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Upon Further Review: Ole Miss Climbs To No. 4 | Week 3 Overreactions & AP Poll Takeaways

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Upon Further Review: Ole Miss Climbs To No. 4 | Week 3 Overreactions & AP Poll Takeaways

The Cover 3 podcast celebrates college football traditions, highlighting the cultural significance of fan engagement, rivalries, and iconic moments like the Kentucky Wildcats' dominant third-quarter win over Texas A&M. This performance, recognized by the FWAA as "Crazy Good Team of the Week," exemplifies the impact of strong coaching, defensive discipline, and resilience under pressure. The episode also analyzes the AP Top 25 poll, noting shifts in rankings—Ole Miss rises with key wins, while LSU and Texas A&M fall, reflecting ongoing volatility in the rankings. Analysts debate whether SEC teams’ impressive non-conference records justify playoff contention, cautioning against overhyping and emphasizing that true strength is demonstrated against high-level competition. The discussion further explores the value of practical, consistent plays in both football and finance, drawing a parallel between PNC Bank’s methodical approach and the reliability of tactical strategies. Ultimately, the podcast underscores that success in college football is built on consistency, execution, and resilience—not just flashy moments. With the season progressing, teams face a gauntlet of tough challenges, and the narrative suggests that the true test lies in maintaining performance through adversity.

