you know, maybe get a turnover or something to where you can just kick the field goal at the end and win it. So, no, not matter, not going for two.

Nick (29:24)
But we talked about the fact that you have it in your hands. All you need is two yards to win the game.

Neil (29:33)
But you're at home and you're in your elements at home and you the crowd and it's...

Nick (29:35)
I get that like you play for a tie

at home you play for the win on the road like that doesn't apply in all scenarios Like you're the dog in that game You're the dog in that game

Neil (29:46)
What made you so confident that they would get the two? I was confident that Indiana would get the four yards. They'd done it earlier in the game, they'd done it time and time again. I would have no confidence that Bears could get those two yards.

Nick (29:58)
I'm not so sure that Indiana would have got that four yards either. Like look what it took to convert the fourth and five. Like the pressure that they were getting on them, I don't know, but I still would have gone for it. In this situation, I'm just rolling the bears what they've done all year, figuring out ways to win. And I've got a chance to close it. And Ben Johnson's been aggressive all year. I think he kind of got out of his element a little bit.

Neil (30:03)
other one.

I know. I'm not mad at him for kicking the extra point. I think that was the right call. I'm going to disagree with you on this one.

Nick (30:32)
don't think it's completely a wrong call. I don't. I don't think it's an ignorant call to go to overtime.

Neil (30:38)
But they

had the ball with a chance to win in overtime.

Nick (30:41)
They were on their side of the 50.

Neil (30:43)
Yeah, mean, so it was right

there for the take and you just got to take care of the ball.

Nick (30:47)
You do. like that play, I don't know if DJ Moore quit on the route or what happened, but there was a miscommunication there. Do you need to take that risk in that point or you just keep dinking and dunking and getting 10 yards and to where you're kicking, you know, where you're getting to where you can kick a 45 yard or 40 yarder, but you can't throw that pick.

Neil (31:15)
You can't certainly can't do that certainly can't do that

Nick (31:15)
You cannot throw that pig.

And once that pick happened, get that feeling that the Bears' magic maybe is gonna run out, but then you never know because you just saw what happened on fourth down in regulation. And do they have one more up their sleeve? And Matt Stafford just kinda calmly drove them down the field and they get a game-winning kick. But I mean, dude, what an incredible season for the Bears.

Neil (31:44)
great season

absolutely fantastic season for the Bears I mean would they have six was it six wins where they were trailing under two minutes seven wins when trailing under two minutes Damier had another one I mean it's like I mean that's that's just incredible what an incredible stat and like he's like great turnaround in Chicago ⁓ but the Bears magic finally did run out

Nick (31:52)
777

Yeah. And yeah, if they go for Tuesday, they might have it.

And look, they lost and but Caleb Williams at the Blackhawks game sitting right up against the glass last night. you got to be excited about the future if you're a Bears fan. You got an exciting new young head coach. You got an exciting team and now you just got to see if you can run it back because that's the thing we've seen when you win all these games the way they did. Remember the Chiefs did this two years ago and their season kind of flipped the other way. So.

Neil (32:22)
Yeah. Yeah.

So that is coming to mind. Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (32:39)
You gotta prevent that from happening.

The first game of playoff weekend was, I was probably looking forward to Rams Bears the most, but this is probably the one I was looking forward to the second most, Bills at Broncos.

Neil (32:56)
great game.

Nick (32:58)
Great game. How much blame does Josh Allen deserve for this one? Two picks, two lost fumbles. He fumbled the ball three times.

Neil (33:05)
Yeah, see, there's a lot of fault.

You put the ball on the ground. Yeah, like that was.

Nick (33:09)
Like I feel like people aren't talking about that.

Neil (33:14)
I mean, yeah, no, he does deserve some of that. I he deserves a blame. There's no doubt. mean...

Nick (33:19)
You also miss a wide open Dawson, Dawson Knox where that would end it.

Neil (33:24)
Yeah, ⁓ yes, mean, the officials let some past interference stuff go, you know, and then on that last drive and in overtime, they call those back to back that were very, very questionable, I would say. Questionable.

Nick (33:44)
Yeah, the pick. It's just my thing is I still don't know for sure, but the fact that they went through it as quick as they did when I watched them review plays in week two that I'm like, this is clearly a fumble and they feel like they look at it for 15 minutes in week two and you're in the AFC divisional round in overtime.

Neil (33:50)
I think it was a good pick.

Yeah.

