Biggest Week 3 Questions: What's At Stake | CFP Debate | First Coach Fired | Players To Watch & MORE

(upbeat music) - And welcome back to the Cup of 3 podcast. Here on CBS Sports, that's Tom Frennelli, that's Bud Elliott, that's Danny Cannell. I'm Chip Patterson, fired up to be with you. Here on CBS Sports HQ. Take a little time out of the week to get you set for what's ahead in college football. A little step back because we've already done a pun further review on Monday. We've already done big game breakdowns on Tuesday. Our locks, that'll be coming on Thursday, 11 a.m. Eastern time on youtube.com/cover3. But now we've got some other issues we need to tackle. We've got to get a stock report from day training Danny. We've got to get a college football playoff hypothetical and the Cover 3 committee from Bud Elliott and so much more. But I wanted to begin with a couple of the marquee matchups in week three. We're not talking about X's and O's. We did that in big game breakdown. We're talking about stakes, specifically answering the question, who has more to gain? Who's got more to lose? And because it's week three and because it is the game that has had our attention for months, we have to begin with LSU heading to Oxford to go play Ole Miss. It is Lane Kiffin's homecoming. It is a top 10 battle and it is a rivalry that even before Lane Kiffin made himself a main character and it was already one of the great rivalries in college football history. So we didn't even need all this extra stuff, but we've got it. So Danny Cannell, I'm asking you first, who's got more to gain? Who's got more to lose when you're looking at Ole Miss and LSU? Ole Miss, Ole Miss only has this one opportunity to get revenge on Lane Kiffin, to have them prove to the world that he shouldn't have left, to please their home fans who are desperate to have this win. I mean, we've talked about extra security needed in. Because in the bigger picture, a loss doesn't really hurt either one of these two names in the playoff picture. It doesn't really hurt them that much. I also think Ole Miss has turned that jambless where a loss hurts him and the Heisman race. We'll see if Sam Levitz even a Heisman contender at the end of the season. So they're the home team. I think it's Ole Miss that has more to lose in this game. >> I kind of disagree. I think LSU has far more to lose in this game than Ole Miss. Like this is a free money role to me. If I'm the Ole Miss Rebels, I've got Lane coming back and if I beat him, like Lane is the one who left. Lane left that program in the midst of a playoff run to go to LSU with the argument that I feel like I have an easier path to winning national titles at LSU than I do it Ole Miss. While Ole Miss was literally in the college football playoff with a chance to win a national title in LSU, wasn't. So if Lane goes through all that, takes damn near the entire team with him, takes the coaching staff with him, spends like $50 million on a new roster that he's taking over at LSU. And then he comes back to Oxford and loses. Like what was the point, dude? Like you thought you had a better shot. As far as like the hype, the narrative surrounding it, because with the Tigers lose this game, what's all the talk going to be next week? It's like, oh, did LSU make a mistake? Should they have hired Lane? Should he have left? They've got so much more to lose than Ole Miss. This is a free money role for the Rebels. Yeah, I think I agree with Tom there. Like LSU has more to lose for sure. I think Ole Miss has more to gain, right? Like for Ole Miss, it's like, hey, we're still an elite program. It wasn't all Lane Kiffin. Yeah, he took some of our players. Yes, he left, yes, he trashed us on the way out. Yes, he's trying to play like the victim card this week. We're standing on our own name, right? We are more than what Lane Kiffin made us. So I think there's a lot more to gain for Ole Miss, a lot more to lose for LSU. But real quick, follow here on this game. How much do you think the stakes will fundamentally impact this game, the stage, the stakes, all the dramas surrounding it? I know that you always do a very good job of taking all the noise and weeding it out. How much are you willing to consider for this one? Yeah, I think you have to consider both sides, right? Like it might be a bit of a worry for Ole Miss. Like I think Ole Miss will be impacted by this more, right? Whereas like the guys to LSU, most of the dudes weren't around last year at LSU or at Ole Miss. Like some came from Ole Miss, but for those part, these guys came from all over the country, right, LSU has history. I think this is for the players more of just another game, another big game for them on the LSU side. I think on the Ole Miss side, like there's a lot of like the narrative and the story playing into it, which they can use that to their benefit or it could be a detriment. I guess we'll have to see you on Saturday night. Interesting, interesting stuff. Tom, why don't you get us started with this next one Friday night in the big 12. We got Lubbock, Texas. We got the tortillas. We got the red raiders looking to make a statement as truly the team to beat in the big 12. In comes Willie Fritz, Houston team, exceeded expectations last year, strong performance. Now they're trying to back up that top 25 ranking. So whether it's the big 12 title race, whether it's just each team running its own journey here in this 2026 season, how do you assign the more to gain more to lose when it comes to that Houston, Texas tech game? I think Houston has a lot to gain here in that if they win, they've gone on the road and they've beaten the big bad, Texas tech, the big baddie on the block in the big 12 conference race. The team that everybody considers the favorite. So therefore, I think on the other end of it, Texas tech has far more to lose because if we think of how we've talked about Texas tech these last few years, they