Bama’s Big Night, Miami's First Loss, and A Shedeur Sanders Check-In

Summary

Podcast Summary: The McShay Show – "Bama’s Big Night, Miami's First Loss, and A Shedeur Sanders Check-In"

Release Date: November 10, 2024
Host: Todd McShay, College Football Analyst
Episode Title: Bama’s Big Night, Miami's First Loss, and A Shedeur Sanders Check-In

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1. Recap of LSU vs. Alabama Game

Todd McShay opens the discussion by diving into the highly anticipated matchup between LSU and Alabama, two top-five teams aiming to solidify their positions as the college football playoff picture becomes increasingly clear with the introduction of a 12-team format.

• Performance Analysis:

  • Jalen Milroe (Alabama QB): McShay praises Milroe's performance, stating, "He's the most dynamic, explosive player in college football" (04:26). Milroe showcased his running ability, achieving 12 carries for 185 yards and four touchdowns, effectively neutralizing LSU's defensive strengths.
  • Garrett Nussmeyer (LSU QB): Contrastingly, McShay critiques Nussmeyer's readiness for the NFL, asserting, "Garrett Nussmeyer is not ready as an NFL prospect" (23:21). He highlights Nussmeyer's interceptions and decision-making flaws, emphasizing the need for further development.

• Defensive Highlights:

  • Alabama's Defense: Described as "the best four-quarter performance I've seen" (19:42), Alabama's defense played a pivotal role in their victory, particularly through standout performances by linebackers Jihad Campbell and Deontay Lawson, who each secured critical plays including a strip sack and an interception (16:39).
  • LSU's Defensive Struggles: McShay points out LSU's inability to contain Alabama's run game, leading to significant yardage gains and ultimately, Alabama's dominance on the field.

2. SEC Standings and Playoff Implications

The conversation shifts to the broader SEC landscape, highlighting the depth and competitiveness of the conference this season.

• Current Standings:

  • Top Teams: Six SEC teams hold one or two losses overall, with three teams (Texas A&M, Texas, Tennessee) sporting just one conference loss (32:08).
  • Implications for Playoff Seeding: McShay discusses the potential for multiple teams from the SEC to secure playoff spots, questioning if a three-loss team might also make an appearance due to the conference's strength.

• Team Performances:

  • South Carolina: Recently defeated Vanderbilt convincingly, showcasing their resilience with a 6-3 overall and 4-3 SEC record (33:15).
  • Ole Miss: Displayed a formidable defense leading the country in sacks, with standout players like Walter Nolan and Jared Ivy making significant impacts on the field (43:38; 45:16).

3. Miami's First Loss and ACC Race

A significant focus is placed on Miami's unexpected first loss of the season and its ramifications within the ACC.

• Performance Review:

  • Miami's Struggles: Despite previous successes, Miami faced setbacks against Virginia Tech and Duke, raising concerns about their defensive consistency and overall performance (70:37; 73:43).
  • Playoff Outlook: McShay explains that Miami's loss diminishes their playoff safety net, as they may no longer secure an at-large bid despite remaining competitive within the ACC (70:19).

• Evaluative Insights:

  • Quarterback Evaluation: Todd analyzes Miami's quarterback struggles, emphasizing the need for improved decision-making and defensive adjustments (77:23).
  • ACC Dynamics: The intense competition within the ACC is highlighted, with SMU emerging as a strong contender due to their undefeated conference record (69:10).

4. Shedeur Sanders and Quarterback Development

A notable segment is dedicated to Shedeur Sanders, discussing his development and potential impact.

• Player Spotlight:
  • Shedeur Sanders: McShay expresses excitement about Sanders' progression, noting improvements in his passing efficiency and decision-making during recent games (73:32; 77:00).
  • Developmental Trajectory: Emphasizing the importance of game experience, McShay believes Sanders is on the path to becoming a first-round NFL prospect, provided he continues his growth and adapts to high-pressure situations (78:35).

5. Carson Beck and Georgia's Quarterback Situation

The discussion turns to Carson Beck from Georgia, evaluating his performance and growth throughout the season.

• Performance Assessment:

  • Carson Beck's Improvement: McShay commends Beck for his adaptability and increased comfort within Georgia's offensive system, highlighting his decisive plays and improved decision-making (53:04; 54:04).
  • Challenges Faced: Despite his progress, Beck continues to grapple with occasional interceptions and offensive weapon shortages, which McShay attributes to Georgia's lack of elite wide receivers and tight ends (52:17; 60:05).

• Strategic Considerations:

  • Offensive Line Issues: The Georgia offensive line's inconsistencies have hampered Beck's ability to protect the quarterback and establish a balanced offensive attack (62:41; 61:13).
  • Team Equipment: McShay discusses the necessity for Georgia to enhance their receiving corps to complement Beck's improved gameplay (61:13).

6. Colorado's Resurgence and Defense Analysis

An examination of Colorado's unexpected turnaround is presented, focusing on their defensive prowess and coaching strategies.

• Team Revival:

  • Colorado's Performance: Coming off a shaky start, Colorado has won three consecutive games, positioning themselves as a potential four-seed entrant in the Big 12 playoff (73:51; 75:14).
  • Shador Sanders' Leadership: McShay lauds Sanders for his resilient performance against Texas Tech, adapting his strategy mid-game to overcome defensive challenges (75:13; 77:20).

• Defensive Evaluation:

  • Standout Players: The Colorado defense, led by Shador Sanders' versatile gameplay, showcases significant improvement, particularly in handling high-caliber offenses (43:38; 45:16).

7. Shador Sanders' NFL Potential

Closing the episode, McShay delves deeper into Shador Sanders' capabilities and his standing among quarterback prospects.

• Prospect Analysis:
  • Shador Sanders' Skills: McShay asserts, "Shador Sanders is the best pure passer in this 2025 NFL Draft class" (73:35), emphasizing his accurate throws, adaptability under pressure, and leadership qualities.
  • Game Adaptations: Highlighting Sanders' ability to adjust his gameplay in real-time, McShay admires his strategic thinking and on-field decision-making, marking him as a standout talent for future NFL success (80:36; 83:21).

8. Live Show Dynamics and Future Episodes

The episode concludes with reflections on the live show format and teasers for upcoming discussions.

• Live Show Experience: Todd and Mensch celebrate the successful execution of their first live show, acknowledging the depth of content covered and the engaging debates that ensued (84:27; 85:09).
• Upcoming Topics: Listeners are encouraged to tune in for future episodes, where Todd will continue to analyze key players like Shador Sanders and discuss the evolving landscape of college football (85:05).

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Todd McShay on Jalen Milroe:
  "He's the most dynamic, explosive player in college football." (04:26)

• Todd McShay on Garrett Nussmeyer:
  "Garrett Nussmeyer is not ready as an NFL prospect." (23:21)

• Todd McShay on Alabama's Defense:
  "Alabama's defense is the best four-quarter performance I've seen." (19:42)

• Todd McShay on Shador Sanders:
  "Shador Sanders is the best pure passer in this 2025 NFL Draft class." (73:35)

• Mensch on Carson Beck:
  "There's zero rush. Everyone take a breath. Let's do what's best for him long term." (30:53)

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Conclusion

In this episode of The McShay Show, Todd McShay and co-host Mensch provide an in-depth analysis of pivotal college football games, focusing on Alabama's dominant performance against LSU, Miami's first-season loss, and the development of standout quarterbacks like Shedeur Sanders and Carson Beck. The discussion highlights the intense competitiveness within the SEC and ACC conferences, the implications for the upcoming college football playoffs, and the evolving prospects of key players heading into the NFL. The live format fosters engaging debates and expert insights, making it a must-listen for college football enthusiasts seeking comprehensive evaluations and projections.

Transcript

[Todd McShay]

The McShay show is presented by FanDuel. College Football Saturdays are packed with action and FanDuel is where you can score every game day. Let's face it, November is everything in college football. The playoff picture is starting to become more clear. This is the first year with the 12 team playoff and we have some critical matchups throughout this month. Why we Love fanduel There's so many markets like spreads over unders, national championship futures going to get a part of that and so much more. This app is safe, secure and easy to use. When you win, you'll get paid instantly. Visit FanDuel.com McShay to download America's number one sportsbook. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and help lines available and listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 and older and present in select states. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit RGH help.com this.

[Mensch]

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[Todd McShay]

The McShay show is live. Mensch. What do you think?

[Mensch]

I'm excited. Man. This is cool.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, this is cool. Listen, we may not have picked the right game, lsu, Alabama, but we picked the right day for our first ever live show recapping Saturday's games. Coming in off the prime time game, we said all along when Herbie and Fowler are done, we're going to jump in here. We're going to recap some of the big stuff that went on during the day. We've got obviously two teams going down in the top five. Two times we got to see Field stormed one prematurely in Oxford, Mississippi.

[Mensch]

Oh, what a mess.

[Todd McShay]

And that was before we even kicked off this elimination game, which was right. You, Alabama and LSU certainly eliminated itself tonight. So let's get to all of it. Let's not waste waste any time. Lsu, Alabama, all the hype coming into this game. Lsu. We knew Garrett Nussmeyer was going to have to carry this team at the quarterback position. We knew that Jalen Milro coming in off of the. The bye week, both teams coming in off the bye week, he was going to have to be more decisive, more aggressive as a runner. He was going to have to have the kind of, you know, resurgence that he had a year ago coming in off the bye week. And. And one team lived up to the bargain, and you could see it from the jump outside of that first penalty before play, really, even right scrimmage, this Alabama team was locked and loaded.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

You know, let me just start here. Okay. We've said all along, right. When we saw in the first half against Georgia when Jalen Milroe and people there have been rumors about his health, has he been 100%? I watched him in certain games since, you know, since people started talking about that. You know, we saw him when he was decisive, when he's aggressive, when. When he feels like he has the full, you know, full arsenal as a runner. He's the most dynamic, explosive player in college football. Yeah, there have been players. I mean, they're. They're more dynamic players in terms of, like Travis Hunter, both sides of the ball. Cam Ward has been electrifying as. As a passer. Shador Sanders has probably put the best tape as a pure passer in all of college football out there this year. But when Jalen Milroe is right and he knows what he's doing in the game plan in terms of, like, where his looks are and when his looks aren't there, take off and run and utilize that. That mobility he has. There isn't a player in the country I would want to play less.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

Alabama and you.

[Mensch]

Dangerous.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. You could see it from the start. It was. It was the same thing we saw in the first half of that Georgia game. It's like, nope, this is my game. This is my game. And he did. What did we learn from him as a passer tonight? Almost nothing.

