Takes

College football is better off with a 12-team playoff and it doesn't diminish the regular season

I think this day is a long time coming for college football. Anybody that says college football is worse off for the playoff is lying or just grifting... it doesn't diminish the regular season at all. It makes us have way more games that matter in November.

Florida State is just an average football team, not a playoff contender

That team that we saw play on Saturday [Florida State] is not a playoff team in a 14-format, a 12-team format, a 30-team format. That's an average football team we saw.

Clemson will win the ACC

I have Clemson winning the ACC too. I do think receiver-wise they're gonna be better than they were last year... I think Dabo can win the ACC without using the portal because I don't think the ACC is that good.

Utah will lose its toughness advantage moving from the Pac-12 to the Big 12

Utah's main advantage in the Pac-12 was physicality... they could bully those teams. Now most of the Big 12, you probably can do that too, but you ain't doing that to Kansas State... Oklahoma State. That toughness advantage is gone now.

No team in the Big 12 will finish with fewer than three losses

My hot take about the Big 12 is that nobody is coming outta that league with fewer than three losses. I think it's gonna be a one-bid league.

Nico Iamaleava is the best quarterback in the country

I'm telling you, Nico's [Iamaleava] the best quarterback in the country. Size-wise, talent-wise, ability-wise, fit in the offense that he's in... I already have the future on Nico's Heisman.

Oklahoma will finish with a better SEC record than Texas in their first year

Oklahoma finishes with a better SEC record than Texas. I think Jackson Arnold will be a step forward for them... my concerns about Texas are shared.

I am going to smash the hot dog world record against Kobayashi

I'm gonna smash [the record]. I'm gonna eat more hot dogs than ever before... Right now the over-under is like 66, and I'm gonna blow that out.

The Chiefs will never win three Super Bowls in a row

Three in a row is really fucking hard to do... kind of the way you could also talk about it is there's 0% chance because it's never happened before. And if you know anything about gambling or life, if something's never happened, it will never happen.

The Chiefs will win at least 12 games this season

I like the Chiefs over this year. 11. I might ride. I might get in hard on that.

Lamar Jackson is a great bet for MVP at 18 to 1

I'll tell you what I'm thinking about betting on is Lamar Jackson to win MVP. 'Cause I think he's like 16 to 1 right now... 18 to 1. Same odds as Dak. Think about this with Lamar. Lamar at 18 to 1, you know that you're at least gonna be in the conversation in November. That's a fact.

Jalen Hurts will win NFL MVP at 14 to 1 odds

You know who I like for MVP? I like Jalen Hurts 14 to 1. That's pretty good. I like that a lot.

Matthew Stafford will be the MVP of the 2024 season

I like Matt Stafford 30 to 1 because it feels like he's due for the... everyone... you know, just picture yourself... and did you know he's never even received a vote for the MVP? I think this might be a narrative year with Matthew Stafford where it's like, you know, one of those, 'Hey, do we appreciate him enough?' 30 to 1 that when you watch that [late season] game, it's gonna be 5 to 1.

Boeing should be on a hotter seat

Boeing explodes during maintenance at an Atlanta airport killing two Delta employees. I feel like they should be on a hotter seat. I wish I knew if I was flying on a Boeing or not... allegesly. But don't kill me.

You don't have to draft a wide receiver until the fifth round

There are so many talented wide receivers in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth rounds that we don't have to draft wide receivers until the fifth round. Now if one comes up in like... if Garrett Wilson is there at the end of the second round, you've gotta take him. But I don't think we're gonna touch a wide receiver till the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth rounds.

Jaden Daniels will have a better rookie season than Caleb Williams

I just think it's gonna have, I think he's, I think of the two of them, I think Jaden Daniels is gonna light it up a little bit. And legs. He's got the legs.

Don't draft any Seattle Seahawks players

NFC West Seattle, no one. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I just, Jackson Smith is never going to leapfrog those two guys. DK and Tyler. It's just, just no one. Kenneth Walker's gonna get injured, I just can't deal with it.

Breece Hall should be drafted before everyone else

Jets, we're drafting Breece before everybody. Okay. Like, I'm sort of bummed out that we got the first pick in that draft because you have to take Christian McCaffrey in that piece. But I would love to take Breece, I just think he's gonna have a great year.

I will not draft Travis Kelce for moral reasons related to his podcast

This is the number one sports podcast. Yes. That's it. There is no other sports podcasts. There will be no talk of that person [Travis Kelce] on this... No Travis Kelce on our team. I love that. Good, good. Take a stand.