were clearly the class of that league in 2025. They spent all the money on those players and it showed on the field and near every single week, except for that one road trip to Arizona state. This year so far, they have not looked incredible through their first two games and there was all the off season drama surrounding Brendan Soresby. So Texas tech was making a lot of headlines this off season, but not for the reasons that they would really want to be making those headlines. But when it comes to this season and now that the games have started, you're at home, it's Friday night, this will be the game that most of the country is watching on Friday night. So this is one of your spotlight opportunities. And the other side of this is BYU is not on the schedule. Utah is not on the schedule. We talked about that as a positive going into the season as far as Texas tech is concerned. But if they lose this game, this is their one really true opportunity in the spotlight and they don't have another one. So they've lost what might be their biggest game of the year and then all of a sudden they're very much looking at a situation where if they don't win the big 12, there's no guarantee that they are going to get in as an at-large when you start comparing the resume to what they're going to be competing against with teams from the SEC and the big 10. So I think the red raiders have a lot more to lose in this game than Houston. I think if Houston goes on the road and wins, it's incredible for the Cougs. If they go on the road and lose here, nobody's really writing them off because they were expected to lose and they still have a path to a possible big 12 championship. Totally agree on everything. Texas tech has its playoff hopes writing on this one. If they lose this game, there is only one path and that is winning the big 12 championship game because they have zero chance of getting into the college football playoff as an at-large bid with that schedule and with a loss to anybody on their resume. This probably has been, a lot of talk has been Oregon, they have the loss, but I think outside of Oregon, like Texas tech should be coming under scrutiny as well because they have not been impressive. Their defense has not been anywhere near as dominant as was last year. The offense has been sputtering through the red zone. They're trying to figure things out. Thomas Costanelanos was way more efficient this past weekend where I think they were five for five this past weekend in the red zone. I look at this Texas tech team with everything on the line and for Houston, maybe this would get them the type of notoriety and respect that they got. The last time they got any attention on them was when they were not in the conference and Tom Herman was leading them as a head coach and they were a possible group of five team in the college football playoff. If Houston wins this one, I think people will legitimately look at Houston as a playoff team or at least they should because if they beat Texas tech and love it, that shouldn't announce them as a very real college football playoff contender. - Yeah, I'm gonna agree with both Danny and Tom Herman. I think they really nailed it. Like for me, the Castanelanos point is interesting, right? Texas tech this year has not been explosive on offense. The defense, I still think is very good. I don't think it's quite as good as what it was last year. But if you're not gonna be explosive on offense, you have got to cash in those red zone and scoring zone opportunities for touchdowns. And I think Hammond, you know, and I think he's athletic but he's also coming off the knee injury, right? So if he's not a willing or quite as capable runner as maybe he would have been, you know, pre knee injury, having Castanelanos in there to run some red zone packages is probably pretty vital for these guys. I do think you trust Willie Fritz at Houston to get to a certain point number. Maybe that's 21, maybe that's 24. But Texas tech cannot afford here to go out and lay a stinker on offense and put up like 17. Yeah, Texas tech playing in this position now is when they need to rise up. I mean, we did a dad gum documentary about him. We talked about him as the villain of college football. We have celebrated and marveled at everything they have done to invest in this program and level up so quickly that it is wild to say that there's a must win game here in mid September. But when it comes to Texas tech and the various paths that you have to get to the college football playoff, A lot of pressure there. But coming back to you on this one because it is it is our beloved Atlantic Coast Conference and you never really thought you'd get must-win games in September, but I think I have found another one at least in terms of SMU and Louisville and that competition to be on the other side of Miami because SMU and Louisville don't have the opportunities to play Miami in the regular season. So if they want to take Miami down, it might have to be making it to the ACC championship game. And last time I checked if Miami's there, that only leaves one spot. So dare I say a elimination game here, but with the teams with the coaches specifically, you know, Jeff Brahms lost twice to Red Lashley in the last two years, SMU wants to make sure that they get play a little bit better than they did against Florida State. How are you judging the state assigning the stakes more to gain more to lose with SMU Louisville? Yeah, Chip, I think there's a little bit more pressure on Louisville here because of the opening of loss that they had Ole Miss. Now look, I mean, that's a very good Ole Miss team, very talented. Obviously you got the best of trying to add chambles in the final 20 minutes of that ball game. If you look at SMU though, like they're going to have a couple of other opportunities here, they do play Notre Dame and South Bend. They say what you want about their chances of winning