This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jake and Zalez Sound Fox Sports fourteen fifty powered by Nova Insurance Services and Sure Your Most Prized Possessions kat z R two SAD and iHeart Radio Station Yet. Hey, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to Eye on the Ball here on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He's Jagin's oh scutt a guy Kevin in Today. Hello. Hello, Well Thursday afternoon, almost the end of the week. Didn't we just come? This week? Went fast? Don't kill it, don't
kill it, no hitter, I know, but I got up. I got up this morning and I'm like, crap, Thursday. Here's the thing, because I had a Dnnis appointment this morning. So I've been thinking about this damn Dinnis appointment still all week. And I hit it and I'm like, he's still on your edge that you're taking it this way or what? No? No, no, no, it's gone fast. It's gone fast, dude. How old is your dentist? Uh, he's young. He's used to be a basketball manager. Okay, I have a new dad forty
forty, have a new Dennis and Dougie Houser. I think he's younger than my son. Everybody. It's the way of the world now, right, you know, watch TV news really good, you know, did a really nice job. I loved his hygienist, April, thank you for the for the you know, for the work today. She was very nice. But she was new to Well it's a new dentist for me, new Dennis so and uh, they they're really good. But he's a child. No, that's just the way of the world. Is your your life the rest of
your life. Everybody's younger than your rush your life, you're going to be depending on some doogie house or dude saving this old man to live some more lives. Yeah, you're never going to be younger than you are right now. And you're never gonna be older than you are. The dude that did my my surgery a year ago, I just got a letter from he's retiring, and I said he should retire before he did my surgery because he was
old. Well, say, that's the thing I'm I'm looking for. I've got to I'm I'm kind of in between of that because the doctor I've had, the general practitioner, I've had her for forty years and you freaking retired on me, Like, what the hell are you doing? So you were supposed to outlive me and that worked me. Now I gotta go, I gotta go find a doctor. Yeah, we're that age man. Yeah, on the cusp of nowhere, meaningless. And then little kids coming in across
across the way. Well, the Kevin's of the world. Although Kevin, you don't look twelve. I appreciate there's some guys who are listening. Who I know who I'm talking Who knows who I'm talking about with this Dennis, he's just a boy. Yeah, no, no, no, I guess that's the way of the world. Uh, hey, a lot of good things. Today. We have Paula Woven from the she's with the world or cronkite scro but she's also a former uh put her together, how would you
College Football Playoff committee member? Right right, So we're gonna pick her brain right to see to see what they're thinking. Yeah. Uh and maybe she doesn't know, but the room. Yeah, she's been in the room behind the curtain a little bit. We had her a few months ago, kind of to this point a while back. But now it's kind of prickly. This is that man, you know, and and the conversation is crazy about the scenarios. Everybody wants to run through all the scenarios, and there's so
many of them. You really can't, no, I know, because if this happens, that happens, that's the whatever happens, you just gotta be patience. Really telling though, because I was listening to the the College Football Game Day whatever College game Day podcast with three S. Davis and there's the other guy, Pete Damil and out of the box instead of the first thing they talked about was how does Ohio State get in? And I'm like, WHOA. First of all, that's so yeah, that's so far off.
Why are you talking about the other things? Right? But you know what happens if Georgia loses and Alabama wins. Instead, they spent the first five, six, seven minutes of their podcast talking about how Ohio Steak can get in? What was the purpose? That was just the first thing that came up because they talked about the rank They talked about the rankings. They went you know, three, four, five, and then six Ohio State and then they launched into, you know, five or six minutes of how Steak
gets in? And I'm like, wait a minute, why don't we talk about what happens, you know with the PAC twelve championship, what happens? You know, how does Texas get in? You know? It was just weird that they went straight to figuring out a way to get Ohio State. And the answer to that in two seconds is they can't get in. They can't. No, they can, but so many things have to happen.
It's not what we're talking about. Well, exactly, the miracles have to happen, right, So, yeah, there's that we're not we're talking about. Okay, So we'll have her on at three fifteen, three seventeen something like that, and then in the second hour we have Lamont Huntley still maybe talking about the UA football program. He's he has something in common with you. I won't tell you what it is until he comes on. It's not that we both played in the NFL, because I didn't know, but that
was my first guy. I'm out, So I'll spring that on both of you guys this time the next time, so we can talk about it on the fly. Uh. So it should be fun and the issue game of course, and then well there are chances in the Bowl game and all that, because we're gonna hear about that Sunday, right right, Yeah, we will know Sunday. All all signs point to Arizona being in the Alma Bowl. Saw a thing from Ryank Karchy from the La Times. He says he
thinks, uh, or the signs are pointing to us. He taken on Clemson in the Holiday Bowl, which is one of the balls that Arizona could be under consideration for. If that's the case, When you would see they landed in a nice spot, that is, that's better than they could expect. I was thinking they dropped to the Sun Bowl or yeah, exactly,
and it's only because it's near down the road. Yeah. Well, and part part of it is that the Holiday Bowls is not gonna take We heard from Wilner holleyballs not taking U c l A for what they did to him a couple of years ago. Then Oregon State's without a coach, so you know, and and there's some breaking up state quarterback. We'll get to that. You know that. Then you know who's available, right Uh, you know you got you know really Arizon is that you know the third place team.
So then after that you go to Oregon state, and you've got you know, where is Calgo? I mean, there's so many different places. On's the holiday? What day that's it? That's it, like the day after the aliment. So if they went there, I'm sure you would go there. You are you cause Arizona went to the Holiday Ball. Yeah no, well you don't. Actually I shouldn't say this because if my family's listening, they're gonna they're gonna light me up. We're gonna be in California.
