College Football Live - Live at Ohio State!

Episode Date: October 20, 2023

Host Jen Lada is joined by Desmond Howard, Stanford Steve, and Pete Thamel live from Ohio State as they get ready for their matchup against Penn State. Other matchups include a possible revenge game for Caleb Williams and USC against Utah, ANOTHER possible revenge game for Nick Saba and Alabama against Tennessee, and a great matchup between Duke and Florida State. Plus, Michigan investigation story continues to develop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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We are in lovely Columbus, Ohio, for a battle of the unbeaten. Hey, there's only a handful of potential unbeaten matchups left in this season. And here in week eight, there will be one tomorrow at Ohio Stadium. Penn State taking on Ohio State. Quite a rivalry. These two teams have got going on, although it's been lopsided in recent matchups. We just had a beautiful day. And then it started pouring and cleared out behind us alongside Pete Bammel, Stanford, Steve, and Desmond Howard, who is always so loved here in Columbus.

This is my home state. They chant your name. Other things, we can't say on television. We begin today, however, with a developing story. And that is a Michigan football analyst who is a person of interest in the NCAA's investigation of the Wolverines' alleged sign stealing operation. sources tell ESPN. Connor Stallions is a retired U.S. Marine Captain. He was known to watch

opponents games and spend much of his time deciphering their signals according to a source. NCAA investigators are seeking to access his computer, first sources as well. Stallions has not responded to ESPN's request for comment. This is what Coach Harbaugh

had to say about it on Thursday. I do not have any knowledge or information regarding the University of Michigan football program illegally stealing signals, nor have I directed any staff member or others to participate in an off-campus scouting assignment. I have no awareness of anyone on our staff having done that or having directed that action. I do not condone or tolerate anyone doing anything illegal or against NCAA rules, no matter what program or organization that I have led throughout my career. My instructions and awareness of how

we scout opponents have always been firmly within the rules. So this has been a developing story. We go to Pete Thammell, the authority, our college football insider. Pete, what is the latest on the situation with Michigan? Yeah, Jen, within the last hour, Michigan has suspended Connor Stallions with pay. Ward manual, the athletic director at Michigan, released a statement and it sort of affirmed what our reporting said last night, that he was one of the centerpieces of this investigation. And again, I thought Harbaugh's statement was very telling right there. He said he didn't know of any illegal sign stealing. Now, there's a difference, right? There's the sign stealing that's, you know, touch your elbow and you run draw that happens every week in football around America.

But what's alleged here and why this has risen to this level where it's the biggest story in the sport right now is the allegation is that there were other analysts or other people on Michigan staff or people directed to go to opponent stadiums to cover games. And obviously, Conor Stallions is alleged to be a centerpiece in that. And the NCAA wants his computers and they want to find out more. So this is unraveling fairly quickly as these NCAA investigations go, Jen. No, your Desmond Howard, you always have great insight on the Michigan program. Your reaction. Not on this one, I don't. I didn't even know this rule.

This surprise, because as a football player, you always send somebody out to scout your opponent. So I was blown away that they have this archaic rule in college football. We're in the 70s now. You guys exchange VHS tapes, and that's how you get a chance to see your opponent. So I was blown away when I heard. I didn't even know this was a rule, to be honest with you. Yeah, I just think it's. It's interesting as Pete's, you know, doing his due diligence and glad to see he still has a voice.

Just talking on the phone. He's been working the phones. No doubt. If there's video involved, it's, I mean, that's pretty, you know, status quo. Like, you can't go to other games in video. So that's what's interesting. If that's there and then Pete's talking about having more people involved, you know, we talk about the size of these coaching snaps.

I think it's going to be reduced a little bit if that proves true. When word started to first trickle out, you saw a lot of NFL players responding saying, yeah, that type of stuff happens all the time in football, in college football. It does seem, though, this is on a different level. What is the latest on how going forward how it might affect Harbaugh? Well, for Jim Harbaugh, there's a phrase, head coach responsibility. Michigan is already under NC investigation for alleged recruiting violations. Harbaugh served that three-game school imposed suspension to start this season.

That investigation is not done. this could add potentially to distill this once the investigation's done more games to Harbaugh, more peril, more threat to next season, and maybe Des, more of a chance Jim Harbaugh leaves Michigan. That's what this seems like. This seems like first a lot. I listen to Paul Feinbaum. Paul Feinbaum is like probably the guy who's really been hard, the hardest on Jim Harbaugh. Anything happens in Michigan.

