The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - College Football Reaction: Big Blowouts In Playoff, Ohio State Looks Unstoppable, Indiana “Gutless”, Quarterfinal Predictions

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

College football reaction is presented by JLab! Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to break down the top storylines from the first round of the College Football Playoff!  They pivot to the first round of the College Football Playoff and why it wasn’t surprising to see so many blowouts (4:00). They rip Indiana for their gutless game plan in which they were just trying to avoid being embarrassed rather than win (10:30) and Colin changes his prediction for who ultimately hoists the trophy (13:00). Finally, they look ahead to the quarterfinal round and predict the winners (17:00). Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!  #Volume #Herd  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

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What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis'clock, he's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the, IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off.

And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation.

I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts. or wherever you get your podcasts. Volume. All of these college football reactions presented by J-Lab, I'm wearing my J-Lab earbuds right now, they're awesome. They have the best audio products in the game.

They're ready to take care of you this football season. Whether you're traveling to watch your favorite team play or just streaming the game at home, find the blue box. That's how I first found it at an airport, Logan Airport in Boston. Find the blue box at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and More, or just visit J-Lab.com. Their price points really good. John Middellcom, former NFL scout with the Eagles.

His podcast is three and out. All right, let's talk college football. So road teams, Tennessee hammered, Indiana, gutless performance. Boy, does that. Kurt Signetti talks a big game and doesn't back it up. SMU hammered. Clemson did throw for 336 yards, but they were outmatched. I thought the best bet of the weekend was Texas minus 12 and a half at home.

And I thought Clemson played about as well as they could and they still got beat by 14. But I want to say this. So this is a 12-team playoff that will become 14 pretty soon and maybe 16. The reason we have the playoff, it was negotiated. Like these aren't the 12 best teams in terms of NFL athletes. That's not what it is. The reason this is allowed is because there was a lot of negotiation, the Mountain West, gets involved. Everything was negotiated.

So it's not going to be seven SEC teams and five Big Ten teams. That's not what it's going to be. But the other thing is most of my life, I remember arguing this. I'm not even sure if I was at Fox or ESPN, but I used to be against the playoff because my argument was always this. Have you ever thought in your life the sixth best team in college football by the end of the year could beat the number one team? And my answer is no. I mean, when Nick Saban's 15-year run, most of his teams, there were only two to three teams in the country that could play with them, Clemson with Trevor Lawrence or DeShon, Ohio State, Georgia, maybe an LSU team that could play with them. So at the time you would get to like the fifth, sixth, seventh team, especially if the first round was in Tuscaloosa, they were going to kick the holy hell out of anybody they played.

So the idea that Ohio State or Penn State or Notre Dame in a home game, now we go to neutral sites, we'll have an upset this weekend. But my take is we're overreacting a little bit. Now, again, I thought Tennessee and Indiana would play close because I thought weather would be such a factor. But it was just cold and clear. But we've got to be honest about this. When Pete Carroll was rolling at USC or, you know, again, the Nick Sabin or Kirby Smart for about a three-year run, there weren't five teams that could go toe to toe with them. The only thing, it may be the Natty game, a Michigan or an Ohio state.

So I think this was not predictable, but I think we're overreacting because coming up now, John, now we've got neutral site games. I could, I would bet almost anything. We're going to have an upset. One of the underdogs is going to win. I think we're overreacting a bit to a 12-team playoff that was negotiated. You're just going to get some Boise states in this thing and some ACC teams in. Well, I think it's twofold.

First, I can't expect it to be perfect year one. This isn't year six. This is year one. On the flip side, I see a lot of pushback of everyone complaining, like, you shouldn't complain. We should celebrate this. It's like, I don't know. I mean, this all exists because millions upon millions of people give their time to be entertained. And I've been watching football my entire life.

