This episode of The Dan Le Batard Show features sports talk with Jessica Smetana on Miami's disputed catch against Notre Dame, the College Football Playoff rankings, and its planned expansion to 24 teams. The conversation also covers falling college football TV ratings and how the committee weighs wins and losses.
Jessica Smetana argues that the rankings reward top-10 wins too heavily and that the expansion has little fan support, while the hosts debate the rules and the committee's logic. The show then turns to Connor Hellebuyck's trade standoff with the Winnipeg Jets and the Devils' decision to sit him, before a lighter segment on a new TV show and a bagel-toasting question.
Listeners will hear how each argument is made and where the panel disagrees.
In this episode Dan Le Batard, Greg Coty, Jessica Smetana
This episode's transcript on the Miami and Notre Dame playoff debate was made with the same technology behind HappyScribe's AI tool that takes meeting notes.
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All right, we got flyers at Oilers tonight. The Oilers are leading the Pacific Division. Who would have thought that, huh? Going to have favorites tonight against the Flyers. They are 13-6, the Edmonton Oilers are against the puck line this season. 4-1 in the last 5 on the puck line. They've covered the last 5 straight against the Metro, so go with them as a goal-and-a-half favorite against the spread. Greg? Donald, Greg.
NFL eyes at Minnesota at Green Bay. The line hasn't moved from Packers by 3.5 since the big Minnesota trade. Why? Because Jordan Love and that offense, and an improving Packers defense, mean more than the Vikings adding Kirk Cousins. Go with the Pack Jack.
Go with the Pack Jack. You made that up?
Yes, I did.
Not bad.
It's for the moment.
Her podcast, College Football Happy Hour with Lucy Rodin. Here is Jessica Smetana joining us, as she always does. Hello, Jess.
Hello.
All right, let's get it right off the top. How was that not a catch?
Oh, come on. I mean, I'm not surprised that you guys are still on this, but I do appreciate the fact that you think you're smarter than every single rules analyst who has weighed in on the matter.
Thank you.
It's very on-brand.
I mean, for me, it's not thinking that I'm smarter than all of them. I just wanted to explain to me.
Yes, it is. That's abs- no, that's absolutely what I was not a catch to you. It has been explained to you so many times. You just refuse to listen to it.
All right.
And you do think you're smarter. That is objectively true.
No, I think that this is over-overexplaining it and trying to be too smart about it. I think over the last 6 years, people generally think, "All right, that's not a catch," because of what they've done to a catch. Typically, 2 feet and bouncing.
What do you mean? Like woke took catches from us?
Yes. Yeah, basically. Replaying, yeah, catches have gone woke because that 2 feet and bounce and stepping out of bounds, that's a catch. Always. But now through the modern prism of, "You got to do a pirouette after you step out of bounds with a ball in your hands." It's two football moves. He brought the ball down to his midsection and he stepped out of bounds.
That would never happen, though, if it happened a weekend before.
Yeah. Like, it's just dumb. You can just put a ball over the line if you're a runner, but.
But how much?
By a pubic hair.
That's right.
Ew. If you have a problem with the rule, sure. But if the rule is applied correctly, then that's your problem, not the application of the rule. In reference to your out-of-bounds thing, there was a lot of that was what a lot of Miami fans were saying online throughout the week. Which, by the way, Miami fans are still the only people who I've seen arguing about this. But.
Not so Beanie Wells. Beanie Wells thinks it was a catch.
Okay. Terry McCauley. Someone tweeted at Terry McCauley and said, "He couldn't finish securing the ball because an out-of-bounds player (no longer eligible) hit the ball loose. It was a touchdown." And Terry McCauley said, "I've seen this take incredibly often, and for the life of me, I have no idea where it comes from, as it doesn't remotely resemble any rule at any level."
No, they're talking about the player that hit it out of the hands. I'm saying that the player is dead because he stepped out of bounds, because that's how football works.
It's not.
Jess, what stood out to you about the college football playoff rankings last night?
What stood out to me is that we are fully going to rewarding top 10 wins and not caring too much about losses. That's why BYU is still in the top 10. That's why Alabama is at number 3. That's why Wake Forest and Texas Tech are at 12 and 13, even though they only have 1 loss. That's why Miami fell to number 7, because now their best win is against 13 and not a top 10 team. And like it or not, I do think if that's the criteria, this week's rankings are more logically coherent than last week's.
