Texas A&M Rallies to Stay Unbeaten & Is It Time for Zac Taylor To Go?

What's up? It's the height differential. We're back recording on a Monday night as we missed on Sunday because Thanksgiving dinner went a little long, but we'll get into that. I'm the four foot 10 Nick. That's the six foot six Neil. And like I did say, we did not record on Sunday night because dude, my nieces and nephews weren't leaving and I wasn't just going to be the first one to leave to record the pod. Maybe I should. They did.

Neil (00:26)
I mean, they had, they have school today. Like, put,

put them to bed. You've been over there since one o'clock. How you have a 10 hour Thanksgiving?

Nick (00:30)
Well, to be fair...

Well, I think when I finally left, it was like 9.30.

Neil (00:39)
Bro, nieces and nephews should have been in bed before then.

Nick (00:42)
mean, with the rotating schedule with elementary school, think my nephews go to school at like 940. So it's not like they have to get up early.

Neil (00:50)
I I don't know.

Nick (00:52)
Also,

not going to lie, I needed maybe the day to decompress after watching that fiasco in Pittsburgh.

Neil (00:59)
You needed a day to decompress. That happened yesterday. So how are you gonna have a day to get... Well, you can all just be honest. You were hungover from the day of the botchery. Like, ⁓ it'll feel good, it'll feel good. And then you're like, I can't record. So I'm like, well, this sucks.

Nick (01:00)
I know I needed I needed some time. I needed some time.

What

decided to play golf at being picked up at 830 probably was not my brightest idea for Sunday morning, but.

Neil (01:23)
We know where your priorities lie. We know where you're...

Nick (01:24)
Need to play the role. It played a role. I'm not gonna lie. I think

I was in the same position you were on Wednesday night.

Neil (01:30)
I

think you owe our listeners an apology because your priorities were just messed up yesterday.

Nick (01:36)
Well, I wasn't gonna leave the fam when I'm getting ready to be gone for 11 days.

Neil (01:37)
Well, not that, but

you chose the booze and the golf and over recording a pipe.

Nick (01:42)
Hey,

we play with Pops who have played with some older guys, shot from the old Manteese and shot 41 from the old Manteese yesterday.

That's a big difference, way big difference.

Neil (01:53)
What is...

What is your shirt you're wearing?

Nick (01:57)
It's Adidas.

Neil (01:59)
What is that logo?

Nick (02:00)
They said, dude, his golf, like, pull over.

Neil (02:02)
An A with a golf club? That's for Adidas? Well I see it's an Adidas brand but I didn't know that's what I thought it was some goofy lib golf some nonsense they're pulling or something.

Nick (02:04)
Yeah. Yeah.

No,

I'm not buying any Liv merch, 54 or 72. But I guess we need to get into all this. A lot of football action this week will start in college football. And we don't really need to go too deep in one and two Ohio State and Indiana.

As Ohio State remains undefeated, was without Cardinal Tate, Jeremiah Smith was limited. But they really got the rushing game going at 222 yards rushing, got 100 yard kickoff and just rolled past UCLA who was playing without Nico. And I mean, do you have anything to add to that game other than Ohio State's good?

Neil (02:48)
Yeah.

Nope, honestly I didn't even watch a single minute of it. So not really much to add. I figured they would take care of business. They did. They're still number one. That's it.

Nick (03:01)
Indiana was only up 10-7 at half and Signetti did not. He just kind of went in, was cool and was just like, look, we just got to take care of business. that's what they did in the second half. Mendoza was sacked five times. So, know, Wisconsin got a little pressure on him, but in the second half, he completed 92 % of his passes at almost 300 yards, had three of his four touchdown passes in the second half.

They cruised to a 31 to 7 victory as they just kind of put it on and set it up.

Neil (03:33)
No, he just continues

week after week. Mendoza just continues to strengthen his Heisman resume. I mean, he had four touchdowns on Saturday and two incompletions. So he had double the amount of touchdown passes, the passes that hit the ground. And then over his last five home games, he has five more touchdown passes than incompletions in five games total combined.

Nick (03:59)
those numbers don't even

seem real.

Neil (04:01)
21 touchdown passes and 16 incompletions over his last five home games. I mean, how do you do that?

Nick (04:08)
I don't know, but like you have to look them up to believe it because yeah, you're right. I mean, it's just incredible numbers and to add onto that, he now has 30 touchdown passes on the season, which is an IU record. They are 11 and 0 for the first time in their history as just week after week, they continue to break record after record and now what they just Purdue and

With the win at Purdue, I believe, they get their first ever berth in the Big Ten Championship and we'll lock the spot in the playoff too.

Neil (04:42)
Friday night.

They're off this week.

Yeah, off this week. So they have a week to prepare for the mighty Boilermakers. ⁓ But a Friday night, post Friday, what we call that, Black Friday special. Friday night special next week at Purdue. Purdue hasn't won a league game in two years. So can't imagine that it'll be much of a challenge. So they'll be rolling right on in to the college football playoff and the Big Ten title game, probably facing Ohio State.

Nick (05:13)
Probably, probably, just, mean, it's just like you're only up three at the half, I mean, I don't think as an IU fan, you're really sweating that one and they just put them on the second half. And I mean, they just do what better teams are supposed to do. And they continue to do that week after week. The game of the week, I think, ended up being the A and N game as

They were down 30 to three at half at home. And Raleigh scored 28 straight in the second half. ⁓ They had a fourth and 12 from midfield on that first drive and decided to go for it. Marcel Reed ended up scrambling and I think two plays later.

Neil (05:46)
At home, too.

Nick (06:08)
He threw a 30 yard touchdown pass and then they scored on four straight drives to take the lead. I mean, regardless, you're down 33, you figure out a way to win and that's the name of the game. You're A &M, you've got some room for error because you haven't lost yet. But you don't wanna create that and lose that game against South Carolina because then that takes away that room for error that you have.

Neil (06:31)
Yeah, I mean you're fighting to get that spot in the SEC title game as well. You lose that and you're probably in a several way tie with one loss with a couple other teams. So it was an important game. They finally, I guess, woke up at halftime because they came out and just absolutely dominated that second half.

Nick (06:51)
Well, Marcel Reed had two picks and a lost fumble. One of the lost fumbles was picked up and returned for a touchdown in the first half by South Carolina. But he ends up finishing with a career high 439 yards and three TDs. Just an incredible second half is like I said, they on to score four straight possessions. outscored or outgained South Carolina 371 to 76 in the second half. So really just the tide was turned but

You wonder like if they don't go for it on that fourth down at midfield on the first drive and you punt the ball and you give it to South Carolina is the outcome of this game totally different.

Neil (07:30)
Yeah, I mean, very, very, very likely, yeah.

Nick (07:33)
But prior to Saturday, teams in the SEC were 0-286 since 2004 when trailing by 27 points or more.

Neil (07:47)
I mean, when you, if you're South Carolina and you make history the wrong side of history like that, that's what leads you to firing your head coach. And that's exactly what happened after this game as Beamer, Shane Beamer is now looking for a new job.

Nick (08:02)
Yeah, but look, this was kind of a revenge game for A &M too. As South Carolina beat A &M pretty handily last year at the end of the season and kind of sent A &M into a tailspin when before that game they were kind of on the verge of maybe making the postseason. So there was a revenge element to this. like the bottom line is you just got to figure out ways to win and when you're staring at 30 to three.

The clock is kind of your biggest nemesis there, right? And I mean, you just go on four straight and figure out. But here's another thing too. They get the lead 31 to 30. And there's like five minutes left there on the one yard line. And they decide to run a trick play where Reed goes wide left. They throw a backwards pass to him from the running back. It's a fumble. South Carolina picks it up. And now all of a sudden, because you're playing, trying to be running all these trick plays when you really don't need it.

You're already up. And South Carolina has a chance to go win the game. They moved the ball a little bit, but then back to back sacks by A &M put them in fourth and long and they were able to secure the win. But why are you running a play like that when you've battled back from 30 to three, you lead 31 to 30. There's five minutes left. You got the ball to one yard line and you're trying to be cute.

