Andy & Ari On3 - How will the CFP Selection Committee handle Georgia and Michigan? | Who plays cornerback for LSU?

Episode Date: October 30, 2023

As we prepare for the first College Football Playoff selection committee rankings on Tuesday, Andy breaks down how Saturday’s games might change the picture. Will Georgia be No. 1 like it has been in the Associated Press and coaches polls? Where will Michigan land?(0:00-16:13) Intro - Resume Rankings(16:14-22:11) Andy's College Football Playoff Predictions(22:12-31:14) Jake Rowe of Dawgs HQ joins (31:15-35:40) Opening Lines of Week 10(35:41-41:56) Andy takes a look at what's ahead for the Florid Gators(41:57-55:44) WeAreSC's Erik McKinney Joins to talk USC(55:45-1:07:49) Bengal Tiger's Shea Dixon Joins to discuss LSU's Test @ Alabama(1:07:50-1:18:14) Husker Online's Steve Sipple joins to discuss Nebraska(1:18:15-1:19:41) Nick Roush from Kentucky Sports Radio has a rant for the ages after their loss to TennesseeToday's show is brought to you by PrizePicks, the easiest way to play daily fantasy. All first time users that deposit and use the promo code ANDY will receive a 100% instant deposit match up to $100. If you deposit $100, PrizePicks will give you $100. If you deposit $50, PrizePicks will give you $50.Wan to watch the show on YouTube instead? Head on over to YouTube!https://youtube.com/live/DvWQ04dehd0Plus, Andy reveals his CFP and New Year’s Six Bowl projections. Could two Big Ten teams make the CFP again?Jake Rowe of Dawgs HQ joins Andy to discuss Georgia following a dominant win against Florida in Jacksonville.USC still seems adrift on defense, but the Trojans are not out of the Pac-12 race. Erik McKinney of On3’s WeAreSC.com joins to explain where Lincoln Riley’s team stands heading into a potential shootout against Washington.Shea Dixon of On3’s The Bengal Tiger joins to discuss how LSU looks coming out of the open week heading into a huge game at Alabama. Who exactly will play cornerback for LSU?Finally, Steve Sipple of On3’s Husker Online joins to talk about a Nebraska team that has figured out how to win and now sits a victory away from bowl eligibility.

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. We are two sleeps away from the first college football playoff selection committee rankings of the year. They're coming out on Halloween. I will have to hand out candy and then watch those rankings and we will talk about them. But I am fascinated by what's going to happen there because I've been doing these resume rankings all year. I've been doing them every Sunday night. And as I was doing mine today, I was thinking about, well, this is kind of how the committee's doing it because they don't start until now. So presumably all of the preseason hype is filtered out of

their deliberations. And so it should look something similar. And that's what I was wondering because the AP poll came out, Georgia was number one again. And I thought, okay, if Georgia had never been preseason number one and then not lost, would Georgia be number one now?

And I think after the way Georgia beat Florida, there'd probably be more people who'd say yes. They'll look at how they beat Kentucky, how they beat Florida and say, yeah, they'd still be number one. I don't know though, because if you go by resume, there are other schools that might fit that bill. And so I am fascinated to see what the committee is going to do with that. Because I do think like with Georgia, even if they're not number one in the first committee ranking, there's a chance they could be number one within a couple of weeks because they have a three game stretch coming up where Missouri comes to them, Ole Miss comes to them, and then they go to Tennessee. It's about

as tough as three game stretch as anybody in the country has this year. And so they're going to have a chance to show that they deserve to be number one. And I think if they do get through that unscathed, there's a really, really good chance that they are number one, whether they started out at number one or whether they move up that way. So I will be interested to see what happens. And then if, let's say the committee does not make Georgia its first number one, do the AP poll and coaches poll then adjust to make somebody else number one, whoever was number one in that first ranking? So I'm going to do the resume rankings. We will see how closely these match the top 10

of the selection committee rankings, because I'm curious because I'm trying to do it the way they would be doing it this week, where every week I just sort of start over and say, okay, who beat who and how'd you play? Who'd you play? Number 10 this week, the Louisville Cardinals. How in the world did this team lose to Pittsburgh? Well, we know how they lost to Pittsburgh. They just beat Notre Dame. It's a young team, lots of transfers, Jeff Brom's first year. They're just trying to learn how to handle victory and handle success, and so they lost to Pittsburgh, but then they come back and thump Duke. Just, they shut him out. This was very impressive. And Louisville now

in the driver's seat to get one of the spots in the ACC championship game, Florida State is the other team in that driver's seat. Now Louisville will have to face this week suddenly hot Virginia Tech, but they have a very distinct path to get to that ACC championship game. Miami is probably their toughest game left. If they can beat Virginia Tech and Miami, I think you're going to see them playing Florida State for the ACC title. Number nine, Alabama. I've got Alabama here. They lost to Texas. I'm keeping them below Texas because even though they both have one loss, the games have to matter. If your records are

identical and one of you beat the other one you played, I'm probably ranking you over the team you beat. So Bama's here, and I think Bama's got a chance this weekend to solidify a spot in the SEC championship game. It's not guaranteed when if they beat LSU, they still have to go play Auburn. But if they beat LSU, they are very much set to get into Atlanta and get a crack at, we think, Georgia, probably Georgia. But this will be a fascinating game. Later in the show, we're going to talk to Shea Dixon from the Bengal Tiger on Three's LSU site about LSU's personnel issues

in the secondary, which we know they've had not great play in the secondary, but they also have a lot of people out right now. So this game could be very interesting, could be a track meet. We know LSU's offense is one of the best in the country. Can't wait for that. Number eight, the Texas Longhorns. They have one of the most intriguing games in the country this season. We'll talk a little bit more about the Big 12 in general when we get to the projected college football playoff and New Year's Six Bowls, but let's just short answer. The Big 12 this week is going to be bananas. So Texas playing Kansas State in Austin. Kansas State the last few weeks has looked incredible. They crushed TCU last week. Houston comes in. They beat Houston 41 to nothing.

And they've been switching back and forth between Avery Johnson and Will Howard, a quarterback. Will Howard got most of the snaps against Houston. Avery Johnson got most of the snaps against Texas Tech. They split it fairly evenly against TCU. Texas doesn't know who they're going to get or what offense they're going to be looking at. And then meanwhile, that defense has been very good for Kansas State. And oh, by the way, Texas starting a backup quarterback. Now Malik Murphy looked pretty good against BYU the other night, but this is a step up defensively

with K-State. Speaking of Big 12 teams that have huge games, number seven, Oklahoma. They beat Texas. They also lost to Kansas this past weekend. Now, it didn't drop them a ton because again, they have one of the best wins in the country. But I am a little worried. I worry with them going into Oklahoma State, Bedlam, Stillwater. This is the last Bedlam for the foreseeable future. But Oklahoma State does not want to play.

They are mad that Oklahoma is headed to the SEC. And they are absolutely within their rights to be mad. They can not play it if they want to. They don't want to play anymore. So they would love to send Oklahoma out of this rivalry with a loss. And Oklahoma needs to keep winning because not only is Oklahoma State sitting there with only one loss in Big 12 play, but so is Iowa State, so is Kansas. This is going to be a big week in the Big 12. Number six, Oregon. This is another one of those where the games have to matter. I have Oregon below Washington. If they played again, who would I pick? Probably Oregon. I think they're

going to play again. I think there's a really good chance of that. Oregon looked incredible against Utah. That was one of the best games that anybody's played all year. They had very little trouble with what is a very good defense at Utah. And finally, somebody stopped a Utah offense that, you know, it wasn't, it was kind of being tied together with string. Now, Utah had had issues before, but we saw them score on USC. Oregon's like, no, we're a different class. We're a step up in competition from USC. And they just throttled the Utes in a very tough place to play in Rice-Eccles Stadium. So Oregon, one of the hotter teams in the country right now. Number five, Washington.

