Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Bama vs Georgia (Because Who Else) and How to Save College Football

Episode Date: January 3, 2022

Geoff and Gabe kick off 2022 by reacting to the New Year's Six Bowl Games and sharing how they feel about Georgia and Alabama running it back for the Natty. Geoff is happy the best teams are playing for the title, and Gabe is… less happy. Also, Geoff takes a realistic look at what changes a 12 team playoff would bring (spoiler: the final would be the same) and Gabe says what he learned about players opting out after Matt Corral’s unfortunate injury. Plus, a recap of a wild Rose Bowl, and Geoff’s expectations for the PAC 12 next season.Leave a rating if you enjoyed the episode, and a comment for a chance to be featured in a mailbag segment at the end of the season.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

it's monday january 3rd it is 2022 already i'm jeff schwartz alongside gabe going this is jeff schwartz this morning your power brother varsity podcast network it is our college sports recap episode in college sports this week is the college football playoff and a handful of bowl games we will talk about all of them as we get you prepared for one more college football game. And Gabe, we got what I thought we'd get. And people are unhappy about it, happy about it. I don't know. I don't care.

I'm here to talk about it. How was your weekend? A lot of football this weekend. You just sort of broke some news. So they're going to bother to play the national championship game? They aren't just going to give Nick Saban another title. It feels like that's what's happening. I actually, I actually misspoke.

There, there is a bowl game on Monday today. So there's actually two games left. But, but yes, they're, they're, they're,

they're going to make them play it. Yes. Believe it or not. Yeah. All right. So we're going to get to see another just absolute embarrassment. Sorry, the game is Tuesday. I keep messing up.

The game is Tuesday. There's a game on Tuesday, LSU-Kansas State. Jeff, nobody cares about the beef bowl or whatever the hell it is between— Tax Act Texas Bowl. Okay, great, whatever. The national championship is all anyone cares about, and let's all pray to whatever we believe in that we could actually get a competitive game for maybe like a half or three quarters if we're being greedy. I just want to see some meaningful football because what we saw this past weekend, you know, was worse, frankly, than even Vegas expected.

They were just massive blowouts. And Jeff, I'm here to say it, like college football is broken and it's not going to change if we tweak NIL or mess with the transfer portal for eight, 12 teams in a playoff, come up with whatever scenario you want. We are still going to end up

with something like Bama versus the next best SEC team until Nick Saban decides this is boring. And that's just how life is. Sorry, Jeff, talk me out of it. No, you're exactly right. It's a game of recruiting, right? Whoever has the most bodies typically wins.

And the Alabama-Susannity game was a much different game than the final score indicated. It was 27-6, I believe, right? The game might as well have been 45-6. It wasn't close, right? Alabama came out early on and dominated, what, 600 yards in offense, some crazy number on offense. I think it ended up being less than that. But they had 300 yards rushing.

I know that for a fact. And credit Cincinnati, they were able to limit Alabama in the passing game, but they didn't really need a passing game because they ran the ball the entire game. They had 482 yards, 301 yards of rushing 27 first downs since i had 13 first downs since i was two for 12 on third down they had 218 total yards and 60 of those were on the first drive of the game for the bearcats that game was very simple there's no overarching point to that game it was a team that had 77 players on their team that were in the ESPN top 300 while they've been recruited the Bearcats had two and I believe one of those would transfer from Alabama so they you know it's a talent thing right it's nothing to do with

with the game plan X and O's it was just Alabama was bigger, stronger, faster. And that was like Alabama's C-plus game. I mean, they weren't that good on offense. Bryce Young didn't look terribly good. The passing game obviously struggles without matching the lineup. And they steamrolled Cincinnati. It wasn't close. 27-6, again, felt like 45-6 for most of the game. They came out that first drive, ran the ball every play but one.

That told you right there, no respect for Cincinnati. We don't care. And again, I don't blame Cincinnati, Gabe, because there was no better team for number four. Every year there's a blowout when it's a one versus four. And every year we do this thing, we're like, well, this team would have been better. Who? Who would have been better?

