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The Bill and Doug Show: Ohio State Football Talk
College football conference championship picks: What 9 games mean for the College Football Playoff
00:45:56
College football offers nine conference championship games this weekend, and Doug Lesmerises and Bill Landis pick them all on The Bill and Doug Show.
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- [00:00]
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Doug Lay Maurice
Wood Thrush 3 o'.
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Bill Landis
Clock.
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Bill Landis
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Doug Lay Maurice
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Bill Landis
Okay, was that you or the birds?
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Doug Lay Maurice
Check out the wellness side of Walmart today. Foreign.
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Welcome back to the Bill and Doug Show. National picks Douglas Maurice and Bill Landis picking all the conference championship games this weekend. Landis that is four in the power conference. Although we made our Ohio State Indiana pick on our Ohio State Indiana big game breakdown. You can go watch that. That went out Thursday. Everything else is coming here. This is ACC, SEC, SEC, Big 12 and then it's the Group of Six. But there's only two teams in the Pac 12 so they're not playing each other for a third time this year in a fake championship game. So there's five championship games. We're going to run through all of those and I caught up to you a little bit. You're still way ahead of me for the year. But as I was just saying, I caught up to you for the wrong reasons last week when we picked 14 games total.
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Bill Landis
Yeah, I got, I got loose with it last week. I didn't, I didn't necessarily pick on what I thought would happen but what I wanted to happen and then what I wanted to happen did not happen. So here we, here we are.
- [01:56]
Doug Lay Maurice
It's really been a chalky last two weeks of the season and it's the result is, I might say this for a rant later, I actually think as much as like Vanderbilt is freaking out and trying to schedule extra games and Steve Sarkeesian is going to have Texas secede from the Union if three loss Texas doesn't get in to the playoff and Notre Dame might get bumped out and Miami's still mad if they don't get in. I think a lot of BYU people are justifiably upset that BYU is not getting more respect as a one loss regular season team. I, I don't know if people are talking about this, Bill. It actually is very good for the sport that there are teams that at this level fighting for those, you know, that last kind of 10th spot because there's going to be like the G, the G5 team that gets in and then also this ACC team, the champ doesn't deserve to be in on the marriage, but they won their group anyway. There's pretty good teams with pretty good records fighting and being mad about the last spot as opposed to the idea which I think some people were worried about and that we'd be looking around going like, who are we putting in? Is there even a, a team that's the number nine team in the country that is worthy of playing anybody and we're not there because I like you watch Vanderbilt play. They don't have any good wins, but they have an exciting quarterback and they're pretty good team. They have an efficient offense. You watch BYU play, they're a good football team. You watch Texas when they're on, you know, they're, they're a good team. Like we can acknowledge this. Miami's a good team. Notre Dame's a good team. I think we would like to remind ourselves that good teams being left out at this level is good sport. It is not ruining college football like Kevin Clark and espn. He's a Miami fan, he's an ESPN NFL guy. He's just whining his way on the fine bomb day after day. Wine, wine, wine. And you might be an expert in one thing and then you are a whiny fan and then because you have some expertise, they put the whiny fan version of you on things and people act like you're ruining the sport. It's not ruined, you dumbass. It's fine. This is good. It's ruined. If you expand the playoff and you're looking around going like, well, which 7 and 5 team do you think we're going to take? That's how you ruin it. Good teams getting left out is what college football is based on. That's what everybody wants. So chill out, whiny fans.
- [04:15]
Bill Landis
I actually had not thought of that. Well, like it is, it is just a different version of good teams being left out. But we still have that right. That's people, people were worried that the soul of college football would be lost when we expanded the playoff. It's like, no, that still happens.
- [04:28]
Doug Lay Maurice
Great. We're simultaneously like, yeah, how dare. How can we live in a world where Miami gets left out? It's like, I don't know. If we had done it the old way, they wouldn't even be sniffing this. They've been like, well, they lost to Louisville. They're not even. If they wanted one loss, they wouldn't have been getting in.
- [04:44]
There. Yes, they're in the mix. They're in the mix at 10 and 2, but they don't deserve anything. But they might get in anyway. So, God, people chill out about ruining the sport. The ball on the field is good. God, people are so whiny. Do you want to make picks?
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Bill Landis
Yeah, let's do it.
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Doug Lay Maurice
Four games. So. So again, go to go to our Ohio State Indiana Big Ten championship. Big game breakdown preview show on Thursday to get your Ohio State Indiana pick there. What we are picking here is so there are nine overall conference championship games. There are four on Friday. There are five on Saturday. We're going to start with the Friday games. We're going to start with Conference usa. It's Kennesaw State at Jacksonville State. Jacksonville State at home is getting two and a half. This is Friday night at 7pm they're both seven and one in Conference USA overall. Kennesaw State is not in three. Jacksonville State is eight and four. Kennesaw State one of their losses to Indiana. So if you think, oh, Indiana didn't play anybody. It's like, well, Indiana boat race. Kennesaw State and Kennesaw State made its conference championship game. Bill.
- [05:45]
Bill Landis
That's right. One of kind of another one of Kennesaw State's losses is to Jacksonville State.
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Doug Lay Maurice
Yes, that is correct.
