Another college football season is winding down, and it’s been an incredible campaign filled with great plays, boneheaded plays, ignorant quotes from coaches − more on that later − and delusional fans who believe their team should never lose. With the Heisman Trophy and College Football Playoff berths hanging in the balance, it’s time to hand out the final grades of 2023 and look forward to the holiday and bowl season.

So, congratulations in advance to the teams that will make the final four … and to Minnesota, the only 5-7 team slated to earn a postseason bid; just know you have no business receiving gifts from bowl sponsors and taking another snap.

Here is the Week 13 analysis of how fans, teams, players and coaches fared: 

The season of complaining

College football coaches take it to an entirely different level. Here are a few beauties from some lucky, highly-paid headset wearers this week.

Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson on being upset by Notre Dame showing a video tribute to former Demon Deacons quarterback Sam Hartman: 

‘We saw it last week (at Notre Dame),’ Clawson said during his midweek press conference. ‘Here’s a guy (Hartman) we recruited and we developed, and they are putting on a video of him, saying, ‘We will always love you.’ I’m like, you only dated him for a couple of months. It can’t be love. We are the ones who love him. We had five years with him. You rented him for a season. They bought him and rented him for a year, and now they love him. When that video played, it’s just like, holy cow, this is where college football is.’ 

Hmmm, not sure if this is a joke or if Clawson was serious, but either way, it was idiotic.

And here is a bit of out-of-touch rhetoric from good old Kirk Ferentz, whose Iowa team has won 10 games despite its offense setting the sport back 100 years in the process. But go ahead about the media.

‘It’s a little tougher today, and with all the ESPN coverage and all that. In fact I was making a comment to a couple guys on staff this morning, I was looking through there and saw three faces on that little thing on the left of your ESPN site, where they’ve got the videos. Three guys that are basically coach killers or player killers that are just like, all they’re trying to do is just stir up controversy.’

Ferentz then went on to complain about a fair catch call that supposedly cost Iowa the game against Minnesota … which was played a month ago.

Honestly, he has more pressing issues to worry about, such as how he will prevent the Hawkeyes from getting run out of Lucas Oil Stadium in the Big Ten championship game against Michigan. And since Iowa isn’t winning a championship anytime soon, he should be thankful he makes millions and still has a job where he can enjoy being mediocre most of the time.

Mute button needed: F

Crazy end to crazy day

There isn’t a chance in hell that people were up watching Colorado State take on Hawai’i, because it wasn’t available on television and could only be watched via Spectrum Sports.

Hawai’i was up eight with less than three minutes to go and had a 45-yard field goal attempt blocked with a chance to seal the victory, giving Colorado State the ball. The Rams took all over four plays to score, connecting on a70-yard pass from Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi to Tory Horton with 54 seconds left and converted the 2-pointer to tie the score at 24.

The Rainbow Warriors, with no timeouts, went from its own 25 to the Rams’ 34-yard line and after an 11-yard pass, rushed the field goal unit on the field. (Watch the highlights below for the visual)

Matthew Shipley then nailed a 51-yard field goal as time expired (the field goal was reviewed and upheld), setting off a wild celebration.

Thrill of victory, agony of defeat: A+

The worst and best of the rest

Punt fever:

Rejoice for all long snappers:

Maserati Marv revvin’ up:

The wrong place for saliva:

Clean up on aisle 3:

Reservations for 100:

Fight!!!!!

DBs are not his Nabers:

Stats for you

2: The number of Jacksonville State kickoff returns this season. The Gamecocks gained 31 yards on those two returns.

2: Kickoff returns for touchdowns by Baylor’s Richard Reese against West Virginia. Reese’s returns went for 96 and 93 yards.

3: Kickoff returns for touchdowns this season for Eastern Michigan, which leads the nation.

24.5: Over/under total for Iowa-Nebraska. Iowa won 13-10.

