The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Snaps - Instant Reaction: College Football Playoff set: Georgia vs. Ohio State, Michigan vs. TCU

Episode Date: December 4, 2022

Aaron Murray reacts to the College Football playoff setting the semi-final matchups. He breaks down Stetson Bennett & the Georgia Bulldogs vs. C.J. Stroud, Ryan Day & the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Peach Bowl. He also discusses Jim Harbaugh & the Michigan Wolverines vs. TCU in the Fiesta Bowl. #herd #volumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. What up, y'all? It's snaps. Presented by Fanduel. Football season's here, and you already know there's no better place to get in on the action. Then, you guessed it, Van Duel. As far as the app itself goes, look, it's safe, it's easy, it's secure. I've been using it for a while now.

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Arizona. Call 1-800 gambler or visit fanduel.com slash RG. Colorado, Indiana, Minneapolis, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia. 1 8887-8-8-8-9-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-N-S-C-N-N-N-N-S-C-N-N-E-N-N-S-E-N-N-E-N-N-S-Rew. One-N-N-Y-N-N-Y-N-N-N-E-Rew-N-N-E-ROW-N-E-ROW-N-W-ROME. Hey, what's going on, everyone? Aaron Murray here with SNAPS, and we have our final four first thing the committee they got it right thank goodness i was getting blown up all last night after the georgia game uh from alabama fans texting me adding me on social media

saying you're scared you're scared you're scared you're scared you don't want alabama in there no one wants to face alabama everyone's scared of alabama no one's scared of alabama this season and i said it last night on social on twitter and i'll say it right now on the show You lost to Tennessee. You lost to LSU. Georgia waxed Tennessee. Georgia smoked LSU last sign that's the challenge game. Georgia fans, they're not scared of you.

They beat you last year. They get that monkey off your back. So stop thinking that you're some scary football team this year. You're not. You're good. You're a good football team. You're ranked fifth. I'll give you that.

You're a good team. You're not elite. It's not your year. Just get. over yourself. It's okay. And listen, I understand why Nick Saban went on last night and halftime in the Big Ten show or Big Ten championship game. Any coach would do that. You have to go out there and put your political hat on, still political season, especially here in the state of Georgia, as we have our runoffs coming soon. I, it's 100%. You go out there and you make your case,

if you're Nick Saban, of why you went in there. We go two games we lost and last play of the game. But listen, you had had a great season. You don't deserve to get. in it. The four teams that are in there right now do deserve an opportunity, especially the first three. So let's break it down first. Georgia number one, Michigan number two, TCU number three, and then Ohio State, the Buckeyes get the four spot as we get going to playoffs at the end of the month. Georgia, Michigan won two. That's easy. Georgia 13 and 0. You win the SEC. You're going to be the number one team in the country. Michigan, ugly start to the season, the sense of the non-conference schedule. But, you know, when you beat Ohio State at Ohio State, the way you did, you beat Penn State,

the way you did, you're going to be respected. That is a great football team. And they're really showing to us right now, even without Blake Corum, that this team can still be dominant up front. They can run the football. They can beat you up. And then they could just kind of run away with it in the second half, like they did versus Ohio State. And then they did versus Purdue last night, just just beating them up. and then playing great defense as well, getting some turnovers to win the Big Ten Conference. So one, two, that was easy for the committee. There was no discussion there. It was, to me, I think you knew who the next two were going to be, TCU Ohio State.

The question was, who was going to be three, who was going to be four? Was the committee afraid to do a rematch of Ohio State versus Michigan if they put Ohio State at three? And I was a little bit torn here, too. TCU, great season. I like the Big 12 conference. I thought to be able to go undefeated through that schedule. Yes, there are some close games. Yes, there are some opportunities along the way for them to stumble.

You know, the game versus Baylor, a couple other late games. I mean, the comeback versus Kansas State down 28 to 10 about a month or so ago. And then they did lose to Kansas State in overtime yesterday. Would the committee have said, okay, is Ohio State better? Should we put them at three now that both teams have a loss? I would have not been surprised. And to me, I would have done that. I probably would have said,

okay, I don't care that we're going to have a rematch of Ohio State versus Michigan. Ohio State's the better football team. Each team now has a loss. Let's move Ohio State to three. And plus, I think Georgia takes care of business first TCU a little bit more than Ohio State. And then let's move TCU to four. But I'm fine with it. I get it to me at the end of the day.

I just wanted to make sure that those four teams had an opportunity to win a national championship. So let's get into a quick breakdown of what these matchups are going to look like. First, Georgia versus Ohio State. I love this matchup. For the majority of the season, I actually kind of had Ohio State as my favorite team in the country in the sense of like I thought they were the best team. I thought defensively they were getting better, made improvements from what we saw last year.