[Mensch]

I thought he was okay. I thought. Yeah, he was, but he wasn't bad.

[Todd McShay]

Yep, he wasn't bad. But you're right, we. It wasn't required. No. You know what I mean? Like, the way he was running the football, the speed. The speed he showed on that law was a 35.

[Mensch]

The explosion out of the cuts, the cut he made, I think on the third touchdown, where he had, like, lsu, two defenders had him dead to rights, and he just cuts up and he's gone before they even could react. I mean, so explosive out of that cut.

[Todd McShay]

And, and we said coming into the week, right, LSU's Achilles heel defensively, and it was never more apparent than in the previous game prior to the bye week. Texas A and M, Connor Wigman, they absolutely shut him down. I was praising. I tweeted out on the X with my thumbs, and I was all fired up about. About Blake Baker, the defensive coordinator. And this is the defense that, that we haven't seen from lsu. This vicious, violent, swarming, attacking defense. We hadn't seen that since probably 2019, the national championship run. And it felt like it was back in that first half of A and M. And then all of a sudden, Nuss Meyer rolls out to his left, throws the ball up for grabs. Kind of feeling himself in that moment. Everything was going right. Let's. Let's take a shot. And then not only is the interception, which seemed like a bad play at the time, but you. Nobody knew in that moment that it was going to kind of turn the entire season around for LSU the wrong direction. Because what happened then? Elko plugs in Marcel. Change.

[Mensch]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

It's a change in quarterback, plugs in Marcel Reed for Wegman, makes a gutsy decision, and it's like 12 plays, three touchdowns later, that the whole thing is shifted. Right. And then you go back and look like, all right, what's the history with this LSU defense this year? Well, two times prior to tonight, and we talked about this on Thursday, preparing for this game, two times prior to night, LSU has faced mobile quarterbacks. Lenora sellers, what was 88 rushing yards?

[Mensch]

I think it. And he got hurt in that game. Yeah, that game. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Two touchdowns in that South Carolina game.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

And then Marcel Reed comes in and just. I think. I think A and m finished like 2:45 rushing.

[Mensch]

Hey, listen, I, you know, I don't. Not to pat ourselves in the back, but I don't mind patting ourselves in the back. I mean, if you listen to the show on Thursday, we said what needed to happen, what. What each team needed to do to win this game. And like you kind of said already, one team did it and the other one didn't. Even in the beginning, in the pregame, the Alabama head coach, DeBoer, Helen DeBoer, is talking to the reporter. I forget who it was. Was the thing. Was it Holly Honor or Holly Rowe? Yeah, sorry. And says to her, he's got to get. He's got to make some plays with his feet. He's got to run the ball. He's. It's going to get him going. He's got to make Some plays with the feet, all new coming in. Jalen Milro's ability to run the ball in this game is going to be a huge difference maker. And what did he do? Hit a monster game in the ground. 12 carries, 185 yards, four touchdowns. I mean, that is insane.

[Todd McShay]

You know, he is in the last two meetings against, against LSU, eight rushing touchdowns. Yeah, it's like 342. Like somebody stupid, they put that stat up tonight. It was like over 340 yards rushing, eight touchdowns in the last two outings against LSU. And, and they knew that. I was just about to say, I.

[Mensch]

Mean, like, like Blake Baker.

[Todd McShay]

I can't, I can't imagine how intense the defensive practices were in the meeting room. Let's go back and watch Sellers, what he was able to do with his, with his feet. Defensive contain terrible. Linebackers getting off of blocks, sifting through, working, working through. Linebackers with their teams, terrible. And so for those two games, like you saw the same pattern. It's like, all right, we got, we got fooled. Shame on us, you know?

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

Shame on them. Whatever the, however the phrasing goes, we got, we didn't realize we were going to see another seller's type and more and more explosive in Marcel Reed against A M. But we knew, and we know if you're in practice, you're in those meetings. We know what we're up against.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

We know that Milroe, if he is 90%, it has been 75, 80, 90% in the last few weeks in terms of mobility, or maybe he just has chosen to not run and be as aggressive as a runner. Whatever it is, we know coming off a bye week, Milro, the dude that we saw against Georgia, that's the guy that we're going to see.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Saturday night, he, he's coming into, into Death Valley. He's coming into our house.

[Mensch]

We gotta give a hard time if no offense to the other players. If you have a hard time slowing down Sellers and you have a hard time slowing down Marcel Reed, watch out when Jalen Milro comes to town. You had better have a better game plan and you would better execute better, more effectively than they did tonight.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. And Alabama all year long, like, I think they were like fourth or fifth in the nation when they had third down, third and three or fewer, third and short, you know, and was like 113th or something nationally, third and seven or greater. Right. Or third or seven or more.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

And so Alabama, all because of, because of the running game, because of what they were getting from the quarterback position, like, how many times did we see third and 1, third and 2, third. It felt like all night long. I would look up as like second and two and they wouldn't get it there and it would be third and one, you know, like all night long.

[Mensch]

Offensive lines playing better. And like I talked about on Thursday, I thought it was a strong group that needed to play up to the standard. All of a sudden they're getting off the ball. I thought Booker, the left guard had a great game. They're playing with a little more attitude. The running backs are getting, you know, getting, being effective with the touches that they're getting. I think it helped the offense overall, you know, like, you know, when he banks, plays with his feet, it just makes everyone else better. It opens up the offense. It makes the offensive line get that attitude. I thought, you know, it was just an impressive performance. Can't say enough about it to be honest.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, it really was. And the weather was, you know, it was rainy conditions. It was like the perfect night for your quarterback, who's a quarterback to say, you know what, I'm going to take this in my hands.

[Mensch]

Right?

[Todd McShay]

And even the Ryan Williams. A throw to Ryan Williams down the middle. Deep shot. It was great time to take a deep shot.

[Mensch]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

In his arms, but like extended effort. But you could just like the soaked ball rain. They had a great slow, like slow mo of it. Just raindrops pouring down and it got out of his arms, but it was like, good throw, great time to take that shot. Great individual effort by Williams. It just, he didn't make the play right. But, but you could tell, like, yeah, we can take a couple of those shots tonight, but tonight's really about we need our quarterback to carry this thing. And he did.

[Mensch]

I mean, unless they listen and like just flip the script. What we talked about too is unless LSU was able to keep pace and force Alabama to throw the ball and they just weren't. And once lsu, once Alabama started getting up, it was a no brainer.

[Todd McShay]

We're just gonna get, if it's not.

[Mensch]

Broke, we're not going to fix it.

[Todd McShay]

And let's flip it over to the other side, right? The one, the one thing we said coming in this game, I don't, you know, you're my offensive line guy. Anyone who's new to the show and our live show, the first time we're doing the live show and we appreciate everyone who's decided to join us, you can tell by the beard, the guy's a former offensive line dude's head. He's. He handles, he handles all the, the O line studies for us here. But, but it jumped out to me as I was looking at this matchup, like, all right, so. So where are we going to attack? Excuse me. LSU has not run the football very well. I thought it was very intentional. They came out. LSU had that great. The 50 yard kickoff return. They got out to the 50 yard line midfield. First run of the game. That freshman running back they handed off off the right. Off tackle, right side. And he goes down like to like the 7 or something. Yeah. And I check. We're on the group chat, I was like, all right, like, good sign.

[Mensch]

This is a positive sign.

[Todd McShay]

It's huge because not only have they not been able to run the football, they've shown no commitment to running the football.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

So I thought that, all right, they're down 7, but, but like, big kickoff return, first run is for like 40.40ish yards somewhere in that range. Like, all right, we're gonna, we're gonna have a shootout, which is exactly what we thought. And if they can run with some consistency, it's gonna open up the passing game. This is gonna be a blast, right?

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Boy, was I wrong. They. They wind up settling for a field goal there, right? Got one more field goal and that was it.

[Mensch]

They got. They did get. They scored late. They got one at the very end. Once we were getting ready.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. I had my head set on like. That doesn't count.

[Mensch]

Yeah, I mean, yeah, it doesn't. It really doesn't. But yes, listen, they had. So we said they had to run the ball better, right? 24 carries, 404 yards. But you got to dig a little deeper, right? Because 45 yards came on one play.

[Todd McShay]

At one point, they basically ran for.

[Mensch]

61 yards on 23 carries.

[Todd McShay]

And the thing.

[Mensch]

That's Meyer.

[Todd McShay]

He's.

[Mensch]

He's third in the country coming into this game. We even talk about this yet. But he's third in the country coming in the game. And passing attempts per game, right around 42. How many does he have tonight? 42.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah.

[Mensch]

And they don't. Have we talked about this. Kyron Lacey is a good player, man. Mason Taylor is a great tight end, I think a great college tight end. They don't have those elite playmakers like we've seen at LSU in the past. This is not a team that you won throwing the ball 42 times.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. This isn't Brian Thomas Jr. And, and no. And Malik. Neighbors.

[Mensch]

Neighbors.

[Todd McShay]

No, this isn't Jordan Jefferson. And I forget who Was with him there. This isn't Jarvis Landry and. And Odell Beckham Jr. Yeah. Yeah.

[Mensch]

It's just not Jamar and Justin Jefferson.

[Todd McShay]

Jamar. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mensch]

I mean that. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

You see Jamar the other night.

[Mensch]

Not anywhere close. What's that?

[Todd McShay]

See Jamar the other night.

[Mensch]

Oh, my God.

[Todd McShay]

Holy.

[Mensch]

Old LSU tape, man.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah.

[Mensch]

So anyway, standing in, selling it.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, well, but back to my offensive line thing. Back to my offensive line point here when I was looking at it. Garen Delagar, Garrett Dellinger, the left guard, was. Is out. Yeah, the new, like that new trendy something. Toe injury, tightroped injury. Yeah, yeah, tightrope injury. So he's out at left guard. Chester is kind of the weak piece because we. We've got, you know, we've got. What is it? Will Campbell and.

[Mensch]

And Emory Jones.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, the two potential top 50 picks in the NFL draft. We've got the. The perimeter, you know, sealed off. Feel good about that. But the interior is the issue for lsu, and when Dellinger's in there, it's not that big of an issue. But now Dellinger's out, you get an experienced left, guards out. Chester, your center, has been the up and down guy. The teams have been kind of attacking. So we said on Thursday, you just watch. Alabama's got a bye week. They know the personnel. If I know the personnel sitting on a stupid podcast, they're. They are figured they figured out, right?

[Mensch]

We know.

