College Football Live - Some Will Win... Some Will Lose....

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

Host Kelsey Riggs is joined by Sam Acho and Jordan Reid, as they discuss the end of Bowl season, as we now have our CFP Championship matchup: 2 Washington vs 1 Michigan. We'll discuss the superb games that led to this matchup, and where 4 Alabama and 3 Texas fell short. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to college football live. I'm Kelsey Riggs, and we're coming out the tunnel with the sweet Sugar Bowl for Huskies fans. Washington holds off Texas in the all-state sugar bowl. Just how impressive was Michael Pinnock's performance last night? We discussed, and the day started with an instant classic in the Rose Bowl. Michigan advances to their first national championship game. We break that down. And the picture, it's a lot clearer for two high-profile quarterbacks. Cam Ward and DJ Leung-Lay, they've made their decisions about their playing futures. It's all coming up on college football live. Welcome into college football live, New Year. Same us, Jordan Reed, Sam,

Mancho, Kelsey Griggs, hanging out with you for the next half hour here on College Football Live. And we will get to what happened between Michigan and Alabama. A great game there. But I want to start with what happened late last night. The All-State Sugar Bowl matchup between number two, Washington, Michael Pennix, Jr. And number three, Texas and Quinn U.S.

Early second half. Game is tied at 21. Not for long. Salon McMillan there, Washington takes the 28 to 21 lead. Then Sam, Texas trying to do what they can. How about Xavier Worthy coming down with this one? This is about the only offense that Texas had all game. The Washington Heson defense was shut down.

The play here, the catch from Madonna Mitchell, so good. Extra point is good as well, goes up, grabs it, and brings it in. And Texas is down 34 to 28. But this was a scary moment. A minute left in the game. Dylan Johnson has two rushing touchdowns in the game. 16 on this season. He gets injured, helped off the field, and is out for the rest of the game.

So Texas trying to mount a comeback. Down 6.35 seconds. Jordan Winnington, Jordan. That was an outstanding play by him, and it flipped the game, and it didn't look really good for Texas coming into this, but after this play, it was huge for them. Viewers make some big throws down the stretch. Jaden blew with the 16-yard catch,

and you're watching this like, okay, they reviewed it. Good. Are they about to do this? It's a six point game. And then what happens if they do? Well, they got to get their first. When youers, that pass incomplete. Texas has one last chance. One second left. Fourth and 11. He tries to go to the end zone, but Elijah Jackson comes up with the massive play. Swats it down in Washington wins the Sugar Bowl. 37 to 31. We've got reaction for both sides, starting with Kailen DeBoer. The guy was on a mission. He was on a mission. The last month,

you know, just since the Pact 12 championship, realizing that it's right there in front of us, right there in front of him. They were a second away from playing for a national championship. And so there's a lot to be proud of on this football team. Unfortunately, in the game,

you know, we dug ourselves a hole with some self-inflicted wounds, but there's nothing to hang our heads about. These guys fought, and I'm very, very proud of the effort that they put into it. And that's definitely the biggest reason we came back. You know, I said it before the season started. You know, our goal was to win a national championship,

and now we got the opportunity we got the shot to do it. So, man, Husky Nation stand up, and then we're going to the Natty, man. Let's go. Check out the front page of the sports section of Seattle Times sweeter than sugar for sure as the Huskies advance to their first national championship. Guys, one thing that I feel like was so obvious and so good throughout the game was Michael

Pinnock Jr. and I just kept saying, oh my God, how did he hit that pass? He threaded that needle. Oh, how did he see that? You look at what he was able to do. It was so impressive. Sam, how would you assess what we saw from Pinnock's in this game? It was jaw dropping, Kelsey. I was on the sideline. I was doing the Pat McAfee megacast for the Allstate Sugar Bowl. So I was watching throw after throw and catch after catch. And my jaw literally dropped to the floor on multiple occasions. Michael Pennix, Jr., not only use his arms to beat Texas, but he also used his legs. What do I mean by that?