that game, but that's not going to be like a 24 point spread, you know. So they'll have a puncher's chance, maybe not a strong puncher's chance in that one. You know, for Louisville, like there were many opportunities for marquee wins on this schedule, if you wanted to maybe secure in that large. Especially obviously, you know, to get to the ACC championship race, I mean, they have what Wake, NC State, Florida State, Syracuse, Stanford, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Pitt. How many teams do I just write off, we're going to make a bowl, guys, like over under two, two and a half, probably? - Three, yeah. - Yeah, right. Like it's not more than half. So I do think that this is a, it's like a kind of a half elimination game. If you don't win this, you certainly no longer control your own destiny to make the ACC championship game. Yeah, I think that to be fair, like Chip, you touched on it. Both of these teams have a lot to lose in this game because as you did mention, like these are two of the teams that are expected to be in competition for that second spot, if we assume Miami is in the ACC championship. So to not only have this loss on the resume and the standings, but to lose the tiebreaker aspect of it is huge for both teams. But as Bud touched on, I do believe Louisville has far more to lose because you've already got two losses. And you've, the two losses have come to who are probably going to be the two best teams on your schedule. So really, your only path is, you know, if you want to win the ACC, you have to win out because you have to get to the ACC championship. And if you want to get to the playoff, you have to win the ACC to get there because you're just not going to have the resume. So on the flip side, SMU has plenty to gain here because a, they're already 1-0 in the ACC. If they win this game, not only are they 2-0 in conference play already, but they're 2-0 on the road in conference play, which means the majority of their conference games that are remaining and it's not the most difficult schedule. But I mentioned it, Notre Dame is the toughest game they have left to play after this and that's not a, that's not an ACC game. But you're 2-0 in conference play and you're at home in conference play the rest of the season. So you're sitting pretty in a very nice position going forward in the ACC title race if you can win this game against Louisville. I agree with both of you guys. I do, you know, people are still looking at Virginia, kind of forgetting about them, that is SMU's one remaining test, but it is at home in this one. I think there's some pressure on Kevin Jennings if he wants to somehow be an outside shot at the Heisman trophy. You know, there's a lot of pressure on him to come up and he's already 2-0 against this one, but I do think this is about Louisville. What drives me nuts for Louisville and I think it probably does for Jeff Brown if you ask him about it. Everyone and their brother talked about how Ohio State looked so good against Texas and it was a great loss. That was a great loss versus Ole Miss who we think is going to be a really good team. The unfortunate reality is you're not going to get the benefit of the doubt that Ohio State does because of their history and tradition and because they play in the big 10. So this does feel like a must win game for Louisville and their playoff hopes to stay in the stand because it does look like their path is to make it to the ACC title game. If they go through this game and they do lose in a close one to Miami and an ACC championship, I think maybe that first game against Ole Miss could come back to help them, but you do not want to leave that up to the committee. You have got to take this into your own hands and that starts with the win at home against SMU. Yeah, sure enough, little precedent there in the ACC SMU lost in the ACC championship game, but was still able to make the college football playoff in 2024. You know, the big game brom moniker started when he was back at Purdue. He comes and takes over at Louisville in 2023. He takes out Notre Dame in 2024. Well, he shows up and he beats Clemson so bad in their own house. They're heading for the exits by the start of the fourth quarter. Then in 2025, he takes out Miami when they're number two in the country. But here's the problem, big game brom. This is your last chance to have a big win because you've already had the Ole Miss game and then you've got this one. And now all of a sudden, if you lose this one, you know what Louisville fans are saying? You're o and three against Brett Lashley. And that's somebody we measure ourselves against. There's no context about the fact that when SMU beat Louisville last year, they didn't have their starting quarterback. They didn't have their starting running back and they didn't have their backup running back because of injuries. Nobody's talking about that because fans are emotional. They are not necessarily dealing with concrete details. The fact of the matter is if Jeff Brahms is going to call himself big game brom. And if he's going to make sure that he's not getting lapsed by Brett Lashley, he needs to win this game. And so I think it's a ton of pressure, a lot to gain, excuse me, little to gain, a lot to lose when I'm looking at the Louisville position here. Again, wild for me to say must win game in week three, but just given everything that's on the plate right now, I would say don't lose it, Jeff. That's my suggestion to you. Well, coming up on the other side, we got to check in with the market. That's right. Daytrade and Danny is back with the stock report. The latest buys sells and more next. Back here on the cover three podcast coming to you on CBS Sports HQ. And yes, we do have to check in with the market. It's time for a little day, trade and Danny. Danny, why don't you get us started as we head into week three with a look at a quarterback from the show me