[Todd McShay]

We know they know. So. So watch. Watch the mugs. Watch the A and B gas blitzes. Like, watch them come after. And sure enough, Jihad Campbell, one of the biggest. The. I'd say the biggest defensive play to that point. Jihad Campbell, a gap blitz. And you see, you see Chess, they fan to the left side. The left side of the offensive line fanned out, right? And you see Chester, it's like, oh, I can't. Like, I. I cringe thinking about tomorrow or Monday whenever they're watching, Right?

[Mensch]

Just the blinders on.

[Todd McShay]

He's in pass pro. Arms up and, like, looking left. And all of a sudden, Campbell comes charging up the middle and like. And we're blocking air to the left side. We're blocking air. The left guards fanned out left. The center's fanned out to the left. And Campbell comes charging in. Strip sack. And it leads to a touchdown right before the half. Now, it's 21 to 6, by the way. Yeah, he got it.

[Mensch]

He did get a seam there. Campbell got a seam. It wasn't like he had to really beat a block, but the Way he knocked that ball out. He had a monster game. It was so athletic the way he got that ball. He knocked that ball out. It was so. It was an impressive play.

[Todd McShay]

Well, the two fastest rising off the ball linebacker prospects in this class, Jihad Campbell, Alabama, Deontay Lawson, Alabama Campbell.

[Mensch]

How they do tonight?

[Todd McShay]

Campbell, monster game. Every big game, every time they're on big games. They, they, they not only are, you know, great versus the run play, make a lot of play, but they make big plays. Game changing plays. You had that, that strip sack, which is a huge. And I'll go back to that in a second, huge play in the game at that point. And then Deontay Lawson with the interception. Right, right. Two huge plays in that game when.

[Mensch]

It was still really competitive in the end zone. By the way, like it looks like.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mensch]

By the way, it's 216 at that point, right. LSU is like a touchdown away from making this a one score game.

[Todd McShay]

That was so, so right before. So these two off the ball linebackers that we're talking about now creeping into the like the first two rounds of the NFL draft, right? Guys that we didn't know a whole lot coming into the year, right. Because this is their first year. They're coming out, breaking out, bringing out this season. And they just look different, by the way. You can tell, like, yeah, they just look different. But if you go back to the key plays in this game, 4th and 1, Alabama has the ball. 3 minutes and 40 seconds left. Second quarter, they go for it, stuffed. Big stop. At this point. It's 14. It's 14 to 6. Okay, right. So, so LSU gets the ball with like 337 left in the half. And you're like, okay, all right. Because it's been lopsided. But, but like we got our feet underneath us. Big, big defensive stop now.

[Mensch]

Now always momentum changes in college football games. And switch.

[Todd McShay]

And LSU is getting the ball in the second half. It's like that, that eight minutes, the key, eight minutes in the game, right? Coaches talk about it all the time. What? Let's win the last four minutes of the first half. Win the first four. Four minutes of the second half. Critical. So you get that big defensive stop. LSU gets the ball. Great field position. 337, plenty of time go down. Let's score here. We get the ball in the second half, very first plays, that strip sack from Jihad Campbell.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

And then they go down quickly and score. Touch. They scored a minute and 30 because LSU had the ball back with two minutes left. You know, so and so now you're up 21 6. Kickoff still a game two score game. Come second half, they drive LSU drives down the field. Like you were saying, like, all right, there's some life. Let's, let's make it a one score game. And we saw a couple nice throws. Right. You know, Nussmeyer, a couple nice throws. I think that was that the one he started out of his own end zone through the Mason Taylor. I don't know if it was that drive or not. A couple nice throws. They get down and, and looks like Nuss Meyer's dealing interception and right at the goal line.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

And now Alabama's got the ball. It's. It's 21 6.

[Mensch]

And wind right out of their sails.

[Todd McShay]

Wind completely out of their sails.

[Mensch]

The fans, the stadium. There's, you know, there's not a real big belief factor at that point that they're going to come back.

[Todd McShay]

I don't know what else to unpack in this. Outside of Alabama's defense is the best four quarter performance I've seen. Jalen Milro, it looks like, like what we saw a year ago coming off the by time to like reassess, get healthy if he needed to get healthy, take a breather, focus on what he needs to do down the stretch. This team is frightening now.

[Mensch]

Yeah, well, let's, let's just be clear. There's. I want to be clear that there's a number of SEC teams that we can say this about.

[Todd McShay]

Okay.

[Mensch]

I do not want to play this version of Alabama. I do not want to play this version of Alabama.

[Todd McShay]

This version angry. This version angry. This version is. Is buttoned up on defense.

[Mensch]

I, you know what? I didn't even see how many penalties they had tonight, but it seemed like a cleaner game from them. They had the one. I thought they had a live game on special teams that DeBoer was losing his mind about.

[Todd McShay]

Yep.

[Mensch]

But overall, cleaner game. And you.

[Todd McShay]

I agree.

[Mensch]

First of all, they had the false start, I think on the first offensive snap of the game. And I'm thinking to myself, oh boy, you know, here we go again. They're going to have all kind of issues with communication. I mean, I thought they played a really clean game. So if they're, if they're playing, you know, mistake free. Jalen Miller was making plays like that. You have that defense that's not, maybe not as great as it has been in the past, but still really good. I don't want to play that Alabama team.

[Todd McShay]

Let me, let me unpack one last thing before we get into the SEC standings and talk about how awesome of a mess this is, right?

[Mensch]

Chaos. I love chaos.

[Todd McShay]

Garrett Nussmeier, we've talked a lot about him as a quarterback prospect. We talked about him early in the season, first year as a starter, let's see. Talked about him when he was absolutely rolling and through the first half of that Texas A and M game, Twitter X, whatever you call it, was on fire. Every draft Nick in the world was coming out and he's my guy. Three weeks ago I had him QB1, he's my QB, you know, and, and then he was all the rage, right? Then that second half of Texas A and M happens and it's like, pump the brakes. I'm not so sure. Let me say this because I have a very clear picture in my mind after this game and after watching Texas A and M and going back and studying all of his tape. And if you remember, when we talked about Cam Ward this past week, I talked to some people in the league, several people about this quarterback class specifically. And I just want to say this and make this perfectly clear and I'll take your opinions on what you think too. Garrett Nussmeier is not ready as an NFL prospect. And that's okay, right? And that's fine. Garrett Nussmeier, if he comes out at the end of this year, still could probably be a first round pick. But Garrett Nussmeier is not ready to contribute as an NFL rookie. He's not there yet. And why do I say that? I say that because we talked about the three interceptions against Texas A and M. He got fooled on two of them. Things that like with game experience over time and he sees that more. One of them was his own blitz with the linebacker dropping off. Another one was, was a, I forget it was a linebacker dropping into coverage. Two things that he'll, over time, with game experience, Nussmeyer is going to, going to understand what he's seeing. He's going to see the picture clearer. And when, when you're not Jaden Daniels and you're not Lamar Jackson and you're not Josh Allen, you don't go into the league with this opportunity to fail the test in terms of your progression reads and still make up for it, because I'm bigger and stronger and faster and I'm more mobile. And so when, when I don't make the right read and I get the answer on that test wrong, I still have my feet to get me out of trouble. Nuss Meyer does not have that right. So when he comes into the league. He's got to have it. He's got to have more answers than those more mobile guys. Okay.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

He doesn't have them yet. And that's okay. That's okay. He's old Mensch. This was his 10th career start. Now, every. Everyone wants to say coming into the year and when he was starting to play great. Well, hey, he's. He's been in the program four years. He played in 18 games. Yeah, he only started one in the bowl game last year, but he's played in 18 games. He's more experienced. One year will be fine. No, no, it's not. It's not. And that's okay. That's the whole point in this. Yeah.

[Mensch]

There's a lot to like about his game.

[Todd McShay]

And you know what? For Nussmeyer, his dad is. Has been in football his whole life. His dad's a coach, coaches quarterbacks with the Eagles. Right. I mean, he's been around the game. He understands this. So he has a support system. And thankfully for him, and it's not always the case with any of these prospects. Thankfully for him, I think financially they'll be just fine. And thankfully, also for him, he's a quarterback playing in Baton Rouge. He'll probably get a few million dollars in nil and they'll take out an insurance policy like, he's going to be fine. But if I'm. If I'm making. If I'm helping to make this decision for Nuss Meyer, it's simple one, because when I look on the sideline and I see Brian Kelly, what would have been a Brian Kelly, the old, you know, he's an Irish Boston guy. Just. Just, you know, just like myself, when we get hot and we get red in the face and we worked up and he used to just wear dudes asses out. He used to, like, kill guys and. But. But he's calmed down. I don't know if it's the gumbo. I don't know if it's the weight loss. I don't know if it's, you know, what are all the things. The new accent, the. You said it, not me. But. But I look on the sideline. This is important. I. Why do I. Why do I know that Nussmeyer is not ready? Because I look on the sideline and Brian Kelly is stopping. He's not talking to his defensive coaches. He's not talking to special teams coaches, not talking to the offense. He's doing this right. Get over here.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

And he's talking to him about every and you know, because. Because they're showing. They do a great job. You know, the whole. The whole crew. Bill Bonnell, the producer, you know, obviously Herb street and Fowler, everyone knows that, but that, that is the best crew in football. And I've worked with him. Like, the angles, they get the, the replays they have, they. They're showing, like, his reads and, and where he was off and how he didn't. He didn't, you know, check back to his initial read to make sure. And it just wasn't making the safe decision. So right when I look at Nussmeyer go over the sideline, he's being talked to by Brian Kelly in a manner like, it's a novice. It's a guy who's learning on the job. And again, it. It's all right. That's what, that's what this year is for. And I got news for you. And I've told this story before. I sat on the field with Brian Kelly before the Tennessee game back in 2022, right? It was LSU Tennessee, and that's when they had Hendon Hooker and they were rolling and. And he knew. He kind of knew it was going to be a long day. Wouldn't allude to me with that. But he was pissed off at the local media because local media kept saying, he hasn't thrown an interception. Jaden Daniels from Arizona State, he's a runner. He doesn't throw interceptions. Like, this is amazing. But he was. He was pissed off because he wasn't taking chances. He wasn't trusting his reads. And I was asking him about. I was like, listen, I, I see the arm, like, the mobility, like, it doesn't, it doesn't take a super scout to figure out this guy's just, like, electrifying as a runner.

[Mensch]

Super scout.

