Fact or fiction: SEC should embrace 24-team playoff

One of the nation's most exciting quarterbacks will be back for another season after Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chamblis wins its decision, wins a decision against the NCAA to get an extra year of eligibility. Chamblis and court was able to achieve a medical red shirt which allows him to return as the rebels starting quarterback in 2026. Welcome into this edition of SEC Football Unfiltered, our podcast from the USA to date network. I'm Blake Topmire. Alongside John Adams, we will jump into last week's Trinidad Chamblis decision, what it means for Ole Miss. We were also on the pod today going to play a round of fact or fiction. One of our off-season favorites. I got a few scenarios dialed up. We're going to put John on the hot seat, make him declare fact or fiction as we weed through some scenarios in the SEC. But John, I want to start with the news of last week in the eligibility ruling around Trinidad Chamblis. What this is, Chamblis was trying to get one of his years at Ferris State, Division 2 School, ruled a medical red shirt that would allow him another year of eligibility. The NCAA had said no. They were not going to recognize that as a medical red shirt. As is the modern way, Chamblis got him a lawyer and tried this in a local court and wanted decision from a local judge. Great news for Ole Miss. Good news, lucrative news for Trinidad Chamblis to be able to play an extra year of college ball beyond the Ole Miss ramification. Do you think this is good on the whole for college football? Trinidad Chamblis was able to take the NCAA to court and went ruling. I look at it from a very selfish perspective and on an individual basis. I really like watching Trinidad Chamblis play. I think he's one of the most exciting players in college football. And probably the closest thing Ole Miss for all its quarterbacks through the years, some really good ones. The one who reminded me most of Archie Manning way back in the late 60s and early 70s. So I'm glad Trinidad Chamblis can play because he's fun to watch and he's really good. The outcome should have really surprised anybody. I mean, the NCAA versus the court just doesn't go well. It's about like athletic directors versus coaches agents. How that will play out. We kind of know how far the field is tilted in favor of the NCAA adversaries in that case. Yeah, it's interesting. I think if you ask a lot of people in a vacuum, do you like the idea of six-year senior? Or do you like in the case of Joey Aguilar, the Tennessee quarterback who's trying to get another year of eligibility? He would be an eighth year senior if he wins his eligibility lawsuit, which has not been decided as we record this. Even a vacuum, I think John Coofan would say, "No, I don't like the idea of six-year seniors or eighth-year seniors." But then when it comes down on the ground level, Ole Miss fans, obviously, were rooting for this. They wanted another year of Trinidad Chamblis. He's a great quarterback. He helps Ole Miss's playoff chances. Even in the broader sense, I think even non- Ole Miss fans might say, "That guy was a really fun player." To watch last year, Benchelike with Diego Pavia. He had sued the NCAA to get himself another year of eligibility at Vanderbilt. Again, you could, in the general sense, be like, "I don't know if this is a good thing that the NCAA can enforce its eligibility rules." A local judge who graduated from hometown U is now deciding quarterback competitions, essentially. That's what's happening here is the judge's ruling shapes a quarterback competition. I think a lot of people in a vacuum said, "That's not good at all." But then when you zoom in and look at the particular player, I think a lot of people, again, particularly Ole Miss fans are celebrating this, but it's not just that. College football fans that like watching Chamblis are now like, "Oh, get another year with him." Okay. It's sort of a double standard, I think. Again, what you think about in a vacuum, when you put real individuals in front of you, sometimes it seems a little bit more palatable. Yeah. I'd be in favor of Diego Pavia playing another eight years. I mean, he's so much fun to watch. He's controversial, he's just that whole family scene of his Pavia Mafia is just so entertaining. I would, so I would be fine with if he just kept playing for Vanderbilt. And I think Vanderbilt would, too, of course. The interesting thing about it, too, is it really helps the NCAA that Chamblis can play. I mean, when you look at their product that they're putting on the field, it's a better product if he's a quarterback for Ole Miss. It's probably better, too, for the SEC. Now teams don't want to play against Ole Miss with Chamblis a quarterback, but if you're Greg Syke, with Chamblis playing quarterback for Ole Miss, to me, it has a better shot at the playoffs, certainly in the wood without him. You know, I would put a little bit of a twist on that, John. I don't know if it's