The Kevin Sheehan Show - Lock It Up- Skins Will Beat Panthers, Plus Cooley!

Episode Date: October 12, 2018

Kevin really likes the Redskins' chances to bounce back and beat the Panthers on Sunday. Kevin goes through the keys to beating the Panthers and reveals what happened at halftime between Josh Norman and Jay Gruden Monday night in New Orleans. Kevin goes through the biggest games of the weekend for Friday Football Quick Picks. Stanford Steve from the Scott Van Pelt Show on ESPN joins Kevin for some intense college football gambling discussion. Then, Cooley calls in to discuss what happened in New Orleans on Monday, talks about his recently launched podcast/film breakdown, and they preview Skins/Panthers. Andy Pollin comes in to look back at some memorable Redskins/Panthers games. Kevin then unveils one of the highest volume Smell Tests he's ever had...18 college/NFL Smell Test picks this weekend! Kevin finishes up with Redskins Score and More. <p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p> Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You want it. You need it. It's what everyone's talking about. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Now here's Kevin. I'm here. Aaron's here. This show's presented by Window Nation. If you're in the market for Windows, call 86690 Nation or go to Window Nation.com and tell them that I told you to call. Please, surprise guest coming up on the show. Also, Andy Poland will be on a little bit later on. In Stanford, Steve, my boy from Scott Van Pelt's Sports Center show. His handicapping of college football so far this year is sizzling on fire. He's going to join us in a little bit as well. Also coming up as part of Skins Beat Panthers if, I will tell you at the very end of that when our special guest leaves, I will tell you what I learned yesterday from a pretty good source as to why Josh Norman was benched to start the second half of the New Orleans game.

I have a scoop on that. Real quickly, what a beautiful day. Finally, finally, we've got fall weather, courtesy of Michael, which did some of the most horrific damage I think we have ever seen our hurricane do. Have you seen the pictures, Aaron, of Mexico Beach, Florida? It's unbelievable. It's, you know, the old saying it looks like a nuclear bomb went off. That's what it looked like.

It was, if you haven't seen some of the video taken by some of the storm chasers that were at ground zero, which apparently was this Mexico Beach, Florida, and Callaway and Tyndall Air Force Base, which was the eastern eye wall of the hurricane. A lot of the live shots that CNN and Weather Channel and others were doing were on the western eyewall of that hurricane, which is never the most severe. If you haven't seen that video, it's all over YouTube. Actually, the Capitol Weather Gang did a really good job of sending out a lot of the video. It's actually saddening to watch because essentially, I don't think I've ever seen video of wind like that.

I know Hurricane Andrew in 1992 essentially wiped Homestead, Florida, which was south of Miami, wiped it off the map. I don't think it even has come back to this very day to what it was before. And for some of those towns on the eastern eyewall, Mexico Beach in particular, it's gone. I mean, very few structures stayed up. An amazing, an amazing weather day. But that storm has sort of ushered in. We felt the rain last night, the wind, and we have fall weather now. And I don't think we're going back to that humid summer weather anymore.

I think right now we're good as far as lower humidity, cooler temperatures. and there is your weather on the nines to start the show. The Eagles destroyed the Giants last night, 34 to 13. They're 3 and 3 now. So for the first time in a few weeks, the Redskins are not in sole possession of first place in the NFC East. They could get there with a win on Sunday over the Panthers, and I'll get to that in a few minutes.

But on the Giants being 1 in 5, and parenthetically, I would say their season is over at 1 and 5. And I was dead wrong about the Giants. I thought that they had the talent. I still think they have the talent. They do have the talent. They've got the talent. I thought they were going to be a good team,

one of those teams that was horrible last year, but turns it around in one year. But I will say this on their record. While I will preface what I'm going to say with Eli Manning isn't very good right now and may never be good again, I agree with that, but I'll also say in the same breath that if you blame him solely for the one in five record,

you are really reaching. His offensive line is horrifyingly bad. They can't run block, and they make up for it by being horrible pass blockers. It's the worst offensive line in the NFL, as it has been for a few years now. And for those of you that somehow justify O'Dell Beckham Jr.'s behavior, because his quarterback can't get him the ball enough, please. There's nothing that justifies O'Dell Beckham's behavior in a team's behavior. In case you missed it last night,

Oll O'Dell left the field before the end of the first half. As the Giants, I saw the report. Aaron's raising his hand, and I did see what they said. I don't believe it, but I saw what they said. Odell left the field before the end of the first half, looking sulky as he was walking off the field. The Giants still had one play after Philadelphia missed a field goal attempt. They had one final play before halftime. Now he claims he was heading in for an IV because he was dehydrated.

And the coach, Pat Schumer, did back it up. But it seemed fishy because when asked again if he could have stayed on the field for that final play, Shermer said, quote, he went back to the locker room, close quote. I think they're covering for him. I think that he is, I could be wrong. and maybe he was dehydrated and he needed an IV. But I'll tell you one thing, if you're going to try to throw a Hail Mary at the end of a half,

13's the guy you'd want on the field. Now, they didn't throw a Hail Mary. They threw a quick wide receiver, you know, punch screen and tried to, you know, have Sterling Shepard run it in from 60 yards out. Beckham would be a good guy for that too. He'd be a pretty decent guy for that as well. By the way, all of that happened on the same day that ESPN reported that the Giants find Beckham

an undisclosed amount for doing that interview last week with ESPN where he took a shot at Eli Manning and also took a shot at just playing in New York, said that he likes warm weather and likes Los Angeles more. But that must have made the team thrilled, considering they just gave him the largest contract for a wide receiver in the NFL barely a month ago. Look, that's on them. They gave a massive long-term deal to an unstable, self-absorbed,

incredibly selfish player who has nobody's back but his own. That's it. Eli's not very good anymore. I'm not absolving him of any of the blame for the Giants 1 and 5 start. He's looked awful at times. But my God, he's been sacked 20 times so far this year. The most of any quarterback in the league, that offensive line is a sieve. It's garbage.

It's a shame, too, because imagine what Saquan Barkley would be doing with some good blocking in front of He's unbelievable. Wow. He's unbelievable. What a talent, Barclay is. And it's going to be wasted. Well, for the time being, it's going to be wasted. I think for the next couple years, at least.

The Giants are done. They've given a complete and utter self-centered crazy person, a huge long-term contract. And so far, it doesn't appear as if Pat Schumer is the kind of coach that can manage a maniac like Beckham. He's great. He's a top two to three talent at his position, but he's going to be too much for Shermer. You can tell that already. He needs to be coached by a dictator. He needs Belichick, Zimmer, Tomlin, Harbaugh.

Giants can't manage a fool like him. It's not going to happen. And again, Eli Manning looks terrible too, but he's not the only reason they're one in five. I do wonder if this will be the offseason that giant fans rail against for years to come, paying Beckham the deal they paid him and not drafting Eli's replacement at number two

overall, even though they got a great player. They had a chance if they liked Darnold or liked Allen or any of them, except for Baker Mayfield, clearly, who went number one overall, they had a chance to get Eli's replacement in this draft. Yeah, I mean, what you were saying before, people seem to not realize the fact that you can say, yeah, there's no talent on the Giants on the offensive line and stuff while also saying Eli Manning's not good. People are saying it has to be one or the other. It doesn't. It's both. It's both. I will tell you this, though, if Eli had better protection, if he had a much better offensive line, you'd see some of, I believe, what you've seen from

Eli in the past. I know he's older. I know he looks skittish. I know that there are times where he looks like he's got happy feet and he's not throwing accurately. Even when he's getting protection, he's missing guys. Yeah, it's true. Again, I'm not taking him off the hook. I'm not excusing him, but it's much larger than just Eli. Remember this. They did draft a guy that a lot of people liked in this draft. Kyle Aletta, the quarterback from Richmond, that a lot of people think is a pro quarterback. They drafted him in the fourth round.

So they do have a younger quarterback on the roster that may have a chance to develop. And I would bet if you're a giant fan right now, you want to see anybody but, Eli. All right, let's get to the Redskins beat Panthers if. All right, before I get to Redskins beat Panthers, if I want to, I don't want to make a big deal out of this game like I did the Monday night game because I almost feel like I'll be jinxing it again. Monday night I said this was a real measuring stick game for this team. They haven't had a lot of them like Monday night because it was sort of a referendum on whether or not this defense was really on the rise. It was a referendum on whether or not Alex Smith was getting it with Jay Gruden because they were playing a poor defensive team. And they failed miserably on all fronts.

But I do think that this game, forget the NFC East landscape. It's not about whether or not you can win the division at 7 and 9. It's whether or not you've got a good football team and can go out, and as my old friend Steve Zabin used to say, have yourself a season. Can you go out and have yourself a season? Well, if they're going to go have themselves a season, this game is nearly must win. It certainly must play better.

It's a crossroads game to a certain extent because if you win it, you bounce back all of a sudden, you forget what happened Monday night, and you get ready for Dallas coming to town a week from Sunday. If you lose it, we know enough about this organization over the years, especially as you start to sense the end of a coaching tenure. And it can unravel quickly. So this game is big, really, really big. It's really big because of the way they lost on Monday night.

You can sort of envision it intuitively, can't you? That if they play poorly again and lose after what happened. Monday night that in that locker room with some of the characters that exist and Jay Gruden being on a legitimate hot seat, the whole thing could spiral out of control quickly. But if they win and they're impressive winning, then you're still in first place at three and three. I'm sorry, you're in first place at three and two, a half game ahead of the Eagles who are three and three, and you've got a big division matchup, your first one of the season coming in the following Sunday against the Cowboys.

All right, the Redskins beat the Panthers if, if they're balanced offensively, if it's not clear to those of you that thought the skins had traded for Dan Marino, they didn't. Alex Smith succeeds on good teams with good talent and a legitimate balanced attack with a legitimate rush offense. on the first two teams he played for that ended up with winning records where he started the 2011 and 2012-49ers. They had the eighth ranked rush offense in 2011. The Niners did and the fourth ranked rush offense with Frank Gore in 2012.

Now remember, 2012, Kaepernick replaced him and he went to Kansas City where he quarterbacked the chiefs to six straight seasons of winning records. In five of those six seasons, the Chiefs had a top 10 rushing offense. Jamal Charles, Spencer Ware, Kareem Hunt, good offensive lines, a good offensive coach, an elite tight end. Last two years, talent and speed on the outside. Jay Gruden and Bill Callahan haven't been great at scheming up a running game, but they need to do it and hopefully they'll have Adrian Peterson around long enough and healthy enough to help out. As of right now, the Redskins are averaging 3.9 yards per carry that's 22nd in the NFL.

If that continues, it's going to be a long season offensively. It's going to be a long year for Alex Smith. By the way, another by the way, part of their rushing offense should include Alex Smith as a runner, a read option runner, a speed option runner, a quarterback draw runner. The threat of him is a runner, will aid the overall rush offense. It did in Kansas City. They've got to be balanced Sunday to beat the Panthers. I think through four games, those of you, and I heard from all of you on Twitter

over the last seven months telling me the last guy sucked, and the new guy was Joe Montana. Well, the new guy isn't Joe Montana. You can't ask him to drop back and lead them to a 400-yard offensive day with 28 points. That's not what he does. He needs a balanced attack.