The Huskies made it look really hard against Stanford, just like they made it look really hard against Arizona State the week before. I'm getting a little worried. They go to USC this week. USC is not out of the hunt in the Pac-12 because remember, the Trojans lost to Notre Dame, doesn't count in the conference standings. They lost to Utah, that's their one. They survived at Cal, 50-49 when Cal did not convert two-point conversion. This one could be a shootout. I don't know that Washington is equipped to stop USC's offense

as well as maybe Oregon is, but Washington is equipped to score a lot of points on USC's defense, a lot. Later in the show, we're going to talk to Eric McKinney about where USC is at. He's from On3's site, wearsc.com. There is a lot of drama, a lot of subplots, mostly around USC.com. There is a lot of drama, a lot of subplots, mostly around USC. Like Washington, they just need to kind of get back into the flow of things. They need to get back into playing dominant football. I don't know if they're going to be able to do that against USC because I do think USC's offense can score on them a little bit. It is going to be a fun couple of weeks in

the Pac-12 because you've got Washington USC this week. You've got USC Oregon next week. Number four, here's where I have Georgia. And I realize you may think that is incredibly low. It's too low. I get it. But if Georgia wins its next three games, which would be Missouri, Ole Miss, and at Tennessee,

I probably will have Georgia number one in this exercise. And I understand why you'd predict Georgia to be number one. I get why they're predicted three-peat. I was at the Florida game in Jacksonville this past weekend. Georgia looked incredible. It looked like they, obviously they missed Brock Bowers, but they have plenty of ways to spread the ball around without him. It was very impressive. It was maybe not quite as impressive as the way they just dump truck Kentucky, but it was close. And if they keep playing like that, they are going to be number one, number three, Florida state better Better best win than Georgia, but I don't know. That LSU win is what's keeping them above Georgia right now for me. If Georgia beats Missouri, I'd probably flip them. And that's fine. Florida State, just hang here. You can hang in the top four, keep winning, and you will make the playoff. Florida State is the best team in the ACC. They should win every game left on their schedule. Miami's the toughest game left until maybe Louisville in the ACC championship, but they should keep winning. And it looks like they've settled into a group. They got pushed by Duke till the fourth quarter. They buried Duke in

the fourth quarter and then just absolutely annihilated Wake Forest, which I know what you're thinking. It's Wake Forest. But for Florida State, they hadn't beaten Wake Forest since 2018. It was a big step to go in there and have no problems whatsoever taking apart that team. So Chris Callahan says, sorry, and you can't have Georgia below Michigan

who played a worse schedule than Georgia. Yes, I can, Chris. Because Michigan has beaten everybody the same way every time. And that's why Michigan is number two. Michigan just destroys people. Georgia hasn't just destroyed people. If Georgia starts just destroying people, then they'll be ahead of Michigan. But that's the deal. You've gotten the same performance out of Michigan every single game. They've been remarkably consistent. They don't have bad games. They don't have slow starts. Now, if they go to Penn State and they look bad,

they look pedestrian, drop them. That's how that works. But they've been remarkably consistent so far. On the field. Remember, on the field. The news on Sunday night. Wall Street Journal reports that a contract extension that would have made Jim Harbaugh the highest paid coach in the Big Ten is now off the table.

Now, you already knew that because you watched this show and you heard Chris Ballas say that on Thursday night. So I'm glad we've already covered that for you. But actually, Wednesday night. But that's where they're at right now. And this situation is not going away. It's not going to stop. The question is, does it affect Michigan this season on the field? My, my thought is it probably won't. My thought is there's nothing that the NCAA can do in the timeframe. The big 10 won't do it because it's bad for business.

And then will Michigan voluntarily do something? I don't even know if you could, because remember, you're dealing with the ultimate wild card in Jim Harbaugh, who probably would fight anything. So right now, you've got Michigan getting back on the field against Purdue, getting ready to play Penn State the following week. We'll see what they do.

But if they just keep destroying people, that's, I feel pretty good about where they are. Number one, Ohio State. The win against Notre Dame, the win against Penn State. They got good wins. Have they looked great the whole time? Not entirely. That Wisconsin game was a tough spot for them.

Road game right after a big emotional win. But the thing about Ohio State, the defense has been very good. It's been better than last year. I'm not sure the offense is where it was last year, though. They have obviously the most special skill position player in Marvin Harrison Jr. Definitely the most special receiver in the country. Again, on Saturday night when that game was tight, he makes a touchdown catch that probably only he could have made.

And that is what wins them games. But it will be interesting when they get Emeka Buka back, how much more dynamic can that offense be? The running game was better with Trey Henderson back, but this is going to be a collision course between them and Michigan. And then we'll see what happens. It's going to be a lot of fun getting to that point. Those fan bases clearly hate each other and really hate each other right now because all the Michigan fans believe that the Ohio State administration team, whoever, that Ohio State is behind all of this. And Ohio State's like, hey, did you cheat when you beat us the last two years? Because that seems kind of important.

So you've got all of that going on. It's going to make that rivalry even more spicy as just as spicy as you can possibly imagine. I can't wait. This is going to just barrel to a really thrilling conclusion this season between that, between Georgia having that, that tough stretch of games right now, between what's going on in the, in the big 12, between what's going on in the Big 12, between what's going on in the Pac-12. It's going to be a lot of fun. When we come back, we're going to talk projected college football playoff, projected New Year's Six. I'm going to reveal my New Year's Six bowl and college football playoff projections in just a minute. But first, let me tell you about PrizePix. It is the largest independently owned daily fantasy sports platform in North America,

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He says, this guy wants so badly for the Big 12 to win a natty. I guess everyone's getting sick of the SEC always on top. Okay, now it's time for our projected college football playoff, which you'll notice does not include a team from the Big 12. Sorry, Dan. Here's why. There's three games this week involving teams that have one loss in Big 12 play. So by the end of the week, there will be three teams sitting atop the Big 12 with one loss in conference play.

And there's a good chance that they're going to beat each other up a little bit. And you're probably getting a two loss champ out of the Big 12 at the rate everything's going. So if you can get through with one loss, that's great. But I'm just not sure that's going to happen. So here are the games. You've got Kansas State at Texas. Remember, Kansas State has a loss to Missouri that doesn't count. Their only conference loss to Oklahoma State.

Texas lost to Oklahoma. You've got Bedlam. Oklahoma has lost to Kansas. Oklahoma State has lost to Iowa State. Oh yeah, Kansas and Iowa State. They only have one conference loss. Yes, Iowa State. Matt Campbell did not forget how to coach people.

They only have one Big 12 loss right now. It's the Tech, no, sorry. Excuse me. Not to Texas. Kansas, their only Big 12 loss is to Texas. So the winner of each of those games will sit atop the Big 12. And then there's a good chance that with some crossover coming, that they beat each other up. And then you've got the potential for maybe a rematch between Texas and Oklahoma in the big 12 title game. Maybe not because of K state wins that game in Austin. Well,

they would have a tie break over Texas and Texas would have two conference losses. So not only would Kansas have to lose another game, they'd have to lose two more to get knocked out of there in terms of, you know, losing to Texas. So that's the issue right there. It's going to be really hard. That's why I don't have one of the big 12 teams in the college football playoff right now. It's also why I don't have a PAC 12 team.

