Andy & Ari On3 - USC beats Colorado, but the defense gets exposed | Should Georgia be No. 1? | Notre Dame survives Duke

Episode Date: October 1, 2023

USC beats Colorado, but the defense gets exposed | Should Georgia be No. 1? | Notre Dame survives DukeSubscribe 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/Andy and On3 national writer Jesse Simonton discuss Saturday's games. USC took a huge lead against Colorado and then hung on for dear life as its defense once again looks like a massive question mark.Kentucky dominated Florida in a 33-14 win that featured an incredible performance by tailback Ray Davis. Texas A&M handled business against Arkansas with a 34-22 win. Clemson had a get-right game at Syracuse.Penn State struggled in the first half at Northwestern but hammered the Wildcats in the second half.Georgia fell behind by 10 but came back to beat Auburn. After this, are we sure the Bulldogs are the favorite to win the national title? Auburn has been fairly average all season, but the Tigers went toe-to-toe with the Bulldogs all day.Next week's Kentucky-Georgia game in Athens looks like a fun one.Plus, Michigan finally covers a spread by destroying Nebraska. Texas hammers a Kansas team playing without QB Jalon Daniels.We talk about Notre Dame's comeback win at Duke that required Sam Hartman to scramble for a key first down on fourth-and-16 to set up an Audric Estime touchdown.Ole Miss beat LSU 55-49 in a game that featured 1,343 total yards of offense. We figured this game would be a shootout, but no one expected anything of that level. Tennessee whipped South Carolina in a game when center Cooper Mays returned and the offense looked very different up front than it did in a loss at Florida. Iowa lost starting QB Cade McNamara to injury, but a Cooper DeJean punt return for a touchdown gave the Hawkeyes a win against Michigan State.

Welcome to Andy Staples on three. It is late or possibly early. Kind of depends on where you are. But Washington has just converted a fourth down to run out the clock on Arizona. The Huskies win 31 to 24. Closer game than you would have thought going in now it was not as close necessarily as the final score indicates I don't think Washington ever felt truly threatened there was an onside kick that I think that would probably have been the most threatening time

but the Huskies did not dominate Arizona the way they have dominated everybody else. And I think that will probably cool off the Washington for number one in the polls talk. But I think there will be a lot of number one in the polls talk and who should be number one in the polls talk. You're going to hear some of that on the show because Georgia doesn't look like an obvious number one. And I'm not sure anybody does right now. because Georgia doesn't look like an obvious number one, and I'm not sure anybody does right now. So I believe that is probably in the eye of the beholder. The Bulldogs probably retain that spot when the AP poll comes out on Sunday, but we'll see. But there's a vacuum there,

and somebody is going to have to jump up and grab number one. But Washington could do that. Oregon could do that, depending on who wins that game. Texas could do that. Oklahoma might be able to jump up and do that because they've got a battle of undefeateds coming up on October 7th. This was a really interesting Saturday because it sets up another blockbuster. There were some great games. With these shows, I have to decide how I want to order them because

we do three instant reaction shows every Saturday, one after each window. Well, in this particular case, I think chronologically is the best way to go because there was something to talk about in every window, something very meaty to chew on or occasionally multiple somethings. So we'll start with the beginning of the day. USC at Colorado, a game that we figured the Trojans would come in and blow the Buffaloes doors off and the casual fans would abandon the Buffaloes. I don't necessarily think that's going to happen. This ended up being a one score game.

USC's defense was decimated in the second half by Colorado. And Colorado showed a lot of fight, especially considering they were missing some of their better players. And I think if you look at what Colorado has coming up next, they've got a chance to put themselves in a position to get bowl eligible, which at the beginning of the season, if you just said that's a possibility, I would have said that's a very good coaching job. USC, meanwhile, has got to figure out the defense because if it doesn't get better, they are not going to win the Pac-12. They have to play Washington.

They have to play Oregon. They still have to play Notre Dame, which doesn't affect their Pac-12 chances, but might affect their playoff chances. They've got to be better on defense. The other big talk after that opening set of games, Kentucky just dominating Florida. And it was a really great performance by Ray Davis, who transferred from Vanderbilt to Kentucky. He ran very well against Florida for Vanderbilt last year in a win, but not even close to what he was on Saturday.

It was an amazing performance. Great job by Kentucky's offensive line. Florida, meanwhile, got pushed around. All of the goodwill built by the Tennessee win a couple of weeks ago, completely gone. The questions about Billy Napier are probably going to be harder and tougher. And the attitude of the Florida fan base,

it'll get worse. And they've got Vandy coming in, but it is going to be a rough week for Billy Napier and Gainesville for sure. So here are me and Jesse Simonson talking about those early games. Colorado exposing USC's defense. Caleb Williams being awesome again,

and then Kentucky dominating Florida. USC is the same team as last year. Completely suspect on defense, but thank you Trojans for keeping the casual college football fans interested in that game, which may keep them following the Buffaloes the rest of the year. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of crazy that you can get a performance like what Caleb Williams delivered where he was just that majestic,

and yet I think the takeaway from that game is just that USC remains unserious because they are unserious on defense. Yes. And Lincoln Riley after the game says, well, there were some, sometimes we just didn't tackle. How many times do you have to see that? I mean, do something about it. And it's just, you know, what was,

what's even more concerning is just that it's just, they really are Swiss cheese again, because it's just so easy for opponents to just say, all right, we can just march it down the field. I mean, Colorado had that one long drive. I think it was like 15 or 16 plays where they didn't score. But other than that, it was just all right. Pitching catch USC can't cover a hitch. I mean, it's that simple. You can't cover a hitch. And, and so I think the biggest takeaway, yeah, Caleb Williams is the best player in college football. He is a cheat code, but he's also, he can't mask all their deficiencies. And I don't think I, at this point for what we've seen through

five weeks, I don't think it's going to be enough to beat either Oregon and Washington. Maybe you can pick off one I don't think you're stopping both those offenses not with this Alex Grinch defense I mean I don't want to go transitive property here but we saw Oregon against this team and yeah absolutely dominated them and I just don't understand why why they like you said, they're unserious. Like, they know this is a problem. They're aware, but they don't ever do anything about it. I mean, it's a philosophical thing.

People want to immediately point to Grinch, and I do think Alex Grinch's reputation has largely been overblown for years now. But it's not just him. It is a philosophical approach in how you approach practice and how you approach spring practice and how you approach physicality in the weight room, you know, in the offseason. If Lincoln Riley is not going to make these changes, if he's not going to have a bloody Tuesday like what Kirby Smart's doing at Georgia, or just literally emphasizing tackling and physicality in practice, you're going to see these results. I mean, I had the raw stats pulled up, Andy, against, again, a Colorado offense that absolutely does have some playmakers. We've seen what Shador can do, they were you know completely squeezed a week ago against Oregon a week later against USC they have 14 14 explosive plays 15 passed eight passes over 15 yards six runs over 10 yards and this is an an offense that could not run the ball against

anybody no it's just it's it's pathetic they ran for 193 yards, Colorado did. And I mean, it made no sense, especially because they were trying to come back most of the game. Like they would have run for more if this game had been closer. I mean, thank God for USC's defense in this situation. Otherwise, I mean, the USC's offense, excuse me. Otherwise, I mean, it would have been a disaster. Great question from Jason.

Are we old enough for Omarion Miller to be named after the singer Omarion? I think we are absolutely old enough. By a lot, actually. By a couple years. So, yes, that is probably who he was named after. I feel so old saying that. But, again. There were some classic sons in this game.

You had Jerry Rice's son versus Deion's son. Yep. But I think Colorado and USC's defense did the sport a favor by making this game close. Because everybody was going to be out on Colorado. by making this game close because this, everybody's going to be out on Colorado. Like if that first half had just repeated itself and the final score of that game was something to the tune of 61 to 10,

then everybody would have been out on Colorado. Nobody would have been talking about it. But now it's like, okay, like here, we got this from Jesse about Colorado's clock management. Yes, it was a little head scratching, but I don't, I don't think anybody thought they had a real chance to win that game until they got down to the goal line. And they're like, Oh crap, we do have a chance to win this game. Which I do wonder, you know, a week ago, Dion coached,

Dion's on a dummy. He specifically coached so that they didn't lose by 60 to Oregon, even though they still got blown out. You know, they ran the ball. They punted the ball in plus territory in that game. You know, he realized very quickly he was overmatched. They also played a little bit of the slow clock game today, and I kind of wonder in hindsight, if he says, man, maybe we should have been pulling the trigger,

you know, going for broke early, because again, USC's defense was there to be got. And they almost got got. But the thing about this, Jesse, they don't have to win this game. No, they don't. I agree with that. And so you're right.