They have to have one Sunday. The second reason the skins will beat the Panthers. They got to stop the run, or at least slow it down. So run the football, stop the run, don't turn it over. All cliches in NFL prognostication. But it's true because the Panthers lead the league averaging 154 yards. per game. Christian McCaffrey is becoming a star. As a receiver, definitely. He's averaging nearly seven catches a game, but he's been very good as a runner. He's averaging 5.2 yards per carry.

Cam is running early, and he's running often this year. Averaging 4.6 yards per carry on about 9.5 carries per game. There's a lot of zone read. There's a lot of designed run. There's a lot a scramble as part of that. Norv Turner knows the value of presenting Cam Newton as a runner. C.J. Anderson is a Panther. He's averaging 5.3 yards per carry when he touches it four to five times a game. The Panthers are going to be physical with 11 people involved in their rush offense more than any other team in the league. And when I say 11 involved, when you present your quarterback as a run threat. It's 11 on 11 versus typically 10 on 11 in traditional run offenses. This is the value of the zone read of having your quarterback be a run threat. It's a huge advantage in the

NFL as we've seen over the last few years to have a quarterback presented consistently as a legitimate run threat throughout a game. Norv Turner's not playing around. He knows Cam when posed as a run threat makes his offense that much tougher to deal with. The Redskins have a good defensive front, despite what we saw the other night. They can slow the run down. That's the key defensively. Put the game on Cam's arm. Now, Greg Olson may be back for this game.

And their first rounder, Terp, DJ Moore, had his first decent game last week against the Giants. They targeted him more last week than they've targeted him all season long. They've got Devin Funches. It's not, you know, you're not talking about the Atlanta Falcons right now with Julio Jones and Calvin Ridley. You're not talking about the best wide receiving setup in the league. Minnesota's with Thielen and Diggs, but he's got some weapons. And Greg Olson back for Cam Newton this weekend if he's playing is Cam's lifelong

professional career security blanket. Stop the run. Don't let the Panthers dictate with seven. second and four and second and three throughout the game. If that happens, it's going to be very difficult to win the game. Lastly, the skins beat the Panthers if they've got to fix their coverage issues, their communication issues. Greg Olson back, DJ Moore playing better, Devin Funches, who's got 420 plus yard catches through four games. McCaffrey's a matchup nightmare. And by the way, they will screen him to death against a Redskins defense that really struggled

against the screen on Monday night. So the Redskins defense must read and react to screen much better than they have. Josh Norman's got to be better. It's got to be much better. They've got to have communication and no more coverage breakdowns. How many busted coverages have we seen in the first four weeks? A lot of them were on Monday night. A few of them were in the indie game.

And there was at least one in the Green Bay game. Josh Norman, let me share with you what I learned from a reliable source on the condition of anonymity. I'm not breaking news here, all right? That's not my job. Never been a reporter. I love the people out there for years. You're a reporter. Play it straight. No, no, no, that's not what we do. We are paid. Well, I used to be paid. Now I'm trying to get paid to have opinions, very strong opinions, not report news. but every once in a while over the years, those of you that have listened to me, I have occasionally stumbled upon some information. And typically I have to weigh that information as to how valuable I think that the source is, how reliable I think the source is,

and whether or not the source would have a legitimate connection to what happened in that locker room at halftime in New Orleans on Monday night. This is what I've learned. The reason Josh Norman was benched for the start of the second half against the Saints had very little to do with him getting lost in coverage on the record breaker where the defense just laid down. At halftime, according to my source, he put his headphones on while the coaches were addressing the team.

Jay Gruden told him to take him off. He either didn't hear Jay or he ignored him. But with that, I was told the headphones were removed. by whom my source said he believes that it was Gruden who removed the headphones from Norman's head but regardless Gruden benched him to start the third quarter

and that was the reason why my source also tells me that there is not a lot of good vibes when it comes to Norman among several of the coaches right now. Not much they can do about it. They're hopeful he begins to play better. They're hopeful

that he acts professionally the rest of the year and for my view, I think he handled the aftermath of the New Orleans game, the Twitter fight with Michael Thomas, what happened at halftime, the criticism from DeAngelo Hall, I thought he handled himself pretty well this week. I think he's a guy that is not, I think he's savvy. I think he gets that perhaps he did not behave well last week, Monday night and Tuesday. But there's frustration right now with Norman. I'm never frustrated with Windon Nation. And you wouldn't be either if you choose to use them, which I would ask that you do.

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Window Nation. 86690 Nation or Window Nation.com. Everything you need to know for your football weekend. It's Friday Football QuickPix. All right, let's get to some Friday Football QuickPix. Let's start by picking the best games of the weekend. Tomorrow, there is a really good college football game. There are a couple of them. But LSU, Georgia, in Baton Rouge, 330 CB. The Bulldogs are seven-point favorites. This is a part of the schedule for LSU that included Florida at the swamp last week, Georgia this week, Mississippi State next week, and then after a buy, they get Alabama. Now, tomorrow's game and Mississippi State and Alabama are all in Baton Rouge. But the SEC, man, the east and the west this year, it's just so far ahead of any other league this year.

It isn't always. Many times we'll say the SEC West is the best division of any conference in college football. But the East is strong as well now. Georgia's the number two team in the country. Florida is really playing well. Kentucky's been a surprise. Georgia has wins at South Carolina and at Missouri, but that's really it. And those don't really qualify this year anyway as major tests. They could have lost that Missouri game. Missouri, really had a bunch of turnovers and block punts and they sort of did and then Georgia was responsible for a lot of that but it was a bit of a self-inflicted loss for Missouri they were right there with Georgia and actually Missouri's not a terrible team they lost last week to South Carolina after a long rain delay but or lightning delay but they too um they too are in the

midst of a hellish stretch uh Georgia after really having again just South Carolina and Missouri as the two tough tests this year. They've got LSU on the road tomorrow, Florida and Jacksonville after a buy next week, and then they're at Kentucky who's been a surprise this year, and then they host Auburn. You know who doesn't have a tough schedule in the SEC this year? The best team in the country, Alabama? Alabama hasn't played anybody, and they have one game, one game that is a potential test for Bama this year. And that's a game. And that's a game. that is Baton Rouge, you know, in early November, you know, at night. That's it. I mean, Alabama so far now, you know, some people have suggested that Missouri is good enough to make

it a competitive game. I don't see that necessarily. But they're at Tennessee. They play Mississippi State at home. They got to play Auburn. But so far this year, so far this year, it's been at Ole Miss and Texas A&M. That's been it. That's been the whole schedule for Alabama. You talk about an easy road to undefeated. It's Bama. Look, this LSU Georgia game tomorrow, there's a quarterback dilemma to a certain extent at Georgia.

Remember, Jake Fromm led them to the national championship game last year. Yes, they did. And this guy, Justin Fields, who Scott was on yesterday, if you miss Scott Van Pelt, you can go back and listen to that show. He was great yesterday. We talked a lot about the college football weekend. Justin Fields is one of the top two quarterbacks in the country, five-star guy, and there's a real clamoring among the fan base to see Fields play more,

and he's played well when he's been in there. I'd really be surprised if they end up going to sort of a two-quarterbacks thing the rest of the way with this schedule. Fromm's played against it. He's good. You get LSU coming off a draining loss at Florida. This is a great football game on paper. Joe Burrow, I like him. I know his numbers don't really back up. he's an improvement at quarterback for LSU, but he's much more aggressive. He throws the ball

down the field. Their offensive coordinator is better. I like LSU plus the seven. If I had to play it. It's not more likely than not. It's not a smell test pick, but I like LSU to win at home. And we're going to learn a hell of a lot about what Georgia is in this first big test for the Bulldogs. If they're a playoff team, Georgia this year, they more likely than not can't get to the playoff if they lose tomorrow in Baton Rouge. Now, they could come back and beat Alabama in an SEC title game that could put them in there. But that doesn't seem likely. That doesn't seem like anybody's going to beat Alabama. Certainly not on a neutral field. Another really good game tomorrow was Washington laying three and a half at Oregon. It's a shame. It's at the same time,

3.30. I would urge you if you haven't seen Justin Herbert play yet, he's Oregon's quarterback. Kuyper's got him as the first quarterback. Everybody now has him as the first quarterback that'll be taken in the April draft. He's 6-6. He's also not immobile. He throws a little bit erratically at times. Oregon should be undefeated. They blew that game against Stanford when they were running out the clock. They're running back fumbled. They actually could have taken three knees and punted with about 10 seconds left, which would have been better than running plays. So they very easily could be an unbeaten team. but Washington has the one loss to Auburn on opening day. They're very good, although last week they struggled a little bit with UCLA.

They're not a great team. They're a good team with a ton of speed. Yeah. A ton of speed. That's a really good game tomorrow. It's a shame that it's on at the same time as Georgia LSU, because I'd love to be able to just sit down and watch one after another tomorrow because those are the two best games on the board.

Wisconsin, Michigan is tomorrow night. Michigan's a nine and a half point favorite. This is, I mean, if you want to call it this, this is a playoff elimination game. Neither team has a great shot as a one-loss team, but neither has a chance as a two-loss team. Michigan's won every game very impressively since losing to Notre Dame in the opener. Their defense is nasty. Nasty. And I think that's a problem for Wisconsin.

Jonathan Taylor is a legitimate Heisman candidate, but, I don't think they have the means to throw the football to stay balanced against Michigan with Horniebrook at quarterback. I don't see it. I like Michigan to win this game going away. Sunday, there are several games. Obviously, the game of the weekend is the Sunday night, Kansas City at New England game. Steelers Bengals in Cincinnati, huge game in the AFC North.

Pittsburgh bounced back last week. That was a massive win for them on so many fronts. A, they blew out Atlanta. Atlanta's 1-4. I think they're the best one-in-four team we've seen in football in a long time. They can score with anybody. They blew them out, but more importantly, Ben and Brown. Ben and Brown were back on the same page, throwing touchdown passes to him.

He seems to be happier. They're supposed to get Levion Bell back next week or the week after. This is a big game in the AFC North. The Bengals, if they were to win this game, you know, to get to five and one, six and one. Are they five and one or six? They're five and one right now. No, they're four in one. They're four and one. They could get to five and one with a win at home over Pittsburgh. It would really start to make people, if you aren't saying it already, and I'm not saying it already, it would make people sort of stand up and say Cincinnati might be the surprise team of the AFC this year.

I don't see it. They fell behind a Miami at home last week, 17, nothing. I don't see it with the angles yet. I like what they are defensively. I do like what they've got offensively. I'm a Dalton fan. AJ Green is great. They did lose their tight end for the season. They've got Mixen who's been healthy, you know, and then unhealthy one week, unhealthy the next. Boyd has looked great. Boyd's looked very good. You know, Boyd was the guy that killed Baltimore in that final game last year. Good game on Sunday there. Chargers Browns. Can you say a big game in the AFC wild card race? Oh, yeah. You can say that.

