PMS 2.0 1407 - NFL Week 2 Preview/Picks, TNF Recap, Marcus Spears, Nick Saban, Tennessee Head Coach Josh Heupel, & AJ Hawk

15:17Pat McAfee:Yeah, well, I'm at the side view. You know, you're watching from the back there. I don't know if – but, like, Austin Eckler is like a veteran now. That's what I thought whenever I saw him. I'm like, oh, Austin Eckler is like an OG in the game now all of a sudden. Then to see him get injured, that sucks. So whenever you think about the commanders, we assume their offense is going to be great because in week one, Jaden Daniels looked unbelievable. They did it so great last year as a rookie sensation, you know, the whole thing. And then the Green Bay Packers stomp them again. It's like how many weeks can we say, well, we don't know about the Green Bay Packers?

15:41Pat McAfee:That's a real question. like how many more weeks of just dominance until we just start saying is this defense one of the greatest i mean it's unbelievable how they started the season aj that's a real question ty what do

15:52Nick Saban:you think like when is there how many weeks until we crown them right pat like how many weeks these guys are certified this is one of the best defenses in the nfl uh i mean do we know i guess right that's

16:02Pat McAfee:kind of the question like when do we think we'll know because these early games it's so hard to predict because whenever i say might be right there that's with everything that's literally everything there's a rookie Jackson Dart might be the greatest NFL player in the history of football like that that is a possibility signs say not likely Magic 8-Ball but at this for this season at least but he might have the greatest season we have no idea what's going to take place at what point time can we cry on these guys because I'll tell you it was fun to watch them play football last night on the defensive side yeah I mean with the with the Packers you know it seems like you know not tell like late in december where it's like okay this this team might go win a super bowl this year because now that unfortunately but it's it's also a good thing like that's the expectation every single week you know and you're gonna start kind of nitpicking a little bit if they don't do exactly that obviously if they can stay healthy um you know you're hoping that they can replicate this because you know i see a lot of cowboys people like after these first two games saying, like, who is this guy?

17:03Like, Micah wasn't playing like this in Dallas, and he was still – He is relentless, by the way.

17:07Nick Saban:Absolutely relentless every single – How many times did he go up and under and get held last night? Like, if you're the tackle, good luck trying to sit on – Every time. Every time.

17:14Pat McAfee:Chip, chip, chip, chip. But just how he's always working.

17:17Nick Saban:Any, like, any D lineman or DN or outside rusher, if you just watch how active – obviously, his getoff is off the charts, but just how active – he's just relentless. His hands are always moving no matter what he's taking away, blocking surfaces. is like look how tough would that be to try to block this dude if you had two of you good luck

17:34Pat McAfee:AJ you you tell me brother um obviously you can evolve and become like a and I'm not saying he wasn't this I didn't watch enough film but this is what Jerry was basically saying but if he becomes like Max Crosby like energy on the field as well for every single play yeah and if he has a defense behind him that's like hey you can do whatever the hell you need to do brother we're everywhere we we are we are very good in covering up so if he's getting like green lights too because they're saying he picked up the defense very quickly but if i'm halfley and we have michael parsons and he's going to give max effort every single time he's out there like that and he's a problem it's like is there a way that we just let him do whatever the fuck he wants to do and we still

18:09Nick Saban:cover him behind aj that's a real question absolutely that's what i like when they they didn't play as much match coverage i feel like the way you had eyes on jayden daniel so he couldn't tuck it and run that's when you know you always hear that oh look they're in man coverage so their backs are turned quarterback and take off and gain some some yards especially those like third down scrambles that'll kill you as a defense yeah like why the good thing with with micah you can line him up anywhere on the field but i tell you what i love putting him on the edge though when he's on the edge he is absolutely wreaking havoc but if he can get three-way goes

18:37Pat McAfee:on every play it's like you can't block and he's yeah exactly and if it's like well the run game might suffer because he ducks down inside it's like they always had somebody seemingly scraping over the top i don't know if it would be a d tackle or a linebacker would fill in but it felt like there was always like somebody like a safety behind micah felt like there was always somebody because he goes inside there no edge no chance still make the play though you know like that that's what i was so impressed with because it's like are they just letting him kind of just wreck the game bro we're paying you 47 million a year just go like that is yeah that

19:08Nick Saban:would be very cool that play we just showed right there they're trying to chip him micah sees it goes inside and they're still the tackle in the guard are trying to get him doesn't matter micah's going to split them as well so you had three guys and the commander's kind of accounting for micah and he still gets a hit on the quarterback.

19:21Pat McAfee:Yeah, and if he has that mindset all year, it's like, let's have the greatest season of all time, Michael, which is possible, which is absolutely possible, especially with what this Green Bay Packers team looks like they're going to be able to accomplish. Just stay in the NFC North, a couple storylines developing. Kelvin Shepard, former teammate of mine, absolute dog out of LSU, is now the defense coordinator for the Detroit Football Lions. The Detroit Lions, the number one seed in the NFC last year, Also in the middle of massive turnover at the coordinator position. Did not look great in week one, but maybe they were taking on the greatest team of all time.

19:55Pat McAfee:Maybe. In the Green Bay Packers, we have no idea. Here's D.C. at his press conference. Looked like Kirby bit down on an over route there. Kirby did exactly what he was supposed to do. So he has the ability to kind of ad-lib.

20:08Nick Saban:Kirby did exactly what he was supposed to do with the structure of the defense. On the pick play, how can Tarion defend that better? By learning by previous mistakes. You guys been around here. We got the exact same play at San Francisco last year. Turn it on to Pearsall. Learn from your mistakes. You're a professional. How much did Tarion's, the groin, play into those two plays? If you're injured, come out the game. If you're injured, come out the game. We're not making any excuses. No, no, no. We're not making any excuses. Just like if I have a play called I shouldn't have called, that's on me.

20:44Nick Saban:A player has a job to do, that's on them. We all earn our paycheck. There won't be any free rise this year. We all come to the stadium with a job to do. Do your job. Point blank, period. What has been his greatest strength as a play caller? Everything. Next question.

21:03Pat McAfee:Incredible ending. He was awesome in the locker room. He was beloved by everybody that was ever a teammate of his. And he was very active in conversation in locker room. So he was a glue guy as well for every team he was on. but I appreciate the fact that he is letting people know that hey he's not with the shit either that happened in week one but also let's uh make sure we're in the proper state of mind Foxy Detroit Lion fan yes sir uh do we do we love this or hate this and after what Green Bay did last night are we a little bit more at ease maybe about this Lions team I love everything about it because this ain't the same old Lions anymore Pat all right the standard is the standard we're not just trying to win a playoff game anymore we're trying to win a Super Bowl and he knows he has a team and a defense that can do that so I love this out of Shep and also So I am ready to crown the Green Bay Packers because the Commanders and the Lions, they're great football teams, okay, and we all know that.

21:50So the Packers, they're just exceptional this year. Everything is okay in Detroit.

21:56Pat McAfee:Okay, everything's great in Detroit. I love everything about it. The Packers might be that team, though.

22:02Nick Saban:Oh, yeah.

22:02Pat McAfee:And if not them, maybe it's the Minnesota Vikings. You hear J.J. McCarthy and Justin Jefferson, the two J.J. J.J.'s on the sideline talking, A.J.?

22:11Nick Saban:I did. It's pretty good leadership, I think, by the young QB over there, huh?

22:16Pat McAfee:How about the young lad? Let's go to the NFL Films, Micah.

22:20Nick Saban:Okay. Come on. Have a day. Have a day. Come on. One first down at a time, brother. Come on. That's it. We just need one. We got to get that first first down. Let's go, JJ. We just got to get some completions to get you going. I know. We got to get something going. We just got to stay calm, cool, and boys. No, we good. We good. We good. We good. We good. We good. Don't give up on me. I got you, brother. You ain't got to tell me. Let's go, JJ. One snap at a time, gang. Hell yeah. Come on.

22:55Pat McAfee:Come on. Touch time, JJ McComkey. Come on, JJ. Come on, JJ. Come on, boy. Come on, boy.

23:12Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Good shit, baby. Good shit, JT.

23:24Good job, JT.

23:26Pat McAfee:Great job, JT. Carl, here's your name. Hey, that was awesome. Hey, listen. Justin Jefferson sprinting over there in celebration afterwards. I wish we could see what it was like after the Justin Jefferson score. I wish we could see what it was like after the game. I wish we could see and hear what it was like in that huddle when J.J. McCarthy looks around and says, hey, is there anywhere else you'd rather be in this moment? It's like, what a dog. And also, Justin Jefferson. I respect him saying, hey, we just got to keep you going, J.J. We just got to get you going. Let's get a couple completions.

23:52Pat McAfee:Let's get you going. I like what they're building over there. Kevin O 'Connell has a great culture, and obviously Justin Jefferson is a pillar of that. Watching him and J.J. experience their first real game together was cool, I thought, Mr. Hawk.

24:03Nick Saban:Yeah, it's awesome. But for J.J. to come back and play that fourth quarter like he did, I mean, you know how tough it'd be in big-time, what, Monday night game, throw a pick six, and you're thinking, like, you could have some negative thoughts creep in, I think, if you're the quarterback. You could be a bit gun-shy when it comes to the fourth quarter when everything truly matters. So this is who he is, though. Isn't this who – J.J. has proved to be this guy his whole life. He's been – he's won everywhere he's been in high school and college. So, yeah, why should we be shocked, I guess, when he pulls off a performance like this on a big Monday night game?

24:30Pat McAfee:Hey, Tom, I don't love that these rookies are just coming in and balling. Now, granted, one week, okay, Monday night football game. at home but the last cj stroud jalen daniels and i'm not saying jj mccarthy's a rookie but kinda you know it is hard not to say that at this point even though he got a year of tutelage over there in minnesota i don't know how much he was around but it's like in his first couple starts here if he continues to have success this will become a new trend in the nfl yeah i mean is that we got it it has been going like like last year um you start with with jayden and then Then you have Drake May, who looked really good.

25:05And you talk about J.J. this year. And then Denver, I'm blanking on his name. Thank you, Bo Nix. Bo Nix looked really good. All these young guys are looking really good. And I think it's because, I don't know, the NFL game, they always talk about NFL and college games. Yes, the college is more simplified and stuff like that. But the NFL is doing more college stuff that the quarterbacks are used to. It's not like that. It used to be, hey, this is two different languages going from college to NFL. So I think it might be just an easier transition as far as on the offensive side of the ball. Now, obviously, they're seeing different things on the defense, but the coaches know that.

25:42So I think they're better prepared. And then I think that it's such a – all these coaches now are so offensive-minded, or at least they have an OC who's so offensive-minded, and just they only think about making things easy for the quarterback.

25:54Pat McAfee:I like that. I would have hoped that offensive coordinators have always been offensive-minded, but we did see Matt Patricia OC up there in New England. It's a tough scene. And as you said that, Diggs, I literally thought my brain went through offensive-minded offense coordinators. Everybody would do that. And then Matt Patricia hopped into my brain just right there. It was like, no, actually, DC will be an offense coordinator for a second year. Back in the day, they were like, hey, this is how we do things. You're going to conform to us. Now I think it's a little more...

26:23Nick Saban:How many picks did Peyton throw in his rookie year? 20-whatever. 28. So is that a thing of the past? Are we not going to see that anymore? Guys just coming in ready? I'm in the house that Peyton kind of built, by the way.

26:34Pat McAfee:Yeah. I think he has a portrait outside. He has a road here. There's a road, Manning Pass. Peyton Manning Pass. I think there's a statue here. There's a locker complex. There's a new – I think he really would like to see this football team succeed. I think he has – I think Peyton Manning has been very supportive of the Voltears over the years. I think he really enjoys this place and loves this place. But yeah, his first year was ridiculously terrible. Boy, I couldn't even fathom what the toxic table would have said about Peyton Manning. Especially when it comes out that he interviewed the teams whenever he was coming through the draft process.

27:07Pat McAfee:And then this guy goes and breaks the record for the most amount of picks in the history of the NFL his rookie year. It would have been lied. It would have been very, very hilarious probably. Especially with his accent and everything that you could possibly do. But yeah, if you think about his entire trajectory, it's like, I don't know if guys will have the time to do that these days with how loud it gets. And then, you know, are they even going to be able to mentally be tough enough to bounce back from one of those types of years? We shall see. Good luck to Caleb. Yeah. Because that word was getting thrown out there about Bryce Young.

27:40Yes.

27:40Pat McAfee:Who was coming out? That one word was coming out, which we don't like to say, but I'm just saying it hasn't. Trevor Lawrence, they need a big year. Oh, yeah. They need a big year down there. I think in a couple years probably going to be able to do that. But then, obviously, you see the Sam Darnolds and Geno Smiths of the world. Geno feels like he's where he's supposed to be. Baker Mayfield feels like he's where he's supposed to be. Sam Darnold with McDonald, brand new, entire everything, maybe he's where he's supposed to be as well. Everybody's running their own race, AJ. Everybody's running their own race.

28:10Nick Saban:I guess they are. I think these quarterbacks we've talked about, the seven-on-seven, all the stuff that they grew up, they've seen every route concept from when they're 12 years old on traveling around playing this travel seven on seven stuff like they've seen all they know different coverage I just think they come in with a little a different level of knowledge of what the defense is trying to do and hey this is how we are attacking as an offense I'm not just looking at one read or whatever I'm doing I'm looking at a bunch of different stuff and I've been doing that since I was 10 12 15 years old like I think that puts them at a huge advantage now there's disadvantages too you'll hear Tom Brady talk about not developing quarterbacks all of that stuff I think though they have these these concepts like burned into their mind from a young age to where they just I don't know maybe just puts them a little bit ahead of where guys were say 20 years ago when they first come into the league what was his name cruel from IMG cruel yeah the best rusher dog

29:03Pat McAfee:absolute dog he's pass rusher and he named you're right technique coach fundamentals coach this coach this coach this coach he's been getting that probably since eighth grade so yeah quarterbacks definitely with the virtual reality thing now too like they're getting a chance to like kind of see it maybe you just have to have the work ethic to want to do it you know that's like kind of the separator i think obviously you have to have the talent have to have the ability but then also the work ethic to kind of take advantage of all these things and uh yeah the game might get better and better as we go on hey hey connor what's going on with the bronze and the ravens what is that so i know that the baltimore ravens are celebrating their 30th year as the Baltimore Ravens franchise, and they're just so happening to be doing it against the Cleveland Browns, which, as we all know, the Cleveland Browns didn't exist anymore whenever the Baltimore Ravens started because Baltimore said, that's our team now.

29:52Pat McAfee:That's our team now. Cleveland didn't have a team. Cleveland, noted football town, dog pound, you name it, didn't have a team. Cleveland Browns finally come back and make, you know, I think football world right again. But I remember those days because the Pittsburgh Steelers fans just immediately picked up their hate for Cleveland and just sent that shit right to Baltimore. Oh, you're the Cleveland Browns? Okay. We don't like you. Definitely don't like you. So that became one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. I think some people would even vote it as their Rushmore rivalry in all of sports, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.

30:22Pat McAfee:But that only exists because it was the Cleveland Browns before that. So 30th anniversary of them becoming a team. We stole your team. And then everything else that is potentially happening right now in the media. Connor, what the hell is going on over there? Are they publicly beefing right now? Yeah, there's a pretty big beef going on. It started earlier in the year. Jerry Judy, basically. Or, sorry, earlier in the week. Yeah, Jerry Judy, a favorite NFL player for many people up here on this stage. Basically was informed. He was already asked, maybe, about it being a 10.5 point spread. And he basically said, hey, that's disrespectful.

30:57I'm not sure if there was a personal jab towards the Ravens or a team overall jab towards the Ravens. But the bad blood started there. Then Grant Delpit kind of carried it over. he had this to say. We have the video here. How hard is he to bring down the period? Not hard. Going back to that, we saw it last year. You obviously weren't afraid in that first matchup to take him on. Where's that come from? Is that a mindset?

31:20Nick Saban:He's playing football, man. It's tackle football. Somebody got the ball, you got to bring him down. Yeah, so it might have kind of got misconstrued that Grant Delpit realized that there was a Browns logo behind him and not a Bills logo. He's basically saying, hey, Derrick Henry, that guy sucks at running back. I can tackle him. That's not what he said. That's how some people took it on the internet. And I will say some people because I know there's more than just one because I am one. And Derek Henry got wind of this, and they ended up asking him what he thought. I saw that. I saw his coach had a tweet.

31:53Nick Saban:He had a quote, and he had a quote. We'll see, bitch. We're going to find out, aren't we, Grant? Bold move, but you've got to love it. This is AFC North football. Love that there's beef like this early on. I would bet on Grant Delpit's under tackles and over knees to the head. I assume he is going to go low on Derrick Henry, and there's a chance Derrick Henry might have some extra motivation. It's not as if he's coming off 180 yards and two touchdowns, and he's scorching hot to start the season. But, yeah, you've got to love a little beef early on in the division for AFC North. There was also a quote from Jerry Judy where he said that the Ravens' secondary presents no challenges, and Kyle Hamilton got wind of that as well.

32:41So, yeah, just a classic Ravens and Browns matchup from Week 2.

32:45Pat McAfee:I love everything about that. And what's he supposed to say? I'm scared to tackle another adult. Now, Jerry Judy's saying that's secondary. I don't know if you're reading what they're saying about some Paisan coach that's going over there, but they present no problems. So let's not even worry about it. That's a little bit of a shit talk, I think. But Delpit being asked if he can tackle Derrick Henry, I don't know what he's supposed to say. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a former 20th overall pick. He's a national champion out of LSU. Obviously, he played for the Cowboy and the Ravens, and we love him.

33:14Pat McAfee:Emmy Award winner for NFL Live, and also a dad to maybe six Olympians. Ladies and gentlemen, Marcus Swaggispear.

33:22Nick Saban:Hey, Swaggispear. What's up, fellas? What's up?

33:27Pat McAfee:Hey, thank you for making time for us today. Where are you? Where are you headed? man, I'm actually in the Sprinter going to LSU, Florida this weekend and my son is doing an unofficial visit for basketball. Oh, I like an unofficial visit, you know. There he is. Hey, congrats, dude. Hey, congrats, man. Well earned on that number one, dude. Number one recruit in the country is a big deal.

