Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - Geoff’s Top Six CFB Teams After Week One and This Week’s Biggest Loser

Episode Date: September 7, 2021

This episode kicks off the weekly college football shows Geoff will be releasing every Monday during the season. To start, Geoff gives his top 6 teams in college football right now: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State… UCLA, Oklahoma, Penn State? He also shares his thoughts on a few teams that just missed the cut, including Cincinnati, Texas, Texas A&M, and Clemson.Geoff and Gabe try to figure out what they can take away from the first full week of action. Geoff learned that the ACC doesn’t have the depth to matter this year, while Gabe learned that this whole season doesn’t matter because Saban already has the Natty in his back pocket. Geoff explains what Chip Kelly is doing differently from his Oregon days to make UCLA the best team in the PAC 12, and Gabe declares Kedon Slovis a Heisman contender. Plus, Geoff defends a couple of dishonorable mentions before handing this week’s Biggest Loser to a PAC 12 pretender.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, September 6th. I'm Jeff Schwartz alongside Gabe Goodwin. This is Jeff Schwartz is Smarter Than You. We have some updates to our program during football season. We'll be doing now three episodes a week. We'll still do our major NFL show. That'll be out on Tuesdays. We'll still do our gambling show on Thursdays.

And we'll include now some college football and gambling. And we're doing a bonus show for the college football season that'll air on Mondays if you're listening to this now. This is the new college show. We're going to cover some college football for you guys this year. We're going to take you through my top six teams each week as of that week because the preseason rankings have proved, especially in week one, to be worthless. And we'll touch on a few more topics we think we learned in week one.

And Gabe, how are you, man? A first weekend of college football in the books. Oh, it felt so good. My three-year-old son was watching game day with me when coach put the helmet on. He was smiling and laughing. He couldn't understand what was happening, but a big dog head was on top of an old man and he loved it. College football's back. Fight on, USC won. I'm pumped. Yes, Oregon won close. We'll get to all of the Pac-12. We'll get to some Big Ten action. But first, we'll go through the top six after really one big weekend of football,

a little bit of week zero football. And plain and simple, Gabe, Alabama's the best team in the country again, again. And I know people get tired of listening to people ramble about how good Alabama is. And I used to be a hater of the SEC conference. I used to say to myself as a West Coast guy, screw the SEC. I'm tired of hearing how good they are. But I've come to appreciate what Alabama is.

44-13 over Miami. Bryce Young in his first game as a college football quarterback, his first start, I should say. He played a little bit last year, barely a little bit last year. 27-38, 344 yards, four touchdowns. Guys, Miami's not a bad football team. And they made Miami look like they shouldn't even belong

on the field with them. It was so impressive to watch Alabama just restock, right? They have five stars on five stars keep coming in. But here's what it is, Gabe, is these young players, they want to win too, right? You sit behind someone in front of you and you're you know you're on the team when you win a championship and you're still going to wear that ring but it's not really your championship right you didn't help win that game now these players that are coming up Bryce Young and all the young offensive linemen now the new running backs new wide receivers new linebackers new pass rushers they want to win their own title right and so the standards are still very high at Alabama and even Nick Saban was cussing out his team with six minutes left because something didn't go right.

And I love the fire they play with Alabama. I mean, by far, best team in the country. Well, that's a time saver to say Alabama is the number one. I don't think you're breaking any news for people in your top six. I know you're going to say some names soon that will trigger people a bit. But I guess I want to ask you one thing. A week or two ago, people got all worked up because there was a picture of mac jones jalen hurts and tua tagaviola all together and it was like oh my god they had all three of these guys guys nothing's changed the three quarterbacks

they have now are all going to be first rounders one day too at every position yeah i mean i think it's more about that these guys are all starting in week one i mean it's pretty impressive when you look at what Alabama has done to put three guys starting. And look, they have not had a great record, track record of quarterbacks succeeding in the NFL at a high level, which they haven't had. But look, they're getting better players in that position.

They got by for the first part of Saban's tenure with just defensive special teams. Now they're blowing people out. I mean, they are going hard with these blowouts, and it is impressive. All right, coming in number two, back to the SEC, the Georgia Bulldogs, a 10-3 win over Clemson, an ugly game where no offensive touchdowns were scored. The only touchdown of the game was a pick six by Georgia, picked off DJ Ungolale. That was a tough go for him, and not his first start, but the first start, obviously, of the season.