Nick (34:14)
where if it's a catch, the Bills are in field goal range. If it's a pick, obviously the Broncos are going the other way. And McDermott had to call Tom out even to get them to feel like they might look at it a little more.

Neil (34:27)
mean, isn't it the rule in the NFL, like to make it a catch, you gotta survive the ground and all that? I it was dual possession and when they hit the ground, to me, it was like dual possession. When they hit the ground, the defender came out with it. I have no problem with it. I mean, I think it was a good pick.

Nick (34:43)
And I'm not arguing the call. I just think it was rushed a little bit. Like it needed a second look. And Joe Burrow tweeted for the first time in like four years saying, look, it's strategy. He's trying to get on a good side of the refs. He's trying, it's strategy. So like, I'm not arguing that it was a bad call. I just, a call of that magnitude to me deserves a little more time to make sure you're getting it right.

Neil (34:51)
I saw that today. It was weird.

I guess. Did see that.

Nick (35:13)
And I just felt like they kind of rushed it.

Neil (35:17)
It was very quick. It was definitely very quick.

Nick (35:21)
And then on the assuming possession, there's two plays in a row that, I mean, here's the thing that sucks about overtime is a 30, 40 yard pass play every single time when you're inside a field goal range. If you see a flag, your team lost or your team won. And that it's just, you watch that whole game and it's such a good game. And the play before

Neil (35:38)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (35:50)
Like I'm looking, I was like, is this going to be a flag? And there wasn't one. And then the next play, you see it. And once they throw that flag, it's curtains. Like it don't matter. Like the refs just ended the game and all you got to do is hit a kick and the Broncos are moving on.

Neil (36:08)
Yeah, no, mate. It was questionable. Definitely questionable.

Nick (36:13)
It's

just like when you're watching the whole game, it's just you lose some value, I feel like, when a game ends on a PI.

Neil (36:22)
Yeah, yeah, I mean, in hindsight now, I mean, I feel bad for Buffalo. mean, but if they weren't ever gonna, if there was ever a chance that they were gonna win a Super Bowl, a little bit.

Nick (36:32)
Do you feel bad for them? Is

that the, you feel bad for them?

Neil (36:36)
I mean, they went to four straight Super Bowls, lost them all. They're in the driver's seat, a golden opportunity without Mahomes, Burrow, and Jackson in the playoffs for Josh Allen, the reigning MVP, to take this team to a place it's never been. And they choked.

Nick (36:54)
Well, I mean, there's a reason why they were on the road at Denver. Because we kept saying that we think they could win the Super Bowl because they got Josh Allen, they haven't been that top team all year.

Neil (37:03)
I still had a good They were 12

and 5 I mean it was still like in a lot of years 12 and 5 probably gets you hosting up this playoff game 12 and 5 wins the division a lot of times

Nick (37:11)
No, not 12 and 5.

Yeah, but it's not going to get you to be in the one seat overall.

Neil (37:19)
No, but it's going to get you in this round of the playoffs. You win the division, you're hosting this game. You're not on the road in this game. Right?

Nick (37:26)
I mean,

that's not necessarily true. Only the top two host. So you gotta be a top two divisional seed.

Neil (37:30)
Well... Well... The pi-

Nick (37:37)
At 12 and 5, you're not usually going to be the one or the two.

Neil (37:41)
I don't, I think you could be.

Nick (37:43)
But they are what they've kind of been all year. They haven't been a great team. And I think a lot of us jumped on the Bills bandwagon in the postseason because they had the one quarterback who has been there, done it a little bit before. This is his chance. There's no Burrow, there's no Mahomes, there's no Jackson. He's got to take advantage of it. And he had four turnovers and Miss Dawson knocks on a chance to clinch the game and

Because of that, they're not moving on from Josh Allen. Because that not be smart. You move on from your head coach instead. So, Harbaugh and Sean McDermott are both out. And it's because of, well, Harbaugh is because of one kick. And because I still don't think he gets fired if they make the playoffs, regardless of what happens against the Texans. And McDermott's out because you-

Neil (38:16)
Moving off from Big Darnit.

The referees decided to say it was an interception instead of a catch.

Nick (38:43)
Yeah, I mean that

was a big part of it. But also if you don't have four turnovers from your star quarterback, you probably don't lose that game either.

