Andy & Ari On3 - The DREAM scenario for the national title game | Ben Herbstreit is a very good boy

Episode Date: January 7, 2024

It's media day for the national title game, and Andy is interviewing all the stars -- including the canine ones.First, Andy and J.D. PicKell reveal their bold predictions for the national title game.A 150-yard rusher for Michigan? No sacks allowed by Washington? If the game goes down as Andy and J.D. predict, it'll be wild.Next, Ben Herbstreit -- the breakout good boy of this football season -- gives his thoughts on the game.Washington receiver Jalen McMillan is up next. He explains how Michael Penix Jr. throws America's most catchable ball.Then Michigan edge rusher Josaiah Stewart, one of the heroes of the Rose Bowl, discusses transferring from Coastal Carolina to Michigan and winding up in the national title game.Subscribe to On3! ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/Listen to Andy Staples On3 on podcast! Spotify 🎧 : https://open.spotify.com/show/5AhQ4d2m5TQu5Q2vkwtxjt?si=uLK1rMW7QOmLHcZK9URbOwApple🍎: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/andy-staples-on3/id1695325427Follow Andy Staples on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Andy_StaplesFollow Andy Staples on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andy_staplesFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/on3sportsFollow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/on3/?hl=en Like/Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/On3Sports/ Shop On3 https://shop.outsider.com/

Greetings from National Championship Game Media Day. Andy Staples and J.D. Pical here. J.D., it's time for some bold predictions for the National Title Game. I got one. I'll kick us off. Yeah. Michigan will have a 150-yard rusher. Ooh. And it'll probably be Blake Corum, but maybe it's the Donovan Edwards breakout game. We haven't seen him have that huge game this season, but maybe this is it. I just feel like Michigan's offensive line against Washington's interior and front seven, I think they have a chance to move them a little bit and move them earlier than they moved Alabama.

And we saw Donovan Edwards in the Ohio State game last year. Dude likes the big stage. Yes. So if there were to be a stage that were to be big, it would be the biggest in the sport that is a national title game. Could be a Donovan Edwards kind of game. Washington's linebackers, they trigger so quickly. And that's great if you get home.

Right. But if you don't, a whole lot of real estate behind you on the back end of your Donovan Edwards. Or if there's some Michigan linemen scraping off and clobbering you. So that's the thing. The line of scrimmage play is going to be really good in this game. I think Washington's defensive line is probably the group that has the most work ahead of it. But the Michigan D-line against the Washington O-line is going to be an incredible matchup.

That was one of the things we talked about in Atlanta, kind of trying to get a picture for who could be in the college football playoff. Washington had punched their ticket. They're not last year's TCU. They're much better up front. They're better at quarterback. They're not last year's TCU. They are much better up front. They're better at quarterback. They're better at wide receiver. And we talked about that even during the week.

So, like you said, Atlanta scrimmage will be must-see television, box office in every sense of the word. All right, you got a bold one? I got a bold one. Let's stay on the offense side of the football. I think Michael Penix, Jr. gets rid of the ball quickly in this game. They know that Michigan rush defense was phenomenal last week, getting after Jalen Miller to the tune of six sacks. I think he gets sacked a total of zero times.

Wow. Zero times. We're calling our shot there a little bit. Well, okay. And here's the thing. If you're Michigan and you know how quickly he gets rid of the ball, do you say we're going to drop a bunch and just try to cover these guys, which is its own set of challenges?

Because it is really pick your poison with Washington, because if you give him time, one of those receivers is going to get open, and then he can get it to him. But if you send resources at him, that's fewer guys in coverage, and then he can hit you for a very big, big play. I'm curious how much cushion they give him pre-snap because you've got Josh Wallace, Will Johnson, two corners that like to mix it up, like to be physical,

but it's a different kind of physical when you're up against Roma Dunzay and Jalen McMillan and Jalen Polk. So that battle, how they treat them early, I think is going to tell us a lot. I cannot wait. All right, let me give you another one. J.J. McCarthy will be the MVP. Ooh, I like it. I like it.

