College Football Live - Undefeated Matchup Live From Seattle!

Episode Date: October 13, 2023

Jen Lada, Pete Thamel, Desmond Howard & Steve Coughlin kick off the show talking about the Top Ranked matchups this weekend and we have a Heisman update as the Trojans travel to South Bend. Will Travis Hunter gear up for Colorado's game against Stanford? Pete will tell us his status and others in his injury report. Plus, Steve gives his best bets of the week. Also, ACC Huddle and SEC Nation will preview the biggest games happening in their conferences. Can Miami shake off their upset last week and win against North Carolina tomorrow? Who will remain undefeated in Seattle? All this and more on todays episode of College Football Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When you're flying Emirates business class, sipping your favorite cocktail at our onboard lounge, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. Welcome to College Football Live, presented by Nationwide. We are in the Pacific Northwest. I keep hearing about how much hate there is between these two teams that are facing off here this weekend. How could it play so beautiful? Yeah.

Be brimming with so much hatred. Oregon and Washington, they are going to go head to head this weekend. We are here on college football live, Desmond Howard, Stanford Steve, the authority, Pete Thammel, and I am Jen Ladder. What a beautiful campus we are on today for this game against these, with these two top teams in the PAC 12 and, of course, two of the top teams in the country. Before we get to that matchup, let's get you set for a bunch of other big matchups that we've got going on this weekend. And we will start with, well, the number one team in the country.

Georgia heads to Vandy, who the dogs have beaten five straight times by an average of 40 points. The last two meetings finished a combined 117 to nothing. Now you got to wear that. In Ann Arbor, Michigan is hosting Indiana. The Wolverines are the second team in the AP poll era to score 30 and allow 10 or fewer points in each of its first six games of a season. That along with the 1971 Nebraska squad. Let's go to Ohio State. They head to Purdue.

The boiler makers have won three of the last four against the Buckeyes at Rossade Stadium. The last time you may remember it, a 29 point drubbing in 2018. How about Florida State? They're looking to keep their playoff push alive when Syracuse comes to town. The Knowles have scored 30 plus points in 11 straight games. That's tied for second longest streak in ACC history. Number five, Oklahoma is on the by. So let's go to number six Penn State.

They're hosting UMass. The Nittney Lions have won six. 17 straight non-conference matchups against non-power five opponents by an average of 30 points. But of course, the game of the week, the one that we are here in Seattle 4 is a top 10 matchup between the Ducks and the Huskies. Both these teams rank in the top three in the FBS this season in both points per game and yards per game. They combined for nearly 98 points per game this season.

That is the highest average entering a pack 12 game. ever. I love it when we get an ever nugget into the show so you know how significant this will be when these two teams face off. Des, two unbeatens going head to head. What will you be watching for this Saturday and this one? Wow.

I'm just so happy we hear it. This is one of those games. Stafford Steve and I, we're talking in the meeting room. It's like this is the one when you just circling on the map and like Stanford Steve said, both teams going through a buy the week before. So just make it to the buy unblemish and game they'll be here.

I mean, you look at the quarterbacks. You look at Bo Nix for Oregon. You look at Michael Pinnock, Jr. for Washington. Both of them are playing at a high level. You talk about fireworks from the offensively. Both teams are really good, too. This is a matchup, like, for the ages, and we're only in week seven. Yeah, I look at the matchup you talked about.

Everybody's going to talk about the quarterbacks. Yeah. What's their not to like about those two guys? But I look at Oregon in the competition that they've played. They haven't played the likes of the teams. I'm not saying Washington played some star-studded teams. But when you look at the T, Washington went on the road to East Lansing, got a big win. Went to Arizona two weeks ago.

Just got to win. Went there, got a tough place to play. So when I look at this matchup, I think about Oregon's offensive line and the crowd and the atmosphere that they're going to have to deal with in this environment. Yes. They haven't faced anything like that. So that's the matchup to me. And that's where I think Washington will play better defense. Only have six sacks on the season.