Who? Give me someone. Everyone says Texas A&M. All right, well, maybe we don't lose two times the regular season. I don't have to tell you, man. There's no other better option. The second game was Georgia-Michigan, and I was surprised by that. Georgia kicked their ass. But if you go back to the Alabama game, Georgia-Alabama game,

there were things in that game that Georgia was embarrassed about. One was their defensive line did not play as well. Defensive line played really well against Michigan, which they should. They played that well the entire season. I talked about whether or not Michigan could generate explosive plays down the field. The answer was obviously no, they could not. They could do that, and they had no chance once it got behind to make any movement in that game.

Stenson Bennett, who we've talked about all season as being meh not very good kind of can't rely on him game great 20 of 30 313 yards calm cool under control it felt like Georgia used the motivation of losing to Alabama as a way to better their team which it can go both ways, right? It can go up and down. You might, and we see this often in bowl games that quote-unquote don't matter, where you lose the conference title game and then you suck in your bowl game. But it wasn't the case here, obviously.

It's a playoff game, which is what's different. But Michigan's a good football team. I like Michigan a lot. I took the under in this game, and I took Michigan. I thought Michigan would keep this close, and it really wasn't, Gabe. So the question is and we got in a playoff discussion the entire night it was just brutal because I tweeted out something

like the 12th team playoff doesn't solve who wins the title we've argued about this is the playoff what's the playoff for is it for determining a champion or is it for a participation tournament because I can make a case for both of those. Crowning a champion, just play the BCS. I mean, like, it would have been, it actually would have been Alabama-Michigan. Alabama would have won. Alabama's got to beat Georgia again. We'll talk about that game in a little bit.

The benefits of the participation part of the tournament are obviously late in the season. These conference title games matter more, right? Yeah. You get to go to the playoff now. In theory, it can help recruiting. There are players out west that say all the time, I don't want to play at USC, at Oregon, at UCLA, because then I'll make the playoff.

Well, a 12-team playoff would ensure at least one Pac-12 school, probably two. This year would have been just one. It would have been Utah. sure at least one Pac-12 school, probably two. This year would have been just one. It would have been Utah. In theory, again, NIL will change

where players go and hopefully can spread out the talent and therefore we get more playoff teams. It does give more competitive games, in my opinion. It would. It would. At least the quarterfinal games. Imagine the Rose Bowl was a semifinal game. Imagine if Oklahoma State and Notre Dame least the quarterfinal games. Imagine the Rose Bowl was a semifinal game.

Imagine if Oklahoma State and Notre Dame was a semifinal, or quarterfinal game. That's basically what it would have been, if you just threw those two games in. Quarterfinal game. Sorry, we're doing a quarterfinal game. But for competitive balance, this doesn't do anything. Actually, in my opinion, it makes it much easier for the top seeds to win.

I'll tell you why. They get to buy. They get to buy, right? So Alabama, Michigan, opinion, it makes it much easier for the top seeds to win. I'll tell you why. They get a bye. They get a bye, right? So Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, Cincinnati, if we go by this year's standings, would have had a bye. So Alabama would have played off a bye against, I don't know, Oklahoma State. Sorry, Oklahoma State. You weren't winning that game anyways. You're not winning off a bye.

Not happening. I made this argument. People seem to not either get it or don't want to get it. Okay. I'm a Pac-12 guy. We know this. Gabe, I'm going to ask you this. Is it easier for Pac-12 school to win a championship in a four-team playoff or a 12-team playoff? I feel like this is some sort of a trick question. Whatever I say, you're going to tell me somehow it's the opposite. No, no, no. There is one answer. I mean, I would say a four team. Just get hot twice. Thank you.

That is the correct answer. Correct. Get hot twice. We have to win two games. And everyone argues, well, the Pac-12's not in the playoff. You're right. We're not. But if we get that one team that's hot enough to get in, we've got to win two games. No Pac-rick school's

winning four games right now sorry my ducks aren't the utes are not usc's not i mean i mean pete carroll's teams maybe would have won four games i mean they have the depth to do that right think about this alabama had i think well they lost mechi already right and wide receiver they lost alignment during the game and maybe someone before the game against Georgia. They're going to start dropping like flies. And it benefits the teams with more depth, again, Alabama, Georgia, to play four more games or three more games. And so, again, I'm fine with explaining the playoff if we want to say, hey, look, we want

the Rose Bowl to be a quarterfinal game, which it should actually be the championship game every year, in my opinion. We want the Sugar Bowl to be a quarterfinal game, which it should actually be the championship game every year, in my opinion. We want the Sugar Bowl to be a quarterfinal, or even better, we want those games on campus. We want Notre Dame to go to Oklahoma State. We want Ohio State to go to Utah, or vice versa, Utah to go to Ohio State. Great, great. It will be great for the sport.