192: Rushing yards in the first half for Missouri back Cody Schrader. The senior ended with a career-high 217 yards in the Tigers’ 48-14 win over Arkansas.

527: Passing yards for Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita against Arizona State, the most by an FBS quarterback this season.

11,193: Career passing yards for Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, setting the Big Ten Conference’s all-time record.

$500,000: Amount that suspended Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh earned with the Wolverines’ victory over Ohio State.

The Dog of the Week

This beautiful pup, Trebek, an Aussie Shepherd, is co-parented by Alison Bogusz and Steve Decker and was decked out in Purdue gear on Saturday.

Now to the game: Penn State at Michigan State

The hounds made one final road trip, to Detroit’s Ford Field on Friday, where the day before, the building’s usual tenants slogged their way to a seventh straight Thanksgiving loss. To continue the losing holiday weekend, Michigan State played host to Penn State and couldn’t be bothered to show up. The Spartans gained a grand total of 53 yards, went 2-for-13 on third down, had eight three-and-outs, and entered Penn State territory only twice. For a more visual representation of their drives, it looked like this: interception, punt, punt, punt, halftime, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt.

The pups don’t have to go through any more torture this season watching bad football and can just relax. Still, they wanted to wish all of those who read this column (even the ignorant people who email) a very safe and happy holiday.

DETROIT − It’s all still out there for this Michigan football team. But then that’s been true on this day twice before, and when the Wolverines stepped beyond the Big Ten and onto the national college football stage, they discovered they weren’t ready. 

Especially the first time, two years ago, when U-M snapped its losing streak against Ohio State, thumped the sacrificial Big Ten West fodder in the conference title game — Iowa, if I recall, though does it matter? — and then lined up against Georgia in South Florida.  

Week 12 of the NFL season is nearly finished. Whether you are looking for a playoff push or looking to avoid sitting in a Denny’s for 24 hours straight as league punishment, there are plenty of reason to keep a keen eye on the waiver wire. There is still a plethora of talent available for anyone to pick up in most leagues. Here are five players you should consider adding to your roster ahead of Week 13.

Fantasy football waiver-wire pickups for Week 13:

Pittsburgh Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth (Rostered in 48% of Yahoo leagues)

The Pittsburgh Steelers had gone 58 straight games without recording 400 yards of total offense. 58! In their first game without Matt Canada as offensive coordinator, they broke the streak. The biggest beneficiary of the change at OC seems to be tight end Pat Freiermuth, who racked up season-highs in receptions (9), targets (11), and yards (120).

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Freiermuth has been one of the most disappointing players of the year. After finishing 2022 as the TE7 in PPR formats despite only scoring two touchdowns, fantasy owners hoped he could earn his way into the endzone a little more often and thus burst into fantasy superstardom. This was his first game showing us what we expected at the start of the season.

The Steelers’ schedule is very favorable for the rest of the season as well. The team plays Arizona, New England, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Seattle in the last five weeks of the fantasy season. None of those are bad matchups, aside from maybe the Patriots, but even that game happens before the fantasy playoffs.

Minnesota Vikings RB Ty Chandler (Rostered in 48% of Yahoo leagues)

In his first two games without Cam Akers in the picture, Ty Chandler has proven himself arguably a more explosive running back than starter Alexander Mattison. Although Chandler has not played more than 50 percent of the snaps in either of his games as the backup, his snap share should continue to rise as the Vikings continue to make a last postseason push.

Although the Vikings will be on bye next week, their matchups in Weeks 14-15 are Las Vegas and Cincinnati. Each of those teams have allowed at least 16 non-PPR fantasy points to opposing running backs in at least five of their last seven games. Chandler may not help this week, but he’ll definitely be a good addition the following two weeks.

Baltimore Ravens WR Odell Beckham Jr. (Rostered in 49% of Yahoo leagues)

Ravens wideout Odell Beckham Jr. had a questionable designation attached to him for most of the week leading up to the Ravens’ Sunday Night game against Los Angeles. That may have shifted some people away from him, but you should not be scared. Not only was Beckham declared likely to play long before the start of that game, but he’s also shown shadows of his younger self in recent weeks.

