She is from ESPN and one of the hosts, along with her fellow Auburn alum Jason Campbell, the one of the hosts of the SEC State of Mind podcast about all things SEC.

She is Taylor Davis, and she joins us here on the Mac and Bone Show.

Taylor, what's going on?

How you doing?

What's up, y'all?

I'm doing well.

Thank you so much for having me.

I want to say this, I feel a bond with you already because I listened to the Thanksgiving Hot Takes portion of your last podcast.

You you are a fellow Cranberry sauce hater, and I got shamed by these boys for hating on Cranberry sauce.

And I heard you.

Bring that up, and I said, finally someone views that disgusting nastiness the same way I do.

I'm very anti granberry sauce, and you're right, this is a controversial topic.

So I'm really glad we're starting with the tough stuff.

You got an ally and me.

I don't know about everybody else listening, Taylor.

I was wondering what audio he was playing during the breaking.

I heard your voice and I'm like, oh, it must be something he's trying to figure out about college for research.

He fifth popped and said, she's on my side about Cranberry's.

It's odd I can't fight my whole family at home.

I mean, nobody agrees on this, but we've found we've we've got a bond, graduation, we got a bond over this.

What did you think, Taylor about the let's start with this Alabama question?

Do you feel like an Alabama jumps Notre Dame yesterday?

And that's kind of an oddity in itself, but I guess on that two part, what you think about Alabama jumping Notre Dame?

And secondly, do you think there's any scenario where Alabama loses the SEC title game to Georgia and gets bounced out of a playoff position.

It's a great question, and it's one that the committee is dreading having to answer.

They do not want that scenario to happen.

They are hoping this championship makes the decision for them because they do not want to set the precedent.

That has been a debate since the playoffs expanded?

Will you penalize a team for playing an extra game?

And I think them jumping Notre Dame was a bit of a surprise, especially considering while they won the Iron Bowl, it was an indominant fashion and obviously Auburn is unfortunately only a five win team, and so how that was weighted was a bit different.

But I struggle with Notre Dame.

I struggle with their level of competition and really how tested they have done other than the Texas A and M game earlier in the season.

So that one is kind of an anomaly for me and will continue to be, especially without them being in a conference themselves.

But the Alabama situation is going to have to play itself out.

They are truly going to have to take care of themselves because I believe if they lose a close game to Georgia, I think the committee will keep them in because of that truth that they want conference championships to still be desired, They still want them to matter, and we don't want to see them go away.

And I do know that the SEC title is get my teas.

These are very storied programs, and this year in particular, I think you've seen across the board how freaking tough the SEC is, so winning that title is incredibly impressive.

But they also know that if they lose very convincingly.

If Georgia beats the crap out of Alabama, the committee can't put them in.

So I don't think it's just losing.

I think it's the way they would have to lose for the Committee to do something as bold as leaves the tide out.

Yeah yeah, Taylor.

Of that SEC grouping of Ole, miss A, and M, the Bama team that we're talking about Oklahoma, Assumingbama does get in here, who who do you think of those four may be poised for the deepest run in the college football playoffs.

It's a great question.

I really don't want to fully give up hope on Texas, A and M.

I hate that they lost to Texas and it's one of those where you're like, guys, it was yours, like, how did we end up yet again with an Alabama Georgia SEC.

Champia is just they're time in the last five years, you know what I mean?

As an Auburn fan, it just continues to be brutal.

However, sometimes a loss is the very thing that gut checks you and makes you your best.

That is the case in college football.

I've seen it far too many times.

Heck gets the case in life.

Sometimes you just need that gut check.

And one thing I know about Mike Elko is he will utilize this to get them back into the mental fortitude that you need to make a run.

So this happening to A and M right there at the end of the regular season, showcasing them, Hey, you're not freaking invincible.

There is more progress for us to make, even though you had a great season prior to that.

And if you're gunna need to tap into that, it's gut or that we do it now when we've got another game to go play.

So I still believe in Texas A and M because I think that they're strong across the board.

You look at that defensive line, you guys, it's they're not humans.

They are massive, fast, like Mike Elko recruited the exact type of defensive line that you need to make a run and get after some of these quarterbacks.

Then you look at the office inside the ball, Mario Kraber and Casey conceptcy On two of the best transfer portal gets in the nation, and they've had such an electric connection with quarterback Marcel Reid.

So if they can continue what I saw from them up until that game in Austin, I believe A and M can really make a run, and maybe we're going to point in a few weeks and say that loss to Texas was actually a great thing to happen to them.

Did some good did so?

Yeah?

I could see that.

I think a lot of us me included, or maybe you know, maybe putting them to the side after the close call against South Carolina and the loss to Texas.

So it's good to bring them up.

Taylor Davis is with us ESPN and the sec State of Mind podcast.

Check that out wherever you get your podcast.

So, Taylor, I must ask, what did you think of all of the Lane Kiffin to LSU stuff?

Did you I was just looking at your Twitter page.

I could tell you were amused by all the dramatics of it.

But did you feel like Lane deserved all the heat he got?

Like?

How did you feel about that whole mess?

Yeah?

You know, I think for me, you have to separate two things in this.

I think that you separate the results, which is Lane Tiffin being the head coach at LSU and the way in which it transpired.

I love one, I hate the other.

I love the partnership of LSU and LSU and Lane Kiffin.

I think it's going to make I think he's going to be successful in Baton Rouge.

LSU knew what they wanted.

It is championships or bust right now for LSU, And they fired Brian Kelly in dramatic fashion.

