CFP Reactions: Ohio State’s Second Act, The Dominant Nittany Lions, and Texas Holds The Line. Plus, Notre Dame Cruises to 11th Straight Win

Summary

The McShay Show: Episode Summary

Episode Title: CFP Reactions: Ohio State’s Second Act, The Dominant Nittany Lions, and Texas Holds The Line. Plus, Notre Dame Cruises to 11th Straight Win
Release Date: December 22, 2024
Host/Authors: Todd McShay ("A") and Co-Host/Analyst ("B")
Knowledge Cutoff: October 2023

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Introduction and Opening Remarks

The episode begins with Todd McShay expressing gratitude towards the show's growing audience and supporters. Emphasizing the significance of the recent College Football Playoff (CFP) games, Todd sets the stage for an in-depth analysis of the weekend's matchups.

Ohio State vs. Tennessee: A Resurgence

Key Highlights:

• Ohio State's Performance: Todd commends Ohio State's dramatic turnaround after a disappointing loss to Michigan. He praises their offensive line's resurgence and believes this version of the team is the best in college football.

  • Quote: "If you guarantee I'm getting that version of Ohio State, the one I just saw, that's the best football team in college football." ([04:49])

• Player Spotlight – Jeremiah Smith: Both hosts highlight Jeremiah Smith's exceptional performance, predicting him as the top pick in the upcoming NFL draft due to his unparalleled talent.

  • Quote from Todd: "Jeremiah Smith is the number one pick in April's draft, if he's eligible." ([27:12])

• Coaching Strategies: Chip Kelly's aggressive play-calling and renewed confidence in quarterback Will Howard are lauded. Todd notes that Kelly's decisions were instrumental in Ohio State's dominant display.

  • Quote from "B": "And he [Chip Kelly] could do whatever he wanted on the back end because of that front four." ([22:46])

• Notable Moments: The defensive line's impactful plays, including Jordan Yamaliava's helmet crack and Dylan Sampson's early exit from the game, are discussed as pivotal moments influencing the game's outcome.

Clemson's Dominant Display

Key Highlights:

• Quarterback Performance – Club Nick: The hosts admire Club Nick's leadership and clutch performances, emphasizing his ability to rally the team in crucial moments.

  • Quote from "B": "Club Nick seems like you're gonna get everything I got." ([34:23])

• Team Analysis: While Clemson showcased their offensive prowess, criticisms are aimed at their inability to stop the run consistently throughout the season.

  • Quote from Todd: "You got to stop the run, man. You got to be able to stop the run and they haven't been able to stop the run all year." ([36:32])

• Defense Evaluation: The defensive line, particularly players like Ty Lee Williams and Baron Sorrell, received praise for their explosive performances and ability to create pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

  • Quote from Todd: "They have not had a lot of them, if you really look at it." ([22:46])

Texas Holds The Line Against Arizona State

Key Highlights:

• Offensive Line Strength: Texas's offensive line is highlighted as a cornerstone of their victory, showcasing dominance despite various injuries.

  • Quote from Todd: "The Texas offensive line. They were absolutely dominant." ([42:03])

• Quarterback Analysis – Q. Wisner: While Q. Wisner demonstrated resilience and effective play-calling, Todd questions his consistency in critical moments.

  • Quote from "B": "The backup quarterback, right?" ([69:12])

• Defense's Role: Texas's defense made crucial plays when it mattered most, including a game-ending goal line stand, underscoring their ability to perform under pressure.

  • Quote from "B": "They made plays when it mattered, man." ([51:04])

Notre Dame Cruises to 11th Straight Win Over Indiana

Key Highlights:

• Team Dominance: Notre Dame's comprehensive victory over Indiana is celebrated, with particular emphasis on their balanced attack and stout defense.

  • Quote from Todd: "It's just not enough." ([75:19])

• Player Spotlight – Jordan Faison: Although Faison had a solid game, Todd notes the lack of support from other receivers, which could be a concern moving forward.

  • Quote from Todd: "Jordan Faison, 7 for 89, he had a really good game." ([75:19])

• Defense Evaluation: Notre Dame's defense held strong against Indiana's offensive efforts, limiting key players and maintaining control throughout the game.

  • Quote from "A": "They held Ellison and Tyson Lawson." ([80:20])

Penn State vs. SMU: An Uneven Battle

Key Highlights:

• Game Analysis: The mismatch between Penn State and SMU is discussed, with both hosts agreeing that SMU did not belong in the top 12 teams, citing their lack of competitiveness and defensive vulnerabilities.

  • Quote from Todd: "The reality is they just didn't belong in the top 12 teams in the country, and that's obvious." ([65:15])

• Defense Evaluation: Despite SMU's efforts, Penn State's superior talent and defensive play overshadowed their performance.

  • Quote from "A": "They gave Drew Aller fits early in that game." ([67:06])

Draft Prospects and Player Evaluations

Key Highlights:

• Top Prospects: The episode extensively covers draftable players from the featured teams, emphasizing Ohio State's 15 prospects and the standout performances of players like Jeremiah Smith and Caleb Downs.

  • Quote from Todd: "This Ohio State roster boasts the best and most NFL-ready players." ([56:23])

• Notre Dame's Jeremiah Love: Highlighted as a potential star of the playoffs, Love's explosive running style and versatility make him a noteworthy prospect.

  • Quote from "B": "Jeremiah Love, the running back from Notre Dame, might be the star..." ([76:47])

Future Matchups and Playoff Predictions

Key Highlights:

• Upcoming Games: The hosts preview the next round of the CFP, discussing potential matchups such as Ohio State vs. Oregon and Texas vs. Arizona State. They analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each team, offering predictions on outcomes and key factors that could influence the results.

  • Quote from Todd: "Ohio State will have had to beat Tennessee, then beat Oregon..." ([34:36])

• Playoff Structure Critique: Todd voices concerns over the current 12-team playoff structure, advocating for better seeding and representation of conference champions to avoid mismatches and ensure competitive balance.

  • Quote from Todd: "The seating should absolutely not have been the seating with the conference champions." ([32:55])

Closing Remarks and Future Episodes

The episode concludes with Todd and his co-host reflecting on the weekend's games, expressing anticipation for the upcoming playoff rounds, and hinting at a special episode featuring a redraft of the 2024 NFL Draft. They encourage listeners to stay engaged, subscribe, and support the show as they continue to provide expert analysis and insights into college football.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• [04:49] Todd: "If you guarantee I'm getting that version of Ohio State, the one I just saw, that's the best football team in college football."

• [27:12] Todd: "Jeremiah Smith is the number one pick in April's draft, if he's eligible."

• [32:55] Todd: "The seating should absolutely not have been the seating with the conference champions."

• [75:19] Todd: "Jordan Faison, 7 for 89, he had a really good game."

• [65:15] Todd: "The reality is they just didn't belong in the top 12 teams in the country, and that's obvious."

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Conclusion

This episode of The McShay Show delves deep into the outcomes and implications of the recent College Football Playoff games, offering expert analysis on team performances, standout players, and future prospects. Todd McShay and his co-host provide listeners with comprehensive insights, blending tactical evaluations with draft projections, ensuring fans are well-informed and engaged as the playoff excitement continues.

Transcript

[A]

It's the McShay show, presented by FanDuel. It's time for the first 12 team playoff and you can bet on all of the action with FanDuel. Just think about all the opportunities we're going to have to bet on the College Football Playoff. We're talking about different conferences, home games for certain teams, the three or four week run that you're going to have to play. There's so much to earn if you're betting with FanDuel this College Football Playoff season. Why we love FanDuel there's so many markets like spreads over unders, national championship futures 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 gambling. 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 rg-help.com this episode.

[B]

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[B]

Yeah, I've gotten a lot of feedback on Twitter about my Ohio State takes this week.

[A]

Yeah, that was a, that was a shitty pick, Bench. It was a terrible pick. But like, I'm not, I'm not even here for that. That's fine. We'll get to the money or the money that we won some people on FanDuel this week. But, but much more importantly, welcome into the McShay Show. Thank you everyone. I, I looked in the queue. I was just told, like, there, there are hundreds of people already in the queue ready to go. Like, we're building something here, man. Like, and we can't do it without you people out, without all the, the folks in our audience like being here supporting what we're doing. So thank you. Let's start with that. Truly. It's 11:46 Eastern Time. The game just ended. We're here to react. It's been a majorly Disappointing weekend in college football, major league. We will get to all of that. We'll get to all four games. We'll get to big picture. We'll spin it forward just briefly. We've got 10 days to do a lot of that. But I mean, honestly, the biggest takeaway for me from the entire weekend, the four games that we saw, Friday night's game, Notre Dame, Indiana and today's three, three round one games to, to wrap up the first round of the College Football Playoff. That version that I just watched, that version of the Scarlet and Gray. If you guarantee I'm getting that version of Ohio State, the one I just saw, that's the best football team in college football.