I think this crowd will be a factor in that game and help them on the defensive side for sure. Yeah, I think all the eyes of college football are on the defense side. this game, but also all the eyes of the NFL are going to be here, too. There's 32 scouts, the most to ever scout a game here. 32 NFL scouts, 20 different teams. There's two scouts from the Cardinals, the Giants, the commanders, and the Patriots, all of them have varying degrees of quarterback in the future. Now, too, is that in case the one guy doesn't know what he's doing? Well, I think they want to try. Four eyes are better. Four eyes are better than two, right? That's right. There you go. So I really think you have, you obviously have Bo Necks. He went from

the paragon of unreliability to leading the nation in completion percentage. He's having a once a decade season in terms of efficiency. And then obviously at Michael Penix Jr. He's hanging $3.99 a game. He's pushing the ball down the field. This isn't like a lot of yards because he's throwing bubbles and everything. They are go, go, go. And they are praying for no rain because Washington has made no secret.

They are going to beat you through the air. Now Michael Penix Jr. I know you sat down with the quarterback earlier this week. What were your biggest takeaways from that? Wow. Resilient young man. He went through so much adversity when he was at Indiana, humble high football IQ and he's just a tremendous leader.

He's a guy who builds off his relationships and he can relate to any and every player on the team and that's why he's such a great leader. When he got here, you know, after spring football, he took a vote for captains and he received like 105 out of 110 votes. That's how highly his teammates think of Michael Pennix Jr. When he's on the field, man, strong arm, great accuracy, excellent ball placement. I mean, he's just playing at a tremendous level right. now does not turn the ball over, does not put them in bad situations, go through his progression

really quickly, processes fast. I mean, he's just everything you want in the quarterback right now. That conversation will be on college game day tomorrow morning. Right now, the top three guys in the highs and the race are all from the Pack 12. You guys have any idea when the last time the three finalists, one, two and three were all from the same conference? It's got to be in the 70s. He probably would know.

He is in the 70s. I was thinking like the Big Eight, like when there's Nebraska in Oklahoma. He went back to the big eight. Yeah, it has to be. Wow. I say he would probably know. Now, I don't know who's the top three were. This is like a Jeopardy question.

You know what? I'm more like a family feud guy. For us, our fantastic researcher for Game Day says it was Johnny Rogers, Greg Fruitt, and Rich Glover. Greg Pruitt from the Cleveland Browns. Are you kidding me? I love Greg. He's number 34 is one of my favorite players growing up.

I should have no. Damn, I should have got that one. Well, that shows up on Jeopardy, Des. Now you got that one. There we go. Pete, you got some of the top stories headed into week seven where should we start yeah well Travis hunter would have been on that list before he got injured on that illegal hit against Colorado state on September 16th he's back jenn he's going

to play tonight against Stanford now will he play 146 snaps like he did against tCU i hope not he probably will play less than 100 but he will play on both defense where he's one of the best defensive backs in the country and he will play on offense where he's a significant downfield threat and an offense that thrives on shots uh Travis hunter will be back and i think america's excited I'm excited. I know I am. Shoot, I can't wait. Jalen Daniels for Kansas will not be back this weekend. He's still being bothered by back tightness. This is going to be the third game in a row. He's expected to miss. Jason Bean will start again for the Jayhawks. That's his 24th career start for Bean. Look, Daniels looked electric in the three games he played. He was awesome on

that Friday night against Illinois. He's true. They have a buy week and then Oklahoma comes to Lawrence and what's the biggest game on their schedule. The big question is, will Jalen Daniels be ready for the Sooners. And then Ohio State got some good news this week with Trayvion Henderson, their star tailback, their run game really sputtered against Maryland. They only average 1.9 yards per carry. Their offensive line has been in the focus as one of the weak points in that program right now. Well, yeah, Trayvion Henderson back. You look at that pop he has against Notre Dame. He's averaging 6.7 yards of carry. He has five touchdowns this season. Expect Ohio State to establish him on the ground against Purdue. Remember, the Buckeyes have the Nittney Lions next week.

And him coming back for that game and being at full health is going to be of most importance for Ohio State. The last time Ohio State was at Purdue, a pretty significant outcome in that one. We may touch upon that game on college game day tomorrow morning right here from this spot. Lots more coming your way on college football live after Miami's brutal loss last week. How will they be able to make a stand against a strong UNC offense? Will the Canes be able to make a comeback? Plus, we've got Caleb Williams and the Trojans going against. against Notre Dame.

