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The McShay Show
Carson Beck's Renaissance, Garrett Nussmeier's Master Class, and Everything Else that Mattered in CFB Week 1
01:14:04
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This is the McShay show, presented by FanDuel, and college football Saturdays are already delivering. Every game means something right now. Rankings shift, upsets hit. And the best place to stay on top of it all. FanDuel. Whether you're riding a noon kickoff or betting the late games, FanDuel lets you bet it your way. Same game parlays, live betting, player props, alt lines. Whatever your angle is, it lives in the app. So if you're watching the action, bet on it with FanDuel. So download the app or head to FanDuel.com McShay and make every Saturday count. 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 or 18 and older and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800- GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut.
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Bundle and safe with Expedia, you were.
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Made to follow your favorite band and.
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From the front row, we were made.
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To quietly save you. More Expedia media made to travel savings.
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Vary and subject to availability.
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Flight inclusive packages are at all protected. It's Labor Day. All right. A labor of love. We've got a jam packed show today. Miami defeats Notre Dame in a top 10 clash. Lenora Sellers on full display in the Gamecocks win. Then I'm going to explain why Nussmeier is setting a whole new bar for college quarterbacks. Plus, we re. We visit the tape right club. Nick Arch and a whole bunch of prospects that popped off in week one. Just 234 days until the NFL draft. M. You good? I'm good, man. All right, let's roll this thing. Lsu, Ohio State, two.
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B
Really?
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A
Yes.
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B
Okay.
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We'll get back to lsu. We'll get back to Garrett. That was a road game at night. Great defense. I saw some special things. I think legitimately you can make a case for LSU at number one. And I think legitimately you can make a case for Ohio State at number one. Certainly one and two. Somewhere in that. Either way you want to put them. Okay.
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Okay.
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But we're coming off of a great game last night. Miami, Notre Dame, so much. I just saw so much different. Both teams positives, mostly some negatives. But. But when I looked at Miami, right, And you just. You kind of look at what they were able to do okay. The. The biggest thing that jumped out to me, and I'll get to the defense in a minute. Carson Beck loves football again. He said it. Those are his words. He fell in love with football again at Miami. We talked about it, man. Georgia isn't for everybody. Miami's not for everybody. Carson Beck fits in this Miami offense, this Miami culture for this Miami team. He didn't fit in Georgia. I saw it with Carson Beck, right? We talked about it, like, on the field, okay? Receivers were. Were having to work for the football every play. It seemed like every time he dropped back to pass, it was like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. I remember last year, in that bye week, he came back, thought he was playing a little looser. Talked to reporters about, like, not every play is the most important play of my life. I've got to play free. He did a little bit, but I never saw him fully. Just with confidence, at ease, relaxed, playing ball, the game he loves, right? And then you get to the off season in Miami, and it's Lamborghinis and Lamborghinis getting stolen. It's. It's social media, dating, you know, one of the Cavender twins. And then it's a breakup. And it, like all the things you don't want your quarterback to be in the headlines for. Then I told you a couple of weeks before the season started, it's like this PR firm came in and it was like, wait, I'm starting to hear out of Miami. Decisive, grinding. Teammates love him playing free and easy and, like, really excited to see what he does on the field because what we've seen in camp has been awesome. And I was, like, kind of nervous going in that game because all the other things I was hearing out of South Bend were defenses dominated, secondary's awesome. Might be the best secondary in the country. So this is now a clash in South Florida, right? Sunday night, prime time, all of it. And Beck wasn't perfect, but I saw a Carson Beck that I kind of had always been wanting to see. And I saw Carson Beck. I don't know if you noticed this match. I'm really curious to get your take. Maybe it was just me. Maybe I hadn't seen him in a minute. Maybe I just had, like, bad memories. Like a bad taste in my mouth about everything. Felt so heavy. His feet were heavy. The. The mood was heavy. He looked light on his feet last night for his size, for. For what I've seen in his mobility. He was moving around a little better. He was making a couple throws. They were risky, but he was doing it because he like moved a little bit and bought himself a split second extra time. And yeah, the receiver makes that unbelievable one handed catch and he threw, made a couple risky throws into coverage, but I just, I, I, and then, but when he took off and ran, I saw a little bit more juice in him. So I'm not saying it was perfect by any stretch, but that's a damn good Notre Dame defense. He's got some playmakers. And by the way, it helps when your receivers catch the ball and make some plays after the catch. I'm telling you, this, this Malachi Tony.
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All right, hold, hold on one second. Because I want to get into the heaviness thing. No, I, I get it. I, I have the same thoughts, by the way. Malako, Malachi Tony is a whole thing. We're going to get into him, but it's talking about the heaviness of the feet. I, I agree with you. Both touchdown throws, good examples of just buying that extra split second under pressure just enough to get that ball off and make those plays. Gutsy throws. I'll add to that. I watched when I was watching his tape at Georgia last year, I specifically wanted to see how he looked after Georgia scored. And why did I want to see that? Because I'd heard all about this. He's not, you know, maybe he's not happy there. How did it end? What's the problem? And he did not look like a happy quarterback at that point. There was some celebrating. There was a lot of not, There was a lot of just like, this is business for me. Just taking care of what I need to. Last night I saw a more emotional kid. Last night. There's a more emotional human being coming out in Carson Beck. And that's not a knock on Georgia. It just is what it is. He needed a change, a change of place. And it seems to be working out for him. Now. I will I'll let you get into Malachi Tony because, I mean, it helps to have a Malachi Tony in your stable receivers, man, he's just a true freshman. It's unbelievable.
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By the way, beginning of the game.
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They said that the Miami coaching staff was like, we're not sure how much we're going to use him tonight. Oh, okay.
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Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were right. Yeah, you were. Knew exactly what you g. Yes, you were. He's, he's different. And, and like, it doesn't take catches. He had six catches.
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It felt like he had 20. Sorry. I told you I was going to let you talk.
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No, I'm just saying like it doesn't take long. It takes a while to figure out who's good and who the young guys are and all that. But when, when a, when a young man is. Is different, it doesn't take long. No, it took like two or three plays because I, I saw like first couple plays and I'm like oh this guy might be different. And then he kept. And he was doing more and I was like oh yeah, he's different. And so now you got Beck playing like light and free and easy and, and honestly like Notre Dame defensively and accurate.
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Right.
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Receivers weren't grinding to make catches. Maybe the receivers at Georgia just weren't and, and May. And we know that they all not all a couple couple few of them struggled with, with catching the football consistently.
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Right.
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I think that offense is just tailored to. We're going to run the football and the play action off of it and it's not as like open and free and and you know the other part too with the decisiveness from Beck that I saw there verse. I just have visions of all the tape we watched on Beck and it's like play action, top of drop going through reads but like kind of holding onto the ball and like wasn't just never felt like he was like got this bang. I think part of the reason why he's got so much more control at the line of scrimmage. You know what lets you be decisive as a quarterback is when you get up to the line you can check out of a play that doesn't appear to be working based off of the what you're seeing from the defense. You can set your protections. You can. Because then you have a confidence in your mind.
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Exactly.
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When that ball hits my hand from the snap, I know where I want to go with it. And if that's the answer to the test.
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Yep.
