Andy & Ari On3 - Alabama IN, Florida State OUT | College Football Playoff field revealed!

Episode Date: December 3, 2023

Andy and J.D. PicKell break down the College Football Playoff selection committee's final four -- and who didn't make it.It went: Michigan Washington Texas Alabama Florida State, the 13-0 ACC champ, was excluded. And the Seminoles have every right to be furious.Andy and J.D. examine the decision to leave out Florida State and preview the Rose (Michigan-Alabama) and Sugar (Washington-Texas) bowls.Subscribe to On3! ⬇️youtube.com/on3sports/?sub_confirmation=1Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruitinghttps://www.on3.com/Follow J.D. PicKell on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jdpickellFollow J.D. PicKell on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdpickell/Listen to The Hard Count on podcast!Spotify 🎧 : https://open.spotify.com/show/5Muz6cWNF4Dunh3QOcint6Apple🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hard-count-with-j-d-pickell/id1634039449Follow us on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/on3sportsFollow us on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/on3/?hl=enLike/Follow us on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/On3Sports/

you hear the horns that means it's an emergency show welcome to Andy Staples on three and yes we have a four team playoff no not everyone is happy about it in fact some people are decidedly unhappy about it. Florida State undefeated 13-0. ACC champion left out. Alabama's in at four. Texas three.

Washington two. Michigan one. The debate will continue. Statements are being released from everyone. The worst that we've seen, not because of who said it or what they said, that he had to say it at all. Jordan Travis tweeting that he wished he'd broken his leg earlier so that people could see how good Florida State really was and that we weren't just Jordan Travis and the Jordanaires. It just breaks your heart. Absolutely heartbreaking from Jordan Travis and the Jordanaires. It just breaks your heart. Absolutely heartbreaking from Jordan Travis

because there's nothing that he or the Seminoles could do about this. They did everything they were supposed to do. The committee also did what they were supposed to do. They were charged with picking the four best teams. I think if we polled most of America, they would have said these are the four best. The problem is it shouldn't be four. It should be 12, which is why they're moving it to 12.

They had a chance to move it to 12 earlier. And as you'll see in my conversation with J.D. We were on as they were revealing the teams, and then we broke down the playoff field and Florida State. There was an opportunity to go to 12 this year. Well, I think we remember who stood in the way of that. And you probably should remember that too. Here's me and JD. The best four teams, that's becoming a very thin ice to walk on. It's always been that it's supposed to be the best four teams.

Right. But they don't – they've not always done that. Like TCU last year, if we're just saying subjectively, poll everybody, we have Michigan at number one. There we go. Okay. We got action. Michigan is number one, as we expected.

So my arguments fell on deaf ears about Washington potentially being number one. Sure. But Michigan is number one, as we expected. So my arguments fell on deaf ears about Washington potentially being number one. Sure. But Michigan is number one. I think we can pretty safely assume Washington's number two. And I think that's probably the right order. As good as Washington has been, as good as Michigan's been, I mean, I know a big thing with Michigan all year long was the eye test. That was why they were at three before playing anybody ranked.

One's probably right for Michigan. By the way, can we just step back and think about this for a second? Jim Harbaugh was suspended for six of 13 games, and Michigan's the number one seed in the playoff. Like, how wild is that? Took half the year off. That's a great job. You say, I'm taking PTO for half this year.

He took Saturdays off. Okay, yeah, that's right. Those suspensions, because they're different types of suspensions. If you had a self-imposed, Washington is number two. There you go. If you had a self-imposed suspension, you can say work during the week, take Saturday off. If it's an NCAA suspension, which that was on the table too,

you wouldn't have to miss it. It's still on the table, quite frankly. Well, it is, but not for this year. Yep. So just wild to think that six of the 13 games, the head coach was not there, number one seed. It speaks volumes to what Michigan is too. To do it without your head coach on the sidelines. It says a lot about that roster. Well, it's a lot of a reason why they're the number one seed. You feel like this roster,

if they get into some situations in the playoff where games are tight or tough, that they're going to coalesce around one another and probably be pretty good. And the fact that we've seen now Sharon Moore, that's the interesting thing, didn't have the same acting head coach in the six games. Four of those games were Sharon Moore games. I think we know now he's a good game day coach. Great, yeah. A good game day play coach. Texas is number three. That's good game day coach. Great, yeah.

