Transcript of Local Hour: Dan's Car Alarm (feat. Widespread Panic)

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I think Zaz would be mortified by everything that just happened right now, where I don't think Zaz knows because he's not in his seat yet, that all of us were watching him in the green room taking his shirt off, and then at some point, he took his pants off. What? And there are cameras everywhere around here. All I heard was Chris Cody screaming. Chris Cody was just yelling like, Zaz, Zaz. Zaz doesn't know that he's on video.

I did not like any of that. I felt very uncomfortable right away. I saw his shirt come off, and that was the sight to see. And I was Okay, if that's where it ends, it's fine. Then he took his pants off. Luckily, he had his underwear on. From there, I started shouting to the video team, Guys, I can see Zazlo.

Yeah, well, no, you brought everyone's attention to... Wait a minute. No, it wasn't from there that you started bringing attention to this because the only reason I looked at any of the cameras is because you were yelling about the fact that his shirt was not on.

I was being helpful, though. I was not doing it like, Oh, this is fun for me. I was doing it like, I would hate to be in this spot where people were seeing me without me knowing. That's a vulnerable spot.

I think the natural follow-up question is, why is he disrobing in the studio? That's a good question.

Well, it wasn't in really the studio. This is the studio. He was in the green room and he thought it was a private area. It is usually a private area. If you close the door, it's private, but there are cameras everywhere here.

But that doesn't answer the question, why was he disrobing while on the levitar clock?

We'll inform him of all of this when he gets here, because I don't think he knows that we were watching him. We will get to see his face together and notice how disoriented he is and bothered and shocked he is by that. I see just a great deal of unrest in the other studio. None of this sounds as audio the way that it's supposed to. I'm judging just from the horrified look on Roy's face and the fact that Mike just fled the room to go be with a pentless Zazzler.

Have I kept you cool, though? Because I felt the panic. I was like, Guys, we need to keep Dan cool here. So I was like, nothing going What's going on wrong here.

No, I just saw widespread panic on what the audio was here. What's the matter with the audio?

You just sound a little hollow to me right now. I want a more robust Dan Lebitard. But also you got this weird shadow show voice when you start that's always way lower on the levels. Yeah, fix that. No, don't fix it. It's your trademark. Whatever. We adjust on our end. It could also be because Zaz isn't in the room, and we only have those two mics cracked open right now, and it sounds different. Widespread Panic is a band.

I thought so. Yeah, I I thought so.

He said he saw Widespread Panic. I was like, Okay, we're West Palm?

Do you like that band?

First time I'm hearing about Widespred Panic, other than the one that I just saw on the face of Roy and Mike, because We're playing the hits. I sounded a little bit hollow.

Twenty years. I still care like that, Dan. I'm like, That's not a robust mic.

Fake, big show.

Yeah.

The biggest game in 20 years.

History is gold. We are right here, right now. And every team they thought was going to beat us is taking their ass home.

University of Miami. Another pass. That's our step-down. Taking it back is Keontae Scott. Ole Miss tackles.

Chambles lobbying it up behind the defense. Dejan struggling.

Tackle from behind. What? I'm going to tell you, I got to go, do this, made him go, go, back, go, go.

Hello. Big, big, big show.

We put Belti ass. We did it every week, and we're going to keep doing it until we land back home in our stadium for the National Championship. Next week, same deal. Same back channel, same back time. Bulk to ass.

Just having fun, man.

Milwaukee. So did we.

We only got 30 more minutes.

30 more minutes, we get everything we can work for them boys.

They work how we work. They feel how we feel. They cry how we cry, man.

You can see, they don't got the energy we got, bro.

They don't want it how we want it, bro. 30 more minutes. The one we got is here.

The biggest game in 20 years. Mass kicks ass.

The biggest game in 20 years. Mass kicks ass.

The biggest game in 20 years.

Zazlo, you look great. Punk. You look like no one in dodgeball, no one in the movie Dodgeball, but you look like you're going for it. I don't think that you know that while you were getting dressed, we could see you on the cameras taking your shirt off and then your pants off. Chris Cody was shouting to everyone here.

Trying to be helpful.