Neil (09:21)
Yeah,

mean, that's like, yeah, you've dominated that entire second half. There's no reason to be cute. Just line it up, run it in, extend the lead. You're dominating. All the momentum is on your side. I don't know what you're doing.

Nick (09:37)
Yeah, that one was really kind of just like, what? Like you've done all this and now you're just going to be, hey, South Carolina, go take another chance to try to beat us. I didn't understand that play. It did end up working out. Did you see the issue with the South Carolina wide receiver and the police officer?

Neil (09:54)
I did and I don't know what that police officer was thinking. I mean they what was South Carolina just scored He ran up the tunnel looked like he might have hurt himself a little bit right up the tunnel two of his other guys go to check on them They're walking back to the field and this jack wagon just decides he's just gonna try to walk right through him What's he doing? And then he then he shoves him He gives him like a forearm and then he turns around and yells at him like go away, sir. Like what are you doing?

Nick (10:12)
But it wasn't letting you just walk through them, like... Yeah!

Right? Like,

like I could see maybe if you accidentally walked into them, but then like the way he stopped and like was kind of yelling at them a little bit after it happened, like what, what is going on? I don't know that either. Like, I don't know. They walked really far down the tunnel after the play, but it did look like he had injured himself a little bit. And I think they were going to check him out. And then they're all three coming down together. And yeah, I don't know why all of sudden.

Neil (10:25)
But what?

Why is he walking up the tunnel?

Right. Yeah.

Right. Well, why is the cop

going up there while they're coming out? Yeah, I... Yeah.

Nick (10:49)
He's walking straight down the middle too.

Just kind of a bizarre scene, I mean it caught the eye of LeBron James and several other people talking about this police officer and I mean look, it's

Neil (11:02)
Well, think they, any

police said that he was relieved of his game responsibilities after that.

Nick (11:05)
Yeah,

which I guess, mean, I don't think you should lose his job over that, you lose the right to, I mean, that's a fun job for police officers to work the sideline in college football games.

Neil (11:11)
No, not that.

Yeah, put it

now, think he's, I mean, at least put it, slap a yellow vest on him and put him in the parking lot. He can direct traffic on the way out.

Nick (11:25)
⁓

But just kind of an odd scene there. don't like it just like even if you just accidentally run into him like you would apologize or something instead of acting like you're mad at the football player for walking down the tunnel.

Neil (11:34)
It was not.

Yeah, that was no accident. There's no accident there.

Nick (11:44)
But A &M figures out a way to win even though they were down 27 points at half. I remember I was working the men's game on Saturday and saw that on my phone. was like, what? They're down 30 to three and then all of a they figure out a way to win. Georgia takes care of Texas 35 to 10. Gunner Stockton throws four touchdown passes and throws for 299 yards. I mean, it's a close game throughout. Georgia scores.

I think it was the third quarter and they're leading 14 to 10 and then they run that onside kick.

Neil (12:16)
Wait, What?

Well how many touchdown passes did you say Stockton threw?

Nick (12:22)
3rd, 4th touchdown passes? 5th? Yeah. Yeah, he had a rushing as well. You gonna come at me with the stat guy? You the stat guy over there?

Neil (12:24)
Five total touchdowns. Yes, correct. I mean,

come on now, let's give him a little more credit. He had another touchdown.

Nick (12:37)
But I did

say through I didn't say had I said through

Neil (12:40)
You're discounting him in his running ability.

Nick (12:43)
But after Texas and trim George's lead to 14 to 10 in the third quarter He had a 13 yard touchdown pass and they followed that with an onside kick and

Neil (12:53)
that was beautiful.

Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (12:56)
So Texas really hadn't moved the ball that well all game. What do you think's going in Kirby Smart's mind on that onside kick? They had to just see something on film and

Neil (13:06)
Yeah,

I think they saw something like, you know, if they're their return set up looks like this, then, you know, we can exploit them in this way. And I mean, nobody was expecting it. Like you said, like they hadn't been moving the ball. George was already winning. Just can get deep, play defense, get the ball back and go score again. So nobody expected it. So great awareness by Georgia and Kirby Smart. Like you said, they probably saw something that they knew they could exploit and they did it.

Nick (13:32)
Yeah, and really once that happened, was just it was kind of curtains for the Longhorns. The 21 to 0 fourth quarter just kind of puts them to bed. ⁓ Texas is ranked 10th in the country. I think me and you are both in a agreeance that they're probably not the 10th best team. Arch Manning's numbers were fine. He had 251 yards, a touchdown and a pick.

Neil (13:55)
Texas

to me, they're the Chicago Bears of college football. They have a good record, but man, they just find ridiculous ways to somehow just win games. And that's what they're doing. Like the Kentucky game, ⁓ where they put up what, 10 points, 13 points regulation, and Kentucky kind of beat themselves. They should have lost that. There's a couple other games that they probably should have. Yeah, the next week, that's right. They came back from 17 in the fourth quarter. So to me, they're the Chicago Bears of...

Nick (14:16)
And let's you say again the next week.

Neil (14:24)
of college football where they're just winning these games that they probably shouldn't be winning.

Nick (14:28)
I do think Georgia, who has had slow starts throughout the year, didn't really have that on Saturday. And I think they're really kind of rounded into form a little bit. Gunnar Stockton's playing his best football. So they're a team, think, obviously with them being fifth in the country, they're a team to be reckoned with. But I think they're playing the best football that they've played all year. And then the other big SEC battle.

was Oklahoma going to Alabama and Oklahoma's defense really kind of shined in that one as they end Alabama's what 17 game home winning streak, I believe, and win that one 23 to 21.

Neil (15:13)
Yeah, I mean, and it didn't take a superhuman effort from John Matier. I he only threw for 138 yards. They only ranged for 74 yards on the ground. So it was all basically their defense because their offense didn't really do much in that game, but they did just enough.

Nick (15:30)
Well, they had that pick six, whenever it's a close game and it's not just a pick six at 87 yard pick six by Eli Bowen that I mean, when you've got two teams that are even like that, that's really a play that can kind of flip the script. I Alabama outgained Oklahoma 406 to 212. So and like you said, material only had 161 total yards and toss them through for 330 but

Neil (15:32)
Yeah, it is.

Nick (16:00)
They really limited them on their last four drives as Oklahoma held them to 57 yards. Over their last four drives, they had 17 points off of turnovers. So they were able to get the lead by forcing turnovers and then really held the offense and check off the last four drives to secure that win.

Neil (16:20)
No, mean, that's the story. If you look at the box score, like you said, it was 4-0-6 to 2-12 on the total yards. But the turnover battle was plus three in favor of Oklahoma. Alabama, three turnovers. Oklahoma, they didn't move the ball very well, but they didn't make the mistakes. They didn't turn it over. They didn't give Alabama short fields. ⁓ They scored some points on defense. And that's the story, is just taking care of the ball and forcing those turnovers.

Nick (16:43)
And now I think, I mean, this kind of securely puts Oklahoma in the conversation to be in the playoff.

Neil (16:48)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick (16:52)
But Mathieu didn't have a great game, but I think he is getting healthier. He was putting up great numbers at the beginning of the year. If he could start doing that again with the way that this defense is playing. mean, this was always the plan, right? Bringing Brent Venables in to Oklahoma. plan was always to have a defensive kind of carrier team. And if they can continue to play this way and then get better play from Mathieu when we were talking about the first month and a half of the season where he was potentially a Heisman candidate, that's not the case anymore.

But if he can get back to that play with this defense, they can make some noise.

Neil (17:25)
Yup, absolutely.

Nick (17:26)
Then we look at Ole Miss rallies late to beat Florida. But really, I thought this game was in Gainesville because they're talking about ⁓ we want Lane. And it was just Florida fans at the game in Oxford chanting for Lane to come to Gainesville. And I don't know, both LSU and Florida seem to be recruiting him pretty heavily.

Neil (17:54)
Yes

Nick (17:55)
I think the AD there at Ole Miss is getting a little fed up with it and wants a decision.

