← The McShay Show
The McShay Show
Week 12 Tape Truths: Georgia’s Rise, Special RBs, and the College Football Coaching Carousel
01:24:37
Loading summary
Transcript72 lines
- [00:00]
A
We've got some telling tape truths here on a Monday and a volatile coaching carousel. Man, do we have a busy show for you today. Just 157 days until the NFL draft. Minch, you good mensch. Mensch. Bueller. Bueller. Ah, screw it, Tucker. Roll that be. If you were with us on Saturday, you know that our dear friend and cohort here on the McShay Show, Steve Mench, is not with us this week. We miss him dearly, but the show must go on and we're thrilled for him because he's able to spend some much needed time with his family. So all is good in in his world, in our world. So this is the McShay show, presented by FanDuel. And college football Saturdays are heating up. Whether you're in for the early kick or the late night action, FanDuel lets you bet your way with the same game parlays, live betting game props and more. And Missouri get excited because FanDuel is coming your way on December 1st. Download the app or head to FanDuel.com McShay and make every Saturday count. Must be 21 and older and present in select states or 18 and older and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut. Welcome in. We've got a great show for for you today. It is jam packed. I'm not going to do the 10 tape truths because we'll leave five out because of men's, but we've got some additional things so it'll feel like eight or nine plus Bruce Feldman Couldn't think of a better time to have Bruce on. Good friend of the show. Been a dear friend for for over two decades and very few if any are more dialed into what's going on in the in the coaching world and behind the scenes and reporting. And so with so many job openings right now, talking about LSU and Florida and Penn State and Arkansas and Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech and all these big names out there and potentially big names moving, we're going to get to that with Bruce after we get through some of the tape truths. So I will remind you the McShay Report is out recapping Saturday's games and with the TMS top 12 as we have the tomorrow night the rankings reveal, there'll be some interesting movement in there. How far does Alabama fall? What happens? What happens to a couple other teams? Is there anyone sneaking into the top 12 and and so if you want the McShay report, Google it. Very simple. Google the McShay report. Subscribe We've had a lot of new subscribers in just the last week and I think everyone's starting to gear up. We know the end of the college football season's coming College Football playoff and the NFL draft starts to kick off. So a lot of good stuff coming your way and then we'll be back on Thursday for our normal show and then men's will be back on Saturday night. This episode is brought to you by Fox 1. Fox 1 is now live stream all your Fox favorites together in one place from NFL on Fox to big noon Saturdays with Fox one. You get it all live start your seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change. Go to Fox One for complete terms and conditions. Fox One streaming now. Big Saturday Night Week 13 it is coming up in college football before Thanksgiving and things start to get a little crazy, which is fun. All right, let's dive right into it. Tape truth number one. I'm trying not to overreact. It was just one performance, but was it really? I'm going to say this right now. If Georgia's defense continues to ascend, I think you can make an argument that the Bulldogs could wind up having the best team in the SEC when we enter into the College Football Playoff. Yes, the offense was really good again and I've been stunned all year at the offensive production and what things have looked like. And Gunner Stockton and Gunner Stockton has become one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country, both throwing the football and running the ball. The play action stuff because they've shown a commitment to the run has been awesome. 14 of 15 he was this past week on play actions. I think it was like 4 of 6 on throws over 20 yards down the field. I think all of them were off of play action. I went back and just studied this tape, both sides of the ball, Georgia's offense, Georgia's defense. This tape truth has a lot more to do with the defense. But I do want to say that this offense continues to ascend and a lot of it is Gunner Stockton and the way he is operating the offense for Mike Bobo, the offensive coordinator and the dual threat ability that he brings to the table because as a defense you have to account for it. And so when I look at this Georgia team and what we thought it was three, four, five weeks ago, it no longer is. It's a different team. And the offenses gradually continued to kind of played a high level and gotten A little bit better in some of the intricacies. But it's the defense that we've been talking to you about for the last couple, couple, three weeks. It's never going to be that unit, the Trayvon Walker, the Jordan Davis, the Devonte Wyatt and all those cats. It's just not going to be. But there's a lot of young talent that's starting to emerge and kind of mesh with the veteran talent. And we know about KJ Bolden at the safety position continuing to make big plays. We know about C.J. allen, who got knocked out of the game this past weekend. And guess what? There wasn't a drop off. And that's the thing that George has always had. This secondary has to be protected. And watching Glenn Schumann, the defensive coordinator and Kirby Smart throughout the season and even, even more so in game, the adjustments they make to protect that backside and they were getting better on the, on the backside. But what I'm seeing is a front seven with depth and then coaching that continuously is putting them in the right position to succeed. I talked about Mississippi State. It was a tape truth last week. They gave up that long 75 yard drive on the opening drive against Mississippi State and then locked it down basically until the fourth quarter when the game was kind of getting out of hand. And so we've seen gradual improvement. And I, here's, here's why I said I'm throwing a little caution at my tape truth of that. This could be the best team in the SEC by the time we go in the College Football Playoff. Because as I mentioned to you, with Texas coming off that Oklahoma win, we've seen this before. Certain programs kind of own other programs. Certain coaches seem to quote unquote, own other coaches. And there's been a lot of talk about Georgia owns Texas, Kirby owns Sark, and unfortunately for Texas and Sark, like you can't deny those claims. I think it's a lot more complicated than that. But let's look at what's happened in 12/4 plus and plus an overtime, I should say against Texas. Over the last 13 months, Georgia has allowed 83 net rushing yards on 72 Texas rush attempts. That's wild. 1.1 yard per carry. And remember, this is a Texas team. We talked about going into this game healthier on defense. Michael Taft is back healthy on offense, the most, the healthiest they've been at running back all season long is the information coming out of Texas. Ryan Wingo back healthy finally, like 100%, 1.1 yards per carry allowed in those 13 quarter or 12 plus quarters. Sixteen sacks Georgia has had of Texas only allowed two touchdown drives of more than 36 yards and 14.6 points per game allowed against Texas and Sark. That's amazing. But is it just a Texas thing? The reason I have some caution but also some optimism is the caution is they kind of do own Texas in the last two years. The optimism is we've kind of seen this steady growth and had I not come to you last week on tape Cruise when Mensch was here and said I'm seeing this defense starting to get a little bit better, I'm watching number nine even though he's not considered a full time starter, Chris Cole, he's a red shirt sophomore and he's, he's kind of growing and he's, he's got tools and he might be next at that linebacker position for, for Georgia. And then I watched CJ Allen with the injury and we're awaiting word. The initial report was hopefully it's not as bad as it seems. And he was kind of, he was limping, I think. Was he on crutches or at the end of the game? But, but now you got to remember George is kind of in a good position and he can hopefully get a little bit of rest and be ready for the College Football Playoff. But in his Chris Cole's rotating and playing in certain packages but stepping in like he led the team in tackles, did a fantastic job. And so we talked about on Saturday night, 11 tackles for loss, seven sacks versus Texas. Last year. This year it wasn't as eye opening and astounding, but it was still seven tackles for loss and three sacks. And the biggest complaint I have for this Georgia defense, this year's version compared to what we've seen in recent years when Georgia has been the, the king of the hill and I mentioned those names right, the, the Trayvon Walkers and the Jordan Davis's and the Jalen Carters and the Devonte Wyatt's. They're not as they're getting into pads and gap discipline this year and they're doing those things as they're always taught with Kirby's defense. And it's less about sack production and big plays in the backfield from the, from the front three and sometimes front four depending on what front they're using. It's more about discipline. But in the old days with those amazing defensive linemen that all wanted the NFL, a lot of them with Philadelphia Eagles, so many of those guys first round, all of those guys I mentioned first round picks, they were not only Gap disciplining. They were getting in violently and jacking guys up and driving them back and then discarding offensive linemen and going and making plays. It's not happening nearly at the level that it did during those years, but I'm seeing a little bit more flashes of playmaking ability along the defensive front. And I've also talked to you about these linebackers and the blitzing, and that continues to happen. And yes, there could be vulnerability when you blitz, but Schumann and Smart are so calculated in a positive way in what they're doing with them. They're picking most of the time, not always, but most of the time they're picking the right spots to do it. So this was the most disruptive defensive line game that I've seen from Georgia all season. Arch made a lot of good throws. Arch made. Arch played well enough for Texas to wind up winning this game. Had the running game showed up and had the protection been. Been a little bit better and had there not been drops, mean there were a handful of. Of significant drops in that game. But what Georgia did to affect that was they consistently were. Were keeping him bottled up, kind of squeezing things in, driving it back. And Arch very rarely had a throw where it was just clean. And that's different from what we saw from Georgia early in the year. Three of the sacks, as I mentioned, the linebackers, all three sacks were from the linebackers. Again this week. 33. Quintavius Johnson had one, zero, Gabe Harris had one and 10. Zaden Walker had one. Yes, you. You're left vulnerable, but it's, it's very smart how they're doing it and when they're utilizing the. The blitz and those linebackers are getting home, and if they're not getting home, they're getting a lot of pressure. So it's been very effective. So to me, Georgia right now is a huge surprise because I didn't, I didn't foresee them getting to this level where I would be saying in mid November, Georgia might be the best team in the Sec. A&M still undefeated. Alabama obviously has a lot going for it. Ole Miss has got a lot going forward, even though they struggle with Florida this last. There's a lot of good teams, is my point in the sec. Oklahoma is rising, all these things, but I'm looking at Georgia now, and I'm starting to see a team that maybe you want to face least of all the teams in the sec. And maybe Georgia's the third best team, maybe the second best team in the country. We'll find out all Right. Tape truth number two. This is where I need men. So I can take a sip of my lemon.