It will bring energy and excitement, but we're not getting a new winner. If that's what you want, then go back to the BCS. So, again, I'm for the playoff. I get it. But I tweeted that out. People got so upset with me. They go, I get the benefits of the playoff. That's what I just mentioned.

But it's not going to change you. Well, guys, of course, you know what? I had a lot of people on Twitter that hate the strong word, dislike. I don't hate many things. I dislike the holding people, right? That's holding. I dislike the before and after taxes guy, right? The Darren Revell stuff.

Oh, but after taxes, LeBron only gets $47 million, not $52 in LA. Like, okay, sorry, LeBron. Sorry, buddy. The other guy, I hate is small sample size guy. So I said, look, man, we've had seven years of the playoffs. The only upsets, we've talked about this on our show,

have been Ohio State comes to Alabama winning as a four seed. Wow. What an upset. Oh, there's only been 22 games. Fuck you. Okay. We've seen seven years now. That's not going to change with seven more years

like come on a small sample size it's what what's going to change what's going to change is the hot team was utah we'll get to roseville second that was the hot team in the country how'd that go how'd that work out for them and we'll get to the specific things they did in that game they'll kind of suck and their quarterback got hurt or whatnot but like come on man small sample size that's what college football is there's no sample and also what game what is what's a proper sample size 50 games yeah 75 games the same shit every year what's gonna matter with the 12 team playoff no one's gonna get hot and win four games no get out of here no to your point if Oregon could have picked their two best weeks of the year the the week they beat Ohio State and then the whatever

other week of the year everyone was playing their absolute best they might have kept it sort of close against one of these teams in the finals and maybe got hot enough to win the two games they needed that's like a completely fictional scenario it wouldn't happen for Pac-12 teams. So let me ask you this, because I was being a wise ass. I tweeted something about if you basically broke Alabama and Georgia's whole rosters in half and made them into two teams each and threw those two teams into the playoff, wouldn't those teams end up playing? That'd be your final four. Like there's so much depth. The guys just keep on coming and coming and coming we never saw Bryce down on the field and all of a sudden he throws 40 something touchdowns like it's insane but it's really interesting because there's two things with Alabama that I think they're

going to struggle with against Georgia um and why I think Georgia wins that game so one you think Georgia's winning this game don't bury the lead lead. Yeah. Really? I do, yeah. Yeah, I'll explain two reasons why. They're kind of the same. One is that Alabama's passing game is going to be different without Mechie there. Like, they can just double Williams and say, you're not going to beat us with Williams. But two, and here's why.

It's kind of to my roots. Alabama's offensive line this year has not been what they have been in the past. And the reason why a lot of people picked Georgia to win that first game was the Alabama offensive line was going to struggle against Georgia's defensive line. And we'd seen a struggle against Florida at times, LSU, and Auburn. And they played out of their freaking minds

against Georgia. And it was by far their best game of the year and by far Georgia's defensive line worst game of the year. Alabama's offensive line didn't play well against Cincinnati. Especially in the passing game. They were bad. A lot of missed stunts. Getting pushed back in the quarterback. Bad technique. They ran the

ball well against a defense line that weighed 300 or less pounds. So, Georgia's defense, they can let them do that again. So, I think Georgia wins this game actually. Yeah, I do. I think for that reason. I't think alabama's gonna score enough points in this game i really don't okay so i saw them basically just decide brian robinson jr was gonna just pound um yeah you think that you can't do that you can't do that this week can't do that against georgia

nope won't happen all right and you think and by by the way, this is approaching Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard levels, but you think Stetson Bennett, who Jeff, have you heard? He was a walk-on once. Good Lord. How many times do we need to tell people that? Do you think that guy honestly has enough to like throw against this defense when they show up for a championship game? That's the problem, right, as Stetson Bennett comes down to that. I would say that right now I would lean toward he just does enough to make it work. Wow. Because that's kind of what they need from him. He could lose the game for them very easily. But I just think that Alabama's going to have a really hard time scoring, really hard time scoring this game. Okay.