good for the NCAA that it lost in court. I think it's good for college football ink, college football incorporated, which of course I'm being facetious there. There is no college football incorporated, but for college football, for college football ink, I think it's good that Chamblis is back. For the NCAA, I don't think it's good for the NCAA that it cannot enforce its eligibility rules, but for college football incorporated, I think it probably is good that Chamblis, one of its biggest stars and a great story is back for another season. All right, let's get into our fact or fiction scenarios, John. First one, and perhaps this is maybe with Trinidad Chamblis in mind, but not just him. Archman is going to be a Heisman front runner in the preseason. We know this. He finished the year with a strong performance in the bowl game. He's got Manning on the back of his jersey. We know he didn't live up to the hype overall in year one, but Texas is going to be among the preseason front runner. So Archman, if he's not the Heisman favorite in the preseason, he's going to be among the shortest or short list. In the sum, though, fact or fiction, Archmaning is the SEC's best Heisman candidate. If you say fact, that means it's Arch. If you say fiction, it means could be Trinidad Chamblis, could be somebody else. Backer fiction, Arch is the SEC's best Heisman candidate. I would say fiction, even though I think he's a strong Heisman candidate. When Chamblis won that court case, to me, he's the returner in college attorney and college football. Arch had a strong second half of the season look great in the bowl game when he ran for 155 yards, clearly improved as a first season, as his first season went along as a starter after really rocky beginning. The thing about Chamblis is we look at it also in storylines. In Arch is being part of the manning family. I mean, yeah, that's a great story, but the story's been repeated over and over and over. So we're used to that. Chamblis is new. He's a guy from Division II to with Ole Miss is a transfer to the spring. He was supposed to be the backup quarterback. In days, probably the best quarterback in college football. I think he has everybody knows him now. He had those playoff games too. I just like him better. I just went candidate and I go back to when Peyton manning lost out to Charles Woodson for the high swing trophy at Tennessee. Peyton had such a build up for three years. And even though Arch hasn't been around that long, he had an unbelievable build up before he even enrolled unlike Peyton, not nearly as much. And he enrolled it by the time he enrolled there in Texas. He was already, oh, it's Ard to Manning. So well known. And I think Chamblis is sort of a refreshing storyline for college football. This one's really tough, John. I'm going to go fact. I do think Arch is the SEC's best Heisman candidate, but I don't feel that was strong conviction for a couple reasons. And very simply, there are other good candidates in this conference starting with Trinidad Chamblis. He's not the only one, but as you said, he has name recognition now, which always helps you go into a Heisman name recognition. It shouldn't matter what you did the year before, but it doesn't hurt when you went to play off the year before and you had some nice games. You played fantastic in that playoff winning against Georgia. So all that. But I do think Manning being a big name quarterback on preseason top five team, I think Texas is going to be one of the best teams in college football this year, famous last words I realize I was buying into some of the Texas hype this time last year. So I go slightly in saying Manning is the best candidate, particularly because I think he's going to look so much better in his second full season as a starter than what he looked, particularly at the beginning of last season. He improved substantially as the season went along. But what makes us hard is like you would think being a Manning. as an advantage and maybe in some ways it is, but I also think with certain individuals it works against him because like the expectations are so unbelievably high for him. No matter what archmaning does, it's like you couldn't possibly live up to the expectations that some people have for him. I go back to that column that the athletic published in October, one of the most absurd columns I think I've ever read from Will Leach of the athletic in which the athletic in the New York Times positioned archmaning as the first flop in college football history. Like what an absurd take. But in instances like that, I think like the fact that he's a manning was working against him, like the expectations were so extreme, your opinions around him have to be extreme too, right? They don't actually have to be extreme, but he's a lightning rod. I guess is what I'm saying. He gets these extreme opinions around him. So I think there are going to be some people that him being a manning works to his advantage. I think there are others that, you know, if he's