Oh so that week, so doing stuff that we've been planning for six months, and all all of a sudden, you might they land in the Holiday Bowl. That's kind of like, can we teach plans just a little bit, just for one day for deer? Please do you love me? But yeah, but if that happens, that happens, I think more fans will go there. Obviously, then they would go to San Antonio. The holiday is December twenty seventh, and then the Alamo Bowl is the twenty eighth.
So the twenty seventh is Wednesday. The twenty eighth is Thursday of that. Okay, we're gonna be off that week, the whole week, and I'm gonna just tell you, like whether whether it matters to you or not. I'm gonna I'm not gonna be here tomorrow, so we're gonna call it. Got some business. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna come in some other business. You know it's gonna be mean tomorrow. You and I, You and I. I guess that's it. Yeah, I'll get lunch. I love
lunch. Okay, we'll just forgure out what we do do. I love lamp? You know that? You know that that reference? What did you say? I love lamp? No? You know that reference? No Anchorman, No, I don't. Yeah, that's why I literally watched that movie like five nights Schilly move, silly. Yeah, what's the reference? Brick? Are you just saying you love things that you see? Oh? Yeah? And he's like, I love desk, I love lamp. That's another reason why I didn't watch that movie on. Okay, before we move on,
while we're on the movie. Your your favorite Christmas movie? Oh? I don't know. I have one here. That's the one where the Island Misfit Toys. No, that's not a movie, that's as show. That's Rudolf. I'm talking about it like a movie movie. Rotate to Steve, he doesn't have one. He's a great and I don't know of Christmas story. If you can impress me again, Hooler Express. Okay, Hohler Express.
Classics were watching it since I was like five, Okay, legit, all right, see Steve get a favorite Christmas A lot of good ones Christmas Christmas story. Okay, all right. He squeezed out the guy who was about to die or die and I don't want to hell this. Yeah, he came back and people loved him. Actually maybe, Oh you're thinking of a wonderful lie that one. I should have known you would love a tragic Christmas. Die hard die hard in this. You know, you guys,
you know what. We debate that for a whole long time. We only have six more, all I know. Bruce Willis himself came out and said, it's not the Christmas movie my my, my late brother in law, you know, rest in peace, thought it was his favorite Christmas movie. Just what you're not in tomorrow? You know what that means? Picks. Oh, okay, I'll send him to I'll send him to and that'll be the test, you see if I'm the curse. Yeah, I'll send him to Kevi I forgot about that. Okay, I'll get him to Kevin.
Don't miss it. Well, maybe you should mess hm up. That's what I can't any more than I have. I was just gonna say, maybe I'm the curse, but also Jay's picks may already be cursed, so maybe it's like that canceling out effect that Well, I'm not worried about Jay because he's gone on. I'm a non factor Heve's life of picks. Yeah, okay, because I'm very interested in this conversation of college football playoffs, not because she's Paul is going to be able to tell us what she thinks is
going to happen, but just like, how does it? What's described? What are these? What is it seems to me I didn't realize this is the tenth year of already the college football playff. It seems to me like this is the year that's like the tough fist of all. Don't you think there's the most parody, there's more teams in it to the end. Do you remember what happened in the past? I don't. I don't know is a recentcy by AXS, but but this is the perfect time when they should
have had the twelve right. Yeah, this year would have been great for the twelve right. And that's what that's what you know. So many people are saying, which would be cool because the Arizona still might have a shot at it. They could be data but debatable. What do you guys,
what do you guys think about the conversation that's been going on. I think Kirk curve Street started it because he's kind of on the committity and committee excuse me, and he came out and was like, I need to know, you know, we should be more clear on is it the most deserving teams or is it the best teams? Where do you guys fall on? Well, they say the deserving say that's the best, but what should it be? It's supposed to be the best. That's what the bylaws or whatever of
the of the playoff committee say. But I think, you know, again, I look, if Florida State is twelve and zero, and Oregon is eleven and one, Washington's eleven and one, Alabama is eleven and one, Texas is eleven and one, and Georgia's eleven and one or twelve and one, whatever they are, and and Florist State is thirteen and zero. I think they're behind all those teams, but I also think they should be in the playoffs. I think if you win all your games, you should be
in the playoffs. Well, it's kind it's kind of like the Heisman. Honestly, who's the best player in college football? Who's you who? They're gonna give it to quarterback whether he is or he is a quarterback on the best team yeh, or the best quarterback on the highest rated team, presumably, But there's pretty good players. There's other probably other places, yeah,
other positions. But it is what it is. I mean basketball, we go through this in March, sixty eight teams and there's teams that there's teams that are better than other teams, but that's because of some of the automatic automatic bids. But when you're talking about the at large bids, always somebody says that team was better than that team was because they were better than that,
because they were better than that. And you have sixty eight of them just four yeah, yep, ye no. I you know, well, we'll see if we can get Paula to kind of pull the curtain back. Yeah, little what are they doing today, tomorrow and the next day to get ready for you know, our friend Mark Carlin, maybe afterwards, I think this is his last year on the committee. You know, maybe we'll get him afterwards and say, okay, Mark, what the hell was that?
Like? Did you have fun? Right? Right? No, I'm sure they I'm sure these guys are glad they're not or Paula's probably glad that she's not on it, or maybe she's maybe she enjoyed it, you know, especially under these conditions, because it's you're inside the trenches of I mean, what's going to be happening. I mean you at some point in your career you voted for AP or yeah, you know for about twenty years, rankings and stuff like that. Did you feel any pressure about that? No?