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So there's a bunch of like there's a bunch of rematches here in, in conference championship weekend which, which is interesting. It was 35, 26 Jacksonville State be Kennesaw State this season. Kennesaw State lost 56, nine to Indiana. They lost 10 to nine to Wake Forest. Those are the three Kennesaw Two first year head coaches. This was a controversy for a lot of people who love this level of college football. A year ago, Brian Bohannon who had had been the only head coach in the history of Kennesaw State because they only started football in 2015. They did. Kennesaw State did a survey of the student body in 2007 to ask about football. In 2010 they had 137 page report that they had commissioned. Should we start a football team? The commission said yes. So they started football in 2015 and Brian Bohannon was the Only head. Only head coach. They were 62 and 18 at the FCS their first seven seasons. They made the playoff a bunch of times. And then they started the transition to move up to FBS and it went a little rough. And they went 2 and 10 last year. And they were like, yeah, you're fired. Everybody was like, what? The guy, he's. He's literally is the founding father of Kennesaw State football. And they unceremoniously booted the guy out. I think then when they announced it, they said he resigned. Then he was like, I didn't resign. I got fired. Air at the time, so I didn't pay attention. But now that they're good, I kind of remember those type Chris Panini and those people who are Stephen Godfrey who follow this level of college football. They were outraged.
- [07:25]
Bill Landis
Yeah, they were. But Kennesaw State vindicated in its decision because they're 9 and 3. They were 2 and 10 and now they're 9 and 3 and they're playing for a conference title. It's like, all right, sometimes you need somebody to get you there and then you need somebody new to take you forward and, and elevate the program. And that's what Kennesaw State did.
- [07:43]
Doug Lay Maurice
So that is. Jerry Mack is the first year head coach. They were picked to finish second to last in the preseason poll of the conference. So all credit to Kennesaw State. And by the way, just so people know, the Jacksonville State. Did you watch this when they lost to Jacksonville State? Jacksonville State threw a Hail Mary at the end of the first half that bounced off two Kennesaw State guys, like at the seven yard line and into the hands of a Jacksonville State guy who ran into the end zone. And then they faked the extra point and got a two point conversion. And so they were up 22 to 10. Jacksonville State was at the half in like a weird momentum swinging thing. And then they went on to win. So. And then Jacksonville State also credit to them, Jacksonville State, if people don't remember, is where Rich Rodriguez was the coach and that's how he got back to West Virginia. So a first year head coach for them in Charles Kelly. And congratulations. Cam Cook, running back at Jacksonville State, TCU transfer. Almost 1600 rushing yards this year and 15 touchdowns. Should be a good game, Bill.
- [08:45]
Bill Landis
I think it will be a good game. I was looking like, again, like, I don't think either one of us pretend like we're an expert on either of these scenes, but I went back and like that that game where Kennesaw lost Our quarterback Amari Odom through three interceptions and the game before the game before that he threw two interceptions. He like got a little loose in a two game stretch where he threw five interceptions. The rest of the year he has one. So like I, I don't know, like it seems to me like maybe don't throw the ball to Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State can win. Like they lost the original matchup. They're on the road and get their favorite in this game. Which I think tells you just sort of like power rating wisely people people view to be the better team. I did see this though in looking around, reading some preview stuff. Jacksonville State since becoming an FBS program is 16 and two at home.
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Doug Lay Maurice
Oh, what's up? Okay, yeah, on alert.
- [09:34]
If you're looking for familiar names. By the way, the Jacksonville State quarterback who threw that Hail Mary was Gavin Wimsett, who was the big time recruit at Rutgers a couple years ago and then he transferred to Kentucky and now he transferred to Jacksonville State and he was the quarterback for the first month and then he lost the job and Kaden Creel has taken over as the quarterback there, so. But they put him in to throw the Hail Mary because he has a big arm. I think that thing about them getting loose and throwing picks against Jacksonville State really matters. Jacksonville State got the bounce of the ball in that game. I'm picking Kennesaw State 31, 24.
- [10:09]
Bill Landis
I'm gonna stick with Jacksonville State only because they've been so good at home. And also like Kennesaw State's run defense is not great and that's what Jacksonville State does. So I'll roll with Jacksonville State. 3,000, 831.
- [10:19]
Doug Lay Maurice
Okay, watch this thing. It's Conference USA championship. Friday at 7. Also Friday at 7 is the Sun Belt. This is not going to be as good of a game, but I do want some Bill Landis. Victory laps here. This is Troy at James Madison. JMU is 11 and 1, 8. No in conference. Troy is 8 and 4, 6 and 2 in conference. If you don't know JMU, the new cradle of coaches. It's where Kurt Signetti was the head coach before he went to Indiana. Their current head coach is Bob Chesney, who got the UCLA job. And maybe if things had gone a little different, maybe he would have gotten the Penn State job. JMU is really good. And for all the playoff picks that we've done all year and we've been all over the place, like, we think this, we think this in the very first picks at the beginning of the year. You picked James Madison to make the playoff.
- [11:07]
Bill Landis
I did, yeah. I don't know that I envisioned them being perhaps the second G16 into the field, and that's what they would be doing if they were to win this game. We'll have to see what happens in the acc, but they certain certainly have a chance. The Sunbelt obviously not. Not as highly thought of as the American Athletic Conference or the Mountain West Conference. So I do think it'll be rare that a Sunbelt team even finds itself in this position with the curt with the playoff constructed as it currently is. But JMU's put itself there. Their only losses to Louisville and. And also the. There's like a program reputation thing here too, right?
- [11:42]
Doug Lay Maurice
They just.
- [11:43]
Bill Landis
They're just a consistent winner over multiple coaching staff. Side note, did you see who they're hiring to replace Bob Chesney?
- [11:49]
Doug Lay Maurice
Billy Napier. Right.
- [11:51]
Bill Landis
Yeah. Kind of a bummer. It's like they've made two. Two awesome hires like Signetti Riser. Chesney Riser from Holy Cross. And like Billy Napier was good in the Sun Belt before. That's why he got the Florida job. But like, I think it kind of stinks to basically catch a falling coach if you're James Madison. Oh, yeah.