state. All right, I've got have you guys ever had a stock that you've had in your portfolio and you buy it? Somebody tells you to buy it and you just kind of stick it away and it just kind of sits there. And then all of a sudden it pops and it's like, whoa, what just happened? I feel like that's Austin Simmons at Missouri. Do you guys remember I looked like a genius because I had Ole Miss as a playoff team a year ago. Because I was a believer in Austin Simmons being this superstar quarterback that we had heard so much about he graduated high school early. He was really smart. He was a dual sport athlete. Well, guess what? All of a sudden he gets bally pipped from Trinidad Chambliss. Everyone forgot about him, but his stock is on the rise and I am here for it. Seven touchdowns, zero interceptions, a big road win in that Kansas game in the rivalry game. Tough environment back and forth early in the game. He stands up there and by the way, he's found a couple receivers to throw to. This has been without a mod hearty there in the backfield who's still recovering from that gunshot wound this offseason. I think there is a really strong possibility that Ole Miss wins their next one, two, three games before a huge matchup at home against Texan M. Camario Taylor might have something to say about that, that big matchup in Starkville. But I am buying Austin Simmons that I bought a year ago that all of a sudden I'm still holding on to it and it looks like it's a stock on the rise. Yeah, Danny, I think you're on to something here. If you watch the throws he made, you can call it offense differently with the guy that gets the ball out accurately with that many RPMs on it, man. I mean, like that just looks different. Some of these wide field throws the Simmons are making, like just not something you see every day in college football and it does make you defend the whole field more. I still have a lot of concerns about this Missouri team, the defense at times certainly did not look great against Kansas. If Kansas's quarterback could throw a little more consistently, I think they would have had major success against the Tigers, but he couldn't. And so Missouri won that game, but man, like, yeah, I think he stuck up and pretty clearly a top half quarterback in the SEC. Yeah, what we've seen through the first two weeks of the season, like there were a lot of quarterbacks were getting plenty of hype and for good reason during the off season, but I would say that like per throw the most NFL throws I've seen per attempt this year is Austin Simmons at Missouri. Like Bud touched on it, he's unleashing throws that you're typically not seeing a lot of the kids right now in the country doing as far as both the, you know, the zip on the ball and the accuracy is putting them in the right place on time and with a lot of heat coming with them. So yeah, no, I agree. I wish I had bought more of this stock last year. I wasn't as smart as Danny. I was selling my Austin Simmons stock once Trinidad came around. Yeah, that's that's like got some force. Don't just gotta buy and hold. Just got to have done. You can't sell it, Danny. It's like it's like we're cleaning out your grandparents house and you're like, what is this grandma? She goes, oh, somebody told me to buy stock in the fruit company and it's Apple that was purchased, you know, like decades ago and now all of a sudden, here's Austin Simmons NFL draft Let's talk about him like he's a first round pick. Everything's coming in. Danny's cash info. That's why you listen to Danny Cannell advisors, all right, DK, where would you like to go next? That was a little positive. Why don't you give us a sell because it's time that we were mature and we make some aggressive decisions in the market. Yeah, you got to reallocate some fun sometimes. And that's where I am with the Washington Huskies. At big 10 media days, I was pretty bullish on the Huskies. We've talked to them on Williams, the growth we had seen him as a leader and just dealing with the media. And I was thinking Washington could be a team that would be very much in the thick of the playoff discussion going into their last two games of the season, Indian and Oregon. If they got one of those, they could possibly be in the college football playoff. I am selling that take right now. They have looked very, very average. I think it is very apparent that that Dimon Williams is missing the weapons that he had last year in Jonah Coleman in the back field in Denzel Boston on the outside. The team is missing a clear cut identity. They have eaked out, not one, but two victories. And I get the Washington State game. It's Apple Cup. It's a rivalry. It was probably one they could have taken control. I've been more impressive, but they follow that up with a two point win against Utah State. All of a sudden, I look at the schedule and I see games against USC on the road at home against Iowa on the road in Nebraska Penn State. All of a sudden, I'm looking at them as possibly a seven win team as opposed to a nine or 10 win team. I am selling my Washington Husky stock. I certainly understand the impulse to do so I'm not going to completely sell on the Huskies yet because you look at the schedule that they have for the rest of the year. I think the one thing that they have been off to a slow start, but they're kind of a forwarded one with their schedule in that they don't really have to come out guns blazing because they still got a few weeks until they get really tested. And it's like, yeah, that USC game on the road obviously looks pretty difficult compared to what we've seen, but USC hasn't played anybody. And yes, they've looked better in those games, but we still don't really know who the Trojans are. Iowa has to come to Washington. And then you look towards the end of the year. They've got the Indiana game, which is still very difficult. It's still Indiana, but it is at Husky Stadium. And that road