College Football Live - The Jury Is Out On Michigan

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

Host Matt Schick is joined by Sam Acho and Trevor Matich as they react to the breaking news regarding Michigan's punishment following the results of the sign-stealing investigation. Also, Joe Fortenbaugh joins the show to give his take on the spread for weekend ahead. Finally, Dan Murphy joins the show to discuss the highly-anticipated matchups of the weekend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're flying Emirates business class, enjoying a good night's rest in your lie flat seat, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. College Football Live is presented by Dr. Pepper. The eyes of the college football world remain on Michigan as the third-ranked Wolverines await word from the Big Ten regarding the alleged sign-stealing scandal. Michigan sent its response to the league's notice of disciplinary action yesterday. Commissioner Tony Pitini could make his decision out of potential punishment as soon as today. Welcome into college football live.

I'm Matt Schick for more. We welcome in Pete Thammell. Pete, what is the latest on this back and forth between Michigan and the league office? Well, the latest is we are in the waiting and processing phase right now, Matt. As we sit here on Tuesday afternoon, the Big Ten has received Michigan. Michigan's responses. There was a 10-page letter from the university itself, and then another lengthy letter from Coach Jim Harbaugh. And they are processing that right now in the league offices, and they are going to make a determination at some point in the near future whether or not they're going to deliver a punishment to Michigan or Jim Harbaugh. This process has been drawn out through this week as Michigan didn't have, Michigan had, excuse me, until Wednesday night to respond.

So now the ball is in the Big Tenth's court, per se, and we're expected to know in the near future, whether it's tonight or tomorrow, what the Big Ten decides. You mentioned that 10-page response. Give us the Cliff's Notes version here, Pete. What is the main reason in defense Michigan is using as to why there should be no disciplinary action taken? If you need to distill Michigan's response, you could do it by saying it was about process and precedent. Michigan has stated very clearly with a white shoe law firm in D.C. at their backing that the process of the Big Ten would use under its sportsmanship policy would actually violate the Big Ten's own bylaws. So this is one of those cases where they aren't arguing a lot of the facts of what's emerged about Conner Stallions, but they are arguing the law and the process the Big Ten is using. And then the other notion that Michigan brought up in the letter that was very interesting was precedent. They warned Tony Petiti and said to Tony Petitie, basically, as the Big Ten Commissioner, you could be going down a slippery slope if you decide to use the sportsmanship policy during an NCAA investigation to punish a team in real time. So these are all things that the Big Ten is weighing and digesting right now as we speak, and we should have an answer in the near future what they decide.

Yeah, it did seem like there was a warning shot being thrown there from Michigan there in the response. So if Jim Harbaugh were to be suspended, Pete, what would the school's response be? Well, there's been preparations, and all signs are pointing to some type of legal response. The three-letter initial that we've quickly had to become familiar with is TRO, which is temporary restraining order. Actually, Oregon State and Washington State got one a few weeks ago toward the PAC 12 in a ruling out there. And this TRO would essentially be to get a temporary injunction that could potentially allow Jim Harbaugh to coach this weekend if he is indeed suspended or if the suspension comes next week, it would go moving forward.

So the seeds of illegal response are planted all through Michigan's 10-page response and all through Harbaugh and his lawyer Tom Mars' response to the Big Ten. So the stage would be set for a really unique standoff as there have been instances in the past where the Big Ten has been sued by members or brought to court by members. did it most recently in 2020 when the Big Ten suspended football in late August. Obviously, the Big Ten brought back football, so that never saw its way through the full legal gamut. But it's a fascinating standoff right now between the Big Ten's most prominent brands and the other

