College Football Live - CFB Live - College Football Live from Eugene

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

Join our crew Jen Lada, Stanford Steve, Pete Thamel and Desmond Howard live from Eugene, Oregon. A Big Ten showdown between Indiana and Oregon will have two of the best QB's going head to head in Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore. The Red River Rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas is highly anticipated but will Oklahoma's QB John Mateer be able to suit up? Also, our Kris Budden gives an update on the health of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders and if we should expect him on the sideline this Saturday vs Iowa State. All that and more on CFB Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

College Football Live is presented by Vanguard. Making the trip via motorcycle, we are 2,500 miles from where we last joined you, from T-Town to Eugene, and that is Otson Stadium. That'll be the site of Oregon versus Indiana. A big matchup this weekend. Certainly will have playoff implications. Welcome into college football live. What a beautiful day it is here in the Pacific Northwest.

joined, as always by Desmond Howard, Stanford, Steve, the authority, Pete Thammel and I am Jen Laddie. You know, this will be the fifth matchup this season that features playoff teams from last year when Indiana tries to invade Otson and take down those ducks. Let's get into it. Two AP top 10 teams squaring off in Eugene

in a game that features two Heisman trophy contenders. Indiana has already beaten a top 10 opponent this season. They beat Illinois earlier in the year. But Oregon is a perfect 7-0 in AP top 10. 10 matchups at home, the most wins without a loss in the AP poll era. I mentioned the quarterbacks. Let's take a look at them. Headed into this weekend, both Indiana and Oregon are led by guys who are doing great things for their respective squads.

Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore rank in the top 10 in completion percentage in the FBS, with more passing for two more yards and Mendoza passing for two more touchdowns. These guys, incredibly close, as you can see there, guys, in their statistics. A big matchup for these two teams. What does each team need to do to come out on top? I'll start with you, Des. Well, if Indiana wants to win this game, to me it starts with their defense. Like, they have to affect Dante Moore.

I mean, this kid right now seems to be just so comfortable in this offense. He's only been sacked one time this season. He's only turned it over, only one interception. And it seems like this offense is tailor made for him. I mean, at the Penn State game, guys, we were there, the whiteout, one of the toughest environments you can play in. And even when Penn State started to climb back into the game, he never lost composure. He stayed cool, calm, and collected.

I spoke to him earlier this week, and he said, Desmond, comes down to just my preparation. I'm very comfortable out there. He says, I have a lot of respect and a lot of trust in my talent around me, my teammates. Those guys, we did things during the summer so we can be, you know, we have better timing and not just trust those guys. Yeah, I look at the Indiana offense and Fernando Mendoza coming in. Now, he did play here previously, but he was playing on a very inferior Cal team. But it was his second start of his career. And when I think about the Indiana offense, the big plays, you see that play to Sarat against Iowa, which was the game winner.

Mendoza has been very good in the RPO game. He only has one completion out of the pocket this year. What does Oregon try and do to offset that? Do they get pressure? that they sit back, that they force him to run the ball on those RPO's. Mendoza has to be spectacular for Indiana to win this game. And for Indiana wins, Steve, they need to solve the aquatic conundrum. Will Pons be available for the ducks?

DeAngelo Pons is an all-American corner, first team, all Big Ten, arguably Indiana's best player on their roster, certainly one of the linchpins of that defense. I was told today that he's expected to be able to go. All signs point to him coming back. He had a lower body injury somewhat surprisingly that kept him out of that Iowa game. And all eyes will be on the field pregame,

seeing how he looks and goes. Not surprisingly, it's going to be a little wet here as it usually is. Pons availability is one of the biggest factors for Indiana if they're going to come here and pull the upset. Is that the peak of the show? Just curious, the dad joke that he just made about ducks and ponds and whatnot. I just want to make sure that is that our peak here or can you top that? I'm going to try and talk about some content.