I believe there are human resources violations with the fact that there are cameras everywhere, and there was flat, rampant voyeurism going on as you took your shirt off and then took your pants off. Chris Cody did play by play where he's like, Chris Cody actually said, he's taking his shirt off. I hope he doesn't take his pants off. Oh, my God, he's taking his pants off.

Why is Morgan Spurlock changing our green room?

The late Morgan Spurlock.

I thought I had avoided human resources by asking our makeup girl to leave the room because I don't want there to be an issue. I thought I was doing the right thing here.

You look like you're about to slap John Stossel.

Well, I will tell you. I look like Dr. D.

Dallas Diamond Page.

What a great reference.

David Schultz.

I thought it was Dallas Diamond Page that slapped John Stossel.

That's a fine.

No, that's a play on for me. What? What? Come on. That's not his name.

That's a fine. He messed up the name, but it's also the moment. It's a different guy. It wasn't DDP. Dr. D.

David Schultz smacked him up.

You think he was an actual doctor? It's a PhD.

Something to think about.

Dr. David Schultz does look like Dallas Diamond Page. Does he not?

Diamond Dallas Page.

Does he not?

Yeah, you get that little blonde on curl and the skin. Probably, you should have had some sun protective stuff on it.

Are we going to air the footage of me changing? We're not going to do that.

No, we're not going to do that.

Would you like us to do that? Not really.

I would. I do feel a little bit exposed here because if I stand up, the pants do a real good job of leaving little to the imagination.

Yeah, we had the side profile.

You feel like you are exposed? You feel a little exposed now because you should have seen yourself a few minutes ago when you were on all the cameras in here changing in the other room. That's horrible.

You all were looking.

Greg Cody, before we get to your University of Miami thoughts and before we get to the dolphins and the availability of John Harbaugh, I want to know, and I have wanted to know for 24 hours, the nature of your feud with Richie Rosenblatt.

I don't consider it to be a feud. Is this mic on? It doesn't sound like it's on. It is.

You're fine. Maybe turn up your headphones.

Okay. No, they're loud enough. So you can hear it. Okay. No, I can hear it. I don't consider myself to have or have had a feud with Richie Rosenblatt. Now, for several years, I covered the University of Miami full-time, and he covered the University of Miami for the then-rival Miami news back in the heyday of newspapers. So we had a fierce back and forth. But this alleged thing that happened with me refusing to give him a pen or something, that's lost in time.

Well, it's not lost in time because I mentioned yesterday, and for those who do not know, what happened was in a freezing Buffalo outside the locker room, because Greg Cody had a rivalry with Richie Rosenblatt, Richie Rosenblatt's pen froze. Greg Cody had a number of different pens that worked fine and hadn't frozen. Greg Cody would not lend Richie Rosenblatt any of the pens.

Allegedly. You're going to go to Buffalo with Bernie Pomily. No. As a matter of fact, I don't recall Richie Rosenblatt covering the Dolphins. He covered the cane. My rival on the Dolphins beat was Charles Bricker.

So did you do this move to Bricker?

I may have.

The funny part about all this is that aren't you now the last person still using a pen in the locker room?

Pretty much.

Writing down your chicken scratch. My dad's quoting them. Do not erase Barry Jackson from the narrative. Oh, he's still using it. B. Jacks. And Ira.

Yeah, there's a few of us left. Dave Hyde occasionally will chicken scratch.

It's such chicken scratch. It's just lines.

How do you read it after? It's my own hieroglyphic. I can read it. I've never been accused of misquoting anybody. If it's a very important interview, I'll record it. But a routine interview where Mike McDaniel is eyeing and umming through a postgame talk.

Do you write the ums?

Yeah. Or multiple of times he has recorded an interview with somebody and forgot to hit record and then needed them to come back and do the interview again.

Oh, boy, that's embarrassing. That's embarrassing.

Happened with Mario Cristobal.

It also happened with the President of the Marlins.

Put it on the poll, please. Love that. At Lebitard Show, do reporters in the locker room still use pens, yes or no? Because that's not something that I had actually considered, the fact that you would be alone in a locker room using a pen taking notes.

Yeah, and I feel embarrassed doing it, but I do it anyway. But I'm very selective in my quotes. I only write down the things that I think have a chance to get into my column. If somebody is saying some benign comment about we gave it our all, I ain't writing that shit.