[B]

Yeah, we thought they, we thought that earlier in the year we thought that they. I mean, I, I, I, when we did our draft of the teams that we thought were the best at the time, I took Ohio State, I think one, because I had felt that way. And then the injuries along the offensive line, not only Simmons, but the Center South McLaughlin and look, they just didn't run the ball that well the last two games they played. They didn't. You know, Jeremiah Smith looked average and that dude is anything but average. And I just, you know, I kind of felt like after that loss to Michigan, you were dead on about this. I thought that that was going to tear that team apart and you saw that that was going to bring that team together and that's exactly what happened. They've bonded over that and they've gotten back to playing at a extremely high level. The defense was always there. That offensive line that I saw tonight, and that's where I want to, you know, that's where I need to start because I, I thought that offensive line was going to get handled by Tennessee and, and truthfully, there's no way of getting around it. It was the exact opposite. I mean, that office one was getting off the ball, man, and it was impressive. So yeah, give me that version. And, and it's going to be hard to, it's going to be hard to pick against them, against anyone right now.

[A]

Men, the defensive line was causing fits the, the line, but Simon was just erasing dudes offensively. You talked about the offensive line like they, they was passed to set up the run. They were, they were feeding the wide receivers, right? Hendu and Judkins were, were taking advantage of defense of a defense that was on its heels stretched out, concerned about the pass and then they'll, they'll come in and poke for a big run here and there's it Was spread out and, and, and disorient the defense to set up the run. The opposite of what we've seen. And we'll come back to all that. But this was a physical ass kicking. It was an ass kicking. It was like, right. Sometimes, like, I remember we like, got into some college fights, right? And like five minutes in you, it's like, all right, we're here to fight. This could be, you know, it's going to be a battle both ways. Or, or it's like retreat, you know, like. Yeah, where'd you go? You know, you meet up after. It's like, where'd you go, man? What happens? You know, this. I mean, Nico Yamaliava's got his, his helmet cracked open. Dylan Sampson, star running back. Mia. The best wide receiver is, is, Is off. Off. Going to the, Going to the, Going to the locker room. The tent on the Tennessee sideline. It was like a triage unit. It was, I mean, this was a physical ass whooping. It really was. And like, you hear Ryan day after, you know, every post game interview about how physical we are and like the mentality that they've been trying and Chip Kelly running the ball when they know we know they need to pass and, and then they, they line up against Michigan, the more physical team, and it's like they coach not to lose and like, something's in their head. It's like in the, like, it's in the building. Every time those two teams play, not every time, but in recent, recent years, the last four times. But this is the Ohio State team. That when we Talked about the 20 million dollar roster, the best roster that money can buy, when we talked about all this talent, the, the 15 guys. I've got, the list of 15 guys that are the NFL scouts are there giving legitimate, like, potential draftable grades, too. This was the team. This was the night.

[B]

And coaching staff, by the way, too. I mean that. The coaching staff as well.

[A]

Yes. Yeah.

[B]

I feel like you were gonna say something. Go ahead.

[A]

No, I, I just, I was like grabbing my headphones because I don't have a hat to pull down over my head.

[B]

Yeah, but I mean, Ryan Day was. I mean, he had something to prove tonight. And Chip Kelly felt like. And again, let's get back to the. The starter. It was a physical ass kicking, but it was also Chip Kelly a little bit of like, oh, watch this. Watch me do this.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And you thought that, you thought that I was all out of tricks and you thought this offensive line, there was so much I could do. And you thought I only want to run the ball against Michigan. Now watch what I do with Jeremiah Smith in this game. Watch what I let you know or encourage or put Will Howard in a position to do in this game. I felt like he was laughing. I mean, probably not, but I felt like he was laughing up in the booth with all the things that he was doing.

[A]

And it was kind. There were a couple times during the game, I'm like, where's this been, man?

[B]

Right?

[A]

Where has this been? You know, like, I get it. You didn't trust your offensive line. I get it. Your quarterback's been a little up and down, but, like. And it doesn't matter now because, like, the ultimate goal. There were goals along. Along the way. You know, whatever they are. Ten win season, you know, win your state. Like, every team, you get a list of goals in your meeting room. Win the conference, this and. But, like, the ultimate goal, what. What. This. What the collective was. Was aiming for, when everyone that's part of the Ohio State program was aiming for is a national championship. And so it's here now, and hopefully, if you're a Buckeyes fan, it's here to stay for the next, you know, four weeks, I guess, right? Or not four weeks, but four. Four outings here. Here are some initial thoughts. Let's just. Let's rewind it back. Let's. Let's start from the beginning. Defensive line for Tennessee came out. They were relentless that first drive. Remember? They were. They stopped him. It was a third and third and six or something like that. They get the sack. Drive should be over, but it's a face mask.

[B]

Face mask, yeah.

[A]

Extends the drive, and all of a sudden they roll and they wind up going down. Going down the field. Touchdown to Jeremiah Smith. And we'll get to Jeremiah Smith because I got some stuff to talk about. I just got to get off my chest. That's why we do a reaction show, because it's hard to go, like, crawl into bed and be like, good night, honey. You know, like. And I've just got all this stuff. So, like, this. This is actually therapeutic, this show. Yeah. I get to bed probably a little later, but I go to bed with, like, less cluster in my brain. Okay. But. But right away, the wide receivers. So I'm seeing. Because early on, I'm trying to figure out the matchup here. Like, this offensive lines, patchwork. This defensive front is relentless. And they were at first, and I was like, oh, this could be another long night. Right? But after that face mask penalty, I. I started to see and I'M sure you saw the same thing. I'm curious what you saw, but I'm like, oh, Jeremiah Smith and Amica Abuka, two potential first rounders. Jeremiah Smith we'll get to in a minute. Abuka, second round's the latest. He's gonna go top 40 pick, but could. Could go in the first round. Okay, there are a handful. This Tennessee team likes to play man to man coverage. They don't have the guys. Okay, this is going to be so. So you're going to win up front initially, but we're going to win out here. Is Chip ready to take the handcuffs off? That's all I could think the first couple of drives. So. All right, maybe he is. Maybe he is. And they opened it up and now all of a sudden you get the deep ball for the touchdown, Right? Then, like you saw, it was 21, 21 nothing at one point. 191 total yards versus Tennessee's negative six yards with. It was late third quarter. I think it was like three minutes or late first quarter. I think about three minutes left. They jumped them, but then things kind of slowed down. First drive they get, they stopped Tennessee after it became 2110, right before the hat, right at the half, come back out, stop Tennessee, Ohio State gets the ball. And it's almost like, all right, we jumped him, got a little. Got a little closer. We can't just grind this thing out. Let's not go back to what got us in trouble. Let's not go back to the issues we had. Let's be this version of Ohio State moving forward. And right away, that drive, throwing the ball, spreading it out, and, and, And I thought that it was the most important drive of the game because, yeah, they had 21 nothing, then it was 2110. But to get that score and to do it aggressively, Will Howard came out, who's four for four, and threw the best ball I've seen him throw. I don't want to say all year, but one of the best balls I've seen him throw. And to that point, it was just a beautiful ball. Call it what you want. It was a beautiful ball. Left end zone, left rail shot, drives it in, comes out, and it's going hot. And I'm like, is he gonna run under it? And it just perfectly. It was like watching a plane land. Yeah, right? And now all of a sudden, it's. They've extended their lead back up, right? And now it's 28 to 10. That's the most con. And I get. I said all of this to set up this, there was first of all a design by Chip. We're taking a shot on the first drive. If we can extend a drive, we're taking a shot. If we are sniffing, if we get on the other side of the 50, we're taking a shot to Jeremiah Smith. Third quarter comes right, let's, let's get. We've got a handful of plays. If we get past the 50, we're taking another shot to Jeremiah Smith. That has not been the, the case. You know what I mean? Like, it just where we kept saying after games, like, you gotta, we've got to find a way targets, get them targets, hand them the ball, whatever you have to do.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And so that was a design. But this, the, the big takeaway for me is that this is the most confidence that Chip has shown in his transfer quarterback and in this retooled offensive line since Donovan Jackson moved out to left tackle. That's the most confidence I've seen maybe all year, especially given the moment and everything that was on the line. It certainly was the most confidence he's shown in Will Howard all year, given the circumstances and the pressure and coming off that Michigan game. But he was aggressive with his play calling, creative with the play calling. They took the fight to Tennessee. They dictated terms tonight, and that's what I enjoyed watching the most.

[B]

Yeah. And then Howard returned the favor by having the best game of the. I mean, not only that throw, but it was his best overall game of the year. I felt like, no question, see it the way they were carrying themselves. I mean, at the end of the first, I mean, obviously it's 21 nothing, but at the end of the first quarter, the offensive line is like pumping up the crowd. It just had the feel of, you know, we, we knew this was going to happen and we think it's going to continue to happen. I think like Nico didn't have his first completion until nine or like nine and a half minutes left in the second quarter. I mean, it was so, it was, it was really complimentary. It was all complimentary football. The defense was playing extremely well. But then they weren't like, we're just gonna rely on our defense to keep this a low scoring game. They wanted to, you know, hit the gas. They wanted to keep their foot on the throat and, and finish Tennessee.

