Welcome in to the newest edition of the Justin Time Sports Podcast.
I am your owner and host, Justin Jackson.
In this week's episode, we'll be discussing the NFL, Week 15 and 16.
We'll also have our betting segment, NFL Jack's Pack.
Of course, we will talk about the college football playoff and the landscape of college
football in general, and we will have our best for last.
Now, as always, don't forget to like, rate, and subscribe to the Justin Time Sports Podcast
wherever you get your podcasts, iTunes, Spotify, or anywhere else.
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be able to watch the YouTube show as well.
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JTimeSports, for all of your breaking news, updates, and coverage.
Now, as always, don't forget to sit back and get ready to learn something.
And also, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to the Justin Time Sports Podcast,
and I'll see you guys in the next one.
See you.
Welcome into the show.
Welcome into the newest edition of the Justin Tom Sports podcast.
I am your owner and host, Justin Jackson.
And again, as you heard in the intro, welcome in.
Welcome in.
This is season five, episode 33.
And we're going to jump right into the NFL.
Right?
So again, 5 stars, I'm going to handle at J Tom Sports, but we're going to jump right
into the NFL.
We're going to talk about NFL week 15.
The big headline out of week 15 is the MVP race.
Plain and simple.
It's, it to me is down to three people.
It's down to Lamar Jackson.
It's down to Josh Allen and it's down to Saquon Barkley.
Now, Saquon Barkley to me, I'm going to start with Saquon first.
He is third place to me.
I think he, I think in the path to Saquon Barkley winning MVP was history.
And that's kind of how I feel about any running back that wants to win it.
He's got to be historic.
And I mean, but history is ED's record.
Now he is still has a chance at it at his current rate.
He's going to fall about 20 ish yards short.
So he still has a chance at it, but I think in order for him to get the MVP or at least,
I think he's off of the player of the year regardless, but I think in order for him to
get MVP, he's going to have to break ED's record and get really close to the touchdown
record if not break it as well.
If he breaks both, he has to be the MVP.
If the tush push didn't exist, he would have been the MVP.
I think I believe I saw a statistic and I said a few weeks ago, but I think it's growing
now he's right.
He's rushed down to the one yard line, something like 12 times or 14 times and our, and they
were 16 times and out of those 16 times, the next place when I tush push like 14 times.
So he's, I mean, if you equate those tush pushes into touchdowns, he's at 25 touchdowns.
He's the runaway MVP favorite right now.
But instead he has 11 touchdowns, but he does both there's 1,688 yards with about a month
left in the season.
So he keeps his pace.
He'll fall just short of ED's record.
However, he is on pace for, you know, 2 to 2100 yards, I should say, and 13 touchdowns.
To me in most years that gives you a shot at the MVP.
I don't think this is the year because the MVP has transformed into a two men race.
However, you want to put them one A, one B, one and two, two and three, I mean one and
two one A one B one and one A like have you want to order is down to two people and that's
Lamar Jackson and that is Josh Allen Lamar Jackson statistics as of right this second,
he's thrown for 35, 3580 yards, 34 touchdowns, three interceptions.
He's also rushed for another 743 yards and three touchdowns.
Insane production from Lamar Jackson right now.
As he is leading his Baltimore Ravens in absolute dominance, he had one of his signature games
last game where he throws for five touchdowns and less than five interceptions and less
than five incompletions.
That's insane.
I think he's done it five times and nobody else in the history of the NFL has done it
more than three times.
He'll have these games where it feels like a video game where he's 20 of 24 for 300 yards
and five touchdowns and you're like, how was that even possible?
Logically it doesn't make sense.
I think that if his team was a little bit better record wise because they've given up
332 points so far, but he's put a 418 on offense.
I think if they're a little bit better record wise, he probably would be the MVP favorite.
He's not mine currently, but he probably would be the MVP favorite, but he's putting up big
time numbers and I think this is going to be the number argument year for him.
On a complete and total side note, and I mean this in earnest, I had not looked at this
until just now.
I knew both teams' records, but I had not looked into the standings.
The Bengals might get into playoffs.
I know it's a total side note.