Yeah, that's how quotes work. Thank you for explaining that.

Some people write verbatim what everybody says.

No, you can't. That's not possible to do that.

I think it is possible.

It's not possible to keep up with someone speaking writing at the same pace that they're speaking. That's not human.

No, it is.

Greg, it's not humanly possible. What do you mean?

It is when you have your own shorthand, which I've developed over the years.

I want to play this game where Dan gives a quote and you do your chicken scratch.

Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do it right now. We've got a new budget around here, okay? We're still a growing show. No, he's got a telestrator now. I've got this thing. No, do it with the telestrator. Try and keep up with me by writing It's what it is I'm saying because you now have access to a telestrator. I do not believe that you will be able to keep up with us in any way while we speak. Also put this on the poll, Juju, at Lebitard Show. Can you write as fast as someone speaks for 20 minutes? That's the question that's being asked that Greg Cody is alleging that he could transcribe correctly. There are people who can do it. I'm forever amazed by closed captioning before AI took over closed captioning or court stenographers and stuff. I'm amazed by it, but I don't think you could keep up with the written hand. I don't think that that's something that's possible, but we will test it. Greg Cody now has a telestrator that he can play with throughout the show. Just drawing a smiley face. Throughout the show. We've made bad... It's bad judgment to give him the telestrator.

The telestrator? Yeah.

Do you not delete it? Wow, he deleted. All right, he knows how to use this thing.

This is one help.

That's a good job out of you. When ESPN started doing that, they throw Tim Legler in front of the screen.

Oh, two circles. Oh, no. It's pretty tough.

What are you doing?

What was that?

It took 10 seconds. Already? Those are cherries.

Really? Those are cherries. Could have been anything. Grow up. It's the best grow down.

It's more like it. It's the best grow down. It's the most preview I've ever seen. Craig. What?

Ten seconds into the telestrator, you're drawing balls.

We all root for it when you see two circles on the screen.

Yeah, inadvertently, you root for it. You root for it for somebody to do it accidentally. Somebody had to do it. You don't root for it for someone.

Somebody had to do it. Somebody had to do it.

John Harbaugh is now available. People were talking about this for weeks. I know that Miami Dolphins fans are going to be excited about, go get the guy who's a giant name and has done some winning. I'd prefer if he came with Lamar Jackson. I actually prefer if the pros just started doing what Auburn and what college football is doing, what Oklahoma State is doing. Oklahoma State just goes and gets North Texas as coaching quarterback. Now, Auburn just gets the University of South Florida as coaching quarterback. When they talk about paying Byron Brown more than anybody in NIL, what's that number going to be now? Those numbers are going to keep going up. If Carson Beck's between $3 and $4 million a year, and now Auburn wants to get in the game because they've fallen behind everybody in the SEC, and they just steal South Florida's coaching quarterback, where are these numbers going to end up? When I'm reading quotes from Drew Rosenhaus, who's representing Byron Brown, and Drew Rosenhaus is realizing, Wait a minute, I can get a percentage here on people who are going to be making $3, $4, $5 million dollars because the salaries are now going to keep going up in college football because it's not like Auburn is going to show restraint if they need a quarterback.

It's been reported that Brandon Sorsby set the market at $5 million. It's tricky because even though Steve Sarkisian mentioned, I don't know if anybody's actually following the salary cap, but these are capped rosters. They're supposed to be anyways. No, they're not. They're supposed to be anyways. No way. So the way you're supposed to go about it is, do we really want to pay a Brandon Sorsby $5 million dollars of our approximately $21 million cap? How do we build a roster that way?

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Don Lebatard. You don't remember the idea for a home run call?

I was probably like, That thing.

Something? Okay, no. The home run call was, That swing, that thing.

Stugatz.

Oh, it's a good call. Thank you. Plus, it doesn't matter who's hitting it. You're not tailing it to a particular name. Correct. All that jazz. You don't got to do that. You're just a generic call. That would be a great call. Up, up, and away. That swing That thing.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugats.

You're going to have a lot of situations like the DeMond Williams situations, are you not? For those that are not familiar where the University of Washington quarterback, it signed and then entered the portal while signed.