I just think that Alabama's going to have a really hard time scoring, really hard time scoring this game. Okay. Well, I think you're going to be one of very few people who pick Georgia in this game. A few weeks ago, you would have been in the majority. Now I think you're in the minority. They did play pretty well against Michigan, but I'm going to ride with Bama for now

and then just keep on doing what I've been doing for two years, which is complaining about the state of the sport. Is there anything just to finish on this game? And then I do want to talk about that Utah game and some other topics. Is there anything about the overall system of college football, anything you could throw out there beyond adding teams to a playoff that might maybe shift the balance a little bit? Because I jokingly said until Saban retires or gets bored, nothing changes.

But is there anything you can point to that might make a difference? Well, they're never going to put a cap on recruiting. I mean, that's the difference. And maybe naming it like this, you know, we obviously like to poke fun at Texas a bunch as our producer is a Texas guy. But, like, they have offered their offensive linemen like 50 grand a year, some crazy number like that. They've got a bunch of offensive linemen this year to commit.

Right. So it doesn't – Sark still has to coach him up and get a lot more talent, but maybe Aniel takes a couple guys away from Bama, a couple guys away from Georgia, and it just – those couple of guys over four years, Gabe, make enough of a difference. Now, to be fair, to Texas. But, like, Stanford has a bunch of billionaires. Couldn't Stanford all just pay everyone a million bucks?

Okay, so everyone keeps saying this about a lot of these schools. Like, obviously, I'm an Oregon fan and Washington, right? They have, like, eight corporations in Seattle, all these big money corporations. And it's like, well, they haven't cared about college football. Why would they care now? Like, why would the Stanford billionaires be like, oh, all of a sudden I'm going to pay high school kids to come to my college and play football?

They don't care about it. Hank's going off on our message. Two of those guys committed to Texas, by the way, they were at Oregon and decommitted when Mario left. So calm, slow down. Slow down there, Hank. They're coming to Oregon first, which I'm assuming has good NIL deals as well. The only thing to do is cap recruiting, which again, you're not going to do that. You can't do that in my opinion.

Yeah. All right. Well then let's shift gears to, you know, this is not really a recruiting topic, but this is a big picture topic that has the whole college football world on fire right now so we we thought we were done talking about sort of the the opting out topic um as we finally made it to new year's day but then kirk herb street who does a great job on the broadcast and been with game day for years and i got nothing bad to say about kirk but he really stepped in it with some comments whether they were taken out of context or not. He essentially said that certain players who are opting out don't love football like guys used to. Matt Corral obviously gets hurt during the game.

Now his draft status is a little bit up in the air. Maybe he shouldn't have even been out there, according to some. I don't know if Kirk took the kind kind of heat he deserved but obviously he raised an interesting question again and i'm curious do you think this opting out conversation is dead yet um it's not gonna ever die because a lot of the old guys don't want it to die it's interesting watching that watching that herb street clip um is that i i you know when you've produced a lot of these shows when you're just talking off the cuff as i'm sure he was at that moment he took a kind of a breath and said that and i wonder if he just had nothing else to say that just popped to his mind because

like it wasn't kind of in the rhythm he was like and i just don't love the game it was like oh oh i said that out loud you know what i mean like one of those things where i don't know if he like wanted to say that out loud but he kind of did um look the the it's it's hard for people i think as they get older i don't know if game if we'll ever be this way i'm sure we will at some point of just accepting things have changed right right? And college football has changed. It's changed. I graduated 14 years ago now. Sun Bowl was 07. Game is completely different than what I played.

It's much different than what Herbstreet played 15 years before me. And you just have to accept that things are different. And I think the people in life that are most able to be adaptable and change with the times just succeed in life, right? Like, this is what college sports is now. Players are empowered. Players think about their brands.

It's an era of social media. And players look at these games, the bowl bowl games as exhibition games a lot of times and the risk of playing the game being a matt corral a jayden smith i think a jake butt from michigan that tied in hurt himself in a bowl game yeah it's not worth it for them and i understand why it's millions of dollars as the money has gone up in the NFL, it has made sense to make these business decisions. And Herbstreet and some of these guys just don't... It's not their love of the game, man. These guys love the game.

Come on. You're not playing football unless you love the game at that level. They just love it different than you loved it. Also, it wasn't an option. Even when I played, there was no... I tell this all the time. There wasn't this idea of, I don't like where I'm at.

