College Football Live - Tough Weekend for the Ducks, Trojans, and Bulldogs

Episode Date: October 17, 2023

Host Kelsey Riggs is joined by Greg McElroy, Desmond Howard, and Pete Thamel as they discuss the exciting Week 7 of the 2023 College Football season, where Washington took down Oregon in a similar defeat to their 2022 matchup, Caleb Williams looked unrecognizable in his struggle against Notre Dame, and Georgia's offense takes a heavy hit with Brock Bowers suffering ankle injury. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're flying Emirates business class, dining on a world-class menu at 40,000 feet, 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 Kelsey Riggs. Let's go out the tunnel starting with a big win for Washington this weekend. Find out who would take the Huskies over the top two teams in the SEC right now. And speaking of the SEC, it is bad news for the two-time defending champions.

as star tight-in, Brock Bowers, will be out for some time, find out how long, and what the offense might look like without him. Plus, it was the catch heard around the college football world on Friday night. Stanford wide out. Alec Iyam Anandard takes us through his crazy catch over Travis Hunter and overtime. College Football Live starts right now. Happy Tuesday. Welcome into College Football Live alongside Greg McElroy, Desmond Howard, and Pete Thamwell. I'm Kelsey Riggs.

hanging out with you for the next half hour. And guys, let's start with the big news from the number one team in the country and their top player. Tight-in Brock Bowers had tightrope surgery on his ankle after he suffered an injury in the game this weekend against Evanderbilt. And for more on the injury and the recovery timeline. Want to go straight to Pete Thammell for more. Pete, what have you learned about what more we should expect from Brock Bowers after this surgery in the timeline when we could see him again? Well, Kelsey, the good thing for me, Brock Bowers is this is not a long-term injury. We've seen recovery from tightropes being about the

four to six week range the past few years. This surgery to deal with high ankle sprains has become more mainstream. To Otungo Biloa was one of the first that kind of brought it into the mainstream and the SEC into college football. So look, it's a well-timed by for Georgia. They obviously have the cocktail party against Florida. I'd expect to miss that game in Missouri. And then the conversation will begin about him coming back when they have old miss. at home on November 11th. They follow that with a trip to Tennessee. I'd expect

somewhere in that neighborhood, Brock Bowers returns for Georgia. Until then, look for Oscar Delp, a talented sophomore who's been in the shadows to emerge for the Bulldogs. Pete, thanks. Great insight there. And as you mentioned, he is someone who means so much to this team. The loss is a big one for

the Bulldogs. He's not only leading the team in receptions per game, but also receiving yards and touchdowns as well. He's the only tight end in FBS with over 500 receiving yards so far this season. So Greg, we heard Pete throw out a few names there, people that we can look up to now for this Georgia offense. But what are you expecting that they will look like now without Brock Bowers,

who does so much for them? Well, I think that's the trickiest part to try to figure out is that a lot of teams have great receivers, but nobody has a Brock Bowers. He's one of one. He's a unicorn in college football. You can play running back. He can play wide receiver.

You can have, of course, play traditional tight ends. to expect the guys to step up around him. You heard a moment to go. You heard what Pete said about Oscar Delp. He's been the number two guy, not quite as physical as Brock Bowers, not quite as good as far as the ball in his hands at creating yards after catch,

but he's very secure when catching the ball, and he's got top end speed. The other guy would be lost and lucky. He's a true freshman that they had high hopes for. It was a little dinged up early in camp, but he has a really high ceiling. So while nobody can totally replicate what Brock Bowers gives you,

as an offensive weapon, they at least have some quality at that tight end spot, albeit some of that quality is a little bit on the young side. Yeah, Brock Bowers is a Swiss Army knife. I mean, he could do it all offensively for Georgia, and that's what his role was. So when you lose a player of that caliber, that magnitude, it takes a lot from your office. Don't forget, we have a first year start at the quarterback position in Carson Beck. Brock Bowers was his safety net. He was his security blanket in the Auburn game when they were struggling. He went to Brock Bowers. We're talking high percentage passes, too,

and then just let Brock Bowers do the work, breaking tackles, turning, like, 10-yard slants into 80-yard touchdown. So I think what's going to be interesting moving forward is to see how defense is now defend Georgia's offense, now that they don't have that unicorn, Brock Bowers, in the offense. So you look at the games coming up,

I think he's pretty much out for the rest of the season. Will he come back for Tennessee? maybe, maybe not, but when you say four to six weeks, that lands you at the Tennessee game on the road at Rocky Top, which is going to be a dog fight. So I don't think you want to rush Brock Bowers back

if you can get him back at the end of the season ready for the college football playoff or ready for the SEC championship game before the playoff, then I would do that. I feel like all season we've been talking about when will we find out who the real Georgia is. This is not the kind of test you want to see for this team, but definitely a big challenge that they'll need to overcome. They still have the

19th ranked hardest schedule in the country and all of FBS, according to ESPN analytics. But as Pete mentioned, a great buy for them this weekend. Let's get to another game we saw this weekend, and it was a great top 10 showdown between Washington and Oregon that turned into an instant classic in Seattle Saturday. The Huskies held on for the 36 to 33 win against their Pack 12 rivals. Michael Pinnock Jr. through the go-ahead touchdown with 1.30, left to play and then Oregon missed the game tying field goal as time expired. As you take a look, this week's college football rankings brought to you by Verbo. And with the win, there's a new team in the top five.