Yeah, it was announced that he reupped with Washington after it was initially reported he was going to entertain the portal, and he had signed his contract, and it's been reported that it is signed, executed, and yesterday it was reported at a bad time because they were doing a celebration of life over at the University of Washington when all this stuff started to break, that he was reentering the portal with a do not contact tag on it. The early report suggests LSU is in the mix, and all that was breaking while Sam Levit was at a basketball game sitting next to Lane Kiffin. Sam Levet, by the way, also has a do not contact, and he's touring the entire Southeast right now. This is the DeMont Williams- What does that mean do not contact?

Just like, Don't contact me, I'll contact you.

Exactly. But Miami got sued by Wisconsin for what happened with Xavier Lucas. Now, Darren Heitner, the attorney that helps out a lot of athletes in these, has provided plenty of color on the situation, saying that Wisconsin acted illegally in that they didn't allow for Xavier Lucas to enter the portal. This is a different situation. It is a marquee Big Ten quarterback. It's going to get ugly. It's a bit of a shit show.

Well, it's already ugly. All of it's a bit of a shit show. And when I say, I understand that there are rules, but there are no rules. No one's going to abide by these rules. $20 million is cheap. If I tell Auburn right now, Hey, you can get into the game by skirting some of the gray areas around. We're making up all of these rules as we go along, I believe that they're going to just continue breaking all of these rules and testing anyone to try and make them stop, especially when the penalties end up being Oh, you'll forfeit games nobody cares about from a couple of years ago. All the enforcement is toothless.

Right. I mean, Michigan gets to keep their national title. I get it. Also, I think the Auburn thing is a disaster. Deuce Night is a much better quarterback, and they let him No. Bringing over a group of five roster to the P4 level, that's all planned. I don't think it's a great one.

I love Byron Brown. I did. As soon as they took him out for the ball- I have $4 million. I don't. Okay. I mean, you're in You're in the market of knowing what these things cost. If you watched South Florida play last year, as many of you did, you know that their offense was great when Byron Brown played. And then the moment that he wasn't in the bowl game, they couldn't do anything at all. They have an enormous number of athletes over there. He's somebody I would want as my quarterback.

Yeah, but that's an insane price. Who are you negotiating against?

It's only an insane price, though, if we're actually doing a salary cap.

That's correct, Mike. It's only an insane price if you're abiding by 20 and 21 million. I'm telling you that if I tell any of the big programs right now, if I tell the people who run Auburn, Hey, you want to get back in the game in SEC? It's going to cost you more than 21 million. They'll go double. We'll go twice that high in order to get into this particular game. I can buy myself into the Ohio State category with $21 million. You got the ASU coach out here begging for money yesterday on the show where he's just saying, One booster, please give us $20 million so that we can get into this game.

I understand why you hope traffic. Oklahoma State, they're in a different situation because they're in the Big 12 and offense is king there. And maybe Messamaker translates in that conference. Maybe they can microwave it. They also got the running back from North Texas, too, right? And that guy is sensational. So maybe that translates- They'll be better, period. Because they can't be worse. Yeah, I'll go on the record. I think this goalish thing at Auburn is a disaster. I don't think it... Like early returns on this, it's not a great situation. Maybe he can program build. He did a good job at USF, and I rated him there, but this is not a good start.

That's on the record.

We do put it on the record, but I would say to you, though, that all it is that you need to do if you're a nowhere program like Auburn this year, a total afterthought in the SEC, there aren't a lot of better options than go get the coach and the quarterback at another school. I'll try and fix it that way. It's one thing. If I told you right now, John Harbaugh is coming to Miami, there'd be a level of excitement. If I tell you it's John Harbaugh with Lamar Jackson, all of a sudden, it's a totally different thing. The fact that these programs can now go get a coach and a quarterback and turn everything else in college football into the minor league of business is crazy.

Yeah, it's going to need to cleaned up, but proof positive. Look at the semifinal, how quickly Signetti turned things around, and he got Fernando Mendoza in the portal, and he already announced that he's getting Josh Hoover next year. All these quarterbacks are transfer quarters Superbacks. Miami is back legitimately in the game because of this transfer portal and the ability to turn over a roster at the game's most important position, primarily.

You're saying it's going to turn around, but all right, what's the tipping point? When is it going to turn Sounds.