That probably was a tactical error, not playing that aggressively from the get-go knowing you'd be able to gash USC's defense. But I think he will look back on it and be mad at himself because you're right. If they had come out a little more aggressively, they might have won this game, or at least it might have been tied going into the final possession. Joseph with a really interesting question. Who at USC can tell Lincoln to go get defensive help? Seems like he has the keys, five drinks, and no one will tell him to take an Uber.

It is, it's mind blowing. You are a national championship team with an average if you have an average defense all you have to be is okay on defense why do you settle for sucking i mean think about joel clatt said in the broadcast and i don't even think he was necessarily wrong but he said in the broadcast 18 nfl teams basically saying two-thirds of the league would take Caleb Williams over their guy today. Yes. As a guy who's playing in college football. You have that guy at quarterback, and you're going to waste it. Waste it.

I mean, it's remarkable. I will say last thought for me on Colorado, I think kind of leading to your point, I do think that this performance and the way they were kind of competitive in the second half should – obviously the nation is going to continue to tune in, but I think it should give Deion's team some optimism and confidence because they get Arizona State and Stanford the next two weeks, and those are games you absolutely can win. And you win those games.

Exactly. I mean, you win those games and suddenly, suddenly, you know, maybe you can be competitive against UCLA. You can, you know,

we'll see what happens against a Washington state. So I, while the end result is obviously Dion's looking for a W he's not, you know, settling for, you know, just, you know just feel good coming out of a loss. I do think there should be something that they could take away with some positivity from this performance. Zach with a nightmare scenario for the Pac-12. USC loses to Notre Dame,

which certainly seems possible. Splits Oregon and Washington, then upsets the Pac-12's last CFP contender in Vegas, keeping the conference out of the playoff yet again. I have a hard time believing that because I just, I think Oregon will get them. I think Notre Dame can get them. Now, I know that doesn't matter for the conference race, but I also, like, I don't, how would that defense stop Washington? Like, how?

No, I mean, Michael, if any, any quarterback that's actually pushing Caleb Williams for the Heisman, it's Michael Pennix and those three receivers against this, again, this Swiss cheese of a secondary, no way, no way. I, yeah, I just can't even imagine. Unserious. Unserious. All right. Speaking of unserious, one team in Lexington, Kentucky was deadly serious. And one team, well, Logan Roy would have said the same thing about Florida that he said about his kids. I think we've said this a bunch. We had Nick Del Torre on from Gators Online this past week,

and he pointed out, and I agreed, that if this didn't go well, all of the positivity around Billy Napier that came from that win against Tennessee would disappear. It's gone. And then it got worse. And then it got worse. It's way worse. And the thing is, this might have not gotten out of hand

if Florida hadn't made a couple mistakes early. You had Graham Mertz thrown into triple coverage. That sets up Kentucky's first touchdown, that interception. And then you have Florida's going to get the ball back with a chance to tie the game. And the player tries to leap over the wall on a punt, which you know you can't do. I don't know if they know they can't do that because they have an analyst running their

special teams. He's called the game changer coordinator. And boy, does he change the games. I was going to, I was really going to come on here and have you basically like play a game where it's like, what, what should we rebrand the game changer coordinator for Florida? Because it has changed the game. We don't have to rebrand at all. Well, it's changed the game for the Gators multiple times this season,

two of them resulting in just abhorrent losses. Obviously week one at Utah, now week five here at Kentucky. Florida, I don't know if you – I'm sure you know this because you follow the program extremely closely like I do, Andy. They're now one and seven away from Gainesville. Oh, I got a better stat for you. In Florida's last 14 games away from the Swamp, they're one in 13. So dating back to the loss at Kentucky in 2021, including bowl games,

including Georgia games, any other neutral site stuff. They are 1-13 away from the swamp. At Texas A&M with everybody having the flu. Yep, and you still have to go on the road to South Carolina. You play Georgia and Jacksonville. You got LSU and Tiger Stadium, Missouri away. It's not going to be easy. And this was, you know, I think Kentucky kind of played possum,

I think, the first month of the season. They showed a lot of stuff today they hadn't shown yet. Ray Davis was fantastic. He had 141 yards in the first quarter. That's more than Florida had given up in a single game. He finished at 280. 280, the fifth guy, I think, since 2000 to rush for over 200 against Florida. So he joined the likes of studs like Willis McGahee and Marcus Lattimore.

I mean, it was just absurd. I mean, this was – you know, John Schlarman would have been proud, the late great Kentucky O-line coach, because this is the first time in a long time I think the big blue wall resembled the big blue wall. And they were out here just, you know, manhandling Florida. Davis has great vision. Jesse Palmer was, you know,

complimentary about that throughout the entire broadcast. But the holes were there. I mean, he was hitting a cutback lane and then just boom, killing it. So Davis felt like the most complete back in the country today because he could carry between the tackles. He could break tackles. He could break away. He could catch passes and make stuff happen that way. Like he just looked incredible. He looked like Bijan Robinson out there and it was maybe not quite as dynamic, but right up there. And the other thing that I found really impressive, you mentioned that big blue wall.

Kenneth Horsey didn't even play today. Their best offensive lineman didn't play. And they still did that to Florida. They won by nearly three touchdowns in their quarterback through for 69 yards. And the receivers, I don't know, dropped five or six passes. Y'all, the drops were horrible. They had a drop in the end zone that would have been a touchdown.

They had to settle for a field goal. They had a drop on either a third or fourth down play that would have kept the drive alive. Yeah, they didn't play as well as they could have like this could have been this could have been 51 to 14 Jesse like it could have been horrific and it and yet it's still pretty horrific for Florida fans I think you know 33 to 14 you've now lost three straight Stoops becomes the first Kentucky coach since Bear Bryant uh to beat the Gators you know three straight times it's it's gonna be a uh I think you tweeted it out you know

Napier got a little testy with some reporters this past week about some special team stuff those questions are only gonna get harder uh coming out of this showing they're gonna be so much worse and they're completely justified, completely justified. I mean, you have an analyst running special teams. You give them a bullshit name like game changer coordinator. And this is what happens. Like you're going to get clowned for this and you're going to get questioned about it. And the thing is, you can't say anything. You did this to yourself. It's a conscious choice to have an analyst run your special teams. That is your choice. And how about this? It was their choice to take Graham Mertz over other quarterbacks out of the transfer portal. I don't know how much over that was. Well, they told everybody, Andy, they've told everybody that would listen. You, me, others,

we studied every quarterback in the portal and the guy that we graded the best, all of us, me, our analysts, our quarterbacks coach, it was Graham Mertz they graded out as the best. Well, how's that looking? He's been fine. He hasn't been bad. He hasn't been what's killed you, but Florida looks like 2021 Wisconsin because they have 2021 Wisconsin's quarterback. They also basically have 2021 Wisconsin's receiver room, which again Florida did not address out of the transfer portal. I think a lot of these freshmen are going to be great, but relying on multiple freshmen to lead you to SEC wins

is just a flawed strategy. And we've seen that pay out in real time here. Yeah, it is going to be pretty dark in Gainesville and any goodwill from the Tennessee game is now gone. So Billy Napier better buckle up for this. Unfortunately for them, they have Vandy coming in. Unfortunately for them, they better not lose to Vandy at home. Yeah. Because it gets late real early after that. Let's go to

a place, well, one of these teams, very happy, content one. I think the walls are starting to close in. Texas A&M beats Arkansas. They trade pick sixes early in the second half, but it never really, other than before the Texas A&M pick six, that put it back to a comfortable lead. That was the only time I ever felt like Arkansas was a threat to win this game. It felt like Texas A&M was in control most of the way.