13 schools who are all fairly peeved of the behavior that's been alleged that Conor Stallions did in this illicit scouting ring. So all eyes are on Evans. No, it's not Evanston. All eyes are on suburban Chicago right now where the Big Ten's officer. offices are located to see what happens in the near future. Well, you mentioned the other brands and the other schools. ESPN has learned that Michigan sent the league office some evidence, some documents,

that a couple of other schools, namely Ohio State and Rutgers, may have helped steal some of their signs to aid Purdue in the Big Ten championship game. What's the latest on that story? So the latest on that story is that as of right now, the Big Ten has not received anything from the NCAA about any rules being broken in that case. The way that story has been distilled is that essentially those are examples of legal signs stealing, coaches calling each other sharing information. My understanding is how the Big Ten office is processing this is that the Michigan case is three years, more than 30 venues, I'm sorry, 17 stadiums, more than 35 games, as ESPN

has reported, where Conor Stallions allegedly helped arrange or did himself, the illicit scouting of games. And they have evidence of electronics being used as well that we've reported the NCAA has been sent. The Big Ten case with Purdue and allegedly Ohio State and Rutgers, the evidence doesn't reach that threshold. They simply have a play sheet

in which the plays of Michigan were shared by opponents, which is considered common in coaching circles. Yeah, they may have gotten it. How did they get it? Did they do it like Michigan did? Again, that's the whole story here. It's going to be interesting to track. The gloves are off between the big fan of Michigan.

Thank you, Pete. Check in with you as the story develops and check him out on ESPN.com and The X. Now, take a look at Wendy's weekend lineup presented by Wendy's Beef. Take a look at some of the big games this weekend. Utah heads to Seattle to face Washington. The UTS are two and seven against Udub since they first joined the PAC 12 and 2011. Lucky for them. Their two wins have come on the road.

exactly where they'll be playing this weekend. Also this weekend, TCU host Texas. The Hornfrogs could become the first team since 2010 to lose at least six games the following season after playing in the national championship. Who is that team in 2010? You may ask the Texas Longhorns. The Bulldogs face off against the rebels

in a pivotal SEC matchup. Ole Miss, the only SEC team Kirby Smart has never beat his head coach. In their one matchup, he suffered a 31-point loss, the worst in his head coaching career. And for the biggest matchup of the weekend, number three, Michigan goes to Happy Valley to face off against number 10 Penn State.

According to our All-State playoff predictor, it's the biggest game of the week in terms of playoff leverage. Let's hear from the participants. Like I said, let's not make it bigger than what it is. Let's bug out the noise. Let's focus on us. All we got is us on the road. So let's just focus on us and do what we have to do to get the win.

It's one of those games where we can't kill ourselves with mistakes because they'll capitalize on our mistakes. And we just have to do a good job of just, you know, eliminating all the unforced airs that, you know, can come back and bite us. All right, let's welcome in Sam Acho and Trevor Madage. This is going to be a great one, guys. Trevor, let's start with you. How does Penn State pull off this upset here this weekend?

They need to throw the ball down the field. I mean, their ceiling is limited by their inability to do that. Against Ohio State, the best defense they faced, they tried eight passes of 15 or more yards, only completed once. Let's go to that Buckeyes game and see what some of the problems are. Now, on this play, you can see where the quarterback's foot is, right? It's right on that hash, but the snap takes him a little bit to the left, and he stays to the left. So now he's just a little bit in, but that's a problem because the guard gets beat with vertical penetration. So the two of those things combined to the defender able to get his hand on Drew Aller's shoulder as he throws the ball

and a wide open receiver can't get the ball thrown to him. Now here's another problem. Same thing though. Pressure where you've got pressure coming up the middle. Now Aller has time to throw this ball, but he's all kind of cattywampus and his feet are a little bit. I don't even know what his feet are doing. And the ball ends up getting thrown a little bit short. Now here's the problem.

The ball should be out here so the receiver could adjust to it. Instead, it's way in there where the defender is. And take a look at the receiver. He's like, uh, wait, wait, wait a minute. I had my part. What happened to you guys back there? And then things get just kind of crazy. On this play, there is good protection.

And the quarterback, Drew Aller, third and three, looks there, there's nothing there. He looks there and this guy's going to make the tackle. There's nothing there. But he, instead of coming back to here, because he's got time, he's got a good pocket. So instead of waiting and seeing what happens with his other option, watch the quarterback. He will end up just bugging out of a clean pocket and end up throwing the ball down the field incomplete. And that's an incompletion to a guy who didn't really want to throw the ball to. It's still an incompletion down the field.