trip to Oregon. Does it look as difficult as it did two weeks ago? Like that certainly seems like a more winable game for the Huskies. So I'm not overly confident, but I'm not going to write them off completely just yet. I think that the rest of the Big 10 looks mediocre enough to this point so far that the Huskies might just stick around. Yeah, I'm going to strongly endorse Denny's recommendation here. You can get 11% return on your money right now, betting wash to know a lot of our partners to miss the playoff. Guys, every single game after this weekend against Easter Washington for them is loosable. They could lose to Minnesota, you could lose to USC, you could lose to Iowa. Honestly, if they keep playing the way they've been playing, they could lose on the road at Purdue. It's not likely, but that's certainly not a lock with how Washington's been playing. I think there'll be underdogs at Nebraska. There'll be dogs against Penn State. What's that game right now? Based on how they've played at Michigan State? They're not favored by much. If anything at all, massive dogs to Indiana and Granite Tom's right, Oregon has not looked good, but Washington has looked to be in my opinion, meaningfully worse than Oregon has. I mean, Washington State is not a good team and you struggle with them in part. Utah State is a team that just lost to FCS team in week one. They had a hail of merit to beat you. That's their in trouble, I think. This does not look good. Is this penny stocks because they are minus 1,500 at one American sportsbook to miss the playoff? So you would have to, but that's in a hundred in a major. That's a, I mean, I guess it's free money. Is that what you're saying right now? I mean, what is that? Like a seven or eight percent return over 90 days? You could do worse. A lot of hedge funds would take that. There we go. Seven to eight percent return, DK's got you. All right, DK. Let's finish on a positive here. Give me something else to add to my portfolio. All right. So we have talked a lot about conference supremacy and how the non-conference matchups matter. And I thought it was pretty interesting. The SEC has been dominant. We all kind of expected that with the depth of the league. But the big 10 has been disappointing. And the ACC made big waves last weekend going three and 0 against the big 10. They're right there just below 500 at five and six and some of their non-conference matchups after the weekend. I am buying the ACC is going to move strongly over 500 with a three in one, three in one record this weekend. The wins will be West Virginia, excuse me, Virginia over West Virginia. We see that Virginia offensive line. I think they dominate Virginia Tech over Maryland. We've seen James Franklin. We've seen that bad blood with Mike Loxley. I think his team is playing outstanding. I think they get the best of Maryland. And then NC State has to go into Nashville and get a win over a freshman quarterback and Jared Kurt is getting the nod. His first start in the SEC. I think that could be more challenging than people think. The only blemish probably Florida State against Alabama. That would be a shocker. But I think the ACC goes three in one this weekend to take a huge step forward in those conference standings there that we just saw. Yeah, I can certainly see it. I don't know if it's going to happen. But that parlay pays five to one. By the way, if you wanted to put those four results together in a little hookup this weekend. I mean, I think Maryland is dangerous for the Hokies. But Malik Washington played extremely well against UConn continuing his nice play from last year. Obviously, he like having receivers not dropped the ball the time. Guys, it's proven it has helped a little bit. NC State's the interesting one. I mean, they they have looked terrible so far this season in meaningful competition. But you know, Vanderbilt also has looked vulnerable at times and an exciting matchup of quarterbacks there. I'm curious to see how this plays out. It certainly it could happen. I mean, I guess I would buy the idea that they could go three in one in these games and get to a winning record. But I wouldn't buy the idea that it would make them like a playoff force because like let's let's imagine that they win the three games you just had in winning. So the power for teams that they've beaten would then be Maryland, West Virginia, Vanderbilt, TCU Rutgers, Purdue, UCF and Illinois. Not exactly a murderer's row of opponents there. It's not exactly a bunch of playoff teams you've racked up wins against. Meanwhile, your losses would now include Alabama LSU Ole Miss Tennessee. So when it comes to facing teams that are of the playoff caliber, you would not have a win yet. Well, I mean, but I'm looking up, but I'm just saying, you know, somebody buried him a couple weeks ago that was a big big 10. I think it could help them in the overall conversation. I don't think beating Rutgers Purdue when Vandy and West Virginia helps get you an at-large bid. I think a lot of this comes down to, are you fighting for a second playoff spot for your conference against the big 12? Like that's where it couldn't matter. Is that where a win against West Virginia could end up holding or how about that? Do you know? I'm sorry I was over TCU, you know? We were talking about more to gain more to lose if Virginia loses to West Virginia, but when it then wins the ACC, big 12 is going to get that nod before the ACC does. Oh, that's disastrous. Yeah. Yeah. Because Virginia could easily lose a non-con but then go in and wreck everyone's shop in ACC play and then all of a sudden it gets a little bit chaotic. All right, one more Danny. What's the last bit of the market report? One more. And this one's not two of a harsh of a cell, but if I was repositioning, I might reallocate some of my funds in the big 12. I had BYU is that potential second team or the team that could upset Texas Tech even