There are certain passes that you see that look like 60-yard handoffs, but oftentimes if there was pressure in his face, he'd slide to the left or slide to the right and throw the ball down field. And there were three rushes at critical times in the fourth quarter where he used his legs to beat Texas. Michael Pennix Jr. played lights out second-most passing yards in a college football playoff game. It was only behind Joe Burrow.

He was outstanding. And your last word summed it up, outstanding. That's exactly what Pennix was in this game. And what do we talk about the key to victory for the Huskies in this game? Pennix had to be special. And that's exactly what he was. Seven of ten on 15 plus yards, throws down the field. He was outstanding.

And Sam, you hit the nail on the head. Every throw that he made down the field, there's like no way he could outperform what the previous throw that he made. And he just simply made throw after throw after throw. 29 of 38, 430 yards, and two touchdowns. He was flat out special in this game. And this is exactly what we wanted to see from Pinnix. What was the big question coming in?

Could he make throws on the move? And how could he play outside of the pocket? He answered every single question that we had about him in this game. And it was almost like he was competing against himself, Jordan. I was right there on the field. I'm looking at plays where they should have ran the ball. And Ryan Grubbs, offense coordinator said, no, we're going to throw it no matter what. And he was just, it was lights out.

It was amazing, amazing, amazing to see. He's the first player with 4,500 passing yards in consecutive years. since Patrick Mahomes did it. He was the bright spot, but as you saw in our highlight, this was not. When you see Dylan Johnson go down the way he was, carted off eventually, carried off, and then carted off after the game. No update on his status yet. But I mentioned the impact that he had on that game.

Two rushing touchdowns. Also, of course, not just those two rushing touchdowns in that game, 16 rushing touchdowns this season. He's been such a key part, Jordan, of what they've been able to do in this offense when it doesn't just have to go through Michael Pinnock, Jr. What's the impact with only a week before the national championship game? Well, it's huge, especially when you're talking about a lower body injury for a running back, something he's definitely going to have to have moving forward. He has 16 rushing touchdowns this year.

And if you look at their chart, Dylan Johnson is at the top, and there is not a lot of production behind him. And what has Washington been able to do over the past month? They've been able to show that they can win in multiple ways. Dylan Johnson is the bell cow of this rushing attack. Without him, this Husky's offense is definitely going to suffer. He is a massive, massive loss, even if he is a little bit banged up. You want to have him at full strength. But Jordan, we'd be remiss if we didn't talk about the Washington Huskies defense.

This defense was outstanding, led by Brayland Trice, who had two sacks, and at least seven or eight pressures. He was all over the field. And so who's going to have to step up if Dylan Johnson does, in fact, not play? It's going to have to be that defense going to have to slow down Michigan next week. But they were lights out, shut down Texas, pretty much from start to finish. We'll be sure to keep you updated on anything we hear on his status right here on college football live throughout the week. The other side of this, though, Sam, is Texas, the Texas team that you played for the last time that they were in a national championship back in 2009.

And we talked a lot about, is Texas back? I think they showed they're back in the conversation for sure. And they were just a play away from maybe potentially being back. How do you sum up their season? Well, Texas is back amongst the contenders. Absolutely. I was on the field when the celebration ceremony was going on. Washington was on the field and Texas was in the locker room.

And I talked to one of Washington's assistant head coaches, associate head coaches, who coaches the outside linebackers. And he said, man, that was really a coin flip. That game came down to the last minute, the last second, the last play. Steve Sarkees didn't summed it up great. Texas was one second away from being in a national championship game. And so Texas has nothing to hang their heads down on.

