The Kevin Sheehan Show - NFL Playoff Wrap and LSU/Clemson

Episode Date: January 13, 2020

Kevin opened with a total recap of the 4 NFL playoff games from the weekend. ESPN's Stanford Steve (The Scott Van Pelt Show) called in from New Orleans to talk NFL Playoff games and tonight's NCAA Championship game. Kevin finished up with thoughts on the news that Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson are going into the NFL Hall of Fame. He also had a pick on tonight's Clemson-LSU game. <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. Ha, ha, 1800s that play. Good weekend of games. Not great, but the AFC games were great. And we come in also with, I think, a top 10 rock song of all time. The spirit of radio, Rush, Neil Pert, passed away at the age of 67 years old on Friday. arguably the greatest drummer in history, a jazz drummer to start with. You know, Aaron, you know my son Corbyn, who's a musician. He's a drummer, a guitar player. He really started on the drums. And he was devastated on Friday. I know you were, too, because you're a big Rush fan.

I am as well a genius. I mean, one of those guys that most people in music will refer to. Sometimes it gets overblown as sort of a musical genius. Most people think either he or John Bonham, there are others. I understand that in terms of the greatest drummers of all time. If you want to see something that's just off the charts, because all of these videos were making the rounds all weekend long, that drum solo, that performance that he put on on the Letterman show like eight or nine years ago,

was just outrageous. But it's sad because no one even knew that he had brain cancer. He kept it very private. it. And one of those bands that, you know, I was not into as young person, my younger brother was, but got into more like 20, you know, 20 years ago and have been a big fan ever since. I mean, it's just, you know, it's that incredible, you know, change of time signatures, all that stuff in their music. And Neil Pert was the genius behind it, although Getty Lee's considered to be certainly one of the great bass players of all time as well.

But great band and Rip, you know, Nealp. you know, Neil Pert. The reaction for his passing on Friday, we've seen this so many times over the last couple of years, but for a drummer in a band in particular, it was incredible. Social media was on Friday and Saturday. He's one of, you know, people say what they say about Rush. Some people like some people don't, but everyone acknowledged just how good he was. Yeah, exactly.

Anyway, all right, let's get to these games. What a weekend in the divisional round. The two AFC games were obviously the highlights, although the Green Bay Seattle game was great. The low light of the weekend was the first game, the San Francisco, Minnesota game, even though it was a 14 to 10 game at halftime, got out of control. San Francisco was the much better team. I'll address that right now if you want because I know a lot of people out there sitting there waiting to hear me, you know, come up with my, hold on, let me get my list of excuses for Kirk. Here it is. I've been working on it all weekend long, and yeah, here we are.

the top ten excuses as to why Kirk Cousins lost the playoff game. I'm not going to do that. I'll just say this. If you really believe that he was the number one reason they lost that game, you are really, really, you're limited in your ability to sort of analyze an NFL game. That game was so one-sided in every single phase of the game San Francisco was better. Would in a elite quarterback, put his team on their back, and lead them into a win in San Francisco? No. The answer is no to that. Kirk isn't an elite quarterback, so he never had a chance. But Aaron Rogers got his ass kicked there about a month and a half ago on a Sunday night. Had 75 yards passing until late in the game on a garbage drive. He picked up another 25 and finished

with 102 yards passing. Aaron Rogers and got sacked five times against that defense. That defense got healthy Saturday. They had K-Wan Alexander back, D. Ford back. They had Tart back, three guys that had been missing as they gave up some big yardage and points down the stretch. The last time that defense was completely healthy was that Green Bay game. San Francisco's really good. Well-coached defensively, so fast. We've been talking about him since week three or four about how good they were defensively.

And they were fully healthy, and Minnesota had no shot, none. Especially with the game plan they had, because that offensive game plan was really bad. Yeah, well, look, this is what they have been under Zimmer. They've been a very conservative team. You know, last year when they made the coaching change and then put Stefansky in there, who's now a head coach, and Pat Schumer's going to Denver. Is the Schoenberg thing official yet? I thought it was. It may not be official official, but I thought Stapansky got the Cleveland job.