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Doug Lay Maurice
Because you. Right. They've been as good at what they did in terms of identifying talent, coaching. Overlook coaching talent on the way up and then just give in to this last time. This happened when Jim McElwain got fired at Florida and then got the Central Michigan job and he went 33 and 36 and six years and let Connor Stallions on the sidelines. So, like, whatever. I don't know if it was him, but so, yeah, no, I agree with that. I mean, best of luck to jmu. But yeah, kind of give it up their roots. Signetti was so good there. Signetti the first three years he was there, they made the fc. I mean, they made the FCS semifinals all three years. They made the championship game one year, never won a title. Then they moved up to FBS and he was 19 and 5 in his two years. And Bob Chesney has been there two years at the FBS level. He's 20 and 5. So it's like, okay, like. Like you said, like a real, real foundation of winning for jmu. And this is a huge spread going into the year. JMU was picked in it the conference preseason poll to win its division. Troy was picked sixth out of seven in its division and is here at 8 and 4, 6 and 2 in the conference. Can I just say two names to you before we make our picks?
- [13:28]
Goose Crowder started the season as the Troy quarterback. He got hurt and was replaced by Tucker Kill Crease. But now Goose Crowder is back and has started the last three games and looked really good the last two games. And his name is not actually Goose. His name is Will. But his nickname does, in fact come from watching Top Gun. And he loved the character Goose, and so his brother started calling him Goose. And I'm just gonna say, if you're watching Top Gu and there's a chance that your brother might give you a nickname from the movie, please cross your fingers that it's Maverick or Iceman. Because if we were watching Iceman Crowder take on JMU in this game, I'm picking Troy, but I'm not picking Goose. No offense to Mr. Will Crowder.
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Bill Landis
It is weird to watch that movie and then, like, no, spoiler alert, pick the guy who dies.
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Doug Lay Maurice
The sidekick who dies.
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Bill Landis
Yeah, like, he's just riding in the back of the plane, right?
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Doug Lay Maurice
Yeah.
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Bill Landis
Iceman and Mavericker got the sticks. They're shooting planes down. Goose is just like, I think he's over here. Maverick.
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That's the guy.
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Doug Lay Maurice
So I went running my offense. I want the guy in the back. I want the. I want the guy in the sidecar. I'm sure Will Crowder is a wonderful guy, and he's played quarterback very well. And I do think it matters to them that they kind of hit a little bit of a lull in the middle of the year. They were doing okay for a while without Cruise Crowder, that they had a game. I think they had two straight losses where they scored like 10 and they got shut out. And I think Crowder came into the game where they got shut out. And then the last two games, they've actually, like, Crowders put up like 350 passing yards a game. Which means I actually think with Goose Crowder back, I actually think Troy has a chance to make it a little bit of a game. So it is a 23 and a half point spread. I'm going to pick James Madison. 34. 20.
- [15:24]
Bill Landis
Yeah, I think we're thinking similarly. JMU really does dominate this league. They had the. The Sunbelt Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year. And their average scoring margin in conference play was 42 to 15.
- [15:38]
The one thing I do wonder, and this can apply to another game, too, so, like, Bob Chesney is going to UCLA. Are you going to get the best of JMU's roster because they would also like to go to Los Angeles. That sounds fun. Like, are they really going to put it on this team? I think they, I think they could. I think it also might like it's going to be pretty cold and it's supposed to snow at least part of the day in Harrisonburg, Virginia. So weather, I guess, like could be a factor. I don't love the idea of a team coming up from Alabama and having to play when it's like 25 degrees and maybe snowing.
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Doug Lay Maurice
So.
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Bill Landis
But it does feel like a lot of points for a conference championship game. So I'll take JMU. 3817.
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Doug Lay Maurice
3817. Okay. I like you with the weather forecast for Harrisonburg, Virginia, much respect. We're probably gonna have to pick up the pace a little bit. We just got, we just really did some research on Sunbelt Conference usa. We can't help ourselves.
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- [17:37]
Doug Lay Maurice
American I'm more interested.
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Bill Landis
In these games than I am like the major conference games?
- [17:40]
Doug Lay Maurice
No, the SEC championship can be like, I don't know, both mid. What's the score, George? Alabama? Does anyone care? American North Texas at Tulane this is eight o' clock Friday night. Tulane is getting two and a half points, so North Texas is the favorite here. The preseason poll. Tulane was the American Conference favorite. North Texas was picked 8th. They're both 7 and 1 in conference play. Tulane is 10 and 2 overall. North Texas is 11 and 1 overall. North Texas lost to South Florida during the regular season. Tulane beat Northwestern and Duke in non Conference play, got boat race by Ole Miss. They also lost to Texas San Antonio during the season. I'm interested in this Bill. North Texas again is favored on the road in this the FEI rankings. Our guy Brian from O North Texas 30, Tulane 64. And North Texas has the number one scoring offense in the country at 47 points per game. Just as a point of information, people know this. Eric Morris, the North Texas coach has been hired by Oklahoma State. John Sumrall, the Tulane coach has been hired by Florida. And also the North Texas State quarterback is going to go in the portal and be he might be the Florida quarterback next year if DJ Lagway decides to transfer or something like that. I, I don't know. I have no idea what's going to happen there.
- [19:00]
Actually he's too good to be the Oklahoma State quarterback. No offense to Eric Morrison, Oklahoma State. He might go to Florida. Like that actually could be like that makes as much sense as anything. Even though I got those things mixed up. Drew Messamaker, like he's red shirt freshman, he's everybody's favorite lower level quarterback that he slings it all over the place. They score more than anybody. I think people will have fun watching North Texas.
