College Football Live - Week 4 Is Here!!!!!

Episode Date: September 21, 2024

Jen Lada, Desmond Howard, Steve Coughlin and Pete Thamel go live from Norman, OK as they get you ready for week 4 of college football. Thamel gives you all the injury updates and whos starting and whose not. Meanwhile Desmond and Steve breakdown the big matchups of week 4. All that and so much more on CFB Live! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

College Football Live, presented by Direc TV. It's a welcome to the SEC weekend for Boomer Sooner. The Palace on the Prairie celebrating 100 years this season, and they've won seven national championships in that time, but they will have their hands full with Tennessee this weekend as they have their fourth straight home game to start the season. College Football Live begins right now. I'm Jen Latta, joined as always by Desmond Howard.

Stanford, Steve, and Pete Thammel. Thank you so much for joining us this weekend. It is the game that everyone is talking about here in Norman. It is Tennessee versus Oklahoma. So let's get you set for this top 15 matchup, SEC on SEC. Oklahoma playing its first conference game as an SEC member after dominating the Big 12. The Sooners won 176 conference games since the league's inception in 1996. That is nearly 20 more wins than any other school.

They'll take on their former Heisman runner up in Josh Heipel, who is running a high-powered offense as the head coach at Tennessee. The balls have put up nearly 64 points per game, easily the most in FBS this season. But Oklahoma guys has a knack for forcing turnovers and cashing in on them. It's 10 takeaways tie for the most in FBS, and the Sooners, 41 points off turnovers are the most in all the land. So Steve, I will start with you. is Oklahoma's first SEC test. What will be the key for them winning tomorrow? I expect, first of all, their defense to play really well.

In this environment, they're plenty motivated, no one of that offense, you just touchdown comes in. So to me, it comes down to their quarterback, Jackson Arnold, and his decision-making. Things have broken down in games previous. He's had offensive linemen out. He's the team's leading rusher. They did not have that scripted before the season.

So whether it's pre-snap, making sure he's good with his reads in the passing game, or when things break down, which are going to happen with the injuries on the offensive line and the talent that Tennessee has a defensive line. What does he do? Does he take care of the football, not force a throw to make a turnover, ball security, all those things he has to be in his A game and his decision making to keep Oklahoma on schedule and ahead of the change when they have the ball. And Steve, for Jackson Arnold, to do that, he needs receiver play.

There's good news for Oklahoma. Nick Anderson is probable he'll make his debut on Saturday. night. Andrell Anthony, who's been limited, is expect to be back as well. But here's the question. These guys are fresh off injuries. How many snaps will they be able to play and how effective will they be? Dionne Burks needs help. He's the only

Oklahoma sooner with more than 10 catches. He's got 21. They need some diversity from that offense. You obviously said the run game has been limited with Jackson Arnold is a leading rusher. They need receivers to step up if they're going to score with Tennessee. If they're receivers are going to be involved, it starts up front. And don't forget, they've had a lot

of injuries to the offensive line. They've been trying to work different combinations of going up against this Tennessee front seven with guys like James Spears, Amari Thomas, they're going to have to be stout of front, make sure they can protect Jackson Arnold. You talk about those receivers. You wonder, he's their leading rusher on the team. Is that by design? I don't think so.

It's not. Watching the tape. It's not. It's not. So it's great to get those receivers back, especially Andrea, Anthony. You know, he's a Michigan transfer. He can stretch the field, but you have to buy Jackson Arnold some time. So it's going to start up front.

As for Tennessee, Nico I amaleava. That is my first time having to say that name. I think I just bought that. Thank you very much. I'm patting myself on the back. That's right. What do we need to see from the quarterback of Tennessee? Well, Nico Iemi Lava needs to see Lance Hurd at left tackle, and he's questionable right now.