I mean, if the Browns win this one at home against the Chargers to go to 3-2-1, when all of us know watching Cleveland this year, they could easily be 6-0, easily with a kicker, 6-0, you would say the Browns at 3-2-1 are in the AFC wildcard race. And I think a lot of people look at the Chargers and say they've got two losses, but the two losses were to the Rams and the Chiefs. They also haven't beaten anybody. Right. Good.

You can only play who's on your schedule. This is a big test for Philip Rivers and the Chargers on the road in Cleveland on Sunday. It does reek in terms of the points spread. We'll get to that with the smell test shortly. The Rams are on the road in Denver, and it's going to be cold in Denver and potentially snowy in Denver on Sunday afternoon for Jared Gough and Company. It'll be interesting to see what they do at Denver, who's lost three games in a row, including that heartbreaking loss at home to the Chiefs. Ravens Titans is a big game.

game Sunday. The Ravens after losing to the Browns, I think the Ravens are really good. If you look at a lot of the, you know, so-called experts, I think everybody understands what Baltimore potentially is both sides of the ball, but, you know, they've got a big game at Tennessee. They're favored at Tennessee, which tells you something. It's a lot of respect for Baltimore, which I think is legitimate. After losing to the Browns, they got to get to four and two with a win to keep that momentum going. Last week's loss is not a bad loss, an overtime loss at Cleveland with the way the Browns have played. And losing at Tennessee wouldn't be a bad loss. It would just put them in a hole at three and three, especially if Cincinnati goes to five and one. I'm interested in seeing Jacksonville this

week, and I'll tell you why in a moment, but that's one of the better games on the board, Dallas, Jacksonville, late 425 game in Dallas, and then of course the game Sunday night, Chiefs at Patriots. I think you're going to see the Chief's biggest flaw really exposed on Sunday night. They're a bad defensive football team. They're not a Super Bowl contender, in my view, at 5 and 0. They are really good on offense. And Mahomes is really, really talented. Who do you have?

The greatest of all time, or Tom Brady? You know, I don't know if you said this or Tommy said this yesterday. But, you know, the league on some level wouldn't mind Kansas City winning this game. the passing of the torch moment or at least to be able to play that up absolutely yeah the two stars now potentially moving forward mohomes and golf and there are others right some of the real young quarterbacks including a guy like mayfield um but i just don't see it sunday night i think this is the veteran uh taking kansas city's defense to the woodshed i'd be surprised if the patriots don't put up 30 plus against kansas city on sunday and belichick having

had now 10 days to prepare for this because remember they played last Thursday night he's going to have something for Pat Mahomes and Foxborough on Sunday night I like the Patriots a lot Sunday night to win that game the line's interesting I think it's actually right I think the line's right I can tell you this it won't be a smell test pick one way or the other because the action's very split on this game the teams I'm interested in watching this week Florida off the emotional win over LSU I've been on Florida since the beginning of the season they lost to Kentucky. It didn't make me back off of them. They are, I think, the fastest defensive team in the country. They aren't good offensively. They're better. Felipe Franks is a bit better, and they've

got a couple of weapons. And I think Dan Mullen's going to figure it out at Florida. I think they're going to be a powerhouse there. I think they're going to win like they used to win with Mullen there. I don't know if this is the year, but they go on the road after winning that emotional game last week over LSU at the swamp and they're playing Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt's capable and the line is only seven. That one reeks. More on that in the smell test coming up. But I am interested to see if Florida can pass that test of not having that let down game after a big win. Because if they can get this one, that sets up a massive game with Georgia in Jacksonville in a few weeks. A couple of other teams I'm interested in watching the Redskins. Their season for

I don't want to be overly dramatic, but this is one of those things where it's a loss and a bad loss. We've seen it before with a coach that is on the hot seat. It could spiral out of control. I think they're going to win the game. I really do. But seeing how they bounce back after what was one of the uglier performances in recent memory, and there have been a lot to choose from, is very interesting. I think if you're a football fan, not just a Redskins fan.

I'm interested really in watching Jacksonville. They should be able to beat a one-dimensional team on the road. The Cowboys are one-dimensional. And Jacksonville shouldn't with that defense struggle against a one-dimensional team. It's a bounce back for them after they were handled at Arrowhead last week. Are they a real contender Jacksonville? Are they going to drop to three-and-three on the season? We'll find out.

And I am interested to see what Baltimore does at Tennessee. I think that's a very important game for the Ravens in their season. and because I picked them to get to the Super Bowl before the year started, it's a big game for me too. All right, we'll get to our Redskins Panthers picks. Andy Poland's going to join me. He'll look back at sort of Redskins Panthers history. It's not been pleasant here in recent years against Cam Newton.

We should have a special guest, too, before the show ends. So stay tuned for that. But this is a special guest, a very special guest, and he is on fire. Stanford Steve joins us. Of course, those of you that watch the best show. I always have to say one of the two best shows at ESPN, PTI's one, with our good friend Tony and Mike, good friends Tony and Mike. And then, of course, Scott's Sports Center with Stanford Steve as his sidekick.

And you do a column each week. You do picks, college picks, on ESPN.com, and a lot of people follow you. and the other two guys you do it with. And I don't know how they're doing, but I do know that you are having a season like nobody's having. What is your current record? Thank you, Bob, for the nice intro. You are a homered by still sticking the PTI, by the way, with that show.

It's just an average show. It's just an average show. I am currently 21, 8 and 1 on the year, Kevin. I've been fortunate to Chris Valika from college game day and I have branched off to our own podcast with our own names, Stanford Stephen the Bear. So I was worried the name change. That's how superstitious I am with this stuff would affect things. We all want to hold off. Yeah.

So, no, we've gotten a good start, good mix. You know, I'm not like you. I tend to look at a couple of the cheap favorites out there. And the year has been good to us. we can't complain. 21, 8, and 2. 21, 8, and 1. Look, the bear, does he have a winning record?

Because some of the picks on Saturdays, I don't think, have gone very well on game day. Well, here's the issue, is that being a sidekick like myself and like him, on the podcast, we'll give at least four. So, like, he'll go, I think this week, he went, he gave out like six. But what the problem is is when you go on the big TV that shows, you've got to pick that right one because you're not, you don't have the real estate to give all your picks because you're, you know, you're the sidekick. So with Scott, I only get one each week, each week I get to give out. There goes with three. So that, that narrowing down is very, very crucial and has not been a friendly thing to the people that don't listen to the podcast or read the column because they're only seeing that smaller pick number. All right, real quickly because I do want people to take advantage of this and create a nice little nest egg for themselves.

How do they get your picks each week on the podcast? We're going to go through some of your picks this week, but how do they get the podcast? The podcast is easy. It's found everywhere. iTunes. I mean, I don't even know the right lingo to say where to go to find it. You're a new at this podcast thing, too. iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, tune in, yeah, the whole thing.

All of it. Subscribe. Tell us you love us. even though you don't. And it's been profitable. Our people are pretty loyal. You know, as soon as Scott those winners last night, they'll compare and send tweets and money line parleyes,

combined and everything. So people are having fun. I wasn't up last night. How many picks did he have last night? Oh, he gave out an old nineer. Well, he's up now for the year. I mean, both of us. He's back to 500 even.

You know, one of the funny things, each week. I will get a text from Stanford, Steve. And he will send me a text predicting the games that Scott and I will have for the upcoming weekend. And you're usually spot on, although there are a couple this week that I looked at that I think I'm going to back off on. Which was the one game out of, first of all, how many games do you have this weekend? I gave out five. Which of the five did you give out on winners or after winners last night? I gave out Duke last night on the show.

Duke, boy, see, Duke getting three against Georgia Tech. I actually thought that line reeked a little bit. As you know, I would have thought that reeked a little bit. Just because Duke, they lost to Virginia Tech, but they're a capable team, but you like them. So I would have thought Georgia Tech, Duke may have been a slight favorite or would have been a pick, which would have led me to pick, of course, Georgia Tech. But I'm looking at it right now, and I don't have that as a smell test. selection. I haven't given out the smell test picks for the week yet. That's coming up.

But the action's pretty split on the game. So you like Duke. Yep. Who else do you have? I really like Boston College. I think Louisville is toast this year. I gave out six season win totals on the show before the season with Scott. Maryland was one of them. Yeah, and we're feeling good about that one. Yeah, you should. and Louisville was one, and that was one three weeks ago. I pulled the court, and I said, I'm sorry, we're giving up. Let's start loading against this team because it just, I started running the numbers. It's just a bad job of research by me in the offseason.

It's year four of the Petrino thing. This is, it's archived. It's been, it's happened. This is where his own recruits, you know, start to play, and he's not good at recruiting. He's a great offensive mind. He's a great game planner. but this is not a forte, and you're going to see the cupboard is pretty bare. Last Friday night I gave out Georgia Tech, knowing that Louisville did not want any piece of that option offense.

I think they go up to Chestnut Hill. That old noon game at Chestnut Hill, nobody's there. I think BC really need to win after having a bad taste in their mouth against NC State. I think BC, you know, could punish them. They went to – this was a real quick synopsis to these two teams. Last year I looked, B.C. went to Louisville and found their season. They were two and four, went to Louisville with Lamar Jackson and beat Louisville, 45-42. Dylan ran for 270 yards, and B.C. totally flipped their season around.

They know they could pound these guys. I like B.C. a lot this week. I think Adazio is one of the best and really under the radar coaches in college football. they do it traditionally with traditional offensive attacks primarily with really tough defense. You know, he's got this, if we run the football and stop the run and don't turn it over, the NFL sort of formula will win. And they've struggled to score at times in recent years, as we know. I thought when you had them this year, I loved them too coming into this year. And they had that loss to Purdue.

And Purdue's not bad. As it turned out, Purdue is actually a somewhat capable team. I really liked them last week, and they got the backdoor cover, but it was off of a block punt. So I'm actually thinking after last week that NC State might be legit. Oh, I totally agree. I was going back and forth with McShay before the season. Finley's like my number one NFL quarterback this year. More than Herbert?

Football. Yes. Yes. He's more consistent. He's dealt with way more adversity. Herbert hasn't played a lot of football. And listen, I'm a Stanford guy, and he could not have played better against Stanford. I mean, he didn't have an incompletion.

I don't think until late in the third quarter, don't get me wrong. He's got all the goods, and he has a huge opportunity against Washington this week. But I just, Finley's just been really, really impressive to me in spots like going to Clemson. He's played against way better competition with way less talent around him. And I've been really impressed with what he's done in his career. Finley's a very good quarterback, and you're right. He's a really good pro prospect. I'm just, I'm interested to see what they have because, you know, we, we, everybody's

dialed in on Bama, Clemson, you know, Notre Dame. the suspects right now, the four or five teams, Ohio State, that they think are going to be in the playoff. And I think West Virginia's gotten ignored, and they'll have a massive game in Morgantown, Thanksgiving. I think it's the Friday night Thanksgiving weekend against Oklahoma. And NC State still has some games on the schedule. Not enough of them probably to go undefeated if there are four other undefeated to break through that. But they've got a chance against Clemson. I think they do.