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Cover 3 is presented by our friends at PNC Bank who would like to remind you that seemingly boring plays, both in football and in banking, are what can lead to big wins. College football season is Modelo season. There's nothing quite like a college football Saturday. The fight songs, the rivalries, the traditions passed down from one generation of fans to the next. And of course, they're settling in for a full day of football with Chris Modelo. Because Saturdays are for the gridiron and Cervasus. College football is built on tradition. And no one knows tradition like Modelo. From the fanquakes that shake the stadium to the rivalry trophies that mean everything year after year, these traditions are what make Saturday special. So if you're listening to this, consider it your sign. Grab a Chris Modelo, settle in, and enjoy a full day of college football. Because it's just. It's not game day. It's tradition. And those who keep college football traditions alive deserve a Modelo. Modelo is the official beer sponsor of the college football playoff. Drink responsibly. Modelo Especial Beer. Imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, Illinois. Before the season kicks off, everyone's making predictions. Who wins the division? Who makes the playoffs? Who's lifting the trophy? On CalShe, America's number one prediction market platform, you can trade those predictions in a live market. Will Buffalo win the AFC Championship? Buffalo is currently trading at 14%, meaning a $100 trade would pay out $590 if they win their conference. On CalShe, your trading gets peers in a live market. And as the probability changes, you can buy in and out. Download the CalShe app and use code FAN to get up to $500 in bonus credits when you trade $25. CalShe. Trade on anything. 18 and up only. Restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk. Be suitable for all investors. CalShe products are not available in all jurisdictions. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calshe.com slash regulatory. Welcome back to the Cover 3 podcast with your hosts Chip Patterson, Tom Fernelli, Danny Connell, and Bud Elliott. It's your call for the best college football coverage from National Signing Day to the National Championship. And everything. And everything in between. CBS Sports presents the Cover 3 podcast. And welcome back to the Cover 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fernelli. That's Danny Connell. That's Bud Elliott. I'm Chip Patterson coming to you live at YouTube.com slash Cover 3 and everywhere you get your podcasts on demand. Thanks for hanging out. Smash that subscribe. Smash that like and come and join us in the chat. A.K.A. the Cover 3 tailgate where they are just buzzing. Absolutely buzzing. We got to jump right into it because it has very little to do with the things we got to do today. Whether it's a pun further review, cleaning it out from week three, pole assassin, looking at the changes in the AP Top 25 poll. Hello, Southeastern Conference. You're all ranked. We, of course, are going to be looking at our practical plays courtesy of PNC. And, oh, we got a good one for the Pop Tarts Bowl Crazy Good Team of the Week. Yes, the FWAA has slipped us the envelope. And we're excited to let you know as well who's getting that award for week three. But in the third quarter of one of the most watched games of Sunday's NFL Day, your ears are burning. A.K.A. your ears were burning. Stanley in the tailgate jumping in and saying Tom Brady was talking about how he and Michigan stole a play from you, Danny. And they called it seminal. What's up with that? Yes. Danny. Kenny Cannell reference from Tom Brady in a Cowboys game. Fill out the mad lib, everyone. Can you give us some context? Can you give us a little bit of the story behind it? So I have no idea what he's talking about. All I know is I was doing a little family dinner with my my wife and daughters, my parents, my sister's house. All of a sudden, my phone like starts blowing up like ding, ding, ding, like getting all these messages and group text golf chats. And then. I'm like, what is happening? And find it. Not Mike Norvell fired. That's like, no, no, no. It was fired. I was fired. I kind of. And then it was Amanda. Amanda Gara from she's like Tom Brady just mentioned your name. And I was like, I hope it was good. Like, what the heck would he be saying my name for an NFL broadcast? And then he comes out with the story that said how you steal plays from other people. You find concepts, which was kind of ironic that it's a Michigan guy talking about when he was at Michigan. But I have. I have no idea. Like, I so my daughter was super excited because his daughter is the same age as my daughter and they're actually in the same volleyball club. And like, I saw Giselle at the parents meeting. Oh, yeah, I did not see Tom yet, but Tom has been at the volleyball games and I haven't seen him. So next time I see him, I'm going to ask him what play was it like? Was it a pass? Because it's very common. We stole stuff all the time. Like we had a screen called Tulsa and it was because we stole it from Tulsa. Like, and they were bottom of the wrong. We had, you know, like you steal plays, you call them what they kind of come from. And so I thought it was pretty funny. So I want to find out what play, what scheme they were using. Probably shouldn't have mentioned my name because it was either Mark Richter, Bobby Bowden's place. You didn't see the play. No, I because I don't even think in the in the realm of things, I'll have to go back. I thought he was giving an example of plays they took. Did he say it was that play? So I need to go back and find it. Yeah, he goes, look. I think the line's like, there's not a lot of plays you like on third and 16. So it makes, it makes sense to break out one that you, that you kind of repped all, all, all preseason and camp. It's a trick play. It's basically like a throwback from the receiver, throwing back to the back with the screen set up. Oh, okay. You're back to the short side. Oh, definitely didn't steal that from me. Stole from Charlie Ward. If I think I know the play he's talking about, then it definitely like, I don't even know if I ever ran it. Like it may be just give me a nice shot out, which thanks Tom for doing that. I'll have to go back and look at it. I'll have to find the play. Cause that one does ring a bell now. Yeah. Speaking of shout outs. Next time you see Giselle at the volleyball camp, tell her I said, what's up? So, well, listen, Tom's a, Tom's a big fan of the cover three podcast clearly. And we appreciate him continuing to spread the word. It's been a, it's been, it's been a great, great weekend of reaction to we're excited to keep that going as well. Every single Monday, one of our big reactions is always to look and see how those AP top 25 voters took in and reacted the week that was we give it a hard analysis here in poll assassin predicted rise, you know, moving up as, as no big shock, but Ole Miss also collected three first place votes and a voting points total that leaves them fourth in the country that up from number eight. The other side of that, we've got LSU dropping three spots down to number 10. The drops were right there. Texas A&M falls down. 14 spots, but not quite out of the poll. Tom wins that one. Oklahoma, not in the poll. Tom wins that guy. I'm just dropping these debates to Tom. I mean, do you, do you want to start running the, uh, tomorrow's top 25? Yeah. Do you want to start doing the vibe check? Ooh, maybe, maybe, maybe up until 3 30 AM. Who says I'm not, I mean, I'm so jazzed. I go back and listen to the show. Uh, okay. So we've got other moves. That is insane behavior. We've got other, who else is going to check us? Nobody else listens to the show. I might as well do it. We were number one yesterday. Most listened to that downloaded episode in the world. Sports. That's crazy. Um, is this a, is this an appropriate reaction to Ole Miss and LSU? And that I think is number one. Would you, or have you slotted Ole Miss higher, which I think the argument would be who's got better wins, right? You know, the Louisville on a neutral and then, uh, you know, taking out LSU, even with that being. At home. I mean, that's a, that's a phenomenal one too. There. The other side would be if, if you still believe that Texas's win against Ohio state is better, or if you believe that Georgia's quality or Notre Dame's quality would still be worth it. How do you guys see those debates within the top, you know, five or so. I, I would argue like if you want to have Texas at one, because it has the Ohio state win and you want to have Georgia at two, because it is just completely dominating its games. And it's not so much, you know, who you've played, but how you've played. That's fine. But if you're going for the, who you've played, how you've played argument, I think you have to have Ole Miss ahead of Notre Dame because Notre Dame is undefeated and they've played two power four opponents, but they also haven't dominated those two power four opponents for the entire 60 minutes. Like with Wisconsin, it was a close game for a half. They pulled away in the second half, a bad Michigan state team was able to kind of control the tempo and keep it lower scoring and tighter than it probably should have been. So I think there's a very good argument for Ole Miss being ahead of Notre Dame, but other than that, this top 10 really does not bother me at all. Yeah. I mean, to me, like Notre Dame schedule so far has been meaningfully more difficult than Georgia's has, right? Like I would take Michigan state and Wisconsin over Arkansas, like easy call. So, and I also, I think Wisconsin was trying to win the game. I think Michigan state was, I guess you don't want to say they were not trying to win the game, but I think they were just trying to play like, let's just keep it close and hope for a miracle, you know, type style. Um, I mean, honestly, like because so few teams have have played any real meaningful competition so far, it's really hard to do this. I have a hard time getting egregiously fired up about this top half. I'm a BYU skeptic for sure. Colorado State's quarterback goes out and BYU still doesn't cover. They're moving up two spots. There's probably 10 other teams I would have favored over BYU behind them on this list. Overall, this top eight, sure. That seems fine to me. I could do this rant every single week until probably we get to week seven or eight. I just think a lot of it's still preseason bias. Tom said no one has better wins than Ole Miss. The two wins that they have over Louisville and now LSU is a pretty good little resume, if you will, but I get that some people have the power ranking idea of who do we think are the best teams in college football, so I understand that, but if it was me, I think Ole Miss would be way closer to Texas with the resume that they've got, but I totally understand why you have Georgia and Notre Dame up there. The one thing that is starting to get irritating for me, and I think we're so hung up on let's give credit for losses, is not docking those teams before they've played anybody. It's, oh, you're telling me Ohio State is six spots different than they are. Why are they six spots away from Texas? Well, they lost the game. They'll have time to make up that gap. Let's just let them prove it a little bit. First and give some of these other teams who have more impressive wins an opportunity to move up, but it'll all shake out. It usually takes care of itself unless it doesn't like it did last year when they wanted to really give credit for Notre Dame for two good losses and they had them at 0-2 and then it kind of was one of the reasons they got into that issue with Miami and Notre Dame at the end of the season because they gave so much credit for good losses. You know, I've been really big on the tiers and the voting points and trying to figure out really how these teams stack up. It should make you feel OK that BYU is closer in voting points than it is to number 15 Utah than it is to the teams that are like right above it. You know, it's just it's just that that's where we're at right now. There is a very, very hard line under Ohio State. Ohio State's currently number seven. They have one loss, right? And you mentioned it feels like they've just been sent down there to we're not going to kick them out of the top tier because we think they're too daggum good that a 20 point lead in the fourth quarter. They lost by one on the road at the team that we now have. But behind Ohio State, everything from, you know, Alabama to BYU really all the way down to Louisville at 16, Utah at 15. Man, that is a tight, tight