The Kevin Sheehan Show - It's Howell vs Cowboys

Episode Date: January 3, 2024

Kevin opened with the decision to start Sam Howell in the season finale against Dallas. Kevin also recapped Maryland's loss to the top-ranked Purdue last night in College Park as well. Then it was Tim Murray/VSIN Network jumping on to discuss the quarterbacks that Washington may be deciding on when we get to the 2024 NFL Draft.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Do you know yet about who they're going to play? You start a quarterback. Yes, yeah. We're going to stick with Sam.

Is it just because of what you saw, anything last Sunday, or is it because of Jacobi's situation? Well, I think it's a little bit of both, but I thought what Sam did and went out and did the things that, you know, we were hoping he would be able to do. He did some really good things. I thought he managed a couple of drives very well, very nicely, and, you know, again, want to see him get an nice.

up to you to finish it out. Ron Rivera moments ago announcing that Sam Howell will start Sunday against the Cowboys. That was John Kime asking the question and the follow-up question as to why Sam Hal was starting. Was it his performance against the 49ers or Jacoby Brissette's injury? Ron said a little bit of both, but he thought that Sam went out and did some good things that they were hoping he would be able to do against the 49. I thought he did some nice things on Sunday, too, especially in the first half. The show, as always, presented by Window Nation. Call them at 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com.

Mention my name, you'll get a free estimate to start the process out. Tim Murray will be on the show with me today. Tim does a great job with his show out in Vegas called Veezen Live Primetime. Tim is not only a friend in a recognizable voice in our market. Tim is really into and a big part of college football. Not only is it a big part of his show, but Tim does a lot of sideline reporting for college football games. So I thought I'd reach out to Tim and have a conversation about the

quarterbacks entering the upcoming draft. He'll have opinions on all of them, and we'll probably talk about a lot of other things as well. So I'll get to Rivera in a moment. I did want to mention I went to College Park last night, as I told you and Tommy on the podcast yesterday, for Maryland against number one Purdue. I will tell you, I've not been in that building when it's been flatter than it was last night, no matter what time of year. For an opponent like Purdue coming in with the number one overall ranking in America, I actually think Purdue is a really, good basketball team.

And I know that they have fallen short in the tournament in previous years, and I've mentioned what a big fan I am of their coach, Matt Painter, still am. One of these days, they'll get over the hump. It might be this year in the tournament because they are really good. They've played a brutal schedule. But man, I know the students are out on break, but Maryland's played some big games in early January with the students on break where the building's been sold out. and electric, not as crazed as it is when the students are back.

But there are still plenty of students at these games because a big state school, like the University of Maryland, they've got a lot of in-state kids who live close and can still get to the games. But man, last night, A, wasn't a sellout. B, the team never gave the crowd a chance to get into the game. They were down 8-0. they were down 10 early. Even when they got it to like it was 13 at halftime,

it went to 20 almost immediately in the second half. There was never a run at any point. Maryland is struggling right now here in year two of Kevin Willard. They had some lost pieces. You know, he came heart to Villanova. Ian Martinez, who is really playing well, for those of you who are TURP fans, who are wondering where Ian Martinez went.

He went to Utah State and he's having an excellent year for a team that I think is 12 and 1 at this point. I think they desperately miss from their lineup a shooter like Kerry, even though he was inconsistent. But, you know, they have, you know, a big part of last year's team back and they are struggling, especially to score. They were an embarrassing offensive team twice in the months of November and December at Villanova and at Indiana. And I've mentioned a couple of times they're going to need more than Jemir Young, who has been spectacular. Funny last night he had 26. He was sick and missed the last game. You could tell that he was not himself early in the game, I didn't think. He ended up with 26 points, which speaks to how good he is because I didn't think.

think he played as well as he's been playing, especially in the first half of that game. But they got nothing from Julian Reese last night. And when I say nothing, I mean nothing. He did not score in the game last night. After, by the way, putting up just one point on the road at UCLA. That's a problem. Reese was 0 for 4 from the field. He had seven rebounds, two assists, two steals, and a block shot.

but had zero points. That means in his last three, two real games, take Coppin State out of the equation. He's had one point on 0 for six from the floor. He didn't even get to the free throw line last night. Marilyn's got no chance if Julian Reese isn't a big part of the game. I think they've got to do something here early in this next game against Minnesota to get him some touches and get him on the football.

board with something easy because his confidence is suffering right now on offense. Deshaun Harris Smith, they're a highly thought of freshman player. He defends, he hustles, he plays with effort, but he's a mess. Defensively, Harris Smith is. They can't find scoring from anywhere other than Jamir Young. I've mentioned Dante Scott needs to step up. He did it in the Penn State game to a certain degree, also did it in the UCLA game last night. Sorry, right before Christmas, but last night I thought he passed on some open looks and ended up with just six shot attempts.

And Maryland's struggling right now offensively. Look, that's a great team they played last night. They're not going to play Purdue every night. But they're going to have a challenge in the Big Ten if they don't find scoring from other places that aren't named Jemir Young. And Julian Reese scoring zero and one. They certainly were able to overcome it at UCLA. But even if he's able to get, you know, his consistent double, double, they're going to have to find a third score as well. I think it's a team that can compete defensively at times. I thought they were inconsistent at times last night defensively against

a really good team. But man, Minnesota next on the road Sunday. Then, Michigan, who's not very good this year at home. Then they've got to play ninth-ranked Illinois on the road. So tough start. Look, they're going to be a different team when we get to next month. And I don't think we'll see them lose all of these games. They're going to win their fair share of Big Ten games. They will, especially at home.

But, man, this is a team that really, really struggles offensively. They had some open looks last night against Purdue. And I mean, some of the misses weren't even close. I mean, that's the problem. It's one thing to be off. You know, you get good looks and you're just missing shots. But, you know, they're going long or short. Anybody that's ever played basketball will tell you that good shooters miss long and short,

not left or right. There were a lot of left and right misses last night. they did not shoot well at all. They were 21 of 63 from the floor, and Jimmyer Young was 12 of 23. That means the rest of the roster made nine shots in 40 attempts. That's not very good. 67 to 53 blowout loss last night. The score isn't really reflective of how easily Purdue handled Maryland. again, in one of the flatter Xfinity Center environments for a conference game, for a highly ranked team in town that you'll see. Maryland has already sold out the Iowa women's game for Caitlin Clark.

Did you see her shot at the buzzer last night to beat Michigan State? She is a lot of fun to watch and one of the all-time great female college basketball players. And they have sold out, I think it's an early February, X-Finity Center for Caitlin Clark's visit to Xfinity Center. They beat Iowa last year at home in their two matchups with Iowa during the season. Did they play them in the Big Ten tournament? I forget. I know they split in the regular season.

Long way to go for the Terps this year. Tough start. They're nine and five, one and two in the Big Ten. Kevin Willard's a good coach. Trust me, you know, I sat here and told you how good Mark Turgeon was as a coach, and a lot of you said, you know, you're way off and you can do a lot better. And a lot of you were, you know, tweeting me early last year to say, see how the buildings sold out.

They've never been this good. I mean, you know, all of the ridiculous hyperbole that was coming last year. And now it's coming the other way against Kevin. Some of you were like, oh, this is terrible. How did he lose? How did he not get players? Is he going to get these recruits? They'll probably go elsewhere.

