College Football Live - Sugar Bowl Fall out!

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

Victoria Arlen, Sam Acho, and Rod Gilmore discuss Notre Dame, fresh off a HUGE win against Georgia at the Sugar Bowl ...we discuss what stood out to us the most from the Irish win as they punched their ticket to the Semis. Plus, all 4 teams on a bye were eliminated over the last few days, Heather Dinich joins us to discuss if there could be any potential changes for the playoff in the future. Lastly Alabama QB Jalen Milroe adds his name to the 2025 NFL QB Draft List..Pete Thamel joins us with more on his decision and when he might hear his name called. All this and more on College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy Friday, everyone, and welcome into college football live. I'm Victoria Arlen. Let's go out the tunnel. Notre Dame is fresh off of a huge win against Georgia at the Sugar Bowl, and we discuss what stood out to us the most from the Irish win as they punched their ticket to the semis. Plus, to the surprise of many, all four teams on a buy were eliminated over the last few days. Heather Dinnich joins us to discuss if there could be any potential changes for the

playoff in the future. And Alabama QB Jalen Milrow adds his name to the 2025 NFL QB draft list, and Pete Thammel joins us with more on his decision and when he might hear his name called. Speaking of names being called, we've got Rod Gilmore with me in studio and Sam Acho with us from afar. And you know what, guys, I'm a happy little host today. Not only because I get to work with you both, but it's because nobody wanted to. to listen to me yesterday or weeks prior, and well, maybe you should have. Quickly, who's your pick for today?

Rod, start with you. I got three first round picks on that Georgia defense. I like Georgia. Georgia massive offensive line. I'm going Notre Dame. I'm going Notre Dame. I must genuflect. It is all you.

You are amazing. You got it. I concede. Hey, we need Victoria to. Victoria, can I go with you to Vegas and let's talk about some of these next games coming up, right? We need you. We need Joe. ESPN vet.

Let's make it happen. It was, look, I was super excited, but I'm even more excited to see how they pulled it off. Let's relive my call, right? All right, we got Notre Dame taking on Georgia and New Orleans for the Allstate Sugar Bowl. But before the game, we had fans, players, and law enforcement taking a moment of silence for the victims of the January 1st attack on. Bourbon Street. All right, we're going into the second Georgia trailing. In his first career start, Gunner Stockton is strip sacked by RJ Obin, and Notre Dame recovers the ball. Notre Dame with the ball now. Riley Leonard finds Bo Collins for the touchdown, and they get a double-digit lead at the

half. Start of the third dogs kicking off. Jaden Harris, keep an eye on him, makes the return. And with the help of special teams and some special players. We're tackling. He returns it, Rod. 98 yards for that touchdown. Bad angles and great speed. So much speed. Notre Dame is going to take a commanding 20 to three lead, and I think Marcus Freeman is happy right there. Heading into the fourth. Gunner, Stockton tries to make a pass to loss and lucky. He's not so lucky. We got Notre Dame defense putting on a master class today. Under six in the fourth, Riley Leonard putting in the work. And also putting his old body on the line over the defense to get that first down. Another angle right here in slow-mo.

Toughness, physicality. They gave it all. They'd run the clock and they'd get the win at 23 to 10. Their next opponent is Penn State. And here's Marcus Freeman on his defense after the game. The defense was a reflection of the entire team. Just keep battling. And I knew this was going to be a 60-plus minute game because that team never stops.

That's why they're the Georgia Bulldogs. So we had to be aggressive. Defense did a heck of a job. All three phases did a great job. Yeah, we talked about Riley Leonard's will to win. We saw that in the fourth quarter. He's hurtling defenders. How does a competitor like that always give you a chance?

I mean, just competitors find a way. And those runs sometimes aren't how you draw them up, but Riley will find a way because he's a competitive person. And that's why that trait, man, is something that's so important. and a lot of guys on this team have it. This is why I came to Notre Dame. We got a lot of work left to do. It was an ugly one, but we got it done.