Neil (18:00)
I mean that's pretty brazen of Florida fans to go into enemy territory and just start chanting, we want your coach. I mean, man, what a statement that is. But no, think you're right, if you're the AD there, ⁓ you hear that and it's like, well, what are you gonna do? You mentioned before we got on here that you're setting a deadline for Lane to come out and say what he wants to do.

Nick (18:22)
That's the

talks. mean, they've said that already that his ex wife has been to Baton Rouge and been to Gainesville. I you know how all this stuff is. You know how all this stuff is.

Neil (18:28)
I mean, we hear that all the time. mean, there's flight trackers

and there's a flight going from, you know, Baton Rouge to Ole Miss and it could just be, you know, a standard route. you can't believe all that nonsense.

Nick (18:41)
I think, I mean, they're obviously in great, they're 10 and what, they've had one loss. They're 10 and one, six and one in the SEC. They're in a great position to be in the playoff. Lane Kiffin just has the reputation to always be on the move. Me to find him, and I'm at Ole Miss, and they're telling me that they're going to give me all this backing, and they're talking about how they're going to put money into the program, and you've already proven that you could have success, and now you're taking the next step, and it looks like you might get to the playoff.

I would take the little extra money they're probably gonna give me and stay there, but I don't know if Lane Kiffin really, if that's how he operates.

Neil (19:19)
Yeah, I I can't speak for Lannan. Like you said, he has the reputation of jumping around, but I don't know why you would want to go over and go and start over somewhere else. Take over a struggling program that, I mean, Florida historically is not a struggling program, but they've been down. Well, right, like they've been down the last couple of years. So you're basically going to go, you have a good thing going, you're 10 and one, you're right in the mix, try to get to the SEC championship game. You're squarely in the mix for a playoff spot and then go to a- ⁓

Nick (19:30)
Well, they haven't been good since Urban Meyer left.

Neil (19:45)
take over a three and seven Florida team with all the expectations and pressure you're gonna feel there already, you're one. I mean, you go and start over and you don't succeed and you're one, they're already gonna be jumping on you already. So you got a good thing going. I don't understand why you would give up a good thing.

Nick (20:03)
I don't either, but this is not going to go away. It really is kind of overriding the success that this Ole Miss team is having. Trinidad-Chamberliss had another great game. Lacey had 224 yards and three touchdowns on the ground. This is a good Ole Miss team. I don't know. Look, maybe it's not his fault. Obviously, if you're a coach in these openings, people are going to ...

suggest that this might be happening, but I just feel like it's kind of taking over the story of the good football that these Ole Miss players are.

Neil (20:40)
Yeah, that's kind of a shame. It is kind of a distraction when you know other schools are rumored to be coming after your coach and you still have a lot to play for. You have a national championship to play for. So it's definitely distracting. It has to be distracting. So it's not really fair to the players or the fans for that matter. you know, if you're the AD, you just wish that Lane would come out and say something instead of just leaving everybody in limbo. But it's just not the way it is these days.

Nick (21:07)
Yeah, I don't see him doing that. Texas Tech, after taking care of BYU last week, just absolutely put it on UCF. And our boy Joey Rodriguez, they were talking about him being a Heisman Trophy candidate. They did a little something extra to try to get him on the stage last week or on Saturday.

Neil (21:27)
Did

you see the coach's quote? He said everybody's talking about QBs for Heisman. So we decided to put him at QB. And what did he do? He scores a touchdown. So I mean, they're embracing it, man. They're embracing his celebrity. They're embracing his Heisman campaign. He had an interception. He scored a touchdown ⁓ on offense, had an interception on defense, was the leading tackler with nine total tackles. He had a pass defended. Like he's just all over the place. I mean, again, defensive players for Heisman's.

Like I think I looked it up the last one was Chase Young in 2019 from Ohio State that ended up going to New York as part of that ceremony. So it's not often, it's not probably a realistic thing that a defensive player will win a Heisman. I said, Charles Woodson, think was the actual last one to do it. But I love it. I love the campaign they're putting behind this guy.

Nick (22:18)
Yeah, no, it's cool. it'll be fun to see what other kind of quirky plays they utilize the rest of the year to try to. You can do that too when you're up by 40 points and you're just rolling and Texas Tech is in a really good spot to get to the playoffs as they lead the big 12. Notre Dame went to Pitt as Pitt hosted game day and Notre Dame kind of

Neil (22:30)
48 to 9.

HAH!

Nick (22:46)
showed pit that they're not quite at their level yet. Jeremiah Love, it was early in the game, one of the coolest to the house runs I may have ever seen, where he just straight hit circle button at the 50 yard line and just duped every single pit defender and then took it all the way to the house. he's another guy that, we haven't talked about him much on this show, but he's another guy that might be on his way to New York.

Neil (23:14)
Yeah, he's the best running back in the country. He had another awesome game ⁓ on Saturday against Pitt. But yeah, not a lot of people are talking about him, but as they should mean they should be, because he's that good.

Nick (23:26)
BYU rebounds with the big win over TCU Utah. I mean Utah has just absolutely Killed some teams this year one one Saturday 55 to 28 Miami gets right gets a 41 to 7 win over NC State and then Georgia Tech who I Guess they're in the driver's seat in the ACC But it takes a come from behind win at BC against a team who hasn't won

since week one against Fordham to, don't know what to, Haynes Keene, I really like him, but I guess in the end, it's just like, them, you figure out a way to win, and that's all that matters, but can you really be down in the fourth quarter against a one win BC team?

Neil (24:13)
this.

I mean, they were just sleepwalking in that game. I don't know if they just thought they'd get off the bus and kick the ball off and all of sudden, you know, the game would be over and they'd be walking out of there with a victory without having to do anything. I mean, Boston College made them work for it. They had to outscore them 19 to six in the fourth quarter just to get that two point victory. So, I mean, they, them and Virginia, I think, are in the driver's seats since Virginia housed Duke the other day. So, they're both sitting there with one conference loss.

They went out and SMU is also there with one conference loss as well. I mean, they are in the driver's seat, but man, they took a long detour to get back on the road.

Nick (24:55)
Yeah, figured out a way to win. Haynes King almost threw for 400 yards. They had 19 points in the fourth quarter to come back and win that one. ⁓ Michigan wins with the late field goal at Wrigley Field, which it's always cool when they're playing college football games at Wrigley Field. And I mean, with Northwestern Stadium, they're doing all that construction right now. I mean, you go from a stadium that's had a construction that I think is basically like a soccer stadium to Wrigley.

Neil (25:09)
we feel.

Nick (25:25)
It's a big difference.

Neil (25:27)
Yeah, cool. Anytime you can put a sporting event at Wrigley Field, it's good.

Nick (25:31)
And you talked about Virginia taking care of Duke. So, and then South Florida who a lot of people had as you know that non power four power five team to get in the playoff loses to Navy and that American race, I don't know if that last playoff team is gonna come out of the American, but that the league is all just kinda tightened up there.

Neil (25:56)
Yeah, mean South Florida, after that win at Florida earlier in the year, and ⁓ people were talking about them as being in the driver's seat of getting that non-Power 4 spot, but a couple losses here, and now looks like James Madison might be in that spot.

Nick (26:12)
Yeah, and could they potentially play IU?

Neil (26:15)
That's very well good. That would be awesome.

Nick (26:17)
So

that would be interesting. So, no, it's hard to believe what we're already in week 12. It's crazy how fast it goes. And James Franklin appears like he's gonna be heading to Blacksburg to be the head coach of the Hokies. You talked about Beamer getting fired at South Carolina. He's probably the-

I mean, he's got to be the biggest named coach that Virginia Techs had since Frank Beamer was there.

