I Love The Buch

He's amused Cam Newton. He's been insulted by Charles Barkley.

He's interviewed Matthew McConaughey. And he's taken on Big Blue Nation. It's time for The Drive with Josh Graham. It is a Tuesday Drive on WSJS NewsTalk Sports for the Triad, where it's an exciting time to be a Tar Heel football fan. In the span of two weeks, Drake May's Heisman odds have jumped from 40 to 1 to 12 to 1 to where they currently sit at 5 to 1. That's the fourth best odds in America. Meanwhile, the newest college football playoff rankings will be announced tonight.

And with some of the chaos happening in the Pac-12 and Ole Miss over the weekend, North Carolina is expected to be number 12 or number 13 tonight. But on the topics of what the ceiling for this team is, and Drake May's Heisman case as well, both areas we've been on earlier than anybody else. And given what those players have been and what this team has been, we've been more accurate in talking about those two subjects than anyone else out there.

It's important to set expectations from here on out. Both these statements I'm about to say sound like they contradict each other, but I promise you they don't. Like saying you love puppies, but you're not interested in having a puppy. It sounds like those two things go together, but not always. Both those things can be true. Here are the two Tar Heel truths. Drake May can win the Heisman Trophy.

North Carolina cannot make the college football playoff. Both those statements are true. One is an individual achievement. The other is a team award, even though coaches will say the Heisman is a team award. Okay, I guess you have to be a certain level of good in order to win that award, but it's not like it's just the best player from the best team each and every year. But you might be doing the math in your head now. Okay. How often do you ever see a guy who doesn't make the playoff win the Heisman Trophy?

The answer, not very common, but also it's not really that rare either. So mostly you're going to get somebody off one of the best teams. Joe Burrow, Devante Smith, those types of players. Don't even remember who won the Heisman last year.

Do you? Who won the Heisman Trophy a year ago? I think it might have been a running back somewhere. Maybe.

I don't think that's right. Don't even remember who won the Heisman a year ago. But I know in recent years, Lamar Jackson won it in the ACC. His team never even went to an ACC championship game, which Drake May is going to go to.

I think of RG3. His team wasn't a national title contender. He played his last game in the Alamo Bowl. Who was it?

It was Bryce Young. How did we forget that? Probably because he's still playing college football right now. We're not perfect around here.

Things can slip through the cracks sometimes. But those are just two examples in the last 10 or 11 years that just because you're not a national title contender doesn't mean, yes, it does help, but it doesn't mean that you're excluded from winning the award. It is truly an individual award as it should be. So Drake May, he could still win it. And this was Mack Brown earlier talking about what North Carolina is doing, or what North Carolina is doing, how they're handling Drake May's Heisman case now.

I think he should be invited to New York off of what he's done so far. Obviously the Heisman voters decide who the Heisman is. I have sat there three times not knowing whether our guy was going to win the Heisman or not. So they don't tell you. And I sat behind all three of them. And they would turn to me and say, what do you think? And I'd say, I'm not feeling good. And here's the reason I'm not feeling good.

But they actually don't know until the vote. Mack had three Heisman finalists at Texas, as he mentioned there. His one winner was the first of those three, Ricky Williams. Early on in his tenure in Austin, Vince Young probably should have won the award over Reggie Bush. Colt McCoy kind of limped to the finish on Texas' way to another national title game. They lost to Nick Saban. That was his first title.

And it's still a question that people ask today. If Colt McCoy didn't get hurt in that game, does Texas win it? And if Texas wins it, how much of college football is different when it comes to Alabama's reign?

So that's the Heisman piece of this. Carolina's college football playoff piece hinges on their schedule. The Heels schedule will not be strong enough for them to make the playoff.

You can try and play all the scenarios in your head and think Cincinnati made it last year and all these things. There is not a scenario I see this committee putting this resume into the college football playoff. Even if they beat Clemson, Clemson very well might be the only ranked team that North Carolina beats this year. That'll depend on where NC State is ranked later on tonight and whether or not the pack takes care of its business this weekend against Louisville prior to facing North Carolina next week.

North Carolina has not caught breaks with its schedule. Well, they have to get to Charlotte being in the Coastal Division, but in this conversation, they have not. Virginia Tech isn't good, so you don't get anything for that.