My takeaway from this game completely and I tweeted it out the last two weeks have finally been the positive referendum and kind of the results we've been looking for from the Aggies is front seven that just has a heap of five stars and so they harassed the hell out of Auburn a week ago, seven sacks, 15 tackles for loss. And they turn around and do it a week later to KJ Jefferson, Rocket Sanders and the boys, seven sacks, 15 tackles for loss. Walter Nolan's out there, you know, all over the, all over in the backfield, Shamar Turner, Shamar Stewart, McKinley Jackson.

They were just, I mean, just killing Arkansas' offensive line. And while Max Johnson was solid and A. Smith had a huge punt return touchdown, to me it was the front seven. And that, spinning it forward, is a heck of a battle and an interesting situation considering they got Alabama going to Texas A&M next weekend. That matchup feels pretty good. Now we'll see Alabama against Mississippi State later tonight. We'll see how they look. But I like the way Texas A&M is going.

Joseph asked an interesting question. Is the Aggie defensive line this good or Auburn and Arkansas's offensive lines that bad? Well, LSU didn't do this to Arkansas that badly last week. I mean, Arkansas scored a bunch of points against LSU. I would say it, I think it means that Miami's offensive line is pretty good because they didn't let A&M get any pressure on them. I think A&M's probably got

some pretty talented players up front and Miami did a good job. Again, we'll see with Alabama, but this looks like a team that can get pressure against Alabama. They did. And Miami's offensive line performed well in pass protection in that game. They, they, the Hurricanes could not run the ball. That was the Tyler Van Dyke show. And he took advantage of an Aggie secondary, which I do think still has some concerns, but Alabama's not going to do anything to really pressure that. I mean, it's not like they're out here throwing the ball like crazy.

So I am like what I've seen from the Aggies' front seven the last two weeks. And conversely, I've been dead wrong about Arkansas this year. I thought they were going to be a solid team. I didn't think they were going to win nine or ten games, but I thought they could get back to that eight-win category. Pittman seemed optimistic, but they're bad on offense, they're bad on defense, and they're bad on special teams. Yeah, that's not a good combination. That's a recipe for disaster.

And now here's the other recipe at Arkansas. They have a ton of money and a ton of passion and a ton of expectations. And that's a bad, bad recipe for Sam Pittman. He's got that clause in his contract, too. He's got that clause in his contract that his buyout reduces if they don't make a bowl game. And that's a weird clause. He did that because he really likes his AD. And he, you know, basically said, if I'm not winning Hunter, you're, you know, or Hunter, uh, you, you can fire me. I mean, that's a, that's Sam's a nice guy, but that's a, that's a tough, tough deal.

Well, I, I kind of appreciate that. I kind of respect that. And Sam also knows he can go back to being one of the best offensive line coaches in the world if this doesn't work out for him. But I think Arkansas is going to be like this forever. They have enough money to pay for anybody. They feel like they should be competitive with everybody, but it's a. It's a hard job. It's like when Brett Bielema took it, he's like, I've won the big 10,

three times. This'll be no problem. And he gets there. He's like, Oh my God, I can play Alabama and Auburn and Texas A&M. Wait, what's going on here?

So they talked to Dion last time. Yeah, they did. Oh my God. Can you even imagine? I don't see Dion in favor, but he's not, he's not leaving the Louis luggage behind because the way the transfer rules They did. Oh, my God. Can you even imagine? I don't see Dion in favor. He's not leaving the Louis luggage behind because the way the transfer rules work,

you've got to leave the Louis luggage behind. So he's not doing that right now. Let us move, before we close out, to a couple more. Clemson goes up to the Carrier Dome. It's not the Carrier Dome anymore. Whatever the calling, the Carrier Dome now, and gets right. I was very impressed with this. This is one of those. I watched Clemson last week in Florida State, and I'm just thinking, these guys are not bad.

Just because they're 2-2 in the ACC does not mean they're a bad team. It just means they've lost to two really good teams, and now they have a chance to just show a little bit better what they can do against lesser competition. Syracuse was 4-0, but it was kind of a house built on sand. So Clemson looked better and played about like I thought they would. It took them a bit to get rolling, but once they did, they were in control. Yeah, I had this game as one of my picks, best bets. And I was skeptical that Syracuse was going to be able to move the ball.

Without Gadsden, their top playmaker, Schrader, they're asking him to do a lot carrying the Rock as the quarterback, as their primary runner. Clemson played really well defensively against Florida State. They only allowed three touchdowns in regulation. Obviously, they had to pick six that went against them, and then you give up the score in overtime. But they still have some dudes up front defensively,

and that showed well today against the Syracuse on the road. Syracuse, a little bit of a paper tiger there. It's 4-0. Well, I think the sky is falling proud in Clemson. I do think everything we've said about Dabo needing to go into the portal to hit some key spots is absolutely true. You can't fix that this year. If you want to decide to do that next year, yeah,

you can start contending again if you want to do that because they're not that far away. One more, a team that definitely feels like they're contending this year, Penn State and Northwestern. This was a slog for a half. 10-10 at halftime, and then Penn State has that drive in the first part of the second half where they get down to the goal line. They try the tush push twice. It doesn't work they had their fourth and goal on the one foot line and they go tush push again with drew aller and it works and you're like okay they're gonna be all right they're they're gonna win this thing and they do 41 to 13. yeah i mean i i not too many not too often that you have a team that has a 26-point spread tied at halftime managed to cover said spread.

Yeah. I mean, that's pretty good. Yeah. I mean, Drew Allard got cooking a little bit in the second half. You know, Penn State, I think their big games, is that in two weeks against Ohio State? It's the 21st is the Ohio State game so it is it's gonna be that's gonna be the test but I do think Penn State is capable of playing with

having seen Ohio State in person last week you know Penn State's gonna be able to get pressure on Kyle McCord which is what you've got to to do. Because if he has time to sit back there, he's going to pick you apart. But I do think that's definitely possible. Yeah. I mean, and that's going to be, you know, Penn State's offensive line, I think, still needs to kind of find its footing a little bit. Maybe they did a little bit better today in the second half. But that's going to be some good on good there because you've got Ole

going up against the pass rushers of Ohio State. Yeah, Olu Fosher against JT Tuimalao. Woo, that'll be fun. Jack Sawyer and those guys. That'll be a good matchup for sure. Yeah, so they're off next week. Penn State is. They got to tune up against UMass and then on to Ohio State.

But that was pretty impressive. Jesse, that was a pretty impressive early window of games. Folks, we do this every Sunday through Thursday night, 8 p.m. Eastern time. It premieres on YouTube. It's on demand anytime after that. It's available wherever you get your podcasts as well. So if you like the Instant Reaction Show, there's a lot more of this all week. And there's two more of these today because we're going to go watch some more football and we're going to talk a little more about what happened. In the middle of the day, we were all fixated on the loveliest village on the plains where Auburn was pushing Georgia to its limit.

It took a superhuman performance by Brock Bowers to help the Bulldogs escape from Auburn with a win, but it just opened up a lot more questions. Georgia has yet to look like the actual number one team in the country, and the Bulldogs seem pretty vulnerable. Maybe that's why it's so hard to three-peat, but they have not looked great in any game, and they have started slowly in both their SEC games. They went down 14-3 to South Carolina at the half.

They went down 10-0 to Auburn. So what does that mean? What does that mean for the rest of the SEC? What does that mean for the rest of the teams on Georgia's schedule? What does that mean for everybody else who would like to compete for the national title? Because Georgia does not look like the super team that's just going to steamroll everybody. Perhaps the Bulldogs get better as the season goes along because again, a win is a win, but this definitely seems like there's a lot of work to be done at

Georgia and we're going to find out over these next few weeks exactly how good the Bulldogs are. Welcome to another live reaction, Andy Staples on three. I am Andy Staples. This is Jesse Simonson on three, national writer, and we are talking about the Georgia Bulldogs escaping Jordan-Hare Stadium. Jesse, you and I both know that there are these days at Jordan-Hare where it feels like the 1985 Chicago Bears couldn't get out. This didn't feel like one of those days. This Auburn team's not that good. You and I talked about this at SEC Media Days,

how hard it is to three-peat, why nobody's done it since 1936 in Minnesota. I'm not sure how good Georgia is. Yeah, I mean, I was going to ask you, I was going to start this off with true or false. Georgia should not be ranked in the top five. I think that's true right now. I think based on what we've seen, that's true I mean look at look at Auburn against Texas A&M look at Auburn against Cal look at Auburn in these other games this shouldn't be this close I don't care how tough of an environment Jordan Hare is this shouldn't be this close no and you know what Georgia they couldn't set the edge in the first half so Thorne gets a 61

yard run down the sideline Robbie Ash Ashford gets loose. You turn the, I mean, Kirby said it after the game, you turn the ball over twice. That is how Auburn got 14 of those points there. Both touchdowns set up by, you know, first a Beck interception. Then you had the fumble there. I thought, you know, the thing that was kind of going through my mind a lot in the second half is this is why in modern football, you basically throw to run. And when they started letting Beck cook a little bit, the offense got going. You found Bowers on all these crossing routes. McConkie came up with three clutch catches on first down. They need to keep the ball in Carson Beck's hands. They do not have a Chubb or a Gurley or one of these dudes at tailback, you know, right now is good.