- [13:38]
B
Perfect.
- [13:38]
A
And reset tape truth number two. I'm going to go off the radar here a little bit. We'll get back to the big games. But what we're witnessing at the running back position in some places across the country is absolutely special. And I want to remind people, last year, right, last April, this year, but last April, there were 26 running backs that were drafted in the NFL. What does that mean, Todd? It was one of the best groups we've seen in almost 12 years. There were a whole bunch of them, 20, in fact, drafted in the top 200. That was the second most 26 running backs drafted was the second most that we've seen in the last 12 years. So only one other time, there were more. It was 30 in 2017. Names like Genty, Omarion, Judkins, Henderson, Scaboo, Harvey, ETN and beyond. All gone. So the natural question was, coming into this year in college football, are we going to see a massive dip at the running back position? Where are, where's all the talent at running back? There's no way we can have the same level. But I'm watching this past Saturday as we get into this time of year, right? Weather's changing, it's colder, we're starting to see precipitation, winds picking up, especially in certain areas of the country. You've got to lean on the run game. And I saw, I saw a handful. I'll. I will focus on three and mention a fourth, but there were a handful of places in the country this past week where the running game and specific running backs absolutely took over the game. Let's start with Notre Dame at Pitt. Game days there, all the hype, Narduzzi and the defensive side of the ball, and they played their quarters and you can get matchups in the passing game, your slot receiver against their safeties. And. And typically Pitt does a good job versus the run. Excuse me. Jeremiah Love just did Jeremiah Love things and, and I can't. I can't do a whole section, a whole tape truth on the running back position without mentioning Love. We've talked a lot about him. And the thing that I'm excited about, all three of these guys that I'm going to feature, we actually got on it early. Everyone was on Jeremiah Love early. But the next two guys are guys that we got on as they were kind of just breaking out. And what's this, what's the common. We were telling you these guys are workhorses. And these guys are going to carry their teams late in the season when the weather changes and when they need them. And Love, it's no different. They still have Jadarian Price. I got news for you folks. He's. He might be a first round pick. If he's not first, he's going to be second round. But Love has emerged as, as someone that I view. I'm starting to put him in like, the Bijan level. And I'll be the first to admit I knew he was the best back in the country coming into the year. Everyone did. So no congratulations to me or Steve or anyone else, but I didn't know that he was going to be at like, that gen D Bijan elite running back level. He's corrected me. His combination of size and like ballerina feet, I know that's something a football player does, but like, if you watch, I, I call him like poetry in motion. He is so smooth. We saw everyone watch that highlight reel, the, the spin move that he had. But it's more than that. It's how smooth he is with his feet. And then when he sees a crease, that level of acceleration that he has that most big backs just don't possess, and he's catching the ball well. Only two catches for 20 yards in this game. We finished with 23 carries, 147 yards and a touchdown. I want you to go back to the beginning of the year. Oh, by the way, his pass protection. I've just watched a real yesterday. He's improved there too. So, like, what doesn't he have as a pro prospect and also what doesn't he have now is Notre Dame's getting in this stretch run heavily favor the last two games. No conference championship game. In fact, I'm urging Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame. Let's not forget what happened last year. Let's not try to get Jeremiah Love to New York. He's already done enough to get to New York. And if he doesn't get there, he doesn't get there. This is about the College Football Playoff. This is about having Jeremiah Love healthy. Look at the run that Notre Dame made last year in the College Football Playoff. And they did it with all intensive purposes without Jeremiah Love. He was not healthy. He tried to gut through it, but he just wasn't the same back. Imagine this team, the improvement we've seen going into the playoff with a fully healthy Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price and some of those receivers I've talked about stepping up. So to me, it's about now kind of Easing up the workload on Jeremiah Love the next couple of weeks and getting him ready for the College Football Playoff because there's plenty of time between now and that first game. And I just, I look at the size of him, the versatility that he has now. He's protecting better now. He's catching the ball really well. The sweet feet that he has in the acceleration, the contact balance that he has to continue runs after contact. After just two, after two games, he had 33 carries for 127 yards and a touchdown. Those two games were losses to Miami and A and M. Since that, since those first two games. And the big question, it wasn't necessarily the A and M game because he had a decent amount of touches in that game and almost reached 100 yards. It was really the Miami game. But combine those two and it wasn't the workload you would think for the best back in college football. And maybe one of the best five, six backs we've seen come out in the NFL draft in the last decade. He has had 144 carries for 1,008 yards and 13 touchdowns in the last eight games. He's third nationally despite those first two games. Third nationally with 113.5 rush yards per game. If he doesn't get to New York, what the hell are we doing? And I have a Heisman vote, so I'll do my part. But as I mentioned, he's given me Bijan vibes, man. I'm not saying they're the exact comp of the two, but the size, the ability to contribute in the past game, the acceleration, and every time he touches the ball, you have to take a deep breath. I think this Notre Dame team is going to be scary if he's 100%. And it looks like we're tracking towards that when you get to the College Football Playoff. And I'm excited to see it. All right, next up, Ahmad Hardy, Missouri. I know we're going on a long roll here, but that's okay. Mention here we'll get to Bruce in a little bit. Ahmad Hardy we talked about before. 5, 10, 215 pounds. He was a transfer from Louisiana Monroe and he came in this year. He won the starting job after just one year. He was a freshman All American at Louisiana Monroe transfers in, he's like, yeah, sec, no problem. I got this. Let's go, coach. And he has been the best, most productive back in college football this year. SEC defenses. Yeah, I did it in Louisiana Monroe. I'll do it here. This past week he was Absolutely dynamic, devastating. Best individual performance I've seen from a running back all year long was Ahmad Hardy for Missouri this past week against Mississippi State. Completely took the game over. This guy was a battering Ram on Saturday. 25 carries, 300 rushing yards and three touchdowns. And that went over Mississippi State. His combination, I'll just sum it up real quickly. It's a, it's a confidence and a vision, this patience and kind of waiting for a spot. And then he's got this unique like whether it's lateral or first three steps, going vertical explosion for a back who's probably a four or five, five guy in the 40 yard dash. And then, and then you watch him at the end of runs. It's like zombie hunting. If you're a defender trying to get this guy down, you think you've killed him. And he just keeps going. 