Because last week's, if that's the criteria, I don't get why Indiana was so high last week. But they have moved down now after a bye week, which is absurd and furthers the point that the weekly rankings shows during the season are kind of arbitrary because they can just do whatever they want.
Well, Jess, Hunter Yuricheck last night was telling me about ranking steps. What the hell is a ranking step?
It's all, like, made up. I don't know. They take teams and they put them in pools and then they put them head-to-head and then they take the next two teams and put it in a different pool. Like, I under- it's like a thing where it's kind of like being in an airplane. The less I know about how this works, the safer I feel. I don't want to know what these guys are thinking. I don't want it to be explained to me. Just, like, do it behind closed doors. Stop answering questions about it. It's just making it worse. It's making me more afraid.
My overall thought after last night and how the biggest story for the second year in a row with the college football playoff rankings is Miami and Notre Dame. And my biggest takeaway from last night is, I mean, as long as Miami doesn't implode and they, you know, win their final three regular season games, Miami and Notre Dame, like, Miami is definitely going to be in the playoffs. That committee is not taking Miami out of the playoffs considering how much attention these last two years Miami and Notre Dame get.
I don't think it's because of attention. I think it's because they're a good football team. That has nothing to do with attention. I think both things are true, though, for both teams. Like, if Notre Dame loses to SMU, I don't know if they're going to stay in the top 12. If Miami loses to Duke or loses an ACC Championship game, I don't know if they're going to stay in the top 12. But that's not because of attention. I think it's because they'd have really good resumes going into the postseason.
Jess, the CFP is not only increasing but doubling from 12 teams to 24. What do you think about that?
I don't like it, Greg. I really don't. And I've posted a lot about it and talked a lot about it on my other podcasts. I think that the thing that is so bizarre is that everyone's like, "Wow, they're selling out for money." It doesn't really seem like anyone's making that much more money out of this. It just seems like this is a way for a lot of teams to get more money to their schools via convincing donors that they can make a postseason now, which is, I think, one of the worst reasons to do this.
The only silver lining would be if there are more on-campus games, which it sounds like there hopefully will be, and we get better non-conference scheduling and get some rivalry games back. But I've said this all along, I'm skeptical that's going to happen because there's still going to be an incentive to having a better record and getting a bye week. It's now the regular season instead of being, like, "Can you make the postseason?" Or in the past it was, like, "Can you go undefeated and get a national championship or make a New Year's Sixth Bowl or whatever?"
It's just going to be, like, have the best record to get better seeding so that you're either going to be off the first week or have an easier game. So there's still an incentive to winning games. So even if there's more two or three lost teams that make it, like, why would you voluntarily schedule a harder opponent? And that remains to be seen if that will come true or not. And I hope it does, because that would be the only silver lining. But yeah, it just seems like no one really wants it. The fans don't really want it. The CFP executive director was like, "Yeah, we know fans don't want it, and we went ahead with it anyway."
Yeah. Okay. So look, here's that quote, all right? Heather Dinich tweeted out a couple days ago, "Rich Clark said the college football playoff is aware of the fan sentiment." And that quote, "Many fans aren't in favor of expansion, but we owe it to them to make this great. That's our intent. We did take into account their sentiment, but we decided to move forward with it anyway."
Right. It's just, it's such a slap in the face. I'm curious what the buy-in from fans is going to be next year. I'm curious if the ratings are going to be awesome for the opening games. I'm curious how they're going to schedule it around NFL games, which is something that the college football playoff has been afraid to do. I'm curious about a lot of things because it just seems like there's such little buy-in from people. Maybe it'll end up being awesome. Maybe next year you'll have 12 extra teams in the month of November playing really meaningful football games.
Maybe, and this is a huge maybe, you'll get more group of 6 teams in, like a New Mexico who has still not been ranked by the CFP this season, even though they only have one loss this year to Oklahoma. And if Boise State were to stumble along the way, they would potentially be the G6 team that makes the playoff field this year. The committee's like, "We don't even want to consider New Mexico. Please stay away from us, group of 6 teams." So, like, yeah, I could see a world where in a year it's like, "Okay, maybe some of my worst fears were assuaged and this was okay."
But I just have to see it to believe it, because right now there's just little buy-in from anyone that this is going to be better than what we have now.
As I happen to know.
He happens to know.