[A]

Let's. A couple other things. Dylan Sampson's out of the game after two carries. I, I don't know. I just tweeted about that. I don't know what the deal was. I don't Know what the deal was. But if, if Dylan Sampson's not healthy enough to go three, three plus quarters, why are you putting him in down 32 points with like six, eight minutes left in the, in the fourth quarter.

[B]

That.

[A]

I don't know why he was in the game. I. But that was weird. More importantly to the game and I don't think it would make a difference. I think Dylan Sampson arguably, I would argue maybe the third most impactful running back in college football this year. Ashton Genti being one. Cam Scatter Boo for Arizona State being two. Impactful. I'm not saying talent, I think. But my point is very few offenses in the country rely so much on a running back. Rely that level of reliance on a running back like, like Tennessee does. I put them in the, in the top three in the nation in terms of how important the running back is with a freshman quarterback. Just the way they're built, they like everything went through Dylan Sampson. So when he's out for the, the vast majority of snaps that matter in this game, the vast majority of snaps in the entire game, that's a huge hit. But it wouldn't have mattered tonight. I'm convinced of that, that this was not a Dylan Sampson being out thing. This was about getting whooped on both sides of the ball. This was about Ohio State open things up offensively. I also want to mention this too, because it's important to say this because there were two teams playing in this game. Nico Iamaliava, you want to talk about valiant man. Like he gets.

[B]

I cannot wait to see him next year.

[A]

I was so. Yeah, me too. Like it's.

[B]

They just got blown out and I'm so fired up about what that kid do next year. Isn't that. That's like a weird thing, right?

[A]

Even like future is like there's, there's a lot of promising signs that he's going to be. There was no run. There was no run game when Dylan went out. And by the way, when Squirrel went out, there was. There was no. The receivers weren't separating. It was interesting because when Dylan was out. Ohio State likes to play. Likes to play zone. They're comfortable with those big, big cornerbacks on the, on the outside. More physical than they are. Like, you know, pure manto man fluid, oily hips and, and all that stuff. But. But they, they really backed off. You know, they, they backed off and they were begging Tennessee, like, go ahead, run the ball. But they didn't have a back to run with and they didn't have confidence in handing the Ball off. And so it became the Nico Show. He, I mean he, he literally carried them back within 11 points and kept them competitive. You know, I guess like middle of the third quarter. That was about it when it, when, when things separated. But the wide receivers aren't separating. No fear of the run from Ohio State. And it was just about Nico carrying, excuse me, that team on his back. And, and he. I don't know how he could have done a whole lot more given the surface circumstances. So I just.

[B]

20 carries. 20 carries tonight.

[A]

Yeah, I do want to give him credit early.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But here. So it's almost the same thing as with Ohio State's offense is its defense. I feel like I watch this team and I see a ton of NFL players. I see a ton of solid to good NFL players. I see a handful of potential role players in the NFL. I haven't seen a team where I'm like, there's a bunch of NFL stars. And more importantly for what we're talking about tonight, I feel like every time I was done watching Ohio State, just about every time it. I was left wanting more, I felt like I was left. I've been left wanting. Kind of like Texas's offense throughout the year. I feel like you finished the experience and you're like, yeah, it was good. No, it was good. Any complaints? You want to file any complaints? No. No. So why, what's the hesitation, Todd? I don't know. I just feel like. I feel like I'm left wanting. And, and so offensively we already kind of went through what we had been left wanting throughout the year. And what we got tonight, finally, defensively, it kind of felt like the same experience. Right. And, and I say that particularly, like especially specifically the defensive line. I see a bunch of good dudes. I see Jack Sawyer, I see 33 and 44. I see JT and Jack. Good players, gap, sound discipline, keep contained, physical give good effort, love the game, bring a lot of energy, all that stuff. But, but Tui and Bolo Allow and, and Sawyer. I. I just have never felt like offensive lines are going in the game. Like okay, like. And quarterbacks even more so going the game. Like where's 44? Where's 33? Tonight I felt like that was the case. You ever been to the airport? I mean, I know you have. I've been in the airport with you. But at the airport with the, the moving walkway. Please watch your step on the moving walkway. Right?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

I feel like tonight was the first time like great pass rushers. It's like the moving Walkway, you see someone is in a hurry to go in the moving walkway. You see someone who's going, going a little bit harder without the moving walkway, walking parallel. And the guy who's kind of a jackass who's like struggling with his bag, he's still going faster. That's like, that's what I was watching tonight. Those defensive linemen, it's like they had the assistance of a moving walkway finally like firing out.

[B]

Kirby said they were playing downhill. Yeah, like they were playing.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like rolling downhill. I just saw like more suddenness with everything, more explosiveness in their movements and, and Ty Lee, up and down a little bit this year. Defensive tackle, you could argue he's the, the top prospect in for this class. You know, Josh Simmons at offensive tackle, but he's been injured, you know, a good portion of the year. But Ty Leak Williams Defensive tackle, 91. I, I saw, I saw explosiveness out of him. I saw some guys coming in and depth and rotation. I don't know. That defensive front finally played where I'm like, oh, I'm scared of them. Not like, yeah, they're really good. They're solid. I'm scared of that group if they play like that.

[B]

Yeah, I've always loved Ty Leak, but the edge really jumped out. All of their edge guys, even their depth edge guys like 97 was making plays coming off the edge. I mean there was, it was noticeable because it, to be honest with you, it's been noticeable. The lack of plays from, from those two, really. Jack and J.T. you know, again, very steady, like, just steady, steady, steady. But no, like not striking Fear anyone? Not like an Abdul Carter. They don't have those tools. But at the same time they weren't really getting off to the quarterback. I felt tonight they could do whatever they wanted on the back end because of that front four. You want to bring, they want to, you know, bring Sunny Styles off the edge or, or insert Simon in the pass rush.

[A]

Great.

[B]

They can do it. But they didn't have to. They could rush four tonight and they were going to be just fine.

[A]

I've kind of suspected that Jeremiah Smith, an 18 year old when he started the season, a 19 year old. Now I've kind of suspected that Jeremiah Smith is, is the best wide receiver in college football for a while now. It was confirmed tonight. Yeah, Jeremiah Smith is different. He's different. He's arguably the most talented player in college football at any position. Truly. I, I heard on the broadcast, you know, they talk to the coaches and they're comparing to Randy Moss, Calvin. Calvin Johnson, Megatron. I don't like talent level. Yeah, he's in that. I, I guess if we're talking about freakishly gifted, then sure put him. I don't see that, that player in terms of when we do Pro comps, the NFL comps. I see Julio Jones. Okay, 3. 215 right now. I think Julio was like 222 or something when he came out. I'm not saying it's a per. I'm just saying that's more of a. If you're going to liken them to a former NFL star or a current NFL star, that's kind of the, the type of player I think he is.

[B]

But yeah, Megatron's. I mean, that's, that's rich.

[A]

Do you remember Joe Good?

[B]

Do you remember Joel Clat was on the show, like, second week we did the show, I think, and he talked about Jeremiah Smith and talked about how he has the potential to be the best Ohio State receiver to come out of there.

[A]

Oh, no, I think I, I think he's going to be. I, I think, I think Jeremiah.

[B]

Let me put it this way. He was like. He was on a den about how good that kid was. Yeah.

[A]

And, and he's developing. And I see it, I see it in his confidence, in his movement. I see it. You know how I can tell receivers have gone from, from one step to the next? It's. It's when the ball's coming in, how catching the ball is not part. It's not even really. It's. It's the smallest part of the equation for them. Does that make sense?

[B]

Yeah. Fluid thing. Like, it just, it just, it's just easy to them.

[A]

It's like you and I walk, walking down a buffet and just, just grabbing a muffin because we're heading out, we gotta go. You know what I mean? Like. Like you're looking at something else. You're having a conversation. Just grab the muffin. Right, Right. So.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And. And I say that because that means, like, there's a, there's a level of confidence and, and you're starting to put everything together. And when you're able to just go pluck something on the go, that means you're able to now, like you're thinking about what you're doing next. And so I'm seeing a guy who's. Whether it's in his route, setting up receivers, whether it's on the run, catching the ball, setting up that first step. Like I'm seeing a guy who's advancing already in. In his freshman year, true freshman year. He's smooth, he's physical. His ball skills are excellent. He can make the contested catches. He goes up and just the way he tracks the ball, you're not going up and fight like. Like, he just. He knows his hands down is it. Go. Go up and high point it. He's just. He's starting to get it all. It's coming together, and it's the perfect time for it to happen. And it's also the perfect time for Chip to get some confidence in his quarterback to. To exploit this. But I want to go back to Jeremiah Smith, and I don't do this. I like. I hope I'm not one of those guys you've known me for 25 years. Like, I don't like he's a freshman. If he were in this draft, I don't like doing that because so much can happen between now and then. But I just want to say it. Jeremiah Smith is the number one pick in April's draft, if he's eligible.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

He's the number one overall.

[B]

Number one receiver. The number.