This is one that, you know, all the stats we saw, well, I want to see the J.J. McCarthy from the first nine games. Well, guess what? They played worse teams in the first nine games, and then he was dinged up. I thought you saw when they absolutely had to have it against Alabama, when they're sitting there at fourth and two on their own 33-yard line. That is when you saw J.J. McCarthy and what he can do for a team. I feel like not just this year.

I feel like his entire time as a starter at Michigan, it's been a case of break glass in case of emergency. We don't use J.J.''s full abilities unless we need them. Yeah. And I think you saw it in the Ohio State game in 2022 where he had to throw to keep them in the game early until the running game came around. But also against Alabama, when they weren't running the ball

particularly effectively with the backs, he had a big run that last drive of regulation that really kept them going. Teams have to worry about. And, I mean, watching him today, he looks just the epitome of comfortable. He looks like he's confident. They've been in a stage not of this magnitude, but being in the college football playoff multiple times now.

I think he's poised for the moment. Other part of that, with what Jim Harbaugh says about him, like he's seen a lot of really good quarterbacks. And the way that he speaks about J.J. McCarthy, there's some's some thought of okay where are you just giving kind of your guy praise to you know bump his confidence up and someone asked him that today during media days and he's like no what I'm saying about him is right in the strikes and I'm saying exactly what I believe is true about JJ McCarthy so I think that prediction is a great one yeah so you got another one for us got another one for us kind of in tandem with I think your prediction with Michigan I think with

the liability that Washington's secondary could be, and heck, with the kind of clip they might have to score at, I'm going to take Michigan to have a 100-plus yard receiver, whether it's Colston Loveland or Roman Wilson. I think those are my two prime candidates. I think Roman Wilson would be my choice on this one. I think you could see that. And look, they played against an incredible secondary in Alabama.

Yeah. All NFL guys all over the field. And they didn't look very dynamic. Yep. And that's been their problem against better defenses. Against Penn State, I think, you know, they abandoned the pass game, one, because they felt like they couldn't protect, two, because they didn't need it because Penn State's offense couldn't do anything.

But when they play good defenses, the receivers don't look that dynamic. I do think against Washington's secondary, they might look a little bit better. They might have to commit some extra resources, like you mentioned, to try and stack the box a little bit, to try and stop Blake Corman, not even Edwards, and heck, JJ McCarthy if he gets in the mix. So if there's some real estate on the back end, we know JJ McCarthy can deliver the mail. So that could kind of be right in tandem.

We might both hit on that one. I'll give you another one. Here's another bowl pick. I love it. Michael Penix Jr. will be a first-round draft pick. Ooh, I like it. And that's one that if you watch him play and you don't follow a lot of the draft media, you're probably like, well, of course he is.

Like, who throws like that? But the narrative on him has been the medicals will be very bad. I mean, he had three season-ending injuries in Indiana, two knees, one shoulder. And, you know, it's just you wonder will he hold up at that level. But tell me who in college football throws the football like this. Tell me who is going to be in the draft class who can place the ball as accurately as Michael Penix, who can throw with touch, who can throw deep, who can throw short, who can throw intermediate. Like, there's nobody like this.

He is a unicorn in every single sense. And that's going to be crucial in this game, placing the ball in that tight physical coverage from Michigan. I mean, I think if you're looking for a stage to make your case to the NFL, like, a lot of eyeballs on this game. This is the one to do it. I think, I don't know if you have another bold prediction. One more for us.

Okay, let me, you go with yours and I have one more too. Okay, I'm getting warmed up. All right, get loose, get loose. Last bold prediction here. I don't think we see a spot where either team is playing catch-up, meaning I don't think we see a 10-point margin. So we're talking seesaw. I think we're back and forth all the way through this thing,

and it's right down to the very end. My final score, I got a three-point margin of victory at the very end of this thing. So this dovetails into what I was going to say, take the over. Yes. I think this could be a shootout a la the Georgia-Oklahoma Rose Bowl. A similar situation where, if you remember that game, Georgia was destroying Oklahoma on the ground. They were averaging something like 9, 10 yards a carry in the first half.

