College Football Live - College Football Playoffs Begin

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Championship weekend has come and gone and now we look ahead to the college football playoffs. Justin Walters, Sam Acho, and Desmond Howard join the show to give reactions to the official college football playoff bracket as well as an update on all teams going into the first week of the playoffs. The crew gives first looks at what to expect in some of the matchups and who can have the most impact. All that and more coming up on College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's V-Week on ESPN as we continue Jim Belvano's fight against cancer. We have not arrived. We are not done. This is why you do what you do. Welcome into college football live. I'm Justin Walters alongside Desmond Howard and Sam Macho. Fellas, the 12-team playoff is officially set. But there's another developing story that D.RSA is grabbing similar attention. And that's the head coaching search. Down in Carolina, the wheels are starting to spin. raise your hand if you had this on your bingo card. The possibility of Bill Belichick becoming a college coach at UNC. So you're saying there's a chance.

Yes, there's mutual interest on both sides. And yesterday Belichick spoke to Pat McAfee about the possibility of him going, the operative word if. Let me put this in capital letters, if. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, F, if. I was in a college program. The college program would be a pipeline to the NFL for the players that

had the ability to play in the NFL. It would be a professional program, training, nutrition, scheme, coaching, techniques that would transfer to the NFL. It would be an NFL program at a college level and an education that would get the players ready for their career after football, whether that was the end of their college career or at the end of their pro career. But it would be geared toward, you know, developing the player, time management, but it would be, you know, developing the player, time management, you know, discipline, structure, and all that that would be life skills, regardless of whether they're in NFL or somewhere in business. And, you know, I feel very confident that I have the contacts in the National Football League to pave the way for those players that would have the ability to have the opportunity to compete in National Football League, whether they're good enough or not. I don't know, but they would be ready for it. I don't have any doubt about that. So, you know, that would be the, you know, the first comment that I would make.

make, you know, relative to the structure of the program, it would be an NFL program, but not at the NFL level. Sounds possibly attractive. Let's bring in our guy at College Football Insider, Pete Thammel. Pete, you've been on the phone all day trying to hammer the line and get more answers and questions. What can you tell us? This deal is in deep discussion still and has been for the past few days.

When we'll get some clarity on it remains to be seen. But here's what we know. North Carolina and Bill Belichick are essentially working on a package of what it would look like to become North Carolina's next head coach. Sources have cautioned Adam Schaeffer and I today that nothing is going to be done with this until it's done. Bill Belichick, part of this package is a deep understanding of what college is, how it works, what revenue share would look like, what NIL would look like. All the reporting lines and the structure are very critical to Bill Belichick as he considers making a movement. remember, he's been in the NFL since 1975 until last year.

He grew up in college football as bad, but he's never been in college football. So he's trying to get a holistic understanding of what the North Carolina job would be and would look like, and that's what they're going through the details of now. He could be North Carolina's the next coach this week, but

people close to him also tell me they wouldn't be surprised if he walked away. It's Bill Belichick. There's always an aura of mystery around him. Pete, do you think this is the right fit for Belichick? a lot of people still uncertain and they want to believe it and then see it. Well, Bill Belichick was a stone cold winner in the NFL for two decades. And he made the point on Pat McAfee's show yesterday, which I thought was a valid one, that college football has never been more like the

NFL. So the idea of this 10 years ago might have been a little harder to believe Bill Belichick going from high school to high school begging 17-year-olds and their families to come. Now with the NTA transfer portal, you can attract a lot of the top talent and pitch them on, come here and get ready for the NFL. And that idea, combined with now having a salary cap and rev share, make this a little bit more believable for Bill Belichick to take this leap. Des, we had some conversations about this. Do you like the idea of Belichick?

Well, listen, you got, Justin, Sam, you guys may be, you know, you cast a kind of young, So you may be too young to remember this, but it sounds eerily similar to when Charlie Weiss left the New England Patriots and Charlie Weiss went to Notre Dame. And some of the same comments coming out of Bill Belichick's mouth were like eerily similar to what I heard Charlie White say. I went up to South Bend and sat with Charlie and he was talking about it was going to be a program sending guys to the NFL and then he flashed his Super Bowl ring. and saying how he would be able to use that for recruiting. So I don't know if Belichick is going to be up to the physical demands of recruiting players, re-recruiting your players because of the portal, and all of the things, Sam, that calls the greatest college football coach of all time,

Nick Saban, to say, hey, you know, guys, you know, I've had enough of this. I'm going to call it a career and retire. I'm not sure if I think he's like 74 years. years old. If 74 year old Bill Belichick is up to that physically, Sam. Yeah, I don't think that it would be a great fit. And the reason why is this, you could talk about making it an NFL program. But if you're a high school or you're 17 or 18, yes, you want to go to the NFL, but you know that there are different avenues to go to the NFL. It's not just the Patriot way or the Bill Belichick way, right? Go through the SEC. Go through the Big Ten.