I mean, the government needs to get its crap together. I mean, things aren't even reaching the floor because they're so flawed. Ultimately, we're headed to Super League, in which a television company or a CFP, some government takes over for the... Some governing body takes over for the NCAA, and you have a group of 50 teams that collectively bargain this stuff, and there were harsh penalties for tampering. And tampering You mentioned DeMond Williams. This is a two-way street, and most people don't know this. And Lane Kiffin is going to be the villain here because people are already teeing off on LSU and Lane Kiffin for being the ones to tamper with DeMond Williams. Most of the people talking to other teams right now, and there's about 4,500 players in the portal as I check, most of the high-end quarterbacks that are taking meetings with teams aren't even in the portal because tampering is a two-way street. It's the agents. It is 100 % the agents that initiating the illegal contact. High-end teams would be stupid not to listen because this is a talent acquisition game. I would venture to say there are certainly plenty of programs that skirt the rules and initiate contact.

Deion Sanders has spoken about this, which is funny coming from him. But this is a thing. But it always will go on. And it's highly convenient that Lane Kiffin is involved in this process in particular, because this is an agent thing. The Mon Williams signed this contract, and I believe Jed Fish, the head coach at Washington, and the Mon Williams are repped by the same agency, Shitshow.

The reason that I think all of this is both amazing and fascinating to see happen, because it was right before the pandemic, we were talking about no players were being paid at the beginning of the pandemic. I've seen some of this happen in Hollywood. Agents running things that have no laws. Super dangerous involving kids, kids and families from poverty. The idea that the agents can step into a breach where there are no consequences.

You think it'll take advantage?

It's crazy. You cannot have this be what it is that's governing college sports and expect anything that resembles order. You mentioned Indiana, okay? And Indiana has a chance here to win the Championship as a true undefeated team. Do you know how unusual it is that Miami has got a chance at the Championship with two losses? In the history of the sport, I'm going to guess that there have been maybe the history of the sport. Take a guess how many two lost champions there are because- Definitely none before any playoff. Well, obviously none before a playoff. I'd less Miles is the last one that I can remember, and I don't know if it's happened before that.

I think Bama. I think Bama recently got in- But that was a 14 playoff. Yeah, but that's even harder to do with two losses.

It's definitely not unprecedented. It's just rare. But You know what's going to happen? I foresee a time, and it's very soon, where the NFL is going to have to completely redo their rookie wage scale to compete with the colleges. Because if you get a situation where a star quarterback can make more money by returning for his senior season than he would as an NFL rookie, that's a problem for the NFL, and they're going to have to deal with that.

Please look up for me two lost champions all time in college football, because I cannot imagine that there had been very in all of the years that this has been going on.

All time, especially now with a bunch of teams claiming championships championships afterwards. Miami had a team that was a two lost national champion, right?

I don't think so.

The team that lost to Florida, or was that a one loss?

That was a one loss. They lost to the other term. There might have been a team in the '60s that won a champion.

Jeremy's got it.

According to The Athletic, an article from just around this time last year, there were only two teams ever to have won the national championship with two losses. 2007, LSU, which lost a pair of triple overtime games to Arkansas and Kentucky. Is that BCS? And then beat Ohio State in the BCS title game. And then 1960, Minnesota, which had lost to Purdue in its second to last game of the year, but moved back to number one a week later and was crowned the national champions.

Cody, was that a good Minnesota team in the night?

I remember that team, and here's another fun fact, that Minnesota team in 1960 shared the national championship with Ole Miss. Ole Miss claims three national championships. The only one they actually get universal credit for is the co-championship in 1960 with Minnesota.

Greg Cody has claimed that if Miami beats Mississippi, they will be champions. He's not worried about the next game. He thinks that Mississippi is the difficult game. I'll say something that may surprise you. I'm more scared of Mississippi than I was of Ohio State because Mississippi does the things well that already beat Miami twice this year with lesser teams and lesser quarterbacks. Smu and Louisville do not do as well what Trinidad Chamblist does well. Nobody stopped Mississippi this year. You will not win this game with the 10 points against Texas A&M, and I'm not sure you win it with the 24 that you scored against Ohio State either.

Can I ask you real quick, is that a power move where you're calling them Mississippi? Is that what's going on there? Because if it is, I'm okay with it. I'm just wondering. It feels like a power move.