We'll find out. Oh, absolutely. But the problem is, and you're nuts if you don't think this is going to be a factor. But an undefeated Clemson right now is way ahead of an undefeated NC State because of why? Because we've seen them do it before in years past. Now, that's not supposed to be a factor. But, I mean, let's be honest. You can't get that stuff out of your head.

So I think it's really, really interesting for the community. committee, say, say Clemson stumbles somewhere else, you know, or NC State stumble somewhere else, but has that win over Clemson? Like, the ACC is as bad as it's been in recent years. So it's a, the ACC is a very, very tough evaluation to me this year for the committee. We're talking to Stanford, Steve. By the way, as a podcaster now, I'm told not to reset like I'm in radio anymore because apparently we don't have to do that, but I do it occasionally. Anyway, do you think that there's any risk in the same players being involved in a four-team playoff this coming year?

If it's Ohio State, Clemson, Bama, and, say, Georgia, and there isn't a new player involved. Do you think there's a risk of the consumer getting bored with it? No, no, not at all. I think with an undefeated Notre Dame thrown into that mix, the people that want eight, they got a huge, huge argument too. And you mentioned West Virginia, like there's six teams right there. Now, I'm still, I'm for four teams. I think you can get it down.

I don't think there's more than four teams that deserve a national championship, or shot in the national championship. I'm sorry, SEC people. Like, if that's the way it works out, then we got to get, we got to add that conference game. Like, that should be a lesson to you guys. Like, hey, enough of playing Austin P. All right, we got to play another conference game or we got to, you know, we got to up our schedule. But I'm a stickler for four.

I know people are starting to throw around the sixth thing, but then the argument that for who gets a buy is an absolute disaster. And that's even worse than, you know, who should be the same. six teams. So I don't think it's no. Like you're asking for like a stale factor. I do not. I don't think so because those teams you could make the case, I would think, are all better than they were last year. I just think, and I've always felt this way, that if you had a quarterfinal Saturday, second weekend in December, when there's no college football or there's Army Navy and that's it. and you're stuffed with these early season college hoops games. If you had kickoff for the first one at 12 and kick off for the last one at 10 Eastern,

and it was 1 versus 8, 2 versus 7, 3 versus 6, 4 versus 5 with home field advantages, it would become one of the three or four great days on the sports calendar. It would be incredible. And by playing them with higher-seated teams playing at home, you're not asking your fan base to travel, you know, three times potentially if they get to the championship game. You're in that same position where you can use the bowl games on New Year's Day as your semi-final or New Year's Eve. It's better when it's New Year's Day and play the championship game eight or nine days after that. I just, I'm not saying that you don't determine a true national champion with four.

You probably do more so than you would with eight. I just think the excitement for the sport and a specific day, it would almost become what that first weekend or the first two days of the NCAA tournament are on Thursday and Friday. It would be a great day. It would be complete insanity, Kevin. It would be unbelievable. Now, I will say this, the stale factor to the fan base is a real thing. I've been fortunate, you know, with work to go to a bunch of these games. I've been to a semi-in-the-title game every year of the playoff.

And, for example, last year I was in New Orleans for Clemson, Alabama. That's probably the easiest ticket I've ever seen for a game of that magnitude, where, you know, from the outside looking in, you know, maybe, you know, a person that you work with that's a big sports fan, but doesn't travel, doesn't really follow college football. football, they would think, oh, my God, Alabama Clemson, that's an impossible ticket. I mean, you can walk up and get a ticket to that game

because those two teams were so, you know, your fan base gets satisfied. They're looking for the next big thing, right? And it's holiday time, and they've already been there, done that. Yeah, and that's exactly it. They've walked that road already. So, I mean, that's spoiled to, a T right there. No, we're going to pass on the semi and we'll probably win that one and then we'll

just go to the title game. Right, we'll go to the title game. Yeah. So that's the selfishness factor, which I totally understand. Like, you're a Bama fan. Like, you really got to pick and choose. You know, you're winning every, every freaking year. Yeah. Let's, let's, um, give me a team right now outside of the five that are getting talked about the most. Bam, Ohio State, Clemson, Notre Dame, Georgia. Give me a team outside of that, maybe even a one-loss team that you think is going to make a case

by the time the regular season's over. Well, here's a team, here's a situation where I think they should be brought up, but they won't be, and that's going to be the winner of Washington, Oregon. Those are two really good football teams, Kevin, and I know

I'm a homer right now. It's talking about the past. 12. And I know people are going to just point to the Washington loss against Auburn, who now has two losses. That was a really, really good football game against Washington and Auburn. And Washington, you know, just totally peed down their leg in the red zone. I think they had it five times. And they only scored one touchdown. Like, that's the first game of the year.

They're going to Atlanta. It's an all- Auburn crowd. Like, I don't think they got a credit. I said it the day it happened. They weren't going to get credit for that loss. Now they're up to seven. They go to Oregon. I mean, that's a really, really situation,

a ordeal there where two fan bases can't stand each other. And then you look at Oregon, who's 17, at 4-1, and that loss is the debacle. Well, it was a, yeah, I mean, if they had taken three knees, they would have punted with 10 seconds left instead of handing the ball off to the running back who fumbled. And, you know, now if they win to, you know, this week, that's a huge game.

that's the number one game I want to watch this week. And I don't think the winner is going to get the credit it deserves. The other two I'll throw at you are, what are you going to do with Texas if they run the table? And what are you going to do with Penn State? You know, it's funny that you mentioned Texas because that was one of the things I was going to mention. Despite the points that were given up and a lot of them late last week, I actually think they're very good defensively. And the quarterback all of a sudden has a little bit of confidence and they seem to believe in them. they're actually better than I think most people think, and you saw it last week.

I'm also curious about Michigan because I, and Scott and I had this conversation yesterday, I just don't see it yet with Haskins. I'm not saying he's J.T. Barrett in terms of being able to throw the football down the field, but I was there. I think we talked about this. I was at Penn State that night for Penn State, Ohio State. And, oh, by the way, unbelievable environment. not LSU Bama for that night game that I was at,

but the second best college environment I think I've ever been in. But if Michigan runs the table, beats Ohio State along the way, they're so good defensively. I think we could get to that point at the end of the year, especially if Notre Dame still undefeated. And this relies on other things to happen, right? It relies on Georgia potentially to lose this week and Clemson to get beat. And Westford, you know,

But I think Michigan's very good. I agree. The issue, and you mentioned it right there, is if Michigan runs the table, they're going to be staring right at the undefeated Notre Dame team, I think. Because that's one definite, I said it the night they beat Stanford, put Notre Dame in the playoffs. Like, they're going. They're not losing the way they're built. They made the right move with book a quarterback.

They're a solid, solid football team. SC. And Michigan has everything in front of them. except they might have to, you know, be compared to the undefeated Notre Dame team. So I agree with you. Michigan has the goods on defense. I think they match up well with Ohio State because Ohio State still just has youth in their secondary. You can't, like, Chiano's an unbelievable coach, but I mean, you just need those reps.

And I don't know if they're going to have enough against quality opponents to get themselves up for that Michigan and then a big 10 final game and then maybe a playoff. So I totally see what you're saying. The Notre Dame Southern Cal, by the time we get to Thanksgiving weekend is going to be a different team. I think we're going to see it this weekend, actually, against Colorado. That's the one opportunity for Notre Dame. I mean, that could be a really, really interesting game by the time we get there. It doesn't look like it right now because of the young quarterback and the way they've struggled.

The Trojans have struggled. One other quick team, I could do this with you for three hours. But from the beginning of the season, I've loved Florida. I think they're the best defensive team in the country. They're certainly the fastest, the fastest defensive team in the country. And I know they struggle to score. Tomorrow is a bit of a trap for them at Vandy coming off that win. But I like their team, and I think Dan Mullen is going to turn it around there.

And I think over the next three or four years, Florida is going to be back to what Florida was, you know, with Spurrier. Do you see that or not? Not yet. I see the talent on defense you're talking about for sure. I also see an horrible spot for them this weekend. Going to Nashville. They got a buy week next week and then they play Georgia. So good luck being him this week, but that's what he gets paid to do is controlling those expectations now and knowing what's ahead for them. But no, see, I look at Georgia as the team that I still don't know what to make of. And listen, Kirby Smart deserves all the accolades he gets as a head coach. But like, this is what I think is a huge spot for them. And what I think we'll learn more about Georgia when you look at that at CCE East this week,

going to Baton Rouge, you and I were there for that Alabama LSU game a couple years ago that we talk about nonstop. But Georgia's the one. Like last week we talked about the top 10 teams. I thought we could lose three. We lost two. This week I'm looking at West Virginia and Georgia is saying this could be the spot. I mentioned West Virginia.

I love Iowa State Saturday night. Yeah, they're much better. They've played well. It seems like a spot. I like LSU too. I like Iowa State and LSU both plus the number. I don't want you to give out all of your picks because I want people to go to the podcast

to listen to them, but just give me one more that you love and I'll let you run. Ooh, I got to pick one. You've given me, you gave me Duke. Yep, I gave me BC. BC. I also, I get, all right, I'll give you,

the over in Nebraska games is 13 and 1 in their last 14 games when they're an underdog. I'm biased there. one of my really good friends from college is offensive coordinator. I was out in Madison last week to try and help those guys get a win, but I think they're coming around that line

reeks. Scott actually gave out Nebraska. Oh yeah, I'll have. But the over, they don't have any talent on defense. They have zero talent on defense. The quarterback is a special player, Adrian Gonzalez. You'll see him for, you know, the next three years, no doubt in the Big Ten.

Northwestern, we're spot, you know, hosting that 11 a.m. You know, Eastern or local time game. They came off. They went against Michigan State. I think Nebraska could come out and jump on them. And I can see the over coming out. I think it's like 58, 58 and a half. I got 59 right now.

But I'll give you, I'll give you 58. And a half. I don't want to be that guy. Yeah. We know, we know our feelings about that guy. Exactly. So you like Duke plus the number. I do.

And you like Boston College and over Northwestern Nebraska. Thanks for doing this. Thanks for getting up. Appreciate it. You got any time for you. Well, I got to ask you one thing. Your favorite team giving points this weekend is USC, isn't it? Of the favorites.

I know you don't look at that side. No, no, no, I do. I'm different than him. I'm different than Scott. I give out favorites as part of the smell test every once in a while. You know, it's heavy dogs. But I like SC. I like Michigan a little bit.

I can't see Wisconsin scoring that much. Yeah, I mentioned I saw them in person last week. Something's missing, and it's on their defense, which is scary. And here's the thing is that Taylor is really good. Like, he's a legitimate Heisman candidate, but if they're one-dimensional against Michigan, they're going to score 10 points. And I just, that's it. I don't know.

Those are the two favorites. I like an NFL favorite, but I'm going to save that for the smell test. But I'll do favorites every once in a while. But yes, SC looks right. I don't know how they're favored by 7 over Colorado. I actually think we're going to see massive improvement from SC the rest of the way. I'm with you. I'm a Clayhleton fan.