Neither is Miami. When you played Wake Forest, a few weeks ago, Wake was ranked 10th in the country. Unranked when you played them this past weekend, that win doesn't help you as much anymore. NC State not doing you any favors. Appalachian State that win, you don't really get much for that, winning it on the road because of the way things have gone in boom since then. So the schedule just isn't going to be strong enough and it's not impossible to win with a schedule that's this poor or unimpressive just as long as you win the games impressively and North Carolina hasn't done enough of that. It's easy to point at the Virginia game. It's easy to point at Georgia State. There are a handful of games that North Carolina, clearly the better side, did not look at over the grand span of the game. So these two statements are not contradictory.

Both of them can be true and I think they are. Drake May can win the Heisman. North Carolina cannot make the college football playoff. 336-777-1600 is the phone number. Will Dalton is the executive producer of this show, taking your calls on Twitter at WSJS radio. That's also where we're streaming video now, starting that this week on YouTube as well.

Just search The Drive with Josh Graham if you want to see the show live for whatever reason. On WSJS tonight, a massive game for the Atlantic Coast Conference. It is Duke and Kansas.

Given how things have gone in the last few days, non-conference for the league, the ACC needs something to celebrate in basketball because number one Carolina has not looked like the number one team, even though they are still that. Louisville's 0-2 trying to get their first win tonight. We'll see what happens in the Scott-Satterfield Bowl tonight. They got App State and Dustin Kearns. Florida State lost again last night. Boston College lost last night. The ACC needs something good.

This is the big national stage that can help you, so it's important for the ACC, but even though that's the case, it might be the least appealing Duke and Kansas playing each other has been in our lifetimes. There will be, for one, there will be zero Hall of Fame coaches on the bench. Bill Self is still serving his, pun intended, self-imposed four-game suspension. You want to know the last time Kansas didn't have a Hall of Fame coach on its bench? Got to go back to 1983 when Ted Owens was coaching the team. He was followed by Larry Brown, who was followed by some guy named Roy Williams, who was followed by Bill Self. All of them are Basketball Hall of Famers. Duke had Coach K from 1980 up until this spring.

So neither are on the bench. Duke is a polarizing program, but a lot less polarizing with Shire on the bench versus Coach K. We'll see how that does in the ratings a little bit later on in the week. There also might not be a lottery pick in this game.

If there is, tell me who it is. Kansas, they don't have a top 15 recruit. They don't really have a splashy basketball team. Duke's lottery pick isn't playing right now in Dereek Whitehead. Now I know Mark Mitchell's shown some signs and Derek Lively is the number one player according to 24-7, but Derek Lively has a long way to go when it comes to scoring the basketball. That I don't know if teams are going to take much of a chance on in the lottery. We'll see. He's a borderline lottery pick at best when you look at many of the projections that are out there. But it's still important for the league.

This is when narratives, a word I hate, they are molded. We saw that last year. A lot of the value was put on these non-conference games, especially the ones that are on big stages, such as this one in Indianapolis. So tonight on WSJS, you can listen to that.

I will be at North Carolina Gardener Webb. WD will be at Wake Forest tonight. So plenty of coverage of ACC basketball coming your way. Watching Washington win last night and Ron Rivera get emotional in the locker room, I did have the thought, what would have happened if Carolina didn't fire Rivera? If the Matt Ruhl era never happened and they just gave Ron a second shot.

Then I thought about it for more than five seconds and realized it didn't really matter who the coach was going to be in 2020, it was time for something new. Sam Newton was past his prime. Luke Kuechly was probably going to retire anyway.

We'll never know for sure. Greg Olsen was ready to start his TV career. He already was at the point where he was broadcasting games on the bye week for Carolina for Fox.

It was time Thomas Davis was at the very end too. Ron Rivera probably would have struggled in 2020 and lost his job that year if he had been kept around longer. I don't think Ron Rivera was done dirty because the fact that they let him go during the season allowed for him to have that buffer period between being fired in Charlotte and taking the Washington commander's job. And who knows, maybe he's not the coach in the NFL, the Washington commanders, if it wasn't for him being fired in that spot.

We'll get to Sam Hartman speaking to the media for the first time in three and a half weeks, what he had to say in just a second. Let's go to Joey in Thomasville who wants in on riverboat Ron, one of our favorites around here. I don't really root for teams in the NFL. I do root for people though and there's nobody I root for more in the coaching ranks than Ron Rivera.

What say you? Josh, I agree 100%. I'm a long time Washington fan, but I tell you what, I have so much love and respect for Ron Rivera and the man that he is. And as you said, in an organization that has just been taken down the drain by ownership, he has been steadfast and to have this team at five and five with all the stuff circling around him is amazing. I remember there was weeks ago and I was listening to your show and that was about the time that Jim mercy came out with comments about, you know, Daniel Snyder. And I think it was, I think it was the Thursday night game and you mentioned cause we had lost some games and you, you even mentioned that it'd be the perfect time. Washington loses, you know, Daniel Snyder, you know, shifts the focus and fires the coverage and takes all that off and they won that game. And I was, I was, I was of the opinion that you were, and I was so glad that they won that game cause I was fearful just like you that had they lost that they might've fired him.