not, if he's not Joe Burrow, well then he's a bum. But so I think that's what makes it so tough about arch, but I am slight lean toward arch being the best Heisman candidate out of the SEC. Well, and to your point, college football, officiant audits have become comfortable with the really good player being really good right away. Go back, remember when James Winston is first seasoned as a starter at Florida State. I mean, he was lights playing lights out. Johnny Manzel at Texas A&M went in a Heisman trophy, Cam Newton, one season there at Auburn coming over from junior college and now a Trinidad Chambers. One thing I like, I really like about for Arches in Arches favor would be Texas gave him some strong support, a strong supporting cast getting Cam Coleman out of the transfer portal. It already has Ryan Wingo. I think it's very said at what at least in the starting area, a wide receiver and good running backs to it added to good running backs. So I think Texas is ready to roll. And if it be so high state early, I think Arches will probably be the leader at that point certainly. Okay. Next fact or fiction scenario, we're going to wrap up our thoughts with Trinidad Chambers here. So with Chambers back for Ole Miss. Fact or fiction. Ole Miss is a better bet to make the playoff this year than Lane Kiffin and LSU. Who's the better bet to make the playoff? That is really a tough one. I think it's going to be very close for both teams. But I would still probably say LSU because Kiffin added over 40 or right at 40 transfer is true to his portal king reputation. Ole Miss lost a few key players leading TACCler, TJ, what's his name? "Botterly, Waterly." It lost a couple of key defensive players. I don't remember his name. But and also I think Winston Wadkins, a freshman wide receiver, is a really good prospect. So I think Ole Miss lost it. But I think it could be very daughtery John with the daughtery. I was going "Waterly, Bottery." I thought you were going to get there eventually. No, I probably would have, but I thought in any way more cracks at it. Yeah, with, you know, I'm aware of the time clock on our production. Well, it's nobody really cares if I ever get this name right. I think, you know, they play it Ole Miss this year and that's going to have a head to head. I kind of right now, I kind of like Ole Miss in that game. I think LSU will feel a stronger team, but I kind of, I have our time picking against Ole Miss in Oxford in that game. Now that champ is out of the way. Which one, you're kind of hedging your bets here. Which one do you think is the better bet? I think LSU is better. It's a better bet. I may be LSU. This one's tough. I mean, it would have been a no-brainer if Chambleist didn't get approved for the extra season. You're taking LSU all the way. I also think it's entirely plausible that neither team makes the playoff. I like what Kiffin did out of the portal, but then I look at that schedule and I see, "Okay, LSU opens it home against Clemson." That doesn't look as tough as what it probably did back when that game was scheduled, given the state of Clemson's free fall under Davos. Swinging, but even moving past that, here are just some of the SEC games on LSU's schedule, John. Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee. And that Tennessee game is going to be in Neal and Stadium. Lane Kiffin survived that a few years ago. Now he's got to go back again with a different team and LSU. That's just a handful of your SEC games there. Ole Miss, A&M, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, all five of those teams are probably going to be preseason top 25. That's not even to mention, you know, road game against Auburn and the rest of the SEC slate. Can LSU get to 10 and 2 against that schedule? I think probably they can. And then you look at Ole Miss and Ole Miss gets LSU at home, but some of the other games on their schedule include road game at Texas, home game against Georgia, road game at Oklahoma. Can L. Miss get to 10 and 2? Maybe. And then there's always the possibility of, you know, slipping up against a Missouri or an Auburn or someone like that along the way, a road game at Vanderbilt. You know, I mean, there's just, there's so many landmines there and so it's kind of hard to feel with, with much confidence either way, but I think I would probably go with LSU. But the reason why we're even having this debate, of course, is because Chamblis is back. To me, it's a no-brainer if it's somebody else at quarterback for Ole Miss. His return is the fact that this even becomes a discussion. And the other thing I would add, John, is that Chamblis getting an extra year increases the pressure on Lane Kiffin in your one. Now, you might think, well, that's one got to do with the other. Well, they're playing, as we've talked about, they're playing head to head in September and Oxford. And it's going to be a bad look for Kiffin if he loses that game and his return to Ole Miss 2, the fact that we're now talking about Ole Miss maybe