No, not so much in terms of what the theory of doing it, in terms of the you know, what people would think, not what people, but that our people are watching what you're doing. I don't think. I don't think I could be wrong in my time of being that for like fifteen years, Uh, they published our picks. Don't think they published our picks until recently. More recently, but you know, I mean I am the state Wooden guy. I'm the head of the Wooden but no,
not really. I just got to make sure every he votes. Yeah. You know, that's kind of the pressure. You know, you got to vote, please vote, yeah, don't forget. Yeah, but like you know, this will be my uh my third year voting for the Heisman. I'll feel a little pressure on this because I want to get it right. Okay, But I've had my opinion as to who deserves the Heisman all my life and now I'm voting for it. And I did vote for it one other time when I was, you know, covering football back in the day.
But I kind of feel like I don't want to screw this up. But you can't. I mean, it's your pick, it's my pick, I know, but I want to pick the right guy for the right reason. You want to land on the right side of history, right, you want to look back? No? Is that that's not it? No, no, no, it's that I want to make sure that the guy I pick is worthy, Okay, and that's what you should do. Yeah.
Then the other day, yeah, hey, let's take the break now, Okay, take the break, and then about four minutes come back with Paula on the other side. All right, form a college football Playoff Committee member
will get behind the curtain a bit. For more than twenty years, the Window Depot has provided the best price and the biggest inventory on in stock vil windows, and now the Window Depot is more than a window store, offering homeowners and contractors, a one stop warehouse offering interior and exterior doors, granted in courts, countertops, in stock, caminatry, and skylights to finish your
project. Their team of professionals will help with everything from free kitchen design to custom orders from leading manufacturers like mill Guard in jail win, order online or find a location near you at the Window Depot dot com. Steve Rivera here to talk about Dorotle Rock and Materials. I needed a lot of gravel from a driveway, so I called Eric at Dorato Rock. He found out the amount and color I needed and boom, it was taken care of and at
a great price. How do I know radio commercials work? I heard one of his on the rate. Doronto Rock and Materials provides a wide range of landscaping materials, including decative rock, boulders, gravel, soil, and sand for residential and commercial use in the Tucson area. They are locally owned and have been around for more than fifteen years. Give them a call at five two zero four zero zero four two three three. Where do you buy exercise
equipment Arizona Health Arizona Health Arizona Health. Of course, to feel better and look better, it makes sense to buy your fitness equipment from the people who know it better than anyone else. At Arizona Health, our goal is to help you choose the equipment you need to reach your goals. Your health and fitness deserve the best you deserve. Arizona Health the leading edge and exercise equipment on twenty second just west of Wilmot. At Nova Home Loans, we believe
everyone deserves the opportunity to enjoy the independence that comes with home ownership. Paul Volpi is ready to help you find an option that best fits your needs, whether you're a first time or veteran home buyer or want to get cash out with the finance. Nova has a variety of home loan programs to meet your
unique situation. Visit voltepeteam dot com. That's Volpe team dot com or call five two oh six one eight five six two six today n MLS three or eight seven, arizon A BKO nine two nine four two equal housing opportunity. How to commitent to Lindrixson. Credit rates and available loan programs are subject to change with un notice. It's summertime and the summer leagues are wrapping up. Volleyball, softball, baseball, swimming, and pickleball are coming to their season
end. Come down and visit the cool and relaxing Creative Awards Idea center to pick out your awards for the champs and MVPs. It's also time to replenish your corporate apparel with new Polos caps and safety t shirts with your corporate logo to make your team look sharp. Creative Awards also has a large selection of brand names like Nike, Eddie Bauer, New Era, and car Hard just
to name a few. Believe it or not, its corporate holiday gift season time for your clients too, with over one hundred thousand items to choose from. Come visit Creative Awards, Inc. Two twenty eight West Drackman stream, read or online at Creative Awards az dot com. Did you know sports cards at Memorabilia are setting record sales last month of nineteen fifty two tops Mickey mantal So for twelve point six million Lebron James Rookie so for five point six.
Also, collecting cards is a family fund hobby that can be very profitable. If you want to start a collection or expand your collection, check out Showtime Cards. They are one of the leading card shops in the country and have served our local community for twenty five years. They are located on E Speedway. That's show Time Cards. The Secret Savings Account from Pyramid Federal Credit Union is an account you pay yourself and save oh right. It's set up as
an automatic transfer for any amount and the transfers add up over time. You can save for a down payment on a dream vacation or an emergency fund. And the best part for withdrawals. Your Secret Savings Account can only be accessed in branch or over the phone. Visit Pyramid FCU dot com slash Secret Saving to learn more Betterally insured by NCUA. It's that time of year, Summer in Tucson. Time to take control with Temperature Control for all your air conditioning
needs. We'll keep you cool during all the hot streaks. All you have to do is stay in control with Temperature Control, where we handle everything you need with prompt response, affordable pricing, and sound solutions. We also excel in plumbing and electrical work. We handle everything you need. Give us a call at five two oho eight one five five six six five or visit our website at tempdash con dot com and remember stay in control with temperature control need
concrete. Hard Works Concrete has it. We have more than twenty five years of experience with all things concrete. Installing sidewalks and patio floors are our specialty, and handle masonry work and retaining loss. We're locally and family owned. Just let us know what you need, how you want it, and we'll take care of it. Leave the hard work up to us. We're Hardworks Concrete. Call us at five one two nine six two five six six zero
or visit our website hardworks Concrete dot com. We'll put the work in for you. Gut bugs, termites, bees, or rodents, Arizona Pest Control will hunt them down. Arizona Pest Control is your complete desert pest management specialist. Tests can't run or hide from Arizona Pest Control. They use only the latest and most technologically advanced methods of pest elimination available, which minimizes the effects
on the environment. Let Arizona Pest Control. Get rid of your bad bugs, termites, bees, or rodents serving Tucson and Southern Arizona since nineteen forty seven. Go to azypest dot com to schedule your free evaluation today. This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Subscribe now to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app just search I on the Ball. Hey, welcome back to Why on the Ball here on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty. I'm Steve Rivera. He's Jackensaustin. I want, if only have PAULA Boyman, former College Football Committee member, former columnists for The Arizona Republish. Paula, how you doing? I am good? Thank you good good. We're trying to figure out what the committee's going through right now. First of all, are you happy you're not on or happy or not happy you're Is this a good time? I didn't know I'm going through withdrawal.