A good game day play. Texas is number three. That's big. All right. That's huge. Okay, so what does that tell you about that four spot? Does that make you feel more or less confident about Bama at four? No, because this is what we thought was going to happen. Okay.

I think you can make an argument for Florida State at three, being undefeated. All right, I get where you're going. I'm picking up what you're putting down. So, yeah, so that means that Texas pulled – or Bama's win pulled Texas to three because Texas must be ahead of Bama. So this means we get an Alamo Bowl rematch from last year. How about that? How about that?

What difference a year makes. How about that? Washington-Texas, that would be a good one. It was an okay Alamo Bowl. It wasn't bad. I wouldn't have picked it as a playoff match a year later, but that was a good game. Now, I would assume we're going to get the Washington Texas game in the Sugar Bowl. Sure. Because I don't think Michigan wants to well that's not

true. If it well either way Florida State or Alabama I don't think you want to play them in New Orleans. I'm holding my breath here for this fourth spot. It's wild. I'm legitimate I'm legitimately I think they need to go to commercial. Yeah they'm ESPN, I'm going to go to commercial before this. I'm going to milk this for all it's worth. I'm running a YouTube mid-roll right now, live, if you're the committee or if you're ESPN. But what does your gut tell you here, Andy? I think it's going to be Alabama. You think so?

See, I think that's the best thing to do. It wouldn't surprise me if it's Florida State. Yep. But since you said that a couple minutes ago about Texas going to three, now you're in my head. Like – I've infiltrated. Because I think you may be right.

If they were going to do Florida State and Texas, they would make Florida State three. Doesn't it feel that way a little bit? I mean – and they really – it really feels like they've gotten out – and I don't know how much the PR is involved with the actual committee, but we've really hammered home the best four teams, relevant players, like all this. It feels like, you know, I'm holding my breath here as we're looking to maybe find the fourth team here.

You think they'll go five or six? I think they'll go four right now. Will they make us wait for four? They'll go six. Here's six, Georgia. My heart dropped. I thought that was four. I was like, they actually did it.

No. They just – they went for it. No, they were milking this. It reminds me of when America's Funniest Home Videos came out. They would announce who was second place first, and then they would have one in three in the boxes. And I'm like, why wouldn't you just announce third place first and have one in two in the boxes? Because I already know which one was the worst of the three. It was like that Steve Harvey moment where he crowns the wrong Miss America. Yes. If that's what it felt like, I was like, oh, my goodness.

They punched the wrong graphic. I don't know what happened. Oh, we got it. Alabama is number four. Wow. You called that. You called that. We called that together.

Hey, that is, to be clear, that is the best thing. That is the best thing for the player. For the viewer. For the viewer. I think it's the best four teams and you got a credit okay as even though I've said that's what it's gonna be since last night mm-hmm like watching it seeing Florida State slotted in there at number five like makes me droop oh it's just heart breaks like heartbreak they did

everything they could do heartbreaks every single thing they do. They lost their quarterback and they kept winning. If I'm Mike Norvell, there's nothing I can say to those guys. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. What do you say? Hey, guys, we should have done X, Y, Z. If I'm Florida State's president, I am calling the conference office and saying,

once again, you have failed us. You have completely failed us. Absolutely. Because, again, this is partially Jim Phillips' fault that there's not a 12-team playoff this year. So if Jim Phillips is looking around his office and going, why is my petard here and why am I being hoisted on it? You did this to yourself.

I don't know what a petard is. Well, you get hoisted by it. It's the thing you get hoisted by. So it's amazing to me. And, yeah, if I'm Michael Alford, the AD at Florida State, I am even further in my bag about trying to get out of the ACC because the ACC failed you. 100%.