But Georgia couldn't stop Oklahoma's offense. Baker Mayfield was picking them apart. And then they kept on scoring. Now, obviously, that game went into double overtime, so it was a pretty high-scoring game. But I can see where Michigan, even though they want to control tempo, if they get really rolling on the ground, they actually may be able to score fairly quickly. and then Washington comes back and they attack you vertically

they score quickly they're and it's interesting because Washington is not a big tempo team no like they're not trying to gas you they're not trying to do it stylistically and but do you attack vertically and succeed and then you just? Now, one thing that I thought was interesting, Nick Saban said this this week, where he said he wished they'd gone more tempo against Michigan, where he felt like they let them control the tempo of the game. If you're Ryan Grubb in Washington, do you look at that and go, you know what? We could tempo them a little. It's something they haven't seen, but it's something we can do

because obviously every team's got a two-minute offense. Right. So they could jump into that if they wanted to. I think you said it perfectly. Washington has been the last two weeks, the last two major games for them against Texas, and then the week before, I guess the game before rather than the week before, a month before against Oregon, 36 minutes and 37 minutes respectively

in time of possession. They will control the game. And then like you were saying too, my question then is who has the most gas in the tank if it becomes a shootout? Because you would think in a shootout kind of game, just your mind goes to, okay, Washington, kind of this aerial attack team. They have the quarterback. Do you have more juice on the ground running the football?

What does that look like? So I think that's going to be – the style of that fight will be fascinating to watch. Oh, yeah. And, you know, I am curious. We don't know what Dylan Johnson is going to be in this game we saw him go out at the end of the sugar bowl I it's it's hard to imagine him being 100 so what does Washington do in terms of getting yards on the ground you did see in the late third in the fourth quarter them using Michael Penix more, where he was pulling on zone reads.

I could see him doing that. This is an all or nothing situation. You've got to keep moving the ball. You've got to keep moving the sticks. So I do think we're going to see Michael Penix use his legs quite a bit. And that's another reason why I brought up the first round draft pick thing. I think people are going to get the whole picture of what he can do. And that's kind of who he was early in his career at Indiana.

Yes. Before all those injuries, like, he was a very real dual-threat quarterback. Could throw it pretty well. Yeah. But we've seen kind of the inverse of that as he's matured and gotten further and further in his career as a quarterback. And I was talking to somebody at Michigan today during this whole just scrum. I said, how's your body feel?

He's like, dude, we got one game. He's like, we got one game. We're going to, you know, Nobody's 100% in this game. We're going to find a way to get it done and to finish through the finish line here. And so I thought that was telling, probably true for both sides. Nobody has all the gas in the tank, much less a guy like Dylan Johnson. So they're going to just push through and finish through for four more quarters. I cannot wait.

This is going to be a fantastic game. This is such a good clash of styles. Neither defense has seen this level of offense that they're going to see. I can't wait. I'm going to interview Ben. Ben, are you a good boy? Are you a very good boy? Do you favor Washington because they're dogs? Or is it more like a dog thing?

Like Michigan's got dogs on their O-line. You like those guys? I'm getting the tail here. I don't know what this means. It's a good boy. Hey, are you a very good boy good boy got jaylen mcmillan washington huskies sir so how do y'all like being underdogs i hear it's a thing every time i mean it's something that people just tend to give us uh we just take it with a chip on

our shoulder at the end of the day so do you wonder at some point when that's going to stop? No, not really. I mean, it happens everywhere. You know, we're just a band of brothers that just want to win. And you guys have – obviously you've brought in transfers and they've helped too, but there's so much homegrown talent here. And you guys have been through a lot. You've been through coaching changes and all that.

How much does that bond you? Tremendously. I mean, just that whole that whole four and eight season um i think that's really one of the keys to our success nowadays just being able to experience that and never want to experience that again and how did you how did you come out of that i know you know roger was telling me when kaylin board got there he said we're going to make this place special but when you're coming out of four8, how do you make everybody believe that? I mean, I don't think you can make anybody believe anything. I mean, I think it goes with our guys and just how they've been raised and what they stand for.