Dejan Edwards is fine, but they need to pass to win. And I think coming out of this game, that's got to be the biggest takeaway. Carson Beck proved he was money on third down. That's what you've got to go with, I think, if you're the dogs offensively. So, Brock Bowers, by the way, the best player on the team. Best tight end in college football history? I don't know about that yet, but he's up there. The two plays in a row where he had the unbelievable one-handed catch,

the one got negated because the receiver covered him up in the formation. But it was like, holy crap, the guy's a cheat code but it's interesting in the chat we've got a little bit of a win is a win our guy jd piquel at the hard count no bad wins there are no bad wins but there are wins that that cause you to pause and re-evaluate and like like you just said just assuming george is the number one team in the country and leaving them there, I don't think is a fair evaluation of what's happened this season. I don't think what they've done merits them being number one. We've got five weeks of data right now. Now, if Kentucky comes to Athens and they pace them, that's a different story.

But right now, we've only got what we've seen. And they fell behind to South Carolina, had to come back. They fell behind to Auburn, had to come back. If they fall behind to a good team, they're in trouble. Yeah, and you know who this team kind of reminds me of through five or six weeks? It's that Florida State team coming off a national championship. They ended up going undefeated. They ended up going undefeated they ended up going undefeated but then they finally

got got and maybe maybe georgia does slog its way to 11 and 0 12 and 0 you know whatever but they if they continue to kind of play with their food in these first halves and and in today's game when when possessions are short you know you don't have as many possessions. So upset, there's more right for upsets. You know, they look like they could get got. And it wasn't today. Auburn wasn't going to beat them with Peyton Thorne and Robbie Ashford throwing for, you know, less than 100 yards again.

And even though, again, Georgia couldn't stop the edge run, they were able to get the stops that they needed, both on fourth down and then late in the game. So Matt in the chat, who's one of the hardest core Georgia fans you'll ever meet, I love my dogs, but we're not the number one team. Offense is far worse under Bobo. Defensive line talent is depleted.

We're good, not great. Agreed, but here's the thing this year, and I don't know how you feel about this jesse i still think they might be able to win the national title because while they're not better than everybody else they're still as good as all the good teams on their best day and they're gonna have and they're going to have plenty of runway to get better. The schedule sets up thusly. You know, I mean, they're going to, again, if they play with their food, maybe they will get got, but they have a schedule that sets up.

Kentucky's going to be a huge test next weekend, but, you know, they don't have the challenges that, you know, we talked about as awesome as Davis was today. They're not, Devin Leary is not out there running off the perimeter like Robbie Ashford and Peyton Thorne. And so that, that's, you know, asking Georgia just to stop a man on man down downhill attack, I think is something that remains probably a strength of that defense, but they are not as good up front.

And that's what happens when you lose umpteen guys to the NFL the last two years including half of you know the Philadelphia Eagles starting defense so here's the question we and we got like Dr. Don in the chat with you know get real Auburn sucks but Texas A&M beat them 27-10 like Texas A&M playing the way they are now, if they play against Georgia on a neutral field, how do you feel about that? Like Alabama, if they're a little bit better, if they play against Georgia on a neutral field, how do you feel about that? If LSU, well, as we speak about this, LSU is getting beat by Ole Miss. But how do you feel about them on a neutral field against your Florida State, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Washington. What?

I actually, again, we can only take away what we've seen through five weeks. But I think if, especially if Georgia and Bobo did learn some lessons from this game, Auburn's secondary is pretty good. And in the second half, they got torched. Auburn's secondary is better than Texas A&M's secondary. It's definitely better than LSU's secondary. And so if Georgia does start to throw to run, if the passing game becomes more of the go-to in the offense,

you get McConkie back, you have Rosemary Jack Saint healthy. Brock Bowers is, again, after Caleb Williams, he might be the best football player in the country. It's either him or Marvin Harrison. Uh, so I mean like lean on that. And then I think Georgia says, Hey, we probably feel like we have an advantage against some of those teams in that particular matchup, but your point stands. I mean, this is not a flawless bunch through five weeks. So Mark in the chat, I don't think Brock, I don't think Beck is the guy. I actually think Beck is the guy. I think, I think Beck is one of

the bright spots. That's he's the one you kind of build it around. He looks very good, very poised in those situations. I thought he was excellent in the, in the second half. I think the, the issue is like you said, do you start to pass to run the ball instead of vice versa? Because that might be the key to unlock things. Like Georgia has always been one of those teams that wants to establish the run and pound you up front, but maybe just jump on somebody going through the air because they have weapons. You know, you saw Lovett, you saw Rara Thomas make key catches, and then Brock Bowers, obviously. And why not just start there and then run the ball

once you've loosened the defense up? That would probably be a better way to do it with this particular bunch that they have. What we've seen, I mean, and again, we kind of talked about this at SEC media days as well. You know, what would losing Stetson Bennett do for Georgia's offense? Well, one, they're not as explosive because they're not pushing the ball vertically as much, but they have actually been on a yards per play basis, basically as good as they were a year ago. The problem is they're not as good in the red zone because they can't run the ball as well. And why is that?

I think a sneaky dynamic for Georgia the last two seasons, Andy, is that Bennett provided something with his legs and that's just not Bowers' game. That's just not Beck's game. Right. And so to compensate for that, you need to throw the ball more. Will they? You know, we're going to find out the run that there's the run, the damn ball meme for a reason with Bobo. I mean, it exists. Yeah, that's the thing.

Now, what you brought up about Kentucky, because if you look at the rest of the schedule, Kentucky is the one that probably is the best team left on this schedule. We'll see about Tennessee, but it's probably Kentucky. Kentucky stylistically is a bad matchup for Kentucky against Georgia. Good for Georgia. Like what Kentucky wants to do, Georgia's really good at stopping. But it's interesting because Auburn, very one-dimensional offense.

Kentucky, slightly more two-dimensional, but not really. Like, they're not going to play a multi-dimensional offense maybe until the SEC championship game, and maybe not even then. Like, that's an interesting question, Jesse. The SEC's down? How bad does that hurt Georgia as it tries to defend this national title? Because they're not really going to get, I don't think they're going to get properly challenged, but also I guess maybe it keeps them from getting beat because if somebody was a little bit better, they'd beat them. Yeah, I mean, we'll see. I mean, Kentucky has some really good receivers. They just keep dropping the ball. You know, if some of those playmakers can look like and play like they did a year ago,

that could be a game. You know, Mark Stoops is probably pretty chapped that his team, you know, whacks the hell out of Florida. And now they're going to get Georgia's best shot. Of course. Because Kirby and the dogs escaped Jordan Hare. You know, Ole Miss, we'll see what happens with the rest of this LSU game. That could be a trickier game for Georgia come November because Jackson Dart does have the legs that could present

some problems. And if those playmakers, Zachary Franklin, Trey Harris, if those guys are healthy, you know, that's an offense that can be dynamic. But we saw them also get shoved in a locker just a week ago. I mean, who knows? The SEC, to your point, the SEC is pretty, you know, people don't want to hear this, but the SEC is pretty mid right now. Oh, yeah. For all the kids, as all the kids say. I think even fans of SEC schools can accept that.

I think they have eyes. And this is, I mean, look, it's not going to be. It's the SEC though, Andy. I look, it's not going to be. It's the SEC though, Andy. I don't know. I don't know. But it's not going to be that much better than every other league every single year. There will be years when it's not that good.

