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00:00Bill Bender, our man from the
00:04Sporting News, is with us now,
00:06because there's a lot to dive
00:07into. Bill, good to see you, as
00:09always, my man. And I think the
00:11first thing that I want to ask
00:13you this first, because this was
00:14the one thing that I've been
00:15thinking about here in November
00:16with college football, there was
00:17so many people that tried to
00:19tell me that the regular season
00:22in college football is not going
00:23to mean as much anymore going
00:25from four teams to 12 teams,
00:27that it's not going to be not
00:29going to be as exciting in
00:30November, there's going to be
00:32Bill, they couldn't be more
00:33wrong. Because there are so
00:35many more games that years ago
00:37we would have never been
00:40highlighting or looking forward
00:42to or saying mean a lot than we
00:44do now. Because with three
00:46weeks to go, Bill, this thing is
00:48all over the place with this
00:50committee and what the 12 teams
00:51that are going to get in
00:52specifically in the SEC.
00:55Right. And the Power Four is
00:56like four separate NFLs.
00:58Basically, when you look at the
01:00tiebreaker scenarios, and you
01:01sort all that out, at least the
01:03NFL, it's just to AFC, NFC, you
01:05figure it out. Now, when you
01:07dig in to the SEC tiebreaker
01:10scenarios, you come up with a
01:11couple conclusions. If Texas
01:13beats Texas A&M takes care of
01:15business against Kentucky this
01:16weekend, which I think they
01:17will, the Longhorns will have
01:19one spot. If you have this
01:21multi team tiebreaker, it could
01:24work its way down to a
01:26tiebreaker, which would be the
01:28combined winning percentage of
01:30their conference opponents. And
01:31right now of those two lost
01:33teams, the one that has one
01:35that's 500 or better, is that
01:37who? Alabama, of course. So for
01:39all this, like, you know,
01:41posturing and trying to figure
01:42out all these doomsday
01:43scenarios, we're probably going
01:45to end up with Texas and
01:46Alabama if those two teams take
01:48care of their business in the
01:49next two weeks.
01:50Yeah, and I was saying in the
01:52break before that LSU doomsday
01:55scenario that was out there
01:56last week was was pretty wild
01:58because on paper bill, it kind
02:01of looked plausible when you
02:03first looked at and you went,
02:04all right, you know, at the
02:05favorite team. But as we've
02:07kind of gone to learn this year,
02:08especially even in the SEC, the
02:10whole favorite team to win
02:13definitely is not how this year
02:15is going, especially in that
02:16league. What did you think of
02:18where the committee put the SEC
02:21teams last week? And how much do
02:23you think they'll switch it up
02:24this week? Because they I think
02:25they purposely left Georgia as
02:28the last team out because they
02:29knew they beat Tennessee this
02:30week. They're going to rifle
02:32them right back up a little bit
02:33higher in the rankings. What did
02:35you think of where they kind of
02:36have those teams in the pecking
02:38order right now?
02:39I think they they honor head to
02:40head all the time. That's
02:41something to keep in mind as we
02:42get in. Now I say this and I'm
02:44going to sound like a hypocrite
02:45in about five seconds.
02:46Alabama, Alabama, Tennessee.
02:48There it is. You stole it from
02:50me. I was going to get there. So
02:52I'll get there first. I'll say
02:54they're going to honor Alabama
02:56beating Georgia before they
02:57honor Tennessee beating Alabama.
02:59And I think they'll move Georgia
03:02in tomorrow night. And I think
03:03they'll move Tennessee out,
03:05which is going to cause Tennessee
03:07fans to lash out. And I think
03:09they're going to find if they
03:10can't lash out within their own
03:11conference, they're going to
03:12find the next closest thing. And
03:14the next two closest things are
03:15going to be Indiana. If the
03:17Hoosiers lose by a bunch of
03:19points in Columbus this weekend
03:20and Notre Dame, who is
03:23attaching their Notre Dame's
03:25playing really well, by the way,
03:26but they lost to Northern
03:27Illinois and their two most
03:29impressive victories might end
03:30up being Navy and Army if they
03:32take care of the Army game this
03:33weekend. So I think that's where
03:35Tennessee fans are going to try
03:36to go because the way the
03:38playoff picture is set up,
03:40you're probably going to end up
03:41with four big 10 teams and four
03:43SEC teams. They're going to need
03:44Indiana to lose by a lot for the
03:46committee to consider knocking
03:48them out with one loss in big
03:5010 play.
03:52Yeah, I was kind of going to go
03:53there next and I'm going to
03:54circle back to Notre Dame
03:56because I do want to bring them
03:57back up as well. Indiana, Ohio
03:59State is clearly the marquee
04:00game this week. Indiana has
04:03rode this 10 and 0 mark. Have
04:04they played anybody great? No,
04:07they haven't. They finally got a
04:09big test for Michigan last time
04:11out before they went on their
04:12bye. I think you said it
04:14perfectly. If they could stay
04:17within the spread 20, like what
04:22is the number where Indiana has
04:23to prove to that committee that
04:25at 11 and one provided they beat
04:27Purdue in the last game that
04:29they are more deserving than any
04:31of those other SEC teams who are
04:34going to have two or three
04:34losses or a second, which I
04:37don't think is possible anyway,
04:38a second big 12 or ACC team.