This pass that when you were through, they actually completed it a few series before when Adidai Mitchell scored. And so this game is, in fact, game of inches, congrats and shout out to Washington for winning, but Texas is going to have to come back even stronger now that not only are they joining the SEC, but now they're back in the conversation for competing for college football playoffs and also national championships. And as part of the maturation process and paying your dues as a program, they have a taste of what it takes to make the college football playoff. They've won the Big 12, so they understand

what it takes to win that. Now, understanding that they were one second away for playing for their ultimate goal, which is national title, I think they have a lot of the last year. I think they have a lot of momentum heading into next year. Now, this roster is going to look very different, especially offensively on the outside, but Quinn Ewer is possibly coming back. We still don't know his status as far as what he's going to do. You better believe he's going to have a chip on his shoulder, especially now he understands what it takes and having or being one second away from his ultimate goal. Such a good performance and a great game all around. And I don't know how you guys felt, but at the very end of it, I'm like, of course this is going to happen. Something crazy

is going to happen after what we saw in the Rose Bowl, a great Allstate Sugar Bowl as well. And as I mentioned, Washington now moving on to the next round and getting to play for our college football playoff championship. Who will they play? Well, it's going to be Michigan. And their third trip to the playoff, they finally get a win. We break it down on the other side of the break. AT&T playoff playlist live from Shell Energy Stadium with performances by KidsBah, Paul Russell, Megan Maroney, two chains, Lato, Jake Owen, Jack Harlow, and John Party. streaming live Saturday and Sunday in the ESPN app.

Rare tree, just the sixth meeting between the Wolverines and the Crimson Tide. The stage could not be grander. Hurston goal. McClellan walks in. Seven points is the deficit for Michigan. McCarthy scanning downfield and throws it high and Wilson's got it. Michigan on the doorstep. And they pitch it to a touchdown as Wilson walks in.

We'll have it to overtime. They're headed to core again and Mexico. He's mixed and scores. Brick Carr puts Michigan up top. It comes down to this play. Low step. Melrose stopped. Michigan makes his stand and comes up with a milestone.

Playoff victory. What a game it was out west. The Wolverines overcame the seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win. Tied for their fourth-largest, or their largest fourth-quarter comeback win under Jim Carball. They now have 14 wins this season. The most in school history. tying the Big Ten single season record. But they almost didn't have that because it all came down to the very last play.

This play call from Alabama created a lot of controversy, the decision. You see it's a low snap. Trouble for Jalen Milrow. He runs it right up the middle on fourth down and falls short of converting. Here's Nick Sabin first on the final play call. We call three plays. one they called time out, one we called time out, and the last one that didn't work. So the fact that it didn't work made it a really bad call.

You know what I mean? So we called time out because we had a bad look. We had a good look on the first one. They must have known it. But Tommy just felt like the best thing that we could do was have a quarterback run, which was kind of our two-point play, one of our two-point plays for this game. We didn't execute it very well, and it didn't work. And they pressured, and we thought they would pressure,

but we thought we could gap them and block them and make it work. And it didn't. Okay, so that was Nick Sabin's explanation, but let's get into it a little bit further, you guys. And Jordan, I want to start with you because you were a quarterback. I want you to take us through it because there's a lot that went into it. You heard him say one of their best two-point play, calls, they go with that, but the snap was low. So what does that do when all game long,

this is a theme that we've seen, it's actually all season long from Alabama. When the snap is low like that for quarterback Jalen Milrow, what happened and how did that change things? Well, first, what a great game. This was an awesome game. And it came down to this final play from Jalen Milrow. And they had a lot of problems from Center Seth McLaughlin on this game a lot, just because every single snap was low in this game just about. But with Milrow, when you're catching the The mechanics of everything matter just because when you're catching a low snap, your eyes drop and then what happened here, he should have followed the pulling guard,

but with his eyes being low and him having to catch the snap low, he had no idea where the pulling guard was going. But if he followed that pulling guard, he gave himself a chance to get in. But ultimately, he had to jam the ball up the middle and it knocked off the timing of everything, and he wasn't able to punch it in for the final score. And there was a play earlier in the game.