In PPR scoring, Beckham has recorded more than ten points in each of his last three games. Albeit, one of those games, Beckham needed a 40-yard touchdown to get into the double-digits, but in those other two games, Beckham earned 14 combined targets. That’s a hefty chunk and with quarterback Lamar Jackson’s favorite target, tight end Mark Andrews, out for the season, Beckham could earn even more targets.

The Ravens are on bye in Week 13, but the Ravens do have favorable passing matchups during the fantasy playoffs with Jacksonville, San Francisco, and Miami on the schedule. Definitely a lot to love about the former All-Pro receiver’s fantasy stock moving forward.

Los Angeles Rams WR Tutu Atwell (Rostered in 27% of Yahoo leagues)

Remember the beginning of the season when Cooper Kupp was out? Back in those days, Tutu Atwell was a legitimate starter in fantasy, recording 17.9, 15.2, 17.2, and 7.4 PPR points in the four games that Kupp was on IR. Kupp may not be on IR anymore, but he is clearly hurt, or at least not playing at full strength.

In a favorable matchup against Arizona, Kupp only managed three receptions. Part of that obviously has to do with how well Kyren Williams was doing on the ground in his return, but even without Williams in recent weeks, Kupp has been underwhelming. The Rams may not be out of the playoff race yet, but with games against Cleveland and Baltimore coming up, I would not be shocked if the team just let Kupp rest the remainder of the season once their playoff hopes are decimated. Atwell may not have the target share you want from a FLEX or WR2 right now, but he showed some great promise today against Arizona and there is upside to be excited for moving forward.

Green Bay Packers WR Jayden Reed (Rostered in 47% of Yahoo leagues)

One great game does not mean the Green Bay offense is suddenly good. Even if they are not as good as they were on Thursday though, Reed is proving to be the most reliable player on that offense. He has scored a touchdown in three straight games and has increased his targets in each of the last three games as well. Even better, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur seems intent on using Reed in a variety of different ways, including as a rusher.

Over the last two weeks, Reed has gotten five carries. While five carries may not seem like much, he’s been very efficient with his carries, and at the very least, it shows that LaFleur wants to get Reed involved as often as possible on offense.

We are less than halfway through the English Premier League season, but we may have just witnessed the goal of the year. Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho gave us a remarkable bicycle kick past Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, reminiscent of Wayne Rooney’s 2011 overhead kick against Man City.

Put it in the Smithsonian! The Louvre! Put it everywhere! WOW! What a goal!

Even crazier, this set the tone for the rest of Man U’s match. It came in the third minute of the match to give United a 1-0 lead. They wound up winning 3-0.

Who is Alejandro Garnacho?

Garnacho is a 19-year-old forward who spent most of his youth in Atletico Madrid’s youth system. He signed his first professional contract with United in July 2021 after Garnacho moved to the United system in October 2020.

Garnacho has made 32 appearances in the Premier League throughout the last three seasons. He has four goals and two assists in that time. This was Garnacho’s first goal of the 2023-24 season. Manchester United’s leaders, Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay each have three thus far.

Garnacho is by no means a goal-scorer, but he is clearly a showman. After his goal against Everton, Garnacho offered the crowd one of Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous pirouettes. He obviously knew that his goal was going to go viral.

Is this the best goal of the season?

After their match against Everton, Machester United manager Erik ten Hag told reporters that it was ‘probably goal of the season.’ He’s obviously biased though.

Here are some other competitors for ‘Goal of the Year.’

Florian Sotoca – Lens v. Man United (friendly)

This one might be cheating since Lens not only isn’t a part of the EPL, but it was also during a friendly. That said, it was against Manchester United and that’s enough of a link to make this list.