Clemson's offensive line, low-key, Gabe, for years has not been as good as their record has been. Yeah, if you go look at their draft picks. So they've had, obviously, a fantastic run of offense, right? Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. But look at their offensive line that drafted. This year, this past draft was the first time they had a guy drafted high in many years. So Jackson Carman was a second-round draft pick. right deshaun watson and trevor lawrence but look at their offense alignment drafted this year this past draft was the first time they had a guy drafted high in many years so jackson carmen was a second round draft pick before that in 2020 they had a fourth round pick and a seventh round

pick and then you have to go all the way to 2014 to find your next offense alignment drafted what is that is that just scheming their way to success great quarterbacks and receivers and against alabama when they won the title a few years ago their offensive line played really well or was it maybe it wasn't the title but semi-final game whenever it was like their offensive line was like oh my god i mean they step up in big moments but they just haven't been as good as their record would indicate and that hurt them against georgia now back to georgia jt daniels was 22 or 30 for 135 i mean look offensively and I talked about this game heading up into this week at Twitter and other things I do and my concern with them was

offensively like they just don't really have that explosive play threat in the passing they ran the ball okay you know they averaged 3.9 yards of carry but you take out you know JT Daniels kneel downs you get just above four I mean it was okay um but they got to do more in offense but they beat a ranked team in week one so they're number two right now all right I mean some people would want to debate that uh we're going to have a chance to come back to Georgia in a minute but I noticed you don't have Oklahoma at number two which means they must be coming in somewhere in the top six. But who's your number three? I'm going to go with Ohio State here. It wasn't up and down performance against Minnesota, but I gave them the edge here.

They scored a ton of points as no surprise. CJ Stroud making his first start was 13 to 22 for 294 yards. A lot of those throws, guys are wide open, right? And they were playing against defensive backs from Minnesota, Gabe, that might not have not have been faster than you I mean it was not the best matchup for Minnesota's secondary but the reason why I have them third is they did go on the road on a Thursday and play a quality opponent in their own conference right so that that gives a bump over Oklahoma narrowly beating Tulane Ohio Ohio State, Oregon this weekend. I cannot wait for that.

We'll talk a little bit more about that game at the end. But they're number three. And I'm going to get to number four. I'm going to skip you, Gabe, real quick. Number four, okay? UCLA Bruins. Here we go. UCLA, the sissy blue Bruins.

Sissy blue Bruins. Here's why. Here's why. Look, you can go to anywhere else, guys, and get Clemson up here or Oklahoma up here or A&M up here. Whatever you want to do. Whatever you want to do. The fact of the matter is UCLA was picked to win six games this year. They got one first place vote in the Pac-12 South.

They're supposed to be the fourth best team in a division. LSU was ranked 16th in the country. They came into the Rose Bowl and got pushed around by the Bruins. End of story. Gabe, I don't want to hear these excuses from SEC fans. There's always an excuse whenever an SEC team loses. Oh, LSU's not as good as we think. Oh, they sucked last year.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, no. The Bruins up front punked LSU. End of story. They're up 30, what, 37-20 in the fourth quarter in that game? Like, they dominated that game. Give the Bruins credit. Are the Bruins the fourth best team in the country? No, but they deserve credit

for beating LSU in the Rose Bowl when really, look, again, the Bruins' win total was like six, six and a half. I mean, no one thought they were going to be good this year. It's a very nice pitch for UCLA. I think you need to clarify your Homerism here. You're an LA guy.

You grew up rooting for the Bruins. You're Pac-12 deep down in your core. Number four? I mean, come on, man. I saw some of it. I was impressed. It was nice to hear the fight song throughout the night. But, I mean, it's hard to find a more impressive performance

of an FBS team, you know, beating a ranked opponent this weekend, right? I mean, like an unranked. So you can look at Virginia Tech beat North Carolina, but that game was 17-10. But you just told me the rankings don't matter. Yeah, because we're going off of what we

know. UCLA right now, to me, is in this spot. Are they the fourth team in the country? Nope. I'm going to give some we know. And UCLA right now, to me, is in this spot. Are they the fourth team in the country? Nope. I'm going to give some love to my Bruins. Look, Ed Orgeron slandered them. We call them the sissy blue Bruins, which I get. He's a USC guy.

