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The McShay Show
Todd’s College Football Power Rankings (10-12): Expectations for Oklahoma, Miami, and Florida in 2025
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This episode is brought to you by Bleacher Report.
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Football is back.
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And downloading the Bleacher Report app puts you in the middle of the action. Make Bleacher Report your go to this season for the fastest breaking news alerts covering NFL and college football. And don't miss a moment with highlights, scores and live reactions in the app. Get expert analysis on your favorite teams and the news that you want this season. Download the Bleacher Report app today.
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It's still a 12 team playoff in college football for now at least. So it's time to unveil my top 12 teams beginning with 10 through 12 today. And guess what? Just three days until college football kicks off this Saturday and 246 days until the NFL draft. Mitch, you good? I'm good, man. You know you are. Let's rol. Hey, here we go. We've spent a summer watching tape. We did quarterbacks, we did Caleb Downs and defensive backs, we did Jeremiah Love and running backs, we did top defensive prospects, we did Clemson's defensive prospect. We did all this stuff NFL draft related, but we're finally here. Three shows a week. This is actually show two of the week of this week. We got three more shows next week. We have week zero mixed in on starting on sun Saturday. But then week one kicks off and we're full. Go Saturday Night Live. I'm sad. Saturday Night Live, it's our version, the live show live stream. Check us on YouTube. You can watch it after the fact. Obviously on Spotify. You can listen to it on Apple, wherever else you download. But, but, but we're in the middle of it now, men. And so like we gotta, we gotta shift the focus a little bit to college football. And there's 12 teams in the playoff, as I mentioned off the top. So instead of doing a top 25 and racing through, I wanted to, and I know you want to dive in. Like let's really get a little deeper than most people do on some of these teams. The top 12 teams. Teams are right now we're saying like we like their, their chances better than the rest to be in it and in the mix at the end to play in the College Football Playoff. Right. So we're going to do our college football power rankings for the next, what, four shows we go three teams a pop. Today is 10 through 12. Okay. We're going to start at 12, go down to 11, down to 10, then we'll be back on Friday and do three more teams. Okay, that's how it's going to work here, men. Before we get started, get your trusty notes out. Tell the fine folks who've been supporting this show how they can continue to do so.
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Go to YouTube, search the McShay Show. You're gonna give. You're gonna hit the subscribe button. Then you can do a thumbs up and thumbs down for each video if you don't want to get in the comments. If you want to be more specific and you want to yell at us about specific things, you can leave a comment. Or you could be nice. That's, that's nice, too. We have a lot of supporters, which is cool. Go to Spotify, hit the follow, and hit the alert button so you know when a new show comes out. You know, like Todd just said, we have three shows this week. That's not something we usually do. But even when you're getting busier, kids are going back to school, you're going to want the alert button to know when a new episode drops. Go to Apple, hit the, Hit the follow, but also hit the automatic update button so you don't have to worry about being connected to WI Fi to get it. It will already be there on your phone when you want to go get it. You can just easy access. And then also consider subscribing to the McShay report, which is still, there's still a free option, right?
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Still a free option. We got a lot of good.
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Still the free option. Put down the money, though. Get, get all the good stuff.
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It's not.
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I, I, I, I know it's a lot to ask. I know. It is.
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It is.
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But what you pay for is worth it. I promise you. And then you want to follow us on the socials. He's at McShay 13. I'm at you. Good mensch. That's M U E N C H.
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Just hit the thumbs up. Why not?
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You know, on Apple, though, you can, you can. Or I think it's Apple, right? You can rate the show.
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I was, I'm, I'm still dipping my toes in the Apple stuff.
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Five stars. We're also having our first live show ever, the McShade show, going live on the road. I'm going to remind everyone until we're there, September 10th is the day. Okay. Lincoln hall in Chicago. What a beautiful city. We've got the hotels booked, we've got our flights booked. Mention I are sitting next to each other flying that bird on into Chicago. I can't wait. So September T10, tickets are on sale right now. What are we, what Are we do like they're men has a following, folks. Draft Santa, look at him. My man's got a following that this show, this place is going to fill up. At least I hope it does or else it would be an embarrassing night. I've got my sister coming in, my brother in law. I've got family members, friends. Yeah. So we, there will be some people there. It may just be family and friends. No get there. We're gonna have fun. We'll announce who our special guest is at the show. We'll, we'll talk you through what, what's going to be happening in that show. We'll obviously hit some Chicago Bears, we'll hit Big Ten, Notre Dame, all of it. But all the information you need to know is go to theringer.com events. All the info is there theringer.com events. You can also google it and can find it, you know, on my social media and Mench's social media and everywhere else. So please be a part of that. That's going to be a lot of fun. We're excited. And yeah, then you mentioned the McShave report. Google it. You can subscribe for free. You also can get become a premium customer. We obviously would love that. But just, just Google it and subscribe and, and you'll get all, all the content. Monday was the quarterback tears. Today it's, it's, we're going deeper dive in print on, on these teams that we're talking about the rankings and as I promised, we've changed our, our view on things as we get going here. I'm only going to bother your inbox if it's something you need to know or really want to know. We're going to react to news things happening. We're going to take you deeper in and give you whether it's sourced information or from our tape study. So that's all you need to know. All right. Mitch, it's not only exciting that we're doing our college football rankings right. We got our power rankings coming up in the next four shows. You know what else is exciting? We've got a new partnership and a very cool that believes in us and I know from experience I believe in them more than anyone else. That's similar in their field out there and it's with Home Depot. The Home Depot is now a sponsor of our show and it's, it's time. I mean we're going to start right away. We're going to do a segment each show for a little while here with the theme of Renovated. Okay. And. And I can't think of a better program to do to do it with than the one we're going to match it up with today. Okay, so it's time for our very special segment, the first of them called Renovated. It's brought to you by our friends at the Home Depot. Let me tell you something about the Home Depot match. Just a side note. This is not in the script or anything like that. I know you seem like. I get this nice little set behind me. I'm always talking football. I'm wearing this cute little pink shirt today. I get it. Like, you probably have a preconceived notion about me, but you know what you didn't know about me. I got off of a show in June, and Marissa's got four tons of pea gravel dumped in our front lawn with. We're renovating the outside. Outdoor shower walkway. Ooh. Yes. It was like this very nice swampland. It was like a cesspool out back. We would, like, throw some stuff there that we didn't want people who visited the house to see, you know, like some tents or, like a golf net. And. And we decided, let's make it into a nice spot. Outdoor come home from the beach. We got our. We got our, you know, beach chairs hanging up or tent or this or that. It's all, like, hung up. It's. Now you got PE Gravel to walk. You know, this. The kids with their. So they're. They're. They're touching feelings. So now. So I'm l. I'm lugging in, shoveling, raking 4 tons of PE gravel. Then we. We planted. Marissa did a beautiful job planted. You know, basically, it's like George, like Athens, Georgia. Now. We got the. We got the. The hedges lining it and some. Some plants and flowers behind.
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You got to put some photos up, man. I want to see this.
