College Football Live - New Places, New Faces

Episode Date: November 29, 2023

Host Kelsey Riggs is joined by Tom Luginbill, Desmond Howard, and Pete Thamel as they discuss all the coaching news in college football. Also, we take a look at the possible playoff picture using the 2023 Allstate Playoff Predictor. Then, we welcome Ray Davis of Kentucky to the show for Talk To Me Tuesday. Finally, we look at all the quarterbacks now expected to enter the transfer portal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's V-Weak on ESPN as we continue Jim Valvano's fight against cancer. Welcome into college football live. I'm Kelsey Riggs. We're coming out the tunnel with this. Texas A&M and Mississippi State. They introduced their new head coaches yesterday. And today the Spartans welcome in their head coach Jonathan Smith. You'll hear what he has to say about the future of Michigan State. Plus, the transfer portal, well, it doesn't officially open until Monday. But we're already hearing some big names and making the jump. Why it might make their evaluation process. easier. And tonight's rankings, they may be the most important rankings to date. We take a look at how champ Saturday can play a shakeup in the college football playoff picture. That's all coming up now on College Football Live. Welcome to College Football Live, presented by Zillow.

What's going on? Welcome into College Football Live alongside Tom Lugan Bell and Desmond Howard. I'm Kelsey Riggs. Pete Thamall, going to be with us in just a little while to talk about some of the coaching that has happened throughout the week. But right now, let's talk about what was it wild and crazy week 13. And for the third straight year, Michigan took down Ohio State. It's their first three-game winning streak in the rivalry since the late 90s. Blake Coram had a pair of touchdowns. And they did it without their head coach, Jim Harbaugh, on the sidelines.

Then there was Georgia who took care of business. It was a close one with their in-state rival Georgia Tech. They only won by eight, but it did mark their 29th straight win, setting a new SEC. The Bulldogs now get their toughest test of the season facing Alabama and the SAC title game. And on the 10-year anniversary of the kick six, the Iron Bowl again ended in dramatic fashion, with Alabama converting on a fourth and 31 to score the go-ahead touchdown with 32 seconds left. Auburn at one point had a 99.9% chance to win it. That didn't matter. But we also got a thriller in the Apple Cup as Washington survived against Washington State.

They get their undefeated season alive with a game-winning field goal as time expired. Their reward is a date with Oregon in the Pack 12 title game. So before all that, the CFP committees second to last rankings will be released tonight. ESPN 7 o'clock looking forward to that. And guys, I would really say this is probably besides the final rankings, the one that really matters the most because it kind of sets the stage for next week. If you're way outside of the top five, you're probably not making your way into the top four. if you're at the top, you may not be able to fall all the way out. So let's talk about who is at the top.

And last week, it was Georgia at number one. And then Michigan, we of course showed you the results from both of those games. But Lug, let's start with you. Give me your top four of who it would be tonight if you were ranking these teams. Well, I didn't see anything that overly convinced me that there should be a dramatic shift here. So I fell lock and step with the committee in terms of my top four overall, Georgia, Michigan, Washington, Washington, Washington, and Florida State. And now I think the one thing about Washington being there at number three is they've

shown a variety of ways to win. They can blow people out. They can outpace people. They can gut it out. They can win one possession games. And right now they've got a starting quarterback in Michael Panix, Florida State, playing with the reserve trying to get through one more game against Louisville in the ACC title game. Well, Lugues, I kind of shook things up a little bit.

I was impressed with Michigan playing without their head coach against their arch rival Saturday. I was at the game. And to watch them beat Ohio State, who was the number two team in the country at the time is impressive enough. For me to move them to number one, Georgia kind of struggled against a Georgia Tech that I don't think they should ever struggle

against. Georgia's at number two. And then I got Florida State at number three and Washington at number four. Still impressed with what Washington's doing, but not enough to put them ahead of Florida State. Michigan does have the number one strength of record. Georgia's number four strength of record.

But we'll see how it all shakes out tonight. Guys, we've got the Allstate playoff predictor here now. And I'm going to throw out a couple of scenarios that you guys create some chaos and then you have to figure it out as if you were the college football playoff committee. So first I'm going to start with the PAC 12 because that's the game we'll see on Friday night. And to be honest, it doesn't really matter who wins this. I'll give it to Oregon. Whoever wins the PAC 12, it looks like they're in.

I'm also going to say that Michigan wins. We're going to keep Florida State undefeated. We're going to have them win. And then I'm going to skip down to the Big 12. And let's talk about Texas. Texas takes care of business and wins the Big 12. What's really interesting is if you keep an eye on the SEC, Georgia and Alabama. If Georgia wins, obviously, they're a lot.