I'm going to go transfer. It wasn't even talked about. You stuck it out. Maybe you were miserable. I was miserable for a little bit of time in Oregon. You just stuck it out. And it maybe made you tougher. It helped me out learning to battle through adversity at times

and talking to my coaches and a bunch of other stuff. But there wasn't even an option, and now that's the option. You have to be able to adapt to the new wave of college football. You're covering a sport that has changed, and I think he's done this. Again, I think he chose poorly, his words poorly. But you have to change with the times and it is tough for espn who puts up these games who airs all these games to then you know to then obviously have their commentators talk about opt-outs in a positive light right because it ruins their product and and but also

they're the same ones that push this kind of agenda of playoffs or nothing it's playoffs or nothing and i've talked about this for a while right like players i went to the rose bowl in a second is i was shocked the players opt out of the rose bowl that is like that is the greatest game ever right kenny pickett pittsburgh court opted out of a new year's six bowl game he's never to play one of those before, guys. But again, the money is so grand in the NFL, the opportunities are so grand that it's not worth sitting out of these exhibition games

because the playoff has been determined to be the only way your season is successful. And that's partly of his network's fault, right? They're the ones who have pushed the narrative of playoff or nothing else. So, because I know when Matt, you know, the Rose Bowl ended about 9 p.m. Eastern. I put my phone down. faults right they're the ones who have pushed the narrative of playoff or nothing else so because i know when matt you know i i the rose bowl ended about 9 p.m eastern i put my phone down i didn't watch the sugar bowl but i saw some discussion afterwards i guess when matt crowe got hurt the old miss quarterback i guess some of the broadcasters were kind of like talking about

the opt-out thing in an awkward way because again their employer benefits from these players playing the game it's a tough tough spot there in game. Yeah, it is. And just let's be fair to Kirk, because I'm not sure everyone has been. I think he pretty instantly realized there was going to be a backlash. And what he really said in the larger context was he meets with coaches every week. He calls one of the biggest college football games of the week every week, and he's meeting with coaches in private. And he gets a little bit of a scouting report, and he talks to coaches about players. And what he said was, coaches will point out, oh, this guy is a baller. This guy's a gym rat. This guy loves it. And he said, he's like,

wait, why do coaches keep telling me about players who love the game? Like, of course they do. But what he's saying is that actually some coaches are indicating to him, not all of these guys really care or love college football. This is a stop and route to the NFL, which is a business decision, which makes sense, which we can all agree is fine. But I think what Kirk was trying to say was, like, they have other things going on in their lives. This isn't the be all end all anymore. And also he was never going to be in the NFL. The top of the mountain for him would

have been a Rose Bowl. So, you know, I don't think that he was totally given the full context of his comments, but it opened up this conversation again. Another ESPN personality who loves college football, sorry, real quick, Jeff, Scott Van Pelt basically said, well, but then when do you opt out? If this game isn't worth it, why is any game that isn't going to help you win a national championship worth it? Maybe nobody should play, you know,

like somewhat sarcastically, but like when is the right time to stop playing if you believe you should stop playing? I think we're going to start seeing players skip their whole senior seasons. And it's worked for a couple really successful NFL players this year. Jamar Chase. Jamar Chase, Micah Parsons.

Yeah. Panay Sewell, Rashawn Slater. Like these guys have all played great this year who missed their entire senior seasons. Yeah, no, it's a good, I think the way that I think players look at it is this, is you sign up for the regular season and the bowl game is extra. And so you ride with the guys for the regular season, because that's what you signed up for, and the bowl game is like moving on to next year already.

And guys just sit out. I don't think they think like week seven, okay, I've done enough this year. Plus, look, I do think that all 12 games matter for scouting. 13 game doesn't matter as much it just doesn't matter as much yep you only hurt yourself uh you you can't really help you can't really help yourself and um i want to circle back on what you said about about herbs you're talking to coaches coaches absolutely hate this shit they hate the opt-outs they hate the transfer portal i get why he's getting it from the coaches now that was hit publicly of course not of course not but you know do you think that that uh oregon wanted 31 players not playing their bowl game injuries and opt-outs no ohio

state missed like 24 guys i'm sure they would have loved it now they scored 800 points anyways but like they don't want have these opt-outs either. Do you think Pittsburgh wanted to play a backup quarterback against Michigan State? Of course not. Of course they didn't want to do that. But this is the game we're in now. And, again, you have to accept it because you can still voice your displeasure about it. Like I said, I'm not the biggest fan of the transfer portal.

