College Football Live - CFB LIVE - IOWA KEYS TO VICTORY

Episode Date: October 1, 2026

Join our crew Zubin Mehenti, Sam Acho, EJ Manuel, and Joe Fortenbaugh on today's episode of College Football Live. Acho and EJ break down what Iowa needs to do to overpower Ohio State on Saturday. Which Top 25 team on the road could be on the ropes this week. Will Clemson be able to hang aroudn with Miami. All this and more on today's episode of College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to College Football Live, presented by Dr. Pepper. If it's another Saturday in college football, it means it's another Big Ten SEC heavy weekend with these ranked on-ranked matchups. We'll discuss all three over the next 30 minutes. Let's start, though, with the team that's vaulted themselves into the top 10 after being in the lower reaches of the top 25. Florida coming off that shalacking of Ole Miss. They have just been absolutely outstanding. statistically, but anecdotally, what Florida fans love is they look like Florida. It looks like fun and gun.

It looks like Spurrier. It looks like Meyer. It looks like Teebo. And it looks like a freight train. John Summerall, slowing that train down. You don't hang a banner or get celebrated for where you're ranked between game four and five in college football. Like the rankings mean absolutely nothing. And anybody that's feeling really good about.

West being ranked wherever we're ranked, it means nothing to me. Here's the deal that I told the team this morning, you have to humble yourself or you will be humbled. And perhaps Missouri will do the humbling. As you see, their percent chance to make the playoff has risen every week as they've risen in the poll. And this would be another big opportunity for them. Remember, Florida, believe it or not, has never made the college football playoff, which sounds crazy, but that trajectory looks pretty good.

And with that, we welcome you inside college football live. My guys, E.J. Sam, the Thursday crew, Joe's so big time. You can't hang in Bristol, Connecticut. He's in New York City today. Oh, big time. Joe, thank you for being here. What are you, wind horse? What are you doing there with that?

All right. So real quick here, on the jump, Sankey said, look, nine and three teams from the SEC have got to earn a right to be in this playoff because of the nine-game conference schedule. And that number, that kind of nine-ish number is right where we all. are with Florida. This is fascinating. Take us inside the gambling view of this. So I'm not sure, Zubin, that there's a team that's seen a greater jump in their expectations from preseason until now than the Florida Gators. Before the season started, their Vegas win

total, which is the bet you can make, whether they go over or under their amount of wins, was set at seven and a half. That is now up to nine and a half since they opened four and oh, and that's a marquee wins over Auburn and Ole Miss. So if you're going to bet it over, that means we have to go six and two the rest of the way with the Florida schedule. Now, thankfully, you have two well-dressed, handsome gentlemen next to you that can help you work through this schedule to see if they can find us six more wins. And gentlemen, I think we both start with that Florida State game, which we know is going to be an absolute Florida domination.

So that's one win. Let's see if we could find five more, E.J. Joe, I knew you were going to say something like that. I figured that was the initial joke here when we looked at the schedule. But Zubin, should we go ahead and jump into the schedule? Yes, I also did notice that two guys were well, not three, but that's right. Exactly. Exactly.

All right. Well, look, Joe, I hear you on the six and two, and that is going to be tough to do because the back half of this schedule guys is no joke. But I'll start here. I think they get a win against Missouri. And the big reason why the running the football is such a high clip. And also, Aaron Filos is taking great care of the football. That was something that Missouri had a little bit of an issue against Mississippi State last week. Yeah, and I'll back door to that win with another win versus South Carolina.

South Carolina has really struggled so far this season. A quarterback has struggled. Offensive line is struggled. Defense hasn't played well. So I like Florida versus South Carolina. All right. So that's all wins on this side of the slate. Big Sam.

Go ahead and get an L. there. The number one team in all the land. Let's not. I think it's going to be a double for you. I really do. For Florida. Oh, excuse me.

My bad. You're right. Look at this guy. Yeah, my bad. Let me get it right. By the Florida games, he's all thinking about the Texas Longhorn. I was thinking about the Texas Longhorn.

Here's the thing. Again, number one team in the country. And as long as Texas states healthy for the most part, Archmananan being available, Relique Brown being available, I think that's a really tough advantage on the road for Florida there against the Texas Longhorns. They did get him last year, though. They did.