Hwang Hee Chan – Wolves v. Newcastle

This goal may not have been from as far, but it required a filthy move from Hee Chan in order to avoid the tackle in the box.

With just those two goals, I’ve already started stretching out the qualifications in order to find games to contend against Garnacho’s bicycle kick. That should be evidence enough of how incredible Garnacho’s goal is.

Where does Man United sit in the EPL standings?

Manchester United currently sits at sixth in the Premier League standings. That said, United has won their last three Premier League games. Although they did lose 4-3 to FC Copenhagen in a UEFA Champions League game on Nov. 8, they have been as good as anyone in EPL matches during the month of November.

United’s next Premier League game is set for Dec. 2 against Newcastle at Old Trafford. The game will start at 3 p.m. ET.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana University on Sunday dismissed football coach Tom Allen, after seven seasons in charge in Bloomington, according to a source confirmed to IndyStar.

Allen finishes his Indiana tenure 33-49, and 18-43 in Big Ten play.

After the remarkable highs of 2019 and 2020, Allen finished his final three seasons 9-27, 3-23 in the Big Ten, with no Power Five nonconference wins among them.

Ultimately, despite a contract buyout exceeding $20 million due across the next four years — which was negotiated down to two $7.75 million payments that will be paid through the department of athletics donor funds — current athletic director Scott Dolson determined a change of direction necessary. Dolson’s search for a new football coach — Indiana’s third in the past 13 years — will begin immediately.

Allen’s tenure began under strained and unusual circumstances, Allen hired full time from his defensive coordinator position on the same day the Hoosiers parted ways with former coach Kevin Wilson. Allen had been a central figure in the second of Wilson’s two bowl campaigns, reviving a badly struggling defense to help the Hoosiers reach 6-6 and a Foster Farms Bowl berth.

For that work, then-AD Fred Glass elected to elevate Allen without a coaching search, announcing his decision in an evening news conference Dec. 1, 2016.

“He is a leader of men,” Glass said that night, “which I think will transcend beyond the defense across this entire team, and may be the missing link, may be the secret sauce to get us from being close to maybe getting over the hump a little more often.”

Glass’ words proved prophetic initially. After coaching the Hoosiers through that initial bowl game and a 5-7 season the following fall, Allen turned over a roster rebuilt between 2018-20 largely through his recruiting and development efforts. Whether pulling players from in state or southern talent hotspots like Memphis and Tampa — areas where Allen’s coaching history gave him deep recruiting roots — Allen built a team that finished 19-14 across those three seasons.

That stretch included berths in the Gator and Outback bowls, marking Indiana’s first two appearances in January bowl games played in Florida. Losses in both games did not seem to dampen the momentum of consecutive winning seasons not just on the field but in conference play, and engendered by a buy-in to Allen’s “love each other” mantra that gave Allen’s program agency beyond simply wins and losses.

Those did not hurt, however.

There was a four-game win streak in October and early November 2019 that included road wins at Nebraska and Maryland, and secured IU’s first winning season in 12 years.

Allen’s masterpiece would come a year later when, during the COVID-hit 2020 season, his team opened with a dramatic overtime win against top-10 Penn State, before carrying that momentum forward to a 6-1 record and wins over Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin.

Expectations for the following year were exceptionally high by historical standards, and the Hoosiers falling dramatically shot of them began the slide that ultimately cost Allen his job. Indiana finished 2-10 — with no Big Ten wins — in that 2021 season it began with a national ranking, before managing just two and three conference victories across the following two seasons.

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Mississippi State football has hired Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby as its next coach, the team announced Sunday. Lebby ends a search that has been ongoing since Zach Arnett’s firing on Nov. 13.

The 39-year-old Lebby is the 36th coach in program history.

ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the deal is five years in length.

‘Being the head coach at Mississippi State is the opportunity of a lifetime,’ Lebby said in a school release. ‘My family and I are fired up to engrain ourselves in this community, build relationships with our players, and hit the recruiting trail. This is a special place with special people and a football program with a storied tradition.