Oh. So on the CFP front, a surprising player was really pushing for the playoff expansion. And it's not who you might assume. Most people assume ESPN because they're the benefactor of all these additional playoff games. Actually, behind the scenes, ESPN wasn't too thrilled with their regular season properties being diluted. You think the conferences are behind this? In a roundabout way, yes. The coaches were pushing ADs. But a surprising network was behind the expansion of the college football playoff.
Who?
It was Fox.
What?
You would be like, "Why? Wait, Fox has lost a Big Ten championship in all of this." Well, when you look at the rights that Fox does have, 80% of the games that they broadcast are in that others-receiving votes range. So they actually get to really promote the games that they do have rights to as consequential CFP on-the-line type games. So they were a surprising member in all of this thing in this thing playing out, pushing for it.
Right. And they're partners with the Big Ten. So I think that totally tracks because they're going to be huge benefactors in all of this. And, like, you know, there's a perception that because of the SEC and ABC deal and especially with how the college football playoff committee is treating strength of schedule this year, that the Big Ten might get squeezed out more in a 12-team playoff. That certainly seems to be the case right now. Oregon obviously was a huge riser this week because they beat Ohio State. But Indiana right now is the only Big Ten team that is in the top 15.
I think Iowa is the next highest-ranked Big Ten team. And it's been a bad, weird year for the Big Ten. There's been tons of quarterback injuries and just sort of weird games and down years for teams like Michigan, who appear to be in a terrible situation with their head coach. They lost to Michigan State this weekend. I don't know how that one's going to end, but it doesn't look like it's going to end well. They have to pay $10 million to their offensive coordinator they just let go of. But yeah, I think that's certainly true. I think NBC is probably another network that's probably going to be happy with expansion because, Mike, do you know who the primetime NBC matchup is this Saturday night?
Do they have Oregon-Michigan?
No.
What do they have?
Keep guessing.
No.
What? I want you to guess.
Do they have I know they have the random Big Ten games. Do they have USC-Indiana?
No, they do not.
What do they have?
Let me guess one. Is it Clubber Lang versus Thunderlips?
Do they have Iowa?
They do have Iowa.
Okay.
That was from Rocky III.
Do you know who Iowa is playing?
I don't know.
Who does Iowa play this week? Do they play, like, Wisconsin or something? No, they just beat the crap out of Wisconsin.
Purdue?
Ah, well, yeah, that's a consequential game now.
It's a 16-and-a-half-point spread. But yeah, I mean, it's I totally I think Mike's right. I agree with that.
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I heard that as a woman faking pain. I didn't think that sounded real. I really didn't, you know?
It was not fake. It was in no way fake.
You can spot a woman faking it?
Greg Coty.
Yes, I can, Jess. I've been married 40 years.
This is the Dan Le Batard Show. So I want to talk about it's hard to reconcile, like, college game day having a really good ratings year, yet general consensus. And I don't think this is a media thing. I have yet to find the voice in any walk of life that's like, "Man, college game day is a lot better now than what it used to be." I just don't find them. So it's not a made-up thing. I don't think this is a media consensus. But college game day's ratings are up.
And a lot of the reasons that people point to why they don't like it might be playing out on the field. People don't like the NIL stuff, but the ratings are down. In fact, Notre Dame-BYU had a slightly higher rating than Miami-Notre Dame. And both games paled in comparison to last year's game that started the season standalone. I know it's not apples to apples, but why do you think college football ratings are down this year?
Whoa. That's a really good question. So I believe they're up in certain sections. Like, I think some of the SEC ratings are up, but some of the overall ratings are down. Is that right? I know, like, ratings are a tricky thing to talk about in the way that they're measured, changed over the last two years. And I don't want to speak too broadly without really, like, being in the nitty-gritty of it. But I do think that the ABC ratings seem to be doing really well. The SEC ratings in particular seem to be doing well. And I feel like there's just a really strong marketing machine behind it.
And I don't mean that in any sort of nefarious way. But I'm curious if Miami-Notre Dame did better last year because it was on that was an ABC game, right? Yeah, that was.
It was an ABC game.
Sunday night.
It was a standalone game.
It was a standalone.
It wasn't going against Ole Miss Georgia.