33:50Nick Saban:Well earned on the number one recruit, bro. He said, appreciate it. You know, they so cool now, man.

33:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, they got a lot of that. swagu. They got a lot of money up there. They're really cool. Hey, Dad, you want me to get the Sprinter van or you? You know, that is an interesting thing. Yeah, that is an interesting thing.

34:10Nick Saban:For real. I've got about a year until I'm asking him for permission.

34:17Pat McAfee:Well, obviously, you've been an incredible father to all your kids alongside Mama, and we send our shouts to the whole family. Thank you for joining us. Did you hear what Grant had to say there about Derrick Henry, and what is your thoughts on this entire thing? And also Derrick Henry, what are your thoughts on him being a different species than everybody else maybe that carries the rock?

34:34Nick Saban:Yeah. Well, I know that Grandel Finn is a former LSU title. So when they say things, I got to be cautious about how I respond to him. But he's out of his damn mind. He knows how difficult this challenge is going to be with Derrick Henry. And I don't know. Have you guys watched? So Derrick Henry puts up on YouTube this offseason about how he works out. He works out here in Dallas with a trainer, and it is ungodly the amount of workouts. He's doing 405 with bands.

35:06Pat McAfee:He's doing 405 with bands on the bench, and then he's doing it. Yeah, he's insane. So when you see him still forming people and knocking the shit out of them, you already know why. Like, he's prepared for that. So Grant Delphin knows that too. So you might as well talk because regardless of if you talk or don't talk, it's still coming downhill.

35:27Nick Saban:That is true. Swaggy, what were you like when you were playing? Did you ever give any of the other teams any bulletin poured material, as they say, that would piss your own coaches and players off? No, you know, I played for a bunch of assholes. They didn't let us talk to the media like that. Nick Saban was never going to let us give any bulletin poured material. I left him and went straight to Bill Parcells, who was never going to let you give any rat poison, is what they called it. So we had to keep everything in-house. But any time somebody did get bulletin to be more material, you could tell in the game that the other team heard it.

36:03Pat McAfee:Yes, and also Derrick Henry saying, yeah, we heard it. So we'll see. So like in the modern world, everything is heard and seen. I think Grant, this is like when Joe Flacco was asked if he thought he was an elite quarterback. It's like, yeah, dude, I don't know. What the fuck am I supposed to do? Like Grant Delpit, you think you can tackle Derrick Henry? Uh, yeah, man, I guess I'm going to have to. So I don't know which way you go there, but good luck to all parties. We're excited about it. Let's talk about the game last night. Swagoo, we've been talking for the first 30 minutes about this Green Bay Packers defense.

36:35Pat McAfee:That's literally all we've been talking about because it feels like they might be generational. We have no idea what it's going to look like at the end of the season. What did you see last night? And is this Green Bay Packers team, I mean, are we allowed to crown them after two weeks? Are we allowed to crown a team? Because I feel very comfortable in doing so at this moment. I know a lot of people feel comfortable, and I like them a lot. I think the speed jumps off the page to me, like how fast this defense is. Everybody's playing with the swagger, which obviously Michael Parsons has infused a lot of juice.

37:07But it's the way that they're playing on the string, man. I mean, AJ knows there's defenses that play together, and when you got guys on all three levels that are really, really good, And, I mean, you've got Michael and Rashawn Gary on the front. By the way, these defensive tackles for Green Bay are playing extremely well. And you've got Adrian Cooper and, obviously, Quay Walker and McKinney on the back end. It's just tied. And you see the pass rush. You see when they get people in third-long situations how much of the impact, number one, Michael Parsons has. But also, I hope to everybody else, man.

37:45I mean, when you play, you know, I played with DeMarcus Ware.

37:49Nick Saban:You were getting one-on-ones all the time when DeMarcus Ware was on the field because they had to figure out a way to stop him from getting out for the passer. So I know Jeff Hathaway goes home every night and tells his wife, we have a job for a very long time. If he's married, I don't know if he's married. I won't put that on your athlete if you want to be a single man. But the way that the defense looks right now, though, it really feels like that should be the thing.

38:14Pat McAfee:He's definitely talking to his wife if she exists, if he is single, whoever he's friends with, whatever his most protected confidant is, he is definitely telling them that he is excited for Micah. And then also follow up. Thank you, Jerry. Did you hear those chants last night out of all of Green Bay? That's becoming their new rally. Go, Pack, go. Go, Pack, go. And then thank you, Jerry. That's Green Bay right now. That is what they're doing. How do you feel as a former cowboy?

38:42Nick Saban:I don't feel good about that. And I knew you were going to bring that shit up on the show because that's what you do. And, you know, I was okay with Michael having the success and being who he is. We knew he was going to play well wherever he went. But the thank you, Jerry, just reiterates how pissed off I still am on this train.

39:05Nick Saban:Also, we've had a day of shows that's talking about the Green Bay Packers being Super Bowl contenders, and it's because of that guy. They paint murals. They're doing all kinds of stuff. And this is the pettiness of the Green Bay Packers. Hawks has been on the other side when they tore our ass up in Lambeau. And I'm just not fond of this organization or this franchise because I took so many. Micah loves it, though. Micah said it's the nicest facility he's ever seen. Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Whatever, AJ. Don't give a shit about it, dog. I just didn't want him to be here.

39:40Pat McAfee:I'm not fond of this organization. Oh, my God. That is awesome. No, man. No. On to this organization. Everything that Green Bay stands for. I have took so many A's to the Green Bay Packers, though, that I can't actually have a love and a great life for the football team. Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah, well, the city is awesome, too. We were up there for the draft. It was alive. And Micah might be able to buy, I don't know what, 14 acres of a house. Like a house that's 14 acres up there. 47 million a year in Green Bay.

40:13Nick Saban:You at Knoxville? You at Knoxville, man?

40:15Pat McAfee:Yeah, brother. We got Georgia here tomorrow. It's beautiful. The weather real hot with the sun. Obviously, the sun still has its fastball. All right. Are you jumping to the rainbow again?

40:27Nick Saban:Oh.

40:29Pat McAfee:Oh, I didn't even remember that. Can you jump in there, Pat? You think you can make it? You give me a couple Jack and Dr. Peppers. I could probably convince myself that maybe I could make it outside this parking lot that's right here. but I don't know if I can make it all the way to that river. That's going to be tough. I'm going to need a jet pack. Y 'all got to excuse me if I'm freezing. I'm in the bulldogs of Louisiana. So if I'm freezing, I apologize. I can't believe we've had you for this long. It has certainly froze up a couple times, but then I remembered you're driving through Louisiana right now.

41:04Pat McAfee:This is unbelievable. Well, continue traveling. We are thankful you came. Have an incredible weekend down there. Tell the boy we said congratulations. You're the best. and also Pat don't don't have any of those drinks and don't try to jump in that river or this will be your last damn show you got it you got a little whiskey down here though Tennessee's got a little whiskey down ladies and gentlemen Marcus Swaggart

41:33Nick Saban:man I didn't know he didn't you know he doesn't like the Packers that much that was kind of surprising to me

41:38Pat McAfee:I'm not fond of the organization that was awesome I've never heard that said that way i really appreciate that there's some people that have gathered out here obviously they're screaming i can hear them because it's echoing through the cement here i can't really uh because the wind outside i don't know if they can hear me at all unless i start screaming at them but i'm also like a 20 minute walk from them i think from what it is so it looks i appreciate them standing down there if they're able to see it is gorgeous yeah it does look beautiful unbelievable it's about to be they said um 80 something tomorrow by noon so it's gonna be a hot morning down here, which...

42:09I saw a 90 on Sunday, too. Probably gonna be a hot night for that game. Is it night game or 3.30? What time does that game kickoff? I have no idea. I was actually hoping that I got corrected before talking to Saban. 3.30 Eastern.

42:24Pat McAfee:Perfect. Okay, sick. 3.30. That's a perfect time, you know, a little bit, but it is gonna be hot. Hot. Yeah, we're in the south, you know, down here. I think Jack Daniels is a few hours away. You were to drive. I think you could get to Jack Daniels, which is a beautiful thing. Obviously, Nashville, Diner Road, a couple hours, the home of country music. And in this city, obviously legends throughout. Ty, what is the University of Tennessee? Don't they have a good baseball team? What else? They've got probably a great softball team, if I had to guess. Yeah, without a doubt, Pat. They have an unbelievable baseball team.

42:52Very recently won a national championship. The sports programs as a whole have actually won 24 national championships. Obviously, the women's b-ball team has eight. and Pat Summitt basically invented women's basketball. I hope people don't get pissed at me, but I think that's kind of well-known. Baseball, like you mentioned, six national championships, seven total national championships in track and field, men's and women's, and then they've also won 207 SEC championship team titles. While that stadium you're in, it's the third biggest stadium in the SEC, but it's also the eighth biggest stadium in the world, which is kind of crazy.

43:39And the university has been around a long time, since 1794. It's obviously went through, you know, many changes in names, but it used to be a very small college. And now, you know, it is the flagship, obviously, University of Tennessee, over 282 ,000 alumni across the world. So a lot of Vols fans out there. and if you get a chance, ask someone about the school motto because I think it's very prescient when it comes to the game tomorrow. It's know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

44:13Pat McAfee:Okay, I like that. That's the school motto. You come in, you put your hand down, right hand up the glove, and they say, what happens? And you go, know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Go Vols. That's what it is. Bingo. Set you free, make you free. I saw a lot of both, but I think set you free is a little bit. And then, like you said, go Vols. Find me one of them blue-tick coonhounds because that's what Smokey, that type of dog that he is. Saw a statue of Smokey earlier. It was beautiful. That's good tidbits there, front time. I got one more tidbit because I stayed in Knoxville on my way to Hilton Head one time, stayed right next to the hotel.

44:50Fun fact, the SEC was created in Knoxville, Tennessee. Yes, it was.

44:54Pat McAfee:The Southeastern Conference was created right here in Knoxville, Tennessee? Yes, it was in 1932. What a blessing that was to our society. This city birthed the Southeastern Conference. Is that what you're saying? Yep. What did Sankey do? Sankey just went into a room here, and they just said, hey, do you want to do something? He said, the whole fucking Southeast. And they said, yep. And then they just went on this river and did the thing. Yeah, you did. What river is this? Is it the Tennessee River? I believe that is the Tennessee River, Pat. Now, the modern Mississippi obviously flows. Sure. It does flow.

45:30But the thing about the Tennessee, you know, the mighty Mississippi, while it does flow, it is not nestled right into the Smoky Mountains like the Tennessee River is.

45:40Pat McAfee:As we were flying in, we saw the clouds kind of hovering above the Smoky Mountains. And then as we're kind of getting a little bit lower down in the town, beautiful farmland beautiful it is gorgeous down here it in the weather and the sun and like it's not too humid it's like it feels like the perfect time to be in knoxville and i think georgia tennessee is going to be a spectacular game speaking of spectacular we always love it on this particular program whenever there's a players only meeting now whenever a players only meeting happens normally that is a call for concern but when it's happening after week one I don't even know if it counts as the season starting yet.

46:20Pat McAfee:So players only meeting before season even really gets started after one drumming to the best team maybe in football, the Indianapolis Colts. Obviously, our standpoint as people that have sat in players meetings, boy, if you're having no's, more problems are coming. It's kind of what my thought is on the whole thing. But this could turn them around, AJ.

46:42Nick Saban:Why do we know about it, Pat? That's my question. Why do we know about it?

46:46Pat McAfee:Because somebody had to text Schefter and say, hey, listen, we just had a players-only meeting. On Tuesday, too.

46:51Nick Saban:There's probably some guys had some marketing things they had to cancel to make sure they came in. Because, hey, yeah, I'm coming in Tuesday. I'll be there at 8 a.m. Well, players-only meeting at 4 p.m., bud. Okay, cool. I've got to go turn down this opportunity I have or go something to come into this players-only meeting on our off day.

47:06Pat McAfee:Well, and also Community Tuesdays. These guys, we know these Dolphins players were probably trying to save the city, probably trying to save the society to give back. and instead they want you to do a room together. No coaches. No trainers. I don't want equipment managers in here either. Who's talking? Tua. Alright. What's Tua saying? He's saying we're not changing much. We've just got to kind of do our thing. Show me the money maybe. That was when it all started I think. Come on. That's Gumpy who is a Dolphins fan. I didn't know if his microphone was going to work. I was seeing how long we could just kind of disparage from a Dolphin having a players meeting until he would get involved.

47:43Pat McAfee:Gumpy off camera, but party can get him. Gumpy, the Miami Dolphins party, you can get him, yeah. The Miami Dolphins are in hell right now, or what are your thoughts? Yeah, this is about as bad as it gets, and when you've got a coach who doesn't really want to do anything about that, I think you are forced to have a players-only meeting. Okay, so who's spoken at players-only meeting? Who are the leaders in that meeting, if you had to guess? I truly believe that Jordan Brooks on defense is a leader on that football team. What do you think the message is that he's saying? in there, hey, boys, we need to know it sucks.

48:13Yeah. There's not one good takeaway. There's not one good thing happened from week one. Like, there wasn't, like, every other team in football right now could take something positive away from the game they played in week one. You can't say anything good about what the Dolphins did in week one.

48:29Pat McAfee:So, A.J., that means that the good thing is that the players' only meeting happened for them. That's how their fans should be viewing it. Don't you think, A.J.? I guess, I don't know.

48:38Nick Saban:I guess after week one, hey, what did he say? and nip it in the bud before it gets too bad. They're trying to figure that out. But, yeah, I don't know. I guess it is okay because it means, hey, we do care. We're trying to win. You know, the worst thing is if players don't care that you got blasted week one. I don't know. If they come out on fire, then cool. Then they should have a players-only meeting every Tuesday.

48:58Pat McAfee:AJ, how many times did you speak in your players-only meetings? You were a first speaker? Be honest.

49:04Nick Saban:I've been a part of maybe one or two of them. I sat in the back and felt really awkward. my face got warm because i felt embarrassed usually for the guys that were speaking

49:14Pat McAfee:i feel that i feel the embarrassment for other people it gets very uncomfortable i even like break out sometimes like because i'm so uncomfortable for people whenever i'm watching them do something like oh my god oh my god oh my god that whole thing definitely that feeling for ours as well every once in a while you'll hear a good story from somebody about their background because normally it turns into i've had a harder life than you have uh i i care more than you care They're all the same

49:41Nick Saban:Everyone, we've never even talked about it They all have the same beats Every single player is the only meeting that's ever happened I feel like

49:48Pat McAfee:I'm in here 5am every day Nobody else is here For sure

49:52Nick Saban:I don't see you, I see your cars going by 3.30

49:57Pat McAfee:I would love it If some of you would beat me into this building But that's not the reality of this team And that's why we're in this room today And then somebody else gets up there my cousin uncle dad and grandfather all died last week so shouldn't be funny i guess i have exactly though but that is that is like how it goes though that is that is like what it is and it's like there's either like somebody's opportunity to give a motivational speech okay which we know there's a lot of motivational speakers on the internet there's a lot that shouldn't be but there are people that try to get into that sphere there are people that see themselves as motivational speakers.

50:40Pat McAfee:It may be not the best, which is why they don't really get a chance to do it that often. Some people take that opportunity to give a motivational speech. Some people take it as an opportunity to set perspective for other people, saying you're getting too comfortable. So they tell an egregious story that is just like, whoa, read the room. I don't know if now is the time for all of that. And then there's a little bit of bickering normally. Normally there's a bicker that happens at some point. And there's certainly good that can come out of it. Remember, the Ohio State Buckeyes last year after the loss to the team from up north, they had a players-only meeting with Ryan Day, and Will Howard described it as pretty animated in there.

51:13Pat McAfee:There were some grievances that were definitely aired, and they obviously became better from it. So I'm not saying it can't have success, but I've never been a part of one that I didn't think to myself immediately afterwards, we didn't have to do that. That felt like that was dumb. And then, you know, but they might be different these days because these guys might not communicate and gossip as much as they used to in the locker rooms because they're all on their phones. So maybe the players' only meeting is an opportunity for everybody to kind of be like, hey, this is the actual season here. You know, Tyreek Hill speaking at that, do you think?

51:45I doubt it. The issue is you can't talk about changing the culture every time you, you know, talk to the media for this many years. So that's the issue. As a fan, I'm tired of hearing about the culture change. I would like to see it actually happen.

52:01Pat McAfee:Well, that's what the Players Only meeting is all about. Let's see, what did we not cover? Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh, a deep history. Deep history. We all remember the glory days out there in the NFC West with the Niners and the Seahawks, but also college and everything. Here's Pete Carroll talking about Jim Harbaugh ahead of their matchup. I'm not trying to make it into anything that's not, but what's your fondest memory of this rivalry with Jim Harbaugh? I remember Jim. No, I have no fond memories. I'm not going to go for a child. They're just great games. They've been great games, that's all.

52:36He said that you guys in a different life could have been great teammates. When he said something like that, what is that? Well, I think that would come from the, you know, he's seen my game, and so he would like me to help him win, you know, if I could. So he'd like us to play together, I guess. But one thing we would certainly see eye to eye on is about competing. He's always been a great competitor. and he battled through so much in his playing days and his coaching days as well. So I appreciate him saying that because I'd like to play with him too. He said that you're not on each other's Christmas.

53:09He's not on your Christmas card list. Do you expect a birthday card from him then? Well, I'm surprised he would say that because he sends me a birthday card every year. So I don't know what to tell you.

53:19Nick Saban:Pete, after having a few days off, just...

53:21Pat McAfee:Okay, Pete, wheeling and dealing in there. You know, it sounded at the beginning, no fondness. Okay, I like the word fond being used a lot these days. I think I might start adding it to my repertoire as well for being fond of things, not fond of things. With that being said, it sounds like they got a lot of respect for each other, AJ. And obviously these two battling again in the same division, just coaching Goliath. Then you add in Sean Payton and Andy Reid into that division. It's outrageous, the coaching resumes of the entire conference over there.

53:51Nick Saban:It is. All of this got me thinking, the post-game handshake. Like, what's that going to be? Is he going to be one of the big, you know, the stern, the real heavy-handed? Backslap. Yeah, backslap a few times. Yeah, Jim Swartz situation. Like, are we going to backslap real hard? What do we do? Like, that's what I – make sure the cameras get a good shot of that. That's all I care about.