Neil (38:51)
I mean, yeah, and it sucks because next week I think, I mean, I kind of wish the Bills would have won because next week I think it's just going to be a boring matchup with no Bo Nicks. I mean, don't think Jared Stidham is going into Foxborough with a chance to win. I think Josh Allen, the Bills would go into Foxborough with a chance to win, with no Bo Nicks.

Nick (39:09)
I could see this.

I could see this being a close game.

Neil (39:14)
be a low. If it is a close game, it's going to be a 13 to 10 type of close game. It's going to a, yeah.

Nick (39:14)
But it's gonna be, I can see it being like 17 to 14. I can be at 17 to 14 with, and the

17 being the final score, somebody kicking a game when it's a go. We don't need to go a ton into the Texans, the Patriots game. Bring in Davis Mills.

Neil (39:29)
That was a tear. Boring.

Nick (39:35)
like bring in Davis Mills, the CJ Stroud was terrible. Bring him in. Like I don't think they lost the game when CJ Stroud was hurt in the middle of the year. He kept him afloat. And CJ Stroud, no, you are not winning the game with the way he was playing. I don't care how good your offense is.

Neil (39:35)
What?

Oh, Dave, it smells.

Yeah?

I mean, how many total turnovers, how

many total turnovers do we have in that game from both sides? I mean, it was.

Nick (39:59)
We have four picks?

Neil (40:02)
Five turnovers, eight total turnovers, five from the Texans and three from the Patriots. That's bad football.

Nick (40:09)
four picks and you complete 20 of 47 passes.

Neil (40:13)
Ugh, that's brutal.

Nick (40:16)
And really, they still had a chance?

But it was still the game was not over in the second half. They still had a chance if he would have figured out how to make some plays. And that's why I say, like.

Neil (40:29)
It was 2116

going to the fourth in the new one. Yeah. It was bad.

Nick (40:33)
Bring in Davis Philz,

So now we look at the AFC and the NFC Championship games. You just think it's with Jared Stidham, there's no way the Broncos can even at home.

Neil (40:50)
I mean,

I know their defense is good, but New England's defense is also good. I mean, when that happens, like you said, it could be a low scoring game, I'm going Drake May has a chance to put up points and Jared Stidham does not.

Nick (41:04)
Does the Nick Foles tweet to Broncos fans? Does that give you any encouragement?

Neil (41:09)
I did not see Nick Foles as sweet to the Broncos fans.

Nick (41:11)
Well,

as you know, Nick Foles had some success against the New England Patriots in the postseason as a backup quarterback.

Neil (41:18)
You're gonna

run the Philly specials? Is that what Nick Foles is telling the Broncos to do?

Nick (41:24)
They

might, but I don't think it's a no doubter that the Patriots are gonna win this game. I think the Broncos defense is that good. If you made me pick, yes, I'm going to Patriots because you've got a quarterback who's gonna finish second in MVP voting against a guy who hasn't thrown a pass since 2023, 2024. It's been a couple years.

Neil (41:27)
and then we're good.

Nick (41:53)
since he's even thrown a pass. did give him a, they gave him a two year contract, I think for six or 10 million, something like that. So they paid him some money to be their backup. Sean Payton obviously believes in him. I think it's gonna be a close game, but I think the Patriots will end up winning.

Neil (42:10)
No,

I actually had forgotten. I misspoke. I thought the game was in Foxborough, but the Broncos were the one seed. I mean, being at home, yeah, being at home maybe makes it a little bit better. But I just don't see a way that Jared, who's guy who hasn't thrown a pass in three years, is gonna move the ball and score on the Patriots defense. It's just.

Nick (42:15)
Yeah, they are the ones.

just got to rely

on that defense, on the Denver defense. That's what you have to do. It takes away.

Neil (42:32)
Hopefully.

Hopefully you get a fits of touchdown,

a special teams touchdown or something like that maybe.

Nick (42:39)
It definitely takes away some luster from this game. I've seen a lot of injuries affect teams in the playoffs. And obviously losing your quarterback is as big an injury as it gets.

Neil (42:52)
I never I didn't even notice that he did it. Did you? Like while washing the road?

Nick (42:56)
No, and I still

think it's not completely certain what play it happened on.

Neil (43:01)
Because he threw the, yeah, because the ones where they had the pass interference, like it happened before that is what they were saying. Like he threw the ball with this injury. And it wasn't when he went and took the knee in the middle of the field. So it had to have happened.

