College Football Live - CFB LIVE - CAN ARCH CONQUER ROCKY TOP?

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

Join our crew Zubin Mehenti, Dusty Dvoracek, and "Stanford" Steve Coughlin on today's episode of College Football Live. Arch Manning and Texas are 3 days out from their battle against Tennessee in Knoxville. There is also a major defensive battle brewing in Ann Arbor. Take a walk down memory lane to remember the only time South Carolina picked up a win in Tuscaloosa. All this and more on College Football Live!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Early morning on a Manhattan sidewalk, a shooting caught on surveillance video. It was an assassination style killing, and everybody saw it. A new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside this captivating case. I'm ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmeyer. Listen to burden of proof Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts. Out of the tunnel straight ahead here on college football live, after Peyton piled up victories at Neal and Stadium, Arch heads to Rocky Top looking for his first, but why he might not be the key. Saturday afternoon, two of the nation's best defenses, Iowa, Michigan, meets Saturday.

But there's one big storyline overshadowing even those two elite units. Wait till you see what it is. And when Ole Miss meets Florida, why both schools will be taking inspiration from one, Tim Tebow will explain on college football live. Right now. All the attention on Rocky Top. That's where we'll be at the top of our show. Texas, Tennessee.

You know, with all the attention of Ole Miss LSU, you probably didn't see Texas sleepwalk past UTSA. Tennessee took care of Kennesaw State, a little bit of an undercard warm up as these two get set to go in the first of three. SEC all day on ABC. And you had to wait a long time for these two to meet in the regular season for obvious reasons, right?

Texas joined the SEC just three years ago, so their previous matchups have all come in the postseason, and by coincidence, they've all come in the Cotton Bowl. Now we get a little regular season taste coming up Saturday. And with that, we welcome you inside college football live. You know, it was 20 seasons ago this Saturday. The VALs retired Peyton Manning's number 16, and now this Saturday, another number 16 with Manning on his back. is at Neeland, but he'll be standing on the other sideline. It is great to have Steve and Dusty here, our Wednesday crew.

Steve, let you start with you. I don't think anybody saw the Texas UTSA game, but everybody did see Ohio State in Texas, and that's where you want to go because it's been a microcosm of Arch the last couple of weeks. Some good, some bad, a mixed bag. What are we thinking as he heads to this huge spot on the road with what you've seen out of him of late? Well, it's the biggest question of all, Zubin.

can Arch Manning win a true road game in regulation? Right? You think back to last year. Lost at Ohio State. Lost at Georgia. Lost at Florida. Overtime wins against Mississippi State and Kentucky. So he still has that going for him. But you mentioned last week it wasn't pretty, and you expect that right off such an emotional game against Ohio State.

Coming back and playing against the little guy in the state. But he got knocked around a bunch, man. There's way too many hits. Miss fired on a bunch of throws. I wasn't sure how I was feeling about the orange spat Texas was using. I like to either the white or the black spat, that usually goes well. But for Texas, what sticks out is the lack of explosive plays overall. Six explosive plays all season so far.

They have to be better. They have been better on third down, over 50% on that. But they have to have that consistency. And we think of Sark's offense. We think of explosives. I expect him to draw some up this week in Tennessee. Yeah, look, I look at this game, and I want to know who is Tennessee. They haven't really been tested yet.

A couple of easy games. They got the nice win on the road at Georgia Tech. And I think the way that they prove their worth against Texas is their ability to run the football. They've been excellent so far at almost 300 yards a game on the ground. They lean on Deshaun Bishop. They've got a very good offensive line. Dwayne Morris can come in and he can spell Deshaun Bishop

when he needs to come out. And Faison Brandon's shown to be a nice runner too. They cannot put too much on the plate of this young quarterback. against a Texas defense that's been dialed in against the run the last two weeks. Look, I love the addition of Rishin Biles. Indrafarred is one of the best nose tackles that I've seen so far on the SEC. Numbers don't really tell what he does owning the middle of that defense. And we know about Colin Simmons off the edge.

Will Mushchamp will try to take away this Tennessee rushing attack and put it on the arm of Faison Brandon. The question is, can Tennessee run the football as effectively as they have so far? If they can, we're going to find out this Tennessee team. It's for real, Zubin. There's no doubt about it. I knew they usually wait until beating Alabama to bust out the cigars. But if they can take care of the number one team in the country on their home field

and announce their arrival, they'll be puffing away. College game day, Saturday morning, 9 a.m. Eastern with Reese, Des, Pat, coach, Kirk, Jen, Pete, the whole crew. It's on the way Saturday morning at 9. And then right when it's over, flip on over to ABC. for kickoff. Another big one in the SEC. Florida and Ole Miss.

