College Football Live - Bracket Breakdown!

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Victoria Arlen, Tom Luginbill, Sam Acho and Pete Thamel are back with a Tuesday edition of CFB Live! The Crew provides analysis of all 4 upcoming playoff games that are finally here this weekend! Plus Pete provides some updates around the league and leads a discussion regarding how the transfer portal has affected College Football overall. All that and more right here on CFB Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome into college football live. I'm Victoria Arlin. Let's go out the tunnel. After his backup cuby, Beau Perbula announced he's entering the portal. Penn State head coach James Franklin sounds off about the portal and understandably not in the best way. And ahead of their first ever matchup against Texas, we've got Clemson linebacker Barrett Carter joining the show and we're going to talk with him on Clemson's run and the fighting mentality. Also, after one of the closest votes in almost two decades, we have a new high-year-old. Heisman winner. We discuss how Travis Hunter edged out Ashton Genty for the coveted award. This is college football live. Let's go. We turn things up on this fine Tuesday. The only way we know how with the best of the best, of course. I've got Sam Acho with me in studio and of course Tom Luganville with us from afar

and Pete Famo will be joining us in just a bit. But let's get right to it, fellas, because we are so close to the playoff chaos officially commencing. We are now, just three days away from the college football playoff first round of games. Starting on Friday, we have 10th-seated Indiana taking just a 200-mile trip to Notre Dame for the first-ever playoff game between same-state opponents, and the winner will face the number two-seeded Georgia Bulldogs. Number 12, Clemson heads over to Austin to take on Texas for the first time ever on the gridiron. The winner will face off against one of the hottest teams in the CFP, Arizona State, and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. And we've got Josh Hypole's Tennessee Vols making the trip to Columbus home of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Now the last time the two programs met, the volunteers were led by pro Hall of Famer Peyton Nanning. And of course, SMU takes on the Nittany Lions to kick off the slate of games Saturday. The two are slated for their first matchup since 1978. And the Mustangs look to knock off Penn State and earn their first 12 win season since 1939. Now sticking with the Lions star quarterback Drew Aller informed the school. coaching staff that he intends to return for his senior year in 2025. Now, Aller, who announced the decision on Monday via social media, is projected to be one of the most productive quarterbacks in college football heading into next season.

He has thrown for 5,869 yards and 50 touchdowns in his Penn State career. Let's bring in the great Pete Thammel. Now, Pete, what went into this decision for Aller to return for his senior year? Well, Victoria, this wasn't an easy decision for Drew Aller. He has been rising on the boards of NFL teams in the past few weeks. Despite the loss to Oregon, Aller had another really good game, and he's closed strong for Penn State. Look, he's 6'5, 235 pounds, and he kind of fits that old school NFL archetype. He's also agile enough to move some.

And the choice for Aller was simple. Do you go and be a projected maybe late first round? early second round pick, or do you come back to college, be one of the faces of the sport in 2025 and duel with Garrett Nussmeier to potentially be QB1 in 2026? That is definitely something to weigh right there. Now, that was the good news for Penn State. Here was the bad news. On Sunday, Bo Pugrula, the team's top backup behind Aller announced on social media, he was entering the transfer portal and leaving the team just days ahead of their first. round playoff games, citing a, quote, overlapping CFB playoff and transfer portal timeline.

He described it as a, quote, impossible decision made with a heavy heart. His head coach weighed in on the decision Monday. We talked last week, had no intentions of leaving, but we got problems in in college football. and I can give you my word Beau Perbula did not want to leave our program and he did not want to leave our program until the end of the season. Now, Lugues, what do you make of all of this

portal mayhem in December? Well, it's absolute insanity. It would be the equivalent of the NFL season being near the end of their season, getting ready to embark on the playoffs, and all of a sudden, free agency opens and all of the players that want to leave can just go and leave. That's what we're talking about right here.

And this kid was put into an impossible position. And here's the difference between pro football and college football as it relates to this. It's very easy to say, okay, we've got to fix the calendar. We've got to move the transfer portal out of December and back it up into January or into the spring. The problem is you have eligibility and you have enrollment for the winter semesters or the quarter system. So the players have to obviously go find a place.

They've got to be able to take their visit. They've got to make their choices, but they've also got to do it in a time frame that allows them to enroll in school. And that's where the rub is. And this is just nobody wanted this for college football. It disgusts me. I cannot believe we're even talking about this. And we're having the biggest moment in sports and college football come up this weekend. And we have guys making decisions to not play with their team because of a calendar.