Nick (43:17)
But there's a lot there's people out there on the internet saying it was which it wasn't ⁓ But you can see there's video him where you can see him kind of grimacing a little bit on the sideline and then you are also with his because he was interviewed by Tracy Wilson after the and You can tell that he is not putting any weight on that ankle You can tell that his legs kind of bent if you look at it closely. So I don't

Neil (43:42)
Ugh.

Nick (43:46)
I would think that he probably knew something was really bad. And the fact that they had already ruled him out when Peyton was doing his post game.

Neil (43:55)
Yeah, so they knew. Yeah, yeah.

Nick (44:00)
On the other side, you got the Rams going into the Seahawks, opponents.

Neil (44:11)
Yeah, Seahawks favorite, think I just saw two and a half. ⁓ I expect that to be a pretty good game, ⁓ kind of close to what it was in the regular season when Seattle had that comeback. But Seattle just looks unbeatable based on what they just did to the Niners. So I just think it's going to be hard for LA. I mean, know LA's familiar with it. They do it every year. But so was San Francisco. I just think going into the 12th man.

It's going be hard to do. It's going be hard to win.

Nick (44:44)
I think it's going to be hard, that other side has Matt Stafford and they have Sean McVeigh. And obviously they've done it before.

These two teams are familiar with, they're not gonna be intimidated by the 12th man.

Neil (44:59)
I mean, lot of these players have played in this environment for multiple years.

Nick (45:04)
I think I've been higher on the Rams for the most of the year. To switch now, would, I gotta stick to my guns. I'm gonna go Rams here. But what they did last week to the Niners is just, it makes it tougher. No, no, But let's also take a look back. How many games did I get right last week?

Neil (45:21)
That was your team. That was your team.

Not. Okay, yeah.

Nick (45:31)
I picked the bills.

They don't know what they did not win. I picked the Patriots. I picked the I picked the Rams. And I picked the 49ers. So and so.

Neil (45:36)
No, you pick the Patriots.

pick the range.

then you pick the 49ers. So two and two.

But let's talk about, you talking about what you got right and what you got wrong. What's the sum here in this, your favorite bet of all time was what, a four leg parlay? And how many legs did you get out of your favorite bet of all time?

Nick (45:58)
It was terrible. I

got the last leg, which when you're already dead, it doesn't matter. But I had the Bills money line. That was the first one. I felt really great about it. They get screwed on Josh Allen not knowing how to protect the ball and fake interceptions and passing references. Don't really think it's a fake interception. But when you're betting, you think that.

Neil (46:05)
Okay.

Nick (46:24)
The next game that night was the Niners Seahawks. I had the Niners in the points, plus seven. I felt real good about that one. And then what did we have? ⁓ I had the under in the first half of the Texans and the Patriots, under 20. That did not happen. And the only one I got was the Bears plus three and a half.

Neil (46:31)
Yeah.

Yeah, Carl said you texted him and was like, this is my favorite bet ever. And you were just, er, er.

Nick (46:49)
Yep. Yep.

I that a lot. I do it a lot. It's wondering like how they allow somebody like this to talk sports. Well, in this day and age, anybody in the world can host a podcast and you can be the dumbest person alive and still do it. Nobody has to listen to it, but you can host it. So I'm officially going. Pat's Rams.

Neil (47:14)
rematch of the Super Bowl when Pete Carroll decided to not give the ball to Mark Sean Lynch and lose the game for Seattle. We're gonna go with that rematch and we're gonna go Seahawks and Patriots with the Seahawks this time coming out victorious.

Nick (47:30)
Well, the

bad news is that the Patriots are in the playoffs. It's probably gonna be a rematch because they've been there 47 times. The Patriots Rams also a rematch. And we talked a little bit about this. The Patriots dynasty with Tom Brady, you get so tired of them being there. And they're like Brady's gone, Billichek's gone. They're gonna be down for a little bit. They were four and 13 two years in a row.

Neil (47:40)
rematch.

They stunk. They did. They stunk for a couple years and...

Nick (48:00)
And now they're on the verge of going back to the Super Bowl and Mike Vrabel's first year.

Neil (48:04)
They got a very they got a really really good coach and Mike Rable a guy that's had proven success in the NFL when he took the Titans is the number to the one seed in the AFC so You get a coach like that. I didn't expect it to happen in year one, but Here we are

Nick (48:20)
Yeah, so won't get a ton in to college hoops, but the game of the week to me was Florida going into Nashville and handing the Vanderbilt their second loss of the week.

