8-9-24 McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning Hour 3: Why Oklahoma State will (not) make the Playoffs? Brett Ciancia breaks down his 12 team CFP picks!
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All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. Hour number three underway. Before we get to Roddy Jones of the ACC Network, Rod tweets in, why I don't have AT&T. Limited data? It's 2024. Marshall tweets in, Cole, this is standard on any carrier that you get, quote, throttled, as they call it, past a certain amount, whether you know it or not. Some are throttled based on all your lines combined and some per line. What kind of rules are these cell phone companies pulling on us, Greg?

Like, what are we doing? I don't know. I did not know that this was a real thing and that my capabilities, my cellular power was lowered. I was hit with the cellular kryptonite once I went over a certain gigahertz, whatever it is.

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Is this going to happen? And do you think this is a good idea? Does this need to happen? I think it's a little unnecessary personally, but I personally, from my perspective, I 100% am on board with it. Like from a television person that lives in this world's perspective, love it, but you'd have to help me out. I don't know how it helps the kids. You know, I don't know how it helps the players.

And I honestly don't think we're going to get a lot of transparency. It's going to be like, oh, he has a body injury. Gotcha. Where? Ankle or wrist? Yeah, there'll be ways to sort of snake around those things. He has an extremity injury. Cool. Toe or pinky? Like, I don't even know. Like, that's, I think that's just, I don't know. I think it's kind of virtue signaling. But does it bring some, does it bring some clarity? Does it, does it avoid, help avoid...

From a gambling perspective, does it bring more transparency? And is that a good thing? Because that's what this is for, right? I don't know if it's for... I think it's... Yeah, I mean, it's probably for gambling. I don't know.

I don't get the sense the SEC is going to be on board with gambling. No, but I think what it does is it avoids ways to give certain people extra information, which then gives them advantages in gambling on games. That's how I view it. So you avoid that. You don't want someone out there to say, well, I knew that Greg McElroy had a hamstring injury and nobody else did, and that's why I hit that big underdog win or whatever it was. I think if you avoid some of those things, especially in-house with people having that information, the

The transparency helps you kind of get away from that. And whether it's people selling that information, sharing that information, using that information to go get some of those wins, I think you do want to avoid that at all costs because that's when you start talking about

the integrity of the game becomes in question a little bit because there was one or two people that knew that and nobody else did. So I think that's what you're trying to get out in front of. Probably. But at the same time, though, are we really in a situation right now? Are we really in a situation where we have a lot of issues with that? I don't know. I really don't know the answer. I couldn't tell you. I do think that some of that information is –

held very close to the vest. And then there are certain people who get it and know how to use it, whether it's just telling someone about it or using it themselves and they benefit from it. So if you could, if you could get it more into the open where it keeps things even across the board in that world, that's a positive in my mind because you're,

You're keeping that information from being very advantageous to a very small number of people and using it in ways that they probably shouldn't be. Also, Oklahoma wide receiver Jaden Gibson, a little bit of a knee injury, G-Mac. His status is going to be in question for the opener. 14 catches, 375 yards, five touchdowns last year. I don't think this is a huge blow even if he's not able to go early.

We have talked about that Oklahoma Open. It's not maybe as simple as some people want to believe. I think it's got a chance to be a little more complicated than some people want to discuss. But you've got some other weapons that should be able to carry the load. They have a lot of weapons. Weapons are the least of my concerns as it relates to them. What is your biggest concern with Oklahoma? Offensive line.

They're all new. It's fair. It doesn't mean they won't be good. It just means they're all new. It's a bit of an unknown. And they're probably not going to be good early no matter what. That's asking a lot. It is, but at the same time, I also think their defensive line is a little undersized. They're disruptive. They're active. I don't know how good they're going to be able to hold up. You need to anchor down in the front. Can they? And there's going to be teams that are going to force them to anchor down. I'm not suggesting that it's like you're running into... Is that a Vandy reference? Yes. Yes.

Does Oklahoma play Vandy? I don't think so. No, but they do anchor down. That's accurate. Can confirm. I do think that there are reasons to be a little bit concerned about... Look, they're not playing Wisconsin of Ron Dane era. Okay? So they're not going to run right at you. Gabe Karimi?