And I think, but I'm with you, E.J. I'm going to go another L. I think that's a second loss versus Georgia. Georgia's a team that plays really well defensively. We know that Florida loves to run the rock with Duke Clark, Jaden Bob. But Georgia's defense has been dominant. Quarterback play has been great as well for Georgia. I think that's a second loss for Florida.

All right. Well, I think they bounce back against the Oklahoma Sooners right now. They're just trying to find some type of positive on the offensive side of the football. I haven't really seen that too much, Sam. You go ahead and take Kentucky. All right, for sure. Kentucky actually think they beat Kentucky. And I go back to the way that Florida has been dominant, putting up points,

54 points through the first three games, but had another good outing last week versus Ole Miss. I think Florida wins this game. By the way, Summerall played a Kentucky. Yeah, there is. Keep that in mind, just an angle, just an angle. I'm actually very glad I'm picking the Vandy game because I don't have to pick the Florida State game

because I won't sound biased because you know who I would choose in that one, but I'm going Vandy. They're going to get a win there. Again, that game being at home in the swamp late in the season, in Florida playing really good football these last four weeks here in the back half of the season. And this one, EJ, I'm sorry to say, man. I think Florida wins that one as well. I think they beat Florida State.

To stand in between you guys. And I know what you would think. And I understand there's robbery and I get all that. But I think with the level of confidence that Florida will be playing with coming off of back to back to back wins. I think even in the excitement and energy, I think Florida wins that one. Let's reconfigure here with Joe. You mentioned the elevated win total nine and a half. Sanky wants nine win teams to get consideration.

They've got him at 10 and two. How do you see their selection? elections here, never made the playoff. I think the end result is correct. I think it'll be a little bit different. I think they get either Texas or Georgia. They're going to win one of those two games, in my opinion. And then I think somewhere along the way they're going to stumble and get caught by

somebody else, probably on the road. I might look at that Kentucky game as the potential problem. E.J.'s pointed out right now that Kentucky teams a lot better than I think people are giving them credit for at the moment. If they win at Texas, though, and they're number one, Some world's going to have to change those weekly press conferences because nobody's going to be buying his. We ain't good anymore. That's the deal in the SEC.

As you may have heard, we also have a huge game this Saturday in the Big Ten. We show up here at Kinnock. Years since Ohio State ventured into Kinnick, Urban Meyer said after that game, it was the first time in his tenure at Ohio State. We got punched in the mouth. We didn't get back up. The two meet again in that same venue on Saturday. Iowa was ranked 14th in the country. But Ohio State is a 14 and a half-point favorite.

There's a ton of hype for this game. game days back for the first time in 20 years. Frankly speaking, looking at a number like that, is it really warranted? Yeah, it's kind of warranty. You think about Ohio State and all the points they just scored against another Big Tenfo in Illinois, and then also the fact that Iowa had a close win

over Michigan last weekend. There's no doubt about it. Iowa and Ohio State are both known for their great defense. To show you how much college football has changed over the years, it didn't used to be you were bragging about allowing 30 points or fewer. But college football's changed a little bit, and in this particular metric, these are two of the best in the country.

Sam. So it's been nearly a decade. That's a game Iowa fans will remember forever. Give me the blueprint for Iowa to pull it off again and have this game go down and more. Well, it's going to take all three phases, not just the dominant defense, going to take offense, defense, special teams, and maybe a little bit of help. Absolutely. So this first play against Michigan last week, you're going to see the ability of Michigan getting into an eight-man box right here, really an eight-man front, forcing Iowa to throw the football. The thing that I love in this play, though, you're going to see Hank Brown and also DJ Benami. Keep your eye on him, number 81, the tight-in. because he's going to come into the play a little bit later. But Hank Brown does a great job of breaking his pocket.

And once he get out on the flat here, he attacks the line of scrimmings. That's the big key because then that's going to force these defenders to all leave their receivers. And then hopefully you have now a scramble opportunity. But then the ball gets tipped by Tony Diaz back to the tight end who reestablishes himself as a receiver coming back into bounds. That was that little bit of help that we talked about. Ball gets tips. So it is a completion fourth quarter. But now let's talk about the defensive side of the ball.

Keep your eyes not only on Jaden Montgomery, but look at all the defensive players. This is a critical third down game on the line. It's not just Montgomery gets out the ball, sheds a block, but it's him and all his friends. One, two, three, four, five, six different defenders swarming the football. Right here is Bryce Underwood. This weekend's going to be Jeremiah Smith.