[A]

The number one overall pick ahead of Travis Hunter, ahead of the quarterbacks. Jeremiah Smith's the number one pick. I. I think he's that gifted. I. I just. I'm watching him tonight and watching him getting, like, eight targets and seven catches. Whatever final numbers were. I saw, I think he had one more. I think it was a six for 103. Two touchdowns.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

I don't make this comment flippantly, man. I don't. And I stand on it. I really believe it. And you got to go back to keyshawn Johnson in 1996 to have a wide receiver taken number one overall. That's how talented I think he is. That he could be.

[B]

He moves like a much smaller receiver. Like, I almost didn't realize. You almost don't realize how big he is. And then you see the contested catches and you're like, oh. And then you see, like, the. The power after the catch. There's not a lot of holes in his game that can't be. Or flaws that can't be fixed or that aren't going to get better over time. I mean, physically, he's got every tool in the toolkit that you'd want to give a wide receiver. And then the. Just, you know, he's just getting better. I mean, there's. Name a better place to go play wide receiver if you want to get better and turn into a pro wide receiver.

[A]

There isn't. I mean, Hard line, that pipeline. And I think quarterback's not great. It's run. Run heavy. I get it all that. That's where. That's where I'd send my son if he were a great wide receiver. Right.

[B]

So you're taking a kid that you could have created in the lab in terms of the tools to play wide receiver, and then you're sending him to the best environment, the best coaching to realize your potential. I mean, it's.

[A]

I mean, just, just so everyone understands, like, I'm not promoting one thing over the other. There are a lot of great. Like, I'd send them to Texas, I'd send them to Alabama. I'd send, you know, like, there are plenty. Lsu, I think there are plenty of places to go. But this. This has been and continues to be, as long as Brian Hartline is there, the best place to. Deserve to. Yes, Deserves it. Best place for a wide receiver to go develop, interestingly enough. And we can move. We can, you know, start spinning forward and turn the page. The, the wild part of all this is the 15 draft prospects we talk about who are getting draftable grades from various different NFL teams. They're all eligible prospects. The best two football players on this Ohio State roster and arguably the best offensive and defensive player, respectively, in the country. Caleb Downs, Jeremiah Smith. One's a. One's a freshman Smith and the other's a sophomore in downs, neither's eligible for this year's draft. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool, man. So you guessed this right, man. Tucker, our unbelievable producer and Mr. Do Everything, one of the. The handful of people who have been hugely critical to not only just getting the show on the air, which you and I couldn't do, but. But to making it. Make it run smoothly and. And as efficiently as it does. He. He handles a lot of the stuff with FanDuel. Right. So I asked. And we'll go through all the spreads for round two. As we get through each game, we'll talk about who they're playing next. We'll go through the spreads. I think we'll pull up a graphic in a minute, but you guessed it. I was just jumping on, throwing the headsets on, games ticking down, and I heard you say Oregon plus one and a half. That was. That's the spread. Ohio State in a rematch after losing at Oregon in a close one, obviously. I think. I wonder if it's just. It's the recency bias or whatever it is, or just Benduel seeing what we saw tonight, like, neutral. Here's an Interesting question. We got 10 days to get ready for this. I just want to ask you this question right now.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

This was the best version of Ohio State. I truly believe, like this is the best you're going to get. And, and if I'm promising, I'm guaranteeing you you're going to get this version of Ohio State and you're going to get the best possible version of Oregon. Who you got?

[B]

Ohio State.

[A]

I'll hang up.

[B]

I got Ohio State. I think they have more talent top to bottom. I think it's going to be a shootout. It's going to be extremely close. I think it's going to be. You know, there's things about the Oregon offense that scare me. That those corners against Tezz, those, you know, even if they get the right matchups for Tez, Dylan Gabriel's got enough guys to spread the ball around. The offensive lines, I think, I think is better than Tennessee. With Tennessee, I expected the Tennessee offensive line to play better tonight, but I think the Oregon offensive line will be better than Tennessee's was. I think it'll be a high scoring game. But I do think that Ohio State on a neutral site with the confidence coming off of this game, by the way, maybe a little bit of a benefit of playing in the first round and beating a team like Tennessee. I mean, can you imagine if Ohio State had to wait another couple weeks to play and maybe all that stuff still stewing with them. But now they have momentum and I think you look at the talent, you look at the momentum I give. Oh, how Ohio State the slightest of.

[A]

Edges that, that Michigan game. I don't know if it. The whole thing up or it made it this cool. But had they had this rematch in the. You know what? I, I think it made it cool. I've just thought about this because in what. In one, in one way it's. I wait. I don't want this as a quarterfinal game. I want this as a semi final or national championship game. That.

[B]

That's.

[A]

That was my, that was my initial thought. That's why I was kind of like, I don't. This should, this should not be a quarterfinal game. But it is. Ohio State should not be eight. But they are. And this has every. And we'll talk. We've beaten it and I'll continue to beat it until it gets changed. But the seating should absolutely not have been the seating with the, with the conference champions. Champions getting the top four seeds. Ohio State should not be seated eighth. But the, the, but the positive in this is I think it would be a little stale had this been a semi final matchup or even a national championship matchup had had these two teams lasted and gotten there. And we're now going to have to watch it for a third time. We've seen that before. Was it like Alabama?

[B]

Give me, give me Arturo Gotti, Mickey Ward, man, I want to see it as many times as possible. Remember, they had like.

[A]

Yeah. Fights.

[B]

They were unreal.

[A]

All right, so then, so then the Michigan game mucked it all up.

[B]

But yeah, in my mind it did. I mean, because I feel like these two teams. Imagine that, three absolute battles and then one. Oh, man, I don't know. I think that would have been great.

[A]

I'll tell you one thing, if Ohio State wins this whole thing, my goodness, did they just earn it? I mean, that's a pretty good Tennessee team that they just dismantled.

[B]

I agree.

[A]

And we'll get into all the SEC stuff in a little bit.

[B]

Yeah, throws a real wrench.

[A]

I think that's why there are a couple hundred people already on.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But I'm not. If, if you, if you came here tonight for me to apologize about the SEC because of what happened to Tennessee, like, get out of here.

[B]

It's gonna be a long night.

[A]

Nah, one has nothing to do with the other and I'll, I'll complain later. I, I tweeted out earlier, like, tonight's gonna be an exercise in anger management for me when we get to a couple of these other games.

[B]

I fully admit I was wrong about Ohio State tonight, though, for all the people hitting me up on Twitter. You're right.

[A]

I'm wrong.

[B]

I should have been better there. I, I got.

[A]

He's a lot. He's a lot of things, folks. I, I can, I can confidently say this. He's a lot of things. Trust me, he's a lot of things. But he. He is not a man who will run from. From taking his punishment. He. He absolutely will. He will own it when he's wrong. He does. And he does with a. Usually with a laugh. What I. One of the many reasons why I appreciate him. All right, so that was Tennessee, Ohio State, and. But my point before I go, you'll have had to beat Tennessee, a good football team at home at least. But then you'll have to beat Oregon, the only undefeated team in this whole deal. Right? And if you're watching on YouTube, and I presume you are, because that's the only place you can be viewing this right now. But if you're listening later, you won't be able to see it. But if you're watching on YouTube now, you see the brackets. Ohio State will have had to beat Tennessee, then beat Oregon, which I would argue, I mean argue. Oregon's the number one team in the country. Texas, you got to have somewhere in your top three teams coming in this. At least I did. And then beat Texas to get in the national championship and then go have to take on the hottest best team from that bracket, whether it's Penn State, Notre Dame or Georgia. If Carson Beck is back and playing at that point, we'll see. But talk about a run and then Ryan Day will probably still get fired. All right, moving on.

[B]

Throw that in.

[A]

Next up, Clemson. Texas, go ahead. You start us here.

[B]

I think Clemson deserves a lot of credit, man. I think Kate Clubnick in particular just played his heart out down the stretch. I can, he's. I was going to say this when I said talk about Nico. Another guy I look at and I cannot wait to watch next year because I just, I look, I think he's taken that next step. I think those receivers more today, those young receivers, they're going to take the next step. I hope they got to get some help up front. But I'll say this, they, I, I stand by my criticism of Clemson this year and, and it showed up again today. You got to stop the run, man. You got to be able to stop the run and they haven't been able to stop the run all year and it showed its head again today. And if you can't stop the run, then you're just not going to be able to win those kind of games. So they deserve to be in because they won the championship and all that. But it doesn't surprise me and in some level, some a little bit of indication that the ACC teams didn't do well today because we'd seen that, we knew that coming in that they were fatally flawed teams, for lack of a better way of saying it. So I think in some ways they deserve a ton of credit. They were banged up at running back. They figured that out. They have a lot of talent at quarterback and at the receiving position coming back, they just got to figure out that run defense and I think they got to get better up front. So this episode is brought to you by LifeLock. The holidays mean more travel, more shopping, more time online and more personal info in places that could expose you to identity theft. That's why LifeLock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity is stolen, their US based restoration specialist will fix it, guaranteed or your money back get more holiday fun and less holiday worry with Lifelok. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast terms apply.