Washington jumped up from number seven to number five. Top four still remain the same with, of course, Georgia leading away. So, Des, after what we saw this weekend, how does this Washington team stack up with some of the best teams in the country, in your opinion? Guys, I tell you what, to watch them live and in person right there on the sideline was just amazing. I mean, this offense is so dynamic, so explosive. You know, before the game, I said they probably got the best three receivers in the country. I just think they got the best receiving room. They can go four or five deep.

You see Jiles Jackson right there, transferred from Michigan. He caught the first touchdown. Oduzzi is one of the top receivers in the country. If we had to vote for the Bolandikoff right now, he'd probably win it. So watching this group, guys, I said two weeks ago that I would pick Washington over Georgia or Alabama if I had a chance to do my college football playoff preseason prediction again. I would definitely, Greg, at this point, put Washington over Alabama or Georgia as one of my top four teams to finish the college football playoff. Simply because, Greg, they have Michael Pennix Jr., who's better than either quarterback at,

at Alabama or Georgia. I actually think Pennix, looking back and watching the game back, there was a lot of missed opportunities in that game. So to see the reaction from Heisman voters, he's now the runaway favorite at minus 140 to win the Heisman trophy. Y'all, he didn't even play his best game. That's how good Michael Pennix is. He played like a B-B-plus game,

missed some receivers there in the second half where they could have extended some drives. I think he got a little greedy in the second half, actually, by kind of forcing the ball down field a little bit when there were guys open underneath. But when you look at what he's capable of and the offense that he leads, he's got tremendous support and cast. I do think that there's a little bit of room for improvement.

I know they ran for 100 yards with Dylan Johnson. There's clearly room for improvement, though, to run the football to be a little bit more balanced. But all in all, man, this Washington team is extremely scary and their best football actually might be in front of them. Well, you know, Greg, that's because there's a knee-jerk reaction when you have a big win on national TV like that. And then Caleb Williams throw two, I mean, three interceptions in the first half.

So that's why Michael Phoenix, Jr. is the runaway favorite right now for the highs. But you know what? And you watch it, though, Greg, as a former quarterback, as a player, you watch it with a more critical eye than most viewers. But I do understand what you're saying. There were some missed opportunities, but they don't see that. So that's why he's the runaway favorite today, Greg. Well, that's a good point.

We'll get to that USC game and what we saw from Caleb Williams. in a little while, but right now I want to bring back in Pete Thamel and switch gears a little bit because Pete, the Iowa Wisconsin game, Iowa wins, but both teams come out of it with some major, major losses as far as injuries go. What can you tell us? Yeah, Kelsey, a game like Iowa, Wisconsin is obviously a hard-fought game and the injuries certainly were prevalent there. We can obviously start with Wisconsin. Quarterback Tanner Mordecai broke his right hand. He's going to be out indefinitely. Wisconsin. Wisconsin's Graydon Lock will get the, we'll get the start for Wisconsin.

He's a Mississippi State transfer. This is his first career start. He played fairly well in relief against Iowa. Now the game plan will be tailored to him. As for Iowa, some breaking news, star tight end, Eric All, has torn his ACL and will be out for the remainder of the season. This is the second star tight end who's out for the year for Iowa. Obviously, earlier in the season, Luke Lechay went out in mid-September.

star quarterback Kate McNamara is out for the year. Iowa still somehow is six and one in the driver's position to win the Big Ten West, but it is going to continue to be difficult for the country's third worst passing offense without their leading receiver, Eric All. In the top 25 continuing to battle through all of those injuries, Pete Thamwell, we appreciate that insight here on college football live. Still to come, we've got more, including the Trojans. As I mentioned, they're handed their first loss of the season. but all is not lost for USC, or is it? We'll discuss the tough road ahead for them, and it was the catch that sent shockwaves from Boulder. We speak to the star from Stanford.

Eleg Iron Manor after this. 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. Donate today at camh.ca.ca.