- [19:22]
Bill Landis
I think they will too. Does kind of hit you a little weird that North Texas is favored on the road here against a team that has beaten two.
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P4 opponents. But I think it could you like try to figure out like which of these two head coaches like might be more distracted by their new jobs. And it kind of feels like maybe John Summerall would be that guy at Florida.
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But they're both playing. This is for a playoff spot. The winner of this goes to the playoff.
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I think the North Texas offense will be a little too much here because even in the one game, the North Texas loss, they got their doors blown off by South Florida, but they still almost scored 40 points. It was 63, 36.
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I think they can score against Tulane. I think they will score against Tulane. So I'm going to pick North Texas 38, 35.
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Doug Lay Maurice
I'm going to pick North Texas 38, 27.
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Tulane gave up 45 to Ole Miss and 48 to UTSA in their two losses. So when they face a good offense, they have a chance to give it up a little bit. And again, Drew Messemaker is just a guy that, that is worth watching and will just almost certainly be a power conference starting quarterback next year. And by the way, I think again a lot of people know this starting quarterback for Chilean is Jake retzlaff who was BYU's quarterback last year. So Jake Retzlaff was sort of on the edge of the playoff discussion a year ago. He's certainly right there in the playoff discussion this year and he'd like to make it. All right, so we're both picking North Texas in that one and we both will take North Texas minus the two and a half Mountain West. This is the fourth Friday game. This is also 8:00pm Eastern. UNLV at Boise State. Boise State's favored by five and a half. Preseason. These are the two best teams in the preseason poll. Boise State was picked to win the Mountain West. UNLV was picked second. UNLV is 10 and 2. Boise State is 8 and 4. Boise State lost to USF South Florida in the opener when we were like, oh man, USF might make the playoffs. They lost to Notre Dame, they lost to Fresno State, they lost to San Diego State. UNLV though One of its two losses is to Boise State 56, 31. On October 18, there was a four way tie at 6 and 2 in the Mountain West. New Mexico and San Diego State lost out on that. UNLV and Boise State are in. But you know, this again is a, is a rematch, Bill. 25 point win for one of the teams during the regular season and that it's at the same place that was on the road for unlv. Now Boise State is getting this game at home again. That's tough to pick UNLV I think.
- [22:02]
Bill Landis
Yeah. And also Boise State is getting its quarterback back. Maddox Matson basically missed like the last month and they were not very good without him. They were okay without him, I guess, but they did lose twice without him, including the game where he got hurt.
- [22:16]
He had four touchdown passes against UNLV when they played the last time. I guess he could be rusty. Right? You know, I don't, I don't want to just like assume he's going to come back and be awesome, but I, I kind of am. Third straight year that this has been the Mountain west title game and it'll be Boise State's last Mountain west title game because they're going to the new PAC12.
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Doug Lay Maurice
Oh, is you and I'll be going too or no?
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Bill Landis
No, I don't think so. I think they're boys. It's Boise, Colorado, Fresno, San Diego State, I think are the ones that are going to.
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I don't think you would like those guys. Yeah, I, I think Boise, which I believe has the most Mountain west title game wins, will win its last one. 45, 35, 45 35, banger 37.
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Doug Lay Maurice
24 Boise for me. So we're both in the same range. We're both given the points with Boise. All right, let's get to Saturday.
- [23:10]
5 overall games on Saturday again, one of them is at night. The Big Ten title game. We will find that pick elsewhere. Big twelves at noon. This is in Jerry Dome, Jerry World, whatever you call it, where the Cowboys play in Arlington, Texas. Texas Tech is favored by 12 and a half against BYU. They're both 11 and one overall, eight and one in the Big 12. They did play during the regular season at Texas Tech, and Texas Tech won 29. 7. Texas Tech's loss during the season was to Arizona State. Is there anything like what would change? Texas Tech kind of handled BYU before. Why wouldn't they now?
- [23:47]
Bill Landis
Two things. BYU turned it over three times in that game that gave Texas Tech nine points. They basically turned it over three times, like in the red zone for Texas Tech. Held him the field goal each time, but Texas Tech got nine points off that. And L.J. martin, BYU's running back, Big 12 player of the year, Big 12 offensive player of the year.
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Had 10 carries for 35 yards in that game. But he was playing hurt. He had five carries the game before. He was not 100. And he is. He's healthy now. So I'm not saying he's going to run all over Texas Tech.
- [24:22]
But I think there are reasons to think it can be closer than it was last time because BYU's defense against Texas Tech was good. They, like, got caught in bad field position a couple times. The offense just couldn't do anything. And that game was at Texas Tech. Now this will basically be a road game because it's still in Texas, but, yep, I still think Texas Tech's gonna win. But I do think it can be, like, probably decently more competitive than it was last time because of. Unless BYU decides to turn it over a bunch again. It's like I kind of, like, I get why it's a big spread, but part of me feels like 12 and a half, like, might be a little too much. If you sort of remove the turnover wonkiness from the last game and understand that Martin was injured.
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Doug Lay Maurice
What kind of satake bump do we think BYU might.
- [25:02]
Bill Landis
Yeah, that.
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Doug Lay Maurice
This week was filled with discussion that Kalani Sataki was Penn State's top choice deep into negotiations, certainly. However, that stuff happens where the agents and the people at Penn State start leaking stuff to the national media. And it. They leaked it in a way that sounded, I think sounded like it was going to happen and then it didn't happen, apparently, because the guy who started Crumble Cookie is a BYU alum and like, was like, all right.