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And even if you don't have the answer, it's hard to explain. But even if you don't have the answer, even if the answer is wrong based off of the pre snap read, at least it was your. You chose the road you were going down. You know what I mean? And you're. And you're comfortable going into this neighborhood and you know if there's a detour where to take the left to get around it. You know what I mean? Versus when, when, when you're in a. When you get. You land in some town because you're going to a small college football town and there's a detour. This is pre obviously GPS and everything Else. But there's a detour now. You're like, oh, I don't know, if I take that left, will it come back around? You know? So I just, I saw a different version of Carson Beck. And by the way, Carson Beck, I think we all forgot he's pretty talented. NFL scouts I talked to and we will like if he, if he gets better in 2024 off of the 2023 tape, he might be a top 10 pick. So now we've got this class, right, of Garrett Nussmeier, who we'll get to in a little bit because I, I'm. There's some fun there. Cade Klubnick, Lenora Sellers, Maybe this year, maybe 2027, he did some special things. And I know you've got some stuff you want to get to. John Matier continuing to blow up and the legend that is Matier. And I'm probably. And Mendoza at Indiana, right? Drew Aller, Penn State. So you got all these guys and remember, like, everyone was, everyone was kind of in our comments section sending me social media, like, what about Carson Beck, Sam Levitt? Like, we got to all those guys in the preseason, did deep dive breakdowns on them. I was like, let's just hold off on Beck. I don't know. Like he's. Lamborghinis are getting stolen, public breakups. Georgia didn't end well. Let him go. Let's. I'm just going to step back from Beck and let's see what. Well, now I'm like, okay, I'm in. I'm not saying I'm in like he's top three, top four quarterback. I'm saying, like, I am now very interested in the product on the field that Beck put out there against a Chris Ash defense for Notre Dame that had an excellent camp that, by the way, give Notre Dame a lot of credit. Made adjustments in the second half, mixed up some coverages, and I think Miami kind of took foot off the gas a little bit offensively. But I also know Notre Dame kind of forced them into a lot of things and forced them to be uncomfortable. And it's not the result you want if you're a Notre Dame fan. But my goodness, like the one thing that, that did transition from 24 to 25, they, they are tough, they are physical and they got some fight in them.
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Yeah, they're a reflection of their head coach. They have, they are unconscious in terms of the scoreboard. I mean, they were down 10 and that game looked like it was, it was over and they just battle back, make plays, find A way to get. Get the score tied. And really, you know, your young quarterback who battled all night, this is. I was. I kept watching that game last night. I was like, I'd love a rematch. I would love a rematch because a couple of things. Do you think that C.J. carr is going to have two intentional grounding penalties? That offensive line, as good as it was, and they made. They. They recognize it on the broadcast. We're laboring in that heat and humidity a little bit. They got to get the running backs more involved, which I think you want to talk about. And they started to do that with Jeremiah Love in the passing game, but they had to get more. More touches for him. So I was like, I would love to see a rematch. The flip side, if I'm a Miami van, I'm like, yeah, that's fine. We'll do a rematch. Because we had some costly penalties. We kind of kicked ourselves in the foot. Like, you know, we. We. The running back falling on the. On the third and short. There was a couple of things that they did that, you know, that game could have gotten away. It could have been more of a lopsided win for Miami. So I would love to see a rematch. Those are two damn good teams. Really good teams. The other thing I will say really quickly, I love the Notre Dame corners. They're kind of more pro corners. And what I mean by that is that they. They match up better with bigger receivers on the outside. And when you give them a Malachi, Tony, who is like, you know, I don't know your sound effects. You can do the sound effects, but he's like in and out. Yeah, he's so quick in and out that it. That's not really what they do. I think they're actually more built for the program. They're more built to match up with those big talented outside receivers and m. So they don't. That secondary, as good as it is, that was a real challenge for them last night. That's not the kind of passing game that they're really built to slow down. And again, they adjusted. They did a great job.
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Do you remember as an Andover, Massachusetts kid when you got parents dropped you off at University of Richmond and we had two a days in August. Do you remember that? Because I. I didn't want to talk about it even to my. My. My Masshole friends. Like, we had plenty of Massachusetts kids that came down to Richmond because Jim Reed recruited a BC and bunch of guys. I did. I was too embarrassed to talk and I was playing quarterback. It was like as an offensive lineman carrying that weight like. So I'm just, I'm not excusing anything, but when you go down to that heat in the south and they have storm roll through before and so like the heavy wet air. So. Yeah, I don't disagree.
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People, people don't believe me. They used to have, when we were at Richmond, again, this is Richmond, not Miami. We would go in and you'd have to weigh yourself before practice, remember yourself after practice. You had to do it like you couldn't practice unless you did it because.
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For medical insurance reasons. Yeah.
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People would lose 12, 14 pounds and then they'd have to come in and weigh in for the second practice. And if you hadn't gotten that water weight back, they sat you, you couldn't go back in. I'm, I'm talking double digit weight sometimes for people.
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It was in a two hour practice. Yeah. Right. So. And I don't want to go on the whole show. Not. But I did find it interesting. And, and I'm, this is why I'm, I love the big game. First game and then watching like everyone's like Notre Dame this and, and Clemson this and Texas this. But watch like the adjustments because you got to remember they're scrimmaging, they're practicing. Like there's no preseason to work out. Some kinks you jump into like, like face first, diving into the ultra deep end, right. And then you go back and you watch the tape and you're like, this is what we, this, these are the mistakes we made as a coaching staff. These are the, these are the, the limitations that we have that maybe we didn't recognize in camp from a personnel standpoint. Like Mike Dembrock is a damn good coach on offense. He's going to get some things figured out. I got to imagine whether it's, it's that Menchi kid coming in and doing some of that running in certain situations instead of CJ Carr, or just eliminating some of that Riley Leonard stuff that he was doing again last night. With a quarterback that doesn't have Riley Leonard mobility.
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Malachi feels involved a little bit more as the game went on. That kid can play, man, I'm telling you.
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But I mean, Den Brock, like Stanford, Washington, okay, lsu, he's, he's, he's turned around a lot of guys. My guess is the C.J. carr that we saw and the offense that we saw last night is going to be a lot different. I was confused. I didn't know maybe because I was kind of. I had to pop in and out For a couple things real quickly, I didn't know if, like, there was an injury with Jeremiah Love or what exactly was going on, but for Love and Price to finish that game with 16 combined touches. Is that right? That's.
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That's double check right now. Yeah. 16 combined, Jeremiah live 110 for 33.
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And I get it. The defense for Miami is much improved. The defense from Miami was like, we're stopping him. But that's going to be like, that's going to be every defense's thing this year. So they. There's got to be a little bit more creativity to get the ball in his hands.
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That Miami front's going to be so good. Remember the kid David Blade that we're talking about? That. The transfer? He was outraged. The defensive tackle was outrageous. The two edge guys, most notable, had a great night.
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Not just every time I look.
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No, no, no. Unbelievable night. And then that kid Torte had, you know, he had a couple down snaps with the linebacker Torre. He could play, too, man. He is. He is a heavy hitter. That's a good front that I told you.
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In the preseason. One of the things I was really looking forward to was the culture that Corey Heatherman, the new defensive coordinator, was going to bring as like a P.A. you know, like, he. He coached it in Maine. A western New England quarterback, Old Dominion. I get Northeast guy, goes to the Midwest, Minnesota, Rutgers, and gets all that talent now and the discipline and the toughness. You saw that defense, obviously more talented than a year ago, but playing with an edge now. That's a good Miami football team.
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B
It's a good team, man.
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A
All right, quickly, I want to touch on South Carolina, and I'm going to let you take this because I. We both love Lenora Sellers. Lenora Sellers. Like, he is developing. He's not there yet. There's a lot of development still to go. But my goodness, like, if you forgot about how big, strong, fast, and the big arm that he has, and he's 20 years old, like, there's some special things. I'm curious, though, what your take is on Sellers and F. A little sloppy for South Carolina, but what did you see from Sellers? Because that's kind of your guy that you're really excited to see. All right, let's get the.