I don't ever remember before this year watching Indiana. And Indiana didn't get the benefit of the doubt, right, in most people's eyes, because it's like, we don't know you, you don't have any NFL players, who did you beat this year? In the NFL, if you make the playoffs, it's impossible to not beat some good teams. Plus, even the bad teams you're beating are full of pros. I texted around some college scouting directors. I said, how many combined NFL players do SMU and Indiana have? And he said, I will have to see some All-Star game stuff, but probably five total.

I said South Carolina Ole Miss Alabama. He'd say probably on average low-end seven for a team. I mean, Bama, eight, nine. So the talent, the physicality, like Tennessee got there asking, if you just watch Tennessee move around, the quarterback is a young frenetic player right now. Their talent on the team is immense. And Indiana, we basically lumped in the Big Ten and the SEC as equal. and because Washington, who was in the Natty last year, lost their coach and all their players, wasn't any good. USC was supposed to be good, not any good.

Michigan obviously lost 17 NFL guys and their coach fell off a cliff. So they had three SEC teams, Penn State, obviously Oregon, Ohio State, but the rest of the conference, it was really bad, right? So it turns out Indiana, like, I just think they're not very good relative to the SEC. teams. I don't think they could beat any of them. And I think, but they went 11 and 1 and some of these other teams went 9 and 3. This isn't the NFL. Records, like the, it's like I said we're comparing apples to cheeseburgers. So trying to do these records because in theory it makes sense. Well, they're 11 and 1 because that's how it's always worked. And I just go, I don't know.

So I think we look back at it in Indiana and SMU. Two things can be true. Indiana had a remarkable season. The best season in the history of the school by a mile. and they're probably not a top 20 like are they better in Colorado? I just looked at the top 25 yesterday. It's like, well, Colorado's got a top 10 quarterback, Michael won, and the best player in the country. Indiana, I'm watching like, do they even have a pro? They're solid defense. SMU, I mean, that was like JV versus varsity.

Yeah. I mean, their quarterback was completely overwhelmed. And the ACC's terrible. So of course it's overwhelmed. They don't have the talent. Who did they beat? So I think that moving forward, just because you have two more wins in a bad conference, this isn't the NCAA tournament where there's 64 teams, like, whatever, just throw this team the seventh seed.

We only had 12 spots. And I thought we got pretty let down for a lot of people that dedicate a lot of time. They don't even have a horse in the race. They just want to be entertained. You're like, this doesn't look right. Well, and also it's going to get potentially worse because if you really look at Washington. They have an excellent young quarterback, and Jetfish had a great recruiting year. So Washington's going to be interesting team next year. They'll be back. They'll be a top 20 team.

Michigan just got the best quarterback. And again, they recruit at a very high level. Michigan will be viable. I just saw this weekend. USC went and bought two SEC defensive linemen. So I, and their schedule is pretty weak by Big Ten standards. So my takeaway is the Big Ten, to your point, was top heavy and very weak. I don't think it'll be that next year. I think Ohio State will still. be great. But I think Michigan, USC, Washington will be much better. And I think Oregon's and Penn State are going to remain powers because Lannning and James Franklin are top 10 recruiters easily in the country. So I think this year we got Indiana. Not that it's a one-off. I did, I kind of felt like when I was watching Indiana play, it's not that they lost. It's that if I had told you it was 2717, And you didn't watch the game. You'd be like, okay, that was a game. Indiana was so gutless, punting down three scores, second half in plus territory.

I think it really, it was the way Indiana lost, which was like we just, we know we can't compete. We don't want to be humiliated. So we're just going to try. I think that really piss people off. It was like, okay, if you're going to play like that, just put Ole Miss in the tournament. I thought of a rule that if you were on the fence of a couple teams, that you have. have to have minimum more than two guys on each side of the ball that would start for your opponent. And did Indiana have four guys on their starting 22 that would start for Notre Dame?

Do they have one? Maybe. How many guys on SMUs starting 11 on offensive defense would start for Penn State? Two, maybe? Where that's the argument for Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Alabama. Yeah, they might not have one. Probably wouldn't have. But I know the talent discrepancy, like I don't have a big issue with Tennessee getting their ass kick. Because I don't think the talent discrepancy, obviously Ohio State's better. And, I mean, could win the national championship pretty easily. But like Tennessee, you could tell physically, it's like their quarterback is throwing the ball over the map. They got NFL players all over the field.