- [25:29]
Bill Landis
Yeah.
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Doug Lay Maurice
The cost of the peanut butter blitz cookie special is going up 25 cents because I got to keep our coach and they kept him. And so now Kalani Sataki can say, my heart is here. I love this place. I am byu. I'm gonna retire here. BYU is me. I want to, you know, finish the, this legacy here of what I can be. But also it's just like BYU stepped up and, and got close enough, I assume on the money because, like, if he, like, why would he have even been talking to him? It's not, it's just the way it works. It's like. But you can play the I love this place card when actually it's that they ponied up the cash card. And he deserves it. He's one of the best coaches in college football. I thought it was an interesting out of the box choice by Ohio State to try to go get that guy because.
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What did I say?
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Bill Landis
Ohio State.
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Doug Lay Maurice
Oh, yeah.
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Ryan Day to Penn State, Connie Sataki to Ohio State. So that Penn State tried to do that because he's so ingratiated there and he's never coached. Basically.
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East of Utah.
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Bill Landis
Yeah.
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Doug Lay Maurice
And it's like, like, how could we pull this guy away? And they tried and it seems like they almost did it, but they didn't. So is this a, like rally around the. Oh my God, like, we're as good as anybody. We kept our coach from going to Penn State. He loves us. He turned down a shot at a blue blood to stay here. Rallying point or is it like. Yeah, that was kind of a weird week. Weird rallying point.
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Bill Landis
I think it can be a rallying point. I guess there's something like, like, what's up, dude? You were trying to leave us kind of thing. But I, I don't, I don't think that's how those things go. Once the guy decides he's, he's sticking byu, by the way.
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Like, I don't know if they're sneaky rich or not, but when we talk about like programs that can throw money around, like BYU can throw it around if they, if they need to.
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Doug Lay Maurice
Doing it in basketball.
- [27:24]
Bill Landis
Yeah, yeah, I'm interested. And like they got the five star quarterback in this recruiting class. I'm just interested to see maybe, maybe where that goes. If they're willing to do that more and more. No, I do think there can be a Satake bump I I Texas Tech defense I think is is still too good. I was looking at the Big 12 selections. They had the defensive player of the year and Jacob Rodriguez. They had five first team all Big 12 defenders, including three of the four defensive linemen and they probably could have had all four defensive lines if people were being honest about it. So I think it is. I think there's an emotional boost for byu. I think they know they weren't their best selves when they played in Lubbock earlier this year. I expect them to play better and frankly, I don't think Texas Tech's offense is that good. Their defense is just ridiculous. So I think it'll be closer. I'm gonna take BYU with the points, but I'm gonna pick Texas tech to win 23:17.
- [28:14]
Doug Lay Maurice
Okay, I have 28:20. So same thing. Texas Tech to win, but BYU with the points again, four best defenses in the country. Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Indiana.
- [28:27]
Bill Landis
Yeah, that's who I would put together.
- [28:29]
Doug Lay Maurice
Yeah. Okay.
- [28:32]
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- [29:35]
Doug Lay Maurice
All right, you want to do the Mac? Mac at noon, Mac at noon. Miami, Ohio versus Western Michigan. It's at Ford Field in Detroit. Western Michigan minus one and a half. So it's basically a toss up preseason Mac pole. Miami was picked second, Western Michigan was picked seventh. So nice job by Western Michigan who finished first at 7 and 1. This was kind of screwy. I didn't realize this until I looked into it. Three way tie at six and two. Did you know this about the Mac three way tie at six and two. Miami, Toledo and Ohio, three way tie at six and 2. Miami's two losses are to Toledo and Ohio, but they don't matter. But Toledo and Ohio didn't play each other so they don't go to the head to head. They go to common opponents. And then Miami got in because there were three common opponents for those three teams and they were three and oh against the common opponents. But I almost think like that tiebreaker should be okay, you lost both.
- [30:32]
Bill Landis
Get out of here.
- [30:33]
Doug Lay Maurice
You're out. And now we do common opponents between Toledo and Ohio. And I'm sure the people who, who cover the Mac and care with their heart and soul about the Mac haven't been having this conversation all week. But like Miami shouldn't be here. No offense.
- [30:46]
Bill Landis
No a great, listen, great Mac program, Chuck Martin's a great coach. But no, that, that, that scenario. This should not be the team that gets to go to the Mac title game.
- [30:53]
Doug Lay Maurice
No but Western Michigan's one loss was to Miami. So Miami has a 2617 head to head win and just a couple shout outs. And it's just one of these things like maybe, maybe the die hards do this. But non conference Western Michigan, North Texas, two teams we're talking about right now. North Texas won 33 to 30 in overtime banger. And look, here we are, they're both in conference championship games. Non conference. Miami lost to UNLV 41 to 38. And now here they are both playing here. So a couple like good job by these teams scheduling good teams in the other conferences.
- [31:34]
I'm picking Western Michigan 28, 21.
- [31:37]
Bill Landis
Yeah, I'm also picking Western Michigan 35 31. When Miami beat Western Daquan Finn had 300 yards and two touchdowns. And he's not their quarterback anymore because he just decided to leave. So as he did.
- [31:54]
Training for the NFL. Which is a weird way to say I'm gonna play in the UFL because he's not an NFL quarterback.
- [32:01]
Doug Lay Maurice
I liked him so much and got sideways after he left Toledo.