It was a USC comment. I loved it. And I hope UCLA makes sissy blue shirts. I will wear a sissy blue shirt. But sorry, Gabe. USC is not in the top six. All right. We touched on Oklahoma briefly.

You know, they barely get past Tulane. I don't think anyone was blown away by their week one effort. But they have to still be in everyone's top whatever. You have them at five so far? Yeah, look, it's the same story with Oklahoma, right? Offensively, top-notch. Defensively, still the same. All right, they're 37-14 at halftime.

Won't score three points in the second half. But they allowed a ton of points. And Tulane was driving to go win that game at the end and just just came up a little bit short so um I am I mean they're they are what they are they're not gonna they're not gonna make um I mean they may make a playoff but they're not doing much all right and then since this is a top six for some reason, I like that we're breaking the norms and you've got UCLA at the four spot. I'm curious who six is. Yeah, I'm going Penn State here. Okay. And maybe the ugliest game of the weekend outside of the one played in Charlotte,

Penn State, Wisconsin, 0-0 at halftime. Penn State ekes one out, 16-10. And Wisconsin, I mean, they had the ball for 44 minutes, if I recall, if I'm from right there. They had the ball for 44 minutes, if I recall, if I'm right there. They had the ball the entire game in just – they had the ball for 42 minutes. Yeah. But had three turnovers.

Wisconsin had 29 first downs to Penn State's 11. They had 22 third – there were seven of 22 on third down. I mean, Wisconsin just had the game to win and just didn't do it. But I'm giving Penn State credit here. Defense was fabulous. Clifford, the quarterback, still some concerns with a new OC especially, but they did enough. They made adjustments. Wisconsin never did, and they went on the road in their conference and won a game, so I'm going six for Penn State. Okay, I like it. We're going to come back to a couple of these teams in our next segment, but just while we're in this sort of strange top six format, let me throw a few more teams at you

get the rest of the country involved and make a sort of a case how about cincinnati if we're getting weird right quarterback looks good maybe long shot heisman contender good win first week any chance they coming close to your top six i mean i mean they won 49-14. They drugged Miami. I'm fairly certain they're up like 49-0 at one point. I think Miami scored a couple late. Oh, my God. They got Murray State next weekend. So I hope they're able to win that game.

And then, look, we'll know more about them. They're at Indiana, and they have at Notre Dame. So let's look back at Cincinnati after four weeks, and we'll get you – we'll see what happens. At Indiana, who will probably drop out of the top 25 after their poor showing this weekend. And at Notre Dame, who Brian Kelly is still butchering that joke that he tried to tell last night. I don't want to even go near it.

Texas is back. We get to say that every few years. Sark is there talking about former SC coaches. There he is. Texas beat. Apparently, Louisiana is a top 25 team. I'm talking about former sc coaches there he is texas beat apparently louisiana's a top 25 team talking about preseason rankings that mean nothing uh that that no louisiana's a tough out it was that's okay yeah so you don't want to put texas in there no um i will say gabe

i was pleasantly surprised by texas in this game they came out early and just didn't really let up, right? There was 21-12 and 28-12, 35-12. They just kept grinding on Louisiana. Look, Sark had a tough time at USC. The ending, right, was a little rough there. He went back to Alabama, kind of went to Nick Saban's rehab school and came out the other side. I actually think he could do a good job offensively they'll do fine recruiting gotta you know gotta continue to recruit well have to be

good on defense the defensive coordinator very inside football here but came from washington pete kokowski and pete kokowski can coach defense he's he was at washington for a long time washington has been very good on defense and tex Texas took them away more money and out from from Jimmy Lake so they have the coaching staff it's just a matter of putting together and 38 18 I mean not a bad first start for him no and I mean winning the big 12 would get you in in the conversation they're off to a good start former big 12 team team that I feel like maybe this is just because of where I grew up in the teams I pay attention to I feel like we always forget about them until they're about six and oh um you sure you don't want to

have texas a&m kind of bumping into that top six couple running backs going crazy yeah i mean a&m was it was it was 13-3 like midway through the second through third quarter i don't know okay not impressed a little sloppy they have colorado this weekend in Denver. They should smoke Colorado. But look, they're going to be a top five team, I think. It'll be fifth place, I think, in most polls heading into next weekend. You know, look, Jimbo Fisher just got another extension. You know, but they have, I think it looks like week six they get Bama. So I'll come back to you about A&M in week six.

