The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Week 3 Recap: The College Football Playoff Picture is Wide Open

Episode Date: September 19, 2021

Jboy breaks down a stacked week 3 in college football. Jake tells you why he thinks Texas A&M still can't hang with Alabama (8:40), how Matt Corral is building his Heisman resume (18:30) and breaking down Auburn's loss to Penn State (28:00) Make sure to check us out LIVE on Youtube every day at 3pm EST, plus follow us @thejboyshow on all social media platforms! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel 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, Streeter 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes,

creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians,

and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and we're

with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this play. platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite

athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you're going to be. can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode,

we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but yeah, yeah, yeah. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and confidence. conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking.

Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions. bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust i want you to just really be a good person join me keer gains is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast learn the hard way open your free i heart radio app search learn the hard way

and listen now all right hello everybody welcome to week three of the sunday recap uh where i recap not only the SEC games would take a little glance around at the national landscape as we move in to week four. One of the biggest things that I took from this weekend, you know, I woke up this morning and really, you know, started to think about it was the amount of parity, I feel like we have this year, especially at the top as it funnels toward the middle of college football. Typically you have, you know, three, four, maybe even five teams that you're like, all right, we've got to put these guys in one corner and everybody else. another one. But the way I'm looking at it right now, especially the way Alabama played yesterday, I'm going to get to my thoughts on them and George and kind of where they stand and how they parlay right now. But I'm loving the ability of anybody to meet anybody at any given time, it seems like,

the narrative that we're kind of walking into during this season. And you're seeing defenses with a spring and a summer and fall camp, you know, start to be more effective, especially early in games. But I'm loving the playoff talk that's going to be able to be undertaken here soon with teams having one loss. And I think you're going to have a new fresh team in the playoff or maybe even two. And I want to start off the recap by looking at what I call these fringe games. And what do I mean by fringe games? Well, the games that aren't the biggest game of the week. And I want to start with Chattanooga and Kentucky.

And look, this game was tight. I mean, you're looking at 14 to 10 at halftime. UT Chattanooga ended up taking the lead there in the fourth quarter. Kentucky ended up fighting them off. Will Levis ended up with 254 yards. But when you look at this game kind of in totality, Kentucky coming off that big win against Missouri, kind of sandwiched in between, Chattanooga.

And look, I think Chattanooga was a little bit better than what everybody thought they were, but there's no excuse. for this game to be that close. If you're Mark Stubes, gives you a chance to go back and say, I told you so. Levitz ended up with two interceptions. He put a couple of balls in harm's way. But what really surprised me was the rushing numbers from this game.

I mean, Chattanooga said, all right, well, we're going to try and take the way the run. And if Will Levis is going to beat us, throwing it around that he's going to beat us on it around. But when Chris Rodriguez is your leading rusher with 13 carries for 46 yards and along of nine and no scores, that's a problem and any team that gets turned one-dimensional

we talk about this all the time on the show any team that ends up being one-dimensional you're cutting off half of your body and if you're playing Kentucky going for whether it's Florida and Kentucky's now 3-0 still want to know in the SEC

but whether it's Florida any LSU any of these teams you stop Kentucky's run you make them one-dimensional with Will Levis I mean it worked if you're Chaddeno Think about that. Chattanooga shut them out in the third quarter, and Kentucky had to score 14 in the fourth quarter to avoid what would have been a catastrophic upset. And we'll get to the schedule and kind of where Kentucky falls and the depth of their schedule and kind of the breadth of it and how tough it is as the rest of the year goes. Now, a guy that we have on the show all the time, Connor Bazelag dropped a 346 burger on Simo, Southeast Missouri State.

Missouri won that one going away. They're up 38 nothing at halftime. Ended up winning 59 to 28. And Missouri is going to be competitive this year. You know, you've had that debate with Missouri and Florida, and we'll get to the Florida Alabama game. And I want to make sure everybody understands something on that. But this Missouri team is sneaky.

You know, offensively with Beatty. We all know how good Bazelak is. Thought, you know, he's had a pretty good start to the year. Really loved his toughness at Kentucky. That was a heck of a game. But, look, Missouri to me is a third to fifth type SEC East team. I don't see them having the juice to be second in the east. But in this crazy football season, who really knows?