As it sits right now, they're not in it, but they are six and eight.
The Chargers are eight and six.
It's unlikely, but it's on the table.
I didn't think they had a chance.
I thought they were mathematically out.
They're going to look back at a couple of heartbreakers they lost.
The Ravens sitting in secondary division, they're sitting at nine and five.
Right now they'd be the fifth seed the playoffs started today.
In that situation, usually the MVP goes to a division winner and I think that it is massively
hugely important for the Ravens to catch the Steelers because if they end up first in the
division and end up battling Buffalo for the one seed, Lamar and Jackson have a much better
case of getting in the MVP race because the Buffalo Bills, speaking of the Buffalo Bills,
have my MVP favorite and that's Josh Allen.
His stats so far this year, 3,395 passing yards, 25 passing touchdowns.
He's rushed for another 484 and scored 11 rushing touchdowns.
He hasn't made any rushing touchdowns at Saquon Barkley.
He is absolutely undefeated at home.
I'm about to say, I'm about to talk about his conference record, which is 72, but hell,
his non-conference record is four and one.
He has locked up the number one seed.
He has not dumped the division.
He locked it up Thanksgiving week.
Now the AFC East is awful.
This reminds me of the AFC East when the Patriots were on top.
The Patriots were like 12 and 2 and everybody on the best other team was like 5 and 9.
And it was like, yeah, the division's over before Thanksgiving.
And that's kind of what the situation is with Buffalo.
They're getting the advantage the Patriots got for years, which was your division is awful.
Once and other, the Bills are getting that advantage and I think that because Patrick
Mahomes isn't putting up the statistics he normally would, that leaves the door open
for Josh Allen, who's not the one seed, but he's going to probably be the two seed.
And that being the case that he is going to, in my opinion, win the MVP.
The season ended today, Josh Allen's your MVP.
He's having a hell of a year.
I think he's going to go Josh Allen, then Lamar Jackson, then Saquon, and then Saquon
scoops up offensive player of the year because that tends to be how it goes.
Offensive player of the year tends to be the best non-quarterback and MVP tends to be the
best quarterback.
Just plain and simple, right?
And so that being the case that's trending the case, I think Saquon ends up with offensive
player of the year and Josh Allen ends up with MVP.
But speaking of those, and the, oh, I'm sorry, before we jump, before we leave Josh Allen,
he got a hell of a game against the Detroit Lions, which catapulted him into the mindset
of being number one in many people's eyes in the MVP race.
But speaking of good football last week, the Packers played the Seahawks.
What a ball game that was for the Packers.
This was a game that I think elements came into play a little bit.
I think that the Seahawks just, it's hard up there, man.
They showed a record, well, they showed the Dolphins record under 40 when the Dolphins
went there.
But Green Bay, now outside of it's cold, outside of the hotel wasn't great because it's Green
Bay, Wisconsin.
Outside of the fact that you're basically playing in a neighborhood, outside of the
fact that the amenities are old as hell, it's frozen, but it's melting because the Packers
keep heat under their field because they're one of the last Northern teams without a dome.
Chicago doesn't have one either, but Chicago's building a new stadium with the dome.
And so they're one of the last Northern stadium without a dome.
The Jets and the Giants don't either.
Okay, back up, back up.
As I'm saying this, a lot of teams are coming to my brain.
They're one of the last modern teams without turf and modern heating without a dome.
So the way the Packers heat the field, it's basically antifreeze and heat running through
the field.
So it makes the field wet.
It just melts the snow, melts the ice.
So it just makes the field super, super, super slick.
So you have to get really, really long spikes.
And if you're not used to playing in those conditions, in those really, really long spikes,
spikes you're going to struggle.
And most people struggle there whenever the snow is not constantly replacing itself and
getting hard and stuff.
Most people struggle there to get their footing.
And you kind of saw that with the Seahawks.
They slipped a little bit.
Stuff with the hair off.
And credit to the Packers for having a hell of a game.
I mean, they still have to play in those elements too.
Like they're a little more used to the long spikes.
They're more used to the slick ground, but they have to play in those elements too.
So kudos to the Packers.