What makes Indiana's defense great is the pressure they get with four or few players. Going back and watching the Illinois game, seven sacks against Luke Altmyer. That was their coming out party, right? Six of those seven sacks were with four or fewer guys. Oregon's a tough offense to turn over because of how good Dante has been with the football. But Indiana has to continue that pressure with minimal guys to help on the back end against guys like Decorium Moore. One more thing to keep an eye on. You mentioned Pons.

And Pons is actually a standout special teams too. Last year he blocked the kick. And then this season, he blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown too. So keep an eye on pawns when there's special teams on the field also. Indiana, obviously having an incredible resurgence, but they have never beaten a top five team on the road there. Oh, and 46 in those matchups, obviously hoping that they can turn the tide, change history with a win here against Oregon on Saturday.

Now it's time for this week's good year road test. Guys, which teams should be on upset alert in the SEC? Pete, I'll start with you. Well, I think we've got to start. looking at Texas A&M. Florida obviously has a little bit of momentum on where they are right now. And where we are with Billy Napier right now is there's a little bit of an exhale from Gainesville. There was a lot of focus on that Texas game.

And whether or not they won that game, Billy Napier would still be the coach. He has bought himself some time. And Billy Napier, we know, Jen, does well under duress. Yeah, I look at Auburn hosted Georgia. Auburn still looking for that monumental win in the Hugh Freeze era. They have to get Jackson Arnold going in the run game. Everybody points to his inconsistency. He's throwing the football, but you go back to that big win they had at Baylor on the road.

How did they win? They got him running. Auburn had success last time they played Georgia at home with Peyton Thorne running to football. Quarterback run out of a by week is huge for Auburn. How about the Red River rivalry? Texas and Oklahoma, guys. Hey, Texas needs this game, man. Obviously, Arches have been struggling.

They play two power four schools. University of Florida and Ohio State. Not only did he struggle, but the offensive line pretty much got their butt kick too at the line of scrimmage. Offensive line and defensive line. So they need this one. If you want to get the bad taste out of your mouth

to losing on the road to Florida, beat your rival. You mentioned offensive line, defensive line. There's another line that people pay attention to in this game. And that is the betting line. And it has changed a little bit, maybe because of some information that you have for us, Pete Thammell. Yeah, well, we know in Oklahoma's midweek game plan they wanted to run a lot of misdirection.

Brent Venable started the week, Jen, by saying that he is assuming John Mateer is not playing. Then John Mateer started practicing. They went indoors. He went from questionable on the injury report on Wednesday to probable on Thursday. And look, from what my sources have told me this week,

John Mateer was always going to push to play. But I think the most important takeaway from this is he is not going to be 100%. That issue at the lower part of his thumb and the broken bone, it's going to have to grip in place. pain. We are sure he's going to be in a lot of pain. We are not sure how the grip is going to go. If he goes out there and starts floating ducks, no pun intended, it's going to be a problem for

Oklahoma and we could see a change. So just because he's probable and just because he's expected to start doesn't mean it's going to be a linear journey for John Mateer through Red River. Why do you say no pun intended when we all know that you intend the pun? Why do that's not to lie. We understand what we're dealing with here. Let's talk about those longhorns because they obviously need to make some adjustments in order to get the victory. Des, I'll start with you. What do you need to see from them? in order for them to be dominant this weekend. Everyone's talked about Arch Manning, right?

And, you know, he's deserved some of the criticism he's received. But to me, it starts in the trenches. I mean, it started with the Ohio State game. When I watched Texas against the Buckeyes, both offensively and defensively, they just could not control the line of scrimmage. They could not set the line of scrimmage. And after that game, I said, listen, I don't want to hear anything about Texas again until they play Florida.

And we saw last week again, Jaden Ball, he had over 100 yards rush. he had a touchdown and he was able to me, guys, to set the tone. Anytime you can control the line of scrimmage, you start to dictate the terms of the game and that's what's been happening against Texas. The opponent, the two power four opponents, Ohio State and Florida, they were able to dictate the terms of the game because they controlled the line of scrimmage. Yeah, I wanted to focus on the offensive line for Texas on that game against Florida.