3, 4, 5, 7 yards at the end of carries. He leads the nation, Hardy does with 1346 rush yards, 134 per game, and third nationally with 15 rushing touchdowns. He's been absolutely special. We'll talk about him in 2027 for the NFL draft, but this year I'm just talking about him as one of the most dynamic running backs in all of college football. Finally, Kewan Lacey, another back that just took things over when its team needed him the most. And another back in the SEC just like Hardy. KE1 Lacey we talked about a couple of weeks ago, right? He's become the best asset for the defense for Ole Miss and for a pedestrian defense for Ole Miss. And this is a team that's marching towards the College Football Playoff. And Lane Kiffin has identified that. Lane Kiffin grew up the son of Monte Kiffin and the Tampa 2, the godfather of that and great defensive mind. But he knows as the son of of Monte Kiffin, you've got to be strong in the run game no matter what he's done in the past. Zone read option, west coast principles. Tempo, not tempo. All of the different variations we've seen of Lane. The only thing that's always stayed the same with Lane, we will run the football. And this year with Trinidad Chambliss, who's not Jackson Dart but has played at a really high level, considering coming from the Division 2 level, first year starter in the SEC, they've had to lean on the run game even more so. And Lacy, after being kind of nicked up and in and out, Lacey has found his groove. And we talked about it a few weeks ago, this guy's going to be the most important individual player For Ole Miss down the stretch. What does he do against Florida? And this was a grind. They were trailing in the fourth quarter. Then they had a three point lead in the fourth quarter. It looks like, oh, they beat Florida by 10. That was a real late touchdown to make it a 10 point game. This game was tight. This game was scary for Ole Miss. Lacy finishes with 33 offensive touches, 239 yards, three touchdowns. In a game that Chambers was kind of up and down and couldn't be counted on to play at the level that he has played at certain times this year. And this guy's doing it with this downhill run style, contact, balance, initial burst, unbelievable instincts as a back. It allows him to anticipate and kind of weave through and guys bouncing off of him. You don't get clean hits on this guy. It's been really fun to watch. And he's protecting the ball. I think he always has one fumble this season despite all these touches. And that's critical too. I want to throw in this a fourth name for the running backs. Katron Allen. He got in in the action 2810 for Penn State. I know everyone's kind of over talking about Penn State. They had the two big games almost, you know, close with Ohio State for a half and then almost knocked off Indiana. So, all right, Penn State's out of sight, out of my mind. They beat Michigan State 28 10. He had 25 carries for 181 yards and two touchdowns. It's that time of year, folks. Running backs play a critical part. We've talked about receivers and quarterbacks and defenses and everything else. You watch how important these running backs are now as we get to the end of the regular season, the championship games and the College Football Playoff. And those are four really special guys doing it. But they're not the only ones. Tape truth number three, Ty Simpson has not been perfect. But chill on the narrative. Like I read it, I hear it and everyone's. He's had some mistakes in the last few weeks and it hasn't been perfect and it hasn't been as, you know, characteristic of what we saw maybe in the first six, seven games of the season. But like, let's not lose perspective on what's going on here. Let's give you some background here. Alabama had nearly twice as many total yards in this. This loss to Oklahoma 23:21 was the final. Nearly twice as many yards, 406 to 212 as Oklahoma did. Possessed the ball for 35 minutes and 28 seconds of the game. Only had two penalties. They did have three turnovers, and that was a massive part of it. And so it's easy to start pointing. Well, that's all on tie, but follow me here. Okay. I look at this situation with Alabama, and I. You got to look at it from two different things. What's going on over the last few weeks, that has been kind of mounting, and the naysayers are coming out, and McShay is an idiot, and everyone else is an idiot, whether it's Orlovsky or this guy, that guy, and draft pundits. And I. I just have to laugh because if you're watching the tape, you can see a full perspective. And there's two different things to look at here. There are a few things that. That Ty has. Has. There's been kind of some flaws recently that you can see in his game. Also the Oklahoma aspect of it, and Brent Venables, which I'll get to a second. And then the third part is like, what would Alabama be without Ty Simpson? And the answer, scary. If you're an Alabama fan, if you're one of these people out there that's driving this narrative that it's Ty's fault and Ty, like, laughing at him as an NFL draft prospect. A, you don't know what you're talking about, and B, I want you to take a step back and ask, what would Alabama be with the quarterback that wasn't playing at this level? Okay. All right, so let's get into it. I. I look at the run game continuing to be an issue. Yes, there were flashes, and I know they made an offensive line adjustment to the. The right side. I believe it was this week. And there were times where it's like, oh, Alabama's starting to get their run game going. But at the end of the day, this run game produced just 80 yards against Oklahoma. Not good enough, especially for Alabama, but not good enough for anywhere. Okay, 59 rush yards against LSU. Do you know what Alabama ranks in rushing game? Yards rushing per game in all of the FBS? 123rd, they rushed the ball for just 108 yards per game. Do you remember the Garrett Nussmire effect a year ago when Garrett Nussm was healthy and was dealing? Do you remember watching him how great he was for a portion of the season? And all of a sudden, because they couldn't run the ball and he's having to throw 30, 40 times a game and he's taking all those hits because defenses and defensive coordinators know that they can't run the football. So they don't have to kind of gear up and play as discipline and they can get after the quarterback and nuss. Meyer took this dip until he had the time off before the, the, the bowl game. It's the same thing I'm seeing from Ty Simpson in a certain degree. I don't see it affecting him physically, but there's a wear and tear that happens with a guy who's not 6 4, 230 over the course of a season going up against SEC defenses that are just teeing off on this guy. Okay, so that's one part of it. The second part of it was I thought on Saturday specifically and this tape truth is supposed to be all about Ty Simpson, but you're going to see it more for a little bit. The coaching job that Brett Venables did Saturday was as good of a defensive coaching job as I can remember all season long and maybe beyond. It was his Hollands opus. It was his moment bringing that defense without its star edge rusher. By the way, our Mason Thomas, who we've talked about is one of the three best pass rushers in all of college football going into Tuscaloosa and to execute it like a high level NFL defense was. When I sat down and got finished with the tape, I just sat back and was like.
- [30:09]
B
Like that.