Go through the ACC. There's so many, oh, oh, no, by the way, all these other people will give you a whole lot of money. And so you have one program saying, hey, we'll give you just as much money and you'll be able to have fun and go to the beach and party. If I'm 17 and 16 and I'm like, man, maybe I'll go that way versus another program that says, hey, you're going to learn about discipline and technique. Okay, that's good for a certain type of player, but not every player is going to be attracted to that. Of course, we're talking about 16 and 17 year old kids who are getting recruited. So for me, I don't necessarily see the fit for Bill Belichick in college. I think had a lot of success in the NFL, but I think it's a different game.

though there are similarities between college of the NFL. Just so you're aware, Des, Bill Belichick is 72, just so we don't add any more years on his resume. So we're going to take a look now at the quick refresher of the college football playoff. The 12 team is set. In case you need a reminder, Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, Arizona State will all get buys. Some intriguing first-round matchups you see. Remember, all of those games on campus for the home team. In Austin, Texas hosts Clemson at the shoe, it's Ohio State.

State versus Tennessee. SMU travels to Penn State. Meanwhile, Indiana heads to South Bend to play the Fighting Irish. Des, what was your reaction to seeing this bracket? Well, first of all, I have to say that Belichick doesn't look a day over 71. So I should have known he was 72. But my biggest reaction, guys, was the fact that now we're starting to get some of these SEC schools to play football in the weather that Big Ten teams are used to playing in.

I love the fact that finally you're going to see an SEC school in Tennessee go up to the shoe and have to take on Ohio State. You know, it's not an SEC school, but SMU, a school down in Dallas, Texas, they have to travel up to Happy Valley and play Penn State. This is the great equalizer, guys, when teams have to travel up to the Midwest in December and January and have to play football just like the Big Ten schools, have to play, then I think now we're going to start to see the playing field start to level out just a little bit, fellas. Well, I think it actually might be the opposite of leveling out. It might be in the home team's favor, especially when it comes to some of those home teams that play in cold weather states. Think about it. SMU. I'm in Dallas right now. It's about 45, 50 degrees, and I'm really, really cold currently, right? It's going to be about three degrees in Penn State and Happy Valley. Think about it, Tennessee versus these,

cold weather city. So for me, I think that first round is going to be very, very important. But the second piece I think is extremely important is the time to prepare, right? There's an extra week that each team has to prepare. So the coaching staff is going to have an opportunity to get all their players ready. So I think this is going to be yes about the players and their health, but which coaching staff is going to be able to get their team ready with that extra week of preparation? That's a great point, Sam, because the college football playoff does not kick off until December 20th, all of these teams will benefit from rest. Georgia, as we mentioned, enters into the CFP as the number two seed.

That was, of course, thanks to thrilling overtime win against Texas and the SEC championship. Trevor Etienne, scored the game winning score and bonus football. Now the dogs will await the winner of Notre Dame and Indiana in the Sugar Bowl on January 1st, but there's a pressing question, and that is the help of Carson Beck. Let's bring back in Pete. Pete, what's the latest on Beck's elbow injury? I would say the latest on Beck's elbow injury is an air of pessimism over his availability for the college football playoff. Georgia released a statement yesterday that said Beck and his family are exploring treatment options,

and there's no current timetable on his return. We obviously saw him take that hit from Texas's Trey Moore, and we saw his arm dangling down on the side when he walked back in the game to take that final snap. It is an elbow injury for Carson Beck, And while they are seeking more treatment, the general feeling around Georgia is pessimism about his availability moving forward. We'll see what treatment options are available. There's obviously some urgency from the Beck family to see if he can get ready to go. But right now it would be a surprise if we don't see Gunner Stockton take the first snaps to the playoff in a month for the Georgia Bulldogs.