It's lots of little things that if they go wrong, it's a real problem for Drew Aller and this Penn State deep passing attack. Yeah, and I had a coach who said once that little things done well make big things happen. and when little things don't go well, then obviously those things that you want to make happen can't happen. On the other side of the ball, I think about Michigan. There's been so much conversation about Michigan and what's happened off of the fields. But on the field, they are so,

and I want to use the word elite, because of what they do to make defenses struggle. And so they make you play discipline. If you don't play discipline, I'm going to show you some plays. You will lose the game. Michigan test your eye discipline. Let's go check the film.

And so you're going to see this motion right here by this player right here. You're going to see motion. But I want you to keep your eyes on the defender. The defender has to run with them. So defender, receiver, keep your eyes on the two of them. So motioning over, right? If this was the final formation, you know it's 3rd and 6. You could have some mess in here.

It could be something going outside. But it's not the final formation. Watch what happens. Remember who we're looking at? Looking at the receiver in the DB. He motions this way. He comes back. All of a sudden, remember that mess, that noise that we saw?

We're going to see these routes coming in here. Set you like a screenplay, if you will, all to try and stop this defender. Well, he had to go with that motion. So now he's looking at all this mess. It's 30 and 6. Somehow, some way you've got to get through there. Let's see if he does. He kind of does, but he dips under 6, 12, 18, 21-yard gain.

Now, later on in the same game, going to see something similar. Michigan will motion. You're going to motion over here, and then you're going to see these three defenders got to figure out, okay, who's going to run with the motion. Let's find out who runs. Who's going to do it? One of us, okay, you got it. You're running with the motion.

You think it's all set. No, it's not all set. Going to see a motion back. Remember that formation we talked about. You're going to see that mess and that noise on the inside. But what has to happen? Now it's not just this defender who has to run. with it and has to be aware. This defender

has to be aware. Why? Because based on final formation, you're going to see him peek outside. You see that little peak. He peeks right outside. That final formation says, hey, I might be in for some mess, for some noise. Here's that mess. Here's that noise. You're going to see that play right here. And essentially, he's picked third and three. You get a first down. So how do you stop Michigan?

You have to be disciplined with your eyes. We see that motion again. Boom. One motion there. You're going to see another motion from the receiver at the top. This receiver motions across here. And you think, okay, keep your eyes on him. But no, Don't watch him. Watch these front line guys. Let's see if they're disciplined.

Let's see if they play the right play. They are. Look, you see everyone's playing right here. Everyone's playing the crack toss. They play it perfectly. You see a two-yard loss. Now Michigan's in second and 12. And so if you're disciplined with your eyes, you win.

If you're not, you lose. They test you every single play. They have motion and shifts on nearly every single one of them. This Giving Tuesday, Cam H is counting on your support. Together, we can forge a better path for mental health by creating a future where Canadians can get the help they need when they need it, no matter who or where they are. From November 25th to December 2nd, your donation will be doubled. That means every dollar goes twice as far to help build a future where no one's seeking help is left behind.

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Presented by Dr. Pepper You better get your ass ready to play. We don't find out who wants to play football. Talent to the gift and all I'm saying is a difference. Very significant game in the SEC. Touchdown reps again. This team's a real deal. Looks like it's a dog day.

I don't know about getting you popcorn, but strapped your seatbelt. The Ole Miss hasn't won an AP top 10 matchup in more than. than 60 years. They're going to try and do it this weekend and send the SEC race into chaos. Sam Ocho, Trevor Maddich, Mattick back here on college football live. We did hear that Kirby Smart has not officially ruled out his all everything tight end. Bronc Bauer says there's a couple of milestones he has to hit in order to play this weekend. Sam, but how have they survived and thrived without him?