Really they're forgetting a great win and still opening themselves up.
Now they can get the division, right?
Like now the division feels a little open.
The Vikings did win their game, but the division feels like it's attainable now.
They kind of slid through most of the straight I thought was a little tricky.
And now the division feels attainable.
But week 15 was the land of the quarterback switch.
So the big one, Atlanta ends the Kirk Cousins experience after 14 games.
And this was not a temporary, oh, give Kirk a week off kind of thing and bring them back.
This was Michael Pennis as the starter moving forward.
The Michael Pennis experience has begun.
Big Pennis energy has officially arrived in Atlanta and the Kirk Cousins experience is
over after 14 games, seven and seven at about $90 million guaranteed.
His off season, he signed a four year, $180 million contract with 90 guaranteed.
It was his first fully, not fully guaranteed contract in a very long time.
But he signed that deal, but now it is over.
He's had three bad games in a row and the team decided we're going to go with Pennis.
Now this makes the Pennis acquisition look really smart because you protected against
near disaster and Kirk Cousins if he were to go south.
And I told everybody, I'm like the perfect plan for Atlanta is that Kirk and his cousin
is a starter for two years.
Kirk plays all his guaranteed money.
He's a starter.
When his guaranteed money runs up, knowing him is going to want to renegotiate and tell
him kick rocks and then you bring in Pennis.
Pennis is in about 20 games earlier than I would have wanted him to be in.
However, he was, if not the most pro ready quarterback in the draft.
And so now he gets an opportunity with a Drake London, with a B. John Robertson, with a Kyle
Pitts in order to run with that first team and he gets a Giants as the first opponent.
If you're going to land somewhere as the first opponent, landing with the Giants, you
know, against the Giants is a pretty solid landing spot.
So Michael Pennis area has begun.
The former top 10 pick out of Washington will be the starting quarterback going forward.
The Cleveland Browns have decided to end the Jamons Winston at least for this week and
they are going to start Dorian Thompson Robinson.
While the fans love Jamons Winston, while I love seeing him play because that's how
he lets the ball go, especially out of the camera view.
You don't know if it's an interception, one of the worst picks you've ever seen in your
life or one of the best throws you've ever seen in your life.
It's incredibly entertaining.
However, putting on my coach hat, it can be incredibly maddening.
And one thing you want from backup quarterbacks, especially, the only thing I want from quarterbacks,
especially back quarterbacks, especially ones that are filling in for the entrenched starter
next season is that you don't want them to put your defense on a bad spot.
Especially if you're a defensive coach, you do not, you just don't want your defense
on a bad spot.
Like if you got to run the ball to the line, the scrimmage three times a punt, keep the
defense out of bad positions.
That's an elite unit potentially in Cleveland led by Miles Garry and Jamons Winston routinely
put them in bad positions or gave up points himself on pick sixes.
So he has the bench for this week during Thompson Robinson will draw the start.
The Minnesota, I'm so sorry.
I saw Rudolph and had a brain cramp.
The Tennessee Titans, Tennessee Titans are benching Will Levis and for Mason Rudolph.
Will Levis has been the main king.
He has been caught in some insanely hilarious positions on the football field and it is
absolutely insane.
It is hysterical.
Truly.
It really is.
What Will has been caught into again as a fan, as a media member, as a coach has to
be infuriating.
So infuriating.
In fact, they've gone with Rudolph, run, run, Rudolph, hitting the head by Miles Garry with
helmet Rudolph.
He draws a start this week.
So we'll see how Tennessee looks.
They look any better.
They probably won't because they have much bigger issues than quarterback.
And our last major switch is that Tommy DeVito is being sat down by the New York Giants and
they are going with Drew Locke, the embattled Drew Locke.
So they're going to go with him.
Probably ends the Tommy DeVito Italian love in New York.
But we'll see what happens there.
But our update on our big injury update.
We have a lot of small stuff.
Alvin Kamara is a little banged up.
But our big injury update, of course, is Patrick Mahomes.
He's been a full participant in practice.
He's stated repeatedly.
If he's healthy enough, he'll go.
It won't be a situation where, oh, it's a little sore.