- [32:05]
Bill Landis
Yeah, I don't. He just, he, he left. They were playing, they played one guy, he wasn't very good. Now they're playing Thomas Gotkowski at quarterback who's actually played pretty well these last two games for Miami. But Finn was a pretty big X factor there. And also I, I thought this was the case. I want to be sure of it. Three of the last four Mac title games have been rematches that were won by the team that lost the first matchup. Oh, and that would be Western Michigan this year. So I'm picking Western as well.
- [32:31]
Doug Lay Maurice
Oh, this might be a Dougie double dose on Western Michigan here and basically a toss up game. This might be a four banger. Okay, not me. Not to talk crazy. Not to talk crazy. Not a gambling show. $4 on one game. A millionaire SEC championship game. Nobody cares because it's a matchup of Mid Georgia. Alabama in Mercedes Benz in Atlanta, Georgia's favored by two and a half. It's four o' clock on Saturday. They played during the regular season and Alabama won in Athens 24 21. But in that game, Alabama scored on four of its first five drives in the first half and got shut out in the second half and still won. Which is just a big collection of mid if you ask me.
- [33:16]
Bill Landis
Yeah. I have a trivia question for you. Okay. Do you know the last time that Georgia beat Alabama in the South?
- [33:30]
Doug Lay Maurice
I'm gonna say 1866, 2007. Wow.
- [33:36]
Bill Landis
Nick Saban's first year. Georgia won 26, 23 in Tuscaloosa. They are 1 in 10 against Alabama since then and the only win is the national title game in Indianapolis.
- [33:49]
Doug Lay Maurice
Oh, I was there. My heart was in tatters. What a disgusting display. Anyway, congratulations to George on being back to back champs back then.
- [34:00]
What is the deal here? What is the deal that Kirby Smart, we get why he couldn't beat Saban, but now he also still can't beat Kaylin DeBoer. Ain't it weird?
- [34:11]
Bill Landis
Do you ever see the movie the Big Green? The Disney soccer movie?
- [34:15]
Doug Lay Maurice
No.
- [34:15]
Bill Landis
We're like so, like so part of, part of the story. It's like a team of like kids who don't know what they're doing playing soccer. They may form a soccer team and they eventually become good and they win, but the goalie has like these hallucinations. Like if they're playing a team called, they're playing a team called the Knights. When that team's on a breakaway, he just envisions like knights on horseback with swords charging at him. And then he just like cowers and they score a goal. And I think maybe when Kirby Smart looks on the other sideline and it's actually Kaylin Deborah standing there, he still thinks it's Nick Saban. Wow.
- [34:46]
Doug Lay Maurice
Okay. That's a great theory.
- [34:49]
Bill Landis
Yeah.
- [34:50]
Doug Lay Maurice
Stop the hallucinations, Kirby. I'm picking Georgia and I'm picking Georgia by the same score they lost to Alabama first time around. I'm picking Georgia 24 21.
- [35:01]
Bill Landis
I'm picking Alabama 24, 20 because that's losing streak against Alabama is ridiculous.
- [35:07]
Doug Lay Maurice
Okay, so let's get to the final evaluation here and then we can talk about like what we think our picks mean then for the playoff. Okay, so the last One is the ACC. This is Saturday at 8 o' clock off against the Big Ten championship game. So literally.
- [35:24]
No one will watch this except the moms and dads of the players for Duke and Virginia. We're sorry. We're sorry that the Big Ten is offering you.
- [35:35]
The eighth 12 matchup in Ohio State history. The third 12 matchup in the history of conference championship games. By the notes that Ohio State has shared this week, it is the 64th 12 matchup in the history of major college football. And as for Ginger versus Duke. And the conversation here is like, if Duke beats Virginia, college football as we know it will cease to exist. So nobody. The rating on this is going to be like 0.4. So it's not to make fun of the ACC, but it is just to state facts about the ACC that because Florida State and Clemson are dumpster fires this year, nobody cares about this conference. Not to be mean.
- [36:19]
Virginia's favored by three and a half. It's in Charlotte. It's Saturday night. I have Virginia 2317. What do you have?
- [36:25]
Bill Landis
I have Virginia 3531. Virginia beat Duke 3417 on November 15th and out gained Duke by almost 300 yards in that game. They will do so again because Duke stinks.
- [36:36]
Doug Lay Maurice
Okay.
- [36:37]
Bill Landis
Another team I had in the playoff.
- [36:39]
Doug Lay Maurice
Playoff. But like you, I mean, I just want to say you have a. But like your playoff teams are at least in the conference championship game. So congratulations.
- [36:45]
Bill Landis
That's true.
- [36:46]
Doug Lay Maurice
That's true. So let's outline this for people a little bit as it relates to the group of five bid and the acc. The, the deal is that the five highest ranked conference champs get in. That is what it is. We just always assume that it's going to be the four power four conferences and then the. The highest ranked champ from the G6, even though there's really only five that have conference championship games. So that's our assumption. But that might not be the case this year. So just so people understand, North Texas and Tulane are both ranked right now. The winner of North Texas, Tulane is making the playoff. Correct.
- [37:31]
Bill Landis
Correct.
- [37:32]
Doug Lay Maurice
And we both pick North Texas. So we think North Texas will be in. Virginia is ranked if Virginia wins the acc. Virginia is making the playoff. Correct. Yes, we both pick Virginia. So then that would be pretty normal and pretty clean. Right? That ACC champ is lower Ranked, you know, it's not, it's not in the top 12. So it's going to be like Virginia, who's the number 15 team in the country, is in the play playoff. But like, that's not an outrage or anything. It's fine.
- [38:02]
Bill Landis
Last year. Yeah.