Well, they've survived and really thrived because Ladd-McConkie has stepped up to the play. Ladd McConkey, the same receiver at two receiving touchdowns in the national championship. If we had a back injury the first four weeks, he wasn't playing. And all of a sudden, he's healthy now. He's getting career highs and receptions. Two weeks ago, versus four to seven. Career eyes and receiving yards, 135. 78 of those yards are after the catch.

And so all of a sudden, when one superstar goes down, a budding or current superstar in Ladd McConkey steps up in career highs. But Ole Miss's defense actually is well suited to throw a wrench into those gears because they're really good, one of the best in the nation, Ole Miss, at sacking the quarterback and creating tackles for loss. And to stop the Georgia offense before it gets started is what they'll need to do. They're incredibly smart, Sam. I know you love watching Ole Miss's front on tape because they keep their lanes while they're pressuring.

A lot of teams will run stunts and they'll end up out of their rush lanes and quarterbacks will get out for big plays, right? A lot of times glitters will come in and miss the quarterback. Ole Miss is disciplined with those things. And that is their one big edge over Georgia. Yeah, that's a big edge. But I think about that Georgia running game. I think they're going to try and lean on that running game instead of having to rely on the past game. All right, Georgia, guys, it's hard to believe.

Haven't lost a regular season game in more than three years. Meanwhile, another big matchup going on in the pack. Well, Washington working on an undefeated season of its own at 9 and 0. Last time the Huskies had a longer winning street to begin a season. Their perfect 1991 season when they want to share the Natty this weekend. They welcome in a Utah team that has come away with wins in two of their last four trips to C. a game that could shake up the Pac-12 race and playoff chase. Trevor, where is this game won on Saturday? This game will be won in the ugliest places Utah could drag Washington down into because they can't keep up with Washington's passing attack.

They just can't. So what they want to do is beat them up like they did to Arizona State. I mean, Utah rushed for 352 yards against Arizona State. And that's a pretty stout Sun Devil defense. The Washington defense is nobody's great shakes when it comes to physicality. They're okay. They're not great. So Utah wants to drag them down into the most painful place they can find. And I'll tell you this, when Michael Pennock Jr. drops back to pass while he's waiting for those receivers to get deep down the field, Utah wants to make that painful.

And this will be one of the most physical games, as you mentioned, at Washington plays. But talk about being tested. If you want to be ready for a college football playoff appearance, appearance, and maybe even championship, you have to be able to weather the storm and win tests like these. And yes, it's a test on the field, but there's also a test off the field for the college football playoffs selection committee. They're going to be looking at the eye test. We saw how Oregon fared against Utah.

Oregon dominated Utah. What will Washington look like as they have this common opponent? And so, number one, the physicality, number two, the eye test. And number three, are you going to be ready when that big matchup comes? Not just now, but when that college football playoff comes as well. Right. And how balanced they are as well. I mean, Washington rushed for over 300 yards against USC, but no credit for.

that. USC opened the gate too many times. No disrespect to Washington's rushing attack, but that was more bad USC defense than it was good Washington running. We'll find out now against Utah. That's a legitimately outstanding rushing defense. And so this is what Washington needs to deal with now,

because USC allowed them to play from ahead a lot of this game and they come from behind when they needed to. With Utah, it's going to be pulling feet. Utah guys, nearly a double digit underdog in this one. Let's get to Joe Fortinbaugh's thoughts on this, our ESPN betting analyst. Joe, is Utah a live dog here? Oh, absolutely. I would take Utah plus the nine and a half in this one. Washington ranked 60th

in the country and run defense. 60th. They just gave up over 200 yards on the ground to USC. That's what Utah wants to do. Run the football, grind the clock, and keep Michael Pennix off the field. Keep in mind the weather forecast for this game, not good for the Washington passing attack. It's calling for rain and wins 15 to 20 mile an hour. I'd be looking to Utah on this one. Oh, you're not a professional betting analyst unless you're monitoring the weather. Let's take a look at the one final team vote

brought to you by Dr. Pepper. The pants has spoken. They believe Washington will be your last team to make the CFP. After hosting the UTS, the Huskies go to Oregon State and finish with the Apple Cup at home. More college football live in a couple minutes with news on an important quarterback

back in the lineup. Thank you for all the veterans that serve this country, especially shout out to both of my granddad. Robert Thomas and Oscar Walker, they lead me and they do very well. And I look up to them there. I both role models and my family. It's week three of Canadian tires early Black Friday sales. These prices won't go lower this year.