jumbled group. So the spots as they look in the rankings aren't necessarily in line with like how close like how far away from each other some of these teams are. So BYU. Yeah. BYU is in that middle pack, which I think you would say is fair. Like if I gave you BYU, 15, you would take that, right? I mean, I have them closer to 20, but yeah, I like, look, Haney played eight minutes for Colorado State. Like, like he's an awesome player for the G6 level of quarterback. And then it was BYU getting, you know, what, 50, you know, 53 minutes of the Colorado State backup and still not covering like that. That to me was not impressive. Like I would take USC, Penn State, Tennessee. I think Utah is playing better than they are right now. I would take Louisville. Um, you know, I would take Oregon on neutral against BYU, Michigan. Michigan's defense is really good. So is BYU's. I think both offenses are really sketch. You know, I would not take Missouri. Like, I don't know how in the hell Missouri's ranked, but I, Missouri did not play a clean game. We didn't talk about that game on, um, Saturday night, I don't think, but I went back. I was looking at you. I was watching Eli Drinkwitz postgame press conference. He was very clear. It was not a clean game. A lot of things that they needed to work on to be able to make sure they're showing a little bit better face down near the edge of the rankings. I would say that when you get, here we go, right. If you look behind Florida, really from SMU at 22, all the way down to 26, 27, 28, 28, like Florida SMU, all the way down to like the 30th team here. Very, very, very small margins. So like we were saying, if you just broke in here, you better win your next game because you could get cut. And if you're Texas, A&M, if you're Houston, if you're SMU, you're hanging on for dear life just inside the top 25 after winning, because there are other teams, Kentucky like that beat Texas A&M. That's knocking on the door. Washington still for the second week in a row, hanging in there at 26 West Virginia, which which just beat Virginia also knocking on the door. So there are some teams that are that are surging up there. Those teams in the twenties, not really safe, but we'll, uh, we'll, we'll be sure to, uh, continue to monitor that that edge of the top 25, especially next weekend for tomorrow's top 25. Um, yeah, go ahead. How did Virginia, how did Virginia get more votes than West Virginia, which beat just beat them by two scores on a neutral? Well, bud, you gotta understand most people probably weren't watching that game because it was going on at the same time as Ole miss LSU. Wait, I don't see that, bud. Where do you see that? That's, that's what I saw when I pulled it up earlier. Uh, I think it says, I think it says dropped from the rankings is where Virginia is coming in a list. Gotcha. I don't think they're, yeah. Yeah. No, where it said Virginia 25, that wasn't saying they got 25 votes. That said dropped from the rankings, Oklahoma, Virginia 25 yet. No, Oklahoma still has 91 voting points. They're one of those teams that, I mean, half of the AP voters could change Oklahoma spot by one or put them at 25 and they would jump ahead of Houston. The gaps there at the edge are very, very small, but I don't see Virginia. Um, getting that kind of representation. It's West Virginia leading the way. Okay. Um, thank God. If there's one thing that keeps bud up at night, it's how AP poll voters are reacting. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that's, that's for sure. Okay. I've got some shout outs to give here. Oh, okay. Let's go plenty. I'm not done. You think we're done? No, I want to give a shout out to Jerry Humphrey from ale.com. We were just talking about BYU. Jerry's on Bud's side. Clearly he didn't even rank BYU this week. Didn't put him on his ballot, but in Jerry's defense. They're closer to unranked for me than they are to nine. So me and Jerry are, are a team. It was clearly an accident on Jerry's part. Cause he had him at 13 last week and then just forgot to put them on this week. So whoops, Jerry, you know, uh, you know, me a culpa there. And then another little fun fact here. Um, the following eight teams in the country, they have two wins over power for opponents already. Miami ranked Mississippi state ranked old miss ranked Alabama. ranked Notre Dame ranked and then pit UCLA and Duke all unranked. So if you look at those teams that I listed, there's clear delineation. If you're a playoff contender or an sec team, and you have two powerful wins, you get ranked. If you're from the ACC or the big 10 and you weren't expected to be good to damn bad, like these teams are not only not ranked, but they're not even close. So I want to give a shout out to the people who did at least have them on their ballots. Pat Welter, who had both Duke and pit on his ballot, Brian Fonseca, the goat Reese Davis, Kate Rogerson, Javon Edmonds, Chris Carter, Dylan Sin, who had both pit and UCLA on his ballot, Chris Murray and Andy Yamashita. So at least they're paying attention to results and not just looking at what their ballot said last week and slotting teams up and down. They're rethinking things clearly. And then finally, when it'd be a poll assassin segment, if I didn't make fun of our enemy Ralph Russo, who, you know, I don't, I don't mind Ralph's process for the most part, but you got way too cute from 21 to 25 this week, Ralph, for those who don't know at 21, he had Tulsa at 22, he had Oklahoma state at 23 at Oregon. And then at 24, he had Western Michigan and 25, he had Michigan. We know what you're trying to do there. You just, you just don't have to rank them, Ralph. It's like your choice is either I rank them and then I have to put these other teams on my ballot because of the chain of events, or you just don't rank them and put maybe, I don't know, Duke pit and UCLA on your ballot instead, Ralph. I don't know. Maybe we'll see. Western Michigan with 27 voting points. He's not alone because I, nobody gave Western Michigan a one. So, you know, they're, they're still getting, uh, still getting that credit Western Michigan with quality opponents coming up ahead in the next little bit. Um, look, before we hit a break and introduce to you, uh, the tailgate and the audience, the FWAA pop tarts bowl, crazy good team of the week from week three. We're just like final raps here on, on what happened in Oxford on Saturday night. When we went live, it was literally like seconds after the game was done since then gotten a chance to hear from Lane Kiffin, you know, it was a very, you know, interesting tone, interesting approach to the way he handled that. Um, you know, the fans, I, I'm, I shared this Gary, Gary Paris shared it and I passed it along as well. Uh, local TV coverage of the game. Incredible. You know, as you can imagine, the fans very much enjoying this one, like it's an sec championship, you know, like, like a championship was one. It was pretty, pretty remarkable to see everything. We've got a Q on Lacey injury update of sorts, a negative MRI. We've got a massive game against Florida. Danny, what's the, what, what are, what are some of the lingering thoughts from, from Saturday night in terms of Ole Miss's win and sort of, uh, what, what you're going to carry ahead into week four in the weeks ahead? I would say, thankfully, um, just in reaction to the game, I thought it was a great environment without incident, you know, for the most part, thank goodness. You know, there was so many people, it was joking. Some of it was not about, you know, what was going to happen, why we needed so much more security. I thought it was a great. atmosphere i thought it was electric and i thought it was awesome it was fun so that was like my first reaction um i'm seeing a lot more people get on board with trinidad cham this is the best quarterback in college football and maybe for the nfl totally agree could get on board with those takes which i think are pretty obvious i thought pete golding did a really good job defensively kind of lighting up sam levitt at the right time you know bringing some pressures you know especially the final series of the game they were kind of just all out like let's just let's just harass him get him confused and he was throughout the night um so i would say kudos to pete golding for an outstanding game plan i did see after because i heard you guys talking about it i think didn't he say that we initially ran out there to try to get them to burn the time out and then when they jumped off sides that's why they decided to go for two i think he did because i know you guys were debating that on the on the reaction show that i don't know if they always were going to go for two but then when they got the penalty they were like oh yeah well now why wouldn't we go from two from the half yard line uh but i liked his analysis of it like i have been guilty of looking at pete golding because early on he wasn't great with the media i think he's getting more comfortable in his body and i think he's a high like high football iq coach too that probably doesn't get enough credit for it yeah i i i think he probably was trying to do it to get to do the timeout but like that doesn't mean he also like didn't get enough credit for it like the secondary reason wasn't actually going for it because he thought lane was going to go for it you know right um i but once you get him to jump then obviously your odds you make it go up quite a bit i i think he's pretty sharp as a coach man you know um and you have good coaching some real difference makers on defense but like will eckles just just crazy what he did lsu like a heat i watched his back i actually came away in in some regards like a little more impressed with levin like i i i thought he did some good things man there was just like pressure in his face like immediately on like their echoes were just killing that guard all night um they kind of wrecked him like i i think levitt was okay i thought like eckles deserves probably as much credit for that game as chambliss does from from a defense like obviously a quarterback's gonna impact the game more than a defensive lineman can but like that's like one of the better games you're gonna see all year from a d lineman do you trust old miss yeah i i do i mean you got some impact d lineman you have i think a good scheme it doesn't have like a tremendous drop off from lane i'm not gonna say like they're better than what lane would have called it but i think they're pretty good and you have a how old is chambliss like 24 and if there's anybody that's trustworthy yeah yeah and the only questions about him like for the next level are just size basically right yeah i i think they're pretty trustworthy yeah my concerns about old miss it's not trust it's just that you've got some tough games left to play like you have to play both texas and georgia and then obviously this week you're on the road for florida so like you've had two big games already this one was clearly a huge one for you both as far as the season is concerned but also just personal reasons like how do you avoid the kind of emotional letdown that you know has to be coming this week because it's going to be hard for them to get up for florida the same way that they just got up for lsu god that deuce alexander barking at kiffin as kiffin's running onto the field did y'all see i think it was a getty photo right you know just like just you know that this to your point that motor was could not have been running hotter in for in that locker room for that game and now they're they're going to be headed down to the swamp i don't trust old miss i think old miss is incredibly fun i don't know if i trust a lot of teams right now though this is kind of right this is kind of that time of the season where i've wrote some flaws have been revealed we've seen a lot of different stuff it's hard to know what is you because what if all of the busts and the issues holding louisville from storming back into that game also might be a reflection of louisville right if if you told old miss fans you're going to be one and one through your first three games and louisville and lsu after you play them are still going to be projected to win 18 or more games in a regular season they're like over the moon like but they're three you know right but with with the way like exactly with the way louisville is going to run out to four this morning uh point dogs yeah in the swamp um you know but that game doesn't derail their season assuming they get out of it healthy like if you win it if you win it if you stay healthy you can basically just stamp old miss for the playoff if they can get florida they're gonna get it nine and three i just i mean i i'm not gonna say you