Did you see? Did you watch the game?

So Florida's managers.

forgot like three jerseys.

And like Xavier Lee was wearing 99. Boogie Flam was wearing 33 and had somebody else's name on the back of his Jersey. Like it was, I don't know. was talking to former Louisville women's basketball managers, Nick Newman, Brady Walls about it on Saturday. Like you, you're fired. You have to be fired. But

Neil (48:58)
How do you do that?

Nick (49:14)
In a weird way, it might have turned around their season because Xavier Lee played the best game that he's played all year wearing number 99. And I'm guessing that all Florida fans are hoping that he wears that jersey the rest of the year. Cuz he finished with a season high, he had like 20 points and was great. But their guards are starting to play a little better and with that front court, I'm not saying it yet. But if they keep improving, they might have a chance to-

defend their crown.

Neil (49:44)
They're they're

starting to let me they're looking now like Starting to look like the Florida we expected him to look like I mean ever since they lost that Missouri game on the third of January You know, they they beat a Georgia team by 15 They beat a ranked Tennessee team by almost 30. They won by 24, whatever it was They then go to Oklahoma was not very good. They win that game by 23 and then they go into Vanderbilt

And you know, another ranked win. So what is that? What? One, two, three ranked wins here in the last 12 days. So this is this is the Florida team that we expected to see at beginning of the year and they won again tonight. They beat LSU by 18. So they're not just winning there. They're they're beating some good teams and ranked teams and they're winning them by double digits, you know, upwards of 20 points almost every night. So.

Nick (50:24)
Yeah, and they did.

No, and the issue with them was Boogie Flan and was Xavier Lee, were they gonna be able to provide the production that they lost last year with Walter Clayton and the rest of those guys? Because you know how good Condit and Hawk and Chin-Li Yalu all are in the front court. And you know what Ty Golden can do as a coach and they're definitely turning in right direction. And here's another thing, last week, undefeated Vanderbilt, I'm like.

Dude, this team can win it all. And then what do they go do? Lose two in a row because they get the Nick Jinks.

Neil (51:08)
lost her out.

Well, another team that was right there that was also undefeated, we were talking about there was those five teams that undefeated, Iowa State, they've gone and dropped two in a row. It's one on the road to a Cincinnati team that has really been struggling this year. So mean, that was kind of my surprise of the weekend was Iowa State going to Cincinnati and Cincinnati coming out with a nine point victory.

Nick (51:16)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Well, talk Wes Miller needing to win, man. He needed that one. And look, you go to a kind of a desperate Kansas team that's kind of starting to figure things out. You're getting rolled the whole game. You never really make a run. Like, look, it's your first loss of the year. You kind of can push that one aside. But then to, yeah, to follow that one up with another loss at a UC team that you said has really kind of struggled under Wes Miller. And that one's really not explainable, but they did go and

Neil (51:35)
We'll it at that one.

Yeah.

Nick (52:01)
They won by 30 tonight against UCF trying to get that back right. Kentucky, guess you kind of got to talk about them. Their last three games, they've came back from 12 down against Mississippi State, from 18 down against LSU, and then 17 down against Tennessee. yeah, two of on the road. You get that, the pass to Moreno.

Neil (52:22)
two of them on the road.

Nick (52:29)
Again, at LSU, yeah, I mean, it really did remind you of the Leighton ⁓ catch. He didn't bounce it. He didn't have as much time. did you even go up and catch that ball? Like his catch was contested. Leighton's catch was just not contested. They're behind him. Just let him get it. Like his catch was contested. For him to go up that high, get it, turn around and make that shot was pretty awesome. And then to follow that up with

Neil (52:31)
Yeah, the lightener style, yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (52:59)
coming back and beating Tennessee again. You lose, like you're down 12 against Mississippi State and Big Blue Nation is about to be like, let's go. All right, Mark Pope, we've seen enough. now, and then you win that one and then you're down 18 against the LSU team is not that great. You figure out a way to win that one and then you get down 17. You're like, we're gonna do this every game? And it looks like that might be the case.

Neil (53:27)
Finding a way.

They're finding a way.

Nick (53:30)
Louisville got it going right by just absolutely putting on a Pittsburgh team that did not look like they even wanted to be there.

Neil (53:42)
Yeah, that was dominating performance by the cards from start to finish there. think they jumped out. was it? 12-0, 14-0, like that.

Nick (53:49)
⁓

Yeah, McNeely hit a couple threes there to start and.

