Andy & Ari On3 - Texas RUNS OVER Clemson to advance in the College Football Playoff

Episode Date: December 22, 2024

You’ve had Wendy’s Nuggs dipped in sauce. But have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy’s New Saucy Nuggs take the Crispy and Spicy Nuggs you love and turn them up to 11.Choose between flavors like Buffalo. Honey BBQ. Garlic Parm. Or, if you’re a real heat seeker, try Spicy Ghost Pepper, only on Wendy’s signature Spicy Nuggs.   Andy and Ari react live to the Clemson-Texas first-round College Football Playoff game. The winner moves on to face Arizona State in the Peach Bowl. Watch us on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/su16z2WjN_A Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey

the game. Welcome to Annie and Ariane three presented by Wendy's special instant reaction edition. Texas has run over Clemson 6.1 yards per carry for the Longhorns are I kind of think if Texas had just quit throwing and started

running in the second quarter like run only that game might not have been as close as it wound up being. No, I mean we spend so much time wondering who the quarterback should be and how much archers going to play but if you run for 6.1 yards of carry I'll play quarterback. Well and the crazy part is Texas loses two starting offensive linemen in the second quarter. Trey Weisner gets hurt and they just keep on rolling. They were mauling Clemson up front and then obviously Jay Don blue with the 77 because when when Clemson cut it to one on a clutch, we have one touchdown,

clutch Cade Klobnik throw on the fourth down. You're like, oh man, the momentum's all going against Texas. This is gonna be a game. And then Jadon Blue just shuts it right back down. Yeah, right. And I think that's also too what you wanna see out of a national championship contender.

And thing here, Andy, is Clemson is not a great team this year. I think we agree on that. Right. Also are not the same as Indiana and very good players. Yeah. And not that Indiana and SMU don't but you know what I mean? Right. So like they're they are a team that when they put it together, if they're capable of putting it together, it can give you a problem, especially if you're worried about whether or not Texas is gonna be able to move the football. So this this game was

not like the first two college football playoff games we saw like this. It was a it was a two touchdown margin of victory, but this felt like it was a lot closer. I mean, you know, even after the J.W. Blue touchdown, Clemson's on the goal line with a third down like they could have put it back. They could have got one score. Yeah. You know, I don't know what the, you know, the seriousness of the injuries to the linemen and Weisner are. Texas came into the season already losing its best running back and, you know, had a

hard time at that position and they've overcome that. But like the Texas that I saw with that defense, yeah, you know, they who can't they beat, you know, and I guess exactly Georgia because they lost, but I still think they could beat them. Right. And it was, but it wasn't because of their defense that they lost to Georgia. It was because they're often said Texas will win a football game in the playoff because of their offense. Isn't that change your chemistry on how you view this team as it's content? Yeah. Can still show up. Now, the question is, can Texas do that to a Georgia to, you know, to a Penn State and Ohio State? I mean, an Oregon? Yeah, and that's, that's your question. But doing 6.1 against, you know, Clemson, I still think is

a very impressive thing. And you can go feel good about yourself. Well, and the thing, the thing is, I think they've been good at running the ball all year long. They just have so many weapons on offense. It's not something you would just do every game, you're going to spread things around and you're going to see what you can what you can do with all these different players. But now is the time you just do what wins. I remember watching the Broncos game the other night and Sean Payton, they had a kind of a close up of his play sheet. And

at the top his play sheet, he just written run it in capital letters. Yeah, I feel like Sark had that on his play sheet the second half. Yeah, you know, and it's good that they found that now, like you said, I don't know how that will work when they play teams that are probably more equipped to stop them against the run. But also too, it provides an element of confidence and element of, you know, kind of finding yourself offensively in a way that's more consistent than playing quarterback musical chairs or putting arch in for more pattern. Like you can run the ball with that defense. I think that that keeps you in every single game. You know, you're going to play this year. And then also

on top of it, if you do get hot throwing it, which is they do have the players to get hot throwing it. Yes. And, and Sark has proven back. Well, and you saw Gunnar Helm tonight, like Gunnar Helm had a great catch for a touch up. And if they can draw things up for them, like I feel pretty good about like where I stand on both national championship games. Yeah, you got you got Notre Dame, Texas in the national title game. Yeah, and I think people went nuts, but I also wonder too, and I don't think Notre Dame did this, but I do think that Texas, of all the games, the first three games, Texas changed how we view, I don't know, did Penn State change? Who changed how you view? I don't know, depends state change. Who changed how you view them? I don't know that Texas changed how I view them very, because that is not necessarily the way Texas played offensively. But the way that game went was about how I thought the Clifton Texas game would go. And so I don't know that they necessarily changed much for me. But I, I love

the way they were resilient. They bounce. I remember they've got a Week and a half to get healthy I hope they I hope they can get some of those guys back majors their center went out on that blindside block on the Interception the right tackle was out Weisner. He was on the bike trying to get so but maybe seen It may be that they can get those guys back Yeah, that's that's it But it is something to think about in the playoff. And this is something that in the in the 14 playoff,

you didn't think about this as much. Because, yes, if somebody got hurt, and they were out for the next game, that was bad. But Texas was would have to win three more games to win the national Yeah, absolutely. And of course, then depth and the lack thereof for jazz is going to come into play here. But I think that you should be encouraged by the fact that, some of those injuries didn't look like, season ending ones.

10 days is a long time for those kids who are in such great shape. And that's the good news. But I do think too, even if the first round games have been unsatisfying to people because really, who was gonna win the games and all three hasn't been in question.