Absolutely failed you. Without question. Without question. I mean, if you're Florida State, there literally is nothing else you could have earthly controlled. Yep. So, I mean, it really is, I think. And it's hard because I lean one way where I mean, if you're Florida State, there literally is nothing else you could have earthly controlled. Yep. So, I mean, it really is, I think. And it's hard because I lean one way where I say, if you're Florida State,

you should be livid. You have every right to be livid. But then I lean the other way and say, okay, well, these are the best four teams. This is what the committee is supposed to do. Right. Because they were given these parameters. Yep. They were told there are four slots and it's the four best.

We had Greg McIlroy on the show on Thursday, and he said that the number of playoff teams should just flex based on how many deserving teams there are each year. And so this year you could have eight. Another year you could have four. I don't hate that. Another year you could just BCS it and do two. I don't hate that at all.

Yeah, I think it would be great. I told him that his bosses at ESPN were having panic attacks, that he would even mention that. They like things nice and tidy. They like to know what it's going to be. So Michigan and Alabama will play in the Rose Bowl. That is going to be January 1st. 5 p.m. Eastern Sun setting over the

San Gabriel Mountains, followed by Washington and Texas in the Sugar Bowl. It is. Michigan, Alabama. Think about this. Rose Bowl. Michigan, Alabama. Think about this. Rose Bowl. Michigan, Alabama. Harbaugh saving all of the things at once. It's going to be

awesome. You think about the defense that Alabama saw yesterday against Georgia. Michigan's probably watching that game back and saying, oh boy. We've got to defend that quarterback. We talked about it after the game yesterday. It wasn't like Georgia was just confused defensively. They just got straight up out physical and out leveraged and just beat.

Just plain old-fashioned beat. What I want to see, because that Georgia defensive line this year, not the aliens it's been the last two years. Guess who has aliens on their defensive line? That would be the Michigan Wolverines. Kenneth Grant is a freaking alien. Yep. I'm so excited.

I wonder a little bit about the team speed compared to Georgia. Like, do you think Michael Barrett's running like Smile Munden is? Do you think they've got guys that are running with them? I think it's close. It's probably not identical. But I think the gap between Michigan athletically and the Ohio States and the Alabamas and the Georgia has closed considerably in the past few years. I mean, I think back to the Michigan-Ohio State game eight days ago, it didn't feel like there was an appreciable difference.

No. And Ohio State's roster is just as athletic as Georgia's or Alabama's. You think about the way where Michigan has shown some humanity. It's been on the back end with Maryland throwing the ball, Ohio State throwing the ball, and Ohio State has aliens in their broad receiver core. Alabama threw the ball well yesterday. Not necessarily a drop-back pass. Not as good of a receiving core

as what Michigan just saw in Ohio State. But Michigan has not seen anything like Jalen Milrow. And honestly, I don't think Georgia had seen anything like Jalen Milrow, and I'm not sure anybody had seen that Jalen Milrow. Maybe LSU did. Sure, yeah.

But they really seem to have kind of unlocked what he does best. And we saw a Jalen Milrow game against Georgia where he didn't make any of those mistakes that really kind of hamstrung him early in the season. Yeah, he played really clean football. And quite frankly, I think Michigan and Georgia are similar in the same way we talked about yesterday. They feed off your mistakes.

Does Georgia? Michigan, the exact same way. They're going to play tennis with you. They're going to continue to just run the football, take the air out of the game. If Jalen Monroe plays the kind of game he played yesterday against Georgia, Alabama is going to have a real good shot in that Rose Bowl. Very, very good chance. Yeah, and I'm just like, the plays that they were running,

that quarterback sweep, we talked about this on the field at the Georgia Dome. Mercedes-Benz Stadium. I'm going back and saying that. Sorry, Georgia Dome. But that quarterback sweep where against Georgia, Georgia had it played correctly, but Alabama just blocked it effectively. Just elephants on parade on the perimeter. They were just, I mean, pun intended, quite frankly.

I mean, what you said, I mean, the athletic gap has definitely closed, like you said, between the rosters of Michigan's and the Georgia's and Alabama's, but then you add Jalen Milrow into that, and it kind of makes that gap a little. I mean, it's kind of just the, hey, any given third down, he can make it happen for you. We know these quarterbacks have their favorites and who they like, and clearly Isaiah Bond and Jalen Milrow have a bond, pun intended, as well.