I think they're going to beat up on each other. Pretty good too. I'm not sure people get out of this thing unscathed. Maybe Washington wins out, goes undefeated last two weeks. Say that's probably not happening. Maybe Oregon wins out and is a 12 and one pack 12 champ. And if they do, they will be in the playoff. I'm telling you right now they will,

but it's a tough road. So here's what I'm saying. Sugar bowl, number one, Georgia versus number four, Ohio state. I think, know where I'm going with this. Rose Bowl, number two, Michigan versus number three, Florida State. This is definitely possible. If Michigan beats Ohio State and they're undefeated, they're in. Ohio State, because it has that Notre Dame win, and I don't know that Notre Dame is going to lose again. I think Notre Dame probably finishes 10 and two. Ohio State is going to lose again. I think Notre Dame probably finishes 10-2. Ohio State is going to be sitting up there looking real good at that point. And you could have the same situation you had last year with Georgia playing Ohio State in a semifinal game,

which, by the way, was a classic. It's definitely doable. It's certainly possible. Like I said about Florida State, all they got to do is keep winning. And they certainly have the path to do that. They have the talent to do it and they have the path to do it.

So how high is my confidence that two Big Ten teams get in? It's not super high, but it's as high as my confidence that a Big 12 team gets in or that any Pac-12 team get in. It's not super high, but it's as high as my confidence that a big 12 team gets in or that any PAC 12 team gets in. It is definitely a possibility. You don't all agree with me, Ram Spencer, not getting two big 10 teams in the playoff again this year. Maybe. I said that last year and it did, it happened. So it is certainly possible that this winds up happening again. I don't know that it works as well the other way.

If Ohio State beats Michigan, Michigan doesn't have the non-conference win, the signature win to really hang its hat on at that point, especially depending on how Penn State does down the stretch. But it does, especially if Michigan wins in close or controversial fashion. So we'll see what happens, but the rest of the new year six, the orange bowl, remember still has to have an ACC team in it. So I put Louisville in the orange bowl against Alabama, which they would get the, they also get the next highest ranked SEC team that didn't make the playoff cotton bowl. I've got Oklahoma versus Oregon, which that would be a fun game.

I think I would enjoy that one. Peach Bowl, Texas versus Notre Dame. And the Fiesta Bowl, Air Force versus Washington. You saw Air Force win in the snow against Colorado State. Colorado State fans flagged for throwing snowballs at Air Force players. But right now, as long as Air Force keeps winning, if they can go undefeated through the Mountain West, I think they get that spot that is reserved

for the highest ranked group of five team. If they don't, Tulane seems to be sitting there ready to scoop that thing up. So we will see what happens. But a lot of ball left to be played. You notice I predicted Georgia to finish number one. I had Georgia number four in the resume rankings. How does Georgia get to number one in mind? Well, they just got to keep winning because they are about to face a very, very tough stretch of

games, but they look like they're playing the best they have all season. So they're ready for it. We talked to Jake Rowe from Dogs HQ after the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville. But they look like they're playing the best they have all season, so they're ready for it. We talked to Jake Rowe from Dogs HQ after the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville to get his thoughts on the Bulldogs. And now by Jake Rowe of Dogs HQ here in Jacksonville. And this is the game Georgia needed. Yeah. This was control at the line of scrimmage. Little adversity with Florida. With Florida, you know,

their scripted first drive going well. And then Georgia just shuts it all down. Yeah. And I think the biggest key was negative plays and creating those. Georgia had struggled to do that with consistency throughout the first few games. They come out tonight or today and they get four sacks. And that's a third of what they had coming into the game kind of did this last year by week i think they had seven sacks and seven games then they had 28 after that so i think that was something you really needed to see from this georgia team and you know tyron ingram dawkins getting him back we didn't think he was going to play yeah he was only weight bearing last week and he had he had had such a good spring and summer that you thought all right well this is a guy that can help georgia if he gets healthy. And he sure made his presence felt without strip sex. First fumble

Georgia got all year. Well, and it's interesting because all of the talk was about what they would be without Brock Bowers, but also you didn't think about what they'd be with some of the guys that got back from injury, Ladd McConkie, a healthier version of that. It certainly seemed like he helped, you know, pick up some of the production from Bowers yeah and i still think you're you're feeling some of the effects of bowers red zone stuff um you know his ability to create things for other people down there um you know georgia was hit and miss and i'm sure mike bobo would probably tell you he'd like to have a player to call back or carson becker however those got called some of those run run passes but lab mcconkey was massive in this game. That touchdown, the 41-yard touchdown that they gave Georgia the lead,

was kind of vintage Lab McConkie. There are some guys that are like stack monsters. They're great in the stack, the offensive lineman, defensive lineman. He's a space monster, and he just finds it. He feels it, and he did a great job there, and that was what he can bring for the offense. Well, I think the other thing that probably gives the coaching staff some solace and makes everybody feel better going forward is Carson Beck didn't need Brock Bowers as

a security blanket. He could spread it around a bunch of different receivers and the offense could move. Yeah, for sure. And they really, even without Bowers, attacked the middle of the field incredibly effectively. Bowers is, I mean, Beck has had this thing this year where he still missed some of them today on some of those deep shots. But that 10 to 25 in the middle of the field, he's just lethal. That's where he's been at his best.

And I thought he did an incredible job with that. I mean, three plays, 40 yards or more for that offense, that's exactly what they needed with Bowers out. The other thing about it is they didn't seem to let up when they got the big lead. That was another thing that, you know, the Kirby Smart teams that have been very good always keep the pedal down when they have a team down. And it seemed like that was not a problem for them.

No, I mean, maybe a little. You know, I think they probably did come out in the third quarter thinking that they were going to continue to run the ball as well as they did. You know, there was some middle eight stuff there that you're kind of like, well, they are being a little bit conservative and trying to run some clock. But when they turned it on, when they were like, OK, we're going to attack, there was some middle eight stuff there that you're kind of like, well, they are being a little bit conservative and trying to run some clock. But when they turned it on, when they were like, OK, we're going to attack, it was it was kind of I mean, Florida really didn't have an answer for it. And there was no better example of that than that final touchdown drive. George makes running pass. Yeah. And finally, they had to.

They got stuck in third and long. There was nothing they could do. And they kind of bullied their way into the end zone for a time to kind of put the exclamation point on it. Yeah. And it goes back to stuff we talked about at the beginning of the season. It feels like this team passes to set up the run a lot better than it runs to set up the pass. That's this team. That is this team. And, listen, I don't know that that's going to be the same every week

because I think, you know, body of work, you've thrown enough that teams are going to have to respect it. So maybe they play you different. You go out there and they're playing you too high, so you're going to run it early. I thought Georgia ran the ball effectively early in this game. And that was probably a big difference to some of those big plays that they got. But ultimately, I mean, they passed a big test without Brock Bowers.

Well, and it only gets tougher. The tests get tougher as you go. Because Missouri, Ole Miss, at Tennessee, that's a stretch that when we were at the beginning of the season talking about, oh, the schedule's easy. This is not easy. That stretch is not easy. No, it's not, and, you know, Missouri's a good football team. They're going to have a bye before Georgia. They're off tonight, so that's something that Georgia's

going to have to contend with, a fresh, you know, well-coached football team, and Georgia gets them at home, you know, and they kind of get their Georgia's version of the 12th man involved in those games which i think is going to be pretty helpful against two offenses that have good playmakers good quarterbacks and can create plays of their own yeah and it does feel like georgia you know we've seen georgia start slow we've seen georgia turn on the jets with with the kentucky game this was i don't know if it's even a slow start because

Florida had a really good script they fed Eugene Wilson yeah it was actually what Kirby Smart said was going to happen on Monday right but then Georgia just figured it out and dealt with it they did and and really honestly it was a it was coming up with a big play on that second drive that strip sack on third down yep um that kind of got the things going for them. And that's something that, you know, this defense is not what it has been the past couple years. It's still really, really good. Right. I think a lot of teams in college football would love to have it.