We'll see what happens here tonight, Ohio State. Or Neelan North as I like to call. Yeah guys, by the way So we've been sitting in the press box watching the stands fill up and we kept thinking oh There's there's some orange But it's probably because the Ohio State fans are out in the tailgate lots because you know This is their normal spot and they're in their usual, you know tailgate lot and these Tennessee fans are just visitors So they just come into the stadium when they can no, no, there no. There's a lot of Tennessee fans here. Yeah, a lot. And we're going to unpack that tonight. Yeah. But so far, you know, this is what the tournament is supposed to do, I think. You

get teams that are better moving on and the teams that aren't as good out. And then as the matchups continue to progress, you know, into the semifinals, we'll get to the teams that are most well equipped to do that. And that means, you know, depth. That means being able to survive and enjoy. And I will say, the way Texas, you know, I said it didn't change what I think about Texas, but now I'm thinking about a little more of that question you asked me. Like, if I'm Kenny Dillingham, the Arizona State coaching staff, this probably changes the way I prepare for Texas. Because if I think they're going to try to run the ball down my throat, I'm going to, I'm going to try to get prepared for that. But the problem when you do that against Texas, I mean, you're going to leave some

stuff open for Stark. And if that allows them to get hot through the air going into the semi-final, then the next thing you know, you've got a balanced offense and a team with a very good defense that can be dangerous to just about anybody they play. I thought Quinn Ubers played a better game today than we've seen in a while from him. Yeah, I thought so too. Um, cause we today than we've seen in a while from him. Yeah, I thought so too. Cause we were at the A&M game.

We obviously watched the Georgia game. Yeah. This was a much cleaner game from Quinn Ubers than either of those. Yeah, and you know, Tennessee has a, I mean, sorry, the Tennessee coaches just walked by us. And it's all orange. Texas doesn't have to play Georgia,

you know, in the near future. So, you know. If all works out, well, they might play each other again. But like, you know, Georgia's equipped defensively to do some things that I think that other teams aren't. Yeah. You know, our number one criticisms of Texas have spawned from what they were unable to do against Georgia. But what you're unable to do against Georgia doesn't necessarily translate the way you're going to be able to do against Arizona State or wherever you're going to play. Well, I I mean, Oregon's a different animal too. So we'll see what happens there. It's a little ways to get to that point. But yeah, this is going to be fascinating to watch Texas because it feels like are they the most complete team than Oregon or Georgia? If you asked me two months ago, yes. Yeah. I mean, I did. I'll be honest, when I was watching the Georgia game

in the SEC championship with you in Nashville, I was worried about them. Yeah, we felt like their offense was limited, but it might just be defense is that good. Yeah. And Quinn has put up big numbers in big games. So it's not like he's incapable. So I put them in the national championship game

because as I was going through the bracket, I thought they had a really good chance to win every matchup that they had and avoid playing Georgia again. Unless, unless, unless, yeah. Unless George is there in the national title game, yeah. I think it's possible that they play Notre Dame instead. We'll see how that all turns out. Maybe I'll be wrong about that. But, you know, every team, you know, outside of Oregon, maybe, has shown overt deficiencies this year that can be exploited. Texas is one of those teams, but if you want to go off talent, if that's what we're reverting back to now. Well, if I'm imagining a Texas-Oregon game,

I'm kind of imagining the Oregon-Penn State Big Ten Championship game, except with maybe a little more explosive offense from Texas than Penn State. It can do that. Exactly, exactly. Texas will be able to. So I think no matter who wins the national championship outside of Oregon, we'll be able to probably figure out immediately when matter who wins the national championship outside of Oregon, we'll be able to probably figure out immediately when they lose what caused them to lose. Yeah. You know, and like as we're getting ready to watch this Ohio State game, if they lose tonight, it'll be because their offensive line can't block anybody.

And they know some of the things that we already know. And if Tennessee loses tonight, it's probably because they went on the road and their offense couldn't hit the deep ball when they needed to. Like, yeah, I feel like by this point in the season, we have a pretty good feel of who these teams are. And Texas, you know, their only two losses are against another team in the playoff. They have avoided the embarrassing losses that other teams have had. They have really good players. They've, they've sustained injuries in depth a lot better than, you know, other teams have in the past. And I feel really good. I mean, I wouldn't have put them in the title game if I

didn't like them already. But being able to run the ball as efficiently as they if you feel like they can move that onto the future or the future of their schedule they'll be able to open some things up. You like that better. You like that version better because it travels. It travels more reliably. We've got Ohio State AD Ross Bjork here. He's heading to the head into the AD's box. I need you to help me get a really nice blazer because I'm very jealous of your like blazer game. Okay. So help me out with that. Okay. Sorry for ruining. He's dressed very warmly tonight. No blazers tonight. So it is it is really

cold out there and you're going to see us on the field after the game. So Ari's getting his warmth in right now already hugging myself and we're inside. I got the parka over there. My wife got me for the holidays and I'm super excited to go see what this game's all about. And yeah, we're here on location and it's been a really great few days and thanks for being with us and stick with us

because Andy, we got a lot. Oh yeah. And we got some columns up too. So go read on on3.com. Yeah, oh, Ari took on Paul Feinbaum. And we'll probably do a home and home on Paul's show. I want him on, I'm telling you Paul. Well have me. You're gonna have to go on his show and then we'll have him on our show and yeah it'll be it'll

be hashed out. Yes but yeah super excited for tonight can't wait to get back with you guys later this evening. We will talk to you from the field we'll be the one shivering.