Obviously, we mentioned it at the top. Ole Miss, the emotion, everything with LSU. But Florida got themselves a really big win at Auburn that, again, not a lot of people saw because all the oxygen on the Lane Kiffin situation. But Florida looks great. They're 3 and 0 for the first time since 2019. And more importantly, anecdotally, to Florida fans,

they're scoring a lot of points. They look like Florida. That's really what the Gator fans want to see. Dusty, I want to start with you. Last year, there was a mass exodus from Florida, Napier, Lagway, all that. But one guy that did stay was ball. He can absolutely run it, and the Ole Miss Front 7 is going to have themselves a test. Fair to say, Zubin, that ball can ball.

I mean, this is the best running back in college football for me. The physicality that he runs with, how tough he is to tackle. And he's got a nose for the end zone. already eight touchdowns, and he's averaging eight and a half yards per carry. And look, I just love the offense in general. Buster Faulkner has brought an offense to the table that they've got great balance, but they want to run the football. And there's a lot of window dressings, motions, shifts.

It's all similar things and variations of the counter, but they make it look so different, which makes it difficult on defenses, and it gets them out of place. And this Ole Miss defense really impressed me against LSU. I thought Will Eccles was a man child in the middle of that defense, had three tackles for loss, and I love what Luke Forelli has added. This is going to be the key.

Can this Ole Miss defense step up a second straight week? Can they limit Jaden Ball, put the ball on the arm of Aaron Philo, the quarterback who was good so far, but when he's got a running game, it helps him out. If they can limit Jaden Ball, limit this Gator's rushing attack, that's the recipe for a success for me, Steve going in there for Old Miss to stay undefeated.

Yeah, and when you look at both these teams are coming in off such emotional wins. I look at the defensive side for Florida. When you look at Trinidad Chamos and what he brings to the table, he's going to be more accurate than Byron Brown was last week. They have better playmakers on the edge.

So to me, can the Florida defense keep that crowd engaged? What do they do on third downs? You know how dangerous Trinidad is. So can that, secondary pulled up for 60 minutes. I would imagine, you know, Trinidad's, you know, 45 pass attempts last week. He's had 121 dropbacks this season and only three sacks. So what is Florida do defensively? That secondary has to be more buttoned up and the penalties on both sides.

Florida has to clean that up. And as they doubled weeks one through three and penalties, they've got to be a lot cleaner to pull this off. We're going to have much more on this game coming up in just a bit. And Dusty, I would thank you for mentioning Luke Forelli. Remember, That was the guy Golding and Davo got into that huge spat about. But apparently he was worth fighting over from what I'm hearing from the fellow. Still to come here on College Football Live, they say they're the black and gold. But some people say it's actually fools gold for the suddenly resurgent Hawkeye offense. Our guys get into that next.

We're back on college football live. I know the Big Ten wants to get away from three yards in a cloud of dust, but let's be honest. When Iowa and Michigan play, that's what you're going to get. But hang on, maybe, maybe not. We're gonna talk about Iowa's suddenly resurgent offense in a second, but this game is still about defense. Two coaches that absolutely preach it. Kyle Whittingham is certainly aware

the nation's longest tenured coach and the defense he brings year in and year outs. Good football team. Defense in particular, I guess they're leading the nation in defense right now, both total yards and in scoring deep. So playing, playing outstanding on that side of the ball, like usual.

That's been an MO of theirs for years. It just gets down to team execution because they're really well coached. They've got a good scheme and got good players at all. All the receiver positions, tight ends. And not to mention, obviously, they're lining quarterback and back. So it's a tough challenge. But it just gets down to team defense and being really believing in our system and then trying to play it the best they can.

They believe in Kirk. He's been the head coach since 1999. And you better believe what Kyle said, the defense this season, pretty clear that they are absolutely rock solid on that side of the football. They always kind of have been in the tenure of Kirk Ferrence. However, if the term drive for 325 means anything for the longtime sickos that remember that when Iowa couldn't score any points and had to have a mandate to keep offensive coordinator Brian Ferrence there, he's laughing somewhere because a couple years later, Tim Lester, has this office. offense rolling. Dusty, Iowa's offense has gone from a laughing stock, a punchline to being legit, but I might be overstating it a little bit. Yeah, listen, Zubb. I mean, they're putting up numbers, 37 points per game, 477 yards per

game. They're getting it done through the air on the arm of Hank Brown and on the ground. But I'm just kind of wondering, is this real? Look at two games going on. I know it was the battle for the Sihog trophy. And that's a big. tough, hard-fought rivalry with Iowa State, but they only put up 16 points in 284 yards. So are these numbers of product of who they played in the first and third game, or is this really an improved offense? I like what I've seen from Hank Brown. He's throwing the football with a lot of conviction, confidence.