[Todd McShay]

But. And I see the big arm, and I see when. When. When he sees the receiver open, very accurate throwing the ball, but can he anticipate it? And he was pleading with me, trust me, Give him time. We're working on it. He's not ready yet. And that's where Nussmeyer is now. Brian told me, like, he's not ready yet. He has to trust his reads. And I'm yelling at him. And I saw in the very first throw of that game come back around the left rail, and he was. It was in film study. I don't care if you throw an interception. In fact, if you throw a pick six, it might be good for you to learn this lesson that, like, the world won't fall around. Around you. Like the sky won't collapse. It's going to be fine. We'll pick ourselves up and we'll move on to the next play. But you got to start trusting your reads. If you don't trust your reads, you can't get to the player that you need to. You can't get to that level. And so I'm watching Brian Kelly on the sideline and for all of his faults and people can like him or dislike him, Brian Kelly knows how to coach quarterbacks and he knows how to develop them and he's done a great job throughout his career. And so I watch him after these specific plays and I'm watching the highlights going, well, you know, Brian's there on a split screen talking to Nuss and I'm like, I, I know what he's talking about. I. We all can see the read and we can all see it's going to be a process. It's a process with all these quarterbacks and Garrett is just not there yet. But, but he's got a good arm. Not an elite arm. He's got a good arm and my God, I love the way he plays the game. I love how aggressive he is. I love the arm angle changes. I love so much about his game, his IT factor, his leadership, his toughness. He's going to be a good quarterback in the league so long as he enters the league ready and has more game experience. It's not 10 games. He's got 10 starts right now. It's not. They're probably going to play two more games in a, in a bowl game. Right? At this point, that's what it looks like.

[Mensch]

Three more games, maybe three more games.

[Todd McShay]

Maybe three or four more. So he's going to have. Yeah, yeah, because this is the ninth game this season. Yeah, but, but there's 11 interceptions in nine games of tape this year. So he's got to continue to develop and then he gets an off season to go back and self study, study opponents, figure out where the reads were wrong, figure out what. And he can work with Brian and work with the OC and they can figure out the better game plans. And you come into year two. And I'm not saying it's going to be a Jaden Daniels type elevation, but we're already talking about Nussmeyer potentially as a first round pick if you were to come out a few weeks ago. And so maybe if he were to be a second round pick at this point because you're worried about all the mistakes and all. But all I'm saying is he's going into 2025, if he comes back to LSU, a lot higher rated on NFL radars than Jaden Daniels even was. Jayden Daniels was like a third rounder coming into the 2023 season. Then he put out the best tape, including Caleb Williams, of any quarterback in the country, and it became the number two overall pick. And we see what he's doing now. So the lesson in all of this is game experience is critical. Nussmeyer's not ready yet, but that doesn't take away from anything that he can be. And any of the things that we've seen that are great on tape. That's where I am on Nutsmeyer. And in fact, we put out our top six quarterbacks this past week, and I had Nussmeyer two ahead of Cam Ward behind Shador Sanders. When we put out our next top six quarterbacks, he's not going to be on the list. And it's not an indictment on him. It's that he's not ready. And if he should choose to come out in the draft, we'll reevaluate it then. But it's our job to be real with the situation and what it should be and to try to, in the smallest little way, help guide, you know, young, young quarterbacks who are looking at all these things. Like, he needs to know that, like, the time's not now, right? And so the next top six quarterbacks will be a top five quarterbacks, and it's a more round number anyway. And we'll. We'll start with Shador probably and Cam Ward behind him. And Garrett Nussmeier won't be on there because he's. He's not ready at this point.

[Mensch]

Listen, there's no rush. You're the starting quarterback at lsu. The league's going to be there when you're ready there, and you're going to make some money with the nil. There is zero rush. Everyone take a breath. Let's do what's best for him long term. And I think. I think we all agree at this point, or at least the two of us agree, that that's going back to lsu.

[Todd McShay]

And I apologize for that rant. I know I went on long, but. But I. But I feel like now's the time to get to that.

[Mensch]

You feel strongly.

[Todd McShay]

I feel strongly about it. I watched tonight and I had this, like, ease come over, like he's not ready, and that's okay. And so I just. I wanted to get that out there, but. But now let's. We've got to bring it Back, right?

[Mensch]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

This SEC race is wild, man.

[Mensch]

Yeah. Good luck.

[Todd McShay]

It's awesome.

[Mensch]

It's all. It's awesome. Good luck trying to figure it out.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. I mean, let's look at it there. I. By my count, there are six teams in the SEC with one or two losses overall, seven teams with one or two SEC losses. So not only is it this like, great debate how many teams are going to get in, it's how many teams are going to get in with two losses? Is there going to be a three, three loss team that gets in from the sec? And with all of this mess up at the top and with, by the way, the three teams with one one loss at the top of the SEC in term, the three teams that have one. No, sorry. There are two teams with one conference loss. There are three teams with. That doesn't even make sense. I've got it written down wrong.

[Mensch]

There are three teams with one conference loss.

[Todd McShay]

Thank you, Texas A M. Yeah. This is why. This is why we pay you the big bucks on the show. Mensch. There are three teams with one with one one loss inside the conference. That's Texas A M, Texas and Tennessee. Tennessee. There we go.

[Mensch]

There we go.

[Todd McShay]

Thank God it's alive.

[Mensch]

We need all kinds of videos.

[Todd McShay]

This is the first time we're seeing that. This is a live show. I needed. I finally got the help I needed. All right, so you see the three teams with the one loss in conference. Tennessee. Texas A M in Texas. Well, I got news for you. A M and Texas play in the last week of the regular season and Tennessee plays Georgia next week. And we're going to get to that Georgia Ole Miss game in a minute. But this thing could be crazy.

[Mensch]

Yeah, it is absolutely crazy. Crazy.

[Todd McShay]

And like I said before, there are six teams with one or two losses. It's just, it's remarkable to me. I mean, Texas A and M, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Ole Miss, Alabama, all like legitimate, right in it.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Lsu, that was an elimination game tonight. That was it.

[Mensch]

Yeah, They're. They're done.

[Todd McShay]

South Carolina's playing some damn good ball, by the way. That, that, that pesky Vanderbilt team, they.

[Mensch]

They.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, they just knocked them off to like at. With ease. 6 and 3, 4 and 3 in the SEC and they're not even in it. But like, but we've had this conversation before. I think they can meet. I. I think they could beat a. I think they would beat every team. I think they would win the Big 12.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

I think they'd beat Miami. We'll get to the Miami Loss today too. I think they could beat Miami. I think they could win the acc and we're talking about a three loss South Carolina team. So. Yeah, it's as expected. Like we knew it was going to be good. But if I'm just being honest, true serum. I didn't know that the SEC was going to be this deep and he likes. And some people, Big 10 people and ACC people and Big 12 people will sit here and bitch and I get it. And that's their stance and say, well, you call it deep. We say that. You know, the parody means that there's just not. There's no great team. Nah. I've watched football for a minute. I know what I'm seeing. These are really good. Yeah. Georgia's a knots below what. What we've seen in Texas has more flaws than maybe I expected after the first couple weeks this season. But. But like these are all really good. Look at Alabama. They were left for dead, right?

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

And you watched them tonight. Find me five teams in the country. Find me three teams in the country right now and we'll ask fanduel this this week. I want to know how many teams on a neutral. In a neutral site situation are going.

[Mensch]

To beat them would be favored. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Over Alabama coming off of that win tonight. I'm just curious. We're gonna find out. We'll give you that answer on Tuesday.

[Mensch]

Who's the best se team you think throw out records.

[Todd McShay]

Okay.

[Mensch]

Throw just the. The team like watching tape and watching everything unfold. Who are you most impressed by?

[Todd McShay]

I hate recency bias, but I, I'm telling you that Alabama, that version of Alabama tonight was. Is the best team right now. Texas I think can be.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

I think Texas can be those two. Right? Yeah. Yep.

[Mensch]

It's those two.

[Todd McShay]

Yep.

[Mensch]

I think Ole Miss is sneaky, by the way. I think Ole Miss is really sneaky.

[Todd McShay]

But then again like George. All right, so. So let's ask this question and I know my producer, Connor, I, I think I, I know he wants to ask this question. Who's had the most. I. Whatever the question is. But I. The most impressive win would probably be George over Texas, right?

[Mensch]

Yeah. 30 to 15. Right. That's a big. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

So if you give me that, you give me that version of Georgia versus this version of Alabama versus Texas's best version. Now we're, now we're talking. But George, I don't know.

[Mensch]

Spider man gift where like all the Spidermans are like pointing at each other. It's like that's, that's what the SEC.

[Todd McShay]

Is right and and just and it's another thing that Connor our producer brought up before we came on the show had Tennessee not mucked around versus versus Arkansas. They've taken care of business in that game and give Arkansas a ton of credit. That was the best game they played all season and probably will play all season but in Tennessee played up to its level against their business takes care of business against Arkansas.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Like they're the undefeated like we're looking. It's funny at the top.

[Mensch]

Recency bias is a is a thing though because I'm watching that Texas play a depleted Florida team and I know that Texas defense is good and Quinn Ewers we'll dig into the tape. It'll be interesting to dig into the tape but man he looked way more confident today and I know he thinks four touchdowns he's getting the ball out. He's you know it looks great coming out of his hand and there was a, there was a great game game plan by Sark. There was a lot of misdirection, some busted coverage. But I was watching that Texas team today and I'm thinking I'm looking at the rest of their schedule. The toughest game is at Texas A and M. Texas A and M seems to have some quarterback identity issues right now. I think they win that game. I mean I know how good Alabama was tonight but ah Texas is right there. If they're it's it's one in one A in my mind. This episode is brought to you by Vitamin Water Food Entertainment Sports Teams.

[Todd McShay]

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[Mensch]

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[Todd McShay]

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[Mensch]

It's a product of its environment.

[Todd McShay]

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[Mensch]

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[Todd McShay]

My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for Career day and said he was a big roas man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B but with LinkedIn.

[Mensch]

You'Ll be able to reach people who do.

[Todd McShay]

Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com campaign to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com campaign. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the place to be to be so before the before the game kicked off tonight, we had a An emphatic win by Ole Miss. And it didn't look like it that early in that Georgia game. I was like, yeah, here's Georgia again. We're gonna see. We're gonna see Georgia against Texas. We're gonna, like. I was kind of worried about this.

[Mensch]

You know, because they're getting field goals, not touchdowns, and field goals not touchdowns.

[Todd McShay]

But like, let's go back to that George movie before.

[Mensch]

You know what I mean? Kind of. That kind of deal.

[Todd McShay]

Yes. Yes. And Lane's pissed off because this should be a night game. And. And then now with pouring rain, is that going to slow them down? And.

[Mensch]

Oh, you look like he aged 10 years tonight. Even after the win. He looked like he aged 10 years tonight.