- [30:12]
A
Venables has to be almost in tears watching his defense go out and do exactly what he asked of him every single play. It was a combination of blitzing at the right time, showing four man fronts. I, I watched, I watched this like they would show six almost every single time and wind up rushing four. The problem for Alabama was you didn't know where the launch points were, man. You had no idea where they were coming from. And I'll get to some specific plays in a little bit, but they're overloading one side, dropping guys from the other. And then I talked to you on Saturday night about like the string that's attached and usually if they come with pressure here and one of those guys who could be in coverage comes the strings attached with this defender behind them. Well, they were breaking that string and having, and throwing the string on another defender. And so now all of a sudden Ty Simpson's got pressure coming on him. But the look is completely different than what you're used to with a hot, with a hot read. And so it created some confusion. The pick 6 was absolutely venables brilliance. And I talked about it on Saturday night, watching it during the game and then I watched it on tape and it was even more brilliant than I Thought. Follow me here. Okay. They show six as I mentioned, rush four from the quarterback's perspective. They rush two extra guys from. From Ty Simpson's right. They drop the two guys who are on the edge on the left side. So as a quarterback your job is to throw into the blitz. Find your hot rod on that side. That's what he does. Venables knows how smart this cat is. Venables knows, hey, if I bring that pressure and drop those guys off, he's going to pick it up. So let's with him a little bit. And that's exactly what he did. Instead of, instead of it being man to man or a simple zone on the, on the side that Ty Simpson's going to. To Isaiah Horton who's running kind of a slant route. He brings the safety down to the flat and creates this high low bracket coverage on Horton. So if they try to go vertical, the cornerback is getting depth and is dropping and he's there to contest. If they try to undercut it with a slant, which is what they did. I got a safety coming in the Flat Pick Pick 6. All Venables execution from the players, don't get me wrong, but a brilliant strategy. That's just one play. This went on and on and on. The thing I'll say for Alabama and I have been the biggest Ryan Grubb proponent and backer all season long. They've got to figure out their protections and it's not a Ty Simpson thing that he's getting the wrong protect. It's what they're trying to do. Because if you're only having four rushers that I shouldn't have my running back protecting against Kip Lewis who is blitzing over and over again. That a gap coming up the middle. I shouldn't have my running back isolated on him as many times as they did. It should be We've got to adjust the protections up front. And so that became a, that became a problem throughout the game and really kind of accelerated in the second half. I went back even because I'm trying to figure out every. This whole narrative, this like undercurrent of Ty Simpson. What a joke is building. So and I'm not listen, if Ty's not playing to the level, I'm fine. And there are things Ty's doing. I went back and watched all turnover worthy plays from Ty this past this entire season. It's a short clip reel, man. There's only 11 plays considering the the amount of offense that he's having to carry without a run game ball security in his ball carriage in the pocket when things start to squeeze is absolutely an issue. He said. Five fumbles in the last five games. It can be fixed, but it's got to be fixed before the College Football Playoff because he's, he's, he's laying the ball on the ground at least one time per game in the last handful of games. Fifth consecutive game, as I said, with a fumble. There have been times where he's been overly aggressive with some throws and it's led to an interception or two, maybe two. There are some deep throws that he's been off target. He had 11 off target throws in this game, but that was more about protection and different things. There was one that, yeah, everyone's got on social media where he just overshot his receiver. I get it. But for the most part he's been deadly accurate. Except he's been just kind of up and down on the deep ball. So those are areas that he can continue to improve. I want to remind you he's a first year starter in the SEC carrying an entire offense. I also want to point out though that Ty Simpson adjusted and the first series, first two series, really, there were some struggles and, and, and there were some different looks and Venables and throwing different things. He and Grub Adj. Except for the protection stuff in the second half. And he also did some awesome stuff. He was 28 of 42 for 326 yards. That's like 120 plus yards more than Oklahoma had total offense. And he threw for a touchdown. Alabama has some stuff that it's got to get right if it's going to wind up making a run in the College Football Playoff towards the national championship. Ty has some little things that he needs to clean up, but Ty ain't one of the problems. Let's start with the pass protection and let's start with the run game if we're going to start putting a lot of the blame here. All right, tape truth number four. If USC wide receiver Makai Lemon was playing at Ohio State or in the sec, he'd be getting the full treatment right now. This guy is on a roll. I've talked to you about Makai Lemon and his rising stock in the NFL draft ranks. Right? And I've told you that there's only a few other guys that are being mentioned in the first round and Lemon's one of them. And we'll get to that in a minute. The last two weeks, though, quietly, for some reason, quietly, he has had 21 catches for 314 yards. And two touchdowns. Yes, it was Northwestern. Yes, it was Iowa. But Iowa is a really good football team. Iowa almost beat Oregon. Iowa jumped usc, and they absolutely needed every ounce of production that they got from Lemon. So I went back and I watched a tape because I want to share with you guys, like, what. What special is going on with this young man? And why is it that he's not getting the attention like a Carnell Tate or Jeremiah Smith or Ryan Williams or Jeremy Bernard or any of these other stars that we know at the wide receiver position in the SEC or at Ohio State? Ryan Wingo does this in the last two weeks. We're going crazy. Jeremiah Smith does this the last two weeks. That's all we can talk about. No one's talking about Lemon. His productions have been awesome. But the NFL stuff that he's doing as a route runner is like when I went back and watched the last couple of games, he has advanced his game so much. Like subtleties getting off the line of scrimmage in breaking routes, sharpness, like exploding out of breaks. And then the down the. It's not just like slants and crossers and some of the college stuff that we get used to seeing the bubble screens and the quick game. It's like down the field stuff. And he's doing it with this body control and acceleration out of brakes and like understanding how to set up defensive backs. The other part of it is the downfield contested catches. He's not the biggest cat in the world, but he plays big and he's sturdy built and the focus he has with the ball in the air. I'll take you to a couple plays. Two minutes left in the. In the second quarter, contested catch, focus while elevating, taking the hit. Like, I need this toughness and reliability in a wide receiver. You'll see it on, on social media, everywhere. Going up defender, like undercutting him in traffic. You can watch his eyes see it in. Nothing else matters. We've talked about Ryan Williams, we've talked about some other great receivers. Been a little bit up and down catching the ball. Not Makai. Lemon, let me take you to another play. 13:39, third quarter. The pluck and the toe tapping along the sideline. Defender draped all over him. That's gonna be a theme here, right? Big time stuff. 703, third quarter. Tracking the ball over his shoulder down the field. Fingertips catch, but just the ability to go track it and get there and the focus to bring it in. And then guess what? Defender hanging on him again. And then finally, 333, third quarter, the touchdown catch, right contested focus, two defenders converging on him. It's the hand eye coordination in traffic that translates to the NFL game. And it's also what's allowed him to become one of the most productive receivers in the country. And you've. You've got my myava and you've got the run game that's been kind of hot and cold but, but pretty good throughout the entire season. You got a defense that's playing better. And now all of a sudden we get this Oregon game and, and we started the year and we thought Evan Stewart was going to be there. And I'm going to get to Kenyan Sadiq in a second. Makai Lemon's the best, is the best weapon on the field for either of these teams. And if they're going to pull off a win against Oregon, a huge upset against the top 10 team, he's going to have to have another monster game again. After 21 catches, 314 yards of two touchdowns, I want to make this perfectly clear, okay? I'm starting to see in Makai Lemon what I saw in lad McConkey a Mecca Buca. Those guys who came in and immediately made huge impacts in the NFL because it translates thick, sturdy route running, savvy, crispness, reliability for their quarterbacks, contested catches. That's the NFL game. You're not running away from DBs. You're not getting these huge passing windows created by scheme or your talent. You've got guys around you draped on you all the time. You got to learn to get to, to win the margins and then to make the tough catches with guys around you draped on you. The physicality. Lemon's got it. So when I start looking at this draft and I see Jordan Tyson from Arizona State and I see Carnell Tate, Ohio State, deservedly first round draft prospects. I'm looking at Makai Lemon. I'm saying I don't know that there's a big gap. I really don't. So on Saturday, you're going to be forced to watch it this week because they're playing Oregon and it's a big matchup in the big ten. But keep it in mind as the season progresses. Just a couple more weeks, like this guy is must see television. He's playing better than Casey Concepcion is getting all the love and even Mario Craver at Texas A and M, he's playing better than Denzel Boston, Chris Bell from Louisville, Boston from Washington, Jeremy Bernard. I love Jeremy Bernard. You can make an argument he's playing better than Jeremy Bernard. Makai Lemons. He's doing some special stuff. All right, tape truth number five. We'll wrap it up and we'll get to Bruce. This one's an interesting one. Listen to me, Court. Listen to me closely. I should say as I go through this, because some stuff happened last week. Tape truth number five. This is the Kenyon Sadiq that the Ducks need. Okay, you have to go back to Friday night's game. Season highs and receptions with 8 receiving yards, 96. Oregon blows out Minnesota. Statement game for them. Not in the college football landscape. But this is one that Dan Lanning wanted to come out and he wanted his team to show them that they can, they could take care of an opponent, put him away and do it in dominant fashion. And that's exactly how the Ducks responded. But the most important individual effort in this game was from Sadiq. Remember, this is a program with a really talented young quarterback, super talented, super inexperienced. Dante Moore, their running back position. Noah Whittingham and like five other backs has gotten better and better as the seasons progress. And you saw that on display Friday night against Minnesota. But at the past, catching targets have been a question. Evan Stewart injured in the preseason, potential first round pick, huge loss. Imagine if we Jeremiah Smith out, Ryan Williams is out for the year. That's the kind of loss that Oregon suffered for their program. Okay, but they get this young cat in Dakota Moore, true freshman who's burst on the scene early in the season. We were talking about him like just air, rare air, the same, same kind of stuff Ryan Williams was doing as a true freshman a year ago. He was doing early on the season. He's kind of gotten quiet. He kind of slow season. High catches was seven against Penn State. But since then he's been out the last two weeks and if you look at the rest of the season, never more than four catches. So Penn State, he had seven. But even in those other games, four catches were high for the game, the total. So they've needed Kenyan Sadiq to step up. Now I want you to think about the target share for tight ends first round tight ends, guys who are these awesome difference makers who are going to be drafted in the first 32 picks in the NFL because they're that special at that position. Teams don't love drafting a tight end in round one. So if you're going to be drafted as high as Colston Loveland was and Tyler Warren were both top 15 picks, I believe somewhere in that range, it's got to be that you are, you're special, you're different and you probably had a huge target share in your offense. It's go look at the target share for coast coast and Loveland in Michigan. Go look at it for Tyler Warren. My goodness. For Penn State.