It would be so fun to be in that room right now, because especially you know, after this weekend's games, it could chaos could ensue, you know, if Alabama wins or whatever. So no, I really really miss it. I was gonna say, well that that's sort of my question. You know, do you do you prefer do you prefer the chaos that we're about to see or that could come about, or would you rather kind of have a pretty good feel for it going in and not have to make
a lot of hard decisions. You know, I think I prefer the chaos now that I'm aside the room. You know, you know, if we even went in there was chaos when I was on the committee, it just led to some really healthy, sometimes animated, deep discussions about the right thing. You know, ultimately you want the right final four at the end of the season. So if it's clear pretty quickly, yeah, that makes the job easier. But I don't think any of us ever backed away from having
a good, healthy argument about who should be there. And I'm sure there were a fuel right over the last four or five years. Jay, what were you brought something up? This is the tenth year, This is the tenth year of the of the of the playoffs, and you said this was like the most controvertial. It seems to me like this is the year where it's as the most chaotic. We're some the most possibilities of the most different things that could happen based on all these games that have come down to the
last weekend. Was there any one you did it for four years? Was there anyone that you thought was this kind of crazy as this one is turning out to be? You know, I mean this year seems particularly unique. You look at I think it's like five through eight or all eleven and one teams who could all make really good arguments, you know, in the top four, all undefeated team who have been playing great. But when you have you know, suddenly a different quarterback in, or you have the argument of
a one lost team going over a no last s team. There's all kinds of crazy scenarios this season, for sure. So and yeah, like I said, after this weekend, it could get really fun. Yeah, no question. And by this time that all the members have seen what twenty thirty forty fifty games, they're probably footballed out because they've seen so many games and
have so many opinions. Yeah, you know, and it was and I can't remember I've mentioned this to you before, but we were all giving these given these iPads, and every game you could possibly want to watch is on that iPad. We would be able to watch what was called the coaches Cut, where there are no commercials and you could really speed through them. And at the beginning of the season, you're watching an unbelievable amount of games because
you don't quite know who those top thirty forty teams are. It starts to become clear a lot clearer toward the end of the season, and maybe you're not watching quite as many. But yeah, I used to watch, you know, I'd take breaks from work here to watch. I'd watch at night. I'd watch a lot on planes. I'd watched when i'd get to Dallas for the readings. So there is no you know, people have been skeptical about how we used to get to the conclusions we used to get to,
and I can tell you we were watching a lot of football seas. So what what are you looking for? It's kind of like a horse race, right, who am I going to pick out of this? And you're looking at the racing form all that information? So what do you look trying to decipher? Yeah, I mean there's a lot of things. There's never one thing. You know. Part of our charge was one of the things to consider is that they won a championship, so that would always conference championship.
That would always help strength to schedule. We had all these sort of metrics available to us where we combine or compare how these teams had a different strength of schedule. We'd look at head to head competition, have they played the same opponent, and then we'd kind of look at the comparative outcomes of common opponents, and you know, with incentive margin and victories and things like that. So there was all those elements in there. But then there was also
the eye test. I mean, you know, we might see somebody who was eleven one that looked better than a twelve and oh team when we watched games side by side, and so we put that team above. So there's a lot of stuff involved. It's not just one thing, but those are some of the main ones. Well, well, here's the sort of a
million dollar question. You know, you mentioned a bunch of criteria. There's you know, however, many people are on the committee probably put various criteria a different priority than the others, right, I mean you had a you know, maybe there was some certain criteria that you thought were most important to you, but were they the most important to the person sitting next to you? You know, how does that when when you start throwing it all into
a pile, How does that work? That's a great question, and I think that's why they really tried to have a diverse room of people. You know, to my right whe year was Ronnie Lott. To my left was the athletic director of Florida, and everybody brought something different. You know, Ronnie was very much sort of an eye test guy. You could watch a game and kind of judge how good he thought a team would be. I'm
very much into numbers and staffs and their strength of schedule. And so the way we worked that out, you know, there are thirteen of us in the room, and we would hash it out for hours and hours and hours, and sometimes you're sort of convincing the other side or they're convincing you, and it's very very animated, and it would often go into the wee hours of the night. But we were always able to come to a conclusion, you know, and it was just based on some strong arguments people would make.