The Kid Queen was in the building last night, the five-star for their second straight game. Kevin Willard can coach too. He's won everywhere he's been, and he'll figure it out, I promise you. And a team that may not be his best team here at Maryland, that's for sure. We'll figure out a way to be in the middle of the pack, I would say, worst case in the Big Ten before all. is said and done. All right, a couple of quick things to touch on, and then we'll get to what Rivera announced a little while ago.

By the way, Ron also talked about the quarterback difficulties since he's been here and how hard it's been to find one. And he talked about Alex Smith, and I'm going to play that for you. So stay tuned for that. But there's some NFL news today. The Rams have decided that they're going to start Carson Wentz Sunday against the 49ers. Now, they have a playoff birth clinched by virtue of their, I think, a lucky win Sunday in the Meadowlands against the Giants, and Seattle's loss to Pittsburgh Sunday. But they have not locked down

their seating. With a win over the 49ers, they would clinch a six-seed, but with a loss to the 49ers and a Packers win over the Bears, the Packers would be to succeed in the NFC playoffs. by virtue of their in-season win over the Rams. So what's the difference? Well, the two-seed likely will be the Cowboys, assuming they beat Washington on Sunday, and the three-seat will be Detroit. And so do you want to go to Dallas,

or do you want to go to Detroit on Wild Card weekend? I think for the Rams, I think Detroit would be the preferred opponent. First of all, would be pretty wild to see Stafford going back to Detroit for Detroit's first home playoff game since 1991. But Detroit just isn't as good defensively, and the Rams are a good offensive team. The Rams have already played the Cowboys once this year. They got shellacked in that game in Dallas, but they are going to rest their starters. And Matt Stafford has been, you know, he's played

so well, but he's had some banged up games this year also. Lamar Jackson and a lot of the Ravens starters are going to sit Saturday in their game against Pittsburgh. That's a huge game for the Steelers. They are four-point favorites. The bottom line with that one is if the Steelers can win that game, they would clinch a playoff berth if Miami beats Buffalo in the Sunday night season finale. Buffalo has to beat Miami to get into the postseason as the division champion and the two-seed in the AFC playoffs.

if Pittsburgh beats Baltimore on Saturday. Now, if Pittsburgh doesn't beat Baltimore on Saturday, then Buffalo can still be the wild card, would still be the wild card with a loss to Miami. But how about that? What if it comes down to Sunday night, Buffalo, Miami, Josh Allen and company on a roll against the dolphins. By the way, Tarek Hills, and I'm just looking at this,

It's breaking news. His house is on fire in South Florida. Apparently, no one's in the home. Everybody's safe, and he was at practice, but that's a breaking story right now. But imagine Buffalo at Miami with Pittsburgh having beaten Baltimore, who sat their starters. Now, look, Baltimore has played pretty damn well with their backups. Remember, last year, you know, Tyler Huntley played well to nearly beat Cincinnati on the road in a playoff game. I mean, it took a fumble and a return of like 90-something yards for the Ravens to lose that game to the Bengals in Cincinnati. But Pittsburgh, if they win, and their four-point favorites, Buffalo then would have to win, and if they win, they're the two-seed. If they lose, they're out. That would be crazy on Sunday night to have that as the stakes for Buffalo in that game. So some of that, you know, information now coming out about how teams are going

to play their season finale on Sunday. So let's get to the decision to the decision that Ron Rivera made to start Sam Howe. So I had been standing on the radio show earlier, and it was a weird day today in that, or it was an unusual day. Weird would be hyperbolic. It was an unusual day in that typically the starting quarterback meets with the media on Wednesday before practice, then practices, and then Ron Rivera speaks afterwards. Today, nobody talked before practice. And Ben, when he was on radio with me this morning, they did not know who the starting quarterback would be. And I, I'm a little bit suspicious about the way today went down. I know nothing. I know nothing. I'm just throwing this out there because it's a thought that I had and I asked Ben about it.

And the thought was this. And it sort of goes hand in hand with what we've been talking about as it relates to ownership involvement in this final game of the year. I would have no problem if Josh Harris, whether Washington was playing a Dallas team with nothing to play for or with everything to play for. Clearly it would have been more of an issue if Dallas had nothing to play for because then the possibility of winning the game if Dallas is resting all of its starters is even greater. With Dallas needing to win the game to lock down the division and the two seed, you know, I don't know that Washington can win no matter who they put out there, but still they should do everything in their power to ensure the least likely possibility of pulling an upset. And so I would have no problem if Josh Harris went to Ron Rivera, as I've said now for about a week, and said, hey, we'd like to see Jake Fromm at quarterback. We'd like to see some of the guys on practice squad. We'd like to see a lot of the backup players, which, by the way, you're going to get anyway.

You got it a little bit against San Francisco with all the injuries. And now I doubt you'll see John Allen. You are without both of your starting tackles on Sunday. So a lot of these things have kind of taken care of itself already. but at quarterback, I think that they should play Jake Frum. Now, maybe Jake Fromm would give him an equal chance or maybe a better chance to beat the Cowboys than Sam Hallwood. Who knows at this point?

But I was just a little bit suspicious of why Ron hadn't made the decision yet. Like, there's no, what are you doing here? Like competitive advantage over the Cowboys here. I mean, giving them, you know, an extra couple of, of hours before finding out who the starting quarterback was. I just wondered whether maybe this was a back and forth between Ron and ownership on the quarterback. You know, Jacoby Brissette was a possibility until just moments ago. I think that would have been a big mistake to play Jacoby Brissette. And at that point, I would have been upset. I am not nearly as worked up because we've

seen Sam Howell. And Sam Hal does not give them the same kind of chance that you, Jacoby Brissette would to being a competitive offense against Dallas, even though probably the last decent football before San Francisco's first half that Sam played was the first half on Thanksgiving. But I'd still prefer to see Jake Fromm, I think. But Ron Rivera talked about Jake Fromm. By the way, there was no information given Ben Standing apparently asked it and did not get an answer as to who the backup's going to be. I think that'll be kind of telling as well.

Like if Jake Fromm's the backup, then they'll probably just say Jacoby Brissette just is too banged up and the hamstring hasn't fully healed or whatever. But again, I think ownership should do all that they can do to say we don't want to see Jacoby Berset in this game. We do not want to see him starting on Sunday. If Hal was the compromise here, so be it. But I don't even think there should be a kind of.

compromise, it's ownership. They own the team. I think it's, you know, it's an interesting situation for a game that, again, let me emphasize, they have to lose. They've got to lose this game. They finish with no worse than the third pick and most likely the second pick with a loss to the Cowboys. A loss of the Cowboys potentially drops them from two to five. You don't want that, not in this upcoming draft. This is Ron Rivera. moments ago when he was asked about what he's seen from Jake from over the course of the season with Jake being on the practice squad. From the very beginning, you know, you know Jake's a very bright, very smart football player.

He understands what we're doing on the offensive side. He's a good decision maker, quick decision maker, gets the ball of his hands very quickly. You see that in practice as well. So I think he's a guy that's, you know, very well suited for the role he's in for us. He's a good decision maker. He's a quick decision maker. He gets the ball out of his hands very quickly, Ron Rivera said about Jake Fromm today.