[A]

When it comes to towing. Seeing is believing.

[B]

That's why Chevy Truck's advanced camera technology offers up to 8 available camera for 14 unique views.

[A]

So you can focus on the view that really matters. Chevrolet together, let's drive. Learn more about chevy [e-mail] safety or driver assistance features are no substitute for.

[B]

The driver's responsibility to operate the vehicle.

[A]

In a safe manner. Read the vehicle owner's manual for important feature limitations and information. I totally agree. Club nick finishes with 336 passing yards. Loved his second half. Not only from like, from X's and O's and, and from a just like game tape study and the throws that he made and the decisions that he made and but from like just having the the Kuyans to hang in there. The heart, the competitiveness. The like we talk about the IT factor right? Like they're so overused. It's like like pierces my ears when I hear people. He's got the IT factory. All right, we'll find something else. But we talk about that je ne sais quoi. We should talk about that thing, that thing that quarterbacks have, the good quarterbacks have. And Steve Young when I talk used to talk to him. Over my dare body or over my dead body. How dare you. Or over my dead body. It is getting late. 12:21 Eastern Time. Over my dead. It's the over my dead body. Even when you know you're losing the game, it's like you're gonna get everything I got. Like right. No chance. And that's what I saw from Club Nick today. And, and that's awesome. That's an awesome thing to have equality about you. I thought they had a good plan coming out. I. I really did. I thought Clemson had a good plan. They. They showed confidence in in Club Nick pass heavy first drive spread. They spread things out getting the ball out quickly try to neutralize that pass rush. Wide receivers were doing it good. They Texas plays a lot of zone coverage. Wide receivers were doing a good job working finding softbots soft spots sitting. I just, I liked what they were but like at the end of the day we'll get to the other two matchups and what they were Clemson wasn't overwhelmed by a moment. Clemson wasn't overwhelmed by a crowd. Clemson wasn't overwhelmed by weather and Clemson battled back valiantly and one guy really like threw him on their shoulders. They. They just got just Dominated physically by a more physical, talented Texas football team. And that was clear as day as I was watching it. One team is this, the other team is lesser than Truly and Clemson is, you know and Dabos get the second most appearances in the College Football playoff behind Alabama. The Clemson program does and, but like this is not that Clemson now club Nick's back wide receivers get a year older and this doesn't happen. This is not going to turn into a Clemson show. But like if we're not going to dabble in the transfer portal, how are we going to get better? Like everybody else in college football is getting better. So Clemson fans as you, as you sign off here, that would be the question you have to ask. Now on to Texas.

[B]

How are we feeling about yours? How are we feeling? Give me my years. My viewers weekly check in.

[A]

Go make love to yourself men. I thought the right side of the offensive line and the offensive line as a whole was awesome today for Texas.

[B]

Considering all the injuries too. Man, they're banged up.

[A]

Jaden Blue. What a game. Q. Wisner they combined for 256 yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns and they were awesome. But you know what was even more awesome? That Texas offensive line. They were absolutely dominant and we talked about it previewing the game that Clemson's good versus the run. This is a game where I think they, that Texas has got to have to come out and take the attack to him. And at times they did, they truly did. Like they forced, was it Avion Terrell at three pass interference penalties? Yeah but they, they, there were times and like Matthew golden had a great catch. Gunner Helm had that fourth, fourth touchdown to catch in the, in the back of the end zone. There were moments, okay, there were moments but it still ain't right. I don't, it's, I don't know. It's not right and it's hard to put your finger on it exactly because I, I don't know that physically and you keep saying like I don't see the velocity and I don't, I don't see anything that jumps out at me truly. I don't see anything that jumps out velocity wise or drilling. I don't know. I'm, I'm left like wondering is it a confidence level at times, is it inconsistency, confidence in the pocket? Like there were a couple times I thought he could have climbed and stunt and stayed. I don't know. I just, there's, there's a bunch of little things that are adding up to putting a governor this was a huge win. They were dominant. They played great. Right. Play great. They get Arizona State next week. They're going to win that game. They're going to be in the semifinals and they're going to play Ohio State or Oregon. But that's when it gets real.

[B]

Yeah, the fourth and two pass to golden that was behind him was. That was the one that kind of caught my attention. You know, you're not going to make every throw. I get it. But if he was the queen yours that I thought he was going to be coming into the season. That's a layup. That's a, that's an easy throw to make. That's not a velocity issue. That's just him throwing the ball behind the receiver in a big moment in the game. And I thought this guy coming into the year was going to be the big game guy. And right now I don't know, you know, and fair, unfair. I just, when he drops back, I just don't have a ton of confidence that he's going to make the plays that, that I thought he could make again.

[A]

I keep waiting for Arch to appear more and I'm curious about why not.

[B]

They've used him a little bit. I mean, well, he fumbled the snap today, so.

[A]

Yeah, well they use. The first time he came in when the game when it was like tight early, he, he just handed the ball off. It was a read option. He could have kept it.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I haven't thought this thing through, so bear with me. We know about the two Georgia losses. The A and M win was impressive, but it kind of very different score. But it kind of. When I talked about Ohio State, it leaves you wanting a little bit. They got, they jumped out to a lead. They look great in that game and then they just kind of held on. Right.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Florida was their most impressive all around win in terms of just. I guess my point is this. I, I don't. It's been a while since I feel like they've come out against a solid opponent and kicked their ass and kept their foot on their throat the whole time. I guess that's where I'm going with this. Michigan. September 7th was the last time I felt like that. And it was just prior to Quinn, you was suffering the, the oblique injury. Yeah, I mean utsa, Louisiana, Monroe, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, which was, you know, in the, in the lowest point of its quarterback situation and everything else. And all the like the 95 wide receivers injured and everything else, they lose to Georgia. Ugly. Just get by Vandy, but played really well against Florida. But remember, Arkansas was a struggle. We talked after that game. Arkansas was a struggle.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Left, left.

[B]

It was like a visit to the dentist, man. Watching that game, you're like, right. God, come on.

[A]

Texas saying that. Kentucky. I don't know. I don't know where I'm going with this. I. I just for. Because they jumped on him and, and like all of a sudden I was like, all right, it's. It's playoff time. This and. And here's the part of the char go. The team as a whole played great today. The team as a whole played great. I just think the passing attack. Once again, the governor was on it. And it's Sark understanding his team and doing the right thing for his team. We got the better team. We jumped out to a lead. It's. It's 2810 at the half. By the way, the third quarter. Third quarter.

[B]

I meant to check it hit.

[A]

Yes. I reposted on. On Twitter. I don't know this under but for those of you who aren't weren't listening to the previous show, I, I got into a rabbit hole for this FanDuel stuff that I'm kind of weirdly, it's like on the side. I'm glad to hear Kuiper and I talked this summer. He is an absolute lunatic in terms of handicapping games too. It must be something with the brain of like numbers and rankings and orders or whatever it is. But I just like now that I'm doing. We're doing some stuff for this show. Our show is sponsored by FanDuel. We love the partnership. So many different reasons, but just trying to pick some. I appreciate everyone who's on the who's who's joined the show tonight. And every single week they're, you know, so I'm trying to give back to the people, to our people, men. So I gave out Texas. I said Texas is going to win big in this. I actually thought it was gonna be lower scoring. So I'll take that. But I gave out a very specific one here. By the way, I gave out. Ohio State is my biggest.

[B]

You did you call that?

[A]

Yes. I said third quarter, under ten and a half points. And we don't have to go relive it. Relive the whole thing. But I did like some weird research in that. And it was 10 points scored in the, in the third quarter. It was, it was a little nerve wracking. But. But anyway. But you're up 20, 28 to 10 is my point. Texas, Ohio State, they gave up then it was 21 to 10 came out in the third quarter, and it was like, all right, open it back up. Let's put them away. Let's, you know. And it's like, down the field. Howard, four for four. Jeremiah Smith. Let's attack. Everything I said about Chip Kelly tonight, that I was frustrated with Chip, who's a friend, legitimate friend, and so, like, he's going to yell at me and we'll laugh about it, but, like, stuff that I was frustrated and I knew the reasoning why, with the offensive line and all that. I just. I know why Sark's doing it, too, because he's seeing the same things we're seeing. There's not a level of execution. And at the end of the day, you just said it. Match you. You just nailed it. I don't have faith in my quarterback to the level that I should, considering he's that talented and it's this late in his career. That's it. Period. And so it begs the question, and I guess it's not to upset everything and to create all this national media frenzy. And I don't think it's about that, but, like, let's stay the course as long as we have. We can stay the course, but if shit's going down, I'm pulling the plug and bringing in Arch. And we saw that against Georgia the first time around. So I know that's there for me. It's. It's like this, you know, it's right there in the corner of the room. Break glass in case of emergency. That's what Arch is. But in the meantime, I'm just curious, and we'll probably never get the truthful answer. I'm just curious why in the meantime, in certain situations, we're not seeing a little bit more of architecture.