The totality of lack of execution on the offensive line set up for arched, to throw two interceptions when he had no pressure and then situations like this, if you want to to roll tape, second to last play of the game, the scores 29 to 21. Arch, look at his eyes. He's looking where the rushes. And when we go to the ends out, the side by side

all 22 here, watch the receiver on the hash and a double move. Right here, DeAndre Moore, double move. Watch how he comes open. Down the middle field. Arch can't see it because he's got his eyes on the pressure. That's what happens when you get pressure and you're playing under duress all day long. Game is on the line.

right there. Sark calls a great call. He doesn't see it because of pressure. That's possibly a tie game and they're still playing the way overtime goes. That's a great tape. But that's, I mean, that showed up to that's second the last play of the game and I saw that on tape. I'm like, this is what happens when you're not executing for a full game.

They're crazy too. Yeah, they talked about it. Well, and there's got to be a lot more where that came from because they lead the SEC in quarterback pressures, give it up. So that's an issue that the offensive line has. And some of it is because they have four new offensive linemen on that line. This season. You would think by now, though, they would start to find a rhythm, find that

cohesiveness. It just hasn't shown up yet. Let's go to Pete now for the big stories that we should pay attention to this weekend in college football. Yeah, Jen, let's start in Salt Lake City, where Sam Levitt, Arizona State's starting quarterback is doubtful and he's expected to be downgraded to out for the game this weekend. Jeff Sims will make the start for the Sun Devils. It's a lower body injury for Levitt. I've been told it's been nagging since that Baylor game. And look for look for Sims who actually started games against Tommy DeVito and Trevor Lawrence to make the start. Dylan Edwards, Kansas State's hard luck running back is going to be out again this weekend against TCU. Remember essentially the first snap of the season Edwards got hurt in Dublin and things just haven't gone right for him.

It's a big loss for K State, which has lost four games by a total of 13 points. And now we're on to Bill Belichick, who released a statement along with the University of North Carolina, a joint statement saying he's fully committed to the tar heels. Look, guys, this is a signal flare that things are not going well both on and off the field for Bill Belichick. Well, I've been told by sources that nothing is imminent and there's no talks of an immediate exit. This is certainly a sign that things are not going when North Carolina's superiors went and ponied up $10 million for Bill Belichick, 1.5 million for Mike Lombardi. And they got a bad roster and a whole host of off-field problems. First, that documentary group, not fully committed, D.U.S.C. and Bill Belichick anymore.

Alabama looks like they have found their. stride, but they hit the road to face a sneaky 5-0-Mazoo team. Can the Tigers pull off an upset? We'll discuss that as College Football Live rolls on. College Football Live is presented by Vanguard. 50 years of investor success doesn't happen by chance. Comes your way. We've got Sabrina at UNESCO as the guest picker. Dan Lanning is going to join the show live and Coach Drinkwitz will be joining the guys as well. Don't go. anywhere Saturday morning, college game day on ESPN.

Another ranked matchup on Saturday, eighth ranked Alabama, traveling to Columbia, taken on 14th ranked Missouri. Now, Alabama has won six straight matchups against Missouri. The Tigers have not beaten the tide. Get this guys, since 1975. But this Missouri team has been one of the best rushing teams in the nation, averaging 292 rushing yards per game. That's good for third best in FBS.

Taking a look at the players to watch. It's presented by Kudoba. Penn State transfer quarterback, Bo Prabula, leads the SEC with 76% completion percentage. And Ahmad Hardy has been one of the best running backs in the nation, ranking second and total rush yards, first in forced missed tackles. Take a listen to the QB talking about his running back yesterday on SportsCenter. We love Ahmad. You know, he's obviously transferred here in the offseason.

And, you know, anytime you have a running back and, you know, we have two really good running backs. anytime you can have guys an offensive line to have a really good run game it just makes my job a lot easier. We can set up different play actions, different nakeds, and it just makes the defense respect

the run game. So anytime we have a guy like that, it makes everybody's job easier. Look, we know it's tough for Penn State to watch Missouri this year and see Bo having success there. But Pete, I'll start with you on this one. Are they really contenders?