- [44:33]
B
Right.
- [44:34]
A
They weren't getting that at Oregon. I made some comments and this is Follow me here. I made some comments last week and they about Kenyon Siddiq, the target share. Kind of some frustration. Those comments were not taken lightly, not appreciated. And I'm aware of the behind the scenes and stuff that went on and maybe the memos sent and this and that. And I'm aware. I'm also aware that what I said was absolutely true and people just didn't want it to be to come out. And I'm also here to say I love Kenyon Siddiq. I said it last week when I was saying the things I think he's a special talent. I think he's a first round pick. I think we all want to see the best of Kenyon Siddiq. And so maybe it helped to light a fire because people inside that building got pissed off, pissed off at me, pissed off, the information coming out, all of it. But maybe it helped to light a fire because all of a sudden that target share went to where I thought it should be for this kind of talent. And this past week against Minnesota he is a featured part of the offense. So let's just leave it at that on tape. Watching him fingertips diving catches, catch first quarter inside the five yard line. Awesome play displaying that athleticism. But they're going to him, they're trusting him. They're making him a featured part of the pass attack. Then the slant, the red zone, bounces off of tackles, muscles his way into the end zone. But apparently on review he was he was down. So they go right back to him. Touchdown catch. Next play contested back right corner. Nice job separating quickly from the linebacker. So most targets he's had eight all season long. Seven was his previous high against Penn State. They had to throw the ball in that game obviously with with Decorian more more and and and Sadiq both getting their largest target share of the of the season there. But the pre like in all other games 4 was the most targets he had had in a single game. He had eight in this game. After the comments after the frustration after the week off with the injury clearly Sadiq has got a fire lit. Clearly Sadiq has to be a guy that's a massive part of what they do moving forward and as they get try to make this run starting with USC on Saturday College football playoff. Sadiq's got to play like he played against Minnesota. They need that out of him. That's it for tape trues this week. Bruce is next. I'm fired up because he's, he's my blind spot with all the college coaching carousel. So we're going to bring in Bruce now. This episode is brought to you by American Eagle. Gift Gift. Hooray. Want to make the people in your life happy this holiday season? Then give great jeans with American Eagle. They've got everyone on your list covered, including you. So make sure to check out the wish list worthy new arrivals including comfy cozy sweaters, soft fleece sweatshirts, hoodies, flannels and lots, lots more. Plus you'll love their trending jeans like the high waisted Stovepipe original straight boot cut and a whole bunch of other fits. They've got every style and everyone covered. You can check it all out@ae.com or just go to the store.
- [48:10]
B
This episode is brought to you by Salty Cheesy Cheez It Crackers. Should this whole podcast just be me eating Cheez It? That would be a top notch podcast.
- [48:18]
A
You could hear them crunching in my mouth. You could think about how salty and.
- [48:22]
B
Savory and delicious they are. You can just get Cheez it on the brain. Oh man, those Cheez it cravings, they get you anyway.
- [48:30]
A
What was I talking about?
- [48:31]
B
Oh yeah.
- [48:33]
A
Oh Cheez it.
- [48:34]
B
Yeah, Cheez It Crackers.
- [48:35]
A
Go check them out. Introducing Oakley Meta Vanguard the new performance AI glasses designed for athletes with hands free capture on an action ready ultra wide camera, powerful open ear speakers and built in Meta AI that syncs with your Garmin devices for real time insights while you train. Take your performance to the next level with Oakley Meta Vanguard. Athletic Intelligence is here. Learn more on Meta.com as promised, good friend Bruce Feldman is here. Bruce, I need help with this stuff man. I'll, I'll X and o you and NFL draft and we'll scout and all day long. I've got some contacts but my goodness like you are always on top of of a lot of things in college football but certainly when it comes to the coaches, the programs, the backstories, kind of what's been going on. I just, I want to do some storytelling with you and find, find out some of the information that you're getting. Can you believe here we are in mid November and the like the names of these programs. Lsu, Penn State, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas, ucla, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech. Like I, I can't remember a year like quite like this. And I guess let's just. Let's start with this. If there's one thing that you're hearing right now or there's some urgency in terms of what's going to, you know, come up in the next handful of days, what would it be?
- [50:06]
B
The Virginia Tech situation is they're expected to be the first ones off the board meeting, the first vacancy that gets filled. They've had their eyes on James Franklin for a while. They've been talking to James Franklin for a while. They basically, James Franklin, from what we've been told, has been wondering, all right, is Florida State going to open? What are the other options here potentially? And I think Virginia Tech came through it wanting an answer basically by now. So by the time this goes up, he'll either have accepted the job or they'll move on to either maybe Bob Chesney from James Madison, or maybe they'll try to hope they can land John Sumrall from Tulane. But he's also a. You know, both those guys have other, not other options for sure. But, like, John Sumrall has definitely got an interest from Auburn, and he's an Alabama native and did really well at Troy. Bob Chesney has. Is drawn a lot of interest from ucla. So this is where you get a lot of wires getting crossed and different things like that. And again, because Virginia Tech wants to move first, which I totally get it. That's why it's. They. They could be the first domino to fall.
- [51:21]
A
It's a dangerous game if you're. If you're Franklin. Right.
- [51:25]
B
Yeah. Because you, you know, it's like that game of musical chairs. You know, if you. If there's something you really want, it doesn't come open. Or you maybe over overplay your hand. Now, the flip side could be. I know, I know. Some people are like, yeah, probably wouldn't be a bad thing for James to sit out a year.
- [51:42]
A
Yeah.
- [51:42]
B
And kind of maybe recharge his batteries, maybe take a little more time to reevaluate everything. Because you've just been in this grind for so long now. Everything that I know about him is he's not a big hobbies guy. He's a big football guy.
- [51:58]
A
Yeah.
- [51:59]
B
He doesn't golf. He's not Brian Kelly. You know, it's like. So I think he feels like I'm getting right back into this. I'm getting right back on the horse. And look, he has a lot of regional ties in that area. The Virginia Tech, Penn State jobs have quite a bit of overlap. And look, if he goes into the acc. As you well know, the ACC is very gettable. You know, you get it going there. There's no Ohio State in the acc, there's no Oregon in the acc. Whatever's happened with Clemson, it's not the same. So I, I could see why people are going Virginia Tech, that's, you know, we know Frank Bieber won there. You know, there's some good, there's some good talent in the recruiting pool around there. They financially have upgraded their commitment. So this will be interesting.
- [52:47]
A
Shane Beamer obviously struggled. Is, is that a name that has come up with Virginia? I know like online and in different circles, but is that, is there anything to, to that.
- [52:57]
B
I didn't think there, I didn't think there was Todd, just because everything he's always said is, I don't want to go, you know, be Frank son, you know, as a professional coach. Right. And to some degree that's always going to be part of his identity. But I think in that regard, going back to Blacksburg now, what's, what's kind of nutty is just a year ago he's going to a 9 and 3 season. And as you know, like it's not just Lenore's, he's got, you know, he's won some high level battles for some big time recruits.
- [53:29]
A
Yeah.
- [53:29]
B
And I think he's, he's, he's, I don't want to say he's definitely recruited better than Spurrier did because Spurrier recruited well there too. But I, I do think he has made them dangerous there. But you saw like kind of both sides of it this past weekend when they're in College Station, they can play good enough where you got an edge rusher who can make a big play and force a big play. And you know, Sellers may not complete 65% of his passes, but there'll be big plays. Nick harbor, you know, he's my like two time biggest freak. You know, he's not getting caught. So you see elements of that. But I think there's also some frustration around with people at South Carolina and going is this is what we're going to constantly get from him? Where it's a lot of two steps forward, two steps back.