He always drops the hammer on Jim Harbaugh. Paul said this seems like kind of like selective prosecution and piling on from the NCAA. Those are fine bombs words. And when you talk about stealing signs, I mean, there's a reason why NFL coaches, they do their plays like this because there's no people are watching. You're talking about games where there are a bunch of cameras where cameras on the sidelines. You always see three guys out there doing signs. You know what I'm saying? So I'm just trying to figure out.

Set a screen that? They tape and then you can look at the play. So I'm just trying to figure out what really makes sense here that they did. That's so bad. I'm just trying to make it make sense. And there is some level of due diligence on programs to be changing your signs with regulatory. Hello. Oh, yeah.

That's why they have multiple guys doing it. But you scout your opponent. That's what you do. If they're going to put their signs out there for you to see them, guess what you're going to do. All right. We want to talk about the game that is taking place here in Columbus this weekend as well. Obviously, number seven ranked Penn State, taking on Ohio State number three in the country right now. Drew Aller returning to his home state of Ohio, facing off against Kyle McCord and, of course, Marvin Harrison, Jr.

Desmond, your reaction when you think about this game, what should we be keeping an eye on? Hey, Kalen King, cornerback for Penn State against that young man right there. Marvin Harrison, Jr., people think he's wide receiver number one. But Kalen King is a shutdown corner. What I really like about him, he's from Detroit, Michigan. He's about 5-11, 190 pounds. He loves to insert himself in the run game. Extremely physical corner,

and they call themselves the no-fly zone. So when there's an incomplete pass, you may see them do like this. No-fly zone. When I think about this match, you got any more charades? No, I'm not messing with Desmond. That's Penn State, baby.

It's on film. I saw it on film. To me, the game comes down to Penn State's offensive line. I believe this is the best offensive line James Franklin has had as a head coach at Penn State. Now we get to see it, right? Everybody picks apart their schedule and who they've played so far. Now we get to see that offensive line on the road. If they are elite, they are the dictator tomorrow and they win the game.

And Drew Aller has, of course, been the beneficiary of that, not turning the ball over. What are scouts saying about this matchup? Well, Des and Steve hit strains. I'm going to hit weaknesses from the scouts. Ohio State's offensive line, can they protect Kyle McCord and get a push in the run game? And Penn State's wide receivers, it is. not a heralded explosive group. They're one of the least explosive teams in the country.

Who can get more production out of their weakest units tomorrow may prove to be the victory. Great point. Our fantastic researcher, Marissa, tells us that nine of the last 10 times these two teams have met as AP top 10 opponents. The higher seed has gone on to win the game. So keep an eye on that when these two teams face off tomorrow afternoon. Coming up on college football live, Alabama has won five straight since losing to Texas in week two. Will the tide keep rolling as they take on Tennessee? We bring in our SEC Nation crew to break that one down.

Plus, Caleb Williams threw three picks and was sacked six times against Notre Dame last week. We are talking about their game against Utah as College Football Live rolls on. College Football Live is presented by Nationwide. Nationwide is on your side. When you're flying Emirates business class, dining on a world-class menu at 40,000. You'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. This Giving Tuesday, Cam H is counting on your support.

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Tomorrow night, number 16, Duke and its dominant defense look to slow down Keon Coleman and the fourth ranked Florida State Squad. Coverage begins at 730 Eastern, 430 Pacific on ABC, and, of course, on the ESPN app. Another big matchup, of course, is Tennessee and Alabama, and our SEC Nation team will be live in Tuscaloosa. They've got more on that game right now. Then here we are in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We'll get to the game happening here between Alabama and Tennessee in just a little bit. But Roman Harper, there's a lot of action going on in the SEC this week that could really matter when it all comes down to it.

Let's start with Auburn and Ole Miss. Some familiarity there, certainly with Hugh Freeze being the former Ole Miss head coach and Lane Kiffin going to town. there at Auburn. Well, I think the biggest thing is when it comes to this matchup, is Auburn at some point in time, you've got to figure out how to throw the football. If you want to win in today's college football or any high school, you got to be able to throw the football. Ole Miss, you are better than this Auburn team.

