College Football Live - CFB Live - Final Thoughts on 1st Round College Football Playoff Matchups

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

On today's episode of CFB Live, Zubin Mehenti, Sam Acho, and EJ Manuel breakdown all the 1st round matchups. EJ and Sam also look at how Tulane can pull off an upset and how Alabama can bounce back! All this and more on CFB Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The NBA is happening Christmas Day. Five games, one unforgettable lineup. That's what Christmas is all about. Buckets for breakfast, breakaways for dessert. It's the holiday tradition. Christmas is all day. With star power from across the globe. The stars, they are going to be out.

The best gift, you don't even have to unwrap it. We want to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! NBA Christmas Day begins at noon Eastern on ABC and ESPN. And with that we welcome you inside college football live, E.J. Manuel, Sam Macho, I'm Zuban Mahenti. We are on the eve of the second and maybe last 12-team playoff. We'll wait to see. And the theme of this weekend's first round games Friday and Saturday, two of the four, our first round rematches from the regular season.

We're going to dig into both of those here. Let's start with Friday's opener between Alabama and Oklahoma. They met in week number 12, though this was at Brian Denny. As you know, the scene will be Norman Friday night. Eli Bowen picking off Ty Simpson, 87 yards to the house, OU up, 10-0. Remember, they scored 17 points in this game off of three turnovers. Brand Venable Special, that's his defensive prowess. John Mateer, he had the hand injury.

The passing game has not been great, but you know Mateer can do this. 20 yards rumbling in, OU up at the half. Daniel Hill takes Alabama from a deficit to a lead. But that Simpson got a little bit sloppy. He gets sacked, balls on the deck. Oklahoma comes up with it. In the waning moments, they're going to have an opportunity for a chip shot 23-yard field goal to win it. Early in the fourth, they win.

DeBoer on the keys to the rematch. We got to play physical. We've got to continue to play smart. We do a good job being disciplined. Penalties, you know, for the most part, we had in the Iron Bowl, we had more penalties than normal. We're going to have to convert on third down, stay on the football field. Field position is important.

Defensively, to me, it's about identification, and then we just got to tackle and do our job to make sure we keep Mateer, you know, under wraps because he can do so many things, not just with his arm, but with his feet. That said, guys, let's dig into it a little bit. You kind of just heard what DeBuller said in terms of sort of corraling Meteer, if possible. EJ, we ran through the highlights. It was a defensive-inspired effort that OU had to get the victory.

What are they going to have to do this time around to keep Meteer under wraps? Because you can't assume he's going to struggle the way he did in that first matchup about four and a half, five weeks ago. Well, sure, Zubin. I mean, Alabama knows they're going to have to prepare for John Meteer's run game. But I think that's the key to the success for Oklahoma in this game. And don't get me wrong, the defense did play great. They could create three turnovers in that game. They also had a pick six with E.I. Bowen.

But John Mateer played OK. And I'm talking about OK in the past game. He only had 138 passing yards, but he still made winning football plays. You saw him run the football in for a touchdown, but he also didn't turn the ball over. So that's going to be the big key. Can he run the football at a high clip, keep Bama's front seven off balance and then also take good care of the football. Keep this in mind too. He's at home, fellas.

So there's not a lot of pressure on the tier as far as the loudness on third down. But I just believe in this type of game where it's going to be closed, the quarterback must be able to take care of the football and run the rock. And one great way to have a quarterback take care of the football is by protecting that quarterback. There have been so many conversations about the pressures and the sacks on Ty Simpson. But I'm here to tell you that all those pressures and sacks giving up may not only be on Ty Simpson. Let's turn on the tape to the last game that Alabama played versus Georgia and to see what they can do differently. Let's start with some of the pressures given up.

This is going to be a sack early in the game. Daniel Hill's a backup running back to sophomore. Michael Carroll, true freshman at tackle. The defensive end is going to go inside. Carol's supposed to stay inside of them, and then all of a sudden the linebacker is supposed to be for the running back. But there's going to be a miscommunication. Look at the eyes of Hill.