You're pretty consistent on this, and it's weird because they're famously, Ole Miss. You're not wrong. It's a weird preference.

University of Mississippi would be the formal. Why don't you go there?

That's really taking it another step.

Like, Roy's often said why he refuses to do it. Are you doing a Roy thing?

Are you an ally? No, I'll tell you what it is that I'm doing. What I'm doing is that my father, whenever it is, it would appear on a script on the highly questionable page. My father would always read it accidentally as Ola miss. And so I just dismissed it from any compartment in my head. I prefer that, actually. Well, that's how Greg says they tackle as Oles miss tackle.

They do. Ola Misstackle.

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Don Levatard.

What do we got here? I got a Magnum condom. We won't get that out.

That's shocking. Stugatz.

Here's a picture of Christopher when he was three years old.

Right next to the condam. Yeah.

He has a subtle reminder.

Never forget.

This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugats.

I'm with you, though. I'm more nervous about this one, which is a ridiculous thing to say.

This sounds wacky. All I've heard all season is about that Ohio State roster.

Yeah. I mean, Miami was a nine and a half point dog against Ohio State. Miami had to travel to College Station. I understand. I'm not saying why it sounds weird, but stylistically, this is difficult. I mean, we mentioned the top three passers when it comes to getting the ball out quick. The numbers two and three were Miller Moss and Kevin That is how Louisville and SMU beat Miami.

Get rid of the ball quick, eliminate Massador and Ruben Bain. Eliminate them. In fact, SMU should have won that game earlier. There was a play early in that game where they just called a screen pass where they just lobed it over the head of Ruben Bain, and they didn't connect on it. It would have gone for 80 yards. But the whole game plan was just, make sure we get rid of the ball before Ruben Bane can go from over there to our quarterback. And Chamblas doesn't get sacked. He got sacked against Florida, but he doesn't get sacked.

Very elusive. They have a left tackle that hasn't given up a sack all season. But the way that they play also is a reason why they don't give up sacks. But let's look at those games with Louisville and SMU. It's not like these often Offenses torched Miami. Louisville goes for a fake field goal that everybody knew was coming and Miami wasn't prepared for. They get lucky on a crossing route, and then Miami settles into that game. Their offense doesn't do much. Louisville wins that game because of four turnovers. Miami should win that game.

Mike, this team is better, and this quarterback is better.

I get it, but here's the tempo conversation.

Can't we all say the Canes are better now, too?

Yes. The tempo conversation. Miami did a pretty good job against these offenses. When you mention SMU, look at the rushing yards from that game. They weren't negative until OT in that game. And let's be honest now, now that Miami has built up the credibility in the playoffs, and I'm not just some like, Wacko, yelling head-to-head should matter, Miami lost the game against SMU for one reason and one reason only, the officiating. I do think one storyline that has gone totally uncovered throughout this run is you cannot ignore the amount of success that Miami has had with referees from different conferences.

You can say that the only reason they lost the game against SMU was officiating, but that game was close, and SMU is not as good as this team, and Jennings is not as good as Chamblist. The two teams that beat Miami did so with quarterbacks who are not as good as this one.

I'm also not on team Let's just say SMU is not as good as Ole Miss, while I tend to agree. But let's stop talking about the SEC. They are not capable of losing at SMU.

I'm just talking about what the Ole Miss offense is, Mike. I'm not talking- Yeah, Chambleas is a different quarterback.

He's the best quarterback That's the product that we face in two years.

We also shouldn't just make Ole Miss a referendum of the SEC. They're the last SEC team standing. They're a great team.

They're a really good team. Just like Miami is. No, I'm cosigning. I'm nervous about it. They do things. But while the comparison to SMU and LeVore are fine and accurate, Miami is a different team now, and I think that's very clear.

Maybe because the team absolutely has been playing better over the last six weeks than when it is that it lost. But it will only take a couple of coaching mistakes to remind us that this coach is not someone you trusted before two games ago.

Why don't you trust Mario Cristobal? I think that's false. What is he messing up on game day?

Historically or this season?

No, I'm saying this season. I'm well aware of what history will and not let him forget.

What- Lashley and Bram handed him his head with lesser teams.