Among others. I don't think there's a team in this league that's like that. But if you want to be that way and you run into Oklahoma, then I don't know if Oklahoma is going to be big enough to hold up in the trenches. Yeah, but look at the game like Tennessee.

They're going to try to go downhill on you. They're just going to do it in a different way. Auburn's going to try to go downhill on you. It just won't look the way that those Rondane teams did. Texas is going to try to go right at you. Hell, even Ole Miss wants to run right at you. We know Bama's going to try to. Missouri, it might be a little bit more east and west, but they're going to do it with physicality. The LSU group will have a chance. There's a lot of groups on that schedule that may have the capability to be able to do that. I know Summerall's going to want to do it. Is Tulane capable of it right now? Don't really know.

But by God, that's going to be part of their DNA moving forward. So that could be a real challenge for them to see exactly how that plays out and how they can handle it and manage it. All right, having some trouble reaching Roddy Jones, so we'll shift the discussion over to, well, before we get to Oklahoma State, Greg, LSU loses tight end marking to the transfer portal yesterday? Yesterday. Yesterday.

So, yeah, when you wonder why coaches say that the portal is an issue and the timing and the calendar portion of it is a big deal, those are the reasons why. Is it because he's graduated, he can go in at any time? That's got to be it, right? Yeah, but, I mean, you're going to go get into camp somewhere else? No. So you're just going to wait and play next year? Probably. Probably.

I'm not saying I support the notion. Oh, yeah, no. I'm just telling you that's what's probably going down. But this is why when these coaches say the timing of this portal is what is most concerning, it's things like this that hit and you're just like all of a sudden, what? How are we going to manage that?

A lot of people wondering how they're going to manage this Oklahoma State offense this year. That is our team of the day asking the question, will they get into the college football playoff? Let's just start with what Oklahoma has and their strengths. We know offensively, Greg, that they are going to be a handful to defend for a lot of different reasons, really. And the offensive line should be pretty good.

They were probably a group that was better last year than they got credit for. I don't think that a lot of people really got on board with them being... I'm not going to say they were elite, but they were a really good group last year. Ollie Gordon back at running back. We know what he's capable of. And the quarterback can obviously make plays. How do you view this Oklahoma State offense heading into this season? I think the Oklahoma State offense is rock solid. I don't think they're necessarily a...

A mow you over type of unit along the offensive line, but I think they're solid. I think Ollie Gordon's really good running out of the pistol. They get downhill. They know who they are. They commit to it. They're patient in the run game. All that is really, really solid. Their wide receivers are remarkably underrated. I really like their trio. DeJuan Stribling missed all of last year, and coming into last year, he was supposed to be their number one.

So him being back healthy is massive. Presley is about as solid as solid gets in the slot. And then you look to at their quarterback, Alan Bowman, splitting reps three ways is very difficult on a quarterback. You know, it's really hard. It's very, very hard.

So all that being said, as we fast forward a little bit, really optimistic, real optimistic about him in his seventh year. Guy was banged up, didn't play football really for like two years. He was a backup at Michigan and didn't really play for a few years. So I think he got a little better as the season went along last year. Had some good moments, had some average moments. Threw too many picks, but that's fine. Hopefully that'll be addressed this year. And then defensively is really where all my concerns lie.

They haven't done a ton in the portal to really upgrade it.

you go get OB Zigbo from lower levels of college football that can maybe help you off the edge a little bit. Got a lot of guys back, but like you said, not a super active, super talented group that you're going to get anyway. I look at this as the offense can be multidimensional and can help you in multiple ways. Because I think Gordon's great out of the backfield as well. I like their screen game that they have.

So they can hit you with him in different ways. And then, like you said, you've got a veteran quarterback with good receivers. Brendan Presley's been nothing but productive. Super solid. You've got a couple of guys that can go get and attack the football down the field. They, obviously, the way they use tight ends, motions, formations, can hurt you different ways in that department. So...

The offense is going to be able to be one that they can lean on in a lot of different times. Are there teams that are going to be able to go toe-to-toe with them and challenge them? Sure, but I think that that group is one that keeps them in almost every game. To me, it comes down because I took Utah to be in. I said they were in, and I said that obviously with them getting in, they're going to win the conference. So I don't know if I can say that two teams from the Big 12 right now are going to get in. I don't feel great about it.