54:08Pat McAfee:There was respect there at the end. He said, I would like to be teammates with him, too.

54:12Nick Saban:He handled it well. He handled it well.

54:13Pat McAfee:Yeah. Ty, what do you think? There's a little sauce in that? I'm sorry, Connor. Do you think there's a little sauce in it, Connor? Oh, yeah. I think there's Ness Pete Carroll. I think it's no more jovial Pete Carroll. I think there is a little bit of a, like, hey, I kind of got kicked out of the league, fought for my job, then nobody wanted me for an entire year. And now I think he's a little pissed off. Like, even when he first initially said, like, yeah, no, I have no good memories of Jim Harbaugh. They kind of waited for, like, a happy Pete Carroll gum-chewer laughing. And that didn't come.

54:39Like, Pete Carroll seems to be on damn near a revenge tour. And it goes all the way back to starting in the offseason when he said, like, hey, look, I win. I'm going to win. We are going to win here. And I don't think anybody thought that it would not happen, but it seems as though they do have a little bit of some moxie to them, a little bit of fuck you to them, if you will.

55:00Pat McAfee:A little Raiders to them. Hey, AJ, do you think he did a little self-scout in the year that he was away from the game and said maybe people told him or he found out that people don't take him as seriously as a football coach because he's known as just the fun guy, the upbeat guy? Do you think that is an actual decision that's made, or do we just think that Pete Carroll towards the end of that thing was just answering in a fun jovial way my game is probably what he saw why we'd be good teammates because he can still spin it we know that about pete carroll oh yeah we can't i'm i'm sure like imagine being

55:27Nick Saban:a coach and being like we sell a 10 they're like institutionalized like they every second of their day is planned out everything is football all day every day when you get away from that for a year i can imagine you you'd finally start to look at the world a little different try to look at that this job differently i know mike mccarthy talks about that a little bit from him being out in the short time he has. But yeah, maybe this is a new Pete. What, 73 years old? Is that right? Can people? You can change. Yeah, people don't want to change. We all can change. In their 70s, they normally do change.

55:56Nick Saban:That's what I'm saying. Like when people want someone to change. I don't see people changing past the age of like 12. I could see Brady rubbing off. Is that right?

56:03Pat McAfee:I don't know, bro. I think like, I think when you're that old and you have that much football, no offense to that old. You get it. When you've lived that long and done that much and then you get booted for the first time i think you can get a little spite at that age saying who these people in a good way that

56:18Nick Saban:motivates you though right it's one of the definitely motivate that's a huge huge motivator

56:22Pat McAfee:and gino same yeah you know right and it's like max crosby same like they are the raiders

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57:09Nick Saban:This episode is brought to you by Facebook. So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook.

57:43Nick Saban:Here we go, Hour 2 of the Pat McAfee Show. I'm AJ Hawk sitting in for Pat. He's in Knoxville, Tennessee for a giant matchup tomorrow on college game day. Packers win 27-18 last night. Football! It's what we do here, right, Pat? You've got a windy situation as we kick off Hour 2. I know we've got Coach Saban joining us here in a little bit. Then we have Josh Heupel, head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers. Pat, you alright over there? It seems a bit windy.

58:09Pat McAfee:It's got a little breezy out here in beautiful Knoxville, Tennessee. You know, they call it Knox Vegas if you want to look for that. They also got incredible football history here as a couple football legends just walked their way over here. And obviously we'll have the greatest college football coach of all time join us. Jimmy Sexton just showed up here too. Wow. Yeah, a big Cadillac just showed up here. And I'll tell you, whenever he's around, you know there's big business happening. You know there's big magic happening. and obviously it's a huge weekend here in Knoxville. I assume he is currently negotiating some multiple hundred million dollar deal for somebody that's going to have a ripple effect to somebody else that he represents, which is going to have a ripple effect to somebody else.

58:51Pat McAfee:I mean, that guy is a mastermind. And so is Coach Saban, who will be joining us here in a matter of moments. It's an electrifying weekend down here in Tennessee as Georgia. The dogs come to town. Now, AJ, not a lot of people talking about the dogs this year. Now, more people talking about Tennessee, I think, because of the story of Nico Iomaleava leaving and then Joey Aguilar kind of getting the gig there. And wow, what a story, what a story. Nobody's talking about these guys over here. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Cowboys AP tone. Is Georgia still Georgia? Or how come there hasn't been a lot of chatter about them dogs this year thus far?

59:25It is crazy because everyone acts like Georgia's falling off a cliff, but they still won the SEC championship last year. And I think people tend to forget that. But the first-round exit last year to Notre Dame kind of put a sour taste in everyone's mouth. And Georgia, yes, Georgia is still Georgia on the defensive side of the ball. They're saying this is one of their best defenses in the last five years, so I think they're feeling really good about that. The question is all about Gunnar Stockton and the offensive line. Maybe that isn't Georgia, what has Georgia's been. So if they could figure things out on the offensive line, and if Gunnar Stockton takes that next step, this will be a classic Georgia team for sure.

1:00:01Pat McAfee:Can't wait to watch it here. It's going to be electrifying. And the eighth largest stadium in the world here in Neyland. Let's go to the talks table at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. Those are some good tidbits, Ty. But let's get to the story of last night on Amazon Prime. Kirk and our back in your team looks to be. Is that the best defense they had since this Ohio Hawker was flying around whenever you guys won a Super Bowl? Is that what it feels like over there? Yeah, without a doubt. I mean, and there's no question that that's the case. And I saw that they're putting up the same. They haven't put up numbers like this since 1995, if you want to go even further back.

1:00:37Pat McAfee:Better than Hawker. What? Potentially better than Hawker's defense, which is crazy. That hurts. But, no, it just, I mean, I almost don't know what to do the day after games because this is just, like, so foreign to me, and I'm not used to watching this. Does it make you nervous, Ty? Not really. I'm kind of just riding the wave right now, and I'm very excited. And, you know, I mean, Micah Parsons is maybe the best football player of all time and the fact that he just... Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Tyler Warren still plays. He does. He does. Defensive side of the ball. Defensive, offensive side of the ball.

1:01:10I'm still just trying to get over the fact that he fell right into the Packers' laps. I feel bad for Kenny Clark, but it's all these other guys who the last several years, they're young and that's kind of been the prevailing narrative is, hey, these guys are young. Just wait a couple years and all these first-round picks that we used on the defensive side of the ball like they're going to start playing that way and it still hasn't really happened and then boom Micah gets here and all these different guys who you've heard so much about over the last four to five years now it's like oh okay there's the guy they drafted 12th overall there's the guy they drafted 11th overall all these guys are playing their their best game seemingly two weeks in and like AJ like you guys have both mentioned it's just they're so fast they're so physical they're so violent they're so fun to watch it's it's crazy that we're talking about a packers team and that's the story and it's not the offense yeah it's wild to think that jordan love also good aj

1:02:07Pat McAfee:you know they pay jordan love they have this long-term plan we've obviously covered it pretty indebtly you know from the beginning to the dark hole today you know all of it we have seen everything it feels like and i don't want to go cart before the horse last year jordan love good good everybody's saying he's good he's good he's good there's injury obviously but he's good he's good from this start of it command of the offense feels like he's incredibly poised clear leader of team has the moxie to lead a squad and it feels like it's coming very easy to him this year and i love this oh yep 39 let me go ahead and run him over because they haven't really unlocked his running game uh yet like and i don't think they ever want to but he has the ability to do this a lot if you really wanted to.

1:02:55Pat McAfee:Very large, very athletic, and it feels like he's more comfortable in the pocket than he is out of it, which is exactly what you're looking for. The Guardian cap on Dobbs, 6X? That is 6X? Yes. Is that two Guardian caps in one Guardian cap? And if you double wrap, AJ, I know we've been trying to get to the bottom of this, if you double Guardian condiment, is that better or worse? That's what they say, right?

1:03:18Nick Saban:They always say if you put two on, it's much more efficient. Just worry about the friction. What about three on there?

1:03:24Pat McAfee:What if you really start stacking them up like those dolls that have the – The Russian-China dolls. Yeah, well, that's two different countries. But, yeah, it feels like Jordan Love really hitting his thing right now, AJ. And is that how all Packers fans feel?

1:03:40Nick Saban:I think so, yeah. I think this year they came into it like optimistic and hoping that he would take a next step and be the superstar that we think he is. And I think last night he took another step in that direction. I mean, that run that we showed earlier when he's just running through dudes on the sideline, can you imagine what it would have been like to be in Lambeau and hear that last night? I know, and I don't know, Amazon, for some reason, the crowd mics aren't super loud, I feel like. We don't get to fully feel what Lambeau felt last night, but it still looked awesome, at least.

1:04:08Pat McAfee:Why are they doing that, AJ? I sent that in there. That's a huge part of the game.

1:04:12Nick Saban:It's a huge part of the game is the crowd noise, like riding the level somehow to get the mix right to where we feel a lot of that crowd noise, especially pre-snap, I think.

1:04:20Pat McAfee:So I think, you know, first game of the year for Amazon. So I think they're trying to feel it out. But I think this has been a thing with them a lot. It has. I think it has been a lot of, like, stadiums sound much quieter on Amazon than they do on everything else. And it's like, I hope they understand that loud crowd is good for a game and sport and television and –

1:04:42Nick Saban:Do they think it muffles some of the voice of the commentators if they play too much, if it's too loud? Herbie's fault you're saying this is Herbie's fault? No, I'm saying, yeah. He said, turn it down.

1:04:53Pat McAfee:And then maybe that's what he said, you're bad, too. Oh, yeah. Maybe that is what it was because maybe that North Carolina crowd was just so loud at the beginning, you know. And he was like, we had to turn the crowd mics down because the beginning, now they're so quiet. And he goes, you're bad. It could have been that. It could have been that. Which is why whenever they just run with anything, it's like, all right, this is kind of a messed up situation. and Kirk certainly has explained himself a couple different times, but I hope they know that that's a good thing, not a bad thing. Hey, we celebrate college atmospheres because of how loud they are.

1:05:27Pat McAfee:We celebrate home field advantage because of how loud they are, especially Green Bay. And what Mike McCarthy was saying about being in there, especially with everywhere he's gone now since becoming head coach at another place, he was like, the buzz is palpable in there. And we know whenever they roll the barrel out there, it's going to be electric. And it was like, it seemed like they had it muffled. I don't like it. But some super genius, obviously, Foxy, we know this. Some super genius has it figured out. Says, well, we have a focus group that said they want to hear all Michaels and Kirk Kerbstre.

1:05:57Pat McAfee:If they wanted to hear Drunks and Green Bay, they'd be listening to the radio call maybe in this entire thing. Somebody probably has a stance on that because it does feel like it is an Amazon thing. It does feel like that. Doesn't it, Ty? Yeah, I agree. We talked about this several times last year. and with watching the game on Sunday on Fox, you could hear how loud it was at Lambeau. So then to flip around Thursday night primetime, it seemed kind of off. Because initially I'm watching it and I'm like, man, the crowd doesn't really seem quite as into it as they were on Sunday. But obviously that's not the case.

1:06:34You look at any of the videos from the crowd or anything like that and people were going ballistic.

1:06:40Pat McAfee:Yeah, Nate, we even got Vipes, a couple Vipes out there. Shout out Herbie, by the way, acknowledging the moment on that super jacked guy. I mean, if I was that guy, I'm probably looking like that. I had no idea there was this many Italians out in Green Bay. Love that. Love that that's taking place. Him obviously getting his body all over everybody, and then him trying to sneak in a hot dog like he's Tim Robinson at lunch when they try to cancel lunch for the meeting, but with a Vibe instead and just being broadcasted in 8K while doing it. incredible moment for this guy we would like to let him know we appreciate his commitment to being

1:07:17Nick Saban:jacked aj this guy's jacked okay let's see if he's there in uh i bet this guy'll be there in december and january too same same outfit right hell yeah i don't think he's italian either what do you mean he's not wearing one chain i think that was just stereotypical sunglasses isn't the chain isn't that a stereotypical comment well i that's just one that actually fits well and i was

1:07:36Pat McAfee:saying he was super jacked and kind of a rounder build and has a lot of bravado and moxies so i with those that fit usually, AJ. And Italians are more cigarette guys than vape guys. Yeah, you don't know that, though. No, but they would. The Wisconsin Italians are one of the weirder groups, I believe. You don't know that, Connor. I'm pretty good with my factions. He definitely wrote that welcome on himself too, right? That was finger paint there? On his chest? It looks like it. It smells like gabagool. Who's got the paint? Who's got it? Just give it to me. Alright, Jesus Christ. He kind of looks like the brother from 50 First Dates, to be honest with you.

1:08:14I love everything. All right, we've got to set up a legend over here.

1:08:16Pat McAfee:You guys take it away for a bit. I don't know what the hell you're going to talk about.

1:08:19Nick Saban:Hey, Diggs. Okay. What happened this weekend when it comes to the gambling situation? When it comes to college games, that's what I want to ask you. You're the gambling guy, right? You're the guy. What are the biggest games? Like, what games are you getting? Okay, Georgia, Tennessee. Where is everybody's money? Okay. Yes, that is one. That puts you on the spot? No, it's great. It's a valid question. It's just usually you start with that at the beginning, and then you – It's actually 50-50. That game is actually 50-50. But that is one of the bigger games this weekend. Look at these slates. Which one is the most intriguing as far as the betting lines, you think?

1:08:48Nick Saban:Look at this board. That one was intriguing. Tennessee and Georgia was intriguing because it opened up seven and dropped to three and a half. There was a similar situation this weekend with Notre Dame and A &M where it opened up and dropped. That's probably the second most intriguing one. And then Clemson and Georgia Tech. Clemson only being two and a half. People are going to wonder if that's an overreaction or not to kind of how they've looked to start the year. That one's an interesting one to me, H. But USF and Miami, 17 and a half. Yeah, I don't know. Oh, you think Miami's going to work them?

1:09:20I think there's a chance. I do. I think that's definitely the best trenches that the Bulls will have seen by far.

1:09:27Nick Saban:Okay, I think we can throw it back. Pat, what's up? Who you got over there? Looks like a living legend.

1:09:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, a living legend, a living goat.

1:09:33Nick Saban:There's obviously a barn animal that just showed up, ladies and gentlemen.

1:09:36Pat McAfee:Dominic Saban. Yeah, Coach! Can you hear the boys? I hear them, man. Sounds good, too. What are you giving about the living legend and the barn animal and the whole thing? That's what you are. You've earned this, Coach Saban. You're a goat, bro. You're the greatest of all time. That is why anytime you get a chance to tell stories or give us answers, we just take your thoughts as our own and we go forward. Ain't that right, boys? That is exactly right. You have two of T. Well, I enjoy doing it. It's fun because I like the boys as you call them. Hell, yeah. The other guys. The other guys. Let's talk about this game here.

1:10:12Pat McAfee:Nobody really talking about them. And I know you loved Gunnar Stockton coming out of high school. Obviously, whenever he was thrusted into the position to play last year, I think we talked about your interest in what he can do and what he can accomplish. What did you see from him last year or maybe in the first week that says, yes, Georgia's going to be able to go on with him as a guy? And then for them, what does Hypo's team look like this year whenever you kind of watch the film? I think the big thing with Georgia is they've shown an ability to run the ball pretty effectively. They haven't made a lot of explosive plays, and I think it's a combination of, you know, Gunner has played pretty well, except with the offensive line, he gets a little pressure, he's a little antsy in the pocket, he gets out of the pocket quickly, he gives up on plays a little bit, and I think that's affected their ability to make explosive plays down the field.

1:11:01Pat McAfee:Okay. And I think that's something that's going to be important for Georgia to get fixed. Now, I think Georgia's defense, which people don't talk about much because they lost so many guys, they got some dogs playing defense. They can run. They're athletic. They get after it. They play hard. They're well coached. So I like their defense. Okay. So Kirby lost his entire defense to go to the NFL. Okay. Is that because of the way he's able to develop guys there? Is that because the recruiting? What is it about Georgia? and in this modern world that we're in, we all understand. The Penn States, Oregon, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, Texas, Texas, Texas.

1:11:38Pat McAfee:We're all saying this. We understand what the modern world is. Is Georgia going to be good in that department? And is Kirby going to just have a perennial great team like we all expect because of the way he coaches? Well, I think it's a combination of Kirby believes like I believe in terms of recruiting well and developing players. Now, in this day and age, if you recruit well, you're going to lose some of those players because they're all not going to play early, which is going to hurt you. And then just complement your team with the portal. I think that's really the way Kirby goes about it. That's the way I would have gone.

1:12:12I always went about it, and I would still do it that way. And I think he's going to be successful consistently because of that.

1:12:19Pat McAfee:And Josh Heupel, he's going to be joining us here in a matter of moments. I guess he doesn't necessarily love doing media and stuff like that. they say he's not like the most flamboyant guy national champion quarterback for Oklahoma obviously we're there last year when Tennessee goes to Oklahoma and with the way it ended nobody wanted to make a big story out of it even though it was a cool moment now loses Nico Iamaliaba has a playoff game last year in Columbus has his new quarterback that might be the perfect fit for him is Josh Heupel's offense the thing that's going to carry Tennessee all the time or is it their defense like last year that was great well I think you got to have good defense because you can't just outscore everybody in college football now, but I think Josh Heupel does a great job with the offensive team, and I think Joey Aguilar does a great job of executing the offense.

1:13:06He actually executes the offense, to me, a little better than even Nico did. Now, Nico's a better athlete. He can run faster and all that, but when it comes to accuracy and decision-making, Joey Aguilar does a really good job, and that's important for Josh Heupel's offense. Every running play has an RPO or an advantage throw built into it. So for the quarterback to throw those accurately is really, really important. And they make explosive plays, man. And I'm telling you, if they can run the ball against you, it is a real tough day playing against Tennessee because they're always going to go fast.

1:13:43You've got to get your ass off the field on third down or you're going to have these long extended drives where your team's going to get tired. So you're going to be at a disadvantage.