They're in the college football playoff. But what's interesting, y'all, is if you click Alabama, the college football playoff predictor still likes Texas more than it likes a one-loss SEC Alabama team that has been rolling because you've got to think back to week two that had to head between these two teams, and it was Texas that won. Dex, your thoughts between Texas and Alabama and this crazy scenario where the SEC, according to paper, would get left out. You know, Kelsey, we've been talking about this a couple of weeks on college game day,

and it seems like Florida State would always be the odd man out. But listen, you play these games for a reason, and one of the metrics that they use, especially when they're starting to, like, split hairs, is, head to head. And so they may not care when Texas beat Alabama, but the simple fact that they did go down to Tuscaloosa and they

beat Alabama convincingly, it's hard for me to say they would leave Texas out. So I think Texas would get in and Alabama would be left out. Well, Des, I'll tell you what, all eyes are on Florida State, right? I mean, there are a lot of

football teams, Texas, Alabama, Georgia all keeping an eye on the ACC championship game. But I think here's the thing to note. And the playoff predictor algorithm here does include some of the language that the college football playoff committee uses to make their determinations. And when it comes to two teams that you're making the decision between one of them has the head to head unless the committee as a whole feels like the loser of the head to head has become unequivocally better at the time they are making the decision, then they're going

a default to the head-to-head. And Kelsey, what it looks like right there with the predictor is the committee would not feel that way. They would still value the head-to-head and put Texas in over Alabama. It's going to be really interesting. I mentioned that it doesn't matter what happens in the PAC 12. Whoever wins just to show you. It doesn't change anything here with Alabama and with Texas.

But you also said, Liggs, all eyes are going to be on Florida State. So let's talk about that. Let me this time give it to Washington on Friday night. We'll also say Michigan wins. to go Big 12, Texas still takes care of business. But what happens if Florida State loses that game? Obviously, this says that they are out of the mix. But all of a sudden, you've got 57% for Georgia and Alabama.

That's before the game is played. If Georgia wins, again, obviously they're in. But if I give it to Alabama, this is where I think it gets really interesting, too, still, because it's got Texas, it's got Alabama. Georgia, a one last Georgia team, two-time defending national champs that has been rolling all season gets left out. Is there a conversation, Moogs, you think, in that committee room around all three of these teams, if it's this scenario to maybe still find Georgia a spot as well? Yeah, I think so. I don't think there's any question about it. I think the interesting thing

with this particular algorithm, if you have Alabama winning and beating Georgia, is you could have A team go from one to five. That's a two-time national champion. Remember a year ago we had TCU lose in the championship game and remained in the playoff. I don't think there's any comparison, as we know, between Georgia and TCU. So very interesting with the numbers right here as it plays out. You look at strength of schedule, strength of record, all very, very close. I think I test would become a really big component in that room.

if you see the numbers pretty equitable across the board. Yeah, I agree. I think that the eye test would be huge. You're talking about Alabama team that beat the number one scene, Georgia. So Alabama slides into the top four, in my opinion. And you're looking at a common opponent, right? You got Texas that played Alabama.

You have Georgia that played Alabama. Texas beat Alabama down in Tuscaloosa. And you're talking about Alabama team that beat a Georgia team that's right now one of the best teams is, healthy. They get all the pieces in place. So they beat them at their best, you know. And so I think that you would have to put Texas in there. And Georgia may just slide out of the top four, which would be crazy. It would be crazy. And that's why I mentioned these playoff rankings

matter a lot tonight because like you said, Lug's if Georgia's still number one and they fall all the way to five, that is pretty crazy. Cannot wait to see how it all plays out tonight. And then especially this weekend with the championship Saturday games we have coming your way. But meanwhile, elsewhere in college football. It's been a pretty wild week. As we get to some coaching changes now in Michigan State, they introduce their new head coach, Jonathan Smith, today. Takes over after six seasons at his alma mater in Oregon State, where he led the Beavers to a number 11 ranking in the CFP this season. Here he is on taking the new job. These decisions are not easy. I want to chase championships at the highest level, but at the same time, create an atmosphere for my family to be special. It's going to take. It's going to take.

some work. I think a lot of us in this room understand this is going to take some work, and I am definitely excited and up for the challenge and opportunity that's in that's in front of us. All right, Texas A&M also introduced their new head coach to the media. This was on Monday, but it's a familiar face as former defensive coordinator. Mike Elko makes his way back to College Station. After two years as the head coach at Duke, the Aggies paid a $76 million buyout to fire their former coach Jimbo Fisher. So Mike Elko knows the expectations for the program. are sky high. My vision for this program is very simple.

We are going to build the premier football program in the country. We are not going to talk about it anymore. We are going to be about it. We will become the absolute best version of ourselves as quickly as possible. There is no button you push to get to the top of college football. There's a stair that you have to climb every single day to accomplish what you want to accomplish. Nobody will hand us anything.

not in this conference, not in this country, not in this era of college football. We're going to have to go out, we're going to have to work, and we're going to have to get it. Else we're in the SEC, Mississippi State, named Jeff Levy, their new head coach. He's been the offensive coordinator for a number of prolific and high-tempo offenses.