All right, that's about when I normally say, oh, yeah, right. Okay. They're not for real. We talked about Clemson. We're going to talk more about Clemson in the context of just getting the ACC getting blasted by the SEC in a non-shocking event. So your top six is fun. I like that we're going to keep doing this every week. And just clarify it one more time. These are right now based on what we've seen, where things stand.

Yes. What we've seen right now. All right. Well then go Bruins. Uh, let's take a quick break, come back to do some other things we think we learned, uh, about the top 25 and some of the biggest names in college football. We'll be right back on Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. Jeff, we're back. We're going to do some things we think we learned. I will play the part, as I often do with you, of sort of the internet, the guy with the takes, the person who just fires things out, and then you maybe tell me if I learned the right lesson or not. Okay?

All right, so Bama dominated Miami. We hit that. Georgia held Clemson to three in the biggest win of the week, both at neutral sites. So here's what I think I learned. The season is over. The top two teams are set. It's basically the SEC or nobody. That's it. We can just skip to like New Year's Eve, right? I mean, look, Ohio State's going to have a say in things, right? A young quarterback on the road making his first start, but defensively,

I don't know if they're good enough, right? You look at a lot of these teams and you say, hey, what are their weaknesses and did it look that way in week one, right? Oklahoma's weakness has been defense. Their defense did not look much improved. Ohio State, secondary, didn't look much improved against Minnesota. A&M, we'll see

how they do against Colorado this weekend, a more formidable opponent than the Kent State, whoever they played. Miami, again, got smoked by Alabama. Clemson, Georgia, opponent than the Kent State, whoever they played. Miami, again, got smoked by Alabama. Clemson and Georgia, I think Clemson, if they could fix their offense a little bit and get DJ some more protection, that would be their Iowa State, who's supposed to be some now

ruthless Big Ten killer opponent. They beat Northern Iowa 16-10. I mean, for the most part, Gabe, this weekend was a complete blah-fest outside of LSU and UCLA. I mean, for the most part, Gabe, this weekend was a complete blah-fest outside of LSU and UCLA. I mean, Clemson-Georgia was an entertaining low-scoring game. Penn State-Wisconsin

wasn't really. Last night, we saw Notre Dame and Florida State play. That was a good game as well. But right now, it's Alabama. I mean, Alabama would beat Georgia fairly handily right now if they played. But we'll see how things shake out. Injuries play a big part in this.

And a lot of teams make their best improvement from week one to week two. And so we'll see how Oklahoma looks in week two. We'll see how Oregon looks in week two. Oregon does have Ohio State, like I mentioned. And we'll see how some of these teams look. Iowa, Iowa State this weekend, right? It's a big game for both. Iowa beat Indiana.

Very, very big this weekend. And so we'll see how these teams look in week two two or three but right now it's alabama dude it's all alabama and honestly i mean they were like a three score favorite over miami a ranked team at a neutral site and they cover and you know i it just it's hard for me to imagine even against georgia they're anything less than like a nine and a half ten point favorite i just don't i don't see how anyone competes with them. They got the defense looks great. They get the quarterback that just slides right in. You know, we, we talked about it a few minutes ago. They lose basically every starter to the draft, the first round of the draft and it makes no difference. Uh, yeah, again, I, I, I think it's the mindset of wanting to win their championship for themselves.

Because again, another one of championships, I can't speak to this, but you know, if you win a championship, if you're not actually playing that game, I'd imagine you're happy you won and you brag about the ring on your finger, but you know, you, you want to win that yourself, right? You want to be part of that team that wins that. And plus, look, a lot of these guys are playing for the NFL, right? You sit for one or two years at Alabama,

and then you immediately come in, and you get your chance for one or two years to go to the NFL. And so guys play like it's their last year in college because they're trying to go to the NFL. Happens all the time there. So this kind of just keeps rolling on. But even more impressive, Gabe, is they have a new OC this year, right? Bill O'Brien, who is actually a good coach, terrible general manager.