I mean, I don't deserve a fist pound for that. But they clearly have a connection that is developing over time. And you're going to have another three weeks of practice to get that figured out against a really good defense. I'm trying to think, is this Michigan defense the best defense they'll have played? It's probably comparable to Georgia's yesterday. It's probably similar. I think it's probably, like you said, on the defensive line, they're probably better than Georgia, at least in the interior,

with Kenneth Grant being around 340 and can chase down running backs from 20 yards away. Poor K. Tronnell never saw it coming. That's going to be a different beast. That's going to be a different beast. That's going to be a different beast. So I'm curious because Alabama, too, like we talked about, they probably scare you more when they get out on the perimeter. And so, I mean, if it ends up being a thing where, you know,

you're running away from Kenneth Grant, what does that look like if you're Alabama? How does it set you up? Yeah, and then Harbaugh Saban. We've actually seen this game before in a Citrus Bowl. That's right. They have played each other once. We did see that, yeah. It was not pretty. But this is a different situation entirely.

And listen, given everything swirling around Michigan, given that Jim Harbaugh has tried to go to the NFL a couple times and I think still has that itch, and there's some jobs open that he might be a fit for, and the NCAA stuff. And, and, and, and, and. A lot of ands. This potentially is Jim Harbaugh's last game as Michigan's head coach.

Or has a chance to make it his penultimate game as Michigan's head coach if they win. Like, there's going to be a lot here. If there were to be a spot where you would ride off into the sunset. And ride off into the sunset is maybe the wrong word if you lose that football game, but the backdrop of the Rose Bowl, Alabama, I mean, golly. And the winner of this game is probably the favorite in the national title game. Yeah, and they should be. Even if it's Texas-Alabama in the rematch, Vegas doesn't change its mind easily.

I don't think so. And they may make Alabama a favorite again in that game. So this is going to be, in terms of drama, I don't think people actually care about ratings. But if they did, this will get a massive rating. This will be very good. I'm watching. That's kind of our job.

But this will be one that I think everybody has on the bucket list of seeing Jim Harbaugh, Nick Saban in the Rose Bowl with massive stakes. Now, let's talk about the game in New Orleans because I think this one could be a blast to watch because when these two offenses really get flying, there's not much anybody can do. Curious what the over is right now when it comes to that game in New Orleans. I'm going to say 68.5. Okay, I was going to say somewhere in the 70 range.

Yeah, probably. I think the defenses are a little better than we give them credit for. Definitely. Texas looked awesome yesterday. Well, Texas' interior, we talked about aliens. Tavondre Sweat. Tavondre Sweat and Byron Murphy. From Mars. Probably the best combo inside of anybody in the country. interior we talked about aliens on the mission to vandre sweat and byron murphy from mars probably

the best combo inside of anybody in the country they are awesome and to vandre sweat we saw him catch a touchdown pass dual threat dual threat i like it i haven't i haven't filed my ballot yet okay i mean i can't i want to get you in trouble i can't say heisman Trust don't pull my vote, but I'm just saying. So this could be an absolute blast. Michael Penix Jr., because I think it was very interesting, the dynamics leading into the Pac-12 championship game. It felt like Vegas especially, but the world in general had just turned on Washington. They played tight games, lived dangerously between beating Oregon the first time and getting to the Pac-12 title game meanwhile Oregon had just steamrolled everybody

but it never nobody and we talked about this on the show a lot last week like why wasn't anybody asking the question and I guess a few of us were if Washington beat them the first time was there a was a particular matchup problem that Washington was exploiting and I think what it was is Washington's's receivers were better than oregon's corners definitely and i think washington's receivers are probably going to be better than texas's corners too the question is can texas's pass rush get to pennix in time to make that matter because i think you saw at points in the two games against Oregon, where Oregon did get pressure, they were very effective against Pennix. But as soon as he found some time to throw, good God.