Remember, not that you really need to stretch the memory that much, but this is what we heard multiple times during the course of this season when it came to what Sam needed to improve on, when Ron Rivera talked about it or when Eric B. Enamey talked about it, and that was decision-making, you know, getting the ball, out of his hands very quickly? Well, that apparently is a strength of Jake from. Can you imagine, can you imagine if just say my suspicion about a conversation related to the starting quarterback happened between ownership and Ron Rivera? And Ron Rivera just said, look, if you really want

the quarterback that gives us the least chance of having success on offense Sunday against Dallas, we should start Sam Hal. Because Jake gets the ball out of his hand. hands very quickly, and that's going to be the key to the game on Sunday. I don't think that that happened, but who knows at this point? Yeah. Jake Fromm, remember, played pretty well in the preseason. He had a very good game, remember, in that exciting preseason win over Baltimore, in which Sam Howell was outstanding. But Fromm was really good in that game as well. It was 10 of 16, 91 yards a touchdown in that game. And then Jake Fromm got a lot of time in that preseason finale against the Bengals in which he went 13 of 18 and threw two touchdown passes in the game

with no picks for 144 yards. I was looking at the box scores of those preseason games for Jake Fromm's numbers. That final preseason game against Cincinnati, which was totally meaningless, Cincinnati played Trevor Simeon in that game, who obviously ended up being a jet quarterback this year. And Jake Browning was six for six in that game for 42 yards in a touchdown in relief. Maybe it was as a starter, actually. I think it was as a starter in that game. And Jake Browning's had some pretty good games for the Bengals and relief of Joe Burrow,

but not enough good games. He has turned into a pumpkin to a certain degree as well after playing really well early. We've seen that with some of the backups this year that have come in and played well initially and then not so well after a couple of games. But, you know, it was that preseason game that, you know, people really fell in love with that guy Mitch Tinsley, the wide receiver from Penn State. And a lot of the people on the beat said he's going to make the team and he made the team. These are the kinds of players we need to see a lot of on Sunday. And hopefully they will. But anyway, that was Ron Rivera on Jake Fromm.

There was another line of questioning with Ron. Yesterday's questions and answers with Ron Rivera, and we didn't play any of those on the show with Tommy yesterday, but it was a very reflective Ron Rivera on sort of his time here. There are actually some, you know, comments with respect to culture. There's no doubt that Ron Rivera wants to, I think, hang some sort of banner to his time here. and so I think the banner that he'll hang is the culture banner that he changed the culture when he was here. You know, we'll wait until next week to kind of break down Ron's four years.

Won't take that long. Just look at the record. Not very good. And this year, very debatably, the worst on the field team in franchise history, certainly based on their performance. He may actually be the coach, coach the worst team in franchise history. I know that Andy will argue with me that the 1961 team had a worse season than this one, but their point differential of minus 161 right now is just eight points short of the worst point differential in franchise history during the Super Bowl era. And that came 2019. The Jay Gruden Callahan year, they were minus 169 that year. So if Dallas beats them by more than eight points on Sunday, it'll be the worst point

differential season for this franchise during the Super Bowl era. If you go back before the Super Bowl era, they had a couple of seasons that were worse. But in the modern era of football, or at least the somewhat modern era of football, this is going to likely go down as the worst on-the-field product we have ever seen. That is not what you can. call changing the culture that much from where you were before because you look at the results. And after four years, if the culture really was contributing to something meaningful, this would be on an uptick, not a down tick. But man, Ron had a lot to deal with during his time here. And one of the things he had to deal with when he was here was coming in and not having a

quarterback and perhaps having to play Dwayne Haskins, rest in peace, against his better judgment to start off. Ron was asked today about just how difficult it was to find a quarterback here. And if it was something that surprised him, given that, you know, he had the guy or a guy in Carolina and Cam Newton. Here's what he said. You know, honestly, that's probably have been the biggest crux of it all, is trying to find that guy. I mean, that's the hardest thing for anybody. It doesn't matter whether you're here

or at you're one of the other places that are looking for that guy. I mean, you know, you're fortunate. If you get a head coaching job where there's a guy, you better relish that and you better succeed. I'll tell you that right now. You know, and I've said this before, if, you know, a guy like Alex Smith,

if he never gets hurt, I never come here because I think Jay and what they were doing would have continued. I mean, you get a guy like that, man, you run with it. I promise you that. It would have been cool to have a guy like that. It really would. Because, you know, I think there's a lot of talent in that room. I think there's some good playmakers. You know, in the last four weeks, we've only given up three sacks. So there's some potential there. So I wanted to play that answer from Ron Rivera for two reasons primarily. One, the notion that he wouldn't have gotten a job, had Alex Smith not gotten hurt in 2018.

That's an interesting thing to consider. I mean, I'll consider it here for 30 seconds. That was not a great offensive team with Alex Smith. However, had he stayed healthy, more likely than not, even if they didn't make the playoffs, because the schedule got tougher with Philadelphia twice, with Tennessee on the road, with Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, etc. Remember, their last win that year was against Tampa on the road.

They gave up 500 yards and won that. the game. The only time in NFL history, a teams had 500 yards of offense and scored only three points. Tampa turned it over four times. They missed multiple field goals. Washington was, you know, getting lucky a little bit. They had a, you know, softish kind of a schedule as they went to five and two to start that year. And eventually, they were on the verge of losing that Houston game that Alex got hurt in anyway to fall to six and four from six and two, five and two. They were five, and two, five and three, then they were six and three, and they lost that game to fall to six and four. But the point is, is that they probably wouldn't have drafted Dwayne Haskins in 2019.

You know, they would have had Alex Smith coming back in 2019 off of a decent year, maybe a nine and seven first round playoff loss. And if that's the case, then they're a competitive team in 2019. Maybe they fire Jay, you know, in 2019. if they go six in ten or seven and nine that year and missed the playoffs, and maybe Ron gets a job anyway in 2020. But sure, they would have been a more competitive team had Alex Smith stayed healthy. That is a given, whether or not they would have been a legitimate contender.

No, I don't think so. I don't think they would have been a good enough team to even win a playoff game with Alex Smith at quarterback. But they certainly would have been better than the way it turned out, ultimately in 2019, which was a 3 and 13 season, which got Jay fired after five weeks and got Bill Callahan, the interim job for the rest of the year. The other reason that I played this answer for you is that while it's not exactly the same as when Ron answered that question last year, remember when they were in last place behind the Cowboys Eagles and Giants, and he was asked, what's the difference between you and the other teams in the division? And he said, very

frankly quarterback. It wasn't exactly that, but there is in this answer sort of a resignation that he was never able to find one, which I think speaks to where they are now and includes Sam Howell in the answer. Now he says nice things about Sam Hal and continues to speak of Sam Hal as a quarterback with a promising future, but I think this is a moment of not reflection on the mistakes they made. You got none of that in the answer. You know, Carson Wentz, Ryan Fitzpatrick, not offering Detroit enough for Matt Stafford, although I don't know that that would have been the difference anyway. Naming Sam the starter when pretty much the season had just ended last year, going with Dwayne when he first got here, et cetera. But there is, you know, this idea in his mind that he didn't

get it right at quarterback, therefore the results on the field couldn't be good. And to a certain extent, he's right. All right. That is it on them. We'll see how the rest of the week plays out as it relates to Howl and other players in the lineup or out of the lineup. It's not like the point spread changed any with the news. Washington is still a a 13 and a half point underdog against the Cowboys on Sunday. Last week, if you recall, when it became clear that they were going to start Jacoby Brissette, it actually dropped the line briefly against the Niners. And then it went up towards kickoff as Washington was ruling various players out,

including their starting tackles in that game. All right, let's get to Tim Murray. We will do that right after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show brought you. you by Wind Donation. If you've been thinking about new windows, just give them a shot. Please. I promise you that it will work out for you. But at least give them a shot to give you a bid if you've been thinking about new windows. You call them at 86690 Nation. Go towindonation.com. Mention my name. I've been endorsing Windonation Windows for 14 years now. I promise you,

they're going to take really good care of you being a listener to this show. but they're going to give you a free estimate, which means going in, you've got nothing to lose. If your windows are older, if they stick when you open them, if they're hard to lock when you close them, you need new windows. You're losing too much money on heating bills,

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You guys know Tim from his days in D.C. He's been in Vegas for several years now with the producer of this podcast, Aaron Oster. Tim hosts Veezan Live Primetime, 6 to 9 Eastern. from the Circa out in Vegas. Follow him on X on Twitter. At one Tim Murray. That's the number one Tim Murray. And you can link to his show if you want to listen to Tim.