Once again, shout out to the defense. They played outstanding, and that's a really good team we played. So, man, I'm just so grateful for this opportunity. This is a beautiful thing and a dream come true. Here are the Final Four. With that win, the Final Four is set. Freeman's Fighting Irish look to take on the Nittany Lions and the Capital One Orange Bowl

and the other semi-final matchup will be headlined by Quinn Ewers, looking to take on his former team Ohio State that just toppled number one, Oregon. So, Rod, what impressed you the most about this Notre Dame win? Let's wake up the echoes, play like a champion. Let's throw all that out there from Notre Dame because they deserve it. You know, we've seen them on this stage before for years, and they've been outmuscled, manhandled, not yesterday. They were the more physical team.

They were the SEC bully. And when you start, you look at the way that they played offensively. defensively. They didn't have much of a passing attack offensively, but when they had to run the ball, they did. Defensively, they whip the Georgia offensive line, held the rushing attack, the 62 yards. And then they got after the quarterback. They harassed the quarterback Gunner Stockton tremendously. Four sacks. They were in his face. Didn't matter if they rushed four, five or six. They harassed him. They dominated this team. Notre Dame was the SEC bully yesterday. And Rod, you talked about offensively and defensively, but you're forgetting the most important part.

Special teams, special teams, in my opinion, won this game for Notre Dame. Why do I say that? Yes, the defense at the end of the first half led to points, but that third quarter, the kickoff return touchdown was huge. You see sacks, you see forced fumbles. This is the end of the first half, right? 39 seconds left. And then all of a sudden, the very next series, the next time the Notre Dame touched the ball, they find the end zone. Notre Dame is one of the best teams that on special teams.

They major in the minors. They major in the little things. Little things, it's fourth down. I was actually at the game. I'm in New Orleans right now, but I was at the game yesterday. I saw the kickoff. I looked away to grab a cookie from the suite. Probably shouldn't be eating cookies.

I turned back around and Jane Harrison was in the end zone. And so for me, that's what's what Notre Dame does extremely well. They win on special teams. They beat you on defense. And that's what they've been doing all season long. Now, a big thing there, too, was Riley Leonard. And he said after the game that he had been revived. being at Notre Dame this season.

So Sam, you were there in what ways, not only in this game, but just the season as a whole, have you seen Riley Leonard revived? Well, it's not even just him being revived. It's really the coaching staff activating Riley Leonard. So I was watching that game and eating cookies yesterday. But as I'm watching, I'm saying, man, Notre Dame had nothing going on offensively. Didn't get a real great running game from Jeremiah Love. Couldn't get the passing game going.

And then midway through the second quarter, all of a sudden it clicked. Activate Riley Leonard in the running game. You saw a couple quarterback run, designed QB runs. You saw Riley Leonard be able to outnumber the defense. You saw quarterback powers. You saw even quarterback draws. Then you saw certain plays that weren't necessarily designed QB runs, but Riley Leonard just found a way to do it himself.

And so for me, the activation of Riley Leonard in the second quarter of this game and in the second half of this season has been the difference for Notre Dame. I say second half, really could just call it after that NIU loss. You know Marcus Freeman had been showing that NIU lost time and time again. Well, Riley Leonard did it all. With his arm throughout the season, he did it with his legs as well. Sam, that's a great point. The other note for me is that Riley Leonard kept his composure.

For a guy who was not doing anything in the passing game, he never got frustrated. He just moved on to what he could do, which was the rushing attack. And a lot of quarterbacks, if they can't throw it, the rest of their game falls apart. Not with Riley Leonard. He just focused on what he needed to do, and it was the quarterback run game that got it going. The big thing, too, as you mentioned, that NIU lost. This was Notre Dame's 13th win of the season, the most in program history. All those wins came after that loss.