I think it hasn't worked out like people wanted it to. But again, it's happening. I acknowledge it's there. I'm not going to pretend it's not happening. But you have to accept this is what college football is now. And I think some of the older guys have trouble accepting that. Yeah. Well, it's a change of pace from when they played,

when there were fewer bowls and fewer opportunities. And a lot of the best college players weren't surefire NFL players the way it seems like they all are now. Let me ask you one more thing on this before we use it as a segue to that Ohio State game. So Jeff, one last thing on this. And this is a totally naive question, but I think it could be something that gets to a smart conversation with people like you soon. With all the NLI conversation going on, is there a way that the NIL money available to players

could in some way incentivize them, probably not compel them, but incentivize them to play in these extra games? Because obviously if you're some big company wanting to have your name attached to this player's image and likeness, and then they're not playing in a giant nationally televised game, that doesn't feel like a good return on investment. Just from a business perspective. Is there any way that that could make players play?

There's two things here. One is the idea of your NIL contract with so-and-so tied into playing the bowl game. Yeah, you could do that. How many players are going to sign that contract? Okay. I don't know. Not many. And if you do,

what happens if you just don't, if you're, what happens if you're, if you enter the season a third round pick and you accept this deal because it's a lot of money, but you put yourself in the first round and you just break the contract

and just pay him, pay the guy back when you get your NFL deal. Like, I don't know. What's stopping him from doing that? People have suggested that another way to get players to play the bowl game is to offer them NIL deals for the bowl game itself. Right.

But what are you going to pay a first-round draft pick to play the bowl game? He's not going to get in four months. Can you pay someone $500,000? $100,000? Are you going to take out insurance benefits on these guys? to get in four months you're paying someone five hundred thousand dollars hundred thousand like what are you gonna take out insurance benefits on these guys like that's part of it i guess you could take out insurance policy on these guys um that would be something you could do i guess for the bowl game okay we'll take out a five million dollar insurance policy on you but even then if you're a first round draft pick, that's less than you'd make as a first round draft pick.

So I'd much as a great solution game. The solution is if the NFL said, we're not going to draft you the first round if you miss a game, which NFL is never going to do. Right. Never going to do. No, they're not going to,

even though they have in this crazy system, they basically have a minor leagues for free, you know, developing players for them, bringing them ready-made talent with brand names already. Correct. But they're not going to, they're not going to actually help to make college football, you know, any better. They're going to, they're going to just lay out for themselves. just lay out for themselves. So let's go back to that Ohio State game, the Rose Bowl. And so I think it was four guys opted out at the last second, including some major names. And it didn't seem to make any difference offensively. Listen, the wise-ass take is C.J. Stroud, you know, is

going to win a Heisman just because he's going to have five NFL receivers around him. And he doesn't even have to be any good. I might win a Heisman there. Also, Utah looks like they'll probably be the class of the Pac-12 next year, a conference you cover closely. That was a heck of a game. And I feel like Utah wins it if the quarterback is there in the final few drives. But, man, the receivers at Ohio State just make the whole thing seem unfair. JSN, man. Oh, geez. He played so well. And you're right. I mean, they had Olave and Wilson sit out.

And you think to yourself, if you're Utah, like, sweet, right? We have two of the three wide receivers sitting out. But everyone had said that Smith and Jigbo was the best wide receiver on the team, too. So obviously, they had a lot of trouble covering him. Now, to be fair to Utah in this spot, did you know one of their starting cornerbacks in this game was actually their third string running back? I actually didn't realize that. I knew that they had some depth issues. I didn't know that.

So the guy who caught that, the running back caught that touchdown pass for Utah, the second one of the game, was their starting corner for the game, Makai Bedard. So they had a little bit of depth issues. But it doesn't really make up for 347 yards on 15 catches. And by the way, that included a fumble. I mean, he might have scored in the other one if he didn't fumble. I think that was him who fumbled, right?