Yeah. And after the win, you know, he is kept on. And I tell you what, I'm hoping that we can get back to the crowd franchise that we once were. And I think Ron Rivera is the man to take us there. I love the guy. I respect the guy. The players love and respect him and they're playing for him. And you can see that they're playing.

They might not have the absolute most talent, but they play hard and that's all you can ask for. No doubt. Thanks for the call, Joey. Since you're a Washington football fan, I venture to say today in the state of North Carolina, there's no football coach that has a higher approval rating in the state of North Carolina than Ron Rivera, considering what he did for the Panthers. And there are a lot of Washington fans still around today that are quite fond of their coach getting that win last night as well. Shifting to Sam Hartman here.

It is a bit bizarre. It's different that we haven't heard from him in such a long period of time. The last time we chatted with him, W.D.

was a win over Boston College. They always come up. They always do, even when I don't plan to talk about them.

They just come up, W.D. Boston College. And since then, Wakes lost three in a row. And apparently Sam doesn't talk after losses. I get it. I don't agree with it, but I get it when he doesn't play well. Okay, why do you want to talk to somebody who just played poorly in a game? I don't agree with that perspective when you're one of the leaders. I think you got to listen to the music when it's good.

Listen to it when it's bad. But he didn't even play poorly against Carolina. He had four touchdown passes in the game. We still didn't hear from him. And now it's senior day. His final game at Truis Field.

And finally, they trotted them on out. And here's the thing that's amazing. He doesn't like, this is what I've been talking about. He doesn't like doing media. He doesn't enjoy it. It's annoying to him. And I get that talking to Josh Graham, Connor O'Neill and company, probably not what you want to do with your free time.

But here's the thing. When he's when he does do it, he's really good. Reminds me of Tony Bennett. Tony Bennett does not like doing media stuff. He does the bare minimum on purpose. It is something it bothers him. He doesn't like it. But when he speaks, he's great at it. Just like Sam is. He's so thoughtful.

Take this. He started his comments. He was asked something I believe by Les Johns about playing his final game in Winston-Salem. But rather than answer that question, this is how he opened his comments.

You know, I just think of those mothers, man, I just couldn't imagine. I should probably set this up better. Rather than answer the question about playing his final game at Truis, he decided to go on for about a minute and a half. And I put the full clip up on my social media at Josh Graham Radio on Twitter. He decided to talk about the Virginia tragedy and express thoughts and well wishes their way. This was some of that. I just think of those mothers, man, I just couldn't imagine. And just, yeah, I mean, that's something you think about for those teammates and those guys and you think about something like that happened here and just losing people you see every single day.

It really puts things into perspective. And as a guy who's lost a brother and has a mother who's lost a son, my heart goes out to those moms and the family members because that's a life changing event in that campus. If you want to hear the story about how he lost his brother, Jen Latta of ESPN did a feature on College Game Day a year ago about his brother who was an Elon football player taking his own life. The week of Sam Hartman's final high school football game. It was a state championship game. And Sam played the best game of his career in high school that week.

He decided to play amid the tragedy. Speaking of Jen Latta and College Game Day, been told that there's a feature that's been in the works and it might even run this coming weekend on Sam Hartman. But when that's official, we'll be sure to pass more information along to you. This is the first time we've talked to Sam since the blood clots issue.

Been told that's probably what the feature on game day is going to be about. We'll learn what exactly happened and how scary that ordeal was. Dave Claussen told us it was a great story, but Sam's story to tell. And here with Sam sharing some insight of what that was like back in August. Everyone in the program handled it well.

And obviously, my teammates and such were incredibly gracious to keep everything that I wanted private. And I think it's a blessing to be back. And it wouldn't really be my career without having something like that happen right before this season.

So that was what my mom and I always joked about sitting in the hospital room. It was just, you know, it only makes sense for this to happen on my seat going into my last year here. So, you know, it's something I'll always remember and look back on. But, you know, it'd been nice to not have to go through that. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I'd say that's a fair way to put it. This is another part of the story that you might not know unless you're a Super Wake fan. Before his junior season, he had an issue with a birth defect on his shoulder that created, I don't want to say a cyst, but some type of buildup was there. And he had to have surgery and was told that he might be out for the first three or four weeks of the season as a result of it. His junior year in high school, he played in the opener.