And Sam, you're talking about the impact of the special teams, the third phase here. This is the big key. Brayton Jackson, my old teammates son right here, Fred Jackson's son, does an excellent job of one catching a kick, gets it on the one yard line, and then he just reads his blocks. And look at the excellent hat.

placement being on the inside shoulder of these Michigan defenders. Braden makes one guy a miss and it's off to the races. I remember watching them run like this when he was like five or six years old. And I was scoring on special teams is no fluke since the year 2016 special team scores. Remember we talked about that little bit of help as well. This is fourth quarter game on line. 11 seconds left Hank Brown in the pocket. He's scrambling. They need a score if they want to win it. This ball can't be thrown. Oh wow. Hold on. He threw it up for grabs Sam. But it got to be an interception. But no, the

focus of Addison Estringa locked in makes the catch. This led to the next play, those that back shoulder touchdown with two seconds left where Iowa beat Michigan. Yeah. All right. So that's how the Hawks can do it. Joe, I mentioned 14.5 point favorites for Ohio State. You saw their plan for victory. What say you?

Really good breakdown. Really good breakdown. And if you take it and you put it in Mike Tomlin's Minecraft City, it probably plays really well amongst all those people. Jokes aside, I'd laid the big number with Ohio State here. I think this game is a complete blowout. Not because anything you just heard. Those are the breakdowns that make sense.

Those are what the Hawkeyes are capable of. But there's two things I'm worried about here if I'm backing Iowa. Number one, the win last week against Michigan. Looks good because all we really did was show the final play of the game where they want. Go inside the box score. Michigan outgained Iowa by 144 total yards and held the ball for 35 minutes in that game. If Ohio State does that here, they're going to run away with this thing. Number two, obviously you want to take a look at how Ohio State did in that matchup against Texas.

E.J. mentioned it earlier. They lost on the road. So I think this time after blowing that game in the fourth quarter, there's going to be an emphasis on keeping your foot on the gas and laying it to Iowa for 60 straight minutes. Joe, channeling Mike Tomlin, blunt, as always. Joe, thank you. So it all comes to ahead Saturday morning,

college game day for the first time in 20 years, at a raucous Iowa City. The game will be Saturday afternoon. It'll be big one in the Big Ten. Big one in the ACC Saturday night, Miami and Clemson, with a stat on maybe the Heisman frontrunner that seems hard to believe. We'll unveil it next.

College Football Live is presented by Ice Cold Dr. Pepper. College football. It's a pepper thing. Welcome back to College Football Live. Presented by Dr. Pepper. You know the funny thing about this Alabama Mississippi State game,

all the attention is on all the quarterbacks. You're seeing them aired out here. They may be super talented, Keelan Russell, Camaro Taylor, but the fact is not a lot of football between the two has been played. Camario's been waiting and Keelan is super young. That's just one of the angles to keep in mind. When you have super young quarterbacks, one of the things you're always wondering is how they might fare on the road.

Remember, Alabama opened at Kentucky. They look really skittish. Keelan really in his first drive did not look great. But then things really settled down in the second half. They didn't allow a point, and their offense was, absolutely terrific. So that sets the stage for another road test for Alabama at Mississippi State, noon Eastern on your local ABC station. So how do they, Sam, let's start with you, flip the script here and come out a house of fire unlike the way they did in Lexington.

They have to get rid of the fluff, Bothwell, that is. They have to stop Fluff Bothwell, the running back from Mississippi State. Everyone talks about Mississippi State. They talk about Camario Taylor and his husband trophy odds, and I get it. But this offense of Mississippi State starts and stops with running back Fluff Bothwell. When it comes to the outlet for Camario Taylor, when those big plays aren't available down the field, he drops it down to Fluff Bofwell. When it comes to them being in a third and long or even a second and long, he hands the ball off and Fluff gets big time yards.

Their last game, their last win, 179 yards for Fluff Bofwell. That was a third of the team's total offense. So it's about stopping the run for Alabama and making Mississippi State one-dimensional. Then you could force some turnovers. Well, said, Sam. It's also about getting pressure on the quarterback, Camaro Taylor. You have to collapse this pocket if you're the Alabama front seven, because not even just the front four have been the ones that are getting the sacks.