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I will. And you know what? The first thing I did when I walked out from the show and walked downstairs before I started shoveling that gravel, I drove to the Home Depot, right? Got all sorts of tools. I got. I actually one, I had to have wood cut. They. They. They have in the back of the Home Depot, they. They cut up the wood specification for the. The outdoor shower that we built. They had all sorts of things that, like, there I have no chance of doing this huge renovation. The outside of my house that now has become like my escape. I go take an outdoor shower. Not for a bad visual here, but, like, at night with looking up at the. You know, just me.
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You kill that outdoor shower. You're always in that.
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I haven't showered inside since we put it up. Not one time. And I, I plan to shower outside the entire year. But then, but, but also on brand for me, men is I forgot like four things when I was there, right? And you know what they do? They have delivery. Go to home depot.com delivery. They delivered it to me. I was like, oh. Because I thought it was another 35 minutes, I'd live on the coast. It's hard to get anywhere. I thought it was another 35 minute drive. I went online to look to make sure they had the product and it's like click right here. They'll deliver it. Okay, so that's my experience. What's the connection to college football and what we're doing here in the McShay Show? Well, just like the Home Depot, they can help with you, you know, getting your house in shape like I had to. No matter what the season is, college football programs, we're seeing it now more than ever, right? Transfer portal nil. College football football programs across the country have used the off season to retool or reload, rebuild, just like I did with our outdoor shower and the swampland that was and now is an oasis. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to take a look at a team that nailed it this off season in their makeover. That's it. All right. So like that, that's what we're going to do here. And I talked about we're doing 10 through 12. We're going to start at 12 and 12 for me in my rankings. And the beauty is you and I made you. And you're a man of your word. You made, you had your own top 12. So as we go through this, I don't want you to give, give away some of the other teams that might be in or out. But I do want you to tell me where you think I'm dead ass wrong or where I'm not. But Oklahoma, when you talk about the theme of renovated, I want you to think back to a year ago. Okay, 6 and 7, Brent Venable's third year as the head coach coming in from Clemson and then Oklahoma, previously defensive coordinator. Pressure is now on in the fourth year. But you look back to the third year. Defense was a top 20 unit.
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Defense was not the problem.
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But the offense self admittedly when you talk to I now have like good sources. Oklahoma, when you talk to people like self admittedly historically bad offense injuries were insane in every team, every program can complain about injuries, but you can't complain about them at the level that Oklahoma had last year. Okay. And the kicking game was. Was brutal on top of all their offensive woes. Okay. So they only had two players drafted in the NFL, but they were like foundation guys. Danny Stutzman, right. The inside linebacker who, like just all over the field, the leader of that defense. The Saints drafted him in the fourth round. Also in the fourth round. Billy Bowman, who we both love.
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Oh, right. Yep.
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But. But knew there were physical limitations. He's a safety who gets drafted 118th overall by the Atlanta Falcons. So they wind up in the same division. So those two guys are gone on the defensive side, but you get 16 returning starters, and not just starters necessarily, that were at Oklahoma last year, but guys that started in college football last year. And that's part of this renovated theme that we have in conjunction with the Home Depot. Eight starters on each side of the ball because of this. And we're going to dive into the deep. And the. Why because of this. This is like, if I had to pick who's your sleeper team? Like, who's your team that is, like, is talented enough, they're right up there with any other program in the country to make a rebound. Six and seven last year. Okay. We talked about the offense being the problem. Lost two key guys, but still a really good unit that returns eight starters. And a kicking game was a nightmare. So what did they go out and do to renovate their. Their wide receiver core? Let's. Let's start. Well, you know what? Let's start with the NFL draft prospects because that's our backbone here.
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Okay.
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I'm going to make this statement and I want to get your response. I think they have right now on the hoof four players that I consider to be top 100 prospects in the NFL draft coming into the year. Okay. And a minimum. Who you got? Matier at quarterback, who's who outside. And I said it on our last show out, and we'll get to Matir in a minute. But outside of arch in Texas, John Matier's transfer from Washington State to Oklahoma, and what that could represent for this program is the storyline in college football. Those are the top two storylines for me.
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Got it.
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Then Jaden Ott, who everyone kind of forgot about. He's a top 100 prospect, in my opinion. The running back position.
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Last year, Great. Two years ago, super talented. I'm with you so far. Yeah, I got you, too.
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Then Dion Burks at wide receiver. That's three. Now top 100 players from an offense that was historically bad last year for O by Oklahoma standards. And R. Mason Thomas, the edge rusher. NFL scouts are salivating over this guy. Day two prospect. That's four guys in the top 100. They had. They had two players drafted last year, none of them in the top 100. Stutzman was 112 overall. Bowman was 1, 118.
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Yeah, I mean, one top 100.
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We'll see.
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I. I don't hate it. I'll tell you the other one I like because of where he went is smart is the Western Carolina offensive tackle Derek Simmons, who's going to play for one of the best offensive line coaches in the country. And Bill Bibendo, you're gonna. I'm interested to see what he gets out of this kid because this kid moves really well. He has had some problems staying healthy. I think over the last few years. He's missed some games. But Derek Simmons, the right tackle is a name to keep an eye on, especially how it ties to this team. Because look, last year the injuries were really an issue. They gave up 50 sacks, which was the second most in the FBS. They averaged fewer than four yards per carry. The, the offensive line is going to have to play better, but I really think they will. I mean, you're looking at. Again, Bill Bendo is one of the best offensive line coaches in the country. They're going to be healthier there.
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You could argue the best.
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Really good. Yeah, you could easily argue the best. And they bring back. They bring in a. A talented transfer and Derek Simmons who moves super well. The guy redirects and passport really well. Zone. Zone blocking really well. I think that's a big addition for them. And then Jacob Sexton is their other. The left tackle who's coming back. The offensive line has a chance to be way better than it was last year. And that's going to allow your Jade Knots, your Dion Burks and of course your John Mateers to do their thing, which is really, you know, that's the ideal situation. I do want to ask you something right now.
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Okay.
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These are power rankings, right? These are the 12 top teams in. In. You think they're the. The 12 best teams going into the season, right? These aren't guys. Because you brought up the playoff. These aren't teams that necessarily. This, this is in the 12 teams you think are going to make the playoff, correct?
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No. And, and I'm glad you brought that up because. Because two of the teams we're going to talk about today, including Oklahoma, and we'll get to their schedule and we'll get to another. The next team that we're going to talk about their schedule or the next two teams. They FanDuel probably doesn't have them.
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They're not in the coaches poll top 25 by the way, the first ones out.
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You know what drives me crazy about, about all these polls? It's as if these egotistical sons of think that people are going to go back and look at their rankings and be like, oh, do you know that this guy from the. The Post Gazette or wherever said that he had the Oklahoma going to the college football.
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Right? There's no risk. Right. No gamble.
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It's like I'm not analyzing the schedule, I'm analyzing the, the program, the personnel, the fit with the, with the coaching staff and the scheme, who the head coach is and what the leadership is. That's what, like that's what this is about. I look at Oklahoma with the addition of materic quarterback, with the offensive line improvements, with the addition of Jaden Ott, with all the portal guys that Jim Nagy and that group brought in. Nagy, the former executive director of the Senior bowl comes in as the general manager, which is the new trend. Phenomenal hire.
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And that's not because. Just because we know Jim.
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No, no.
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Look at if you think that's because.
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Kevin Kelly was a great hire by Clemson, is their gm.
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Yes.