We'll know more tomorrow on college game day whether or not he's going to play. But protecting Nico is the key to this whole offense. It's a timing-based offense, and you need momentum. And to do that, you can't get behind the chains. Lance Hurd's status is going to be key for that. that, especially with R. Mason Thomas. He's one of the 10 sack leaders in the country for Oklahoma. They need to keep him at bay in order to get this offense in rhythm.

Yeah, and Oklahoma's defense, Jen touched on at the top of the show, 10 turnovers first in the FBS. They pride themselves on being disruptive, disguising looks, making the quarterback confused, and what they have to do is play well and make Tennessee and put them in predictable situations. Tennessee lives off of setting up the run in that run. run game. Samson's been unbelievable in the run. And Nico's been great running the football too. But what they do in the passing

game off of that is what makes this offense so effective? They stretch your sideline to sideline and end zone line to end zone line. So Oklahoma though I do expect them in a little. Stutzman in the middle Bowman on the back end. Communication's a huge factor. And they've done that early on this game. They have

plenty of talent on the defensive. So that I think Oklahoma's defense has the advantage. I tell you what, if Oklahoma defense thinks they're going to go in there and watch Nico throw the ball all over the yard, that's going to be an issue because they want to run the ball. People don't understand. I blame us because, you know, we always show like the highlights of Nico throwing this touchdown or throwing that touchdown.

See, he thinks it's like an air raid attack. But these guys are third in the FBS in Rush offense, averaging 336 yards a game, but more importantly, averaging seven yards per pop. So they want to run the ball. Josh Hypo is going to spread them out. guys will have to commit whether they're going to be in the box for the run or they're going to commit themselves to the past. And then you have that check with me offense that Nico runs to perfection. So they have to stop the run first. That's going to be key for Oklahoma's defense. There will be plenty more on this matchup on college game day tomorrow morning.

Reese Davis sat down with Josh Hypole. I wonder how these fans feel about Josh Hyple. Maybe a little torn. And I got to sit down with Danny Stutzman, the linebacker from Oklahoma. So we will have those for you tomorrow morning. Let's get to the Texas team because they are number one in the land. But there has been so much conversation about who will be behind center. And Arch is officially starting tomorrow's game against Louisiana Monroe. Pete, what else can you tell us about the quarterback situation for the Longhorns? Well, Steve Sarkesian heard the hype train coming. He heard the Arch train coming.

And yesterday he made it explicitly clear. Quinn Ewers is our quarterback. We have a national championship caliber team and Quinn is the quarterback of that team. Quinn Ewers, the question will be next week against Mississippi State. He didn't practice this week. Will he return to practice? And then I think next Saturday, there will be a legitimate will he, won't he? There's a buy after that game, Jen.

So there's a chance he could be rested. He will be back to play the Sooners in Dallas. Very good to know because there are a lot of people who are trying to create a quarterback controversy there. And you're saying there just isn't one right now. Let's take a look at today's player to watch brought to you by today's military. Archmanning spectacular in relief of Quinn Ewers. against UTSA.

The sophomore through four TD passes and ran for another as Texas won that one big. He's the first SEC quarterback with four passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown off the bench in the last 20 years. Des, I'll start with you on this one. What do you expect to see from Arch who looked really

good out there in relief? I expect to see a really good Arch Manning. His Joe's better than Derrick Joe. So he's going to be okay. That's a fact. And I'll just talk about, well, would he be, would it be quarterback controversy, of course not. I mean, he's playing Louisiana Monroe.

It's not like he's playing against Oklahoma or playing against Georgia October 19th. Now, if he was playing in those two games and he went out there and they won convincingly, now you're talking about a whole different conversation, but he's going to go out there and do what he's able to do as a five-star. You know, I give him credit for,

I give Archmanning credit for not transferring, even though he didn't get the starting role. I love that that the kids stayed. Now he's going to get a full week. This is going to benefit the whole ten. He gets a full week to prepare like a starter. No one's talking about that. Because normally he doesn't get a chance to run with the ones.