But Southern Missouri State falls to 0.1 3. Like I said, Missouri just handled business there. Tennessee and Tennessee Tech. Tennessee bouncing back after that pit loss, winning 56 and nothing. Hendon Hooker was the guy. You know, they shut them out. It's great. It's always tough to do.

You're up 28, nothing at half. You really went 28 and 28 in each half. It was pretty even. But Tennessee's got to find a quarterback in big games. It's going to be able to make these toes. If you're going to operate at this pace, I still don't know how, with the lack of depth and personnel you have on defense, you survive in games against teams that are able to score points consistently against you.

I just, I still don't see it, at least until you have your personnel in there. And then I still think it's an unbelievably risky style of offense, the warp speed style of offense nonstop, to put your defense in that position to where you're not getting a lot of time to rest. And if you're not scoring, you're going to be behind the eight ball. That's why I think second halfs for Tennessee are going to be a big problem. And like I said, we'll get to the schedule for next week and where it falls for Tennessee. But they bounce back two and one with the 56 nothing win over.

Tennessee Tech. Now, in College Station, been a lot of talk about the run game for A&M, Calzada starting, because Haynes Kings hurt. They beat New Mexico 34 and nothing. But looking at the numbers, if you're an A&M fan, and it's still looking wide open to me in a lot of places in the SEC. But if you're an A&M fan and you're looking at these numbers, Calzada, 19 for 33, 275 yards, three touchdowns at a pick, when Calzada has time to set his feet, he's really good. He's really good. But watching him, when he misses, he misses high. And a lot of people do.

A lot of pitchers in baseball when they miss, they're going to miss high. Well, when you miss high, especially over the middle, that puts the ball in harm's way. And the one thing that worries me about Calzada is he's not a great runner, so you already know what he is and how to play him. but if he's having to move while the ball's being thrown, or he's having to change his launch point, I don't know if he's great at changing his arm angle to be able to make throws.

He's got a cannon. When he can stand tall back there and deliver it and put his weight into it, he can really spin it. He's got a cannon. But when he's having to move and do things on the run, like you're going to have to do in these elite games, I question his ability to fit the ball where he needs to fit. Now, we talked about the run game a ton for A&M, a ton.

Was it great Saturday? Spiller went, you know, at 15 carries, 117 yards, a touchdown along 46. I still think there's problems in that run game. And until that gets fixed or becomes a preeminent threat or a predominant threat, I don't see A&M beating Bama. I just don't. and if you looked at Alabama yesterday, if I'm an A&M fan or I'm a Georgia fan, you say, okay, well, looks like you can run the ball against them.

That's the perfect recipe. But if the offensive line is going to struggle and it's going to be a stalemate there, you're going to lose that advantage. And against Alabama, every lost advantage can cost you the game. Not only the game, but can cost you the competitiveness of the game. Of you being able to stay in the game. We're going to keep talking about it with A&M. We're going to keep talking about it.

And, you know, at the end of the day, you're either going to do it or you're not, because if you're one-dimensional, you're dead. That'll be the theme you'll see of this recap. All right, Mississippi State and Memphis. We had Coach Leach on this past week. You know, watching Mississippi State early in this game, got up 17 to 7 at half, then get shut out in the third quarter. And Coach Leach talked about this team, you know, the mentality of this team,

being able to put consistent quarters together. I mean, Will Rogers ends up with 419 pass yards and all that's great, but you scored 12 points in the second half. And look, Mississippi State, we talked about it. They came out against the law of tech and struggled week one, ended up coming back and winning that game, then had a pretty decent win the next week against NC State, but nobody wanted to talk about it.