He's thinking, I got the outside guy, right? But Michael Carroll's wrong. One of them's wrong. Sack in that game versus Georgia. Then later on, it's not just a sacks. It's the pressures. Now we'll go to a backup tight end. And Caleb Edwards, a true freshman on the,

left side with Caden Proctor, one of the leaders of the team. Edwards has to be tighter and more physical on this chip. Caden Proctor has to get out quicker. All of a sudden, it's a soft chit. Cain Proctor's weak in the pocket right there, and there's going to be a pressure. Four sacks and 13 pressures in the game. You might say, okay, well, that's Georgia. What does it matter?

Well, Jan Miller, the starting running back, who's a senior, he may be coming back. And then also the starting tight end, Josh Quavis, who is a senior as well, may be coming back as well. So experience may help quell some of that pressure. put on the quarterback. The last thing I'll just mention, think about how fast the college football season comes at you. In one week, several weeks ago, Mattier is the Heisman Trophy Frontrunner.

And now it's like, boy, if we don't have our defense, we might not be able to win this game. It just shows you how quickly things can change. There is another rematch from the regular season taking place. This one will be on Saturday. It'll be between Tulane and Ole Miss. This one was decidedly one side, and even though it was just a two-point game between VAMM and OU.

Trinidad Chambliss continues to be one of the great stories of the college football season from D2, the dominating the SEC, although on this particular day, they welcomed in an American team, coached by John Somerol. Jake Ratt's life really struggled, really struggled. He completed five passes the entire day. They were down 20 early. It never got better. Ole Miss's Landsharp defense was back, and Tulane never got anything going. Chambliss to Deuce Alexander. Ole Miss wins by 35 at Vaught Hemingway, the same site. They'll see each other Saturday. Some are all knows plenty to improve on.

We look at maybe some of the things that went right, which weren't a ton, but more than anything looked at missed opportunities that we had and try to help our guys understand. We were in position at times. Just got to make a certain play a little differently. That game that we played the first time against all this was about as awful of a passing game performance I've seen maybe ever. It was just, it was bad to be quite honest with you. Jake's responded. Anytime things haven't gone well. As of late, I feel like we've thrown the ball more efficiently and more effectively.

He understands his receivers better and who he's throwing the ball too. And I think he is more confident in what we're trying to get done within certain calls. Apologies to the Ole Miss fans for the post-traumatic stress there. I saw Lane Kiffin shaking hands with Summerall there at the end of the game. Sorry, I should have warned you that was coming. I should also mention this game was in week four. Remember Bama, Oklahoma, week 12, about a month ago. This was week four.

These teams are way different, and Summerall just referenced that. Bottom line, E.J., Summerall said there is plenty to change, plenty to fix. What do they have to do to try to make this a competitive game? Yeah, well, defensively, Tulane cannot give up over 500 yards of offense to Ole Miss. And then also, as Coach Summerall said, Joe, Rick Slop's going to have to be the best player in a football field for Tulane if they want a chance to win. Only 56 yards passing. And I actually got two plays I want to take you guys through because there's some areas where, Tulane can technically clean up some things and maybe have a better result here in this second

go down. Now, Trinidad champions the quarterback here for Ole Miss. He's going to run quarterback power. He's going to get a lead blocker from the off the ball, tight end to your right, and then also the block down from the three lineman and the tight end on his left, and then a lead blocker there by Kiwan Lacey. Now, the safety has to come up and make a big play. That is Despani. Bailey Despani, third leading tackler on his football team. And Despani has to remember, look, Your help is inside. You've got to filter that quarterback run back inside with a defensive lineman like San Macho and the other linebackers can come in, rally and tackle, and not give up an explosive play there to champions.

This cannot happen in this second game. Now, here's another area where Jake Ressloff, just understanding pre-snap. You're going to get pressure here down inside the 10-yard line. You've got to know where your hots are. Your hot is to the right. This is a mesh concept. Number one is the hot route. Look at him.

He's covered. That's going to take you to number two who's coming across on what we call again a shallow cross. He's wide open, actually. You just can't see it in this camera angle. Then Red Slav has to throw an incomplete pass. These are just two small areas where if they can just clean this up a little bit, you have touchdowns instead of field goals potentially against Ole Miss. But there's a big area that they need to clean up if you're Tulane.