[B]

Yeah, I think it's a minefield for. For Sark. You start working on it more and more, and then it starts becoming more and more of a conversation of, well, you know, Arch did this and did that, and then you start comparing. And I think it's a slippery slope for him, and I think that's what he's trying to do. But, I mean, we don't know. But that. That's kind of how. Outside looking in. That's kind of what I'm thinking.

[A]

Yeah. I think if Arch was this super talented quarterback, if Archer is everything that he is, but he was just a passer, if he had a similar skill set, but it was just a better skill set with less experience than. Than Quinn, I think we wouldn't see him at all except in like at the end of blowouts and in an emergency situation like we did against Georgia. I think because it's a different set of skills, it gives him any opportunity to let him go out there, get his feet wet, get used to, like the thing a little bit, get three or four snaps like he did today and then. And then put him right back in that, Put him right back in that glass case that we might have to break down the road. I think that's probably the deal.

[B]

Also say this about Texas today. Their defense looked a little vulnerable at times.

[A]

Yeah, I was.

[B]

But they made plays when it mattered, man. The goal line stand, the, the fourth down that the safety came up and to end the game with that play was unbelievable. But there, when it mattered, the defense was there. I was surprised early on, though. Those defensive tackles are quiet for long stretches and the pass rush was great for spurts.

[A]

Baron Sorrell had a good game today. He's had a really good year for a little bit.

[B]

Yeah, he has all these guys defense where you start to dig in and you're like, that guy's good. I mean, Baron, Johnny Baron looked awesome today. I thought at times, I thought he was a difference maker in this game as well. But again, when it mattered most, that Texas defense showed up when it needed to.

[A]

Yeah, Arizona State next week. I mean, you look at just using this as a preview, like Ohio State, 15 prospects and the two best prospects aren't eligible. We talked about that. Going up against Oregon with 11 prospects, that's a fair fight, right? Talking about draftable prospects, guys that are eligible with draftable grades, in our opinion, potentially draftable grades. Texas has 12 draftable prospects that are eligible.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Arizona State's got one in our top 250.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Cam scatter, where do you want to. I mean, we don't have to dive into it, but, But I, I do agree with you. The problem is I, I do think because you had Wesco and you had those receivers and you had clubnick on a heater and just carrying that team, he was not going to be denied in the second half. I think it was a good test for Texas. It became a good test for that defense and they have not had a lot of them, if you really look at it. I mean, even against that first Georgia game, it was three interceptions, you know, and the second one they knocked back out and they brought in the backup. Like they haven't had. Who, who are their big tests defensively? I'm not saying they're a fraud by any stretch, but they haven't had. Texas A and M can't throw the ball. Kentucky can't, Arkansas can't. Florida was playing Yale transfer guy, third quarterback. By the way, we're 1 and we're 10 with coaches coming on and hopefully if things go well, we won't have another coach on for three years. But I love Billy Napier. He was awesome and previewed all the games with us. But this isn't going to be a coaching show. But, but, but my point is we're 10 having a coach on before a game. They had a big win. Not a big win, but they. An impressive win against Tulane. But go Vanderbilt. Not a great passing attack, but a competent quarterback. Oklahoma, not a like terrible quarterback and wide receiver situation. Mississippi State, Louisiana, Moreau, utsa, Michigan, they haven't faced anyone who can throw the ball. Today was the first time, right? Today was the first time. So that's an. You got to file that. Don't file it for Arizona State. Jordan Tyson's out. They don't have a receiver. Quarterbacks. What a red shirt freshman. That's not going to be an issue. But, but file that when, whether it's Ohio State or Oregon, the semifinals, that's going to be.

[B]

They do get credit for the two Georgia games though. I know they lost those games, but the defense played well in those games.

[A]

And I know I'm talking purely what quarterback with a competent wide receiver group. Georgia's receivers lead the nation in drops.

[B]

I know, I know.

[A]

It's been the biggest problem all year long.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. My point is they haven't faced for a Texas team that's been so good all year long. It's been dominant that plays in the sec. They haven't faced any quarterbacks that are. That are like that strike fear in you. They haven't. Right outside of. Outside of Pavia. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

For Vanderbilt. And he's. He's kind of right. He's like, you know, grind it out guy.

[B]

He's awesome. But.

[A]

Yeah, but he's not. Yeah. Club Nick's the best pure pastor that they faced all year long and he. He went for 336 today. That's my only point.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right, next up.

[B]

We going.

[A]

We're 53 minutes in. I don't want to go on a big ramp.

[B]

I love it. That's how you started it.

[A]

I know it's low hanging fruit, so that's. I don't. I hate low hanging fruit. I. I've. I've built a career on not being that guy and I don't. And I also am pretty self aware. There's not many people out there who are dying for McShay's take on the state of college football. But I do think there are a lot of people out there who are watching the games this weekend who were so fired up first year of this 12 team college football playoff. If you're watching on YouTube you can see 19 point spread, 19 point difference in the games, the margin of victory, 19 points across the board. Texas, Clemson, it was more dominant than that. But I don't want to slight Clemson at all for that 3824 score. Penn State SMU felt like it was indicative of what I watched on tape. 38 to 10, Notre Dame 2717. Not even close. That game in my mind, in my. If I'm stugots in my personal record book is 27 3. That's exactly what it should be. If Notre Dame had any firepower and we'll get to it, it would have been 41 to 3. But Indiana, late in the game, Notre Dame's backing off. They almost messed around and found out by the way. Yeah, it got like a little too weird right at the very end. Had they got that two point conversion. We'll get to it. My point is this. What are we doing?

[B]

That that Penn State SMU game feels like a 1 versus 16 in this NCAA tournament.

[A]

Yeah. So let's get to the game in a minute. I just want to say this. And why is it in college football that it always takes a disaster? It's almost like the government in certain things and I'm not a big government like in politics, all that. So like keep me out of it for the most part. But why does it always take a disaster? So like a public. Why does it always take a public embarrassment in college football to affect change? Why are we always like okay. And I even saw Reese is so brilliant with his words and he said something like maybe we don't have to bash the, the, the, you know, the seatings of the matchups and all that, but we can use this as a tool to look to next year to make change. He's right.

[B]

Right.

[A]

He handles this better than I do. There's a reason he's got the perfect hair. He's my RD is my guy and he's the perfect guy to be in that seat and to manage both sides of college football. He can, he, he handles it all. Well for me though, it's like we thought it took us this long to get a 12 team playoff. Not Only do we. It was so abundantly clear that the, the seating situation was a disaster waiting to happen. Why everyone. But everyone got so caught up. Oh, yes, we got a 12 team college football playoff and they forgot to like, no, that's wrong. Let's fix that now before we get to December and it becomes a problem then even bigger. And I'm not going to go on a rant. I promise you this is going to be the extent of it.

[B]

Rant. I want to rant.

[A]

Why? Why does it take this like, public shaming? We have to be dragged into town in front of the nation with two NFL games going on. We got to be dragged into the center of town and get shamed in front of everyone. Here's your wife cheating on. Here's the guy that she's cheating on you with. Like, whatever it is, this guy's, this guy didn't pay his taxes. Like, you got to be dragged in the center of town for everyone in town to see you before we have where's the vision in college football? And I'm saying all this because, like, the committee, it's so wrapped up in the politics of all this. And I get it, the situation. And there's, there's a lot of change that's going to happen and it needs to happen. Like, we got to regionalize the conferences. There's. There's too many. We've got a couple super conferences right now. Not enough of the teams in those super conferences are playing. We don't have a structure that funnels the proper teams to the College Football Playoff with the respect of getting different conference, different conference champions in. I get that that's a future problem, but the now problem is in what world is it as a member of a committee who we've assigned to make a decision on what the 12 best teams are, minus the, the five that have to be put in. They're off the hook for the five. It's not their fault Boise State's in. It's not their fault Arizona State's in. That's part of the system. I understand that. Hopefully with conference realignment and bigger structure later, we'll get that solved. But there are seven other teams to make up the College football playoff, the 12 team playoff. If your job is to get the seven best teams outside those five in, how are you watching football and saying that that SMU team deserves to be in? And I. And now's when you could go, oh, oh, the sec. I don't. It has nothing to do with the sec. And yet Tennessee got Its ass kicked by a Big Ten team. I got it. And I could. I could defend that all day long. But I get news for you. Alabama versus Penn State, think that would be a better watch. South Carolina, the hottest team in college football with Lenora Sellers and that defensive line made up with NFL dudes against Penn State, you think that would be a better watch? Old Miss, Ole Miss with those weapons and that defensive front. That defensive front that might have to. Oh, yeah, of course. Lane's about. Did you see Joel Klatz? Did you see Joel clapping back at him?

[B]

No.

[A]

If you were. If your team was played as. Not created, played as successfully played as well as you tweet, you wouldn't have made. Gotten yourself in this mess.

[B]

Go back at him.

[A]

I love it. I was like, joel, it's one of those, like. It's like junior high. It's like, all right, let everyone back away. Let these two figure this thing out. It's gonna be fun.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I just don't understand it. I don't. I don't understand. I get like, Clemson has to be in. SMU's got to be out. Ohio State's representing. Oregon's representing. Get Indiana out. Get Indiana out. I said it for. I've said it for months. And it wasn't the last one. It wasn't the last rankings reveal rankings that they did. It was not the last one that got him into trouble. It was the times before that when they were married. Absolute prisoners to the win loss record.