Right. Well, like, Notre Dame-Wisconsin did pretty well on NBC, which wasn't a standalone, but it was, like, the Sunday night slot in primetime this year. It got, like, 8 million viewers. So it's not, like, across the board down everywhere. But I am curious if it's just that the SEC is sort of outpacing a lot of teams because they have more, for lack of a better term, like, vibes. They have, like, better vibes. The marketing around it is working. People are tuning into even sort of, like, mid-tier SEC matchups and not even just your.
It's around the other 20.
Like, think about, Mike, the game this week on ESPN at noon. SMU-Wake Forest. Massive ACC game. SMU's not ranked right now, but they're 7-2. They did lose a really bad game to Syracuse two weeks ago. But they have a chance at making an ACC championship game. Wake Forest is ranked in the top 15. They have a chance at making an ACC championship game. They are by far the second best team in the ACC as we record this. There's so, like, little buzz around it as a matchup and as a game versus, I think, what you see from a number of the better matchups in the other two power conferences and even the Big 12 this year.
And I don't know. I just I wonder about, like, if the it just means more marketing has really rubbed off on people. And so they turn on ABC for the full day and just leave it on and get to watch six SEC games in a row.
As plainly as I can tell you or anybody else, the CFP is run by the SEC and Big Ten. And so those lower-ranked teams are used to prop up the credibility of the teams that they'll rank ahead of Miami, let's say, because I don't understand how I totally understand, certainly, that Notre Dame should be ranked over Miami. I don't understand why Texas is slotted in between them. I don't really get the difference. If SMU were in the SEC, they would absolutely be ranked. You're afforded a bad loss if it was close, especially.
And Duke would be ranked if they were in the SEC as well.
To your point about SMU, what's interesting is that they have a top 15 or no, they so, okay, I guess what's tricky about SMU, if you're taking the committee's criteria into account this season, which is that you need to have a, quote-unquote, "signature win" to get ranked or at least, like, a top 25 win to get ranked. SMU doesn't really have that right now. They have losses to Louisville and Syracuse. The Syracuse loss, like I said, is, like, not a great one. Lost by one point a couple weeks ago. But their best wins probably Florida State, who are 41st in FPI.
And so I guess if you're being consistent about it, sure. But they also have two losses. And there are how many SEC teams with three losses that are ranked right now? Even Oklahoma State, who has two pretty bad losses to Tulsa, and Iowa State is ranked right now because they have a win over Oregon. And now Oregon is 6-3. So yeah, it's not I mean, maybe it's consistent, but I in previous years, you would see more teams with a bigger number in the win column ranked versus so many three-loss teams.
I think I'm with you in the earlier point that I can kind of understand this, but I have zero faith that this logic will remain consistent week to week because, yeah, okay.
Exactly.
All right, BYU in some weird roundabout way. They lose, but, hey, their win over Notre Dame is a lot more impressive. So they only slide down two. But, guys, they lost to UCF. UCF sucks. But it doesn't matter. UCF sucks.
It just doesn't it doesn't matter if you have like, you're getting a mulligan, basically, for a bad loss if you have a top 10 win in FPI. That's what my interpretation of this is because Georgia has a loss to Auburn, and they're number one in the country right now ahead of two teams that are undefeated because UCLA's strength of schedule is in the 60s. And even though you could say, "Well, they did beat Oregon. Oregon's top 10 in FPI. If you guys care about FPI, that is a pretty good win." They also beat Wisconsin, who are top 40.
And Utah now has a win over BYU, who are top 10 in the college football playoff. So, like, that's again, like, you're just not getting punished as much for bad losses as I think they've done in the years past as long as you have a really, really solid win. And that's how Texas is now ahead of Miami, even though they lost to Florida, who are barely top 30 in FPI, and also lost to Oklahoma, although FPI really likes Oklahoma. FPI really likes a lot of the SEC teams.
And that's what the college football playoff committee is using for a lot of this.
Dan Le Batard.
Yeah, very much so.
Imagine if someone told you you couldn't have a Corvette.
I'm a grown-ass man who's not filthy rich. I can't afford a Lamborghini.
Greg Coty.
Well, I probably can, but that's besides.
Hey.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
This is the Dan Le Batard Show. Jess, do we have a new segment we're debuting today?
Yeah, so I keep seeing something about this goalie, I think, in the NHL.
Yeah.
And I don't know what's going on with him, but I had an idea for a segment called, "Can you guys mansplain something to me?"
Yes.
Can you guys mansplain.