- [54:14]
A
You mentioned Brian Kelly. He's. You have this now lawsuit and everything going on with lsu. I have a relationship with Brian. I, I appreciate some of the things about Brian, but I, I also recognize that there are a lot of people out there that don't appreciate Brian Kelly and certain, certain elements. All of that aside, how much damage did this do to Brian Kelly, this stop in Baton Rouge and how it played out and what do next for Brian?
- [54:48]
B
I think what it showed was like, I think Brian Kelly did a terrific job everywhere else he had been before that, and certainly at Notre Dame. Not an easy job. It's not an easy job to stay on the horse there either, by the way. You know, it's like it's a different kind of shelf life. And so he bailed and he went to a place that he was a really bad fit and you could just see it coming. And then it turned out to be probably. I don't say worse than you could have imagined, but it just. It just didn't go well. They didn't have a top 10 season, they had a Heisman winner, But I think it was just getting a lot of stuff wrong in terms of the staffing, the recruiting, different things going forward. Now you have a guy who's 64, and what does he want to do? Right? Because I think this is a different job as a college football coach than it was free portal pre nil. Right. I just think it's. I don't want to say it's. It's entirely a young man's game when Kurt Signetti is killing it at Indiana because he's almost the same age as Brian Kelly. But I think they're wired really different. Like, the one job I could see him maybe at is if Michigan State does open up, you know, he's got a lake house up there. I could see it. But after that, I just don't see him go like when. When some of these group of five jobs, you know, end up popping open because guys end up leaving for other jobs, whether it's Tulane or USF or Memphis or North Texas. I don't see Brian Kelly wanting one of those jobs. Right. There's only, you know, there's only so many jobs I could see him wanting. Michigan State, maybe. I'm not sure beyond that what he's. What he could get because, you know, if you're Penn State, I don't know how you sell him there because the recruiting is a big. Is a big issue with him and how committed is he to doing it at this stage of his career? I think that's. That's. To me, that was as much of his undoing as almost anything else was that. And just you got to work at it and you got to like, this job is.
- [56:57]
A
Is way more the relationship development with the young men. It felt like that. If you, if you want to summarize It. It felt like that was a big part of it, that there was a feeling of there.
- [57:08]
B
Oh yeah. I mean, we. We did a. We did two. Two stories, one last year and one this year at the Athletic on. On his struggles there. And one of them, you know, the starting center for two years there under Brian Kelly was on the record with us going. He, you know, he just really didn't want to have a relationship. You know, he didn't work at trying to. And I. This wasn't like this was a walk on who never saw the field. This was a. He's like, you never really talked to him. You know, it's just like there's other, other guys I talked to for the story we did a couple weeks ago. And it was like we got recruits on the phone. You know, they all want to be FaceTime. When I was around LSU in 2019, when they had that magical year, like, you couldn't go five minutes without seeing some staffer come up to Ed Ogeron with a, with a recruit's face on FaceTime, wanting to talk to him. And that's a big part of the job. And for everything I was told Brian Kelly would be like, have a. Make an appointment. And they're like, make an appointment. I got him on the phone right now. You know, like that. That doesn't work anymore. Like, and it definitely doesn't work at LSU or one of these places where you're in big recruiting battles. And so, you know that. That's why I just think there's only so many jobs that I think he would fit out now. And I'm just not sure how many of those jobs he would want. Maybe Michigan State if it's open. I'm not sure what else would. Would fit into that smaller box now.
- [58:32]
A
I don't really feel like I have to promote what Bruce Bruce does because he's an absolute legend in. In his space. But if, if you want to read I like the Freaks List is. Is just one of my favorite reads all year long. And I know that that's shared by a lot of people in this industry and in a lot of. Just in the audience. But like the, the storytelling, the individual stories, some of the background that you're able to get, whether it's coaches, players. Bruce is a must follow and, and the Athletic is where you can get all of his, all of his information, all of his stories. But I appreciate it.
- [59:05]
B
Thank you.
- [59:05]
A
Yeah, of course. Man. I feel like we've kind of buried the lead here. We've got LSU Open. We've got Lane Kiffin out there. We've got Florida open. And you and I both have a relationship with Lane to a certain degree. And I know he lived out in your area for a while. He's absolutely loving all of this. Right. And no, no coach leans into all the trolling, like, quite like Lane does. However, a decision is going to have to be made at some point. You would think. I hear less about LSU recently, and I've heard a lot about Florida. Right. So take us through what your information is on, I guess, both of those schools, but specifically with Lane to start things off.
- [59:49]
B
Yeah, I'm. I'm kind of with you on what you just said about. I hear more about Florida than I do about lsu. Doesn't mean LSU is not a factor. Right. LSU before Brian Kelly, the previous three coaches all won national titles. Lane knows how. How good of a job that is, but it's also a super dysfunctional one. There's not a lot of alignment there. The governor gets involved. I mean, really gets involved. You know, it's like. And then people are like, is that really what the governor sounds like? You know, it's like, does Lane want that soap opera? I think Lane's okay with soap opera. I don't think he wants a soap opera where, well, he likes to be.
- [60:24]
A
The star of the Sobo.
- [60:25]
B
Yeah, I don't think he wants to be in the supporting cast here. So he's like, wait, is that going to go? Is that guy going to be involved with me? You know, like. So I think with Florida, remember, he spent a lot of time in Florida. He obviously did well at FAU when he really revitalized his coaching career in Boca. What's different now is, and I think Lane's interesting because the guy you and I both kind of got to know pretty well, you know, from the Pete Carroll days and on, that's still him, right? What you're saying is true. Like, nobody loves to troll and get on social media the way Lane Kiffin does. You know, it still kind of fits his personality, but I think he has evolved not only as a coach, but also as an. As an adult. And you see this in terms of, like, living a cleaner life and, you know, now his whole family, it's not just his ex wife and his kids, but it's like his younger brother Chris and all their kids are really entrenched in Oxford and seem to be having a really, like, the time of their lives in this to all be together. You know, obviously, it's well known that both his parents Passed away not too long ago. And I think for them all to be connected, I think has been cool for the Kiffins. Now, having said that, on top of it, Ol Miss is set up really well in terms of. In this day and age, it's way closer to the top of the SEC than it ever has been before. Because of the Portal, because their commitment to nil, because of Walker Jones, who kind of runs the thing, runs everything behind the scenes for people don't know him. He's a former Ole Miss defensive back who was a CAA agent working with Jimmy Sexton and at one point worked at Under Armour as an Under Armour executive. So he's kind of been in a sweet spot with Ole Miss and his alma mater, and I think he's played a big role in helping Lane get this thing to the next step. I could see Lane staying at Ole Miss. I could also see him going, man, I don't know if I could, like, I can get to the playoff at Ole Miss. Can I actually win it? Can I build a superpower here and build what Pete Carol had at usc? Can I really do that at Ole Miss, or do I need to go to Florida to do it? I don't know the answer to that. I think we'll find out. But the question's going to be as, you know, like, look at their schedule. They're going to pro, almost assure debate, make it to the playoff. So is Florida or whoever going to sit and go, all right, we're going to basically punt on this year's recruiting class and the Portal window because he's probably going to be really busy, and I don't know how that plays out. I mean, I know Ole Miss would love to announce something before the Egg bowl about, like, staying. I know you thought he was going to go to Auburn three years ago, but he didn't, and that worked out great. And he's still here. We'll see. He. I think. I think you're right. He loves being kind of the bell of the ball of the coaching carousel. It's. There's a lot of big jobs and there's not enough names out there to fill them.
