College Football Live - Thursday Night Thrillers

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Victoria Arlen, Sam Acho, Joe Fortenbaugh and Trevor Matich preview Week 1's Thursday night matchups. We discuss the upcoming season for Coach Prime and Colorado as well as a big first game for Notre Dame against Texas A&M. All that and more on CFB Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're flying Emirates business class, sampling our range of vintage wines from the largest selection in the skies, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. Welcome to College Football Live. I'm Victoria Arlen. Let's go out the tunnel. Four ranked teams get their season started today, including Big 12 favorites Utah and Kansas. Find out what Sam and Trevor are excited to see as these two teams begin their quest for the Big 12 title. Plus, Coach Prime and the Colorado Buffaloes make their season debut tonight against FCS Powerhouse North Dakota State, but find out why Colorado scheduled the wrong FCS opponent. And we get our tailgate tips for week one and take note as Trevor Sam and Joe Fortinbaugh

provide you with the insight that can make you smarter at your tailgate on Saturday. Week 1 is here. Let's go. College Football Live is presented by Dr. Pepper. is finally here. Week 1 is officially starting today. No more countdowns needed. And the gang is all here to break it down for you. We've got Trevor and Sam and Studio and Joe Fortinbaugh joining us in just a bit.

Now, we are so ready. And I hope you are too for a weekend of epic matchups. And just tonight alone, there will be four ranked teams kicking off their season. So let's start with the 24th ranked NC State Wolfpack hosting Western Carolina. NC State has won six straight season opening games and are a perfect 7-0 against Western Carolina. Now, moving on to number 11 Missouri, where the Tigers host Murray State, Missouri returns senior quarterback Brady Cook, who joins Jackson Dart as the only returning SEC quarterbacks to throw for over 6,000 yards the last two seasons. The Kansas Jayhawks are ranked 22nd after winning nine games last season and is hosting Lyndon Wood tonight in their opener.

Now, Kansas QB Jalyn Daniels is starting after playing only three. games last season due to a back injury. And finally, number 12, Utah host Southern Utah. The Uts won both prior matchup, 73 to 7 in 2022 and 24 to 0 in 2016. Now, Cam Rising returns for Utah and what will be his seventh college football season. Now, Utah may be a newcomer to the conference, but ESPN Bet has them as the favorite to win the Big 12 title as 3 to 1. Kansas is in action tonight, too, and they're the fourth favorite behind Kansas State and Oklahoma State. Now, speaking of Utah, Sam, with them being, of course, the favorite, what do you need to see from them tonight to give you the confidence that they can achieve that title?

I want to see Cam Rising knock off the rust. Cam Rising hasn't played in 605 days. Missed all of last season. The last game that he played before that was in January of 2023. And so he was the catalyst for this offense. Without him, the offense fluttered and faltered. They were almost non-existent. And so if Utah wants to win the Big 12,

That journey starts tonight, but it also starts with Cam Rising, not only staying healthy, but knocking the rust off. This is not practiced, nor is it a spring game. This is real live football. So I want to see what Cam Rising does in a live game. And Sam, he may have the best group of past catchers that he's ever had at Utah. Normally you think of Utah as big blasting offensive linemen that'll just bulldoze everybody in front. And they have that again this year. But now Cam Rising has USC transfer receiver Dorian Singer, one of the best.

receivers in the pack 12 over the last couple of years. He's got Brent Keithy, his great pass-catching tight-end back from injury. And that's a deep tight-end room, by the way. It's not just Keithy that is dangerous from that position as a pass catcher. And then money parks at wide receiver as well as a dynamic player. I mean, we think about the physicality of Utah, but the finesse potential is there. Did I dare say that? Fennett. Yeah, they can add that as the cherry on top. of the hammer and the anvil. The cherry on top of the

of the hammer and an anvil. Okay, that's a, there's a lot going on there. Bad place if you're a cherry to be. All right. Speaking of finesse, let's shift over to another team that has finesse.

The Kansas Jayhogs boast one of the most efficient offenses in the FBS over the last two seasons, especially on third down where they convert half the time. They rank fifth in the country and yards per play and tonight bring that fire power to face Lyndon Wood. Now, when it comes to offense, having, of course, one of the best in the FBS

over the last two seasons, Sam, How far do you realistically think they can go this year? This team can win the Big 12, and that's not hyperbole. This team is when it comes to efficiency. They're actually fourth when it comes to efficiency in all the college football behind teams like Georgia, Oregon. Those are the teams that you think about. But it's the run game that matters for this offense.