Neil (53:52)
Yeah,

was they were off to the races from the beginning of the game

Nick (53:56)
That was kind of it. ⁓ So we only have three undefeated teams now. We have Arizona, Nebraska, and Miami, Ohio.

Neil (54:02)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

I just saw that one and double overtime, ⁓

Nick (54:11)
The Red Hawks on

Saturday were down late and they got a three at the buzzer to send it to overtime. And then they ended up winning overtime. who my guy Peter Suter had 37 points with seven to 10 from three and hit the game, hit the three that kind of sealed it in overtime. It was Ian Elmer who hit the three to

to force overtime, he had 17 points, but they cracked the top 25 for the first time this year. I if you're 19 and 0, I don't care who you're playing, you need to be in the top 25. So give the Redhawks some love.

Neil (54:56)
Yeah, I mean they like I said, they did it again tonight They had a shot with six seconds left to force overtime against Kent State and pulled that game out on the road by six. So I mean Yeah, I mean you're 20 and oh, you can only play the teams that are on your schedule so you know, you might say they're Mac teams, but 20 and oh is 20 and oh, so yeah, you got to put them in in the rankings and deserve it loose up

Nick (55:24)
Yeah, we're wrapping up college football is done, we're wrapping up NFL. So our show will really kind of start being all about college hoops and I'm excited about that. There's a lot of good teams out there, of fun guards. I'm gonna put together my favorite guards to watch list here in a couple weeks because I've got a few guys that I really like watching play.

And that was why I was such on Vandy, because I really like watching Tyler Tanner play. And Texas Tech Christian Anderson, we'll put together, maybe you could put together some bigs that you like to watch. I'll put together some smalls.

Neil (56:04)
and some small

Nick (56:07)
But before we get out of here, we talked a little bit about Liv last week with the move with Brooks Koepka. I thought this story was pretty interesting. Michael Asasso, who won the NCAA individual national championship last year, played at Ole Miss.

Neil (56:27)
school

okay

Nick (56:31)
Had because he was a national championship, get you get an invitation to the Masters. So was eligible playing the Masters but instead he is elected to join live and he's getting a $20 million straight away. He's playing on Phil's ⁓ high flyers team.

You think this is gonna be something that so that the advantage would live is you get your money right away You don't have to go through all the the different levels of tours to get to the PGA. You don't have to go through corn ferry Get get that 20 million dollar bonus. Will we see other?

Neil (57:01)
Yeah.

It's hard man, I understand why you want to do it because you want to get that guaranteed 20 million payday and you don't not have to go through qualifying school in the corn fairy and you what if you you don't make it? Like what if you know all of a sudden your game isn't what you thought it was and you don't end up making it to the PGA Tour? But you're throwing away like as a golfer like you're throwing like you're never going to play in the Masters now. You're never going play in the Masters. You're never going to play probably in the Ryder Cup.

Like you're never gonna like as a golfer like these tournaments that you probably dream about You're never gonna get a chance to play in them now

Nick (57:44)
Yeah. And your average golf fan's not ever going to know who you are.

Neil (57:50)
No, Nope.

Nick (57:52)
Because

you're not going to get invites to any of these majors. Because there's no way for you to really find a way to qualify.

Neil (57:56)
No, so.

No, you're done. Yes, you're never gonna play in the Masters or the US Open or the British or the PGA. You're never gonna be on a Ryder Cup team. You're never gonna probably be on a President's Cup team. You are just gonna go get forgot about, but you got 20 million in your pocket.

Nick (58:18)
Yeah,

and how hard would that be to pass up as a 22, 23 year old? He's also foregone his senior year too.

Neil (58:23)
I I guess it all depends on...

Like, you can make, like if you're good, if you're as good as you're supposed to be, like you're an NCAA champion, if you're as good, you have confidence in your skills and you think you can make it, you can probably make the 20 million on tour, and then some. To me, it's all about do you have confidence in yourself, do you trust your game enough to where, you know what, I'll go to the Q qualifying school and the corn fairy tour, I'm good enough to win on these.

Nick (58:46)
Yeah

Neil (58:56)
those tournaments, I'm gonna go on the PGA Tour and I'm gonna be good on the PGA Tour. And then I'll get my 20 million and then some.

Nick (59:03)
Yeah,

it's the long game against, it's the long game versus the guarantee. And there's a lot of, there's a lot of national champions that never make it on the PGA Tour. So it's not a given. It's not a given.