[Todd McShay]

I'm sure Lane will love hearing that.

[Mensch]

All right, so it's not easy, man. It's not easy coaching the sec.

[Todd McShay]

I'm going to walk you through a couple thoughts in this Georgia Ole Miss game and jump in whenever you want. Obviously, I thought it was interesting. Georgia came out. There was an emphasis on running the football. First 10 plays, eight run, two pass. And yes, it was raining. And so that. Could that have factored in? Sure. But right off the jump, I was like, all right, a couple things that we wanted to see. We want to see. Where's Carson Beck mentally? He's had four, like, four of the last five games, multiple interceptions. We talked about the regression being real. He's not having the season we expected. He's not playing as well as he played last year. We put. Talked about a lot of things with Carson Beck, but there also was a lot of talk about there's got to be balance in this run game. So they come out and they have success early on, right?

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

And they run the football eight times out of the first 10 plays. And Frazier, talented running back and in ETN, very clearly, you know, he's a star when he's healthy at the big three touchdown game. And that went against Texas. He hasn't been 100%. They're rotating him in and out. But Frazier was playing a lot more. And Fraser Compton, California, five star. His talent as a runner is. Is so obvious. Yeah, but. But the fumbling issues are. Are obvious, too. And that's the reason he didn't get a ton of run early in the season and fumbling in practice, from what I understood. And he had two fumbles today, lost one. And so that was the first thing that stood out, was that Georgia came out. They looked sharp. They looked great early on.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

On the flip side, you had you had Jackson Dart did not look sharp early on. I thought Jackson Dart was struggling with his reads. Right?

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

Interception. The one interception he threw. But then even beyond that like before, he got injured, got knocked out of the game and was hobbling into the, into the, in the locker room where he got the miracle medicine and came out and was, was running beautifully through the last three quarters. Who's this Austin Simmons kid?

[Mensch]

What is that all about? His first passion is having the night of his life tonight.

[Todd McShay]

His first.

[Mensch]

He should.

[Todd McShay]

His first pass. My 10 year old son is like, meanwhile I, I drove an hour down like near Foxboro today for an NFL flag football tournament with my son Tate, who's 10 years old and he's, you know, we, we went 1 and 2, didn't make it into the, into the final bracket. Let, let's put it this way, loved his effort. You know, he played, played well, made a lot of big plays, scored a couple touchdowns all but he left a few plays on the field. Let's just say that I'm not gonna sit here and chop apart my 10 year old son, but we left a few plays on the field, right? But the beauty is we come back after going 1 for 1, 1 and 2 in a tournament where he left a few plays in the field. We'll address that later with him. But he comes and sits down next to me on the couch and, and we're watching. You start watching the game and, and then Simmons comes in, he goes, who's this guy? After the first notes, who's this guy? And I'm like, I'm working on it. He's. The first pass was terrible. He goes, this guy's trash, right?

[Mensch]

I love anyone, anyone who's had a.

[Todd McShay]

10 year old son knows. Yeah, yeah. Everything's so definitive. It's like, you know, instant reaction is so definitive. And I was like, right, Meanwhile he goes five first, next five. Passing looks brilliant. The, the passing game, game operated the best in those in that one series. The five passes he threw then, it did really, it was the most efficient. It was all day long. So anyway, Austin Simmons, the Miami Florida product came in, he was dealing and I thought, I thought Jackson Dart felt the rush. I thought that he wasn't going through his reads. I thought he was off early on and George is running the ball and there's balance there and Carson Beck is in a rhythm. And then all of a sudden the thing that stood out to me the most, and it did for the rest of the game is this Ole Miss defensive front.

[Mensch]

Yeah. All over the place, man.

[Todd McShay]

And we got four. We got four guys we're talking about. Four guys we're talking about who are going to get drafted. The two, the two edges were particularly saucy today.

[Mensch]

God, I love Jared Ivy.

[Todd McShay]

Jared Ivy, the. The sack he had over Tate Rutledge, the. The offensive lineman for that went off the edge.

[Mensch]

I can win between the tackles. This kind of guy. Like when you want to go to that NASCAR package and you're kicking an edge guy inside, you're looking at Jared Ivy.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah. And then on the opposite side, Princely, the sack he had coming off of Beck's left edge. And then. And then later on the. The rotating guy that they bring in, Santaran Perkins. 210 pound edge. So Quick mentioned they said he runs a four, three, which means like a four four two, but whatever shows up. Yeah. And he's only 210. I get it. But can we put like £25 on him? Making a designated edge. Yeah. Anyway, so that to me was the difference in this game. And then the huge tip pass for the interception from. And then, and then Princely ends the game with the strip sack and then gets another strip sack even when the game's already over.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

They lead the Ole Miss defense, leads the country in sacks. We knew that they were outstanding. We got four guys along the defensive front who are going to get drafted. Walter Nolan, the defensive tackle, is going to get drafted. J.J. pegis, dude, we talked about it. We talked about him on. On Thursday podcast and you were, you were ranting and raving about him carrying the football. And then the graphic comes up before he gets his carry. He comes in the game, he's like this 330 pound dude. Like, what is he doing? You know?

[Mensch]

Right?

[Todd McShay]

Looks like he's gonna come in the block. But I read the, I read the graphic and he's had 11 carries, six for touchdowns, five for first downs. He's 11 for 11 on conversions. He comes in on like a fourth and one or a third and one.

[Mensch]

He.

[Todd McShay]

He gets the ball. It's not, it's not like, dude, he was one. He was one arm tackle away from one guy chopping his legs out, away from maybe taking it to the house.

[Mensch]

Oh, he's so much fun to watch.

[Todd McShay]

Oh, I was yelling your name in my living room. It was awesome. But Pegis, Walter Nolan, Ivy, Princely, four guys that are, they're everywhere. And sometimes these guys, like when it's. When it's their year to go in the draft, like you don't always get. These guys are playing Their asses off. This is real. Like, to do it against this competition and to do it on this stage, that showed me that, like, I know Tennessee's defensive line is awesome. They might be a little deeper, but I would. I would take this defensive front up there than anyone in the country.

[Mensch]

Yeah, listen, I. The only thing, I'm going to quickly switch back a little bit. Really. Jax Dart giving a hard time. What a gutsy performance today, my man.

[Todd McShay]

It was awesome. We haven't come back to it, I'm saying early on.

[Mensch]

All right. I always want to make sure that we're not. I mean, Jack's dark eight carries for 50 yards, make a plays with his feet not sliding. He's all banged up. I thought it was. I thought I loved a great passing day, but, man, it wasn't a great passing day. No, no Trey Harris either today. Right? I mean.

[Todd McShay]

No, no Trey Harris again.

[Mensch]

They did this without the. Maybe the best receiver in the country.

[Todd McShay]

By the way, but I told you on Thursday, I, I noticed this with Trey Harris leads the. Leads the.

[Mensch]

Yeah, you're right.

[Todd McShay]

In receiving yards per. Per game. Right. But he's missed now three games in a row and he's still like, I don't know, coming into this game after missing two games, he still was like fourth or fifth in the country in. In receiving yards. Like he was that product. But. But sometimes as a quarterback, when you have that, when you have that dog, that Alpha guy.

[Mensch]

Yeah, you just.

[Todd McShay]

You cut, you lock on. Sometimes you don't go through your reads sometimes. Sometimes the offense doesn't flow fluidly like it should. And so with him out of the game, like, they weren't as explosive necessarily. They didn't have that one connection with the big play that you could rely on. But we talked about the last two games is the most offensive production that they had all year. We talked about coming out, coming into this game, their last outing, they put up 61.

[Mensch]

Yeah. And so I'd rather have Trey Harris on the field, though.

[Todd McShay]

There's no question about it. But. But I do think when Trey Harris comes back, if Jackson Dark can continue to go through his reads and incorporate him and make it the whole picture with Harris there, that could be the best version of Ole Miss's offense. And this Ole Miss defense can play with anybody.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

And so now, like, you're looking at Ole Miss, it's like this team and. And you think about after that stinker. We all thought the same thing. Some. Some people said it, some didn't. That stinker against Kentucky Same old Lane Kiffin, front running sons of right. Five stars, Nil. Paying them legally. Maybe they were paying them what it wasn't legally. Every team in the SEC is. So don't get on your. Don't get on your high. Don't get on your high. Horse. We, we know this has been going on a long, long time before Nil, but we're all thinking the same thing, right? Five stars. Yeah, they brought in a bunch of great free agents, but it's like. Yeah, so did. So the commanders for like 10 straight years, always bringing the high price free agents right before the deadline and it would never pan out. It's kind of what it felt like. And so now they got two losses. They got a horrible loss against Kentucky. And even since then, watching Kentucky just tailspin. But this team has turned a corner. The offense has come on. That's three straight weeks. And this is a game where your quarterback goes out, comes back in, not 100, pouring rain. And yeah, they weren't, weren't big numbers. There were like four different guys who had four receptions. Like they didn't have any huge running numbers. They don't have a great running back or a great run game other than Biggie. Well, Piggy is really good, but he ain't great. You know, he's not, I don't know.

[Mensch]

Give him 20 carries, let's see what happens. That's, that's all I'm saying.

[Todd McShay]

Is the ETN Frazier.

[Mensch]

No. Yeah, I mean, obviously I'm kidding. There's not, it's not even a conversation. Right, but so speaking of ETN Frazier, how long do you think the longest run was for Georgia tonight? Oh, or today, I should say it was afternoon game. Right. So today.

[Todd McShay]

I know, I know Frazier had like, I want to say 16, 14, something like that.

[Mensch]

It was 12 yards.

[Todd McShay]

12.

[Mensch]

It was a receiver, Dylan Bell. Frazier's longest was 8. Etienne's longest was 6. And look, it goes to speak to that, that defensive front again. Yeah, I mean, look, man, it speaks to that defensive front again. Ole Miss has had some talented defensive linemen, but nothing like this in terms of depth. I mean, they got, they have.

[Todd McShay]

Now, that's interesting.

[Mensch]

Yeah, they had 33 carries for 59 yards. Now, a lot of that was CARSON BECK Losing 20 yards, but they, I mean, it was, it's, it was a rough day running the ball for a Georgia team that needs to run the ball with Carson Beck still trying to figure some things out.