Nobody wanted to talk about it. And when you look at Mississippi, you look at this team, you look at the personnel, I'm just, I still just don't know how you can have success in this league and just try and smoke, draw people to death in the run game. I mean, Will Rogers do it 67 times and was pretty efficient. 50 of 67 for 419 yards and three touchdowns. Let me put that in perspective. The Hennigan kid from Memphis through 28 passes. So you could have doubled Hennigan's passes attempt and still been 11 passes short of the amount of passes

Will Rogers attempted. It's wild. It's wild. I mean, a running bat Johnson ends up with seven carries for 50 yards, in a touch. I just Mississippi State to me and here's where the air raid

and we talk about this on the show all the time here is where the air raid kind of falls short in my opinion in the red zone. In the red zone. Well you're throwing for 419 yards and this that and the other

well when you get squeezed from the 20 end not that air raid concepts don't work because every concept can work, but in my opinion, you don't have as much to go to the bag to and as much to depend on because you can't really run the ball. Not only can you not really run the ball, the defense knows you can't really run the ball. See, what makes Ole Miss so deadly in the red zone is that while they pass to run, it's not an overwhelming pass to run and the threat of the run is still there. That's what makes them so dangerous. So,

In Mississippi State's case, I can load up against the past, and if you want to run smoke draw, that's fine. But in Ole Miss's case, they've got no problem lining up and running it five times in a row and being effective at it. So that's the difference right now outside of personnel too in Memphis and Mississippi State and Ole Miss. You go to Arkansas and the party's still going on in Fayetteville. they roll Georgia Southern 45 to 10. They're up 24, 10 at halftime, and shut him out in the second half, beating him 21 to nothing in the second half.

And look, here's the story for Arkansas. KJ. Jefferson threw for 366 was a good confidence day. KJ. Jefferson's still the same KJ. Jefferson. The guy can load up and fire rifle shots down, you know, deep, vertically. Still not super accurate with it, but his arm range is ridiculous. but he still struggles a little bit with those intermediate and short throws. And he's going to continue to progress as a passer. Where I want to see KJ. Jefferson take the next step is very similar to where I want to see Zach Kalsata take the next step.

And that's being able to throw accurately on the run. And I'm not talking about 40 yards down the field. It doesn't have to be that deep down the field. What I'm talking about is when you're in the pocket, being able to throw that dig and not ever throw it. being able to throw the out and sail and get it there. Taking, you know, the five-yard hitch and not having to throw it 800 miles per hour left or right of somebody. Because there's still those throws. There was one that KJ had yesterday where the guy was wide open on the over.

And it wasn't like he changed his motion, but it was like he kind of reverted a little bit instead of setting his shoulders. He still has to become a more pure thrower of the ball. Does he have the ability? yes. Is he getting unbelievably valuable experience? Yes. Is it great to have to learn things while you're on the run? Yes. When you're winning. And against Texas, we all knew that Arkansas could only really run the ball. And Texas knew that Arkansas could only really run the ball.

And they were able to run the ball with these. This one, this game against Georgia Southern was about, you know, reminding KJ. Jefferson that he's a good passer and this. This is a huge mental game. in my opinion for Arkansas and KJ Jefferson. Because looking at the schedule, this week you got a huge one in Arkansas and A&M. And A&M's defense is very stout. I don't see Arkansas being able to run the ball the way they did against Texas,

you know, against A&M like that. So KJ Jefferson is going to have to make some of those throws. And we're going to see he's going to be put in a position where he's going to have to throw them to a win. And can he do it? you know, the door of the explorer, or Bob the builder, I guess.

You know, yes, yes he can. Yes, we can. But I think it's going to take the game of his life from a throwing standpoint, because I still just don't think he's consistent enough to be able to throw you two wins in tough games.

Now, Central Michigan and LSU. This is one I thought, you know, that Central Michigan played pretty well against Missouri. The sermon kit at quarterback, you know, he's one of the top three quarterbacks in the country. coming out. And LSU did a really good job from the jump. They just jumped them. They just jumped them. You look up, you get a defensive score. You're up 21 to nothing. And then you got Central Michigan scrambling the whole time. I mean, LSU scored 35 in the first half, broke even with them in the second half, just trying to get through it. Max Johnson had five touchdowns. And I was surprised at the way that Central Michigan came out, for lack of a better term. You know, they are a somewhat veteran group. but I thought they tried to force a lot early.