Neil (26:46)
Yeah, I think it's

a great landing spot for James Franklin as well. You had success, you have success basically everywhere you've gone. You were just in the college football playoff last year with Penn State, but now you don't have to face the Ohio States and the Michigan's every year and the powerhouse Indiana football team that they've got up there in Bloomington now. So the ACC, think for him is a great landing spot. It's a winnable conference.

especially in years like this year when Clemson and Florida State are down and Miami is, you know, they're good but they're not the Miami that everybody expected them to be. So it's a good landing spot. He can win. He can win there. He can win now. I mean, you can turn it around as long as they give him the resources and the NIL money that everybody says that they promised them. for him, it's a good, to me, it's a good situation for him and for both.

Nick (27:40)
I think it's a

great situation and they've got a great football tradition. And if they're gonna put money behind it, and you're right, the schedule in the ACC is just different than it is in the Big Ten and the SEC. That's just the way it went. Miami and Florida State aren't in the top five like they used to be, which the ACC was hoping they were gonna be when they brought them over. That just hasn't been the case here.

Here recently Clemson's been down and no I do I think it's a good spot for James Franklin and it works out really well for Penn State too as they renegotiate his buyout from 49 million to nine million dollars.

Neil (28:18)
Yeah, I hope not.

Say what?

It's more manageable.

Nick (28:28)
Yeah!

Yeah. I don't even, like, I just, I don't know how, like, is that just him being a nice guy?

Neil (28:37)
No, I think that actually was part of the agreement that when he got fired it was in the buyout clause that he had to at least attempt to get another job and if he landed another job, Penn State would just have to pay the difference of whatever he's getting paid at the new job compared to what his old cons. So if he was making nine million a year at Penn State and then he's making eight million a year ⁓ here at Virginia Tech, Penn State kicks in that extra million to basically make it even. So I think that's kind of what happened here.

Nick (29:04)
Will

all these coaches not have this clause in their contract?

Neil (29:07)
They do not. No, no, they don't. Some are just, you pay me all the money and you pay me all the money up front or you pay me over five years, you pay me over three months or whatever. But no, not all do. I think this was a smart play by Penn State of having that in.

Nick (29:21)
You think?

You think? Yeah, it's smart play. ⁓ mean, James Franklin could have gone and done TV.

Neil (29:25)
I mean, could tell me,

he could have told Virginia Tech, I'll coach for $100 a year and then make Penn State be on the hook for basically the whole buyout if he wanted to.

Nick (29:36)
Yeah, he also could have gone on TV.

Neil (29:38)
He could have done TV.

Nick (29:40)
I just you go from 49 to 9. I mean just think about how much that change Changes the budget lines for Penn State for the next seven years Like it just like at Penn State good on you for getting that in his contract because these buyouts are crazy and I mean, I don't think that's in Brian Kelly's contract

Neil (30:06)
think he's gonna be owed all of that money over the next couple months, I think.

Nick (30:11)
So I guess need to get into the NFL.

Neil (30:15)
Do we have to?

Nick (30:16)
Yeah, let's start with the bingles and then we can get into everything else.

You good with that?

Neil (30:20)
Sure, there's not much to say. It's just another dumpster fire after week after week. The fire just gets hotter and hotter in the dumpster.

Nick (30:30)
Well, it was for all the, I know, because like I said, I had Thanksgiving on Sunday and you know what the score was with majority of the first half.

Neil (30:40)
The kids do. The kids do. Six, seven.

Nick (30:44)
The Bengal score they tie the game on extra point they get a penalty Pittsburgh gets a penalty so Zach Taylor decides we'll take a point off the board and we'll go for two

Neil (30:52)
Why would you...

Let's start there. Let's go piece by piece here. Why are we taking the point off the board? Why are we taking the point off the board? You can move it up an extra yard closer to the goal line, but come on. You've tied the game. Let's take the tie. Like it's early in the game. We're not chasing points in the first quarter. It's the first quarter. Take the point that's on the board.

Nick (31:10)
First quarter, it's first quarter.

Neil (31:14)
Especially when you run some stupid play that you rain on the two-point conversion that went absolutely nowhere and then all of sudden you're losing the game because you're a nader.

Nick (31:19)
Well, that's.

That's the issue.

That's the issue. Like I have no, I really don't have a problem with going for it. Like if you, you got to think that you can get a yard.

Neil (31:27)
I do. I have a problem with it.

Nope. Not this. Nope. Nope.

Nick (31:34)
But I mean, I also understand because they have, But you take a point off and then it's six, seven, the almost the entire first half until the last drive of the second quarter where the Bengals have two rough in the passer penalties and a 30 yard gain. And they end up stopping them again inside the 10 and hold them to a field goal. They only allowed 10 points in the first half. The Bengals defense.

Neil (31:51)
.

They did.

Nick (32:03)
They held them to two of seven on third down in the first half and forced three consecutive punts. The Bengals defense and the offense couldn't do anything. Play complimentary football.

Neil (32:21)
The offense, mean, the first drive of the game for the offense was actually really, really good. They were running the ball, Chase Brown looked like he was gonna run all over Pittsburgh in that game off that first drive. Joe Flacco had that nice down the sideline pass to T Higgins for a touchdown. And then it looked like we were gonna be off and rolling like we just were against Pittsburgh three, four weeks ago. And then came all to a screeching halt.

Nick (32:46)
Yeah, mean, Bengals didn't do anything the second half. Joe Flacco threw a pick six. Another fumble six.

Neil (32:52)
We're fumble six. Fumble six. We don't tackle

anybody. Gino Stone just needs to be cut tomorrow. I mean, if he's active for the rest of the season, why? He meant holding inactive. He should be active.

Nick (33:08)
Look, I don't have,

look, I could fake my way through coaching baseball. I could fake my way through coaching basketball. Admittedly, I could not coach football. Like, I just, I could not. But when it's that evident.

Neil (33:23)
Now when you say coach football, you're saying you can't coach the techniques of tackling and the technique, or you can make decisions on, okay, you suck, you're not playing. Like, that's not easy. You can do that.

Nick (33:28)
Yes.

Well, I can do that, I don't understand like

all the formations and all that. Like I don't know enough about it to where I could coach. I admit that. But when I see Barrett Carter in space, I'm like, all right, well, we're not getting to stop. When I see Gino Stone and he has to make a tackle and he was like, oh, he's gonna bounce off of him and he has no chance.

Neil (33:39)
No, that's fine. But you know when a player is playing well and when a player sucks.

He doesn't even try. He just throws his body at a guy. Doesn't use his arms, doesn't try to wrap up anything. He just tries to throw his body at somebody and then he just hits the ground and the runner just keeps running. It's just an embarrassment that Geno Stone is an NFL player.

Nick (34:14)
Well, and like you asked him to take a pay cut in the offseason because he wasn't what you thought he was when you signed him. And instead of cutting him, you asked him to take a pay cut and then you're like, but you'll still play every single snap.

Neil (34:20)
Good.

He needs to be in the room.

Nick (34:28)
gave up 27

points, they've given up 27 points in nine straight games. Ties an NFL record, the Chargers also did that in 2020. That date backs to 1920, dates back over 100 years. So ⁓ they've allowed 14 points in the fourth quarter in five straight games, that is an NFL record. The 84 points allowed in the fourth quarter over the last five games ties an NFL record.

They converted a third and 17 and I think two, three, third and 11s.

Neil (35:00)
Oh yeah, third and long was the theme of yesterday. You get the Pittsburgh Steelers into third and over 10 and it was almost an automatic first down on the next one. Oh, that was it. All they had to do was just tackle somebody and they couldn't do it.

Nick (35:10)
And it was just a little screen passes too. wasn't just a little.

The NFL average on third and 10s is 19%. The Bengals are last in NFL coming to the game at 30%. They had allowed six of 20 third and 10 conversions on the season. On Sunday, they allowed three alone, which is tired for the most this year. They suck.

Neil (35:35)
Yeah,

mean in that halftime, like you said, you get the ball to start the second half, you're down 10-6, Aaron Rodgers is out of the game, so you're facing Mason or Rudolph, you're thinking, we might be able to do something here. And it was just an absolute opposite. They just butt-whupped us on both sides of the ball and just boat-raced us in the second half.

Nick (35:58)
Yeah, as...