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There are certain people that understand the NFL game and free agency and salary cap and what it takes to evaluate players and projecting them from one to the next. They're, they're much more equipped and they're not having to be involved necessarily in like the recruiting and all the high school stuff. They're much more equipped to look at what one player is in the FCS or at Washington State. Look at the scheme you're running. That's what you do as a, as a scout or a director of college scouting or executive director of the Senior bowl and the relationships, you know, so all of them. So obviously no two players that were, were brought in to renovate as we stick on the theme, no two players were more important than Matier being number one and, and Jaden Ott. Mater, we just talked a lot about him in the last show on Monday. Mater signed up for this. Man, it tells you a little bit. I told you. We went through and we did a whole show on him early in the summer and it was the most viewed show of any of the shows that we did this entire summer, including the Manning passing Academy. That got a lot of buzz too.
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It's crazy to me. I love it.
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But it's crazy to me because college football fans know and college football fans, some of which were chasing, chasing a bad day of gambling, were watching the late night games and having their, their heart pound through their chest and it was an experience unlike anything else. And you know what, you talk to NFL scouts and it's the same thing. But what I saw was up by like, up by like 24 points in the fourth quarter of a game where he could have just run out of bounds. This guy's breaking tackle, stiff arming guys and racing down to the two yard line. He's fast, he's got legs, a lower half of a fullback. Everyone that I talked to at Oklahoma is like this guy is the deal. He's better than what we, we thought we were signing up for. We knew the tape, we talked to coaches, we didn't realize. And he brings Arbuckle, the offensive coordinator with him. And while the system isn't necessarily like scout friendly for the NFL, it's productive.
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Yeah.
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And, and, and last year was a nightmare for Oklahoma Sooner fans that like any football fan wants to see a little, want to see a little offense. So I'm fire, I mean 65% in Washington state last year, completion percentage, 29 touchdowns, seven interceptions. But now, and let's go ahead and say it now he's got his gauntlet and we're going to NFL scout. NFL scouts get to see every. And I said it the other day, sit back and put, just pop the popcorn and watch the tape because the tape is going to tell you what did that work? Because they weren't playing the sec. And if it works here, it's probably going to work in the NFL like it did for Baker Mayfield, like it did for Kyler Murray. You know that's gonna work. This is his he one year free agent. Where can I go in this country because he had a bunch of offers? Where can I go and prove to NFL scouts? Yeah, my mechanics are kind of all over the place. Yeah, I play a wild brand of football. Where can I go show him that it'll work in the NFL? Here's where. For an Oklahoma program that plays Michigan and Auburn at home, but Michigan and Auburn in September. This isn't like last week's Auburn. This is a pretty good Auburn.
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Good man.
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Yeah. Then this murderer's row, starting with that rivalry game on October 11th against Texas.
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I think that's my favorite, my favorite early season game or mid season game. Yeah, that, that shootout game.
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No question. Then after Texas you know, the break that they get, a little, little break. South Carolina, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri and LSU to finish out the regular.
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Season at South Carolina, at Tennessee, at Alabama. I mean, again, I would tell you that I like that South Carolina team a lot. I thought they would should be in the mix here. But playing at South Carolina is different than hosting.
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And I got news for you. They, the networks ain't going to allow that to be at noon or 3:30 kick.
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No, not especially if they play Texas stuff. And I mean there's, It'll be interesting to see how the season unfolds. But what's interesting to me about this pick, which I really, I really like, is if you told me that this team ends up not being bowl eligible because of the schedule, it wouldn't be the craziest thing that's ever happened. And then if you told me this team made it in the playoff, I'd be like, wow, everything went right. And watch out because if this team somehow gets into like the playoff mix, that means they navigated that. And if they were able to navigate that and they were able to figure.
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It out, watch out.
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One of the things I love, I'm a Brent Venables guy. I'll say this too. And he's been, I think he was 6 and 7 last year. Is that right? And then he was 6 and 7. I think his first year at Oklahoma.
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Okay, he was 10 and three with.
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Dylan Gabriel with the win over Texas in the year between. Yeah, just two years ago, they were. Now listen, they were playing the Big 12. I get it. They're going to have to adjust the SEC. All the SEC fans are like, yeah, that's, that's big 12 ball. Give me a break. They, you know, for all the problems they had last year, ask Jalen Milroe how good, how good that Oklahoma team was because it was a nightmare, nightmare for him, that game. So when you look at that defense and you look at Brent Venables, I think he's going to be a very good head coach. One of the best defense coordinators ever to put on the headset. I mean, he's been unbelievable. You look at some of the, there's this team is. The more I started, I, I was like, I'll be honest with you, I didn't have him in there. And then I started doing the research for this and I was like, God damn it, I'm drinking the Kool Aid. I'm starting to see it. I'm starting to figure it out.
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B
Like the kid, the receiver, they Got.
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Giovanni Gibson, who's from Arkansas, Pine Bluff.
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I'm like, what's this kid about?
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Like Arkansas, Pine Bluff. I throw on the tape and I'm.
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Like, this kid's sneaky.
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A
He's a pretty good route runner. He's a pretty good player. Like, what was he doing at Arkansas, Pine Bluff? He's a guy that I think could come in and be the one of the small school kids again, the Western Carolina offensive tackle, Same situation. These small school kids that are going to come in and surprise people that they were on in those programs because they got some talent, man.
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B
Let me give you some inside information. So if you're an Oklahoma fan, even you, you may not have some of this. Okay, I'm just going to rip through some notes that I got from talking to some. Some really trusted sources. Giovanni Gibson's one of them. 62216. Like, they also added seven transfers. You talk about Nagy. You talk about renovated. You talk about the Home Depot, including Isaiah Satenga. 7. 7 at wide receiver. Bud, this is a, this is. Oh, yeah, yeah, seven. This is a group that had five. Their top five wide receivers. So what happens when you got a swamp land out the side of your house? You. You, you tear it down, you rip out all the. The muck and you dump 4 tons of pea gravel and you get to work with the Home Depot Depot tools. Okay. They brought it. They've got Giovanni Gibson to go with. I already told you. Top 100 prospect in Dion Burks. So now you get who wasn't healthy last year. Right.
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A
And he's another guy. Yep.
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B
Okay. And Burks averaged 12 point, 12 and a half yard, 12 and a half receiving yards during his two years at at Purdue before transferring to Oklahoma. And. And One of the five guys who dealt with injuries last year, Isaiah Satenga, 13.3 yards per catch at Arkansas last year. Three highly productive FCS guys. They brought in some cats.
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A
Yeah.
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B
All of a sudden you got Matier, you got OTT in the backfield with them. You got all these wide receivers, whether they're. They're brand new or they're finally first full year, hopefully healthy. Okay. Offensive line awful last year. That's what someone inside the program said. Self admitted. Awful. We just were like, we've got the best in our minds. And I don't disagree. Look at the track record of what Bead and Bo has put out to the NFL. I want to go back and look at it. You talk to any scout across the country, he's the guy you trust. The most developing the guys to come in the NFL was not at the level last year. Three new starters. Okay, here's what I'm told. The Stanford guy from the portal. I heard this too early day three right now. But like he's a good. He's good. 2. A lot of buzz about two true freshmen. Okay, Listen to these names. Michael Fasusi and Ryan Fogy. Fasuci could be left tackle starter. And Fogy F O, D, G, J E Foge, maybe right guard.