being a playoff team. What if Ole Miss makes a playoff and LSU doesn't? In Kiffin's first season, I mean, everything just gets a little bit worse for Lane, the fact that Trinidad Chamblis gets an extra year at Ole Miss. He wouldn't say that, of course, but that judge in Mississippi did Lane Kiffin know favors when he approved an extra year for Trinidad Chamblis. Blake, I really think that Ole Miss LSU game will be the biggest game of September in college football. It's usually played in October in the history of that long series, but it'll be in September this year, and I think it will be the biggest game of the whole month. You wrote about this recently in the SEC and filtered newsletter, John, that rivalry. I think before this whole Kiffin to LSU drama, I think most people would have said, "Oh, that's a good game, Ole Miss and LSU, and if you're a long time Ole Miss fan or a long time LSU fan, you might consider that a pretty heated rivalry." But your average SEC fan, if you're ranking best games, best rivalries, I don't even know if that cracks the top 10 for an average SEC fan, or if it does, it's probably toward the bottom of the top 10. But you wrote recently that Lane leaving Ole Miss in the way that he did with his team on the doorstep of the playoff and all the drama surrounding that and the bitter feelings that created and Mississippi over his exit. And then the fact that it's just been a really good game the last several years, and now both teams are looking at a preseason top 20 rankings. This is probably as good as that rivalry's been in a long, long time. Do you remember when that game was at its pinnacle? I think it's sort of back to its pinnacle now. Yeah, because I grew up 30 miles north of Baton Rouge in about 20 miles from the Mississippi border. So in my little tiny town of Clinton, Louisiana, there were Ole Miss fans. We had people move into Clinton from some of them in the Sawmill business. So I think they referred to as Sawmill trash until they made a lot of money and they became prominent members of our society. But there was just that rivalry between LSU and Ole Miss. And I mean this is ancient stuff when I was a kid in late 50s, early 60s. That was the game. And it was two years running the game of the year really in college football when both teams were unbeaten. So but you're right. I agree with you wholeheartedly. In the SEC when you look at rivalries, you know, most people don't. They think more about LSU versus Alabama. And they certainly think of Ole Miss Mississippi State, the egg bowl in state rivalry. But there was a time when this was going to be a long way to go. This was the game in college football for a few years. Quite a history lesson you gave there. I try to do that, bring my educated age to a. ad to my. assocationally boy. Okay. Well, let's move on to the hot seat, John, with our next Fact or Fiction scenario. I wrote recently about five college football-croft coaches, not just in the SEC, but nationally. Five coaches who are going into next season on the hot seat. My representative from the SEC, Shane Beamer, at South Carolina. He's going into year six at South Carolina. It's not that Shane Beamer has never delivered good moments there. In fact, he's delivered numerous good moments at South Carolina. He's got a lot of big wins, but the one thing that has eluded him has been consistency. Now he's coming off of his worst season yet. The Gamecocks went four and eight in Beamer's fifth season. It had the dreaded reality of coming on the heels of his best season. If you recall, in 2024, he had South Carolina on the doorstep of the playoff. That's never a great scenario for a coach when you raise the bar of expectations of what fans think might be possible. Then you follow that with your worst season ever. That's a bad combination, raising the standard and then failing to meet the standard in the following year. Now he is at year six and this yo-yo tenure. He's got a talented quarterback and Lenora Sellers. If he doesn't succeed with Lenora Sellers, that raises the question of, "Well, if you can't win with Lenora Sellers, when are you going to get it done?" I've positioned Shane Beamer as being on the hottest seat in the SEC and on one of the hottest seats in college football. I'm curious whether you agree. Factor fiction, Shane Beamer is on the hottest seat in the SEC. Factor. Yeah. Part of it has to do with the fact that so many coaches lost their job last season. The herd has been called. Not even the SEC fires coaches in their first year. We've really limited the field here. Shane Beamer, you talk about his inconsistency. Boy, that's just paramount with him. You don't have to go look at one season to the next. Look at one half to the next against Texas A&M. When Shane Beamer, one of my favorite moments of the year, when he's walking off that field at halftime, headed for the locker room with South Carolina up by four touchdowns, pumping his fist in the air. It's kind of as a game over moment in Texas A&M storms