But the schedule is not terrible. You're at Colorado late, November the 29th. Don't really like that one, but you're a better football team. At BYU, coming off a bye week. You're at Kansas State, at Tulsa. They got to play Utah at home, West Virginia at home, Arizona State at home, Texas Tech at home. It's a sneaky, tough schedule in my opinion, G-Mac, especially with South Dakota State right out of the gate. They should win that game, but that's going to be a tough game.

Then you get Arkansas up at your place. And then you're at Tulsa. So the schedule, I think, is one that not a lot of people would look at and say, oh, man, that's tough. When you really dive into it, the level of difficulty is a little bit further down the road than I think a lot of people want to give it credit for. I think the schedule's tough. I mean, I'm not going to sit here and try to tell you I think it's as tough as an SEC schedule. Let's be real. It's not as hard as Georgia's. But if you look at their schedule, I think it's challenging.

And the thing about the big 12, whether you want to acknowledge its quality or not, there'll be a lot of haters in this part of the country saying it's so much for average. I think it's pretty, I think it's a pretty physical league. So you can say what you want about how many NFL players littered the rosters. Probably not going to get much pushback from me. There's fewer NFL players in the big 12 than there are in the ACC and the SEC and the big 10. I get that. But I also think this is a league that wants to bloody your nose.

Look at the teams at the top. It might not be the most fluid and athletic groups in the world, but Utah, bloody your nose. Kansas State, bloody your nose. Oklahoma State, bloody your nose. West Virginia. Gus Malzahn and UCF, bloody your nose. West Virginia had three guys go over 750 rushing last year. Have a 240-pound back. They want to bloody your nose. BYU. Iowa State, they want to bloody your nose. BYU wants to not just bloody your nose, but also do an arm bar and kick you in the face. These are teams that...

Texas Tech has a 1,500-yard back. You can say what you want about the league and its high-level talent, but, dude, Iowa State's got Abu Sama, went for 300 at the end of the year last year. They kind of found him. This is going to be a league that is going to challenge you along both lines of scrimmage. And I think the Big 12 is, as much as any other, we're going to have some attrition.

These guys are going to beat each other up, man. So you could play Arkansas week two, South Dakota State week one, by the way, not an easy task. No. I think they've won 30 straight games. You got Tulsa. Then, hey, congratulations. You got Utah. Now you go to Kansas State and then you got West Virginia. Think about that three-game stretch. Utah at home, at Kansas State, West Virginia. Three games in three weeks. All three teams want to pound you.

Yep. That's tough sledding. That is not easy. It's one of the reasons that I think Oklahoma State does not get into the college football playoff this year is the schedule. I think the offense can be special. I think it can be really good. Defense, I'm not going to say that. I think it can be great. We'll be average, maybe a little bit above average.

But where they play some of these games, what you just said about the attrition, the physicality of the schedule, I do think catches up with them. The road schedule at Tulsa, of course, is a weird one, but is what it is. Kansas State, BYU, Baylor, TCU, Colorado late. I don't like playing Colorado late on the road. I think those are difficult road games. It's not easy to go win.

at TCU. It's not easy to win at Lavelle Edwards Stadium. Everybody tells you about Kansas State and getting there and how hard it is to go and the whole deal. It's a tough place to go. So I think all of that compounded

will lead to Oklahoma State just missing out. I think they'll be in the discussion. I think they'll be part of the discussion of teams that maybe should be in GMAC, but I got Oklahoma State missing this year's college football playoff. Yeah, I think missing is probably most likely. I've kind of gone back and forth with them. I think the Big 12 is getting one in. Right now, I'm probably leaning slightly towards Utah, but it's kind of a photo finish. I think there's six teams in the Big 12 that can win the thing, which is a lot. So...

I'd say no if I had to say, but I don't feel great about it because I think that any of the six have a chance to punch their ticket. All right, quickly. The six teams. Utah can. Oklahoma State can. Kansas State can. Central Florida? No, I don't think so. Okay. You're not going to put Central Florida there? A little too much hype around there. Texas Tech? Nope. BYU? Arizona? Nope. I think Arizona can. West Virginia? Yes. Okay.