No, they didn't hand him his head. Those were one-score games. And what did they do from an in-game coaching perspective?

Mike, SMU and Louisville are not as good as Miami, and both of those coaches figured out by getting the ball out early, and in Louisville's case, making Beck beat them and couldn't because he kept throwing the ball deep when he shouldn't have, both of those coaches undressed Cristobal with lesser teams.

Okay, a coaching one-score loss is not an undressing an overtime loss.

But the cage were favored by double figures. I think it's fair to say.

I think that Miami made coaching mistakes. We were sounding the alarms that we have tendencies. Teams are over these tendencies. In that SMU game, Shannon Dawson started to mix things up. That was a weird game. Penalties took over. Miami should have won that game, no doubt. But in terms of game management and clock management, if you're still touting that Mario Cristobal is a fuck up of a game coach, you're not watching.

I am watching, and I'm saying that two victories ago, you didn't trust Cristobal in any of these games, historically.

And I'm saying from two years ago, I have. Miami was in plenty of one-score games last year, and people just want to say, Why didn't he go for it against Syracuse? What was that like? He's been good.

I think the question is, are we at a place then? Even if you trust Cristobal now compared to the past, are we in a place where if it's the fourth quarter, it's a middle of the fourth quarter, and it's a tie game, are you not saying anymore, I hope that Mario Cristobal doesn't F this up? Are we at that place? And if we're at that place, okay, fine. But I don't know that we're at that place.

In the CFP, there have been two instances where I'm like, That's not my favorite. It was the approach to close the first half the settling for a field goal at College Station that they eventually missed. I think that was more like Carson Beck not wanting to mess around with the win because he had no interest in putting those balls in play. And the one that almost burned Miami was to close, once again, end of the first half, Cotton We take a time out and aid Ohio State's clock management. They end up taking a field goal attempt. They miss it. Miami State is up 14-0. Those were two that I think that you can isolate.

And there are plenty of coaches who you don't second guess that.

But we also do this thing where we don't give him credit for when he gets it right because there's just this narrative that I think is pretty unfair.

We have given him credit. You called him a genius several times earlier this week because he's won the two most recent games. One of the issues that they're going to have tomorrow night is that their defensive players are going to get They're going to have to rotate players. The pace that Mississippi keeps is very fast. And by the fourth quarter, if that game is close, I am scared of what that quarterback can do. I was confused.

A hundred %, though, Dan. I was confused. But we're There's a lot of people that are not there, too. You're worried about rotation. That SMU game, I know you're frustrated, but I need to stop you because Miami is rotating players. You're seeing players develop. Marcus Lightfoot, Marquise Lightfoot is beating double teams now. When Ohio goes on that run, yeah, they're doing tempo. But Miami is saving guys for the fourth quarter. That is where they're different from midseason.

The thing that I am worried about that's different from midseason is that Mississippi has lost one game this season. They could have beaten and should have beaten Georgia both times they played them. The first time they played them in the fourth quarter, Chamblas was one for 10. And the last time he played them, he couldn't incomplete a pass in the fourth quarter. That's what I'm worried about. I'm worried about in the fourth quarter, because Georgia has plenty of rotating defense of linemen as well. In the fourth quarter, nobody could do anything with Chamblas.

Look, we also know their coach is going to be good to go in the clutch, even if he hasn't been a head coach, because did you guys see what he said yesterday? He was asked about how hectic this week has been. He said, My next door neighbor was Aaron Hernandez. I know this is more chaotic.

It's Joe Judge, who's in charge of the game flow operations, and he had a spectacular failure in the Sugar Bowl. I think that Miami's reputation proceeds itself, and people think that they're the team that lost to Louisville and SMU. I think if you watch those games back with the benefit of hindsight and knowing how far Miami has come and how they've broken tendencies and how they've changed personnel and how players have developed and what Mario Cristobal and his staff have learned from those games, I think you realize that Miami has the ability to slow this offense down. In fact, when Ole Miss ran up against a team that was a good defense... Someone alarm? I'm hearing a car alarm right now.

That might be my car alarm. I don't know what's happening. That has to be.

You might have I'm the closest car here. They played Oklahoma. They played Oklahoma and beat Oklahoma. I've listened to a lot of O'Miss- Quite the alarm. I've listened to a lot of Ole Miss podcast invoking-Wow!