It's so beautiful to watch. Yeah. And once they brought pressure, too, in that game, just watching the game, you kind of felt a little bit of like, oh, whenever you bring someone from second or third level, usually there's some real estate behind them. Yeah, you're giving up. Pennix was phenomenal at finding that.

And to flip it on its head, when you talk about defensively for Washington against Texas, I think that over's in trouble because there's so many weapons for both these teams. Talking about Texas, you want to take away Xavier Worthy? You want to take away one of those guys? We've got Jatavian Sanders. Jatavian Sanders is the biggest X factor

of all. Because I think other than Brock Bowers, Sanders is the best tight factor of all because I think other than Brock Bowers, Sanders is the best tight end in college football. Yeah. Now, I know the Loveland and Barner, Michigan, want to say something about that. Fair. But Sanders is such a weapon. He's so versatile.

And he really makes it hard to defend them because you have to know what he's doing and you have to be aware of what he's doing on every play and so he may not even be the target or maybe maybe he's like the third option but you are focusing resources on him at all times and I think the thing I would say too is both these teams are extremely poised like we both have we have two really just adult mature teams look at that. Bunch of juniors and seniors. I mean, looked at Washington after they beat Oregon. It didn't feel like they won a Pac-12 title game. They were all just very much like, yeah, good win, awesome, on to the next one.

And I was like, this is the last Pac-12 title game ever. This is a big deal. Let's think about the evolution of Steve Sarkeesian, what this game means about that. So he's going to play against the program where he was first to head coach. And what was the knock on Steve Sarkeesian at Washington? Couldn't get past meh. He was 8-4, kind of 500 in the conference. That was what they were. And they couldn't ever get over that hump. And he gets the USC job. We know what happened there. He has to leave the job.

He goes into rehab he gets everything together apart from that the part in his personal life he's evolved quite a bit professionally i think the steve sarkisian who coached washington never could have done this this year with texas like they would have fallen apart after they lost to oklahoma this guy kept them together had te had Texas playing in a way that we have not seen Texas play since the height of the Mack Brown era. Absolutely. I think the thing

that sticks out to me is kind of that checkpoint of getting back into football and who we got under football with Nick Saban. This team feels to me like playing their best ball at the right time, tough in the interior. The way that he even talks about his team with the little things, talks about Keelan Robinson catching a touchdown

and running down on kickoff and making an attack. He's like, that's the standard we have internally. I mean, they remind me of a Nick Saban kind of team. We had Tavondre Sweat on my show and I asked him what his favorite thing to do, like favorite bonding activity with the other defensive linemen was. You know what he said?

Lift weights? Position meetings. There we go. Meetings are the most boring thing ever. And I was like, oh, what's your chosen candidate? I'm thinking they're eating gummy worms together. Not even allowed to bring food in there. Wow.

And they just like being together and figuring out a way to wreck your offense. As with a ball. That's incredible. And it's rare. There are not a lot of teams that have that. I think the teams that get to this point are the ones that do but washington let's talk about washington's offensive line yeah because i think the the country discovered there's some athletes up there

watching that pac-12 championship game like watching those dudes pull they're moving you're talking about 300 pounders that can get downhill in a hurry. The edge that I thought in the Pac-12 title game that was going to eventually lean towards Oregon was just that line of scrimmage. I was like, okay, well, that first time around, yeah, Washington kind of diced them up, but Dylan Johnson getting downhill behind that offensive line,

it's not just we're going to scheme you up and spread you out. It's like we're actually going to go maul you physically, man-to-man, and they did that against Oregon, and I think it would be a very, very good matchup with Texas. And we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Kalen DeBoer. Because there are very few coaches where you always feel like they have the right call on. Like, even when they get

cute, you're like, ah, I see where he was going with that. Yeah. I mean, he has been... I don't think you can give enough credit to what he's done there in such a short period of time at Washington. I mean, heck, Alabama tried to get Ryan Grubbs away from him this past offseason. They were able to keep him. I think that speaks volumes to what he's built there and the belief they have internally. I'm very excited about these two games.