So he's a resilient guy, there's no doubt. Wake fans have been wondering, what's the deal with the interceptions that we've seen lately? Has it been a change of mindset or something like that? And Sam put that away by saying, you know, we got breaks last year. This year we haven't been getting the same break. Sometimes the ball just doesn't bounce your way. And this year, for the past couple of weeks, it hasn't.

We certainly haven't helped ourselves to be in the right position as well. But when it comes down to it, I think it's, you know, it's a one week mentality as hard as it is. And trust me, it gets harder and harder as you slip more and more into the lost column. But again, you know, it's one last time for me at Truist.

You know, you would love to end on a high note and end, you know, kind of that. You know, my legacy here and this team's legacy with a win and you really just, frankly, just want to get back in the win column. Understand that, too.

And agree with it. Wake called a lot of breaks and won close games last year. This year they haven't been winning those close games. Just seems like that things have kind of inversed back. And we'll see how he's able to bounce back the last time he plays at Truist Field.

And the reason I feel confident saying it's the last time he's going to play there, even though he has one more year remaining, is because he's kind of said that today. I think people are just sick and tired of me. I'll be totally honest.

I think media included. I think we're ready to talk to somebody new and get some new new phrases. You know, watch out my one week seasons and definitely cliche answers. So now, I mean, I just I mean, I think it's you know, I want to test my luck and see what happens. And, you know, I think, you know, I have an opportunity to do it. And so that'll be. But obviously, that's you know, we still got some football to play here. Saturday will be the last time we see him in Winston-Salem. Then the Mitch Griffiths era is going to begin in Winston. Is tonight the night Scary Carolina makes an appearance for the first time this year?

Or scare-a-lina? Hashtag print the shirts. In about 15 minutes, who's to say will be what we're doing?

No idea what that will entail. That's kind of the point. But with North Carolina, not very impressive in their opener. Same deal after the Wilmington game against Charleston. But it feels like to me tonight, North Carolina is going to dominate for the first time. That's what I think we're going to see, because what I think tonight will show at the Smith Center, the CAA is just a superior league to the Big South. Sorry, High Point.

But if you don't believe me, you don't want to take my word for it. Just ask Pat Kelsey, who ran a terrific program at Winthrop, but jumped at the bit to go leave the Big South for a CAA job at Charleston. Or if you don't want to take it from me, ask N-C-A-N-T, who after one year of being in the Big South, left to join the CAA. Charleston and Wilmington are among the two best teams in that conference. They are legitimately good basketball teams.

And Gardner Webb in the Big South, usually pretty good for the Big South. But this year, I don't know if that's the case. Barrow in two, and it seems like North Carolina is going to be able to finally own the glass in a game. But they haven't the last two. They were all rebounded by UNCW. All rebounded by College of Charleston.

Tonight, I think that changes. Here was Hubert's explanation for why the rebounding piece has been such a problem. To me, one of the things that I think maybe has contributed to it is almost a surprise that teams are going to the offensive glass. A lot of times, they don't. Because they're fearful, one, because we're such a great defensive rebounding team, and two, their fear of us in transition. And the last couple of games, UNCW and College of Charleston, have shown us that we have to get back to the basics and fundamentals of boxing out.

Okay. It also helps that Gardner Webb doesn't have a guy in their rotation taller than 6'9". Armando Bakot, have yourself a day.

Armando! North Carolina is going to own the glass tonight. They're going to win big.

And it's about time. They are due a scary Carolina type of night. They're the number one team in the country.

They are at home. It's going to be one of those, they're due one of those, Caleb loves hitting everything type of games. You remember the NC State game when they honored Roy last year?

One of those types of games. That's what I think they're due, and I think that's what we're going to get later on tonight. It still won't be Puff Johnson in the lineup. Hubert said yesterday that he will be back Thanksgiving Day for the Portland tournament. He is playing 5 on 5.

They are ramping him up to return when they play in Portland next week. Tonight, scary Carolina makes an appearance. The college football playoff rankings will drop tonight. The latest rankings. And North Carolina should be ranked over one Pac-12 school.

Maybe even two. Because over the weekend, Oregon lost and UCLA lost. It felt like a death blow to the Pac-12 conference. Those were their two best contenders, I felt. Both of them lost. And not only did they lose the game's WD, they lost it home.

Both of them. And two loss teams don't make the playoff. Especially when you come from the Pac-12.

Pac-12, not the conference that's really going to buck that trend. And it's a shame because Oregon, even though they lost the first game by a ton to Georgia, they had a very strong chance of getting in if they continued to win. Both of them lose, though. Both have two losses.