You know, if you go back and you watch the Missouri game, they were taking what Missouri was giving them. Now, and this is a point that we brought up during the show, during the week, or on the show during the week. Central Michigan did give up 11 sacks. So we knew the offensive line was stellar, but thought they could work around in a little bit, and LSU had been struggling.

Obviously, that's not the case. LSU dominates the game, ends up winning 49 to 21. It was good for Max Johnson to kind of get back, you know, to the field, to the timing, get the clock in his head right. Because there's some big games coming down in the pipe for LSU. They needed this one. Coach O needed this one. And when you look at this LSU team, the biggest question is the mental side of it.

And it's the truth. You know, you go out to UCLA and play like that. You come back, you get Mignese, you get central Michigan. Now you go to a Mississippi State team that's pissed off after losing to Memphis on the road. a team that beat you last year in the first game. We all remember that, how shocked everybody was after that. So how does LSU answer the bell there? And what if it doesn't go good early?

You know, we talked about how your team is when you hit adversity. That's when you find out really about them. So LSU with the big one there over the Chippewaz Central Michigan, beat them by the final score of 49 to 21 to get to 2 and 1 on the season with, like I said, a big matchup looming with Mississippi State. I'm just so glad we're getting into SEC play. so many good games, so many good matchups, and what's, you know, the parody this year, like I said, mentioned earlier, is I think it's going to be wild. And speaking of wild, Ole Miss Tulane, Ole Miss, score 61 points and none in the fourth quarter.

And Tulane got shut out in the second half. You know, the same Tulane team that went up and dropped 35 on Oklahoma and lost by five. Matt Corral, I mean, this game, this game is win exactly like. you thought it did. Matt Corral went for 335, Jerry Neely ran for 105, Jonathan Mingo caught it for 136, and Matt Corral post seven total touchdowns. You don't think Coach Kevin's trying to get him that Heisman? You don't think he's trying to bump the numbers up, and I don't blame it. I don't blame him. You scored 42 points combined in the second and third quarter. It's going to beat a lot of teams. Almost to me still, the defense, I've got to see him do it against a caliber offense that

I wouldn't say is even elite, but is above average that has the type guys that they have or that they're going to see in the SEC up front. And if you go back and watch this game, Ole Miss schematically did nothing but just run their stuff. And if you're a defensive coordinator, that's almost the scariest part. Well, you came out and just gave them the fastball and change up for four quarters and dropped 61 on. that shows you how in how fluent how really art and they cannot be artistic in the way they they game plan and still score 61 it just scares the hell out of you if you're at dc because mackerel is such a grasp with that offense the chemistry they have whether it's brayland

sanders you can go down the list ely out of the backfield but jeff levy and lane kiffin too it's just kind of a perfect storm offensively with that quarter of a quarter of a quarter back that O'C and that head coach at Ole Miss. And look, if Ole Miss can get three to four stops, one to two turnovers a game, I don't see a defense that right now outside of Georgia that could, and Bama, look, one game for Alabama, we're going to talk about it, but I don't see a game outside of Georgia and Bama where a defense is going to be able to hold them under 40 points. I just don't see it.

and that's why it's going to be fascinating to watch Ole Miss play. And speaking of Georgia, Georgia, South Carolina, knew it was going to be ugly. Ended up, it's a 30-point spread, ended up being 40 to 13, so a 27-point win. South Carolina scored 6 in the first and a touchdown in the fourth. Georgia dominated this game. Look, Georgia's got better players. It's very simple. Cross the board.

J.T. Daniels goes for 303. Three, Kendall Milton leading rush it was 66, Adonite Mitchell, 77 yards. But when you look at Georgia, getting JT back was big. They didn't do anything too crazy. They pretty much ran their stuff. Like I was talking about, Ole Miss, Georgia really ran their stuff. I think they're going to hold a lot of formational stuff and emotional stuff that Todd Munkin's going to hold for these bigger games down the stretch.

And look, South Carolina, from a personnel standpoint, brought a knife to a gun fight. the kids fought. It shows you the type of respect they have for not on the University of South Carolina, but their head coach, Shane Beamer, who we love Coach Beamer, a guy we've had on the show. I think he's the right hire there.