1:13:51Pat McAfee:How about, have you seen Aguilar's story? The City College of San Francisco, then Diablo Valley College, then App State. Then he was at UCLA, I don't know for how long, maybe a week. I don't even know if he got enrolled. And then when Nico goes there, he's like, all right, I'll just go to Tennessee. It's like he's one of these guys that we've seen in this modern transfer portal era. Comes from a smaller school, works his ass off, and now he has the opportunity on the biggest stage. We saw it with Matier last week with Oklahoma. We thought that was a special connection that he and his offense coordinator, Arbuckle, had whenever they got to Oklahoma.

1:14:22Pat McAfee:Is this going to be one of those types of magical runs potentially with Aguilar this year, or is this a defense that he's never seen before and we have no idea how he's going to react? I think he's going to see the best defense he's seen by far. They're faster. They know how to prepare. They know how to play against this offense because they have experience doing that. Kirby has experience doing it. And their players understand what they have to do to get ready for this offense. So I think this guy's going to have a great career here, though, and I think he's going to be a big-time story throughout the rest of the year.

1:14:52Pat McAfee:I love the story coming from City College of San Francisco to D 'Auble Valley. I've never heard that. That's a great name. D 'Auble. I've never heard of that either. Why aren't you recruiting these guys? Give them an opportunity. You never know if they go. AP Tone has a question for you back in the studio, Coach. Yeah, Coach, there was a lot of really good teams who did not look really good last week. They kind of slept walk through teams or games against lesser opponents. Clemson, Penn State, LSU, Georgia. There were some sloppy moments to that game. And then on the other hand, like Oregon looked incredible.

1:15:26Florida State looked incredible. Is there anything that we should take? Like should we worry about those teams that didn't look good against lesser teams and maybe bring up an Oregon or Florida State and think higher of them? Or is that just like a one week that can happen type of thing? You know, I loved it when we played a bad team and we didn't play very well against them because then I could get on everybody's ass about it. I just love that. But I do think it's really hard when you play 12 games to be up for every game. I really do. So you've got to be able to play to a level, to a standard, that you can get through those kind of games because the fans don't want to see those games.

1:16:05The players don't really want to play in those games. So I don't think you can read too much into it if they don't play their best football against a not-so-good opponent.

1:16:13Pat McAfee:Let's talk about USF because, obviously, they're a big part of your story your last season, I believe, with the third week. Was that third week or second week? Third week. Third week. Rainstorm, hell. 17-7, man. Big rain delay. Cool. Not fair. I was walking around in the locker room during a rain delay and say, can we really lose to these guys? You definitely could have. A lot of teams can lose to this particular team. What do you see from this USF team? It feels like they're very athletic, and I've been told by everybody that has lived in Florida that I've talked to, like when Florida boys play against each other, USF and Miami, a lot of Florida boys playing against each other, the 17-and-a-half spread and everything like that, you can kind of throw it out.

1:16:52Pat McAfee:Do you agree with that, and what have you seen from this USF team? Might be the story of college ball thus far. Yeah, I think that all those guys playing out there against Florida, playing for South Florida, they all wanted to play for Florida. So they're trying to prove something. They've got some passion about what they're trying to do, and they'll be the same way in Miami. And I do think this team buys into what their coach wants them to do. They've got lots of grit. They play hard. They overcome a lot of adversity. If you look at them statistically, they're nothing special. I mean, they're not ranked high in any category.

1:17:24Offense, nothing. They stop people in the red zone. They score in the red zone. That's about it. But the rest of it is not that impressive except the competitive spirit and the grit that they play with. and that's carried them through because they stay in games and then they seem to be able to make plays when they need to make them in a critical moment.

1:17:42Pat McAfee:Miami, though, looks for real. Cristobal seemingly has the team, and Carson Beck looks like, obviously, who he is, a 10-year vet out there. And I think one of the reasons for that, they're much better on defense. But Carson Beck is a really good quarterback, and he's played exceptionally well so far this year. But they are physical, man. I mean, they played physical. They were more physical than Notre Dame, which is typically a pretty physical team. So the combination of those two things and the improvement on defense, I think is going to make this a hard team to beat. I like how physical they are.

1:18:14Pat McAfee:I feel like whenever you see guys, if they're big and fast, boy, they have a chance. We like big, man. You know, like I always say, the lightweights don't fight the heavyweights in boxing for a reason. It has nothing to do with skill. Nothing to do with skill. Derek Henry, brother. So how, so, okay, take me back in time. We just looked this up. What, 55 touchdowns his senior year? Yep. 55 touchdowns his senior year. He's 500 yards away from his high school yardage, which is 12 ,254 or something like that. I forget the exact number. When you're recruiting your ass off for this guy, this is all hands on deck.

1:18:55Pat McAfee:This is going to be the next one, which he certainly was for you, and he has been in the NFL. I think Eddie George also took him under his wing at the Tennessee Titans and made him even better than everything. They talk about his work ethic being insane. That recruiting process, you're selling your ass off to him, right? You know he's a game changer? Yeah, but you know the amazing thing about this, and I don't want to throw anybody under the bus here so I won't mention any names, but you can go back and see who all was recruiting him, but nobody except us said you can play running back. What? Can you believe that?

1:19:26They're talking about the guy being an outside backer. They're talking about being this and that. I said, because he's tall, he's long, he doesn't fit the real, you know, sort of running back style that people look for. I said, hell, this guy's hard to tackle. He's fast. He's got a great stiff arm. I said, why can't he play running back? I don't care if he looks a little different than some of these other guys. So I said, look, man, we're recruiting you as a running back. We can do whatever you want to do. Now, the one Derrick Henry story I love to tell when he was a freshman. and we were doing a pass-pickup blitz period, and he's playing running back, and he didn't block the right guy, and coaches all get on his tail for not picking up the linebacker.

1:20:05And he comes to me, and he says, Coach, you're going to have to understand something. He said, I never learned how to do any of this stuff in high school. They just turned around and tossed me the ball and told me to run with it. So I don't understand any of this stuff you're talking about. He said, but I'll work at it, and I'll get it. And he got it. But I'll tell you, the most impressive thing about Derrick Henry to me is, first of all, you know, we have Nick's Kids giveaway where we've got 125 special needs kids, you know, in the room. He buys them a book bag and gets on video and talks to them during Nick's Kids giveaway.

1:20:36That's number one. Number two, how he took ownership for fumbling the ball in the game. How many guys would do that? Tell his team, it's on me, losses on me, you know, I've got to take care of the ball. Took total ownership for making a mistake in the game.

1:20:50Pat McAfee:That's good leadership. It's almost like he might have learned from somebody, you know, in a pretty good way. I'm sure you're incredibly proud watching all that. Like when he takes the ownership of that, I assume that's something that you're like, yes. Well, also, you know him to be that guy. But when he does that, that's like the human as opposed to just the player that came through Alabama. That's exactly right. And that's what I respected about guys. You know, the right kind of people really make your team what it is. The culture is the people. And Derrick Henry is the king still at this point.

1:21:17Pat McAfee:And he's getting a little bit of a, well, he didn't say anything. He said, we'll see, basically, to a couple of Cleveland Browns players saying, it ain't nothing. It ain't nothing. Thank God you kept him at running back. Could you imagine being an asshole college football coach coming in there? You just scored 55 touchdowns. We're not giving you the ball ever again. You know, I don't even know which Cleveland Browns guy said that, but if they had to practice every day against this guy, I guarantee you that would be the first one that says, I ain't tackling his ass every day. I guarantee it. It was an LSU guy.

1:21:46It was an LSU guy.

1:21:48Pat McAfee:It was an LSU guy. LSU guy. How many games they beat us when he plays? What was he supposed to say, coach? What was he supposed to say? They asked him if he was scared, basically, to tackle. He's like, no, I'm scared of nothing, you know. And then, boom, it's all of a sudden, this guy says Derrick Henry's soft. And it's like, holy shit. And then Derrick Henry heard it. And he goes, we'll see. It's like, oh, my God, extra motivation to this guy, who was supposed to be a defensive end out of high school, but he happens to be faster, have better vision, tougher, balance. and he does have killer. Do you understand how long this guy's arms is when he's stiff arms and you try to tackle him?

1:22:25I mean, it's... I don't know what his sleeve length is, but it's the South.

1:22:31Pat McAfee:Pretty good recruiting. Hey, so let's give this guy the ball. What's everybody else saying? He's going to tackle people. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. We'll give you the ball, dude, if you come here. Coach, what do you tell your defense?

1:22:41Nick Saban:If you were playing against them for real, what would you tell a safety here? Hey, we need 11 dudes to tackle this ball. What can you honestly tell a defense when you're playing Derrick Henry? Well, I think the big thing is once this guy gets going and once he gets downhill, I mean, he's much faster than people think. And he doesn't look like he's fast, but he's got such a long stride. It's like right here, man. These guys are having a hard time catching him, and they've got angles. So you don't want the guy to get out. You want to keep him boxed in. Everybody's got to play with leverage. And, you know, I always taught DBs to tackle high, but I'm not sure when a guy like Derrick Henry, high-cut guy like this, you're not better off trying to tackle him below.

1:23:20Pat McAfee:Yeah, but then you're going to eat a knee. Then you're eating a knee because he runs violently. And it's like what a perfect running back in the NFL. And obviously alongside Lamar Jackson, it's quite a tandem. Are they going to win a Super Bowl or are they going to lose in the fourth quarter all the time? Josh Allen won the MVP allegedly in the fourth quarter because of what he was able to do. The Baltimore Ravens have it all. I hope they go on a run for the good of butter. You know, I don't want them to bait butter into thinking that they have a chance and then they end up not making it happen.

1:23:49Pat McAfee:They should win on all accounts. Connor has a question for you, Coach. Yeah, Coach, kind of a massive decision for Colorado's Deion Sanders. He's going with their third string, Ryan Staub, I believe is how you say his last name, at quarterback. Are you surprised by that? Just because they have a five-star, you know, Juju Lewis, who actually committed on this program, sitting right there to play and that whole entire, you know, kind of worry about the NIL and transfer portal with a guy of that caliber. Are you surprised by that decision, or do you think it is probably more beneficial for him to continue to sit and learn because he's so young?

1:24:26Well, you know, first of all, I don't know enough about all these guys. I know Juju. We recruited him for a long time. He was in our camp and all that stuff for years. But, you know, you've got to have a little faith, trust, and confidence in the coaches and the coaching staff. to help develop a guy and not throw him out there before he's ready. Because one of the worst things you can do, and one of the biggest reasons I think there's a lot of failures, you know, in the NFL at the quarterback position, is you draft a guy high, you've got to feel like you've got to play him. He's not ready to play.

1:24:57He loses his confidence. He doesn't have success. And that's exactly what you don't want to have. So I can see that they're trying to bring Juju along the right way. Now, I don't know this third-team guy that he's talking about, but I have a lot of faith, trust, and confidence in Deion and his staff's ability to make a decision about who's going to give them the best chance to win right now as they continue to develop Juju.

1:25:18Pat McAfee:It feels like Coach Prime and them will ride the hot hand. If this guy does his thing, he'll earn the job. They have respect for that. I'm excited for this next chapter here of the Colorado Buffaloes football team. Obviously, Coach Prime has to battle this offseason for his life and everything. We're incredibly happy about that, but now the new identity is going to have to come into full force. I'll be excited to see how they balance it all, especially with how great it was economically for that school. Everything was just so beautiful out there. Hopefully they're able to tie it together. Yeah, and, you know, Deion's changed the culture there.

1:25:50Definitely. I mean, people believe, and I know he did it with a couple great players, you know, Shadour and Hunter, but now can the culture sustain itself and they have enough good players to have enough success to sustain it?

1:26:01Pat McAfee:That'll be the combo. So speaking of a culture sustaining, and then, I mean, people – it's getting breezy out here, by the way. A little bit. That's a good – it's one of these Zippo lighters. You ever see – these are back from your day, right? I mean, you guys use the Zippo lighter all the time. This thing is pretty cool looking. See that? Yeah. See that? On a windy day like this, the Zippo is a really good thing. But, you know, in a theory world, and Kalen DeBoer, we're not out on. Okay? We love Kalen DeBoer. Don't we, boys? Love him. We love him. Yes. Great guy. As a person, love him. Well, and also as a ball coach, he's won everywhere.

1:26:35Pat McAfee:This is a tough spot in Alabama. Love them in purple. Who knows how it goes? He was perfect out there in Washington, obviously. I think people in Dakota would say he was perfect there. Everywhere he's been, he's been a winner. But, you know, hot seat. Let's see how it all works out. Dabo, is he ever going to be – Ty has a question for you over there. Yeah, Coach, Diggs mentioned how several teams just, you know, didn't look good against inferior opponents last week, Clemson specifically. Are we at a point where – now, listen, going into this year, everyone was kind of picking them or crowning them to be the national champion with how many future NFL guys they're going to have, you know, top of the first round guys, even with teams like Ohio State and Texas out there.

1:27:14Do you think it's possible that they maybe drank that rat poison a little bit too much? I know they won last week, but obviously didn't look great. And are we at a point where maybe Clemson, Dabo, they do need a fresh start? I know he's used it a little bit, but his reluctance to use the transfer portal, I don't know what their NIL situation is like. Just what are your thoughts on Clemson kind of as a whole going into week three here? Yeah, I think that, you know, you can look, you know, way into this too much. But in my opinion, the one issue that Clemson has is, first of all, their best wideout is out, but their offensive line has not performed very well.

1:27:52I mean, the quarterback has been under duress the whole season. I mean, in the LSU game, this guy's running for his life, and it affected him. So one of the goals you always have on defense when you're playing against any quarterback is can we affect the quarterback? And when you don't have a good offensive line, that makes it a little easier to be able to do that. And Plutnik is a really good player that hasn't had an opportunity to play very effectively this year, and I think it's because of the pressure he's getting. So they need to fix their situation in the offensive line. Now, we can say, did they overrate it going into the season?

1:28:28I don't really know that. Could they have done better if they'd have got somebody out of the portal? I don't know that. But you've got to be able to win on the line of scrimmage. Now, their defensive line is pretty salty, so they're pretty good on defense. But their offense has been a little bit of a problem, and I think it starts up front with the offensive line. If the people around the quarterback don't play well, the receivers get open, the line give them time to operate, then you're going to have issues, and I think that's where they are right now.

1:28:58Pat McAfee:Okay, let's talk about that boy, Dabo. I have respect for him, obviously, because I've seen them have a lot of success. It feels like he is very much well-regarded around the coaching community and the college football community. Is that accurate? I think that's true. He's beloved. And for Clemson, he built that place up. Yeah, he did. Lifetime contract. And he's had a lot of success, man. He's been in playoffs a lot. Last year. Yeah. I mean, but not last year. What do you mean? Well, I mean, did he get in the playoffs? Yeah, they kicked the – what was the field goal? Yeah, Texas. Against SMU.

1:29:31Pat McAfee:It was not a good showing in the playoffs. But it was – yeah, the guy hit a 58-yarder or something like that. What was the kick? 56 maybe? Yeah. Yeah, like the last – Whatever the season. But, you know, that's when Syracuse beat you, Miami, and Fran Brown said, you're welcome, Dabo. Yeah. Yeah, I think it was the ACC championship. Right. It was. But the defense was a problem for them last year. I mean, when they played Texas and people like that, they couldn't stop them. And the offense, you know, sort of matched up pretty well against most of these teams. But that's not happening this year for some reason, and I think it starts up front.

1:30:05Pat McAfee:A lot of season left. A lot of season left. I need to see Dabo, really. He needs to start maybe hand-on-head, high-stepping it down that hill. That's a good idea. Coach,

1:30:17Nick Saban:we were speaking about accountability a little bit ago. You know, Fran Brown, I don't know if you saw it. His team was running sprints after they, you know, barely won against the UConn Huskers. Have you ever had to do anything drastic like this to a team after a game? Huskies. Huskies. You're right. I knew in the moment I messed that one up. That's all right. I'm thinking Nebraska. But have you ever done anything like this, I guess, after a game, maybe the next morning, where you're going to kind of wake your team up maybe? No, I never did. Maybe I should have a few times. It all worked out. We never did.

1:30:51I wanted the players to... Look, when players don't do right or they don't have success, and each one of us have competed at some level at some point in time in our career, nobody feels worse about it than they do. So I think the tough thing to overcome now, I call it the disease of me. Everybody's worried about how does it affect me, how does it affect me, and sometimes they put that ahead of the team. That's why you see some of these penalties occurring that, you know, end up affecting the outcome of games. I don't know why Fran did what he did. But, you know, they did come back in the game and have success.

1:31:30So you should be pleased with the grit that your team showed. I always wanted to take the positives out of the game and correct the negatives. So if this works for them, maybe they'll play better next week. I never did it. That doesn't mean it wouldn't work for us at times.

1:31:45Pat McAfee:When would you do that? It feels like I've never seen anybody do that. I've asked around. I guess, AJ, what is it, high school you guys did it maybe? Little League?

1:31:55Nick Saban:Yeah, we had a seven-on-seven league where we got in a big brawl with another team. We ended up running sprints afterwards just because we lost the game after the fight because a lot of guys were beat up. Yeah.

1:32:04Pat McAfee:Yeah. Well, Bruce Arians talked about that 5 a.m. scrimmage, three hours, no stretching. Let's get at it, boys. In Temple, late in the season, there's no sun out. So that's certainly a way to get it across. Fran Brown talked about how you know I'm I'm trying to make these guys better men better husband better fathers it's whenever they're doing things that aren't the right way I have to be able to correct them and that's the way that he kind of seen that taking place well I do think that that young people players people have to understand cause and effect so when you don't do something right there's going to be a consequence for it and I think sometimes young Young people don't sort of take that into consideration as much as they should.

1:32:44And sometimes I don't think you do them any favors when they don't do it right and you don't confront them with it and show them how to do it right.

1:32:52Pat McAfee:I'm trying to do that with my daughter right now. She's two years old. That's really hard. I'm trying my best. She'll throw a full temper tantrum about something. And at the very end, I'm like, should I fold? Should I fold? She really wants this thing right now. Last night it was a peach. She wanted a peach. so I gave her the peach then immediately as she was enjoying the peach I was like fuck shouldn't have done that now she's gonna do that for everything and lo and behold he wanted to watch Bluey about an hour later and it was a little too close to bedtime though didn't want to do Bluey maybe we'll do trash truck maybe we'll do uh something a little slower you know to put her to bed yell yell yell yell yell yell yell and I'm like this is my fault because I allowed it to literally happen with the peach just a couple minutes ago but when she looked at me and she started she's doing full pouts now we're doing head down full arms crossed pouting and as she looks up at me there's actual tears i'm like how the you're crying because of this this is unbelievable and i folded and i'm i'm rewarding poor behavior i've seen dr phil okay i i understand how this whole thing goes i've also seen jerry springer we're aiming for not either of those with this but it is a cause and effect situation so i'm trying my best it's not easy to be that guy though.