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You're seeing the pictures from it as USC suffered its first loss of the season, falling to Notre Dame 4820 this weekend. Trojan's quarterback Caleb Williams. At his handsful with the Irish defense, he threw three picks and was sacked six times. But USC goes right back to work with another ranked opponent as they host number 14 Utah this weekend. Guys, that is just one of five ranked teams on their schedule. So Pete, let's start with you. And what are you hearing about the team's approach to this adversity that they face for the first time really this season? Well, Kelsey, I really think this is an interesting holistic crossroads for Lincoln Riley as a coach.

She's been so offensive-centric in his seven years as a head coach. And quite frankly, he's been so successful. He's only lost three games once in his seven seasons. But if you look at games remaining with Oregon, with Washington, with Utah, like we said, with UCLA, it's going to be really interesting. to see if there's some paradigm or philosophical shift within the program. I think obviously defensive coordinator Alex Grinch is in the crosshairs, whether that's sooner at the end of this season. But you do wonder for Lincoln Riley to become a championship coach for his offense to match

the entire program. Will there be bigger changes in the program? The defense has been a question mark all season, and they've definitely faced adversity on that side of the ball and been able to climb their way out, Greg, because they have a quarterback like Caleb Williams. Can he do enough down the stretch to help this team get to where they want to be? I mean, as long as he's their quarterback, they're always dangerous. I mean, if they want to get into a shootout, I'd be pretty confident in having Caleb Williams is my guy that's going to be leading my offense.

The problem is I'm not sure these problems are fixable overnight. I mean, if you look at what Caleb Williams has had to overcome already this year, man, he can't do it all himself. If you look at the supporting cast that say Bo Nix has at Oregon, what Michael Pennix has at Washington, the supporting cast both offensively and defensively around Caleb Williams is just not enough. And if you look at the rest of the schedule, man, we're looking at a real possibility of a USC team that taps out at like nine wins.

When you have the best player in the sport and a highly explosive offense and finishing only nine and three in what is probably the best conference in college football as far as depth is concerned does. That's not what you want. It doesn't appear as though the program is trending in the right direction. So they need a wholesale look at how they're doing things this offseason because I think a lot of tinkering is necessary. You know, you're 100% right, Greg.

And looking at them last weekend against Notre Dame, you just looked at an offense that consistently put their defense in bad situations. Now, there are no rules in college football that says because the offense gets the ball in the red zone, you have to. let them score. It's called sudden change. You have to be ready for that. But they just did it repeatedly.

You know, Caleb Williams had, you know, probably the worst game we've ever seen him play. Lincoln Rowley is going to have to tinker with that defense because they're going to have to start to play complimentary football. I spoke to several coaches last week in preparation for the USC versus Notre Dame game. And they all said that it seems like the defense plays like we have Caleb Williams, so we're going to be okay. They don't hold up their end of the bargain.

So whether it's doing something with Coach Grinch or doing something from a personnel standpoint, they're going to have to be some wholesale changes with the USC's program when the season's over, especially if they don't make it back to the Pac-12 championship and don't make it to the college football playoff. Defense has allowed 40 points in three straight games. They have been struggling.

They're out of the top 10 now, but of course, still ranked in the top 25. This week's ultimate performance presented by BMW goes to Stanford wide receiver, ELEC and Manor. He had 13 catches, 294 yards and three touchdowns in the comeback. Overtime win over Colorado just absolutely went off in this game. And now we've got him here for Talk to Me Tuesday here on college football live. So Eleg, first of all, what a performance you had. You had never coming into this game had more than four catches in a single game.

never gone over 100 yards. And you heard the stats. I'm going to say him again, 13 catches, nearly 300 yards in those three touchdowns. What was different for you in this game? I don't think anything was different. I think it's just like a lot of things aligned and I ended up getting my opportunities and I capitalized on the opportunities that I got. I will say, though, that I had been wearing my brace for like the majority of this season and I was not wearing my brace this game. So I felt a little bit smoother for sure. There you go. You can move a little bit more freely. That was bad news for the other team for the defense though because your performance, it just kept getting better and better. I want to go to the final touchdown because you catch it

off the helmet of one of the most talented cornerbacks in the country and overtime. What did it feel like for you to come down with that one? Obviously it felt very, very good in the moment, but to be honest, the very next thought was we still haven't won this game yet. Like they're getting the ball back. And if they score, we got to go back out there and do it again. But like looking back on it, a really great moment and like it's going to live in my memory for the rest of my life for sure. I was going to say in the moment it probably felt good, but the more you watch it back and get to live it and hear from other people, that has to be pretty cool. It was pretty cool to see the comeback too. You guys were on the road, down 29 in this game. What were the conversations that y'all were having on the sidelines that allowed you to keep your head in this game? Yeah, I think I addressed this after the game. It's just you, we talked about keeping to do your job every single play and not really thinking that there's a huge space.

spark that has to happen. It's just you consistently do your job over and over again. And that's what allows you to slowly chip away at those big leads. Eleg, I know that you got a lot of people who are proud of you. People all over this country were watching you, but also back home in Canada. What was the reaction for you from everybody back home? Yeah, I got a whole bunch of messages. My Snapchat was crashing at one point, a whole bunch of people texting me. And it's just, there's a whole bunch of sport from Canada. And it's awesome. to see that they see what I'm doing out here. And honestly, I think it helps, like a lot of young players in Canada

know that we have enough talent to do it on the big stage down here in the USA. You certainly did and did it in a big way. Three touchdowns and you guys come back and win in overtime. We appreciate the time today on College Football Live. Can't wait to see what you guys do the rest of the season. Thank you. Thanks for having me. And with that, it's time to check in on our Capital One rewarding performance. Stanford currently leading by a wide margin.