back. The game was over just not in the way, Beamer anticipated. Yeah. You're right, Shane. It's done. But I thought that was typical of him. And I would hate to see him fired because I just find him entertaining. His act is, you know, it really annoys a lot of fans because he, because of moments like that where he's pumping his fist up at the end of the first half. And he has a way of just looking pretty smug when, when things are going his way. And that seems to infuriate SEC fans for the most part. Usually you have to win more games and he has to be that dislike. But I think on social media, it proves out, Shane, if you had a poll, he would be one of the least popular coaches among other SEC fan bases. Yeah. When South Carolina's winning even 7, 8, 9 games a year, he has a, has a real good way of getting underneath the skin of opposing fan base. Because the problem for Shane Beamer is when he's losing, he gets under the skin of his own fan base. You know, when he's celebrating games at halftime and then blowing them in the second half, boy, that just rubs game, cock fans the wrong way. And the other thing, like I said, like, is he going to have another quarterback as talented as, as Lenora sellers? You know, that's a question you have to ask yourself. If he goes six and six this year with Lenora sellers, the veteran talented quarterback, he just have to be scratching your head thinking, why are we keeping this guy? And I don't think they will. Like if he doesn't succeed this year, I think he's out. So, okay, so we agree there, Shane Beamer on the hottest seat in the SEC. All right, let's zoom out here, John, for one college football playoff oriented. It's probably hard to keep up with, but you may have missed it. But in the big 10 think tank that's dedicated to coming up with a new playoff format idea every week. Well, the think tank came up with another playoff format last week, as reported by ESPN, the latest playoff idea for expansion from the big 10 has this 24 teams, 23 of which will be decided at large. So we're getting rid of all the AQs, except for one, there's going to be one AQ for the group of five. In other words, it guarantees representation for the group of five. Otherwise is a free for all 20, 23 at large bids with one guaranteed spot for the group of five, a 2014 playoff. That is the latest idea that's come out of big 10 land. And again, don't get too attached to it because next week there will probably be a new playoff idea at a big 10 land. But what we do know is that the SEC wants playoff expansion. It has just not liked any of the ideas that the big 10 has has floated out there so far. So both conferences want playoff expansion, but the conferences don't agree on which format they want. The big 10 has consistently stood in the way of the SEC's preferred format, which is five plus 11, five AQs and 11 at large, a 16 team playoff. So my question for you, John, fact or fiction, the SEC should get on board with the big 10's proposal for a 24 team playoff with 23 of the bids coming in at large fashion. I'll say fiction. I'm kind of ambivalent on this, but I look at 24 teams to me is just way too many. I would go with 16 teams, but eliminate as a conference title games. The SEC then want to eliminate conference title games. So I don't think it's will agree to go into 24. So I don't know. I think we're part of this plan. This new is plan. Yeah. And it includes getting rid of conference championship games. Yeah. So yeah, I should have said that. But so given that choice, 12 or 24, I'll just take 24. And I think the SEC, I mean, I'll take 12 and I think the SEC will too. I can see why the big 10 would want what it does, but I just gosh. You wrote a great column last year about how college football, the regular season is what's so appealing about college football, not the playoffs. And you're right. And so I just think that's too much. I really don't like these conference championship game. It's a matter of time before somebody loses a star quarterback in a conference title game and can't compete in the playoff. I'm torn on this one too, because I think the SEC needs something to change. The status quo is suddenly looking not great for the SEC. It's been three straight years now without the SEC producing a team even in the national championship game. The big 10 rules the sport in here now. The big 10s ruled this 12 team playoff. And so I think the SEC needs something to change. And I think that this is probably the most palatable proposal that has come down from Big 10 land for the SEC. I think as you compare this to some of the past proposals that the big 10 is put out there. I think this one's probably a little bit more palatable. Again, I know it's hard to keep up because that think tanker keeps keeps producing new playoff ideas every every week. So long as it's not the one that the SEC wants. So it is hard to keep up. But I think of all the big 10 ideas. This one is probably best for the SEC, but it's not as good for the SEC. I think as