We should draft Stefon Diggs in the eighth round because he's a steal

Houston Texans, all of them. Every single one of them. This is their year... Stefan Diggs is being drafted in like the eighth round. Stefan fucking Diggs. Tank Dell is in the seventh round... I'm all in on the Texans.

Florida State still controls their own destiny despite the Week 0 loss

Florida State has controls their own destiny now. Whereas last year they won all their games and didn't control their own destiny. So they actually control their own destiny even though they lost the first game. So they're not out of it.

Mike White could win a game for the Jets against anyone off the bench

Mike White could win you a game on the New York Jets. I don't care who he's playing against, I don't care. He could come off the bench in the first quarter and Mike White has that ability to just somehow throw for three touchdowns for the Jets.

I might bet the Chargers to win the Super Bowl because Jim Harbaugh makes players harder to break

I might put a little something on the Chargers just because not to win the AFC West, but to maybe just win the Super Bowl because Harbaugh, the guy just does things like this... Friday was a key step in the team getting good at making yourself harder to break.

Jason Tatum's All-Star MVP trophy tattoo is negative 5,000 aura

To me this just calls into question his aura even further. Negative 5,000 Aura. How's getting a tattoo of force? Because he likes All Star MVPs then. That's also a terrible trophy.

Adding UConn to the Big 12 would make it the greatest college basketball conference ever

The UConn Huskies are seems like they're trying to get into the Big 12... it also would make the Big 12 the greatest college basketball conference of all time. because it would, now you'd have Kansas, you'd have UConn, you'd have Arizona, like Cincinnati. It'd be just crazy college basketball.

Gratitude and mental toughness are the core of Notre Dame's offensive 'Grit' motto

It's the motto of our offense for this year... Coach Denbrock, we just hired him this year to be our offensive coordinator and he brought that when he came. And I love it, man... We talk about the G being, having gratitude for the opportunity that you have. But at the same point of it, like it's a mentality that I don't care if we're throwing the ball running a ball... if you don't have grit and that mentality, you're not gonna have success.

If you are down 14 in the 4th, you must go for two after the first touchdown

Quick analytics question for you. You're down 14 and it's the fourth quarter and you score with three and a half minutes left. Are you going for two or are you kicking the extra point? ... It's a math thing... The book would tell you to go for two so if you don't get it, you have more time to try to do it again.

Alabama will not drop off in talent significantly following Nick Saban's retirement

I'm much higher on Alabama than I think most people are. I don't think they drop off that much. I remember going up there in the spring and just looking at the amount of aliens walking around on the field. It hasn't changed... They're still top three in talent in the whole country.

Tennessee has its deepest defensive line in over 20 years

Deepest defensive line they've had since I was a baby beat writer covering Tennessee. And they had John Henderson and Albert Haynesworth and Will Overstreet. It's been a long time since Tennessee's been that stacked on the D line.

Ohio State has zero excuses and must win the National Title this year

They really is no excuse. Not only should they win the Big 10, they should win the national title. There's no excuse. It is national title or bust. You're not really gonna miss Marv [Marvin Harrison Jr.] because they have Jeremiah Smith.

Notre Dame is in the best possible playoff position by being independent

Somehow some way Notre Dame with the way the college football playoff is set up... they're gonna get the five seed. And what that means at the five seed is they get a home game against probably a group of five team at the 12 seed. And then their next game will be against the four seed who will almost always assuredly be an ACC or a Big 12 team. So they will essentially always avoid the Big 10 and SEC until the Final Four.

Nebraska will likely start the 2024 season 6-1 or 7-0

I'm looking at their schedule... six and one or seven and oh going to the Ohio State game is not out of the realm of possibility for Nebraska. I want it so bad because they'll have that little number next to their name.

If you are ultra-wealthy and don't own a sports team, you're a weirdo

I'm fully supporting Jeff Bezos buying any team because it goes back to my original, my longtime take that if you're that rich and you don't own a sports team, you're a fucking weirdo.

Texas will win the National Championship

The Texas Longhorns. I like the Texas Longhorns... Texas is back. We might see Arch Manning if Ewers has any issues. But I think that Ewers is still obviously one of the best quarterbacks in college football. And their hardest game is Georgia. They have that at home. And with the expanded playoffs... Texas will also benefit.

Washington will win the Big 10

Washington Huskies plus 8,000... I'm gonna go with the conference, our local conference. The big 10, little long shot.