I know I'm the only person in America that says that, but I believe in the guy. All right. I'll talk to you soon. Thanks. Good luck. You got it. That was Stanford. And by the way, at the very end of my conversation with Stanford, Steve, off the air,

he asked that my next guest give him a call when he has a chance, because he wants to talk about the Stanford Offensive Line Coach, Kevin Cardbury, who went from the Redskins to Stanford. But that guest, that special guest that I've talked about, is Christopher Cooley. And Chris has a podcast, finally, where he's doing the film breakdown. No, we're not doing it together, but I'm listening to it, as you should. and you debuted at what, Wednesday? Yeah, Wednesday was the first one.

First of all, hello, Kevin. Secondly, Wednesday was the first one, and I did a defensive film breakdown yesterday. They're both available on Redskins.com or the Redskins app right now, and obviously you know the iTunes process as we get started. You have to give them a demo, and so they'll all be downloadable on your podcast app and iTunes and stuff. And so I'm excited about that.

I'm going to try to do four a week. You get a post game, a couple film breakdowns, and a pregame. game and some other stuff as well. So it should be a lot of fun. It's weird. I will say this to you. It's so weird because you do a radio show and then you and I have done a show forever and you finish and it's just the two of us. You don't necessarily always feel the outside audience. But it's even weirder and I called you after the show yesterday just to talk to finish a show where you're just talking to talking to yourself for an hour. Okay. I'm done. I guess I'm done. I guess I'll finish this thing up. No breaks, no, no producer in your area. You're just, you're just going. I'm just talking. Sometimes I think I lose track of where I'm at. I'm not sure if I'm finishing. It's like Michael Scott from the office. I don't know if I'm finishing a sentence or if I'm going to find myself in some certain place. But yeah, here we go.

You just need Dwight there to help you out, get you back on course. You know, the thing about it, though, as you have already learned, is you and I were doing a four-hour radio. show. Now, a four-hour radio show, there are 16 minutes every hour of spots of commercials. So you, you know, three, four times an hour, you get this, this break, this pause that you don't have in a podcast. But your film breakdown, the first one which I listened to, which was the offensive film breakdown, was about 55 minutes. So it really is. It's like, you get done with this. And I've been doing this now going on a month, coming up on a month. You get done with it. and it's an hour to an hour and a half every day. You know, the Monday and Friday shows have been a little bit longer,

but it's like, oh, that's it. What do I do now? Well, there are other things. I have a lot of other things going on right now in what I'm doing at the park as well. But, yeah, you get done with it and you think, all right. Yeah. Hope it went well. Don't even know who to talk to about that.

Exactly. All right. But it was amazing, last thing. The film breakdown makes it so easy. 55 minutes felt like 15 minutes, and I felt like I was as fast as I could go through player by player by player. It didn't feel like 55. Let me just say this, because you know, and all of us said this about you

when you started to do the film breakdown, is that it was a very unique thing. No one had ever really done anything like that, where they're going player by player, having the insight that you had. And by the way, the insight very often included, understanding what the player's responsibilities on a given play were. Nobody had that access. Nobody had the ability to sort of analyze it the way you did and then present it the way you did.

I will tell you that, you know, whether it was Galdi and Zabe or me, I loved being a part of that segment, you know, twice a week. And following along on my all 22 version as you were going through it. And that's the part when I was listening to it the other day. it's like, God, I want to chime in here, but I can't. So you have to be next week. Yes, I have to know where I have to right now. But yes, where I have to call you and do it.

All right, let's get to Monday night before we get to Sunday. What was more painful to watch? Alex Smith's performance or the DB's letting receivers run five to 10 yards wide open multiple times during the night, which was the worst of the two? the DB's performance for the most part was over quicker than the Alex Smith performance so it was like a band-aid roll there goes another deep ball because of another blown coverage the Alex Smith performance was a little bit harder for me to watch and I think to be honest with you watching back at the entire game back and seeing the defense it's gear it's jaw-dropping

at times but some of the Alex Smith stuff's brutal because in listening to people vent about the games is something I'm going to miss just on the podcast form, is not having that caller feedback all the time, is we don't have receivers who can get open. Jay Gruden doesn't have a scheme that works. No. We miss guys left and right. We had tons of open receivers.

We had opportunities. It was just Alex's worst game that I've seen, and I'm sure he understands that completely. But I can pull up 10 clips where you should have hit somebody or you had somebody or there was Crowder, a Reed, or Brian Quick on a fourth and one where Alex Smith scrambled on a bootleg. They could went deep over the top, down 40 to 13. I'm looking at it going, man, you just got a one-yard scramble to convert, move the sticks, and you're on the 38-yard line. The 40-yard, good.

Good, let's get the big shot. So to me, I think it was more painful. And maybe it's because I'm an offensive guy to see some of the Alex Smith stuff than the defensive stuff. But it doesn't make the defense So you described it during the broadcast as the yips. You said Alex Smith has the yips right now.

What went wrong? You know, when they made the trade, I said to you, and you agreed, but you also pushed back and said, yeah, but I think, you know, in J's scheme, it'll be different. But I said, this guy's never been able to be a productive quarterback

without a legitimate run game, without legitimate talent. It's different than the guy that we're letting go. I don't want to get into that, but it's different. This guy has to have this stuff. Is it that or was it something else that we've never seen, which was him not being a steady eddy, which we thought we were getting regardless of whether or not

there was significant production? See, and I think it's an interesting question, and I've heard you talk about it this week with Tommy and with Charlie Casserly and obviously your recap of the game. and I don't want to say that it's because there wasn't talent or there wasn't a productive run game because those are normally things you say when you say this is how we get guys open. You have a productive run game, you have an immediate open receiver because of that in the play action, or you're changing the defensive spots because of some of the run action.

I think there was a lot that was missed in that game that didn't necessarily depend on a run game. Also, when I say that, I think more missed. open opportunities were a little bit later in the game. But clearly the run game helps. And when I said Alex Smith has the Yips, which in my opinion he did, to me it doesn't state that he has a conscious mental block where he doesn't feel like he can complete the ball. At one point in my life, I had the Yips, and it was playing catcher in baseball.

and I believed that I was going to throw the ball back to the pitcher every single time. It just didn't come out of my hand properly. It wasn't like I felt a lack of confidence. The ball was getting stuck in my hand. But I thought the yips by definition is more of a lack of confidence, a lack of believing that you're going to do it. So what do you want to call it? Let's call it the Yaps.

I don't know what I would call it. He had the Yps. Look, there was a period between the second and third quarter where the ball didn't come out of his hand the way I'm sure he wanted it to, and I think you could go back and you could scrutinize it, and you could say, look, he never set his feet in the pocket. He didn't feel comfortable back there. He evaded the pocket way too early at times.

I'm talking about third down early in the game where he throws it to Crowder for two yards and you don't convert. And you're like, why are you? One guy got beat, Morgan Moses, not really beat and fell on his guy. The rest of our line's blocking up front. If you escape the pocket to the boundary, you're dead. The play's going to be dead. Just stay alive in the pocket and you have open guys down the field.

He would have had Jordan coming across the field, and it would have been a big play. and so it goes back to a lot of different situations. Also him getting hit. Now, he didn't get hit as much as it looked or it seemed, but he didn't get hit at times, and we did blow some protections as well. And so that's brutal, but I'm not sure, Kevin.

I mean, again, I just keep thinking about certain plays and going back to certain plays. I'll go back to the second drive, the Redskins offensively. They go down the field. Alex scrambles on third and 15, gets his Chris Thompson. Great effort. Alex makes a huge throw down the field of Paul Richardson in the seam. Great throw, great play.

AP has a run where he should have gotten it in. I've talked to him about it. He says, I don't even know how I missed that hole. I'll never do that again. And then on second down, Alex Smith works the left side of the field. He's got three receivers to the left. There are four defenders to the left. Vernon Davis, who theoretically is the guy he's most comfortable with,

is one-on-one with the safety running a widened fade route, and he's going to be wide open. It's two over two to the right, four over three to the left. And I think, what is it that's telling you to work that side of the field? So there are situations like that that I think that there were plays to be had as well. I think the thing that you said a little while ago about, you know, the lack of a running game being the reason is really interesting because not all rational narratives fit the specific situation. So the other night, he didn't have a running game, but what you're saying is that wasn't the reason for his failure

in his lack of productivity because people were open. Jay was scheming people open. And by the way, watching on television, we saw that. I mean, we saw Mo Harris wide open. We saw multiple people wide open during the course of the game and him not looking in that particular direction. I can't go to the first play of the game. It's a bootleg where he's throwing a double move on the outside.

side, then the safety's over the top. Look back at the first play of the game and watch Vernon Davis. In timing of boot, he's running the crossing route. He's wide open. Let's get ourselves the easy play. Let's move the sticks and get things going in New Orleans. And that was an easy play and easy throw. And Alex ends up getting out there and staying on or out too long and having to throw it out of bounds. And thank goodness he did, because the safety was going to play that anyways. You know, one of the things that's interesting about this week, I don't think it's gotten enough play. Maybe you've talked about it. Is Jay Gruden totally fell on the sword for everybody else in the post game and on Tuesday in that conference call. Charlie Casserly mentioned this and he said,

if you listen to Jay, he really covered for his guys and his quarterback in particular. But you and I both know, right? I want you to confirm this. That Jay knows how much Alex Smith missed. And so how do they fix that? Why is he missing these things? Is it a thing where he is new to a system and we're only four games in and it will improve? What is the prognosis? First of all, yeah, I think that's the answer. And as smart as Alex Smith is, and as much as he knows, it's different.

Their terminology is different in Jave's system. And there's a couple of ways that you think about this. And one is, do we limit what we're doing? because Alex feels like there's too much. And two, how can we necessarily limit exactly what we're doing? Because I have to go into the game with certain plays. I have to carry certain packages into the game as plan B, C, if plan A doesn't work. And so it's hard for me, Kevin, as a coach, to say, look, let's have 27 plays going into this game.

And, you know, if they don't work, they don't work. And we'll figure something else out. No, we want to practice a lot of the things that we're going to work. on and a lot of things that we're going to do moving forward, but maybe simplifying early in games. I know I've heard you say this. I said this during the broadcast, a couple different times I think you've even tweeted it.

You've got to get some quick game rhythm, and it's not just, it isn't just for Alex. It's for everybody. And even if it's a quick game to check down, even if it's spacing concepts and slant concepts, it allows Alex to three-step get the ball out and work things quickly. Now, I like that because I want Jordan to get a touch early. even if it's a screened Jordan.

I want him to have a touch in the first quarter of the game. He's more impactful through the rest of the game if he's got a couple touches. I want James and Crowder to have a touch early. I want all these guys involved early in the ballgame. Vernon Davis, those are plays that I think the Redskins are going to be able to get over the next few weeks because Kevin, soft coverage is what's hurting them right now. I know. I know.

