College Football Live - CFB Live- 9/4 - Second Week Slump?

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

Join our crew Zubin Mehenti, Sam Acho, EJ Manuel and special guest Joe Fortenbaugh as they look ahead to Week Two! We've got a QB Battle brewing in Norman where true freshman Bryce Underwood will face his first unfriendly crowd of his college career...and Ole Miss has a chance to avenge their last minute loss to Kentucky last year. Coach Lance Leipold joins us to give the insider scoop on Kansas before they face off against Missouri this Saturday, and Joe Fortenbaugh gives us his best bets for Week Two! Speaking of Week Two...we all remember Northern Illinois's major upset of Notre Dame last season...which team coming off a big win in Week One is poised to have a similar let down? The guys weigh in on this and more on today's episode of College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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A guy on Team 2 facing a kid playing game two. Battle in Norman between Michigan and Oklahoma, Underwood, and Meteer on the way. Lance Leipold, Kansas head coach, joins College Football Live to tell you the secret weapon he's got in store as one of college football's most bitter rivalries resumes on Saturday. And who, after a magical week one win, could be primed for a letdown this Saturday? The answer on college football live. And we welcome you inside with E.J. Manuel, Sam Acho. I'm Zubin Mahentie.

I'll be joined by these two plus Joe Fortinball a little bit later. But first, let's hear from these two. Brent Venable, Sharon Moore, getting set for the big one Saturday night. Got a great opportunity this week with Michigan coming. in the town. Going to be really exciting from an environment standpoint for our football team, most importantly, get an opportunity for us to match up with what's been in the last several years and one of the best teams in college football. It's going to be an awesome atmosphere. Don't get me wrong. It's a great town, great place. I've known Brent, obviously, for a long time.

And much respect to a lot of people on their staff, you know, Brent was my defensive coordinator, but this is about the kids. It's not about me. It's not about any return to home for me. about the players on our football team going to go try to win a game. You kind of heard Sharon mention it there as the battle of quarterbacks heats up with those number one. Sharon played at Oklahoma won multiple Big 12 championship,

so it's kind of a homecoming for him, but he's trying to downplay it and keep the focus on those two guys on your screen. E.J., let's start with you. I want to hone in on Underworth here. He's 18. By the way, he turned 18 16 days ago. So he's a young 18. Take me inside the mind of a

quarterback, walking in to a hostile environment at night, national TV audience, and just how he should handle and manage the situation. Well, Zubin, you mentioned the age. I mean, the fact that this is his second start in college football, and you're going into a hostile environment, a team in Oklahoma who has played really well. Again, last week, they blew out their team that they got a chance to play. But I think when I look back in my time playing in Oklahoma, you get into that new stadium, you got to find the shot clock, you got to get out in, you know, pregame warmups and throw into each end zone and get a feel for if there's wind down there to where you have to change some of your throwing motions.

But the other thing, too, is kind of just living in that environment. Look, if you get out there in third down and you go three and out in that first series, what's going to happen? The defense, or excuse me, the crowd's going to get all into it. Defense is going to get all hyped up. And then let's say if you're down seven, down 10 points early in this game, how do you manage your emotions in this type of environment? So just the inexperience of Bryce Underwood.

Being in an environment like that is really what I'm looking forward to see how he handles that. Okay, one more thing for you, E. here, by the way, he was not just the only great true freshman of all out this weekend. They're going to discuss that much more on college game day Saturday. Coach Saban's going to go inside why some of these guys have been so good so quick. I know you've got to play from each guy, the more experienced Mateer, the young kid Underwood that stuck out for you last week.

Let's break it down. Let's start with Mateer. Yeah, Matir came in as advertised, guys. And when you looked at him at Washington State, he showed the ability to run with his legs, but also the ability to negotiate defenses when you're looking at coverages. And this one play, as I was watching his tape again last weekend in their victory, he does a great job of reading the rotation. So right now, pre-snap, you're thinking there's going to be quarters

or some type of too high defense in the coverage structure. Well, that's safety right there on the hash. He's going to end up taking number three. We call this three lurk, okay, where he's going to try to rob that third guy on the three-by-one side. Matera sees it, and he knows instantly get backside to his glance route. He does it right there in rhythm, throws it on face mask where he can catch it and run and get up field. This is what you expect from a guy who's experienced who's had three, four years of college football under his belt. Now, Bryce Underwood, the big thing I noticed from watching this film beyond just the strong arm, the creativity, the confidence to make this type of throw.