Des, if Beck isn't available, do you believe in Georgia's chances to make it all the way? I tell you what, with or without Beck, I just, I haven't been impressed with Georgia. It's probably because Dave set a standard that I'm used to seeing, and I haven't seen that on a consistent basis this season, even last Saturday night when I was up in Atlanta watching the SEC championship game. Texas pretty much outplayed Georgia, especially in the first half. Texas couldn't get out of their own way. They had like eight penalties for 80 yards, a drop touchdown,

But as far as moving the ball up and down the field, I thought that Sarkeesia had a brilliant game plan that they executed pretty well outside of getting those penalties. So don't forget, Carson Beck isn't the guy who's been playing fantastic. Maybe the last three games he's been playing better. But I haven't seen anything from Carson Beck or Georgia to make me think, yeah, this team can very easily run the table on the college football player. And to keep it 100, guys, they probably would have lost that Georgia Tech game.

had the officials caught that targeting play that led to the fumble that got their momentum going in the right direction. Sam, it's still a really small sample size, but what you saw from Gunner Stockton in that second half, high pressure environment, what was your assessment of him? My assessment of him was that this is a great opportunity, not just for Gunner Stockton, but for other defensive coordinators who are going to be playing Georgia. The problem with the Texas defense is that they didn't know what to expect in the second half. when Gunner Stockton showed up. Think about it. You've been game planning, have a season's worth of film of Carson Beck,

and now there's a new quarterback with limited reps and limited staff. So yes, there's a benefit for Gunner Stockton getting his reps, but now other defensive coordinators have seen what he likes to do. He's athletic. He loves to check his first read. If it's not there, he's going to tuck it and run.

You see a lot more design quarterback draws. And so now I think defensive coordinators may be at an advantage when playing Georgia because now they have a sample size, though it's limited, limited of what Georgia may be without Carson Beck. Still a lot of time to find out what the timeline would be for a possible return. Appreciate as always, fellas, still to come on this edition of College Football Live. Did the committee make the right decision choosing SMU over Alabama?

Was it the non-conference schedule or maybe a loss to Oklahoma? The fellas weigh in after the break. Twelve teams were invited to the party, but just as big of a story. line is who didn't get an invite, leading that charge, 9 and 3 Alabama. While the tie do have a win against SEC champs, Georgia, Bama also lost to Vandy and Oklahoma. Here's I, Heather Deneage, with why the committee picked SMU over Alabama. Selection Committee Chair Ward Manual said the decision to put SMU in over Alabama was about the entire body of work for the Mustangs. He pointed to SMU's undefeated record against

ACC opponents and their only two losses being to two CFP ranked teams to BYU and ACC champion Clemson. He said they compared that with Alabama's three losses, two of them coming to unranked opponents, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. Alabama won the strength of schedule battle, the resume battle, but at the end of the day, he said it was about more than that. And the human element mattered because as the selection committee was watching that ACC championship game and they saw SMU's performance in the second half, losing by only a 56-yard field goal as the clock expired made a difference on Selection Day. Thanks, Heather.

So whether it's losses to the teams that I just mentioned, fellows, or according to Alabama's AD as we saw, they may have to reassess that non-conference schedule that featured Wisconsin as well as the FCF's team. Sam, start off with you. Why do you think BAML was left out? I think BAML was left out because SMU was ranked. higher in the penultimate rankings. And SMU did nothing to have a disadvantage for playing in their conference championship

game. SMU before this conference championship weekend was ranked, I believe it was eighth overall. Alabama was 11 or maybe 12. Two other teams were sitting at home. Indiana was sitting at home not playing. And so was Tennessee. There was no conversation about Alabama jumping either of those teams. So in my opinion and likely in the committees as well, why should it be a conversation

about penalizing an SMU team that was ranked higher than. Alabama when the regular season was over, penalizing that team for going and not only playing in their conference championship game, but in a game that they were on the verge of winning besides a record field goal, right? So not even to get into the nitty-gritty of the game because we can get into that.

SMU was outstanding, especially for portions of that game versus the Clemson team that won their conference is going to be in the college football playoff, but the simple fact that essentially all rankings long after those losses to Alabama to Vanderbilt and losses to Oklahoma, SMU was above them. So why punish them?

or penalize them for doing their job. Yes, Sam, I agree with you 100%. On game day, I said, you know, we had the same conversation about will it be SMU or Alabama if SMU loses the conference championship? And I said, well, you look at this nine and three. Look at the three. Focus on the three. I said one of those, you know, losses was against the team where you're on the road,

but you were a 22 point favorite and you lost to Vanderbilt. I mean, that's not handling your business. Do your job. Another one of those threes, a loss was against a team called the Oklahoma Sooners, who's actually still almost a big 12 team, and you only scored three points against them. And again, you were a two touchdown favorite. So you're telling me, when you look at two of the three losses, you were like double-digit favorites in both losses.