Can we ever?
What's going on with this Halib.
That's my favorite.
Halibrook? What's his name?
Halibuck.
Halibuck.
Halibuck.
Yeah.
Can you guys mansplain this to me? I don't know what's going on.
I want to mansplain. I want to mansplain.
I want to mansplain.
I don't know what we're talking about, though. So you guys have to mansplain it.
No, let me mansplain.
Guys, I'm pretty good at this. I don't even have to touch my own horn, but this is something I'm really good at.
I think it's good. Yeah, I get it.
All right, Mike, go ahead. Mansplain it to her. So Connor Halibuck, held the Winnipeg Jets franchise hostage with a big trade demand/request thing. Not super popular in Canada. A lot of the stuff at play, too, was a gold medal thing where you just rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
What was the gold medal thing? Can you mansplain it to me?
Winning it. Yeah, well, he's American.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, and he was, you know, one of the more visible people kind of endorsing our government in the midst of the whole 51st state thing and all that. So Halibuck was getting roundly booed at home, and people wanted him out. Now, interestingly enough, they probably should have taken the Panthers' offer, but nobody wanted to see that. And then they ended up getting a kind of mediocre offer, and he gets traded to New Jersey. Finally, the saga is over. The game's best goalie has now moved on from Winnipeg, and he's on to New Jersey. But on the calendar, everybody had it circled.
He's returning to Winnipeg. Let's see this guy and finally give him a big round of boos and let him know exactly what we feel about him. The New Jersey Devils put out a statement, and this is the softest thing. I don't think I've ever seen this before.
Not in that sport.
They put out a statement saying that they're not going to play him because they think playing him hurts their chances of winning because of everything that surrounds it. It is just charming soft.
Jess.
It reduces the general manager just said it reduces their win probability if he plays that night. The game's greatest goalie.
Okay, so I saw the statement out of context, and the statement made me think, "Okay, maybe the goalie is not good, and that's why they're not playing him." But now I'm even more confused because that statement makes no sense to me.
He's the best goalie in the league, and goalies don't play back-to-back days. So you look, "Oh, maybe it's a back-to-back." No, it was not a back-to-back. They did not play the night before. They don't play tonight. They just felt that over the course of, you know, the last 10 days where they played four games, now he needs to rest that night because it's going to lower our win probability. And matter of fact, Jess, after the game last night.
Who won?
Winnipeg won. Winnipeg won. After the game last night, the Jets tweeted out expected win probability 100%. That's funny.
That is funny.
That's funny.
Who went like that?
That's funny. It's so Mike, it's so anti-hockey. Like, hockey has an honor code.
They embrace that kind of thing.
Like, there is you know the saying, "Answer the bell." You know, that's when you have to take your medicine. It's very hockey culture.
You have to do what Brady Kachuk did.
Yep.
Yes.
Yep. Go out there, let them boo you, let them say nasty things.
Bring it on.
And if you're Brady Kachuk, you play the villain and you ham it up. In Connor Halibuck's case, eat that. Uh-huh. You've just created a million Winnipeg Jets. What do you think? Now, is he just never going to play? The next time, what do you think your win probability is going to be the next time you take a road trip next season to Winnipeg? Are you just is this just going to be a thing? Is Connor Halibuck never going to play in Winnipeg?
He's going to lose a peg.
So it's going to be like LeBron, where he played the first game in Miami, but then, like, he never played again?
Mm-hmm. Plus, it makes Halibuck look like he's avoiding fans.
Well, he swears that he wanted to play, and they weren't and they didn't let him. I'll tell you, on TNT's on TNT Studio Show on TNT Studio Show, you know, his former Rangers goalie, Henrik Lundqvist. And they spoke about that, how he.
Baby.
He wanted to play. The Devils said no. Organizationally, this is not the right move.
The Devils said no?
Yes.
Satan?
Yes. We're going to sit you.
Beelzebub.
And what's his name? Henrik Lundqvist said if he were Halibuck, he would not have left that room until the Devils understood that he's playing.
Right. 100%.
Strange.
Makes the goalie look bad to sit that out.
Roy, you see Roy, do you think that it's odd that the Jets did not do a tribute video?
That was odd. I think they should have.
I like that.
Just to give the fans a chance to boo him.
No.
Because they would have showed him on camera on the bench.
Do you think that that plan changed once he wasn't playing?