can stamp anybody for the playoff in september when you still have to play texas and georgia and camario taylor and sure you can lose all three if so go well and lose and maybe lose another one that you shouldn't lose right yeah no that that part's fair we don't know if golding has the sort of just you know step on the banana peel thing that lane does when he's favored yep i did have since stuff since bud said it i'll just kind of i was gonna do it later since we're talking about sam levitt and lsu i think lsu has a little bit of a quarterback problem with levitt and bud you were a hundred percent right like there were some good things that you saw but that's been sam levitt throughout his entire career like you see flashes we know what he can do with his legs he can make some throws you're like oh my gosh like look at the arm talent look at this play he doesn't do the boring things well like that's yeah and to me that's where you have to deliver consistently like quick pass plays of the game i went back and watched the coach film because i wanted to like make sure i was dialed in so i kind of graded him and watched him early in the game there were a couple quick hitters like a quick slant and he goes and he looks at it he's like gonna cut it he just doesn't trust either he doesn't trust himself doesn't trust the receiver doesn't think that it's open for whatever reason maybe you're used to bigger windows in the big 12 or other games um the play so the the series right before halftime when they're trailing and they come down he misses a wide open touchdown just inaccurate like throws it kind of behind him and then the play that everybody loves about him this was kind of hilarious the play where it's third down and he runs around and he scrambles like all the way back and he ends up going he makes a big conversion it's like a crazy throw to his left the player that he threw to was wide open on a little quick out versus man coverage where he was probably supposed to go with the football right off the bat and if he gets it out it's gone it's a first out and he's like oh my god i'm gonna go to the ground it's like okay but like he didn't throw it for some reason i don't know if he didn't know it or he didn't trust it but there were several of those plays with levitt where he's got to get more comfortable just trusting the system trusting the first read because i think throughout his career he's relied on the i'm just gonna make a play yeah that's just not a way to sustain at this level like that's where i i worry about them and i was worried about him coming into the season with that because that's kind of been what he is throughout his entire career and i think that's and they're like oh well lane and charlie weiss they're great with qbs and that's why i think you saw lane a couple times like they would go over there and he looked like he was saying namaste like he was taking the deep yoga breath like i get i have to he's young he's not young he's new to my system this is who he is but like try not to get too frustrated because i thought he left a lot out in the field like that should have been touchdowns and first downs and just didn't deliver on some of those like routine plays he doesn't deliver on all of them and i think that's why all the time he was he was bailing on plays before he had to bail on place and i think part of that was his bud was talking about like old miss's defensive line was getting a ton of pressure on him but even when there wasn't pressure he was giving up on the play and just kind of scrambling around with like a chicken with his head cut off yeah we have changed the coach we have changed the quarterback but it does feel like i am singing the familiar song of an lsu team offensively that looked way better on paper than it has on the field yeah we don't have brian kelly and garrett nussmeyer anymore but you know i looked at those teams i was like oh my god i'll tell you what this is when nuss is going to take off they got the right portal additions at wide receiver for them and we looked at these wide receivers and i was like man i like all of these guys they were all so good you know as the number one at their other program that wasn't the lsu you know and now the standard has changed you know you got you got that you got that fast food money that fast food money don't spend the same at steakhouse right so it's and now that's magnified chip because green's going to be out at least a couple games according to his mom on facebook oh great i'm sure that's great whoa i i would take hey listen i would take trade as green's mom over facebook over most uh yeah for sure uh matt zen it's verified it's it's the mom and and and showed it on twitter i said no uh like no tear structural damage but he's definitely gonna miss a couple games i was not being sarcastic and zen it's is obviously at the top of my authority poll i was just i was just discussing uh you know the the messages that get provided to the insiders are oftentimes you know yeah so you know if if his mom's saying that that's that's something that's going to be very very significant now now i think the real scare for lsu fans and we talked about this in the preseason we talked about this on summer school lane has a track record of blowing these games that his team should really win like you lose this one to a and m and you're going to see a fan base just go absolutely nuclear that is the anxiety bowl of week four absolutely the texas a and m lsu loser is down so bad on saturday night like there's a couple games on the schedule you really should not be losing if you're lsu like you've seen what kentucky does like they don't push the ball down the field hardly at all it's a lot of schemed up stuff open or neat like open or neat they got A&M with it but A&M also gave them some turnovers and some you know failed drives with just terrible throws like I mean on the flip side they could be 7-1 at the bye no doubt that is also a very realistic outcome here should be 7-1 I don't know that defense is still really good right like they made Trinidad earn almost everything he got trip to Kentucky will be dicey we'll see I've got like yeah I've got a little dilemma there Chip you mentioned the anxiety bowl like I've done anxiety rankings three weeks LSU has led two of them am I going to really lead the anxiety rankings with LSU for a third time in four weeks I think I am yeah brought to you by BetterHelp I don't know BetterHelp I don't think BetterHelp is with us right now but they have been enough that I will say that they've already we say no free ads but they've been an old a former corporate champion of the Cover 3 podcast coming up on the other side who's going to be getting a big old box of Pop-Tarts and a celebration here on the Cover 3 podcast we'll let you know who the FWAA team of the week is and we go under the hood for a punt for the review and more next this episode is brought to you by PNC Bank if you've ever watched a football game with someone who doesn't normally you might have been asked like what's the point of running the ball up the middle and sure to the uninformed eye these plays are boring but they result in a lot of short reliable gains while managing the clock it's just like why PNC uses a boring methodical approach because reliable gains while keeping an eye on the time are just as important for your money as they are in football PNC Bank brilliantly boring since 1865 brilliantly boring since 1865 is a registered mark of the PNC Financial Service Group Inc PNC Bank National Association member FDIC back here on the Cover 3 Podcast 900 trillion footballs could fit in the Grand Canyon and 105,186 fans got to watch the Pop-Tarts Bowl Crazy Good Team of the Week shine unfortunately against their own team because this week the FWAA Pop-Tarts Bowl Crazy Good Team of the Week is the Kentucky Wildcats and they earned this honor specifically by being crazy good after halftime we talk a lot about when you're going to see good coaching you're going to see it at the beginning of the game and you're going to see it at the beginning of the second half when you've been able to put those adjustments in well first year head coach Will Stein he's checking a lot of boxes when you go into a hostile territory and let's talk about this for some third quarter dominance Kentucky broke open a 7-7 halftime game by home runs by holding the ball for 11 minutes and 18 seconds of the third quarter they got 10 first downs in the third quarter and allowed zero first downs in the third quarter and yes outscored the Aggies 21 to nothing by the time Texas A&M had sort of found its footing from getting knocked off the side of the road I mean you were in a lot of trouble so Kentucky then was able to defend that lead as Texas A&M made the predictable charge back and so it is the Kentucky Wildcats that is the FWAA Pop-Tarts Bowl crazy good team of the week DK a fitting honor I mean lots of other good nominees here but what what'd you take out of Will Stein's big road win I think Will Stein has some juice we saw it at SEC media days when they said why do you think this team's gonna be good this program and he said because of me we saw him say that after the game I was really impressed the way they were able to bounce back because they felt like they might have to had that big opportunity against Alabama and then Alabama just pulls away late last week that was a big rebound spot playing on the road I think you have to be really excited about your young quarterback and Kenny Minchie but I think it was also about the defense who had a couple turnovers themselves being able to pick up Marcel Reed so I think Kentucky I was a little bit worried thought this would be a rebuild here and who knows there's a lot of football left to be played this season but I think you've got to be in love with what you've seen earlier from Will Stein and the physicality because he's an offensive guy he's a play caller kind of worry about that when you lose Mark Stoops like you lose some of that edge they have not lost it a bit but what did you make of Jay Bateman getting a little bit of a leg up on a former colleague right there that was a game within the game that I think Kentucky's defense is going to be excited about and maybe they had a little extra edge a little extra teeth for that matchup don't you think yeah I do I thought Kentucky did a nice job of scheming stuff open with their play action game and their screen game creating pretty easy throws for Menchie he only threw the ball 18 times had a little bit of scramble stuff but they really kept them off balance with that they stayed committed to the run game I think for Kentucky it was like hey we're not going to need that many points to win this game this A&M offense kind of sucks I know what they scored against Arizona State but if you guys watch I'm sure they broke it down all week and think oh god 20 something might win us this game we don't need 40 but honestly had they held on to the ball a little bit some of these drops they could have put 40 something on them 10 is about the smallest margin I think Kentucky should have won this game by if you watch it Tom what did you make of the Wildcats let's not forget that one dude dropped a touchdown hit him dead in the hands yeah this was an impressive win for Kentucky we talked about it on Saturday night in the reaction show it's basically you're looking for some kind of signature win when your new coach takes over and your new program goes and typically you're not getting it in week three of you know his third game in charge and going on the road and beating a team that's in the top 10 now god knows where Texas A&M will be once the season ends but still for Kentucky a program that is looking for reasons to be excited about its football program going on the road getting this win against a team that was in the playoff last year doing it convincingly that builds momentum for your fan base in that program going forward they don't want to just be a basketball school anymore they liked it when their team was winning 10 games under Mark Stoops a few years ago that's why they got rid of Mark Stoops and brought Will Stein in because they want to get back to doing that it's fun and there's a lot of signs based on what we're seeing that maybe they're going to be able to do that here soon you know who else talked big game and then stepped in and started winning right away that's right that's right and that was people were saying out of SEC media days that was his Cignetti moment where he kind of said take it all on me this was the polar blade the polar bear plunge of starts to a season they played an FCS game and then two teams that were in the college football playoff last year you