- [63:24]
A
Yeah. If it's interesting, I get it at floor if I'm Florida and not lsu, but if I'm Florida, I'm willing to wait as long as it takes to make absolutely certain until he has signed a deal at Ole Miss or has gone somewhere else. Until that moment happens, Lane would be the guy that I. I have to get. And then if it doesn't happen, then you regroup and obviously you have a plan B in the, in the waiting. If I'm Lane, it is a tough call, but my goodness, I just get the sense he's never been happier. And as a person who's been through stuff in life and like, when you, when you kind of rebuild and you're in a happy place, I don't know that you want to mess with it. You know what I mean? I think you, you just, you finally start to appreciate where you are in life and, and things are. Some things are more important than you thought they were when you were 27 or 37. You know what I mean?
- [64:22]
B
So that's exactly what you mean. Yeah, I think that's the question is going to be too, like, you and I are living, you know, relatively, you know, when I say, like, less complicated lives, being like, we don't have 120 players, we also don't have, like, when we're talking about alignment, like, yeah, it seems like it's okay at Florida. It doesn't seem like it's okay at lsu. But now all of a sudden you go into that, you leave behind a very good job for a lot of uncertainty. And quite honestly, he knows he can get to the playoff at Ole Miss. Right. So what limitations are there on Ole Miss? Yeah, the stadium's not as good as Tiger Stadium or the Swamp, but you still have a pretty sizable recruiting pool and, and, and money there, so I don't know. I mean, logically, I would say he stays, but logic always doesn't work, you know, in the country. Carousel.
- [65:17]
A
Yeah. And especially with Lane, I think. So there's. So then there's lsu. Is it me? Because I'm not dealing with it every day. I'm watching players and get ready for the draft and. But it feels like for such a big program and for all, like, the energy that happened with the Brian Kelly firing, here we are now a few weeks removed. It feels like things have been really quiet in Baton Rouge. Is that a fair assessment? And where do you think kind of this. This winds up headed? Is there kind of a list of two or three names, or is it a wait and see? Are there specific guys that they're waiting for the season to end? I just, I don't get a. At first I felt like there was a clear picture, like, we're going to throw a big thing at Nick, but Nick's not going to take it. And then it's going to be Lane Kiffin. But it seems like that's all kind of Quieted. And now I'm left wondering, just as kind of an outsider looking in, what's going on there. What's, what is their mission with this search?
- [66:16]
B
I think it's the dysfunction of the place. Remember, they got this nutty lawsuit that nobody thinks they're going to win with Brian Kelly. That doesn't help anything.
- [66:25]
A
No.
- [66:26]
B
You know, you, like I said, you have the governor involved. You have a new AD who's been around in Verge, Osborne. He's been around the program for 40 years. He's a former player. Who is Scott Woodward, the old AD's right hand guy. I think, I think there's overlap with the Auburn and the Florida searches. Right. Like, if I look at it, let's say if Lane's not involved, not ends up going to lsu, I could see them going, you know, Eli Drinkwoods has done a really good job at Missouri. He's in the league, he's an offensive coach. They run the football. Like, I think this is a big thing. Like it made old LSU people sick that LSU under Joe Sloan just, it was like, could they run the football? Will they commit to running? You know, it was just like not a thing. Right. They're a little like USC folks in that regard. Yeah, Lincoln Riley has cute plays, but they want old school. People like that want physical football, much like Notre Dame, like that, you know, like that's what they kind of want. And I think Credits Drinkwitz, you know, like every year they have some guy racking up 1500 yards. Right. You know, they find Ahmad Hardy with.
- [67:39]
A
300 yards this past week earlier on this show.
- [67:41]
B
Yeah, it looks like Marshawn lynch there. Right. So it's. And they've had that with a couple of guys now. So I don't know. Eli's personality, LSU would be interesting. I don't know if he's a slam for a lot of people.
- [67:56]
A
I can't imagine it.
- [67:58]
B
The question I think on, on him is does he feel like, all right, I'm at Mizzou, I need to, I need to stir it up a little more. Oh, I'm gonna go there. I don't need to do that stuff. Yeah, I, I don't know if that's the case.
- [68:12]
A
One versus Signetti, year two at Indiana.
- [68:15]
B
Yeah, maybe, maybe. I don't know, like, but I think he's definitely in play. I could see them having an interest in Brent Key, who's an Alabama native. Done a really good job at Georgia Tech. Also really physical football. I don't think it's a slam dunk that they would jump at him. I don't know. I'm not as sold that they would go after Clark Lee. He's done a good job at Vandy, but I don't know if they look at it. I think there's some thought of, well, he's done really well. They may win 10 games, they make it to the playoff, but it was like, did they catch lightning in a bottle by hiring the New Mexico State guys? And also they brought Pavia and Pavia was a program changer because of his just force of personality and, and everything he brought with it changed. Changed the whole culture. So that one. I don't know if they. I've always heard lsu, lsu money people would not hire a two lane or a group of five guy. John Summerall is a terrific coach. He's at Tulane. He, he played in the sec, coached in the sec. I've never met anybody who's like been involved in football who was not impressed by him. I would think I would not be surprised if he's the Auburn head coach. I don't know if LSU would do it because again, LSU does, does some nutty stuff and unless they're like backed into a corner, I don't think they're going to do the thing that may make the most sense. They're going to do the thing that sounds the coolest at the press conference.
- [69:51]
A
Yeah. And then it just begs the question like, if it's not Nick and it's not Lane and it's not Sumrall and it's not Joe Brady.
- [70:02]
B
Yeah. I don't think Joe Brady wants to be like he's not. Like he's not far from getting a head coaching job in the NFL. And just everything I know about Joe is he does not want to work in the nf, in, in college. He didn't want to work in college football that much when it was 2019, before the craziness of all the Portal movement and everything else. I just can't see him wanting.
- [70:19]
A
Oh, I agree. But that's kind of one of the names when this first.
- [70:21]
B
Yeah, it makes sense.
- [70:23]
A
2019 and that, you know, magical year. So that one's going to be interesting. And then there's. There's Penn State and I feel like I know too much of the kind of dysfunction and some of the issues going on behind the scenes there and forever. It was Matt Rule and, and the, the Ads vacationing in Spain with Rule and their friends. And then all of a sudden, you know, Rules back at Nebraska and, and you start to wonder what. First of all, what kind of job is this? And obviously it's Penn State, but is someone ra some of the things that are kind of in the backdrop and have to recruit there and try to go up against Ohio State and Michigan and now the expanded Big Ten, and. And then you kind of look at like, Brian Hartline would be my number one choice, but is that a move that he would want to make? What are you hearing on Penn State?
- [71:20]
B
Yeah, I think so. You know, the Pat Craft, the ad. He. They worked. He worked with a role together at a temple. So that made. That made sense.
- [71:29]
A
Yeah, of course.
- [71:31]
B
And then obviously Signetti, they locked him up quick. Mike Elco this weekend, you know, a Northeast guy that. I think that would have been a great hire if they could have pulled that off. I don't think they got close to it, but. And now you're. You're getting in the part where I don't say it's like really reaching, but the names I've heard that they've had interest in or, you know, some have kicked the tire down a little bit. Brian Dabal, just recently fired from the, from the Giants, as you know. Not that far removed, though, from helping Nick Saban win a national title at Alabama.
- [72:03]
A
I would actually like that higher. I would like. I would like Fitzgerald and I. And I would. I would be really interested. Dable. I mean, I don't know, the recruiting and handling, managing, all of that. I'm not saying positive or negative. I just think that there's an unknown despite some time in college. But Pat Fitzgerald is another name I like. Both of those guys would make sense to me in different. For different reasons.