So how many people on that committee? Twelve? Is it? How many? Yeah? Thirteen? Thirteen? So how are those meetings? Because if you have twelve people and two people sometimes can't agree on anything a way into the late night. How does that happen? Yeah, it was. They were fun. You know what we'd do is we'd go in there and pretty much start the day by everybody ranks their top thirty just based on their
own opinion, not looking at an apeople or anything else. We'd just rank our top thirty and then we would start going by chunks, you know of ranking, you know, this top four and then the next five. And we'd do that and as we were ranking and debating and arguing, we'd have these arguments or not even arguments, they're really just healthy discussions over the course of the evening, and then we'd sleep on it and we'd come back the
next morning and we'd do the same thing for half a day. But everybody really came equipped with a lot of knowledge. We were also assigned certain conferences, so we could kind of be experts on there, you know, if there had been injuries, how a team is playing. So there is just so much information being passed around that room that really did After those couple of
days, you felt good about the poll that you came up with. Well, we're talking to paula boy before a remember of the college football path committee giving us a little insight here. So it's Thursday, all right, so they you know, this thing's got to come out on Sunday morning. You know, what are you doing on what do you do on Thursday? When does everybody get to Dallas? And then when does the arguing or the discussion begin for the weekend? Youd questioned, with pizza boxes. Yeah, yeah,
pretty much. So this, yeah, this last weekend is unique because typically we were in Dallas from I would be there from Sunday night until Tuesday afternoon. So there was this last poll that ended Tuesday, and a lot of us would just stay this week in Dallas. And then the one thing that they were very adamant about is everybody on the committee had to watch that
final week of games together, championship games together, even the ads. You might have a team playing down the road, you know, at the Cowboys Stadium or something for conference championship. They could not leave the hotel either. So those games, you know, usually started I think Friday night. There were a lot of games Saturday. We were in this you know, a conference room of this really nice hotel and we were this there all day and
night, and they would bring honestly, endless amounts of food. I can't I can't tell you how many peanut M and ms I ate during the course of those meetings. They feed us. Well, but yeah, we're just watching games. And then so right after the you know, we would meet it's Saturday evening and start talking about the games, and if there was a late game, then we would regroup after that and then we would meet again.
You know, we'd sleep on it. We'd meet again Sunday morning, and then we'd have something ready to go by you know, early afternoon or whatever. So I'm curious, is there discussion during the games or no discussion? Yeah, no, there's there's discussion in the sense of I mean, we're not sitting at our tables debating like we usually do. But we're sitting in chairs in a big room and there'll be a big play and someone will
say, hey, did you you know that quarterback is hot today? Or did you see how those you know, those the linebackers have been playing just like they've been playing all season, or those kind of conversations. You know, we'd be talking in that way about the different things that we'd be see
we'd be seeing. So is it when when is the first like sort of a like, I know you're going in, you've got rankings, but then after whatever you had on Tuesday on the weekend, when is the first time there's like you start to rank them where there's a vote or however you guys do it that it starts to come together, I think. So I'm trying to remember what the scheduled games were, but I think it would be it was Saturday, you know, after the game, all the games, or
at least most of the games were done. You know, if there was a late game, then we meet again after that late game to adjust, but that would start Saturday night, you know, and a lot of the some of the a lot of the teams in the top twenty five might be done playing already. So a lot of the discussion was a lot of those top teams, right well, in this case, you have you said eight you talked about eight right wood loss teams whatever it is, there's only four
slots. So and then, like Jay says, there's so many different scenarios if this happens, this is gonna happen, This gonna happen, And you're thinking, well, we're thinking that. The committee says, please none of these happen, are well, yeah, I mean, you know, it's definitely you know, the biggest thing is you want to come out Sunday feeling really really confident that you got it right. And so there are some scenarios that would certainly make it easier, you know, if these certain teams won
and things like that. But I you know, I don't think the committee ever backed away from a challenge either. So while it would be nice to have it easy every time, you know, the process I think really results in the right four. I mean, I think it's really worked out well over the years, and so yeah, they might just be up a little later, like I said, if in Alabama upsets Georgia or something like that.
Well, this week, the last two games of the day, which would be at seven o'clock Dallas time, it's Louisville, Florida State, Michigan, Iowa. You know, I think we don't think Missigan is going to win that game. But the Florida State game is sort of the almost is like the one the one stick that if you pull that out, it throws everything into disarray. So but will they hit when they end their Saturday night, will they kind of have an order and then you just kind of come
back and confirm it in the morning. Is that is that how you guys get it? Pretty much? That's that's certainly the goal is to very much have it take some votes, have some discussion, have it where you want, and then Sunday morning and we would usually eat breakfast at seven thirty and get at or seven and get at it at seven thirty or eight and revisit it. And every once in a while, you know, somebody would come back the next morning and look at something or see a stat or see some
matchup and then make an argument. You know, maybe we should have tweaked that a little bit. Usually, you know, what we do the night before it usually sticks. But it hadn't. It didn't always stick. So we talked about this earlier. So next year it's gonna be twelve teams, and we think that'd be a perfect time for that year, right, do you have enough teams to fill it out? But I think next year you're gonna think thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen are going to be pistol because they
got left off. There's plan always used. The scalill never end. There's always going to be mad people, no question Okay, you said the effort a little while ago. Fun wasn't really was it really fun? I mean, did you have fun or you know, Steve and I were talking about how mny. You know, do you feel pressure to make sure you get it right? What are people going to say to you if they feel you didn't get it right? You know, I'm a Heisman voter, Steve's on
he's been an AP voter and stuff like that. You want to get it right? But how much fun was it? It was? You know it was? I mean, you obviously take eight afterwards. No one ever loves the choices you make. But I mean, you know, Steve, I've been a sports writer for how many decades. I'm used to being a female sports writer for so many decades. I'm used to people saying I suck. It really wasn't a big deal when this happened. And yeah, you do,
you feel the pressure to get it right. But the fun part just being in a room with these really really interesting people who who always treated me with respect, You treated me as an equal, and and yeah I loved it. I loved every minute of it. Plus you had all those eminems come on, Eminem's and pizza for a whole weekend. How could you go? Right? Pizza? We had like shrimp, we had a Oh well, yes, Steve underestimated you guys. I guess I should have known that,
right. Yeah are cheap. Yeah, you guys are a champagne. You know what people don't understand is none of us. You don't get paid for being in the committee. I mean, they fly you out there, but you put in your own hours and you do it because you love college football. So that was one of the great perkses you Eminem's and shrimp. So you know. Okay, So now that you're on the sidelines of this thing, how are you watching this? How are you paying attention to what's
going on? Having been in the room kind of having an idea how things go. You know, It's kind of like when we ask a coach, how do you watch footballer? How do you watch basketball? How are you watching it? I watch it? Yeah, I'm watching it much more sort of casually, which is kind of fun. You know. I was always so focused on every little moment and every little play. It's kind of fun
to sit back. But you know, now I'll be I'll look at the results Sunday and probably privately, you know, criticize the committee like everybody else. No, I won't. Well, they do a great job, but it's fun to be kind of looking at it from a different perspective. Well, are you kind of doing your own type of situation here? Absolutely? Absolutely, I sort of have my ideas of who I think should be there.