Tim's a huge college sports guy, huge gambling guys, you all know. I reached out to Tim really to talk primarily, and we will get to this eventually, about the quarterbacks that are coming out with Washington holding such a high draft position. Tim not only hosts this Vizan Live primetime radio show weekday evenings, but he also works the sideline for a lot of the college games during the course of the year, and he actually had an opportunity to be at the Sun Bowl,

which I know was a big deal for Tim because he's a huge Notre Dame fan. But before we get to all of that, long intro here. We were talking before we started to record. you know that I went to the Maryland Purdue game last night. We were talking about Purdue and Matt Painter, who has never been beyond the elite 8, but is considered to be one of the

great coaches in America. He's had this very good team, but a team that has gone out early in the tournament last year is a number one seed to Fairley Dickinson in the first round. And you said you've got a feeling

about Purdue, and you had an analogy for this Purdue team, so I want you to share it with everybody. Yeah, I think there's some 2019 Virginia parallel. You know, 2018, Virginia vows out infamously to UMBC. I remember being at the WTOP news desk that night doing the updates, 15 and 45, Kevin, and walked in that game and saying, oh, my God, this is going to happen. And then the next year, you know, everyone made their jokes, had their yuck.

because it wasn't just a one-year thing for Virginia, right? It was they could never get over the update, all these great regular seasons, and it's the system. It's not going to win a championship. And lo and behold, including a win in almost magical fashion against Purdue, remember, Elite 8, they win the national championship. So Purdue is now that team. Purdue is that team that they lose the St. Peters in the Sweet 16.

They lose last year to Fairleigh Dickinson, who was the shortest, team in the entire NCAA tournament. And now no matter what they do, I don't think anybody, I don't think a lot of people are going to believe when Purdue is on a one line because that's where they'll be,

because this team is really, really good. They're going to believe in them to make a run. You know, your neighbor Knicks of the world are going to tell you that they're going to bow out in the Sweet 16 or the second round. You can't trust Matt Payne or you can't trust Purdue. And look, they might be right. winning the national championship is really, really hard to do.

But, man, I tell you what, their win over Arizona, who I thought was, and maybe still could be the best team in college basketball. Their win over Alabama, they beat Marquette. I mean, this team's the real deal, man. Yeah, they have a loss on the road at Northwestern, but they're the real deal. And they're going to play a 16-seed coming up in March, and I think they'll win that game. and I think this team has the making of winning a national championship.

They've got a really good guard play. I think better guard play than they've had him passed. Look, I was a dummy. I took the points of Maryland last night. It felt like it smelled stinky line to me. And, you know, we were talking off air. Never had an opportunity. I mean, it was 8-0 at the first media timeout.

And I don't even know if Maryland was within the number the rest of the game. I mean, that game went off six and a half seven, Kevin. And did they ever get within six, like the final 39 minutes? No, it wasn't. They never made a run. There was never a run where, you know, usually at home in college basketball, if you've got a good enough team, even against a better team, you're going to make a run and the crowd's going to get into it. And then, you know, from there, you know, you've got more of a chance than you do on the road. But no, it was the flattest night I can remember in that building for a conference game, certainly a conference game against a highly. ranked team and last night it was number one in the country. You know, I think your Virginia analogy is perfect and I think Matt Painter is similar in that he's been such a great coach. Everybody in the coaching profession recognizes Matt as an outstanding coach who has developed players has had the benefit of having a lot of four-year players over the years. That one chance

that they had in the elite eight, speaking of Virginia, the year they won it, where they had Virginia dead to write in regulation. Carson Edwards went for 42 that night. It was one of the great performances in the tournament in a long, long time. And by the way, had the same kind of performance in the Sweet 16 game against Tennessee before they beat Virginia, before they lost to Virginia. But yeah, I think, you know, one of the reasons, though, and it's similar to in that Purdue doesn't play that super high uptempo game, Virginia played games that would keep lesser teams closer, but also better teams are equally talented teams, frustrated, but it made them always vulnerable maybe in a one and done, Purdue, the same thing.

They actually play with a post guy, a 7-4 post guy. Nobody does that anymore. But man, is he good? And you and I were talking about, you know, before we started to record, I think the difference, first of all, this team's been incredibly tested. You know, you mentioned their schedule. Their guard play is so good. Lawyer and Smith are much better now as, you know, more experienced players

and having that inside, outside, and the way they move the ball and the way they pass it, I think I watched last night the team that's going to have a really good chance to win the national championship. but, you know, with a team like that and with a coach like that, everybody believes in, you know, they have to, they got to do it, or people will say overrated until they do it. Yeah, there's no doubt. I mean, and once again, to your point, right? They went to Toronto, they played Alabama. And, I mean, if you went back and watched that game, those are the games you lose because

Mark Sears in that game went nuclear. He had eight three-pointers. And they overcame it, and they beat Alabama by, six. Then they, you know, had a semi-home game in Indianapolis against Arizona who was just absolutely loaded with talent. And, you know, they beat them. Now, it feels like that game has kind of knocked Arizona a little bit off the rails as they've lost a couple games, including on New Year's Eve to Stanford. But, no, I mean, it's Purdue teams the real deal, man. They're really, really talented. And it's an interesting year. I mean,

Yukon's still really, really good. You know, BYU's good. haven't been super tested yet. So we'll see how the year plays out. But I think Purdue, it was really telling. And I know that, like you said, the students weren't there. But just to basically give Maryland no hope from the jump was really impressive last night. But, you know, so we'll see. You know, people will make their jokes when the bracket comes out.

They're Fairley Dickinson. They're St. Peter's jokes. But, you know, I think this team absolutely should. And I think they probably will be in the final four. come early April. You just mentioned, by the way, something that, let me just add to Stanford's win on New Year's Eve

over number four, Arizona. Jared Bynum, Georgetown Prepp's own Jared Bynum, who went to St. Joe's and then was in a Sweet 16 with Ed Cooley at Providence, had that, you know, extra COVID year. He's out at Stanford.

He's such a really, really good young man. I got a chance to watch him play all of his high school basketball games, and he had an excellent game in their upset win over Arizona. I think he was nine points, 11 assists, and he's a hell of a point guard in college basketball. So I was happy for him. But anyway, let's move on. Let's talk some football.