And watch this closely. I'm going to give you two views here. So he tosses that thing right over two defensive backs. But we're going to flip this thing around so you can really get a feel for this. So one, you've got your tight in doing a little hesitation block right there. He's going to come off and run a wheel route. Underwood drifts in the pocket and then just floats that thing with arm and hand talent right. right over the fingertips of a defensive back.

And I don't care if you're playing against Ohio State. If you're playing against New Mexico, that is a hell of a throw. And again, the confidence for a young guy to make that type of decision. Well, I do care if you're playing against Illinois State, but not necessarily because of what John Matier did. John Matier was outstanding. But the offensive line struggled versus Illinois State. That's what stood out to me most, more than the stats.

And that's what jumped off of the tape. The offensive line in the run game specifically was not able to really move the ball down the field or really move people off the field. You see it, 25 percent blown. block percentage. That's the weakness of Oklahoma. Now, the strength of Michigan is how they put pressure on quarterbacks, multiple sacks, eight tackles for loss, three sacks specifically in their game last week. So if something doesn't change and change quickly for Oklahoma, it's going to be a struggle. Now, I understand Oklahoma's going to have some shuffling of their offensive line. Michael

Fasusi, who's a five-star freshman, looks like he's going to start at left tackle, should be an upgrade. But man, I have question marks for Oklahoma, especially what they put on tape last week. Sam, that's a great point. You know what? One thing about John Mateer that I noticed, he does have a little bit of gun slinger mentality. And what I mean by that is there's times where it's late in the down or he has some of that pressure that you're talking about, Sam. He'll just kind of fade back and just sling it out there. Now, again, you make those types of decisions against a really good defense in Michigan.

That could bite you. But ultimately, he also has the ability to take off, make plays with his legs, ad lib and keep the down moving. Yeah. And you talk about the concern for Materia. There was a couple of bad throws you talked about. but I wasn't concerned to your point earlier about Bryce Underwood. Man, he was outstanding when it came to not just the precision, but also throwing on the run. That's what stood out to me more than anything else.

You saw him more than anybody, E.J., moving in the pocket and throwing darts. They were basically 20 or 30 or 40-yard handoffs. As an 18-year-old freshman, the fourth ever true freshman to start at Michigan, I was blown away and impressed by the tape that Bryce Underwood put out there. Can't wait to see them. That'll be Saturday night. Saturday afternoon, the long-awaited, resumption of the border showdown, which we all know is a border war, between Kansas and

Missouri. You were looking at video of the last time they played. This is Arrowhead Stadium in 2011. Missouri would run away with this game. Kansas had a 10 lost season that year. And the following year, Missouri, after they beat Kansas like a drum, Missouri left for the SEC. And finally, they are back together. Again, this is a very bitter rivalry. So let's start with you because you had an opportunity to take place or take part in four of the most bitter rivalries we've seen between Texas and Texas A&M before they kind of shut it down for a while. Take me what it's like for a player to be involved in a game that is more than just a game. Well, there's nothing like it. The reason why is that it is more than just a game. You're playing

in the game. You're trying to win the game. But you have to understand that a lot of these players are getting recruited by the same schools. They play together in high school. They played in championships against each other. I remember when I played in Texas, we played Oklahoma at times, or every time I was there, I played players from Oklahoma, guys who are getting recruited by Oklahoma. Same with A&M. And so this game just means more. Robbery games like this or everything.

And so the emotion, you can't let it overwhelm you. Yeah, look, we need more games like this. And I understand what conference realignment, you know, at times we get excited because there's more teams in certain conferences. But if you grew up a college football fan, or even if you're a college football fan newly, right, like these are the types of matchups that you want to see. And I'll tell you what, both of these teams are in really good positions.