A frustrating, Lug's, but I wouldn't go as far as saying disgusting. Why do I say that? Last year, remember Malik Murphy, the backup quarterback at Texas, who won. multiple games as a backup actually made the decision to leave Texas during the college football playoff and go and transfer to Duke. He had a great career, great season at Duke. Now he's in the transfer portal again. I go to what's happening now. Bo Perbula, no, he's not completely a backup quarterback. He has a package within this offense, but he's looking for a new opportunity. And so I get the frustration. Of course he wanted to play. Of course Malik

Murphy wanted to play. But would you sacrifice playing and then not have an opportunity for the next year or two or three to go and be a starter somewhere? else. And so it is frustrating for sure based on the calendar, but I understand where not only both Perbule is coming from or Malik Murphy, but all the quarterbacks are position players who were looking for an opportunity during this time. We're looking for the best opportunity. And sometimes it's trades and different balances. I think it's the combination of the two you have Aller coming back. And of course, Bo wants to go start somewhere else. And also SMU head coach, Rhett Lashley suggesting today the December portal window should be eliminating, stating that the tough

decisions players have to make about whether to transfer play in the college football playoff. It's a challenging one for sure. But speaking of the playoff, let's shift gears to the game. We got Penn State and SMU both preparing for their college football playoff debut. Sam, what makes you so confident in Penn State? Well, it's their offense and not just their offense, but their big playoff fence. Penn State has one of the most explosive offenses in all of college football, led by quarterback Drew Aller. You see tight end, Tyler Warren, and also offensive coordinator, Andy Kodonicki.

This offense is fourth in power four in yards per dropback, 8.27. but they're also fourth in yards per play. And so this offense last year wasn't the most explosive offense, but similar players, but a new mindset and new coordinator has given this offense the ability to be explosive. And so for me, the reason I'm confident in Penn State isn't because of the weather of their opponent, but it's because of their big playability led by Drew Aller and Dakota Nikki, Tyler Warren, and the offense. Now, Lug's, we saw SMU struggle versus Clemson in the ACC championship game with one high-pressure game under their belt. How do you see them faring on the road in Happy Valley?

Well, listen, they did the one thing against Clemson in the ACC championship game that they hadn't done all year long and that was play poorly early. Get off to a slow start. Turn the football over. Make uncharacteristic errors that they had not done all year. Now, when that happens and you haven't done that before, then you're going to ask yourself, well, what does my team do if you're at Lashley? What did they do? They responded. And then they saved themselves in the fourth quarter, which got them into the college football. ball playoff. I think that's encouraging that your team responded like that because you're going to go into maybe the most hostile environment you've ever played in at least prior to the death penalty.

And it's going to be about 25 degrees. And you know that going in, if you were to get down, if you were to struggle a little bit early, you know your team's not going to fold. And I think that's very encouraging for Rhett Lashley. I think they gained momentum and confidence by charging back in the fourth quarter in the ACC championship game. But this is a very encouraging. going to be a tall order, right? You know, when I, when I talk to coaches who play SMU after they played them, a couple of things came up. They said, we didn't realize how fast their skill was, and they were better up front than we thought they would be. That's encouraging. You got to make sure you take SMU serious. Now, the most recent meeting between these two teams was back in

1948, nearly 15 years ago in the Cotton Bowl. So it's going to be an exciting matchup regardless and to see how SMU shapes up. All right, coming up, We have defensive powerhouse Barrett Carter joining the show. He sits down with us to discuss Clemson's run into the playoff and what he expects of his team. That's next. Clemson has made its seventh college football playoff appearance after sneaking its way into the ACC championship game, despite at one point having just a 4% chance to make it to that game alone. Their seventh playoff appearance, it's second in the FBSS behind Alabama.

And let's take a look back at how Clemson got here. four to three. If you're a Clemson fan, you have to ask yourself, when are we going to change? We got a long season ahead, and we still got a chance. There's not anything off the table for this team. Everybody only and everybody committed. A great throw by club.

Guy's a touchdown. This team is playing like a team that can compete, not only in the playoffs, but for a national championship. Louisville for the first time in their program's history, win it over Clemson. Hey, what a time to me. Defense is an elite level defense. It's intercepted it.

Another sight. Taken down from behind. Clumnik buys some time. Knight picked it up. South Carolina for the second time in a row will come to Clemson and win. It's missed opportunity. Whatever guys got for us, he's got for us.

A star at Syracuse. Hey, Davo Sweeney, congrats. I got you win, baby. He'll be a 56-yarder. That way. At one point, your Clemson squad had just a 4% chance to reach the ACC championship. And not only did you win that, but here you all are getting ready for the start of the college football playoff. Barrett Carter, welcome to the show.