[Todd McShay]

Let's get to Carson Beck. I went on a long rant about, about Garrett Nusselier. And I'm not, I'm not going to do that with, with Carson Beck. But I'm going to say this. I want to applaud. And Georgia fans do not want to hear this. Georgia fans don't want to hear a single bit of this. But I want to apart. Strike that. I want to applaud. I want to sit here and applaud Carson Beck for going back to the drawing board, self scouting, taking a look in the mirror. Molly McGrath had a great. I tell you all the time, if people will eventually listen, Molly McGrath is as good as anybody out there because she knows what she's looking for. She knows what, like, the real stuff is. She understands the game as much as any sideline reporter out there. And the report she had early in the game was like, okay, interesting. Now let's see if it backs up. And you can see on the note, she had a report early in the game talking about how, how Carson Beck recognized that he was pressing, he was forcing things. He wasn't playing, he wasn't playing within the construct of the offense. That 1st and 10 felt like 3rd and 13. And he saw that on tape. And so he went back and he, and he self scouted and he evaluated and I'm sure he had a lot of help with coaches. But, but Carson Beck, I, I will take, and I know it was in a loss and this is the part that Georgia fans don't want to hear. I will take this version of Carson Beck over the guy that we've seen the entire season.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

Truly, I will.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

For even in the best wins, even like, this is the, this is the Carson Beck I expected to see early in the season and then kind of building off of that. What.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

So what do we see from him? There was nothing, there was nothing spectacular by any stretch today.

[Mensch]

No.

[Todd McShay]

But he looked comfortable. He looked decisive. He looked like, okay, I, I have reads. I know my reads. I'm gonna go through them. I'm not playing hero ball. I'm not going to force something that doesn't need to be forced. And he was just more comfortable in his skin. You know, like when you talk to someone who's grown up, you see someone at a reunion or 10 years later, that guy's, he knows he's comfortable in his skin now. Like watching him play tonight, I thought Carson Beck was comfortable within the construct of the offense. He understood what his role was and when, when a play needed to be made, he did his damnedest to make that play.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

In a key situation. You know, he key situation, like there's a drive in the middle of the game they needed to throw. It was a deep dig route or kind of an in cutting route. And he stepped up and drilled it, climbed the pocket, drilled it.

[Mensch]

There are more throws, there are more of those throws in this game than I've seen in a little bit of a stretch here.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, right.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

And at the right time, like when they, when they were needed, when the read was there, when he wasn't forcing it, it was like he knew when, when his shots were there and he took his shots. And then a couple times when protection came, a guy flashed early and it wasn't like rolling around trying. It was, okay, tuck it. Climb. Go, go. Pick up seven. Let's live. Now it's second and three or it's third and one. Whatever the situation, I just, I like, I like that I can get on board with this version of Carson Beck. I want to see more of this version of Carson Beck.

[Mensch]

Even the, even the interception, I mean, he's, he's hanging in there. He gets smoked, it gets tipped. It's 4th and 10. You, I mean, you can't not try to make a play.

[Todd McShay]

That's when you have to do that. Those.

[Mensch]

That's when you have to press, right? And it was, you know, if it's not tipped, he might have. That might have been a completed pass. So I do think I will. You know, of course I'm gonna say this, but on the third and 10 pass, it was not a mis throw, but the ball placement could have been better. It was a drop. The receiver could have made a play, but the ball placement also could have been better. But that stuff we've seen all along, what was really concerning was the, the decision making and the pressing. And I agree with you, it felt better today.

[Todd McShay]

So like, so it was just like, again, I've been doing games for so long. I've been traveling. I've been, I've been on the sideline as an analyst. I've been in meetings, I've been doing all that stuff. What I have been doing is sitting back and actually watching games the way I watch them now. And then we will go and watch the tape on Sundays and Mondays and all week and do our draft stuff and prepare for these shows. But it's interesting sometimes, like when, when you trust Molly that she's getting real information, is actually like sat down and talked to the human being and, and figured out and asked the right questions, right? Not just like, how do you feel.

[Mensch]

It'S not the easiest thing to do, by the way. People are like, oh, just ask this question. It's not, it's not.

[Todd McShay]

When you do it, when you do it at a high level, it is a talent. And so, so when I hear that, it, it jumps out. And so I start to watch and I'm watching the game and then Greg's there. McElroy, who I. We talk to Greg all the time. Greg has a great relationship with Kevin Wh. Who worked with us for years. We've always been on text trans, like. And Greg played the position at a high level, played in the NFL, took him as far as his talents could. Could bring him and, and his, and his mind and his, his acumen brought him further than maybe his physical tools because, my God, this guy knows football. Right. And understands the position.

[Mensch]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

So when I hear Greg start to talk about what he's seeing when he's there live and he's got the clicker and he's reviewing it as the game's going on and seeing more things than I'm seeing on the couch. And, and I'm seeing what I'm seeing. It's like this is a different version, you know, and, and they documented it throughout the game. Greg did a great job of like, following through on that and, and what the differences were. I just, I thought it was fun to watch and, and Georgia fans, like, they don't want to hear it. They, you know, like, this is the, you know, the sky spoiled the sky. Well, any fan would. But any fan would be like, yeah, whatever. He. Multiple interceptions, you know, the previous four or five games and he threw another pick and, and he's not getting it done and we're not getting it done. Well, you know what? A lot of the blame, a portion of the blame was on Carson Beck along the way, why Georgia wasn't playing up to its level. But it wasn't all on Carson Beck and today versus Ole Miss. That wasn't Carson Beck. No, I got news. I got news for you. It's something we've been talking about all along. They don't have the weapons.

[Mensch]

No, they don't have the weapons. They don't have the running game. We just talked about the running game.

[Todd McShay]

Georgia does not have the weapons. They've got. They've got great defensive talent. They've got a good enough offensive line. But. But they, they missed. They missed it. Some of the tight end acquisitions in nil, they're just not difference makers. And so when you have a Carson Beck and we know of his talents he's tall, big arm. He, he should continue to be developing. Right. And he hasn't developed this year. And some of that like we have given him his fair share. I did a whole thing on the regression is real. Right. Like we talked about it over and over again. And so we've given him his, his stake in this. So now let's put the stake in like really where I think it deserves to be. And that's with the lack of offensive weapons. And yes, it's partly running back, but it's also in tight end.

[Mensch]

I like the tight end Eurosec from Stanford. But he had a drop today.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, but he, but, but, but, but in previous years he's a number two or number three. That's like a nice, nice guy to have in the room.

[Mensch]

Yeah, I'm higher.

[Todd McShay]

He's a grinder, but he's not, but.

[Mensch]

He hasn't played to that level. So I can't make that argument.

[Todd McShay]

And that's, and that's not even what I'm, that's not even like where I'm going. Like at one point, at one point I looked up Cash Jones, the running back had had the longest reception for them, 29 yards late in the game too. This is, I don't know if the final stats, but late in the game I'm talking like a two. I think it was two minutes left. Cass Jones, the running back had the longest reception for Georgia. This isn't a big game that they need. No. What? No, no wide receiver has a reception longer than 29 yards.

[Mensch]

That was cast. Yeah, it was the longest one, 29 yards.

[Todd McShay]

The highest average yards per reception was by a tight end named Lawson. Lucky with 15. Yeah. 15 yards. Okay.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Wide receiver Arian Smith is the guy. Right. Saw Nagy put out a post about Arian Smith. He's going to run the based off his 100 meter. Could he. He's, he's going to put out his vote now. You know, threw it out there. Who's going to run the fastest 40 at the, @ the combine? It's going to be Arian Smith. Two at the same point. I looked up those numbers. So Maybe he had one more catch late the last two minutes. At that point he had two catches for nine yards.

[Mensch]

He had three for 32 at a 717 yard late. So again we're not, we're not talking about. Big difference here.

[Todd McShay]

3 for 32 in the game and when the game was still a game.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

He had two catches for nine yards. We've been saying it all year. Long man. You can't go from having Brock Bowers. And I get it like Brock Bowers is generational. Brock Bowers an absolute star. Brock Bowers was arguably the best player in college football, but was never going to win the Heisman when he was in college football. Brock Bowers is a star for the Raiders on a real shitty Raiders team. Yeah, lad McConkey, he's not like an elite five star, right?

[Mensch]

I love them, but.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, yeah, no, I'm just saying like, but these guys like he, Carson, Beck.

[Mensch]

All he knew, he doesn't have anywhere near that. That's the bottom line.

[Todd McShay]

That's the bottom line. But he's used to that. So like when I need a big play, I got two guys. Not one, two and two different versions. Lad McConkey was a small slot guy, so he's got to be Wes Welker. He's probably a 4 or 5. McConkie ran like a 4, 3, 9. A dude is fast, run after the catch, great routes, all the. So he. What he knows in college football is I got a tight end who's awesome and reliable, who I can always go to in a pinch. And I've got, I've got this wide receiver who's awesome and reliable and I can go to in a pinch and if I throw him a five yard out, he might turn into 45 and six, a house call.

[Mensch]

And then all those other guys slot into a complimentary role that you can, you know, you can use when they're open. But yeah, you don't.

[Todd McShay]

George Georgia has not.

[Mensch]

You need to play who you go.

[Todd McShay]

It's the only position. I'm just gonna say it's the only position. Tight end hasn't been the position. Running back hasn't been the position. Quarterback's not been a problem. They've had multitude. They've. They've had, you know, riches at the quarterback position. Defensive, my God, they like there's, there's. Yeah, they became the new Alabama.

[Mensch]

Right, right.

[Todd McShay]

Wide receiver. It's not there and it's, it's killing them this year.

[Mensch]

It's not there.

[Todd McShay]

It may be the offensive system. It may be the emphasis on tight ends and running backs in the running game in the past and team and if you're a five star receiver, you're looking out there and you're saying, okay, I've got Tennessee, I've got more, way more so lsu. I've got Texas with Sark in that offensive system. I got Alabama where we had, we had all, you know, from Jerry Judy to Henry Ruggs to. Yeah, to devonte Smith and Waddle to Jameson Williams, who went to Ohio State. And I didn't even mention Ohio State. The best of them all, you know.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

The best of them all and what they've done there. So you've got like five different programs that would claim we're. We're wide receiver. You and Georgia ain't one of them. And it's affecting them. It's affecting him. And that's why when I look at this SEC race and I look at all these teams and I say, like, what do I trust down the stretch? Texas, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Alabama? Like, yeah. I'm not saying it's all because they're wide receivers. It's not. But I just. I think they're more. They're all more for different reasons, but they all have more explosive qualities to their offense. I think Georgia's lacking.

[Mensch]

Yeah, I just. I mean, I wish there was something I could do to argue with you. I would say this. I think that maybe we're letting the Georgia offensive line off the hook a little bit, too. I mean, your best player is supposed to be Tate Ratledge, and he got beat clean today in an important part of the game.

[Todd McShay]

He hasn't been healthy, but.