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A
All right, interesting.
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B
Beat Embaugh things are the best young ones he's ever had. Tell me where else you're going to get that information.
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A
That's the guy. Coach Creed Humphrey. Right. I mean that's, that's. These are these had some dudes.
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B
Yeah, yeah.
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A
Can I tell you a transfer that I think of all these transfers really quickly. Can I interject? You want to. Do you want to finish your inside info? Because there's a guy that I'm interested to hear if you heard anything about him who I think is a sneaky. Under the radar for them because they got defense.
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B
All right, let me. I'll get to my defensive notes and if it's not in here, then you tell me.
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A
Okay.
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B
They added a proven. A proven stud kicker from utsa. I don't even know his name. I'm just going off the notes I'm getting from this source. Okay, so now. So we talked about the offense was historically bad. Kicking game was like just. And I remember watching Oklahoma being like.
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A
I think they added a punter and a kicker.
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B
But yeah, the kicker apparently has been awesome in fall camp and he's everything that they thought he was signed up to be. Okay defense last year, top 20 nationally, top six, I think in like yards allowed per game, whatever. Great defense, like good enough defense to legitimately make a run in the SEC if they're kicking game. And their offense wasn't so bad. Eight starters returned from this defense, bud. I know they lost Stutzman and Bowman, but they think that this is a top 10. Like if it was top 20 last year, they think this is a top 10 defense. I'm a Venables guy, man.
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A
Love Venables.
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B
I've sat in so many meeting rooms with Venables and talked ball with him. He. He nearly knocked me out after the end of a Clemson game when he rushed the field. He still tells that story every time I, Every time I walk in the room. He was so excited. He thought I was a fan and he went to high five me and he wound up elbowing me and almost knocked me out cold. But beyond that, like his schemes are the perfect combination. Venables are of like gaps sound like, like with like absolute insanity. It's like a perfect blend. The effort they give and the effort they gave. Remember in some big games last year where they're. The offense is a turnover back on the field and they're like goal line stands and grinding it out. That's what you're gonna get. And. And BV's calling the defense. Okay. This, this defensive line is deep. And they actually think in a couple personnel people I've talked to, this might actually be the best D line group in the sec. Wow. Think about that.
- [29:36]
A
I mean I'm hearing a lot about the T. The defensive tackle, Grayson Holton, who's coming back, but he's supposedly a.
- [29:41]
B
Dude four deep they've got at linebacker with legit starter level players. Secondary might be their best overall position group.
- [29:53]
A
They have the best defensive line in the sec and the secondary might be the best group. That's interesting.
- [29:57]
B
I mean they think this defense is going to be astounding.
- [30:01]
A
Wow.
- [30:01]
B
Okay. Two breakout defensive guys to keep an eye on, I'm told. All right. Taylor, Taylor Wein. W E I N. Okay. And the other both edges. Okay. And Danny Okoye.
- [30:14]
A
Interesting.
- [30:15]
B
So mark those names down. Taylor Wein and Danny Okoye, breakout guys in addition to obviously the all sec. He's the second team all SEC pass rusher last year are Mason Taylor. Love that name. Yeah, they said they're getting calls every day from the NFL. Okay. I already talked about him. Top. Our Mason. Our Mason Thomas or our Mason Thomas is the top 100 prospect. Okay. So there's going to be a ton of pass rush heat. And in. In that weather, you know, sec, the depth of the defensive line is so critical. Like that's huge. So who do you. Who do you get? Did I.
- [30:57]
A
Not Marvin Jones Jr. Man, that Marvin Jones Jr. From Florida State who never really reached his potential at Florida State, two seasons there. But he's another edge. So it's interesting that you brought up all these other edges and no one and he wasn't mentioned. Makes me think a little bit. But he's a talented dude. He never put up the numbers that I thought he would put up at Florida State, but there are flashes. He's a guy who can come screaming off the edge. He's got a little bit of speed to power to him. I thought that was a great ad for them. When you're looking at all these changes on offense, they bring in this edge from Florida State who again hasn't put up the stats, but he's. The tape is much better than the numbers.
- [31:32]
B
All right, so that wraps it up in Oklahoma. We know, we know the schedule, but I'm telling you, this team might be the most underrated from a personnel standpoint in all of the country. And a lot of it has to do with Nagy Venables, the recruiting.
- [31:47]
A
And we mentioned Arbuckle and Mater, by the way, really quickly or I don't know if we did that in this show I know we've done in the past.
- [31:52]
B
Yeah, go ahead.
- [31:53]
A
Tears. Got the same offense coordinator from Washington State and Ben Arbuckle. That should help them hit the ground running. I just want to make sure that we hit on that. If we hadn't already.
- [32:00]
B
Yeah, we did tune into the show.
- [32:03]
A
Here we go.
- [32:05]
B
All right, that's our renovated segment. And again, like thrilled to be partnered with, with the Home Depot. Right? It's brought to you by the Home Depot, obviously. Whether you're making your, your home feel more like you getting an outdoor space, more like pink shirted McShay grinding it out with the pea gravel or, or just setting up an awesome game day viewing experience, I think that's the next step for me. I love my office. I got a couple of things I want to talk to the Home Depot about doing downstairs. All right, but the Home Depot, and trust me on this, they have everything you need in terms of like just getting the projects done in your house. And I mentioned to you too, the one thing I was shocked by, not only can you go in store and get, and go in the back by the way, and get your lumber, if you're like me, like I lived in a city for a long time, being able to go there and get some, some stuff caught up for you. Huge. Okay. All that, everything that you want, the Home Depot can provide. So get the Home Depot app and get fast and free delivery on thousands of items. I'm telling you, it bailed me out. Like had I had to go like stop down, sweating, bleeding from raking this stuff and go to the store to get it. Like it might have sent me over the edge. Over 2 million items are eligible for delivery. Okay, wow. It's home depot.com delivery for details. You can find it all right there. Home Depot.com delivery. Okay. All right, so that's it for there. Now we're going to move on. We got two other teams to cover today. I can feel it in the air. Can't you College football is back and so is the full Saturday slate you've been waiting for. If you're like me, it'll start with Iowa State at Kansas State, by the way, in Dublin, Ireland, and it'll end with Stanford, Hawaii, and probably include every other game on the Saturday slate between. So no matter how much you take in on Saturday, FanDuel's got something for every kind of better. We're talking about 50% profit boost available on any college football bet type this Saturday. So whether you're tailing the favorites, hunting the upsets or stacking props into a wild parlay, there's a way to play and get more out of it. It's all happening this weekend, only on FanDuel. Visit FanDuel to download the app today and jump into 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 d help.com call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut. Miami at 11 so we got Oklahoma at 12, Miami at 11. Give you a quick synopsis. 10 and 3 last year, 2024 seven returning starters on offense, eight returning starters on defense, which I find hard to believe because like, yeah, that seems wrong.
- [35:19]
A
To me, but go ahead.