I feel so bad for Florida State. Let's talk about them a little more. I realize all the discussion is probably going to move on to the playoff itself, but let us talk about the job that Mike Norvell has done over the past four years I remember when he was 0-4 year two they'd lost to Jacksonville State it felt like everything was falling apart it felt like they would never be able to figure it out the the fan base wanted him fired but they they just fired Willie Taggart they didn't

really have the money to fire anybody else. And he said, he had a press conference. He got testy with somebody asking a question. And he said, I know it will get better because I see it every day and we're not changing. And you saw it that year where they fought and fought and fought. They didn't win them all, but they kept fighting. And then last year, they had that three-game losing streak, and everybody's like, are we sure this is the guy? And then they rail off a winning streak. And then this year, everything comes together. And what sucks is that everything came together,

and the system prevented them from actually competing for a championship. Legitimately, from the outside looking in, at least by nature of how they've won games and how they've progressed since he's been there, got to be one of the strongest cultures in college football. And he's done it with transfer players. He's done it with Keon Coleman, Jordan Travis is a transfer for Ventral

Sight. Guys that made big time, not just role players, but big time contributors. It's incredible. I think, if you're a Florida State fan, let's call it spade to spade. Like this sucks. This absolutely sucks.

And there's nothing that you feel like you should do differently besides have maybe some better luck with how things went in that North Alabama game. Get yourself in the SEC of the Big Ten. It's just – I mean, it's horrific. And I realize that's not – that's probably not possible with the Granite Rites, but it is – like we talked about that all august that's what they want to do and if they were in one of those leagues this year they'd probably be in the playoff i mean they definitely would if they had this record but it's just it's there i i feel so bad and i've talked to different coaches who've been through this i remember uh talking to james franklin after Penn State was left out of the playoff in 2016 when they won the Big Ten, but Ohio State was put in instead.

Well, literally, it was actually Washington got in over Penn State. Ohio State was the three seed. But if you're sitting there watching a team you beat in the conference you play in get in, what do you say to your team? There's nothing you can say. I'm curious to see how they respond to this because if it's anything like a micro-level operation we've seen to this point in the year, I think they'll probably go out in the bowl game and play really good football. The problem is are those draft guys going to play in the bowl game at all? That's a big question.

They're going to the Orange Bowl. We don't have to wait for the bowl show on that one. Contractually, they're going to the Orange Bowl. I believe contractually, they're going to have to play Georgia. It's a tough draw. It's the next highest ranked Big Ten or SEC team. So which one was five? Was Georgia five?

Georgia was six. So they're playing Georgia. It's a tough draw. Yeah. It's not a fun draw. But none of Georgia's draft guys are going to be there either. Yeah. I mean, I'm curious to see what Brock Bowers does in this one.

Because he seems like he's the guy that just said multiple times, I want to play. He did say, I don't care if my foot falls off my leg leg i'm playing let's see like let's see yeah that's i you know given what we've seen from this florida state team i could see some of those guys getting together like the jared verse getting those guys together and saying let's do it let's just show that they that they didn't beat us you know and if beat Georgia, Andy, are they UCFing it and hanging a banner? I mean, I think internally you've got to at least talk about it. You can't.

They made fun of UCF too much. They made too much fun of UCF. You can't do that. Maybe they'll hang a banner, but I think it would do a lot just for the, hey, this is what we were capable of. I do have some very hard conversations with the conference leadership about what happened two years ago because this is their fault like there should be a 12 team playoff right now florida state would be in it yeah

but there's not and the tough part is too because now you're moving forward and saying well things got to change like oh no they are changing next year so it's like but that doesn't do these people any good it It's so frustrating. It sucks for them. For us, the viewers, it's a pretty intriguing playoff. Yeah. I think they got it right. At the end of the day, as wild as it is to say. I don't think there was a right answer.

Yeah. I don't think they could have gotten it right. The system sucked so bad that they had no right answer, and that's why they're getting rid of the stupid system. Unfortunately, they're getting rid of it one year too late. I think they did the best that they could have with the information they have. Correct.

Michigan, Alabama Rose Bowl. Texas, Washington Sugar Bowl. The winners will play for the national title. It's going to be a good one. It's going to be a blast to watch.