And this is one of those years. The difference is when it's been not that good before in recent vintage, there's been some team at the top that was a complete superpower that just destroyed everybody. Georgia is not there right now. And so we'll, we'll see what happens with them, but this is, this is going to be interesting the rest of the way. This is not, it's definitely not over. And I mean, I hope that Kentucky game's good. I hope Kentucky does give them a challenge. I, I find it very interesting that this is a, a situation that we're seeing. Cause I thought going into the season, maybe Georgia just rolls to number three

and that wasn't going to be very interesting. This is going to be fascinating going forward. Well, it's crazy because they both look extremely flawed. And at the same time, I think both of us agree. There's not a, if we did a poll among on three staff, hell, just if you just did it with the entire AP voting block, they were, there would not be a real consensus over who is the number one team.

I think after this week, I think, I think six, six teams got a vote a week ago. I think as many or more could get a number I think, after this week. I think six teams got a vote a week ago. I think as many or more could get a number one vote after this Saturday. Oh, I think so too. And I think we may see a change at the top too. It'll be interesting to see.

Yeah, because, I mean, if Washington goes and blows Arizona's doors off, I know it doesn't really, it's not that big of a deal, but people are going to look at it and say, well, that's the team that has been sharp every single week this year. That means something. And then Michigan houses, Michigan houses, Nebraska on the road. Actually, let's talk about that because Michigan hadn't covered a spread all year. Michigan annihilated Nebraska. It wasn't even close. It was not. And that's what you're supposed to do when you're a national title contender. And Michigan hasn't close. It was not. And that's what you're supposed to do when you're a

national title contender. And Michigan hasn't played a close game yet. You can say that the Rutgers game was close at halftime, but Michigan looks like a team that does what it's supposed to do when they have those games. Now they've got to go to happy Valley. So we'll see where they're at when, when they play at Penn state, But so far, they look very sharp. J.J. McCarthy looks great. They have a little bit of that 2021 Georgia Boa Constrictor thing going on. It may start a little slow, but then they just get home. And today it did not start slow at all.

They jumped on Nebraska immediately. But then they just squeezed the life out of opponents in the second half. Blake Corum, Donovan Edwards, they ran I think five different tailbacks got carries for the Wolverines today. McCarthy was super sharp. Roman Wilson had an awesome touchdown catch, and he has been fantastic for them. There's been questions about the Wolverines at receiver for years.

He's a senior now, but he's finally coming into his own. I think he leads the nation in touchdowns. So they're fun to watch. And I would not be surprised if they get the lion's share of maybe eight or nine teams getting number one votes out of the AP if they get that top vote. Yeah. And it would be – I don't think anybody would complain if that happened. No.

They still have a chance to prove themselves and they'll be challenged. I don't, I don't think they're that much better than Penn state or Ohio state if they are the number one team, but we'll, we'll know when they play those games. But I like what Michigan has done. I like the way they're constructed. They definitely seem talented enough to win a national title. And that's, that's what it takes. Another team that seems talented enough to win a national title that was not as challenged as it could have been today was Texas. Kansas comes in there, no Jalen Daniels, his back tightened up. And you know, at that point you knew what was going to happen. I had picked Kansas to cover the spread, but that was with an assumption that Jalen Daniels was playing. I was still predicting a two-touchdown loss.

Texas did exactly what they should have done. Could have been a lot worse if Texas had been a little bit sloppy in the first half. But again, I like the way Texas has handled business these past couple weeks. Yeah, I mean, Jalen Daniels missing this game, certainly I think hurt it from both an aesthetic perspective. But he doesn't play defense. And the Jayhawks' defense allowed, I think, over 650 yards. Yeah.

You know, I mean, Quinn Ewers and Brooks, the tailback, I mean, they were just racing up and down the field. Texas has so many awesome playmakers. I mean, that is an offense that if it gets humming, it's a light show. And they ended up lighting up the Jayhawks, mainly running away with this thing in the third and fourth quarter. Well, and they feel like a real contender now. We got them against Oklahoma next week,

so we're going to get a good look at Texas and and what they are how do you feel about how do you feel about the Sooners I kind of think they're a paper tiger I'm very I'm very curious to see what happens with them tonight I feel like they have tackled better I don't know that they're great up front defensively but they seem to make open field tackles better than they did last year which seems to make a big difference I don't know about that offense against the Texas defense, against a team that talented. And I don't know that anything we're going to see before that is going to tell us. Cincinnati had Dante Corleone, who's pretty good, and they slowed him down. They only scored 20 points against Cincinnati.

So it is going to be a really eye-opening week, I think, with Texas, Oklahoma, with Georgia, Kentucky. One thing we do need to mention, Jesse, before we go, this middle tier of games, the Georgia-Auburn game is what everybody was watching. But while you were watching Georgia survive Auburn, you probably missed Baylor coming back from down 35-7. We were all composing our congratulations on your first big 12 win UCF Knights tweets. And we had to erase them because Baylor,

starting at 320 in the third quarter, scored 29 unanswered points to beat UCF. So huge win for the Bears. And man, did they need it. They would have dropped to one in four if they'd have lost this one. But that's a happy flight home from Orlando. And most flights

home from Orlando are not happy. So that's a really happy one. I thought you were going to say folks were erasing their tombstone columns about Dave Aranda and his job security in Waco. Because the message boards were already hot a week ago, and I think they would have been searing if you go at UCF and just get blasted.

But instead, you don't get blasted. You actually end up rallying with 26 unanswered in the fourth. Remarkable. There was a lot going on at night. That LSU Ole Miss game was fantastic if you liked offense. If you liked defense, well, it probably made you throw up. But it was a spectacular ending because it was back and forth, back and forth. There were a couple stops, and finally Ole Miss pulls it out.

And, of course, Notre Dame-Duke was a thriller. After controlling most of the game, Notre Dame allows Duke to get back in it, and it allows Duke to take the lead at 14-13. But Sam Hartman engineers a 95-yard drive to win the thing. Had a huge conversion on a fourth and 16. It was an incredible performance by Hartman and a gutty performance by Notre Dame that probably raised as many questions about Notre Dame. In fact, we're going to lead off with a question about exactly what we saw and where Notre Dame is and where Duke is right now, it actually sets up a pretty exciting

next few weeks for the Fighting Irish. And really, if we look at next week and we will look extensively at it with Jesse Simonson, this one's going to be fun. So let's talk about Notre Dame and Duke, Ole Miss and LSU, and a big, big upcoming week. We have just watched Notre Dame come back and beat Duke. And Jesse, let me just lead off with Jeff's question. Jeff says, Andy, help me out here. Notre Dame won, but are they good? Duke lost, but were they the better coach team? I don't know what to think. Jesse, I feel like this is a little bit of like the football gods just evening out the score from last week for Notre Dame. And then you got Sam Hartman getting that first down where last week he didn't get the first down?

I mean, I think this was a game where it looked like Notre Dame was going to let Ohio State beat them twice, which is what happened to Marcus Freeman a year ago. You lose to Ohio State, you then lose to Marshall. They didn't, though. I mean, that was a hell of a – just a remarkable, you know, 90 some odd yard drive, the fourth and 16 Dukes blitzing the house at Sam Hartman and all these plays. Then they, they decide to drop eight. You know, he has this delayed scramble estimate scores, the touchdown, you know, you had the funny tweet about, you know, the Notre Dame backers. I was on that five and a

half. That was, that was one of my best. Put up two fingers. You're like, I get the math on this dude, but there's a bunch of people puckered up right now. But I love it. So, you know, cash me winner winner on that one. But I mean, I, I did think that I kind of thought in this game, honestly, yes, Mike Elko, I think is a fantastic coach. I've, you know, bandied his name about to be you know maybe the top candidate for Michigan State he that either was any other good job that's over or any other good job hottest can how this candidate on the market but I kind of thought some of his decisions turtled up a little bit I you know hell of a hell of a you know uh punt by

Riley Leonard but you could go for the jugular there. You're at home, fourth and six. That's a manageable conversion. You punt the ball there. And then to play safe on defense on fourth and 16, both moves backfired. They made him go over 90 yards. Now, granted, they could have kicked a field goal in one. But I don't have a problem with the pooch there that gets him pinned inside the 10.