- [35:20]
B
But because they're bringing in starters from other places. Carson Bexford. Gotcha Carson. You know what I mean. Yes, NFL we always start with the NFL talent, right? Here's what we lost, right? If you're Miami and it's and it's a good deal, but it's not debilitating. It's not like what Ohio State is losing in Alabama in certain years in Georgia and so and so on and so forth. They obviously lost the number one overall pick in Cam Ward, Elijah Arroyo, who's a second round draft pick. Seahawks at tight end. Loved him. Can't wait to see what he does there. Jalen Rivers along the offensive line, Francisco mauioga the linebacker, Tyler Barron, defensive end Andres Boregales the kicker to the Patriots in the sixth round and Damian Martinez, running back to the Seahawks in the seventh round. But so 1, 2 and Isaiah Horde.
- [36:16]
A
And the receiver transferred out, right?
- [36:18]
B
Yes. So seven guys drafted but only two in the first four rounds. Okay. That's the difference. So Maui Noah at offensive tackle, Francis Francisco Mawanoa.
- [36:33]
A
No, it's. It's Francis, his brother. Is this. This.
- [36:36]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. You're right.
- [36:38]
A
They're probably the most amazing people on the planet, but they. They trip me up on this all the time. And so it's Francisco.
- [36:43]
B
How we go?
- [36:44]
A
I'm going off of our draft linebacker.
- [36:46]
B
You plugged him in. You son of a.
- [36:47]
A
Went out last year. And Francis.
- [36:50]
B
Yeah.
- [36:50]
A
Did I do it the wrong way?
- [36:51]
B
Yes.
- [36:52]
A
Is the. The right tackle.
- [36:54]
B
And it's. And it's pronounced Maui Noah. Maui Noah. I will not make that mistake. Maui. Now, you know Reuben Bain, the edge rusher, and Carson Beck, quarterback. Again, all. All three could be in the top 100. I think you. If you start with this team, you got to start with. They are, as expected, with a Mario Cristobal team. And they're loaded up front in the trenches on both sides. But let's not fool ourselves. The story is Carson Beck. Carson Beck transfers from Georgia. Georgia doesn't pony up the money to keep him there. We can make all the speculation we want in the world, but I also have sources. Like, I just think it had run its course. I think Carson Beck has a certain type of personality. I think there was maybe some. I don't think in a curb wasn't.
- [37:54]
A
A good fit anymore.
- [37:55]
B
It wasn't a good fit anymore. Very well put. So Carson Beck goes down to South Florida and he brings his Lamborghinis and he brought his famous girlfriend. And now he doesn't have that famous girlfriend. And the Cabinet twins and all the social media stuff that comes with it and the Tick Tock dances, and then he gets the. The Ferrari stole or the Lamborghini stolen and all of it. But what's happened now is there was this, like, peak of, like, no wonder why Georgia wanted to get rid of him. He's a me guy. Look at this guy. You know, social media, all this stuff. And then all of a sudden, it's kind of quiet. It's in the middle of summer, and college football is kind of shut down for a few weeks. And now all of a sudden, we're just a few days away. And every report I get, now I'm making phone calls, now I'm talking to scouts, and now I'm talking to people there. And it's like, hey, I. I don't care what Georgia said about him. I don't care what social media says about him. I don't care what people think of him. This guy's here and he's grinding and he's working. And he likes this new system and this new system likes him. He's decisive in practice. He's making reads faster. He's not making receivers work. The receivers are actually very talented. Maybe that was the problem with Georgia. I don't know. I don't know what the problem was there. Here we got dudes and dudes are in the right place. They're catching the foot, you know what I mean? So there's this who like, seismic shift of like a PR of like wait.
- [39:25]
A
Apparently he's healthy, by the way. I mean, that, that was.
- [39:27]
B
That's. And that's the jumping off point. Sorry. Yeah, and healthy. And he's been throwing like full go and his balls are. And his receivers aren't working the way. So now I haven't seen any of it. I'm just going off of what I'm hearing. I trust these sources, but it's practice and people have, you know, agendas and, and all that. But if that's the case, man. Do you remember the best of 2023, Beck?
- [39:53]
A
Yeah.
- [39:54]
B
It was so good that we went into last season. He's maybe a top ten pick. Okay, Right. So now we've spent the whole summer talking about Arch Manning and maybe the 2027 draft, if it's not a little bit sooner, and club Nick and Nussmeier and Sellers and Aller and Mend and Matier. Nothing about back. It's like he's got this fresh slate and now he's in Miami and within Miami, right. He's got three returning starters along the offensive line, including Maui Noah, who's a monster TCU transfer at center depth. Good AD crystal ball unit, by the way. With crystal ball is also O line coach Alex Mirabal. We talked about beaten bow at Oklahoma. Mirror balls. Coached some fricking players too, and knows what he's doing. He's pretty good. And what's critical for Beck, who's not the most mobile, who doesn't run like Sellers, who doesn't even run like Clubnik or Mendoza, pass protection. So they're going to protect his ass up front. And now reports are he's more decisive. Balls coming out, knows where to go with the ball. Really likes this system. Okay? Wide receiver, it's big unknown, just like it was at Georgia. We lost Isaiah Horton, okay? We lost Arroyo, Elijah Restrepo. We lost.
- [41:26]
A
Yeah.
- [41:26]
B
Program guy. Four, eight, five or not, right? But now here's what I'm here, here's my information. JoJo Trader, five star sophomore, just six catches last year. Great camp. NY car. Four star. Maybe five star by some people. I don't do the star things except five star for the show and five star for. For confess. Fletch getting out of Ubers. Okay. NY Car. Ray Ray Joseph in the slot. A little bit of a weapon this freshman, I'm just told in the last 72 hours as I'm making phone calls and texting. Right. Malachi Tony, True freshman. Those guys are all young cats. This guy's a true Malachi Tony. Could be a difference maker. Keenan Marriott. Really productive after the catch. That's five I've listed to you. Transfer. Here's a six transfer. C.J. daniels.
- [42:21]
A
I heard he's doing well.
- [42:22]
B
Yeah, having a really good camp. You're hearing the same I am, right? Former Liberty, then lsu, now Miami. Then. Then we got this void at tight end. Yeah, we don't have a. We don't have a Royo. We got another Elijah. We got another Elijah named Lofton. Really good camp. 6, 3, 2, 30 pass catcher. Just 9 for 150 last year. But there was no room for to get on the field behind Elijah.
- [42:50]
A
Buzz though, there's a great Miami guy. All the Miami tight ends.
- [42:55]
B
Yeah. Penn State. Penn State can stuff it up north. Cold weather, Iowa. Beat it. This is the original.
- [43:03]
A
Come on, man.
- [43:04]
B
They're all good in their mind. Love to go around the U. Yeah, they got.
- [43:09]
A
They've got some damn good tight ends. Come out of there, man.
- [43:11]
B
This is the U. This is tight end. You.
- [43:16]
A
Yeah.
- [43:17]
B
Then. Then I'm hearing about another freshman on the other side of the ball. Actually. Did I mention Joshua Moore? So two freshmen. I just heard it. These are different conversations. Why I'm bouncing around a little different conversation. Couple freshmen really standing out in camp in addition to all those guys I just said Joshua Moore. Big bodied wide receiver. Tough, uncontested catches. Then on the other side of the ball. And we use this to kick off the defensive side. Hayden Low, 65, 255. Big body defensive guy who's got some bend. All right.
- [43:51]
A
Yeah.
- [43:52]
B
Or I get in the defense. What do you. Anything else you want to add on offense for Miami?