But if they can start to get kind of that turnover, you know, negative play thing going, I think that that can take this defense. It's hard to adjust when you had straight aliens. Yeah. For two years. I mean, that's what people don't understand. take this defense it's hard to adjust when you had straight aliens yeah for two years i mean that's what people understand when when you had a defensive line in 2021 with four first round draft picks playing regularly yeah and really really five and nolan smith too sure so i mean it's just

it's not going to be like that most years yeah they won a national championship with six of their front seven yeah the first round of the draft and And the other one winning a Buckus Award. Yeah. You know, so that's kind of how that operated. And I always felt like it was going to be a little bit of a step back. I still think they're real fundamentally sound. And, you know, maybe sometimes they're going to have to give up some of the run plays that Florida gave them to them today

so that they can maybe generate a little bit more negative plays in that regard. But, you know, tonight was an instance of Georgia's defense and offense, you know, just kind of they just never stopped and they kind of came up with the plays over and over. Well, and the play that all the Florida people are talking about, the fourth down play early in the game, Georgia did a great job of stopping that. That was a case of eye discipline where if somebody messes up there, they're going to get that first down and maybe they do go score again because they had scored a touchdown.

Not only the first down, they might have gotten a lot more than that. You could have been looking at a 14-3 game at that point. Absolutely, 100%. And they stopped it. I mean, that was something that Georgia did well in a big moment. And there were a lot of those tonight. And those are – listen, when Florida won 17 out of 20, the team in blue and orange made all of those plays.

And now Georgia made those tonight. Yeah, it's very interesting to hear Florida, you know, and Billy Napier talk about it because Georgia is clearly the standard to which they want to achieve. And this is the measuring stick. And they ain't there yet. And I'm sure Kirby would like to keep it that way forever if he can. Absolutely.

And, you know, you talked about those aliens a minute ago. I'm sitting here thinking, you know, you looked at that game, a sophomore, a freshman coming up with sacks in that game, a redshirt sophomore. I mean, they've got them. They're just young aliens. Yeah. Yeah. Time kind of bringing them along. But that's that's one thing that's going to be key for this team going forward. Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee is making sure that that those guys continue to progress so that they can make the plays like they did tonight when they need them most. Adorable little baby aliens.

Doing great. Jake Rowe, thank you so much. You got it, dude. I like those cute little aliens. They're not adult, full-grown aliens yet, but they are. Little baby aliens at Georgia. And the problem is, for everybody else that they've got to they're they are little baby aliens at georgia and the problem is for everybody else that they gotta play they are growing up fast and so yeah georgia no brock

bowers they still figured it out it was very impressive uh do you want to talk about the gators and what happens next for them but first do you do want to answer Brandon's question in the chat. What about James Madison? Can they get a good bowl for going undefeated? And they are on pace right now. They're 8-0 and playing in the Sun Belt, which is a good league. Unfortunately, Brandon, they're getting screwed by the NCAA because they have a rule that says when you transition from FCS to FBS, you can't play in a bowl right away. So they're still in the transition period and they are not allowed to play in a postseason game. So they couldn't play in the Sun Belt Championship either. It's ridiculous because basically it

exists so you don't have a really senior heavy FCS team that bumps up so they can have one good year in the FBS, then bumps back down. And to make sure that when have one good year in the FBS then bumps back down and to make sure that when you do move up to the FBS that you plan to resource the program properly well clearly the program is properly resourced clearly they're doing everything right they're winning every game they should have gone to a bowl game last year and it's just wrong they they need to issue a waiver and say let them play in a bowl game because they've had a fantastic season and they deserve it another team that deserves it we'll we'll talk about some opening lines here for this week that came out on Sunday another team that deserves a chance

to play in a bowl game this year Jacksonville State Rich Rodriguez's team in its first year in FBS play well guess what this week the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State play the Gamecocks of South Carolina. It's a cockfight. This one started off Sunday morning, South Carolina minus 17 and a half. Apparently people have been watching their Tuesday and Wednesday football and they know Jacksonville State is no slouch. So that number's gone down to 14 and a half. That was a very intriguing line, juicy line that came out Sunday morning. Here's some of the other early lines, LSU at Alabama, Bama now a three and a half point favorite in that game. That's a hard one to predict later in the show. We'll talk to Shea Dixon of on threes, the Bengal tiger

about LSU secondary and where they're at going into this game. They've been much maligned about as maligned as LSU's quarterback and receivers have been celebrated, which is quite a bit. Washington at USC, Washington is a three point favorite on the road. We'll talk to Eric McKinney from we are sc.com about the Trojans and how he feels like this matchup kind of works out a little better for USC than maybe the one against Oregon the following week. Kansas State at Texas. Texas is a six and a half point favorite. This is a tricky one right here because it is very hard to judge. You got Malik Murphy making his second start for Texas. You've got who knows what K-State will do offensively because they just stick with whoever's hot between Will Howard and Avery Johnson.

And it can be different. They run a lot of the same stuff, but they do it differently. So it's a fascinating matchup. And the way K-State's played on defense lately has been lights out. Texas A&M and Ole Miss. A&M survived South Carolina. They played pretty well against South Carolina. They go to Oxford. Now this was a fit. This feels like a fishy line. Like Texas A&M has not played all that well all season. Ole Miss has been great at times, but Ole Miss only a four and a half point favorite in this

game at home. This one seems a little weird. This is a kind of what does Vegas know that we don't situation. But no matter what happens with the line, if Ole Miss beats Texas A&M, Aggies fans are going to start getting upset. It's about to get real if they are not happy with Jimbo Fisher, and they are not. And I don't know that there's much he can do at this point to make them happy, because this season is not going to end in an SEC West title. It's not going to end in a way that they want, and it's now year six. So at what point do you get where you're supposed to be going? And I think if the losses mount up, and that would be Ole Miss, LSU,

those are the two that you would worry about with A&M right now. I just don't know. I don't know where you go from there. I don't. We got to talk about our favorite part of any weekly set of lines and totals. The Iowa total. Iowa's at Northwestern. The total opened at 30 and a half on FanDuel.

Now, I know that there are some other books. At least one of the books had it at 29 and a half. I wonder if the bettors will bet it down below 30. Remember, Iowa, Minnesota started off, I believe it opened at 34 and a half, was bet down to 30 by kickoff. Will this one kick off below 30? That's the question. Will it hit under? Oh yeah, it'll be under 30 and a half. Of course it will. The Iowa under, by the way, six and two. Six and two this year for the Iowa under. One other line of note, Arkansas at Florida,

the Hogs coming off a loss to Mississippi State. Then they had an open date. They fired our offensive coordinator, Dan Enos. Kenny Guyton, former backup to Braxton Miller at Ohio State. He will be calling the plays for the Hogs when they go to see the Gators. Now, this is a big one for Florida. I said, we're going to talk about Florida coming out of the Georgia game. That is what we're doing right now. This game is huge. Florida, if there is a must win this season for the Gators, this is it. This is the game that if they win, it is win number six. It gives them a bowl game. It gives

them 15 extra practices. It gives them a chance to work with all those young players and give them the extra time and practice they need to get them ready for next season. Because it's really about Florida's youth. How good are their young players? I think if you watch the first series of the Georgia game, they're force-feeding Eugene Wilson. There's a reason for that. There's a reason Kirby Smart brought him up in his press conference unasked. Somebody asked a question about Ricky Pearsall. He turned it into an answer about Eugene Wilson. Those are the types of players. Shamar James, who hurt his knee because of some new turf that hadn't quite taken on the field in Jacksonville and then played hurt and ended up

aggravating it later in the game. Shamar James at linebacker. That's the type of player that Florida has to build upon. Those are players that people like Kirby Smart wanted in recruiting. Florida does not have a roster full of people that they beat out Georgia or Alabama or Texas or Oklahoma for. That's not who they have. They are getting some more of those players. If you look at the recruiting class they have for 2024 committed, there are quite a few more of those. They're working on a few more that they hope will be in that class. But DJ Lagway, the quarterback, is a guy that a lot of people wanted. LJ McCray, the defensive end who just committed from Daytona Beach, he's one that everybody wanted. They've got to get more of that.