it is for the big 10. I think a 2014 playoff would be really, really good for the big 10. But I think the SEC should probably just write it out a little bit longer and take one more shot. Maybe getting that 16 team playoff. The big 10 hasn't shown any signs of folding yet. But maybe you take one more go at trying to win a national championship in the 12 teamer and say, hey, maybe maybe the 16 looks better to you now. So I think this one's tough because it is better than the past proposals that have come down from the big 10. But I don't know if it's good enough and too much change too fast has not been great for the SEC. And this would just introduce another sweeping change, probably a little bit too much too fast. So I would say fiction and write it out with the 12 unless the SEC can get a 16 team format that it finds to its liking. Okay, John, several new coaches in the SEC this season, including one at Auburn. That's becoming a theme now firing coaches at a hopper. We'll see if Alex Goulish does better than his two predecessors. But as you compare Alex Goulish to Caitlin DeBore, who will now be going into his third year at Alabama, fact or fiction. Auburn fans will be happier with their coach after this season than what Alabama fans will be with their coach. So who's going to have a higher popularity rating is what I'm asking after the 2026 season. As Alex Golisch going to be more popular among the Auburn fan base or as Kayland Abor are going to be more popular in the Alabama fan base. Who's going to have the higher approval rating after this season? That's your easiest question so far. Auburn fans will be happier because Alabama fans are only happy when they've won a national title, preferably back-to-back national titles. And that's probably not going to happen for a while. So also, I'm looking at Kayland Abor. He had the misfortune of following Nick Sabin. Alex Golisch and I don't know how I got to coach Alex Golisch, it will be. He doesn't have that large body of work as a head coach. He was there at South Florida, did a nice job. Got the Auburn job, but he's following Hugh Freeze. Who somehow managed to last just a little bit longer than your guy did. Brian Hartson. Brian Hartson, if you didn't. Yeah. Auburn fans. I wish they could forget him. Yeah, but one thing I like, I don't know how good Alabama's next quarterback will be. Ty Simpson surprised me going pro. I realize this is a thin quarterback class and that ultimately made his decision. That's how he ultimately made his decision, but I just don't know how good Alabama will be at quarterback in Auburn, spring and bar and brown from South Florida who accounted for 42 touchdowns last year. Granted, that's not the SEC, but his numbers are undeniable. So I just think Auburn fans can't help it be happier than they were this past season. I agree with you. I think Auburn fans will be happier with their with their coach after this season than what Alabama fans will be with their coach. And I think a big part of that, as you say, is the high expectations Alabama fans have. I mean, can't want to board want to play off game in his second season. It's not like the guy's been a massive bust. He goes to play offs in year two, wins a playoff game, but then boy, they get destroyed and the Rose Bowl by Indiana. You think anybody from Alabama was celebrating that playoff win after what happened in the Rose Bowl? Not a chance. They'd forgotten all about that playoff win. Yeah. And so, you know, for Auburn, you touched on too. It's just been so bleak there for so many years in a row now. Brian Harcinerah was a disaster. And then the Hugh phrase era was basically just as bad. And it's been nothing but losses excuses. They've not only been bad, but they've been boring and bad. They've found they found it just about every which way to lose a game. And it's actually said they were they're bringing in Byron Brown under Alex Goliath. So at least they'll be better at quarterback. I think then what they've been in several seasons. It's a low bar. I think they're going to clear it. They might leap over it with Byron Brown. It was pretty good at South Florida. And so, yeah. And the other reality here is I just think in general, a coach is usually more popular after year one than he is after year three. Unless you've won a national championship or a conference title within your first three seasons, you're probably not all that popular. Fan base is starting to get tired of you after three seasons. So in general, I think it favors the coach after one year. And also, like I said, we've seen it. Jalen DeBoer's won a playoff game. That wasn't wasn't enough. And so I think he needs to be probably in the semi finals or in the national championship game for him to have much chance of being more popular than Alex Goliath after one year at Auburn. When you think about how bleak things have been at Auburn, you took the last five years. And I don't know, picked the 25 worst games from the SEC. And would show up very well in that. And