Before we get to what I really reached out for you, reached out to you for, which is to talk about the college quarterbacks, because Tim is a massive. college football guy. I do want to ask about the experience that you had on the sidelines as a sideline reporter for the Sun Bowl to watch your favorite team, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish absolutely annihilate Oregon State. It was surreal. I mean, for those who are college football fans, and I know the bowl season is not what it once was, but the Sun Bowl, it's always on CBS. It used to be New Year's Eve. This year was on the 29th.

But it's kind of a historic venue. So to be there was unique in and of itself. But to be there to cover Notre Dame and to be on their sideline the entire game, to interview Marcus Freeman at halftime and talk to the players after the game on the air. I mean, it was surreal. It really was. I mean, you know, it's very few things, Kevin, as you know, when we are in this business.

And I love every day of being in this business. But, you know, the fandom kind of gets. sucked out of you sometimes, you know, when you're, you're doing it day in and day out. And for me, I would imagine kind of like you with Maryland basketball, Notre Dame football has kind of been that steady constant of true fandom and a team that I follow is closely, more closely than any team in any sport. So to get the opportunity to go to El Paso, to do the bowl game, for them to win in the fashion that they did, you know, with the fan base being there, the band being there,

It was really neat. You know, something, as I put on Twitter, I'll never forget it. I know it wasn't Notre Dame Ohio State, a game that I did attend personally as a fan. But still, it was a great atmosphere with a sellout. The weather couldn't have been any better. And, you know, for them to go out there like they did, even without a bunch of starters. And who knows, maybe even a guy who was out of that game could be a commander. And Joe Alt, we'll see the stud left tackle that Notre Dame had this year.

but it was awesome. It was incredible. I've got an opportunity, Kevin, to do a bunch of these bowl games. Did three this year. I went to Shreveport, did the Independence Bowl, did the Vegas Bowl, and then did the Sun Bowl just the other day. But really, really great experience. I'll never forget it. And, you know, to see those gold helmets glistening up close and personal, they wore their home uniforms, so it was the blue and gold, traditional uniforms. It was pretty awesome to see. And the fun part about it, Kevin, was Notre Dame has played Oregon State in a couple of bowl games prior, and they've gotten their ass kicked in both of them. And I was at one of them in 2001, January 1st, 2001. They played Oregon State.

That was an Oregon State team whose quarterback was Jonathan Smith, who's now the head coach of Michigan State. They had Chad Johnson, they had T.J. Hushman Zada, and they absolutely just destroyed Notre Dame, 41 to 9. We spent the whole week torn in the state of Arizona. I think I had Oregon State plus the points that week. Oh my gosh. It was a beat down of epic proportions. And ironically, Notre Dame ends up beating Oregon State by almost the exact same score. That game was 41 to 9 and this game was 40 to 8.

I mean, nobody played in the game. Sam Hartman didn't play DJU, obviously, in the portal. And Oregon State had a player all season long. and I think he's going to be a really good NFL back. Damien Martinez is really, really spectacular, and he opted out of that game as well. Well, he had a DUI. He was suspended.

Oh, is that what it was? I just know that he didn't play. Yeah. I mean, I'll say this. I'll say this for Notre Dame moving forward, you know, with the 12-team playoff next year. The defense that they have is really good, and they pretty much bring the majority of that defense back.

So I think Notre Dame with Riley Leonard coming in next year should make the playoff. I'm not saying win a national championship, but remember, expanded playoff to 12 teams. I think for Notre Dame, it would be a pretty big disappointment if they do not make the playoff next year. All right, so let's talk about the two playoff games. I talked about him with Tommy a little bit, but more or less I talked about them because Tommy, you know, doesn't, he did watch the Michigan Bama game, but you're into this

like I am. Before we get to specifically the two semi-final games and your thoughts, and then the quarterbacks that will be available in the NFL draft, one thing that I have not talked about here on the podcast is the Florida State Georgia disaster. For those of you that I don't know what I'm talking about, well, chronologically, it was Florida State getting completely robbed, according to many of you, and a very controversial leaveout. of the playoff. My personal view, Tim, was the criteria was there for the committee to consider the seriousness of their injury situation at quarterback, and I didn't have a problem with what they did. I don't think Florida State in the two games without Jordan Travis proved that either

Tate Rodemaker or their third stringer could make them a competitive team or a top four team. If you didn't like it, my view was, well, then change the criteria. What was your view on that? Because you and I don't think have spent a lot of time talking about Florida State being left out. Yeah, I think I had similar mindset. I thought Florida State was going to get it. I really did. History had kind of told you that even with injuries,

and I know the Cardell Jones stepping in a situation for Ohio State in 2014 was a little bit different because they won the Big Ten championship 59 to nothing over Wisconsin, as opposed to laboring and barely beating, you know, Louisville. a team who, you know, fell to USC in the Holiday Bowl. But I really thought they were going to get in, but I didn't want them to. And I felt terrible

for the players. It's not their fault that their quarterback broke his leg. They did everything they were asked to do. They won every single game. I think the inconsistencies of the committee were shown. If it's truly okay,

the top four teams and Georgia should have been ranked ahead of Florida State. I just feel like they picked the top four and then said, all right, let's move on because let's be honest. I know SMU lost their bowl game, but SMU deserved to be in over Liberty, you know, for the group of five. And the committee doesn't care about the group of five, so they just put in Liberty because they're undefeated.

But Liberty had like the 132nd most difficult schedule, according to some metrics out there. And then they got their absolute asses handed to them against Oregon. Would SMU have it any better? I don't know. I think they would have given them a better game, but that's beside the point. So the inconsistencies from the committee have always been there. Obviously, next year, it won't be as glaring because of 12 teams as opposed to four. But, no, I think they got it right in the sense that we got the four best teams in the playoff.

And, you know, and we saw it because if Florida State played Michigan, I know there are people out there that I respect that believe that a healthy Florida State, even without Jordan Travis, would have been competitive against Michigan. It's possible, but I think the four best teams made it. I think Florida State has every right to be upset, because if that was my favorite team, if Notre Dame was 12 and O and their starting quarterback got hurt and they got left out, I would be furious. So I understand the anger from everybody involved,

but as we saw on New Year's Day, they did get it right. because the four games, the two games, excuse me, were absolutely unbelievable. Even though the Rose Bowl was a little clunky, you know, I thought both games were phenomenal to watch. The ratings bared it out, record-setting ratings for this playoff. And now, you know, next year, Florida State would have gotten a host of playoff game and, you know, would have been painful but not as painful. So, you know, I felt terrible for Florida State fans. I felt terrible for Jordan Travis, who put out that statement saying, I'm sorry I broke my leg.

But all in all, I thought the four most deserving teams did get into the playoffs. Yeah, so for those that didn't follow it, Florida State ended up with just a shitload of players opting out of the bowl game. Everybody was out against Georgia. And then the backup quarterback who missed the ACC championship game because he was concussed against Florida, he opted out like last minute to go into the transfer portal. So they went back to their third train quarterback. And, you know, it was one of those moments, honestly, Kevin, where I bet a little bit, I think, on Team Total under for Florida Stakes.