Neil (36:00)
Then

you got and then you you're your son you the Zack Taylor apologist Do you just love Zack Taylor which to me makes no sense? Yes, you do your love fest with Zack Taylor Which makes no sense the man on fourth and one from midfield when you're down to touchdowns Everybody knows you're not gonna punt the ball you get up under center and you try to draw them off sides and waste the time out What are you? What are you doing right there run the play you want to try to draw them off draw? That's fine

Nick (36:06)
never said I loved you. Like

Neil (36:29)
But you don't burn the timeout. What you do is run the play, you sneak it, you get the first down. Absolutely inexcusable. And then, coming out of a first down... Well then, coming out, then you had to burn it. Then, right after that, you burned another timeout, because you couldn't get the play call in, because the play clock was running down to one. And then you take a delay again, after a first down.

Nick (36:34)
Yeah. And they got lucky on that. They got lucky there.

No, I mean, I...

Neil (36:49)
That's your head coach. That's your guy. Thank you.

Nick (36:51)
I mean, I'd fire.

I'd fire him. I'd fire Duke, I'd fire Zac Taylor, and I'd fire Al Golden

Neil (36:57)
Glad you finally came around.

Nick (36:58)
I mean, you have to. You have to. You're... I don't know. I don't know.

Neil (37:00)
Yes, you have to. There's no doubt. But will they?

In your opinion,

I want you to look at your little crystal ball, you got a little Magic 8 ball over there. I want you to shake it up real nice and good real quick and look into that future and what do the Bengals look like next year with those three? Is Duke Tobin here? Is Zac Taylor here? And is Al Golden here next year?

Nick (37:22)
Well, then.

Well, I'll rank them who's most likely to be there.

⁓ I think Duke Tobin's most likely to be there because he's been there since 1999.

Neil (37:31)
Insane. Absolutely insane.

Nick (37:33)
I he's the first one that I would fire. So I'll give you two rankings. I'll give who's most likely and I'll give you who I would. Duke Tobin is the first I would fire and he's the most likely to still be there. Zach Taylor and Al Golden are a package deal because Zach just hired him from Notre Dame. I mean, they can't, neither one of them can be on your staff next year. Neither one of them. Like you have to start fresh. You keep DJ Turner.

Neil (37:36)
absolutely.

Okay. Yes. Yes.

Nick (38:02)
You maybe keep Demetrius Knight just because he's a rookie. But there's not many other pieces on that defense that you bring back next year. And you start completely over. Your offense is completely set. You don't have to do anything on offense. You don't have to touch it. Everybody is back. And I hate that we're doing this in week 11. But yeah, you have to start completely fresh.

Neil (38:11)
How you gonna film all this?

No, I agree with that.

Nick (38:31)
⁓ on defense.

Nick (38:32)
So, I mean, the bottom line is, this can't be your coaching staff and this can't be your front office next year. But.

There's a chance that Zack will not be here. There's a chance that Al Golden will not be here. I think the chances are very slim that Duke Toland will not be here.

Neil (38:53)
That's unfortunate.

Nick (38:53)
We, I guess we gotta talk about the spitting.

Neil (38:56)
clown show.

Nick (38:58)
I they were getting in it as him and Jalen Ramsey as much as I've seen two players get in it. They were just hanging on to each other's face masks there for five minutes at one point. And dude, Jalen Ramsey is, he's got a history of it. Well, yeah, I mean, if you get it.

Neil (39:13)
Well, he's got a history. He's got a history with the Bengals. He's got a history with the Bengals. He and AJ Green

were duking it out at midfield when he was a Jaguar. AJ Green was one of the most level-headed, calm guys that I've ever seen play for the Bengals. And he's out there throwing punches at Jalen Ramsey because he's just a punchable guy, I guess.

Nick (39:31)
Well, I mean, yeah, you're right. Like if you're getting AJ to act like that, you have a good ability to get into people's heads and make them want to punch you in the face. And look, there's already bad blood between Jamar and Jaylen Ramsey. And you see Ramsey throw the punch. mean, can we quit punching people in the helmet?

Neil (39:42)
Yeah, and I think that's kind of what went on yesterday.

That's also true.

Nick (39:57)
Didn't

see the spit until later. Jamar says, I didn't spit on that guy. Well, the video shows otherwise, Jamar.

Neil (40:03)
idiot

I clearly he's not gonna say, yeah, I spit on him. I think he was maybe hoping that you couldn't tell on video, knowing damn well he did do it. I mean, I don't blame him for saying I didn't do it, but yeah, that evidence is pretty clear. Like, stop spittin' on people. Again, how does this just keep happening? We are grown adults. We are grown adults.

Nick (40:25)
I don't know, Jalen Carter did it. What?

Yeah, it's just gross. I mean, it's just gross. And Jalen Carter did it to Dak in week one. He didn't get suspended. They said, ⁓ he missed the whole game. So it basically was a suspension, but it looks like Jamar is gonna be the first player ever suspended for an entire game for spitting.

Neil (40:51)
mean, it's warranted, I can't disagree with it. What was the fine? $500,000, is that what I saw?

Nick (40:56)
Close

to it, a little bit less than that. I mean, it's a game check. So it's 1 18th of his pay.

Neil (41:02)
Yeah, that's a lot of money.

Nick (41:04)
He's

appealing. I don't see how this gets overturned, but...

Neil (41:10)
mean, he deserves it. It doesn't matter at this point anyway.

Nick (41:15)
No, I

mean what, you have the Patriots and you have the Ravens twice? And the Bills over the next four weeks? I mean, you're gonna be...

Neil (41:20)
bills.

I mean, this point,

you're playing for the draft pick now.

Nick (41:26)
Yeah, I guess Joe, I guess Murrow will still play if he's ready, I don't.

Neil (41:32)
No pressure on him if he comes back at least.

Nick (41:34)
That will happen, yeah. But no, I mean, get that pic.

Neil (41:40)
Yeah.

Nick (41:41)
because it's over.

Neil (41:42)
But then Duke Tobin will probably mess

it up. We'll get a nice top five pick and Duke Tobin will probably just screw it up and pick some guy that has never had a sack in his college career or some nonsense like that.

Nick (41:53)
Well,

Trey's never gonna play again either, he's already doubtful for next week,

Neil (42:00)
Yeah. It's... The show goes on.

Nick (42:04)
This isn't

a bingo show. We need to quit our venting, but it's just, it's so frustrating.

What non-Bingles game stood out to you yesterday?

Neil (42:16)
I, the one that stood out to me the most and I, we say this every week, I don't know how it keeps happening, but the Denver Broncos just continue to find ways to win games. And they beat a damn good Chiefs team yesterday.

Nick (42:30)
Well, and they

also really separated themselves in the AFC West.

Neil (42:35)
Yeah, no, like, yeah, like for a team that's already leading that division, ⁓ you know, to just keep digging the Chiefs hole deeper and deeper. ⁓ Good for them, but I don't understand how it keeps happening. Like I said, we've said we're not Bo Nicks believers on this show, but their defense is really, really good. So good for the Broncos. They keep finding ways to do it. And as long as they keep winning, that's all that matters.

Nick (42:59)
Look, and look, you said we're not huge Bo Nicks believers and I think I've been even more of a hater of Bo Nicks than you have. yesterday, his fifth, fourth quarter comeback of the year. And that's what they just keep doing. They keep finding ways to win games late. He finished with almost 300 yards, had a huge third and 15 conversion on that game winning drive to Cortland Sutton.

Neil (43:13)
Yeah.

Nick (43:28)
And then he hit Troy Franklin down the sideline to set up Lutz's 35 yard game win in field goal. So yeah, their defense is the story of this team. And they forced the Chiefs twice in a row to go three and out when they had a chance to extend the lead late. But I mean, I have gotten on Bo Nicks, but I didn't think he was great. He was good yesterday and was a big reason why he won that game.

Neil (43:45)
Yeah.

Nick (43:54)
Here's, you want a crazy stat. The Chiefs last year were 11 and 0 in one score games. This year, do you know what the record is in one score games?