But honestly, there's some games this weekend. You know, you mentioned Florida State, I mentioned Alabama. There's a lot of weird things that could happen this weekend that could turn everything upside down. You know, just as someone who covered the PAC twelve for so many years and you know sad to see its demise, it would be fun, I think to have a Pac twelve team in there. But we'll see if that happens, you know, So before you go, Before you go, I just wanted to talk to
you real quick. Come up the UA football team. You covered obviously the state for a long time. Your thoughts on that because it doesn't happen very often. Oh so impressed with get Fish what he's done there. I mean nine and three and Frank fifteenth on the CFP pole. I'm going to get to a bowl game. The turnaround, so quickly has been so impressive, and especially you know, watching the struggles here and what's happening in Tempe and
that they're trying to turn things around. I think it's really exciting. You know, you're getting all the riches. You've got the basketball program, now you've got the football program down there. I think it's great to see though. Yeah, Okay, Paula as usual, thank you very much. Great to talk to you guys. Yeah, a lot of fun. Thank you.
We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens, thank you. Yeah, great stuff, great stuff, fun kind of Well the other thing I got, they got shrimp and yeah, yeah, shrimp and M and m's. I'm all in. We got Well, we go to we go to the NCAA tournament. We get popcorn, bananas and chips and cookies and chips and all the all the all the all the potato chips you can stuff into a Nancy double a cup. Have you seen have you seen? You haven't
seen them in a while. What do you guess you could you monitor some stuff at the tournament. We're not the best looking group, and the sports writers come out, you're per you're a pretty rasty group and and you know that the at the at the tournament in San Jose, Man, it was tight quarters press row. It was very tight quarters bodies in those yeah, yeah, all right, okay, well that was a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun for joining us and giving us some insight as
I got to feel, I feel like a different perspective. I don't think I don't have teams have changed. No, it just gives you an idea of what what they go through and that they're having fun. I think that's the coolest thing, that it's fun for those guys. All right, let's get out of here. We'll take a break. We'll be right back. If you're names on a man's basketball fan, you know it's been successful for
newly forty years now to look back at the Loudolsen era. In my new book, Lessons from Lut, it was a labor of love through the eyes of twenty five former players, coaches and friends to give insight to the coach and the man who led them, competed against them, and inspired them twenty five chapters for his twenty five years as Arizona's beloved coach. Lessons from Lut
is an insight to how he built the program into a national powerhouse. Want one, email me at Steve dot rivera ninety five at gmail dot com. Hey Waldcat Nation, Jake Fisher here, I got to tell you about my winning team over at Arizona Health Insider. I was able to get a custom private health insurance plan with no deductibles, no co pays, nationwide coverage, and I get to pick my own doctor for lessons two hundred dollars a month.