One, three touchdowns, one, two touchdowns. And you only scored three. points. At that point, guys, you didn't do your job. You didn't put yourself in the position for the selection committee to say, okay, this team did everything they were supposed to do to get into the college football playoff. That's why it was very easy, very simple to pick SMU over Alabama. And the fact of the matter, yes, too, is that Alabama was one of the most inconsistent teams in all of college football. You talked about that Oklahoma game and the Vanderbilt game, they look like a very poor team, not a very good football team, even earlier in

this season. Before they play Tennessee, they struggled up and down, even in the Georgia game, a game in which they won. First half, they were outstanding. Second half, they disappeared until the last really minute and some change in that game. And then the third loss, we haven't talked about Tennessee. Alabama didn't look great in that game either. And so Alabama has been like a roller coaster up and they've been down, whereas SMU has been consistent. Yeah, you nailed it on the head There's Sam, inconsistency we've seen all season long from the tide. But we have to wait for college football playoff to kickoff, but not for bowl season. It begins this Saturday.

Jacksonville State and South Carolina State square off in the cricket celebration bowl in the A. Noon Eastern on ABC and then in the IES Forest Salute to Veterans Bowl, you have South Alabama squaring off against Western Michigan at 9 Eastern right here on ESPN. Coming up, lots of familiar faces back in a college football playoff, but who's facing the most pressure to make a big time run. Is it Sarkesian? Maybe is it Ryan Day? We're going to discuss that.

The college football playoff begins with the first round, December 20th and 21st. Let's chat about some of those December 21st games. Tennessee and Ohio State are meeting for the first time since the 96 Citrus Bowl, and only the second time ever. The balls have to travel north to the shoe where the Buckeyes are 3-0 versus SEC programs. Descented Game Day crew will be at that one. Meanwhile, in Austin, it'll be the first time that Clemson and Texas will face off against each other. Texas back in the playoff for the second straight year, looking for their first national title in two decades.

Meanwhile, Clemson could become the first three-lost national champion in the AP poll era. Sam, we'll start up with you. Who's under more pressure in this CFP? Is it a $20 million roster or a team you're very familiar with searching for their first title since 2005? I think the Texas Law Horns and Steve Sarkeesian are under more pressure, really the most pressure than any team in the college football playoff. The reason I say that is this. This is one of the most talented teams in all of college football. The Texas defense has been and still is dominant and outstanding.

You have transfer receivers left and right. Anywhere you want, the cupboard is full, wherever you want to get. You got a quarterback in Quinn Ewers, a backup quarterback who could step in Archmanning. And a team that went to the college football playoff last year and didn't show up the way that they should have versus a white. Washington team. Washington and Michael Pinnock Jr. completely outplayed Texas though Texas had a chance in the end. And so for me, I'm looking at the roster, looking

at the recruits, looking at so much talent on this Texas team and the window of opportunity. I think this is the time if you're Texas where you're thinking, okay, we've got to get it done. Yeah, Sam, I'm starting to think either you studied law in college or you were on a debate

team in high school because you present some very compelling arguments for why it may be Sarkesian. And I almost bought it. I almost did, really. But it has to be Ryan Day, man. Like Justin said, you're talking about a group of men who put together, your handpicked a $20 million roster, their dream team during the offseason

for one reason and one reason only to beat Michigan. Not only they assembled this roster, but they also went and got Ryan Day's buddy, Chip Kelly, from UCLA, who was a head coach and got him to come and call the plays as an OC and still didn't beat Michigan. So now the only thing left because they pushed all the chips to the middle of the table, the only thing left now to save face would be to win the national championship. So there's a heavy burden that Ryan Day and Chip Kelly and I think the Ohio State Buckeyes that they carry into the college football playoff because of what happened,

What transpired last year during the offseason, fellas. And I will go back to my high school debate days. Now, I'll give you a rebuttal real quick, Des, if you don't mind. My rebuttal to that is this. Who has the easier path? Texas right now is playing a team that snuck into the college football playoff. A 12th ranked team, a team which they're highly favored. Then if they beat Clemson, all of a sudden they play in Arizona State,

a team which they're going to be highly favored. So for me, my rebuttal is this. Texas has the path, the window, the quarterback, the defense, the coach. what else do you need? Sam, we're going to give you an honorary JD. That's Sam Aitchell, Desmond Howard. I'm Justin Walters. Catch you tomorrow at 2 p.m.