Kansas. Yes. That's five? That's five. Not Colorado. No, come on. Okay. I'm running out of teams here. Iowa State? Yes, sir. Okay. It's a lot of teams that can win one conference. It's a lot. And then I got one or two maybe on top of that that potentially can. Yeah. But is there any that you would remove off mine? No. Damien, Oklahoma State in, out of this year's college football playoff? I think they're out. And I go back to last year. It's...

It's one of those things, and it's kind of a recurring theme with Oklahoma State. There are just questionable losses. It's like, what were y'all doing? Like, to lose to UCF the way that they did, it's like, wait a minute, y'all. You know that you have a team that's capable of beating a lot of these other programs. And on paper, you're stacked up solidly.

a little bit better than other teams. And it's like, how can you do that? How can the fall from grace be that bad? And then all of a sudden you go and then you beat Oklahoma and bed them on the way out to the SEC. It's like... UCF the way that you did. South Alabama beat them 33-7. That too. Things like that. 45-3 UCF game, by the way. It's like...

How can you have an answer for those? And I don't know if they get those things corrected. I think there's going to be one or two just questionable losses, and they're going to be just on the outside looking in. If you're going to have a bad loss and your resume is not going to be good enough to put you in there, then I think they're out. Okay. And some of those wins were tight last year for the folks that want to measure it that way, but still. Did get a win against Oklahoma. That was huge. And obviously,

Blown out by Texas in the Big 12 championship game. Beat A&M in the bowl, though, with what, third, fourth, fifth string quarterback for the Aggies? Yes. I wouldn't put a lot of stock into that game, but if you'd like to, you can.

A little bit of momentum, maybe. There was about 81 players available for both teams in the game. You build a little momentum off that? Possibly. I don't really know. All right, so I think collectively we say Oklahoma State is just going to miss the college football playoff this season. If you're missing good sleep or energy, if you feel on edge, it could be the effects of low testosterone. Game Day Men's Health wants to help you. A lot of that can be happening because your testosterone is low. You can feel better if

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All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubelik in the morning. 9.23 a.m. Friday, August 9th, right here on JOX 94.5. Appreciate you tuning in. 800-239-9569. You want to get in. Oklahoma State, our team of the day, asking if they get into the college football playoff. And a team that feels like they're capable, GMAC, but where are you on what Damian brought up a little bit earlier in that? And not just last year. Gundy seems to have a little bit of that

Kind of like we talked about it with Hugh Freeze at times of what happened in that game or just those letdown games. Yes. It almost feel inexcusable. There's a few of those. That is accurate. How much does that impact your thoughts on them potentially being in the playoff this year? I mean, it does. When you go back to 2022, Kansas State was a good football team. They lost 48 to 0.

Yeah. And then Kansas got them 37, 16 the next week. So it's not just losing some of these games. It's getting rolled. It's getting worked. Yeah. I mean, if you look back too, I mean, you're not wrong. It's bad. You also look at the UCF game from last year, like you talked about. I mean, that was absolutely embarrassing. It really was. Yeah.

If you look at the Texas game last year, a Big 12 title game, that game was not competitive, not even close to competitive. So, yeah, there have been some of those. There's also been some games where they've won decisively as well. They just haven't had a few, haven't had many in the last couple of years. So hopefully maybe with all the pieces that are back and I do think there's going to be a pretty decent boost on the defensive side.

Because if you look at the adjustment they made philosophically from the 4-2-5 to the 3-3-5, and really it's a 3-3 with a 3-safety look, that's a pretty significant alteration with what they wanted to be. And they just didn't play very sound football last year. But now all those guys are back, and they have some athletic linebackers, and they have some things that you would like, but...