If you want to avoid getting gouged on the Exchange and you want real health insurance called Arizona Health Insiders five to two zero eight five zero six eight sixty six five two zero eight five zero six eight sixty six fare down. What's your goal? A new career or career advancement? How about transferring to a four year college. PEMA Community College can help you make Someday today and
reach your goals affordably on your schedule. With over one hundred programs to choose from and financial aid available, it's time to earn the degree or certificate you need to prepare for the career you want. PEMA offers free career exploration classes so you can choose the field that's right for you. Learn how at Pima dot Edu slash someday during this Thanksgiving season picture rocks, cooling, heating and
plumbing. What's to say? Thank you for allowing us to serve you when you need us all by two zero or four zero or zero six y nine thanks cunning. Ball season is upon us and fans are bearing down for our new and improved Arizona football team. I know Edmund Marcus is He's a huge Arizona football fan and of course a University of Arizona graduate. If you don't see him at the football game or you a sporting event, go see him at All State Insurance on Campbell and get a quote for your car and home
insurance and more. Visit Edmund Markets or State Agency at twenty seven nineteen North Camel or give them a call at five two zero three two three nine three three three. You are in good hands with Edmund Marcus All State Agency. Do you want to be part of a winning team? A team? Security is looking for friendly, outgoing event security guards and event staff to be a part of our team. We've been providing our outstanding services to some of Arizona's
biggest sporting events and concerts for over twenty years. We want you to join the action. A Team offers a fun and exciting opportunity to work in the sports and entertainment industry, with flexible schedules that are perfect for those looking for a part time job or a second income. Come be a part of a winning team. The A Team apply online today at a team security dot Net. Steve Raverera and Jacin Salves they have their eye on the ball on Tucson
Sports stag Chat Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to let with all here at Fox Sports fourteen could be un Steve, He's Jay get Kevin with us. Got about fifteen minutes left for this segment about fun to get with Paula. Yep. I love, I love how hoping she was about you know what goes on back there, because that that's a big deal. You know, it's so many times these times things are such a mystery. But you're like NCAA tournament, it's such a mystery, you know, it's
as to how it gets done, and it's such a monumental thing. Sure like I I would wonder you have twelve twelve twelve angry jurors? Is that with thee thirteen angry jeers, and you know that there are probably discussions that you don't want to have or arguments you don't want to have, but you have to get through them, not maybe animated, maybe not because they're intelligent people. They're they're educated intelligence, but I'm sure some of them had to
go there. Yeah, I was wondering that during the interview, how they how they like avoid just exhausted and just be giving up on their point. Well, and you know, there have to be some of the conversations have to be uncomfortable, right, some of the discussions because it involves some of their teams. Yeah, and they if also but also, you know, you got you, You're got. You're gonna have people who say this is who I think it is, no matter what you say, right, because
my opinion is my opinion. Because my opinion is my opinion. I think I got it right, and I should be valued. I should be valued. But you know, she also said that she, you know, she felt like she people valued her opinion, she was respected, she was treated equally as everybody else, and you know that's important. And I think in the end, you know, these are all pretty much smart people, right, so they're not gonna be butt heads, but they're also gonna be they're
very smart people who are gonna believe in what they believe. They're gonna be convicted in there. In there, I think it's gonna don't you think it's gonna It eventually shakes out and there's only a couple of key games that have to it. It might not because because the scenario I was listening to on the way in Okay, George's undefeated. Let's say they went, Washington is undefeated. Let's say they win. Okay, they're in Florida State's undefeated.
Should they get in that they're they're kind of a question, but Michigan in Michigan's okay, let's say let's just say the three those three Washington, Michigan, Uh, Georgia. That you say, if those three win and stand defeated, those three have to be in. After that then, depending on how things go, you could have a choice between Texas, uh, you know, Florida State uh. Or let's say let's say Michigan and Washington are the only undefeated teams. You know, Georgia beats Alabama, Texas, you
know Texas wins. Just you know, you you're You're trying to squeeze six teams into, you know, into only four slots, and how do you the hell do you do that? Somebody's in the end, somebody's gonna say you got it wrong and that that's the thing that kind of sucks about it. And that's every year. But I think your point is that this year there's a lot more legitimate. There's a lot of those teams that are complaining on the Let me ask you, guys, have you seen Florida State play
much? Yeah? Outside, I saw in the first game lsu wing to beat LS. That was a surprise, right, you don't know how good l U is blah blah blah. But I saw them that game. I haven't seen him since. I saw him a couple of times after that. I wasn't impressed. Okay, here, so are they deserving? I mean, you've only watched them twice? Is that enough simple size for you to
discermine that me personally? No, I've seen I've seen Georgia Little the team I've seen, and I've always been impressed from Miss Oregon because they're they're here so in Alabama a few times, but outside of Oregon, I you know, I don't deserve to be on that committee. Well, if you're on the committee, you'd have the iPad, because Mark Harlan t talk to us about that as well, he's on the committee. Now mentioned that you get,
you know, in all your spare time you're watching games. Sure you know, and so you got to know more, which you should, right, But it's kind of like, you know, when when I when I was covering football, I was I was a voter on the Football Writers All America team. I spent my Saturday watching games and taking notes on guys,
you know, because you have a responsibility to do that. I've I've done that quite a bit, not taking notes so much, but watching a lot watching games where like when when what's his name, Jaden Daniels, all of a sudden he's doing all this stuff and like everybody's saying he's a Heisman candidate. Well, now I have to pay attention. I have to look to see for myself. Am I going to vote for this guy or not. I've seen enough of Michael Pennix, I've seen enough of Bonnicks. I've watched
a bunch of of of Marvin Harrison Junior. You know, I watched a bunch of J. J. McCarthy. Is he you know, is he a viable candidate like most everybody else. I'm down to four guys, all right, and those are the four guys that I just mentioned. You know, I can't I can't say you know who I'm voting for, but I I feel like I've got a good sense of who it should be. But I have to wait for these games to play out. One of the things about that is Jayden Daniels isn't playing this week, right, right, And
then people have already voted. A bunch of people have voted, and and and you know, and you know that a bunch of people have voted. I was listening to Wilner's podcast. He said five to six things, said, people have voted No. Five six of the voter something like that are from the East. So we talked about that the other day. I mean, he said, and he said, I wouldn't be surprised if a ton of those people have already voted, which means they voted for Data and Daniels,
which makes no sense. And how how many of the states. Why would they not wait for all the games to be played? Not everything's equal and they're not going to do that. They're not gonna If not, they're freaking Massachusetts not still waiting for the for the rest of the game. They play in Massachusetts at two in the morning, bone Nicks is thorn his fourth touchdown, and they're not They're not going to see do you know that? Well, no, it's a one of That game is at eight o'clock East
Coast time. It's a six o'clock game. No, but I'm talking about during the season. Yes, No, of course, of course, of course. Well, those same two guys, those Wilder and Canzana we're making we're talking about the year that that that McCaffrey didn't win the High Shepford love they love. Key was hands down the best player in the country. But half of his games, and particularly in the first half of the season or seven thirty West Coast game Pacific and so people didn't see him, and and
and and and and he didn't get the award. Yeah. If there's not a bias, that's a bias. That's bas Yeah. Yeah, dude. You know what, if you want to be a voter, do the work, true, that's all you have true, do the work. You know that if you want to be if you want to be a voter, stay up and watch the damn game. Yeah, you know that it doesn't happen. Doesn't happen. There's six hundred, like six hundred voters. Yeah no, yeah, yeah, that's why you have one. Yeah, that's why
I have one. Exactly. We'll see you are correct, but we'll see what happens. Can we roll or not roll? I think we can so yeah. Yeah, so showed the shot. Tommy had a press conmerce and I thought he was a different Tommy. This is just me thinking that he was a little chippy today in a good way, not a bad way,
but a little chippier. And you saw no, and then you said, oh maybe, right, Okay. I called Bruce and he said, yeah, okay, maybe because he had a lot of weird answers to a lot of fun questions, play a cup of the clips that made you think. First of all, he had just he had just gone through a discussion of Kylon Boswell and why he thinks he's doing so well? Uh Mike Lev. Michael Lev brought up the fact that Boswell is turning up on mock drafts.