So now you get the chance to sit back and see how this young man prepares as a starter of your team, which is beneficial to Sark and that whole team. You mentioned Sark. I don't know if there's a coaching staff in the country. I would rather choose than Sark and his staff being in charge of this situation. And now you mentioned the whole week of practice. And you said it before. We show everybody all the good plays.

I want to show a couple plays where he struggled last week because this is where I was. You got to see him get better. Right there, you got a pressure, and you got a receiver on the bottom of the screen that's open. He never sees the pressure. He's got to get better at pre-step read. Right here, backed up, first, third down. He holds onto the ball too long. So with that practice time, I am sure Sark is talking about pre-step read.

What does UL Monroe want to show? Where are they going to disguise? Where could possible blitzers come from? I expect Arch to be a lot more buttoned up in this start right here. And I think it's super exciting for everybody involved. All right. Well, we will continue on. here on college football live.

Another quarterback situation we are monitoring is in Utah. Pete will give us the latest on Cam Rising ahead of tomorrow's game. Plus, is this the Rose Bowl? USC headed to the big house to kick off Big Ten Play. For both teams, we'll have more on that matchup when college football live rolls on. College Football Live is presented by DirecTV. All your entertainment, nothing on your roof. Stream Direct TV, satellite free.

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Colorado is one of four teams in the FBS that does not have a rushing touchdown. It's because they don't try to run the football. So I expect Sodor Sanders to air it out. Baylor's defense has been pretty stingy lately. It's a really good matchup. Interested to see who pulls that one out. Let's go to BYU and K State. Avery Johnson and his beautiful mullet flowing out the back. We see there. He's four and oh as a starter. K-state is just 75th in the country nationally and third-down conversion percentage. That's where they're going to need to improve if they're going to go to Provo and win.

The big status news for BYU in this game is LJ Martin in tailback, Hinkley-Faulaloo-Ropati. Both of them are questionable in this game. And if they don't play, BYU is going to have a hard time rushing the ball. K-State's rush defense is in the top 25 in the country. That slate takes us pretty long. Man, we've got Michigan and USC. I tell you what, guys, I don't know about you guys, but in that game right, there Miller Moss against LSU and their defense, their new revamped defense. He was poised. He was

very confident. I really like what I saw of him running that Lincoln Raleigh offense. And of course, Michigan made a quarterback change. They're going to go to Alex Orgy, who's more of a running quarterback. So we'll see if he's able to throw the ball against this new USC defense, too. It's going to be a really interesting matchup. Davis Warren didn't play well. So he pretty much laid the coach. He left him no choice but to go to Orgy. see there on that graphic guys the six picks for Warren tie for second most in FBS. Maybe

that also has contributed to the decision to make the move. Pete, we know Alex Orgy is the starter for tomorrow's game. What can you tell us about what went into that decision? Well, Jen, I really think when they picked Davis Warren, it was a pretty big surprise and they said we want to be a balanced team. Michigan has a lot of NFL

bona fides, right? They want a balanced offense. They are now saying balance isn't going to work. Let's get imbalanced. Let's run the quarterback. Let's lean on this young offensive line that's talented and has new starters. Also maybe weighing into effect is the status of Colston Loveland. He left the Arkansas State game with a shoulder injury. He's by far Michigan's leading receiver and best skill player in terms of catching the ball. He's questionable for the USC game. And that is a huge game day status for Michigan. It's without him,

they don't have a whole lot of threats in the past game. Des, what say you? You like this for your Wolverines? It's not about liking it or not. He left him no choice. Like you? You? You know, showed them at six interceptions. It was no choice. So they had to do what they had to do. I think that, I think that Jack Tuttle was the one who actually put them in a cell of a tough spot as far as quarterbacks

are concerned. I thought that Jack Tuttle was the one who they wanted to be the starter. He had, he got an injury and then they had to go with either Davis Warren or Alex Orgy. I think it just puts more pressure on the defense. The defense has been in a rough situation. You got down early against Texas. They threw

the ball. You've got to be able to come back and rely on that defense. You got NFL talent there. And while this offense takes a while to get going, that defense has to step up and play well against USC. And I do remember Cheryl Moore was the man who called the plays at the Penn State last year, right? Correct. 32 straight run plays. Yeah. Get ready. Buckle up. I'm saying USC better buckle up for this game because this is as LSU's defense isn't in the same tier as Michigan's defense. It's going to be a struggle. Miller Moss, first true road start for him in a USC uniform. There's a lot that we still need to see from USC. This is a big step, but I expect Michigan to play very well tomorrow.