He was 12 for 12 last week against Northern Ireland. They need to get Camarie Moulton back. He is their lead back. This is an offense right now that's running the football over seven yards a clip, and they're going to need every single bullet they have. having that holster because they're going up against a really tough Michigan defense. Yeah. When I look at Michigan's defense, Dusty, what I love is what I've seen versatility. Now, this tests the versatility to a max, right? When they played Oklahoma, they shut

a tear in that offense down. They rush three, drop eight, spy the quarterback, mirror the running backs, right? But what was so eye-opening was how much pressure they got with just three guys. They're not going to run that defense against Iowa. Iowa's going to have way more guys. in the box. So the girth of Michigan's defense up front, and we know they have talent at the corners, how does that hold up? How does Iowa get those guys' eyes affected? To me, it's about showing Michigan and the versatility of that defense, and what I believe is a top-notch Big Ten defense. We'll see Saturday how they play. It's going to be an amazing game, and I should mention Michigan schedule is pretty rough this year. Next month, in addition to this Iowa game, they're going to have

one game circled. That'll be October 24th when they take on Indiana. And our Pete Thamble's got some very interesting news here on a couple of their guys who they were waiting to get back. Daley and Wyatt who were injured last season granted an injunction today in a local court that paves the way to make them eligible for the remainder of the season. They were waiting to see if these guys could return. Both of these guys are major contributors, especially Daley. Last line of Pete's tweet, as always, the NCAA will likely appeal. You likely know South Carolina and Alabama are set to go on Saturday. It's tough to get the tide twice, right?

They have not fared well at Alabama. One and nine, that one win in Tuscaloosa came back in 2004. Dusty will be on the call for the game. So, all right, Steve, let's see how much game prep he's actually really done for this thing. I'm kidding. All right, Dusty, who was the coach for South Carolina in that 2004 game, that one win they had at Brian Denny? put on the screen.

Steve Spurrier? I'll give you one more chance. I know you're a golfer, Mulligan. SVP and Steve, you get a Mulligan. You got one more. Steve, go ahead, Steve. Lou Holtz. Lou Holtz.

Yes. Lou Holtz. Yeah, that's where I was going as well. This is the game back in 2004. It was actually a runaway for South Carolina, 20 to 3. South Carolina scored 14 points in the third quarter of this game.

Bama got nothing going. It didn't really mean anything for South Carolina, they finished the game with a big run and finish the season at 6 and 5 in crystal clear, standard definition. Let's take a look at today's dependable player brought to you by Navis Tyre. And of course, nobody has been more dependable for the tide than Keelan Russell, who is absolutely on fire after that very shaky start against Kentucky. Since then, he has been terrific. All right, Dusty, I want to start with you first because I couldn't help but notice that this game was delayed by a ton of of rain, so naturally you should be the lead analyst

on this topic. So on that said, tongue planted firmly in cheek, tell me what you've seen here from Russell, because it really feels like he in the running game, which also was lacking the last couple of years, have really hit the throttle. Yeah, they have, Zub,

what really impressed me was the poise that we saw from the young quarterback. They're down 21-6, and he didn't panic. He just continued to go to work. At the end of the first half, He was dealing at as high a level as anybody you'll see in college football. The final 242, he went 11 for 12, 185 and two touchdowns.

And it was almost like NBA jams. He's on fire. And every single snap you saw the confidence grow and grow and grow. It was the entire route tree, really. He was throwing skinny posts and tight coverage. He was throwing out and ups down the sidelines. He did everything you could have asked for. And, oh, by the way, still effective.

the game with his legs. You mentioned the rushing attack. How about in the last two games, that rushing attack yielded 32 yards on the ground in the first half, 370 in the second half. So this rebuilt offensive line and this three had of monster running back is really starting to do work. And that in combination with Keel and Russell, I think, has got South Carolina looking at this film, Steve, and worrying and knowing they need to get more out of their quarterback if they're going to go into Tuscaloosa and get the win. And yeah, when we, we, we, We looked at the preseason dust, so you thought Kendall Bryle's coming in, new offensive line coach. That's exactly what the doctor ordered for Lenores Sellers.

And it hasn't looked apart. I mean, he gets a quarterback run last week. They go up 13 nothing. Williams-Brice is going crazy. And they just can't put a game together. Bad turnovers, lack of execution on the offensive line. Lenoris not seeing defenders the way he should. So to me, I don't want to say final stand.

But South Carolina's backs are against the wall. here, man. They need to be better offensively, knowing what you pointed out with Alabama. They're going to have to score points in order to be in this game. So I expect a really focused effort from Kendall Browns and Lenoresellers as they had to Tuscaloosa, a place where Lenoris had success two years ago, but they blew the game late. That's right. And that was one of their three losses. And they were pining to try to get into the playoff as a three-loss SEC team, Steve. And it shows you how far they've fallen. Less than two years later, people are wondering what Beamer is going to survive.