You also have linebackers like Woodson that's able to come in for some pressures. And I think that's a big key that, one, throws off this passing scheme for Mississippi State. A lot of it's off the RPO. And you'll see Camaro Taylor just do a run fake and then just kind of stand in one spot. If you can collapse the middle of the pocket, the center and the guard, you're going to have a lot of success. You have four sacks given up by Mississippi State again. against Missouri. You also had three sacks given up by Mississippi State Offens Line against South Carolina.

So this is obviously a weakness right now that Mississippi State's offense line is not the strongest, and that's something that Alabama could take advantage of. Man, I am absolutely fascinated about this game. Specifically, Alabama's ability to travel on the road and handle their business. This has been a bit of an issue for head coach Kalin DeBore since he signed up with the tide about three years ago. As a road favorite, he's been in that spot 10 times. He's won just six of those games, and he's four and six against the spread. And we started the conversation by talking about Alabama's defense on the road against Kentucky. Small sample size, but on the road this year for the tide,

there are 112th defensively in stuff rate, and there are 122nd in explosive plays allowed. That defense is going to need to show up because if we have weather concerns and this game gets mucked up, you're going to have Mississippi State hanging around all the way until the end of this game. All right, so there's ball talk on this show on Thursdays, no fluff. will mention if there was a first team all named team. I think we know who the running back is going to be on that team. All right, so Mississippi State's schedule is

not that easy. I think Tom Luganbell our colleague mentioned it earlier in the week. You want to put K1 at one on your husband list? Get through this one gauntlet and then we will see. All right, so what's the key EJ for Jeff Levy and the dogs

to get through this? Not, I wouldn't say unskayed, that would be amazing, but just kind of get through this strap. Well, to get through the that slate there. It starts with Fluff Bofwell. It really does. I believe he's the straw that stirs a drink for this offense

because as much as Camario Taylor will get the praise and rightfully so, he's making some excellent pros down the field. Coach Levy's giving him opportunities. Fluff Bofwell is a guy that he goes to on a checkdown. He's the guy that he goes to if it's a third and three situation and they go into a wildcat quarterback. He's going to get the ball first.

So as much as that schedule is daunting, if Fluff Bofwell is out there for this football team, I really think he's the heart and soul along with Camaro Taylor at quarterback. All right. So that's the deal of the big game in the SEC. There is a really big game in the ACC. It's actually got the Saturday night ABC primetime spotlight.

And as we take a look at our Dr. Pepper trophy run game of the week preview, it is Miami and Clemson. I want to feast your eyes on this. Darian Mensa, 14 passing touchdowns without an interception. He also has just 12 incompletions. Guys, more touchdowns than incompletions. Unreal is a good word. E.J., you're our resident quarterback here.

You played in the state of Florida, one of Miami's biggest rivals. And you say it's the man behind Mensa that deserves some problems. Absolutely, fellas, because as I watched the tape of Miami offenses over the past three years, I'm seeing a recurring theme. All the quarterbacks are having a ton of success in this system. And it starts with the offensive coordinator, Shannon Dawson. He does such a great job of providing answers for these quarterbacks, whether it's a quick game against a team that defensively lacks the pressure

or whether it's, you know, a opportunity where you have Malacotoni up against a slug at the nickel. or a safety that's trying to connect and guard him in the slot. So I just feel like Shannon Dawson deserves a lot more praise because the consistency that this offense has also with three new quarterbacks, that's really, you know, one of the things you rarely see. Real quick. What's a slug? A slug is a slow defender.

Slow defender. Okay, so many can really. No, it's great. I was thinking in the defense, we had a blitz called slug, but it's usually a nickel coming off the ends. I'm like, hold on, you call my nickels. We had to call slug, meaning we were going to go on a go route because he was slow. Oh, man, all bad.

All bad. Well, I'll look at the other side. If you want to talk about Clemson and what. what they can do to be able to find a way to find a victory. I think it starts with their running back, Gideon Davidson. He actually was born in Ghana, grew up in an orphanage, and all of a sudden he has become this player that not only gives back with his time, but he also gives back on the football field.

Last week versus count, 22 carries, 159 yards, two touchdowns, including the game ceiling touchdown. What's the best way to keep Darren Mensa off the field? Keep the ball out of his hands. Control the clock, run the football, lean on your running back, Gideon Davidson. But part two of that is, let's say you are, on the defense side of the ball.