[Mensch]

Yeah, yeah, in fairness, you're right. He has not been healthy. That's true. But I. I don't see a. And look, again, you can't. If you can't. If you don't have the weapons on the outside and you're running the ball 33 times for 59 yards, there's a problem. I mean, you could. That defense is good enough that you could go in and if you could control the clock with that running game and you put up 1721 points and you. And you have long, sustained drives, you can win football games like that. But they're not even running, though. And they have talent at running back, but they're just not running the ball well enough.

[Todd McShay]

How awesome is it for college football that we have a game like this tonight, Right? A game like this with lsu, Alabama, and then. And then next week we just re rack it, right? You know, like Georgia's had a horrible loss. Like everything the. It's over. It's sucks Georgia, but we re rack it, man. Yeah, let's go between week.

[Mensch]

I mean, Alabama was dead after the.

[Todd McShay]

Vanderbilt and what I said it on Thursday. I said it doesn't matter which team wins. That like we're gonna be. That's the best version of. And here we are. Like, if I get that version of Alabama. But next week we rerack it. And by the way, we'll be right back here live. And I'm fire. Like, this is my new favorite thing. And the reaction, the reaction show live right after the game. Hopefully we have a better game next week. But the beauty of this is that we had so much to talk about. We could have come on at 7:30 and done an hour and a half show easily, you know, and one of the reasons was the game we just talked about. The other reason is we got, you know, undefeated Miami goes down. And listen, we've been going for an hour and five minutes now. It says. And, and I get it, we don't want to go forever. But I want to get into a couple quick things with Miami, okay? And you can take it wherever you want because this is, this is where you get to shine. I wrote.

[Mensch]

It's already shining.

[Todd McShay]

I wrote in my notes right here. I wrote in my notes. Today during the day was when I was watching as the game was wrapping up. Mensch was right. You all but called Miami fraudulent last week. You did.

[Mensch]

I did.

[Todd McShay]

You all but called them.

[Mensch]

Lock him, Ward.

[Todd McShay]

I thought there were problems that I'm here to admit. You were right. They are. They're a good team. They're scary, but they're not in the discussion with the alphas of college football. They're not. Here's, here's my take on it. And you can take it wherever you want. One game is a letdown. And just about every team we've talked about that, it's at the top of college football has had that one game. Just about every one of them, right? Texas, you know, Texas, Georgia, Georgia, Tennessee, the Arkansas game. Every single one of them you can point to, every single one has had. Has had a letdown. It's a mistake. Mistakes happen, right?

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Two is a red flag. Two performances is a red flag. Four is an identity that's falling behind.

[Mensch]

Are you talking about.

[Todd McShay]

I'm talking four performances when you don't play to level and take care of competition that should be weaker, not necessarily losses, not necessarily losses. One letdown get not, not a loss, but one game's a letdown. It's a mistake. Two is a red flag. When you play a game, when you, you're playing inferior competition, when you should be, according to what the national rankings are, according to what all the hype says, according to the talent that you've brought in, according to everything that all of college, the college football world is talking about, you should take care of that. Game you can have. One, it's a letdown, it's a mistake. Two, it starts to become a red flag. Three, it gets really worse. Four, it's your identity. And, and I look at Miami, it's their identity. 10 point deficit against Virginia Tech, that Hail Mary play at the end. Okay, that's a letdown. Game on.

[Mensch]

Fans still think they won that game.

[Todd McShay]

And you know what? They may have.

[Mensch]

They might have. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

But, but it was a mistake. We can overlook that one. Every, right, every national champion you get, like whether it was in a loss or a game that they just pulled out, whatever, you always go back and.

[Mensch]

Everyone gets a scare.

[Todd McShay]

We all, everyone gets a scare. And Nick Saban talks about like the greatest thing in the world when, you know. Right.

[Mensch]

Yeah, yeah. Humble.

[Todd McShay]

Or, or he says. No, actually, he says it can be, it can be your worst nightmare as a coach when you get a win and you don't play well. You'd rather lose that game. So Anyway, regardless.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

10 point deficit in the Hail Mary. Virginia Tech, 25 point deficit after that long day, game day out In Cal.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

11 point. And you could argue this maybe doesn't fit the bill completely, but they were getting worked by Duke.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Into the, into the second half, you know, into the third. Eleven points they were down against Duke. Now they came back in one by 22 and all is well.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

But it's still, it's part of this identity. And then against Georgia Tech, that's the fourth one and they find they don't have enough gas in the, in the tank at the end to pull it out. So I, I'm here kind of bowing to you, Mensch. You were right. I, I mean we all saw the.

[Mensch]

Defensive woes, but it's your 4:48 carries for 271 yards. I think the most disappointing aspect of it is, is how one dimensional Georgia Tech was. This wasn't a balanced offense. They could spread the ball around and has playmakers creating after the catch.

[Todd McShay]

They had to bring in a freshman quarterback named Philo or Philo, Aaron Philo to throw the ball on obvious passing downs because the quarterback is injured and can't throw the ball.

[Mensch]

Can't throw the ball downfield. I mean, it is, it's, it's. That is a serious concern if a one dimensional offense comes in and you cannot get them off the field. And I want to see it now because I want to see if I can find the time of possession. I don't even know what it was, but the time of possession I was sure was completely slanted towards Georgia Tech. I mean they just couldn't get him off the field. And then you are, you are looking at that point like, oh, Cam's going to pull it out for us. Cam will do this and Cam will do that and that's a different topic. And we'll get into that once we get to digging into the tape. Was. Was he holding on to the ball too long? He lost a fumble at the end. I mean the numbers look pretty good for Cam. But we'll get into that later on. It's, I mean this defense, this defense is a problem. You had better. And now the question for me is. And they win out and does a 2, 2 loss Miami team.

[Todd McShay]

Oh. So I did some digging on this. I'll help you out. SMU is the only team with no ACC losses. No conference loss in the acc. Okay.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

One loss teams include now Miami, Clemson. Although. Although. Hold on a second. We're live now. We were watching the other game. Pitt was in a close one. Virginia was up 2419. We are a lot. Yep. So now forget that. So pit lost. Yep. Miami and Clemson are the only one lost team. So you get one. One undefeated team in, in conference play in the acc. Smu.

[Mensch]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

And two one lost teams in Miami and Clemson. And but like the way I look at it and I, and I did the research and the digging tonight, it really comes down to this. While while you don't like the loss, maybe it's good for Miami because maybe they can. They like they'll finally get the attention of their players. Maybe some things will get addressed and changed. And most importantly, nothing really truly changes for Miami. And you know why? Because if they win out, they win the acc, they're still the number three or four seed.

[Mensch]

Right. Because remember we did this win the conference and you're good.

[Todd McShay]

We did this Tuesday night after the rankings reveal our instant reaction show, we walked through it. Miami could be. Miami was ranked. What was it? Fourth, fourth or fifth. Yeah, fourth or fifth. Whatever it was. But there's fourth.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

I think their seed was three. They were the number three seed because it's going to be the SEC or the Big Ten with the one seed in this, in this situation currently it's Oregon with the, with the one seed.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

Coming out of the Big Ten number two season to be SEC, number three seed is probably going to be the ACC. Okay.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

And then the number four C would be the Big 12. And then whoever's ranked, let's say number three will be the five seed, whoever's ranked four will be the six seed and so forth and so on. So.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

Okay, so what did Miami lose out on today? Outside of if they lose in the ACC championship game, if they don't win the acc, if they were undefeated, they still had a shot to get in at an. As an at large.

[Mensch]

Yeah, they lost the safety net.

[Todd McShay]

They lost the safety net. That's what they lost. But because Miami beat Louisville just, Just to play it forward and kind of put a bow on this, you got sm, you SMU takes care of business during the championship game. They're going to play most likely the one. The. Whoever's. Whoever's the higher rated of the one lost teams if Clemson wins out and Miami wins out. Well, Miami beat Louisville and Clemson coming into this week is coming off that loss to Louisville. So it would be Miami.

[Mensch]

Yeah. South Carolina, by the way. Right.

[Todd McShay]

But I'm talking about ACC getting into the ACC title.

[Mensch]

Right?

[Todd McShay]

Yes. So Miami, theoretically, outside of losing its chances to get in as a one loss at large, had they been undefeated and lost in the ACC title game, that, that's what they lost out on. But otherwise they're. They could still be the number three seed in the 12 team in the 12 team tournament. So.

[Mensch]

But if they lose in that game, are they in?

[Todd McShay]

No, they're out.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Right. Yeah.

[Mensch]

WAR doesn't play in the playoffs. I mean. Right.

[Todd McShay]

And it's brutal. It's what we do as evaluators. And I talked about, we talked about this on Thursday when we did the Camore breakdown. As evaluators. No quarterback in this class. Do we want to see more in the playoff to see against better competition. I need to see him against a. You name it, an Ohio State defense, a Penn State defense, Oregon defense, a Georgia defense, Alabama defense. I want to see him. I, I'd love to see him win one game and then go play another one, you know?

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Because I want to see that level of competition because that's part. I don't want to say it's an incomplete, but it's. You don't have enough to feel great about some of the things because there, there are some question marks that we outlined in great detail. So that's the ACC race, that's the Miami loss. Congrats. Mensch was right. Mitch, you kind of. You're like our ACC correspondent this year, now that I think about it. Yeah.

[Mensch]

It's a lot of negative.

[Todd McShay]

It's. I mean, you're, you're cynical, Steve, for a reason. I'm fine with it.

[Mensch]

I'd like to think of an optimist, but. Okay.

[Todd McShay]

All right. Finally. I wanted to get to this because I'm just. I'm. I've become the Shador guy, the Shador Sanders guy.

[Mensch]

I think the show has. I think we're. We're.

[Todd McShay]

That's fine.

[Mensch]

Officially on board.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, that's fine. I just. I. I love. Colorado was left for dead. If you go back, they were left for dead. And I'll get to it all. But. But almost lost to. Almost lost to North Dakota State in the opener. Okay.

[Mensch]

Yep.

[Todd McShay]

They messed around. They almost found out against ndsu, then they lost two of their next five games.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

And everyone's like, oh, this sizzle again. And Coach prime and. And like the commercials, there's not as many commercials, and it's just Affleck, but it's not the rest of them. And Coach Prime's not on game day. Every. Like, it's different this year, right? Yeah, it's not as many prime time games for Coach Prime. Like, it's just. It's not the same this year. And so they, like you think it.

[Mensch]

Helps them, by the way, but I.