And I have to start with that incredible win against SMU and the Us Against the World Sign. Can you tell us the story behind that? Yeah, so it was a great win. Glad that we pulled that one out. But in one of our team meetings last week or two weeks ago, Coach Sweeney, he brought it up and said it's us against the world. And it kind of just resonated with me. And after the, after the game, our kicker made the kick.

And I'm like, I got to write something on the whiteboard. And it just came to my mind, us against the world. And that's just our team's mindset going into this. And going with that mindset, Barry, this is Sam Macho. A lot of people aren't picking Clemson to win. The 12th seed in the college football playoff. Why should people believe that you all can make it to a national championship? We're battle tested.

You know, everyone has, you know, given up on us ever since week one. And then, you know, us having three losses. They didn't think that we would be here. They didn't want us to be here. And, you know, God, God opened the door for us. And, you know, it's up to us to walk through it now. And, you know, this team has something special brewing. You know, it's up to us to go to show that to the world.

But, you know, we can compete with anybody at the high stage. And diving a little bit deeper, you know, it's been so awesome. your team fight to get here. And it has been a fight. How would you describe that fight and that mindset that the Tigers have? Yeah, it's like, it's really like an underdog mentality. And like just come into the season, just this team has just been through so much,

especially just my past three years of being here. And, you know, now that's my fourth year. I'm one of the core leaders on this team. Like we decided like, we need to do things differently like this season. We need to do more than we've ever done. And we just have to just know that nobody wants, Nobody wants to, you know, wants us to be in the playoffs and nobody wants to see us. So that's just our mindset, just knowing that, you know, ultimately they don't want us to be here.

So we have to show that we belong in the playoffs and we belong at the highest stage. Barrett, just going to your personal story a bit. I got a chance to talk with Davos-Sweeney. He said you're one of the most pure football players he's ever been around. But linebacker wasn't always your first position. What was your football journey? Yeah, so growing up, I was always a running back. in a receiver and they just put me a linebacker because I was always like the biggest kid on the

field. I was the same size right now that I wasn't like the second grade. But yeah, so my freshman year high school, I was all running back, all receiver. And then one day in the spring, they moved with a linebacker. I was devastated. Like I literally almost caught football. I really just such a bad time. But I'm pretty sure the next day I got my first scholarship offer for linebacker and the rest was history. So I mean, it's crazy how, you know, God works things out. But if you were to tell me that like when I was that young, like I would be a division one linebacker, I would have thought you were crazy. So it's just crazy how it's all worked out for me. I'd say it's worked out pretty well. Now one more question for you, Barrett. What do you want everyone

to know about the Clemson Tigers going into this matchup? I mean, honestly, you'll see come Saturday and hopefully these next couple weeks. But just that we belong here. You know, we're not here for no reason. There's a reason that, you know, that we made it to the ACC championship. And, you know, we won that game and we show that we belong in the playoffs. So, I mean, you know, the table will speak for yourself. Our play will speak for itself.

And we're out here to show the world what we can do. So that's all that is. Thank you, Barrett. And good luck this weekend. Thank you so much. Appreciate y'all. Louves, this is going to be an epic matchup the first time that these two teams play one another. What are you looking out for in this one?

Well, let's start on the offensive side of the football for Texas. And Steve Starkeesian has spoke this week about the health of Quinn yours and that his ankle's probably healthier in better position than it was going into the Georgia game. That's a good thing. In fact, I'd say the same thing because you don't want to tip your hand. But that doesn't mean if you're Clemson, you don't test that mobility. I think you try to come after him early, get in his face. When he's been under duress, when he's had pressure, his QBR is 12. When he hasn't, his QBR is 83.

That's a big disparity there. So I think early on, you've got to see, can he move? Can he navigate the pocket? Because when he's made throws off platform, he has struggled to throw the football accurately and it's resulted in turnovers. So Clemson, test Quinn Ewers early from a pass rush standpoint. I think from the flip side, obviously, Clemson, you've got to look to the health of Phil Moffa. The running back's going to have shoulder surgery after the year, but you need a

healthy dose of him because if you don't have that, more of the run game responsibility may fall on Kade Klubnick's shoulders. That may not be all bad. You love that as a change of pace, but you don't want to overdo it. Reminder, Texas did not have to play a Lenora Sellers. Texas did not have to play a Jalen Milro. So Kade Klubnick could be a real factor with his legs to try to slow down that Texas pass rush, force Texas to add an extra hat in the box to try to to defend quarterback run. And then if you have a chance of winning this thing and you're Clemson and you're on the road,

Kade Klubnick has to be decisive. He's got to use anticipatory traits and he's got to get the ball out of his hand. Expect Garrett Riley to get the ball moving laterally to try and get the ball out of his hand quickly and get that Texas team running east to west to slow down the pass rush. All we can say is we're going to expect the unexpected.