It's a good question. It's a good question.
Thank you. That's the second one of those I've gotten this segment.
I'd like to believe that that was always the plan because he torpedoed the franchise. Like, why would we give a tribute video? I like them not doing that.
Franchise also torpedoed itself. They overplayed their hand. They could have gotten the Brady Kachuk package. That was what was offered to them, and they thought they can get a better deal, and they didn't.
Jessica, how much are you regretting this mansplain session?
No, I like I want to be the one to do the mansplaining though next week, okay?
Can I do a cat what is a catch next?
I can mansplain that to you since you guys don't know what it is.
All right.
Do you actually want to talk about the game?
Let me just strip I do, I do. But let me just strip this down. Like, let's go a guy high points a ball, puts two hands on it, and brings two feet down inbound. In that motion, he brings it back from behind his head and down to his waist. So far, so good.
And then what happens?
So far, so good. The very next thing that happens is he steps out of bounds.
Yeah.
What say you?
The floor is not lava. I don't.
No, no, no. No, no, no, no. I'm just asking. What happens next?
Why do you think the floor is lava?
But no, no, he's standing upright. The ball has been brought down cleanly from back behind his head down to his midsection, and then he decides to step out of bounds. What do you say?
It feels like you think it's someone's.
This all happens in the end zone. What do you say?
Threw a football into the end zone. Some a receiver could, like, hot potato it and then chuck it out.
No, no, no.
And that should not have touched down.
Like, the argument of it, and it's just.
That's kind of what you're saying.
It's just.
Because, like, once the feet are in bounds and he has it in two hands, then it's over.
May I reclaim my point?
You can hot potato it back.
This I see your argument.
It's not hot potato.
I see your argument. It's not hot potato. The play is dead, and it was a clean catch. It's not like, if this was being battled for.
Or it's lava.
If this was being battled for in the air or at the point of the high point, I can see your point. The thing is, you know exactly what you're doing because you're clinging onto this, like, lame you're clinging onto this lame football. You got to complete the process of a catch when you goddamn well know. That's a catch. Two feet in bounds. Full control of the ball. You step out of bounds. Play's over.
I'm not surprised that you know what? Never mind. I'm just like, I'm getting GN6 vibes from this conversation going on as long as it's gone on.
It's just a nerd. You had you needed the help with.
Everyone said it's over.
You don't get into the CFP. You need the ref's help again. Let's change all the rules. And then you need this again.
I need Jerry refs.
We got to no, it's not a catch. It's not a catch because catches have gone woke. It's a catch. Two feet in bounds. You step out of bounds. You didn't even answer the question. What happens after you step out of bounds? The play is over.
Fuck.
But I do agree.
You're targeting.
I do agree.
The last Miami drive of the game. It wasn't targeting, by the way, and gave Miami drive.
You also got away with the DPI and the catch thing just totally ignored.
You got away with the LPI. Mike, the.
You held on to Ovtchar's hand.
All the time.
The better, more physical team won that game.
I agree with that.
And on offense, Notre Dame was better. On defense, on the balance of the game, Notre Dame was better. Special teams, Notre Dame was better. It's crazy that Miami had an opportunity to make the throw that they did and catch that they did. I don't understand how that happened. I know a lot of people point to Leonard Moore.
I can explain. I can explain.
But I watched it back, and Leonard Moore was out there a ton. Leonard Moore was out there the third most.
No, he missed.
The third most snaps of the season, Jess. Like, it's the third most snaps of the season he's had.
Yeah, he's missed a lot of time this year. He had a concussion, like, three weeks ago. He didn't play against Navy. He was out for the two Miami touchdown drives in the third quarter and then came back in, and then Jaden Sanders got hurt on the last Miami touchdown drive. I would also say Notre Dame's special teams in the third and fourth quarter was a big reason why Miami came back. Some of the one of the worst punts I've ever seen in that stadium.
Punt.
Miami got great field position on two out-of-bounds kicks from Notre Dame's kicker. They also got good field position off the missed field goal at the end that would have iced the game. Notre Dame's kicker completely whiffed on. I think that accounts for a lot of it. I think the offense was called fine. I just don't think they really executed well in the last couple drives where they went three and out. Not the last couple, but, like, the middle couple, I guess, in the second half. And that combined with really good field position and Leonard Moore being out and then Jaden Sanders being out. It was a lot of different things.