So I could live with that game. I can't live with the Indiana game where it's like, I've never watched this program. I've been watched college football for three decades. And I can do this for a living so I know, well, they don't have any talent. So it's like what's going on? And then Signetti, I think some of his comments to Sabin before the game, bragging about, I looked at their schedule. They go to Penn State, to Oregon, to Iowa.

And like you said, the Big Ten's going to be better. That game is going to be circled. The Big Ten coaches are going to want to beat the shit out of him. I will be stunned. Six and six. They are going to be a target next year. And I hope they enjoyed this year because it's not going to be like that moving forward. I'll promise you that.

So before we get to the quarter final, games. I do think we have a potential upset. Listen, Tennessee, Ohio State, Ryan Day, the critics couldn't go back to their Reddit boards. But here's what I really took away. Clemson, they deserve credit. They fought to the very end. And they don't have, again, they don't have transfer portal guys. And they don't recruit. Even when Dabo was winning an Addy, they didn't recruit like Alabama and Georgia LSU. They never have. They just don't. And they don't use a transfer portal. So I think Dabo is a hell of a coach. But my takeaway on that is if Ohio states,

if Will Howard is as good as he was against Tennessee, I don't know how Texas stops them. I mean, Clemson was throwing the ball all over the yard. They were throwing it up the sideline, out of the backfield, seam routes. I mean, when you think of Clemson, you don't think 350 yards passing. I know Texas won 3824, but that 24, I looked at that and I thought, Jesus, Texas plays Arizona State next, 13 and a half point favorite. Maybe that's not an issue. But if I'm Ohio State in my passing game, after this weekend, Ohio State's my favorite to win the national championship, not Texas. I was almost dismayed, not just. that Clemson threw. But the variety of throws, the third down throws, the wide open targets in the middle of the field,

it was startling to me. Well, their quarterback really come along. I mean, he's the guy to keep, if he goes back to school, I mean, I think he'll be in consideration to have a chance to be a really high draft pick in 2006. And that kid's really got a lot better since that first game at Georgia. And last year was pretty bumpy. I like Cade Clubnik a lot. And they had one of the great, I think,

freshman recruiting classes at wide receiver in recent memory, those couple five-star kids. But to me, Sark has had to coach around Quinn Ewers a lot of the year. And you see that when we talk about coaching with some of these young rookie quarterbacks, what do you call on third and seven? Or are you willing to call something aggressive on second and ten? Are you just trying to throw in like a screen or a draw play? I think he coaches around Quinn Ewers. Because to me, he is a pretty big roller coaster. You don't know what you're getting series to series. And this is where, you know, the seating, when Ohio State's on, I mean, they showed up in that game, you went, holy hell.

Oh, no, it was like, wow. They were hitting guys like they were, you know, Drey Greenlaw and Fred Warner. It's like the defense, how good Jeremiah Smith is, Will Howard look like Peyton Manning. I mean, they had to be one of the better games of his life. Yeah. And Ryan Day, listen, they'd had a long time to soak up that loss coming at home. I, listen, I picked Tennessee. Five minutes into that game, you went, this could be 50.

to nothing. This team is going to try to injure everyone inside. Can they keep that up again? Again, you know, Dan Lannning, this is where Oregon got screwed. They have to play that team in their opening game. And I have to Rose Bowl, too, which is not a huge advantage because it's not like Ohio State fans aren't used to travel into that game, which is a cool game that the Rose Bowl gets Oregon, Ohio State. That's good. That may set a record. The ratings for that game may set a college football non-national championship record. I'm not joking. I think if your Oregon, you just go, we had the best season, we're the only undefeated team, and Penn State gets to play Boise and Texas gets to play Arizona State. And we got to play the biggest payroll in the history of college football with NFL guys all over that we had to knock down, drag out to beat at home. That's sucks for them. Yeah. You know, a team that's never won a national championship that if I told you right now, they were getting a good draw. You would like them a lot more. But you're like, damn, they'd have to go through three tough games, right? They'd have to beat Ohio State. They'd have to beat Texas. And then they'd probably have to beat Penn State or Georgia. I mean, that's, that's a Murderers row.