Most recently at Oklahoma, now he'll get his shot against some of the best teams in the SEC. I've said it a couple of times, but it's been humbling, just the support and the energy and the fan base has just been on fire, and I absolutely love that. And we talked a little bit earlier

about taking advantage of how excited our group is right now and making sure we're doing everything we can as we push forward to capitalize on the momentum that we have as we sit here right now. Never, ever, ever again will I have the opportunity to be a first-time head coach, much less at a place like state. Special moment for all of those coaches

isn't always a special moment. We get to spend time with ESPN senior reporter. Pete Thammel, Pete, those three jobs are filled, but we have some other ones that are open. So let's talk about Syracuse and Houston, what you're hearing about those jobs starting with the Cougars. Well, Kelsey, the Cougars, obviously, are paying $14.8 million to not have Dana Hogerson not coached there.

That's subject to mitigation if Dana does get another job. But right now, Houston has a huge opening to fill. They underperformed in their inaugural year in the best. Big 12, and the two top targets there remain Tulane coach Willie Fritz and UTSA coach Jeff Trailer. Fritz, obviously, Houston folks have seen up close from their AAC days. He's built Tulane into an unlikely juggernaut. Trailer, of course, is the former Texas high school coach who has UTSA rolling, both in Conference USA last year and in the AAC this year. Houston is in the early zooming stage. They're still casting a wide net, but those two names, Kelsey, remain

As for Syracuse, they have a coach. They will announce Fran Brown sometime later this afternoon as their next head coach. Brown is Georgia's defensive backs coach, the country's number one recruiter, and he will bring a northeast tie. Syracuse officials were defiant about being able to recruit the Northeast as they did under Paul Pascoloni and Dick McPherson during that program's last times of glory. Fran Brown is a Jersey guy. He's been at Temple. He's been at Rutgers. He's going to bring them a presence in the Northeast. Pete Thamble with the big news right here on college football live. Didn't even know that it was official yet.

And you just said it right there. Cannot wait for that to come out later. And he's always right on top of it. Pete, we appreciate the insight here on college football live. When we come back, we've got a multi-touchdown game in a top 25 matchup. But that's nothing new for Kentucky's Ray Davis. This time, he went off against his biggest rival. We'll have him next on college football live.

College Football Live, presented by, Zillow. And in part by Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen. It's Vee week here at ESPN when we partner with the V Foundation to highlight the urgent need for cancer research. This is game-changing research

that helps save lives. You can join the fight against cancer by visiting V.org slash donate. 100% of your donation goes directly to cancer research. Meanwhile, in college football, the Heisman race has narrowed to three true contenders according to ESPN bet.

Bo Nix is your odds on favor right now, followed closely by LSU's Jaden Daniels. Then Michael Pinnock's Jr. remains in the mix at 15 to 1 and despite his heroics in the Iron Bowl. Jalen Milrow, a long shot as far as odds are concerned, 100 to 1, but he is, as you see, fourth in the standing to right now. So Jada Daniels won't have another opportunity to show how good he is. He's not playing, obviously, in the SEC championship. But the other three do have an opportunity this weekend.

So, Des, how do you see the Heisman race playing out? after championship games this weekend. Yeah, it's too bad that Jaden Daniels isn't going to have an opportunity to play this weekend because he's a strong candidate right now. You know he's strong when you have three losses and you're still in the top three as a Heisman candidate. He's been outstanding all year long. I can't think of a bad game.

Not one bad game he's had this season. I mean, just you start at the beginning of the season. He's a guy with a Florida State game, didn't win, but he played great. I was at the Alabama game in Tuscaloosa. He was outstanding. I mean, he means so much to that team. I think that he's a guy who still can sneak in. Depending on what happens, obviously, Friday night.

You got two candidates, Michael Pinnock Jr. going head to hand with Bo Nix. And so, you know, that game could propel Bo Nix even higher. But I think that right now, Jaden Daniels is a guy to still keep in the back of your mind, though he's not playing Saturday. It'd be interesting to see, does, if, you know, out of sight, out of mind

becomes a factor for for Jaden Daniels. I would certainly hope that it wouldn't. But having the performance of a Michael Panics or a Bow Nix that's fresh in your mind coming up against next week's vote, it does provide some value

if you're left playing. All right. So something to keep an eye on. Maybe one of those guys will have a rewarding performance this weekend. And speaking of that, it's time now to get to our Capital One, rewarding performance of the weekend and Michigan.