though everything looks a little bit uncertain with Texas Tech looking a little more vulnerable. But I am going to sell BYU as the trendy pick in the big 12. I saw a lot of people picking this one. And while they've been good, like I've liked what I've seen from Bearbock Meyer, you know, and the steps that he's made and the receivers that they've given him and his ability to throw the football. But is anybody paid attention to Utah? And by the way, the Holy War is taking place in Salt Lake City at Ryder's Eccles. This is more about repositioning selling BYU to replace it with Utah. Devon Dan Pierre looks like he has not missed a beat with Jason Beck being gone. There was a lot of question marks. What it would look like with Morgan Scally taken over. I don't think they have missed a beat. And I think people have been sleeping on Utah. So I would sell my BYU to purchase a little Utah stock. Yeah. I think that's fair. You know, the real thing is like yes, Utah has looked better than we thought they would. But at the same time, Texas Tech has looked meaningfully worse. Like all summer, Texas Tech was odds on to win the league. And now they're plus money. Utah has looked a little bit better. I think Arizona State, despite the final score against Texas and M has looked pretty for real. They shot themselves in the foot a number of time down the stretch. But like the play for play, they were pretty much right there with A&M for a large part of that game. I don't think any of us really believe Kansas State with those offensive line injuries can go the distance in this league. So I don't know, man, like BYU, I think their strategy can work better. Now the Texas Tech appears to be a bit down than I thought it could preseason. And like Utah has looked a lot better than we thought. But also Arkansas would be meaningfully improved by having Denny and Elblink quarterback for them right now. So I'm a little bit unsure of just how good Utah is. Like, I mean, they just don't have a cubio. I feel bad for the hogs fans out there. But like, they can't play. Yeah, I've got. I don't think that I think it's a perfectly solid idea. It's just I agree. Utah has definitely looked better than I thought. Or at least they've maintained like compared to the fears of what they might look like after losing their entire coaching staff. But like they've played Idaho and Arkansas. And Arkansas has a legitimate argument to be one of the worst P4 teams in the country this year. So I'm not I don't want to overreact to it too much. But that said, I don't think that the gap between you Utah and BYU is as wide as maybe the talk is, so I certainly understand the proposition here. Could I get you guys to buy in the BYU and Utah are the two best teams in the big 12? Maybe. Yeah, no, that one might be the better buy because I, I'm, I'm, maybe I should just sold my Texas tech. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not taking Utah over Texas tech. I don't think I'm taking Utah over here as a state. I, I need to see them against somebody that has a quarterback. Okay, there we go. Hey, that can be a good advantage, especially when you're playing at home against the first year head coach and all the other turnover along the way. Well, coming up on the other side, what is the college football playoff fallout of Ohio State losing at Texas? Well, it might not be much now, but what if they lose again, or maybe a third time, what is a nine and three Ohio state team face in the college football playoff selection committee? We will rule on it with the cover three committee and more next. Back here on the cover three podcast, one of the fun activities we've had so far this year and we'll continue to do is allow Bud Elliott to bring to us the cover three committee some college football playoff hypotheticals because we know the selection committee and all of their grandeur will still have a monumental task of untying the knots of the rankings. So Bud, what have you cooked up for us today? Guys, I figure we want to stay topical after Ohio State who narrowly lost to Texas bow and that 23 to 3 lead there in the final minutes. Alright, so we have nine and three Ohio state, not in the conference title game against 10 to Miami, not in the conference title game. Let's break it down who they beat and buy how much and who they lost to and same. So Ohio State, obviously they already beat ball state. We saw the loss at Texas bounce back against Kent State big win, you know, decided victory over Tom's Illinois team. They're going to be a close one against Iowa. They beat Maryland. They lose by a fuel goal in Indiana. They lose by a fuel goal at USC. So they're sitting there with three losses. They come back. They beat Oregon. They beat Northwestern. They get the road win at Nebraska and they also get the win against Michigan. So they're sitting there, nine and three. They are not in an apolis for the conference title game. Then Miami on the other side. So they already want to Stanford. We saw them play a, I guess a game, but really a scrimmage against four to A&M. They, they, they went on Friday night at Wake Forest. They beat Central Michigan. They lose by six at Clemson. They beat four to state. They beat, they beat pit pretty decidedly. Again, they lose another road game by, by a single score to North Carolina. But then they go to South Bend and they beat Notre Dame. They come back. They beat Duke. They crushed the attack and they crush Boston College. They are ten and two. They are not in the conference championship game. Guys, who gets in? I, you know, Sark's right. The high state shouldn't be scheduling these games. You get punished for losing them. They don't get, they don't get rewarded for scheduling. I think, honestly, deciding factor for me here is in this scenario, Miami's got the better record and it has the better win. I think that win against Notre Dame trumps anything Ohio State has at that