And it's four-man pressures as well sometimes that are hurting them. But soft coverage is going to be a theme that other defenses are. going to continue to use over the next few weeks because that's where the Redskins are struggling. And so just get the quick game stuff going and get some rhythm and some timing that throws off their D-line, helps our offensive line, and it gets our guys touches. You know what's so interesting about that is the theme of they've got to run the football. They'll run the football if they get the quick game going and they get somebody off balance and they're playing pitch and catch like they should have done in the first half against Indianapolis,

like they could have done much of the night against New Orleans, like they've done. several times over the last three years where there was communication and rhythm with the quarterback and the play caller. You'll run the football when you get drives that are starting to extend unless you're truly a team that can just line up and pound it. You'll run the football when you end up having a lot of third and twos, third and threes, or no third down situations. When you get a first down for seven and then you go ahead and run it on second three and get five yards and you're back in first down, now we're 50-50, do whatever we want to do. It's hard to run the football when you take a shot on first down and now you're in second and 10.

And you know you want to run it, but what if you get two? Third and eight's brutal. So they're capable of running the ball. It's just, you have to have that balance. And at the same time, I look at the NFL and the state of what the league is, you're giving receivers free release most of the time

because of the calls that we're making. Let's just take the free five-yard players. Yeah, take advantage of it. All right, how do they beat the Panthers? Well, Cam's been playing at high level. And the Panthers are running the ball. Chris McCaffrey's awesome. First of all, you got to shut him down. But I want to go back to a, I don't know, a draft conversation. You and I had two years

where we went back and forth with fans and everyone said, oh, Fournette's way better. Please. Who's better right now? Well, Fournette's really good. I still like Fournette a lot right now, but Chris McAfree does everything for them. He creates for them. You also have to be very disciplined against Cam and this offense because they have every movement and every motion and they'll show reverse and they'll show zone read and they'll show a bunch of stuff and they'll play action off of it. Also, when they play action, one thing that they're doing that I think is really helping Cam

is they're going to play action to medium range shots. They're not going to play action to just try to get it deep over the top. They're going to play action to throw a 10-yard route, which I love, which is helping Cam and it's getting them in rhythm. How you beat them is you stop them on first down, you don't get caught up in this creative stuff. you play assignment type football, maybe that's limited defense because it seems like we had too much going on last week. And you force him into third and long situations because he's really not a great third and long quarterback. You know, the play action to medium stuff is what the Redskins have done very well in recent years.

Like who cares about taking deep shots off a play action that's effective if you've got a guy running underneath that's going to get a chunk play of 12 to 15 yards? Those are the plays that just always, isn't it true? Like when you watch an NFL game, regardless of who the quarterback is, once you get play action and you watch those linebackers just hesitate, you feel like there is a 90% chance that somebody's going to be wide open in the middle of the field somewhere. Mid-range, long-range doesn't matter. And we've talked about this a lot over the years,

is that you don't always need like this very effective run game to make play action work. It's almost like linebackers don't necessarily remember that you haven't run the ball yet. Play action just seems to make them hesitate for that key split second. Yeah, for sure, and you're 100% correct on that. You get the backer to step up and you get that 12-yard bubble behind them where you're trying to hit it right over the head of the linebacker. But the other thing that I love about, about mid-range play action is as a DB, who's key in the backfield and keying quarterback eyes a little bit,

as soon as you see play action, your expectation, is that the ball's going deep. So when that receiver starts to give you something deep, you're going to bail, and then the receiver can break it off at 8, 10, 12 yards, and it changes up the way DBs have to cover because now they don't always know that he's going deep. And so you get a couple of those easy, easy throws. All right.

I know you've got things to do, and hopefully we can do this occasionally. It's my favorite thing to do. So tell me when you want to do it. I'd love to do it, you know, whenever. Well, you want to be a part of the film breakdown, so why don't we do it on Tuesday with me, and we'll have a little film breakdown. I would like to do that. If you're inviting me, I accept. I am inviting you.

All right, good. I'll talk to you later and over the weekend, but thanks. Appreciate it. And also, Redskins.com, and any way you can get a podcast, Cooley's podcast, he's doing it. I tweeted out the links. I'll make it easy. I mean, it's at the Cooley Zone. I tweeted out the links.

And as soon as it goes on iTunes, I'll tweet out the podcast. iTunes weeks. Four days a week, but he's got the two film breakdowns. Are they going to be Tuesday, Wednesday, just like before Tuesday's offense, Wednesday's defense? Yep, that's the goal. Okay. All right, I'll talk to you later.

Thanks. Later. All right, thanks to Cooley. And again, listen to his podcast. He's got his film breakdown going now. Only took five weeks into the season to get it going, finally. Give me a moment quickly just to thank Ferris, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fairfax. I've been friends with Ralph Perkins and Kevin Farish for a decade.

Plus. They supported 980. My shows on 980 as a sponsor. They've got my back right now on this podcast. If you like this show and you're thinking about something new, I give you my word that you'll be thrilled if you go out to Farish and Fairfax. If you're looking for a Chrysler Dodge Jeep, if you're looking for a Jeep Cherokee right now, you can get great deals. Really any Jeep right now, you'll save big. They've got plenty of inventory on their lot right now. They're in Fairfax circle right there in the heart of Fairfax. Ask for Ralph Perkins when you get in there. Tell him I sent you. Ralph's in the store every day. He'll put you in touch with the best salesperson they have. Their service department is top shelf. You can find out everything Farish has in stock right now

with live pricing at Farish Cars.com. But if you're thinking about something new or you know somebody who's thinking about something new, send them out to Ferrisch, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Fairfax. Again, ask for Ralph Perkins. Tell him that Kevin Sheehan sent you and he'll take good care of you. And again, you can find everything you need to know at ferrish cars.com. All right, let's bring in Andy Poland. Andy's joining me every Friday during football season, except for the Monday night games.

They have one more Monday night game this year. Real quickly, what did you think of Monday night? I can only think of one game that's a comp, and that's the Monday night game against Philadelphia when they gave Donovan Nab the contract. Monday Night Massacre. Yeah. I mean, it was, and it was a.

similar situation. It was a Monday night game off a by. There was a lot of excitement because of what had happened the day before in the division. The other team's looking bad and this is a chance to take a stranglehold. And they were just got awful. And I didn't think Alex Smith had that kind of performance in him. I knew he could be bad at times. I didn't think he could be that bad. I don't think anybody saw that. That's that's one of the worst performances of his career. Yeah. And really, and I've said this, I don't think it's an exaggeration. For me, the worst quarterbacking performance I've seen this year in the NFL, period. I think he'll bounce back.

But against a Panther team that they haven't had any success against. Oh, yeah. And that brings us to, I picked out three of the games that the Redskins have had against them. Two of them, good. Recent history, not good. I think they're 0 and 4 against Cam Newton. I think they've lost the last five, and four of them have been against Camp. Cam Newton.

Can I guess what your first one's going to be? Okay. Is it the first year? It was at 97 when they went? on the road in the opener and beat him. That was a good game. That was a game that we thought, okay, Norve Turner really has this figured out.

They marched down the field. It was one of the great drives they've ever had to open that game. Is Stephen Davis something scored? That's not one. Okay. Here's the first one I picked out. October 3rd, 1999. This is the year that they won the division with Brad Johnson.

And what this game showed you is how much offensive firepower they had. That was a very good offensive team. This is at Redskins Stadium. This is before the FedEx deal comes in. Dan Snyder had become the owner in May, so they ripped off the name Jack Kent Cook Stadium. That was gone. And it was called Redskins Stadium.

It wasn't Raul John anymore. No, it wasn't that. And in the first nine minutes of the game, Tim Biaka Patuka. Yeah. Great running back at Michigan. Oh, yeah. For touchdowns of 60, 45 yards, and one yard.

Down 21-0. Yeah, 21-0. He's got three carries just on the touchdowns for 100. six yards. This is George Seifert's first year of three at Carolina. He gets fired two years later. He won two Super Bowls in San Francisco. You know how many carries Bianca Petupac got for the game? No. 12. He stopped giving him the ball for some reason. Crazy. Up 21 nothing. Yeah. So the skins come back. Talk about the firepower. Michael Westbrook catches two touchdown passes from Brad Johnson. Albert Connell, a 62-yard bomb. And the Redskins were up 28, 24 at the half. Second half, they get a 32-yard

touchdown pass to Connell again, later at Pickpocket in New Orleans, but pretty decent that year for the Redskins. Carolina comes back to take a 36-35 lead. Then they punt. Brian Mitchell fumbles the punt. This is the first year that instant replay is back since 1991. Remember they did away with it? Yeah, no, what, 92.

The 92 season, when they had the big overturn, remember, in the Philadelphia playoff game. Right. Okay. So it's the first time, five, six years that overtime is back. over the replays back, which really benefits the Redskins because replay shows that Mitchell's knee is down. So they are able to take and set up a Brett Conway field goal

with six seconds left to win the game. 3836. 3836 was the final. Here's the second game I picked out. This is October 21st, 2001. This is the Marty year. They're 0.5. Levar Arrington.

They have scored 31 points total in their first five games. The Panthers, with rookie quarterback Chris Wanky. They're up 14-0-0 in the fourth quarter. They've got the ball at the Redskins 28. They play it safe, kick a field goal, 17-0-0, game over, right? No. Wanky throws a pass in the flat to Chris Hetherington.

The ball bounces off his hands. LaVar Erington takes us back 68 yards for a touchdown. That stuns, Carolina. They go three and out. They punt to the Redskins. They get it at the 15-yard line. First play, Rod Gardner catches an 85-yard touchdown. down pass from Tony Banks.

And the Redskins could have won in regulation, but Conway missed the 32-yard field goal. They win the toss in overtime, and they go down to the five-yard line. Conway kicks the game winner. They win at 17. Change their whole season around. Oh and 5 to 5 and 5. First time that it ever happened, they were on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and back in the playoff race with Tony Banks and one audible.

One audible, Tony Banks with Kent Graham in relief a couple of times, including during that five-game win streak out in Denver when Tony Banks said it was too cold. to play quarterback. It was sleeting sideways. And he said, this weather is not for me. And Kent Graham came in and led them to a victory. You and I have had this conversation probably 50 times over the years. I still believe that it's the number one mistake Dan Snyder's made during his ownership tenure. And if he hadn't made it, that he would have had a run there in the early 2000s with Marty Schottenheimer coach. But Fred Drasner couldn't stand him, had his parking spot taken away by Marty. Marty kicked Vinny out of the building. Marty took the whole organization over and after that 0-and-5 start won eight of his final 11 games with Tony Banks and one audible with Kent Graham in relief and totally had this organization turned around and headed in the right direction.

Except that Snyder would have had to totally change his approach to running the football team. It would have been completely hands off. And I don't think he was ever going to be comfortable doing that. What's the famous line? He wasn't having enough fun. Yeah. Wasn't having enough fun owning the team. And so they fired Marty after one year and brought in old ball coach.

And that was not, as it turned out, the right move. That season to me in Redskins' lore is one of the seasons that, you know, they really could have gotten to the playoffs. They lost to Dallas at home as a nine-point favorite. The quarterback that had the cocaine problem, whose name escapes me, the Georgia quarterback, whose quarterback and the Cowboys came in and played the best game of the year for them and beat the Redskins at FedEx. The Redskins had other chances against the Bears at home, the Eagles at home, and to get to something much better than 8-8, which is where they finished.

