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What's good, y'all? It's Von Miller, Super Bowl MVP, SAG Master, and now your host of Free Range. This is where NFL meets real talk. Every week, I'm bringing you inside the game, from locker room stories to league-wide headlines. You want football IQ, locker room insight, and real conversations with the people shaping the league?
Welcome to Free Range with Von Miller, where nothing is off limits and every down counts. New episodes every Wednesday. Listen and follow Free Range with me, Von Miller, wherever you get your podcasts. It is the JR Sport Brief Show here with you coast to coast on the Infinity Sports Network. Man, we got a lot going on in the world of college football.
We got coaches moving. We got conference championships at the end of the week. We got signing day. There's a lot going on. The playoff is on its way.
We got rankings to discuss everything going on in the world of college football. Joining us right now is someone who covers all things college football, as senior writer covering all things college football for the Sporting News. Welcome back to the show, Bill Bender. Bill, how are you, man? Hey, JR.
How are you doing, man? I'm very well. I know things have been very, very busy for you.
So we appreciate the time and you joining, okay? Oh, yeah. I mean, one of the days last week, I kind of looked up and I was like, oh, it's dark out now. You know, you have one of those like, oh, I've been sitting here this long, But it's been a crazy week, no doubt, between the playoff rankings and the coach changings. And you know what?
You just take the wheel. Tell me where we want to go.
Well, I know where we started off is the press conference that was had a few hours ago, Lane Kiffin being introduced down in Baton Rouge. Are you surprised at how any of this has played out? And I guess the second part to the question, will we ever see an adjustment in the college football schedule or the rules that will prevent a coach just from bailing at this juncture of the season? I hope so, but I think the logistics of that would be a couple things, and I discussed this this morning on a show. One, have an early signing day before the football season.
I mean, I'm a parent of a high school kid. That just makes sense. You know, let them enjoy their senior year. Two, move the portal back so that these guys aren't transferring during the playoff. And then three, you know, then you have coaches that should have to finish the season at that point.
I mean, if you move signing day and move the portal, then Lane probably would have been able to stay. I think it is a special circumstance, JR. One of the things I said when this rumor started, I was like, there's no way Ole Miss is going to let him coach the playoff. I didn't think that would happen at all. It's a rival, air quote, school in your conference where you're competing against, and you had a better record against.
You beat him during the year. And how Lane left was obviously unceremonious. But at the same time, and I'm playing both sides here, I understand that, I don't begrudge him for leaving. It's not my business to tell Lane Kiffin where to work. You know what I mean?
And so I don't. If he wanted to go to LSU, he wanted to go. It's just unfortunate it had to happen during the season. Oh, this is just bad. At least now the athletes as well, they have an opportunity and a chance to move around And you talk about of course LSU and Ole Miss playing in the same conference I don want to say we have a similar situation It is different as Summerall is moving from Tulane over to Florida He's being allowed to go ahead and coach Tulane for the rest of however long their season is going to go because they have trust.
And, well, there's a big gap between Tulane and Florida. What are your thoughts about him being allowed to continue to coach? I like it. And I like the fact that Friday night won't feel like Eric Morris is going to Oklahoma State and John Summerall is going to Florida. It's going to feel like Tulane, North Texas winner gets to go to the college football playoff and share that memory with their fan base.
And I think Tulane fans and North Texas fans will be grateful if they're able to go. Part of the business when you're a group of four, group of five school, I went to one in the match.
So I've always kind of dreamed of that, that the Bobcats.
So Ohio Bobcats were able to go to the college football playoff.
So I don't think either. And that's the difference.
Now with Lane, obviously, part of it, though, he kind of hijacked rivalry week, didn't he? You know, it was going all the way into Sunday morning with the Marty Smith updates. It was a wild, wild weekend with Lane Kiffin. There's no question. We're wild, wild, wild.
Bill Bender's joining us here from the Sporting News. You talk about that American Conference championship that we're going to get, North Texas and Tulane. How the heck did we get here? Is the ACC in such a shape? How did Duke get in here versus Virginia?
What is this? Oh, man, what a lawsuit that would have been if the ACC could have just said, you know what, you lost five games. We're putting Miami in the ACC championship game. It's better TV. I actually wouldn't have been opposed to that.