Both are out of the playoff race as a result. USC, you might be thinking, Josh, what about USC? They're going to be ranked seventh tonight.

Sixth or seventh. We'll see where they're ranked. They're not going to be ranked sixth. They're the most overrated team in college football.

They belong about five spots back where North Carolina is. Because they're the same team. They're going to rely on their offense, got pretty good quarterback play, haven't really beaten anybody. The one ranked team you have played, you lost to. Carolina losing to Notre Dame, USC losing to Utah.

They've had the same exact season. The difference between the two is USC is a bigger football brand and they got Lincoln Riley as their coach. That's the reason why they're ranked. Probably going to be ranked five, maybe six spots higher than where North Carolina is going to be tonight.

Like North Carolina. They play one ranked team and they lost it. Here's what USC has the rest of the way. Ranked matchup against UCLA, ranked matchup against Notre Dame, and a ranked matchup, if they're there, in the conference championship game. So you don't have a ranked win all year and you want me to think you're going to win three ranked games in a row?

Hard pass. USC not going to get it done and when they lose one of those three games, they're going to be out of the mix too. So no Pac-12 team is going to make the college football playoff. And you might be thinking, Josh, same thing for the ACC though.

They're not going to have a playoff team and maybe that's true. However, unlike the Pac-12, I wouldn't rule out the ACC yet. Let's see where Clemson is tonight. Clemson was tenth last week. Alabama, Clemson both won but Clemson is going to play in a conference championship while Alabama isn't, so they have it under their power to, well within their power to jump Alabama at some point. LSU has to win out and also beat Georgia. Good luck beating Georgia. So when they lose, okay, Clemson can climb over them. As I mentioned, USC is going to lose. Oregon's already lost.

You see where I'm headed here. It's building to a point where you know either Michigan or Ohio State's going to lose and give me one loss Clemson over either Ohio State or Michigan to get in. It's building to a point where I want to count out Clemson.

We know the committee thinks a lot of them. That initial ranking where they were the number four team, that told me a lot. And look at the team they lost to, Notre Dame. Where are they going to be ranked? 17th?

18th this week? And if they keep winning, that's going to look good. And if North Carolina wins its last two, they're going to beat Georgia Tech this weekend. If they beat NC State as well and they're 11 and 1, they're probably going to be a top 10 team when they play Clemson. So that's going to be a really, really good win if they get it in the ACC championship. I don't think North Carolina can get there. But Clemson with their track record?

Oh, this is going to be a fascinating question. Clemson beating North Carolina on a neutral field. One loss. Tennessee not playing in an SEC championship. Not winning their division. One loss is to Georgia by a ton in Athens. Who gets in? Which orange team get it? It could come down to that.

It could. And here's the thing. Got a lot of friends at Rocky Top now. Probably taking Clemson. They're champions. And this is going to sound so strange. Oh, I shudder even to think this, but I think it's true. I think the win against North Carolina, Clemson's win against North Carolina is going to be a better win than the Alabama win. Think about that. If you beat North Carolina top 10 in the country on a neutral field, that's better than beating Alabama at home. Beating a 2 loss, Alabama at home. It is probably going to come down to that.

I really think it is. Don't count out the ACC. You can ride off to Pac-12. I already have.

But don't count out the ACC. Darren Botts in studio with us. Real quick. Under pressure or ice ice baby?

What's a better song? Wait, they're the same, right? Is that a trick question? Not a trick question.

This is sampled in ice ice baby. That's right. Okay. Dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. Yeah.

I like under pressure better. That is what we describe to be an unusual question. If you got them, you could send them in. I don't know how many we were getting to. That's what we call a tease in the biz. And just like last week where Darren was calling Wake Basketball and I was in Durham and W.D. was in Chapel Hill. We're all going to be in different places tonight.

W.D. will be in Winston-Salem because he's only seen the Deacs once or twice. And I will be in Chapel Hill. Have not been to a game in the Smith Center thus far this year.

And Darren Botts, of course, is going to be broadcasting High Point. What's the name of their building again? The Qubane Center. But not the Q. Not the Q.

Under no circumstances. Because the namesake Qubane does not like it being called the Q. I'm still not over that. Nito, my guy Nito, he likes the formality.

We tried to make it happen on broadcast last year and they put the kibosh on it pretty quick. Darren Bott, the kubosh. Darren Bott. With the Q. With the Q. He can't call it the Q. I'm going to call it the Q.