I didn't think they would score. But we all have those moments where you just realize I did not bet enough on this game because Georgia was going out there and, you know, they were going to prove a point. And I thought Kirby smart after the game. I liked what he said. saying that, look, we've got to fix this system. You know, it sucks. But, I mean, that was, that was just, I mean, that was, that was, that was varsity versus freshman team. That wasn't even varsity versus JV. Yeah. So for people that missed it, Florida State, you know, off of the very disappointing news and the news that led to, you know, every state lawmaker threatening to sue everybody and, and all of the, you know, incredible, you know, amount of belly. about how much they were robbed.

They basically had most of their team quit, and the result of it was they lost 63-3-3 in the Orange Bowl. It could have been worse if Georgia had wanted it to be worse. I actually said at one point, if Georgia wants to get 80 in this game, they can easily get it. But they took their foot off the pedal. It's the largest point differential in bowl history, the 60 points. And I haven't had a chance to talk about this,

and I didn't with Tommy yesterday. I had it on my list and I just forgot. I think it was shameful from a Florida state perspective. And I'm not against opt-outs in general. I was early on when it was brand new, you know, 10 years ago or whenever it started. But I understand, you know, players who are on the verge of potentially making millions of dollars and making a living playing professional football and not risking it on a meaningful bowl game. with circumstances that are far different than maybe a lot of you who are listening could identify with.

I am okay with that, but a lot of these players that opted out, opted out based on what coach Mike Norville said afterwards, was based on disappointment, based on hurt was the word he described. To me, that's pathetic. And, you know, the idea that they were robbed, whichever way you come down on it, but that's the way they felt, should have inspired a lot of these players to go out and prove how wrong the committee was and how robbed they really got against a team that everybody recognized was a pretty good football team in Georgia. And instead, not only did a lot of these players bail on the game, including Tate Rodemakers,

the guy that actually, to me, was the reason that they were not in the playoff. And Tim, what I mean by that is he was so awful in the game against Florida that they won, but he was more likely than not going to be healthy enough to be the starter in a playoff. And I'm talking about during the committee selection period in the second week of December. and he was so bad against the SEC's worst defense or maybe second worst defense behind LSU, that it was clear that he nor the third stringer was anywhere near good enough to make Florida State at least somewhat overcome the loss of Jordan Travis. I actually think the Florida game was the game in many ways that determined Florida State's fate.

but to have these players to bellyache as much as they did. And I'm not saying that they weren't hurt and justified. I mean, my opinion is my opinion, but I understand the opposing view. But although I still think the criteria led the committee to do what they had. It gave them the ability to do what they did. And if you don't like that, well, then they should change the criteria. But that was disgusting what Florida State put out there. And then from Norville's standpoint, I love him, and I think he's done a phenomenal job.

He should have taken more accountability for what happened in that game. He should have said, I'm very disappointed because it's my job as a head coach to not only put the best product out there, but I have the job of also developing young men to a certain degree. And a lot of our guys decided they were too hurt to play. I'm talking about mentally hurt. Well, it should have been my job to convince them that that's too bad, that, you know, life throws some unfairness your way every once in a while and you fight through it. I thought it was a disgraceful display by Florida State.

And really more important than that, I was disappointed in Norville's handling in the post game. I know they felt like they were shit on and that this was a really bad deal. But I think there was a more responsible and a more mature response that he could have given. More importantly, that he could have affected before that game was ever played. But there are several of those players that are probably not going to be giving up millions of dollars. And it was unique. It wasn't your normal opt-out situation, in my opinion. Your thoughts?

Yeah, no, and there's a bunch to unpack there. I think the opt-out, the Keon Coleman, the Johnny Wilson guys who are going to play in the pros, Jared Burns. Those guys, I totally get it. Because Brock Bowers opted out for Georgia as well. You know, it makes sense. You know, I do think when it comes to the bowl system, they've got to figure out the calendar because, you know, you look at some of these group of five schools.

I'm going on a little bit of a tangent here, but some of the group of five schools, you know, Miami of Ohio didn't have their starting quarterback, you know, for their bowl game. You know, it's, they got to figure out the schedule, the calendar for the portal and all of that. I mean, once again, I'm totally fine with players transferring. If coaches can leave, players should be able to leave. If you're crushing it at a G5, you should be able to, cash in and go to Power 5, whatever. But, you know, we've seen it trickle down where it used to just be opt-out

to the pros and now it's opt-outs for transfers. So, you know, bowl system's never going away, folks. Just put that through your brains because, you know, 3.9 million people, I think I saw today, watch the Alamo Bowl. You know, so these bowl games, get ratings. They outrate NBA games. They outrate NHL games. They're not going anywhere.

but hopefully they could figure out, you know, the calendar. So some of these lesser schools without a ton of pros can get these guys to play in a bowl game. And then if they want to transfer up, they can, you know, they can do so. But, yeah, I mean, yeah, it's tough because, you know, life is full of adversity and you're going to have situations in life where, you know, things don't work out. And there's no doubt. You know who it didn't work out for? It didn't work out for Bo Nix, did it?

Bo Nix did not play well in the Pac-12 championship game. They were nine and a half-point favorites. All they had to do was win that game, and they were likely going to be in the playoff too. Would have been a really interesting conversation. But he came in and played in that bowl game against Liberty and threw five touchdown passes. And he is going to get drafted. He's probably going to be like a second round kick, too.

Yeah. Yeah. So I just, I, I turned. that game on early and then I could not believe what I was seeing. And I did not really follow the opt-out situation heading into it. So as I'm watching and I'm thinking, man, that's a lot. So you know, you start looking at a lot of these players, you're like, why are they opting out? Okay, transfer portal. But still, they should have been hungry to prove something. And then I think the head coach, his response just bothered me. But anyway, we move on. Let's get to

the reason I called you. A little slow getting to it. But let's talk quarterbacks, Michael Pennix Jr's performance on Monday night. The quarterbacks that you like that are coming out, you'll put them in order for us as well. And we will get to that right after these words

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another place where you are wagering. I would suggest MyBooky as your second sports book. MyBooky.orgie.com. promo code Kevin, D.C. All right, let's get to why I called you, the quarterbacks, and I want to start with this. Was there anybody more impressive on Monday evening or Monday night than Michael Pennix, Jr.? He was unbelievable. I mean, there's really no other way, and I probably use that word too much. but that was the way to define Michael Pennex. He was spectacular. He was, he's not, even though Michael Urban said he reminds him of Michael Vick, he's not a runner, right?

He's a pocket passer, but he's elusive enough, Kevin, that when pressure comes, he can sidestep it long enough and then make a dart of a throw. And, you know, secondly, the second most impressive part of that game was the pass catchers. I mean, Roma Dunesay, Jalen Pol, I mean, hell, if you want to put the kid, the walk-on, tight-end, Westover, McMillan. These dudes catch everything, Kevin.

I heard a stat that he threw 20 passes to, I think, Adunze Polk, Westover, and McMillan, and 19 of them were caught. Like, it's unbelievable the rhythm that these guys are in. His deep ball is just perfection. It drops into the bucket. It is spectacular to watch. And, you know, as I'm sure we're going to get into here with Washington needing a quarterback, he's older, he's got multiple ACL injuries in the past.

He's not, you know, he's not Jade and Daniels. He's not going to run for a thousand yards. And I wouldn't spend a second pick or third pick on him. But, man, you get that feeling like, this dude, I feel like he can be a good pro. He's just, he's so precise and seems to be so smart and understands the game. And he just look at his numbers, and he's been phenomenal for these last two years. But you've got to remember this. And this is a bit of a knock on him, was that after the Oregon game, the regular season, Oregon game, he got banged up.