Will Sam Hartman and that Irish home crowd be able to slow down the presumed number one overall pick? College Football Live is presented by Nationwide. Nationwide is on your side. 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. slash giving Tuesday. Welcome back to college football live.

Presented by Nationwide. October 14th, Oregon and Washington is a brawl. This is the opportunity I think that they've really waited for. Make sure you check us out live tomorrow morning from right here on campus. As we get you set for Oregon and Washington a little bit later tomorrow. Let's take a look at today's road test presented by Goodyear. It's Texas A&M who will want to bring the heat on Joe Milton this weekend. Milton is completing just 26% of his passes under pressure. That is second worst in FBS.

The Aggies have a 15% sack rate this season. season that conversely is best in the nation. For more on that matchup, we send it out to Knoxville with Laura Rutledge and Tim Tebow. From Knoxville, Tennessee, where Texas A&M comes into town, taking on the Tennessee volunteers. Nothing quite like Neeland Stadium. The checker end zones already in place. And the good thing about SEC Nation is we like to follow suit. We have our own checker in zone right here on the show.

Tim Tebow here. So glad to be with you. Tim, when you think about A&M and Tennessee, what comes to mind in this game tomorrow? Well, I think the first thing for A&M is you can't let Alabama beat you twice. You have to bounce back from that disappointing loss at home where you had a bunch of chances to win. And you've got to be able to put that behind you. And you've got to look forward because Tennessee, although they're not the Tennessee of last year, this is still a competitive team that can put up points in bunches.

You've got to contain the quarterback, stop the big play. I can't wait because this matchup is going to be a good one. I don't think enough people are talking about it. I agree. It's a turning point for both teams, too. Another great one that we've got our eye on. You've got LSU and Auburn. what Jaden Daniels is doing at the quarterback spot has been really fun to watch.

It really is. I'm not sure that people understand because of their losses what Jaden Daniels is doing. And people need to stop it and pay attention to what he's doing because he's putting the team on his back. And I loved it last week. Even when he got hurt, he said, all right, whether it's in pain, it's with my legs, it's with my arm. I'm going to get it done. And he did. Toughness, reigns supreme there.

And we'll see it tomorrow for SEC Nation right here on SEC Network. Marty and McGee gets us started off at 9 a.m. and the nation comes your way at 10. Kelsey, back to you. Lauren, Tim, welcome out to beautiful Durham, North Carolina. We are getting set for a primetime game tomorrow. Going to be a little rain and weather during the day, but should clear out by the time the blue doubles get set to welcome in NC State. As we say hello from Duke's campus alongside Eric McLean, E.J. Manuel, I'm Kelsey Riggs. Great to be with you. And guys, the big question, how is Riley Leonard? How is he healing? Will we see him? We don't have those answers just yet. but you're pretty confident in what this Duke team can do regardless why.

Yeah, I'm confident. The backup, Henry Beelan, we've seen him at our ACC road shows throughout the summer. Nice tight spiral was really walking in the footsteps of Riley Leonard. Everywhere Riley went, he was following him. So I'm sure Coach John's going to have a good game plan for him. But also, NC State's defense, again, a lot of six, seven-man fronts, try to fire up the quarterback. I would have eyes on Peyton Wilson every single time I've come up to the line of scrimmage.

Make sure I got a blocker for that guy. This NC State defense can make it hard on any quarterback. NC State trying to beat Duke yet again. Duke hasn't won since 2013. Then there's Louisville, who is just rolling. What can they do to continue their season? I think it's focused on themselves. Don't look at the opponent. Don't look at anything other than what can Louisville do as a football team. Very explosive, both sides of the football, but also throwing and running. Cars are going to keep rolling. Six and O for the first time since 2013. We'll see if they can keep it rolling tomorrow against Pitt, who also has a new quarterback that we will get to see tomorrow. Can't wait for all that. But right now,

We'll send it back to you. All right. Thanks, guys. Yeah, let's stay in the ACC and talk a little Miami, UNC. Everyone was talking about that Notre Dame blunder at the end of the game, the mismanagement. And then Miami was like, hold my beverage. And they had that huge issue at the end of the game.