I think they made a decision to believe that we're going to win a national championship. And this receiving corps, when you have this much talent in the room, I mean, you've got that that don't play that much that would be the number one receiver on some teams in college football how how intense is practice how you know how hard do you guys play against each other in the offseason i mean practices and tests you could get um you know we always have a competition during practice to see who could who can make the greatest play or you know practice the best um and and it goes for all the fall camp is there is there a tote board is there a scoreboard yeah there's like a uh for fall camp we have like a list of who who has the most explosives drops uh i mean the the statistics

statistics go on yeah yeah but who who like who most, like, I had the best play today. Who had the most of that this year? I mean, I think it's pretty equally distributed throughout the whole group. We all make plays. I was going to say, it's a tough group to parse because you've got so many guys that can make plays. Right. But you've also got the guy who can get you the ball. When he shows up, what do you think the first time you catch a ball from

from michael pennix jr um shoot wow like whoa great ball mike i mean yeah he's special yeah he's special people always talk about the lefty spin on the ball does it take some getting used to or is it uh not with mike i mean his ball is so catchable to where, like, he can throw anywhere and you can just close your eyes and catch it. That's the part I don't get. Because a lot of guys you see, they can throw with touch and it looks like it's fairly easy to catch. But then they'll throw a heater and it looks like it'd be hard.

But every ball he throws looks like it just sort of settles in your hands. How does he do that? I think it's just our work. You know, we have a lot of off-season workouts behind us, and he always calls us every day. We'll throw the ball together, so just doing that. And the line you got blocking for you guys, it seems like they're finally getting the appreciation they deserve.

They won the Joe Moore Award, but did you guys know off-season that this was a pretty special group? Yeah. I mean, Coach Grubb has pushed them to be the best of themselves. And, you know, they've been through a lot of adversity. And so we know what they're fighting for. So I mentioned the underdog thing before, and I know it's something that you guys talk about internally.

But how do you handle that? How do you turn that and channel it into something positive? I mean, we tend to not really worry about that. I mean, yeah, if you call us underdogs, we're going to use it to our advantage and put a chip on our shoulder. But that's about it. You know, you can't really we can't really dwell on that. Yeah. So when you look at this Michigan defense, what do you see? Just a well sound defense that's coached well. You know, they're aggressive and they make plays. So what would it mean if you all win this thing and you're holding the trophy and all that confetti's falling?

Have you pictured that moment yet? Yeah, I see it right now. And, I mean, we've been working for it forever, and just being able to experience it, it would last a lifetime. All right, Jalen, appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right, Josiah stewart welcome to uh

houston for the national title game you've had quite a journey massachusetts to conway south carolina to ann arbor michigan is it can you can you believe you're here honestly yeah because i mean i always felt you know i could be here at some point um i feel like you know i could play at this level um i mean but now that i'm here you know I'm happy to be here and I'm happy to be on the stage bring that a little closer yeah there you go perfect so you when you're making this you had a great career at Coastal Carolina you go in the portal and you're looking for for a different opportunity what was it about Michigan that that stuck out to you just winning you know there were a winning program They have a history of winning

the past couple years, and I just seen that, and I was intrigued by it. Obviously, Mikey being here helped a little bit, and he gave me a little good pitch. Yeah. And, I mean, I believed him. He said, we have an opportunity to play in the National Championship, and we're here now. So, we were talking about it as

we were walking up. So, Mikey Samuelsdahl, who's your teammate here at Michigan, Isaiah Likely, who your teammate at coastal who's placed for the baltimore ravens now y'all all played together at the same high school in massachusetts what i mean what was that like how good was this team when we talked about um we were we were pretty good i mean uh the year before that i was in the eighth grade uh they had won the state championship and then my freshman year yeah i won it back to back so So, I mean, we were pretty good. I mean, and they're the same players they are now, you know, the same character, the same players that they were now. So I'm sure everybody's asked you about this this week. Can you take us through the last play of the Rose Bowl? What did you see on that

play? How did that feel as their offensive tackle is going on his butt and you guys are tackling Jalen Milrow? I mean, there was a lot going on on that play, especially with that motion. I mean, we just figured that he would run the ball. I mean, you would give the ball to your best player at that point. But at that point, I'm just trying to get through the line, you know, give it my all on the last play. And I didn't really know that I tripped him up. I just kind of looked up and seen him on the ground.

