Hey, it’s that time again, folks. Fred and the Fantastics on BLEAV and on PodClips, with Art, and with Laura, and I am Fred. You can email us [email protected] [email protected]. We will talk about anything and everything in the wonderful and wacky world of sports. Let’s talk about the, folks, we’re taping this Friday afternoon, about one o’clock Pacific Time. And let’s talk about Saturday’s game, Saturday’s games. But let’s talk about the number one game on Saturday, of course. Indiana against Ohio State. It is in Indianapolis, Ohio State’s a four-and-a-half point pick right now in the ratings for the playoffs. We’re one, two. Art. Do you like Indiana? Do you like Ohio State? Or who do you like?

I love Ohio State in this game. I’m trying to find it at around four. It’s going to be a great matchup, two excellent quarterbacks, the ex-Cal quarterback Mendoza, and the kid from Carlsbad, who’s a sophomore, Julian Sayin. They are the best two teams in the country, in my opinion, although you probably throw Georgia in there, and a couple of others. But, you know, it’s a Heisman battle, and it’s in Indianapolis, so I think Indiana’s gonna have a little bit of a home-field advantage, but then again, they gotta play Ohio State. I’m gonna tell you what, that Ohio State defense is for real and I think it’s going to be a real good game, but I think Ohio State by 10 to 14 points in this one.

Laura, the wide receivers for the Buckeyes are back. Who do you like, four-and-a-half or four points, the Buckeyes favorite against Indiana? Laura, who do you like?

You know, I kind of think Ohio State’s going to win by more than four-and-a-half. I just, they just seem to me. I’ve watched, I’ve watched Indiana a few times, also, but Ohio State just seems like a cut above to me. I mean,

Matt Patricia, their defensive coordinator from New England, who we talked about on Sports Overnight America, I gotta tell you, Matt Patricia has done a great job with their defense. I mean, they’re just, they’re just a talented football team.

Yeah.

You know, we just had recruiting, the big recruiting thing for, for college, incoming college freshmen. And you know, USC got 35 really good athletes, but Ohio State got six. Six.

But USC is rated number one, but Art, USC was rated number one.

Well, they had a great class. I mean, they’ve got 19 four-star picks, but Ohio State got five of the top 100 players, USC got two of the top 100 players. And that’s without getting Chris Henry from Mater Dei, who, at six-foot-four, 210 pounds, you know, he’s a great wide receiver that runs a four-four. They’re talking about him being like Jeremiah Smith, another one of these Ohio State wide receivers that just, you know, you got Carnell Tate, you got, you got so many great players at Ohio State. Yeah, that’s going to be something else. What are your thoughts on Georgia and Alabama?

For some reason, I hope Georgia wins. I’m just sick and tired of Alabama, this and that, and I have nothing against DeBoer. I thought he was a fine coach in Washington. I just, it doesn’t matter to me. But I’ll tell you a game that’s interesting on Friday night, you’ve got North Texas against Tulane. Now the reason that I like this game to watch, I’m going to watch it on Friday night. Folks, we’re taping this, again, Friday afternoon. You’ve got Jake Retzlaff, who was kicked out of BYU. He was accused by a woman of taking advantage of her, and that was thrown out. But he did admit that he had sex with her. You can’t do that at BYU. Yeah, sure. And so he was kicked out of school, and now he’s the quarterback for Tulane. Fourteen touchdown passes and 14 rushing touchdowns.

Art, do you have an opinion? I don’t know if you’ve seen North Texas this year, I have seen Tulane. What do you think?

Well, one of my favorite all-time people in life, Cedric Hardman and Mean Joe Green, they went to North Texas State, the Mean Green. And I got to tell you, Retzlaff’s for real and Tulane is for real. Now, the problem in this game is both coaches have gone on to, are going on to bigger and better things. I believe they’re both going to be coaching in this game. But I’ll tell you what – the over and under is 66-and-a-half, you guys, Tulane is getting two-and-a-half, that’s a lot of points. So, I mean, I’m going to probably be a goofball and just take the under and hope for a great game. But if I had to make a pick, I think I would probably take Retzlaff and Tulane in this game.

Laura, is there one game this weekend in the College football games that you think you might watch?

Well, I’ll watch the Ohio State-Indiana game, for sure. I don’t know about any of the, I mean, there are just some, the Georgia game looks like it’ll be interesting too, so I don’t know.

I’m also interested to see if BYU,

You know, I don’t want to spend, like, two days in a row sitting on the couch watching football, but I could.

That’s the other, that’s the other.

I usually try to do other things.

You know, you’ve got a BYU team that got beat pretty handily first time by Texas Tech, which is the best team money can buy in college football, right, Fred?