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Penn State. Only about a four and a half point underdog in this game. Time not to go in the know with Joe for Vegas's view on the. matchup. Joe Fortnball, what's got your eye on this one? I might be out on an island with this one, but I'm actually going to play the over of 44 and a half points. Both teams want to run. The thing is, I think they both realize they're going to struggle to run against each other. That's going to lead to passing. And if we have two teams throwing the ball early in this game with a total of 44 and a half, I really like our chances

for the over. Penn State's offense has come alive over the last two weeks, 67 points over their last six quarters. Michigan's been hanging big numbers all year. Over 44 and a half would be my play here. Thank you, Joe. That matchup, not the only top 10 tussle this weekend. How does Old Miss go between the hedges and come out with a win? College Football Live is presented by Dr. Pepper, the one fans deserve. College Football Live is presented by Dr. Pepper, the one fans deserve. Week 11 of the college football season.

Saturday on ESPN, number 8 Alabama, faces Kentucky at noon eastern. Then on ABC, Miami against number four Florida State and 3.30 Eastern. Then number nine, Ole Miss, taking on number two Georgia and the SEC primetime showdown at 7 Eastern. Oh, that was going to be coming up later on. That's my mistake. Quinn Ewers back in the fold this weekend, marking the return for the Texas quarterback after the sprained shoulder. Steve Sarkeesian head coach said he had a great week of practice. I thought he got stronger as the week went on.

I really didn't feel like there was a throw he couldn't make. Back to Sam Acho. What is the significance? Trevor, start with you. What is the significance of Quinn Ewers in the return to Texas? The ability to engage more of the playmakers on the perimeter. Malik Murphy did a really good job against Kansas State last week. I mean, he held it together, beat them, beat BYU.

But against Kansas State, he only had 50. percent completion rating through two interceptions, and he just doesn't have the experience to be able to engage all those playmakers the way that Uers can. And then the turnover piece, right? Malik Murphy had a couple turnovers. You want to see ball control, especially in a game like this. TCU has one of the best past defenses in the, the best past defense in the entire Big 12 led by cornerback Josh Newton. And so you think how do you beat a team like Texas with explosive playmakers like when you were like Adonine Mitchell, like Xavier Worthy? You take the ball away. And that's what that TCU defense is going to try and do. You saw Kansas State. had a couple of takeaways and also against your team. BYU had a couple takeaways versus Texas,

though Texas was able to pull it out. Yeah, and TCU is going to have to expect to score, though, to keep up in some sort of a track meet here. And they don't run the ball all that well. But when their passing game is clicking, it's really clicking. TCU is number two in the Big 12 and passing yards per game, which is kind of weird. You wouldn't think that.

But when they're on, they're on, and they will need to be on to have a chance against the Longhorns. Guys, the Big 12, they're hitching their wagon this year to Texas. It's Texas or bust to make the college. football playoff. They got TCU this week. They're at Iowa State. Then they've got Texas Tech. Sam, how much trust do you have in the Longhorns to finish the job? I have a lot of trust in this Longhorn team. And the trust is based off what I saw the last two weeks without their star quarterback Quinn Ewers. This team was able to win with a red shirt freshman quarterback

Malik Murphy who hadn't had more than seven passing attempts before that season started. And so the trust is from that. The trust is from the defense, trust from Jonathan Brooks in the running game. And obviously Steve Sarkeesian a coach. Yeah, the trust. from the trenches in Texas. They're built for that. A big games coming up this weekend. We got Missouri as well taken on Tennessee, big SEC East ramifications as well. We're going to talk about more of these games coming up on Friday. Five o'clock

Eastern on ESPN 2. Week 11 is upon us.