[Todd McShay]

Totally agree that they kind of went quiet, and all of a sudden they've ripped off three wins.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

And they got a big win today. I watched that game as much as I could because we had the Georgia Ole Miss game on at the same time.

[Mensch]

Right.

[Todd McShay]

Early in that game. I want to start with this. Of all the tape I've watched of Shador, this was not his most impressive passing performance. I could rip off five or six different games where I watched. My God, like you kind of watch last year. Yeah, yeah. Like a couple games this year, like, where he's just dealing since. Honestly, since the Nebraska game. Put in any tape you want, and it's just like, this tape's different. I keep saying Shador Sanders is the best pure passer in this 2025 NFL Draft class. And you can see it on tape consistently since. Since the Nebraska game and that really, since the pick six in that Nebraska game because he played really well down the stretch in that game, too.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

This game might be the most impressive Shador Sanders tape because of the version I got to see the first quarter versus the final three quarters. This Texas Tech defense is deceiving because in big games so far this year against good competition, they've been great. Past defense, lesser competition, they've gotten just chewed up. But the first quarter, I'm watching this game, and I'm like, oh, this is going to Be the one. You know, my Miami. It's gonna be. Colorado gets knocked out like top quarterback prospects getting knocked out the potential to play in. In the playoff as evaluators. We want to see Shador in the playoff. I'm not rooting for Colorado. There's no bias here as an evaluator. I want to see Shador in the playoffs just like I want to see Cam Ward in the playoffs. I want to see against that competition, big spots. So Shador comes out in this game early on. You see the. Up on the screen right now, 3 for 7 for 20 for 27 yards. I went a little bit deeper even into the early second quarter, right? He was. He was 4 for 9 for 29 yards and two sacks. That's through like the first series of. Of the second quarter from that point on or in. Just look at this graphic for the final three quarters. 27 of 36, 264, three touchdowns only. And this is one that's not on the graphic because I looked it up. After taking two sacks in the first quarter in one drive, only one sack the rest of the. The game. Why is that important? Well, as an evaluator, you love to see when. When things aren't going well for a quarterback. How does he adjust? Now you've got the tablet. You get the tablets on the sideline in college. What's he seeing? He's getting with his. With his coordinator. He's getting with his quarterback coach. He's watching the tape himself. He's going back and say, okay, what are they doing? Where's the blitz coming from? When they're showing five, are they bringing five? Are they bringing six? Are they. Is it cat blitz coming off the corner? Like, what are the things they're doing? Why aren't we picking it up? And I've talked about all year long, is it Phil Lodehold, the offensive line coach? I thought I heard today, whoever.

[Mensch]

That's right. Yeah, Yeah, I think that's right.

[Todd McShay]

They're much improved from a year ago and much improved from early in the season. He's actually getting protection. Well, it was like watching that first quarter against Nebraska again. It was like watching last year again. I was like, oh, like, are there injuries up front? Whatever the reason was, he was under duress, holding on the ball too long, kind of scrambling and was out of sorts. And so it's one of those turning points for Cedar where I wanted to see, okay, can he find the answers quickly?

[Mensch]

Right?

[Todd McShay]

And he did, man. He did. You could see concerted effort. He realized today's not the day where I'm going to have time to throw, right? Today's the day where I get a win here, I get a win between my ears. I got to make smart decisions and I got to make sure my receivers are on the same page. So now we're going in the quick game. Now he's sliding his protection. Now he's sliding his feet. He's anticipating where the rushers are coming from. I can't wait to watch this tape in full on Monday, because what I saw today was a guy taking the next step in his development, right? So, Doris Sanders, today was what you expect to see in a quarterback who we're talking about in the first round, who was getting his own answers, right, that you talk about quarterbacks.

[Mensch]

We talk about quarterbacks processing. And I think people think about that as post snap. But there's also. How does they. How are they processing what's going on within the game? When you get to the sideline and, you know, we. Every. Every offense goes into a game and says, we run this formation, we expect to get a Cover 3 look, and these are Cover 3 beater. When you line up that week and all of a sudden you're getting quarters or cover two or you're getting zero blitzes or whatever it might be, you then have to adjust. And can you process that information as you're going along? Can you. When your offense coordinator, quarterbacks coach or head coach comes up to you and says, we're not running that anymore, we need to go to plan B. This is our beaters for that coverage. If they. If we get in that formation again and you see this, this is where you need to go. I mean, that's a huge part of playing that position. So it's again, processing during a play, but also within the game.

[Todd McShay]

I thought it was fun to watch, man. And I'm again, I'm excited to watch the tape. But to see Shador, and you got to remember too, like, there hasn't always been a lot of pressure. In the last year or so, there's been a ton of pressure on Shador and like, the national spotlight. But in terms of, like, gotta win this game. Gotta keep our big 12. You know what I mean?

[Mensch]

Like, they're not little brother anymore right now. They're starting to become.

[Todd McShay]

Yeah, and they had a. They had the bye week. They had Pratt. Like, there's a lot of talk now. Everyone's getting kind of reinvigorated with this Colorado product. You come out in the first quarter and things don't look good. And Texas Tech is coming off a big upset. A week before, was it Kansas State. Right. Or Iowa?

[Mensch]

Iowa. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

Iowa State knockoff. Iowa State. Play great defense. So now you're like, oh, is he running into the same buzzsaw Iowa State ran into? And he was for a quarter, but he turned it around and he did it by, by changing the picture and, and working with his staff like you just talked about and figuring out, okay, what are the new answers? Because the answers we prepared for, they're not the right answers because they're different questions we expected, you know.

[Mensch]

Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

So that was awesome to see. By the way.

[Mensch]

BYU is down eight at Utah in the third.

[Todd McShay]

All right, we got a chance to win this pool. This, this. I've been in a pool for 15, 17 years. It's not, I'm not going to get rich. It's not going to like pay mortgage off or help with the kids schools. But like my God, there's a lot of pride in this thing. Like 47 people I've worked with and know like, yeah. And I haven't won one all season.

[Mensch]

So if you would woke if you had, the only thing we could have asked for was a better game tonight. Because if you had woke up today and told me that Indiana would, you know, find a way to beat Michigan, stay undefeated. So for that game in Ohio, said a couple of weeks. Colorado controls its own destiny. You get an Ole Miss upset over Georgia, I mean you get another top five. What else could you ask for today other than a close game tonight? I mean, it was a great Saturday.

[Todd McShay]

It was a great Saturday, man. It was. And just to put a bow on the, on Coach prime and Shador and Travis Hunter and what's going on in Colorado right now, like this thing's real. I told you. They almost lost in North Dakota State, week one. They lost two of their next five games. They've, they kind of, they've turned things around. Shador's, they're on a roll. They've won three straight now if the Buffs win out, they're in the Big 12 title game with a chance to earn a top four seed. We just talked about it. The ACC is going to get probably the third seed and Colorado. Now all of a sudden you're talking about a team that almost lost to North Dakota state and lost two out of five. Could be the four seed in this 12 seed in this 12 team playoffs.

[Mensch]

You better get clap back on here if that happens. I want to. I want to. Yeah. I can't wait to Hear. Hear from him about it.

[Todd McShay]

You'll. You'll be asking about his high school stats. Goodness. All right. Tape. Tape that I want to study. I already talked about a tape that I got to study on Monday. Yours didn't get to see enough of that game. And there was so much going on, so many other, like, important games. It was a freaking blowout. I want to see yours. I want to see if there was a difference or if it was just the same. I saw last time he came out with a lot of short game and easy stuff. There was.

[Mensch]

There was some of that. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

But hopefully there's. I want to see more. More the tape that we need to see Cam Ward go back and actually study that full game. Because I'll be honest, I didn't. I didn't watch the whole game. There were so many other games going on. But I watched the key parts at the end and what I saw, it wasn't that I didn't like what I saw from. From Cam. It was just. But there was some holding on to the ball too long and some things. But the. Yeah, the circumstances dictated it, so there were some passes I'm willing to give, but not until I watched a full tape. And then I just want to go back and watch the full Shador tape too. And hopefully I'm. I'm just as excited on Tuesday when we talk about Shador Sanders as I am right now, because that was. That to me is like kind of the next level stuff that you look for in quarterbacks and their development.

[Mensch]

It's exciting.

[Todd McShay]

Anything else on your mind, Mensch?

[Mensch]

I think we. We hit most of it. I snuck in. Oh, yeah. Guess What?

[Todd McShay]

What?

[Mensch]

Spiders 8th win in a row tonight, Richard. Yeah, they kicked a game winning field goal with 2 seconds left or 1 second left.

[Todd McShay]

See that? You see?

[Mensch]

Yeah. Right behind me, offense coordinator Winston October.

[Todd McShay]

Our guy, Winston.

[Mensch]

Yeah, man, they're rolling.

[Todd McShay]

He's a bad.

[Mensch]

They've gone on a serious roll after losing a couple games early.

[Todd McShay]

Winston, you. You guys win out. You're coming on this podcast.

[Mensch]

That'd be awesome.

[Todd McShay]

I don't care if no. No one tunes in to listen to it with. The three of us will have a lot of fun. Oh, that's awesome. Well, congrats, fighters. Love it. That's it, man. Hey, we'll be back on Tuesday. It won't be live, but we'll have our podcast on Tuesday. You can download it wherever you get your podcasts. Hopefully it's Spotify. We'll be on YouTube as well. And we're every Tuesday, every Thursday. And this is a. We've been doing this for a few weeks now. We had to get the kinks out the first couple of weeks, but this is our first ever live show. We did an hour and 25 minutes. What time is it? It's almost 1am Eastern time.

[Mensch]

I'm not falling asleep tonight. It's gonna be. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

And I do. I do want to rat out Rosillo before we go.

[Mensch]

This should be good. Yeah.

[Todd McShay]

It's like I texted him, hey, come on the show. It's our first ever live. Come on. Five minutes. Send us a video. Like, whatever you want. The game sucked and the ending was horrible. And if you're in Baton Rouge, it's not going to be as fun at night. So I get it. But. But yeah. So we're going to get you back on the show, come hell or high water.

[Mensch]

A little harsh. I mean, it was two weeks ago he was on, wasn't it?

[Todd McShay]

Three, now two. Whatever. I appreciate it. Thanks for joining us.

[Mensch]

What are you doing?

[Todd McShay]

We'll be back next Saturday. Mention the best. We'll talk to you soon.

[Mensch]

Thanks, man. But.

[Todd McShay]

Must be 21. Must be 21+ and present in select states. For Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 + and present in D.C. gambling problem. Call 1-800- gambler or visit RGH help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit Gambling Helpline MA do or call 1-800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPE NY or text Hope NY in New York.