The difference on the field against Georgia was talent. I'll take you back to that fourth and one play on Florida's 34. Early in the game, Florida's trailing 10-3, and everybody's like, why are you going for this? You got to go for that. Now, you may disagree with the play call. This was the play call where Graham Mertz runs up like he's going to do a quarterback sneak. They snap it between his legs to Trevor Etienne. It was a run pass option for Etienne, and he ends up getting tackled by Smile Munden. It was not a terrible play call either.

Smile Munden makes a really great play, but it was not really a choice. And I know what you're saying. Fourth and one on your own 34 feels like a choice that you should definitely seriously consider. I don't think they had a choice. I think they had to be aggressive. They were going to lose unless they were aggressive at every turn. You either die slowly or you die quickly, and they died quickly. But at least if you die quickly, you did it trying to give yourself a chance to live.

Here's Georgia defensive tackle Zion Logue on that play because he was – he wasn't surprised they went for it, but he was as surprised as you at how it went. I was expecting a Philly shove like everybody tries to duplicate, but I knew they were going to try to hit it from the side with something like a jet or something but not a lot of teams just try us in the middle I want teams to try us, but

they just really don't, so we know we have one of the great secondaries, they're going to get to the ball and cause a happy time Yeah, not a lot of people want to try that D-line with all those NFL dudes on it. And yeah, if Florida had a bunch of dudes on the offensive line that they beat out Georgia for,

they probably would have quarterback sneaked it. But they don't have that yet. And the question is, will people be patient enough with Billy Napier to allow him to sign a couple of more classes like that? Because the end of the season, the next part of the schedule is very tough. They got to go to Missouri.

They got to go to LSU. Florida State comes to Gainesville after Thanksgiving. Those games are very hard. The game they can win right now, the one that feels the most winnable, is this Arkansas game. Obviously, the Hogs have a big reason to want to come into Gainesville and win. They are trying to save Sam Pittman's job. And it feels like Arkansas is trying to give Pittman every chance it can to save his job. Instead of firing Pittman, they allow him to fire Enos. The Gators need this. They need that sixth win. This one is going to be a very intense game

because I know Arkansas is coming to play because again, they're playing for the coach they love. This one's going to be one to watch. It's a lot of games with a lot of really high stakes that you're thinking, well, this one has no stakes whatsoever in terms of the top of the conference. No, but it is a very high stakes game. So tune in Florida and Arkansas because this is a big one for Florida.

Florida is going to have to win this one and then be patient with Billy Napier because I don't think they have a choice. So his buyout is such that he ain't going anywhere. So you better hope he wins this one and he gets those extra practices and he can help those young players along a little bit faster because that is the goal at this point. So that Florida-Arkansas game, yeah, strap in. It's going to be a fun one. Next up, though, we head out west.

The Pac-12 has some very cool games coming up. USC, they play nothing but exciting games at this point, it seems, other than that Notre Dame game. But the Arizona game was wild. The Utah game was crazy. And that Cal game was absolutely bonkers. You had the protest. You had the field goal that was in the first half, but after halftime. And they won 50 to 49 when Cal's two-point conversion attempt failed. Eric McKinney of WeRSC.com joined me to talk about what USC does from here because they're not out of it in the Pac-12 race and they got Washington coming in. We are joined now by Eric McKinney of On3's WeRSC. And Eric, it seems like you cannot get away from, uh,

the nail biter football games of 50 to 49 USC win at Cal. It started with a protest, uh, included a first half field goal attempt in a first half timeout after halftime. What am I missing here? You're missing all the lead changes right the two-point conversion to try to win it right at the end it had it had everything it's it's wild i i i don't know how this team managed to get this exciting because it shouldn't be this exciting in a game against cal you'd expect that maybe next week against Washington. And I think that's probably, I would imagine that's probably what USC fans fear is that if this is the performance against Cal, what is it going to look like

against Washington? Because it kind of feels the same as Arizona going into Notre Dame. This was supposed to be the boring week. The Cal week was supposed to be the boring week the Cal week was supposed to be the boring week you had Lincoln Riley's illness early in the week you had everything that you talked about in the game and this was in in that final six game run of this season which as soon as the the schedule was posted this is where everyone's attention went. The final six games, you had Notre Dame, you had Utah, you had this one against Cal, and then Washington, Oregon, UCLA to finish it. This was supposed to be kind of the get-right game where you get ready for Washington coming in.

And this is just the team. This is the team now. You assume every single game is going to be full of kind of defensive lapses and a ton of points for the other team. If they have a quarterback that hasn't set kind of career highs recently, they will in this game against USC we've seen that a couple weeks in a row here uh and and that's just that's just what it is you hope that everything kind of pieces together for this Washington game and Lincoln Riley is he's adamant he's adamant that it can and and that it can happen on both sides or all three sides with special teams there included uh you haven't seen it yet but you know where the talent is so you're inclined to believe them a little bit but yeah this feels like the last week where you can you know or or sorry it's it's over your time's up this was the last week where you can play like

this and get a win it i mean the challenges are are crazy coming up now well so lincoln was asked after the game and it the way the question was phrased sounds like a are you going to fire alex grinch why have you not fired alex grinch kind of question and i found his answer very interesting so let's let's listen to that again you know guys found a way to win 49 points, you know, given up tonight. You mentioned the errors in that first half. Seems like, again, you know, some of the things that we've seen consistently throughout this season defensively. If those things continue, you know, do you sense kind of a change being needed to be made in this team's defensive philosophy and staff, personnel?

Any thoughts on that? I'm going to try to beat Washington next week. Those are my thoughts on it. That's my job is to get this team ready. That's sitting five and one in the best conference in America to try to go win it. And that's where my focus is. The reality is, do we need to, are there areas where we have to be better defensively?

Of course there is, all right? But the flip side of that is, you know, offensively, you can't sit there and put them in bad positions. You know, we can't give up, you know, another couple of kickoffs where we put them in terrible field position or some three and outs. I mean, like, you know, the turnover there at the end is the perfect example. Like, defense, they do their job. They get the offense to turn over and then one freaking play, and they're right back out there with terrible field position. That's not bad defense.

That's bad offense. That's bad team football. And that's some of what we have now. Are there some things defensively that have to get better for us to do it? Yeah, there's some things offensively that have to get better. There's some things on special teams that have to get better for us to do it. Yeah, there's some things offensively that have to get better. There's some things on special teams that have to get better. That's the ebbs and flows of this season. I mean, you just, week to week, you never know.

I mean, if I had told you last week that Washington's gonna win a game at home and not score an offensive touchdown, you wouldn't believe me. Everybody would have said, shoot, they're the this and this offense in the country. Like that's every week, man, there's a a lot of parody there's a lot of back and forth and you got to find a way to get it done and so um hopefully we can keep finding a way to get it done and with the fight we showed today i wouldn't count us out thank you coach riley it's it's crazy because he says they need to play better complementary football. The offense scored 50 points.

It feels like it did its job. Yeah, and the defense, though, there was a stretch where Cal had, I think it was seven points in six possessions. I mean, Justin Wilcox pointed this out at the game. USC had 18 possessions in that game. And that's kind of what we've been trained now to think about this defense, where it's sort of this price is right defense, where it's like how many points and yards can you give up and stay just below that number that the offense scores?

And that's kind of how things are. But's always right the offense is his he he's in control of the offense he feels more comfortable it feels like certainly to me he feels more comfortable kind of knocking the offense and we didn't do our job we need to to do this better than kind of throwing things at the defense because they hear it enough. I mean, the defense is the number one, two, three, four, five, six talking points after every game, it seems. Because last year they were bad. I mean, like bad, bad.