Neil (59:06)
It's the long game.

Yeah, it's not a given, but it's all about the confidence

in yourself and in your game if you think that you can do it.

Nick (59:25)
And there's a lot of talk of like Liv, don't think they want to, they changed the rule from 54 and 72. I don't think you can wear shorts anymore either. I think that's a rule that they changed, which is stupid because it's Liv, like who cares? But.

Neil (59:35)
Bye.

always watching it anyway.

Nick (59:44)
They're saying that they should let him wear shorts because dudes just got absolute trunks. And he wears small shorts. He's got trunks, like his swing is, if you tried to emulate, if I tried to emulate his swing, my body would fall apart. Like every bone would just break.

Neil (1:00:06)
Also, why wouldn't he?

Why wouldn't he... If I was him, I would have probably have played the Masters and then maybe have tried to join Liv after that if he had saw that opportunity.

Nick (1:00:20)
Yeah,

if you get a top five, you get to qualify the next year.

Neil (1:00:23)
I would have probably,

I would have played the Masters.

Nick (1:00:27)
Because you were never playing it!

Neil (1:00:30)
Like as a golfer, like ⁓ as a golfer, like that's the, that's the mecca. Like that's the golf mecca.

Nick (1:00:34)
They

ain't making no pathway for you to get back in because you don't have any name recognition.

Neil (1:00:38)
No, you out. No, he's done.

He will never play, like I said, he'll never play on the PGA Tour. He'll never play in the major tournaments, Ryder Cups or anything. He's thrown it all away, but he's throwing it away for $20 million. It's a tough call. It's a tough call.

Nick (1:00:52)
Yeah, I I think a lot

of people would throw away that opportunity for a guaranteed 20 mil.

Neil (1:00:58)
That's a tough.

Nick (1:01:00)
But he's got to figure out a way if this is what he's going to do and obviously this is what he's going to do. Like you got to play it a lot like Bryson does to where you're making your name otherwise because you're not going to make your name by winning on the lift. Yeah, I think it's the only way to do it to really build that right name recognition. So have you watched any of the TGO?

Neil (1:01:13)
Tic-Tacs. Some YouTubes and some Tic-Tacs.

⁓ I was on at the bowling alley. I haven't watched a lot. I see was on the bowling alley today Jupiter was losing again I'm assuming they lost they still haven't won What are they like wait, they didn't win single. They didn't win a single match last year row and two this year

Nick (1:01:35)
They lost. They're terrible.

I haven't won this year.

They had

a chance and they won like they did the hammer and got it back to one and then they lost the next hole and it was over. I don't know, like the ratings are down, I think pretty significantly from year one. And I mean, Tiger's there, but he ain't playing. He's just kind of being the hammer guy where he's got the hammer in his pocket and helping them read greens. Like I enjoy watching it.

Neil (1:01:53)
Poor tiger.

Yeah.

Nick (1:02:12)
because I just like watching those guys play, but I just don't know if it appeals to the average person. No, it's hard at same time.

Neil (1:02:16)
Did they start it earlier this year? Like, it did? Okay.

I mean, there's like, I'm not watching it only because there's other stuff I want to watch on like, I'm watching ranked college basketball. Like I'm watching Arkansas and Vanderbilt tonight. Like, you know, if, if there was, if it was in April after the bat, like college basketball season's over and it's just 162 baseball games on, you yeah, maybe I'll watch TGL on a Tuesday night instead of Reds baseball, but.

Nick (1:02:26)
Well, yeah, you're putting it up.

Well,

it's hard to do that because I mean, prime time is gonna be going up against something for the most part. normally what they do is they have that seven o'clock slot where they're leading into the second game of college basketball and whether it's on ESPN or ESPN2, they've got a double header. So they're always going up against games. ⁓ I don't know, I think it's a good concept. Like I said, I enjoy watching it. I just don't know how much that.

Neil (1:02:50)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (1:03:11)
casual golfer or the casual sports fan is watching that over any college basketball game.

Neil (1:03:15)
I will, yeah,

in all of it, like, I watched it more last year than, like I said, than I have this year.

Nick (1:03:21)
Well, the novelty of it. I think that's a lot. I think that's why their numbers are down because it was the novelty. People kind of just wanted to check it out to see what it was.

Neil (1:03:29)
I enjoyed

it. I enjoy it. If I sat there and watched it, I would like it, but there's just other things that I would rather watch.