I hope Riley Leonard's going to be okay. It didn't look like he's going to be okay. That looked real bad at the end with his ankle, but man, it was a very well, like Duke played the game. They had to play to be in it. Neither team was great at finishing drives. Both teams need to kick better. Let's let's be real about that. Notre Dame, remember last week, if they'd kicked better, they'd have won that game. Ohio State would have been in a very different position at the end of the game. They also would have been in a better position or would have won the game outright if they had receivers that could more often win one-on-one battles. They finally got some of that late tonight, but it was a struggle for much of the first three quarters

where their receivers just could not get open against Al Blades and Duke's corners. Duke's corners are very good. Al Blades, Miles Jones, the Texas A&M transfer. A&M transfer. Yeah, they've done a great job. We had Tom Lugenanville on the show who had been the sideline guy for Duke Clemson.

And he said, when you looked out there, they looked like equals, Duke and Clemson did. So this is not like a cute little story. Like Duke is good. They are good top to bottom. And we'll see what happens. I'm assuming it'll be with a backup quarterback going forward. But like, it doesn't get any easier for Notre Dame, by the way.

They got to play Louisville next week. On the road, 5-0, the 5-0 cards who, you know, they lost some of their best players on defense to the NFL and Yaya and then the transfer portal. The one kid goes to Ole Miss, linebacker. But they seem to be, you know be pretty salty there defensively still. And Braum has that offense cooking. Now, they struggled on the road at NC State,

but they found a way to make enough plays in the second half. Jack Plummer threw five touchdowns just a week ago. Jamari Trash has been one of my top ten transfer portal players in the 2023 rankings each week. He like leads the ACC in touchdowns tied with Keon Coleman. So that's going to be a dog fight for the Irish coming off this tough road, you know, weekend to then immediately turn around and say,

you got to go to Louisville and face a team that there's probably going to be ranked in the top 25 too. A little birdie told me that Jeff Braum might be on Tuesday's show. Just saying. We do this show. There you go. During the week, Sunday night through Thursday night, 8 p.m. Eastern time on the On3Sports YouTube channel.

Just saying. Little Birdie says Jeff Braum's going to be on Tuesday's show. So five and a little. Little Birdie was a Cardinal, I bet. It was a Cardinal. It was a Cardinal. So, but Notre Dame and this, cardinal i bet it was a cardinal it was a card so but notre dame and in this but that point about louisville actually drives home the point about notre dame that they are not out of the playoff

race because they lost to ohio state if they went out they're gonna get in now that's a big if because they got louisville they got usc they got Clemson like it doesn't get easier they still have to keep winning can I push can I push back on that though what if yeah because I had this question in my mailbag I had this question in my mailbag on Wednesday and I actually said I think if Notre Dame goes 11 and 1 I don't think they'll get in because I think they'll get squeezed out to an 11 and one Ohio state or to a big 10 runner up. One to an Ohio state that loses to Michigan. Okay. I got you. Yes. And so I just think that, you know, when push comes to shove, this is maybe a rare year because of the 14

playoff. And because as we mentioned earlier, there's no number one, you know, no consensus. Number one, if we do have some chaos i could see this actually being a year where notre dame gets penalized for not playing in a conference championship game you know whether there is a 12 and 1 packed you know uh 12 champ or if an 11-1 ohio state is on the outside looking in they're gonna have that trump card over the irish so yeah we shall see lots of ball to be played. But here's, here's an interesting thing.

I just, as you were saying that if Ohio state wins the big 10 and let's say Michigan's 11 and one or Penn state's 11 and one, the games against Ohio state will then be compared the Notre Dame game. And the, you know, whoever is 11 and one who lost Ohio state. And if it, what, if it didn't come down on the final play, Notre Dame has the edge on that.

For sure. For sure. At the same time, I would push back and say, we talked about USC Swiss cheese defense. What if they lose a couple of times, including that win doesn't become as, as equitable. So lots of ball to be played i i do think we both believe that the irish are a legitimate contender and now it just is you know how's the rest of the schedule going to play out yeah steven lenore in the chat good good point rushing three on fourth down was dumb same thing indy did last week against ohio state keep the pressure up losses on the defensive corner. This is a good point because they were bringing heat on Sam Hartman.

You saw, like, going that forward, you saw the grass stains all over his jersey. Like, he had been pounded. And this was the one time they didn't, and he took off. And Marcus Freeman said after the game that he saw it open up as soon as Sam tucked it. And it's true. I mean, everybody's back was to Sam. That gave him a shot. I think he ended up having to kind of dodge one tackler there at the very end. But, man, that was –

That little dunk delay seemed to kind of honestly gain him an extra three or four yards. Cause I think you still had some Duke defenders backpedaling there. Cause again, they were in that drop eight coverage. Yeah. That's why I thought it was just kind of some strange decisions, but the pooch punt worked, you know, in a vacuum backing them up. But going conservative there a little bit, you know, I think that's playing not to lose. And then obviously dropping eight on 14-16.

That did not end up turning out well. I think we got to talk LSU. Yeah, let's do that. That's the next one I want to talk about. That was tremendous. 55-49, a game that included more than 1,300 offensive yards. There were two stops back-to-back in the fourth quarter, and you're like, oh, my God, this is incredible

because probably nobody's getting another stop, and it turned out Ole Miss did get one more stop. And it proved to be the difference. I mean, it's not too often you can have a quarterback have over 500 total yards, have an offense that has 10 plays over 20 yards, and lose the game because your defense allows over 700 yards and just showcases a complete inability to cover or tackle. I just – I'm confused, Andy.

I've got to say this. I'm someone that – and you and I have talked to people throughout. There's a lot of folks that are very high on Matt House, and he does have a strong reputation. Did it in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs. Comes back to college. But it just ain't been it at LSU the last two years. They got to the SEC Championship game last year, mainly through that offense. Harold Perkins had his heroics at

times. But this year, they have just been awful defensively, whether it's scheme, whether it's production. And this is now three times a season. It happened in the second half against Florida state last weekend against Arkansas. And then today against, you know, Ole Miss was just the nadir did the rebels get for the first time ever. I think I saw, I don't know if you, I think it was like 300 yards passing and rushing in the same game. Yeah. I mean, just, just absurdly bad.

And then this is a, this is a defense that has four or five stars everywhere. It's just, except they don't in the secondary. And that's the problem. The secondary is not good personnel wise compared to what LSU usually has. And it, it just drags them down.

It's the same. Like they were trying to cover Johnny Wilson and Keon Coleman and they couldn't. And then eventually they wore out. They wore out all night. I mean, they were worn out by halftime in this game, as was Ole Miss' defense. But anytime they play a team that either has dynamic receivers

or is capable of getting the ball to playmakers in space and forcing LSU's secondary to tackle, they're going to give up a ton of yards and a ton of points. Optional. Yeah, optional. I mean, Quinshawn Judkins entered this game. I know he's been beat up all season, but he entered this game with like around 195 yards rushing all season,

and he almost had that tonight by, you know, alone. Jackson Dart was tremendous, just throwing dimes. He threw, you know, and this is, hey, we talked about it, you know, earlier in the pod about, you know, who could be an offense that could challenge Georgia because they can do things both ways. And I mentioned Ole Miss. I said if they can get the run game going again

and if their playmakers are healthy. Well, Trey Harris showed tonight why he's been one of the top transfers in the country. He's missed the last couple games. The kid from the La Tech is just dynamic with the ball. Had several monster plays, including what ended up being the game-winning touchdown. Yeah, it was an impressive performance by Jackson Dart as well because they just kept going. And I thought Quenchon Judkins, I don't think he's 100% healthy,

even though he said this past week he's feeling better than he has been. But that was just an incredible performance by him because he's just getting pounded, and he's bouncing off tackles and gaining tough yards and grinding it out. So it was a pretty impressive performance. And I think you're right. I think we did the look ahead at Georgia's schedule and who among their remaining opponents other than Kentucky next week has the firepower to maybe give them a problem. And I think you're right. I think Ole Miss is the one.

Yeah. Did you yeah did you did you please tell me you caught rg3's line uh the jesus one oh i i was like what do you i know you went to a baptist school but let's let's not go but i will say rg3 was tremendous on that last old miss drive because remember rg3 played in that offense yeah he played in that offense so he's describing exactly what Jackson Dart is doing because they remember they just ran the ball until that back shoulder throw on the right sideline so they ran the ball like four plays in a row and you know it's it's hard for most people understand in that situation like why are you running the ball the clock's running running. You're just eating clock.