Neil (44:01)
Mm-hmm. Mm.

Something in five? Were they two in five? One in five? O in five? O in five.

Nick (44:13)
They're five and five overall and yep. the Chiefs now are, the Chiefs are five and five and the Broncos are, they're nine and two. So three and a half games clear.

Neil (44:15)
Yep, all five by one score.

Yeah.

Yeah, mean, that's what stood out to me was just the Broncos continue to win. And I think the other game that stood out to me was what we thought was gonna be the game of the day. And it turned out to be a pretty good one in terms of score, but Sam Darnold just was awful yesterday, awful. And I had the Seahawks as my best team in the NFL, you had the Rams as your top pick. And the Rams came out on top of that two point victory, but four interceptions for Darnold yesterday, brutal.

Nick (44:59)
Yeah, and he's really struggled against the Rams and more specifically against their defense coordinator, Chris Shula. In the three games against his defense, he's 0-3 and he's been sacked 12 times and he's thrown five picks.

Neil (45:16)
I think, wasn't it, didn't they lose to the Rams when he was with Minnesota last year in the playoffs? Yeah.

Nick (45:20)
Yep,

So he's what against every other every other coordinator, he's 21 and four. And, you know, they the Rams bring pressure and I think it's just proven that that's kind of Sam Donald's script tonight right now is when he's pressured he he makes mistakes and and that's what happened on on on Sunday. But I mean, if you if you made me if we're doing this on Wednesday and I get first pick, I'm going Rams.

as the best team in the league. And Stafford continues to play well.

Neil (45:51)
That's ordinary.

Yeah, mean, losing to the Rams, I don't think makes the Seahawks, you know, I still think they're probably one of the top three, four teams in the league. mean, Sam Darnall is not going to do this. I mean, he's proven he's better than this. So I'm just chalking this up as a one-off for him. Like you said, he struggles against this team and this defensive coordinator. So Seahawks will be fine, but the Rams, Rams are just better.

Nick (46:19)
Yeah, the Bills at home beat the Bucks 44 to 32. Josh Allen was kind of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with some of the great plays he was making and some of the just the do you see the two handed pass that he threw from his own end zone as it got picked like one of the worst interceptions I've ever seen. But he ends up with 317 passing yards, three passing touchdowns, two interceptions and then three more rushing touchdowns.

Neil (46:39)
Okay.

Nick (46:48)
And they limited Baker Mayfield to just 173 yards as the Bills took care of the Bucks. The game last night was, I think everybody was looking forward to that one and with Detroit going into Philly and Jared Goff looked bad.

Neil (47:08)
Yeah, the Lions, yeah the Lions look bad, your golf look bad. Eagles weren't that impressive either, mean just a boring 16-9, boring game.

Nick (47:16)
You know, it was cold and windy and it was gusty and Jared golf was 14 of 37

And ⁓ he's had a history of struggling in these cold windy games and that continued last night. And yeah, like you said, it didn't seem like the Eagles really wanted to win the game either. But we did see a tush push get stopped.

Neil (47:37)
We did, yeah, I did see that actually. Yes, yes we did. There's a blueprint now for somebody, for a team to follow that they can stop it.

Nick (47:45)
Well, the Ravens were trailing early but came back to win at Cleveland and we got to see Shador Sanders for the first time.

Neil (47:54)
Yeah, I don't think that went as well as he was hoping it would go.

Nick (47:57)
416, 47 yards and a pick. I saw one stat that said if he would have just dropped back and spiked it, he would have had a higher QB rating if he would have done that.

⁓ But you know, there's also like saying that Stefanski has not played him at all with the first stringers in practice. And that was the first time that he's been out there with them. And I don't know, this whole handling of Chidor and their 50 quarterbacks that they have in Cleveland has just been odd all year.

Neil (48:32)
It's odd. I mean, I don't think Shador is a bad talent. just think, you know, like he just, I don't think, I still think he's prepared. Like you said, he hasn't gotten the reps. He's just not, he just came in and looked like he didn't really know what to do.

Can we talk about probably the best worst team or the worst best team in football, the Chicago Bears and how they just continue to just somehow win games? 7-3 in first place in the NFC North, a division that we all expected to be one of the best in football with the Packers, the Lions and the Vikings. But the last second field goal yesterday to beat the Vikings, so they win that by two.

Nick (48:56)
7 and 3

Neil (49:13)
The week before they win by four against the bad Giants team. We all know what happens when they pulled out that last minute victory against the terrible Bengals. You know, they beat the commanders by one. They beat the Raiders by one. Like they have all of these close games against these bad teams that they are just barely winning. They are not a good football team. And they're seven, eight, and what did we say they were? What's the word? Seven and three and in first place.

Nick (49:39)
There are seven and three.

Neil (49:42)
I-I-I does not make sense to

Nick (49:45)
I mean, they were up 16 to three going into the fourth quarter. The Vikings who had moved the ball at all the entire game get two scores to go up and then what do the Bears do? They get a Phil Go with the gun. yeah, and then get a Phil Go with the gun but.

Neil (49:57)
Big kick return. ⁓

and still understand how it keeps happening.

Nick (50:05)
JJ McCarthy was 16 of 32 and guess what Caleb Williams was also 16 of 32. So both with 50 % completion percentages, Justin Jefferson had five catches for 61 yards. He's on pace for just 1200 yards and three touchdowns this year and kind of showed his frustration on Sunday. I know Donald struggled but you got to wonder did they screw that one up by.

not bringing him back because he's been really good until yesterday.

Neil (50:37)
Yeah.

Nick (50:38)
I mean really the the Patriots continue to win on Thursday night the Dolphins Win in Madrid on a game winning field going overtime the Panthers are six and five I talked about that maybe being a team when we had to figure out teams that weren't gonna make the playoffs Or that didn't make the playoffs. I might make it this year. They were the one of the teams I mentioned I didn't really believe myself, but

Neil (51:03)
I don't even

know what your reason. I don't even think you even remember your reasoning for it. somehow they're sitting there at 65. They're in the mix.

Nick (51:06)
But they're six and five.

I mean, listen to the playoffs in the AFC right now. The one seed is the Denver Broncos. The two seed is the New England Patriots and the three seed is the Indianapolis Colts.

Neil (51:18)
AFC

Nick (51:27)
If you would have bet that at the beginning of the year for those three teams that win the division, I think you're going to be making a lot of

Neil (51:33)
Yeah, although I did call the cult, so you know, we always...

Nick (51:36)
Well, that's

one of three. You have to get two more to win that bet. And then, I mean, I still don't think the Steelers are that good and they're sitting there the four seed because they're leading the north and then.

Neil (51:51)
I don't know, if we can go back and find episode one of this show and when we did these predictions, I may have said the Broncos were gonna win that division. I know I said they were making the playoffs and I was cussing the Chiefs out for I thought they were gonna regress. I might have said the Denver Broncos. We need to go back and pull the tape on that.

Nick (52:10)
Well,

it's all out there. I mean, that's the thing. Like, this lives on the internet for all eternity, so we can go find it.

Neil (52:18)
I'm gonna go pull the tape.

We're gonna pull the tape from episode one or two and find that segment. I might have had two out of three here.

Nick (52:26)
Yeah, and then your Bears are now I mean the Eagles and the Rams won two seeds in NFC, but then your Bears Are the three seed in the NFC right now?

Neil (52:36)
Rob Jones is rejoicing over in Plainview right now.

Nick (52:39)
I don't know. I don't think there's great teams this year.

Neil (52:45)
No, if you asked me to pick the Super Bowl champion, I would probably tell you the Baltimore Ravens and they're sitting there at 500 on the season. There's not a lot of great teams, but I don't know. We'll see. When it comes down to crunch time, will the teams that have risen to the top in the past couple years, the Bills, the Chiefs, the Ravens, will they continue to do that as wild card teams? Or will some of these newcomers prove that they're not frauds?

Nick (53:11)
I don't know. I mean, I just, I know there's like, I just, it's hard to trust these teams. You know, I just.