So I think about, yes, Devin Neal and Daniel Hyshaw, two of the running backs for the team, names you to know. And that's not even including Jalen Daniels, who's expected to be healthy this year. This offense led by Lance Lippold is one of the most efficient run games in all of college football. And mind you, Lance Lippold did it at Buffalo. He did it at University of Wisconsin Whitewater.

And now he has the talent, the athletes, to be able to do it on a consistent level. This Kansas team last year beat Oklahoma. This Kansas team a few years back beat Texas. This Kansas team knows how to play big time football and big time moments. Their issue has been health, specifically at the quarterback position.

So if Jalen Daniels can stay healthy, remember that 5-0 start for a couple years ago? They see another one of those this year. Yeah, how is Kansas doing for duct tape? Because he'll really need that. I mean, he is a dynamic player, but last year he lasted three games before he went out with a back injury for the rest of the season before September was done. Two years ago, he played nine games and then was out for the final part of the season with the shoulder injury. And that's what I worry about, Sam, because you talk about the great running attack of Kansas.

And it is great, but it is keyed by the running of the quarterback, Jalen Daniels. And it'll be interesting to see if they don't ratchet him back a little bit so that they don't expose him to all those hits because he's also a dynamic. downfield passer and you don't want to lose that because he gets beat up. And though Jalen Daniels is a dynamic runner, he wants to be a pass force quarterback. I was talking to him a couple, I think two years ago at the Big 12 media day. And he said, man, that's what I want to be. I want to throw the ball down the field. So he's actually scrambling to pass it, not scrambling to run.

Now there's no doubt when Jalen Daniels is healthy. He's a force to be reckoned with the Jayhawks look to play in three straight bowl games for the first time in program history. So we'll see how that goes. All right. It is time for our weekend lineup. brought to you by Wendy's Sassy Nugs. We have a mini slate of games tomorrow featuring new SEC member Oklahoma hosting Temple on ESPN.

Jonathan Smith makes his debut as the head coach of Michigan State, and Manny Diaz makes his debut as Duke head coach. It is year two with Coach Prime and find out why we think the buffs may be on upset alert in their season opener versus FCS Powerhouse North Dakota State. Plus, we got two top 25 matchups this Saturday. find out the keys to the game as number 14 Clemson takes on number one, Georgia. And number seven, Notre Dame heads down to Kyle Field to take on number 20, Texas A&M. College Football Live is presented by ice cold Dr. Pepper. College football. It's a pepper thing. Black Friday is here at IKEA and the clock is ticking on savings you won't want to miss.

Join IKEA family for free today and unlock deals on everything from Holiday Me. must-haves to cozy at-home essentials, all the little and big things you need to make this season shine. But don't wait. Like leftovers at midnight, our Black Friday offers won't last. Shop now at IKEA.ca.ca.combe home to life. Watching College Football Live, presented by Dr. Pepper. Time for primetime 2.0. The Buffalo's host the Bison of North Dakota State. Now, North Dakota State is not your average FCS team. They are 9 and 4 against FBS opponents all time,

including winning six of their last seven. All right, we are in for a treat. We got ESP and Betting analyst Joe Fortinbaugh joining us now. Yep, yep, yep, for all the class. Everyone up in the back. Thank you. Yep, yep. There's no one.

There's no one. There's one. All right, Joe, back to Colorado. Should they be on upset alert? They should, but this is one of the most interesting games from the Vegas perspective based on what we've seen in the last 24 hours. Colorado opens is a 10-point favorite. Pretty important number in betting

because of the differential and how games land on that differential. 40 to 30, 2717, 2414, right? It's a common differential. So you want to be on the right side of 10. Yesterday it gets bet down to 9. Interesting. We start to see dog money.

And then today, across the board in Vegas, and I reached out to multiple bookmakers on this, nothing but Colorado money from professional betters. Pushed it all the way to 10.5 and 11. So the pros like Colorado, I lean a little bit to North Dakota State. I'll take the points. I think there's a tax you pay on Dion because of how popular he is. And this North Dakota State team, I think, is ready to play.