- [43:55]
A
Well, I just think it's going to be, you know, your real. Something that's interesting to me is you are definitely rebuilding. You're rebuilding that passing game. But what's fascinating to me about that is when you have a new quarterback, it doesn't really matter how many new receivers you have because he hasn't worked with them anyways. So we can go over about all the receivers, they lost. If you had the same return in quarterback, like, well, now he's gotta build up trust and momentum with that receiving core. Carson Beck never knew any of these guys anyway, so it didn't matter if he was throwing to, you know, Strepo had come back. Obviously, Recepo is a very good player. But what I'm saying is.
- [44:25]
B
Yes, I hear you.
- [44:26]
A
The chemistry part of it with having a new quarterback goes kind of out the window, which is nice for them. To me, their offensive line is going to be the strength, like you said, and they're Mark Fletcher at running back. They're going to run the ball, they're going to pound the ball and they're going to take some pressure off of Beck, which is nice for him. I think that's perfect for him. Create some windows of play action, all of that stuff. The heart of this team to me is going to be run game, strong offensive line play, and then the defense is going to be good too. So that's, that's their, their recipe for success in my mind. I mean, it doesn't mean that Carson Beck's not going to have a great year and those guys aren't going to make plays. I think the identity of that team is going to be the ground game and good defense.
- [45:04]
B
Carson Beck is at his best off of play action. And this with. With crystal ball, mirror ball, the transfer, the young guys.
- [45:12]
A
Not a knock, by the way. That's the pro game. It's not a knock.
- [45:15]
B
Jared Jerry Goff is like, bingo, right?
- [45:19]
A
Yes. Yep.
- [45:21]
B
So it's set up for success for Beck. It's going to be fun to watch.
- [45:25]
A
Yes.
- [45:26]
B
I mentioned Hayden Lowe, edge rusher on the defensive side, defensively for Miami. And you just talked about how this is a really good defense. And I. It's hard to envision this being a really good defense after the slop we watched last year. But it's important to start here. New defensive coordinator brings a new mentality to this defense. Okay.
- [45:47]
A
Yeah.
- [45:48]
B
And I'm choosing my words carefully, on purpose, with intention. Corey Heatherman was a defensive coordinator at Minnesota. Prior to that it was jmu. Prior to that it was at Maine.
- [46:04]
A
Right.
- [46:05]
B
You get where I'm going.
- [46:06]
A
I think there was like a Rutgers linebacker run in there. Yeah. Yeah. It won. You're at Minnesota.
- [46:11]
B
Yeah, we played Maine. We played jmu. Not even when they were at their best. We know about those pro, like tough, hard nose, overachieve. And then JMU started to get players to go with and, and all the movement there. Minnesota, same deal. Not getting the best Big Ten players, but my goodness, they'll hit you. And right. So now no one wants to play them. Now you got all this like five star, four star crystal balls bringing in. And you got a guy in Heatherman who may be like bursting onto the scene nationally because if you can take those athletes, those players and get them to play a brand of football he's used to playing, this could be fun to watch. Okay.
- [46:55]
A
Right.
- [46:57]
B
Obviously, Reuben Bain we've talked a lot about even in the top five prospects heading in the season. On the defensive side, Reuben Bain is in the mix. Other edge that I'm hearing good stuff about is Akeem Mezador. Okay. Then they get these two five star defensive tackles that were from last year's class that they're expecting a lot of, but we'll see Justin Scott and Armando Blunt. They got a Louisiana Tech transfer also along the stud. I don't know. These are just notes I'm getting from talking to my source.
- [47:31]
A
He's, he's, watch out for David Blade Jr. Man, keep that name.
- [47:34]
B
Yes, Blade. Yes, yes. I didn't write it down, but I remember, I remember actually hearing in that conversation, there's the LAC guy. They lost two starters at linebacker, but their number two tackler, Wesley returns.
- [47:51]
A
I don't know how I said that.
- [47:53]
B
B I S S A I N T H E and they added Charles Brantley, who had 23 starts at Michigan State, and Muhammad Torre Tour, who had 93 tackles and four and a half sacks for Rutgers in 2023 is what my note says.
- [48:08]
A
Last year, that's what it was. Good player, man. Good player. If he's healthy.
- [48:13]
B
Right.
- [48:13]
A
Again, I say this, I, I should be careful because this was obviously the Achilles heel for the, the 2024 Miami Hurricanes was their defense. I mean, we all know that that was their Achilles heel. And maybe I shouldn't be jumping to the conclusion of that. This is going to be a much better defense. I just look at that talent, I look at that coordinator and I look who they brought in.
- [48:32]
B
We're painting a picture where it's like.
- [48:34]
A
Feel good about it.
- [48:35]
B
Yes.
- [48:35]
A
Same feel good about and talk about. I also added Depot renovation, by the way.
- [48:38]
B
Yeah.
- [48:39]
A
You get into that secondary yet? Because that's a Home Depot renovation.
- [48:42]
B
Six DBs in the transfer portal. Is my next note expected to be maybe their best group in terms of the three levels of the defense? They, they, they think they brought it. And there's one name that I was told to keep an eye on. He's having a really strong camp. Jabari Antoine, cornerback.
- [48:57]
A
Okay.
- [48:59]
B
The schedule, it's manageable.
- [49:02]
A
Like, it's manageable.
- [49:03]
B
We just did Oklahoma. I'm gonna spoiler alert. My number 10 team in the country. Not off where I think they're going to finish, but where I. Where I think they are. Personnel and the momentum they have coming in the year is Florida. And that's a nightmare schedule, too. This is manageable with all this talent with Carson Beck coming in. You. Yes, you do have Notre dame on the 31st. Okay. And then you get Florida on the 20th. It's going to be a. I can't wait to see that game.
- [49:30]
A
Yes.
- [49:31]
B
This might. Team before.
- [49:34]
A
Pissed off after last year, by the way.
- [49:36]
B
Pissed off about last year and before they're going through the gauntlet into the. The nicks and the bumps and the bruises and, and, and right. What is inevitable from their schedule later in the season. That's a fresh, hungry, pissed Florida team against a healthy Miami team on both sides of the ball with Carson Beck. But then after that, it's like, it's kind of manageable. The next big ones are, you got Florida State on October 4th, then you get a buy. Then you get Louisville. Good team, but not. We're not talking top 10 on October 17th. Then there's this run and it's. It's like you start in November, right. There's five games in November, all conference games, all good opponents. SMU is the toughest one of the bunch. So you go in kind of fresh and you get SMU right off the. So that. That's a huge game, Mark, that one conference play in the accident, November 1st. But then it's Syracuse, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech and Pitt. All good programs. Manageable, but very manageable by the standards that we're seeing with all these. These. These mega conferences. We've grouped them up into four. Right. Like four conferences. You're playing, like, whether it's Michigan, Ohio State, like, and. And usc. You know, like.
- [50:57]
A
And Oregon.
- [50:58]
B
Yeah, Oregon. Right.
- [51:00]
A
Thank you.
- [51:00]
B
And the SEC. Like, I could list 10 right now. So.
- [51:03]
A
Right.
- [51:04]
B
This is manageable. There's no Clemson.
- [51:07]
A
I agree.