The Cardinals have the majority of the voted 68% with Pitt defeating Louisville and second at just 16%. Don't forget to get your vote in at YouTube.com slash at ESPN CFB. Still ahead. The tar heels are starting to click on all cylinders, especially with Tess Walker, now in the mix on offense. But how high is the ceiling for this team this year? Our guys weigh in. Everybody is waiting. It's going to be a good one this weekend at the shoe.

Des La Codge Game Day crew will be there. It's also going to be a good one this weekend in Florida State. The biggest game in the ACC, number 16 Duke and their dominated defense. Look to slow down Keon Coleman, the fourth ranked Florida State. Coverage begins at 730 Eastern on ABC and the ESPN app. For Duke, obviously, question marks surrounding their quarterback Riley Leonard. But, Des, let's focus on Florida State, a dominating win over Syracuse last. week. What do you want to see from the Seminoles moving forward in this season?

I think I want to see more consistency on defense. And when you look at them defensively, as a total defense, they're number 10 in the ACC giving up 360, 62 yards per game. I think they want to get that number down some. And I watch them play. They give way too many chunk plays, plays of 20 yards or greater on the ground and through the air. So there's one thing I would like to see is them become more. more consistent on defense stopping their opponents, Greg? Well, Desz says consistency on defense. I just want consistency overall.

I feel like last weekend was really the first time we've seen this team really revved their engine for a 60-minute period. That was against Syracuse, and Syracuse averaged four yards per play on first down. They were aggressive, getting them behind the sticks multiple times. They were constantly putting Garrett Schrader under a lot of arrests. That they ran the ball really well with some explosive plays in the run. own right. Keon Coleman continues to do amazing things at the receiver position, but we have yet to see it for 60 minutes prior to last week. We'd seen it in 30 minute bunches. We've seen it in 20 minute

bunches, but I hadn't seen them put a complete game together until last week. Now I want that to be the norm moving forward. I don't want this team to ebb and flow based on how good the quality of the competition is. I just want their best ball on a week's week basis. We're getting Keon Coleman's best ball every single week because he has been so fun to watch. Meanwhile, North Carolina, another game that's undefeated in the ACC. As a wide receiver, that's really fun to watch as well because this Carolina team looks even more dangerous with wide receiver, Tess Walker, and the mix. He had 132 yards.

And you guys, three touchdowns and just his second game with this team. So, Greg, what's this team ceiling? Given that they have Tess Walker, the way he's playing right now, this balanced offense, how far can this North Carolina team go? I think they're crazy dangerous. Now, could they drop a game, sure. But I look at what North Carolina is doing. Well, Tess Walker's incredible.

And what he adds to the offensive side of the football, they didn't need a lot of help there. They already had great wide receiver play and they could effectively run the football. But what's going to take this team the distance is how they're playing on the defensive side of the football. They have guys up front along the defensive line that Kamen Rucker that can take over the game.

There's a group that in the season opener had nine sacks. Now, that isn't going to necessarily be the norm. I don't think any of us expect nine sacks to be regular output for the Tar Hills defensively, but they're ball hawking in the secondary. I think they're linebackers, both power echoes and Seth Gray are top shelf players in the ACC. And I think their defensive line continues to be really disruptive. So I think the offense is great, Des, but I'm really excited about the progress that's been shown on the deeps inside of the football under coach Gene Chiswick.

Yeah, you know, coming to the 2023 season, And that was the knock on UNC, right? They got Drake May. The office is explosive, dynamic, but the defense sold them out a year ago. And now it seems like the defense is starting to catch up with the offense. They're playing complimentary football. And you guys talked about Taz.

Taz is a receiver who now, when he joins the offense, he allows other receivers to play their natural position. And that's why you're going to see the offense become even more explosive. I mean, this is a dangerous team. I'm telling you what. I can't wait to see if UNC He plays Florida State in the ACC championship game. Des Walker is definitely opening even more things up for this offense.

They've got a pretty favorable schedule coming up as well. We've got Virginia this weekend and Georgia Tech and Campbell. We'll see what happens down the stretch. And we'll see you tomorrow.