point because even if they beat Oregon, like that would be Oregon's second loss at a minimum. So that means Oregon at best is ten and two in this situation. They might be nine and three hell. They might be eight and four at that point. So I lean Miami. Now, I think if they beat North Carolina and lose to Notre Dame and have that same record where they're missing out on the ACC Championship game, now it becomes a much more difficult decision. I think this is why there's been so much campaigning by and it's interesting because I think this actually could benefit Ohio State, the campaigning from the SEC and even Sark who has brought up the non-conference marquee matchups. Why do we schedule them if they're only going to hurt us? I think no, I think Ohio State might get the nod here with this one because of that close loss because it's been talked about so much because they do want to see those non-conference matchups continue because of the perception of the ACC versus the big ten and SEC. I think that the Ohio State would have a very real possibility of getting in at nine and three. I don't the win over Notre Dame. I think it would be Miami. I think that it would be more good. The Michigan win at the end could really help Ohio State. Like we said, Oregon, we can't call it the same value of a win because we don't know what Oregon's going to do from here on out. Notre Dame win could be a lot. I'm talking about the losses. Look at the good losses, which is very much a thing this year. Look how good Ohio State's losses would be. Those would be perceived. You lost to a national champion in Indiana by three. You lost on the road versus USC. It's still a blue blood program versus North Carolina. I mean, the Clemson that one wouldn't hurt as much, but if you lose the North Carolina, I'm sorry, Chip, that to me is going to be almost a disqualifying loss for Miami. Even if they were a good, surprised team, I still don't think it would resonate with the committee as much as Ohio State's losses. I mean, it is funny to think that Miami's only losses would be to Davos, Swini and Bill Belichack in 2026. And that those could be bad losses. Yeah. I mean, yeah, good point. But what would you do? You cooked this up. Which way do you think the committee would lean on this one? Yeah. So I had my simulator. I was like, Hey, give me a scenario. I like with Ohio State, nine and three. And find me somebody who you think has like at the end of the day, exactly even odds based on their scenario. So I was like, I think that that's the one that produces like the most debate and actually makes you think it. This probably matters like what is Michigan's record here and what is Oregon's record? Like if you're beating, if Ohio State has wins over ranked Oregon and ranked Michigan, that's certainly going to matter. You know, conversely, how bad are Clemson and Carolina? Like, are you losing to two non bowl teams? Are you losing to like it be hard for them? I think to miss a bowl if they're actually beating Miami, but it's certainly possible. You know, like if you're losing to two like seven and five teams, you know, maybe that's a little different. There's kind of some elements here for Miami that are a little bit analogous to last year's Texas team, right? Like Texas had some really nice wins. They also like outright lost to Florida. And they went to overtime with Kentucky and with Mississippi State. So I think to Danny's point, it's like, okay, are we calling them good losses? Or are we just saying like playoff caliber performances? You know, if you're going to go and put Texas as like through your first or second seed and Ohio State played them, covered the one and a half point spread lost, you know, on the last second play essentially, how much are we going to dig them for that? And is the commandee, like is the committee operating under a mandate to reward better scheduling of games? I mean, we're quarter the way through the season after this weekend, guys. And like, man, we've had some real stickers out there as far as like windows and minutes from a TV executive standpoint, but like the night windows have all been great. Sometimes the noon and afternoon windows have not always been as good for people who maybe aren't die hard fans of the sport. We love it because we're watching J.M.U. Liberty. We're watching, you know, all of these good games. So I think there's a lot of factors where we can't control. I think I would go Ohio State you're actually, um, it's like USC a playoff team. You've got them 31, 28 losing to USC. That's another one. Where if Texas, the playoff USC is in the playoff. Like if, if USC is up there, then all of a sudden, I think you could slot them behind these other teams that are in the playoff because much like an Oklahoma last year, you know, you've got some losses to playoff team. So you slot in right behind them, maybe in that nine 10 spot, something like that. Yeah, I think it'd be a really hard one for the committee. Yeah, it's, um, it's also hilarious that the, uh, the budbot, uh, had to spit out a Miami lost to both Clemson and to North Carolina to create this kind. Hey, but listen, it's called football, you know, you never know. And we'll see those two teams play against each other coming up on Saturday. Uh, speaking of big name head coaches, what big name head coaches are feeling the most heat under their seat? We'll take a look at a couple of examples of the power conference and more next. Back here on the cover 3 podcast, taking a look at the hot seat situations across the country. And while this might surprise you, we do prepare. And when we took a straw poll of who we thought was on the hottest seat in the country, we just came back with two names. So I think this becomes a little bit of an either or the two names were Florida states coach Mike Norvel or Rutgers coach Greg Siano. Tom, I'll let you get first word here. Which way do you lean in that