He's the new OC this year, right? They haverien who is actually a good coach terrible general manager he's the new oc this year right uh they have you know they wrote to in defensive coordinator so it's just impressive to see this factory keep going it is and i will predict that in a couple years bill o'brien will be at some other national title contender with 100 with a dream job and it'll be yet another rehabbed you know rehashed quarterback who now has loyalties to saban i think this is all a scheme by you know where you know where i hate you know where i would hate for him to go is usc i'd like that don't go to usc stay away please hey listen after week one clay hilton looks good so far leave clay in that soft offense in the pato conference don't troll listen the other side of this the the bama and and Georgia's success was you were one of the people just a few weeks ago who tried to tell me to take

the ACC a bit more seriously this year. And you called out UNC. You told me UNC might have it. What happened? Yeah, the ACC had a bad weekend. Look, for a while, they've been propped up by Clemson. It's an argument that I've made out West is that, look, hey, they've been propped up by Clemson. It's an argument that I've made out West is that, look, hey, the Pac-12 might not have a Clemson, and we certainly don't. But look at the rest of the Pac-12,

the depth the Pac-12 has versus the depth of the ACC. So North Carolina was supposed to be a playoff contender this year. Sam Howell, their quarterback, supposed to be a top pick, goes into Lane Stadium. Virginia Tech loses that game. Sam Howell, their quarterback, supposed to be a top pick. Goes into Lane Stadium, Virginia Tech,

loses that game. Charlotte, my hometown 49ers, beat Duke. I know it's no small feat to beat Duke, but it was their first win against a Power 5 team. They had not been a Power 5 team yet in the program history.

The program has been like seven years. Miami got drubbed by Alabama. Clemson lost to Georgia. Syracuse beat Ohio. Pittsburgh beat UMass. Congratulations. But Northern Illinois went into Georgia Tech and went to Atlanta and beat Georgia Tech.

So these are not a Florida State played much better offensively than I thought they would. They hung tough with Notre Dame. So there are a couple positives there, but the wins really didn't come for them. And their conference is I think people are seeing probably not as good top to bottom as we thought because Clemson buoyed that you know buoyed them up a little bit yeah and you know we can joke like we did earlier that the preseason ranks don't mean anything but they kind

of do when you're in the ACC like you sort of need to be overrated to start and then just hold your position and let other people lose when the top teams in the ACC all You sort of need to be overrated to start and then just hold your position and let other people lose. When the top teams in the ACC all have one loss and eventually are going to beat each other, I don't see how they get anyone in. Clemson feels like they're going to win that conference again.

But now the tiebreaker goes to Georgia in the playoff. If Georgia and Clemson have the same record, Georgia gets the tiebreaker goes to Georgia in the playoff, right? So if Georgia and Clemson have the same record, Georgia gets the tiebreaker. So it's going to be hard for Clemson again, I think,

which might open the door for Oklahoma or Ohio State or maybe a team out west, but that seems unlikely. Well, let's go out west. And, you know, you briefly touched on UCLA, so they stun LSU. My Trojans won, thank thank you that was a pretty easy w for him rest the pack 12 kind of including uh washington losing fcs montana and your ducks i know you uh you had some stains on those green tights of yours um they made you sweat bad but we'll come back to them in a second so did chip kelly just figure it out in all seriousness

is it solved in so here's a couple things with with chip um one is they have a very veteran team right they have 11 seniors starting on defense doran thompson robinson's in his fourth year starting quarterback greg dolcich their tight end is gonna be top draft but we saw that move he made that long touchdown run they have veteran offensive linemen now they're a very veteran team to 2019 they're the youngest team in the country so they've improved and just kind of gotten older but i think chip to his credit has changed his offensive identity we always have known that chip is one they're on the football everyone thinks of or those organ teams as like as as these passing juggernauts they were not right the the pass was set up via the run and at that time everything was spread out you're going tempo going fast going

fast ucla now man they have packing things in right multiple tight ends and we saw against lsu man they brought out every freaking run they've ever had in their playbook it was awesome they were they were they were bringing your wide receivers across and and come having them come in the in like a counter like the block they're runningbacks. They're running duo plays with a wide receiver across. They're running all these things. Obviously, the pin pull play they scored on. But even on that play, like the backside had a little bit of a wrinkle. So the backside linebacker would kind of eat up a little bit.

And the tackle could block him. So he couldn't get the little X and O's stuff on my Twitter, at Jeff Schwartz, you can find. Stuff that I geek out about. But I think Chip has reinvented who he is because his quarterback is just not that good in the end. I mean, he had some throws there, but a lot of guys are kind of open in those situations.