But, you know, Duke, obviously, you can't tell that to Duke fans. That was a crazy scenario to break down over the last couple weeks. And, you know, Virginia could probably do the ACC a favor and win the football game and go to the playoff.
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Call 1-877-718-5543 or visit morethanagame.nc.gov. Must be physically located in North Carolina. TNC's applied. What's good, y'all? It's Vaughn Miller, Super Bowl MVP, SAG Master, and now your host of Free Rain.
This is where NFL meets real talk. Every week, I'm bringing you inside the game, from locker room stories to league-wide headlines. You want football IQ, locker room insight, and real conversations with the people shaping the league? Welcome to Free Range with Von Miller, where nothing is off limits and every down counts. New episodes every Wednesday.
Listen and follow Free Range with me, Von Miller, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to Radio Rental. The scariest stories you've ever heard in your life. All told by real people. And off we go.
This wasn't a human being that I saw. There's something here in this house, something not of this world. There was a woman moving through the hall. I stepped back and I was completely alone. Radio Rental is available now.
Listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. They played again. It's literally like a game. I do think that argument is going to intensify over the next 24 hours because whatever the committee says tomorrow, I guess they could switch. But what would be the justification without both of those teams playing?
Oh, my God. What else do you expect tomorrow? And speaking of all the changes, what the heck do you expect to happen on the Ole Miss side as well now that Kiffin is gone? I think they still will get a home playoff game and be ranked number seven. Because you can't, again, the committee, I always tell my buddies, they can do whatever they want, right?
They proven that I don know how you rank them behind Oklahoma knowing that they beat Oklahoma head Yeah Lane not going to be there but I still think the players deserve a home game They'll probably be the seventh seed. What a surreal scene it would be if Ole Miss plays Alabama at home in the playoff. And I think that's the other thing I'm eyeballing. What if Alabama loses really bad to Georgia? does the argument shift from Notre Dame, Miami, because I think Notre Dame's in, to Miami, Alabama at that point.
Three loss Alabama playing a championship game, Miami sitting at home at 10-2. Both of those teams left out last year. Could be a really fascinating weekend for the Crimson Pide if they get beat by Georgia handily in Atlanta.
Well, I know there's a lot of people here in Atlanta that would certainly love for that to come true. given the history, if we got to flip over to the Big Ten, is Indiana, are they really going to go out there and just beat Ohio State? Or should we look at Ohio State and say, Indiana doesn't belong out there with them? You know, I was at Ohio State, Michigan, and I'm still shivering from the weekend, by the way. It was cold up there.
I never would have thought that that would have been like an appetizer for Saturday with Indiana and this really good Hoosiers football team where the Heisman's in the balance, and Kurt Zignetti's up there, and Indiana's first trip. It's old hat to Ohio State. I think the intensity of that game is going to be up the charts. They haven't had a really good Big Ten championship game, in my opinion, since Michigan State-Iowa in 2015.
So it's going to be a fantastic game. I'm wondering what the gap difference is from last year. I was there when Ohio State beat them 38-15, and it wasn't really close. I think this one's going to be close to the key for Indiana. But they haven't – you look at their rushing totals against Oregon, Penn State, and Iowa.
They're not great. I think Ohio State's defense is better than all of those defenses.
So what happens when they stress Fernando Mendoza into some third and longs? Does he make those highs in throws, or do they make him look bad? I think that's really what the game boils down to me. I mean, we found the answer with what they did to Bryce Underwood in Michigan. Will it be the same thing is the big question.
Bill Bender is here with us from the Sporting News. As we continue on with the rankings tomorrow and signing day and getting to these conference championships, we will not see any more Bill Belichick or Deion Sanders for the rest of the season. They're done. They're cooked. How confident are you that we'll see both of them back on the sidelines in Boulder and then also North Carolina next year?
I think we'll get one more year of Belichick. just judging by the tenure of it. And, you know, we'll see if it goes in that direction because so many coaching changes have happened. And I think North Carolina could have got a pretty good candidate had they made that move earlier. And Colorado's, Deion's health will be a big factor.
And, you know, I'm so proud of him for being able to coach through that. You know, I had a father that died of cancer, so you're always sensitive to that. But I hope he coaches another year. I know the bottom kind of fell out a little bit this year, and that happens when you lose guys like Shador, who's faring quite. I think he's grinding in the NFL.