How important is this game against UNC to kind of get that in the rear view? I might sound crazy here, but I love the situation. Miami's in here. I really do because when something happens like that, you truly find out what kind of team you have, what kind of coaching staff you have, what kind of leadership. You saw Coach Chris Ball take full ownership. That helps the locker room realize, all right, we're moving on from this.

I just can't imagine how long this week has been, knowing that this opportunity against an undefeated North Carolina team waits in the wings, you were there this week. What did you see? No, you hit it on the head. You know, I was at practice this week, and when I looked at the team, looked at the coaches, their mentality was, listen, we have an opportunity now to go out, put this behind us. If we go out and handle our business on the road against Drake May and North Carolina,

people will start to have this foggy memory about what happened against Georgia Tech. I think they can. I mean, you look at North Carolina's defense. All the talk is about Drake May, right, in offense. Defense is still pretty average in the four major defensive categories. They still hover in like the six to eight range when it comes to total defense, scoring defense, and defense against the running pass. So I think that they can take advantage of some of those holes in their defense.

Yeah, again, Caroline, the situation for them also is not, if not now, when. Yeah. They've been on this stage so many times and they haven't come through. So they got the pressure on them, too. Fascinating matchup. One of the big stories last week was, of course, Tess Walker being back. What's the latest on him? Well, they were going to ease Tess Walker in.

They were going to let him go in the floor. And then he played 51 snaps. He ran 34 routes. Tess Walker is back. He had six sketches for 43 yards. Drake May played great against Syracuse. the one throw he wanted back was Tess Walker on the crossing route early in the game because that was a touchdown if he put that one on the money.

He let it float a little bit. So look at Tess Walker. Start, not start. Doesn't matter. He's going to play a lot of snaps and he is one of the three best receivers in the ACC. So much hype surrounding Drake May when the season started and he had a little bit of slow start once he got out there on the field. But he's thrown for 400 yards in two of the last three matchups and he's run for three

touchdowns over that stretch. Maybe we're starting to see Drake May warm up a little bit. We continue here on college football live. Coming up, it is another ranked versus ranked matchup in USC and Notre Dame. Will the Trojans be able to remain unbeaten with star quarterback Caleb Williams? Or will the bright lights in South Bend bring the pressure? College Football Live is presented by Nationwide. Nationwide is on your side.

This Heisman Update is brought to you by Nissan, premier partner of the Heisman Trophy. Tomorrow. Biggest games of the day, if not the entire year for the Pact 12. It is on ABC and the ESPN app at 3.30 Eastern 12, 30 Pacific. Bo Nix and number eight Oregon, squaring off against Michael Pennix, Jr. And number seven, Washington. You guys like him, right?

Our college game day crew starts the morning off at 9 a.m. Eastern 6 a.m. Pacific under the cloak of dark. Steve, it's time for your favorite segment. The cough it up. I don't know if it's my favorite. Depends how it does the day after. We're going to feel good about giving them out right now. Positive energy.

Let's look at positive energy. Yeah, exactly. Let's look at tonight. People have different feelings about their alma maters. I don't have any feelings. So I'm taking Colorado tonight. There's no question. When you look at Stanford's defense,

they have two sacks since game since week one. And when you look at what Colorado has speed-wise, Stanford doesn't have anything that beat with that. Not a lot of team speed. Colorado didn't have an 100 yard receiver last week. They'll have multiple tonight. Lay the points with Colorado. Next, right here. Seattle, Washington, you dub against the ducks. I'm taking Washington. You got number one in total offense. You got number two in total offense. You got number two and number three in scoring offense because of that guy right there. But I honestly think we will see a bust out game from Washington's defense against that Oregon

offensive line. I really like where you are. And What you've seen, like I said, Des, just wanted to get here. Undefeated, their hair now. They went to Eugene in one last year. They'll be fine to take care of business. And then the final one is the Big 12. BYU, Keen Slovis is a quarterback, has been starting forever. 42 career starts.

Only five active quarterbacks have more starts than him in their career. And now they go to TCU to play a kid who's in his first start. And Josh Hoover, I'm not sure why TCU is giving points, but we're going to take those points with BYU. with the most starts, though, is in the game here, right? He is. The bonus. We're not going to mention.