And so he knows he can't really rely on being a spread-out passing team because Jordan Thompson just can't do that. And so he has reinvented himself. Now, again, are they the best team in the Pac-12 Conference? I mean, that's a little much, I think, right now to say. Let's see them best team in the pac-12 conference i mean that's a little much i think right now to say let's see them do it in the pac-12 conference but that's a big good start to the season did uh the random ad playing on a website just come across your microphone no it did not no okay no well then good then the audience is on your side or my side that was on my side well what was happening was I was trying to look ahead at UCLA's schedule.

It's a tough schedule for the – it's a tough Pac-12 conference schedule. So they're unlucky in that they got Oregon. Not everyone has to face them. But the next two are pretty winnable, right? They get Fresno State and Stanford. They're basically playing the same as USC. And then late in the year, they go to the Coliseum against SC. Yeah.

So they have a three-game stretch that, I mean, with Washington now, who knows, but it's at Washington, Oregon at home, at Utah, three straight weeks. That's a grind for out west. I would say, though, it's ideal the Bruins have a bye this week because I would have picked Fresno State to cover that spread in a heartbeat if this game was Saturday. But they get that bye because of the week zero game.

And then they get to feel great about it. Again, it's hard for me to really say they're going to win the conference quite yet. But the conference is pretty wide open. I'll tell you why. It's quarterback play. Quarterback play in the Pac-12 conference is not good right now. Keaton Slovis is good. And actually, I was actually impressed with his mobility at times in that game.

I think he did a good job getting outside the pocket. Not running downfield. He's not going to run, but just buying time, finding guys open. Jaden Daniels, Arizona State, is a pro prospect.

He's a dual threat guy, but still just not very accurate at times. Anthony Brown to Oregon. I mean, he's just okay. What we saw from him this past weekend is what he is. So to make some good throws in rhythm, he's going to have some moments when he's out of rhythm and guys are open, he's just, what we saw from him this past weekend is what he is. So to make some good throws in rhythm, he's going to have some moments when he's out of rhythm.

And guys are open, he misses them. He can really run the ball. Specifically to Oregon, I just think Oregon, watching the film, they just were so bland, Gabe. Like, they're saving everything for Ohio State. The same with LSU, UCLA. Like, the Bruins clearly saved a bunch of stuff for LSU. They didn't run against Hawaii. And I feel like Oregon's in the same boat. There's a lot

of instances where I'm like, guys, what are you doing? They just try to get through the game. I don't know if I like their mindset, but they just try to get through the game. But then look at the rest of the conference. Cal's quarterback, Chase Garber's in his eighth year, still not good enough. Stanford's rotating guys. Arizona's rotating guys. Oregon State

benched their quarterback. It's just Washington, Dylan's rotating guys. Oregon State, Benchler quarterback. Like, it's just Washington, Dylan Morris. Gabe, I think you're better than Dylan Morris. Like, Washington State, Benchler quarterback. Like, just the quarterback situation out West is atrocious right now, right? Oregon and Washington's best quarterbacks are 18 years old. Like, they're not playing yet. They're too young.

And so that's what's happening out West. Our quarterback situation is just bad. Yeah, I mean, that's the second time you took, like, a our quarterback situation. It's just bad. Yeah. I mean, that's the second time you took like a really pointless shot. I don't know who, I mean, there's no one else on this part. I mean,

I guess, okay, Hank, you know, just say some guy like you don't need to specifically point out that I'm not as, you know, a great athlete and I,

but maybe I'm as good as some athletic. I'll go, I'll go with Hank. All right. Thank you. I'm just going to make this a statement of fact. Keaton Slovis did look good and is a Heisman contender deal with it. All right. Thank you. I'm just going to make this a statement of fact. Keaton Slovis did look good and is a Heisman contender.

Deal with it, Jeff. We can move on. Let's talk about that Oregon thing. You're saying they're holding something back for Ohio State next week. That is a major playoff preview. And they might be doing it with at least a hobbled. And we'll know the status as the week goes on. But Kayvon Thibodeau gets rolled up on, looks injured, doesn't play much. Like, scary.

Without him, they don't beat Ohio State, do they? Probably not. Mark Christobal said today that he is day-to-day. I mean, look, so he got hurt, and he looked good, man. He is so good. He had a pressure and then a strip sack on his first two defensive possessions for Oregon. And then he got rolled up on. He came back in and then a halftime they shut him down.

I think, again, when you watched Oregon play offensively, it was a game on the run game and the RPO action, which Joe Moorhead's really good at their OC. They just wasn't very much there. They weren't trying very much. Anthony Brown, again, missed some stuff. And yeah, Kayvon's got to play. But here's my hope for Oregon.