All right, Steve, some of the other games of note this week that we will be hitting on from a betting perspective. Why don't you take us through your week for gambling guys? Yeah, let's go down to the teal in South Carolina, coastal Carolina, undefeated. Welcomes in ACCC foe, Virginia. Anthony Calandria has been sensational. Turns the ball over a little bit too much, but he's been a difference maker. Virginia moved the ball up and down the field against a good Maryland team last week. I like Virginia minus the points on the road. too much offense as a team

with losses is giving points to an undefeated team. Next one, I don't know how to make sense of this. Cal is undefeated. Florida State is winless and Florida State is favored. That doesn't make sense to me.

The men that and women that make these lines obviously know something that we don't know. I'm taking Florida State minus the point. I'm going with the whole. team here and maybe a last stand. And it worked last week, so we're going to stay with it. Kent State's not a good football team this year.

They got 49 last week from Tennessee. Tennessee put up 71. I don't know if Penn State will score 71, but that defense is great. Kent State won't score and Penn State will score 50 plus. James Franklin always knows what the number is. He likes to punch him in late. We'll take the, we'll give the points. We'll see that one in our super dogs on college game day.

If anybody will be saying, oh, 49. That's a nice. What game is that 49? See what I mean? It may feed my algorithm. Coming up on college football live, can Nebraska and Syracuse remain undefeated? We'll discuss what might happen in tonight's game straight away. You're watching College Football Live, presented by DirecTV.

College Football Live is presented by DirecTV. All your entertainment, nothing on your roof. Stream direct TV, satellite free. Nothing better than a Saturday ABC college football triple header, number 21 Clemson hosting NC State at noon Eastern. Then number 16, LSU hosting UCLA. That's in Baton Rouge. Then at 7.30, a big matchup between three and O teams,

number six Tennessee, coming here to Norman to take on number 15, Oklahoma, in the Sooner's first SEC game. All of these games are. available on ESPN Plus and on the ESPN app. Pete Thammel is with us, as always, here on college football live. Take us through this week's top stories. Well, Jen, some tough news today out of Greenville, where East Carolina is, the best player in that program, a corner by the name of Chavon Revel.

He was Mel Kuyper's number two corner in the country for the upcoming NFL draft. He tore his ACL in practice this week and is going to miss the rest of the season. East Carolina plays a big game against Liberty tomorrow. They obviously won't have Revel. We'll see about Rebels timeline to come back, but right now just a brutal blow for the East Carolina program, not having Revelle. You see him here with the 50-yard six against App State last week. He's a talented guy. As for Connor Wegman, the will he won't, he was the biggest story of last Saturday.

He did not go against Florida. Marcel Reed stepped in, did a great job. Wegman's dealing with an injury in his throwing shoulder. Mike Elko kind of said he's going to be week to week for the rest of the season. It's unlikely that they're going to bring him back for the bowling green game. on Saturday. So look for Wegman to get better and for Reed to have some more opportunity. As for Cam Rising, the Utah fans that have snuck over here would like to know, he's going to be a game-tied decision at Oklahoma State on Saturday. He injured his throwing hand, had some

stitches. They've been removed. Rising has been practicing with a glove on his throwing hand this week. So I imagine all the pregame reporters are going to be focused in on whether he wears that glove. Isaac Wilson got the start, Zach Wilson's younger brother last week. He took some first team. Reps, rising's been limited in practice. So we will see come 3 o'clock central whether rising goes against the poaks. Elko better not take Bowling Green for granted. That's what I was going to say.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw him a punch miss date in the mouth for four quarters, baby. Don't take her for granted. What are you expecting to see from rising? I expect him to give her to go. I don't see Utah winning the game without him. Like that's a must have. It's the biggest game of the season so far.