I think he's going to get it back to being competitive. But I just, Georgia to me, and I'm going to get to Alabama forward in a second, but Georgia to me has the most dominant side of the ball in college football, and that's that defense. And when they're humming and when they're playing, And they're really just, it's the perfect type player because they're big, they're strong, and they're fast. And in the front seven, I mean, you basically got guys that are Jordan Davis's size that can change direction unbelievably quick, that are unbelievably strong.

All it takes is one hand to bring you down. And they play disciplined. That's the ingredients. That's the recipe right there. Can stop the run, can pass rush. the Kobe Dean at lineback I mean this front seven is loaded and Georgia goes to 3 and 0

1 and 0 in the SEC Now Imagine an Olympics Where doping is not only legal But encouraged It's the enhanced games Some call it grotesque Others say it's unleashing human potential

Either way the podcast Superhuman documented it all Embed it in the games and with the athletes For a full year Within probably 10 days I put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from

basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.

I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. To the meet of the schedule yesterday in the SEC. Alabama beats Florida 31 to 29 in what was a crazy game. Excuse me. And what was a crazy game? Alabama goes up 21 to 3 in the first quarter.

Looks like the routes on. Everything was working. They even threw a wheel route for a touchdown, almost in spite in a huge jab of irony to Dan Mullen, the wheelist, as I call him. The wheelist out there. I mean, the man ran so many wheel routes last year.

It's just kind of in his repertoire. Saw a couple of this. this game, but they didn't really connect. First quarter, like I mentioned, Bama dominates. Showed a lot of guts by Florida. Shutting out Alabama in that second quarter, went in the second quarter six to nothing to make it 21-9 at half. Shout-out cone for hitting that minus seven and a half first half.

But that second quarter really kind of mucked the game up a little bit. You know, Alabama was kind of turning it into a track meat a little bit, up and down, up and down, up and down. and that second quarter kind of slowed it down, mucked it up, tightened it up, and then you come out in the third, and you win at 14 to 7. Now you're within a score. I mean, now you're down six. And, excuse me, you're down five.

And you started putting game pressure on Bryce Young. Now, Bryce finished with 240 yards. Brian Robinson had 80 yards rushing. Emery Jones, due for 195. but watching this game you know Alabama and you kind of see Miami now after losing 3817 to Michigan State at home Alabama's super talented we know they're very well coached but they looked mortal yesterday and I sat on a tweet that said I haven't seen Alabama struggle like this on defense in a while and really what I was pertaining to was getting pushed around in the end two

area on the defensive line. And Henry Toa Toa really struggled yesterday. I mean, getting lost in gaps, missing tackles, you know, guessing. So I even saw a couple times where he falsed it before the snap because he was thinking so much. And if Alabama's going to give up, you know, because Ford's offensive line was a concern. If Alabama's front seven isn't what we. thought they were, if I'm Georgia, I loved what I saw yesterday. That's the door opening. What's that sound? That's the door opening. Maybe we don't have to beat the Harlem Globe Trotters on

offense to beat these guys. Because then you look on the flip side of that. You look at Alabama offensively against Florida. Didn't run the ball very well. And if you're not able to stop the run, And you're not able to run the ball in these big games, it's going to be a problem. And now get it. Look, it's one game. Sabin's going to coach him up. They got the players. Will Anderson did not look healthy to me.

And Dan Mullins' game plan was phenomenal. You just see over and over again why Mullin is so respected in the coaching community because he kind of blended his Mississippi State game plan against Alabama and his Florida game plan from last year a little bit as much as he could without having Kyle Trass. Jones still missed on a bunch of passes. And I said this during the live stream yesterday. Alabama's going to get everybody's best shot. That's just the nature of the beast.

Ford is not going to play like that every game. It's tough to get your guys up like that for half the games, let alone all the games. And Alabama, the hype kind of takes care of itself. And you got them at home. You got them at your place. Our house in the middle of the swamp. literally got them at your place. So the excitement level and the hype, you're not having to tell anybody to hustle at practice,

but you're not going to get that every game. It's just not how human beings work. And Alabama had to survive that one. And they did. And they did. Now, is this an invincible of an Alabama team as we thought? No. And if I'm A&M, boy, the emphasis on being able to run the ball just got

that much bigger. So we talk about October 9th, October 9th, October 9th. Well, you look now and Bama looks a little mortal, like I said, but you got problems of your own, you got to fix. And you've got to clean your house before you can go over there and clean theirs. And Bryce Young will continue to grow. Thought Bill O'Brien called a really good game yesterday. But there's small things.