You look at the quarterback situation here, Jalen Daniels, of Kansas. He's finally healthy. I think he's a huge key to this team's success. But even Bo Pribula. I mean, you look at the way that he was able to start last weekend against Central Arkansas, throwing it, running it, pretty much doing anything he wanted out there on the football field. So beyond the actual matchup there, these are types of robberies that we got to keep intact and we need them every single year.

Well, I can't wait, E.J. to your point, to see what Bo Pribula does against his Kansas defense. Jalen Daniels is a quarterback is outstanding. But their defense, at least for Kansas, this last game, they're extremely. aggressive. They love bringing pressure and blitzing. And Bo Pribula put a lot of great stuff on tape. Remember, he transferred over from Penn State. Penn State he was more of a running quarterback, but he put on his stats as a passer. Two hundred eighty three passing yards, two touchdowns. And I understand it was against a lesser opponent, but if you turn on the tape, he was precise as a passer. So it's going to be what can broke Bo Pribula do against a Kansas defense that

loves to bring pressure. Sam, that's a great tape. And here's the other thing about Pribula. Going into that game, potentially this was supposed to be a quarterback controversy or competition. Now, Sam Horn Jr. got hurt. This is Bob Probele's job. So you talk about the first big game as a full-time starter, as a new starter there at Missouri, he can certainly make an imprint of his name with the fan base and obviously within the SEC. Yeah, no doubt, not to mention the way Prabula had to kind of leave Penn State and that situation to get to Columbia. We'll see what happens when they meet in Columbia. On the way, Lance Leipold is headed there. What's the secret weapon that no one's talking about that he might be able to utilize Saturday?

And it's no secret that this loss to Kentucky kept Ole Miss out of the playoff. So what happens as they meet this go-around in Lexington? We'll discuss next. College Football Live is presented by Ice Cold Dr. Pepper. College football, it's a pepper thing. When you're flying Emirates business class, Sampling our range of vintage wines from the largest selection in the skies.

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As we discussed earlier in the show, of course it is Kansas and Missouri. And look at the bottom line there. That's one of the greatest statistics you'll see in any sport, any coach. Our next guest, Lance Lippold, 109 and 6 with six chips at Wisconsin Whitewater, and then took over two of the toughest rebuilds in all of college football. And coach is joining us on college football live. So first things first, what is a coach makes you want to take on a challenge like Buffalo, like Kansas, after having all of that success at Whitewater

and having none of that success at those two stops before you got there? Well, first of all, it's great to be with you. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about our program. But I guess I look back at the earlier part of my career at the Division II level at Nebraska, Omaha. We had a chance to build a program into something special there, we thought. And as well as my time as a graduate assistant under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin was on the ground floor of some of that getting turned around. And those were very rewarding experiences and one that I thought our staff could take on and take a swing at. Yeah, Barry has really groomed a ton of great coaches, yourself included.

Look, I know it's the Border Showdown. Let's be honest, the fans want to call it the Border War, so that's what we're going to call it. I heard you were in church a few days ago, and someone started talking to you about the intensity of this rivalry resuming. Tell me that. Yeah, that got a little more legs than I anticipated. But yeah, a couple people came up right before the service and said, you know, make sure you get after them and things like that. coach we can't wait for Saturday, those type of comments, all in

all in good, you know, goodwill and all that as we go. But I found quickly that this is an important game to the people of Lawrence, Kansas. You know, most guys that are six-year guys in college football coach, they just bounce from team to team, school to school.

Except for your six-year guy, Jalen Daniels, who even preceded you in Lawrence. How would you describe his development as a player and a person? in this entire six-year run? Well, he's an amazing young man. You know, he's been through a lot health-wise

in the ups and downs of this program, but he's always stayed the same person. Got a smile on his face. He never puts blame on anywhere it needs. He's never come in disgruntled in any way, leveraged us in any opportunity that he had outside of Kansas. And he's been extremely loyal to this place and to watch him grow and persevere through the things.