‘I couldn’t be more thrilled to add our dynamic offensive scheme to an NFL powerhouse with a nationally regarded history of elite defensive play. I am truly honored and appreciative of Athletics Director Zac Selmon and President Dr. Mark Keenum for this special opportunity. I can’t wait to lead Mississippi State football into the future, while competing in college football’s premier conference. Hail State!’

Lebby is scheduled to arrive at George M. Bryan Airport in Starkville at 8 p.m. Sunday. Fans have been encouraged to welcome his family there. He will also be introduced at 7:30 p.m. Monday inside the Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex with a press conference to follow.

‘As we continue to invest in excellence at Mississippi State, the future of our football program is incredibly bright with the addition of Jeff Lebby at the helm,’ Selmon said. ‘I am confident that Jeff is the perfect leader for the next exciting chapter of Mississippi State football. He will bring an exciting brand of football, elite student-athlete development, and a winning culture to Starkville, all while doing so with high integrity.

‘He is a dynamic recruiter who will attract an elite coaching staff and the nation’s top talent. There is no doubt in my mind that Jeff’s leadership, vision, and resilient work ethic will take this program to incredible heights. We could not be more excited to welcome Jeff, his wife Staley, and their children Kora and Kane to the Mississippi State family. It is a great time to be a Bulldog and only going to get better.’ 

The Sooners have had one of the nation’s top offenses under Lebby. This season, OU ranks third nationally with 43.2 points per contest.

Prior to his stint with OU, Lebby spent two seasons (2020-21) as coach Lane Kiffin’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Ole Miss. His previous assistant stops include Victoria Memorial High School in Texas (2007), Baylor (2008-16), Southeastern (2017) and Central Florida (2018-19).

Lebby was connected to a scandal at Baylor in 2015 that saw coach Art Briles, Lebby’s father-in-law, get fired. Baylor student Dolores Lozano mentioned Lebby as a coach who took no action against running back Devin Chafin following claims that he physically assaulted her three times.

Following Briles’ firing, Lebby defended him and sold shirts to show support of Briles.

As Texas A&M’s lengthy coaching search proceeds following the firing of Jimbo Fisher, the Aggies reportedly are targeting a familiar face in Duke football’s Mike Elko, according to multiple reports.

This was first reported by the Houston Chronicle.

Elko spent four seasons at Kyle Field with the Aggies from 2018-21 under Fisher as the Aggies’ defensive coordinator, going 34-14 while helming the defense. His most successful season with Texas A&M came in 2020, as his unit ranked ninth in the country in total defense amid a 9-1 record and Orange Bowl victory.

Elko has been among the top candidates to replace Fisher since the latter’s firing in early November, not only for his familiarity with the program but also the success he has enjoyed at Duke, which is not a traditional football power. News of the Aggies honing in on him come after Kentucky’s Mark Stoops was briefly reported to be their next hire.

COACHES POLL: Michigan and Washington rise after rivalry game wins

Mike Elko’s Duke football record

After three seasons as defensive coordinator for the Aggies, Elko moved on to his first head coaching gig with Duke, where he has orchestrated a turnaround in the program.

Elko stepped in and led the Blue Devils to a 9-4 record and a Military Bowl victory in the 2022 college football season. The year prior was a disappointing 3-9 campaign that saw the Blue Devils go 0-8 in ACC play under long-time coach David Cutliffe.

Duke in 2023 finished the regular season at 7-5, which includes wins against Clemson (ranked No. 9 at the time) and NC State (currently No. 22 in the most recent College Football Playoff top 25).

Overall, Elko’s record with the Blue Devils is 16-9, as well as 9-7 in conference play.

Mike Elko-Jimbo Fisher relationship

Elko and Fisher spent four seasons together, with the former serving as Texas A&M’s defensive coordinator from 2018-21. When Elko took the head coaching gig at Duke ahead of the 2022 season, he spoke highly of Fisher and thanked the former Aggies coach for being a mentor to him in the whirlwind that is college football coach.