Am I wrong about that? I mean, that was the talk. I don't know if that had been official official yet. Well, whatever. How about Jay Gruden to Minnesota next year is the offensive coordinator reuniting with Kirk and Zimmer. That was a very early thought I had. I don't think it'll happen. I think it actually should. I think the two of them were, I think Kirk runs his offense well. I think Jay didn't have anybody other than Kirk while he was in Washington that ran it well. So I actually think it would be a good reuniting. I don't think that they are super fond of each other. But anyway, Minnesota got their ass kicked. Yes, the game plan, a little bit too conservative for me.

I would have mixed it up. The constant trying to throw screens against that defense to nullify the pass rush, just wasn't working against that kind of speed because their recovery was so good. The Minnesota offensive line's been a sieve at times this year, so that they got overwhelmed. And they couldn't run the football. If you want to look at one thing, if you're a Minnesota fan, as to why they didn't win the game or compete in the game, Dalvin Cook, nine carries 18 yards. 21 yards rushing against San Francisco.

It wasn't going to work out at all. They couldn't protect. I would have been more aggressive. I would have thrown them in shotgun, gone hurry up, and thrown real short. You know, not screen short, but tightened it up against it. especially against the cover two at times that he was looking at the two deep. But look, I mean, what are we going to do here? I mean, I tweeted this out.

I think I tweeted it out. It's a pendulum with him. You know, it's one week, it's here. Ooh, my God, look at how good he is. And the next week it's here. Look at how bad he is. You know, they did throw up a stat about his record against teams with winning records. You know his quarterback rating is the exact same against, actually, it's a little bit better,

I think it was against good teams that he lost to versus the bad teams that he's beaten. It's a dependent game. He is a good quarterback, period. He's not an elite quarterback. He's a good quarterback. He's somewhere in my book between 8 and 12, somewhere in that range. You want to put him at 15, 16, I think that's way too low. And I think if you put a good team around him, you can win.

And I think if you play a defense, it in the 49er defense, he's going to perform. well-see last week against the Saints, whose defense actually isn't that bad either. Let's talk about the games that were better this weekend. So the Chief's Houston game was, I think, one of the most electrifying, fast-break, pace, high-paced, fast-paced games in the first half that I've ever watched, there's one game, and I'll give it to you in a moment, that to me matches it in playoff history. Going from 24 to nothing in a matter of minutes to 2824 in a matter of minutes was breathtaking. It was so good. I mean, if you're a football fan, it's a playoff game, and you see what happened in that first half, you're like, whoa, I mean,

how many times have you ever watched a game like? that. 24-0. Courtesy of drop passes by Kansas City and then a block punt return, a muff punt that's set up for a touchdown. But Houston also moved the football. It had a 54-yard touchdown pass on third and one on the opening drive, had another long drive that ended up in a field goal. They were dominating the game. Kansas City, some of it was self-inflicted, but they were dominating the game. And then you got the kickoff return at 24 to nothing. And if you want to go back two plays earlier, to the decision to kick the field goal on fourth and one. I actually was okay with that decision. I'm going to surprise you and tell you that I didn't think

Bill O'Brien had anything to do with losing that game yesterday. I think Patrick Mahomes had a lot to do with Houston losing that game yesterday. Because the two critical calls that Bill O'Brien made, the not going for the fourth down up 21-0 in the second quarter in a fourth and one situation, I thought was the right call. I didn't think they should give Kansas City any change. chance to get life. Kicking the field goal would have kept the onslaught going. They kicked the field goal. They took a 24 to nothing lead. And then on the fake punt decision at 24 to 7, I actually thought it was a really good feeling the moment risk that was worth taking by O'Brien. It's fourth and four, balls at their own 31-yard line. Kansas City is scored after a big kickoff returned, and then a

touchdown to make it 24 to 7, and they've got a three-and-out. And I just thought, I I felt watching the game, starting to turn a little bit here. And O'Brien had a fake punt called, and this guy Sorensen made a phenomenal play. It was wide open if he can allude Sorensen. He's still running. Oh, it was absolutely great. I guess the question would be, if you thought it was a good kind of feeling the moment and stopping momentum there, why wasn't it good at fourth and one?

Because Kansas City hadn't started to take any momentum, and I didn't want to give him the momentum. Some people would say that by kicking the momentum, you lost your, or you kicking the people, No, I think a fourth down stop would have given, giving them the opportunity for a fourth down stop would have potentially given them some life. They had no life. Kicking the field goal to make it 24 to nothing didn't give them new life. I didn't think. I thought they got the life on that kickoff return and then that touchdown. And then the three and out, now they've really started to gain some momentum.