It doesn't matter where the game is played. This is a game that you must win and you have to say, okay, it doesn't matter when, where it's played, Ole Miss wins. We got to move on because we've got bigger and better things going on. All right, so let's move on to the other bigger and better game, potentially between Alabama and Tennessee. What sticks out to you, Rome? This feels like a defensive battle this year as opposed to last It will be. This is not going to be a super high scoring game like we saw last year. It's going to be, okay, can Joe Milton figure out the passing game? Can they be explosive? And not be able to just turn around and hand the ball off to the running backs over and over and over again. Alabama's front sevens playing great. Great. And you also have the explosiveness of what they're doing with Jalen Milro on the offensive side. It's going to be a great battle, a great matchup. But Alabama does have the explosiveness on their side.

Yeah, you say that this rivalry still really matters on both sides. There we go. We'll see you tomorrow morning on SEC Network at 10 a.m. Marty and McGee is at 9. Laura, Rome, thank you so much. All right, guys, let's get some quick picks on this game. What do you think, Des? Well, I think in this game, I'm going to go with Alabama.

I think their defense is designed to stop the run. They're going to bring a level of physicality that the volunteers have not seen yet. So I'm going with Alabama. Yeah, that defense for Alabama is real. I don't like the consistency or the law. lack of consistency in Tennessee's pass offense. And I think they make them one-dimensional. Therefore, I don't like giving that many

points with Alabama, but we will take the Bama. I'm going with the Bizarro vaults. Oh, boy. Top 10 rush offense, top 20 scoring defense. Last year's game, throw the tape out the window. Totally different. They're ready to muck it up. They're ready to slow down, frustrate, and sack Jalen Milrow.

A bit of a hashtag Saker message from Pete Bammell here on College Football Live. Marissa tells us that Nick Saban, who is a Halloween baby, is undefeated 32 and O in October as the head coach of Alabama, and that includes eight wins against Tennessee at home. Let's get to our good year road test. We have four AP ranked matchups this weekend with huge implications, starting with, of course, the game that will take place right here in Columbus, Penn State at Ohio State. We just talked about Tennessee at Alabama, and the day wraps up with Utah at USC,

both looking to avoid that critical second loss. So let's get into the other game you see there on the graphic. Duke at Florida State. Pete, let's start with you. We've got to get an update on Riley Leonard and Johnny Wilson. Well, the Riley Leonard watch is on. Duke is calling him a game time decision in Tallahassee at Florida State. He's now three weeks removed from that ankle injury against Notre Dame.

It would be the very, very, very early part of his potential return timeline. So they're going to have eyes on him pregame. He didn't even run free game last week. So the thought is there's the potential he's going to play, but I don't think it's an expectation at this point. So we'll see how Riley Leonard feels. And Johnny Wilson will be back complimenting Keon-Colon, all six-foot-seven of him, Steve.

Yeah, I love what Mike Alco has done for this program, you know, bringing the energy. And he talked earlier this week about being on this stage again. And we were there for the Notre Dame game. But the problem is they've never beat in Florida State, you know, over, you know, 31 years, they're 0 and 21. And when you get to this

stage, coaches know how important it is. You get primetime TV. You have to take advantage of it. The problem is, if they don't have Riley Leonard, that defense is going to be on the field way too much. And I think Florida State wears them out over 60 minutes. And if Leonard even does try and give it a go, how effective he's going to be, knowing how much he likes

to run. And that's what I think. I mean, you look at Duke, they're really, really good on defense. I mean, nationally, they're one of the best in the country. But I do think that they're going to be on the field way too much. Because if Riley Leonard, even if he goes, is he going to be 80%, 70%, I mean, I don't think that he's going to be able to move the ball consistently against Florida State's defense to keep his defense on the sideline to get a rest. I think eventually Florida State's offense is going to wear out Duke's defense. And the fourth quarter, they're going to run away with it.

Florida State doesn't have a single ranked opponent remaining on their schedule. ESPN Analytics is giving them a 30% chance to win out. So obviously there are people who have talked about Florida State. who were attuned to that at the beginning of the season. More to come on College Football Live. USC is looking for revenge against Utah. After last season's Pact 12 title game, Caleb Williams and the Trojan are also coming off of a tough loss versus Notre Dame.

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Premier partner of the Heisman Trophy. This is the game that everybody is waiting for you. They tell me the forecast will be better for tomorrow morning's college game day as we celebrate Penn State at Ohio State. Of course it doesn't really

matter. The crowd here is always fantastic in Columbus. They're kind of like the U.S. Postal Service, neither sleet nor rain all those things. So college game day tomorrow morning. Let's give it to cough it up, our friends, Steve Coughlin, what are some of your best bets for this week? We only got a couple Saturdays of Maxian left, right?