That's a find right there.

Imagine if that happened to me.

That's amazing.

That's true. That's a good point. That's worse than a text message going off.

I didn't set off the alarm of my car.

I think that's a $100 fine.

That's $100 fine. $100 to everybody. Is that a rule book?

$1,000 fine. Did you just unlock the door for the person out there breaking in?

We should check up on in your car. Ole Miss, good about tempo, one of the fastest teams in the nation. They had their slowest pace of the year when they played Oklahoma, the best defense that they face, a defense that they compare a lot to Miami's. But I also think you should pay attention to what Lane Kiffin said after that game because he apparently was holding the ball because he was weary of Brent Venable's stealing signs. All right.

The way we're talking about Trinidad Chambers, and my God, I can't wait for this game, mainly because I'm tired of hearing about Trinidad Chambers. It's John Elway, apparently, that we're going up against on Thursday nights. But the way we're talking about Trinidad Chambers, it sounds like this is the most difficult game the Canes are going to have then. This can't be true.

I know what you guys are doing, styles, but the roster's here.

I disagree with that. I don't think Ole Miss is as good as Indiana or Oregon, but if they get past Ole Miss, which I think they will, they have a home game, and UM does not lose home games for the national champion.

I just said earlier that I fear this game more than I feared Ohio State, and they were a nine and a half point dog against Ohio State. And the reason I'm saying that is only because Ole Miss plays the style that already beat Miami twice better than the two teams, Louisville and SMU, who beat Miami with that style. The reason Miami is here is pass rush. We can say running game. We can say Carson Beck has been game manager. The reason they're here is because they've got two first-round picks as edge rushers. And if you play a style that's super fast, and also the quarterback gets rid of it very fast and doesn't get sacked and doesn't throw interceptions, I'm just scared of that. I think you're going to need to outscore them in a high-scoring game. I don't think defense wins this game.

I get it. No, defense is going to have to win this game. But also, important for you in the audience, let's stop pretending like Louisville and SMU the only teams that play tempo against Miami. Miami has run up against most of the teams on their schedule, play high tempo.

But it's not tempo. The tempo is not what worries me. It's the quarterback getting the ball out so fast is what worries me.

I'm Have you played a few of those?

As soon as I saw what Bram was doing with Louisville, as soon as that game started, I was like, Oh, shit. He's making sure that Ruben Bane can't wreck this game. He's not trusting his quarterback. He's telling his quarterback, Just throw it to Bell, the first-round pick, as quick as you can on slant and make sure that Ruben Bane does not take the ball in the other direction. And so as soon as that started happening, it puts the game in Carson Beck's hands. How do you guys feel right now about that, about the idea that this game might come down to, you need Beck to be better than Chamblist.

Oh, you don't. I think Beck has been really smart, and Beck has fundamentally changed himself to the point that you can call a game manager. I think his greatest asset right now is checking into runs. He's a very smart quarterback. Teams are daring him to find holes in the zone. He has totally reshaped the way that he plays. I think he's going to have to play his best counting numbers game of the playoffs because I do think this offense will be challenged early on to keep pace, something that they've had the luxury of not having to do. But Carson Beck has totally reshaped himself.

I really think you got to give Beck a lot of credit because it seems that you're right with everything you're saying there, and everything that he's doing in the way that he's changed his game is absolutely for the betterment of the team, and it is worse for his future as an NFL process.

Well, it's a little bit crazy when you consider it actually, Zaz, because it would be totally normal for any college kid after playing that FSU game where FSU is daring them to throw deep with their corners, playing one-on-one coverage, to get filled with yourself. You're unbeaten. You're a top five team in the country, and you love the deep pass because you get to show off your arm. That seems like it'd be a great deal of fun for him to go from that to the humbling of, No, I lost the Louisville game. That's my fault. They're not better than us. We're playing that game at home. We're down nine in the fourth quarter and only in the game because we're recovering a fumble we never should have had because our quarterback threw us all in a ditch. The pain of whatever that wallowing was to change a kid who could fall in love with, Wait a minute, I'm a star quarterback. I'm the highest paid quarterback in college football. People want me. They know my go from that to Alex Smith. It's impressive. It's a big ask.