know I mean they've emerged from this wide awake you know like there is no we are going to talk throughout this week about some teams that are off to 3-0 starts but we feel like we don't know anything about them yet that is not the case with the Kentucky Wildcats they have been truly tested and they have passed that test especially in a big way going into college station and getting a win in Kyle Field and that's why the Kentucky Wildcats are the FWAA Pop-Tarts Bowl Crazy Good team of the week we enjoy celebrating them here but the celebration continues because they will be set to receive a delivery of assorted Pop-Tarts and a custom crafted game ball from Big Game USA Pop-Tarts are on the way Big Blue Nation hope you enjoy them alright every single Monday we like to spend a little bit of time just to make sure we got all the details from the weekend out here on the podcast and that's why we go under the hood we call it Upon Further Review there were terrible calls do you want to go ahead and jump in After Further Review After Further Review After Further Review Alright Tom why don't you why don't you get us started you've got a couple notes in here you want to yell at people for being stupid do you want to I mean it's like this is kind of it's the world's your oyster my friend um I'll start with something I'm going to put myself in check here because you know my playoff vibe check column that I write on Saturday after the reaction show that is published on Sunday is pretty much just an extension of the reaction show in that I'm just spitting out things I'm thinking from the day and I'm not really fact checking or going a deep dive in it is literally a vibe check and I put Florida in the lead talking about how Florida might be a playoff contender and you know what damn it they might be like they've looked good this year but I'm wondering if maybe I gave them a little too much credit because there has been um a little bit of luck involved a little bit like if you look at uh Bill Connolly's post game win expectancy from the SP plus Auburn should have won that game they had a post game win expectancy of 56 and a half percent and also according to Connolly Florida has 2.44 expected wins on the season which would mean that their.57 wins above expected is tied with North Dakota State for the 9th quote unquote luckiest team in the country so far through three games and one of the things that is a factor is you know I we've talked about turnover luck I don't think interceptions are as noisy as the overall consensus seems to think but I do think that with fumbles there's a lot of luck involved like as far as recovering it teams have fumbled the ball four times against Florida they've recovered them all their defense has forced two turnovers in the red zone they have a points off of turnover margin per game of plus 10.67 which ranks third nationally but the thing is their overall turnover margin is only plus two the two teams that rank ahead of them, UMass and Colorado State, have a plus 7 and a plus 8. eight turnover margin respectively. So Florida has not forced a bunch of more turnovers than the other team, but they have done a great job of scoring points off of them and also keeping the other team from scoring off of theirs, which I don't think is luck. I think that's, there's definite skill involved there, but just overall, like defensively, Auburn was the first really good team they played. They opened the year with Florida Atlantic and Campbell, which are two games where you should rack up your stats enough to where, you know, you're, you're kind of, you know, ranked highly. Defensively, Florida's not really ranked highly in anything. They're 66th in points allowed per drive. They're 51st in success rate. They're 75th in EPA per snap. And again, their schedule hasn't been that difficult. So I like this team. I like what they look like. I love Jaden Ball. I like the possibilities of where they're going, but I do wonder if we're, me in particular with the playoff talk, if I'm projecting a little bit too much on them. So I had to go punt. I had to go punt for the review and check myself there. I think that's fair. I also don't think they played all that well against Auburn. Like, I think they have another gear they can get to and may need to get to if they're going to win and cover against Ole Miss this weekend. Right? Like, I, I don't think Auburn's very good at all. You know, now, I do kind of wonder if Auburn's just going to go ahead and commit to just running the hell out of Byron Brown and be like, all right, you can't throw at this level. Like, this is terrible. Like, you're so late on stuff. You're like triple hitching on balls and like turning touchdowns into picks. Like, we're done with this. We paid you all this money. We need to get some value out of you. Get ready for the ice bath. Like, we're just going to run the heck out of you. So like, maybe Auburn will look better going forward. Like, if Brown doesn't have like 20 carries against Vandy, like, what are we doing? But I think Florida has another level they can get to. I also, and I was going to text Bill about this. I thought Florida got screwed by the refs in that game. Like, that was just watching. It's like, oh my God, this feels like very one-sided. Like, Auburn got away with a ton of holding, in my opinion, that Florida got flagged for. Oh, like 16 penalties for 140 yards or something like that? Yeah, right. Like, I understand what the advanced metrics say. I think there's value in that. But also, I do think, like, okay, Auburn's what? Probably the 14th SEC team? Maybe this year? 14th? Oh, man. Like, you would take them over Arkansas. Maybe 13th? Like, would you take them over South Carolina? They barely beat a bad Baylor team. Like, Florida had 16 penalties and didn't even play all that well and still had, like, multiple double-digit leads in the second half. I do think Auburn and Mississippi State have swapped places in my mind. Yeah. One is a quarterback. Where I've leveled up Mississippi State and I've downgraded Auburn. Just looking at my power rankings really quick, I have Auburn ahead of South Carolina, Missouri, Kentucky, Vandy, and Arkansas. I think I would take Kentucky out of neutral, man. Missouri, yeah. They're sort of in that, like, kind of like 12 to 15 range for me. South Carolina's look just as bad, so that's fair. Oh, Striker, we're getting closer on the sub school. If you're watching YouTube.com slash number three and you're not, you have not subscribed. Subscribe to the channel. Come on over there. Let's get that thing ratcheted up. Let's add a few more. See if we can hit 72 by the time we get back together for Big Game Breakdown on Tuesday. I think Florida had some guys open, right? Then if they don't correct, Trinidad's going to hit. From an entertainment standpoint, if Florida's a team with an awesome quarterback and awesome skill players that commits a bunch of penalties and does a bunch of stupid stuff, I think it's going to be very entertaining. They could beat anybody and they could lose to anybody. And a coach like Sumrall who's like. He's got that vibe. He's just got great juice. Like, they could lose to Missouri. That's the thing is, I don't disagree with your power ratings, Tom, but I do think that there's enough volatility here at the Gators where when they go to Como, Austin Simmons could go out there and play a great game and they win 55 to 52 or something along those lines. So, we'll see. I'm not ready to throw Florida in the college football playoff conversation because I don't think they're that different from a lot of SEC teams that all look very good right now. If they win this weekend, they're going to be favored to make it. Like, they're plus 190 in the markets right now, right? Like, you get this one. But the one thing we have to remember, though, is the SEC is a gauntlet. So. The problem is they can back that up. They went 10-2. I know. I'm saying it's a gauntlet. So, just because you're off to a hot start doesn't mean they're not two or three or four losses coming your way still. Right. That's my expectation. That's why if you're not at the very top. If you're not at the very top, I'm not ready to say that you're a lock just because there's so many. I mean, Ole Miss could lose to Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl like we've stumbled upon late Saturday night. You know, who's to say that couldn't happen? So, there's a lot of dangerous teams there. Danny, I know that you are the ombudsman. You know, you hold the Southeastern Conference accountable. You don't let them get away with their bluster. But after a 10-2. Showing against non-conference, power conference teams, are we okay with the fact that they've got daggum 10 teams in the top 25? Does that feel appropriate? No. No, because I still think some of them towards the bottom are like, what are you doing? It's just deference to that. And the thing that drives me nuts about the 10-2, when you look at them, because Ole Miss beats Louisville on a walk-off field goal, and Texas beats Ohio State by one point, and if you go down the list, like, they're very, like, some of them were tight games, or they were dominant teams against way less than teams. I think we read way too much into those non-conference records. Now, it is impressive. They deserve the credit. But I still think there is going to be carnage in the. Like, Bud said something earlier. He was like, Ole Miss, just like, even if they get by this one, like, they'll. I don't think anybody's safe in any conference of just rolling through. I think college football is at a different place. Where you can't just show up because of the level of talent. Like, everybody's paying something. So, you've got players out there that can compete, that will give you a challenge. One of my. I was going to ask you guys, what do you think the best record is at the end of the season for the SEC? Like, I think there's a chance the SEC championship game could feature. Like, two two-loss teams? And I was going to say maybe one. 10-2 versus 9-3. Like, I think that's why they've been pounding the table. They've been pounding the table so much for the three-loss teams. And I'll be okay if a three-loss team gets in. I think you're going to see carnage. I think it's just getting started. I don't think we're going to see the carnage. What's that? You don't think we're going to see it? No, I don't. No, because some of the teams that have, like, the really good players on, like, the roster at the non-QB positions don't have the QB. Right. Like, if Oklahoma and A&M had the QB, I think. But you don't think Oklahoma could win ugly against Georgia? Like. No. Well, I. I don't think so either. But I don't think. I don't think it's a. Like, I think that game is not just a layup. Like, I think it's a. I think Georgia could win ugly against Oklahoma. Yeah. I think so, too. But I also think Georgia. I think Oklahoma could win ugly. I. Wait. Is it a home game or not? Will John Mateer have the fans. It's an ad. No, I'm saying, will John Mateer have the fans to tell him who's open? Oh, yes. That's a good point. Home road splits. John Mateer needs the fans to let him know when to look downfield. I didn't mention the 10-2 record does include NC State. Blowing it against Vanderbilt. Like, that's another one. I thought the 2 was more interesting than the 10. Not that I'm beating the table saying Texas A&M beating Arizona State shows how good it is. But it's like, so who were the 2? An Oklahoma team that is in just free-fall panic mode right now. And an Arkansas team that we are, like, burying to the bottom. Everybody else took care of business. The vibes, you know, to the vibe check. The vibes at all these other SEC programs, even if they're lying to themselves. Like, Missouri's counting the win against Kansas in the 10-2. You know, even if they're lying. They're lying to themselves about what that means. The vibes are still going in a positive direction where they decidedly are not in, you know, some of the. Like, the Big Ten, 4-9. Some of those nines, those losses were a little bit shell-shocking in terms of your view. Trust me, this plays really well in your politicking, right? Because that's what they're going to do. They're going to push at the end of the season. Just like it did in basketball. With SEC had 14 out of 16 in the NCAA tournament because they dominated the non-conference. I mean, it's going to be the same one. I don't. I don't think this is politicking. I think this is just an accurate portrayal of what's happened. Like, you're 10-2. And, like, the teams that they have beaten, I'll read them off. Clemson, Baylor, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Arizona State, Kansas, Ohio