1:34:05It's not easy. No, it's not easy, especially with your kids, you know, because you got to make a tough call all the time. Do you make your kids happy by giving them what they want or do you stand firm and make them do what's right? And there's a tough balance between those things, but it's really a key to being a good parent. And, you know, I'm kind of surprised that you folded.

1:34:28Pat McAfee:Well, thank you. I appreciate you being surprised there. Yeah, because I'll tell you, She learned the pout, you know, cause she used to just cry and yell, but it wasn't like cute. It was like, come on, this ain't it. You know, dead body weight. She's trying to take a bump. You know, she's throwing herself back while she's yelling. And it's like, yo, you can't be doing that. Even though I've learned she's wildly tough and she's going to run into stuff all the time. But this whole new pout with like her head down with tears, it got me. And she had the peach. She loved the peach. I think the peach is good.

1:35:00Pat McAfee:If we're going to continue to do that for peaches, that's good she started she's enjoyed chalk a little bit okay and if she's like me which appears she's going to be she's really going to have a sweet tooth so we're going to have uh we're going to have to really balance that but coaching parenting same thing coaching is a lot of parenting right exactly it's exactly do you miss it i miss the relationships with the players um development fulfillment development and i i loved seeing guys give themselves a better chance to be successful in life because of the leadership and the influence that you might have had on them.

1:35:32I missed that a little bit, but I got to, it's a better quality of life at this station of my life not to have to have 125 children. You got one you're worrying about.

1:35:46Pat McAfee:Yes. All right. 125 running around on a campus, 60 % female with no curfew. That's hard. Yeah, there's a lot of, hey, can't be pouting, can't be folding either on those. You've got to really stay firm. Well, I want to let you know it's been an honor to watch you lead. It's been an honor to watch you work, and we appreciate the hell out of you stopping by. Welcome back to Knoxville. Enjoy it. I tell you what, it's a little better coming here to do this, and it has been on my previous trips to Knoxville. How has it been here? Big rivalry game for us, you know. I mean, we got the all-time record for boo when, you know, boo's when Lane came out of the tunnel.

1:36:27When he came back and was with us after he left her after one year, went to USC. I mean, I've never heard a boo like that ever in my life.

1:36:34Pat McAfee:Did you acknowledge it to Lane, or did you just act like it was non-existent at the time? No, I just patted him on the back, and he smiled about it, and we went about our business. Hey, they fucking hate you here, bud. All right. Let's go with this thing. 102 ,000, I guess. It's the eighth largest stadium in the world, third largest in the SEC. That goes back to the culture of the SEC. They're getting as many people in here as they possibly can. This place will be packed out, obviously. What is this place compared to maybe other stadiums? Because I know their light show and their game day ops is insane, right?

1:37:08Pat McAfee:Aren't they kind of noted for that? Yeah, and this is a hard place to play. Maybe because the Tennessee-Alabama rivalry Rico was way back, but it was a hard place for us to play. They had great fans. They were always enthusiastic as hell for when we came in here, and it was a difficult place to play. And I'm sure it's going to be difficult for Georgia, but they've had success here in the past. Okay, let's talk about difficult games before we let you go. Backyard brawl this weekend. We were supposed to be there. I mean. Come on. Ohio's tough. Ohio's a good team. Remember, Ohio's a good team. They are a good team.

1:37:42Hey, Alabama doesn't want Ohio. We had huge plans. to go back to West Virginia. I know you had plans, but we had plans. I mean, we had hotel rooms. We had family coming to games. We bought tickets. I mean, we did all kinds of stuff. You know, Senator Manchin was going to come over and visit with us. I mean, we had all kinds of stuff.

1:38:00Pat McAfee:I was maybe going into a Hall of Fame. I mean, that was potentially happening. I know you got the Senator coming over. I was going to a Hall of Fame. We got to kick that back a couple weeks, I guess. You know, that was, hey, tone, honor, tie. AJ, tell him. I don't think he understands that Ohio Bobcats team in Athens. Navarro is going to be a Heisman finalist, Coach. That's a Heisman finalist Navarro, Coach. Look out now. They're the MAAC champions. That's a good team up there in Ohio. Well, I tell you what, though. There have been some really good teams in the MAAC, especially the top-tier teams.

1:38:37And the bad thing about it is, is how do you get your team ready to play teams like that that are good, but they're in the Mid-American Conference and your players may not be respecting them like they should.

1:38:48Pat McAfee:Yeah, and then you've got to go on the road to them as well. That's the problem. That's a West Virginia thing. I hate, like I would never do a two-for-one. We did it with South Florida and I was miserable about it to go there and play. I mean, you know, I mean, your team doesn't want to go there and play. I mean, so I just – but the athletic director never gets criticized for it.

1:39:20Pat McAfee:That was the previous athletic director. We'd like to say Ren Baker would never negotiate this deal, but we appreciate that, and I appreciate the hell out of you. Next year, backyard brawl we're going to be at, I think. I hope so. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen. Thanks, man. The greatest of all time, Coach Saban. Let it go, Coach.

1:39:35Nick Saban:Thank you, Coach. So, yeah, they went to go to South Florida. But how far out are these games scheduled, Ty? Do you know? Like sometimes these games are – Yeah, it's like 10 years. Like every game, all these non-conference ones? I don't know about the non-con ones. I know like the big Power 4 schools, they are always like more planned out ahead of time. I think the lower conferences, you know, your Sun Belt, stuff like that, like I think they have a little more wiggle room with their schedules. But I know like the Power 4 versus Power 4 are scheduled out five, ten years. Yeah, the home-and-home ones, like when team accounts will tweet them out.

1:40:09It's like Notre Dame, and they just did one with maybe it was like Texas, and it's starting in like 2035 or something like that. But it got agreed upon like last week.

1:40:20Nick Saban:James Madison at Liberty on September 15, 2040, is now the furthest contracted football game on record. It's going to be a hell of a game now. But now we know. Now we know. How do we know those schools are going to exist in 2040? What do you mean? what's going to happen. So that's locked in. That's a contract. That's happened. I don't know if we're going to be here tomorrow. It's 15 years. West Virginia and Bama just got out of a contract that you can pay to get out of it. Man, that's weird. Hold on. I think another living legend has joined Pat here on the promenade. What's up, Pat? Who you got there?

1:40:52Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, national champion quarterback for Oklahoma, now the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers College Football Playoff last year, head coach Josh Hybold. Hey, Coach. How we doing? Coach, thank you for doing this. Great to be here and have you back in town. It's been a few years since you took a little flip into the river. Yeah, that's what you said. As soon as I got in that river, a lot of people have asked that. I did not remember that, to be clear. I remember having a good time here. I remember the place being crazy. And then I saw the video this morning, me doing that. They said, don't open your mouth.

1:41:21Pat McAfee:I mouth open. I'm a mouth free. I'm not sure you want that water in there. Yeah, okay, Coach. That's what a lot of people told me. Hey, congratulations. Okay. We all saw the Nico Iamaleava thing happen in a weird time. Then you bring in this Aguilar guy, and it feels like a perfect match. Do you agree with that? Yeah, such a condensed window to learn the offense. And as a quarterback, get to know your guys. He's a great teammate. He cares about the guys around him. Got a great work ethic. And the first couple of weeks, he's played really well. And tomorrow will be our biggest test, obviously. But couldn't be more proud of who he is and what he's done.

1:41:59Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's awesome. And you talk about the short window. Congrats on being a great coach and making it happen because it looks like it's gone off without a hitch. Now, let's talk about this Georgia defense. They're real, right? I mean, Kirby's always going to have a defense that's outstanding. That's been the week, basically, is the message through the squad is, hey, this is going to be fucking real this week. Yeah, you know what you're getting into. It's going to be physical. That's at the line of scrimmage. It's out on the perimeter. You've got to win in physicality. You've got to play smart, but you've got to be really aggressive, too.

1:42:25You've got to play a complete game. Offense, defense, special teams, line of scrimmage is going to matter. You've got to win on third downs offensively and defensively.

1:42:32Pat McAfee:How do you feel about this place being electric? No questions about that. I know our fan base is ready for this one. Boats have been tied up early in the week here, and you can tell it's a big game. Okay, so it's whiskey, right? We're a whiskey state here in Tennessee. Jack Daniels is obviously down the road. Is that what we should be expecting out of the folks tomorrow? There's going to be – well, you'll have whatever you want. If you're out there tailgating, you can get it on the river right now on one of the boats. But certainly whiskey. AJ has a question for you back in Indianapolis.

1:43:06Nick Saban:Yeah, Coach, we just had Coach Nick Saban on. He was talking about your offense and the different RPOs and things that are built into every single play. I guess when you're recruiting players, how do you know if they can handle all the volume and the decisions and the freedom that you might have at the line of scrimmage? I guess how do you know if they're a Tennessee guy that can handle your offense? Yeah, I don't think you ever know until they get into it. And our staff does a great job of, you know, teaching and progressing these guys. And there's a lot on our quarterbacks in a short amount of time when we're playing within the scope of our tempo.

1:43:39Run run checks, run pass checks. The RPO game you talked about, understanding the nuances of our run game. When you have the ability and the freedom to go make that throw and when you've got to read pressure and when you've got to hand it off. So a lot of subtle details that go into the execution of us playing at a high level, certainly at the quarterback position, but all 11 offensively.

1:44:00Pat McAfee:How much do you carry from last year's college football playoff ending? We were there. It was so cold. It was so cold. I think Nico cracked three helmets. Obviously, that Ohio State team would go on a magical run against everybody. I mean, the next week against Oregon, they got the freight train as well. What did you learn about your team? What did you learn about your program? And what did you carry through the offseason? Well, I think everybody came back to Knoxville with a really bad taste. in their mouth and ultimately collectively as a group how you got to improve and you know that was a bad night for for the volunteers played a really good football team you know there's some things offensively defensively that you continue to add to your arsenal to continue to grow as a program and that's what we've done have you ever explained why it's hypo you yeah you got to believe the hype that's why you know what i mean yeah i like that it doesn't make sense with the letters and how it's spelled so i i respect that it's just the hype yeah that's right there you go i love everything about it tone has a question that's fucking awesome i did not expect i thought i was going to get some country of origin answer or something like that uh instead you i believe the hot baby even if it's spelled with an eu go ahead tone just the hype uh coach your first couple years in knoxville uh you had hennon hooker and he was just slinging it all around the yard but it feels like the last couple, it's been more run game.

1:45:19It's been more defense. One of the best defenses in the country. I mean, Dylan Sampson, I think had like 1500 yards and 22 touchdowns last year. Is it hard for, you know, an ex national champion quarterback, offensive coach to, to rely on defense and run game? Or have you kind of accepted that, Hey, this is my team this year? No, I think each year your identity forms as a football team. And it's my job to put our staff and our players in the best position to go win. You mentioned Hendon being here and us throwing it all over the yard. We still rush for over 2 ,500 yards. Never gets talked about.

1:45:55Yeah, it doesn't. You know, for four straight years have done that here at Tennessee. First time that's ever been done in the history of the program. So the run game is an identity, a core identity to who we are. Everything else comes off of it. You know, last year we weren't as successful throwing the football vertically down the field as we typically are. We've had a good start to that this year. Within the scope of this league, who you are, what you're seeing, you've got to be able to play and win different ways, and that's how we've continued to grow and evolve as a program.

1:46:26Pat McAfee:Okay, when you talk about this league, obviously SEC is a powerhouse, a juggernaut, always going to be. Have you noticed any differences with the league with the new era, Transfer Portal, NIO? Obviously, you guys were a big part of the storyline in that whole thing. Well, yeah, I think the collective conference, what league we're playing in, the financial resources that it has. It's continued to elevate everybody inside of our league. And certainly those even that have maybe been historically at the bottom of the league, they've continued to get better. And I think it gives everybody inside the scope of college football the ability to patch something on the roster when it's not right.

1:47:04And so I think that's been a difference. You like it, it sounds like. Well, at the end of the day, with all the changes in college football, if you don't embrace them as a leader of a program, you're hurting your program. There's positives. There's negatives. At the end of the day, you've got to deal with it and find the right way to navigate it and make it a benefit for your program.

1:47:25Pat McAfee:Hell, yeah. I think you've got a lot of big-time supporters here. Peyton Manning's name's on fucking everything. The sheriff will be in town. Yes, he will. Yes, he will. And also, he has another business that's probably valued up over a billion dollars, so maybe we can get a new locker room in here. We can get a new this. We can get a new that. Connor has a question for you back in Indianapolis. Yeah, Coach, your running back. Nope. Excuse me. Coach, your running back from last year had a fantastic debut for the Browns, Dylan Sampson. It feels like that style of running back is the future of NFL.

1:47:54You know, you have a player that can run between the tackles and a guy that can catch, you know, 10 balls out of the backfield. Is that something that you look for when you're thinking of recruiting running backs? and do you kind of want to take over the NFL RBU, if you will, at Tennessee? Players like that are hard to combine. It feels like those are the running backs now who are getting paid the most. Yeah, obviously a great start for Dylan last weekend. Not surprised by it. Has the ability to do everything at the running back position. Elite as a running back. The ability to play without the ball in his hands and pass protection.

1:48:32And then you mentioned his ability to catch the football out of the backfield. And certainly we want to continue to do that here and take advantage of all the skill sets. That's one of the things that we've grown in since we first got here is taking advantage of those guys out of the backfield and creating matchups where they got a chance to go win.

1:48:50Pat McAfee:2 ,500 yards rushing. Nobody's ever done it. How come nobody talks about it? Everybody can kiss my ass. Quote Coach Hypo. I'll take that. I will take that quote, actually. You love the hoopla, from what I've been told. The media, the... Listen, embrace it. In today's landscape, you're not going to shield your players from the noise outside of it. I think that's one of the things that I love about this group. The expectations with everything that's going on, it doesn't change inside of the building. They work in a way where they expect to win. We know the test that we got tomorrow. It's going to be a lot of fun going out and competing with these guys.

1:49:27But embrace it. Keep the main thing the main thing. That's been a focal point this week. but enjoy the journey to kick off and play loose, play free, and play aggressive.

1:49:35Pat McAfee:Be where your feet are. Absolutely. Keep the main thing the main thing. Take care of the little things, the big things. Take care of themselves. Sure. Is there any other ones that I missed right there? Hard hat. Play aggressive. Call it aggressive. Let's go. Okay. No risk it. No biscuit. Ty has the last question for you back in the Thunderdome. Yeah, Coach, a lot of these kids you're coaching now or recruiting, I don't know if they're familiar with your game. Do you ever have to, like, cut on some tape and be like, Like, hey, just so you sons of bitches know, I finished ahead of Drew Brees, LaDainian Tomlinson, and Michael Vick in the Heisman voting, and Chris Winkie probably shouldn't have won that year.

1:50:10I should have. And also, are you ever just at practice saying, you know what, I think I'm going to play scout team quarterback today, and I'm going to throw for 2 ,000 yards and 50 touchdowns. Is any of that stuff happening on a day-to-day basis? At this point in my life, I only throw fat and slow to the offensive linemen on Friday afternoons. I was spinning it today. I'm going to send the tape out to a few teams here afterwards. But I haven't shown any of my clips here recently. Whenever I do show a clip from that era, the quality of the tape is what they get a good chuckle out of. I did use one of our experiences as a football team in 2000 during the course of training camp as we were getting ready for week one just as an opportunity to educate our guys on the preparation that's needed to go play your best by the time you get to kickoff.

1:51:02Pat McAfee:That was the national championship team, I assume? I should have done more research there? Yeah. That you just shared there? And you just shared, like, the journey, the story through it all? Yeah, subtle detail. Mike Linebacker, Torrence Marshall, great player. You know, messed it up on Wednesday, messed it up on Thursday. You know, got the coverage check and the drop right on Saturday afternoon. made a huge play that changes the way the games play. I love that. How much do you think being a former player helps with you coaching? Well, I think it gives me perspective. I think it changes some of the subtleties of the lead up to kickoff, being able to enjoy the journey, having families be a part of it.

1:51:41The game hasn't changed, right? Like you've got to prepare in an elite way and you've got to be mentally focused, physically ready to go play your best. But I think my playing experience, how you balance all of that, is certainly a big part of our process of how we attack the week.

1:51:54Pat McAfee:What's the best meat in town? If I wanted to shove meat down my throat, what would I? Man, there's elite steak places all over town. JC Holdway is one of the best restaurants in town. They got whatever you want, man. JC's meat. Yeah. Thank you for making us. I know you're very busy. Thank you for coming through. Man, great to be here. Great to have you back. It's good to have you on Rocky Top. I don't know if I'm sucking down in your river water tomorrow. Yeah, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't suck down the river water, but have a couple of cold ones tonight. He certainly will for you. All right, ladies and gentlemen, head coach of the Tennessee Volunteer Football Team, Coach Josh Hyde.

1:52:30Nick Saban:Go! Thank you, Coach. Thank you, Coach. Obviously, Ty, I think he appreciates you asking about him slinging it. I bet he does. Yeah, I would think so. You've got to remind him. Well, that's a lot of people that, I mean, you know, a couple of us are old enough to remember when he was at Oklahoma. I was not. Yeah, exactly. It's like, hey, guess what? Lefty. And that's no bullshit. I had to go back and look at it, and it's crazy to think, like, oh, yeah, this guy was playing at the same time as Drew Brees and Michael Vick and LT, and he finished ahead of them all in the Heisman. And if it wasn't for Chris Winkie being 38 in his senior year, he probably would have won.

1:53:05Yeah, you're right.

1:53:06Nick Saban:I don't know if you can see this. We've got some clips of Hypel right now. He needs to show the boys. He needs to show them.

1:53:11Pat McAfee:Hey, Hype, Hype, we're watching highlights of you run all over the field right now.

1:53:16Nick Saban:The quality's not too bad.