they just played a lot of really an Auburn Arkansas game. I remember maybe an Auburn Missouri game, just some really not any of them. Like you said, they're filling up the top 10. Yeah. I mean, they just had some really bad games. And of course, when you're lacking at quarterback, that lends itself to really ugly games. And Auburn's certainly been lacking at quarterback. I really thought Jackson Arnold would be a step up for the Tigers, but missed on that. Wouldn't get to. I just yeah, among those bad bad performances, John, that you would put on that list from the last five years, Auburn lost 10 to three to Kentucky this past season. That was a we love those bad games. That was one of my favorite games this season. I don't know how many Auburn fans loved it. I think I'm not very many. All right, a couple more scenarios for you, John. Another new coach, this one at Florida. It's interesting. There's so many too early, quote unquote, two early top 25s out there, John, that if you read enough of them, you can almost find any team ranked in the top 25, at least from the power four ranks. You'll find one top 25 that's going to rank your team. Otherwise, if your team's not appearing on any of these lists, you might have a problem. But you look at enough of those lists, John, a couple of them have Florida in the two early top 25. Not not at USA today. USA today doesn't have Florida in the top 25, but a few of these lists, a couple of these lists do. And so factor fiction in year one under John Someral, Someral at Florida, the gators will finish the season ranked in the top 25. That's absurd fiction. You're not buying it. Okay. No, I guess some people think urban virus come back to Florida. Florida's talent level has been down. It was probably better than Interracur, but that was a really bad team last year. I don't suddenly, when I look at the competition and how good other programs are in the SEC right now, I just don't see where Florida could ranks very high. Just looking within the SEC and so to think they would be in the top 25 nationally, I don't see how that's possible. The only thing that maybe is in Florida's favor is I don't know, I don't think the schedules is tough as last year schedule. Last year schedule was brutal. I don't know that this one's quite as tough. Some of the notable games include Ole Miss, Texas, Georgia and Oklahoma. Those are all probably preseason top 15 opponents. Even if you're counting all four of those losses, could they get to eight and four? But even then, I don't know if you're finishing the top 25. You're probably fringe top 25 at eight and four. You're probably going to lose one or two games elsewhere along the way against teams that aren't necessarily going to be ranked preseason top 25. They have to go to Missouri in Columbia, Mo. They have to go to Missouri in the top 25. But is Kirby getting another one? In fact, or fiction, he's won his last national championship already. I certainly wouldn't have said this a few years ago, but I'll say now, yeah, I think fact he has won his last national championship. Not many can. coaches win too. You don't find many coaches win multiple national titles. He's done that. He's established himself himself as one of college football's all-time great coaches. And I think he's very good on game day. He's very good in big games. But there was a real red flag race to me after this season. As well as Kirby's recruited, he didn't help himself enough in the transfer portal. I didn't think. Helped a secondary. He needs playmakers at wide receiver. Maybe ask some young guys that I'm not aware of. But the last year he went out to Southern Cal and guys Zycorai Branch. That panned out well. He had six years. So catches was their best wide receiver threat. But that tells me that Georgia, that's not just a, to me, necessarily, a philosophy of where we still bill from high school players. That tells me Georgia doesn't have the NIL money that some other championship contenders do. And that would be why that's the only reason I would think Georgia's not going to win another championship on the Kirby. I just don't know if it has the NIL backing. I'm going to agree with you. I'm going to say fact Kirby's won his final national championship. I think he's going to make several more playoff appearances. Part of this is we don't know how long he's going to coach. This is Kirby won a coach in another 15 years, another five years, another 20 years. We don't know. But a number of things have changed in the sport last few years. None of which really helped Georgia. I don't think NIL has necessarily buoyed Georgia. I mean, they're not living in the poor house. They got some money. But do they have Texas money? Do they have oil money? No. And they were ruling the sport before all the evolution. So status quo would have been good for Georgia. Also, this transfer philosophy just doesn't really align with Kirby Smart. He's a sign-in-developed guy. That was his specialty. He'd perfected that model. How willing is