Rule number one, week one of the season, you don't want to play someone with Dakota in there. No, no, you absolutely don't. And also, too, you know, you dive into that, the noise, too. And we've been hearing, you know, there's a lot of headlines, not necessarily the right kind of headlines you want leading into this matchup. How does that affect a team going into this game? Well, Trevor now, we were talking about this before. and you were talking about the idea that Dion, it seems as if Coach Prime actually loves that. It's almost this us against the world mentality.

Last year, their game against TCU was at the game. I was on the sideline. Actually, on Coach Prime's sideline in their locker room. And mind you, the TCU fans were loud. They were excited. But it was this mentality of, I don't care if anyone else believes, but if you were in this locker room, if you were on this team, if you have on our colors, you got to believe. And mind you, it worked week one, week two, week three.

And Travis Turner got injured and then it started to go downhill. And so I am actually excited. excited about what I'm hearing from Coach Prime because the outside noise doesn't matter. It's what matters is what happens on the inside. Yeah. And you know what? What noise really needs to get tamped down is the noise of getting hit in the head from Shador Sanders.

Last year he was sacked 52 times. And that doesn't include hits. And then finally he missed the last couple of games with a back injury. And the thing is this year, I would like to see him do better at going immediately to his emergency plan B. In other words, protect himself. Last year, he had to hold on to the ball a lot because he was trying to make a play.

And sometimes he didn't even have time. A lot of his sacks, I watched every one of them, looked like that. He was just swarmed so fast that he couldn't get the ball out. But there were other times when the emergency plan B was there, and he still tried to make a play. Now, he could throw this thing away right now. Just get rid of it.

Instead, he takes this. That's how you end up injuring your back and missing the last couple of games. So that's one emergency plan B. You can just throw it away. Here's another one where there's a running back wide open, and if things break down, he can just throw it out there. Now, watch the quarterback as the pocket starts to break down. He could just flick it out to the right immediately.

Instead, he's trying to escape. He's looking for a way to make an even bigger play. And even with all those hits and all those sacks, he was magnificent last year. He completed 69% of his passes. He only threw three interceptions. But this year, I think they'll have better protection. And for goodness sake, I hope that he protect. protects himself a little better.

Well, speaking of protection, I'm looking at the other side of the ball. North Dakota State quarterback Cam Miller leads the FCS and completion percentage. And it's not just at the quarterback position. This is a physical football team. You're going to see a lot of, they call it 23 personnel, two running backs and three tight ends. And then you're going to see them going empty. You're going to see extra old linemen. And so what I expect from North Dakota State is to be physical against this Colorado defense.

So you got to protect yourself offensively from a quarterback position. But defensively, you have to be extremely better when it comes to alignment. assignment and technique. We've talked about it before. How will you align when there's an unbalanced formation? We saw North Dakota State do that last year. How are you align where there's an extra tackle instead of a tight end? How will you, and that's their backup quarterback who's who they call them their mini Tim Tebow, 230 pounds.

So this is going to be a physical football game. Yes, offense got to protect your door, but defense got to be ready. All right. Well, there are three ranked matchups on the week one slate. And starting with the number 14 Clemson versus number one Georgia, Saturday at noon. Georgia has won 10 straight openers, but their last loss was against Clemson. Plus, we've got number seven, Notre Dame visits number 20, Texas A&M later that night. And on Sunday night, number 23 USC faces number 13 LSU in Vegas.

But Joe, let's go into this Georgia Clemson matchup, all right? So Georgia, a big favorite. Yeah. But dealing with some off the field issues. So, Joe, what's the spread going into this one? A bit of a holding pattern with this game because we're waiting to see what Kirby Smart's going to stay with some of the players who could be facing. Right. We saw Georgia's high as minus 14.

Yep. Some Clemson money comes in, knocks it down to 13 and a half. 13. That's where it is now. Not a significant move, but one worth noting. But again, what are the suspension is going to be? A couple backup players on the defensive line. Dept, obviously always a concern. You want to be able to rotate through there. Trevor A. T.N. at running back. He's a starter, starting inside linebacker as well. One thing I was considering, in this day and age, when we see these suspensions, what are they generally, right? First half suspension, then we want to see it back on the field.

Kind of serving both masters there. We're going to punish, but we still need you to play a little bit. So Clemson's plus seven and a half in the first half. Can Cade Clubnick and the Tigers come out, hang within a touchdown in the opening 30 minutes? I think so. That's a way I would attack it. All right, Sam, what about you? Well, I'm more interested in on the other side of the ball.