Miller Moss will win the Heisman Trophy

I'm gonna go with Miller Moss, USC. They play LSU week one. I think it's actually the Sunday game. So it's gonna be a standalone game if he comes out and balls... I also am high on USC this year simply because they got rid of Alex Grinch, the worst defensive coordinator of all time.

Nebraska will go 10-2 and compete for a playoff spot

Honestly, man, I think that they could, I think that they could compete this year... I think they could go 10 and two. You gotta think about it when you, if we're going into Ohio State, we're seven and oh... I think Raiola is gonna be a stud. We returned most of the black shirts, top defense last year.

The Chiefs will not win the AFC West and will enter the playoffs as a Wild Card

I think that division's [AFC West] gonna be scrappy, top to bottom... I think they make the playoffs as a wild card. I don't think they win the division. I'm telling you, I think it's just my—why do you hate the Chiefs? I don't hate the Chiefs. No, it feels personal.

Jalen Brunson is a top 10 player in the NBA

I can't remember loving a player this much... I think it's fair to say he's at, he's in the convo of a top 10 guy in my opinion. He's definitely in my top 10.

Jayson Tatum has no aura

Boston is an amazing team, but they're just not fun. No. Tatum is not fun. He has no Aura. Tatum is like, once your mom starts being like, this isn't fair. It's like, shut the fuck up dude... No, you don't get greatness from a supportive mom. You need a bit of like, yeah, maybe he should be on the bench.

Kobe Bryant is overrated relative to the all-time elite tier

I don't want to say what I think—Kobe's, he's very overrated. Because he is rated so high. Like he gets talked about like LeBron or Michael Jordan. I don't think he's in that spot. He wasn't the best player on the three-peat team... Shaq was an absolute monster.

The Eagles fleeced the Commanders in the Jahan Dotson trade

I like Jahan Dotson, a Penn State fan who's a beast at Penn State. Good wide receiver three. Give up a third, get back a fifth. Very happy. Fleeced. Fleeced.

I'm riding the Bears hype wave despite them playing against backups

I'm gonna ride the Hype wave. The way they edited [Hard Knocks], the way they ended it... I understand that it was the Bengals' second defense. I understand that. But I'm gonna ride the Hype wave.

The Matthew Judon trade is a loss for the Bears because he chose the Falcons over them

The Patriots gave Matthew Judon the option of which team he wanted to go to. And he chose the Falcons. New England believing the Bears and Falcons were in similar category... gave linebacker Judon his choice of being dealt to Atlanta or Chicago. And then Breer said Judon obviously picked Atlanta.

Jannik Sinner's steroid excuse about a trainer's massage is complete bullshit

The explanation is his trainer... accidentally sliced his thumb. And then used one of those new skin type sprays on his cut... and then later on in the day, gave Sinner a full body massage. And that's how the chemical got onto Sinner's body. If an agency is named [the International Tennis Integrity Agency], it's explicitly corny. There's no better mark that that agency is completely full of shit.

The first few weeks of college are the best time of your life and you should embrace it

Every year, no matter what, it's these last two weeks of August when I see kids going back to college, I'm like, fuck. That was, that's it. It is the fastest four years of your life. So just embrace it and like close your eyes and live in the moment. September is such a joke in college. You don't go to any of your classes. You don't have to worry about anything.

Robert Saleh is actually making football hard again for the Jets

My cool throne is for Aaron Rodgers because when we had Aaron Rodgers on for Chill Week, he told us 'make football hard again.' And he said that the Jets camp this year is much harder and maybe the hardest in the last seven or eight years of his career. And he said that Robert Saleh is like really cracking the whip.

Brian Flores is a 'terrible person' for how he treated Tua Tagovailoa

[Tua] went on Le Batard show and basically said that Brian Flores was doing mental torture on him. And he said, if you woke up every morning and I told you that you suck at what you did... Brian Flores actually came out and said like, 'I've evolved and yeah, I kind of fucked that up.' [PFT says Tua said he was a terrible person]... It sounds like Tua is to Brian Flores as Big Cat is to the chat.

I'm going to rewrite the Bears' history of poor quarterback play

I just know that there's never been a 4,000 yard and a 30 plus touchdown passer. [Big Cat says his job is to rewrite history] That is my job. They brought me here for reasons. If they had people like Aaron Rodgers... it wouldn't be the case. but it hasn't been the case. rewrite history. They obviously bring people in... to change history.

Fever Tree is currently the best ginger beer on the market

I'm actually trying to create my own ginger beer with not as much sugar. I love it so much... You gotta try Fever Tree. That's the best one right now. And then when mine comes out, that will be the best one out.