It's the passing defense. Tulane is 119th when it comes to passing defense, giving up over 250 yards a game. It's one of the worst in college football. Ole Miss, on the other hand, it's top five when it comes to passing offense. I go back to Tulane, not just in the game versus Ole Miss, even their game versus UTSA gave up nearly 400 yards through the air. And so even if you try to be dominant in the running game and in the trenches,

Tulane on the outsides with the corners and safeties have to find a way to slow down the receivers of Ole Miss. And not just that, when everything's covered up front with the receivers, Trinidad Chamblis, the quarterback for Ole Miss, Kentucky, and run. That's my issue. Tulane has to find a way to tackle in space and not leave people so wide open. It shows up on tape over and over again. Now, I got a chance to talk to the coaches earlier this week. They said they talked about simplifying the game plan.

So maybe that's going to be part of the solution or maybe just doing your job. Little things done well. Make big things happen. And once again, if you happen to be out of the house and in your car this Saturday, Sam is going to be on the radio call of this game. So look forward to getting your expertise Saturday afternoon at the Grove. Hey, we've got a developing story. College Football Live.

Yet another big quarterback name is in the portal. Bottom of your screen, Bo Perbula. Remember, he was with Penn State, left to go to Missouri, got injured this year at Missouri. He'll be on his third team in three years with Ryola Lagway, Sorsby already in. Remember, one transfer portal window, January 2 to 15, we'll monitor that. On the way here on College Football Live, it's Marcel versus Miami, sure, but it's who Marcel's throwing to. That could really be the difference in College Station, we'll explain. And in three of the four first round matchups, the road quarterback has never seen the home venue before.

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Unbelievable. This is what makes this sport so amazing. The college football playoff first round begins tomorrow. and continue Saturday. Well, at the mic, just because the Red Raiders aren't playing this particular weekend, doesn't mean they're not working. These are really quick practices because we have so many, you know, and so same structure, but less plays, faster pace.

And it's good, you know, to let these guys hill up, getting a really good routine. I don't think that watching, like, a TV copy helps me very much. If anything, it gives me, like, a skewed view. But that's just, like, a personal preference that I have. Nothing against anything, you know, that commentators are saying. It's just more of a personal preference where, you know, I can kind of just get away from football for the day and then kind of go attack the work that needs to be done.

Now, I'll watch the other games, and I'll hang out and watch those ones. but yeah, probably not that one. EJ, we know last year the teams that had the Bible and four, although they figured out who those teams were a little differently from this year to last year. That being said, tell me about what it's like to have the week off when you've been playing week after week after week after week since August.

Yeah, look, Zubin, sometimes it's a disadvantage and it could be an advantage because guys are able to get healthy, you get your mind away from football, but I say it's a disadvantage because, look, we as football players are all creatures that have it. We have a routine every single day, every single hour, every single minute. And when you have a big lulls sometimes between your last game and when you're playing another big, big game, not just a regular game, but a bit game, sometimes you can't come out a bit sluggish. And certainly offensively, sometimes guys are in the right spots where the quarterback's eyes are a little bit late.

So that's just something to keep in mind because I look at these teams that get this first round opportunity. You get to work out the Kings. You get a way to basically go play and get your feet wet in the CFP, whereas some of the other teams are sitting back. though they earned this opportunity to get the buy, maybe it's not always the best thing. And, of course, one of those teams that went 0 and 4. You saw that on your screen was Oregon last year's number one overall seed. Here's Dan Lannning on putting last year's disappointment in the rearview mirror.

Very little talk really about, you know, last season is so far behind us. But ultimately, I mean, everybody feels that. And those moments are all about growing from those moments. But I think we have a team that's worked really hard, been very consistent. You know, their routine's been really dialed in, you know, throughout this season. They've done a great job maintaining that throughout the year. It can be a long season. And they realize right now, you know, it's winter go home, you know, so they want to give their absolute best.

It is funny that last year is the one seed they got Ohio State. Now, this year they, quote, unquote, on paper, seem to have the easiest path, at least early on. What do you think about Oregon this year versus last year and their path here, Sam? Definitely two different teams, but I still have concerns about Oregon when it comes to being able to win it all. They had one loss this season. That loss was to Indiana, which is. right now, the best team in college football last year. They were undefeated in the regular season.