So it's pretty impressive stuff to see. All right. We're going to shift gears right now because SEC Commissioner Greg Sanky said that yesterday he asked to flip dates for Friday's Good Year Cotton Bowl classic in Thursday's Capital One Orange Bowl. Sanky was concerned that because the game was delayed after Wednesday's truck attack in New Orleans, the Sugar Bowl winner would have a shorter tournament. around than Penn State. And this morning, CFP executive director, Rich Clark, told ESPN the games will not be flipped. But switching back to Georgia. Georgia seemingly struggled with turnovers all

season long, and those same turnover issues appeared yesterday against Notre Dame. Notre Dame forced two turnovers on the Bulldogs last night, bringing the dog's season total to 20, their most in a season since the 2013 season. Here's Kirby Smart after the game on his decision to be a great. with his play calling. Yeah, typically when you're down, you need every possession you can have. And we made a decision that we were going to be aggressive and we were going to try to go two-minute. That's what everything says you should do. You can't give up possessions when you're trailing.

So we're down 6-3. We felt like we had a little quick game pass, certainly not counting on getting beat that quick, that left tackle and got a sack fumble, which gave them some momentum. But at the end of the day, we got a great red area of defense. We should stop them and we don't play pass it here. So we play to be aggressive and we're trying to go score. Rod, what do you make of Kirby's play calling? You know, Kirby's a great coach.

There's no question about that. But the key word he used there was typical. And typically, you want to be aggressive. This was not a typical situation. If it were a typical situation, yeah, go ahead and try to get some points in the last 37 seconds or whatever it was. But you're playing with a backup quarterback inexperienced, his first start ever on a big stage. You are struggling against a Notre Dame. defense that is shut you down for 29 minutes. What makes you think that in the final 34, 35 seconds,

it's going to change. And then lastly, your offensive line has been struggling, particularly on the left tackle spot. So it's not a surprise that you would have some trouble protecting the quarterback in your two-minute drill that's been shrunk down to 34, 35 seconds. So not typical. So adjust to the circumstances, didn't do that. Well, let's talk about Gunner Stockton for a moment and his performance. in this game. He was in a tough position, right? He's making his first ever career start in a playoff game, no less. And Sam, you were there last night. How would you evaluate his play? Gunter Stockton was outstanding. I mean, he was outstanding. And this is why I say that the last time we saw Gunner Stockton was in the SEC championship game. You saw passes intercepted. You saw a

couple errant throws. But this version of Gunner Stockton, probably what Georgia's seen all season long, maybe in practice, was impressive. It was amazing, especially that first. series. Think about it. I understand there was an early sack fumble in the game, but there was a few drop passes by his receivers that were not on Gunner Stockton. A few plays like this one, where foot goes out of bounds and instead it would have been a bigger gain. And so for me, Georgia Future is in great hands with Gunn Stockton. He got his first start under the brightest lights and he quelled all the doubters. People that said he's just a running quarterback. People like me, they're an athletic quarterback. No, he showed that he has the arm strength, the armed talent,

the ability to lead this team in the future. So I was extremely impressed by Gunner It also didn't help that he was working with a receiving corv that is tied for the most drop passes in a season in the FBS since 2021. So he worked with what he had. You know what I mean? All right. Let's take a look at the Bowl Challenge Cup standings brought to you by Progressive. And through this week's games, the American Conference leads in the Bowl Challenge Cup. The conference looks to end on a good note with their last bowl game being played today when North Texas takes on Texas State at 4 Eastern on ESPN.