Ashton Hampton, that star corner has to have a big day. Maybe he'll be lined up against Tony a bit. Maybe, you know, I don't know who knows how it'll be out there, but it's going to be him and Gideon on the other side. One more for you on Gideon. He's a four-star recruit. A lot of people don't know a lot about him. This was the type of player that supposedly Davo was not going to be able to get anymore.

He's there. He's playing well out of the gate. I know you know the Clemson program. You spoke to them in person. What do you make of just him being kind of like a bright light in this season? Well, that's what this, that's what this Clemson's been hoping for. There's been so much talk really for the last couple years about Davo and the transfer portal. And Davo Sweeney saying, hey, man, my locker room and the guys on this team, like our recruiting, that is our transfer portal because we develop up.

And then you see the talent come on the field led by what C.J. Spiller, who's a running back back coach. But former great running. Former great running back himself at Clemson. Gideon Davidson's been outstanding on the field, but even off the field. He's a member of the Allstate AFCA, Good Works team, potentially going to be the Allstate AFCA Good Works team captain for the work he does back home and also locally. So that's the kind of stuff that you want to see if you're Clemson. but has to translate to success on the field. And by the way, Davo's actually one of those coaches that cares about stuff like that.

There's a lot of guys that are just winning at all costs. But DaBah wants that well-rounded player, and he certainly provided it. We'll get to see him in the Saturday night spotlight. Miami at Clemson on your local ABC station. We'll set it up with Alabama and Mississippi State, Florida, and Missouri. We already got you set for those two earlier in our show. On the way, getting set for some big road worries, big ranked teams on the road, heading to hostile environments.

Who's got reason to be worried the fellow's way. that next. College Football Live is presented by Ice Cold Dr. Pepper. College football. It's a pepper thing. Being a ranked team on the road this week is a thing. There are all of them on the screen here.

All seven going on the road in college football, never an easy thing. So we're going to ask the guys who on the road among those seven is in the most trouble. And Joe, we're going to start. with you. I think it could be BYU traveling to TCU. TCU was abysmal last week at Central Florida. They lost 21 to 13. They committed four turnovers and had 11 penalties. That's as bad as it gets, boys. It was a winnable game. They won the time of possession battle. They were better on third down.

They were better on fourth down. They had more total yards, but they made too many mistakes. I'd have to imagine this entire week has been about focusing on cutting down the turnover. cutting down the penalties. PYU is going to be in for a very tough test when they visit TCU this weekend. Joe, that would be a huge win for TCU, but I'm thinking maybe it's the Buckeyes and Kinnick Stadium. Here's the reason why it really starts with Iowa's defense.

Their ability to shrink this game, get off the field on third down is going to be key. The defensive coordinator of Phil Parker probably hasn't slept all week because he saw the film of Jeremiah Smith last weekend against Illinois, 12 catches 217 yards. But here's the thing. Iowa's defense is number one in the Big Ten, allowing points per game at eight,

Number three in the Big Ten stopping the run game with 88 yards per game. And then number 10, excuse me, number four in the Big Ten was slowing down the past. So I think that's a huge key here in the benefit of Iowa. Shrink the game, get off the field on third down. Well, I may go with the Alabama going to Mississippi State. And here's the reason why. Mississippi State puts up a ton of points. They're one of the fastest offenses as well.

They call their offense the fastest hail, right? All hail state, right? Right. I like that. I like that. I like that. I like that. All right.

But so anyways, but they go so fast, right? Here's the thing about them. 82, 10 yards or more. That's top three in the FBS. 28 plays of 20 yards or more. That's top six in the FBS. And so if they can rely on their running back, Buffwell, they have to rely on the offensive line.

This year, 98 offensive line holding penalties. That's worst in the second worst in college football. If they can get rid of some of those holdings, have an opportunity to maybe the last person that has the ball could be the one that wins that game. And the bottom line is if you're a coach like Jeff Levy, you are always looking for a signature win. And I don't care if it's Saban Alabama.

I don't care if it's Mike Shula, Alabama. You beat Alabama when you're the head coach at Mississippi State. That shows you have arrived. And it probably means Camario Taylor had a day for the ages. You'll see these guys tonight, tomorrow, Saturday, all over your college football weekend.