I'm out.
If he can do it, he's going to go.
Andy Reid echoed that sentiment.
I think that is huge for the team morale while Carson Wentz probably could win the game.
Having 15 out there is huge for the morale of the team, morale of the city, hell, morale
of the league itself, having Patrick Mahomes on his wizardry.
Now he's probably a lot less mobile.
And Andy Reid's a smart guy.
He probably has designed a lot more quick passes, stationary stuff, don't want to run
them as much so that when he steps on something, it hurts it even worse because he has a mild
howling high ankle sprain.
That's not something you want to dilly dally with and trifle with.
But we'll definitely keep an eye on that.
What up next?
Welcome back into the show.
And now we're going to jump into NFL week 16 and discuss some big games and some big
news that is going down so far this week.
So we have the Denver Broncos against the Los Angeles Chargers.
That game is not in Jax pack, so we will pick it.
This is a very interesting game, a game that would have not been interesting all of about
six weeks ago.
The Chargers were good, but the Broncos were a mess.
People were wondering if Bo Nicks was able to play football outside of against people
he had a seven year age gap on.
I mean, it was a game where Denver is not going to be involved in the playoff hunt and
Chargers are going to be fighting the Chiefs for the division.
Turns out neither of those things are true.
The Broncos are well in the playoff picture and the Los Angeles Chargers are not fighting
the Chiefs for playoff position because the Chiefs have already locked up their division
because of course they have.
The Denver Broncos are in a heated battle at the middle of the AFC as far as getting
into the playoff.
So if the playoffs ended today, the Denver Broncos would sit with the sixth seed.
Actually, the Broncos are so entrenched that according to NFL.com, their playoff probability
falls to 85% if they were to lose against the Chargers.
There's only three weeks left in the season.
They have 92% chance at currently and if they win, they are over a 99% chance to get in.
So the kind of game that really changes the future of the playoffs.
Huge game because if you look at the Chargers, the Chargers, guess what they are?
They're right below the Broncos.
The Chargers are 8 and 6, the Broncos are 9 and 5.
The Chargers currently have an 87% chance of making the playoffs.
If they lose, it falls to a 73% chance and they basically have no chance of catching
the Broncos.
Or if they win, they have a 97% chance of making the playoffs.
So this is a humongous game as far as seeding and as far as making the playoffs.
If you look at the Chargers, they've had a lot of bad history very recently of figuring
out ways to not make the playoffs in a way that they invent ways to not make it.
And so that was the Brandon Staley stuff.
I always wonder what they would look like with a real coach.
We're finding that answer out now.
But this is a huge game as far as playoff seeding.
I have the Chargers winning the game, which would then make it very interesting to see
that in the standings as far as who ends up in that sixth seed.
Because that sixth seed would draw the three.
Right now that three is Pittsburgh.
That sixth, that seventh seed goes at Buffalo.
That's not a place anybody wants to go at Buffalo in the orchard park.
That's not a place you want to go.
So this game is huge to find who even has a real shot at getting to the second round.
Texans at Chiefs.
Again, another game not in the Jax pack.
So we are going to pick it.
This game is huge for seeding as well, but mainly for the Houston Texans.
So the Texans are nine and five, face to face in the AOC South.
The Colts have, they've all but won the division.
But they are only one game behind the Steelers for the three seed.
So instead of drawing potentially Baltimore in the first round, albeit at home, but still
Baltimore, you are fighting if you're the Texans to get up to the three seed and draw
either Denver or the Chargers.
Either a rookie quarterback or an embattled offensive line.
Both of which are a lot better than Baltimore.
And then the Kansas City Chiefs, you're just looking to stay off the bills.
The bills own the tiebreaker because they're in the head to head competition that is Chiefs
only lost a season.
So if the Chiefs were to lose this game, bills win.
They're a game out with two left.
And they swim the same record.
The bills would end up getting the one seed and the AFC would run through Orchard Park.
Huge as far as AFC because people have to go into Buffalo.
Buffalo never has to leave New York in order to get to the Super Bowl.
So humongous kind of game.
I'm going to pick the Chiefs here.