That offensive line and pass pro against a legit pass rush. Can they hold up to hold a whole game? game. The biggest question is how's that offensive line get a fair against George's front seven? That is a matchup. And we won't know. We won't know until probably the SEC championship game, but that is a matchup right there, my friends. That's one to write that in your handy-dandy notebook because that's going to be a heck of a matchup of matchup. So I still, you know, like I said, forded to me. That was their best shot. And Bama took it. it got up off the mat, swung back, ended up winning the fight.

And that's what good teams do. That's what good teams do. All right, Auburn and Penn State. You know, when you watch a game, we always talk about there's four or five plays that decide the game. And in this case, it wasn't any different. And watching Auburn come out, you know, had the white face masks and all that stuff. look after the first play that goes out the window. Starting offensively, I don't understand why Tank Bigsby wasn't more involved in the first half.

And by the way, the trust they have in Jarrez Hunter, speaking of Auburn, to be able to put him in that situation and let him, you know, operate the way he did, shows you how much trust they have in him and how much talent they think he has. Auburn's offensive line struggled to run to run block. I mean, tanking it up with 102 yards, but he's getting hit one, two yards, past the line of scrimmage. Auburn just doesn't have the personnel up front. And for anybody that thought Auburn was going to go up there and dominate or anything like that, you can't, Brian Harsen doesn't have the ability to 3D print offensive linemen. And that's where Auburn's going to struggle.

I thought in pass protection, they're a little better than I thought they'd be on the edges, though, you know, whenever they were isolated, there was a bunch of times where they were just run through. Auburn just doesn't have the guys on the offensive lines, just the truth. To be able to set the pace. And you saw a couple drives where tank hit a couple zone runs. You had a couple perimeter runs,

which I thought they could have gone more to. But in the first half, I was surprised, I was surprised that they didn't go to tank a little bit more and let him really get into one of those rhythms that he gets into. You saw it in the second half a little bit on a couple of those drives, but I was very surprised by that. Now, watching Bo Nix made a couple good throws, made a couple questionable throws,

but he doesn't have a ton of help at wide receiver, guys. I'm just going to tell you. You know, you look at Penn State, they had a guy. Dodson, Johan Dodson, they had a guy. Auburn doesn't have a guy at wire receiver. They just don't. They just don't. They got some young guys that are talented.

Cedric Jackson, I don't see him being able to be a big-time play guy. I mean, they went to them, they tried to, just didn't do it. You know, fell down one time, just running, just fell down. It was a really good throw by Bo Nix. and then, you know, trying to work the back shoulders and doing so. But he just, you get your chance to prove it. And if you're not the guy, you're not the guy. And you hate to say it.

But, you know, go look at number five. Number five is jumping up, one hand and catching and doing stuff like that. And, you know, Auburn just doesn't have that guy. They just don't. And it's the truth. You know, you didn't see a ton of, you know, Kobe Hudson, I believe, was the leading receiver. And I'm going to get to that fourth down call. hearing a little bit, but

Auburn from a personnel standpoint just doesn't have it up front and out wide at the wide receiver position. And as far as grading Boe Nix was surprised he actually didn't run the ball more. You know, you saw the few quarterback runs design. They had, they were effective, and then him

kind of taken out there was a third down, he converted. But, you know, I would give him a B for the night. I thought he'd spent too much air on the vertical balls, and then you saw when they would stick the back shoulder in the seam, you know, it was working. I surprised I didn't go back to that more. But it's when you're having to grade somebody at that position, you've got to take everything into an account.

Is Bo going to be an elite Heisman-type quarterback at Auburn? It doesn't look like that. It doesn't look like he's, at least not this year. Maybe if he comes back for his, you know, senior year, next year, whatever happens, happens. But until they get personnel around him at wide receiver, that's able to win, that's able to get separation, you've got it at running back. I think you've got some tight ends that are pretty good too.