Okay, okay, and uh no number five and uh he so he asked him, do you pay attention to the mock drafts or do you have this conversation with the guys. I live in reality. I don't live in mock or hypothetical world, so you know what, I don't at all. And you know, there's just I mean that there's nothing of value that's going to help a player reading his name in a mock draft early in a basketball season.
So you know, we don't address it. And you know when we when we get down towards the end of the season or in the postseason and
they're considering their options, we go through everything when when it matters. That may have been the best answer to a question like that I've ever heard, because that was fantastic, Uh, Mark, drafts mean nothing in November then, just like they mean nothing because something could happen in between then and and it's like the Miles Simon thing, and I us bring that up all the time. Everyone thinks he should have left after ninety seven because his name was
hot. Okay, some people say he should stay because he's gonna be better, Well, he's he wasn't an NBA guy. If you're not an NBA guy, not an NBA guy. So Boswell, Okay, maybe he is, maybe isn't, but he doesn't live in Marks neither do I That was funny. That was great. That was like a really good one line. Well, he went even better with h He was asked about Johnson stock and that his stock has gone up. Here's what he had to say. I mean, I don't know what his his stock is and I didn't know he
was a stock that was traded on a market. So Sad is a good basketball player and and you know what, key Shot is one of these guys who's best days are ahead of him. And Keyshod came from a really solid program, and you know, and and he's really improved as a basketball player over the course of his college career. And you know, now, you know, maybe he's finally at a stage of his development where he's able to
kind of take advantages of the next step. And maybe a little bit of it's playing at Arizona, but maybe a lot of it's just key Shod where he's at in his career and he's ready. So what was your response? Oh, well, he was about halfway through his his answer there, and I was like, Tommy could have used the nap today. He just seems really short and like not right, not a lot of fluffed. These answers very direct, almost like funny, but great quotable. Yeah, come on,
he's a reporter's dream. This is super direct, very quotable. He's been to me. That's a little chippy for for Tommy, who's very happy most of the time. But those are great quotes, great quotes, short, concise. You want to stock. I don't live in mock Okay, so we're not evaluators. We're not mock guys, mockoff guys. Is he an NBA? He might, He might be a twiner, he might be like a Michael kind of n He's got to shoot from guy, he's gonna
be without question. Hey if if last year's star here Zulas cannot do it and he was pretty good. Uh is a different, totally different player. He doesn't shoot well from the perimeter, and he's a garbage guy. He's a Dennis Rodman. It's a light guy. But you know what makes those two players different, in my opinion, is is what who Johnson? And what makes them different as NBA prospects is what you can't teach to bellis you can teach Johnson. Right, So he Johnson is not a very good shooter.
You can teach that to Bellus. Not a great athlete, right, but he doesn't like to mix it up either. That's true. But I think Johnson has much more of an NBA prototype to his belt, I think to his game. But I think with some tweaks he could if he was if he was two inches maybe three. Just he's six y seven, all right, that's it. That's a three guy in the remember the remember the game. Now, it's not an inside out, it's an outside game.
Yeah, he's not an outside guy. I mean there's there's ways to get in and fit in, uh within the NBA, and you have that athleticisn't play so hard. But that's what I'm saying. I think he needs a tweak a little bit to avoid being a tea for the rest of the Well, he's not going to become a better shooter here because you've got four we got four months to become a better shooter. It's it's either working on your own and then right after the season is over, work your ass off to
become a better shooter. Because but let's say he's twenty two to twenty one years old, whatever, You've had a lot of time. You've had a lot of time to practice on your own to become a better shooter, haven't you. Yeah, to some extent, some players are what they are exactly exactly. And this is not a knock on him. No, he's a great player. Yeah, yeah, to me, he's to me, he's not a Ben a Deva Again, he's a combination Ben and Davison and and
Junie Edgerson of both. A tough dude who can bounce and he can get rebound, can do things. Bennett couldn't score. Bennett was a garbage guy. Yeah, a fantastic garbage, great garbage guy, jump out of the gym. And but he could couldn't shoot well. And and and key shot is he he's trying to shoot, He's shooting something from the outside. He's got to get a lot better better yeah, right, And and you know he had he I mean he did. He played nicely against Michigan State and
he made he made a couple of three pointers. So win without him, yeah, exactly exactly. We have our music break yeah, yeah, already, fast man, God, Okay, all right, breaking news here at the top of the hour. Stick around