If it was a home game for Houston, no, actually correction.
I'm going to pick the Texans.
Mahomes is going to play, but he's not a hundred percent.
And I think the Texans are going to peel back their ears and come after them and find
out because the one thing you don't want to do on ankle sprain is move, especially laterally
forwards and backwards.
Perfectly fine.
We have to have a cut and bend and turn.
That's when it gets really, really painful.
So I think that the Texans are going to hit him a couple of times.
I'm sure they're going to try and make him run.
I think the Texans are going to win this game.
Steelers at Ravens, a potential AFC flipping type game.
Another game, 99 Jax pack.
So we are going to pick it.
The Steelers vs. the Ravens.
What else would it be?
Right.
And this is a Steelers game that makes it there all of their playoff games in a row.
Of course it comes down to pretty much the division.
We've got 10 and 4 Pittsburgh, 9 and 5 Baltimore.
You have a situation where both of these teams are really, really good AFC North teams and
because of which they're going to battle.
They're going to battle each other a lot.
And I've got the Ravens here because of home field advantage.
I think that going into M&T Bank Stadium is going to be hard for Pittsburgh.
I mean, they've got Russell Wilson, they've got Mike Tomlin.
I agree.
But I think Baltimore is rolling right now.
They had one of their best, if not their best offensive game, especially passing the ball
last week.
I think they parlay that and they keep it rolling Ravens win.
Eagles at commanders.
Another game, 99 Jax pack.
Wow.
This doesn't happen.
Usually we know some of these games in our Jax pack, but this is a big game again as
far as the divisional standing.
Now it means little to nothing as far as the playoff picture.
I mean, the Eagles lose.
Well, the Eagles lose, they almost forfeit the right of the one seed because there's
three teams, 12 and two.
Lions are in 12 and two.
Phillies 12 and two.
Minnesota's 12 and two.
Tampa will end up being the three seed.
Los Angeles more than likely ends up, well, no Los Angeles and Seattle have the same exact
eight and six.
And then Arizona's at seven and seven.
But more than likely either the Rams or the Seahawks get the division, which means Packers
and commanders.
Packers, commanders and that's it.
Packers and commanders end up as your wild card teams.
So Phillies in the fight for one seed.
Commanders in the fight to get in because if the commanders lose, they're still supposed
to get in, but it gets a lot closer.
Then they share a record with the Seahawks because the Seahawks win their game against
the Vikings, unlikely, but they win their game against the Vikings and they turn around
the commanders lose.
That could be a huge thing.
That's why the tie breaking this playoff picture looks totally different in a few days.
But I do think the commanders get it done.
Again, I'm driving that James Daniels bandwagon one more time.
I think the commanders get it done and really make the NFC all topsy turvy.
Vikings at Seahawks.
Oh man, five for five.
No Jax Pactic games.
Vikings at Seahawks, a game that we just spoke about.
It's a one seed versus a make the playoffs type of game.
Vikings have to go outside on the road to the 12th man in Seattle.
Gino Smith is expected to play, but he's supposed to be a little less mobile, a little
less mobile against Brian Flores.
It's probably a disaster.
But ultimately the Seahawks defense has to go against Sam Donahue, who's been pretty
hot.
So we're going to go with the Vikings here to all but end the Seattle Seahawks season
and to continue their march to the one seed because the Vikings went out.
They owned all the tiebreakers regardless of what happens and they'll be the one seed.
Quick hitters.
Clyde Ewa Zillair was waived by the Kansas City Chiefs and quickly signed by his hometown
or home state team, the New Orleans Saints.
The Catholic High and LSU alum quickly signed with his home team of the New Orleans Saints.
This is coming off the heels of an injury to Alvin Kamara that may or may not affect
his availability for this week.
Trevor Lawrence and Evan Ingram both have undergone their respective surgeries for the
Jacksonville Jaguars and are expected to make full recoveries.
And his NFL drive is supposed to be one of those NFL drives that are very QB led, sans
the fact that there is two tacos that must go early and of course the Heisman winner
Travis Hunter.
But look for a lot of Ken Moore, a lot of Jalen Milro, a lot of Dylan Gabriel, a lot
of Shadoura Sanders, especially those top 10 to 15 picks.