- [19:43]
B
The negative out of the way. The safety was bad. When he lowered his eyes and took off, it wasn't there. The. The. I think he had someone in the flat or the hook curl. He had someone he could have got that ball to. He needs to get that ball out of his hands, he can't take the safety there. And he was a little inconsistent throughout the game. But watch the Norris Sellers in the fourth quarter because this is coming becoming a theme. And I know, I know they should have beat Illinois in the bowl game and he missed a. Just a bunny at the end of the Illinois game that would have given the South Carolina that win. And I get it. But look at Missouri last year and how he played at the end of that game. Look at Clemson how he played at the end of the game. And now what does he do at the end of this game? It's a little closer with Virginia Tech than everyone thinks. He, you know, they're only up I think six points at the time. And what's he do? He throws a 64 yard dart, just perfect pass to Nick harbor. Touchdown. Now it's a 13 point. Then they get the ball back. And this is, this was my favorite stat of the weekend. It doesn't even like make sense. They get the ball back and he basically just ends the game. He had a 16 yard scramble that was insane. He broke like three tackles. McShay, he was like just shedding dudes and he does this in a normal.
- [20:48]
A
On like a, like it's just, just.
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B
Another day at the office for Lenora. Sellers has a 16 yard scramble that you know, extends the drive. They get to fourth and five. He gets six yards. They had. This is, I'm not kidding, this is their last drive was a 10 play, 17 yard drive that took 4 minutes and 43 seconds to end the game. That's such A weird stat. 10 plays, 17 yards, 4 minutes and 43 seconds.
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Yeah. How do you do that?
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Because you kneel, you get a first down, you get two first downs, but you also lose yards. It's, it is a bizarre, bizarre statistic. But again this kid is taking over. I'm seeing it consistently now. In three of the last four, there's Wolford was in there. He, that was a blowout. But three of the last four meaningful games that they've played. When it matters most, this kid is making plays. Whether it's with his feet against Clemson last year, whether it's against his arm in this game with that, that ball to harbor, he is just making plays when it matters most and he's still developing as a passer. I get this. But this K, this kid's a winner. This kid is figuring out ways to win games and it's exciting to watch him go forward especially because when we looked at two other prospects and I think that they Were disappointing were Arch Manning in Texas and Kate Clubnick and Clemson when they needed to make a play, when it was really on the line, they didn't take advantage of that opportunity this weekend. Maybe they do going forward and we'll see how that goes. But they didn't pass that test the way that I want them to pass that test to start the year.
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Little different defenses that we're going up against. But yes, I agree.
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No question. That's fair.
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I was. I was encouraged by Nick Harbor. Still a work in progress.
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Me too, man.
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But is that a catch? Did you see that? Yeah. Yes, it's a catch. What are we doing?
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B
What are we doing?
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A
I get it. I've sat in so many referee meetings and in the college football meetings in the preseason and, like, they get graded just like you guys. An offensive lineman get graded or quarterback gets. So, like, they have to. Great. They have to make calls based off of the. The letter of the law because it's their job and that's what they're, you know. So I oftentimes don't even blame the referee. But like, when you see a young man with those big hands catch the ball secured, like, couple steps and yeah, like, pulls it in and he's like this tall, lanky guy who, like, it felt like three minutes later he finally went to the ground, like, what are we doing? There's a spirit of the law, and I don't know how the language has to be written in that. Somebody else's job, but do your job better because I'm seeing way too many clear catches. Ball is possessed when they're inbounds, when it matters. And now we're three, five yards out of bounds at the end of the play, like, out of the end zone, and there's like a little shift in the ball, like, what the are we doing? Do you know what? Like, it is maddening. It is.
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B
Less points.
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A
Give me more points.
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B
Everyone likes points, man.
- [23:52]
A
And keep it fair, keep it reasonable. But, like, that's reasonable. So I. I don't know. Nick harbor is just different, man. He's 65235, track star, playing football last year and commits to football in the off season, first year not doing track in the spring. Reports out of Columbia were he's getting better. And you know what? He is getting better still, like, needs more experience, needs more practice, maybe needs another year, whatever it is. But he runs in, like, the four threes, low four, I think four threes, man.
- [24:27]
B
It's insane.
- [24:27]
A
It's like a. It's like a DK Metcalf, and he's just a pup and he's learning, but he went three for 99. Okay. With a touchdown. And it could have been four for. I don't know exactly. You know, over a hundred with two touchdowns.
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B
Right.
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A
So I'm really encouraged because last year I saw the physical tools. I didn't see the football. This year, the physical tools are still there and getting better, and I'm seeing more of the football, you know, so I agree. That's exciting. South Carolina clearly right now is not at the level of some of the other teams we've talked about. And, you know, even Notre Dame with the loss. Miami, lsu, Clemson, Texas, Ohio State. But I think a lot of people were just kind of counting them out. And I think Sellers is. Sellers is dangerous enough.
- [25:18]
B
Yeah.
- [25:19]
A
I wouldn't overlook this South Carolina team. I'm not talking national championship. I'm talking, like, ups. Couple upsets in the mix again.
- [25:28]
B
Yeah.
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A
In the. Kind of. Right in that same area. They were potentially the other one.
- [25:32]
B
I just want to say this really quickly. I thought Dylan Stewart, the edge for South Carolina, who's super talented. I think he looks a little thicker this year. I thought he looked run down. At the end of last year, he was a little lean. This year he looks a little thicker. He looks. He looked explosive at times in that game. I'm excited to watch him this year.
- [25:48]
A
I agree. The McShay show is brought to you by FanDuel. Ready to fire up your Saturdays? FanDuel's got a boost you don't want to miss. It's called boosting with the boys, and it's giving everyone a college football profit boost every single week. I got a couple things for you here. How about these Heisman futures? Tommy Castellanos came in at plus 5,000. Now he's down to plus 3,000. Still, unbelievable money. What I saw was special. It's a long shot, and I got to go back to Garrett Nussmeier. Still plus 800. There's some good money there. I think Nuss Meyer played at a level I haven't seen a long time in college football at the quarterback position. Each week, we're giving everyone a profit boost to use on college football. No opt in gymnastics. No invite only. Nonsense. Everyone gets the boost. We're talking real games, real teams, real Saturdays with an extra payout on the line. It's easy, it's fun, and it's only on FanDuel. Go to FanDuel.com McShay to download the app. Check out the boostin with the boys offer and get in on the action. Must be 21 and older and present in select states or 18 and older and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt in required bonus issued as non withdrawable profit boost tokens. Restrictions apply including any token expiration and max wager amount. See terms@sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut.
- [27:31]
B
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- [28:00]
A
I went back and watched Nussmeier yesterday. I mean, I watched the Clemson, LSU tape.
- [28:05]
B
I know. You know? I know because I get the McShay report.
- [28:08]
A
Thank you.
- [28:09]
B
If you got the McShay report, you would be informed about this discussion right now. You would know a little. You would have a little more detail about what's coming.
- [28:16]
A
We did get a. We did get a really good. Let me read this real quick. This. It's not.
- [28:21]
B
I can tell how excited you are reading this.
- [28:23]
A
Well, no, no, this is nice. Every once. Like we get killed. You know, people. People in this business get killed all the time. Right? John C. Wrote us a really nice from. He's a subscriber to the McShay Report. Let John do the. The selling. By the way. Google it. The McShay Report. Subscribe for free. Today's September 1st is this year. This is the last day you can get 50% off if you want to become a premium subscriber. Anyway, hey guys, I wanted to re. It's like kind of funny. I wanted to reach out with no. With no question, but to let you know the impact you've had Today while watching the games, my wife got me. My wife got irritated with me. We can all relate because I knew so many players across the. Across every game and I told her where I thought they were going to be drafted and was very critical of their play. She didn't love it, but damn it, damn it, I did. Thanks for everything. Thanks, John. See, that's what we're trying to do break up marriages and inform you.