I know. And he did not play great. Like there were some games where he didn't really play all that. Arizona State. You could throw out the Oregon State game because it was like a monstores. soon there in Corvallis, but Arizona State, he threw a couple picks. I mean, they should have lost that game. Hell, they should have, they were on the ropes at Stanford, a terrible team if Stanford converts a fourth down. So he was awesome, though. I mean, there's no other way

to put it. He was fantastic. His receivers were tremendous. He had complete control of that game, and I'll be honest, Kevin, as we watched that game, and I know it was, you know, the Johnson injury and then the kick catch interference. I'm like, how the hell can Texas win this game right now. That's been an issue for Washington all year. They have an inability to put teams away. Since the Arizona game in late September, Kevin, these are the outcome. 738, 9, 10, 7, 2, 3, 3, 6. Like, they can't put teams away. Well, they beat Arizona State by 8. That was like 15 to 7, I think. Well, yeah. In Arizona State, by the way, a game that I had Arizona State, no big deal.

They threw a pick six late in that one. Arizona State, I think if I remember correctly, Arizona State missed like three fuel goals. Arizona State should have won that game outright. And they were like one in five going in. And they basically handed the game away to them. But if I remember correctly, I think Washington was down in the fourth quarter against Arizona State. I don't remember if they were down. I just remember the result.

I pull up the box score right now. They were trailing seven to three going into the fourth quarter. They were down seven to six with like 11 minutes to go and Arizona State threw a pick six. So in watching Pennix so much during the course of the year, there were times where I was like, no, he's got this weird flicking of the ball. He really flicks it. The deep ball is so pretty, but man, can he be wildly inaccurate at times with short throws, which we saw? We saw that in the Oregon State game. I know the weather was bad that night. I think it is interesting, by the way, just to inject gambling into this is just how disrespected or how poorly evaluated they've been

by the odds makers. You know, the odds makers have missed on Washington. You know, they were an underdog against Oregon State. They were a big underdog against Oregon after beating them in the regular season. They were a four-and-a-half-point dog against Texas as, you know, the number two seed in this thing. But the deep ball's always been there. I thought what was really so impressive about Monday night is Texas, as you know, has a pretty good front four. There was actual pressure on a lot of the dropbacks, but he did such a great job in the pocket, as you described.

It was really something that we saw at times this year, but not necessarily consistently all year. Although he really didn't take sacks. He was always able to unload it. But remember, they didn't play a Monday night is going to be the true measuring stick game for him. That's the best defense he'll face all year by far based on their schedule and playing in the Pack 12. but I just think he has such great feel in the pocket. He's more mobile than anybody gives him credit for. To me, it's an issue of accuracy in the short-to-medium-range ball,

which he didn't have any problem with on Monday night until late. But I was very impressed. He's still for me, I mean, I want to see Monday night, and I may change my mind. I'm open to changing my mind after I see him against that Michigan DeV's. defense. But I still don't think he's Jaden Daniels or Caleb Williams for me, probably not Drake May. And it's funny, we'll get to some of these other guys to wrap it up. But we talked about, and everybody's talked about the Michael Pennock Steep ball. I think what people who didn't watch

Jaden Daniels week in and week out and just see this incredible speed and playmaking ability, he probably through the second best deep ball of any of these quarterbacks, and maybe it's right there with Panix Jr., because he throws a phenomenal deep ball as well. So anyway, I think what we're going to see is Monday night kind of determined. I think he's already moved into the area of somebody's going to take him in the first round. After the last couple of performances. Yeah, I think only thing that, they could hold him back.

And Hendon Hooker was different because he literally had a torn ACL, so he was not going to play this year. The injuries could pop up. I do want to point something out, though, just, I think odds makers, to your point, don't know what to do with this team, because you're right, they were wrong against Texas. They were wrong against Oregon. However, this is a team that was a 15-point favorite against Washington State

and went for a fourth down in their own territory. in a tie game at home and won that game by three, you know? So it's like they don't know what the hell to do with this team. So no, and that's where, you know, I know we're talking more quarterbacks and whatnot, but that's where my mind, and you think similarly to me, I'm looking at this point spread right now for this national championship. And I'm just saying, man, that's just begging you to take Washington. And it feels like it's going to be a very trendy dog situation like it was in the Sugar Bowl.

And both you and I were ended up on Texas. We were wrong. But, you know, Kevin, the more and more I start looking at it, I do like Michigan. I haven't bet it yet, but I do like the Wolverines here. But, man, it does have a potential feeling of we walk into that Monday night and we're like, damn it, we bet against this dude who just seems like he's a magician, you know, with the ball in his hands.

And he's got, I mean, here's the thing, too, Kevin. NFL receivers everywhere, yeah. weapons on both sides, Michigan don't got the guys that he's throwing to. I mean, Roma Dunezay is a first round pick. You know, Jalen Polk, I don't know where he'll get drafted, but he's a pro. McMillan's a pro. I mean, they got dudes everywhere. We'll see about their run game, though.

Dylan Johnson, apparently he's going to play, but he looked really hurt at the end of that game against Texas. It cost them a lot of time and gave Texas a lot of time to pull off in your miracle. Well, I love Kalin-Dabor. I think he made a massive mistake not taking, not necessarily three knees, but I would have snapped it to Pennix in the shotgun, let him roll out, roll out, burn three, four seconds, slide down three times, and then pun it with, you know, 15 seconds left and give them, you know, 85 yards to go with 15 seconds and no timeouts. I thought that was a massive mistake running plays there.

But anyway, look, I have been, I think I've been really. wrong on Washington. I think I was wrong against them. I think I had SC. I know I had Oregon State, because Oregon State was favored in that game. I know I had 100 percent. I had Oregon for the maximum with that big number. And I had Texas. And you know what? I'm probably going to have Michigan on Monday night because it's going to be a public Washington play. And we'll see what happens with where the sharp dollars go through the course of the week. All right, I want to quickly get your thoughts and wrap it up with quarterbacks. So right now, what's your order?

Caleb won. Caleb Williams. I still have him won. Look, I'm not a talent evaluator. I'm just the guy who watches football. But I really like Caleb Williams, even though he's got to clean up his kind of backyard football, running around with the ball is a loaf of bread deal. He fumbles a lot. But I still think he's special.

And I'm not going to have one year where it felt like he had to do it all because his defense was absolute garbage deter me of that. It does raise a little bit more of a red flag. Like what was up with his past year, as opposed to his sophomore year where he won the Heisman trophy, but

I still think Caleb Williams is the potential to be pretty special. Look, I'm not down on Drake May. I'm just really high on Jason Daniel. I have him as I think he's going to be a really special player. He's a slight body, right? But he's a bigger dude. He's 6'4.

He can run. I think he's the type of quarterback that we've seen be successful in the NFL. You know, he was he was fantastic this year, going to some really good receivers, but he ran for over a thousand yards. I think Jaden Daniels is going to be special. And, you know, if Washington can't get Caleb Williams, My preference would be Daniels over Drake May.

That's just me watching college football. You know, it's funny. I have Mike Stanford, who is a former offensive coordinator, Colorado, Minnesota. He was the offensive coordinator at Utah State when Jordan Love was there. And, boy, he is not a big believer in Drake May. He doesn't see it. He doesn't think he's going to be a great pro. Obviously, a lot of differing opinions on that.