They are willing to pay every dollar that Chicken Tenders can make in America to get him out of there and bring in Lane Kiffin.

That was the plan from the jump, and they did it, and I think it's the right fit.

I think he's going to be successful and it's going to accomplish what they set out to do in flashy, dramatic fashion.

The way that this happened, I would grade it enough.

I hate how messy this was.

I hate how much Lane kind of with things and played around and got it to the eleventh hour.

And now Pete Golding, while incredibly you know capable, you're now preparing for playoff games, and this in game process has never been executed like we could have done this a couple of weeks ago and allowed for more of a transition phase before you get into single elimination ball.

So I really don't like the dramatics of it.

I mean, I feel like I should charge him for the inventory he has had on my show against my desire, the amount of time we've all spent talking about this and debating this, and how unfortunate that that has been the headline when Ole Miss is having one of their best seasons in history, like Trinidad Chambliss, that story is one of the best stories in college football and it got hijacked the second half of season by your head coach potentially leaving you for another woman.

Like it's just messy, and it's it's unfortunately very on brand for Lane Tiffin and I have said the past couple of days, like what bad timing for a document to come out about your character art and how much gross there's been and how impactful Oxford has been in your development, only for two months later you to leave the place burning with your deuce is in the air, like it does.

The irony of all of it and the dramatics and the complication I think could have been handled better with that said, ninety million dollars your pick of everything at a culture and a place like LSU, even through emotion, everyone can look at that and go, well, I probably would have done it too.

I just like to think that it could have been executed in a cleaner way and one that didn't distract from what old miss has been able to accomplish it.

Oh and then, by the way, we find out that Juice Kiffin might not even be his dog the whole time.

Oh my gosh, the most heartbreaking element of this entire thing.

Now, I have a question.

You mentioned time spent Kiff.

You mentioned time spent on your show about Kiffin.

I have a question about a man that spent a lot of time tracking down Kiffin over the weekend, your colleague Marty Smith, our friend here at Charlott from ESPN.

Was there any thought with the fellow reporters that someone needs to maybe do a wellness check or have him go home for or go take a nap for a little.

Bit or something.

Seriously, I wanted to be like Marty, blink twice if you're okay, my guy, Like it was seriously hilarious all of the memes and you know him aging twenty five years.

I don't know if you guys have seen he told the story on the Pat Maxi Show about the van that he had to drive and he had to off road, Like I wish that a GoPro had been attached to Marty Smith for that entire endeavor because that was true investigative journalism.

But yeah, I was like, should we all like send him DoorDash or something like is he okay?

That was amazing?

That was amazing.

A van that he says resembled a loaf of bread.

He had to take read off road around the barrier.

Well lane given watched the whole thing, laughing, by the way, laughing at the whole thing.

Oh God, I'm telling you college football, and I don't need to tell you being someone who grew up in the South went to Auburn, Like I saw you.

I'm looking at your tweet right now where you said on Sunday during all the craziness, isn't it wild?

There are people out there just living a totally normal Sunday with no idea the absolute anarchy.

US college football.

Fans are being held captive too, So I know you live for That's the thing.

There's something about like we're laughing at all this, like the I saw you retweet the picture of lanes like suits blazers like sitting out, like they just literally rolled the rack of close out and said there, go ahead and take this.

I got treated that way once, like college football is such a mess, but it's such an entertaining mess at the same time, it's widest perfection.

You guys.

I mean I have lived in town.

You know, even when I lived in Charlotte, it wasn't as much the college football town it was.

It was very heavy in NFL, and I was like, you guys are missing out.

I'm gonna tell you.

I mean, even you know my friends that are like, I'm not really into sports, I'm like, but you like reality TV, you like Bravo, you'll like college football.

There is drama, there is madness.

I mean seeing the photo of his rack of clothes out on the curb, like he seriously had an affair and his marriage was pull It is just peak comedy.

And now there's there's no shortage of drama in the aftermath of some of this.

And I mean, you guys that matchup in Oxford next year, I mean, the mustard bottles and golf balls in the city of Oxford are gonna have to be locked up because I mean, I don't know what all they'll be throwing at him, But it is just it is no shortage of entertainment.

And I am I'm here for all of it.

I watch.

I watch a lot of Real Housewives and below Deck.

I have to get away from the football drama for the drama that is last show.

Sander Pump Rules is my break from college football.

Yes, exactly, there you go.

All right, Well, hey Taylor, we had a blast.

Yeah.

I was gonna ask about you move leaving us in Charlotte.

I know you used to live you used to do some stuff with the Panthers.

I know, so I was going to hold a grudge.

But then when you when I heard that you hated cranberry sauce, It's all good.

You know, it's all good.

You know.

Yes, Charlotte's near and dear to my heart, as was my time with the Panthers.

And I started my career at ESPN as a production assistant in the Charlotte office in Battle.

Okay, okay, a lot of great memories in Charlotte.

I mean I was there seven years, so it will feel like home.

Oh that's cool, Taylor.

What's your what's your game?

This weekend?

This weekend, I will be calling the MAC Championship game, which I'm super excited about.

Is Miami of Ohio against Western Michigan up in Detroit and that will be noon Eastern on ESPN on Saturday.

All awesome, Well you listened to the podcast as well?

Yeah, there you go.

Everybody, check out sec State of My podcast watch Taylor and her work on ESPN.

Thank you for hanging with us, Taylor, We appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Team No Cranberry Sauce by y'all,