- [51:07]
B
There's no Clemson. Okay.
- [51:10]
A
So I think there's a needle they could thread where they are. They lose to Florida and they lose Notre Dame to Notre Dame, and they still end up getting that ACC championship. I think that, that, that could happen.
- [51:20]
B
Well, neither of those are conference games, so. Yeah, of course. Yeah. They.
- [51:23]
A
They get clumsy.
- [51:24]
B
Yeah.
- [51:25]
A
But it's manageable.
- [51:26]
B
It's manageable.
- [51:27]
A
One thing I got to throw at you?
- [51:28]
B
Yes.
- [51:29]
A
Are we worried about Mario Cristobal's game management at all?
- [51:33]
B
Absolutely.
- [51:33]
A
Two years. I am. I just got to say it. I am.
- [51:36]
B
Because it's.
- [51:37]
A
I think that if you're going to be a team that's going to be this competitive, you're going to find yourself and they have. You think about Georgia in close games where that stuff matters, and you think about Georgia Tech two years ago when they could have just taken a knee. They run the ball, they fumble, they lose that game. And then, you know, not as egregious as that decision, but the decision last year to kick a field goal, fourth down, less than four minutes left against a Syracuse team that's been running it up and down the field on you potentially. I mean, who knows how, who knows how that decision would have panned out. But if you go for a touch or you go for a thing, you get a penalty, maybe get a first down or you tie that game, you get into overtime or whatever, you give yourself a better chance of winning it. They kick the field goal, they never got the ball back. That cost them a chance at the playoffs. I, I believe so. When you're talking about some of the game management stuff over the last two years has been concerning. He's an outstanding recruiter and he's an outstanding player development coach. The game management stuff scares me a little bit. And I did look at that. I was, when I was looking at these, these teams, I'm looking at the coaching staff and what kind of decisions they're going to make, what kind of, what kind of battles they've been in. That one for me is a little bit of a, you know, it's not the, not at the end of the world, but it's something to keep an eye on is that game management stuff.
- [52:50]
B
I don't disagree, but I have nothing more to add. I think you nailed it appropriately. And it's also like I, I'd like, I'd like to do on shows something that fans maybe don't know. And I think Miami, that's probably one of the biggest things that if, if they're to file a complaint with all the wonderful recruiting and everything else and the offensive line coaching and play and the physicality and all those things, that's definitely the, the complaint that would be filed. All right, number 10, and I already gave you the spoiler alert. So Florida gators at number 10. And again, I am not basing this off of the schedule and where I think they're going to finish. I don't think anyone in the world. I don't have an ego to think that anyone in the world is going to remember that I had him at 10 or, or 30 in the preseason. This is about. When I look at this personnel and I look at the momentum from last year, I don't know. I can tell you this. There was not a more inspiring coaching job than the one done by Billy Napier in Gainesville last year. Call it the best, call the best in the second half of the year, whatever you want to do. But they started 4 and 5 and he was gone. You know, with those chat boards.
- [54:00]
A
Some of the social media clips of him getting yelled at leaving the field were very vicious.
- [54:06]
B
Then they went on to win four straight, including the Gasparilla Bowl. And you say, well, it was too lame. But you know how hard it is to get SEC players to get up, show up and play hard for the Gasparillable. Ain't easy.
- [54:21]
A
Can I say something else too? Because you've already brought it up and I would, I would counter because I think some people don't believe this thing and that, and there's an argument for it. But what does last year have to do with this year in terms of momentum? I think it's a thing. I think it is a thing. I think when you end the way that Florida did with the way they won the last four games with two big wins, I think you look at that, one of them was Ole Miss, the other one may be lsu, but they had the two big wins out of the last four. You look at the way that team ended, you have a young quarterback, that momentum matters. I think, I think when you're coming into this year, you feel better about what you are as a team based on what you did at the end of last year.
- [55:01]
B
And it matters because buy in is so hard to get when you're on the, on the chopping block. And those players are, are on social media just as much as the fans that are screaming okay to keep and good for that.
- [55:15]
A
For them not firing him, by the way, it would have been so easy to have fired him. And that, that, that program's got kind of a history of doing that, of just parting ways with head coaches since Urban Meyer. I think Dan Mullen comes to mind and you could say Dan Mullen didn't do much to help himself. But you know, they. There's a quick trigger in Gainesville, man. You're either Spurrier or Meyer or, or you're not here for long. And it's not easy to win in that conference in, at that school either, you know, they, they've done some really nice things with those two head coaches, but it's, it's tough, man. I think you have to be a special kind of human being to do it. And Billy Napier is that guy to, to stay steady when you know there's a big storm swirling around you.
- [55:54]
B
Culture is the most overused and borderline nauseating word now in football and in sports, like, because it's, it's not used properly. Like, you show. You want to show me culture. Show me. When the coach is done, everyone agrees they're, they're just tearing him apart. Every, every avenue they have to get to him, around him, every, every ear, every opinion is he's gone. And to be able to get 18 to 22 year old kids who are now making money, some of them more than a lot of the coaches on the staff, to get them to stay committed and to grind. So I think we've covered all that. NFL talent lost. You look at, you're like seven players. That's, That's a decent amount. None of them in the first three rounds. All right, Cherry DK was a wide receiver, wide receiver, the first guy drafted in the fourth round by the Titans. Okay? One of the seven was a punter. Four of them on the defensive side where they're still loaded. Cam Jackson, Jason Marshall, defensive tackle, defensive back, and Shemar James, a linebacker by the Panthers, Dolphins and Cowboys, respectively. Graham Merz, essentially their backup quarterback who got drafted in the sixth round. Okay? Then the. Cross Shaw, the punter by the Broncos, and then Bridges, the defensive back in the seventh round. Pick 256 right at the end. So we're not talking about being decimated by any stretch. NFL prospects this year. This. They've got some dudes, man. Caleb Banks. Yeah, they do. Defensive lineman. I think he's the best interior defensive lineman at least in the sec. One of the top, One of the top three in the country. Austin Barber at tackle, Jake Slaughter, Florida Jake Slaughter at center. Tyrese SAP, edge trenches again, just like Miami. Okay? Just like Oklahoma with their renovated trenches. They're. They're built where it matters. But let's put. I mean, they really are one of the best teams in the country. Along the line of scrimmage. Them in Miami are two of the best in the country. Along the line of scrimmage, both sides. None of it matters if DJ Lagway isn't healthy and play to the level. DJ Lagway on a team last year that wasn't there. That Was young that had a bunch of freshmen and young guys out there who didn't know what was going on necessarily compared to what he will know now. They were beating Georgia at halftime.
- [58:36]
A
On the ropes, man.
- [58:38]
B
On the ropes. And then he got injured. Right. So he had the hamstring last year that knocked him out and shocked us all when he came back, when he got taken off the gun for the year. Minimum comes back a few weeks later. But now he's dealing with a calf strain. A calf strain. Right. Reportedly recovering well. Missed some practice time early in fall camp. Initially was in a walking boot and obviously get back on the chat lines in the comments and you know everyone, the season's over. He was in a boot precautionary. But he's been seen throwing, progressing positively. Napier feels good about it. He's on schedule, all that stuff. Talk to someone there. They feel very confident he will be in there starting and full go. Not just like grinding it out. They would if he's still dealing with it. He ain't starting against Liu on August 30th. I got. They think he's going to be. That's where it's tracking.