Right. But they didn't have any quarterback play. Yeah, but Marty was fired at 0-5 because Danny and Vinny were going to Florida games and schmoozing Spurrier. They were going to hire them five games into the season. The third game I picked was 2000. 11, October 23rd. This was at Carolina.

This is Cam Newton as a rookie. John Beck's first start. I don't think we've ever seen a quarterback get progressively worse over three starts than John Beck did. It was terrible. This is the guy that Kyle Shanhan stood on the table for in Houston. Now, remember, the week before, Rex Grossman was intercepted four times against Philadelphia. So they benched him. And Rex, you know, the story about the Carolina game is that Rex had pneumonia.

Yeah. And that's why he sat. It was not a quarterback change, but he couldn't go that week. But most fans were in favor of the quarterback change because we were sold on Beck. Beck was the best warm-up player of all time. He looked great in the layup lines. Couldn't play. Couldn't play.

This game, he really wasn't terrible. He was 22 of 37, 279 yards, one touchdown, one interception. He ran for a touchdown. 10-year-ins and said, oh, Rex can't do that. He can run. But Cam Newton showed what the NFL was starting to be. be calm. And he was 18 of 23 for

256 yards in a touchdown. He ran 10 times for 59 yards. After the game, Shanahan said, that's the kind of quarterback I'd be intrigued to coach. And that got the wheels turning, and that's what led us to RG3 the following year. Yes, it did.

And the game that Beck followed this with, the 10-sack performance against Buffalo, that still didn't get him benched. Remember the game that got him benched was against San Francisco. The checkdown to Hulu. Roy Hulu Jr.

Who had 14 catches in the game. For like 100 yards. Barely 100 yards. It was like four yards of pop. John Beck was horrible. And I remember Tommy and I had this argument over and over and over again. And I'm convinced I'm right because I've talked to Mike Shanahan about this. Mike didn't think John Beck was a legitimate starting quarterback in the NFL.

But the choice that he had to. work with wasn't great. They wanted Mark Bulger. That's who they wanted in 2010. And if Bulger hadn't retired, Bulger would have been Shanahan starting quarterback until they were able to draft a young quarterback, which they didn't like to draft in 10. They didn't like the draft in 11. And then the RG3 pick came in 2012. But he was not like enamored with John Beck. Kyle may have been briefly. But they, if you recall, Andy, people thought that was a quarterback competition, going into 2011, it wasn't. They sold it at that.

Yeah, but John Beck statistically outplayed Rex Grossman and Rex Grossman started the season. Yeah. Because they thought Rex was much better than Beck. If Bulger goes 7 and 9, do they draft RG3? Well, they wanted Bulger in 2010. That's what I'm saying. So he would have had two seasons of Bulger. Okay.

So he becomes a decent journeyman quarterback. Yeah. Do they go the safe route and they go, okay, let's take a guy like Tanny Hill and, you know, or somebody else later in the draft? and, you know, the whole history. The team changes. I don't know what would have happened. You know, I do know this, that Shannahan, Kyle and Mike both would have been much more comfortable with Bulger than the trade for McNabb. I think they look back on that as wasted time in that first year.

I mean, what were you going to do? Were you going to start Rex? You know, that first year, not necessarily. But, you know, the thing about Rex Grossman and, you know, Cooley's told me this before. Other players, those players, that locker room, loved Rex Gross. He was a very popular player, a leader. And, you know, Mike always said, look, Rex could sling it. And he knew, he knew their offense down cold.

The problem was he threw it to the wrong team too many times. Yeah, well, and some of that was his upbringing in Chicago where Lovie Smith said, throw it deep. The reason these guys are defensive backs is they were wide receivers who couldn't catch. So don't be afraid to throw it into coverage. He was never, ever afraid to just say, F it and throw the bomb. That's right. And it was ultimately is undoing, but he had a career.

I love how we start conversations with the Monday night game, go through the Carolina stuff, and end up on Rex Grossman. Well, he's a part of the picture here. Yeah, he was. All right, thank you. Next week, Andy will be back, and we will reminisce about, like we usually do during Dallas week, old redskin cowboy games. Yeah, I have to come up with a different angle.

Yeah, let's come up with something new because I think we've beat everything else to death. All right, thank you. Kevin looks where the John Q public is putting their kids. dash and does the opposite. It's time for the smell test. All right, smell test six and two last week, three and O in the NFL. I'm 29, 23, and three overall on the season. My last 15 NFL picks, Aaron are 12, 2, and 1 over the last four NFL weekends.

This email from Vic, I think I've got you figured out, Kev. Virginia for the limit. you like to say this week. Yes, Vic, great job. You're learning. We'll get to the Wahoos in a second. Tonight, however, let me get you off to a fast weekend start because undefeated South Florida is on the road at Tulsa.

South Florida is laying seven. The public loves the undefeated team laying what they perceive to be a number that's not high enough. And Tulsa's one and four. So you don't need to know anything about Tulsa. need to know who coaches them. You don't need to know who their quarterback is. You don't need to know what their current DVOA offensive numbers are. None of that applies here. Joe Average thinks they stink at one and four and can't figure out why an undefeated South Florida team would be a mere

touchdown favorite. He thinks he's landed on a lock winner. Go the other way, Tulsa Plus 7 to get your weekend off and running tonight. Again, the smell test controlled. Friarian philosophy, lining up all those games where the public's absolutely convinced that the line is incorrect, coupling that with a lot of offshore information that I've been privy to over the years because of the many people I know. So I know where the sharp money is as well. And all that information sort of comes together into a smell test pick. It's not just anti-public, although that's a big part of it. I'm never going to take and give you a pick in the smell test where the public is on one side and go in the direction of the public.

It'll always be anti-public, but there's more to the smell test than just sort of an anti-public play. Vic was right. Virginia is plus six and a half at home tomorrow against Miami. me. Look, the numbers I'm using are the numbers that scores and odds has out on Friday when I do this podcast. The numbers do change a lot between now and game time. And very often when I get a worse number than the one that I give out on Friday, I usually deem that to be sharp money moving the number in the favor in which I want it to go in terms of feeling that I'm right. example, okay? Let me give you an example because you may not have followed that. Virginia opened is like an eight-point dog against Miami. It's now down to six and a half. If that number were to go to five and a half by kickoff tomorrow, even though it would be a

worse number for you to play the game at, it would be a reflection nine times out of ten that there is sharp money on Virginia. And that would be more of a signal that Virginia is a signal that Virginia is the right side than Miami is. Now, you're getting it at a worse number, so I would urge you, because I think this is a number that could continue to go down to play it right now and buy the half point.

I'm not sure what Virginia is at 3 and 2, but I do know that their two losses were to two decent teams. NC State might be a very good team. They're undefeated right now. Indiana is pretty good. They're going to be in the smell test here in a moment. The line is less than a touchdown. That gives everybody,

that loves the favorite. An easy way to play it, thinking all they got to do is win 2417 or 3124, and I win the game minus 6.5. That's why I love this pick. I love Virginia plus the number. I think they've got a very good chance to win the game outright against the Cains

Saturday in Charlottesville. I've got a lot of college games, so I'm going to rip through these pretty quickly. South Carolina's plus two and a half at home against Texas A&M. Texas A&M's ranked 22nd. They're the first team to have beaten Kentucky last week. South Carolina did beat Missouri last week.

The line, though, is viewed as a low point spread and a point spread that really has people jumping on the favorite. The public's all over, Texas A&M. There's sharp money on South Carolina. South Carolina is the smart side here plus the two and a half. It's not a great number. Remember, buy those numbers up a half point, pay a little bit more juice for it, but plus three is a better number. if you can buy that half point, but I'm playing, again, the scores and odds.com number on Friday. I like South Carolina plus two and a half. North Carolina is plus six against Virginia Tech.

Virginia Tech got spanked last Saturday night against Notre Dame, yet the public still likes Virginia Tech laying less than a touchdown to a very average to subpar North Carolina team. The line is viewed as too small. Public's lined up on the Hokies this week. Give me North Carolina plus the six. Old Dominion is getting three and a half against Marshall. Now, everybody knows Old Dominion from their big win earlier this year over Virginia Tech, 49 to 35. That was a crazy game. It was a game in which Virginia Tech's starting quarterback got knocked out of the starting lineup.

They haven't really been the same since. Old Dominion meantime hasn't beaten anybody else. Since beating Virginia Tech, they've lost at East Carolina and at Florida Atlantic. They're hosting Marshall, and Marshall is a three-and-a-half-point favorite. Marshall is one of the more experienced teams in the country. They're three-and-two. I don't think they're very good, though. The public likes Marshall in this game.

I like Old Dominion plus the three-and-a-half. Just take my advice on this one. I told you this a few weeks ago when they played New Mexico. just take Liberty plus nine against Troy. It won for you two weeks ago. It's going to win for you against Saturday. Liberty plus nine against Troy. I can only tell you that there is a ton of sharp money on Liberty.

Somebody knows something about this Liberty team. Take them plus the nine. Southern Cowsling seven to undefeated Colorado. Now, I know I've given out the team that's been playing Colorado two weeks in a row. I gave UCLA out two weeks ago. They did not get it done. I gave out Arizona State last week. They didn't get it done.

I don't know what happened in that game. Arizona State was moving the ball up and down the field. They had 21 at halftime and they didn't score in the second half lost 28, 21 getting two and a half. SCs favored by seven people. Favored by seven over an undefeated team. The public likes the underdog. Very rarely does the public jump on an underdog this way, this big. SC is getting better.

I think they're going to be a decent to good team, maybe very good by the end of the year as that freshman quarterback improves. SC lay the seven over Colorado. Do the same with Michigan. They're laying a big number over Wisconsin on Saturday night in that big

ABC matchup. Wisconsin can run the football. I don't think they can throw the football and I really do like Michigan's defense. They are laying nine right now to Wisconsin. Lay the nine.

I think this has 30 to 7, 30 to 10 written all over it. I've given out Nebraska a few times. Hasn't worked out. Explain to me how they're only getting three and a half at Northwestern, who nearly beat Michigan two weeks ago and did beat Michigan State last week. Northwestern's laying three and a half. Public loves Northwestern. Nebraska's winless.

Scott Frost. gets his Nebraska team into the win column this week. I think they can somehow win this game outright. They haven't been awful in these losses. They're catching actually, yeah, it's three and a half in most spots here, scores and odds. Boy, I'd like to give myself a plus four in this game, but I'll take the three and a half and Nebraska in their game at Northwestern. A few more here, I've got to rip through them quickly.

I like Indiana plus five and a half against Iowa. Indiana is a decent football team. Iowa is perceived as an easy favorite this week to cover the number. I like Indiana. How about UCF? They're undefeated laying four and a half against Memphis. Memphis can really score. I like Memphis plus the four and a half. You know I like Florida this year as a team. I liked them last week. I gave them out as a lock against LSU. This week, they're laying seven at Vanderbilt. That line is way too short people. It is the track. game of the weekend after what you saw last week. Florida could prove a lot to a lot of people this weekend. I think they're an exceptional defensive team. They may be the most fun defensive team to watch because they have speed at all three levels. Up front in their linebacking core and on the

back end, they're the fastest defensive team you will see this year. They struggle to score and they're going to struggle to score at Vandy and somehow Vandy is going to probably backdoor cover that game. Take Vandy plus the same. I don't understand what's going on with this BYU Hawaii game. BYU's pretty, has really, has really had issues since early in the year, and Hawaii's not that bad.