State, Minnesota, Florida State, NC State. The teams that they have lost to, Chip just mentioned, Utah, Michigan. Let's go. Like, the teams that the other leagues have beaten, like, the Big 12 is 6-9 with win. No, they're 5-7 with wins over Georgia Tech, Boston College, Arkansas, Oregon, and Virginia. Good wins. The ACC's wins are against TCU. Rutgers, Purdue, UCF, Illinois, Maryland. Like, wow. Three bowl teams? Yeah. Like, that's nothing to really be excited about. And you look at who they're losing to. Those other leagues, most of the playoff teams that they're playing, outside of playoff contenders, they've lost to. Like, I think the SEC isn't just out there politicking and trying to convince you. I think they just have to represent the facts, and it's not very different. And this is the guy who's been telling you for years that the SEC is overhyping itself and everybody is overhyping the SEC. So far in 2026, it's not overhype. It's just the reality. They are, like, by every single number that I'm tracking, my ratings, even the unbiased ones I do that don't bring in any kind of preseason. and projections the sec right now is a mile ahead of everybody else period uh no doubt has anything changed though as far as who do we think would be the best teams to win the national championship like yes you think i'm not guaranteeing they're going to win the national title but i'm saying from top to bottom like they might have half the damn field and if they do we've all agreed on them i see i don't think they're going to get half the field they could big 10 keeps going the way it's going i don't think you're gonna get six i think they could really get five yeah i think they're they're getting five at a minimum at this rate i i don't think so i i think four is the minimum probably i i think the what's changed danny is i see a kentucky i see a mississippi state i see teams that conveniently you could have slotted as wins for somebody else and those those those are upgrades you know it just there seems to be more teams that you can't just put at the bottom because that's the criticism that's the criticism for the acc that's the criticism for the big 10 that the acc and the big 10 have a bottom tier that can kind of pull everybody else you know pull everybody else down is that good though to have two of your playoff hopefuls look like crap so far i mean like yes mississippi state kentucky have elevated but also oklahoma and texas a&m are like world's worst than anybody projected them to be i'm talking about conference strength more than i am talking about predicting the number of bids they're going to get because at the end of the day and of course they don't talk about this enough it's just the teams that are in the rankings right i mean we'll see they they are not obligated to meet a certain number of bids per conference for this college football playoff we'll just line them up and see what happens but i think that overall conference strength i've come away upgrading the sec even from where i i had i look at them the same way i looked at them before the season okay they're the deepest feeling yeah you know that's fair because i mean texas is the number one team in the country because they've got the best win but who's looked at three games of texas and been like sheesh that's a that's an o4 usc if i've ever seen one you know i mean it's like not a juggernaut necessarily yeah okay coming up on the other side we continue with our look upon further review and who made the practical plays to success and more next now it's time for the practical plays of the week brought to you by pnc bank where we highlight the most practical plays that make the biggest difference financial wins and football victories don't just happen they're built on dedicated consistent often unseen work behind the scenes it's the tactical moves and the practical plays that create the foundation for show-stopping moments in life and on the field and it was not boring but it was brilliant and it was certainly tactical how about the ways that west virginia quarterback michael hawkins was dicing up the virginia defense uh the west virginia quarterback totals 313 yards of offense and five touchdowns in a 38 to 27 win for rich rodriguez's mountaineers uh that would be 123 of those yards coming on the ground matched by the way by his backfield mate cam coleman i mean got cam coleman cam cook who also went for 123 on 30. carries and then 190 through the air as well we talked about the design run we talked about the escapability um i mean just danny really really impressive stuff from the way that hawkins seems to be in total control of rich rod's offense it's the perfect fit i mean this is kind of what we expected coming into the season was what if if michael hawkins would be a seamless transition from oklahoma to west virginia this is what they potentially could be i mean he's you know 123 yards on the ground you know he's out of the game he's out of the game he's out of the game he's out of the game he's out of the game he's out of the game he's out of the game he's out of the game as a passer can be kind of dangerous it's i would agree with armando in there rich rod is back and he's got a quarterback that fits perfectly with what he wants to do tom i was uh looking at west virginia and sort of what the path is moving forward west virginia was one of our biggest risers in the cbs sports 138 that's probably not a huge surprise given we maybe had a little bit lower preseason expectations they were up 38 spots checking in at number 28 so right on the edge of the top 30 for the mountaineers over there in cbs sports 138 and they were up 38 spots checking in at number 38 i was looking at their schedule tom and while i don't want to get over my skis i think that objectively the toughest games are later in the season which means we might have a chance to stack some success and build a little confidence how are you maybe adjusting your expectations now that these practical plays have been put in motion i'm not adjusting them too highly i'm not i'm not really completely re-evaluating the way i think of west virginia overall but i do think that you're off to a very good start it's giving you reason to be excited because you do get oklahoma state this week out of the game and i think that's a good start at home you could win that one if you go on the road the following week beat iowa state maybe you're finally ranked and maybe you know a two-score win over a ranked team wasn't good enough to get them ranked this week other teams that had one score wins over unranked teams got in though but i i do believe that you you're very excited this is what you hired rich rod for to bring this back to get you back to this level because the last few years for west virginia football have not been very fun and regardless of what the final record is like you do have to play texas tech houston and utah in three of your final four games so i don't i don't know if you're suddenly looking at a big 12 title contender here but football's fun again in in morgantown and it hasn't been fun for a while so i'm just thrilled for west virginia fans it's awesome yeah but it's i was just gonna say from the flip side i know we're talking about the practical plays of the week but impractically this was a bad loss for virginia for the acc this is the one that you kind of this was a team that we've said tried to bring up every time hey don't forget about virginia this significantly hurts the game their chances to potentially be you know at large acc champion loser like whatever way you would paint a path for virginia to get to college football playoff that just probably was destroyed totally agree but like they exposed virginia as a team that can't throw right right like we talked about this in week one we gave them a lot of praise for all the good things that uva did and we also said we don't know if they can throw the ball at all because they didn't have to do it except off play action and screens because they they threw like what 10 passes maybe against nc state and it was all like hard play action stuff when they were running for like 300 yards so um i think like that was definitely a commentary on the uva passing game and good pressure on bow uh by west virginia like i'm still a little concerned about about the mountaineer secondary um after like thinking about that okay uva can't throw coastal actually can throw a little bit and coastal chucked it around on them so yeah we still don't know like mess to make or might have a field day against them this weekend if they can protect deuce bailey is a joy uh for a couple of reasons i think it's a good game and i think it's a good game it's a very fun quarterback but not not not a practical i would not i would not say that the deuce bailey experience is is what you get from the good planning at pnc it's fun but it's fun but yeah i mean that's like carnival games guys the the basketball goal is bent shocker that's why it's a little bit harder uh to get the the big stuffy okay those were the practical plays of the week brought to you by pnc bank brilliantly boring since 1865 brilliantly boring since 1865 is a registered mark of the pnc financial services group inc pnc bank national association member fdic all right back to a pun further review um tom let's talk about nate shepherd okay nate shepherd is off to a very good start if you only don't don't know the name he is the running back for duke and we talked about him a little bit last week after he ran all over my beloved illini but he is continuing to run all over people this week it was stanford's turn and now leads the nation with 528 yards rushing he's averaging 176 per game and this is where it gets really fun um he has an explosive rush rate of 18.29 percent this year and that's on 91 carries there are a lot of backs out there with higher rates but they all have like between 15 and 30 carries he's doing it as an absolute workhorse and these graphs will kind of give you an idea of what i'm talking about here see nate shepherd all the way over there on the right as far as his total carries compared with his explosive play rate there's no nobody else really in the same time zone as he is and how is he able to get these explosive plays well it's not just that they scheme him open or that he's got brilliant vision it's just that he is the most damn impossible man to tackle look at him yards post contact again compare his number of carries to everybody else he's averaging nearly five yards post contact on over 80 some odd carries like tom surely they have a great passing me after respect right so no no that's that's it's funny you mention that because they don't like they're really just like we're going to give the ball on nate shepherd this play let's see what you can do about it and so far nobody has been able to do much about it now these are so crazy that i it's going to be he's not going to maintain this pace like you remember a few years ago i wrote about it caleb johnson at iowa had a very similar start to the season where it was just nuts and then as they got into conference play he was still very good but he started coming back towards the path i am expecting that will be the case with nate shepherd but if he keeps this up like duke to me is one of the teams that has been getting absolutely no respect so far if we talk about strength of record and resumes and all that kind of stuff they've got one of the better resumes in the country to this point they are one of those teams with two power four wins and there's only eight of them in the country that can say that and they are the defending acc champion like maybe we maybe the drop off wasn't as big as we thought it was going to be just because jerry and mensa went to miami maybe this team is still pretty good maybe manny diaz's defense is going to help them out but i don't think they're going to win games, and if Nate Shepard keeps at this pace, they're a team that might stay. still be in the running to get to charlotte at the end of the year i mean that florida state already took their general manager just go hire manny next you know like this is this is the go back to where it all started manny come on this is this can be you i i say that jokingly to say tom i think manny diaz has done a really good job coaching the duke blue devils yeah all summer long he instilled a true belief that everyone's talking about who isn't here and nobody's talking about who is that's what everybody around that program says all they're going to talk about is darian mensa leaving and darian mensa this and darian mensa that and and no one is talking about who's still here in this building and you guys won the acc championship and with the chip on their shoulder