Before they go to the weeknight games. Big one, east faces west. Miami of Ohio is at home against Toledo. And that guy right there, Brett Gabbard has been sensational this year. Miami of Ohio lost their first game of the year at Miami of Florida. They've won six in a row. They're a home dog tomorrow. I like Miami, Ohio in that game.

Next, we got Army going to LSU. Why LSU is playing. Army in the middle of an SEC season. I have no idea. But look how beautiful that is. They painted their honor in the Army football team at LSU. That tells me respect. Brian Kelly's not going to run it up on Army.

Jayton Daylor's my eyes with trophy. Frontrunner will get his stats and get him out of the game. Army covers the 32. That's a good one. I like that. The other ones in the Big Ten. Wisconsin lost their quarterback last week. Tanner Mortikai.

And now they got Braden Lockech coming in and starting his first game. at Illinois, who's coming off a big win on the road against Maryland. I think it's a very ugly game. I don't see a lot of touchdowns being scored. We're going to go under 40 and a half total points in that game. Maybe like a 17, 13. Has anyone in the history of college football ever used the paint design in the end zone to dictate a bet before?

The brilliance of Stanford's team, you guys. That's what we're looking at now because of that darn fridge. We're grasping. Let's take a look at the high. Hyaceman update brought to you by Nissan. Oh, how things have changed. Caleb Williams entered Saturday with plus 260 odds to win the Heisman, the second shortest behind Michael Penix. That was until his three interception performance against Notre Dame that saw his odds plummet to 22 to 1, the seventh shortest. Let's go out to Des, who I feel like you kind of saw this coming.

You told us hump the brakes. It's a long season, got a lot of stuff that can happen. Coming off that terrible game, what will you be watching for with the USC squad? Well, first and foremost, you got to watch the offensive line. Yeah. I mean, wow, Notre Dame just whipped their butts in the trenches. I mean, there's no two ways around that. But then when they did, because we've seen this movie before,

normally Caleb escapes out the back door or something. He made some horrendous decisions with the ball under pressure, which just compounded the evil. So at this point, they're going to have to protect them better. But even if they come through, we get a little pressure, You know, we've seen this. He's going to have to be the Caleb Williams we saw a year ago who was making plays with his legs, looking down the field,

kind of looking like Patrick Mahomes a little bit. He didn't look like that all against Notre Dame. So he's going to have to do that. Because listen, Jonah Ellis has nine sacks. He's a defensive end for Utah. And he's number two on the FBS. They're going to be coming. They have no respect for USC.

They beat him twice a year ago. They did. That's the one thing I think about, though. Caleb's sensational in the game in Salt Lake City. and he was great before he got hurt in the in the in the title game. Yeah, got the hand. So I looked at it. The problem was USC's defense showed up last week.

Notre Dame scored 48 points. They only ran 49 plays. Now they got to put them together. So I expect a big effort out of Caleb. But I think Utah keeps close. Yeah, well, don't expect Utah to have Cam Rising back. Sort of the season's ongoing saga continues as he recovers from that serious, serious knee injury that he suffered in the Rose Bowl.

Bryson Barnes is going to get the start for Utah. And what we did hear about Cam Rising this week from Kyle Whittingham, was that perhaps redshirting this season is a discussion in him coming back potentially next year. So the narrative has changed a little bit from when will Cam come back to will he come back at all and we'll see in the next few weeks where that ends up for Camerizing in Utah. There has to be a moving on point, right? They've been asked about it every single week.

And now I think they have their identity. They're going to play two quarterbacks and beat you with defense and that's what they got to do the rest of the way out. That's the way I look at it. You can understand the hesitancy, though, when you have a talent like that, you do want to do everything you can to get. He's not right. He's not right. Yeah, exactly. He needs his legs to be.

We've been waiting for him since the Florida game. Yeah. Yeah. So you're exactly right. So your point is turn the page. You got in there. There's a couple guys you got in there and make it work with them. All right, guys. A couple of things to remind you of. We've got college game day coming your way tomorrow morning, 9 to noon Eastern here in Columbus. We will be inside the stadium for at least a portion of the show. The final hours we expect all of the fans in the area to come out and celebrate what is college football.