Five and O, contenders? I think they are. And look, if they beat Alabama and go six and O, you'd have to have. to consider them contenders. And there's a real path to victory here for Missouri, Jen. And a lot of it, we just heard a ton about that Missouri run game. We haven't talked about Alabama's poor defensive run game.

They're 14th in the SEC. Don't tell Coach Saban in rush defense. Amad Hardy's averaging 7.1 yards per carry. If he runs wild today on Saturday, and a lot of that's going to have to do with left tackle Caden Green. And if he's available, he's questionable right now. I think he becomes one of the front runners for the Heisman Trophy. and you have to insert not only Missouri in the playoff conversation,

but the SEC conversation in all broader conversations around college football. They'd have earned it at 6 and 0. I agree with you. I mean, this is a time of year that we started to really judge teams based on the competition that they go up against. Early in the season, guys were playing cupcakes. They were stacking, you know, their stats and things of that nature. But now you go out there and you beat Alabama,

despite the fact that Alabama's playing great, but they're not great with their rush defense. If you're able to do that, people start to look at Missouri a little bit differently. So I understand exactly what's going on here. I like Missouri. I like their chances in this game. I love the fact that their offense can move the ball, running the ball. I mean, they can control the clock.

If they can control the line of scrimmage and keep Ty Simpson and high-powered Alabama office off the field, then it goes a long way and helping them try to walk away with a victory. What I love about Ahmad Hardy is he actually has game pants that cover his knees and he wears knee pads. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Yes, sir. Old man yells at cloud here. I'm with you, brother.

It sticks out on the tape when you watch it. You mentioned it. Missouri's defense, 109 and strength of schedule. They haven't seen anything like this Alabama offense. Their secondary has to hold up. When you watch Alabama and watching them in person last week, those receivers are NFL guys. I mean, you talk about Williams,

Horton, the transfer, and Jeremy Bernard, those guys are exceptional. And tie has gotten better. and better every week. To me, that home crowd, your defense, your edge rushers, you have to play well in order to win this game. Because Alabama doing what they did and holding Vanderbilt to nine yards rushing in the second half.

They made some adjustments. Missouri's got to be on point on the offensive side and especially on a defensive side. Missouri does well at home. They won 15 straight. They're good for second longest active streak in FBS. But as you mentioned earlier in the day, Steve, their strength of schedule is last in the SEC. So yes, they had an enormous game between these two teams.

Let's take a trip over to the Big 12 where we also have a lot of action this weekend. Texas Tech is hosting Kansas. That's in Lubbock. There will be three ranked teams on the road against unranked opponents, including number 22 Iowa State heading to Colorado. Our Chris Budden is in Boulder, Colorado, ahead of the Buffalo's matchup against the cyclones. Chris has the latest on Coach Sanders. Jen, Colorado wrapped up their walkthrough just a couple hours ago, and Coach Deion Sanders. was out here on the practice field as if he didn't just have surgery three days ago, fully participant in the practice.

The only difference that you would notice was that he was writing a segue instead of walking around practice. I'm told that is not expected to happen during the game tomorrow, but he has done this before after some previous surgeries a couple years ago. Coach Sanders had surgery on Tuesday to remove some blood clots out of his left leg and clear out some of the artery that caused him some issues and some pain during last Saturday. day's game. Deon Sanders has said this is his 16th surgery in just the last couple years. Pretty amazing that after that surgery on Tuesday, he was back out on the practice field on Wednesday and will be coaching in tomorrow's game as Colorado is looking for its first conference win as they host Iowa State. Jen? Great update there from Chris Button. We are certainly thinking of Coach Prime as he continues to

recover. Now turning to the conference as a whole, it feels like the Big 12 right now is wide open. front runner to win it does and what do they have to do to really assert themselves yeah guys well we've been talking about the red raiders the last couple of weeks and you know they have not disappointed so far obviously during the offseason they opened up the checkbook uh went brought themselves pretty much a whole new defense and these guys have delivered so far last week against houston now there was some uncharacteristic drops and there was some struggles in the red zone i spoke to the OC left which he said yeah that was our um Achilles hill so to speak but it's better to get it out of your system than later.