Coming up with every single team with the by failing to advance in the playoff, Heather Dinnich joins us to discuss if changes to the CFP are on the horizon. Moments like this for them. This is what it's all about. 13 wins, the school record, and they hope they have two more to go. Semi-finals are set, and contrary to what many thought would be an advantage at the start of the season, teams with a buy went 0-4 in the quarterfinals, while conference champions went 0 in 5 in the playoff this season. The average margin of victory in the first round in quarterfinals was nearly 17 points, and seven of the eight games have been decided by 10 plus points. Now the teams with the bye had to say bye, bye, bye, I did, I had to do it once, I had to do it once,

add their shots at the championship. But let's bring in CFP reporter Heather Dinnich. And Heather, has there been any mentioned by the CFP committee about making any changes for next season after seeing how the first two rounds played out so far? Well, if there are any changes, it would have to be unanimously agreed upon by the FBS commissioners and the presidents and chancellors who have the authority to change the playoff. And getting everyone to agree even to this point has been difficult. So my sources, some of them are very skeptical about everyone agreeing to change anything in time

for next season, knowing that in 2026 and beyond, there is. still support within the leaders of the CFP to expand the field, possibly to 14 teams. So the question is, do you want to dink and dunk and change things on a smaller scale, knowing greater changes could be right ahead? And all of the management committee will meet on the day of the national championship. They have always met on the morning of the biggest game of the year, and they will dig in. They will talk about seating, how the first round home games went. things they liked and didn't like about this.

But if anything were to change, I'm told the most likely thing would be the seating. And if they were to unanimously agree on that, it probably wouldn't happen until April at their annual spring meetings in Las Colinas, Texas. But again, everyone has to agree to change anything. And remember, there's a Mountain West Commissioner out there in Gloria Navarres who had not only Boise State in this thing, but number three seed and a first round by. the season is still not over just yet. But Rod, in your eyes, how can we make this playoff better? Well, I think the one thing that we all saw that kind of threw us off was Arizona State ranked 12,

getting a number four seed. And that's not great for the game. And I think the best thing would be if we eliminated the guaranteed spots for the conference championships and instead gave them a guaranteed home game. And that way, you wouldn't have the situation where you have a number 12 seed jumping into a buy. I think that's the issue. But as Heather pointed out, it takes unanimous

agreement. And if I'm the ACC or the Big 12, there is no reason for me to give up a guaranteed spot unless you give me something in return. And what are you going to offer them? Guaranteed spot for two teams? That's about it. Yeah, Rod,

I see it a little bit differently. You mentioned number 12 seat Arizona State being ranked in the top four and then, you know, not good for college football. I thought that was great for college football because that number 12 seed that ended up climbing again that first round by took Texas to overtime. That number 12 seed was the one game that wasn't decided by over 10 points or over double or whatever, 16 points. And so for me, Arizona State, I think, is the one example that shows you that, hey, maybe there is reason to keep things the way they are for the potential of an ups and I get it. Texas was up big in this game at certain points. but Arizona State played outstanding. Arizona State took this Texas team to the brink,

and it wasn't as if that Texas gave it away. Arizona State nearly took it, and Texas took it back. And so for me, I think the teams that earn their first round, the conference championship, I think they earn that first round by, and I don't think it's a reward to have to play in an extra game. The reason I say that is, yeah, going back to teams like Texas, et cetera, well, these teams that are playing in the first round,

and we call it essentially like a wild card, if you will, they're getting, there's injuries, happening. Right? Like, look at the Texas offensive line. So many guys have gotten hurt. Even guys who came back like Kelvin Banks, Kelvin Banks was limping at Torres' end of last week's game. And so for me, I think the buy week is a reward and a great reward for teams that win their conference championship. Sam, no disagreement about Arizona State's performance. Outstanding. But listen, if you're the number four seed, you should not be a double-digit underdog

in the game. That's the point. That's when you take a 12 and you make them a four. You're manufacturing a situation there. True. I think it's still, it's still new waters that everyone, so we've got to give it time and see what's happening. But let's take a look at the college football playoff semi-finals. We got Notre Dame taking on Penn State Thursday.