And if Nito has an issue with that, sorry Nito, the Q to me. So you're going to be calling High Point tonight. What's been the story early on for High Point basketball? Much better tempo. Well, I won't say better. They are playing a much more up-tempo brand of basketball. Would you say the tempo is close to the tempo of Under Pressure by Queen?

No. It used to be much slower than Under Pressure. It used to be at a similar pentameter as Queen's Under Pressure. Now it's closer to Bohemian Rhapsody.

It's a little more Bohemian Rhapsody. It's like a punk rock drummer where you give him the music and he doesn't know pace. His objective is to play it as fast as he can, which is why you get a minute and a half, two minute punk tracks. Next time a coach says anything about tempo, or tempo is quick, I'm going to ask the follow-up. Would you say their tempo is like Coldplay or more Metallica? What would you say the tempo is closer like, coach?

Well, that's an unusual question. Just writing that down. So, they've got Lee's McRae tonight. Yes. Division 2, school if you're unfamiliar, out of the Conference Carolinas, always stacked. Aren't they close to the mountains? Yeah. Banner Elk, North Carolina.

Oh, they're in Banner Elk. So, this will be a decent Division 2. High Point has played Bridgewater, Division 3's team, drubbed them, they played Pfeiffer and crushed them.

They should absolutely win tonight, but Lee's McRae's a little bit better than those two. Tonight looks like a scary night in the ACC to me. One of those, I don't know who's going to lose, but somebody's going to lose.

Somebody. Right? Last night. It can only be Florida State for so long. Or Louisville. Or Boston College last night, unfortunately. Yeah, we got a few.

We got a few down at the bottom. So, 0 for 2 last night, it was a tough night. I guess, Darren, you help me pick out what the loss is going to be. We've got the Scott-Satterfield Bowl tonight, App State, Dustin Kearns' program off to a 2-0 start, Louisville's 0-2. Seems like a good place to begin.

That's a candidate. Colgate. You know where Colgate's located?

Not off the top of my head. A place called Hamilton, New York. That shouldn't mean anything to you except for the fact it's less than an hour away from Syracuse, whom they're playing tonight. Syracuse, trying to figure out what their rotation's going to be.

Colgate made the last three NCAA tournaments. A lot of guys back from the team that nearly knocked off Wisconsin earlier this year. And then you got Duke, right here. Duke is Duke.

On WSJS, Duke's playing Kansas tonight. Those seem to be three candidates less worried about Wake against Utah Valley. Not really that worried about North Carolina with Armando Bacot banging inside against Gardner Webb. And I'm not really that concerned about NC State either. And frankly, I just forgot who they're going to play. That's why I'm not that worried about NC State.

It's a game they're supposed to win. I just can't remember what it is right now. So those are the big three.

Who? Are we including Duke, Kansas? We are including Duke, Kansas.

Well, I think that's definitely the most likely loss, right? I think we should exclude that because Kansas-Duke seems like a... I mean, I'd pick Duke. I would.

I don't know about that. Louisville, they seem like the most likely candidate tonight. I kind of like Colgate.

See, I like both of us. I like Colgate-Syracuse. Colgate's been really, really good the past few years.

Could be a scary night. This is, again, I'm just chock full of unusual questions. Whenever Darren Vaught rolls up, I just have this feeling down in my plums where I want to ask unusual questions whenever he comes in. Such as, is he a Colgate guy when it comes to brushing your teeth? Crest. I'm a brand champion for Crest. Crest, yeah, same.

I will say that. I will answer whatever Costco is selling that I can buy in bulk. How many things is that?

What percentage of unusual questions is that, your answer? W.D. still hasn't done the Costco date yet. How long have you been a Costco member now? A few months. I think since the beginning of... How often have you been going to Costco? Once every few weeks. That seems normal.

Two to three weeks. I have a nice combo of... He doesn't get the hot dog either. He's a weirdo.

He hasn't quite figured it out. Have you been to a college basketball game where you have been in a conversation with a girl and pulled out the Costco card to show it off? No. NC State. Did you like that?

NC State this weekend. Yeah. Man showed his Costco card, but that's not the best part. The attractive female that he whipped out the card to show... She was stunned.

She checked the back of the card to make sure it wasn't expired. And lets out a wow. She mouths wow as part of the video. Yes. Wow. Yes. Which I will say did not seem like a genuine wow. Yeah, I wasn't sure. If you haven't seen this video, it's out there.

Where the guy... In college, you don't have a lot to flaunt. But you can flex the Costco card that you may or may not be sharing an account with your parents.

You're just the extra. But still, flex the card. That's an asset. It is an asset. W.D., you're a single man right now.