And then, you know, the Pennix injury history, this makes me nervous. So I would have him probably for Kevin, but look, what we've seen so far, the precision, his what seems to be kind of moxie-slash-smarts of just knowing when to get rid of the ball. And then, you know, we'll see. Bo Nix certainly has helped out his stock. He's going to the Senior Bowl. But both Pennix and Knicks are going to the Senior Bowl. And I think that'll be a really interesting challenge for them.

And I think we'll learn a lot from those two guys when they go to the Senior Bowl. February. I'm with you on Daniels. I think we've talked about that, you know, certainly not on the air. He's special, man. He's special. Yeah, I have one concern, one concern only. Not knowing the, you know, the intangible stuff enough. And that is just the frame. I wish he were 15 pounds thicker. But I actually think there's a chance that he could end up being the number one pick overall by the time we get to April. But The quarterback you didn't mention, and I talked a little bit yesterday, I think, with Tommy about, is J.J. McCarthy. He's been number four pretty much in every mock, and certainly was before bowl season began. I don't see it with him. What do you see? Yeah. I think he's a big-bodied athlete, but I think he would, he's a big-bodied athlete. but I think he will he'll come out I would imagine but I think he could really benefit from another year and you know I think there's two trains of thought Kevin where you think back to the Penn State game

where he didn't attempt a forward pass I think it was one pass there were pass interference right but yeah it's not a situation where I don't think they I don't think they didn't trust him no but I do think it's a situation where they felt like they didn't need him He was seven of eight in that game. Okay, let me just, for those that didn't see Michigan beat Penn State in what was, you know, Penn's first real opponent of the year, J.J. McCarthy was seven and eight, seven for eight for the game. He was not hurt for 60 yards.

I think there was a stretch. Didn't they run the ball every play in the fourth quarter, like 19 straight times or something like that? Kevin, the second half, they didn't attempt to pass. It was the second half. didn't attempt to pass. The whole second half. Yeah. Yeah, the whole second half. So, look, I think he's got it in there. I think there's a lot, and he made some plays, you know, and like I said, he does not have the receivers that Pennix or Knicks or Nicks or Daniels have or had. You know, Roman Wilson, you know, made that really

big catch, and I thought the drive to get him in the end zone took some balls, and that was impressive there from J.J. McCarthy, but I don't know, man. He's definitely not a first round pick to me. I think someone will fall in love with his size and his athleticism, but I would much rather have the other four

than J.J. McCarthy. I just, I don't know how you can trust. And look, maybe when he gets into a system, he'll flourish. But, boy, I think that's a pretty big risk when the proof is in the pudding of the other four guys. Like, we've seen them throw

regularly. And that was the thing, too, you know, from a betting standpoint, you know, a lot of people were saying J.J. McCarthy could win the Hizman trophy. I'm like, how the hell is that guy going to win the Hivesman trophy? They don't trust them. They don't throw the ball. They run it regularly. And look, come Monday night,

he can make us all eat our words and he could play phenomenally well. I thought he played pretty well at times in the Rose Bowl. So he certainly could play well against Washington, but let's remember that he might ball out. Washington, by far and way, of the four teams that are in the playoff, Kevin, per every metric, is the worst

defense in the playoff. It is not even really close of all the metrics of where Washington is defensively as opposed to the other three teams that were in the playoffs. And I'm correct in saying that this will easily be the toughest defense that Washington's faced all year, right? Or them are Oregon. Yeah, I was going to say Oregon's pretty good. Yeah, Oregon was. and look, they did a number on them twice.

I mean, I think the biggest thing is, and look, Texas, you know, and what I was wrong about was I thought Texas would really, you know, get enough pressure. And, you know, as we watch that game, the edges for Texas clearly weren't up to snuff. And Washington does have the best offensive line in the country. They won the Joe Moore Award. But, I mean, just go back and watch that Rose Bowl, folks. I mean, the defensive line for Michigan is on another level, man.

They get after you. They got after Jalen Milrow. And now you could say Jail and Milro made some mistakes. I don't know. I mean, that would be more of a cooey thing. You know, is he making the wrong reads? He holds it too long. They made good adjustments in the second half, no doubt.

But, no, Michigan defensively is nasty. Hell, I mean, you could almost make the case maybe after Ohio State that Maryland had the most success against them than any team on their schedule all year. Music City Bowl champs, the Maryland Terrapins. You know what? I mean, I said to Tommy, I think I said earlier in the week. I'm proud of Mike Loxley. I mean, proud.

I'm happy for Mike Loxley. Who am I to be proud of him? I'm happy for Mike Loxley because I know what they are up against, what they're up against in terms of where they are stature-wise, you know, at Maryland, and then what they've been up against in the Big Ten. And I know what that place was when he got there after the Jordan McNair death and all of the, you know, incredible turmoil that followed. He is a phenomenal communicator. He really relates to young people. Does a phenomenal job motivating them. And look, people, Maryland fans were upset that they didn't win nine or ten games this year.

The two losses were they were double-digit favorites. Northwestern turned out to be a pretty good team. The Illinois, Illinois had a couple of moments here and there, but it's not like they, you know, that they didn't lose to Coppin State in a, you know, or an early season game against a, against an FCS team. So anyway. Yeah, no. And just to double down on that real quickly, because I remember there were a couple tweets out there saying, oh, Loxley's on the hot seat.

I'm like, what are you? Exactly. Do you realize how terrible this program has been? Do you want another Randy Edsel situation? Look, I agree a million percent with what you said about, you know, Phrygian and that moronic decision to get rid of Frigian, which completely backfired and blew up in their face. Look, this is, unfortunately, and, you know, you're a Maryland. an alum and a lot of Maryland fans are listening. Could they have won eight or nine games this year?

Yeah, I think so. Could they have beaten Illinois or Northwestern? Yeah, probably. But to your point, look, I did the sidelines for Northwestern. That's a badass defense, man. That is a really good defense. They got some dudes there. Offensively, their challenge, no doubt.

But for Maryland to go out and smash Auburn like they did, an Auburn team that, boy, they looked completely uninterested. And let's remember this. I know it's the bowl season, and it's hard to kind of put everything into perspective, but Auburn with a first-year head coach had their starting quarterback, and this is a team that ran it down Alabama's throat. And if it weren't for a moronic decision to only rush two on a final play on a fourth and 30, you know, from the –

31 – fourth and goal from the 30, right? They beat Alabama, and Maryland went out and kicked their ass. Like, kicked their ass from the jump. and that was really impressive. So, you know, I know they went for the portal and they brought in the kid from NC State, but I want to see more from this kid, Billy Edwards, man. Like, he's a fun kid to watch.

Yeah, I actually know that they have liked him. But he is definitely a different type of quarterback. I mean, he's a big, strong dude, and he's a runner. So we'll see. Anyway, great job. I appreciate it, as always. Happy New Year. Follow Tim on Twitter, listen to his show, Vee's and Live Prime Time. And I will talk to you, well, I will talk to you every day because we are involved in a group text talking numbers and games with Steve Sands, who I saw last night.

Sands came, it was at the Maryland game last night with wife and boys, and it was good to see the Sands family in College Park last night. All right, I'll talk to you. Thanks for doing this. All right, Kevin. See you. Tim Murray, everybody. And that will do it for the day. Back tomorrow with Tommy.