But until he has those weapons in Brian Harsen, then that's going to be the trick. That's going to be the thing. Because Penn State, when you watch that game, while they mixed up coverages, they weren't really worried about Auburn's wide receivers. And they weren't worried about putting DBs in conflict. with Auburn's wide receivers because they knew they weren't going to make them pay. And that's something you have to handle through recruiting.

Just the truth. The offensive line, you have to handle it through recruiting. You watch Bama. You watch Georgia. You watch some of these, you know, quote-unquote elite teams, even though I don't think there's a ton this year. I mean, I'll give you an example. You know, Demetrius Robertson, who I think is a, you know, good player.

You got to come up with that ball in between the two Penn State defenders that hits you right in the hands in crunch time. You can't be worried about getting hit. Guys of Georgia make that play. Guys at Bama make that play. Which is how it is. And until Auburn gets those guys, that play's not going to be made. And again, it's, you know, nature versus nurture. I don't know another way to say it.

You're either going to make the player or you don't. But I promise you five from you. in Penn State's making that play. You could hit him with a Mack truck, but he's going to stay in there and take it. And sometimes you're ready for the moment, sometimes you're not. And I've always, you know, my brother played receiver

and I used to joke with him. You know, look me, you're going to get hit either way. You might as well catch the ball. I've never understood that. So offensively, that just Auburn is, it is where it is right now. You got two really great backs. one that's a freshman that you know you're going to have for a while out there jumping over guys

but the play call on fourth and two now up to that point taking the consideration all i've just said about personnel i don't think it was a horribly called game by mike bobo but that fourth and two call was a very bad call you just run you just run fade on fourth and two and two and you just run I don't know how Tank Vigsby doesn't touch that ball in some capacity. Or like Herb Street, and I'll give Kirk credit. You know, why would you not run some sort of RPO that gives bow options to throw and run that stretches out the defense? Instead, you throw a low percentage ball to a guy that, in my opinion, that that's not the guy to even do it. But what would worry me more if I was an Auburn fan,

it's not just that you called that. It's that you took a time out, a valuable timeout, that you really could have used to call that. I was shocked that was the call. I was expecting you were going to get sprint out. That's what I thought you were going to get traditional sprint out, running almost like a two-point play. and I was, y'all know me, I'm going to tell you the truth,

I was shocked that that was the call. I don't know how that's the call against the Prisker kid, who he knows a really good player. I just don't know how that one got through the lines of communication that, all right, this is the play we're going to go with. We're going to run a fade and try and dribble with our left hand to score. I mean, that call surprised me, you know, like I always tell you guys. You know, I'm not going to sit here and cover for somebody, just to cover for somebody.

I don't understand that call. I will not understand that call. I will never understand that call. So that was, to me, the biggest bugaboo that Mike Bobo had. And then before I get to the defense real quick and wrap this thing up, you know, the team that's going to win this game was going to be the team that made the least mistakes. And Auburn coming out and fumbling the first play of the first drive of the second half down four. or just mistakes you can't make. Mistakes you can't make and expect to win these games.

You just can't do it, and you do it because you're holding the ball, you know, like it's a hot potato instead of just tucking it. Little things. All those little things add up to huge things. And it doesn't take a ton of mistakes in games at this level. It just takes a couple. Just takes a couple. and you basically gave Penn State a free seven.

So now, so now, instead of that last drive, you getting to the 26th and letting Anders Carlson kick a 43-yard field go to try and win the game, since you gave them seven, now you've got to score a touchdown and go for two. Because that's what Auburn did come out of halftime. They said, all right, not only did you guys get the ball to start, here's seven points.

And anybody that runs, and I've said this on the show, anybody that runs a trick play, Penn State ran a trick play on the first play. it's the worst time to run one. Auburn ran a trick play on the first play of the second half. As a defense guy, once we clear the first play, we're like, all right, don't worry about the trick play. Yet people still do it at a very high level on the first play.