Actually, I think maybe even overtime, maybe in the fourth quarter, where they ran a similar play in Jalen, Murrow followed that pulling guard and had a huge gain to get them into scoring position. And so the issue, like Jordan said, was the bad snap. It wasn't the decision to make the call, nor was it the actual play call. It was a great play design. And if the snap is higher, Jaylen Murrow may be able to follow the guard that's pulling and likely there were space to get into the end zone.

Now, the issue is this. There were four other plays at least where the snap was either low or snap got away from the center. And that would not only affected that play, but it affected the game. And so that's unfortunate. But when it comes to execution, when Nick Saban says we didn't execute, specifically talking about from the center to the quarterback exchange. And then obviously eyes down for a quarterback.

You don't know what's in front of you. Defense is trying to close those gaps. Some of the snaps were low. There was one that went off to the right earlier in the game and he had to go off and get it. The other thing is they had guys in their face the entire time. This Michigan defense was so good. They blitzed 17 times, nine pressures, five sacks on those plays. So I'm sure you're, I've never played center, but I'm sure you're

thinking about that too. I don't want to see my quarterback on his back again, especially at the very end of it. But Sam, how was this Michigan defense able to be so effective against this Alabama front? They exploited what Alabama's weaknesses were early in the season, and they really extrapolated those losses and focused on those. Alabama offensive line has struggled early, and all of a sudden this game, Michigan said we're going to take advantage. Five sacks in the first half, two sacks on the first series. Four sacks before the first 10th or five or seven minutes of the game had gone by. This Michigan defense was hunting from start to finish.

They didn't always have to blitz. And yes, few of those plays were one of the two of the plays was a bad snap, but it didn't have to be a bad snap. Michigan moved a lot. They stunted a little bit and they exploited the weaknesses of Alabama's offensive line, which is their lateral movement to get to Jalen Murrow and sack him like a lot of other teams were doing all season long, specifically early in the season. Yes, Sam, the Michigan defense's game plan was impressive, but I was equally impressed with

their game plan on offense just because what do we say about Alabama coming to this game? They're very talented up front, but they're very good in the secondary. They felt as if their secondary could challenge Michigan's wide receivers, and they played a lot of man coverage. So what did offensive coordinator Sharon Moore do? What he did was he incorporated a lot of pre-snap motions and also shifts to keep them communicating and forced them to communicate on the fly, which is something that Alabama had not seen this year, and it resulted in a lot of touchdowns for them in this game.

Yeah, to your point, Jordan, I just think about the offensive game plan for Michigan. Two things happen. Number one, you played quarterback. You played it in North Central, and I actually was just with Juan Vallarde with the Allstate, AFCA good work team, one of your former teammates to the punter. He shouted you out, right? My point is this. As a quarterback, one of your best friends could be your tight end. It could also be your running back. Michigan leaned on Blake Corum all game long and they gave him the ball when it mattered the most. Once again

we talk about that Allstate AFCA good work scene. Blake Corum who does his work in the community is the team captain of that team. But look at this. That's a touchdown, passing touchdown early in the game. Then fourth and two, critical fourth quarter. Who do they give it to? They give it to Blake Corum through the air. And then

you're going to see later on another touchdown by this team. Michigan found ways to exploit some weaknesses, man coverage at Alabama tried to run. And all those three routes, it was somewhat of you might call it a rub route to try and get in the way of the linebacker who's covering the crosser. Two times it was Blake Corum. One time it was Roman Wilson, but every time it worked.

Blake Horm, 118 scrimmage yards, two touchdowns and 26 this season. What an impressive couple of years he has had there at Michigan. So Michigan moves on and they get to play for a college football playoff championship. But this is the end of the road for Nick Sabin and Alabama. He spoke about how he's still really proud of all this team accomplished. Take a listen. This is one of the most amazing seasons in Alabama football history in terms of where this team came from,

what they were able to accomplish and what they're able to do, winning the SEC championship, and I'm really, really proud of this group. I just wish that I could have done more as a coach to help them be successful and help them finish. And all we can do now is learn from the lessons that sometimes failings bring to us. When you say it's one of the most impressive,

amazing seasons in Alabama football history, you know he means that because they've had some really, really good ones. And Jordan, we talked throughout the year about the job that Nick Sabin and this team have done. They start the year with no quarterback, then it's Jalen, then it's not, and the growth that we saw from them.