- [29:21]
B
Oh, man, oh, man.
- [29:27]
A
So the Nussmeier thing, I'm not going to go into this deep long. You can go read it in the McShay report. I just want to share with you. We've been doing this for a minute. More like a couple and a half decades we've been doing this. I was kind of blown away and it takes a lot to blow me away. Garrett Nussmeier was really good last year, and we know his dad was an NFL quarterback and quarterback coach and now offensive coordinator. We know all those things and we saw some of those things in his game last year. And there's a couple places I want to go with this. Nussmeier last year showed a lot of those flashes. Nuss. Nussmeier. This year it's watching an NFL quarterback who gets an opportunity to go back to college and play a season. And I'm not even talking about. He looks lighter on his feet. I love his mobility. I think he's doing a great job negotiating pressure, like, phenomenal. I went into a lot of those things, throwing the ball accurately, making better decisions, all of that stuff, what he was doing. Men, pre snap and credit lsu. They recognized we got on the road. On the road in a tough environmental environment. First game of the year, they are revved up and lubed up for a night game.
- [30:49]
B
Yep.
- [30:51]
A
And LSU is like, yeah, we trust our guy. I know it's loud, but we trust our guy. They're going hurry up. To not go hurry up. They're getting back to the line of scripture. What does that do? It keeps you in your personnel defensively. So if you came out nickel on this on, on first down, you better be prepared to stay in nickel. If you came out in dime, you better be prepared to stay in dimension. If they catch us in a personnel, they can keep us in that personnel grouping by going, going back to the line of scrimmage in a flash, getting up there and instead of the old like, check with me and all the signs and all that stuff and maybe they did some of that. But I was watching the coach copy tape. It was nice. Nas gets up the line, he's like, okay, got it. Personnel grouping. Single high. Too high. Safety, let's move. He's now I get the setting protections. A lot of guys do that setting protections. But then the motions. Watch the pre snap motions. Moving forward this season. If you're a football fan, can I.
- [31:56]
B
Just mention one thing before you move on, because you mentioned the protections. He's doing that all with a relatively inexperienced offensive line. Again, on the road. The fact that you're looking at that, that offensive line, that rebuilt offensive line that's playing in front of him, and he's getting them all on the same page. And by the way, I just got to say it. Credit all the credit in the world to those five guys. They played their asses off. They were really good spot. They played really well. No breakdowns that I saw. It's just impressive that the quarterback and his. His, again, relatively inexperienced offensive line were on the same page like that in that environment in week one is incredible to me.
- [32:34]
A
And so he's getting the line of scrimmage with all that noise, communicating to that offensive line, which is you got to communicate well. And then, like you said, a young offensive line. And then the motions, it's like, okay, we're going to. We're going to move this guy over and watch his eyes. If you want to get a little bit. I don't want to say smarter. It's like condescending. If you want to kind of get a peek into what's going on. He calls for emotion. Watch his helmet. He's not watching, you know, the time. He's now surveying. Okay, so it went. So these are the safeties, right? Okay. Motion. He's got a tight end, let's say, coming over. He's watching. It's kind of like this. And then he's like, okay, you get another motion. And now. Now it's like this, right? And he's like. He's like, all right. And then it's like five seconds left on the clock. And then he's like, running back, swap right to left. And then when he. If you watch the running back, he. It would be right before he snapped. So what does that do? Prevents green dogs, like the linebackers blitzing off, you know, to where the running back is with. If the running back doesn't come out. If the running back goes out as a receiver, I cover him. If he stays in, I blitz it. Also, like, by doing that, they don't. It gives them. Gives the defense no time. Now it's like, I know he's. So when you're setting protections, who are your danger guys?
- [33:58]
B
Okay, right. Who's the most dangerous guy? Yep.
- [34:00]
A
Or the danger. So I've got. Now, depending. If you get eight in the bus, there's eight guys who. Who are threats. So you set your protection. Whether you fan it, you, you know, overload at one side, and then you've got that set, and then there's a. There's this like numbers game that goes on real quickly in your head, right? There's four, there's four there. I've got a guard and a tight and a tackle to my right. I've got my back on my left side. So let's motion in a tight end and then right before I snap, let's, let's swap the back. You're like. And then bang, snap, right. He's doing all that like in a 10 second span, hostile environment. And now he knows the coverage. He's, he, by, by doing the motion, he's figured out okay, they're, they're showing too high. But it's really going to be a cover three or four because he's motioned him around, he's gotten called zone man to man, all that stuff. And then he set his protection right the very last second. All right, let's go. And you could see it, the ball snapped. He knows where he wants to go with the ball. And by the way, the biggest difference in this game, lsu Clemson for me, quarterback play was awesome for lsu. Flashes for club Nick and we can get to him in a minute. LSU protected. Clemson did. Yeah, yeah, true.
- [35:21]
B
And we've talked about play callers a fair amount so far this year. Right. And, and I'm gonna, I didn't mention his name and I, I was blanking. But the co. Offense coordinator, Joe, Joe Sloan for lsu, who is their play caller. One of the things that allows Nuss Miner to do that is getting the play in, get the play in, get them up to the line. Great thing. Go. You know, let him, give him the play really quickly, let him cook, put him in a position.
- [35:42]
A
Then he knows what the checks are off of that play, you know.
- [35:45]
B
Yeah, exactly. Like here's, here's the formation. This is what we think we. Like this is. I'm, I'm giving you the ingredients to whatever you want to make. Here it is. And we're going to go quick. We're going to go quick. So when you get to the line of scrimmage, it's not, oh, oh, there's six seconds left on the clock.
- [36:02]
A
You know what I mean?
- [36:03]
B
It's, it's. Everyone set, everyone can identify like the offensive line can identify the front. They can get set, then they can get the. It's, it's just, it's a, it's a collaboration of.
- [36:13]
A
That's why Mahomes does this all the time. And it's. People think it's annoying. Yeah, you're right. It's a nervous Like Twitch or whatever. That's get me the play so. So that I can go do the things that. That I do really well right next play.
- [36:25]
B
I can't worry about this. I can't. Whatever. I will say one thing that I got to tell say about Nussmar that I knew it drove me nuts. He got. Someone compared him to Romo and it was so weird because I saw Romo interview recently and I don't know if it was a commercial, but they asked him what his favorite play was and he talked about the back shoulder goal line fade to DEZ Bryant and how you cannot defend it if the quarterback and the receiver on the same frame and on the same page and you have a big receiver and I'm watching that LSU game and what do they do? They take Tez Green the. Just the tight end, they isolate him on the left side and Nussm. Just like that, catches the ball, throws it right to him. You can't defend it. And it was just. It was. That was ex. It was like watching Romo to DEZ Bryan. It would nuss Meyer to Green in that goal line. Good luck with that, by the way. You can watch all the tape you want in the world. Good luck with that.
- [37:18]
A
Yeah, you might. You.
- [37:19]
B
If you're. If you're Ohio State, you're putting sunny styles out there and that's what you're hoping you can. There's. You have to have a unique athlete to defend that play and there's not a lot of teams in the country that can do it.
- [37:30]
A
I'm telling you, I. I watched a young man grow like. Like it wasn't overnight. It's been the course of his lifetime. It was an off season to refine and go back and self. Self scout Garrett Nussmeier and you have to assume this is going to continue if he can do it on the road against Clemson in the first game of the year with, with as you touched on the. A fresh, you know, young pups in the offensive line, maybe not young but inexperienced offensive line, some new faces at receiver. If he can do that in that moment, it should from a mental standpoint. I'm just saying all the results are going to be better, but from a mental standpoint, only continue to get better. Okay. Garrett Nussmeier is setting a new bar for what elite elite looks like in terms of the mental game at the quarterback position. I got like maybe Andrew Luck, like you got to go back.