And he's just had a great camp and off season and, you know, he's focused to have his best year yet and deservedly so. Okay. Last thing. Have a little fun with this one. For a long time, you and Andy Codalnicki were together, and of course he most recently was at Penn State with Bo Perbula. Any chance he might get on the phone, hit him with a text here. I need a little intel on Bo before Saturday. Well, in all honesty, Andy and his wife spent a few days with my wife and I down in Florida this offseason. And the kind of Conversation did come up, but it was pretty generic and really what a quality young man,

Bo is and as a player and those things. But I tried to get a little out of Andy. Couldn't do it, though. Lastly, what does this game just mean from the perspective of the Big 12, taken on the SEC, from a macro perspective, the two fan bases and the intense nature of a rivalry that started in 1891? Are you going to feel it, do you think, when you step onto that field Saturday? I'm sure there's going to be there. It's going to be, you know, I'm sure a great home environment for Missouri. It's going to be intense. I know this game's been on people's minds for a long time since Missouri left the Big 12.

But once it's kicked off, of course, it's going to be about two teams trying to play their best football to date and make it a highly competitive game. And we have great respect for Missouri. I think we go through all the talks of college football on strength of conferences, strength of schedule and all these things. So anytime power forward teams are matching up in non-conference games, I think it's going to be important for the big picture and conversations down the road. Since 1891, only three things have prevented Missouri and Kansas from getting together. The flu pandemic of 1918, World War I, and conference realignment. And that's college football in a nutshell.

Coach, thank you so much. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Have a great week. Rock Chalk. I wish I was kidding about that, but that is true. Michigan, Oklahoma, Reese and the guys live from Norman and then. Chris and the guys at night. It's going to be an amazing moment.

Speaking of amazing, look at this Joe Fortin-Bott. You got Eagles Green on today? What is it? NFL opener? What's going on here? Got this for the Super Bowl last year. War at New Orleans. Huge mistake.

It was extremely hot, but it did lead to a Super Bowl win, so we figure we'll bust it back out again today. It's week one, though. It's not even like the Super Bowl yet. There's a lot of things that don't make sense. This is also a college football show. It makes no sense to be wearing an NFL jacket on a college football show. Yet here we are trying to make our way through it.

Fair enough. Some would say that coming into the season, of course, Bryce under at 18 would be green. He looked anything but. Well done, Zubin. Fantastic. Give me some numbers inside Michigan and Oklahoma. So I'd be looking at Oklahoma here minus the five and a half, which is a bit of a jump. Because before the season started, if you were to power rank this game, it would have been right around to pick them. But some things have happened in Oklahoma's favor. However, we'll start with Michigan.

As great as Underwood looked last week, and he looked solid. And as high as his ceiling is, he's still a true freshman making his first road start. in Norman, Oklahoma against the top 10 defense. That's probably better than what we saw last year, which was still pretty good. That's one thing that worries me. On top of that, the Michigan defense, it's one game against New Mexico. So it's not the end of the world, but there were some question marks there. John Mateer and Ben Arbuckle, the offensive coordinator, coming over from Washington State to Oklahoma to ramp up the offense.

I think that's the difference in this game. That'll be 730 Eastern on ABC. Right before that, the second game of the double header will, or the triple header, I should say, will include Ole Miss and Kentucky. Now, obviously, Ole Miss is still smarting. Remember, this miss field goal here you're about to see in the waning moments last year at Vaught Hemingway Stadium essentially cost Ole Miss an opportunity to tie this game late. And as we all know, if they finished with two losses instead of three, most likely Ole Miss makes the college football playoffs. So the Jackson DART era ends without a playoff appearance, but maybe Sam, the Austin Simmons era now begins with that

in their sights. Yeah, I can't wait to watch this game, specifically Austin Simmons, and the pace in which Ole Miss loves to play. Austin Simmons is getting his first start or second start, but the opportunity to run at the pace of which they run. That's what Lane Kiffin wants to do. They want to get you on the field quickly. They don't want to waste any time. Austin Simmons looked great last week,

but will Kentucky be able to keep up with the pace? I understand it was a lesser opponent, but that's what I want to see, the pace of play in this game versus Kentucky. I'm going to tell you something. I love the fact. Here's the thing for Kentucky. My bad.