Marvin Harrison Jr., six receptions, 71 yards, three touchdowns. CJ Strathair for 537 yards. And Ohio State still struggled to win that game. They won that game by three. Now they were at 24 guys and whatnot. Again, Utah had some injuries on their secondary, and the quarterback got hurt. But they had a walk-on,

third-string walk-on from who owns a pig farm somewhere in Utah, throw a game-tying pass with two minutes left in the Rose Bowl. It was an unbelievable game. I felt awful for Utah. We talked a lot about what they went through this season, and I thought they played really well. I mean, Brenton Covey is like 85 years old,

but still returned a touchdown, 97-yard touchdown return, plus had the touchdown catch. Man, it was a rough game for Utah. But again, go back to my Alabama Cincinnati points. When you have more talented players on your team,

you can withstand depth issues. And Utah's, their 22 are good, but then you start getting Utah's, they're 22 or good, but then you start getting to 23 and 24 and 25 and 26, just don't have it. Even on a smaller scale, Oregon this year had a ton of injuries.

I mean, they started 44 guys this year. They had 20 plus offensive line companies. Oregon started a game against Oklahoma, a true freshman offensive guard to de-tackle in that game. That's how depth is used for them. They still won 10 games. That's why three-state top-ten recruiters classes helps with that, right?

You need to have guys in Utah. Coach Whittingham is fabulous. I think he did botch the end of that game with his timeouts. But I thought Utah was going to win. I was pumped for them to win. They just didn't. And I give the credit to Ohio State, man. They played great.

Another one of my favorite things happened with the Rose Bowl. Buddy of mine, Cole Kublik, who works for ESPN, called the game on ESPN radio. And we had talked during the week about, I'm like, dude, just wait till you get there. Have you been to a Rose Bowl game for a Rose Bowl game before?

Yes. Okay, you have been. Okay. Which one do you go to? The USC Penn State I'm like, dude, just wait till you get there. Have you been to a Rose Bowl game for a Rose Bowl game before? Yes. Okay, you have been. Okay. Which one did you go to? The USC Penn State one? No, no, no. I was there for work. Okay.

God, it was about almost 10 years ago. Okay. I think Michigan State. Oregon? Shoot, I can't remember. D'Antonio, a Michigan State game

8, 9, 10 years ago. I think when Lev Bell was still there. Okay, it's the greatest bowl game in the world. It's unbelievably cool. Yeah. And I told Cole, I said, Cole, man, just wait till you get there when Lev Bell was still there. Okay, it's the greatest bowl game in the world. It's unbelievably cool. Yeah. And I told Cole, I said, Cole, man, just wait until you get there.

And he texted me and was like, this is the best thing ever. It is the coolest bowl game, guys. It should be an automatic semifinal in a new playoff system or the championship every year. The weather is perfect. It did actually, it's been raining in LA, but it's not for that game. The backdrop, the grass, the fans, the flyover, like the game's always good, right?

How often is there a bad Rose Bowl game? There never is. They don't let you on the field until like, no one walks in the grass until the game. Like no one's allowed on the field. It is, it's so beautiful. And I love the Rose Bowl every year. And I hope they get along with this playoff

because they realize their time is kind of up for being the game they want it to be, but they need to be part of the new playoff system, and they need to be a big part of it. Yeah, it is a really special place. It's too bad that Southern California doesn't have the same amount of passion for college football that most of the South does and plenty of the Midwest,

or it would be a no-brainer site. But instead, it's the kind of thing you really only learn how great it is if you spend time on the West Coast. It was kind of a hidden secret when I was growing up on the East Coast. You heard about the Rose Bowl, but it always felt like this antiquated thing. I had no idea just how beautiful and awesome the place is. They've also done – they've leaned into it at ESPN. They've got drone cameras. They do all these extra shots of the scenery, the mountains, the whole thing.

So, you know, they made it even a bigger event. They do hype it up. But, I mean, part of that was Keith Jackson, right? Grand Danny of them all. And it's always the same time every year on ABC, right? And ESPN's number one crew is always there. And you get the B-2 flying over each year. They have the picture of that guy.

He takes the same picture every year with the stealth flying over. It's just super cool. And we got a great game. It was probably the best bowl game we've had so far this year. The Music City Bowl with Purdue and Tennessee was pretty awesome too. But as far as two good teams playing, that was it right there. Well, so then let's give this little treat to people who know you well, who listen this far into the show, probably want to hear this.