It is an asset that you are... That is a huge perk to dating Will Dalton. Hey, we could maybe get some gas. That's cheap. I'm a handsome dude.

I've got some nice flow, good hair. Also, Costco members. Costco dates. Buck 50 hot dogs. They're not paying me to say this.

They could. Or a chicken bake. Whatever you prefer.

This is from the love of my heart. You get the chicken bake. It's so good. Darren, have you had the chicken bake?

Compared to the hot dog, it's not. No, I'm not a Costco member. I'm not part of this thing. He's not even listening to us then. He just doesn't understand.

He doesn't get it. W.D., you've got to go on the Costco date. I will say, seeing that girl's reaction, that could have been fake. I think more than likely it was real, but there was a slight part of me that was like, is she being sarcastic right now? They're already engaged.

I think it's so likely it was fake. They're already engaged. Like, wow. How many things do you... If you are genuinely interested in them, how many times do you just do the wow, you mouth it that way? Right. That's a fake. That's a wow, dude. That's crazy in the conversation you're not engaged in. There's a Tyler Hands burro joke that needs to be made. Really?

People that know, know when it comes to... That was NIL before NIL back in 2009. Wow. Like, she hit him with the Owen Wilson. Wow.

Pulled out the Costco card, and she's like, oh, wow. That's probably a better one to pull on that more people would understand. It's going to happen soon. Yes. Let's just say that. Yes. Think of the content, W.D. Oh, I am. And it's just like, it's just random, and it can be fun. Yeah.

Like, hey. What do you got to lose? Let's go to Costco. Whatever girl you go out with, whatever girl you go out with, it's been on about a dozen worse dates than that. Oh, I promise you. A hundred percent.

Ours is going to be fun. This is the perfect segue to unusual questions. Last week, guys, everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh, and I left the press conference.

That's not right. I thought it was an unusual question, and it's okay. It's time for unusual questions with Josh Graham.

Darren Vaught hanging out with us prior to his basketball game tonight. Is this a seven o'clock tip? Seven o'clock tip? Oh, my gosh.

At the Quibane Center. Hey, we need... The queue. We need to get you out of here pretty quickly.

Game's like an hour, 20 minutes or whatever. I'm good. I'm good, man. I've got a secret entrance.

I can just slide right on in, get to my spot. Okay, done. Okay.

Let's get things started here, though. It's the holiday season. I'm married, and Sarah Bradford had a birthday last week, which we talked about, and her gift was a gift that she just got for herself, and we're probably going to do something similar for Christmas, because we're both generally pretty frugal people, and when you buy a gift for somebody now, it comes out of the same pot. So they might not want whatever I want to give them or to pay for that thing that is a gift for themselves. So it now just becomes, hey, this is going to be my Christmas gift.

I'm going to get this. I'm experiencing this for the first time, being a married person. Is that the way it's supposed to go? I think it's a tough situation when you merge bank accounts and you share that way. Yeah, we just did.

When you start that sort of thing, because good luck surprising her with a purchase. Yeah. Right? How do you pull that off? You'll just have to take cash out. Which is going to be suspicious. And then she will be like, what did you get?

It's a surprise. Yeah. If you wanted to do that.

But is that the better way to go, I guess is the question. I think you've got to try, at least in some instances. I understand everybody's different about gifts. There's like a necessary formality to it, to a degree.

Not that you need to do it every year. OK. But I think it's reasonable to just be like, hey, you know what? I'm going to get me this. You're going to get you that?

Cool. I just got a car. That's a nice gift. That's pretty good. In the sense of, hey, we both put money towards it.

That matters too, though, right? Like if you do a joint decision for a weighty expense, that comes into consideration when Christmas comes around. Let me throw this in here since I mentioned the car. Got the car from Modern. Modern, legitimate. If you don't know about the Modern way, well, let me tell you, because I just got a new car. It's really, really nice service, really nice people over there. Pay them a visit. Modern Chevrolet, they know the difference that experience makes, outstanding service, complete satisfaction. That is the Modern Chevrolet difference.

You can find them on University Parkway in Winston-Salem for yourself. There you go. Modern, the way to go. Just figured I'd throw that in there.

That's well done. Okay. What is your unusual question, Darren Bot?

You mentioned the holidays. I was explaining to Will a fall edition. I brought in a bottle of kombucha, and I was explaining a fall edition of that product.

You just had the entire embodiment. The way you look is, I love kombucha. It's just what you give off. I do enjoy kombucha and its benefits.

It's the energy that you give off. I don't need to see a bottle of kombucha. I get that. No, I get it.

I know you drank kombucha. You and my mother. I like the booch, okay?