‘Thank you to Brian Kelly and Jimbo Fisher for giving me an opportunity to really hone my craft at the highest level and learn how to manage a national brand and take my game as a coach to the next level,” Elko said. “There are countless assistant coaches that I’ve worked with over the years that I will forever be in debt to. Their tireless loyalty, the work ethic they put into our programs, the way they’ve shaped my life — I will forever be thankful.”

When asked how he felt about Elko moving to the ACC, Fisher acknowledged that he too had been in a similar position before, as he made the move from Florida State to Texas A&M in 2018.

“Extremely happy,” Fisher said of Elko’s move. “That’s what you always want to be. I was in that position one day, one time. That’s what you strive for.”

All Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury wanted to do was honor his Indigenous wife and her family’s ancestry by wearing a specially designed mask. That’s it. That’s all. This is something a league like the NHL should instantly back. It’s caring. It’s honorable. It shows that players and the league respect different people and cultures. It should be impossible to screw up yet the NHL did just that.

While you were celebrating the holidays and watching bad football, an infuriating story was unfolding in the NHL. How it all went down says a lot about the sport and how it views diversity. There are lessons here not just for the NHL but for people who believe in a diverse world.

The NHL initially told Fleury he couldn’t wear the mask, according to his agent. Not only was Fleury threatened with a fine, Allan Wash said, but the NHL said it would fine the Wild organization as well. Fleury wore the mask anyway on Friday night during warmups. One source told ESPN no punishment was expected for Fleury or the team for him having worn the mask.

It’s impossible to know exactly but it seems that only after the story became public and the NHL was blasted for its heartlessness that the threat of a fine was rescinded. What the NHL apparently did in threatening both Fleury and the Wild was so over the top that it was heartless and cruel. It looked like a league run by robots that didn’t understand its players are human. It didn’t seem to realize, until it was forced to do so by being embarrassed, that it should make exceptions for acts of genuine kindness and support.

What happened with Fleury also isn’t an isolated thing. This is also what happened when the league initially banned the use of Pride tape that players were using for sticks. It was only after a massive backlash that the league rescinded the ban.

Most of all, when the NHL does things like this, such as, initially at least, not allow one of its players to honor his Native wife on Native American Heritage Night, message sent and received. Let me repeat: Fleury wanted to honor his Native wife on Native American Heritage Night.

By handling this in an embarrassingly awkward way, it is telling certain communities, and certain people, that the NHL isn’t for everyone. You and you and you, who look like the rest of us: cool, come on in. You and you and you, who don’t, or who do not believe what the rest of us do, well, you or your beliefs are banned.

The NHL will say this is absurd. Defenders of the NHL will say the same. But look at what they’ve done. The Pride tape ban was one of the ugliest prohibitions any league has done in years and it took a gigantic, national outcry for the NHL to change.

It also needs to be said that there’s a small part of the NHL wanting to control what appears on the equipment of its players, even if that control is over-the-top, that’s understandable. What Fleury did was full of empathy. But what if you get a player who wants to wear a piece of equipment with ‘White Lives Matter?’ on it?

In other words, some players would abuse the process, and it could potentially become ugly. That is a true dilemma the NHL and other leagues face. This is a part of the story we have to acknowledge.

The league, however, can easily make exceptions, and they can without being shamed into it.

The worst part of this story is the NHL initially not seeing an opportunity to show, at least a little bit, that it can broaden its appeal. The NHL has long had issues with welcoming diverse voices. A remarkable documentary called Black Ice examined hockey’s history of racism and anti-Blackness in excruciating detail. While the movie looked at hockey in the past (and not just the NHL), it also showed what it’s like for players in the sport now.

‘The biggest takeaway from Black Ice is how hockey has been slow to properly address systemic racism,’ read one review. ‘The sport preaches that no one is above the team. But how does that apply to those individuals who are often a minority of one in their own locker rooms?’