I don't know. If they're not better on defense, they're not going to sniff the playoff. But I think they will be better on defense this year. A little bit better, yeah. All right, I saw an article at The Athletic today on sleepers to make the college football playoff. I wanted to run through some of these teams today

And you just give me, if you think it's even feasible that these teams make the college football playoff, like, yeah, I'll crack the door just a little bit. I'll put the key in the door to start to unlock it for them to maybe get into the college football playoff. So it's on the athletic? Yes. Virginia Tech. No. Iowa State. Look, I'm not trying to say Virginia Tech won't be a solid eight and four football team.

but we are putting way too much way out in front of this. I mean, this is like, they weren't that good last year. I'm not saying that they, that they, I mean, I understand that Kyron drones is really exciting and fun to watch. We can agree on that 100%, but people having them like in the top 15, 16 in the country and the preseason and stuff like we need to slow it down a bit, but this is a team that got rolled last year by Louisville. Uh,

Had some good wins, but we're getting really fired up about a win against Virginia, a win against Syracuse that fired their coach, a win against Tulane. We're getting way too fired up about things that really weren't that impactful. Honestly, it's one of the reasons I wanted Roddy on today. We were talking about Virginia Tech at the seminar. I wanted to just kind of get his thoughts on it. Okay, Iowa State, you brought them up earlier. You said they're a team that can win the Big 12. Well, if you like returning production...

Got a lot of it. Rocco Beck's back at quarterback. They got everything you could want as far as returning production is concerned. The problem is, I don't think they have a ton of talent. I think they're highly experienced, but I don't know. We're just talking long shot outside chance here. No. Louisville? Yes. West Virginia? Probably not. Texas State? Who? Texas State.

Why? Jordan McLeod in at quarterback. Yeah. Player of the year last year, James Madison. But why? Well, because one G5 team is getting in. I think that's why. UCF. No. I say yes. I know you're down on them. You hate them. I don't hate them at all. They have a ton of talent. I don't hate them at all. They weren't good last year. You hate them. Six and seven last year, as I like to try to point out to folks that say that they are just an automatic win against the Florida Gators this year.

I think a lot has to happen. They're better than Florida? No, but a lot of people. Are people giving them the automatic win or Florida the automatic win? That's what I'm saying. They're one of the reasons that people are like, oh, Florida's schedule. UNLV. They lost a lot off last year's team. Yeah, I can't go there. Rutgers. Look at the schedule. But it's going to have to be a really good record. They're going to be 12-0 maybe. It's not like...

Their schedule is among the most laughable schedules I think I've ever seen. You're going to love this one. Wisconsin. South Florida. SMU. Tulane. There's a lot of love on SMU. That one is in the... SMU is getting to the Virginia Tech territory. Getting to? Of a lot of people where it's like, they can do this. Dude. Look how good. Name one team ever that was good in their first year in the Power Five. Ever. Ever.

The people want to acknowledge last year, SMU is 11 and 0 against G5 teams. Oh, and three against P5 teams, including a convincing loss to Boston college. I'm with you, but I think they're top of the ACC and now watch Preston stone. Like, Hey, he doesn't have a big arm. Like he's fine. He's not go to that league last year. Did anybody think BYU was physically going to have issues doing that? They did. Yes, they did.

It's a different animal, man. But everyone wants to pretend like the G5 and the P5 are so similar. Watch. You can get absolutely rolled when they play against...

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All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning, 934 a.m., Friday, August 9th, JOX 94.5. Listen online, joxfm.com, apps in your app store, iPhone, Android. Download that for free. Going to go to the Buyer's Right hotline here in just a moment. Welcome in Brett Ciancia of Pick 6 Previews. But first, G-Mac, tell our listeners about B-Dry. Well, B-Dry will get you taken care of and make sure your basement or crawl space are waterproof. It's the largest waterproofing company in the country. The only solution that has a way to stop all five waves that

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Yeah, well, Greg and Cole, thanks for having me on. It's been an off-season of change here with the super conferences, the playoff expansion, and the portal, so excited to break it down with these guys. Looking at the ACC, I really see a three-team race at the top with Miami, Florida State, and Clemson, just given their track records in recruiting through the portal for Miami and Florida State and defensively with Clemson, so there's a lot to like at the top. Virginia

Virginia Tech would be your pick if you love the returning production, returning starter stat. They're the most veteran team in the conference, and they really have an identity there, a smash-mouth identity on offense. They're going to run the ball, and they have a running quarterback with Kyron Jones. So those would be the four. I think you can also look at Louisville and NC State. NC State, very veteran, the way they were able to keep their defensive starters away from the portal and the pros.

And then Louisville with Jeff Brown, they're fresh off the ACC title run themselves. So, yeah, exciting conference. It's not getting enough credit across the country, but there's some good teams over there.