Utah hangs in there. Looks like they have it won. Then they lose the game. I don't even want to say they blow the game. They lose the game, which means Pac-12 finished 0-5 in bowl games this year. 0-2 last year. They haven't won a meaningful bowl in years, basically. Oregon over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

What do we think about the Pac-12 next year? I mean, there's going to be plenty of excitement. Utah has to be considered one of the top teams now. Everyone's going to want USC, Oregon, UCLA to compete. Does the conference have any hope next year? Well, Utah's a year early. This is a team that I didn't expect to be in this spot. So you hope.

They lose Devin Lloyd. They lose a couple guys. But I think Keith Eadley is coming back. Bryn Covey is leaving. But they should compete. Especially the South is not great. But they open up at Florida. How about that?

Open up Florida next year. They got Oregon at Oregon. They got USC at home at least. And Oregon obviously should be good next season. We'll see how Dan Lanning era goes. I think USC is about a seven or eight win team next year. They're not quite there with Riley's first year. The bowl game thing kind of, you know, the last year is really tough.

Oregon, the Packers won't play two bowl games last year because of COVID. Oregon played at Iowa State and just kind of a half team was there. And then Utah, I think, got smoked by someone. This year has been bad. Oregon State lost to Iowa State. Just kind of a half team was there. And then Utah, I think, got smoked by someone. This year has been bad. Oregon State lost to Utah State. Got murdered by them. Washington State lost to Central Michigan. The Sun Bowl.

Arizona State no-showed as usual against Wisconsin. Obviously, Oregon and Utah. So, not great, buddy. Not great. There's a lot of issues out west. And it starts from the president of chancellors like there needs to be a buy-in from the top for football to be good and the new commissioner is working on new tv deals and whatnot but it's hard to get new tv deal when you suck

right like it's still a couple years away but lincoln riley and dan landing have got to do well at oregon and usc i mean calum deborah washington's got to do well at Oregon and USC. I mean, Kalen DeBoer, Washington's got to do – there needs to be an improvement in your major teams. And that will be the first step in getting some more respect. But, you know, again, we have a lot to want out west. I just hope that it can be done. It doesn't feel likely, but we'll see. Yeah, we need more than cool jersey combinations.

Pac-12 does fine with the jerseys. It's time to put some better football on the field. Jeff, as fun a weekend as it was for college football and as much as we've got in the next few days, they're even crazier NFL weekend, so we'll be talking about that

on Tuesday. Rough weekend. Rough weekend'll be talking about that on Tuesday. Rough weekend, rough weekend for your boy. Yeah. Tough, tough, bad beats for you and Matt picking a tough situation in Tampa Bay with this Antonio Brown, which I'm not even inclined to make any jokes about.

I just think the whole thing is weird and sad. We'll have to get into that after everyone else has weighed in on Monday. There's actually not much to weigh in. He's, he has issues. Like I hope he seeks help. He needs. Yeah. Let's all hope he gets weigh in. He has issues. I hope he seeks help he needs. Yeah, let's all hope he gets some help because he's lost. And, you know, playoff race is getting clearer.

And your Chiefs, despite all your sarcasm, your Chiefs could not pull it off against Joey B. And the cigars were lit and Cincinnati's partying. Bad, bad game for the Chiefs. Up 24, excuse me, 28-14. Can't close. Three points the second half. Not good. bad game for the Chiefs. Up 24, excuse me, at 28-14. Can't close. Three points the second half. Not good.

Not good for my Chiefs. No. They might see the Bengals in the divisional round in the second round. We'll see the way things are stacking up. But what I'm terrified of, a little preview here, the Chargers might come to Arrowhead, the wild card round.

That is the worst possible matchup for Kansas City. That one I do not want to see. But it's either Raiders or Chargers, right? Because I think the Colts and the Colts will probably be in as well.

So yeah, we enter a weekend with like 24 teams still alive and we're going to end after Monday. Well, Monday football doesn't matter now.

We're going to end with like two spots available on each side. It's funny how that works. So yeah, we'll get to that tomorrow, guys. Hope you had a great weekend. We're powered by the Varsity Podcast Network. Rate, review, subscribe, please.

You can tweet me at Jeff Schwartz. Talk to you tomorrow, guys. Take care.