And they had to beat Penn State, you know, in the conference championship. So, listen, if Oregon were to win the national championship, it would be really, really impressive. I can't take Texas because of the quarterback, but their talent on the team. I mean, that goal line stopped that they had basically the end of the game again. They can really rev it up. I mean, they got guys on defense. You're like, holy shit. And, you know, the skill, their two running backs are really good.

Excellent. The quarterback. If you told me Kade Klubnick, Clemson quarterback was Texas's quarterback, I'd be like, watch out for, they might be my pick. And I just, is Will Howard going to play like that every game? Is he going to play like that against Dan Landings' defense? If he does, they'll probably win, right? If he's going to, if he's going to be Peyton Manning Jr., then Ohio State's going to be a serious problem for anyone they're playing. Okay, let's wrap it up. Penn State minus 11 against Boise State. I actually think Gentie run. He ran for almost 200 yards against Oregon. I think these are neutral site games now.

It's a whole different ball game in college football. Totally. Yeah. College football team, you know, the 70% of NFL games are one score, one possession games. That's not college football. Home teams win. I think Boise State, I think Boise State is going to be, you know, Penn State may be lulled to sleep, opening with SMU at home, blowing them out. And now they look at see Boise State.

to get that locker room revved up. SMU is a bigger name to some of those Penn State players than Boise State. They couldn't, you know, they don't even know hell. Most college players out east don't know much about Boise State. Can Boise State hang with them? I think they can. I do think Penn State's lucky that they got this generational player on Boise State. It's an easy one for the defensive coordinator circle.

I mean, this guy had like a Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State level season. So it's, to me, if they were much more of like the Kellyn Moore, more of a complete team, than a one-man band. I think it would be a little different. You might look down upon them. But I think when you're playing a guy that would just sit next to Travis Hunter on that Saturday night at the Heisman Trophy, it's easier to get up. I also think, and this is my argument, like, listen, I started my career in the whack,

which basically turned in the Mountain West. The difference of size and strength on the line of scrimmage, we saw it in Indiana and SMU against, you know, their two opponents at Notre Dame and Penn State just overwhelmed them at the line of scrimmage on defense. And I don't know if Boise State, their passing offense isn't good enough. So I'm putting 10 guys in the box. Be like, where are you going to throw on me?

And I think it's a very, very tough matchup for Boise State. I also think Penn State, if this was the NFL, and these games were out in the cold weather, I think Penn State and Notre Dame would be built for it. Play defense, run the ball down your throat. Play like the 49ers did with Jimmy Garapola. We're just going to, freezing cold weather, let's roll. I mean, you watch Notre Dame.

They would love every game at 19 degrees. Yeah. And same with Penn State. Freezing cold, snow, rain, that's how they would want to play. That's where these neutral site games, you know, I think Notre Dame is a good example. Like, I actually kind of like them against Georgia, but then you put them in a dome, but you put them in a dome. It does take away their strength. If you told me that game was outside in a cold weather spot, I'd be like Georgia's in for it.

In a dome, team speed, Georgia's going to be a little faster. But Notre Dame can definitely win that game. Listen, I love Boise State and rooting for them for a long time. I think this is a really, really tough matchup for them. Same with Arizona State. Yeah, listen, I think Penn State's going to win. I think your point on Notre Dame, Georgia's well taken. Texas should beat Arizona State.

So I said before the year, I thought Oregon would beat Ohio State at Oxton. I thought Ohio State would beat Oregon on the second matchup. I think I like Ohio State to win in cover against the Ducks. I think one big difference between Penn State, Georgia, and Notre Dame than the other three top teams in Texas, Oregon, Ohio State. They are so explosive on the outside. Like they feel like an NFL team at wide receiver in the skill position. Penn State and Notre Dame just don't. Penn State's tight end is going to be a top 20 player.