And this year the numbers aren't better in fact they're worse in a lot of cases so he's he has this way of saying as long as you win the game chaos is going to take care of everybody sort of around you and you can keep bouncing up in the rankings as long as you post wins and they doesn't really matter how they look you just have to do it so yeah i mean it's definitely notable that when he's asked about the defense he still finds a way to talk about offense i i think part of it is because he's more in control of the offense. But also part of it is why I think you're in this problem in the first place is that there's so much focus on offense, offense, offense and what that can do. And I know college football has changed a little bit. You can't just win with defense now.

But boy, it's nice to have one. I mean, it's it's to be a can shut these guys down and it just it has not be Utah is not good offensiv offensively and they've k they wanted for long stre games but long stretches

Well, fortunately for usc is opponent is no wait no their next opponent is Washington Michael Penix Jr. Roman Toon say I can go down the list but it is one of the best offenses in the country he's not wrong though they did get kind of shut down by Arizona State a couple weeks ago but it's interesting because he talks about that like, oh, these anomalies happen. But actually with USC, there's never an anomaly. Like, they're not good on defense any week. Yeah, I mean, and so this one becomes,

do you win it 62 to 59, or do you come out on the wrong side by a pretty lopsided score? Like, the offense, and again, we're talking about the offense, because the defense doesn't really fluctuate. You know they're going to give up points, and they're going to give up a bunch of yards. The offense is the thing that has to win these games, and we're talking last year, okay, maybe we don't have to do this next year, and here we are. I mean, the season is winding down,

and this is exactly what they're going to have to do the last three games. They're going to have to win it with offense. And Washington, to me, of the next two weeks, I know you want to talk Washington and not look ahead to Oregon. Oh, look ahead to Oregon. But Washington, USC seems to, and i'll look stupid next week when washington wins this by 35 but usc seems to match up better with washington especially because it's home it's it's at the cost than they do with oregon washington doesn't particularly get after the quarterback that well,

and it's less of like a power-running game. What Oregon does feels like it may not line up well with what USC can do defensively. But Washington, there's a bit of a blueprint out, I guess. They've had some close games recently. Stanford was right in it until the end. Way too close. That's the Stanford team that USC blew out earlier this year.

I know Stanford's getting better, getting better. But that's kind of the way the next two weeks read to me is that USC may have a better shot against Washington than against Oregon. But they're going to need some turnovers. They're going to need the one or two defensive stops that they get, and they're going to need to score a bunch because Washington could kind of trip and fall for 42 points in this one. Yeah.

No, but I think you're right. I think that stylistically USC and Washington match up better than USC and Oregon matchup. USC and Oregon feels a lot more like USC and Notre Dame. Oregon, maybe a little flashier than Notre Dame, but at the end of the day, they're still trying to stuff you on defense and run it right down your throat on offense,

which that doesn't seem to be something USC wants to handle. No, no. And Oregon can get, get a little bit gadgety and a little trickier and USC's defense in terms of maintaining kind of discipline with their eyes and rush lanes and all of that stuff can get, can get wild at times. And so again, I know Washington can do some of that too. They're a little bit more exotic with this stuff than the previous one,

but again, and maybe it's at home. And we may find out about 20 minutes into this one that it is, it is not an evenly matched game, but, but that's what it feels like going into this one. And it's funny because he's, you know, he can ignore the Notre Dame loss and say they have one loss in conference, they're in it. And he's not wrong.

If they went out, they'll be in the Pac-12 championship game. So that's the thing. They can still hang their hats on that. The question is, will they be able to at the end of the week? And it's really tough because again you had the first six games that were so clearly warm-up games and i was surprised lincoln riley even said that around that time he said hey when this schedule came out we knew what was waiting for us the last six games of that schedule and coaches never never talk about that

right i i don't even know who we're playing in two weeks we're only worried about this one no they they knew what this was notre dame seemed like your first big big test and and you failed it i mean you lost by 28 didn't really look that close for big chunks of it then you get utah at home. Okay. You come back, bounce back. This is not, it's, it's a very good Utah defense. It's not a great Utah team as Oregon just showed this past weekend. And you lose that one. And somehow he's still talking about, no, no, no, we're still in this. We still got this. And you're right that he's that he's not wrong I mean it's it's crazy here's your test you lost it no we're still in it okay well now here's your test you lost it no no we're still in it and so they can if they win the next three games they

still technically control their own Destiny in terms of getting to the conference championship game that's exactly right so he gets to say it as long as they keep winning. But then the hard questions come once that next loss comes. So Eric McKinney, thank you so much. And, you know, get your heart rate down a little bit because I'm sure it'll be back up on Saturday. Yeah, I've been expecting a pretty crazy one on Saturday. We'll see if the teams can deliver.

I think they will deliver. And I also think Alabama and LSU are going to deliver a shootout of their own. And after you hear Shea Dixon from the Bengal tiger, you'll probably be even more convinced of that because LSU's defense is going to be pretty shorthanded. Here's Shea. We're joined now by Shea Dixon of the Bengal Tiger on 3's LSU site. And Shea, you wrote a story last week that very much got my attention because LSU is going to Tuscaloosa to play Alabama in a game that likely will determine who wins the SEC West. And basically, the headline of the story is,

will any of LSU's four transfer corners play against Alabama, which is one of those like gulp do what now. And for a team that already is one of the worst at defending the pass in the country. Um, but yes, they took four transfer corners this off season with the hope of all four of them contributing in a big way. They only returned one scholarship corner from last year's team who only played on special teams. He had no cornerback starts or reps a year ago. So they took J.K. Johnson out of Ohio State. In the fall, he has season-ending surgery. So he was out from the start. Denver Harris, Texas A&M, a guy who'd been suspended half the year with the Aggies,

has already been in and out of what Brian Kelly calls availability in games this year. And this past week or two weeks ago, I should say, did not see playing time. And Deuce Chestnut from Syracuse, who was an all-ACC performer a year ago when they took him, also sort of in the doghouse of sorts. Brian Kelly has not gone into too much detail, but has said that both of them are on the team, are on scholarship, but are not practicing and are not available. You get to the fourth guy in Zion Alexander,

the one guy who's been the consistent one, the eight starts and leading the team in every corner in reps snap count this year in a meaningless game, which this happens, but against Army, you're blowing him out. It's halftime. He picks off a Hail Mary pass, basically tries to return it and he gets injured. And now Brian Kelly said he's going to be out at least a few weeks. That means he's probably not playing against Bama. So I lay it out for you like that. And it seems like they might

not have any of the four for Alabama, which is a big issue for them. So who would be starting at corner if none of those four are playing? Sage Ryan is a guy that has obviously been around this program a few years. In fact, he picked LSU over Bama in a very tight race a few years back. He's a junior now, but he has started a good bit at corner, especially with those transfers in and out of the lineup. So he's a lot to start. But after that, they're turning probably to true freshman.

If not, they'll go to that one guy who I said was the only cornerback they returned from a year ago, Terrence Welsh. He's yet to earn a start yet in his college career. Could it come in Tuscaloosa? Maybe so. Because of the other options, only one of them has a start under their belt that's true freshman Ashton Stamps I think it'll be one of those two guys unless Denver Harris gets himself out of whatever doghouse he's in and then he would be the starter availability

I like that's a good way to put it uh he's in availability or out of availability one of he's not available right now but that is, it's so strange because we talk about that and it does seem to be a big problem, especially against a quarterback in Jalen Milrow, who is a very good thrower of the deep ball. But on the other side, LSU's offense has hit its stride. Jaden Daniels, probably the front runner for the Heisman Trophy. Malik Neighbors, Brian Thomas having incredible seasons. How weird is it to see this team that seemingly can't be stopped on offense, just can't get it together on defense?