1:53:17Pat McAfee:The tape looks all right. It is terrible. It is ass, yeah. Yeah, we would definitely go out of the video if this was on internet and hope that it would reload much better. But I appreciate that we got these clips pulled up. Shout out to Bruce in the back. And also, shout out to all of you for allowing us to do this for a living. Smokey, the mascot, is here running around. Looks fantastic. Knoxville is about to be electrifying. College game day tomorrow should be incredible as we kick off another great college football Saturday. Then have an incredible NFL Sunday. Ladies and gentlemen, it's the greatest weekend of all time because it's the next one.

1:53:43Pat McAfee:We'll see you on Monday. Goodbye.

1:53:46Nick Saban:Perfect. Nailed it. Nailed it. Killed it. Shout out to the boys.

1:53:50Pat McAfee:Shout out to the boys changing the clock during the break to get it right. I appreciate you doing that. Just quick. Boom. Shout out, boys. We have a problem. We go ahead and fix that thing. That was incredible. I loved Hypo there. Yeah. Yeah, the man. And I brought up him saying he doesn't love the hoopla because everybody in media is like, don't bring Hypo on. Really? I'm like, what? Like, he'll give you nothing. He just. He was good. He does. He was good. I think, you know, that's the whole thing about like. One of us. Exactly. But we also come across as abrasive, I think, early. So people put their walls down.

1:54:21Pat McAfee:You know, like, hey, why is it hype? Why is that H-E-U-B-E-L? How the hell do we have hype in there? I don't have nerves. You got to believe the hype, brother. It's like, yes, we do. Yes, we do. Especially if that's going to be the answer to that. I love what he's been able to do. In tone, and AJ, I think you would obviously see this as well. Last year when they played Oklahoma early in the season, and big takeaways are defense. We're just thumping people. And Hype was giving a speech like, we want to be known as having, we are a defensive school. Tennessee has a lot of defensive legends here, and we don't get the credit for it.

1:54:53Pat McAfee:Just like he was saying with the run game, we don't get the credit for it. Everybody thinks it's like Hen and Hooker were wide open throwing it because that's what they were when they were most successful. He's like, we pound the rock, and we pound people on defense, AJ, which is what I respect and enjoy.

1:55:04Nick Saban:Oh, yeah. When you can have a good balance, that's the best. But I think it's when your coach is like an offensive guru, air it out, they have all this freedom, I think, yeah, No matter how good your defense is, it's going to go under the radar. That's just what people are going to focus on and talk about is the offense. Even if they're not throwing the ball 40 yards downfield every single play, I guess. And that specific game, like, Pat, I remember we talked about, like, they knocked Jackson Arnold out. I think they knocked a number of players out. They just dominated that Oklahoma offense. And then they had a top 10, top 5 defense all year long, and it was really just until they ran to that wall in Ohio State who had the better defense is when they really came into trouble.

1:55:39Pat McAfee:they knocked out three dudes in one drive just on regular tackles aj just regular tackles through the ground boom guy gets up he's going to the sideline then like two plays later it was just like a spear like just a standard you know like brawn breaker rovin ryan yeah bill goldberg yeah and then all of a sudden the guy gets up and he's like tapping out it was like three guys in one drive just standard tackles legal tackles not helmet to helmet and guys were like leaving the field. It was like, it's Tennessee teams looking to punish. The defense is looking to punish people, which is a good sign.

1:56:15Pat McAfee:Made it all the way to the college football playoff. He said a lot of bad tastes in our mouth back here in Knoxville after what happened in Columbus. We can imagine we can't wait to see what they look like tomorrow against their toughest tests yet in the Georgia Bulldogs. Alright, let's get to a break. On the other side, we're going to make our picks, AJ. We're going to make... Smokey, will you come in here? Hold on, before we get out of here. Here we go, Smokey. Now that's a real mascot. We're going to find out. Unlike Blue.

1:56:42Nick Saban:Smokey workout with blue in the offseason. Rocky Top. Rocky Top 10-0. Smokey's got some juice. He does. He's a blue-tick-oon hat. Sing. Tell Smokey to sing. Smokey. Smokey.

1:57:00Pat McAfee:Smokey. Smokey. Smokey. Smokey. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. Does it listen? Does he sit? Does it? Does he roll over? So the boys back in Indianapolis are asking how obese you are. Caesar, sit. Would you sit? Like, are you that type of dog? Roll over. Lay down.

1:57:20Nick Saban:He doesn't listen, obviously.

1:57:22Pat McAfee:Shake hand.

1:57:22Nick Saban:Shake hand.

1:57:23Pat McAfee:Shake hands. Okay. All right. That's a bad gimmick, brother. You're a dog. You don't shake hands. His paw. He's giving paw. You don't sniff tails. No tails. No tails. I'm not sniffing butts. Smokey's not sniffing butts. Yeah, right. Okay, Smokey. Smokey, you got that nose right up in butt saying hello. We know how you dogs operate. You're going to be licking Ugga's butt two minutes into the game. Oh, I didn't even think about Ugga coming through. You're going to be sniffing Ugga's butt whenever it says hello? Yeah, you are. That's what your dogs do. You and Ugga are licking jocks. They're chanting Smokey down here.

1:57:59Pat McAfee:Hey, listen, you're going to have to sniff that butt. That's what dogs do. That's what you're going to have to do. You're going to have to sniff Ugga's butt. That's what dogs do.

1:58:05Nick Saban:I think I've seen him do it every year.

1:58:07Pat McAfee:Assert dominance. You're saying Ugga's sniffing your butt.

1:58:13Nick Saban:What if Ugga comes and takes a leak on your field? Yeah, you should piss on Ugga.

1:58:19Pat McAfee:No, you'll puke. Nobody's peeing on anybody. Nobody's peeing on anybody. Nobody's sniffing any butts. We just got a good football game coming up here in good old Rocky Top. Woo! Look at that little.

1:58:33Nick Saban:Yeah, that's nice. That's a good move. Great. Oh, I see. I threw a hand behind. Great pizzazz.

1:58:39Pat McAfee:Real Zayna. A lot of pizzazz. A lot of pizzazz. How long have you been a dog in dog years? One, two, three, 21.

1:58:46Nick Saban:What's the thing about the Oregon situation?

1:58:49Pat McAfee:Hey, whenever the Oregon duck on opening day runs out there, loses its head, is the entire mascot community up in arms or what's going on? Yeah. Oh, no. Embarrassed. Pouring one out for you. Oh, no. No. Oh, no. At what age are you going to have to wear a diaper? I know the older dogs got to put a diaper on. Is that near for you? They neuter them? Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. Shit, I missed it. You have to do that tomorrow. Yeah, definitely. Stop on that chair. Woo! Bang! Yeah, with the leg! Hit it with it. Boom! It's a great song. Good old Rocky. Woo! Yeah, nailed it. Yes. Thank you, dog. Thank you, Smokey.

1:59:34Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what you came in here smoking today, Smokey. You're on fire. No butt sniffing. Does he get along with the live mascot? So how will you and Ugga's reaction go? Ugga will actually try to bite you in the leg, or how will that happen? Will you shake hands with Ugga? Ugga too small. Too small. Ugga too small. Oh. I don't know if you want that. I don't know if you want that, Smokey. I don't know how you operate. You got a lot of pizzazz. I don't know if you want to mess with Ugga. Oh, yeah. Look at that. Yeah, we're eating iron. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Smokey. I got my eyes on you. Yeah.

2:00:12Pat McAfee:What's the diet? What do you eat? Dog food? Kibbles and bits? Fiorina? Milk bones. Oh, you like milk bones? Bacon strips. Bacon strips are really good. I didn't think about that. Oh, yeah. How about carrots? Some dogs like carrots. Let's eat his own poop. Yeah, poop. Some dogs like poop. Yeah, they are wondering. Good question. Is poop a part of your diet? Do you eat your own poop? You know, some dogs like to get after it. You don't do that. You sure? Never?

2:00:38Nick Saban:You've tasted it? I doubt it.

2:00:39Pat McAfee:What about the local meats here? You eat a lot of the local meats? Oh, yeah. Ow!

2:00:44Nick Saban:Ow, ow, ow!

2:00:46Pat McAfee:But you didn't make any noise there. We just learned. Not blooper. Okay. Not blooper. We'll see. Not blooper. You lost your vocal ball? Yeah. You howled so much. Ow! You took out your cords? You should call PETA. You lost your voice?

2:01:02I don't got much use for a coon hound who can't bark. Yeah, you basically take those dogs out to pasture and shoot them if they can't.

2:01:11Pat McAfee:For a hound dog, you know, you guys are supposed to be the best smellers. And then the best owlers. Track people. Since you can't do that, they're saying watch it whenever they try to take you out to a barn. Jack Carr. Don't go. Don't go. They try to get you out in the backyard. Don't go to the pasture. Okay? they're gonna say hey we won't take you out the pasture don't go yeah I signed a contract not to go oh that ain't a McDouble yeah yeah all right ladies gentlemen that's Smokey thank you Smokey good old Rocky top yeah scratch your head Yeah, scratch his head.

2:01:58Nick Saban:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh.

2:02:00Pat McAfee:You're a good dog. Is that a red rocket?

2:02:02Nick Saban:Rocket out? Watch out for that rocket.

2:02:04Pat McAfee:Yeah, we didn't see the rocket. That's a good call. Don't get too excited, Smokey. The game's tomorrow. All right, Rocky. Smokey. Rocky. You won't do that tomorrow. I'll tell you what. He's got good pizzazz, doesn't he? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Woo! Does that have a name? You think? What is that called, Smokey? Is that called the Smokey Pizzazz? All right, he'll tell you he's going I don't like that. He lost his voice from howling so much I think he caught so many prisoners, you know leaving jail. That's what uh, you know hound dogs are doing out there

2:02:52Pat McAfee:That's right

2:02:59Pat McAfee:This state, right? I could have Memphis, Tennessee. Yeah, that's right. Good state, dude. A lot of greats come out of this state. A lot of greats come out of this state, including good meat. Hypo said, I don't want to give you one restaurant, then I'm in some shit with the other four that I get free food at.

2:03:13Nick Saban:Smart.

2:03:14Pat McAfee:Which I appreciate him doing that on the way out. He had good vibes, good pizzazz. Let's make our picks on the other side as we send in to the greatest weekend of all time. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Take five. Five.

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2:04:27Nick Saban:Welcome in hour three of the Pat McAfee show. Feel good Friday, September 12th. Packers get a big win over the Commanders last night. Pat's in Knoxville.

2:04:38Pat McAfee:Football. Football.

2:04:41Nick Saban:Hey, you alright? Oh, the train did it too. Watch out for the train, Pat.

2:04:45Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what, when that train's coming through, you know it's gonna be a good day. Good things coming in the city. Good vibes coming in the city and a great game tomorrow as the Georgia Bulldogs travel. here to Knox Vegas is that train is straight out of a movie. Wow. The Polar Express. It's carrying some sort of patrol. Hazardous materials. Windows on the Polar Express. Look at that. That truck looks like it's parked. What a machine. That. That's nuclear. That's beautiful. with that pedal machine. That's America right there. That truck is awfully close to the tracks right there. That's why it's on.

2:05:31Pat McAfee:I'll tell you, I think that guy knew that he was in the shot. I think he's potentially watching the show from the train there because full point to me while he was riding by. And then I didn't know if it was a point or a middle finger. You never know these days. So I tried to zoom in a little bit. I couldn't really see it was so far away. But nonetheless, I think he knew we existed. there's a yacht rolling through the river right now i mean it's starting to order a bit

2:05:54Nick Saban:he's going through like a highly populated area no he was shouting us out i don't want to kill people

2:05:59Pat McAfee:nah i think now he's trying to not hate anybody it's a little bit dramatic with the horn you know but i i uh i respect it you know indianapolis a lot of trains there was a time where i was stopped by every train every time do you remember that oh yeah it's the worst every day i don't know if there's an uptick in trains or whatever but boy they really shut an entire thing down if you wanted to and then you dive into the conspiracy theories about trains just come uh you know locking down entire cities potentially and you start getting real freaked out that guy's not doing that okay that guy is just coming through town delivering the goods and we appreciate him doing that we appreciate him watching toxic tables here at bossa connor and at ty schmidt one half of the hammer cowboys ap tone is here and uh a guy that's joined me here in knox vegas is uh obviously a Miami Dolphins fan but also the other half of the hammer got Cowboys bubble Gump you know Gumpy we please come join me here for the picks dumpy's coming late baby game is gone be and he's not stompy his pants a little baggy cuz he took a dump Bumpy.

2:07:04Pat McAfee:What up, dude? How we doing?

2:07:08Nick Saban:Hat. Holy smokes, how do you keep that headset on? Unbreakable resilience.

2:07:16Pat McAfee:So, whenever I was a young lad and I was trying to get on the rides at Kennywood, one of the tricks could be to have the hat.

2:07:24Nick Saban:Yep, that trick right there. What, they're going to measure you with your hat on the top of your head like that? No way. You never know, because they have to go stand on the same thing.

2:07:31Pat McAfee:You know, they do this over here. so we used the one of the plays was either hair straight up if we're trying to get on this steel phantom or something or we try or we we try to get a abe lincoln you know an abe lincoln hat up on that thing to make you a little bit taller nailed it i'll tell you what getting on that ride it wasn't until you were like about to go up and then go down you're like was there a reason maybe they had a height restriction and it's like wait am i gonna die and that's part of the whole thing so gumpy shout out to you doing your kennywood today and also thank you for traveling down here in Knoxville.

2:08:02Pat McAfee:It's a beautiful day in Tennessee. It's also a great time to make our picks this weekend. AJ, you were undefeated going into the weekend. Congratulations.

2:08:12That's incredible work.

2:08:13Pat McAfee:Obviously, we thought maybe a backdoor would come around. He was also a couple Jaden Daniels touchdowns away from a few grand last night, I believe. Yeah, three grand, couple four touchdown parlays. Just missed. We'll get there Sunday. We were up all night for it, too. I was texting with Gubs a little bit late last night saying, oh, backdoor cover here. And he's like, I need Jaden to score. Yeah, I need Jaden to score. got a lot on and talked to Connor a little bit late night you know it felt good finishing that game didn't it it felt good watching the end of that game because I had fallen asleep on the bills on Sunday night and everybody in Buffalo sends me a text and then on Monday guess what happened yet again I fall asleep and I kind of wake up and I'm in the middle of it and I'm like oh boy is this the year where I'm too old for the game and then Thursday night last night because I was chasing that commanders plus three and a half and because I thought Jaden Daniels and Cliff Kingsbury were going to figure it out.

2:09:01Pat McAfee:I was up all night watching that thing. I watched the post show. I watched the thank you, Jerry chance. I watched Carissa and Fitz and Witt and Richard Sherman and Tony Gonzalez do their thing. Fitz, by the way, the best. He spun that thing two houses over. That was a great catch, too. I mean, that was a real boom, boom. They did a great start. So congrats to you, AJ. You're seeing the board well. Bengals hosting the Jacksonville Jaguars. Sam Hubbard will be the ruler of the jungle. Zach Taylor is asking fans to maybe take a 10-minute leave early from your booze and outside the parking lot to get into the stadium so we can make this place be alive from jump.

2:09:39Pat McAfee:AJ, Bengals minus 3.5 with the Jacksonville Jags, over under 48.5. What are your thoughts?

2:09:45Nick Saban:Well, I'll tell you what. I like this Jags team this year. I like Trevor Lawrence, obviously. I like what they're doing, Liam Cohn. They seem to be turning over a new league. This might be a new Jags team. But with that being said, give me the Bengals at home. Sam Hubbard, ruler of the jungle. That's going to get those people into a frothy mix before that game starts. They're going to be juiced. Give me the Bengals.

2:10:03Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what. The Bengals start with a win for the first time in a long time. If the coaches commanding fans come in earlier and it's the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars, boy. You got to win. You got to win that game or it's going to get loud over there regardless, especially with the entire offseason, with the amount of money and everything that was spent. Gumpy, what are your thoughts on this game? i think you guys might be forgetting that this is supposed to go on forever for the jaguars i love the jags getting three and a half ty when did they talk about this originally with the jaguars this is what they envisioned in january it's happening in september it's going to go on forever uh run it

2:10:51this is what we envisioned in january okay sir it's happening here in september gonna go on

2:10:59Pat McAfee:all right give me the jags plus three and a half i don't think there needs to be anything else said how could you not can i get four anywhere else can we get four anywhere three and a half across the board unfortunately all right i'll take three and a half uh for the jags over there i still think the Bengals win, but I think it's going to be one where there's a little bit of a teetering of this Zach Taylor guy needs to figure out how to get his team to play 10 minutes earlier. Maybe. Yeah, I think there is that happen, but also think the Bengals maybe win. It's Bills, Jets, AFC East. Boy, the Bills favored by six and a half.

2:11:33Pat McAfee:Jets team looked very good last week. Con man, is this disrespectful to the Jets or are the Bills that damn good? We forgot that fourth quarter by Josh Allen was remarkable. What are your thoughts, Connor? Yeah, exactly. Fourth quarter remarkable. Justin Fields, that offense, it might be like a week one, oh, look at us, and then who knows what happens after that. Not sure injuries with the Jets. Ed Oliver is out for the Bills in the middle, which is going to be massive. Oh, Bone, I heard him crying. Yeah, he was crying. We let him know, hey, you don't have to bitch about everything with the Bills.

2:12:06We get it, you're a fan. But, no, when it comes to the Jets-Bills, I think the Josh Allen second half is a more indicative kind of thing of what is going to come for the Bills versus the Jets continuing on their warpath.

2:12:23Pat McAfee:Can we share that tweet again? Us getting a screenshot of it with 777 views. That's incredible. Very quick on that. That's a quick, that is a quick, especially with Schefter, because his shit's getting views immediately because algorithm news breaking. So we were in there early on this news. That's good journalism. Hey, that's good journalism. We're absolutely on top of it as we go. Is DeBone near a microphone? Of course not. What are his thoughts on the Buffalo Bills this weekend, though? Ty, have you got a chance to chat with him about his likeliness of the Bills getting a big-time dub? Yeah, he basically, you know, it doesn't matter who's playing against the Bills on Sunday.