- [38:03]
Doug Lay Maurice
So like, it's, it's, it's fine. It's no, it's like, it's kind of no big deal. So if that's what happens, we are predicting Virginia and North Texas. Virginia would be the 11 seed in the playoff. North Texas would be the 12th seed. Right. If Duke beats Virginia, that opens the door for JMU to make the playoff because JMU is currently ranked and Duke is not. As long as Duke did not jump JMU in the rankings, the ACC champ then would not be in. JMU would be in as a second G5 champ, correct?
- [38:37]
Bill Landis
Yeah. I mean, the thing we don't know is like who's 26th, right. We know the JMU is 25. They don't tell us who was also in the consideration. But there's simply no way that. Because Duke has five losses, right?
- [38:49]
Doug Lay Maurice
Yes.
- [38:50]
Bill Landis
Duke with five losses was anywhere near James Madison. So.
- [38:55]
Could they put Duke in? Sure. But I don't, I don't think they would try to dupe us that much by saying like, actually they were close. Duke just didn't happen to be ranked and then they got a good win against Virginia. So we're going to put them in. Like, I think as long as JMU wins.
- [39:09]
And Duke.
- [39:11]
Wins, Jamie will be in. Yeah.
- [39:16]
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- [39:46]
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- [40:19]
Bill Landis
I don't know. What happens if Duke wins and JMU loses?
- [40:22]
Doug Lay Maurice
Well, that's the catastrophic scenario for college football. Goose gets loose for Troy. If the goose is loose and all of a sudden Troy is a 23 and a half point underdog, beats JMU and Duke beats Virginia. And now, like you're searching around, I think people have asked, could the Mountain west champ get in? Could that Boise UNLV winner now? And I don't even know what you do. Like, it's the highest ranked team, but what if none of them are in the top 25? Do they go to 31? Do they go to 38?
- [40:49]
Bill Landis
Like, I guess they said that. They said that because in the initial playoff rankings there was no group of 16. They said they would just keep ranking teams until they got to one.
- [40:59]
Doug Lay Maurice
Okay, so the Mountain west champ would have a chance there in that scenario. Duke would have a chance. If it's down to like, duke as the ACC champ and they're 8 and 5 versus Boise State as the Mountain west champ and they're 9 and 4. Right. I mean, I don't, I don't know. Duke just beat a ranked team at least. So, like, it's so. But if that happens, I'm checking out. And then that 12 seed can just go get boat race by Oregon or whatever, whoever it is. Alabama, I don't know. Just like, that's fine. It can be the worst. It can be that first round game where the, the 5 seed is a 36 point favorite. Like, it doesn't. It doesn't. It's fine. So I'm just not gonna lose my mind about it. But like, so we, but what we are outlining is a Virginia win and a North Texas win that gives us, like, it's fine. There's 11 and 12 seeds like that. It's not a surprise that those seeds are a little bit lesser. But it's not the end of college football as we know it. It's fine.
- [41:53]
Bill Landis
No, it's not the end. And I think when we, when we did our projections on Tuesday, I think, I think I did have James Madison in because I just like, it would be kind of funny if Duke beat Virginia and the ACC champ didn't make the playoff. But just like, looking at it a little more, like, I just, I just kind of think that's unlikely to happen. So I kind of switched and picked Virginia. I have another question because I, I'm, I'm a little unsure of what I think would happen if Alabama were to win. And I saw like Ralph Russo and a lot of other national writers said, like, if Alabama wins the sec, they're getting a buy.
- [42:26]
Do you think that's the case?
- [42:27]
Doug Lay Maurice
Why? Why? I guess because they would have beaten Georgia twice. So.
- [42:32]
Bill Landis
So we move from winning from nine to four because you beat a team you already beat.
- [42:38]
Doug Lay Maurice
Yeah.
- [42:39]
Bill Landis
Yeah.
- [42:41]
Doug Lay Maurice
So. So I. I don't know. So. So in our scenario.
- [42:46]
We both have Ohio State winning not to go watch our Thursday show. So we, we would have Ohio State as the one. We both have Texas Tech winning. So we have Texas Tech getting a buy. Right. As the Big 12 champ. I think Texas Tech would be ahead of Alabama in that pecking order as a one loss big 12 champ and that Florida State loss. The committee hates the Florida State loss. To their credit, they hate that Florida State loss for Alabama, but they do give credit for conference championships. And we do not think that Indiana as a loser in the Big Ten title game or if we're wrong and it's reversed, it's Ohio State as a loser. There's no chance that team falls out of the top four. So we with our picks would have Ohio State, Indiana and Texas Tech locked in as three of the four buys. I have Georgia winning, so that's the fourth buy. You have Alabama winning. So then the conversation becomes SEC champ Alabama with two losses, but two wins over Georgia versus one loss, Oregon, whose only loss is to Indiana. And that's the conversation. And at the moment they think Oregon is way ahead of Alabama in that conversation. Right. Oregon's currently five. So. So could Alabama jump the team that's currently five from the nine spot? I guess it's possible. I certainly would not assume it and I would not sit here with my mouth agape if the bids come out and the SEC champ doesn't have a buy. I think for any national person who, who is saying the SEC champ is going to get a buy, you're living in old times. Like there were times the Big Ten champ in the four team playoff didn't get in. Multiple times, didn't get in. So like what the. Back in that day, it's like, don't you think the Big Ten champ should be one of the top four teams? What are we talking about? It's the Big Ten championship. Nope, didn't get in. So why now in this world where the SEC is full of mid and there are three great Big Ten teams, why do we automatically assume the SEC champs one of the top four? It's. It's foolish thinking it might happen. But to assume it because they're the SEC champ is incorrect. Old timey thinking that is the same in sec, that does not exist anymore. And anybody who thinks that the thinking is wrong, if the thinking is the SEC champ gets a buy. It's wrong because we've lived in that world where champions of respected conferences weren't in the top four and the Big Ten was supposed to suck it up and shrug their shoulders and take it back then and now. It would be like an outrage. Screw that. The SEC's mid. So. No, that is wrong, Bill. It's, it's wrong on the face. It might happen, but it's at least a discussion.