I'll jump in, Zubin. So here's the thing for Kentucky. I think more so when you talk about keeping up. I mean, look, Ole Miss has 695 total yards last week. And I don't care who you're playing against. That's a lot of yards. And if you looked at Zach Alzada, the new starter there for Kentucky, didn't have a pretty day, didn't throw for over 100 yards.

And in this kind of game, you've got to throw for at least 200, at least 250, to be able to at least make the defense play you honest. Like, are you preparing for the run? You're just trying to stop battle. But I think, again, for Zach Calzata, you know, he had a lot of pressure in his face, guys. he was well under 50% completing the football, just not a clean start to his beginning there for the Wildcats. So I am a bit cautious when I look at this Wildcat offense

against this Ole Miss defense. It might be a long day here for the Wildcats. Apologies for jumping all over E.J., especially after each of the last two weeks, he kind of spit in my face with some of my picks and ended up being right and being right in tremendous fashion, E.J. So all due respect. Sorry for stepping all over you.

Now, that said, as we move into the game pick here, I do like Ole Miss. I'm going against the move. was 10 and a half. Rebels as a favorite has moved through that number to nine and a half, but you got to love the fact that like you talked about, pace of play, let's keep the possessions going, let's try to score. And then on top of that, losing that game last year, a little bit of a revenge spot, EJ. I got to figure if you're the old lane train, you're trying to roll it up here, don't you think? Yeah, absolutely. I would definitely take the Ole Miss bet here. And, you know,

you talk about the revenge factor from last year. You talk about also this being an SEC matchup for old miss as well as Kentucky look Kentucky's not out of it's early in the season and you know nobody's to say they can't improve in a few days but if you're old miss right now you try to make a statement in this game especially being on the road set a tone for the season yeah one quick note from sam's point austin simmons joined old miss two years early not one year early two years early he's 19 already a college graduate pretty impressive guy off the field on the way here on college football live week two letdown bunch of teams were soaring after week one who needs to keep their guard up to make sure the inevitable dip doesn't happen, at least not yet.

That's next. College Football Live is presented by Ice Cold Dr. Pepper. College football. It's a pepper thing. And in part by Iberogast, six digestive symptoms, the power of nature, Iberogast, And here comes your weekend lineup. Brought to you by Wendy's. A lot of bowl-faced names here on the screen that had big week one wins.

The question is which one of these teams can avoid the week two letdown that Notre Dame suffered a season ago. And here come the Irish into the heart of all this hostility. To the end zone of the Irish. Went on the road in a tough environment and they're going to get a win. Snap, hold. Kick us up. Ah, that's the setup, BJ. Just a reminder, Notre Dame.

rally from that to make the title game so you never know. That's what this sport is in a nutshell. Give me the team in danger of suffering maybe a Notre Dame like letdown. Well, look, most would think, Zubin, I'm going to say Florida State, but I'm not saying Florida State. Another team in Florida, the University of South Florida, they go on the road to the swamp, tough environment. Look, Florida's defense gave up 86 total yards in that football game in week one.

Now, Byron Brown, the quarterback for UCF, excuse me, USF, is talented, had two Russian touchdowns. I like Chaz Nimrod, but I do think, USF comes down after a top 25 victory last week against Boise State. I'm going to go with the group of five team. I'm going to go with Tulane. Tulane last week they played Northwestern in an emotional way. And there's a lot of conversation about jerseys that they could wear and not wear.

And they had a dominant victory. But the question mark is this. They're playing a South Alabama team that historically has produced a lot of talent. Tulane cannot afford an early season loss for their group of five chances to try and make the college football playoff. So give me Tulane for a letdown. All right, Joe, those teams won. But there are some teams that lost that might be smarting.

So give me a team that suffered. an L that is ready to take it out of the competition. Clemson's the big back. A half against Troy. The last two times we saw Clemson lose a big opener, both came against Georgia. They came back the next week to win by 46 points each time. This is where the offense is going to want to get right after scoring just what, 10 points and that let down. Very good.

All right. Simply put, fly eagle sly right as we fly out of here? Win, don't cover. How about that? Win don't cover. Win don't cover. We're done. We'll be back to cover college football with you again, as always.

Next Tuesday, enjoy the games. weekend in tonight.