Like, it always is in football. There's never, like, one reason why something happens. There's tons of things that go into it. Miami's also a good football team. They have a really good quarterback. You have a great tight end. That's a good matchup for Miami against Notre Dame. So a lot of different stuff happened in there. And yeah, it was close. Like, games between two good football teams are, but that wasn't a catch. And even if they had scored there, there was still three and a half minutes left. Notre Dame would have had a chance to go score.
Should be noted that Miami did make the stop, though.
Yeah.
Like, Notre Dame got the ball back. Miami did stop them. I know it changes the complexion of the game.
They called, like, six run plays.
Yeah, look, I mean, all of this has a bunch of what-ifs.
Miami was also out of their timeouts.
Yeah, all this.
So I think that was just a part of it.
Miami scored 24 points. They're not scoring 24 points with Malachy Tony out there the same way that, you know, I think Notre Dame should be commended because entering that game, they had a ton of injuries on defense. And as that game went on, guys started dropping, like, flies. I do think that early on.
It was a good game.
Early on, it's like, that's really why there's fool's gold there. I think Miami climbed back into it because of all the injuries. And then I rewatched it, and Notre Dame just kind of played into Miami's defensive strengths. I know you say that they didn't play that you didn't have that big an issue with the play calls, but I thought the run calls there probably were a little too conservative.
I thought there were some bad reads. I thought that Miami's interior defensive line is really good. I thought they made some plays in the second half. I think you have to give them a ton of credit for that. There were a couple just not bad calls, but just not, like, high-probability passing plays that were called. Like, the I think it was a third down pass to Jordan Faison in double coverage. Like, that could have been something different. That's not a run play that's getting stuffed at the line of scrimmage, but I don't know. Maybe you open it up a little bit there.
But I thought overall, like, they played well enough to win and could have won by multiple scores had they done slightly better on the field goal drive where they ended up kicking the 53-yard field goal, which was one of the worst field goal attempts I've ever seen in my life.
Her weekly Notre Dame podcast is the Echoes with Mike Golic Jr.
Echoes, Echoes, Echoes, Echoes.
Good job, Jess. Talk to you next week.
Bye.
Amin, let's lighten the mood a little bit. What kind of stories you got for us here?
Well, well, well. There's a lot to go on. You want me to lighten the mood? You want me to lighten the mood? Let's go with a new TV show that's coming out that I'm very excited about. It's called Can You Hide Shaq?
What does that mean?
So basically, the contestants are given Shaq.
Shaquille O'Neal.
Shaquille O'Neal, and they have to go out in public with him, but they have to disguise him in such a way where no one will recognize him. Here's a clip.
I'm Shaquille O'Neal. You can call me Shaq.
These players will compete to hide the most recognizable man on the planet.
Who's that?
There's no hiding Empire State Building.
Hosted by Nicole Byer.
One of you will leave here with $100,000.
The challenge is simple.
Get him out now.
Don't.
Keep his head down.
This plan is not going to work.
Get.
Shaq!
It's over. We're done for.
Caught.
Is that Shaq?
Can You Hide Shaq? Series premiere December 3 on ABC.
Okay, first of all, it's a great concept. That's number one. Number two, what can be happening on that show that would make one of the contestants cry?
Cry?
Why was she crying?
Because she got emotional, man. People get emotional.
100K on the line.
I have a question.
Is it a great concept? You don't like that concept? No, and here's why. You can put a bag over Shaq's head, and his body identifies.
You're going to suffocate him?
He has a physique unlike nobody else on Earth.
Are you explaining the concept?
That's the point.
Yeah, that's the concept of the game. You mansplaining this to us?
No. What I mean is, look.
Yeah, that's what makes it hard.
It's hard.
That's what makes it a challenge.
But nobody's going to get it right.
What do you mean?
That's the show.
That's the show.
Cry me. Let me get on that show. I'm not a hot Shaq.
Yeah.
Okay. I don't you can put a beard on him, and everybody's going to go, "Shaq."
Well, I mean, that's lazy. You got to think outside the box. Perhaps maybe even think inside a box. A big box.
Or you can think inside of a wheelchair in the disguise.
Okay. All right.
See, look at that. Look at that. It got you going.
All right. Okay. I'm a skeptic, but I'm willing to watch this show.
Hey, it sounds you made the argument for why people should tune in.