So, Jordan, how do you evaluate this team and how they were able to overcome so much and accomplish as much as they did this season? Well, impressive can also be. stressful too when you're talking about a head coach. I think this is one of the more impressive and stressful seasons and teams all together in Alabama history just because if think about them early on in the season, I always go back to that South Florida game. It's a rainstorm. Jalen Milro has been benching that game and they're trying to figure out things at quarterback.

Unfortunately out of that game, they didn't understand exactly who they had under center, but after that Jalen Milro proved to be the answer under center. So the defense was really good this year. I thought offensively that found some young players that they can rely on. The offensive line grew from the beginning of the season. And I don't. know things didn't turn out the way that they wanted to in the Michigan game, but I thought this is one of the more impressive, but also stressful coaching jobs for Nick Saban. And I think that's what makes it so impressive, Jordan, to your point, is how stressful it was. There was early season sound from Nick Saban saying, hey, it's like, you know, Grandma Saban,

the easy bake oven, I don't know who's the quarterback, who's in the oven, who's out. There was a quarterback situation that all of a sudden they bench Jalen Muriel, to your point, didn't even, wasn't going to play, did not play a snap versus South Florida after Jalen Burrow through two interceptions and lost to Texas. And then all of a sudden, they nearly lose to South Florida. They go back to Jalen Milro. But what happens? They change their identity.

They embrace Jalen Monroe all of his athleticism, all of his deep ball accuracy, and they let him develop as a quarterback. And then we saw the defense rally around. The offensive line got better. The coaches got better. And they developed their game plan around their best player. And so for me, that's what makes this one of the best coaching jobs Nick Sabin has ever done. Like cake, we've been talking about all year, though,

Probably a little bittersweet now for Alabama because you wanted the next cake. You didn't want this one yet. A fun season to watch the tide for sure. Meanwhile, this wasn't the only thing we've been keeping our eye on. Also taking a look at our progressive bowl challenge cup. Pack 12 is at the top for the 5 and 3 record, thanks to wins from both Washington and Oregon.

And there's New Year's six games, and of course, just one bowl game remains. CFB National Championship coming your way on January 8th. Coming your way on the other side of this break, quarterback movement across the sport. Of course, we've got more quarterbacks moving. What else would we be doing this time of year? How will DJ you fit in at Florida State?

And what kind of prospect in the NFL is Cam Ward? That's ahead. Is this some NFL draft news now is Washington State quarterback, Cam Ward has declared for the 2024 NFL draft, according to his father. He's not going to sign with an agent right away. That gives him the option to come back. But Jordan, how do you like him as a prospect?

Yeah, he's electrifying and an exciting prospect. 3,700 yards, 25 touchdowns and 7 interceptions, powerful arm, and he's very mobile as well. I'm really interested to see the pre-draft process play out for Cam Ward. He's one of those day three lottery ticket type of quarterbacks that you're really excited to see. His name had been floated out with potentially Florida State, but it is DJ Uwe-ungalai, who officially now has decided to transfer from Oregon State to Florida State. Sam, what do you think about the fit for DJU? I think it'll be a great fit for DJU.

We actually talked to Jordan Travis. Jordan Travis helped recruit him there. We know that Florida State has a good running game. They may lean on that like they did at Oregon State to help DJU succeed. Listen, either he's also going to get the opportunity to play against Clemson. So nothing like finding your new relationship in front of that old ex. If it works out for him at Florida State, we'll see. Looking forward to that.

Looking forward to more college football talk all week right here on college football live as we get you ready for the national championship coming your way on Monday. We'll see tomorrow.