- [72:26]
B
Yeah, I think the key with, with both of them, especially Fitzgerald, is what staff is he putting together? You know, he's the, The. He did an amazing job at his alma mater, but the last two years he was there, they were 4 and 20. And I think, you know, like, he's obviously shown he can do more with less, but now does that mean that he's going to be able to overtake Ohio State? Like, Heartline is interesting because that. Yeah, like, yes, you would be weakening Ohio State. He's proven to be a. An elite recruiter and an elite developer of receivers. But this is a big job. And you're like, it's different than Ryan Day getting. Taking over for Urban, because when Ryan Day did that, this is not a. Not to diminish anything he's done, but he was able to keep Mickey Maratti, who ran the strength and conditioning program he's able to keep Mark Pantoni, who ran the personnel side. Those are two huge pieces that you have to have in place. And they already had those things running at, you know, full blast. Then, you know, it keeps Larry Johnson, the D line coach, kept a bunch of other good assistants. So if you're a heart line, yeah, there's some of those things are there from James Franklin, but I don't think you're, you know, it's like you're starting from scratch essentially. And you know, to be a first time head coach, you are really, really in the deep end of the pool here. Like, I, I don't know how, you know, it's just a big gamble on that. Like, it's, it's. If you told me he was going to be the first time head coach at, at West Virginia, I would be like, okay, you know, like I could, That's a good, that could be a good hierarchy. Yeah, yeah. But it's like, but Penn State is so much of a bigger job and you're like really on the high wire now and like every mistake becomes glaring and you get in a hole. I'm not saying he has no chance at the job, but it is, it would be a pretty big gamble to hire a first time head coach there who honestly does not have that, you know, like he has the court. He's, he's the offensive coordinator this year, but he's also the offensive coordinator where the head coach was with the offense coordinator too. So it's like, I don't say you're working with a net there, but like it's a gamble. And I would say this for almost, for pretty much any first time head coach. Yeah, he's never been the head coach to get a Penn State job or to get an LSU job or to get, you know, Florida because look, Will Muschamp was a hot assistant coach a long time ago. He went there and he didn't go great. You know, it doesn't mean, you know, Bob Stoops killed it at Oklahoma on his first job and Kirby obviously did it Georgia. What's a little different is I'm not saying you can't do it now. I do think it's a little, a little harder to do it where it's a new place. Like Marcus Freeman took over for Brian Kelly. Right. And he built it, he grew into the job. But I think it's just that it's just a lot more stuff is going on. There's a lot more stuff you have to manage now because of the Portal and because the transient nature of college football and it's just harder to build a culture like that and there's so many moving parts. That's why I think the first time head coach at a huge job is something that if I was an ad, I would probably be. Be a little reluctant to do.
- [75:50]
A
All right, so if I had to put you on the spot and say Virginia Tech will be the first to announce whether it's Franklin or that Franklin, it's. It's not Franklin. If you had to guess which one of these bigger jobs will be the next domino to fall.
- [76:10]
B
Are we calling UCLA a bigger job? I don't know.
- [76:13]
A
No, but you can if you got some information.
- [76:15]
B
I wouldn't be surprised if ucla. UCLA went, went from there, you know, like again, it's been open for a long time. You're also like the things that are a little complicated. Let's say Oklahoma State. Oklahoma State is looking at a bunch of good group of five head coaches. Eric Morris, the head coach at North Texas. Colin Klein's the offensive coordinator at, at, at Texas A and M, former, you know, Case eight star. You have Alex Golish from usf. I don't know if the guys in the mix for that jump at it. If they're sitting there going, well, Baylor might come open or you know, something else that like, yeah, some of those guys think they can get. I would guess if you're Auburn, ideally they want to. They would love to have a hire like the day after the Iron bowl. That's not that far away. No, I, Yeah, I would think, you know, again with Auburn, like Eli, I'm not saying he's definitely going to leave, but he's not going to be in the playoff. Like you could make that move. I don't think there's no way Lane Kiffin's in play for that job now. Georgia Tech, if you know. And same thing with Clark Lee. Technically, both Georgia Tech and Vandy could still be in playoff consideration. So I, I feel like there's a better chance of Auburn filling earlier than LSU or Florida. So if I had to edge, I'd go, okay, maybe ucla, maybe Auburn, you know, come up in the next two weeks.
- [77:52]
A
And typically what we've seen the last few years, guys are bailing from college to go to the NFL. Anything on like Tommy Reese, who's the oc, The Browns or. Or Zach Robinson, oc For the fact, I've heard Reese, maybe a ucla. I've heard Robinson, maybe Zach Robinson, Oklahoma State. Yeah, Oklahoma State. Is any, anything there or I think.
- [78:14]
B
Zach Robinson could be in play there now. He's never been a college coach now obviously spent a lot of time with the Rams, with McVeigh and. But he played at Oklahoma State. I've heard his name in there. It's not. The other thing that's, that's worth keeping in mind is it's like, you know, some of these guys are like one step away from getting an NFL head coaching job. Like with the Falcons, it's not going great right now. So I don't know if he's looking at it going, you know what, I can go back and be a coordinator five years from now if I don't love being an Alma. I'm alma mater. Tommy Reese has, you know, has spent a lot of time in Southern California. I could see him doing, you know, because obviously the Browns are a mess, right. But I could see him being interested in it. But he's, you know, kind of ping pong back and forth from a bunch of different places. I know he's really well thought of by a lot of folks inside of football. And the UCLA job is a tough one though. Like because what, what, what's going into it and you know a lot of the stuff because you know, people who've worked there before but like you have a really weird situation with the AD Martin Jarman, who nobody locally is happy with and his reputation among the football community is probably worse than it is even with the UCLA fans. And he's. I think his buyout is like $7 million. So even if you know Casey Wasserman, who's the big donor, you know, the football billings name after at ucla, even if he tells somebody, hey, you know, we're just going to reassign Martin. Like really? Are you gonna, like, is he gonna be the, the AD for other sports but not football? Like I don't know how that works. And I just think that ucla, as the coach at ucla, they're going to want you to be PT Barnum and raise a, you know, like do stuff that a lot of head coaches don't do. They just are not out there constantly, right. Trying to go raise funds and, and do that. Like that sounds great in theory, but that's not how it works at most places. And so is that the job? I don't, I don't know. You know, like again I'm. I don't know Tommy Reese well enough to know. Does he sit there and go, you know what? I could kill it there and then because remember you're in the Big Ten, you're You're got these, you know, kind of nutty travel, you know, schedules from, you know, kind of disconnected from it. You're like, this isn't when Jim Mora had ucla, when USC was in the middle of heavy scholarship reductions. USC is not like, what is with Pete Carroll? But they. They're way better resourced than. Than ucla. So I don't know. I think that job is a tough one if you're an. If you have a NFL, you're already in the NFL. I don't know why, you know, why you jump into it unless you have a real special connection to it.
- [81:06]
A
Bruce has been absolutely awesome, man. Like this. I, like, we just went through the entire nation and all the coach, like, I. I can't thank you enough. You're gonna have to come back on the shows. I wanted to get to the freaks list and start talking about the draft. We have plenty of time before. Before April to kind of dig. Dig into that and pick your brain on some of the. The stories and the backgrounds. And so we'll have to have you back on. And that's. That's a great thing for us. And hopefully you. You view it the same I do.
- [81:32]
B
And I think I've told you this offline. I'm, like, a big fan of what you guys do on Instagram. I think the videos are just really. They're just really smart and they're fun and they like. Like, I never thought I'd be like, a big content consumer on Instagram, but that's the way I start. Started finding a lot more stuff now, and I just think they're really digestible. Whoever your group is doing it is really killing it on that. So that's been really awesome to help kind of promote your product.
- [82:01]
A
Yeah, I mean, we. Alicia's sitting here in the. In the chat right now, and she's been a huge addition to our group. And we've got. We've got John and we like. And Marissa's putting it all together. The only thing I do is I rant and I rave for like, seven, eight minutes. And then they cut it up into something that's concise and actually digestible. So they. They make me look great on those, but.
- [82:22]
B
But it feels like it is an authentic. Hey. Two guys just talking. Two informed guys are talking about a prospect, and it's fresh and it's just like, no bs and it's like, it cuts through. And for whatever reason, that doesn't happen most times, and it's cutting through on, like, you know, when I see it on my phone whenever it pops up. So hats off.
- [82:44]
A
Awesome. I appreciate you saying that. That makes a lot of people here happy. So great talking to you. Have an awesome Thanksgiving and holiday season and and we'll get get you back on, I'm sure, during the college football playoff run and then leading up to the draft. So look forward to talking to you again, buddy.
- [83:00]
B
Appreciate it. Next time.
- [83:01]
A
All right, man. 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. kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com, call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut 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.
- [83:51]
B
Sam.