Historically, and probably this year, too. Tim Skipper got a job, the UCLA assistant, who became the head coach.

Cal Poly, huh?

Cal Poly, that’s Pomona or San Luis? It’s got to be Pomona, right? Not San Luis Obispo.

I think it’s San Luis Obispo.

Oh, really, San Luis Obispo?

That’s where John Manning coached.

How much? Okay, so let’s say he was making two to three million at UCLA as an assistant; that’s probably high. Maybe they gave him a raise when he became the coach. How much do you think he’s making at Cal Poly?

I think it’s a five-year deal for like, $4.8 million.

That much? Really?

Yeah, like about $800,000. I think that’s the Mendoza line, living in California, though.

Folks, any comments from you? You can email us at [email protected], [email protected].

Great story, Fred, great story, we gotta talk about this real quick. The University of Virginia, who went through a nightmare in 2022, when three of their players were killed in an on-campus shooting.

Yeah.

They have fought their way back behind coach Elliott, Tony Elliott, and they’re playing in the ACC Championship game against Duke. And University of Virginia, I believe, is ranked, like 14th in the country, Tony Elliott, who’s come a long way as a football coach. I just wanted to put a shout-out to them and what they’ve accomplished. He gave all the credit to the moms who have stayed with the current players and been part of this whole program and the rise of this program in the ACC. And I thought it was just fantastic that in his press conference, he talked about the three moms and the families of the kids. And I just wanted to put a shout-out to them. The guys that were killed were Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry. And it happened November 22, 2022. And I’m rooting for the University of Virginia Cavaliers to win that game. And I think it would be a great full-turn to come back and bless the rest of those guys.

Any quick comments about Lane Kiffin?

I’ve never been a big Lane Kiffin fan, honest to God. I think the guy has a brilliant offensive mind. He needs a little Sicilian loyalty somewhere along the line. You know, I knew his dad, like you knew his dad. His dad was one of the neat men of all time. He was a real, real sweetheart of a man. He basically, you know, invented the cover-two defense, was a great defensive coordinator, maybe that’s why his son has such a great offensive mind. But, you know, that Ole Miss team had a real outside, I mean, they had a chance to win a National Championship. And I understand $13 million is, you know, generational wealth, especially seven years. But I would have just waited, and, you know, with the portal now. And that’s how he built the Ole Miss team. I would have taken my guys and coached them to the very end, and then if I wanted to leave, I would have gone. But that’s me, and the world is different now.

Laura, Lane wanted to coach Mississippi down the stretch. The athletic director probably said something like this now. Lane Kiffin wouldn’t try to steal some of the Mississippi kids for LSU if I allowed him to coach. Laura. Any comments about Lane not being allowed to coach any further at Mississippi?

Yeah, it doesn’t make, I mean, it’s like, in-season transitions are just really odd.

Fred, on a similar vein, coach Franklin, James Franklin, took 11 of the Penn State top-rated recruits and took them right to Virginia Tech, and they were ranked 150th. And you know, these rankings are kind of nebulous because you don’t know who’s going to coach up a kid, five years from now, he may be a three-star turned into a five-star superstar. But I mean, this happens in college football. I mean, you’ve got guys basically just running around, willy-nilly, grabbing guys, and I’m amazed at how they get away with this stuff.

All right, let’s take a break right now on Fred and the Fantastics. Back in a few.

Folks, we’re back on Fred and the Fantastics. You can email us at [email protected]. Laura and Art, Laura Snoke and Art Sorce, right here. And, of course, let’s talk NFL. Art, of course, played for the L.A. Rams. Let’s talk about some big games. Is there one game that stands out in your mind, Art Sorce, this weekend?

Well, you know, I looked at the schedule, and the Texans and Chiefs matchup has got some allure to me. And I think the Colts and Jaguars is another game, a pair of eight and four teams. Other than that, the Ravens, the Ravens and the Steelers are both six and six. I call it the mezza-mezza AMC North, you know, there’s really not much going on, and if they don’t watch out, Joe Burrows might just steal that AMC North Championship from both those teams.

Laura?

You know, I look at it,

I agree with Art, I think. I mean, although I think the Ravens-Steelers game is going to be intriguing because,

It always is.

Yeah, I mean, they’re both kind of like on the, both teams are on the precipice. Maybe they’re going to make the playoffs, maybe not,

And two great quarterbacks who are having less-than-great years.

Yeah, I think, I think, I think the Ravens are going to pull that game out, though.

Laura. If you were a wide receiver on the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Aaron Rodgers again opened his big mouth about that he wasn’t happy with his wide receivers. How would you play it? How would you feel if you were one of those guys?

Um, well, I mean, in a way, he’s right. So, I mean, I wish it would have been more private, that we didn’t have to know about it, but,

That’s the key right there.