04:40Well, let me throw a score out
04:41to you. I went and watched or
04:44you remember this game a couple
04:45of weeks ago. If Ohio State beat
04:46Indiana the same way they beat
04:49Iowa about a month ago, it was
04:5135 to seven. It was close at
04:53halftime and then Ohio State
04:54pulled away. I still think
04:56Indiana would be fine just
04:57because I will competed for a
04:59half and I kind of see that's
05:01what's going to happen on
05:02Saturday. I could see Indiana
05:04hanging around with Curtis
05:05Rourke. Will Howard and Rourke
05:07are the two top most efficient
05:09passers in the big 10. They're
05:10not fancy, but they get the job
05:11done. Curtis Rourke's had a
05:12really fantastic season and I
05:14could actually see this being a
05:16little bit like an Ohio State
05:17Michigan game where they go
05:19back and forth. The defenses
05:20control the tempo and if they
05:21stop the run, one of those
05:23quarterbacks will make a handful
05:24of pass plays and that will be
05:25that. But what they can't have
05:28happened is what happened to
05:29Michigan State a few years ago.
05:31Remember they came into the
05:32shoe, Mel Tucker team, and I
05:33think they got, it was 49
05:35nothing at halftime. If that
05:37happens, those things we talked
05:39about with Tennessee and the
05:40other SEC schools would become
05:41in play.
05:43I mean, the book still has
05:45Indiana minus 350 to make the
05:47college football playoff. So
05:49they think that the Vegas still
05:51thinks that they can get in even
05:53with a loss to a team that
05:54that's their 12 and a half point
05:55dogs do. That number has gone
05:56from 10 and a half to 12 and a
05:58half over the last couple of
05:59days for Indiana. Notre Dame.
06:01People used to cry all the time.
06:03They don't play in a
06:04conference. They shouldn't be
06:05in. They have an advantage. They
06:06don't play a conference
06:07championship game. This is when
06:08there was four teams, Bill. Now
06:10that there's 12, I'm starting to
06:12see it even more. I'm a Notre
06:14Dame fan. I usually defend by
06:17saying Notre Dame usually
06:19schedules at least three or four
06:21of their games pretty good, just
06:23like everyone else. It's not
06:24their fault this year that
06:26Florida state and USC, I'll even
06:28throw Louisville in there.
06:30Aren't very good this year. I
06:31don't, I don't think it's fair
06:32to Notre Dame to do that to
06:33them. They thought those were
06:35going to be marquee games for
06:36them. Yeah. Do you think they
06:37planned on Florida state being
06:38one in eight or one in nine? I
06:40don't think so. And they, they
06:42schedule USC, they schedule
06:43across all the conferences.
06:44They've taken advantage of that
06:47ACC arrangement. And quite
06:48frankly, the last month or so
06:50they've played well, they're
06:52really good on the defensive
06:53side of the ball. You can't
06:54throw on them that you have to
06:55earn every yard. Um, and I, I
06:58kind of look at them as one of
06:59these top 10 defensive teams.
07:01If you look across most playoff
07:03projections, you're going to
07:04find eight of the top 10
07:05defenses in college football
07:07there from a scoring standpoint.
07:08So I think as we get into the
07:10college football playoff, some
07:12of these games might be fist
07:13fights, you know, like 24, 20,
07:1524, 17 type games. And in that
07:18setting, Notre Dame could win a
07:20game or two in the playoff. So
07:21I'm going to defend them here as
07:23long as they don't lose the
07:24army, which is going to be an
07:25interesting game when you're
07:26going up nation's leading rush
07:28offense and a tough defense for
07:30the black Knights. I think it's
07:31going to be a lot of fun, uh,
07:33four horsemen memories, you
07:35know, look that up, but I like
07:36the Irish to win this week and
07:38finish 11 and one and possibly
07:40depending on how it shakes out,
07:42uh, get a home game in the
07:44first round. Yeah. Uh, that
07:46game at Yankee stadium to
07:48against army, uh, coming up
07:49here on Saturday night. Uh, so
07:51that should be very
07:51interesting. I got about a
07:52minute left though. Um, BYU
07:55loses this week. Colorado's on
07:57a big role right now, Colorado,
07:59BYU, or does Arizona state who
08:01people are leaving out? Uh, you
08:03know, they're right in the mix
08:04here with BYU this week. I like
08:06the sun devils this weekend. I
08:08do. I think they went at home.
08:09BYU hasn't been there since
08:101997. Sam Levitt's a hot
08:13quarterback, three touchdowns,
08:14each of the last three weeks,
08:15they can run the football,
08:16pretty complete domination at
08:18Kansas state over the weekend
08:19as well. So man, if I had told
08:22you last year, Arizona state,
08:23Colorado pair of three and nine
08:25teams are going to be in the
08:26big 12 championship game. I
08:27mean, how hard would you have
08:29laughed me off this show? I
08:30think it's getting closer to
08:31becoming a reality. Uh, 20
08:33seconds. Will Miami or SMU open
08:37the door for Clemson in the
08:38next two weeks? I think they
08:40both win Miami SMU. That's my
08:42ACC championship game. They
08:43closed that store. If one were
08:45to open it, I think it would be
08:46Miami.