So Clemson may be down some defensive starters as well. Their two starting quarterbacks may not play. And I've been thinking, okay, Georgia's got to run the ball, run the ball. But what if Georgia said, you know, we got Carson Beck? He's in the Hosman trophy conversation. Let's actually air it out against a young defensive. backfield, young corners. Now, mind you, they have four, Clemson had four freshman corners last year who played well, but it's not going to be them. It's going to be the guys on the interior.

It's going to be Peter Woods and Barrett Carter. Barrett Carter number zero. Could have went to the NFL last year. I got a chance to talk to Clemson's team last year. This dude is an elite level athlete. Like he's all over the field. You see him in the backfield, second quarterbacks, getting interceptions. You'll see him running sideline and sideline. And then on the interior, Peter Woods, he's also this younger type of player, but extremely talented. And so when I think about this Clemson team, I think some of those younger guys, at least the more experienced guys, have to step up for the younger guys. But they still need to score, don't they?

And the thing is, Clemson is not going to bully Georgia's defense. They need to go over them and around them. And this is where I'm looking at the receiving core. When Clemson has been at its best in recent years, they've had receivers like T. Higgins and Justin Ross going up and just winning 50, 50 balls left and right. They haven't had that to that extent in recent years. and the quarterback production has suffered in part because of that. Well, this year they've got a couple of outstanding, promising young receivers in T.J. Moore and Bryant Westcoe.

To go along with Antonio Williams, Williams was injured for most of last year, but reports are that he has been explosive in camp. It's those Clemson receivers that will carry this team to the highest levels, not just the defense. Shifting to another really notable matchup, the line has been on the move in this Notre Dame, Texas, A&M, game and it opened as a pickum and Notre Dame favored slightly on the money line. Now, Texas A&M is a three-point favorite. Joe, can you help explain what the line has been doing in this game? This is big. This happened about a week ago. Notre Dame announced their starting

left tackle was going to be out for the season. If there's a weakness with one of the deepest Notre Dame teams in like 25 years, it might be on the offensive line. So as a result, money starts to come in on Texas A&M. People see this. They pile on. They steam it all the way up to three. Three is a very important number in sports betting. Very important. More games end on a differential of three than any other number. 2421, 2724. It's about 15% of games. You want to be on the right side of three if you have the opportunity. Now that Notre Dame's plus three, I think that's where the opportunity is on the Irish. Again, very deep team. Riley Leonard comes over at quarterback from Duke. They upgraded the

wide receiver unit here. Denbrock is the offensive coordinator coming over from LSU. Huge. We saw what he did with that offense last year. Going into college station Saturday night is problematic, but if you're going to give me three, I think eventually this line comes back down, I would take three with the Irish right here. Well, speaking of problematic, we started this discussion yesterday about the noise at College Station and the fact that there's been practices from A&M fans to be as loud as they can be. But Sam, I want to talk to you about the preparation Notre Dame has to do to prepare for that noise because it's a whole different ball game out in the field. Well, what happens is they'll have these huge speakers. I mean, it looks like they'll roll the things out there.

I don't know how many 10 feet tall, huge speakers. And they'll be blaring sound for the entirety of practice. That's in order to imitate what you're. you're going to hear. I mean, you got to, I must have an IFB in, right? Yeah. That's like I try to imitate the hundred plus thousand that are at Kyle Field that every, at Friday nights, they do midnight Yale practice, meaning they sing their fight song. They talk about song varsity, varsity horns off. They talk about just what it means to be an Aggie. And so there's so much power in that 12th man is what that's what they call it. And I think that's

going to be a huge differentiator in this game. Yeah. And for those new offensive tackles left and right, it's a problem because you can't hear the snap count. Yeah. And that means that the defensive pass rusher is going to get off the ball quicker than you will, right? That's a huge problem. And so let me show you one of the things they do. If I'm the left tackle, maybe I'll look into the ball, and when the ball moves, then I'll look out here. Problem? If I'm looking in here, I can't see his first step in what he's doing.

Plus, he's better and quicker at getting off on the ball than I am. I'm still late. Another way to do it is this. You're the guard, right? Grab my hand. So now, when you can see the ball better than me. I just all hold hands. I know.