So I think the Red Raiders, when you look at the, you know, to me, defense travels. Like, they have a great offense. There's no doubt about that. But defense travels and defense wins championships. So I will have to go right now with the Red Raiders because I've been so impressed with the consistency of their defense. Yeah, I'm going to look at BYU. You mentioned defense traveling. They're going to Arizona.

Noah Fafita has a rejuvenated year this year with Coach Brennan and that Arizona offense. BYU has a chance. I mean, you see them already with five wins. That's a huge spot for the. them to take another step knowing they have the holy war next week against their hated Utah Utah will say the quarterback Bachmire

did look a lot better in Cardinal than he does in this BYUu blue. Quietly Cincinnati undefeated in Big 12 play. I think the two quarterbacks in our game here, Moore and Mendoza have helped themselves the most this year Brendan Sorsby has helped himself. He's the next one. He has been unbelievable. He's big.

He's athletic. What a player and he's been a rock for Cincinnati. All right guys, good stuff for the Big 12. Of course, They have five different championships for the last five seasons, and that is unusual for some of these other leagues. After Penn State dropped its second straight game, there's been movement atop the Big Ten as well. The Buckeyes head to Illinois for their first ranked road test of the season. Will we see more shakeups? That's next on College Football Live.

You're watching College Football Live, presented by Vanguard. College Football Live is presented by Vanguard. 50 years of investor success doesn't happen by chance. Back here on college football live, what a gorgeous background for one of the big 10 games taking place this weekend. But let's talk about Ohio State and Illinois, the Buckeyes, heavy favorites in Illinois. What would it take for the fighting alineye to pull off the upset?

Steve, I'll start with you. I believe with seeing Illinois secondary, this is a spot where number four, Jeremiah Smith, is going to show that he's the best player in his sport. So Illinois is going to have to score against that very good Ohio State defense. Which Altmeyer are we going to get? The guy that was sacked seven times against Indiana or the guy that threw for over 300 yards against USC. That remains to be seen. I like you talked about Illinois defense.

They're going to have to really slow down this Ohio State offense. Make them earn every yard that they get. I don't care if you have to run a 3D with a shell over the top. You can't let Jeremiah Smith and those explosive receivers get vertical. That'll do you in quicker than anything. and then create turnovers. They created a big turnover when they beat USC at Illinois. That was a great game when they created a turnover that changed the game.

The second leading receiver in the Big Ten is on Illinois. His name is Hank Beatty and Brett Bielma is a little bit annoyed that he's not getting the attention he deserves. If Illinois is going to pull the upside, he has to have a big game not only catching the ball, but he's a demon on special teams. He's going to have to make a big play on teams for Illinois to flip some fields and have a chance against the Buckeyes. Statistician is extraordinary. Wow, why did I try to say that? That's tough to say.

Marissa telling me that Julian Sane has one of the best completion percentages in the country. I think he's up over 80%. Right, Marissa? Just nod. Yeah, we won't put it in how you feel about that. All right, guys, let's get to our Friday game picks. It's brought to you by Dick's Sporting Guards. We begin with South Florida and North Texas.

Steve, where are you feeling this? I love this game tonight. Can't wait to be watching it. The quarterback matchup of Mustamaker versus Byron Brown. How can I forget Byron Brown and what he did to Florida? Great matchup. High scoring offenses. You know, we're talking playoff implications.

This game is going to have a say what happens. Give me USF on the road. You know, I looked at this game and I was like perplexed. I'm like, which one do I go? North Texas, USF. I remember how USF started the season. And I think that they're going to win this game and a close one, probably by a field go.

But we do have people who are high on North Texas. Is that you? I'm high on North Texas. You are high on North Texas. Don't forget the name. That's right. Thanks for hanging out with us here on College Football Live. Remember, college game day comes to you bright and early, dark and early on Saturday morning.