either or and why? I lean Greg Siano simply because it's his second stint at Rutgers. It's his seventh season there. And they're in the big 10 and they just haven't, they, they're starting to decline. Like he's 41 and 43 overall. He's 15 and 39 in conference play. And you've only been to three bowls in those first six seasons. But remember, one time they got there with they were five and seven. It was simply because there weren't enough bowl teams at six and six to fill out a spot. And Rutgers was like, sure, we'll go play in one. So that's not great. And then you had been building up to where you had seven win seasons in 2023 and 2024. And now you're clearly going in the opposite direction since then you're O and two, but you're not just an ordinary O and two. You're O and two with a loss to a U mass team that went O and 12 last year and looked miles better than you. It was not a fluke performance. I won't be shocked with some of the game. games coming up that Rutgers has on the schedule here, US, USC, Indiana. He might not make it through October guys. He might be gone before then. Tom, I'm also going with Greg Siano here. I think if you look at like the natural endpoints for when you'd want to fire Mike Norvel, I think they clearly decided, you know, like decided with Norvel over Michael Alford, the AD there until I say it's not to say they're going to keep Norvel, but like I don't know that there is a great urgency to fire him like this week or next next. He does get to play against central Arkansas, his alma moder. So I think he's probably safe for at least two weeks and those Bama drops like a 50 burger on or something. And the team just completely quits again. But yeah, with Siano, like moving now, you could sort of like start to get a get a better pole saw on what your likely market options are. If you're Rutgers, and I do think they probably didn't make a move there. Like this is this is unacceptable to be that bad. Like you cannot be getting housed by that UMass team. All right, Danny, you had a different name. What's which where are you going? Unfortunately, I think it's Mike Norvel. Like in this does have to do with Siano too, because like do they really care at Rutgers? Like are there, I know they're calling in def and there's some outrage, but I have not been a part of a situation of Florida state that feels as bad and as toxic as this does right now. I think there's a tremendous amount of pressure now on the school president on the boosters to make this move off Mike Norvel. The other thing too is Rutgers really in a hurry to get that next head coach. I think Mike, I think Florida state is trying to consider, can they get to the front of the line of the next big name? And maybe it's somebody out there that's not on a staff right now. They could get it in faster. But that's me is where the difference is Florida state's sense of urgency to get the next guy faster. I think is why I think more Mike Norvel could go first. Yeah. Michael Alfred is out bureaucracy is out the window. Process is out the window. If you want to be able to move quickly on the whims of a loud board member or a university president or maybe a big booster or famous alumni who's created fabric that can stick to your skin and make you look great as you work out. I don't know. You could choose the next Florida state head coach because there's just no athletic director right now. And so which one could happen first? My vote was Mike Norvel because I just think they can move faster. Well, I mean, the old like Silicon Valley like move quickly and break things. I mean, they're hoping it's moved quickly and fix things for Florida state football. But I just see a lot less bureaucracy and hoops with Florida state being able to move now that they've gotten the athletic director out. My I do think both programs will have new head coaches for the 2027 season based on what we've seen from the quality on on the field so far. We'll see who ends up getting fired first coming up on the other side. We love to leave you with a player to watch in the week ahead. We'll tell you who's that and more. Next back here on the cover three podcast. We love to be able to give you something to look for in the week ahead and an anxious teams or storylines. We want these players to be celebrated as well. Danny Cannell, what player is your player to watch in week three? Thomas Costelano specifically his package of plays. Is it growing? Are they giving him more responsibility and play opportunity at the line of scrimmage? I'm going Jackson Harris, LSU wide receiver. I think he's a guy you take a look at here. They need to go to maybe he could emerge as that guy. I'm going to go with Florida quarterback Aaron Filo, who's off to a very hot start through the Gators first two games, but they're facing their first real test of the season on the road at Auburn. I'll be going to Piscat away where we've got freshman wide receiver Trent Mosley as part of this youth movement on America's most watch network, the network of stars. It's going to be all these freshman past catchers on full display. Again, you can watch that on CBS 3 30 p.m. Eastern time for big time. You can stream it on para mount plus where you can stream us the cover three podcasts on para mount plus two. You can join us in the cover three tailgate and watch live at youtube dot com slash cover three. We will be next with you at 11 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday for locks. Gentlemen, thank you very much. On September 24th, from executive producer Kim Kardashian and the producers of Love Island's USA, baseball and spot sale go hand in hand. Games or intense parents can also be very intense. A new unscripted series about the parents behind elite youth baseball. Let the games begin. I will drop you right here. What I do. You don't even know what's about to come. Team mom's baseball streaming September 24th only on para mount plus.