2:12:58DeBone said, hey, after the game last night, I was playing Madden for about four hours, just kind of going through the playbook to kind of get an idea of, you know, what the Bills are going to call on Sunday. and he came in this morning, extra pep in his step. He put up big numbers against the Jets. So he did say he's winning a lot of shootouts. He stinks at defense, so he's kind of worried about the Bills' defense overall.

2:13:21Pat McAfee:D-Bone is currently pooping, so he can't have him get to a microphone. Humigate that. Better than his hands stuck to the snack drawer for once. Oh, Bull Rush. I disagree. Bull Rush gone a little bit. At least when he goes to the snack drawer, it doesn't stink up the whole joint. It's going to smell like a dung beetle in here after that. All right. I'll take D-Bone's Bills. I'll take D-Bone's Bills there, minus six and a half. AJ, did you make your pick?

2:13:50Nick Saban:I did not, but I'm with you on this one. Give me D-Bone's Bills as well. You guys can have minus six. We'll take it.

2:13:57Pat McAfee:We'll take it. Yes, we will. Yes, we certainly will. You don't like the Bills, but you also don't like the Jets, Gumby. So what are you on this one? Probably the under. Under. Hopefully bad football in this one. I don't think that's the case with this Jets team. Justin Fields looked good. Let's go Seattle Seahawks, Pittsburgh Steelers, DK Metcalf revenge game. Can we get that at minus three anywhere if we wanted to, Tony? Yes, you can. Okay, so Steelers minus three or Seahawks plus three and a half. Shout out to ESPN Betts number on the three and a half elsewhere for the three. Pittsburgh Steelers have a huge win over the Jets last week, and obviously everybody's singing the praises of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and maybe they win a Super Bowl this year.

2:14:33Pat McAfee:Chris Boswell had to hit a 60-yard field goal. Now he did. That's a part of the entire process. And Boswell, the Wizard of Boz seemingly never misses. That thing would have been good from 70, this Pittsburgh Steelers team. And then Sam Darnold and this McDonald-led Seattle Seahawks team never gets talked about, ever, legit, never really gets chatted about. A.J. Hawk, do you like the Steelers minus three, or do you like the Seahawks plus three and a half, brother?

2:14:57Nick Saban:I'll tell you what, Steelers' first home game, don't you think they will intro the offense? Aaron Rodgers comes out last. That place will be rocking. Give me the Steelers minus three.

2:15:12Pat McAfee:Yeah, what if Brett Michaels shows up, too? Well, he was at Wiz's birthday the other day, and he killed it. So, I think he is.

2:15:18Nick Saban:I wish I got an invite to that.

2:15:20Pat McAfee:You probably did. You and me both, brother. Jesus Christ.

2:15:24Nick Saban:The same longs and everything.

2:15:27Pat McAfee:It's a good group. It was. Can I hear anything? He was in the kitchen when that video was recorded. Aaron coming out. Last intro. If he does his yippee-ki-yay. Same arm, same leg. With fire. With fire. It's happening. That'd be sick. The injuries are going to explode all over the place. I'll take Pittsburgh Steelers minus three. I like that. Los Angeles Rams. Five and a half point favorites in Nashville, Tennessee. The Tennessee Titans last week against the Denver Broncos had a great, great showing from their quarterback, Cam Ward, number one overall pick. But there was a little confusion from the head coach or some other stuff, kind of a crappy game.

2:16:12Pat McAfee:Los Angeles Rams, a team that's always going to be good. Favored by five and a half. Gumpy, your early thoughts on this one? Titans missing one of their old linemen. He's out. But I like what I saw from the Titans against the Broncos. I think they keep this tight and cover five and a half. Green Bay Packers missing two offensive linemen. Did not matter last night. Will it matter the Tennessee Titans a little bit more? Tone, anything we should think about as we try to score this game? Los Angeles Rams good, Titans bad. Is that how everybody's viewing this? Yeah, it is. And Gumpy is a huge Cam Ward fan, so I'm not surprised that he went with the Titans in that situation.

2:16:46He was right. The right tackle is out. The Titans O-line looked like shite last week against the Broncos. The Rams coming in, their defensive line, pretty good as well. The team total for the Titans is 17.5. Just something to think about that. You go over or under that one if you want. I am not agreeing. I'll be a Rams fan here this weekend.

2:17:05Nick Saban:AJ, who do you like? I mean, I'm kind of torn because I'm a Cam Ward guy. I've jumped on the bandwagon. I've always been on to see what he did in his first NFL game and how he can sling it. I do like that, but I am going to take the Rams here.

2:17:18Pat McAfee:Me as well. I am a McVay guy as well. I'm a Cam Ward guy for sure. I like what he's doing. I like everything about it. I love his moxie. I like his dad just to be some waste. It's going to be a long year. It's going to be a long year. His dad just getting out there. Jeez, is this what it's always like? He's asking the fans. Yeah, always. That's what it's always like. Jeez, what do we sign up for here? But I like McVay. I like Stafford. I like Puka Nakua. I like that fist guy giving a hey on that fumble. Left hand levitates. Grabs it. I like the Rams. San Francisco 49ers taking on the Saints. Donner in a Superdome, brother.

2:17:56Pat McAfee:The New Orleans Saints obviously are on quite a run and not winning whenever Spencer Rattler is quarterback. But who's the starter for them down there? Rattler. Still Rattler. Yeah. Okay. What's the record? 0-7, I believe.

2:18:10Nick Saban:Playing Mac Jones, right?

2:18:11Pat McAfee:Looking for 0-8. That is great. Mac can spin it now. Hold on, though. Before we get to the Mac Jones thing, there's a Spencer Rattler stat that Bruce Brown was pointing out yesterday, and I think he does not want us to point it out publicly as much. But what is that stat, Bruce?

2:18:24Nick Saban:So last year, Rattler was 0-6 as a starter. He started this year 0-1, so add it all up. 0-7 as a starter. I'm just curious, how far does it go? Do we get an 0-12 starter, an 0-16 starter? Obviously, Mac Jones going here, it might be a tight one, but I'm not ready to back the rattlesnake just yet.

2:18:45Pat McAfee:Yeah, Bruce was basically implying how long are they going to let this guy lose for this team is what Bruce was saying. Bruce dropped it like four different times, AJ, Four different conversations around the Thunderdome. He's like, Spencer Adler, Owens, how many are they going to give this guy? He played all right last week, I feel like. He did. Yeah, maybe the last six games before that, too. Maybe he played pretty good and it's just not working. Not a good time to be a Saints quarterback. Mack Jones and Shanahan, I think, are going to have success. Connor, do you think that? Yeah, I think Mack Jones is going to spin the shit out of the pill.

2:19:16If I had to guess, he's probably 2026's NFL's Daniel Jones of 2025. If you got Ricky Pearsall or Christian McCaffrey, play him because Mac Jones is going to spin the pill to him. I believe the stats when it comes to Brian Thomas Jr. actually last year. Brian Thomas Jr. had like 550 yards of Trevor Lawrence in eight or nine games. Mac Jones comes in. He ends up with like 650 yards and six touchdowns. So Mac will just force feed the number one receiver. All these highlights. Typically it works out. And also remember Kendrick Bourne, probably going to be a go for the Niners, and him and Mack already have a very, very good connection going back to New England 2021.

2:20:01So I actually feel very good about Mack in this offense.

2:20:05Pat McAfee:Ty, we saw the Ariat costume that they sent us. Yep. The denim on, denim on, denim on cowboy boots. It looks good. Brock Purdy, obviously, just got paid. Is Mack – I'm not saying – I don't want to do it because I like Brock. Yeah, me too. I'm bringing it up. Me too. Even as an Iowa State guy, I like him. Listen, I think Connor might be on to something. I think Mac Jones might look pretty good. But let's remember everything Brock Purdy did for the 49ers. Let's not just jump to conclusions. Let's go back to January. Exactly. Let's go back to January when we envision this. It's unfortunately happening in September, and there's a chance that if Mac Jones plays well, it goes on forever.

2:20:48Pat McAfee:I'll take the San Francisco 49ers minus three and a half. You can get them at three. Okay, I'll get them at minus three even better. AJ, who'd you take?

2:20:56Nick Saban:I was leaning Saints, and then after all this talk and how Mac Jones is going to feed the stars, give me the nine. No, no, no, no, no, no.

2:21:02Pat McAfee:Because if Mac Jones shits all over himself here, we are a show that was all one-one.

2:21:06Nick Saban:I know, but I picture Fred Warner, Nick Bosa. I'm thinking of them against Spencer Rattler. I just feel like those guys are good. I like the San Fran defense. Give me San Fran minus three.

2:21:15Pat McAfee:Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions. Detroit Lions favored by six and a half. Remember, the Bears had the Vikings beat until the fourth quarter. Caleb Williams, maybe not terrible, maybe not ass for a little bit of that game. Is this the Ben Johnson era that everybody was expecting at the beginning of the game? Yes. Then at the end, oh, my God, we stink again, says Bears fans. Now you've got the Detroit Lions, a little bit of a wounded animal, and you've got Kelvin Shepard saying, hey, if you're hurt, get off the field. Okay? I don't want to hear it. No excuses. What's Ben Johnson good at? Everything.

2:21:45Pat McAfee:Thank you. Saw it in practice a lot. Now I'm the D.C. Foxy, six-and-a-half-point favorites at home. Is Eminem or Kid Rock, that's a lot of points. What's going on? We got a big Calvin Johnson going in the Ring of Honor again. You guys giving him his check back? What's going on? I just think all the Detroiters are going to be raising so much hell. It's going to be the loudest forward field has ever been. There's one concern, left tackle. Taylor Decker has not practiced all week. The O-line already was absolute shite last weekend. so if he doesn't play but they're saying they think he's going to if he does not play I'm concerned about that but at the end of the day this is a revenge game and also we gotta remember the Packers looked very good for the Detroit Lions because our OC our golden goose stabbed us in the back and chose the Bears when he could have chose any other team so yeah I think MCDC and the boys are gonna be ready.

2:22:40Pat McAfee:It's your revenge game. Ben Johnson got run out of town. He finally made you guys entertaining and interesting to watch, and then they say, get this guy out of here, and I'm going to boo his ass. Ben Johnson's thinking revenge as well. AJ, who do you like? How do you like it?

2:22:52Nick Saban:I like the Lions minus six and a half at home. I feel like, especially with Kelvin Shepard, the presser, what this defense is going to be doing. Caleb's going to be running for his life. Give me the Lions. Pat, if you like the Lions, you can get them at six. Good. I'll take that.

2:23:07Pat McAfee:Am I going to do this or not? I can't believe it. Lions lose. Their season's over. Holy shit, look at this yacht Party Get this yacht Oh, that's a legit yacht Holy shit, man

2:23:21Nick Saban:Some guys, they're just Helicoptering his meat on the top deck for you That's what you do when you have a yacht like that That wouldn't be hilarious What flag is on the front of that thing? I'm guessing Tennessee Tennessee That thing's sweet on that, man I'll tell you what

2:23:38Pat McAfee:They were riding there in January. They were thinking about this in January. Yeah, big time. And with that yacht, it looks like it's unsinkable, so it should go on forever. I didn't know that was Wayne's boat hustle. Hey, that's a good rig, you guys. Go up there. Nice. Yeah, you guys down here too.

2:24:01Nick Saban:Yeah.

2:24:02Pat McAfee:Yeah, I'm back.

2:24:04Nick Saban:That's a good-looking boat.

2:24:05Pat McAfee:That's a good-looking boat there. Okay, so I'm going with the Chicago. No, I'm not. You got it. Do it. You got it. That's it.

2:24:18Pat McAfee:I'll take the Chicago.

2:24:20Nick Saban:You got it. They're going to bounce back. Who is? Chicago. You should take them. Who do you like? He hates the Bears. it's like watching foxy talk himself into optimism i would i would like to think if the lions are who we think they are they should smack the bears around hell yeah so i would i'll take the lions okay that's what the packers are really good pat just remember that that's the lines could still be poop and the pack i'll take the i'll take the chicago i'll take the detroit lions

2:25:02Pat McAfee:My mouth wouldn't even do it. My mouth wouldn't even do it. What's that all about? How come I won't do that? The O-line was concerning, Foxy. And then he got a guy hurt. Give me the Chicago Bears plus six and a half. All right. Yep. Offensive coordinator Johnny Morton came out. He said, easy fix. We got this. I don't love his team. Oh, Johnny Morton did say it was easy fix. Oh, okay. I love his confidence, but I hope it's fixed. Johnny Morton's in his bag. Yeah, we're good. Fun fact, I saw somewhere on Twitter that Johnny Morton has the same nail tech as Caleb and Angel Reese. Oh, that's not true.

2:25:46Pat McAfee:They had good nails. And some people's nail techs don't know how to keep a little secret. I believe that's Jack Harlow. Yeah, maybe he performs with the igloo again. Oh, maybe in Detroit. My nail tech knows how to keep a little secret. And Caleb's like, hell yeah. My name is those too. You know, they do the entire thing. That'd be sick. So there's one really good nail person in Chicago. Yeah. Like really, really good nail person. Got Caleb and Angel Reese. All right, I'm sticking with the Chicago Bears plus six and a half. Lions win. Chicago Bears cover. Giants, Dallas Cowboys. What am I saying?

2:26:21Pat McAfee:Give it a Lions minus six and a half. I'm out of here. I'm out of here. Give it a Lions minus six and a half. Giants, no offensive. No left tackle. Right tackle, left tackle. Not confirmed yet, but he hasn't practiced all week. Ben is right. Correct.

2:26:38I mean, the Packers' defensive front is unbelievable, though. Like, their whole line might not be that bad.

2:26:45Pat McAfee:I'll take the Lions minus 6.5. And that's just because if you would ask me in January, I don't know if I'd ever really be able to get the Bears anything out of my mouth. Giants-Cowboys. Cowboys favored by 5.5 at home. The Giants fresh off a six-point debut for the 2025 NFL season. Obviously, it's all going well. I'll take the Dallas Cowboys minus 5.5. AJ?

2:27:07Nick Saban:Yes, I will take the Dallas Cowboys minus 5.5. I can get you guys. Actually, this is a widespread. You actually get 4.5 on the Cowboys. We would like that. Give me that. We would like that.

2:27:16Pat McAfee:If we were to go with the Giants, we could get, what, plus 10 somewhere maybe? Giants are up to 5.5, but at the green one, you get the Cowboys minus 4.5. Okay, so I'll take the Cowboys at four and a half. Patriots, Dolphins. Dolphins favored by one and a half at home. What? 85 % of the money is on the Patriots. This is loser goes home game. Season's over. Season's over. Dolphins turn around and play at Buffalo on Thursday. Oh, Jesus. That would be a tough start. Yeah, they should try and flex it. I know it's early, but maybe we think about using the flex early. I saw Mr. Jassy, the new CEO of Amazon, up there with Roger Goodell, glad hand and having a good time last night on the Amazon Prime debut.

2:28:02Pat McAfee:I wish they would utilize their flexing more than they do. Now, granted, it's week three next Thursday for the Dolphins Bills, but I don't think you can do it until like week seven or whatever. But I would like these TV network executives to this year have a little spine, have a little gumption, and utilize the flex. There's a reason it's there. Not saying they would do it for week three on Thursday night. They should. But executives don't like doing it because they don't want to disrespect any fan bases or anything like that. It's like, to hell with it. Somebody's got to be in that position and make the decision for the good of the game.

2:28:33Pat McAfee:Let's make sure we're flexing when we call it a flex. And if we can get next Thursday's game out of there, let's do that. I've never seen Dolphins fans more united as they have been this week after watching what they did. No one's standing up for anybody anymore. Everyone's counted them out. If there's any fight in this team, they'll show up. after watching last week live, I don't think they do. We'll take the Patriots plus one and a half down here. AJ, your thoughts?

2:28:57Nick Saban:Yep, give me the Patriots. I mean, it's going to be a tough barn to play, though. Miami's fans are going to show up. They're going to be loud, right? You get the Pats plus two and a half.

2:29:05Pat McAfee:Pats plus two and a half. Yep, I'll take Pats plus two and a half. Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens. Ravens favored by 11 and a half at home. There's been a little gasoline thrown on the rivalry fire. Ty, Connor, what should we be thinking about here? Is Butter going to get a blowout against the Browns on the 30-year anniversary of the Baltimore Ravens? Yeah, I think the Browns are going to get the absolute dog shite beat out of them. You know, Derrick Henry, if he wasn't motivated enough with, you know, fumbling and potentially fumbling away the game, now the guys are saying this guy stinks at football.

2:29:40I could tackle him very easily. He poses no threat. Give me the Ravens in a big, big way.

2:29:47Pat McAfee:Okay, what about Joey Flack? coming back to the city that he called home. Yeah, you know, that's a good point. Sorry. Yeah, sorry, Joe. Hey, grass isn't always greener on the other side. Okay, it's been greener on a lot of different sides. AJ, do you like the Baltimore Ravens minus 11.5 or the Cleveland Browns plus? It's 11.5 across the board. 11.5, all right, go ahead.

2:30:13Nick Saban:You know what? I like the Cleveland Browns here. I think they find a way to cover on this one. 11.5 is a big spread for an NFL game.

2:30:21Pat McAfee:It is. Especially in AFC North.

2:30:22Nick Saban:A big garbage touchdown at the end or something. Biggest spread. Biggest spread of the season so far. The biggest spread last week was 8.5. Man.

2:30:29Pat McAfee:Give me the Cleveland Browns plus 11.5. Carolina Panthers. Can you just go with that back a little bit towards Gumpy? A little bit towards Gumpy. A little bit towards Gumpy. Perfect. Right there. The Carolina Panthers taking on the Cardinals. Cardinals favored by 6.5 at home. what happened to the Panthers? I thought this was going to be the year. The Panthers were going to be there. Now they're dogs in Arizona. Arizona fresh out of a big-time win in New Orleans. AJ, how do you see this one going?

2:30:58Nick Saban:For this one, you know what? I like the Carolina Panthers here. I think they could find a way to win this game, actually. So give me the Panthers, what, plus six and a half? Yeah. Okay.

2:31:07Pat McAfee:Gumpy, your thoughts? I love the Panthers here. Too many points. Saints kept it tight with the cards. I think the Panthers keep this one close. Okay. I will take the cards minus six and a half at home. AQ Shipley is going to be on the call. I think they're going to be pumped up about it. Now, let's go Broncos, Colts. Broncos coming in as favorites into the Loud House. Yeah, right, dude. Yeah, right. What are we talking about here? Bo Nix has no idea. Hey, what is the stat, Gump, for the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos last eight meetings? The Colts have been historically good against the Broncos, covering seven of the last eight.