Ohio State taking on Texas on Friday. Coming up, Crimson Tide quarterback Jalen Milrow is on his way to the NFL and we discuss where he stands and what to watch for when we return. College Football Live, Alabama quarterback Jalen Milro.

announced via Instagram on Thursday that he has declared for the NFL draft, saying in part that, quote, representing this university has been one of the greatest honors of my life. He finishes his career with 6,016 past yards, 45 past touchdowns, nearly 1,600 rushing yards, and 33 rush touchdowns. Mel Kuiper Jr. has the red shirt Jr. ranked as the number three quarterback prospect for the 2025 NFL draft. We've got Pete Thammell joining us. We've got Pete Thamil joining us. now and Pete, what more can you tell us about this decision? Well, Victoria, Milrow's decision has been expected for a while. Mel has him ranked, obviously, as a number three quarterback,

and that's where the NFL people that I've talked to over the last few months view Jalen Milro. I will say this. He may have the highest ceiling of any of the top quarterbacks in this group. I remember one scout told me this year, Jalen Miller was the most difficult person to tackle in all of college football. He brings, obviously, an elite basketball. diamondism to the run game, which we've seen

populate the NFL more in recent seasons than it had in really in decades. The question about Jalen Milrow obviously is going to end up being his accuracy and can he refine himself as a thrower. We saw some hints of that at points this season, but we also saw some moments of struggle, and

obviously he did not have a great bull game. The monsoon in the first quarter had a lot to do with that. So I think Jalen Milrow is going to be a fascinating, divisive prospect that's going to get a real shot to go be a starting quarterback somewhere in the NFL. As for

quarterbacks in college, there's some good portal action happening right now this week. Mark Grinowski, the South Dakota State quarterback who won 49 games tied for an FCS record, is on a visit today to Iowa. They have been a strong suitor of Grinowski,

who's from the Midwest, always dreamed of playing in the Big Ten. Grinowski told me this summer, his thought was to try to go this season and go to the NFL. He is leaving his NFL draft options. open, but really for Grinowski, this is a chance for him to go kind of to finishing school in Iowa's revamped offense and take all that winning, the two national titles, and take them to the Hawkeyes.

Taven Jackson, who we saw for Indiana, play really well against Washington, pinch hitting for Curtis Rourke this year. He's on a visit to UCF today, and I've been told there's a chance that deal could get closed in the next 24 hours. David Jackson was a highly regarded quarterback out of Indiana. He went to Tennessee. You obviously transfer to Indiana from there. He's a dual threat guy, as we can see in these highlights here.

He fit well in Scott Frost's system. It could end up being a key building block as it comes. And one final note, Tyler Van Dyke, old friend from Miami in Wisconsin, and he's taking a visit to SMU this weekend. Ooh, a lot of folks on the move. We'll see where they end up. And back to that, Jalen Milrow. What do you make of that decision, Rod?

Because you had a lot to say in our group chat. I'm not mad at him. Get your bad young fellow, but he's not ready. to be an NFL starting quarterback yet. Look, he is the best athlete at quarterback coming out. He has a tremendous deep ball. I mean, the best in college football, no question. But his accuracy is not great.

And the whole intermediate passing game needs a lot of work, Sam. It's going to take him a minute to get to that point. And that's where he needs more work and more development. But the great thing about the NFL, specifically about the NFL draft, is that all it takes for one team, not only to believe in you, but to believe they have the people to develop you. We've seen some high highs from Jalen Miro and also some low lows. And so I could see where teams say, man, we want to take this guy and develop him into the pastor that we've seen him be at times,

that we wanted to be for a consistent and continual basis, and then take some of the athletic ability as well and have him do both. And I think seeing that how that all evolves and how he can evolve to you, because we've seen the highs, we've seen the lows. Let's let a quarterback and a coach and a GM be on the market. We'll let them decide that. with that. Hopefully we don't have to deal with that here. All right, for Rod, Sam, Heather, Pete, I'm Victoria. Thank you so much for watching.

Have a great weekend.