Neil (53:21)
Yeah.

Nick (53:22)
I don't know, that's what people love about the NFL is you just never know from year to year who's gonna be in the playoffs. I mean, honestly, it makes what the Chiefs have done even more impressive, the fact that they've been able to run it off over the last five, six years and be there every year when the league does change as much as it does.

But I know one team is not making a playoffs.

and that is your Cincinnati Bengals. Well, ⁓ you want to talk about the New York Jets, Justin Fields out as quarterback.

Neil (53:45)
New York Jets.

Yup, benched again. Yup. He beat us. He beat us. He beat us.

Nick (53:53)
He led his team to 500 yards three weeks ago

500 yards he led his team to 500 yards

Neil (54:00)
Sure did.

Nick (54:01)
You know, one thing we didn't talk about, and I think we talked plenty NFL on Wednesday on our last show, and we meant to. So I think we need to address it is Shohei.

Neil (54:13)
Yeah, unanimous MVP.

Nick (54:17)
four and five years.

Neil (54:19)
four and five years.

Nick (54:21)
He, ⁓

Neil (54:22)
Multiple leagues.

Nick (54:24)
He's the first player in all of the big four sports. So baseball, NBA, NFL, NHL, who has won MVP and a championship in each of his first two seasons with the team.

I mean, we've already got into it. I mean, have we ever seen anything like this before? I mean, Barry Bonds is the only, what, he had seven MVPs. So that's the only one that show hay trails and just, mean, and I mean, if he does what next year, what he's done, he's gonna win it again.

Neil (54:57)
I'd like to see there be a year and it probably won't happen because I don't think he's good enough to do it. He might be good enough to do it but he's not quite Paul Skeen's level but if he could somehow win an MVP and a Sal Young in the same season.

Nick (55:11)
I just, I don't think that's gonna happen.

Neil (55:13)
I don't know, there's too many other good pitchers out there, but he's talented enough to me he could do it. That would be sick. He's a side, imagine him being a Cy Young award winner and he's hitting 56 bombs at 125, 30 RBI's. That would be It would be sick.

Nick (55:20)
I that would be...

I mean, it's insane, dude. It is absolutely

insane. But another one, him and Joe Morgan are the only players to have won MVP award in the World Series and back to back seasons. ⁓ It's so many different numbers and he's just gonna keep breaking home and.

Neil (55:46)
He's one of one.

Nick (55:50)
⁓ I just always go back to how the angels just let him walk.

Neil (55:56)
how they not win with him.

Nick (55:58)
and how did they not win with him and Mike Trapp?

Neil (56:01)
But speaking of the angels in the American League, what are your opinions on the AL MVP? A little controversy there with Aaron Judge getting it over the big dumper.

Nick (56:11)
It's gotta go to the dumper,

Neil (56:13)
I would have said so too. switch hit catcher records, switch hitting records. Like he's hitting all these...

Nick (56:18)
And I think the fact that you're

a catcher just adds another element to it.

Neil (56:22)
Yeah, it's harder to play. The grind on your body as a catcher is a lot more than playing left field or center field or whatever Aaron John does.

Nick (56:31)
Yeah, 100%. I mean, it's the big market Yankees over the little market Mariners. Really, I think that's a big reason why. I mean, the Calvary should have been MVP.

Neil (56:39)
Yeah. I think it's probably right. No, I think it's right.

Nick (56:45)
But there was no argument who was the MVP in the other league.

So we got, ⁓ what was this one story you was telling me about where dude's like six foot two and he's trying to become like even taller?

Neil (56:59)
Yeah, I've never heard of this. Maybe you have, but what are they called? What are they calling themselves?

Nick (57:03)
No, believe me if I

would have heard about it I would have researched it Going from 410 to 5-2 is a big difference than 6-2 to 6-6

Neil (57:07)
They call him

a popular looks maxer. I don't know what a looks maxer is, what that means, don't know. But this dude, I don't even know where he said the article, I think he said where he's from. I think he's not from here. But says he is a $100,000 spending on limb lengthening surgery to go from 6'2 to 6'6. So adding four inches of height to his body by basically they're breaking the bones in his legs.

Nick (57:17)
Never heard of this word, yet.

I don't think he's from there.

Neil (57:43)
stretching them out or something and I I mean you gonna spend a hundred thousand dollars how much how much you spending to go from 410 to 6 6

Nick (57:52)
Well, no, well, 4'10 to 6'6 how much would that cost? I think I'd look a little goofy too. I think I'd look a little goofy. I don't understand this at all. my whole life, like I just want to get to five foot. want to get this surgery would get me there. This surgery would get me there. But and I've had surgeries like clearly like hip replacement. I've had surgeries.

Neil (57:56)
Hahaha

Get out the checkbook.

It's gotta hurt.

Yeah.

Nick (58:22)
And they do they cut your bone and they like it's just it's wild but I am not doing this For i'm still gonna be short You're still gonna be short You're still gonna be five two now mugsy mugs is five three prince was five two You're over that five foot threshold, which just sounds better

Neil (58:28)
Yeah.

It could unlock a whole another door of some fine looking females for you.

Nick (58:43)
It could. It could. I'm not going to research this. I also don't have $100,000 to spend. But what is dude doing? And he's like, 6'2 is average. He's like 60. But it's not. It's like 90 percentile of height. But he's like, I want to get to the 99, the 95 or the 99. But like, what?

Neil (58:48)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I

don't know, like I don't, yeah. But also.

Nick (59:06)
also

a looks maxer so he just has all these surgeries to make himself look what he thinks is more attractive

Neil (59:09)
Yeah, I don't know what that is.

But they're breaking your bones and doing all this to like, you're probably gonna live in pain for the rest of your life. Like I just don't see how this is successful and you just walk around normally at six foot six the rest of your life. There's gonna be some complications, has to be. Some pain, some arthritis probably. I don't know what you got going on in there but there's just no way you're gonna live a comfortable life adding four inches to your leg bones. It's done.

Nick (59:33)
Well...

Where?

Dude,

you play wiffle ball in the front yard and that wiffle ball hits you in the shin, you're probably going to break your leg in half.

Neil (59:48)
Yeah? Yeah? Yeah? You ain't kiddin'?

Nick (59:51)
And

I'm not trying to do that to get to 5'2 and also spend $100,000. I don't.

Neil (59:59)
I hope it works out well.

don't know what he's trying to accomplish. Like, I don't know what his end goal is.

Nick (1:00:03)
Well, I think

what he's trying to accomplish is get idiots like us and blogs to talk about him so he can.

make some money that way.

Neil (1:00:09)
think if

you want to get to five foot my guy, we can start ⁓ a height differential GoFundMe page for Nick Evans to get to five foot. Might have a couple donations coming in.

Nick (1:00:18)
Well, I want the full four inches. So I want to get the five foot two if we're going to do it. But like four inches, like how could I don't understand how this works. I can see like, well, yes, yes. But how do you, I don't understand how it grows back. Like, do they do it gradually? Like, do you have to cut off an inch and then grow back and then do it? Or is it a one time? Like I didn't see where they said, like how long the surgery takes.

Neil (1:00:23)
Alright, I think we can probably just-

Four inches is a good amount of inches.

It didn't say multiple servers,

I don't know.

Nick (1:00:48)
And is

it, where do they cut you? Do they cut you below the knee?

Neil (1:00:53)
It said they break his fibula or fibula here. Let me pull this back up here. It did say in the article what they cut.

Nick (1:01:02)
So it-

but it is all below the waist.

Neil (1:01:05)
Yes, to me, the way I wrote it was it was below the right.

Nick (1:01:08)
So you're just going have long

legs and a little bitty torso? Like, it's not going to be.

Neil (1:01:11)
Mm-hmm, guess.

I mean, do you have to do your arms next? Like, do you break your arms? Like, how does that?

Nick (1:01:16)
It's not going

to be well that didn't make you taller unless you're walking around on your arms and legs there. But you're going to lose some symmetry which to me I always thought like attractiveness was based on symmetry.