Last year the NHL released a survey last year that showed the league’s workforce was 83.6 percent white. On the ice, some 90 percent of the players and almost all the coaches and game officials are white. The racial makeup of the league isn’t completely within the NHL’s control but the league’s attitude toward non-white players and others is.

Fleury’s story started with wonderful intentions. Michael Russo of The Athletic reported Fleury had a new mask designed by a member of the Prairie Island Indian Community. The design honored his wife’s ancestry and it also featured a quote from Fleury’s father and the names of his kids.

The NHL could manage this situation fairly easily by taking each case singularly instead of a blanket ban. If a player wants to use Pride tape, let them apply, and if it’s a noble cause like that, let them do it. If they apply to something incendiary or ugly, don’t let them.

Most of the process wouldn’t be as difficult as it sounds as long as the league was transparent. We know the NHL can shift tactics because they did with the Pride tape. They’ve apparently done it in other situations as well. ESPN reported on Friday that while Fleury’s request was initially rejected, it allowed two goalies to wear specialty masks for Hockey Fights Cancer nights this season: Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and Seattle Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer. ESPN said a source familiar with that decision said those exemptions were because those players had worn cancer-awareness masks before the ban was enacted, and the league approved the nature of the cause they were supporting.

That says a great deal, doesn’t it.

Yes, the NHL could make this process much easier if it wanted. Instead, it’s sending the clear message that hockey isn’t for everyone.

Former NFL quarterback Alex Smith pushed back on Tom Brady’s recent comments, saying he sees ‘a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL.’

And he had no problem roasting Brady, and his fellow ‘NFL Countdown’ panelists in former Patriots receive Randy Moss, former Patriots linebacker Teddy Bruschi and former Jets and Bills coach Rex Ryan in the process.

‘My biggest complaint to this and no offense to the three of you guys,’ Smith said toward his fellow panelists.

‘He played in the most uncompetitive division in NFL history. I mean, you come out of training camp in the biggest cupcake division, you got a ticket to the playoffs right away. Like, talk about mediocre.’

Ryan playfully pretended to take offense to the Smith’s comments, while Bruschi and Moss smiled as he continued his statement during ‘Sunday NFL Countdown’.

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‘I completely disagree with this. I know he’s talking about the rule over the middle over the field to the receiver. But in my opinion, the game has gotten better,’ Smith said.

‘There’s more parity across the league. Quarterback play is at an all-time high in the league. You’ve got the best athletes playing the position. We didn’t have this 30-40 years ago. And then, also he’s referencing offensive numbers are down. To me, in think we’re in a golden age of D-linemen.’

Tom Brady’s last Super Bowl came under current NFL rules

Smith also found it contradictory Brady shared his point of view, knowing his 2021 Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came during the current state of the NFL.

‘Listen, I love Tom. The GOAT. But first off, he hasn’t been retired that long. He was just playing. He just won a Super Bowl in the current game. Are we discounting that one?’ Smith said.

In addition to Smith’s point: Brady won six Super Bowls and 17 AFC East titles during his time with the Patriots.

What did Tom Brady say?

Brady, during an appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show earlier this week, said:

‘I think there’s a lot of mediocrity in today’s NFL. I don’t see the excellence that I saw in the past,’ Brady said.

‘I think the coaching isn’t as good as it was. I don’t think the development of young players is as good as it was. I don’t think the schemes are as good as they were.

‘The rules have allowed a lot of bad habits to get into the actual performance of the game. So, I just think the product, in my opinion, is less than what it’s been.’

Is Tom Brady or Alex Smith right?

NFL parity has continued, while scoring is down for the fourth consecutive season.

Teams are averaging 21.7 points per game this season, on pace with last season’s average of 21.9. It’s a decline from when NFL teams averaged 24.8 points in 2020, and 23 points per game in 2021, per Pro Football Reference.