Buzz my mind. Defensively. I thought Penn State did a really good job up front, not letting Auburn hit big chunk runs, just keeping them to the big runs being 11. 11 to 12 yards. Auburn defensively came out, looked really good.

And then, Auburn never covered the tight end. They didn't cover the tight end? This is the most shocking thing. They spent two whole drives not covering the time in. I don't know how that happens. You know, we talked about this defense is the strength of the team.

This defense is the strength of the team. Can't say that now. Can't say that now. and I thought Pat Poe played good there's a couple guys up front of the defensive line but there's no pass rush and if you're an Auburn fan watching that reminds you a lot of last year and I'm going to give you a hint

if there's no pass rush and you're busting coverages that's a death sentence I thought the plan by Derek Mason was shocking if you're going to rush three and drop eight you better not be giving up whole shots in the zone and you better not be busting coverages I mean, Penn State's offensive plan was,

we're going to run it a little bit and just throw it to Dodson. And Auburn couldn't figure it out. Penn State was run the same place a lot of time. And Auburn couldn't figure it out. The communication on defense yesterday for Auburn was not very good at all. And I don't know if it's Derek Mason having to come down from the booth or whatever, whatever. But that was bad.

You got out thought by Penn. state, really, on defense. And there were times when Auburn rushed for, how many sacks did Auburn get yesterday? Why don't you guys look that up? You got the turnover right before half, that was big. But Auburn wasn't very disruptive on defense.

They're just kind of like, all right, you're going to catch it, and we're going to tackle you. And they really didn't put a lot of pressure on Sean Clifford. The one time they pressured him, just the company McLean, almost knocked him out of the game and got through a pick. But, you know, if you're Derek Mason, there's a lot of questions to answer. There's a lot of questions to answer. Because you have better players on defense than

Auburn has on offense, and you decided to play it safe. But you can't play it safe and bust coverages. Auburn just wasn't covering the tight end. Just awareness, simple stuff. I've played a ton of zone in that first half and was really getting torched. I mean, the guy's completing 90% of his passes. That wasn't the plan. Start to play. playing some man in the second half, but I was just shocked. I was shocked at the conservative nature of the Auburn defensive plan. You got to let Zocobo them go. You got to let Owen them go.

You got to bring guys down. You got to put pressure on the offense. And we talked about it in the pregame, especially on early downs. That's what I'd pressure them. But Auburn, you know, has a long way to go. They've got a long way to go from a personnel standpoint. point. They need offensive line, wide receivers. They need pass rushers. Bad. Bad. Because if they're not able to get pressure on the quarterback, it's going to look a lot similar to last year, and it could get really ugly.

And what Ole Miss will do to you, what A&M and Calzada will do to you if you give them time, it's not pretty. So, you know, you look at that game, we always say on the show, a lot of teams lose games, they don't win them. you feel like Auburn lost that game last night. But shout out to James Franklin and them for protecting home court in the whiteout. It was an unbelievable atmosphere. Got some great games this next weekend as we look forward to it. I appreciate you guys. Join me on the recap, whether it's Arkansas, whether it's Texas A&M.

Make sure you subscribe to the volume YouTube channel. Having a lot of fun over there. We're live every weekday from 3 to 4 Eastern. That is 2 to 3 Central, live from the College Football Hall of Fame. The interaction is great. We're reading y'all's questions. Just a quick look at next week's schedule. You got Southern Miss at Bama,

Kentucky at South Carolina, Tennessee at Florida, Georgia State at Auburn, Texas A&M, and Arkansas and Jerry's World in Dallas, Missouri at Boston College, LSU at Mississippi State, and Georgia gets to go Hammer Vanderbilt

next Saturday. Appreciate you guys joining us so much, man. Like I said, the interaction has been unbelievable. Make sure you subscribe. Make sure you like to on YouTube. You can go to the J-Boyshow.com, get some great merch. Go to Pascuali's Pizza.com.

We've got another big sponsorship we're announced this next week. So it's been another Sunday recap, another great weekend of college football. We've got a ton to discuss this week starting tomorrow, like I said, live at 2 Central. Appreciate y'all. Have a great Sunday. Have a great rest of the weekend. And we'll talk to you tomorrow. I'm going going.

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