So I expect it. I expect to see a better Ali Gordon. We're still waiting for. Ali Gordon to arrive. Of course, he looked like Tony Dorset against South Dakota State. But after that, he's been, he disappears. So interesting. We have a tough defense to get going against. Yeah, exactly.

He's a Doke Walker Award winner. He was the best running back of the nation. This is when you show up. Yep. Let's take a look at tonight's slate. Stanford heading all the way to Syracuse. That's about a 2,800-mile trip. No big deal for a conference game.

That's right. Conference game in the ACC, Illinois, visiting Nebraska. in a top 25 big 10 matchup in Washington State hosting San Jose State. That's at 10 o'clock Eastern. So let's take a look at those. What do you like, Pete, in the Stanford Syracuse game? Well, bragging rights between Stanford, Steve, and Syracuse. Pete are online here.

Look, a great showcase for Kyle McCord, right? He started the season 11 and 0 last year at Ohio State. He's a talented guy. He started out just gangbusters so far for Syracuse. This is the kind of showcase where if he torches Stanford, people are going to start putting them in that Heisman trophy conversation. This is the kind of game that could get Syracuse with a lot of eyeballs.

I hope not. Why not? Not Stanford. Come on, please. I think that's that's how I look at things. I always got judging by the competition, but go ahead. I just don't know people do that. If the competition were better, maybe you might be Stamford. But you're right, but they probably will.

You're right, yeah. It's a showcase, right? This game was at 3.30 amidst all the other games. We wouldn't have that. Syracuse also misses Clemson, North Carolina, and Florida State this year. So those showcases really aren't there. They're at UNLV next Friday. The top 25 team, Des. Probably want Florida State on your table.

You got to pick for us there's Stanford, Steve. I look at a lot of points in this game. We touched on McCord. Stanford, one thing they can do is move the football. I think there's a lot of points in the game. So I'll take the over the total, 56 and a half. How about Illinois at Nebraska? What should we watch for?

Well, I think you really have a chance for Tony White's D. which has been elite last year and has carried that over this year to really put on a show. Illinois's offense is good but not great. You're going to have the Memorial Stadium crowd there. I'm ready to go. You got Tommy Hill at Corner, one of those opportunistic guys who projects as a first round pick. I look for the Huskers to really show that they have one of the most stout defenses in the country this year. I think it's a great spot for Illinois.

Everybody's talking about Nebraska. They've prided themselves as the black shirts are back. But they haven't played any offense that even tries to run the football. I think Illinois keeps it close. Physical game, but I like for Nebraska to win by a field goal. Okay. Oh. Again, we are going through tonight's slate of game.

So let's wrap it up with San Jose State at Washington State. Something to watch. So Kenny Neumato Lolo, the San Jose state coach, it's a bizarre world. They have the nation's leading receiver for a guy who used to run the triple. They wouldn't even have a receiver catch ball for half the season. So I really look for that offense to go into Pullman. Look, nobody's played better than Washington State this year. They have been electric.

I look at a lot of points. Exciting game. Both teams off of big wins. Washington State wins a high scoring game. Take the over. I agree. I think that Washington State, a lot of confidence after the Apple Cup,

they continue. I'm going with Washington State. Rapping up the afternoon here on college football live, can we just get a shout out for the fans who have been hanging with us during this show? It is 99 degrees out here that have intelligently found the shade. We want to make sure you all know. We appreciate you being out here this afternoon. And we hope to see many, many more of you tomorrow morning when college game day hits this pavilion from 9 to noon Eastern.

Have a great one, everybody.