Then they had a 20-point loss in the playoffs to Ohio State, the eventual champ. The reason why I have concerns is because the offensive line has given up a few too many pressures for my liking, not necessarily sacks on Dante Moore. And so can they hold up in the past protection game? I understand that JMU may not be the most formidable opponent, but when the going gets tough, that's my concern, past protection for quarterback Dante Moore of Oregon. Okay, so that'll be the last game on Saturday. The first game Saturday, Miami and Texas, A&M,

and this guy knows what the Hurricanes defense can bring. I think they do a really good job of mixing blitz and base. I think there's times where they allow their four-down kids to just go to work. I think there's times where they add people into the rush at the right time, and that creates a lot of stress on offensive lines and protections and creates a lot of one-on-ones for them. And I think the two-edged kids are as talented a pair as I've seen in college football on a really long time.

EJ, let's talk a little bit about defense because both of these coaches made their name on the line of scrimmage on each side of the ball. How do you see it? Well, look, fellas, defense. You look at players like Muhammad Ture, Ahmad Mote, and everybody knows about Ruben Bain and Akeem Mezzador, but also Jacoby Thomas,

Kiante Scott, and the secondary. And not just as far as getting interceptions when Jacobi Thomas has four in the season. but also the ability to impact the passer. And I think that's an area where Kianti Scott, if he's able to go, guys, the Auburn transfer this year coming into Miami, he is going to play a huge role in rallying after Marcel Reed,

who's the athletic quarterback, can take off and make plays with his feet. Expects some D.Bs to come back there and try to get some sacks on Reed as well. And especially when those DBs are coming to try and get those sacks and pressuring and blitzing, expect Marcel Reed to be able to dump the ball off to guys like Casey Concepcion,

transfer from NC State, or also Mario Craver, who's a transfer from Mississippi, say it with me five times fast, who actually is now healthy, he's battled injuries this year, 5-9, 165, a deep play threat, missed some time through injury, but now he says he's 100%. So that could be an easy outlet when the pressure from guys like Akeem Mezzador and Ruben Bain start to come.

Oh, by the way, Casey Concepcion, All-American when it comes to the punt return game as well. So expect the punt return to be a big difference in this game for A&M. All right, so that's going to be the first one on Saturday. game day will be there after making the short trip over from Norman on Friday night. Can't wait for the weekend. On the way, is it going to be home sweet home? We saw what the home teams did last year on Friday and Saturday. Why this guy says we could be in for a repeat performance.

Look at how studiously he's going over. I don't want to bother your preparation. No, keep working. We'll see you after the break. Can you believe it? Big stage, big time opponents. What makes college football so good. This is going to be a great game today.

Come on! Saturday in College Station Friday night in Norman. Busy weekend with the college game day guys as they feasted their eyes on this bracket. I'm sure you have as well since it came out on Sunday. Let's run through the four opening round matchups. We spent a good portion of the show already talking about Alabama and Oklahoma. A reminder, OU won the first game, but that was at Brian Denny. Now we're in Norman.

And a reminder, OU, and their short stint in the SEC has won both games with Alabama. Texas A&M and Miami is not a rematch, though they did actually play Mario Cristobal's first year with Miami back in 2022. That's like ancient history. the way college football goes these days, as the guys discussed, line play will be key. There is a regular season rematch between Ole Miss and Tulane. With Ole Miss having won the first game by 35 points, they'll be meeting on the same field. Remember, Tulane really struggled passing the ball against the Rebs, and obviously no, Lane Kiffin. Oregon is rolling against non-con opponents.

James Madison is gone from the FCS to the CFP in four years. coach Bob Chesney with one word to describe the environment they'll see Saturday night. I mean, it's deafening. Like you can't hear from a foot away from each other. And I think it's pretty cool to watch coaches communicate, watch players communicate. Now it's pretty much second nature by the time we get to here on Wednesday. There's very little that's getting missed.