How would you assess... I think you do a great job, by the way. I buy your book every year. I love it because it's PDF. I can take it with me everywhere I go. I have all the others, but they're print. I really just enjoy the PDF copy that you put out. So you do a great job, man. Keep up the awesome work. But looking at just how you've surveyed, you and I are kind of on the same page on a few different things. You really like Miami. You really like...

some of the other, like Utah. There's a bunch of teams that I'm pretty fired up that you're on board with because I feel like I'm rolling the dice on some. So when you do take chances, a la Miami winning the ACC, what kind of goes into that? Yeah, well, glad to have you on board with Pick 6 Previews and with some of these picks with Miami and Utah. Yeah, I try and ignore a lot of the other publications and a lot of the national rankings, a lot of the too early lists, they call it, in January and February. I really just try and focus

focus on my own research until mine is published. And then, of course, I catch up and read everybody's. So I don't come at it as a shock deck. It's really just the result of all my research. And with Miami, when you go position by position, the talent they have in the room is undeniable. And I know that with a program like that that has

going through some tough years, tough decades, really. There's some hesitation to pick a team like that, you know, because they seem to be overhyped a lot. Same with the USC or at Texas. But I'll point to two things. I love their talent acquisition at Miami. The only team in the country to stack back-to-back top 10 high school classes and top 10 back-to-back transfer classes. So Crystal Ball, he's getting it done in the recruiting game.

And then secondly, I know he's had some in-game problems and some limitations there, but you can't deny his ability to build an offensive line. I think they have a great one again at Miami. So those two reasons, plus Cam Ward coming in a quarterback, I'd really like Miami to win a wide-open league.

Brett Ciancia, Pick 6 Previews, joining us on the Buyer's Right Hotline. I want to go big picture with you because you also have college football playoff that you have predicted. Boise is your group of five team that gets in. I'm interested in what your gap is there. What other teams might be close to that out of the G5 that could grab that automatic berth?

Yeah, well, I think it's really tight there. There's contenders all over the place, and really this comes down to what the committee will do. It's hard for me to try and guess their logic because what you're going to have is potentially an undefeated Liberty who

who out of the Conference USA, their schedule's rated the easiest in America. So they might as well run the table at 13-0. How's the committee going to compare that resume against potentially a 12-1 Boise team, who I think will win the Mountain West, but has to also go to Austin Stadium, Oregon in week two and probably be a heavy underdog there. So how are they going to compare a team that's undefeated

with a weaker schedule versus a team from a tougher conference, in my opinion, in Mountain West. So yeah, you have those two. That's a logical thing that they're going to have to figure out. App State from the Sun Belt looks pretty strong. Memphis would be the pick from the AAC, but

Again, tougher league, they might come out of there with a loss or two. So it's really, it's unprecedented what they're going to do with this non-AQ bid this year. Yeah, it's going to be controversial for sure. Like last year, I mean, Liberty had no business playing in the G5 as the G5 champion, but they were undefeated and the committee was

for whatever reason, appreciated them. SMU should have been that team, but I digress. When you look at the SEC, you have Georgia as the number one team in the country. Hard to push back on that. You have Texas at number two, but where it becomes a little bit more dramatic is with Ole Miss at three.

Not saying it's wrong, just saying that most people don't have them that high. They're in see-it-to-believe-it mode with the Rebels. So what was it about Ole Miss' offseason that has you feeling like they're the third best team in the league?

Yeah, well, it's really interesting with Ole Miss. I might consider them the most interesting team in the country just because with Lane Kiffin, they're challenging the conventional mold of building a program. And I say that because really to win a national title, to win some SEC titles, you have to be a top five recruiter. And that's just been the formula for a long time. Ole

Ole Miss is around 25th, usually, from the high school ranks. But what he's done, he's called himself the portal king, and he's gone out and proved himself with top two transfer classes each of the past three years. So it's the best transfers in the country coming in. They landed seven guys on my SEC all-transfer team. It's established guys. It's all-American candidates coming in. And remember, this was already an 11-win team last year.

with an impressive New Year's 6 win against Penn State. They put a lot of yards and points on a great Penn State defense. They get Jackson Dart back. You can go down the list. So I really like Ole Miss to surprise some folks here. It's the great portal experiment, and I think they're going to be able to host a playoff game in Oxford, Mississippi. What a tailgate that would be. That being said, Brett, what's a little bit of your holdup on Alabama to bump them back to fourth in the SEC?