So anyways. Boochy grass. The booch.

I love the booch. Do you have a favorite snack that has a limited edition, seasonal run for the holidays? A good example of this. A lot of my questions are Costco related. A lot of his are snack related.

I've come to find out. Cliff bars, if you're into those, I think they discontinued this flavor. But for years, I would seek out the iced gingerbread cliff bar. It's the greatest, whatever you want to categorize, energy bar, whatever. I don't even know.

I'm a fan. It's not loaded with protein or anything, so you can't call it a protein or a power bar. But anyways, Cliff, iced gingerbread.

I have no idea if they still make it, but I've been able to find it in a few years. I don't have a snack like that, honestly, except if you would count, I always get iced coffee for most of the year, and then I get usually hot coffee when November, probably December, January, February roll around, the really cold months around here. That's a thing. Do you throw the peppermint in as a holiday season thing? No, don't do that.

That's more of what I'm getting at. Eat a lot of candy. Ghirardelli has- During Halloween. They'll put out, they'll release the peppermint bark types of products, stuff like that. I do like some of the peppermint Hershey bars that come out seasonally. Those are generally pretty good.

WD. See, this one's pretty easy for me. I'm a big coffee guy, and I'm big on the seasonal creamers. Then you're not a big coffee guy. I'm just kidding. I'm messing. Drink it however you want, Will.

Just a splash. It's not- No, it's fine. I'm just messing with you.

No, like in the fall, like it's always the peppermint. He isn't messing with him. No. Dead serious. I'm not.

It's fine. Pumpkin spice in the fall and all the other fall flavors, and right now you got the peppermint mochas. You basic booch.

Peppermint whipped cream. How do you even spell booch? Kombucha? Or just the abbreviated booch? The booch. I mean B-O-O-C-H is how I would spell it, but it's slang.

It's an abbreviated version. No reason. WD, what's your unusual question? It is Taco Tuesday. No, no, no. You can't say it like that.

Taco Tuesday. Better. There you go. Not great. Better. Yeah. Better. So do you go more taco or do you go more burrito? Wow.

Depends on the place. There's some places I get burrito bowl. I love burrito bowl. Chipotle?

Yeah. But they don't offer tacos, do they? I don't have tacos. Who gets tacos or burrito? They do, but it's like if you go to Chipotle, what are you doing not getting a burrito or a bowl? You're not going there for tacos.

The deeper menu items, I don't even know them. I prefer burrito, but love tacos. I love tacos, but I prefer burrito, but again, it kind of depends. I usually get burritos. You know, this is going to sound strange, but this is how my brain works. Burrito for lunch, tacos for dinner, because usually for lunch, I want something... Efficiency is what matters to me during the day, but at night, you know what? It's easier to put hot sauce in the taco, and if I have more time and more preparation towards it, then the taco is what I'm going to prefer.

You get the little zigzaggy rack and put them on there. That's a dinner thing. See?

I'm not taking the time to do that at lunch. No, no, no. That's right. That's right.

Tacos, it's a bit much for lunch, burrito, grab one, on the go, might even even in my new car. Yeah, don't do that. Don't do that.

Don't do that. Anchorman, if we learn nothing else from that movie, don't eat burritos in the car. Sorry, Jack Black and Baxter.

It seems like you have... He's fine, he came back at the end of the movie. Oh, that's right. That's right. He actually did die, but then they screened it to audiences, and the one piece of feedback that everybody gave was, did you have to kill the dog? Don't kill the dog.

Oh, no, Baxter came back at the end, so they edited that part in. Kung Pao Yao. Okay, W.D., you seem to have an opinion on this. Oh, I go burrito. All day. I don't know.

Darren Bot. I like your method. I enjoy both.

Essentially, it's the same thing. The only thing about the burrito is, this comes to mind when you mention a place like Chipotle, a lot of the times when they construct it in the burrito, it almost... It turns out to be like... You know in a science book, the figure drawing of your brain being divvied up into its sections, right? That's what your burrito bowl turns into, because this entire quadrant of the burrito, not the bowl, the burrito that is, after they wrap it up, this entire quadrant is just the black beans. This entire quadrant is the salsa.

This entire quadrant is the rice, and you just get massive bites of every individual thing on your way to devouring it. That's been unusual questions for this week. Darren Bot, you've got High Point basketball in about an hour. I want to respect your time. Thanks so much for being in here, and we'll talk to you next week. Sounds good, guys. I'll see you. That's why you can watch Darren Bot's call of that, ESPN Plus, yes? On ESPN Plus at 7 o'clock.