you mentioned two power conference wins they're they're not uh their g6 is two lane which i know that two lane is downgraded but it i mean it's not against kansas state wasn't an easy out for kansas yeah i mean it wasn't like they're scraping the bottom of uh another conference to be able to stack up an easy victory i i think that they they've taken the whole chip on the shoulder thing from from at acc football kickoff i shared this story they put duke right after north carolina the room is packed for bill belichick then bill belichick gets off the podium and goes to the breakout room and the whole room clears out and now let's welcome the reigning acc champions and they just come out to you know i mean and i i internally they're like this is messed up we were the acc champs why does everybody care about this head coach that went four and eight last year they're they're probably not going to be able to do that they're probably not going to be they're playing with some fire and uh they clearly are ready to let um whoever whatever sec team is going to have nate shepherd in 2027 they're going to deal with the carries that are being logged right now because you sir you play for duke here in 2026 and uh that's the best way for them to be able to win you want to talk about oregon everybody else is talking about oregon in weird and wild ways okay so let's let's go back in time to week one when oregon barely survived to beat boise state and everybody's like wow what's wrong with oregon that's not good the fact that they barely beat boise state this is supposed to be a team that is competing for a national title they're supposed to be one of the best teams in the country how do they only beat boise state then the next week they go on the road and they beat lose oklahoma state and it's more oh my god what is wrong with oregon they lost a game to a team they shouldn't beat is dan lanning just james franklin jr are they ever going to be good again do they actually kind of suck so now we go into week three and oregon gets the game it needs they're playing the portland state vikings right a game you need after the kind of start you had and you go and you whip portland state's ass 84 to nothing is the reaction was man oregon needed that no uh-uh the reaction is why was oregon being so mean to portland state look at these headlines one from the wall street journal is it rude to win a football game 84 to nothing or am i just soft or even the local boys at the oregonian oregon's cringy blowout first of all cringy in a headline where do you 15 oregon's cringy blowout of portland state a different kind of embarrassing what the hell do you want them to do like portland state sent 11 guys on the field for every play if portland state wanted to stop them from scoring portland state should have but you know what they couldn't like did the check cash exactly so it's like there's just such a it's the stupidest thing i've never seen this before to where a team blows out an fcs team and then there's people like i don't know this is feels like a bit much i don't know guys yeah just it happens every single week hell there was grand valley state beat somebody 96 to nothing on saturday 96 to nothing the spread was 94 where are the columns about was grand valley state being mean to i don't remember the team they played i just want to know the columns what they were like in 1910 when they beat puget sound 110 110 duck i i suspected that dan lanning was going to hold his staff and his players to a different standard all week and that portland state was in trouble because it had nothing to do with the opponent they needed to have everything else be crisper cleaner i'm talking ball not hitting the ground i'm talking like being in your spot like all the things around the edges that had gone wrong because that's how a team with a team with what 10 nfl draft picks they could lose the rest of the i think oregon could lose every game the rest of the year and they would still have eight to ten nfl draft picks off this team it was it was a don't get off the bus saturday for portland state they knew what they were in for like come on yeah what about did if people are being idiots does that give it does that give us an opportunity how do how do we clear the air then as we look ahead to a usc oregon game i think we're about to find out about each team because i i like usc but i don't love them i don't love them i'm worried about oregon that got back on the right track but we're about to find out you know are they are they bouncing back or they still have significant issues uh anything else a pun for the review that we want to make sure we get out on the record before we turn the page to week four any other late takeaways let's see what i'm tapped out i think we did our late takeaways in the two hour recap show oh i got it uh let me see if i can remember had you guys on 1.5 this week uh did you like the way shane beamer and mike norvell handled their losses didn't didn't watch okay mike norvell was mad as hell um alex goal i was just i'm saying mike elko and alex golish handled it one way shane beamer and mike norvell handled it another and it was an extreme showing of coaches that are on the hot seat under real job pressure and coaches who've got a little bit of wiggle room so that when they address their disappointed fan base they could say it starts with me we're gonna get it right you know we're gonna like they and they just own it mike elko was furious at his post-game press conference and he was like and it starts with me and we like this this was not acceptable and it's a lot easier to have that stance when you're not on the verge of being fired mike norvell and shane beamer's tone describing the loss was very different than alex golish and mike and mike elko not that it that's not a big conversation obviously but it's you know left on the notepad from late saturday night as i was watching some of the post-game press conferences and cleaning up my work yeah i mean all these guys are super competitive and beamer and norvell will get huge checks when they get fired but i think it shows like the real want to stay there and keep coaching you know and like like to not have it go down uh like it's like likely to go down right um i think for go last year was the interesting like i i saw him not taking very much heat at all but rather auburn ad uh cohen who taken you know taking a lot of heat from you know the alabama media uh for saying hey like you kind of fumbled this coaching search you could have had summer all blah blah blah like you could have had summer all and do i think summer all is a guy i'd rather have than go less maybe right i think he's a good coach and i've liked him for a long time but i also think go less is a good coach what you wouldn't get with summer all is this florida roster which is way better than what auburn has guys that the gap in coaching was a lot smaller than the gap in roster in that game like i i don't i don't get where the hype for auburn this year came from if you look at the players they have like i don't think it's anything good like nothing special right like and you don't have enough decent to overcome your lack of of elites well florida florida still had sec skill players that summer all showed up to inherit while we brought south florida skill players with us to auburn correct yeah yeah different different different investment uh at that level i would say probably i'm not speaking about their overall roster investment but i'm just saying i would assume keeping jayden ball keeping those florida wide receivers and keeping the linemen keeping the linebackers i think those investments probably might have been a little bit different and a smart one you know good work by summer all in that staff no doubt yeah i just like i don't i don't put that game on go less now you don't put that game on go less now you need to put that game on go less now you need to put that game on go less now you need to put that game on go less now you need to put that game on go less now you should probably know what he is capable of and what he is not capable of that's kind of the material argument with um with the oklahoma oc is is ben harbuckle going to get fired i i don't know like the decision makers there well enough on that like twitter thinks he should be i guess i know i'm fans are furious but that doesn't mean i mean that's that's that's a we could it doesn't matter whether we're on twitter whether you're at the water cooler or whether you're at like you know the the buffet on a sunday afternoon like complaining about your offensive coordinator is about as like starter pack for the fan experience as possible so it's always tough to tell what's fan sentiment but brent venables as we mentioned saturday night did not have a great glowing endorsement of his offense uh no for the game is is that a north carol a buffet buffet the buffet you know but danny do you guys call it is this another thing where i'm out of the loop what's going on that may be a carolina thing yeah i i think that actually when i when i really it's a little almost colonel sanders you know as you get on down to the buffet we gotta say yeah it's it's a dupe we got to get into duplin county and then at the duplin county country buffet yeah um yeah it's just i was just thinking all through the decades doesn't matter if you're a college football fan complaining about your offensive coordinator is pretty standard issue but But, um, Ben Arbuckle and John Mateer. even as they made the college football playoff has not been what the brightest, brightest hopes were along the way. All right. We are going to be back for you with you at 11 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday for big game breakdown. That means we are diving inside the X's and the O's, the matchup, the stakes, the storylines, and so much more for the biggest games of the week. We're going to rip it. I think as long as you guys are cool with it, kind of like last week. So we're just going to jump in, dive into the big games and maybe leave a little bit of room to just rapid fire through some of the other ones that have our attention as well. So make sure you come and hang out early for it. So we start breaking down those big games right away, Tuesday, 11 a.m. Eastern time, youtube.com slash cover three. And you can follow him on Twitter. Tom Finnelli, follow him at Danny Canale, follow him at Bud Elliott three. You can follow me at chip underscore Patterson gentlemen. Thank you very much. Thank you. See ya. It was a gruesome discovery off a dirt road in Georgia. Hunters had found a body. Was it immediately clear to you that this woman had been murdered? Yes. But who was this mystery woman in the woods? That looks like Mindy. I'm Erin Moriarty. And from 48 hours, this is the woman in the woods. I have never wanted to be wrong like this in my whole entire life. Follow and listen to the woman in the woods, wherever you get your, podcasts.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. College football traditions, such as fanquakes and rivalries, are central to the game’s culture and are celebrated by Modelo, which is the official beer sponsor of the College Football Playoff.
  2. The podcast highlights the importance of practical, often overlooked plays in both football and finance, drawing a parallel between PNC Bank’s methodical approach and the reliability of consistent, tactical strategies.
  3. Kentucky Wildcats earn the FWAA "Crazy Good Team of the Week" for a dominant third-quarter performance against Texas A&M, showcasing defensive resilience and a strong turnaround under first-year head coach Will Stein.
  4. The AP Top 25 poll reveals shifts, with Ole Miss rising due to strong wins over Louisville and LSU, while LSU and Texas A&M drop in rankings, highlighting volatility and the influence of schedule difficulty and margin of victory.
  5. Analysts debate the legitimacy of SEC teams’ 10-2 records, with concerns about overhyping and the reality that non-conference wins don’t necessarily reflect true strength, especially against top-tier opponents.
  6. The discussion emphasizes the evolving nature of college football, where teams must overcome tough schedules and inconsistent performances to remain competitive, with a growing belief in potential carnage in conference play.
  7. The podcast underscores the importance of turnover management and defensive execution, citing Florida’s strong turnover margin despite a weaker overall defensive ranking as a sign of skill, not luck.
  8. PNC Bank’s sponsorship and the theme of “brilliantly boring” strategies serve as a metaphor for the value of consistency, discipline, and practicality in both financial success and football victories.