Yeah, well, you think back to just how crazy is it to see an LSU offense do this? We saw it in 2019 and thought it would never be replicated. Granted, that team had 15 games, so they put up some pretty monster numbers. But LSU, this team, is on pace in the regular season to match those numbers. It has been unbelievable to watch. But that year in 2019, they also had a ton of guys who now play in the NFL on defense. LSU maybe doesn't necessarily have that this year and certainly have fallen off from the defensive backfield performance from where they're normally at. This is a school that can rightfully say we are DBU up there with the Ohio States, the Bamas across the past decade, two decades,

which the wildest for me, Andy, is forever through all the Les Miles years, LSU fans, they could stop anyone's offense. That didn't matter. They just prayed one day, give us an offense. Now they have the number one offense in college football, but DBU is gone. These are transfers who now aren't available, and you're turning to true freshmen, and they haven't, none of these guys are five stars. Not that their rankings are everything that matters, but it's such a flip of the script from where they were 10 years

ago to where they are right now. I, I covered all of it, uh, over the past 15, 20 years for LSU. I didn't think I would ever sit here talking with you about boy, nobody can stop LSU's offense, but that defense is, Oh man, how much can Bama put up on him? It is a wild thing to think about. And LSU even throws the tight end now sometimes too. It's like all of all of the things they wished for have come true and all of the things that they were used to are gone. It it is very strange but let's let's talk a little more about that offense because it is on a fairly historic pace right now. Jaden

Daniels was good coming into this season but what has changed you know as the season's gone on that's made him even better? I think we saw it at Arizona State early in his career that he was a highly efficient passer, didn't turn it over. And when he got to LSU in year one, he's learning the system. He's getting on the same page as what the coaches want and getting a feel for his receivers and the O-line and everything else. And remember, he was the number one dual threat quarterback in the country coming out of high school, signing with Arizona State. So last year we saw him do it with his legs a lot and he didn't turn the ball over much, but this off season, even Brian Kelly would say he's got to take risks.

Sometimes a turnover is okay. If those other five or six times you're scoring a touchdown on those deep balls, that's what he's done this year. And not only is he willing to throw it deep, he's like incredibly accurate. He's still a high 70%, you know, in the 70% completion range for passing the football and is not having to run it as much. Now he's still, if you go look up the quarterback numbers, Andy, yes, he leads, is right up there with Pinnock's and leading the nation in passing yards, but he's still top five among quarterbacks in rushing. He's just not having to do it all. They found balance with

Logan Diggs coming out of the portal, who right now is the number three rusher in the SEC. That's something that nobody would guess, that LSU would have a leading rusher that wasn't Jaden Daniels. We thought it would just be a committee thing again. So I think the balance that Logan Diggs has brought, the O-line playing well, has allowed Jaden to say, okay, I can sit back here, go through my reads, take advantage, as you said, Mason Taylor at tight end. But really those big two at receiver, Malik Nabors and Brian Thomas.

Malik's going to be a first rounder. Brian Thomas has played himself into a top 50 pick. Who knows at this point how high Jaden Daniels could go in the NFL draft so it's been really interesting to see that they circled these couple things throw the deep ball more be a little bit more aggressive in the offseason and not only does he do both but now you know you see PFF grades or whatever it is he's the most efficient deep ball passer in the country like he went from he wasn't throwing any deep balls to oh okay i'll be the most efficient guy in america at it it's been fun to watch and look we saw it with leonard fernette you'll remember this he went into that bama game the heisman was already won they

were bringing it down to new orleans it was his. And he ran for, what, 10 yards in that game? Three yards and fell out of contention. So, yes, Jaden is in the Heisman race. We've both been around long enough to know that it all hinges really on what happens in Tuscaloosa. Consider this is a two-loss LSU team that's got a quarterback in the Heisman race. Yeah, this is definitely a make-or-break game for Heisman candidates on both sides of the ball. How can LSU win this game? Because we know they're probably going to have trouble stopping Alabama at times.

But how do they stay on the kind of pace offensively that they have against everybody else who may not have the kind of defense that Alabama has? I think that the offense will look Bama's defense is among the best, if not the best they will have faced. So they're up against that. Now LSU is still proven. They'll keep scoring on anybody at this point every week. They're just scoring, scoring, scoring. In fact, for the gamblers out there, LSU is not, they've hit every single over this year. No matter how high you keep putting it, they're hitting the over. So the offense is there. Here's the key to this game. And we could talk matchups all day and position battles. How many stops does LSU's defense get? Is it two? Is it three? Is it four?

Because as that number goes up, so does the percentage of winning this football game. I think a lot of people right now are trying in their head to say, will it take three stops? Will it take four punts from Alabama? Will it take a turnover? Because in a game like this, I think that's going to be the difference. I think Bama's offense is good enough to put up points on an LSU defense. It hasn't been great. And LSU's offense, being the best in the country,

will be able to score some points on Alabama, even if they are a very good defense. So it's going to come down to stops for LSU. That's at least in my opinion. Yeah. It's like watching a tennis match. How often does somebody break serve? And you're absolutely right because,

and I do feel like that's how LSU games have gone. Like the, the Ole Miss game in the Missouri game, prime examples of that Ole Miss got a couple of stops and that's why LSU lost. Missouri could not and that's why LSU won. Sure. In that second half, LSU got stops in that Missouri game and that's what allowed them to pull ahead and then ultimately win that game. I think that's what it comes down to and you mentioned a tennis reference. Let's just take it a step further there

on the court or whatever, the clay, whatever you want to call it. Unforced errors. That's really a key here. Do they turn the ball over? Are they shooting themselves in the foot? Are they racking up penalties to where you're always then behind the chains every few drives?

Those are the kind of things that you have to minimize in a game like this. To be able to go into Tuscaloosa and win is very hard before, before burrowing them did it. It had been a long time since LSU had gone up to Tuscaloosa and won a football game. So we'll see. I know with the CBS double header, we got a good game at what the noon hour, two 30, and then six 45, it kicks off a number eight versus number 13 matchup here for what likely, and I don't want to discredit Ole Miss, they're still in this, but the team that wins this game has a very, very good shot of winning the West and getting to Atlanta.

That's exactly right. Shea Dixon, big one this week. Thank you so much. Thanks, Andy. That is going to be so much fun because, again, we're not used to that Alabama-LSU game being a shootout. It was somewhat higher scoring last year. It ended on a two-point conversion in overtime. But a true shootout, like the Alabama-Tennessee game last year, that would be quite a fit of fun.

The 2019 game was kind of like that, but it felt like LSU was kind of always two scores ahead. So Alabama would score, but never really get quite back into contention. This one could be a lot of fun. Another game that could be very interesting, a huge one if the visiting team can win. Nebraska headed to Michigan State. Nebraska's won three in a row. One win away from all eligibility, but the Cornhuskers,

it's not out of the realm of possibility. They could win the Big Ten West. I know that sounds crazy, but look at what they've got left. Look at what they're doing. Steve Sipple from Husker Online joins us to talk about where Nebraska can go from here. Joined now by Steve Sippel of Husker Online. And you wrote a column coming out of the Nebraska-Purdue game.

And I think if people around the country read it, they'd go, wait, what? But I think in Lincoln, it is becoming abundantly clear that this is a team that could potentially win the Big Ten West. Yes. Andy, here's the deal. I mean, some of this is if you have, you know, if you're in any division in any form of football and you have the best unit in the division, you probably are going to be a contender, right?

Probably, you know, a genuine, legitimate contender. If Nebraska, it's either Iowa or Nebraska that has the best defense in the Big Ten West. So you can make a strong case for Nebraska. And the schedule is very, I mean, everybody has a manageable schedule pretty much in a big 10 in, in the, in particularly the four teams in the race and the big 10 West all have manageable schedules, but Nebraska is a certainly manageable.