Neil (1:01:31)
Yeah, think if you licked in your legs, you got licked in your arms, right? I don't know.

Nick (1:01:37)
Are you reading it live on air?

Neil (1:01:40)
Yeah, I'm trying to figure out where they said where the surgery was.

also, looks macking is a new social media trend where people try to look like Patrick Bateman from American Psycho aiming to maximize your looks.

Nick (1:01:55)
So you yeah, so you're trying to look like that specific dude,

Neil (1:01:59)
Yeah.

⁓ you break a bone, your tibia and your femur, and gradually pull the bone segments apart, which in turn stimulates new bone to grow in the gap.

I don't know. I just don't see how this could be successful. You're just gonna be walking around one day and your leg's gonna snap in half. That's what's gonna happen.

Nick (1:02:18)
Dude, they make the shoes that give you like three inches. You just shove an insert in your shoe. I've tried them. They're very uncomfortable.

Neil (1:02:26)
Or just walk around on like four-inch stilts. Just wear long pants for the rest of your life and just put some stilts in there.

Nick (1:02:33)
mean, there's a lot of things you can do.

Neil (1:02:34)
⁓ Yeah, this to me just doesn't seem like it's going to be successful.

Nick (1:02:37)
I I get on your shoulders.

I can get on

your shoulders and we can just put a big giant 4X football jersey on me.

Neil (1:02:46)
Be like the scene in Little Rascals where they stack four of them on top of each other, walk into the bank and try to get a loan. ⁓

Nick (1:02:49)
Yes, yes, yes,

yes. So, no, I'm not doing the surgery. I'll just stay 410.

Neil (1:02:59)
That's good, because otherwise we'd have to rename the height differential.

Nick (1:03:02)
Well no, still 6-6 to 5-2, you can still be high differential.

Neil (1:03:08)
Lesser height differential.

Nick (1:03:10)
a lesser height differential. And then we got police officers arresting kids for saying six seven in Indiana.

Neil (1:03:16)
Yeah, we do. Some elementary school in Indiana, the police officers came into the elementary school, told kids it was a city ordinance that they can't say 6-7, and started handing out tickets to the kids for doing 6-7. Good on those police officers, although the tickets are fake. It was just a fun new story, but I mean, we should start throwing kids in jail at this point. We should throw these kids in jail at this point.

Nick (1:03:36)
I hope they're not really throwing. I mean, I... Well, your

own daughters are gonna be thrown in jail.

Neil (1:03:43)
I'll take them down personally.

Nick (1:03:45)
How much was the fine?

Neil (1:03:48)
I didn't see that part, Oh, was it $6.76?

Nick (1:03:50)
Come on, you missed an opportunity there.

You just say I think it was. It was either $6 or $7 or you say it was $67. Yeah, but I'm telling you, all five of my nieces and nephews over the house today, first half of the Bengals game. And I mean, it's set on school board six, seven the entire half and I just.

Neil (1:04:00)
It probably was.

think that's why Zach

Taylor decided to take the extra point off the board and run some stupid two-point conversion play. It's because he's over there cackling and giggling on the sidelines because it was 6-7 for the whole half. He did it on purpose. He's a child. He did it on purpose.

Nick (1:04:23)
Yeah, he's trying

to be like Jasey Hoyt at Oklahoma State.

Neil (1:04:28)
He did it on purpose.

Nick (1:04:30)
Yeah, let's throw these kids in jail. Stop this sick seven thing. It ain't going nowhere, dude.

Neil (1:04:32)
I agree.

At some point it will when something else comes along that's even more stupid.

Nick (1:04:41)
It's the word of the year. The dictionary word of the year. It's not even a word. It's not even a word.

Neil (1:04:44)
Not even a word, it's two words! It's two words!

The two numbers. It's named... God.

Nick (1:04:51)
All right, I think we've talked enough gibberish. Let you read the article live on air so we can figure out how this dude's stretching his bones out.

Neil (1:05:02)
No, I knew it was, thought it was a tib, yes, so had to go double check. Just a quick double check. Discount double check.

Nick (1:05:08)
Yeah, you going to go to peaks? Me neither. I'm going to edit.

Neil (1:05:15)
Like a night out with Hugh Hardage would last probably until 10 o'clock tomorrow night. We would get lost somewhere.

Nick (1:05:17)
This is great.

Right.

I need some days off.

Neil (1:05:24)
We all do.

Nick (1:05:25)
I need some days off, we miss you for Day of the Botcher.

Neil (1:05:29)
Yeah.

Nick (1:05:30)
There

was some good Cussage Outage there for a little bit.

Neil (1:05:33)
I was on kid duty for most of the day.

Nick (1:05:35)
Yeah, but yeah, it was it was still kind of lame.

Neil (1:05:40)
We'll get back at it next year.

Nick (1:05:41)
Josh is like he's the one that always talks about it. When's it gonna be when's it gonna be?

Neil (1:05:45)
I

told them I'd host it this year. They realized you're all over the troll pub for 10 hours. You open and close troll pub?

Nick (1:05:51)
We went to Goodwood for dinner and then went back to Troll.

Neil (1:05:54)
Y'all love Chopin.

Nick (1:05:56)
I we didn't even bet that much. It was...

Neil (1:05:59)
I know

in the trope I'll put a nice little hammer on you because you were not in good form yesterday.

Nick (1:06:04)
Yeah, but then when they leave, I go to hoops after, so.

Neil (1:06:09)
⁓ no, you did.

Nick (1:06:11)
Yeah, ⁓

Neil (1:06:13)
I'ma deal with you.

Nick (1:06:13)
But

then we got up in the morning, we shot a 41 from the Old Man Tees.

Neil (1:06:18)
You are no man.

Nick (1:06:20)
I had seven bogeys and two pars.

Neil (1:06:23)
That's pretty good. Pretty good.

Nick (1:06:24)
Yeah, no

blow off holes, but it's a lot different hitting from 320 out than it is hitting from 420 out. On two holes, they even hit from the women's taste. They're like, this hole is really long. We're going to the reds. I like, all right, whatever.

Neil (1:06:32)
Yeah.

Cedar.

Nick (1:06:40)
So, all right. But before we get off here, make sure you're following us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon. Hit them all. Hit the subscribe button. You watch us on YouTube, you get to see video of all this stuff.

Neil (1:06:57)
Oof, eee.

Nick (1:06:58)
I don't know, do you really want that?

But we'll be back. Did you like doing it Thursday or you want to do Wednesday again this week?

Neil (1:07:04)
We'll play by ear.

Nick (1:07:07)
I do leave for Sensi on Thursday night and then we fly to the Caymans on Friday. So we've got games on Sunday night. So.

Neil (1:07:14)
no.

So are we gonna be

without a podcast for two weeks?

Nick (1:07:21)
No, no, we'll do I will do a pod while I'm in the Caymans for sure I'll be off that Wednesday. So I have games Sunday Monday and Tuesday the men's tournament and then And those are at night and then the women's tournament I believe is just Friday and Saturday the next Friday and Saturday. So we'll find time to do the pod But let's plan on Wednesday this week since I'm traveling on Thursday and then

Neil (1:07:44)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nick (1:07:48)
After that, we'll do a pod live from the Cayman Islands.

Neil (1:07:52)
Ooh, can't wait for that. Gonna be on the beach.

bare-chested on the beach?

Nick (1:07:56)
if that's what the people want to see.

Neil (1:07:58)
Well, you told them to start watching it on YouTube, so you gotta give the people a show.

Nick (1:08:02)
Yep, hit that subscribe you get to see me bare chested do it a show in the Cayman Islands next week Drinking drinking some seven fathoms rum and some some Kate I can't remember what the name of their their beer was but it's all good seven fathoms rum I'm bringing a bottle home with me this time But we'll talk to you on Wednesday. What'd say?

Neil (1:08:21)
Bring me one too.

So bring me one too.

Nick (1:08:25)
Two bottles? OK, I can do that. We'll be back with you on Wednesday. You've been listening to the height differential.

We'll see you then.