Summary:

The Cover 3 podcast celebrates college football traditions, highlighting the cultural significance of fan engagement, rivalries, and iconic moments like the Kentucky Wildcats' dominant third-quarter win over Texas A&M. This performance, recognized by the FWAA as "Crazy Good Team of the Week," exemplifies the impact of strong coaching, defensive discipline, and resilience under pressure. The episode also analyzes the AP Top 25 poll, noting shifts in rankings—Ole Miss rises with key wins, while LSU and Texas A&M fall, reflecting ongoing volatility in the rankings.

Analysts debate whether SEC teams’ impressive non-conference records justify playoff contention, cautioning against overhyping and emphasizing that true strength is demonstrated against high-level competition. The discussion further explores the value of practical, consistent plays in both football and finance, drawing a parallel between PNC Bank’s methodical approach and the reliability of tactical strategies. Ultimately, the podcast underscores that success in college football is built on consistency, execution, and resilience—not just flashy moments.

With the season progressing, teams face a gauntlet of tough challenges, and the narrative suggests that the true test lies in maintaining performance through adversity.

FAQs

Modelo is the official beer sponsor of the college football playoff.

College football traditions, like fanquakes and rivalries, make Saturday special and are what the podcast celebrates as essential to the experience.

The Kentucky Wildcats are named the FWAA Pop-Tarts Bowl Crazy Good Team of the Week for their strong second-half performance against Texas A&M.

CalShe is a live prediction market where fans can trade on outcomes like playoff matchups, with real-time updates and potential payouts based on performance.

Practical plays—like running the ball or efficient defensive schemes—are often unglamorous but lead to reliable gains and momentum, just like consistent financial strategies.

Seemingly boring plays in football and banking lead to big wins because they are reliable, consistent, and build long-term success.

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