he to evolve to sort of the rena player model? The go-by bunch of transfers model. He hasn't been really willing to evolve to that yet. Now, it hasn't gone to the degree that it has for Clemson and Davos Sweeney. Georgia still winning conference championships, still making the playoffs. But I just think these coaches that were really, really good in the old model. I mean, Nick Saban was the best to ever do it in that sign-in-developed model. But then he saw things changing and he retired. Davos Sweeney, he's seen things changing. He's refused to adapt. And it's going really poorly for Davos. Now, it's not going that poorly for Kirby. Again, he's subraining SEC champion. But this was not the the blueprint that he perfected is not necessarily what best positions you form national championship level success right now in college football. I mean, my goodness, Indiana won the national title with a transfer quarterback from Cowell Berkeley and a bunch of guys from James Madison. And so it's just a much different game than it was five years ago, 10 years ago. Doesn't mean Kirby's not still a good coach, great motivator, great recruiter, still. It's just that the sport has changed so much in the last five years. And I don't think that the changes do Georgia any favors. And so I think Georgia will always be relevant as long as Kirby's on the sideline. But do I think he'll win another national championship? Yeah, I'll say something I never would have thought I would have said even three years ago. I don't think he will. If anybody could make this system work, I think it would be Kirby because he is terrific at developing players make the old system work. Yeah, I mean, if anybody could make that work, it would be Kirby. I don't think Nick Sabin. I think Nick Sabin was smart enough to know he wouldn't make it, wouldn't be able to make it work. I don't think Kirby will, will coach that long. I don't think he'll coach that much longer. I think rather, I don't, I think he's more apt to get out of coaching than he is to totally embrace the new philosophy. But again, I think, I think he's not just so married to that philosophy as dabbo was, I just don't think Kirby has the same financial resources. The mayor of crystal ball does at Miami or certainly, Texas Tech does with Cody Campbell funding that that program with all money. I, you know, and just look at the SEC, Texas, Texas A&M, LSU, to me, all have an advantage over Georgia. And, and in the past, I looked at it just because of coaching that Kirby, Kirby was the top dog, no pun intended. He, he really was and he's done a tremendous job. But I just think you'll get, he's used to winning championships, he's national titles now. So he easily could have three going back to 2017 and that overtime was Taliban. So yeah, I just, I don't think he'll be around that long. Don't you think it's harder for one team now to win a championship anyway because of this extended playoff season? It's just, yeah, I mean, it just by the numbers, like it before, you know, 14 playoff, if you thought, hey, we can win the SEC, well, then you know, you're going to be in the semi finals. You got to win two more, right? And you might be lucky enough to get TCU and a national championship or you might see Cincinnati in a playoff game or some overmatched team, you know, and, and one of those games, whereas, yeah, I think it's harder now with 12 team playoff, could be going to 16, could be going to 24 if the big 10 gets its, its way. So it's again, all these changes, whether we talk about playoff expansion, NIL, immediate eligibility for transfers, it becoming more of a transfer game, none of that, I think does Georgia any favors. And I think there's a difference between, well, Georgia is going to be a relevant and Georgia is not going to win another national title with Kirby smart. Those are two very different things, right? If it was, well, Georgia's going to fall off the map here with Kirby, that's not happening. Georgia's got same power still. I mean, we're talking about, they're among the, the short list of playoff contenders from the SEC again this season, but very different thing from qualifying for the playoff to winning a national championship, particularly as the playoff gets bigger and bigger. Yeah, I just, I just don't think any of these evolutions to the sport have, have been great for Georgia. Well, and go back to how Georgia lost in the playoff. It lost to a transfer quarterback. And what a Georgia do. My Amy was playing for the national championship with a Georgia transfer quarterback. So I kind of spells it out for you. All right, we'll leave the conversation. There, pick it up next week. John and I are going to stick on football for a few more weeks. And once we get closer to March madness as we do every year, we will shift into some college basketball talk, but still a couple more weeks of football talk ahead of us. We hope you stick with us. We'll be back next week. Thanks for listening to this edition of SEC Football and Film.