[B]

Agree.

[A]

I don't know the names of the people on the committee. I purposely try to not make this personal, but who's in that room? Who's arguing and saying like, no, I know football. I like, I'm watching these games. Do you understand the gauntlet that it is? I'm telling you right now, 8 and 5 Florida makes it a fight versus Notre Dame makes it a war against Penn State. 8 and 5 Florida, do they deserve to be in? No. But an argument could easily be made for those three lost teams in the sec, because I got news for you. That nonsense that we watch from SMU that, like, the moment's too big, 30, 40,000 seat stadiums, that stuff that we watched, the Indiana that we watched. We got our preview against Ohio State.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What would. How would that hold up in the SEC if you're playing that Georgia schedule, for. If you're playing South Carolina schedule, if you're playing Ole Miss schedule, if you're playing Bama schedule this year, would they have three wins against top 25 teams?

[B]

No.

[A]

Would Indiana or SMU have three wins against top 25 teams. No, because Alabama did and South Carolina had two wins against top 25 teams in the last three weeks, and all their losses were.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right.

[B]

What sucks is that a guy like Kevin Jennings goes out and has that kind of a day today.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And ends his season like that, when if they'd gone to a different bowl, they weren't in the playoff, maybe he throws for 500 yards, name MVP, has a great end of the season, goes into next year, more confident about everything. You know, it just sucks that that's the way their season ended, because I like. I mean, there's a lot of players on that SMU team, and Rhett Lashley is a good coach.

[A]

It's easy to root.

[B]

It's easy to root for that team. Like, it sounds like we're picking on them. We're not. The reality is they just didn't belong in the top 12 teams in the country, and that's obvious. I will say this about Lashley, and.

[A]

The other thing, too, is, like, maybe an SMU level, like a Boise State should be playing in Arizona State or, you know, like, maybe it would have been different playing even. You know, I don't know. Let's get into. Let's get into Penn State because we, we don't have a ton of time left. I mean, we can stay all night. No one's gonna stop us. But I just, I think I don't want to beat it. I just, I, I, I think I, I was feeling what a lot of people out there was feeling. Like we waited so long to get to this college football. I've got, like, family around getting ready for Christmas, the holidays. Whether you're celebrating Hanukkah or like everyone's got family already. Like, we're excited about. We got the weekend and. And that's what we trotted into the center of town to just get embarrassed, you know, it just sucked. Penn State. Couple things I want to say. I will say this and, like, it sounds. It was very disparaging what I just had to say about SMU and about Indiana. This is more a system thing. This is not me.

[B]

Like, it's about the committee, not.

[A]

I want to say this, that. That SMU defense was coached up like a M. They were ready. Like, they, they gave Drew Aller fits early in that game. Truly confused with his reads. Didn't know where to go to the ball, that I don't know what he was thinking. On the 4th and 4th and 14, I understood they had to Go forth there because the, the wind and the situation. Yeah, it was. You just couldn't kick in that, in that, in that side of the field. And, and Franklin made that, you know, made that report. In his report he talked about that. But they, I think if, if I'm a future opponent now, if I'm Boise State and then beyond that Notre Dame or Georgia, I'm, I'm watching some of the stuff SMU did to really confuse Drew Aller in that game. And I'm implementing and playing with and trying to advance with my better cats. Right, right. I, I, but I, but I Aller I, I thought got better as the game went on. My couple of my takeaways and I'll let you rip because I, I just haven't shut up for a while. Is a Tyler Warren every week does like a little bit more to just. I just fall in love with the guy. When the ball's in his hand, he is so confident. It's like there's not many 6, 6, 256 pound. Like running backs or full like the confidence he has and the way he sets up blocks and dude, like tight ends catch the ball, like fine contact, you know, and it's like stumbling it. That dude is so comfortable with the ball in his hand and just a throw he had to single.

[B]

The throw he had Singleton was an incomplete. I was like, dude, how is that, how is that humanly possible? Because the throw was. He probably could have taken something off it. But you're like, dude, this guy's that big.

[A]

He was a high school quarterback.

[B]

I know. And he just turns and like flips the ball out. But like, he had a run along the sideline today where the body control to tightrope the sideline. And then the way he got his pads down. He's so tall, but somehow he's running behind his pads. I was like, how is it even possible for you to stay in bounds, get your pads down and somehow continue your forward momentum? He does things that like, as I'm watching him, I understand what's happening, but I have a hard time understanding how it's happening. He's, he's that different of a player. Did you hear the Gronk comp today?

[A]

No.

[B]

Yeah, I was on, on, on the show. I was like, yeah, we'll see.

[A]

I'll tell you one thing that I, I, I love that like the blocking. Just see that one block in the end zone?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The dude like, like 15 yards. He must have just.

[B]

How many? 236.

[A]

6, 256. It's not. We've been. We've had guys that have been coming in the league that have been early picks that are 6, 4, 2, 45, you know, like, yeah, this dude's a legit. Like, he's going to be like 6,056. Like, six, five and three quarters, something like that. 256, you know?

[B]

Yeah. We haven't seen one in a while.

[A]

Like, while you're. You're not drafting a tight end for his. For his run blocking, normally you're drafting a guy who can do all the. The dynamic, special things in the passing game, who just, like, you know, put your head in there, dabble a little bit. Like, seal them off, seal them off, give him some effort, you know, but he. He'll. He'll be like a certified. Like, factor in your run game. He can. He can help in your run game.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The other thing is, I was watching my son, Tate. He's 10 years old. We're watching the game, and he's like, who's that? I look up, he goes, who's that? I look up. I said, who? He's like, that's Micah. That's Micah. I was like, 11. He goes, yeah, Michael wears 11, Dad. I was like, yeah, yeah, dad. He goes, who is he? I said, it's Abdul Carter. He's like, you're telling me that's not Micah Parsons? He goes, you see? Can he get drafted? I was like, yeah. He goes, you're. You're. You're underrating him. You're. I was like, bud, bud. I've got. I've got Abdul Carter as the number three prospect. He's like, you don't talk about him enough. Then. I don't know. He was, like, pissed off. But, I mean, he was awesome today, man. He was.

[B]

I think he's been really good this year. I think people. I think the expectations are so high for that dude that they don't realize how good he's been. Yeah.

[A]

I'm curious to go back and study the coach. The coach's tape and, like, watch the. The nitty. But, like, from what I saw, the effort flying around draft prospects in general, I just felt like, who? Oh, Pierce in the loss. James Pierce Jr. Tennessee. The two plays, chasing from behind.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, effort, range, effort, flight speed, range, all that. Like, I just. All day long, they're like. We just talked about the two defensive ends for Ohio State, right? J.T. and Jack, 33, 44. They played at a high level. Tyk Williams, defensive tackle, high level, playing like true second rounders. Ty Leak, maybe late first. You know those guys showed up. James Pierce in the loss for Tennessee first round pick at edge. Only plays like 24 snaps a game because they're so deep and so he doesn't have the stats and all this stuff. He showed up. Micah Parsons, AKA Abdul Carter. According to my son. He showed up like there was Tyler Warren showing more and more. I don't know. That's just a lot of guys who are draft prospects really stood out. Penn State. Now they've got Boise State with Penn State. I just. I love him. Notre Dame's a more talented Penn State. Notre Dame's bigger. Strong. Bigger. Stronger. More. A little bit more physical. Okay.

[B]

Really.

[A]

But. But Penn State has the quarterback. But they both face the same issues, I think less at cornerback for Notre Dame than Penn State. And follow me here because it's real easy in my mind, but I need to like portray what I'm thinking. They. They are both damn good football teams in most areas, but they both have problems in the perimeter. And it's gonna catch up. And it ain't gonna catch up for Penn State against Boise State and it ain't. But it might catch up against Georgia for Notre Dame. I will have to figure out what's the quarterback situation is there. It. It's very likely to at least make things unbelievably difficult against Georgia. But the lack of wide receiver play, the inability to create and stretch and threaten is scary. And for Penn State, way more so than. Than Notre Dame. For Penn State, like their cornerbacks I thought got exposed at times like when. When they weren't throwing pick sixes. Smu. I just, I've seen it over and over again. I think that it hasn't been exposed to the level that it will be against a team that can actually throw the ball. And that may not be until the national championship because Notre Dame gets to play Penn State in the semi final if Notre Dame knocks off Georgia. And so it may not be until the national championship, but at some point it will rear its ugly head because neither of these teams do. I mean it's. It's wild how good they both are as football teams and how few. I mean, none. They have none. They have no weapons that scare you? None.

[B]

Not in the perimeter, no.

[A]

So I'm going to transition right to Notre Dame and I've got so many great things to talk about with Notre Dame. But Jordan Faison, 7 for 89, he had a really good game, but that's not like always the norm. He's not like, you know, he had a couple good plays. No other receiver had more than 18 receiving yards. Bo Collins had two catches for 18 in that game. Jaden Thomas had two for 13. It's just not enough.