Now the 12 team college football playoff round kicks off Friday with Notre Dame hosting Indiana at 8 on ESPN and ABC. then TNT has the first two games Saturday starting with Penn State hosting SMU and Happy Valley and Clemson at Texas. And we wrap things up with Ohio State hosting Tennessee at the shoe in Columbus on ESPN and ABC. All right. Let's bring back Pete with some more news in the coaching world starting with Michael Vic. What do you got for his Pete?

Could we have another hero of the NFL of the 90s on the sideline in college football? We'll find out in the upcoming days, Victoria. Michael Vic is in discussions with both Norfolk State and Sacramento. state to Division I FCS schools about their head coaching job. They're very different jobs. Sacramento State has made a big commitment resource-wise in an effort to probably get to the PAC 12 at some point. Norfolk State, there's a tug of home for Vic there.

He obviously grew up in Virginia and is from that area. So Michael Vic could have some decisions to make in the upcoming days if he wants to be a college football head coach. We'll be keeping a close eye on that one. Let's also get to the news of Wake Forest football coach, Dave Claussen, who is stepping down after 11 seasons as head coach, and he will remain with the university in an advisory role. He spoke earlier today. Take a listen. I tried to embrace it. I tried to fight through it. I tried to get a new mindset with it. I could do it. I just don't want to do it.

It's really where I am. It's not the way I'm wired. It's not how I'm. I build programs. It's not why I got into coaching. And you can't do something successfully. And it's not fair to the players or the institution if you're doing something that your whole heart and soul isn't into. Now, we've seen this trend more than once across multiple sports. Now, Pete, do you see this continuing as the landscape changes? to me Dave Closson stepping down as Wake Forest coach is indicative of the fact that it's going to be increasingly difficult at academic forward schools to build programs. Part of the competitive advantage that Dave Closson built when he got Wake Forest into the top 10 was continuity.

The transfer portal wasn't as big of a factor. NIL wasn't as big of a factor. He was able to keep players, nurture them, build them and grow. It's not a coincidence, Victoria, that Stanford's struggling right now. Northwestern is struggling right now. The value value of NIL is trumping the value of degree, which was a big deal with scholarships where the only things schools could legally give. You're 100% correct there, Pete, and it's a shame because this is a really good football coach. We've seen now Gus Malzahn do this at UCF, saw Chip Kelly do it at UCLA, and you feel like you're banging your head against a wall because you're not playing with the same deck of cards as many of your peers in the profession. And when you're a developmental program like Wake Forest, and here's a number for you. They had 54 all-ACC honored players since 2019.

That's the fifth most of any team in the ACC. Well, those days are coming to an end because the moment you develop that player into that all-conference player, he's gone because you can't keep him and you can't afford him. And that's a real shame. It's definitely shame times.

They've definitely changed and it's sad to see. All right, we're going to take a break. Travis Hunter became only the second full-time defensive player to ever win the Heisman and only the fifth wide receiver Coming up, we reflect on his accomplishment next. 12-team college football playoff is here, and the stakes are higher than ever. Let me see, come on.

You know, I used to play football in college. You never went to college, Pumba. I did, and I was really good until I pulled my hammy. Oh, okay, I see what you did there. It all starts this Friday, the new era of the college football playoff on ESPN and ABC. Yes! Well, what do we have here?

Whoa, now that's epic. And Disney's Mufasa, the Lime. Lion King only in theaters rated PG. It was prime time when Colorado star defensive back. Travis Hunter hit the field and his success earned him the coveted Heisman trophy. Hunter received 214 more points than Boise State running back Ashen Gentie. The smallest margin of victory since 2009 and Sam, what was your reaction to Hunter winning the Heisman?

It's just a vision of Coach Prime and Dion Sanders. They started at Jackson State. He went to Colorado and went to Heisman from there. I'm amazed. All right. What about you, Luke's? Well, I'll tell you what? tell you what, this is the 1994-95 Academy Award Best Picture nominee, right? So hear me out.

Ashton Genti is the Shawshank Redemption to Travis Hunter's Forrest Gump. In any other year, Shawshank Redemption walks away with it. But everybody liked Forrest Gump, some people like Shawshank better. All right. I mean, I couldn't have said it better myself. All right, for say, I'm Luke's Pete. I'm Victoria. Thanks for watching college football live. We'll see you tomorrow.