You know, yeah, I mean, I think it’s a little chicken to, to, you know, call out your teammates in public. But he’s right, his receivers weren’t, I mean, they were not playing well.

They’re loafing – it’s like watching, watching the game without playing.

Maybe he’s playing with a broken hand and they can’t, you know,

But what if one of those, what if one of those wide receivers go after, would go after Aaron Rodgers and say, You know, he’s not the same as he was five, seven years ago? Well, how would Aaron react to that?

How would he react?

You know, talking about wide receivers on Thursday night, of course, on the Thursday night game, Pickens did not play as well, and there was a pass late in the game where it looked like he really wasn’t hustling.

He was loafing.

And Art, did you watch it? Did you see that?

He was loafing down the field. I mean, come on, you know, CeeDee Lamb is out of the game with a, with a with a banged-up shoulder. That you got to step up at that point in time. Flournoy, or however you pronounce his name, he had a great game for Dallas. He stepped up, you know, it’s just by the way. Steelers picked up a good receiver by the name of Adam Thielen.

Yeah.

And I have a funny feeling you’re going to see Adam Thielen have a great game against the Ravens, because he, he and Rodgers have been friends for a long time. They, they, they work out together in the postseason, you know, in the off-season. And I thought that was a good pickup. But I have a problem here a little bit, cause, you know, Pittsburgh, they’re talking about, we got to get rid of Mike Tomlin, he’s worn out his welcome. He wore out his welcome eight years ago. What are they thinking about? He hasn’t won a playoff game in eight years, and I mean, he’s a good football coach. But I think much like the Pete Carroll situation in Seattle, once you’ve been around for a long time and the players keep hearing the same old, same old, you know, it gets stale after a while.

Let’s talk about one more coach on Fred and the Fantastics, on BLEAV and on PodClips. Nick Sirianni, and of course, last week, last Friday, Chicago’s playing the Eagles, and the Eagles scored late with three minutes to go, and it’s 24-15, and he goes for two, which might make sense early in the game, analytic-wise, but it didn’t make sense late in the game, because the odds of scoring two touchdowns in the NFL with three minutes to go,

Probably thought it was 1975, Fred, when they couldn’t go for two.

Yeah, no, I’m saying he’s got to go for one, 24-16, then his guys think they have a shot. You don’t even have to onside kick, and you might have a shot of scoring that one touchdown, but scoring two, Laura, do you have any comments? I love it, I love numbers, they’re my life, but in this case, you’ve got to use your head over the analytics. So, Laura, take it away.

I didn’t, I, I didn’t understand it at the time. I mean, being an Eagles fan, I was, I guess I was mad. I said, Why are you doing this?

Right?

Guys in the booth agree with us, too. They were, they were pretty surprised that he actually did make that call.

You guys, in the old days, the coach would have an assistant down there, and they had the card that told you, based on the situation, much like the analytics nowadays, here’s what you should do in every possible situation. Fred, that was so obvious, he wanted to make it a one-score game, and you can go for two in the NFL now. Why would you ever even consider doing it? And I mean, it’s just, it’s like coaches who take points off the board.

Yeah.

John McKay said at one time, he goes, When you got points on the board, don’t take them off because you don’t know what’s going to happen. You really don’t.

All right, Laura. Any comments about the world and the world of sports as we sign off on Fred and the Fantastics?

It’s going to be a great sports weekend. Like I said, I’ll probably just sit on the couch and watch football all weekend. Um, it was, it’s, uh, you know, the holiday season; wishing everybody happy holidays and be safe on the roads out there, and seeing everybody next week.

My buddy’s over there.

Art. Any comments on Fred and the Fantastics and what’s happening in the world and world of sports?

Just excited, I mean, I can’t believe how fast football season has gone this year. It seems like it was opening week, just like the other day, and now we’ve gone 14 weeks. And you know, we’ve got the Conference Championship games in college. The playoffs are coming to a head, the teams that get hot right now are going to have a chance to be National Champions and World Champions. I’m questioning my Chiefs. I wonder, you know, how many excuses Andy Reed can come up with? You know, we just got to get it together. Well, you know, you better start by running the football. That’s number one. Number two, I love it, we got Alabama tomorrow and Georgia, Ohio State and Indiana, got some great games on Sunday. It’s snowing back here like crazy. I don’t know what happened. I just, it all, we’re, we’re in the holiday spirit, and I just wish everybody would just have a wonderful weekend and be safe.

I have talked to Mark Mancini, the world’s worst handicapper. He likes the Texans, so I’ve jumped on Kansas City, so it’s a lock. All right, for Art, for Laura, for Mario. Thank you guys and gals, for listening to Friend the Fantastics. More later. Bye, everybody.