Financially, quarterbacks are right now the best bargain in sports and so they will be
continuing to pick early especially with Vegas, especially with New York, both New York potentially,
especially with other teams out there that are in need of quarterbacks.
Cleveland made draft, Tennessee made draft, Raiders will, Giants will, Carolina probably
won't, New Orleans made draft of one falls.
So you have so many different options for the position.
There's going to be a lot of different guys going early.
What up next, we're going to shift to our NFL betting segment, Jax Pack.
Welcome back to the show and now we're going to jump into our NFL betting segment, Jax
Pack, off a winning week, off a three and two week.
We hadn't had a winning week in a couple of weeks.
So off a winning week, three and two.
Of course you guys know my total record, 39, 33 and three.
Those ties don't count against me, don't count for me.
It's like they don't exist because on single unit bets, as long as it's not a parlay,
I just get that money back.
No one wins.
And so it doesn't count against me.
So we're still sitting at 54%.
Again, the goal is to get to a 56% and above.
That is our goal, but we are winning.
We are positive, but let's jump right into these numbers.
So Rams minus three at the Jets, take the Rams.
This is just a lot of confidence in the Rams.
I get it's a cross country trip.
I get it's on the road.
I get it's in our conference.
I understand it's Aaron Rodgers and Devon Seahawks.
I don't look like they figured it out.
They just don't have enough good players for the Rams.
The Rams played in an absolute monsoon of wetness against the San Francisco 49ers.
To me, you have a better roster than Jets and they still won by more than three points.
So because of which I'm taking the Rams minus three at the Jets.
Number number two, Giants plus eight and a half at the Falcons.
Take the Giants.
This is a complete fade of a rookie quarterback.
I totally understand that Michael Pena is probably going to play well.
I totally understand it is a road game for the Giants of all people.
However, I think eight and a half is a large number for a rookie quarterback because I
don't think he scores more than 20.
So that means that the Giants just couldn't get to 12.
Drew Lockilux in for a touchdown, a couple of field goals, 13.
Nice, you got to get a more than 21 for a rookie in his first start.
Gets dicey.
So I'm going to go with the Giants here plus eight and a half over the Falcons.
Bengals minus seven and a half over the Browns.
Take the Bengals.
Complete and total fade of Dorian Thompson Robinson.
I mean without a shadow without love J.M.Winston.
He's my guy.
Probably J.M.Winston.
I probably still take the minus seven and a half.
But this is a complete and total fade of Dorian Thompson Robinson as a NFL quarterback
at all, let alone a starter in this league.
Take the Bengals minus seven and a half.
Lions minus six and a half at the Bears.
Take the Lions.
Complete and total fade of the city of Chicago in football.
Not necessarily one specific person.
A fade of the entire city when it comes to football.
Honestly, the entire city when it comes to sports stands about seven years of Michael
Jordan's career.
It is preposterous that the Lions won't beat the Bears by a touchdown or more.
Not even more than a touchdown.
It's not seven and a half.
It's just a touchdown.
That they have to win by.
It is preposterous the Lions won't get that done.
And then lastly, Raiders minus one and a half over the Jags.
Take the Raiders.
Complete and total fade of Mac Jones.
He's awful.
I think this is going to be a game where Brock Bauer gets to eat.
The Raiders put up 21, 22 points.
Jaguars never crossed 13.
And the Raiders win the game.
Again, complete and total fade of Mac Jones.
I have no faith in that guy whatsoever.
I'm a Patriots fan.
Maybe I'm a little scorned.
No faith in that guy whatsoever.
Not even a little bit.
Complete and total fade of Mac Jones.
So again, let's run through these numbers really quickly.
Rams minus three over the Jets.
Giants plus eight and a half over the Falcons.
Bengals minus seven and a half over the Browns.
Lions minus six and a half over the Bears.
And Raiders minus one and a half over the Jaguars.
But up next, we're going to talk about college football.
Welcome back into the show.
And now we're going to talk about the college football
playoff.
Now we touched on the last episode.