Yeah, Walter. But they are not as explosive at the wide receiver position. So, I mean, like you said, I think Oregon, Ohio State, I mean, that could feel like the national championship game. And I think Texas, if the quarterback can just play under control, which he's proving he can't really for four quarters, they could be pretty sky. I just don't trust them. And Notre Dame Georgia, whoever wins that game might be, honestly, I kind of like the draw for Penn State. Penn State plays Boise, wins that game, and then plays that. Penn State and Texas are going to get, I mean, their enormous favorites in the second round are going to be playing two teams that are going to be coming out of a war zone.

I mean, Ohio State and Oregon and Notre Dame and Georgia, bodies are going to be left on the field in that game. So I think that is a massive advantage if both those, if Texas and Penn State take care of business, I mean, Ohio State pulled out their quarterback with nine minutes to go in the game. Yeah, I think what we're going to see in this playoff, and let's go back to the playoff as a lot. whole is I think it's going to expand to 14 teams and possibly 16. On any given Saturday, you may get three really great games between good teams. There's a lot of blowouts in college football. It's just the way the sport works. It's of all the American sports, team sports, it's the most have and have not sport. Even baseball, obviously now, with the regional networks dying, it's getting more have and have not. There's like six teams that have money.

like 26 or 24 that don't. But I think the neutral site games, I think Oregon, Ohio State is going to feel like USC Texas. Remember that game with the stealth fighters flying over where you had like 18 pros. The first game was great. I think Ohio State, Oregon becomes the game of the year. I also think it is hard to play perfect football back-to-back weeks. Ohio State was nearly perfect.

It's hard to duplicate that. on back-to-back weeks. I also think that these guys have never played a season this long, right? I mean, a lot of these teams played in conference championship games. Some of the teams that didn't just play this first round, I mean, you start looking ahead. They still got three more games. I mean, and you saw some just collateral damage as, you know, Notre Dame, as defensive linemen get banged up.

You're talking about by the time you get to the semifinals, can you stay healthy enough? Which honestly could just be a determining factor for whoever wins. It's just a team with the most health because we've been hammering at home and these coaches have been, these teams, the depth isn't near the same. You know, in the peak of the Sabin era, so what, I lost a first rounder. I got a 19-year-old first rounder behind them, right? Those days are done. I mean, there's a massive drop-up. Some of these teams are losing guys.

Ohio State put a quarterback in the game when they yanked Will Howard. He's in the transfer portal. And Ryan, they had to have a talk with this team, like, hey, guys, are we cool with keeping them around? you know, because these guys are in weird spots. Penn State's backup quarterback is gone. So, and that's not, obviously, we talk a lot about the quarterbacks, but it could be, you know, a backup linebacker or a freshman kid that might have had to be thrust in if someone got injured.

So we got a long way to go. I mean, you see the NFL guys are dropping like flies in college. These guys aren't as big. They're not, especially some of these guys, 18, 19 years old that are playing. Their bodies aren't as developed, taking a lot of big hits. It's not like the violence in these games is that much different. And how hard was Ohio State and Notre Dame and these teams hitting the physicality? Honestly, I appreciate the one thing that jumped out to me about this weekend,

which was obviously a pretty big letdown with the blowouts. We talk about a lot about NIL and people not having, it feels like guys are mercenaries now. And maybe that's the case. But it does feel like the guys playing in the game are just all in and trying their 100% effort. And you feel that the teams, none of these teams took their foot off the pedal. Clemson just came back because they got NFL guys. It wasn't like Texas stop trying. Right.

John Middletoff, his podcast is three and out. Good job, buddy. Merry Christmas, Colin. Merry Christmas. The volume. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe.

I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Greeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was fine. You just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to him, he's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your husband is not who you think he is.

Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season. of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move, and he went out the front door

and he jumped in a car and drove off, and that was the last time I saw him. Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets.

But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are. I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.