Obviously, I'm an Oregon grad. They're 14-point underdogs. I've already bet Oregon. 14 is too many points. Here's what I'm hopeful. If you look at Mario Cristobal, since he kind of got things in the right direction. 2018 was his first year.

They went 7-6. Last year, in 2019, they beat USC, won the Pac-12, and then beat Wisconsin in the right direction. 2018 was his first year. They went 7-6. Last year, in 2019, they beat USC, won the Pac-12, and then beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. And then last year, a little up and down, they had a bunch of opt-outs.

Weird Pac-12 year. I don't know how much you want to count that, but they beat USC and the bowl game they lost to Iowa State was, it was an odd game.

Whatever, they lost that game. But for the most part, in big games, Mario Cristobal has had his team ready to go. Auburn game, right, in 2019.

Should have won that game, but they were ready to play, right? He's beat Washington twice. He's 2-0 against Chris Peterson, right? 2-0 against Washington. 2-0 against USC. Beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. Played good against Iowa State for stretches without really any quarterback,

that the benchers started quarterback. So Oregon has played up in big games. They played down in other games, which is a problem. But they play up. And so I think we get Oregon playing up in big games. They played down in other games, which is a problem. But they play up. And so I think we get Oregon playing up in this game. I like Oregon plus 14. We'll talk about that with Matt later in the week. Yeah, I like that.

I'm curious to hear your sort of more detailed gambling takes. Then last thought on this in the conference, basically. You know, we've praised UCLA plenty. Can I just mention that maybe coach oh without joe burrow isn't really even anything special that maybe like is that okay to say that they're just not great without that guy but look at look at look at college football and this is why alabama come back to him is pretty impressive there's a lot of one-hit wonders right auburn with gene chizik yeah florida state with with uh with jimbo Jameis. Now, Ed Orgeron with Joe Brady,

his OC, right, play caller. Now with the Panthers and with Joe Burrow. Kind of out of nowhere season. Yeah, there's a great possibility that he's just okay as a coach. Because he was just, I mean, I didn't dislike him, but he was just okay in his time in SC.

You know, he was fine. He's very well liked. That goes a long way. Well, of course. All right, let's talk he's fine he's well he's very well liked him he's a that goes a long way well of course all right let's talk about another guy who's well liked and everyone always it seems in in the college football world you could explain it to me everyone is always talking about this as like the next guy james franklin right so he built up a couple programs now he's at penn state probably the biggest win that i can think of for him at that program, going into Wisconsin, battling back the jump around crowd, packed house, wins a game,

kind of an ugly game, as you mentioned. Well, here's what I think I learned. Penn State has enough D to compete with anyone in the Big Ten if they can do what they did in Madison. Well, yeah, defensively, they were legit. Just offensively, still, it's really not been that great since actually Oregon's OC was there, which was Joe Moorhead. They've just had – I'm looking at their schedule now.

They don't beat a lot of their ranked conference opponents. Good start last year. I'm throwing out last season, right? That season. Yeah, that was weird. That's a stupid season. But year before that, excuse me, they do beat some of them, but they can't beat Ohio State, which is not good, obviously.

They lost to Minnesota. They beat Michigan. They beat Iowa. And so they've had issues the year before. They lost to Ohio State, lost to Michigan. They beat Iowa. And so they've had issues the year before. They lost to Ohio State, lost to Michigan. So they just kind of don't beat the two best teams on their schedule every year. And, you know, 2017, they lost to the two ranked opponents they played. Like, it's just that's a concern, right, is they just are good enough

until they're not good enough. All right. Well, here's another version of what you're saying, just sort of pouring water on big 10 teams um here's a tweet one tweet we found and there's probably a lot like this watching a low-scoring big 10 game me these offenses suck watching a low-scoring sec game these defenses are great so why is there a double standard i mean you know? I mean, I think it's more of the style of play, right? So I would argue that Wisconsin offensively was a big reason why that game was defensive.