[B]

No. Faison might be the number. Might be the number three receiver for Ohio State. I think it's between him and Tate. Like, I mean, if you're gonna put him on another roster with. It's loaded. Yeah, he's probably the number four.

[A]

He's four.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Just to keep that. I just want to get that. And I just want to get that out there because. And I said that. I said before it would, it would have been 41 to 3 before it became 4117 late with Indiana, it would have been 41 to 3. Somewhere in that range, if they had a couple guys who could, who were perimeter weapons. But Notre Dame, awesome game. They played an awesome game. They really did.

[B]

Thinking about who's the guy who's going to show up as, like, the, the star of these playoffs. The, the kind of the sweetheart, the guy that wins everyone over. Jeremiah Love, the running back from Notre Dame. Might be.

[A]

I've been. I've been. I know, but I mean, all year.

[B]

Long, when America gets to know this guy, if they don't know him already, I mean, why.

[A]

Tell me a little bit.

[B]

It's just so much fun to watch. He's so explosive and powerful. He's jumping over guys. He's. I mean, he is. There is no. It's always at his Going at full throttle. Always a full throttle without being out of control. Either he can make plays in the passing game. I just, I mean, it's hard not to gush about him. And then I think he's got speed that is probably a little bit deceptive. He can pull away when he gets a scene. So there's, you know, we've talked about a lot of talented backs, and it probably sounds repetitive with some of the things we say.

[A]

Oh, he's different, dude. He's. Yeah, he's.

[B]

That's what I was saying during the broadcast, too.

[A]

He'd be the second best. He'd be the second back drafted in this year's upcoming class.

[B]

Yeah, he bet he. Yeah, I mean, he'd be in the conversation, but yeah, he'd be definitely in that mix. This, the back class is sick. If he's sick, though.

[A]

No, I, I, and I, I'm telling you from the, like, I, I think the dude's special.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Price is, like, really good and everyone loves, like. And you always Love the backup quarterback. Right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I feel like that's what, like, everyone wants to make the bulking catcher. And he would be a star everywhere else. Yes, he would. But maybe not college football this year, because, like, every team has a star. It feels like a running back, but it's. This is exactly this game. Indiana Notre Dame was, first of all, the scene was awesome Friday night. McDonough on the call. Like, it just felt big. Like, it just was awesome. Right. And they come out and Indiana is just exactly what we talked about.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

If you can't protect them, they can't beat you. Right. And. And. And I give Notre Dame a lot of credit. I do think this. It was encouraging to watch because I think that Notre Dame pass rush has been a little bit up and down this year. Howard cross back brings a little more juice. And I. I just. I thought that their. I thought that their pass rush was really consistently good in this game.

[B]

Yeah. No, I agree. I mean, that defense played. I mean, that was the. That was probably. I mean, say what you want about Indiana, that was one of their tougher opponents that they faced in a while. Certainly one of the more balanced. And they. I mean, they still look like a dominant defense the way they played.

[A]

So.

[B]

And they're in their past rush. I mean, Rourke did not look. I mean, it was talked about pretty heavily on the broadcast. I mean, he just never looked comfortable. I mean, they made some plays, but it was towards the end. But, I mean, again, it was very similar to Ohio State. Like, he just never felt like he was ever going to get into a rhythm.

[A]

Yeah. Good.

[B]

Do you think that Signetti was a little conservative in that game, by the way? Notre Dame was just controlling the clock and they're punting and, you know, I just. I just felt like. Like, you should.

[A]

I don't think. I don't think it would have mattered. I just don't think it would have mattered. Yes, I do think he was. I mean, if you're gonna be that brazen. If you're gonna be that brazen. Yeah, yeah. If you're gonna walk in the stadium doing like, yeah, I hear you. Come on. Waving and all that. And all the. I mean, game day. We don't beat top 25 teams. We beat the. Out of them. Like, wait, who? Who?

[B]

Who? Yeah.

[A]

What are you, an owl? What are you, an owl? Boo. But that Notre Dame run defense is awesome. They held Ellison and Tyson Lawson, and I don't know, why does Ellison keep getting. Getting so many carries when. When Lawson's just got more it doesn't matter now. Season's over. Sorry, Indiana, but Ellison Lawson just. Sorry. I'm just pissed, man. I'm just pissed. It should have. It should have been South Carolina, Notre Dame, Alabama, Penn State. You know what I mean?

[B]

If you're mad now, wait until the. Wait till the second round.

[A]

Throw those. Tucker, you still alive back there, brother? Throw.

[B]

Throw those.

[A]

Grab that graphic. There we go. I mean, so we got two games that. Where it's like, this is what we signed up for. Notre Dame, Georgia. Georgia minus one and a half. Don't even know who's starting quarterback. Georgia's number, minus one and a half. Oregon, Ohio State. Oregon beat Ohio State earlier in the year, but Ohio State, that version is the best. The best team in college football. If we can get that bottled up. Ohio State -1,2 against Oregon. All neutral sites. How about this? Classic Rose bowl rivalry, right? Big 10 versus 12. Even though it's. Even though it's now Big 10. Big 10. You can't, I mean, talk about just things working out. But a classic, I wouldn't say classic. It's not like USC or something like that, but it's still a Pack 12. Old Pack 12. Big Ten matchup in the Rose Bowl. That's going to be an awesome, awesome scene. And then Georgia. Notre Dame is the Sugar bowl, right? Sugar Bowl. But then we get. Then we're still here's. You ever, like, when you're dating when you were younger and you're like, you date a girl and. And. And it's like she had a terrible other boyfriend or you hear about a friend who's dating someone, it's like. It's like no one wants to pay for the debts of the last. I feel like we're still paying for the debt, right? Paying the debt of the committee and then the mistakes made. So now we get. We got another week with two double digit.

[B]

Why do we have double digit favorites in the playoff?

[A]

In the playoff, but we do. Double digit. Penn State -10 and a half against Boise State. You got any lean on that, Mensch?

[B]

I like Penn State to cover. Of course you do.

[A]

You take the favorite in every game. Texas minus 13. Texas minus 13 and a half over Arizona State.

[B]

I'm not gonna even say it.

[A]

I don't know if I trust Texas to pull away from anyone. All right. But. Yeah, that's where we are today. Yeah, they did. Yeah, they did, I think, right?

[B]

Yeah, I was thinking.

[A]

No, they did. They did. What am I talking about? Yeah. All right. It's hour and 20 minutes, it seems. I, I can't. I have to go. A minimum of hour and 20 minutes every show. Anything else you want to get off your chest?

[B]

Men, I think you really said it. Well, I do hate that, the way that Tennessee lost tonight because, I mean, it was going to be such an easy argument to make if Tennessee loses that game. 42, 35. We're like, yeah, look at this, you know, two lost SEC team. But the way they lost, that is going to fuel so many arguments about, well, you know, the SEC isn't as great as you guys think it is. But you're right, I'm not apologizing anyone. I feel the same way that I did before today that I do now. That didn't. I wasn't like, oh, maybe I need to stop and think about this. Tennessee ran into a freight train and their home building and had a lot of injuries at key spots. I'm, I, I just. Again, if you're watching it, I know we're getting back into it, but if you're watching it and you can't tell me that Alabama, smu, how that game, I mean, SMU doesn't match up well in these games. They're just not there right now.

[A]

So.

[B]

Yeah, I just wish Tennessee had kept it tighter for that. For that reason.

[A]

Yeah, I hear you. Well, thank you, everyone. I mean, the fact that this many people at 106, 106 in the morning are still here, we appreciate it greatly. Happy holidays, everyone. Like, you get 10 days. So I think it's 10, nine or 10 days until the next next round of college football playoff games. We're gonna have one more show. We're actually going to tape it. We're going to do a, a redraft of the 20, 24 NFL draft. I don't know what I'm like, I've already done. What did I send you, like 12 picks?

[B]

10, I think. 10. Yeah, but I like some interesting stuff in there.

[A]

We. I gotta catch up. But, but that's gonna be fun. We're gonna do a redraft. It's gonna air, I want to say, Christmas Day. They're gonna air it. We're gonna tape it on Monday. Might be Christmas Eve, but it'll be out. Obviously. Everyone, enjoy your holiday. We appreciate you being here. Thank you very much for, for joining us. Staying on. Thank you for, for liking subscribing. Pass the word on. We're trying to build this thing up and, and can only do it with your support. We will be back for one show. This upcoming week. And then after the holiday, after Christmas. Excuse me. We'll kind of get right back in the schedule. But yeah, we're fired up and our next reaction show will be in, I think it's ten days after the first and. And right. We'll have a ton to cover, then two really good games.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right. For Steve Match. You can find them at Scouts Inc. Mensch. That's M U E N C H. And for myself, merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy holidays, enjoy some family time and don't let this, this College Football Playoff stuff get you too crazy. But we'll talk to you soon. Later. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. For Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18/ plus and present in D.C. gambling problem. Call 1-800- GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org 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.