Yeah, I did.
This seems impossible.
Okay. It does seem impossible. You're right.
Someone's going to win this game, right?
Maybe. I don't know.
They're just not going to give away the money.
Bet the girl that cried didn't win.
It's a big scam.
Yeah, she didn't win.
Maybe she didn't spot Shaq.
What else you got for us, Amin?
Okay, so this is something that's been bothering me for a while. You know, in the morning, sometimes we have bagels. You go out there.
Love it.
You toast a bagel. You put some people put butter, some people put cream cheese, whatever, right?
I put cream cheese.
Yeah, cream cheese. And I've been confused by this for quite a while, but yesterday, it came to a head, which is this. Toast a bagel. Toaster comes up, boop, bagels are out. Grab them and put them on the plate. The outside of the bagel, a.k.a. not the part where I'm going to spread anything, piping hot.
Yeah.
The inside of the bagel, lukewarm.
Huh.
And I'm like, why is that? I need the inside to be the hottest part because the butter can melt nicely. So is it I'm toasting bagels wrong? Should I be are the outside supposed to be on the inside and the inside facing outside? Or is there, like, a physics rule?
You got three minutes for us.
Why the temperature is being conducted more on the outside of the bagel than the inside of the bagel?
Well, I would first say, if you're that sensitive to the touch, why don't you spread your butter on the outside of the bagel?
That's just lunacy. What are you talking about?
That's lunacy. Come on.
Why? Butter on the outside of the bagel, buddy.
No. That's un-American.
Okay.
Are you using a toaster, Amin? A toaster?
Yeah, that toaster right there.
Okay. All right. Use an oven.
Go on. The oven is going to toast both sides.
Like, you want them to bake the bagel?
Yeah, I want them to bake the bagel.
Or a toaster oven.
Even better. Do they make toaster ovens anymore?
I think they do.
They call them air fryers now.
Air fryers?
Yeah, I got an air fryer.
Yeah, that's right.
Amin, you know what you do? Instead of putting it, you know, the backside of the bagel in, you flip it.
That's what I was asking.
And then you put the bagel, that's the white side, on the outside.
Hassan Whiteside returned to the heat. That was a good return.
Yeah, that's a good one.
He's still available.
Man, he is jacked.
He is. He's too jacked to play basketball, it would seem. He's too big.
Like Mike Bibby?
Yeah, right. Like, Mike Bibby definitely cannot play basketball.
Too jacked to play basketball.
Too jacked.
It's a touch sport.
Yeah.
How does that not affect your touch?
Too jackman.
Yeah. Wow. So you're a butter on the bagel guy.
Yeah.
Loose rules over Adonis.
Nobody pointed it out a minute or two ago. Tony, did you usually, when you were producing for Adonis, talk into the mic and didn't have it on? Was that something?
He's being a good teammate right now. That's a shared responsibility.
Was that something?
It's a shared responsibility.
Ouch. Just pointing it out.
Look how happy he is.
We have a good locker room over here. We're not going to do that.
Zaz is thrilled.
We have a good locker room over here. Don't do it.
Don't do it.
Don't you blame Roy for not turning on that mic. Don't do it.
It's good.
All right. I think you should try it one time, though, Amin. Put the butter on the outside. Maybe you'll like it, and you won't burn your fingertips.
That sounds awful.
That's never been done in the history of bagels.
You're just you're a crazy person.
Yeah. All right.
Because part of the inside of the bagel is it's got the breading that will soak up the butter.
Right.
How crazy is it, though? Like, we're we have grown accustomed to putting butter on the outside of popcorn.
That's right.
So how ridiculous is this?
Right.
That's not butter. That's a butter substitute.
I have one other solution for the bagel issue, Amin.
I'm going to try it.
Take a knife and cross-cut the top you're going to butter.
Huh.
When you cross-cut it, it gives the heat more ways to get inside.
Ah.
Boom.
You're welcome.
And you know it. And you know it.
Bye-bye.
“I’m getting Jan 6 vibes...”Jessica Smetana checks in to discuss Miami vs. Notre Dame, catch vs. not a catch, and the CFP rankings. Meanwhile, her new segment “Can You Guys Mansplain Something to Me?” debuts with Connor Hellebuyck and the Devils sitting him in Winnipeg. Amin shares a bagel problem that needs solving and a new TV show called “Can You Hide Shaq?”
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