Where Georgia and Clemson, it just was the defense. Like both defense were playing at a high level. Does that make sense? I think it does. I mean, you know, that's an answer at least to the total hypocrisy of most fans who say they hate something in one conference, but love it in another. Correct. Real quick, because you talked about Iowa, and I think you're being a little bit sarcastic, but they beat Pennix over in Indiana, a guy who everyone wants to put in the Heisman race. But that was a that was a rough start to the season. And Indiana would have been a story and there's all these media people who went to Indiana so you always hear about them more than you should are we kind of done with any other Big Ten teams other than let's say Penn State and Ohio State or is Michigan in a conversation all of a sudden because they win what do we have to worry about in that conference I mean as far as contenders for Ohio State no one right now I mean

they're just they're just better I'm, Michigan had a good, solid performance. Their best player got hurt. That was out for the season, the Bell kid. So that's not good, right? I mean, to have your playmaker and offense that you're relying on go out. But they had a solid performance. And they get Washington this week.

So we'll see how they do. Washington obviously got pretty embarrassed. Well, that takes us to our big loser of the week. And sorry to call any kids losers. Washington obviously got pretty embarrassed. Well, that takes us to our big loser of the week. And sorry to, you know, call any kids losers. But Washington did get embarrassed by Montana on Saturday. Only the fifth time an FCS team has ever beaten a ranked FBS team in the history of college football. The other examples are well noted over the years.

I mean, what do we make of that? So the big difference between what happened with Washington and the rest of the teams, Michigan lost, what, 35, 33-ish, right? 20, 32, 30, something like that. They lost like that. Yeah, it was close. It was a high-scoring game. High-scoring game.

Washington scored seven points against Montana. They scored in the opening drive and then did not score the rest of the game. The rest of the game. I watched their film today, unfortunately, and it's a tough go. The offensive line didn't play well. Quarterback Dylan Morris didn't play well. And I told people that Washington's offense was going to be a problem this year. They weren't very good last year.

Their coach has not been known to have an explosive offense. But this is even worse than anything else. I mean, this is, guys, I was upset that Oregon barely beat Fresno. I mean, Fresno is an FBS team, right? Like, they're a real team. And they might win the Mountain West. This is Montana. I'll give you one more comment on this.

Weber State and Montana are ranked, I think, six and eight in the FCS rankings during the season. And Utah, in the Pac-12, was up 40 to 10 against Weber State on Thursday. Like, that's what you're supposed to do, right?

40 to 10. Washington scored seven freaking points against Montana. Now they head to Michigan. I like Michigan winning the gambling stuff on Thursday,

but I've already bet a shot on that game as well. All right. Well, my friends who went to Michigan, you meet a lot of them when you grow up where I did. They're all very excited because they think they got their quarterback. So another couple of dishonorable mentions. We'll get out of here and make sure everyone check out Tuesday's show

as well as Thursday's show. Jeff has mentioned the bets come in on Thursday. What was with Florida State, State icing their own kicker? And what's with preseason rankings in general? We'll wrap it up there. Well, but he didn't ice his kicker, right? They got a review

and they moved the ball up 15 yards. I mean, that's important to kick. I mean, like, why would he want to kick a 50-yard field when he can kick a 37 or 36-yard field? Okay, that's a fair point. I don't understand why he got killed for that. All right, take it up with the internet.

And then preseason rankings end on that note. Pretty stupid, aren't they? It's good for our business, right? It's good for, you know, kind of where teams are at just in the minds of everyone. But look, Oklahoma number two, right? And they went off the AP poll. They struggled.

Clemson number three lost. Number four, Ohio State struggled. Georgia won at five. AP poll. They struggled. Clemson, number three, lost. Number four, Ohio State, struggled. Georgia won at five. Iowa State at seven, struggled. Ten, North Carolina lost. Twelve lost. Fourteen, Miami lost. Sixteen lost.

Seventeen lost. Twenty got Washington. So it's just outside of the top of two or three teams, I think there is a lot of parity in the sport right now. And so we'll see as we head into week two, if the offenses get going. A lot of defensive first weekend, a lot of defense. Yeah, it did feel like a few games that had turnovers

and good defensive stops and critical spots. So fun week one, big week two, as you mentioned, sort of Ohio State, Oregon feels like, at least for this show, the one we're most excited about. But a whole slate. You'll be talking about it two more times this week. I had fun today, Jeff. Thanks for making me smarter. I love talking college football.

It's just so much to do this year. I mean, there were like 65 games this weekend. It's a lot to do and a lot of fun doing it. So we'll be back on Tuesday with our NFL show. And then Thursday, we'll talk more about the games heading into the weekend as we preview them on the gambling side. We'll do that.

All right, guys. Talk to you later.