I just want to see if they were listening. I just want to see. Let's check out in our night. Nissan Heisman update. Two of the best QBs in the country facing off in South Bend this weekend. Caleb Williams somehow putting up better numbers than his Hysman winning season last year. Don't count out the veteran Sam Hartman, though, and what he's been able to do with this Notre Dame offense. I believe Sam Hartman is also on that list that you were referencing there.

Desmond, Hartman has been struggling late. Big difference between his first few outings and his last few outings. Can he turn it around? Step up in competition to do that to you. You know, he went against Ohio State, Duke, and then last week it's Louisville. So now you get a chance to go up against USC. When you think USC, you think Caleb Williams. You think offense.

You think explosion. But the flip side of that coin is how bad their defense is. I mean, their defense is just really horrendous this season. And this just might be what Sam Hartman needs to get back on track like he was earlier in the season. And we look at this defense. I got a breakdown tape. I'm going to do tomorrow on the Trojus defense. I mean, when they're this bad guys, there are multiple amount of reasons why they're playing the way there.

There's not just scheme. It's not just players. It's a combination of all of the above and then some. So I think this may be an opportunity at home, take the air out of the ball, use that big offensive line to control the clock. control the line of scrimmage. Let's see if Sam Hardman can get back on pace. Yeah, you talked about the defense and how they got shredded by Louisville last week, played their butts off and kept them in the game against Ohio State and Duke.

So what is their mindset coming in after you just get embarrassed at Louisville? And now you're watching tape all week of the best player in the sport, the face of the sport. I wonder about that confidence level for Notre Dame. But I do believe that home crowd. We were there for the Ohio State game. I mean, they were tremendous. They're going to need that crowd to be a factor. and give them confidence in big situations tomorrow.

And I believe they'll get that. Pete, what are we paying attention to injury-wise? I think we need to pay attention to Zachariah Branch. He's one of the most exciting and explosive players in college football, and he's not played the last two weeks. The expectation is he also does not play Saturday. He's not been a full participant in practice this week. USC has not come out definitively in set his status,

but all signs are pointing to him still needing some time to come back from his lower body injury. So that also hurts them as a receiving corps, but also on special teams where he's got some magic in those movies. Yes, sir. You have to talk about the defense for USC, right? You can't have a conversation and talk about how much they have underperformed. I'm told that they've missed 75 total tackles this season. That is fourth most in FBS and most by a Power 5 team.

We'll see if that keeps them from their goals this season. Before we go, guys, three Friday night games. Give us one thing that you are watching, Des in the late game, Stanford at Colorado. Oh, without a doubt, Travis Hunter. I mean, you know, he makes his return tonight. I think this is a great game for him to come back from that lacerated liver. So to watch him, he won't take the 140 snaps he took against TCU because they won't need him to take that many snaps.

But I'm excited to see Travis Hunter back on the gridiron. Yeah, Memphis Tulane, two teams that were in the mix at the beginning of the season to win that American conference. I look at Memphis's defense. They were not good against the run game of Navy, but they still won the game. This is a different animal with Tulane, all eyes on the Memphis defense in that game. Is there? Quintison.

Trap game in Logan, Utah. Fresno had their dreams buried in Lariani last week. They have a short week. Cooper Lagos has thrown seven touchdowns the last two weeks. Utah State's hot. Be careful, Jeff Tedford. Quintessential trap game. I love how you delivered that.

Thanks for hanging out with us here on College Football Live. Should be a fantastic crowd tomorrow morning as we get you set all day long for a day full of football. Here on who's coming? Who's coming to college game day tomorrow? Just that beautiful scene to the stadium. the lake, all the boats lined up, it might be the most beautiful scene in all of college football. Do they go, do they make curfew or do they just blow through curfew to come tomorrow? That's the question.

Speaking of, we got a date with a space needle and we got one guy here who is not looking for. You're going to be fine. You're going to be fine. How high is it again, guys? Oh, it's way, way up there, huh? Way up there. All right. Well, that's where we're going.

We'll see you guys next time. Yeah.