And BYU's laying 11. Public's all over Hawaii, plus the number. Take BYU, lay the 11, and then take Michigan State at Penn State Saturday. They're getting 13 and a half. Penn State's really good. Michigan State is, it's not a good Michigan State team. And I think because of that,

the public senses that Penn State, state's going to bounce back after the buy week, losing to Ohio State the week before, and pound Michigan State into submission. I think Michigan State covers in this game, take them plus 13 and a half by the half point to 14. That's a lot of college games. I know that, and I haven't been great on college yet this year. Three and two last week in college. I think it's turning around.

I think this is going to be a big college football weekend. In the NFL meantime, there are four games I like. I like the Browns plus one. The Browns right now are the biggest anti-public play on the entire. tire board all weekend long against the Chargers. I don't know why the public loves the Chargers so much. I know that their two losses are to the Rams and to the Chiefs. They haven't beaten anybody.

Cleveland's defense is exceptional. This may be the weekend. The NFL turns towards the public a little bit because the public skin has been getting destroyed, betting the NFL for the last four weeks, which is why I'm 12, 2, and 1 in the NFL over the last four weeks. But the theory, the contrarian sort of smell test theory, he applies on all fronts here. Sharp money on Cleveland, public money on San Diego or Los Angeles.

Give me Cleveland plus the one. Here's a game with James Winston getting his first start. People think Atlanta's going to bounce back this weekend, laying three at home against the Buccaneers. Give me the bucks plus the three. The Texans, you know, are still, even though they've won two in a row, they're still two and three. And they're laying a huge number to Buffalo who's been very competitive here recently. Let me mention this about Buffalo. They're a good defensive football team.

They are going to give teams some trouble along the way. They're going to win some games you don't think they're going to win, like last week's game against Tennessee. And I gave Buffalo out as a strong lean, even though it wasn't a smell test pick. I told you that I really liked Buffalo, but there wasn't enough public action on Tennessee to become a smell test pick. But Buffalo is going to give people problems. With that said, that's why I would suggest to you that,

the Houston Texans laying 10 is a big number, a number that I don't think the public thinks they can cover. I do think they can cover it. I really like Houston as a team the rest of the year. Their defense is exceptional. So is Deshawn Watson. I think this has like, you know, 27 to 6 written all over it. Take Houston late at 10.

And then Monday night, the public likes Green Bay laying 9.5 against a team that's just reeling from injuries in the 49ers. I don't think Green Bay is that good. I don't. San Francisco is a major anti-public play, so give me them on Monday night plus the nine and a half. All right, recapping. You ready? A lot of games. Tonight, Tulsa plus seven. Tomorrow, Virginia plus seven, South Carolina plus two and a half, North Carolina plus six, Old Dominion plus three and a half, Liberty plus nine, Southern Cal minus seven, Michigan minus nine, Nebraska plus three and a half, Indiana plus five and a half, Memphis plus four and a half, Vanderbilt seven, BYU minus 11, and Michigan State plus 13 and a half. That is a lot of college games. That's one, two,

three, four, five. Fourteen college games, that might be a record for me. On Sunday where I've been super sizzling hot, I'm giving you four games. The Browns plus one, the bucks plus three, the Texans minus 10, and the 49ers plus nine and a half. That's 18 games, the 49er game being a Monday nighter. 18 games. That may be a record for me. I'm feeling it because I've been red hot here recently.

I'm up six units at 29, 23, and 2, and I could really, really either go, I could go either way this weekend. You know, when I look at the total number and I look at 18 games, I'm like, just give me a, give me a 12 and 6. I'll take 11 and 7. That's a winning weekend. I feel good about the college board, though, for the first time in a while, really good about it. There are some real obvious what I would call most of you would understand sort of trap games. You know, Vanderbilt plus 7 against Florida off that big win for Florida. Texas A&M off that big win ending Kentucky's unbeaten streak. Virginia against Miami, Miami with that big comeback win against Florida State. SC Leng 7 to an undefeated Colorado team makes no sense. Nebraska, as bad as they've been, getting a super short number against Northwestern. A lot of games that I feel really good about.

I will, by the way, start posting these on my blog at the Kevin Shian Show.com. Not all of them, because I want you to listen. I want people that haven't listened to listen to the podcast to get the picks. but what I've been doing is I've been posting them on Sunday shortly before kickoff so that if you haven't listened to the podcast or you just want them all somewhere where they're written down. They are on that on my blog at the Kevin Shianchon.com. So I'll post them, you know, probably sometime on Sunday morning. But to get the college games, you got to listen to the podcast. And I'll tweet out stuff over the weekend reminding people that they can get them and even put it, you know, sort of mention exactly where it is in the podcast.

and today it's at the end of the podcast. Let's finish up the show with Redskins score and more. Time to settle the score is score and more. These shows are getting longer. They're getting longer. It's Friday during football season. They're just so much to talk about. By the way, if you haven't rated the show on iTunes,

it would really help the show out if you rated it. Five stars would be preferable. It just does a lot for the ranking of the show if you rate it. If you write a review on the show, it really helps as well. We've gotten a lot of good reviews, a high number of reviews and rates, which is really positive for the show. But if you haven't done that and you like the show and you're listening to it via iTunes, just do me a favor if you have a quick second. Rate it five stars, write a review on it real quickly saying how much you like it.

and that will really help out the show. Also, for those that want to listen to the show that listen to me on 980, and they don't know I'm doing a podcast, tell them if they say, I don't know how to do a podcast, which of course, you know, many of us shake our heads at. It's not really that hard. But for a lot of people, the word podcast is sort of like an intimidating thing. They can just go to the website, the Kevin Sheeonshow.com, and listen to it right there.

There's a big play button right there when they get to the website, which makes it easy. And also, I was thinking about this the other day. And it was confirmed to me in a conversation with somebody who really understands the podcast world. When people say subscribe to a podcast, and I've asked people, and many of you have already subscribed, if you haven't subscribed on iTunes or any of the other sites, please subscribe. But it's really a bad verb for the format. Because the word subscribe really does imply that you're going to pay for something. You're not. It's free.

I wish they would use in the podcast world sign up for rather than subscribe. Because subscribe, people think in terms of subscription, which more times than not implies some sort of fee, there's no fee to subscribe. It's totally free. So if you're just listening to this on a daily basis because you go to iTunes or you go to the Web, website. If you are on iTunes or any other podcast platform, subscribe to it. That helps us also very much and doesn't cost you a thing. All right, Redskins score and more we'll finish up the show with. I like the Redskins. You'll note that I did not have the Redskins in the smell test, even though

I thought it would be a smell test pick. The truth of the matter is, the actions fairly split. I would suggest that the Redskins would be a lean, a strong lean, but it didn't fit all of the smell test criteria, which is why it didn't make it into the smell test picks this weekend, but I like the Redskins. I think they bounce back on Sunday. I think they'll figure out a way to make Cam Newton, you know, have to beat him with his arm on third and long. I think this is a big defensive bounce back game. Now they've got to stop the run. They have to force some turnovers in this game. That would be helpful. You know, I mentioned this earlier in the week. What was Pernell McPhee doing when that ball came out early in the game. It could have been a big play. And he just

strolled in the general direction of the loose football on the ground. And Mark Ingram got it back. If there are loose footballs on the ground, they got to be aggressive. There's got to be a sense of urgency to recover it. And I think, you know, a turnover margin win would go a long way this weekend. Offensively, you know, Cooley's, he's so sharp. Yes, Alex Smith needs a running game. but Monday night to his point, people were wide open without a running game. Jay's got to give them a game plan that's simple. Pitch and catch, especially if they're facing soft zone coverage again. It was so easy for three years when teams zoned the Redskins up, especially soft zone.

They can run little digs. You mentioned Brian Quick was wide open one time. They can find Jordan Reed early in the game. That would be important. I like the Redskins Sunday. I like them 23 to 20. I think there will be some red zone issues and they'll end up kicking some field goals,

but it'll be enough. And field goals are disappointing when you get into the red zone, but they're important in games like this. Dustin Hopkins had a big kick the other night. In the moment, it made the score 13-6. He might have another moment in this game where he's got a big kick. And I think it comes late, very late in regulation.

With under two minutes to go, the Redskins are faced with like a fourth and three, at the Carolina 35-yard line. And they trust in Dustin Hopkins, and he delivers from 52 yards out to give him a 23-20 lead, and they hold on. Graham Ganoe doesn't need that much field position to attempt a field goal, as we saw last week.

I like the Redskins 23 to 20. I think Alex Smith bounces back with a solid game, and I think the key here is that the Redskins somehow, somehow are able to slow down Carolina's rush offense, and they hold Carolina to 100 total yards, or less. We'll be back on Monday early. We're going to be trying to get the Monday show specifically following a Redskins game out early. And obviously, we'll have all of the other football from the weekend. I didn't even mention Maryland. They're at home tomorrow against

Rutgers. It's a homecoming. Tomorrow's homecoming, right? They're laying 25. Look, if they're laying 25, they're probably going to win by more than 25. Rutgers is terrible. Rutgers is really, really bad to the point that other coaches are making fun of them. This may be, and I think you mentioned this to me earlier, this may be the biggest favorite Maryland's been in years. I can't remember the last time against certainly a Division I opponent where they've been a 25-point favorite. But that would get them to four and two and give them some hope of trying to steal two more games to get to bowl eligibility. Basketball season starts soon. It was Big Ten Media Day yesterday. Big Ten Media Day yesterday and Maryland Media Days next week. And next week the NBA gets underway and we're going to try to get

Wilbon on and Buck Hanson. and we'll do a lot of Wizards discussion as well. Scott Jackson's going to join me next week. I've already talked to him about that. So we'll have a busy football and basketball week next week. And we've got baseball playoffs, which start tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing the Dodgers. I love watching Kirshaw pitch.

I like the Dodgers. I don't know about the ALCS. I have no real sense of what will happen there. But I'll be watching that over the weekend as well. Thanks to Aaron. Thanks to Stanford. Steve, who came on the show today. Andy Poland came on the show today.

And of course, Chris Cooley, was on the show today and listen to his podcast too because he's now doing a film breakdown. Thanks to launch workplaces here in Bethesda. If you're looking for a place, you live in Upper Northwest or Bethesda or in that general area and you don't want to long commute, launch workplaces in Bethesda is the place you should put your office. They have comfortable, fully furnished offices, conference rooms, co-working desks, high-speed internet, a cafe, free parking, 24,

7 access, go to launchworkplaces.com, and you can call for an exclusive free two-day trial, 240, 86714. That's 240, 866714. Long show today. I had fun. I hope you did too. I'm back on Monday.