I don't think he tripped. I think you pancaked him. Yeah, I mean, I didn't even realize that until I seen it on the bus. But, I mean, we all made that play, Derek in there. Well, so Derek on the other edge was – I don't think people understand because everybody thinks they see the play going up the middle, and obviously Mason and Grant did a great job on that play, but the edges were incredible because Derek is squeezing down with two guys trying to

block him, and he gets in there, and you knock the right tackle into the play. When that moment happens and Milrow's on the ground, what was the feeling? I mean, amazing, because as a defense, you don't want a team to gain a yard. And when you can do that, especially in moments like those, it's a great feeling. I mean, you know, we put in the work for that all year. So, I mean, it feels great. So you're new to this team. When you get there in the spring and you're playing as this offensive line, playing with these other defensive linemen, did you realize how special this group could be?

Oh, the moment I walked through the door, mean it was it was it was a serious you know vibe in there like you knew the intent of this team was to win a national championship and play in this game so i mean i believed it from the jump what do you guys have to do to take that one last step i mean this is that last step i mean we just got to go give it our all four quarters man everything we got i mean we're worth all season for this man so we just got to go give it our all four quarters, man. Everything we got, I mean, we worked all season for this, man, so we just got to do it. Is it fun when you're playing? You guys haven't seen an offense like Washington's. You haven't seen a quarterback like Pennix yet. Is it fun knowing that there's a new challenge on the horizon?

Oh, for sure. I mean, as a defense like ours, I mean, we love being challenged. I mean, we don't take – we treat every team the same, no matter who they have on their team. But, I mean, it's going to be a fun challenge. Are they one of those teams – I would imagine you turn on the film, their tackles are pretty good. Penix obviously gets rid of the ball so quickly.

Like, do you look at that and go, okay, we got to get there fast? I mean, no. I mean, we just got to stick with our game plan, you know, play team defense. I mean, team defense is going to win us this game. I want to ask you about Mikey because we've had him on the show and he's been – he took us through like the breaking up the pass in the Ohio State game last year and all that. But Mikey is, what, 180 pounds soaking wet? About a buck 80, yeah, a buck 85.

He hit Travion Henderson so hard a couple times in the Ohio State game this year, and you thought, how does he do that? So has he always been like that where he's not a big guy but just cleans people's clocks i mean he's he's always played hard yeah ever since i met him but um i never seen him as a tackler like that i don't know where that came from maybe it was just the game that's at michigan development yeah that's that's what that is yeah that's one of those you see like you stand up in the press box and go oh something you don't expect but i mean he he yeah he got him so what what is the strength program like when you get to michigan because

kenneth grant was telling us about this last week like they do a lot of balance stuff they're obviously trying to make you bigger and stronger too but it feels like there's a lot of whole athlete going on there for sure i mean coach herb does a great job you know um with his with his staff um getting us right uh strength wise and then we work those small muscles you know ankle mobility things like that your neck especially and we always get in our running in so i mean he does a good job swinging it up was there something that when you got there and they put you in there and they said and you were like okay well what are we what are we doing here what how does this work but i'll for sure that was a bit of a learning

curve what was the what was the one that that was, okay, this might take a minute for me to master here? Was getting my shoes right. So, like, every time you take off your shoes, you need to put them in a certain order. Oh. And, like, every time. So, like, they have to be aligned perfectly. You know, sometimes I just have it just a little bit too tilted, and, you know, that's not good enough. So, just getting used to that.

It's like joining the Marines. Hell, yeah. All right. Well, Josiah, thank you so much. Appreciate you. Thank you. That was awesome.