He's doing all right. And, you know, Travis Hunter won the Heisman.
So we'll see if he can get out there for another year. I would say less likely Deion coaches than Belichick. And I think some of that is because of where we're at in this coaching carousel where, you know, we're already 20-plus.
Well, let me ask you this, Bill. is a team. Penn State still doesn't have a coach. And now it seems like they're trying to get Satake from BYU. What took Penn State so long and do you think he'd be a fit?
I think what's hurting them is a lot of the guys that were probably at the top of that list signed extensions. Maybe they didn't anticipate Cignetti, Rule, Brom, Elko. That's probably their top four. All of those guys signed extensions.
So now you're down to like Signetti, the talking man, you're going to make me say all these names, heartline, the alliteration test there, they definitely will be a second candidate And that part of the reason why I do think I still hold Jared I think we talked since that they kind of made an emotional decision with James Franklin and it's biting them a little bit. Because that's a tough, if I'm applying to that job, I'm asking them that. They say, hey, Alaska, I won 70% of his games here. What are you going to do if I have a five and seven season? You know, and that's really what's biting them a little bit.
where and what is the impetus for change? You know, that was kind of the first question that I asked you. Are we going to see a change? Is it possible? Is it likely?
Are we talking four years? Like, what changes anything when it comes down to scheduling? I hope the calendar's first, and I hope we take a hard look at buyouts. I know I can't, again, I can't speak to other people's money, but the buyouts are absurd you mentioned it i'm glad players are getting paid i'm glad they can move back and forth you feel for the old miss players here because you're like how do you get up for a game with an interim coach after a special 11 and one season uh gotta be a test there i think it's made you know lane tried to play it off as different generation type deal i both know those kids, they're kids, right? You can be impressionable and be a leader and those kind of things.
And Lane's going to have to live with that decision. But again, are we going to say that in three years if LSU is like in the top four and playing for a national title, which three of their last four coaches have done? Does he like playing the role of the villain? I think we both know the answer to that question. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, he does. I'm pretty sure he's thinking of a diabolical tweet to send out first thing in the morning.
So that's likely to happen. Bill, always appreciate the time. Tell everybody where they can find you and your work with the sporting news. Yeah, I'm at BillBender92, and I'm in the lab right now working on this Miami-Notre Dame debate to find the right answer. I still think Notre Dame will get it over Miami, but the surprise could be tomorrow.
Who knows? Hey, listen, I've seen enough of Carson back here at Georgia, so I wouldn't trust him for worth a damn, so don't ask me my opinion, okay? I got you, no problem. Listen up, football fans. You won't want to miss this.
Right now, new Bet365 customers bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets, win or lose.
So you could turn that $150 into something bigger when you bet on money loss, spread, totals, player props. $150 in bonus bets when new customers bet $5. I know where I'm going to bet from now on. Download the app today and see why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Gambling problem?
Call 1-877-718-5543 or visit morethanagame.nc.gov. 21 plus only. Must be physically located in North Carolina. TNC's apply and app only. What's good, y'all?
It's Vaughn Miller, Super Bowl MVP, SAG Master, and now your host of Free Range. This is where NFL meets real talk. Every week, I'm bringing you inside the game, from locker room stories to league-wide headlines. You want football IQ, locker room insight, and real conversations with the people shaping the league? Welcome to Free Range with Vaughn Miller, where nothing is off limits and every down counts.
New episodes every Wednesday. Listen and follow Free Range with me, Vaughn Miller, wherever you get your podcasts. Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water? Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it, even in cold. Butter?
Yep. Chocolate ice cream? Sure thing. Barbecue sauce? Tide's got you covered.
You don't need to use warm water. Additionally, Tide Pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new Coldzime technology. Just remember, if it's got to be clean, it's got to be Tide. Welcome to Radio Rental. The scariest stories you've ever heard in your life.
All told by real people. And off we go. This wasn't a human being that I saw. There's something here in this house.
Something out of this world. There was a woman moving through the hall. I stepped back and I was completely alone. Radio Rental is available now. Listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Crimes of is a weekly series that explores a new theme each season, starting with the true crimes that inspired Hollywood's most iconic horror villains. Listen to and follow Crimes of available now wherever you get your podcasts.