2:31:44Pat McAfee:Now, brand new teams for both sides, brand new buildings for both sides. But when one logo is taking on the other logo and they're both ponies, the shoe is the one doing the W-ing afterwards. Give me the Colts plus how many points can I get? Two and a half. Yeah. Yeah, I like that. At home, Colts plus two and a half. I hope they don't rest on their yawneys. I hope they don't rest on their yawneys. I hope they understand that having success week one means nothing, especially if you get your ass kicked in week two. This Denver Broncos team, a lot of people picking them to potentially go to the Super Bowl.

2:32:16Pat McAfee:It's like, hold the phone. What if they've got to come into the lighthouse in another battle like they had last week with the Tennessee Titans? And Danny Dimes starts going crazy. There's a chance that that takes place once again. We can't wait for it. AJ, who do you like? 4.05 game. This is our closest to prime time that we're going to have all year.

2:32:33Nick Saban:Yeah, it is. The sun will be coming through the big window in a weird way to find some people on this one. Give me the Denver Broncos. Come on, you weren't there. You weren't there. I'm a believer in the cold. What? Oh, no. Wardock? Oh, no. See, I don't like this. These guys are brand new. Don't love that.

2:32:55Pat McAfee:Oh, no. Yep. Broncos' offense didn't move the ball against the Titans last week. They didn't. You're right. Yeah. God bless. I'm allergic to terrible news. Aren't we all? That's what that was. Sorry. Is Bynum playing? He's doing this one here. Is Danny Dimes playing? Tyler Warren playing? As far as we know. Is it windy? It is. Something just blew off over the stadium. They've got a lot of eyes on the stadium right now. It feels like things have gone crazy. The Colts are my choice. AJ's choice is the Broncos. He has no idea what the lighthouse is like. Philadelphia Eagles taking on the Kansas City Chiefs.

2:33:38Pat McAfee:Eagles favored by one and a half in a Super Bowl rematch. In the kingdom. Over there, there, boy. Anything we need to know about this one, boys? Xavier Worthy not expected to play. He was at practice. But, yeah, it's slim. There it is. That's what Andy Reid said right there. I saw the tweet by Nate Taylor. He did the one typing it up and sending it out there. Chances are slim on Xavier Worthy. Travis Kelsey has taken blame for that. Said, hey, I got to get depth on that route so that doesn't happen. He's a big dude. Xavier Worthy take a big shot. And why don't you make your life much better with our friends at DoorDash.

2:34:15Pat McAfee:DoorDash. You can win every week with DoorDash Streaks. You can save up to$250 a season when you order on game days. Now, there's an asterisk right next to it right there. That means there's something that is required. There's something that we don't have on this graphic. Oh, it includes$100 in DoorDash credits. Terms and exclusions apply. So that asterisk right there means terms and exclusions apply. To find out what those terms and exclusions – can you go point it to the terms and exclusions over there? I think you're going to have to go over there. I think you're going to have to go. I think you're going to have to walk over.

2:34:49Pat McAfee:Keep going. Keep going. Right there. Right there. Right there. Back up. Back up. A little bit forward. And point straight. Point straight. Point straight. Not up. He doesn't have the screen. Beard out. You're looking at that? We can't see your fingers because of the way you have your – Perfect. You're kind of just giving it like an open fist right now. What are you doing? Point with your finger. Where are you headed? We're looking for the terms and exclusions apply. Oh, I thought you wanted the QR code. That's QR code. Back up. That's QR. The terms and exclusions apply. Can you get to the terms and exclusions?

2:35:21Pat McAfee:What are you pointing up for? I can't see that far. Just point straight. I was. Back up. Back up. There you go. Boom. Boom. That's where I was at the start. Wow, man. You see his little fist behind my fist there? No, actually. Exactly. I love this game. Can you do it one more time? What about the pizza? Hey, can you put your arm in there, too, to hold that pizza? There you go. Slice it off. Or put your leg there like you're a chimpanzee and you're grabbing it with your foot. All right. Might have to take a knee. Actually, if you – Yeah, you take a knee, probably. You got to sit Native American style.

2:35:57Pat McAfee:Yeah, sit Native American. Yep, exactly what I was thinking. I think you sit – I think you got to sit Native American. Because look at the arms. You got to do one of these. Sit Native American style and do one of these. Yeah. There it is. No, it doesn't look good. You got two elbows? You don't have two elbows? You're going to sit. We just leave the guy in there.

2:36:15Nick Saban:Are you pointing? Gumpy, sit down and it'll work.

2:36:18Pat McAfee:Yeah. Gumpy, if you were sitting Native American style, have a little bit of crisscross applesauce, we'd be able to do that. Nonetheless, you can DoorDash Pizza right now and be a part of the DoorDash Streets game. What was that? That was lack of effort, I think, for DoorDash Pizza. I think I've given a lot of effort to the DoorDash pizza almost every week. It's so good, isn't it? Yeah, it's delicious. You just get that scent right there. Yeah. Anything. With an asterisk. Well, that's what we're trying to point out. That's the exclusion. That apply. You wouldn't point it. That's what I pointed at.

2:36:51Pat McAfee:Tried to. No. You pointed at the QR code, which, by the way, great QR code. Maybe better. Yeah, point out the show. Yeah. QR code here. I'll take the Eagles. No. The Chiefs are still the Chiefs. Nope. Give me the Philadelphia Eagles.

2:37:06Nick Saban:I got the Chiefs. All right, so Pat, you get the Eagles minus one. Chiefs will be the plus one and a half. Okay.

2:37:13Pat McAfee:I'll take the Chiefs. No twos anywhere? No twos. Oh. So I got him. They didn't have Patrick Mahomes. And they didn't have Travis Kelsey. Yeah, what's going to happen in this game? Would we judge them the same way? It also depends what you think of the Cowboys. Cowboys played Eagles tight. When was the last time the Chiefs were home dogs? Never. When was the last time they won against a spread bet for any of us? I mean, Mahomes' record as a dog is absurd. I'll take the Chiefs. Chiefs are still the Chiefs. Believe what your eyes told you. They look like absolute shit. Give me the Eagles. It's weak.

2:37:56Pat McAfee:Give me the Eagles. I'll take the Eagles. I'll take the Eagles. Minus one, you said? Yeah. Yes. I'll take the Eagles. It's only the second time Mahomes has been an underdog at home. Ever? Ever. What happened the first time? And the first time he won, I assume? No, they lost. They failed to cover. Wow. It was probably his rookie. Ah. Okay, I'll take the Eagles. I'll take the Eagles. I still think the Chiefs are still the Chiefs, but the Eagles is the Eagles. Starting off. Sunday Night Football, Atlanta Falcons versus Minnesota Vikings. Michael Penix Jr. versus J.J. McCarthy. McCarthy. Holy hell, we have a national championship rematch at the quarterback position, and we got superstars all around the field.

2:38:35Pat McAfee:Justin Jefferson and J.J. had an incredible relationship that is being documented by NFL Films on the sideline. Their connection was pure in the fourth quarter. J.J. McCarthy took the top off, and then Penix down there in Atlanta. Rahim Morris' defense, we assume, is going to do well. Penix can spin it. Has the moxie to be the Atlanta Falcons quarterback forever. Forever. Minnesota favored by three and a half at home. Is there any different numbers? Nope, three and a half. We got four? Nope, three and a half. Jeez. Who do you like? I like Atlanta. They played the box really tough. I think they keep it tight Sunday night.

2:39:10Nick Saban:Okay, AJ, who do you like? I like the Minnesota Vikings at minus three and a half.

2:39:18Pat McAfee:Do you believe that the fourth quarter is what it's about to be for Minnesota?

2:39:23Nick Saban:You think so, yes? The place is going to be rocking. You know that Sunday night. you're going to be doing the whole Vavuzla situation. Yeah, the Vavuzla. Yeah, you know. Skull. Yeah, all that. Thielen's back in town. Yeah.

2:39:41Thielen Todd, maybe.

2:39:44Nick Saban:I don't know if you guys have timed it up. Why aren't you doing it, Ty? We're skulling right now. I'm not doing that. Not this year. I'm not doing that. It's a cool thing, though. Look how cool it is. I mean, it's cool, but we got Super Bowl aspirations. You're not going to catch me fucking doing that. Not this year.

2:39:59Pat McAfee:Yeah, but maybe just give it a go one time to see what it's like for the good old days. You think about it? Just one of those? No, I mean, if we want to do a gator chomp for Florida and Billy Napier, I can maybe get on board with that. But you will not see me doing the skull chant this year. Hey, they got to win too, Florida. I will take the Minnesota Vikings minus three and a half. Okay. That's the show. We did it. Boom. Shout out to everybody that pieced this thing together here in beautiful Knoxville, Tennessee. Barcode and crew absolutely crushed it. Shout out to DoorDash being a part of the entire operation here for multiple years now.

2:40:35Pat McAfee:They've been doing Fridays for multiple times. Anything you need, you call and you can use our friends at DoorDash. Literally. Any food. That's a guy who's committed to the gimmick. AJ. That's my hand.

2:40:50Nick Saban:Where'd you get that pizza?

2:40:51Pat McAfee:AJ, how's that feel? What's that glove all about? Do you always wear that glove?

2:40:55Nick Saban:Yep. When I eat pizza, I do. It doesn't get dirty at all wearing felt gloves, felt white gloves.

2:41:00Pat McAfee:Oh, so like your fingies just stay clean underneath there, the felt gloves.

2:41:04Nick Saban:Yeah, I reuse that glove every time I eat pizza.

2:41:06Pat McAfee:I thought you were a stuffed crust pizza guy. That seems to be more of a, it looks a little bit. That's hand toss. It's weird you're holding it like that. No one's ever held pizza like that in the history of pizza. Yeah, why did you choose that? Why did you choose to hold it that way?

2:41:20Nick Saban:I'm actually not eating this piece. I'm handing it to Gumpty. I'm going to dig my thumb into the pizza before I hand it to somebody. Thank you, Hawker. I appreciate that. That's very kind of you to do that. You're a good guy.

2:41:30Pat McAfee:We love Hawker thumb pizza. Isn't that kind of our thing? That's what we like the most. All right. Well, thank you, AJ, for traveling. Shout out to DoorDash. Shout out to everybody here that set this up. Shout out to everybody that stood out here. They've kind of gone on rotation.

2:41:45Nick Saban:Are they outside the stadium yelling at you from Waco?

2:41:48Pat McAfee:Yeah. Yeah, and there's been different groups of people that have come and gone. There's been a couple mainstays that have stayed for the full three hours here, which I respect because I'm nowhere near them. I mean, I don't even know how. I don't think I'm going out that way at all either. From my understanding, I don't think I'm going to be anywhere near these people. So if they see this, just know, I appreciate you staying out there. Your vibes are immaculate. Okay, I really do. There's a really good chance that I don't see those people in person at all. And I don't like that because, remember, we came.

2:42:14Pat McAfee:Throw something. We had to walk. Yeah, throw one of those helmets as a souvenir. Just have them catch you. All right, catch it with your face. Yeah, right on the head. All right, before we get out of here, we got to pick this boxing fight. Generational fight here. Canelo versus Crawford, Allegiant Stadium. Obviously, Ring Magazine behind this. TKO promoting this, but this is not the new TKO Boxing Association that is being launched next year with Turkey and TKO, folks. But TKO is certainly a part of this. AJ, any of those matches on the undercard that you're looking at? I know you love boxing.

2:42:47Pat McAfee:and then when it comes to Canelo Crawford I think it's been reported that Canelo's getting$100 million for this fight. I have no idea what Crawford's getting I assume it's damn near. $10 million actually for Crawford. He's doing it more for Legacy is what I was reading. Hopefully he gets some points on the back end. Yeah, exactly. Up to$50. Okay, so obviously big money fight. Turkey and everybody from Riyadh season and Ring are trying to put up money to have these big fights these huge box office generational matchups have them actually happen so we're appreciative of that taking place canelo obviously signed like a 500 million dollar deal with the zone he has been heralded as a goat obviously since we've known him terence crawford absolute dog it was great to meet him whenever we're at new york times square which oh yeah turkey rented out times square to put on boxing loves the sport would like it to be huge this weekend aj who do you like how do you like it and Bruce do you have any information on this that we should think about?

2:43:46Nick Saban:Yeah one thing that jumps out is just their weight so Canelo's fighting at 168 and he has been he's actually gone up as high as 175 but Terrence Crawford got his welterweight belt at 147 so that's a huge jump up you know 21 pounds to be exact Canelo will have about 15 to 18 pounds on him so how can Terrence kind of take that on and adjust. And then Terrence is a bit of an awkward southpaw, but Canelo's one of the toughest nuts to crack, probably the toughest nut to crack since Floyd Mayweather with a lot more power than Floyd had. So I'm fired up. It's going to be a great fight. Canelo's minus 175.

2:44:25You're not getting that very often, so it's kind of tough to pass it up, but I love Bud Crawford as well.

2:44:33Pat McAfee:A tough nut to crack. He's like one of those Chinese finger traps. Exactly. Yep. Can't figure it out whenever you think you have it figured out like a microphone. Then you just kind of get stuck in there and do it all. Who do you like, AJ?

2:44:46Nick Saban:I like Canelo, man. I have a hard time. I watched Canelo shadow box in Tahoe one time, and he was so fast. It was like you couldn't even see him. So, yeah, I'm taking Canelo.

2:44:56Pat McAfee:He also has great moxie. Not that Bud doesn't, but Canelo just like, you know, seems like he's the coolest guy of all time everywhere that he's at. Toxic table at Boston, Connor. Ty Schmidt, who do you like? I'm taking Crawford. He's the American here. I think he's going to win it for the country, baby. I want Crawford to win. I believe Canelo's going to win. Your hat, you're like six foot taller at 6 '1". I know. I was thinking, why not? That's good. Why not start doing that? It's kind of a good move. Not bad. It's not a bad little gimmick. People put a little booster in the shoes. You can also get a little booster with the lift on the top there.

2:45:27Pat McAfee:Tone, one half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys, who do you like in the boxing fight this weekend? Yeah, the sweet science knowledge in me thinks it's going to be Canelo. But, you know, I also – you got$100 million before the fight even starts, and you got no reason to win that fight except for your – Legacy. That'd be self-motivated. Yeah, right. Give me bud, okay? USA there, I think, is what you're going with, feels like. Yeah, and you've always talked about it's tough to train with satin sheets. That's not my saying. That is a real saying. It's tough to want to wake up and get punched in the face when you're waking up in satin sheets.

2:46:03Pat McAfee:Canelo's been rich a long time. Yeah, he's been doing it for a long, long time. He doesn't lose. Who do you like? Canelo. Love Canelo. The hell? What the fuck was that? I know Tennessee don't like Canelo. I'm assuming that's a Crawford town. You think it is down here? That's my assumption, yes. It is a sweet Crawford town. I'm going with Canelo. I picked Bud strictly because he's an American, and I like him. But Canelo with a 15-pound weight advantage, is that what I'm hearing? Yep.

2:46:34Nick Saban:Yeah, that's correct.

2:46:35Pat McAfee:He's in the first fight of his$400 million each fight deal. Yeah, you're not going to want to lose the first one. That's one you're going to show up for, I guess. The first$100 million of this deal is certainly one that you're going to want to do your thing. They do say that. Well, I mean, hey, shit. I mean, the Pacers won game one, but they lost the finals, you know? Jeez. I don't think anybody there is making$100 million. I don't know the tie-in. I would say the last one matters more than the first one. But no, I understand.

2:47:09Pat McAfee:And they're going to fight too, right? Because remember the last time Turkey put on these fights was shit. He said no more Tom and Jerry bullshit. That would be the first one that has happened. Yeah, I was going to say. No more Harry Potter. That would be the first one. Because he said there's been other ones since then. Yeah, I don't know. Bud Crawford isn't running from anybody. He's going in there. Especially if he can get up to$15 million. Okay, I like. I'll take Canelo, but I can't wait to watch the fight. I'm happy it's getting put on, by the way. and I don't know how boxing people feel.

2:47:34Pat McAfee:I feel like there's a little heat maybe. Sweet science. There's a little bit of heat in the promotional aspect of it. But if Turkey's going to... That's what I'm hearing, right? Yeah. Okay, but if Turkey's going to continue to put up big money for these fights, we're lucky to live in a world where it's happening. Allegiant Stadium is going to be electric over there. That place is going to be insane. Good luck to all parties and congrats to whoever wins that on getting another fight worth$50 to$100 million on a run on the corner. And on that note, AJ, your hat looks great. That's how you should wear it.

2:48:00I will from now on.

2:48:03Pat McAfee:Hey, Jim, have an incredible weekend. Thank you for traveling out to Indianapolis.

2:48:06Nick Saban:Thank you. I can't wait to see tomorrow. You got anything planned for the folks tomorrow?

2:48:10Pat McAfee:Oh, I got so many ideas. Surprise.

2:48:12Nick Saban:What are you going to do with your mascot thing? Ooh. Yes, there it is. See that? That guy does have some good money. You can tell he's athletic. He did. He had the juice today. Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!

2:48:30Woo!

2:48:31Nick Saban:Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo! Is every school? No, just his. Come on. Here it is.

2:48:40Pat McAfee:That's a sweet move. It is. Sick. Oh, he lifted his leg, though. I got it. Yeah. All right, stick. There it is. Boom. Nice.

2:48:55Woo!

2:48:56Pat McAfee:There it is. All right, let's get the fuck out of here. It's been an incredible week. Great work in the back, boys. The graphic department, way to go. The baby. Way to go, boys. That boy, D-Bomb. Gordo. Bill. Bill. Mitt. Foxy. Foxy. Mitt. Definitely Mitt. That bad boy's going over. It's going way over. We knew what was happening. Wrong. As soon as that was happening. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. Let's never forget it. Weeks like this remind us all of that. and hopefully have the greatest weekend of all time. And we'll see you on Overreaction Monday.

2:49:35Pat McAfee:Thank you to football for being back. You're the greatest. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. Good energy in. Good energy out.

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