- [45:30]
Bill Landis
Yeah, no, I'm, I'm with you. I, I, of course it could happen. I, I wouldn't.
- [45:35]
I wouldn't write off anything. I guess with the, like the way the committee operates and they can kind of do whatever they want. But like. Yeah, it's just like the assumption like of course. And it was just said so like emphatically, not just by rap. I look by a lot of people, like if Alabama woods are definitely getting a bite. It's like, I don't know, that's, that's a lot of space to jump.
- [45:52]
And it's not like if there were no other one lost teams, I guess, I guess probably I would agree. But there are multiple one loss teams that are ahead of Alabama already. So I don't know. I have a hard time seeing they'll get a home game for sure, but I don't know that they would jump Oregon. Yeah. And I'm not even 100 sure. Like if they, if Georgia loses and it's close, like are they definitely going to fall out of the top four? I don't know. They don't, they don't like punishing teams.
- [46:21]
Doug Lay Maurice
Well, I mean it's interesting conversation because then Georgia would have two losses, Bama would have two losses and Georgia's two losses would both beat Alabama. So you couldn't have Georgia ranked out of Alabama. So, so there's one thing to fall out. There's one thing to be replaced. So like if Georgia, if Georgia is. What's Georgia right now? Three. Georgia's three right now. And it's like, oh, conference champ shouldn't fall. It's like, well, but Bama replaced you, right? So. Yeah, I guess, because that's the one thing. I don't think that's an interesting discussion. Like should Georgia be punished and fall behind Oregon? That actually might be the conversation if you're not supposed to be punished for losing a conference Championship game. Why should Georgia fall behind Oregon, who's at home?
- [47:04]
Bill Landis
So then that's what gets Bama into the buy.
- [47:05]
Doug Lay Maurice
So that's what gets Bama in. Because then it's like, well, Georgia shouldn't fall behind Oregon, but Georgia can't be in the head of Bama, so Bama replaces Georgia. So, like, if that's the thinking, but if the thinking is like, how dare they leave out the SSC champion, it's like, no, not that thinking. But like there's. There's some convoluted. Not even convoluted. Like, I would understand that line of things.
- [47:24]
Bill Landis
That's logical, I guess. Yeah.
- [47:26]
Doug Lay Maurice
Yeah. So, okay, doing a post game show Saturday.
- [47:32]
Bill Landis
That is the plan. Oh, yeah. I had a nightmare that the wi Fi. The Big Ten title game wasn't great, but hopefully that was just a nightmare, not reality.
- [47:40]
Doug Lay Maurice
Okay. We did some post game shows from press boxes last year. That. That worked out okay. At our previous stop, I did a post game show. We did a postgame show from the national championship game in Atlanta, and you were down on the field getting confetti in your beard and I was sitting in the press box. Right. Remember that?
- [47:58]
Bill Landis
I do, yeah.
- [47:59]
Doug Lay Maurice
So I did a post game show from the. The. From New Orleans after Notre Dame beat Georgia. I did that in the press box and it worked out. So, like, I think we have a chance.
- [48:08]
Bill Landis
I did one from the Rose Bowls standing on the field.
- [48:10]
Doug Lay Maurice
Yeah. Yeah, we might have done one from. Do we do one from Big Ten championship last year? I was there in Penn State.
- [48:16]
Bill Landis
Yeah, you went back to the hotel and I stayed there.
- [48:20]
Doug Lay Maurice
Okay.
- [48:20]
Bill Landis
And I was like, down on the concourse with, like, the field.
- [48:22]
Doug Lay Maurice
Yeah, yeah, you were down on the concourse. Yeah. So, like, we can figure it out. It'll be fine. So join us after Ohio State Indiana, where we'll talk about everything that happened with Ohio State Indiana, but we'll also run through, like, everything that happened in conference championship weekend and what we think it means for the playoff. But if you don't want to stay up that late, where you really need to join us is as soon as the playoffs are announced on Sunday, the minute that we have the 12, we'll go live right here on YouTube so you can listen back on your podcast feed. But it's also a great reason to get subscribed to the YouTube feed because we'll be talking about what the bracket means and how we think it's going to shake out. And then Monday, the plan is for around the Shoe, which is our Monday show where we bring in two outside guests normally from the Ohio State beat to talk about everything in Ohio State football. We're gonna have two national fol join us to talk about the playoff. So a little bit from an Ohio State perspective, but I think we'll talk about like who's your dark horse and like who has what's the best first round game and like all that kind of discussion and that'll be a fun time on Monday. So you'll make sure you don't want to miss that either. And then all next week we just keep doing what we're doing here on YouTube, here on the podcast feed on our substack billanddugosu.substack.com and now here in a little bit we're going to get in our car and drive to Indianapolis.
- [49:36]
Bill Landis
We are. Yeah. And we'll watch some of these Friday night games.
- [49:40]
Doug Lay Maurice
Yeah, sounds like a plan. All right. Thanks you guys for letting us hang with you. We appreciate it. We'll talk to you soon. For now, he's Bill Andis. I'm Doug Lay. Maurice and that was the Bill and Doug Show.
- [49:55]
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- [50:25]
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