Yeah, well, the thing with Alabama, I think that it's still going to be a really solid program. I think you saw a lot of national pundits when Saban retired. They kind of just wrote off Alabama saying, OK, that was fun. That was great. It's all over. But when you look at this team, it's still an incredibly talented roster, a lot of future NFLers, five stars all over the place. I think some of the holdup is it is a coaching transition season. I know the offensive philosophy isn't that much different.

But still, it's a transition. And I think schedule-wise was a little bit to just nudge them below Ole Miss. Ole Miss only has three SEC-ranked opponents. Bama draws five. But with that said, what we have in this playoff era is I think the SEC will get four teams in the bracket. And with Alabama finishing fourth, that will qualify for a playoff bid. I think you'll see the committee really value the SEC more than the other leagues. They have in the past, and that will continue. It's the best high school players, the most pro players –

and some of the best coaching staff. So I think they're still firmly a playoff team. Yeah, it's going to be fascinating to see how many the SEC ultimately gets in. I don't disagree with you. I have a hard time thinking they put five in. But on paper, going into the season, it's kind of looking like five could be in play. So how many teams do you think ultimately will get in the college football playoff from the SEC?

I see it as four. And I think a lot of it's just going to come down to loss counting. I don't totally agree with it, but you know, the committee is going to look at that loss number. So if you have a nine and three Tennessee or a nine and three LSU going up against an 11 and one Florida state or an 11 and one Miami or something like that, I,

I just, if you look at their past performance on rankings, they're probably going to go with the team with two fewer losses. So it comes down to just the numbers game a little bit there. On a neutral site, I'd probably favor the SEC's fifth team over some of these. But I think you're going to see the SEC with the most. It'll probably be four. I see the Big Ten getting three with their champ Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State, and

And then from there, the other conferences will scramble to get some spots. So the other deal is Notre Dame I have in the bracket this year. That's a bid thief from the other leagues too. So if they were to go 11-1 or potentially even 10-2, that's going to steal an at-large from these conferences. We're visiting with Brett Ciancia of Pick 6 Previews. Does an amazing job previewing all of college football, whether it's conference, individual teams, playoff games.

Is there a team out there we haven't mentioned that you feel could kind of shake a lot of this up? We went through a couple of potential dark horse teams a little bit earlier in the show that potentially could get in, but who's a team that maybe you really liked that not a lot of people talking about? Yeah, I'll throw Utah into this discussion. This is a team in a really wide open Big 12. I mean, if you talk to fan bases and media out there, probably nine of these programs think they could go win the thing at

It's incredible. But with Utah, you know, you've got to throw out last year's stats a little bit because it was the most injured roster I've ever seen. It's my 13th year doing Pick 6 Previews magazine, and I've never seen anything like it. 155 starts lost to injury from their two deep, and you're talking starting quarterback, backup quarterback, their best linebacker, both running backs. You go down the list, it was incredible. So what I'm getting at here is a boomerang effect where last year's injured starters, they're all back healthy.

Plus, all those young guys were thrown into action ahead of schedule last year. They now return as veterans. So with a really proven staff, with Whittingham and Morgan Scali on defense, rising back at quarterback, there's a lot to like from this Utah program. The physicality, the program culture, all the buzzwords are there. I think they're going to shock some folks, win the Big 12, and maybe make a run in that bracket. Is there any other team that, if Utah is your number one, is there another one that we should be paying attention to?

Well, I'll give you one in the other direction, Missouri. I'm not making many friends in Columbia, Missouri this year. I'm fading them a little bit. I thought it was a banner year for them. 11 wins last year, New Year's Six Bowl win. But the problem with me is that their defense loses a lot. And the defense was critical to their success last year, just as much as their offense was. Eight starters gone. They're brains of the operation. Blake Baker got poached by LSU, who gave them a lot of time.

who gave him the biggest coordinator contract in college football history, 2.5 mil. So I'm fading Missouri a little bit. If you want a real, real dark horse, look at Iowa, guys. I know that they get made fun of a lot for their offense, but incredible defense. They're bringing eight starters back. They did a great job there. Four defenders on my All-American team, and I think they're going to get at least a little bit of a boost on offense, enough to get through a really manageable schedule. I think they're going to be favored in 10 or 11 games this year.