I gave some quick insights, but now I
want to really get into each individual game.
And I really am excited for this.
The playoff has an opportunity.
And I think they kind of need to redo how it's done,
because of how it played out.
So in the game, you didn't get Boise State,
because they happened to be highly ranked,
because someone stole it.
That didn't happen too often.
The seed kind of made sense.
I think because of that conference champion,
I think it should be the power four champions plus the highest
ranked non-power four gets the bid.
Didn't guarantee you the home game or the buy.
I think it just gets you in.
And then the seven at largest.
And then once you get to 12, you receive from there,
one through 12.
I think that's a lot better than buy weeks and this out of 30,
because Boise State's on a buy.
Arizona State's on a buy, because Clemson won instead
of SMU.
And it's like, nah.
But you're looking at it, you're like, yeah.
But wouldn't logically Notre Dame and Texas
should have that buy?
Just look at that.
You know what I'm saying?
Notre Dame and Penn State, not either one of you two.
But it is what it is, right?
Indiana goes on the road at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame was a touchdown favorite.
That feels about right.
Maybe it feels a little low.
I think Notre Dame wins this game.
I'm thinking Notre Dame wins it comfortably.
I just don't think Indiana has the athletes.
And it's not necessarily saying Notre Dame
is the world's most athletic place.
But Indiana was a crap show for years for a reason.
It's a hard place to recruit.
You're in the middle of a Big Ten country.
You're staring at Ohio State.
You're staring at Michigan.
It's hard.
You're staring at Minnesota.
It's hard to recruit there at times at a high level.
And they just really started doing
your last recruiting cycle.
So it's going to be hard for them to get with Notre Dame.
Marcus Freeman's been recruiting his tail off
since he got there as a defensive coordinator.
And I think that trend will continue.
Not only in the recruiting trail, but in this game,
I think Notre Dame wins by more than a touchdown.
Clemson at Texas, Texas minus 12,
another number that feels low.
The only reason why this number isn't 15 to 18,
in my opinion, is when yourself.
When yours was healthy, they're just bigger fashion,
stronger than Clemson.
Coaches always talk about X and O's.
They can scheme.
When you go to that field,
and both sides basically have thrown their best shot,
it gets to be Jimmy's and Joe's of X and O's.
X and O's on the board hasn't won a football game yet.
Jimmy's and Joe's on the field did.
There's a lot better Jimmy's and Joe's
that play for Texas than play for Clemson.
Plain and simple.
It's not even a question athletically.
Texas is considerably better than Clemson to a man.
And because of which,
I think they handle Clemson.
12 points is a lot.
That 12 points to me depends on the health of Quinn Ubers.
So I think Arch Manning could put up some points, yes.
But I do think it is very dependent on Quinn Ubers
to cover that 12.
Tennessee at Ohio State.
Ohio State minus seven and a half.
Now this one feels big,
especially because there's a rumor
that 40% of that crowd's gonna be Tennessee people.
Which if it is, shame on Ohio State.
For allowing your stadium,
especially the first ever college football playoff
in order to not secure 90% of the tickets.
I'm sure it was not a mandate
that you had to give up so many of your tickets
to the other school.
I know bowl games,
they give so many tickets to each side
and so on and so forth.
It's not a bowl game.
I'm almost positive that there was no mandate
to give up 40% of your tickets to Tennessee.
So in the middle of the horseshoe,
trying to intimidate opponents,
there's a mass line of orange
that's going to disrupt what Ohio State wants to do.
That could be a legitimate volume
when Ohio State's snapping the ball.
It could be a lot quieter than it's supposed to be
when Tennessee's hiking the ball.
I mean, that's huge.
If that number is true,
and there's 40,000 people coming from Tennessee,
that's going to be huge for the volunteers.
And then the last thing in the first round,
SMU at Penn State.
Penn State minus eight and a half.
I think the spread's a little low.
I think it should be 10 and a half, 11 and a half.
And that's because SMU, similar to Indiana,
you ain't got the horses yet.
And so you get down to a dog fight with Penn State,
and they're leaning on you,
and they're beating on you,
and they sweep around you,
and they're leaning on you,
and they're beating on you.