- [38:31]
B
That's how I was thinking.
- [38:32]
A
Yeah, I'm talking about the mental part. What he's handling what is on his plate mentally is so unique and so special as an nf, as an NFL evaluator, you're looking at this and you're saying, yeah, Club Nick's bigger. He's got a. Maybe a better arm. He's more mobile. Lenora Sellers is special. He's big, he's fast, he's strong. He's all these things. Physically, he's got a huge arm. Drew Aller is a big, strong arm quarterback. You got all these guys with these physical traits. Nuss Meyer's physical traits are good, but the way he controls a game mentally and the timing of as a passer and the ball placement, even his misses. Not all of them, but I saw a handful of his misses. He put the ball in the right place. Like that first quarter incompletion to his big six foot seven, as the kids would say. Six, seven tight end trade as Green, right?
- [39:37]
B
Yeah, that.
- [39:38]
A
Green got tangled up and couldn't get back. But if Green gets out of that clean from the defensive back, that ball's back shoulder where it's supposed to be. Some of his misses, the balls were put in the right place. It's hard to watch that tape, Steve. It's hard to watch that LSU Clemson tape and say Garrett Nussmeier is not the top quarterback in this NFL draft class.
- [40:06]
B
But Todd, you're gonna. You said his, his tools are good. What does that mean? How good are they? Because I'm going to tell you right now.
- [40:15]
A
Well, he's not the biggest quarterback in the world. I liked his mobility like you. It's functional quarterback mobility and sliding, moving, climbing. I saw a little bit more juice in his feet, but he's not, certainly not Sellers. He's not Club Nick. He's not going to take off and run like some of these other guys. He's got a good arm. Not Elite, not Drew Aller, not Sellers, not even Club Nick. In terms of like, when he rips it, it's good, but it's not elite. But you know what? Tom Brady was the same way. Yeah, Peyton Manning was the same way. He's not as big as those guys, but he's more mobile. Like, I'm not. Here's what I know. That's rare. I'm just saying.
- [40:59]
B
Yes, here's my pushback. You're talking about Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, two of the best that ever played the game. They were. I mean, Brady played really well until the end.
- [41:08]
A
Drew Brees, this.
- [41:09]
B
Yeah, but these are guys were. This was. These are guys that played years ago. Todd, these are. This is a. There's a different. There's a different model.
- [41:15]
A
Baker Mayfield.
- [41:17]
B
There is. You think he moves like Baker Mayfield? He doesn't move like Baker Mayfield.
- [41:22]
A
Not quite, but I'm see. But Baker Mayfield was not the biggest guy. Not the.
- [41:28]
B
No, he's not the biggest guy.
- [41:29]
A
He's a little thicker.
- [41:30]
B
I would say. I would say he's a little more well built than Nuss Myers and was in college. I mean, I'm just. I'm pushing back. I listen. That tape's awesome. And I love.
- [41:41]
A
We have until April to figure all this out. I'm just saying I. I think that's.
- [41:46]
B
Going to be an interesting conversation that unfolds because mentally there no holes so far. I mean that in one performance, but in a tough situation against a really good defense, I think.
- [41:57]
A
And they only scored 17 points. I can hear people yelling at me already like, I get it. Yeah.
- [42:01]
B
But he was pretty damn good, man. I mean he was pretty damn.
- [42:04]
A
And by the way, that defense is awesome.
- [42:08]
B
Yes.
- [42:09]
A
And then that's Tom Allen coming in. And that defensive line is deep with two top 10 prospects and Peter woods and TJ Parker.
- [42:17]
B
You got better than I thought. By the way. He did play better than I thought.
- [42:20]
A
I agree. I'm glad you said not as.
- [42:22]
B
Not as deep. By the way. The depth guys need to step up a little bit. Those two defensive tackles that they're relying on, Cape Heart and Green did not play as well. They gotta. They kind of got to step up. But go ahead.
- [42:32]
A
We saw that on tape coming in the linebacker, Sammy Brown. Awesome.
- [42:37]
B
Yes.
- [42:38]
A
Right. What as we know what he is good, good college player. Day three prospect. But my point is that to do it against that defense first game, young offensive line, weapons you haven't had forever. Not necessarily all like forget the 17 points. It's. Watch the tape. That. That stuff was special. And I'm telling you right now, LSU if with that defense like, like that defense played really well against club Nick and I know that Antonio Williams came up, came out of the game early. But that defense with Blake Baker, the defensive coordinator went from to middling and up and down. 23, 24, middle age.
- [43:26]
B
How you really feel, man?
- [43:28]
A
25. Like this is a really good defense.
- [43:31]
B
Yeah, man.
- [43:32]
A
This is what I kind of thought Alabama might trot out with. And it's not even close. Right.
- [43:36]
B
Like just.
- [43:37]
A
Just evaluating one game. That's a really good. This LSU team deserves to be if not 1, then 2 in the rankings this week.
- [43:47]
B
I don't Hate it.
- [43:48]
A
I'm just saying I don't hate it.
- [43:51]
B
Want to talk about Clubnic real quick because it kind of ties into some of the stuff that Blake Baker did. I thought Clubnick was up and down and Brian Kelly, I said this Saturday night, but Brian Kelly came into that game and said we want to keep him in the pocket. And I thought that was an interesting comment right out of the gate. And when they had a hard time keeping him in the pocket, Clubnick was making plays. And then when he, when they, when he couldn't get out and make plays on the move, that's when he started to struggle. And you saw that he has a tendency in big moments to get out to his right more quicker than he needs to. And it was, and it was the last play of the game. I mean Blake Baker, I mean that, that call is perfect. It's understanding your personnel, it's understanding the tendency of the quarterback, it's understanding the moment. What he does in that play, on that play is there's a four man rush and it looks like Clubnik, if he's looking to his right, he thinks the force defenders inside and that he can just roll out. But what Baker did was had Harold Perkins from the opposite side of the formation come looping around so that when Clubnick did step up, oh my God, here comes Perkins who by the way.
- [44:57]
A
And it looks like he was running a 4:2. I was just gonna say that for two speed because that closing burst, I.
- [45:06]
B
I swear to you, I was just about to say that I, I want to know how fast this kid is. He was flying, flying, flying. For a guy who's an edge now he's playing star, but he was an edge at one point in his career. He was moving in that play, he, he baited Klemnik, he said, oh no, you go, you can go out here, go ahead, go do like that, right? And he's like, oh, I can, I'll, I'll go do it. And here comes Perkins, like, I'll shut that door on you.
- [45:33]
A
And he came from around here to this. Yes.
- [45:39]
B
Right opposite side.
- [45:41]
A
Yes.
- [45:42]
B
That pre snap read is. Oh, there's, we have to identify. I, they said it during the broadcast, it looked like it was happening. They were identifying where Perkins was every snap. Where is he? We need to know where he is right now. So they were trying to find him and he looks over his left, he's like, oh, I'm good, I'm good. He's over there. I can't believe they're giving me this and then it looks like that, that that end is inside. And he's like, oh my God, I can just run for this. And nope, they shut the door. And then the play before, we texted about it last night, the play before, he stays on his first read too long. He has a slot wide open. They win the game. He looks to his right and throws it to the slot.
- [46:16]
A
Again, I don't. I'm not comparing. Yeah, I am comparing the two. I mean, it would be hard to imagine Nussmire where he is mentally. That would have not figured that, that concept out. Defensively, it was a bust on third down. Yeah, it was a bust in coverage. They had. It was two over three.
- [46:37]
B
Yeah. It's a numbers game in lsu.