And RG3 is like, no, no, no, no. This is what will happen. That safety will drop down. That will be a one-on-one on the outside, and they will hit it as soon as it's open. And that's exactly what they did. Exactly what they did. I want to circle back to something else

you and I talked about at SEC Media Days. Remember when I literally did an about face and I said, you know what? Rarely do we come to this event and actually take something that a coach says at face value. There's so much just BS speak and just, you know, gobbledygook that's just kind of oozed out there. But Brian Kelly literally kind of puffing his chest all off season about beating alabama and then suddenly tapping the brakes when lsu seems to have a lot of momentum or a lot of juice being you know thrown their way hype about you know this is going to be a year that you guys

could be a title team you know sec champs etc etc and him basically walking back some of those things and being like well I'm not sure that we're our team has the depth I don't know if we're quite as talented we're not on the level and I told you I said on the podcast with you I said I'm picking Alabama now like this is that's that's enough for me I just like the fact that the head coach literally is coming out and trying to you know tamper expectations when everyone knows he went to Baton Rouge for the sole reason to win a national championship was concerning going into this season. And now we're not even out of September and they've lost two games. And now you know why he was doing that though, but you understand why I'm not saying,

I'm not saying it's false. I, and I'm actually, I'm actually lending credence to the fact that it's the first time that I've – not the first time, but it's one of these rare instances at those media days where you get some honesty and candor from coaches that proves true. And he was right that this team just – they don't have the depth. They don't have the high-end talent, as you mentioned, in the secondary. Some of those transfers may have been blue-chip players, but they're certainly not playing up to those recruiting rankings right now. And, you know,

when Harold Perkins has basically been MIA, because at this point they might as well play the cornerback. I don't know if you've, you've tried them at every other spot without, you know, he had a really good, he had a really good couple of weeks in a row against Mississippi state and Arkansas. And yeah, and this time nobody did anything on defense. I don't know that Harold Perkins could have done much in the position he's in because Ole Miss, they're just going to run when they think he's going to have a chance to sack somebody. Yeah, I mean, yeah.

It's just to have a defense with Makai Wingo, Mason Smith, Perkins, some of these other guys and give up 700 yards. 700. I mean. It is wild. And by the way, right now, and I was hoping this would time out like this. I was hoping we'd time out to get hopefully the end of the West Virginia TCU game on the show. Neil Brown, baby.

Yeah. Well, now they're doing a review. But it's fourth and 11 because West Virginia justCU game on the show. Neil Brown, baby. Yeah. Well, now they're doing a review, but it's fourth and 11 because West Virginia just sacked Chandler Morris. And now they're going to review whether it was a sack or not, but they're trying to figure out if they're going to kick a field goal or what with this last, last gasp effort for TCU. But West Virginia is up three, 24, 21. Neil Brown trying not, he said they wouldn't finish last in the Big 12.

At this point, he's going to get an extension. They definitely aren't. At this point, he's going to get an extension. It's crazy, and they're fun to watch. They're feisty, man. That defense has been really good in the second half. This is going to take a minute, so let's talk about another game real quick. Let's talk about Michigan State, Iowa. Speaking of defenses, Cade McNamara goes down. Deacon Hill

comes in for Iowa. Michigan State actually scored a few points in this game. Did not expect that to happen. I thought Michigan State was going to win this game. And then you get the Cooper to Gene punt return at the end that just seals it for the Hawkeyes. And they hit an over. And the drive for 325. Now they're still behind the pace. Still 14 points off the pace, but they did get a W. You know, for all the talk about, you know, Travis Hunter being a two-way star,

and there was this new kid at the five-star that committed, that wants to be a two-way star at Texas A&M next season. Five-star, I forget the kid's name. Apologies. But, you know, all these people are, you know, wanting to be the next Champ Bailey or the next Charles Woodson. Why the hell doesn't Iowa play Cooper DeGene on offense? He scores more touchdowns than all their guys a year ago.

He has another punt return for his sixth. Just give the ball to the kid and let him do something. I mean, he's unbelievable with the ball in his hands. Yeah, I just think they are allergic to doing fun things on offense. Like, they just keep doing it. Clearly. Like, they will break out in hives. Like, run Cooper to Gene on a jet sweep?

What do you mean? How could we do that is that legal we can't we can't play him both ways andy that we know that would cost us some nil money we we are saving for brian ference's uh you know uh reclamation fund it's just wild to me but yeah you're right i mean he is he is the best Iowa player with the ball in his hands. He's better than anyone on offense. Scored more touchdowns than all their receivers combined a year ago, and their pick six basically, or the punt return touchdown, basically won them the game tonight. Make a package where he gets the ball in his hand on offense.

You don't have to play him the way Colorado played Travis Hunter. And by the way, Travis Hunter got hurt playing offense. I get it. I understand. But you don't have to play him the way Colorado played Travis Hunter. And by the way, Travis Hunter got hurt playing offense. I get it. I understand. But you don't have to play him that way exactly. He doesn't have to play every snap. But just imagine what you might be able to do. Just saying. But that was, I felt bad for Michigan State because given everything that team has been through, they had a win. And it felt like locked up. And then that punt return just poof. You know who's bad in the Big Ten, Andy?

Well, not as bad, Purdue, because they beat Illinois. You called it, yeah. But Illinois, there's some stank on that one this year. There's some stank on that one. I just assumed that Purdue was going to be the team that's in transition. They lost their coach. They lost a lot in the portal. And that was just going to be a tough one.

But, yeah, it's – They housed. Yeah. Fighting a lot. They made it look easy. There were some weird results. It's they housed. Yeah. Fighting a lot. They made it look easy. I mean, there were some weird results. Bowling green over Georgia tech was a weird result.

Oh yeah. Yeah. I didn't see it. I mean, I can't speak to a second of that game. I am not, but I, but I saw,

I saw it come across the ticker and I was like, what? I mean, yeah. Virginia tech gets off the Schneid beats Pittsburgh. Cash it. I bet that I took the Hokies and in that spot, I mean, yeah, Virginia Tech gets off the schneid beats Pittsburgh. Cash it. I bet I took the Hokies in that spot. I mean, I think Pitt's terrible this year.

You know, Narduzzi, he's safe. A terrible year to be terrible because he would be Michigan State's coach for sure. If they were good. Yes. Yes. That that is a picked a terrible year to be terrible to not be Michigan State's coach. B, picked a terrible off with the coordinator. West Virginia blocks the kick.

The Mountaineers are going to win. YOLO Brown, baby. YOLO Brown. Four and one. Their only loss is to Penn State on the road. Well, honestly, the box score, the end score looks worse than that game actually was. They were fairly feisty in that game for two and a half quarters. Yeah, yeah.

They just don't have a quarterback. I mean, that's the problem. He's banged up. The backup's not any good. You're at green slander, Nico Marchio slander. I won't won't have it they're four and one jesse a win's a win how about me how about me calling oklahoma a paper tiger it's 21 20 against iowa state it looks like i'm totally it looks like what i'm saying is dead on empty to 20 just just get blitzkrieg for the rest of the game. I mean, Red River is going to be fun.

Red River is going to be fun. Yes. While we're at it, let's talk about what we're looking forward to next week because Red River is the obvious highlight. It's the first time those teams are meeting undefeated since 2011. But Georgia-Kentucky is going to be a banger. Louisville-Notre Dame is going to be fantastic. How about Ohio State-Maryland?

Yeah, Maryland. I don't know. I got to wrap up my predicting the AP poll top 25 after we wrap this later tonight. Still some games outstanding. I don't know if Maryland's going to get in. Kentucky is definitely going to be ranked. I think Louisville probably sneaks in there. Only a couple of teams are exiting the

rankings. So there's not going to be a ton of movement. But Maryland, I mean, they played Ohio state feisty a year ago for basically 55 minutes. And then the final score looked like it was two scores because JT had to pick six. You know, Maryland had the ball with a chance to win the game. Maryland had the ball with a chance to win the game. JT Tulewato gets to pick six. Ransom Latham had a great game in that game last year. He was huge in that game.