- [59:36]
A
Have that cushion. But still, let's. I'd like to see him on the field.
- [59:40]
B
Wonderful news if that's the case. Hopefully. But. But you get nervous when you got a guy who's had a couple injuries and, and like and, and quite frankly, the whole organization, if you will, is resting on this young man's shoulders. They're awesome in a lot of different places. Doesn't matter if you don't have the guy at quarterback and he's the guy to a level that if he elevates, man, maybe they are a top 10 team even after the gauntlet. Okay.
- [60:12]
A
I don't disagree.
- [60:14]
B
Let's just get it out of the way. It's the elephant in the room. LIU and USF start the season, nice warmups, nice little preseason training camp. I'm sure people those programs are would not like to hear that, but you know what I'm saying.
- [60:28]
A
Yeah, it's. It's fair.
- [60:31]
B
But then it goes LSU on September 13th and then right back at it with that Miami game we just talked about.
- [60:41]
A
Then you already know the. We already know the LSU game is 7:30, by the way, in Baton Rouge and the Miami game is at Miami as well. But go ahead, go ahead.
- [60:51]
B
No, those are important notes that you just gave me at LSU night game at Miami. Then you get a buy. So that's good. You can like regroup. Right. All right. Let's try. Maybe we're. Maybe we're three and one. God willing we're four zero. Take a breath. Then it's Texas and Texas A and M back to back then Georgia November 4, then three straight weeks in November to finish the regular season of Ole Miss, Tennessee and Florida State. I don't know what you're getting but it could be right damn good Florida State team for all we know at this point. So that's that and that's why people are cowards and are saying that they don't belong in the top 15. I've seen people like they've got them at like 23. I've seen some people talk about and they're not in their top 25. How with a healthy Lagway and Caleb Banks and Tyreek Sapphire on the defensive line and Austin Barber and Jake Slaughter anchoring offensive line. They've got four returning starters in the offensive line. Men. Okay.
- [61:58]
A
Yeah.
- [61:59]
B
Their run game with Napier and by.
- [62:00]
A
The way, the other starter played a lot of snaps at guard last year. He's going to play right tackle but he played a lot of snaps and played well last year. He's not, he's not that as green as some first year starters might be. He's. He reminds me of the Goolsby guy in Texas. He's played some real football. It's going to be. I mean that, that offensive line's loaded.
- [62:19]
B
So in Napier we know like they're going to run the football and he likes to have three running backs. He likes to rotate them. Like last year they, last year they had three different backs. It was, it was Montrell Johnson, Jaden Jacoby Jackson, John Boy and Montrell Johnson.
- [62:39]
A
Yeah.
- [62:41]
B
All three at a minimum of 95. I don't think any of them had 140. They were all in that like he likes to wrote keep them fresh run games critical and. And you have a quarterback that can run. So that's an added element. He was. Those four guys were the top four rushers along with, with Lagway. Right. So Montreal, Johnson's out. But they've got their two guys now. There's a handful. I've talked to people in Florida. There's a few guys that are, that are competing still. They haven't nailed down who that number three guy is. And that's important in their program. I can't understate that. They gotta have their three. They got their two and there's candidates and worthy but they're like who's gonna get that third last year it was, it was Jacoby Jackson, I believe, who got the 95 carries, the fewest of the three. They want to find out who's that next guy up is. Okay, but you don't want.
- [63:32]
A
Listen, if you got a fresh 231 pound Jaden ball coming at you at the end of the game and he's got some juice and that offensive line's been leaning on you and it's been hot and humid. Have fun, man. Have fun. Good luck.
- [63:45]
B
Tackle. Well, that's the, that's the whole nature of the beast with, with Napier in that offense. And so you have B and, and Jackson, who like dynamic playmakers, downhill, decisive, like, like hit it and go. All right. They combined for 228 carries. Those two guys, both over five yards per carry and seven rushing touchdowns each. Defensive side, I talked about Caleb Banks and Tyreek Sapp. We talked. We did a whole portion of a show earlier in the year about Caleb Becks. I think he might be the most disruptive three technique interior defensive lineman in the country. Absolutely love him. Think he legitimately could be a top seven pick. Let's call it top 10 pick at this point. But SAP has got seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss last year. They also have this guy named George Gums and another guy named.
- [64:35]
A
I feel like SAP about to go off. By the way. He's talented, man.
- [64:38]
B
Yes.
- [64:38]
A
I feel like this is going to be. He had a good year last year, started to turn it on and I think this year he's gonna, he's gonna take that next step.
- [64:46]
B
So you got. I want you to hear these names because I'm not pulling them out of a hat or reading them off of some depth chart. George Gums, L.J. mcCray, Jamari Lyons, and then this highly touted potential riser in Cameron James. Okay. And Lyons is the one, I'm told. Just keep an eye on him. Okay. Jamari Lyons missed all of 2024. Serious lower body injury that he sustained actually in false scrimmage. The first fall scrimmage last year.
- [65:15]
A
Yeah, huge dislocated ankle maybe. Yeah.
- [65:17]
B
Huge blow. But now he, like, he's ready to have his breakout year that was supposed to be 2023. He's. He's healthier each day coming an important part like at, you know, there's some inexperience, but there's no shortage of talent. And I think he could be a guy that, that you watch along with obviously Banks and SAP, but all of those guys. It's going to be a deeper rotation, inexperienced in some spots, but they've got talent. Linebacker, same kind of same. Similar talent last year. Similar players, but just more experience this year. Miles Graham, Aaron Childs. Then they get the nickelbacks that stars, whatever you want to call them, Sharif Denson and Aaron Gates, those are the guys. Those are the dudes that are going to be out there making plays. They feel good about the linebacker core and they think that this, this defensive back group could be even better than it was last year. And it was pretty good. But they had some injuries and some stuff they dealt with. Devin Moore was one of the injuries. He's returning at cornerback. Dijon Johnson's another returning starter. Corner. Both safeties Bryce Thornton and Jordan Castell return. So they think that group's going to be pretty good.
- [66:29]
A
I like it. I'll tell you one. One other injury you got to keep an eye on is the Dallas Wilson, the freshman wide receiver who's, yes, going to be a stud. But if I, if I'm getting this right, my understanding is he's a little banged up right now. I might even be wearing a cast. And now how long it takes him to get back is something to keep an eye on. But I thought the, the J. Michael Certivan transfer from ucla, that was a nice get for them at wide receiver.
- [66:51]
B
Yes, he's a good, nice pickup. Wilson's the one we, we talked about earlier. I forget what, what show it was, but he had 195 yards and 10 catches and two touchdowns in the spring game.
- [67:03]
A
Right. I want, I want to see the true freshman healthy, though. Dallas Wilson can do some damage. He'll be fun to watch as long as he's 100, you know.
- [67:11]
B
All right. This is an awesome start. College football rankings, we get the Home Depot involved. Like we're off and running. Man. I got my, my pink summer shirt on, but I got to trade it in for my hoodies as we get serious now and we drill down inside the top ten. We're back on Friday. Three more shows next week. We college football on Saturday. It's all happening and we get five stars.
- [67:33]
A
Mensch.
- [67:34]
B
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