All right. So no go on Mizzou. What about where are you on, say, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Auburn, sort of a couple of other teams in that tier, maybe three of the SEC that could expand past what people think?

Yeah, well, with each one, yeah, with Tennessee, I really like a quarterback. They have their five-star arm now with Nico. He flashed in the bowl game against Iowa. It's a proven offense under Josh Heupel. It's hyper-tempo. They're going to get their points in their yards. But I like their front seven this time around. Their coordinator, Tim Banks, calls them the best defensive line in the country. It might be a stretch, but they're close. I think James Pierce might be one of the best defenders in the country.

Oklahoma, great defense. They're veteran. It's going to be a really stout front, but a really brutal schedule draw. They could very well be a top-15 caliber team, but go 7-5. It's a terrible welcome gift the SEC gave them this year. And then lastly, Auburn. I really like what Hugh Freeze did at receiver, bringing in four blue-chip receivers, two of them with five-star ratings. Watch the Auburn spring game there. Cam Coleman is a future star immediately.

as a true freshman so really upgrading that room he likened it to when he signed Laquan Treadwell at Ole Miss the way that changed the whole face of the program the whole face of the offense so I think Auburn's in for a boost so yeah it's three contenders there and a really crowded conference there you go Brett great stuff appreciate it pick six previews out now definitely get it it is wonderful and we look forward to having you on again soon

Oh, thanks guys. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Brett Ciancia talking, uh, college football, pick six previews. You said that's your go-to. It's my favorite. Yeah. I think he's done a great job. He does only the power five, uh, does have some G five stuff in there towards the end of the magazine, but I like that. It's PDF, uh, Athlon and pick six previews. The only two that I've, I've seen to do like full PDF, um,

But Athlon's a little bit tricky because you've got to have internet access to be able to get to it. Like he, you can just download it and you just have it. So if you're on a plane, you don't have Wi-Fi, like you got it right there. So I think he does a good job and I think he puts a lot of time in. He's a one-man shop. So I respect that and want to support that as well. Absolutely. He likes Auburn so much that he has them 11th in the Southeastern Conference going into this season. I have 11th too and I think they're 8-4 football team. I mean, they're still in the top 25 at 11th.

Okay. That's what's crazy about how deep the league is this year. It is deep. I don't think there's any doubt about that. Kind of like the inventory at Royal Automotive.

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Come back and we'll get you a bad box score of the day and our Super Sofa Game of the Week next on Mac and Cube in the morning.

and then beat the person in the bronze medal with a world record time. Gotcha. Bronze medal match maybe, yeah, and he sets a world record. Doesn't have a chance to go for gold, but he gets a bronze in speed climbing. I haven't seen the tape on speed climbing. It sounds pretty hardcore, though. Super Sofa Game of the Week for me tonight, Houston at Pittsburgh, NFL preseason. It's on the NFL Network. You'll be able to catch that NFL Plus as well.

You guys got a Super Sofa game of the week? Yeah, USA basketball tomorrow, 2.30. Go middle game. Who are they playing? France, home court advantage. The refs will be out. Love it. I'll take the women's. They're playing Australia at 10.30 a.m. We have dominated Australia in these Olympics. Have we? I'm just telling you. I feel like we beat them in everything. And I'm fine with it because their swimmers are talking trash going in. Are they? Go USA. Three-man front is next.

Hey, guys, Cole Kubik here from McElroy and Kubik in the Morning. Coming up Monday, we give you updates from Auburn, Alabama scrimmages, Paul Feinbaum, 7-15, and our team of the day, the Oregon Ducks, why they will make the college football playoff. Keep it locked 7 to 10 a.m. right here on JOX 94.5, right here on Talk Radio 730 and 103.9, The Ump.

I'm not self-aware. I refuse to be self-aware. I don't even look in mirrors at all.

which you can probably tell from my appearance. I don't have a crazy high IQ or I really don't have that many skills. I would say my main skill is I believe my instincts. I don't hesitate to follow my instincts ever. The extent that I have, I've gotten in trouble. The Sean Ryan Show on YouTube or wherever you listen.