Great point by you. Still to come here on College Football Live. What you're about to hear why it means so much to both Ole Miss and Florida as they meet Saturday. But I promise you one thing. A lot of good will come out of this. You have never seen any player in the entire country play as hard as I will play the rest of the season. Hear that? It's your money calling.

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Time now for the best in the game. Brought to you by Old Dominion Freight Line. It's hard to say anybody's been better in Georgia's offense. The quality of the competition, first couple weeks hasn't been great. They got into SEC play, took care of Arkansas. Now they got Oklahoma. How loaded is this week? This is like the third or fourth game on the SEC.

docket normally, everybody would be circling it if you had Oklahoma and Georgia. They've just been lighting up the scoreboard. Think about this. 237 points scored through four games. Look back the last time it happened, 1910, Locust Grove making another appearance on college football live. I looked it up. They were in business from 1894 to 1929.

They're also on the National Historic Register. So if you're down in Georgia, take a peek. There's a sign down there. They're rolling. The signs are not looking good for a couple of SEC teams who had big defeats last Saturday. First time head coach on the road in the SEC is hard of a place to play as you can find in the history of the sport. 31 to 21, top 10, Texas A&M has been upset. One of the most anticipated regular season games I can remember in its personal.

You bet they did. Those are costly, costly losses. But here's the deal. They play each other this week. The losers obviously 0 and 2 in the league. But the LSU wins. Their playoff chances are looking pretty decent. However, if A&M falls and LSU wins on their side of it,

their playoff considerations are going to need a telescope for you to be able to see that 6%. That's how important this game is for both LSU and Texas A&M. Another big one in the SEC. Missouri, Mississippi State. Steve, you know the deal with these two. Both of these teams have a couple of things going in their advantage. One quarterback and one guy that loves being the underdog.

So, Steve, when you think about this. Yeah, I look at this, Zubin. Go for it. Yeah, you have, sorry, my ear went out for a second. When you have this exactly what you pointed out, I believe, when you talk about America's New Darling and Camaro Taylor, right, riding high, stats through the roof, going on the road, winning big games. And then on the other side, you know, we saw the number one villain, Lane Kiff,

could go down last week. Eli Drickowitz doesn't have a problem playing the villain. He could lay under the radar with the best of them. But what I would watch out for in this game is Austin Simmons. He's plenty capable as a quarterback playing at Ole Miss, going back to Starkville, plenty of really, really good interest in this game. And there's going to be plenty of interest as well on Ole Miss and Florida. Ole Miss, 08, only win in the swamp came over Tebow and the Gators.

And after they lost that game, the only game they would lose the entire season, Tim Tebow said this. Florida fans of all generations can recite this word for word. I'm sorry. I'm extremely sorry. You know, we're hoping for an undefeated season. That was my goal. Southern Florida's never done here.

But I promise you one thing. A lot of good will come out of this. You have never seen any player in the entire country. play as hard as I will play the rest of the season and you never see someone push the rest of the team as hard as I will push everybody the rest of the season and you never see a team play harder than we will the rest of this season.

God bless. And no more true words were ever spoken. Florida finished 13 and 1, their lone loss to Oleness and they won the national championship. You guys have been a part of so many great teams, high school, college pro, the whole thing. Steve, let's start with you. When you hear something like that,

take me inside the locker room at any level of football you've been in for the most emotional speech you heard before after or maybe even during a game. Oh, it looks like we've lost Steve Dusty. You played in high school. You were a great college player. You also were in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. You've got to have a story here for me that got you more fired up than anything ever.

Yeah, Zubb, one that sticks out to me, my sophomore year in 2002 at Oklahoma, we're the number one team of the country and the season opener. We're playing Tulsa on the road on a Friday night. It's 3.0 at halftime. we go into the locker room, and Bob Stubbs, well, he wasn't happy to say the least, Zoom. He had many expletives for us, challenged our manhood. There might have been a water cooler thrown entirely across that room that night. I'm going to tell you what, it got our attention because we went out in the second half and we outscored Tulsa 34 to zero in the second half.

So it went from three nothing to 370. All right. That's a pretty good story. I don't know. Steve, can you top that? Any water cooler's being thrown in the conversations or pregame speeches you had? I was just going to say the best speeches are not going to be found on the Disney app or the ESP Unlimited. They're not that PG-13. I'll just say that.

That is fair enough. And we should probably get out of here without mentioning any of those expletives that Bob Stoops was letting fly alongside those coolers. And we'll see you tomorrow for more College Football Live.