- [46:40]
A
Had two defensive backs over three receivers. So they had the outside guy covered. They had the two covered. They didn't have the slot covered.
- [46:54]
B
Yeah.
- [46:55]
A
Unfortunately, Club Nick made a predetermined pre snap read. And what. So it was, it was, it was three by one. You got, you got three to. I'm trying to work within the camera on the left. And then three to your right and one to your, to your left. Yeah. And Wesco was the, was the single right. Yeah, to his left side. Predetermined read. But with these three, there were only two defensive backs on top. And so. But he locked into that. To the left side. To the left side. And you know what's interesting about that.
- [47:27]
B
Now that I think about it?
- [47:28]
A
What?
- [47:29]
B
Guess who he saw when he looked over to his right. Perkins. I wonder if they were just like, we're going away from Perkins. I, it's, it's. To me, it's a fascinating chess match that went down there because he looked over to his right and if you watch that, that Perkins kind of steps up and.
- [47:44]
A
Well, there was a timeout early. There was a timeout early in the game, remember, because that was, that was her being Fowler. Right.
- [47:50]
B
Yeah.
- [47:51]
A
Yeah. There was a timeout early in the game and, and they were like something, something about Clemson had to call a timeout because they were struggling with where, where Perkins was. And it, and it, like it's not what they wanted to do. And they had the tight end there. I, I actually didn't. I was studying so many other elements and I put a lot of time into Nussmeier and spent a decent amount of time on Club Nick, but wasn't watching for that specific play. Talking about like how just his mere presence, force comes in into a timeout.
- [48:26]
B
Yeah.
- [48:26]
A
So I'd have to go back and confirm that that's actually true. I'm sure if they said it, that they, they had information. But my point is we saw Harold Perkins in 2023 and he was just a pup, but he was destroying offenses and ruining game plans. And that Arkansas game is burnt into my mind. Four tack, four sacks, like seven tackles for loss, single handedly. It's rare to see a defensive player, let alone a true freshman, win a game for you. And he did. And then he comes out in 2024 and he's playing off the ball linebacker. It was a key, you know, reading his key, locating the ball traffic. And he just. It wasn't for him. And you told me. And then he gets hurt or early in the season.
- [49:10]
B
Yeah, it doesn't really get.
- [49:11]
A
So he doesn't have time to like, you know. And then you tell the great story of he goes into the office defensive coordinator, right?
- [49:20]
B
And.
- [49:21]
A
And Blake Baker's like, what do you. What do you. How do you want me to use you? Like, where are you most comfortable? And he says, what?
- [49:28]
B
Wherever you want me, coach. I'll play wherever you want me. And that's exactly what you want your players to say. And good on Blake Baker for being like, no, Harold, where do you think you'll be the best? Like, I need you to tell me. He's like, I want to play star. Well, it seems like it's working out pretty well so far. I mean, it's. Yeah, it's by the way, in Klubnick too. He just has this thing where he wants to go right. He does. And they were on it. They knew it before the game. They started looping linebackers. They made it real difficult for him to do that as that game progressed because he had some success early on. I will say that the game, the throw he made with 148 left in the fourth quarter, they're down seven. He's trying to go for a score. He. There's a too high look. He throws a whole ball with a defender right in his face. And I was like, there it is. It was an unbelievable throw. There it is. That's what you can do. You need to start doing that. Start taking advantage of space. Start climbing the pocket instead of evacuating so quickly. He can do it. I thought he settled down.
- [50:21]
A
Oh, he absolutely right.
- [50:23]
B
So there was some really good stuff from club Nick. The numbers weren't great at the end and he didn't. Those two players.
- [50:28]
A
He actually played a little bit better than I, than I kind of thought watching the tv. There were some. There were Some things that he did where I'm like, you know what? Like, yeah, he, he's, he's one of the, the guys. Like, there's no question, I'm not like getting, and there's no concern here. I, I, I don't like making excuses, but like, it's the first game of the year. Antonio Williams goes out early. I didn't see, I was looking for it on tape. I didn't see where the injury occurred.
- [50:54]
B
I saw it, it was, it was early on. He went, he ran a route over the middle and you could see him grab the leg.
- [51:00]
A
Okay.
- [51:00]
B
Yeah.
- [51:01]
A
But it wasn't like a major contact thing, right?
- [51:03]
B
No, it was non contact. It just looks like hamster. It looks soft issue. Yeah, that offensive line is. And I said this going in the season.
- [51:11]
A
You did myself on the back.
- [51:12]
B
Experience all you want. They were overmatched physically. They were not ready for that.
- [51:17]
A
And I think, man, how many times are they going to blitz that B gap with the guard, with the guard helping out the center on a, on a defensive tackle?
- [51:24]
B
Come on, man.
- [51:24]
A
They saw, they saw that off of last year's tape. LSU did. So credit to Blake Baker and that staff for LSU because they, they were killing them in the first, that first series.
- [51:35]
B
It was running back. The Clemson running back. Remember wide receiver? Yeah. Terrell. He cannot pass block. He might get there, but right now.
- [51:45]
A
He doesn't, it's not, but he doesn't even know where to go. Exactly.
- [51:49]
B
It's not a toughness issue. You're looking at him saying like, dude, you're soft. He is, I don't want to say lost because I think that's, that's, that's, he's just green. You're right. He's green. He's getting, he's trying to understand where he needs to be protection wise. And LSU took advantage a couple times. And that's, that's all stuff that Club Nick has to deal with. He, when you, you know, we talk about it with nuss. When you, you set your predictions and you think a guy isn't accounted for and then he's not. Now you have problems. Now you, you know, and then can you trust it and all of that stuff. So that was going on in that game too.
- [52:20]
A
One other guy I want to mention I thought was awesome. Mansoor Delane. And we talked about it a little bit on Saturday night. I, I watched on tape every, by the way, physical, smooth, fluid, freaking confident. Like, your cornerbacks have to be smart and they have to be confident.
- [52:40]
B
Really.
- [52:40]
A
Above all Other traits. And then you got to have all the physical tool. But like he started 29 consecutive games at Virginia Tech. I haven't gone back and deep dived into his Virginia Tech tape. But like I talked to a scout who said I thought he was better in 23 than 24. Thought he might come out maybe probably a day two prospect. Last year that guy played like a, like a first round. I'm not saying he's going to be. That's what you look for. Shut down corner, interception. Right. Did he have an interception?
- [53:11]
B
He did.
- [53:11]
A
Pass, pass. Yeah. Interception, pass, breakup, tackles, tackling.
- [53:15]
B
Yep.
- [53:16]
A
Taking guy taking time. So like that was impressive. So now you got like Harold Perkins and Delane and that kind of depth on that defensive front. Peyton Flashes and the Weeks brothers at linebacker. I'm telling you, man, lsu, it's one week. LSU is one of the best teams in the country.
- [53:42]
B
I want to see how Baker calls games going forward because I, I don't have the numbers in front of me. But it felt like he was bringing the house a lot. It felt like he was. We're just gonna bring.
- [53:51]
A
Well, when you got Delane.
- [53:53]
B
That's what I mean. And you know, they. Again, it would be interesting to see how that holds up and if you could do it against Clemson and those Clemson receivers I thought needed to have a better game. Even without Williams in the game. They needed to play better. They just, they did not live up to the reputation or the talent. We'll see how that that is going forward.
- [54:10]
A
Clemson's going to get a lot better. One of the best. Clemson's still one of the best teams in country. Clemson's shut down. I'm. I'm telling you, it's like that was one of the, the, like it's rare for me to come away from a tape and like I need a minute to digest that, to make sure I don't oversell it. But like there was a new bar set with Nussmeier. They still held him to 17. Okay. Yeah, it was a lot. It was a bunch of three and outs and struggling. So like that Clemson defense is as advertised. Club Nick needs more from his receivers. Losing Antonio Williams in that game that early with other receivers that you're hoping are going to be great complimentary pieces and keep developing. That was, that was hard.