A lot of left here. And so now I can look at the defensive end, and when you see the ball snapped, you move, and now I go. The problem is, you see the ball snap, and then you move. And physiologically, it takes me a beat before I can process and react to that. He still has the advantage. Riley Leonard, the quarterback for Notre Dame, is a mobile quarterback, and he will need to be. Well, a lot of handholding will probably be going down and a lot to keep an eye on. I'd like to change my pick to Texas A&M.

Okay, we're going to Texas A&M. All right, you heard it for him Joe. All right. Let's take a look at our Dr. Pepper Championship Drive, a game of the week preview. USC and LSU meet this Sunday in a matchup of two on the most dominant offenses in college football last season and the teams ranked top three in points per game,

yards per play, and total touchdowns. However, both teams lost their Hysman-winning QBs to the NFL. Coming up, want to sound smarter at your tailgate this weekend? Well, we'll provide our weekly tailgate tips to help you stand out among your friends. College Football Live is presented by ice cold Dr. Pepper. College football, it's a pepper thing. At Desjardin, we speak business.

We speak startup funding and comprehensive game plans. We've mastered made-to-measure growth and expansion advice, and we can talk your ear off about transferring your business when the time comes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000. thousand Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk business.

Every day weekend of college football on ESPN and ABC. Dion Sanders and Colorado hosts North Dakota State to start us off tomorrow then tonight, tomorrow then Temple, Oklahoma on Friday night, an amazing triple header on Saturday and Sunday night number 23 USC squares off against number 13 LSU in Las Vegas. Now, you're looking at the college football playoff national championship trophy presented by Dr. Pepper, and now 12 teams will fight for the chance to take it home. Now, have you ever gone to a tailgate and realized you don't have anything to contribute to the discussion I have? Well, here at CFB Live, we have something for you and we call it tailgate tips, where we give you some trinkets and knowledge to sound smarter and impress your friends every Saturday. You can thank us later.

All right, Trevor, help me sound smarter. People will say that LSU is in trouble because their quarterback won the Heisman trophy last year, Jaden Daniels, became the second pick in the draft. And, oh, no, how do you replace them? Uh-oh. Garrett Nussmeyer is another NFL caliber quarterback. He's not Daniels, but he still has an amazing arm. They are in good hands at that position.

Well, there's another tip outside of Garrett Nussimire I need to talk about, but it's this. It's don't doubt the Dakotas. We talked about North Dakota State. They're playing Colorado tonight, and that's a game. and a team in which Colorado needs to just be aware. I'm not saying upset alert, but be aware. But then South Dakota State, the Jack Rabbits, they play Oklahoma State. This South Dakota State team has won 29 straight games.

So don't doubt the Dakotas. Eat breakfast and drink plenty of water. Those mimoses will get you. But I don't think that's what you were looking for. But we should know that. We should know that for tailgating. Let's be honest. I've heard.

I'm well research. Well research. But I think you're asking for a betting tip. So how about this one? Any tailgate tip you feel, Jeff? Look to bet on teams that are making their season debut against teams that played last week. So you'd be betting against Florida State, for example,

by playing on Boston College. You'd be betting against Hawaii by playing UCLA. You'd be betting against Georgia Tech by playing Georgia State. Why? Over the last 10 years, eliminate the COVID year because that was a wonky way it started. Teams that were making their debut going against a team that had already played,

the debut team is covering the spread 67% of the time that is a fan. fantastic hit rate. Don't do it. It's not a blanket statement, but those are the angles you want to look for. Keeping out. All right. Well, for me, I'm going to talk about the world tour that UCLA is about to go on. So with the expansion of the conferences and UCLA now and the Big Ten, this season, they will embark on the equivalent of quite literally a world tour. On Saturday, they begin a 2,500 mile trip to Hawaii to take on the Rainbow Warriors. It's the first of six trips for the Bruins to Ford different time zones this season. And UCLA's shortest trip is to Washington, D.C., which is casually 950 miles from Los Angeles. So UCLA is really going to be racking up those miles.

And don't forget, we got Colorado tonight, primetime baby. And for Sam, Joe, Trevor, I'm Victoria. And I don't know who do you got tonight winning? I like Colorado, but it's going to be a great, great, great game. Tight game, take the points. Look at West Carolina as well against NC State. They're not going to want to show too much with Tennessee on death. Colorado is going to be better this year than they were last year. I like the buffalo.

Oh, all right. Well, primetime is coming down. Week one is officially here. Thanks for hanging with us. We'll see you next week.