It's gotta be, it's gotta be really close. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, really hard to pick. Well, okay, Nebraska, three-game win streak. They're 5-3 right now. One win away from bowl eligibility. They're playing Michigan State in a manageable game this week and get Maryland in a manageable game next week. How big of an achievement would just getting win number six be at this point,

given what they've been through in the past five years? Andy, not only given what they've been through in the past five years, but given what they've been through this season with injuries, which I can get to. But, yeah, when you frame it up in the context of, you know, Nebraska since 2016, it would be a significant achievement for these guys. Now, on the other hand, Andy, a lot of people thought this was a six to seven win team. Now, nobody was really, I don't want to say nobody, but not many people were picking them to win eight or nine.

But six or seven was a reasonable expectation because of what they had coming back. It wasn't – and right away, Matt Rule and his staff, Andy, they said upon taking the job, hey, we look at the talent here, it's pretty good. I mean, we're not – and we're walking into a situation where Nebraska had achieved – I think they were a 3.1 GPA. It was – they had a record GPA. So the only reason I bring that up is because it wasn't a program in like shambles you know it wasn't it wasn't a culture that was just so

horrible it wasn't great no it wasn't great the head coach the previous head coach didn't do a good job but they walked into a pretty decent situation, but they've made it work. And, Andy, the injuries on offense have been ridiculous. Oh, yeah. If you look at it, if you just look at the first depth chart of the season, eight of the position groups were without their starters, eight of 11. Okay, now if that were the Niners, it would be a national story. If it was Ohio State, everybody would be talking about it.

But it's Nebraska. It flies under the radar. But eight of 11 is ridiculous. Yeah, and Billy Kemp was supposed to be the best receiver on the team. He's been out. Offensive linemen have been knocked out. It is amazing that they've been able to put a functional offense on the field, but it feels like the defense has really kind of kept them afloat.

Yeah. Oh, it's the defense, Andy. The offense just hit on the offense for a second. They've just been decimated at receiver. You mentioned camp, and he was probably their best one. They also lost Marcus Washington, who was arguably their best one. It was one of those two. And they lost Isaiah Garcia Castaneda, a senior who was, you know, a starter. He's a starter. And even before that, they lost Xavier Betts, who just left the team because his heart wasn't

into football. So they lost their top four receivers. that's all you know they just lost their top just easy yeah but and then and then Andy they lost their top two running backs you know so top four receivers top two running backs it's a lot that's a lot to deal with and it's funny because you think about the the traditional Big Ten West style of play. And Matt Rule didn't come in to do that. He didn't come in intending to do that. Yet he's going to wind up doing that. And it's working, though. Yeah. You know what's really interesting, Andy?

You've been around. We're both olds to a certain extent. You seem to hold up better than I do, which I don't understand. But you were around when Nebraska was running pure option, down the line traditional option during the Osborne years, during the Solich years. And now they're doing it again. And it wasn't anything that Marcus Satterfield, the offensive coordinator, knew how to teach. He had to learn. He had to learn himself. And he got help from a guy named Ron Brown, who was

the running backs coach at Nebraska for many years in the glory years and who's still on the staff. Even Osborne has helped. Tom Osborne himself has helped. Rule really embraces the past here. Not only embraces it, he uses elements of it. They run quite a bit of the option attack with Heinrich Harburg and Andy I mean he's six five two twenty and when he turns the corner it's business time I mean he's he's he's pretty good running that he's pretty good keeping the ball he's got to learn how to

pitch a little bit I was gonna say it does seem like something that that fits into Heinrich Harburg's skill set and that's but that in and of itself is a change and an adaptation because the idea was it was going to be Jeff Sims. The Minnesota game, the Colorado game, too many turnovers, just couldn't stick with Jeff Sims. And they had to go with Harberger. He maybe wasn't even ready. And now they've found a way to use him and use him fairly effectively.

Yeah, well, he's 5-1 somehow. And you've touched on it. It's the defense. It's the defensive-oriented team. They lean hard on their defense. The offense is an interesting story. Now, Andy, with Sims, the intent was they – here's the way Rule characterized what he wanted the offense to be going into the

season. They want to hit teams with body blows, body blows on the ground. They had a big running back, Gabe Urban, 6'2", 125 pounder. Hit teams with body blows, use play action, mix in some option, and there's your offense. They did want to be a running first offense with play action. Sims could have run the same type of plays that Harburg's running. They're pretty similar, actually.

It just seems like with Harburg, they elected to go to more option. Yeah. Well, again, that defense has been spectacular since, I mean, from the jump. It was amazing against Minnesota. That certainly wasn't the fault of the defense that they lost that game. Who has really stood out? Who you didn't know was going to be very good this year, has become a star now. Andy, they have an interesting unit because there's no Randy Gregory, Levante, David, Sue.

There's no Sue. There's no – I don't even know if there's a first-team all-Big Ten player on the defense. The things that you say are the closest thing to stars, up front. Nash Hutmacher, who they call the polar bear has been really good. He's a big kid from South Dakota, big blonde haired kid from South Dakota. Hence his name, polar bear. And he, he's been a bit of a wrecking ball in the middle, middle guard,

plays over the center. Then right next to him, Ty Robinson has been good. Defensive tackle doesn't put up, I mean, doesn't put up like big tackle numbers, but he commands a lot of double teams, which allows the polar bear to roam or get more one-on-ones and get more done. Oh, on the back end, they got a kid named Isaac Gifford, who's really Isaac Gifford is just, he's having a great year. Had 10 tackles yesterday. He's very reliable, but he's also – he's very reliable,

but he's also – he'll mix in some big plays. They have, you know – and, you know, I should mention that they have an inside linebacker named Luke Reimer as a senior. And Andy, he'll finish as Nebraska's third leading all-time tackler. And he might even sneak into second behind Barrett Roode. So he's been very productive. Yeah, behind Barrett Roode. He's been very productive over his career. He's been a little banged up this year, but he is his usual reliable

self. Well, it has been fun to watch this because this is not what we've gotten used to in the last few years. They're finally experiencing some joy, figuring out how to win, even one possession games that they know how to win now. So very different. Steve Sippel, thank you for joining us and we'll see what happens in Michigan State. Andy, we'll do it again sometime, okay? Alright, thank you. That is Steve Sipple and yes, Nebraska fans have reason to be excited because they're going to get bowl eligible at least. They're going to win at least one more. So you got that. If we said that

at the beginning of the year, is Nebraska going to get bowl eligible? The answer would, if it was yes, would have been, okay, that's great. That's the first step. Anything else is gravy. But the thing is the gravy might be on the way, but we'll see what happens. I think the bowl eligibility can come this week at Michigan State, which would make everybody in Nebraska very happy, which would be the opposite of what everybody was at Kentucky. Our friend Nick Roush from Kentucky Sports Radio, I believe he spoke for all of Big Blue Nation after the Kentucky loss to Tennessee.

Here's Nick. And now we're stuck here. Mark Stoops is 2-9 against his team. And to walk around this place before the game, I was disgusted. The smugness of those guys just walking around like, we're going to walk in here, we're going to kick your ass, and you can't do anything about it. And it made me sick.

And you know what? They did it. They still did it. What the hell? Can we just you know what? They did it. They still did it. What the hell? Can we just beat this team? I know, I know, I know that Mark Stoops has done a lot of good things. This is his one really bad thing. The stupid stat about beating teams with a winning record

and taking the next step and blah, blah, blah. Just freaking beat Tennessee. Please, can we just stop losing to this stupid team with their stupid orange colors, their stupid song, and their woo, woo, get their woo on out of here? I think Nick feels better after that. I do. And I'm glad he got that off his chest.

We're going to get some things off our chest this week. We got picks coming up Monday night. Dan Rubenstein from the Solid Ver solid verbal the original college football podcast will join us to be our special guest picker you can follow me you can fade me and oh yeah we're definitely taking the iowa under we'll talk to you soon