- [55:00]
B
Yes.
- [55:00]
A
That offensive line, honestly, the receivers will be fine. They'll run the ball. Okay. Club Nick's gonna be awesome this year. You gotta run the ball more.
- [55:11]
B
They gotta stay committed to the run game. But. Yeah, go ahead.
- [55:13]
A
But if that offense, if Clemson doesn't come back and win 10, 11 more games in the regular season, I'm talking about because they got smu. We're going to Florida State whether you want to or not, or can or not or whatever.
- [55:25]
B
Why do you think I know where to go?
- [55:27]
A
No, I know you want to go. Sorry, I'm just talking fast. They've got those two big games, and I'm sure there'll be a couple other teams that are rising up on their schedule, but they should still win. Win 10 regular season games, if not 11.
- [55:40]
B
Agree.
- [55:43]
A
But if they don't, Clemson fans, it's going to be that offensive line, and you warned us from that, from the jump on that.
- [55:51]
B
So, yeah, I'm a little worried about it. Can I tell you something else really quickly before. Yeah. I think. I know I'm gonna end this.
- [55:59]
A
I don't. I don't know.
- [56:00]
B
So maybe this is just the old man in me. Effort matters in college football. Effort matters in football. And there's two plays that really jumped out. One was the LSU game. One was the Miami game. And I got a few in the.
- [56:11]
A
Alabama game that are concerned.
- [56:13]
B
Yeah, that's word. I didn't want to go. We're not going the. Yeah, we're not going the other way. I hear you. Unless you want to do it. I wasn't going to go.
- [56:18]
A
No, no, no, we're good.
- [56:19]
B
They got an issue there. Bower Sharp, new tight end, he's from Oklahoma, comes into this game and fumbles early. Do you see who made the. The tackle on the fumble recovery? Bower Sharp, kid pops up off the ground, cases down the safety and makes that play. And you might say, like, oh, whatever. Your teammates see that. They go in, they watch that film the next day, and they're like, look, that kid could have been moped. That kid could have been upset. And he only. He had five catches for like a low amount of yards. But he played a role in that game. I think he's going to play a role for them going forward. He's a pretty good player, but effort matters. And your teammates see that early in the season, him popping up and making that play. Could it. You know, I think someone else would have tackled him before he scored. But still, you. He, he. It was a great play for him. And then Rumen Bane Jr. On the pick, you could say the hands and all that in the effort. But I will just say this, too, because he chases outside to get to that pick. But I'll say this, too. Did you see the way he sank and exploded up field at that size. Yes. Watching this, you have an opportunity. Right? All tape matters now. When I, when you. You were like, oh, I'll show them all my.
- [57:23]
A
Well, they do a lot of combine drills to try to emulate something you normally can't see from a defensive lineman in game action. You got to see something there. And then when they did that tight view on the TV last night, ABC with McDonald's, like, dude, how is he moving like that?
- [57:39]
B
He's like 270 pounds. Like, how is he.
- [57:41]
A
He catches it foot in bounds and. And instead, like, a lot of defensive line was just kind of foot in bounds and it's like, oh, talking.
- [57:51]
B
He's moving.
- [57:52]
A
Was he a running back in high school? Like, that was not uncomfortable for him. And you're right. Sinking the hips and the.
- [57:59]
B
Just take advantage of an opportunity. But something on tape for a team.
- [58:02]
A
Yeah.
- [58:03]
B
If I'm a team, I'm watching. I'm like, this is effort, athletic ability burst all, like, at that size. I mean, that's. That'll help you more than a sack against, you know, a lower level of competition any day of the week. Yeah, exactly. Right.
- [58:16]
A
Slippery Rock Tech.
- [58:17]
B
Right? Great. You had three sacks against Slippery Rock. My cousin's gonna kill me. He went there, but, yeah.
- [58:24]
A
I don't. I don't want to. Everyone in the world's doing the Arch thing in the Texas thing. I. I do want to circle back because we had a lot of conversation about Saturday night. Arch has got to play better. We know that. I'm not. There's no excusing. I. I just wanted to. I went back and wanted to get some more of the why.
- [58:43]
B
Right.
- [58:45]
A
I am concerned there are some layup throws that he needs to be making. There's no question about it. I need to see progression in that area. I did not put him on any 2026 draft list. And this is important. I want you to hear me.
- [58:59]
B
Okay?
- [59:02]
A
There's not an I told you so. I'm leaving that for Jordan Rogers in the gang. It's not like I'm protecting the man. It's none of that. I didn't put him on the 2026 NFL Draft Board in the preseason because he's not developed yet. He didn't play at the highest class in high school. He only started a couple games last year. He's developing.
- [59:26]
B
Right.
- [59:27]
A
I want to remind you of this, and it's interesting because I watched Nuss Meyer and LSU before I went back and watched Texas, Ohio State. Nussmeier was really good last year and we all the Twitter draft analysts were tripping over themselves before the Texas A and M and the first half of Texas A and m. He's my QB1. He was mine two weeks ago. He was mine in July. He hadn't started right and then he kind of imploded with that. As Connor Nevins, our executive producer said and I'll never forget he's feeling himself type of throw. And it kind of all fell apart.
- [60:03]
B
But we all, we all do it sometimes.
- [60:05]
A
But Nussmeier, I went back this summer and watched his whole tape. Nussmeier at his best last year wasn't as good as what I saw against Clemson. So it's, it's a, it's a rinse, refine, repeat. Remember we talked about in the off season it's go back itself scout now. Let's scout what what the opponents are doing. More importantly, how can we take it from here to another level? Arch Manning is just starting out right now. It was a bad game. The, the accuracy on some easy throws was concerning. But everyone chill the fuck out out because you real. If you want to make comments on a national stage and you want to be out there the first one to report, maybe you better have experience doing it and go watch the tape. I'm not making excuses. I just said he like he did not play at a level that is acceptable for anyone, whether your name's Manning or not. For anyone who's a starting quarterback in Texas, who has any intentions of being an NFL draft, all that stuff. I'm not excusing any of it, but I'm here to tell you after watching it. Matt Patricia with a new group of defenders, eight guys drafted last year. Patricia in a new job, probably a little nervous. Am I going to overwhelm this, this, you know, this starting 11 with eight guys going off to the NFL as draft picks from this defense alone, can I throw all this at them? And to have the talent level Ohio State has on defense and this the smarts to execute a lot of NFL stuff in week one and to have the onions the Kuyans to go in with that into that game with that game plan. I know you had the whole off season to do it, but there's a lot of things that can go wrong with 18 to 22 year olds and a vast majority of them first time starting roles, you're throwing that much at them. How many times do we see a defensive coordinator, whether it's in college or the NFL come out in week One and the game plans too complicated. I need to simplify things. Let's let our players play fast, right?
- [62:26]
B
It's the first thing you hear when a defense starts to struggle or gets there, has some breakdowns. We got to simplify things. Exactly.