The game you caught a pass in a year ago. Alabama A&M is going to be interesting i mean it is amazing how next week is shaping up to feel a lot like last week did but it feels like there's even more weight to it because these teams have actually done something now for sure yeah and and now what do have? We have a little more We have basically We're around 33, 38 Or, you know, something like that Ish of the season We have at least a decent amount of data points

On some of these teams And so I can't wait I mean, it's going to be fun There's obviously still more football to be played tonight Alabama's still playing Washington and so on at halftime But it it was certainly a fun day. Tennessee, the Joe Milton thing, it's a run team. The Vols are a run team. When they can run the ball, they're good.

When they can run the ball, they're going to win because they can play solid enough defensively. I have no idea what Dow Loggins or Shane Beamer and South Carolina was doing at the end of the first half. That basically ended up probably squandering that game. I mean, you have a chance to go into halftime with a real shot still, and then you just give away a freebie touchdown. I think they still lose without it, but for those who didn't see the play,

it's third and 22. There are about 50 seconds left. I think it's 58 seconds left on the clock. Something like that, yeah. Tennessee has one timeout. So you run the ball. Tennessee will call that timeout, or the clock will run down to like eight seconds before you punt the ball probably they're going to call timeout they probably

wouldn't have scored it's a very different game at halftime at that point instead they throw the pick six they get the ball back they wind up punting because they threw a bunch of incomplete passes and Tennessee still hadn't used the timeout it was horrendous horrendous and this is clock management and this is after this is after Tennessee committed so not only did you give up a pick six Tennessee then commits a celebration penalty right the South Carolina thought they were gonna have good field position and they did did nothing and they did did nothing with it and still gave the ball back it was just yeah that's another team that you know I that's another team I actually felt like unlike um Arkansas as I as I kind of discussed earlier that I felt like I did have a good read on that I I just thought that they they

were set for a regression season, even if they felt better. And I think, you know, Rattler has been, as much as he's taken a beating, has been very impressive this season, but the rest of the team just doesn't have it. And they have a lot of tough games upcoming on the schedule. Yeah. Tennessee did a great job tonight of they'd have a third and five and they'd count the box, and they'd hand off, and just Jalen Wright or one of the other backs would just blast up the middle for like eight yards every time. And it had to be frustrating for South Carolina.

It had to just wear the defense out. And Tennessee looked like they were supposed to look. So it's interesting because you saw them lose to Florida. You saw Florida lose to Kentucky. Transitive property doesn't always work out that way. Home field does matter still. But that's a big win for Tennessee. They needed that one badly because if they lost that game,

the stuff in Knoxville gets loud. Not as loud as stuff in Gainesville, but it gets loud. Well, now they have their bye week, so they get to rest up a little bit. Cooper Mays, the guy who came back tonight, center, was certainly important for them. They've missed him sorely. He gets to rest up for a week. Then they go home versus A&M,

which is going to be coming off whatever happens versus Bama next weekend. And then it's the third Saturday in October against Alabama in Tuscaloosa. So they've got a big next couple weeks for the Vols. Another game for next week at you. Yeah, what do you got? It's going to be a noon Eastern, 11 a.m. local kick. LSU at Missouri. Brady Cook and Luther Burden against the LSU secondary.

Missouri's 5-0, by the way. Oh, yeah. Brady Cook threw for almost 400 yards today. Theo Weiss was awesome. Luther Burden, showstopping again. Had 11 catches, I think, for a couple hundred yards. Eli's finally got that offense cooking a little bit. That's been kind of what's held back the Tigers, ironically, the last couple seasons.

Their defense has been one of the better top five units in the SEC, but they just haven't been able to score. And Eli gives up play calling. They had the guy that's now at Boise State as their coordinator last year, have a new guy this year. Seems to be working out. I mean, Brady Cook. Yeah, it's Kellen Moore's brother.

Kellen Moore's brother. That's right. I couldn't remember his name. Couldn't remember his name. Good pull. Kirby Moore is his name. Kirby Moore. Kirby Moore. I don't know if there are other children in the family and if they have k first names but i'm guessing they do yeah i'm gonna go out and i might have a i i they probably have a sister

named kristin oh definitely hold on i'm looking it up now. Kellen Moore siblings. Kirby Moore is the only one that shows up. But I could be wrong. I'm going to drag the show down trying to find all this. Only one that has a job that anyone is concerned about from a gambling perspective. That's probably why. Exactly. But, yeah, that game is going to be interesting. Because if LSU can't stop Ole Miss

they may struggle to stop Missouri too and that's tough too you got to get off the mat road game in Oxford and then it's a sleepy 11 a.m. you know kickoff I may not be that sleepy they can for a field can get going when they're when they're excited I was there when they beat Oklahoma when Oklahoma was number one in the country. And that place was... Oh, no, I've been to that stadium. I've been to that stadium many times. It's actually, honestly, I think the most miserable stadium to go to in late November

when it's 18 degrees outside. But no, you're right. It can get rocky. I'm more saying a sleepy perspective from LSU coming off. Oh, yeah. You know, a tough loss, and then now you're having to wake up, you know, early kickoff. We know the offense is going to be there.

But it's what can Matt House and his secondary and his defense do? We shall see. TBD, it should be fun. Well, this next week is going to be awesome. It should be fun. Well, this next week is going to be awesome. This, this Saturday was fun. There was a ton.

I mean, starting with USC in Colorado and, and, and coach prime keeping it close and us saying, Oh, it is the same USC defense, by the way, my thousand dollars that I would owe Ari Wasserman. If USC makes the playoff,

I'm feeling pretty safe with that right now because I don't think they're going to do it this year. And then they're Caleb Williams-less when they go into the Big Ten next year, even though it's a 12 team. But I don't know. He thought he was going to cash it last year. We were in Vegas in the first half of the Utah game, the Pac-12 championship, and he was ready for me to pay up that night. So this has been quite the turnaround.

What is his phrase? Grab ass? Their defense plays too much grab ass. That's the problem. It doesn't grab anything. That's the problem. It doesn't grab anything. Maybe that's the better way to put it. They both play grab play grab air that's that's the issue or grabbing the air yeah yeah so yeah we we've gotta we've gotta watch that one because that as they go forward you know they're gonna have to play even better offenses and like what is Notre Dame what is Notre Dame gonna do to them because Notre Dame's offense doesn't feel that dynamic, but it feels like it will wear you out eventually. Or yeah. And you know, that'll be, Notre Dame will be probably depending on how you view Oregon.

I think Notre Dame will be the best defense USC plays. It's either Notre Dame or Utah probably. Right. And they'll play Utah. Utah is basically Iowa right now. So they're not going to be able to keep up. Unless Cam Rising can come back, Utah is Iowa. Unless he rises from the dead, they need that. Yes, and USC will have Washington and Oregon in consecutive weeks, one at home, one on the road. That's a big ask for any defense.

It's a huge ask for that defense. Jesse, it's been a pleasure. This has been fun. We got to, maybe we need to get together this week and check in on our quarterback draft. I believe I took the lead last week. I don't know where we're at now, but a big Joe Milton night for me.

So I'm feeling pretty good about that. Yeah, yeah. The two picks there, I think, finally dinged it a little bit. I don't know how I'm losing with the fact that I have Caleb Williams and Michael Pennix, but I think, finally dinged it a little bit. I don't know how I'm losing with the fact that I have Caleb Williams and Michael Penix, but I think missing Michael Pratt for three games. There's your problem, right? Yeah, when you have some injuries, you have some issues.

In the stats. So we'll see. It's a long season, five weeks in. I do think it's fairly close. We'll see if I can make up some ground this week with having a couple of the Heisman frontrunners. All right. Jesse Simonson, thank you so much. Thank you, you guys, for listening. ground this this week with uh having a couple of the Heisman front runners all right Jesse Simonson thank you so much thank you you guys for listening and again we do this Sunday through

Thursday 8 p.m eastern time on the on three sports youtube channel or it's on demand like and subscribe baby that's right like subscribe leave a review thumbs up we love those let's mess with the algorithm a little bit also if you're listening in podcast form, same thing, like, subscribe, leave a good review. Hopefully you're making something good for breakfast. I love when you send me pictures of the breakfast you're making Sunday morning while you listen. So can't wait to see those. And we got a lot to talk about because there's a lot left to digest from this week and we have to start getting you ready for a monster Saturday next week. We'll talk to you again real soon.