They're doing a really good job of making sure that they're on the same page and have signals, but then backup signals as well. Once you expose one, you can't ride with that the whole time. So I think they've done a really good job of, of, you know, just communicating. It's kind of fun to watch coaches yell at someone with their hands, like from a distance when you can't hear. But they're doing a really, really good job of acclimating to that.

You know, what's interesting is Joe Fordenbar, sports betting analyst joins us. It'll be soon enough for Bob Chesley. It'll be used to playing at Austin Stadium because he's taking over UCLA coming up next season. That's after this weekend, perhaps, unless the Duke's stunned the world. Joe, you're here. Talked about before the break how Home Sweet Home has really applied in the, Saturday and Friday games in the first round of the playoff.

How do you see it shaping out this year with the home team? I don't think we've accounted enough for how significant home field advantage is in college football. Last year was the first time we had ever seen playoff games hosted on a college campus. And this was the result. Home team going 4-0 straight up. They went 4-0 against the point spread, which is even more impressive, winning by 19 points per game, beating the closing point spread by 10 points per game. That is absolute annihilation.

In the NFL, if you've been around 6 to 8 years, you understand as a member of the Ravens what it's like to go into Pittsburgh. But these are young kids going into college station, 100,000 people, going into Autson. I think the home team's role. I specifically like Oklahoma to handle their business. And I think it's going to be too much for Miami, especially with the way Mario Cristobal manages late game, high leverage situations. I think that's going to be problematic as well. Those are the two I'd be leaning on their A&M and at the same time, Oklahoma. But Joe, what you're not taking into account is the pressure.

that some of these players at the home team may be facing. A&M is the first time hosting a home game in the playoffs. And think about it, Oklahoma, finally in the playoff. I remember when I got a chance to play at home, not in the playoff, but in the Big 12 championship that would lead us to a national championship. I was stressed out. The game was in Dallas. Jerry Jones Stadium, I was freaking out.

It was the worst first half I'd ever played. I was scared. I always wanted. But the second half, I finally stepped up and stood out, and we ended up getting the win on the last second field goal. The point that I'm making is this. There will be pressure from Oklahoma and their fans. They want to go and win. There will be pressure for M&M,

and the players may not be ready for that pressure. Yes, home field is an advantage, but as an individual, you definitely feel that pressure with the eyes on you. If things aren't going your way early, oh, by the way, early in that game, they were not going my way. I had grass stains all in my back.

I was getting panicked. It was embarrassing for your boy. That was so long ago, Texas and Nebraska were in the same league. I mean, that was like ancient history. E.J. to you, you heard what Joe said, young guy coming in, unfamiliar environment. Take us inside the mind of a quarterback.

You're walking into a totally unfamiliar. your place, got to get your bearings. How did you handle something like that? Yeah, well, look, Zuba, my thing, as far as a checklist, when you got out into the field before pregame warm up, you wanted to find the play clock on both ends of the stadium. The other part that you wanted to do, you wanted to throw some go balls or some posts into each end of the stadium, too, because certain parts have a bit more wind. And then you realize, I got to put a bit more firmness on this football instead of putting

too much air on it. I think the other part, too, running around and making plays in the pregame, because you've got to know what kind of cleats you want to wear as well. Sometimes you might normally wear the three-quarter cleats. Maybe the grass is a little bit thicker. So you might need a longer cleats. You can get away from guys like Sam Macho back in the day when he was at Texas. But I will say this, E.J., one thing that I did learn how to do after all the pressure and stress

and anxiety of playing in college, in the NFL, what I would do to calm myself down is I would play catch. I would literally find a coach before the game and just play catch with the coach before the game, an assistant coach, assistant DB coach named Sean Desai, who's in the NFL now. But it just brought me this relieving mentality of, hey, man, this is a kid's game. I don't have to be so stressed out. So little kids, if we're getting stressed out, go play catch before the game. That's a great little nugget when you think about it.

Just simplify it. Don't make it more complicated than it is. So we are on the eve of the second 12 team playoff. Once again, it begins tomorrow. Game day to get you set for Alabama and Oklahoma. Game day to get you set Saturday morning for a triple header. And we'll be back with you next Monday. on the way to a champion.