- [62:32]
A
They came out and they changed the looks on architecture over and over and over again. And they did it in NFL ways. Nine guys that are threats to come as rushers only bring in three. Dropping eight. Like cover two looks like cover three looks like quarters. It was like I talked about masterclass for Nussmeier, Patricia and Ohio State's defensive players that executed that stuff was masterclass. And now you're in your first. That's your third start, first game on the road in Columbus where no one wins except Michigan. And the answers to the test are not what you prepared for. You go into a quiz or a test in school and. And you think you got all the questions and now all of a sudden there's a bunch of different questions. And now you're thinking and overthinking and you're questioning yourself. I saw a lot of that and, and again, put it Arch. Arch is cool with it. And I don't care if he is or he isn't. Put a lot of that on Arch. But I also want to say Ohio State, you've got an unbelievable football team. I just said when I started the show, it's LSU and Ohio State for me. What I saw, week one, if we're just going off of week one, those are the top two teams in the country. Number two is Sark. And the offensive staff need to go back and regroup and say, what makes this kid special now he's gonna. I don't know that he'll ever get to Nuss, but he's gonna get close to Nuss Meyer and he'll be like, he'll advance a lot. I saw Nussmeyer play at a pretty high level last year. There's a lot of great things. And I'm watching him now in one year, one offseason to go self correct and self scout and all that stuff. And he is like a different stratosphere from what he was last year. Arch can get there. That's why we're talking about him in the 2027 NFL Draft. He's not there now. We cannot put a guy who, who has lived through high school and early in his career off of his mobility in a situation where we're not focusing and featuring that and allowing the stuff in the pocket to come with it over time. That would be my thing. And I, Sark's one of the best in the business. I have an unbelievable amount of respect for Sark and by the way, the Mannings picked Sark for a reason, all that stuff. And he will adjust. I expect to see Texas a little bit more Arch with the mobility run pass option, get him outside those sort designed runs, those sorts of things. Let's get him comfortable and let's start putting a little bit more on this plate from a pocket passer reading defensive standpoint as he progresses, a little pushback on the circuit.
- [65:19]
B
Because I want to say this, I, I think there's, there is some fair criticism there. Too conservative to start the game. I hate, hate the quarterback sneak at the goal line. Well, when I went back on it, there was a couple things I saw. One is the first play of the game, they roll them out and yes, Arch gets a defender in his face. And this was a theme in this, in this game for architect has a defender in his face. His, his mechanics fell apart and he throws the ball in the dirt. That happened in a couple key plays. Look at the la. The most, the two most alarming plays for me in the game were the second to last and third to last plays. Because in the last play, if you remember, the young right tackle gets beat and Arch has no chance. The two previous plays, I mean that was pretty good design by, by Sark just hit the, just hit the cross and, and again, what happens is, is it's a, it is a, it's, it's. Anyone who's played quarterback, you know this better than I, I, I would know it from listening and watching you guys for so long. It's the fundamentals. His feet, no follow through. He's trying to whip it. He's, he's, his feet are just planted in the ground. It was all about his technique and his fundamentals. Okay, so I actually think Sark, whatever. And I want to say this one really quickly. Go ahead.
- [66:31]
A
Just so you understand. And I said this on Saturday night, so it's worth repeating. As the game went on, we saw Sark start to right. Rev it up in terms of the rpo. We saw a couple drives. It was, it was. And I thought the game plan improved, the aggressiveness improved and we saw some flashes of it. I'm saying coming into a game so that your young quarterback doesn't feel like he's swimming mentally. And the most important thing I can say here, and I think it gets lost when I, when I start with Arch did not play to a Level. It was unacceptable. And he missed throws throughout that game. Early middle, late. He can't, he can't miss. But I also want to explain. Patricia and Ohio State did some awesome stuff and I think they, Texas could help him be the best version of himself. But circle right back to. It's on Arch, man.
- [67:34]
B
Yeah. One other thing I will say because I was critic and I need to walk this back because I was critical of Sark too. There was two moments in this game, one play and then one drive where Sark put the ball in Arch's hands. And I thought he made poor decisions as a runner. The second, fourth down in the first drive. If you go back and look at that, that is a run pass option. Watch that.
- [67:57]
A
I said, I, I tweeted and put it on threads or X and all that.
- [68:01]
B
And he's, he's young, he's on the road, he's learning.
- [68:04]
A
Because now you, not only do you, not only do you have a numbers to go run, but there was a tight end that was, remember correctly, wide open. It wasn't a tight end. Motion came across the formation and he's wide open.
- [68:16]
B
I think it might have been injuries. I think he's looking back and I'm.
- [68:18]
A
Like, if they peel back at the tight end, run it and vice versa.
- [68:23]
B
He would have walked. I think he would have walked. And then when you got to the goal line stand before the plays, before you got the, the quarterback sneak, they run power. And I think if he stays on the hip of the guard and stays outside instead of trying to cut it up, I think he walks in the end zone there too. He made it.
- [68:38]
A
What? We don't know sometimes. And again, sometimes it's predetermined.
- [68:44]
B
Even though it looks like something to keep the defense off balance sometimes, no.
- [68:48]
A
Matter what, especially starting quarterback. So we don't know, but.
- [68:52]
B
We don't know. But there was a couple times I felt like, oh, if he just keeps that or if he follows the guard, he's going to be all right. Here's the biggest thing for me, I have seen quarterbacks who drop back. Footwork looks awesome. They look. It's like the prettiest throwing motion in the world. And then the, the ball flutters, the ball goes in the dirt or whatever. You're like, oh, like, I literally don't know if you're going to be able to play quarterback because of that. Everything I watched with Arch, literally everything, there was an answer for it, whether it was, you know, and people are gonna get mad at me for saying so. There was a couple snaps that DeAndre Moore felt one, we fell down another one. He's clearly got to clear the safeties and the linebackers. And it looks like Arch makes a terrible throw because he doesn't run to the right place. It's just he's got to do a better job with that route. There's a couple of things there. There's some things with his offensive line, with the protection. Those things did happen again, Arch needs to play better. But nothing I saw on tape was like, oh, he just can't do that. It was always the mechanics were somehow breaking down.
- [69:51]
A
I went through a bunch of guys. We're already over an hour. There's no reason to do it. Go, go look at the McShay report. But there were some guys that popped on tape. There were some guys on Sunday. I love getting the texts on Sunday from scouts coming back to the. Coming back home. Or just watch some tape. Joshua Joseph, Ed Edge rusher, Tennessee. Look out for this cat. Aral Reese, that linebacker from Ohio State.
- [70:14]
B
Oh, man, he had a day.
- [70:16]
A
Preston Zachman, two picks for Wisconsin at the safety position. This Robert Henry kid. I gotta watch Tate. You know what Robert Henry did for UTSA against A&M? 177. He had some special, like, injury exemption. He was late to figuring out whether he could play this year. All this stuff, he comes in, goes 177 rushing on 16 carries, two touchdowns, five carries of 10, plus over a hundred yards after contact against A and M. So there was a lot of that stuff. And I put it all in the McShay report. If you.
- [70:50]
B
Baylor tight end Michael Trigg.
- [70:52]
A
Yeah, I led the whole thing off the trig.
- [70:53]
B
Oh, did you really?
- [70:54]
A
Yeah, I swear. Number one. Number one guy I put on there. Not that I was ranking him, but it was a fur because he was right. It was earlier in the weekend. Do you know interesting note on Trig. Obviously he's the guy then who dropped the pass at the end of the game. But if you watch the play before exhausted contact, made a catch, just like there was not the guy to go to in that moment without maybe a timeout for him to get a reset. No excuses here. He played awesome. But do you know that Trig, who's now at Baylor, is a senior? I believe he caught passes from Jackson Darth at usc. Isn't that funny? He's been around a minute.
- [71:33]
B
Yeah.
- [71:34]
A
All right, this is fun. We're back on Thursday morning. Is that right?
- [71:39]
B
That's right.
- [71:39]
A
I think, yeah. Thursday morning, previewing week two in college football. We're off and running.
- [71:45]
B
This is awesome. Stoked Mitch.
- [71:48]
A
Five stars. Come on man.
- [71:49]
B
You are all five stars. You too.
- [71:51]
A
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