Obviously, Georgia has shown that they can win football games on both. sides they can win on offense they can win on defense but ohio state and and especially that offense with with j stroud with with harrison uh junior they were a team that could threaten you down the field they're a team that can create explosive plays and then the the the fact that defense was getting better said okay this is a complete football team this is a team that's going to be tough to beat uh it was obviously a bad look what happened there a couple weeks ago losing at home in the way you did kind of get out physicaled but still in my mind, you saw it yesterday versus LSU for Georgia, a team that could push the ball

vertically down the field against Georgia's secondary does worry me a little bit. The question now over the next four weeks is you got a great receiver, maybe the best receiver in the country, is Jackson Smith and Jigba? Is he going to come back? And if he's back and you have two legitimate threats on the outside to go along with C.J. Stroud and then obviously getting those running backs healthy, those running backs have been banged up for the past month or so for the Buckeyes, is going to be a healthy offense. This is going to be an offense that can push the ball down the field. Going against a Georgia defense that has struggled a little bit against the past this season and as of late, that's going to be a great matchup to watch out for. You know, Kirby's going to get

that defense aside right. Four weeks to kind of get them going. They got skill. You know, Chris Smith, I love him on the back end. Starks has had a great season. You know, Keeley Ringo needs a step up. You know, he's a guy that has been been essentially picked on these past couple weeks. Can he take his game to the next level and get, get kind of the mental side ready to go before the game versus Ohio State. He is going to be the key in my mind. The matchup is going to be number five against whoever that Ohio State wants to match him up against. Can he slow those guys down? Because Georgia likes to play man to man. It's all about the matchups. That is going to be the key to success for Georgia's defense. Can Key the Ringo play to the level that we expect them to play

to is what I'm going to keep eye on for. Flip it to the other side, Ohio State. defense has to play better, and especially their secondary. It, to me, it's going to be whatever secondary plays the best in this football game. And Setsa Bender right now is a guy that he plays big and big moments. You go back to last year in the postseason versus Michigan, the way he played the national championship, the way he just played, the way he played versus Tennessee, the way he played versus Oregon, the way he played versus LSU. When the lights are brightest, Stetson takes his game to another level.

And big news for Georgia, you talk about receivers. A.D. Mitchell played. Wasn't a huge factor in the game versus LSU, but it was good to see him get his feet wet, be a part of the offense, and now have four weeks to continue to get back to his 100%. You get him going.

You get LAD, hopefully healthy from hurting his knee a little bit in the game. And then Brock and Darnell, this is a great offense. This is an offense that ran the ball effectively yesterday versus LSU. But once again, the key in this game for both teams, what defensive backfield steps up and slows down the explosive plays down the field is a team that's going to win. The one issue with Ohio State, too, is you're coming to Georgia's backyard. This is a team that plays well as of late in Atlanta, winning their last two games there,

smoking Oregon at the beginning of the season, and then just taking care of business for SLO. It's going to be a pro-Georgia crowd. You're coming into hostile territory. How does Ohio State handle that? It's going to be interesting. But I love this matchup. I think it's the best, better, actually better of the two matchups as we break this thing down. Let's go to the second one.

TCU, number three seed going against Michigan. I really like Michigan in this football game. I think Michigan kind of got the better of the two matchups. I think they're going to be a little bit more physical compared to TCU. I think they're a better football team on both sides, just to be honest. Michigan right now is playing great offensively. J.J. McCarthy, besides the wild interception he threw yesterday, just trying to make a play rolling out to the right, has played really well these past two weeks. And it showed to me that he could put the team on his back.

They're still running the ball well. Number seven is kicking butt with Blake Quorum gone. Adds a little bit more speed to the running game as well. I'm not worried about Michigan's offense right now. I think they will be just fine. Like I said, JJ has kind of elevated his game. Not to a point where I think he's good enough to say, hey, I can win a national championship with my arm. but they're balanced enough on offense now where you just can't continuously load the box to stop the run. He showed me enough these past two weeks. They'll be fine on offense.

TCU is going to have their hands full. Max Duggan is going to have to be a superstar, which he's done this entire season. He's going to have to play an even better game, a physical type of game against Michigan in this defense. If TCU is going to want to win it, they're going to have to hit some explosive plays on the field. Honestly, I just don't see it happening. I think right now I think Michigan is in a good spot to make a good spot to make a to the national championships. This is an easer of the two semifinal games before it. I expect

Michigan to take care of business first TCU. But we will continue to watch the film for the next three weeks, continue to break down where TCU maybe can find some weaknesses in that Michigan defense, where they maybe can stop Michigan on the offensive side in order to get there. The two teams left out, Alabama and then obviously Tennessee and then Clemson as well. Those teams kicking themselves, especially Tennessee. I do think if Tennessee would have taken care of business for South Carolina. They would have been that next team in instead of Ohio State. And it would have been really interesting too, Clemson.

If Clemson would have taken care of business versus South Carolina, and then the way they beat North Carolina, would Clemson have been that number four seed? South Carolina, the gamecocks essentially knocked both those teams out. So it was just crazy. But I think, like I said, the very beginning, the committee got it right. I think it's going to be a great playoff. T. Bob and I will break down this week at some point. I'm sure what a 12 team playoff will look like.

we will also break down some of the coaching hires, including Dion this week, most likely tomorrow on Snap. So tomorrow, 2 o'clock, we will dive deep. We tee bob a little bit more into these playoffs. We will also take a look at the coaching hires and then much, much more as we get ready

for a great bowl season, a great transfer portal season, and then obviously get super excited for what these playoffs will bring about. But super excited, and we will have more for you this week on snaps. Talk to you tomorrow. 2 o'clock Eastern.