Nick (1:03:37)
They

need like they mic up the guys and but like you give Cam Smith a microphone and it's just like, dude, talk, right? And like that's the thing about Jupiter's team there. They're entertaining, but they never win. Like Max and Kiss are fun. Like they're funny and they say stuff and Tigers there, which adds another element, and they added Akshay this year, which they actually give them a player that can

Neil (1:03:57)
Yeah.

Nick (1:04:07)
that is not owed, but ⁓ I don't know. I was just interested to see that the numbers are kind of down and I do think it kind of makes sense and maybe they need to keep adding new elements every year to bring people back.

Neil (1:04:09)
Yeah.

Well, like the teams are the

teams, like the teams are the same, right? Wasn't Max on Jupiter last year? Like, why don't we just redraft?

Nick (1:04:28)
Well, I think you want some consistency there. Because the goal is to have people develop fandom for cities. Yeah, I think that's the goal.

Neil (1:04:34)
Like, though, like, I'm a Jupiter fan or I'm a this like.

I think

in golf fans root more for players than they would.

Nick (1:04:46)
Well, and that's

why you take your, like I cheer for New York because Ricky's on it. Like I think that's the, you cheer for Jupiter because Tigers on it, right? that's the point. Like golf is an individual sport and everybody has their favorite golfer, but they want you to follow them through their teams.

Neil (1:05:01)
I'm not cheering for Jupiter like I'm like I'm not ever gonna have the connection

to the the Jupiter whatever they call themselves or like the Boston Commons because Rory's on it like I'm not gonna like I don't care what the team name is or like all that like I'm Just want Rory to win I want him to win if he's on Boston or if he's on Jupiter or if he's on Atlanta or LA or whatever the teams don't even play in the cities like the city names are just stupid anyway like They don't even play in Boston or Jupiter

Nick (1:05:24)
What? I guess. Rick's from California

and lives in Florida and he plays for New York.

Neil (1:05:31)
Like, like, like, no,

like, you're not, I don't think you're gonna get that connection to the teams that you're looking for.

Nick (1:05:37)
No, and look, I'm as big of a Rick fan as there is, and I'll watch New York every time they play, but how much New York golf club gear have I bought?

And I don't know how many people are more like of a golf fan of an individual player than I am. I mean, there probably are some people, but I just, it's got a ways to go before. I think it's cool concept. enjoy watching it, but if I'm not buying merch, I don't know who is.

Right?

Neil (1:06:10)
people.

Nick (1:06:13)
But you gotta get your Indiana merch before that, it's gone.

Neil (1:06:17)
We will restart.

Nick (1:06:18)
Dude, they maybe won't. Like, the Braves won the World Series in 21. That night, I bought the toboggan. The next day, you couldn't get it, and it was never available again. So if there's something that you want, you better get it.

And then also come back like three, four months later and see what's on sale. But get with what you want right now that you make sure that I like there's something that you definitely have to have buy it tonight and then go back five, four or five, six months later and see if stuff's 50 % off. Cause I got a ton of Bingles AFC championship stuff like six months to a year later, bought all the nephew's Christmas presents and

Neil (1:07:04)
There you go.

Nick (1:07:06)
T-shirt jerseys with the Super Bowl patch on it. All kinds of stuff.

The Indiana Hoosiers.

The one to signati. One to signati. And y'all won bowling. Congrats. But that's all I got for this one. We went like hour and a half. I don't think we need to go an hour and a half this week.

Neil (1:07:21)
We did. We

Nick (1:07:30)
But we appreciate it, everyone, for listening. And for those of you that watch us on YouTube or Spotify, we appreciate that you all putting up with our ugly faces for an hour and listening to us. But you can follow us on what apps are we on. We're on Apple Music. We're on Amazon. We're on anything you can get your pods. Hit the Subscribe button, because that helps us pop up on more people's pods. And then it pops up, so you know when we drop a new episode.

We started dropping like little segments of our episodes. So you can get those on, we're calling them quick takes and those will pop up throughout the week too. And so we'll put up something kind of recapping the championship or recapping the NFL. That'll be there. But for the six foot six Neil, I got it wrong in the intro. We're gonna get it right in the outro. I'm the four foot 10 Nick. You have been listening to the height differential. Can I get a hoo hoo hoo-shiz?

Neil (1:08:24)
There you go.

Nick (1:08:29)
We'll talk to you next week.