You just don't have the horses yet.
Good team, they don't have the horses yet.
And so I think that that's going to be a difference maker
between SMU and Penn State.
I think Penn State covers eight and a half.
So if I'm on the batting pool,
I go take the points in Notre Dame,
take the points on Texas.
Well, hold on, Texas, right now, wait on yours.
If yours is up, take the points.
If yours is down, don't take the points.
Ohio State, don't take the points.
Penn State, take the points.
The transfer portal is alive and well.
You see guys like a TJ Finley, who's on his fifth team.
You see some guys on their third.
Slaughter, who's the quarterback from Liberty.
He committed to Colorado.
So LSU's got like seven or eight guys
already committed for the portal.
So it's a fun time,
and you've got some older coaches complaining
about guardrails, and I'm like,
there was no guardrails to begin with.
Those guardrails didn't exist for those who didn't care.
You know, black bags on driveways and job offers
and magically this car, like,
it's been the case for those who don't care.
Now that everyone can do it,
the shady guys have lost employment
because they no longer need to be shady
because they can just give the money to the kid.
So that's interesting,
but the portal, I think,
had opened up a lot of possibilities
because now someone who was under recruited in high school
can go to a school, put up numbers, put up on tape,
and then come up to the school level
that they actually belong in.
But up next, we're gonna shift to the NBA
and talk about what's going down there
in our best flash.
["Bad Boyz II"]
Welcome to the show.
And now we're gonna jump right into the NBA.
We're gonna start off with a congratulations
to the Milwaukee Bucks on winning the end season tournament
or the Emirates NBA Cup.
Darvin Ham maintains his perfect record in the NBA Cup
as he won it as the head coach of the Lakers,
now he won it as the lead assistant for the Milwaukee Bucks,
and he has heavily influenced how the Bucks were celebrated.
Doc Rivers said that he leaned on Darvin Ham,
and Ham was like, hey,
the whole big giant celebration
probably negatively affected us the rest of the season.
And so Doc Rivers decided that, hey, we're gonna celebrate it,
but we're not gonna do the whole big giant thing
the Lakers did because we have a bigger goal in mind.
And Giannis continues his one-man band
of carrying the Milwaukee Bucks to greatness.
He has flown, in my opinion, to the top of the MVP race,
and he is going to continue to do so
as long as he keeps putting up these numbers.
And then some quick hitters as far as trade news.
The NBA trade deadline is a couple months away,
but the smoke has already started.
The New Orleans Pelicans, unless your name is Eve Meesey,
Herb Jones, or Trey Murphy, have made you available
reportedly.
Now, T.J. McCollum had to answer some questions about this,
which is not great, but when you're five and 22
and you're a team that's above that first apron,
it could cost a fairly cheap ownership group,
gonna be honest, as a fan, a fairly cheap ownership group,
$18 million in revenue share.
They're gonna start cutting salaries at some point.
I think Jose Alvarado is probably the person
that gets moved in a salary purpose,
and they hold everyone else because injuries
kind of rock this team.
Zach Levin, of course, is always in trade discussions,
but now Lonzo Ball has been added for the Chicago Bulls.
So both starting back up members, when healthy,
have been added to the trade smoke.
Giannis Valanchunas, his contract is pretty much
gonna be traded from the Wizards before the trade deadline.
He is probably gonna land on a contender,
which is huge for Valanchunas,
because he really hasn't played a lot of meaningful basketball
in his career.
And then D'Angelo Russell will be the Lakers'
ultimate trade piece.
He will be moved at some point for someone of value,
probably a wing, if they can get their hands on Levin,
or maybe he's involved in the Valanchunas deal.
But that is all I have for the day.
Thank you guys for rocking out with me.
I hope you guys are rocking out with me on this Thursday,
by the time you guys hear this.
So I appreciate you guys listening in,
making Justin Thomas Sports a part of your week.
As always, don't forget to like,
rate, and subscribe to the podcast,
wherever you get your podcasts.
And also don't forget to follow
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on all your favorite social medias.
Now this is your host, Justin Jackson, signing out.
And I'll see you guys next time.