Well, their win over Ohio State. That was definitely a pretty clear frontrunner here as you take a look at the voting and what we have in this third straight win. Of course, they did it without their head coach, Jim Harbaugh. And so you can see 68% the Capital One rewarding performance. It does, in fact, go to Michigan. Don't forget, you can cash your vote in on YouTube.com slash at ESPNCFB. And now it's time for this week's ultimate performance presented by BMW.

And it goes to Kentucky's Ray Davis. The running back had 14 runs on 76 yards and one score while also catching four balls for 51 yards and two touchdowns in their road win over their rivals. Number 10 Louisville. It was the fifth straight for them over the cards. And it's talked to me Tuesday here on college football live. And Ray Davis joins us hot off that big upset win. And Ray, I would imagine that there's probably. not many things that are better than beating your rivals on their home turf and the final game of

this season when they're ranked in the top 10 for you. What was the most rewarding part of that win? I think definitely at the end, see my teammates hold up the Governor's Cup and just see the smiles on everybody faces. You know, to be able to go out there and ruin a lot of people Saturdays and bring home the trophy was one of the best things that are one of the best feelings I had. I know celebrating was big. Those touchdowns that you scored were big. And let me tell you, I had to read your highlight a lot on Saturday. I felt like. like I said your name about a hundred times throughout the day because you were outstanding. You went off and this win. But you also went off and yours went over a ranked Florida team earlier

in this season. You have over 400 total yards from scrimmage and seven touchdowns in those two top 25 wins. Why are you able to be so effective on big stages? It's just the preparation that I go through throughout the week with my teammates. You know, we got to give a huge shout out to our scout team. Those guys put me in the best position to give me some really good looks at what, you know, those Florida defenses and those Louisville defense would present to us. So, you know, just trying to be the best person I can beat and keep attacking it throughout the week.

And then, you know, it kind of show within those two games. You were really able to take advantage of it. And some big news came out yesterday as you just declared for the NFL draft. So congratulations on that. Just tell me a little bit about how you came to that decision. You know, I just felt it was right. It was the best time to go out there and put my talents to the test. And, you know, I also achieved one of the biggest dreams I've had to play in the NFL.

And this just felt this was the right opportunity. I was able to come back and have the year. I thought I was going to have, you know, credit to, again, the place that I've been around and the position I was put in within Coach Stoops and Coach Cohen in this offense. And, you know, it just felt like it was time. You've had such a great college football career,

and I know it's been a journey through multiple schools and now ending here with Kentucky. What is it about your time in college that will stand out the most to you? I would say the friendships that I built, in the relationships that I was able to maintain throughout my college career with going to three different schools,

you know, and having three different type of friend groups, you're going to have to adapt to your surroundings and adapt to just new environments. So I think that would be the best thing I enjoyed is just building their relationships with my friends and also just creating a more bit of family with the guys around me. Well, Ray, I know the fans at each one of those schools have been excited to see your success, your teammates as well. I don't think I've seen a decision yet. Do we know if we're getting one more game or not or that's going to come later?

You know, that would come later. You know, right now I'm just focused on celebrating the announcement yesterday and then, you know, just getting recovery of the body. Well, congratulations. Cannot wait to see what you're able to do at the next level, and it's been fun to watch your career so far. Congratulations, and we'll talk to you soon, Ray. Thanks.

Thank you so much. Still ahead on College Football Live, the portal isn't open yet, but social media announcements are already circling some of the biggest names planning to make moves this off season. Coming up on College Football Live. You're watching College Football Live, presented by Zillow. College Football Live, presented by Zillow. And in part by Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen.

Here's our feature lineup for the beginning of December, Friday on ABC as the Pact 12 championship. And Saturday, Big 12 championship at noon, ACC championship at 8 and Sunday. Hang around because we have the exclusive reveal of the CFP selection ranking. Catch it all. noon Eastern on ESPN and the app. And also catch this, the transfer portal. Expected to be busy as we already have a number of quarterbacks who have entered their, who will, I should say, entered their name in the portal.

You see some of those names on your screen now. Luke's, what are your thoughts about what we're going to see in the transfer portal this weekend with some big names out there? Well, you've got to do your homework, right? I mean, you look at some of these quarterbacks. All of them are very, very experienced. A lot of them have experienced a lot of injury issues. Will Howard's won a big 12 champion.

chip. I think there's a lot of twos from Tyler Van Dyke's been very, very talented, but also very, very streaky. Can Will Rogers playing a scheme outside of the air raid? So lots of questions to be answered as the portal begins to open up next week. Max Johnson, a ton of experience too, and so many of the others who have their names on that list already going to be interesting to see who else is in, who else is out. And how many more years do we have with guys having like 47 years? I think we're on this to the other side of it. Des and Lug's can't wait to see what happens with the CFP rankings tonight. We'll see you back here, same time, same place, college football live.