And I thought it would have been brilliant. I thought it was a risk worth taking. and if they had pulled it off, they would have recaptured that momentum and maybe gone on to take a 27 to 7 lead or maybe even 31-7 because the ball would have been at midfield. If Sorensen doesn't make that play, he's at the 50 plus. I actually, I agree with you there. I think it was a risk worth taking,

but I also think it was a risk worth taking up 21-0. I just think at 21-0, you had much more to lose by missing than you did in the fake punt situation. And the fake punt offered more upside. and that was making it to sort of regain where you were. And also more downside because of where it was on the field. That's true. That's true. And that's what made it risky, you know,

because if the ball's at the Kansas City 45-yard line, I might think about going for it on 4th and 3 or 4th and 4. Although I wouldn't have been that spot. I would have definitely punted. The special teams plays in the first half, the block punt return, the muff punt recovered, the big kickoff returned by Coleman at 24-0. Huge play. The Chiefs stop on the fake punt that we were just talking about. Then the fumbled kickoff return at 24 to 14. My God, have you ever seen so many impactful special teams plays in one half of football?

I mean, everything about that first half was just like, have you ever seen this? And then Mahomes gets on a roll and Houston couldn't stop him and that Houston lost what's his face in the secondary. and that hurt him a little bit. And it just was an onslaught. The funny thing about that game is at halftime. I didn't think Houston was out of it, down four. Down four, of course, they're not out of it, score-wise. But the momentum at turn, they missed the field goal at the end of the half two

that would have made it 28-27. I just felt like Houston could move the football. You know what I mean? I never thought, when you're watching a game like that and you feel like the other team in Kansas City has a really good defense and Houston's not going to be able to move the ball to possess the ball, to score with the ball, then you don't think they have a chance after they've given up 28 unanswered. But the thing about that game is I felt like Houston would be able to move the ball and score points in the second half.

And they had the one touchdown drive at 4124 to get it to a 4131. And then they moved the ball, you know, other portions of the second half too, but just could not close the deal. And it just got out of hand because, Kansas City scored on – scored touchdowns on seven consecutive possessions, most in postseason history. They scored points on eight consecutive possessions. They had a field goal on that last one.

They're the first team in NFL playoff history to trail by at least 20 points and then win by at least 20 points in the same game. And if you had Houston plus 10 like I did, oh boy, because up 24 to nothing, you know, that's one of those conversations, Aaron. I know you've thought about this before. Damn, I should have put more on this game. Oh, yeah. You know, at 24 to nothing, you're like, damn, I love Houston today, Plustin.

Why didn't I bet more on this game? Well, you know, good thing you didn't. Anyway, they scored so fast and furious in that first half that it was literally like a long, version of the Tomahawk chop chant that just never seemed to stop, which I just found really amusing because, of course,

we've had the conversation about the Redskins team name, and yet, you know, in Atlanta for the Braves and in Kansas City for the Chiefs and at Florida State Seminole games, they openly mock Native Americans with the Tomahawk chop chant. It's hysterical to me that

that never gets the attention that the Redskins name gets. But anyway, I digress. The game to me that is the all-time greatest NFL postseason game I've ever watched and was similar to yesterday's game first half-wise is the Chargers Dolphins epic in Miami game January of 1982. The single most thrilling, best played, most dramatic NFL playoff game for me. That's always been my number one. January 2nd, 1982, Chargers with Dan Fouts, Kellynne Innslow, West Chandler, Charlie Joyner, John Jefferson wasn't on that team, against the dolphins who did not have Marino at that point and came in off the bench with Don Stroke.

Okay. And San Diego got off to a 24-0-0-1-1-1-1-1st, first-quarter leads, similar to the Houston thing, 24-0. And you think the game's over. And then the Dolphins came back like the Chiefs did, not with 28 unanswered, but with 17 unanswered, including a play at the end of that first half in the Orange Bowl that day. hitch and pitch where Strock throws it to Duryl Harris. He catches it, pitches it back to Tony Nathan. On the final play of the first half, Nathan takes it in. Place is going nuts. It's 24-17 and halftime. The Dolphins are back in the game. And the dolphins actually scored after trailing 24-0 38 of the game's next 45 points. You know, not 41 in a row like Kansas City, but 38 of the next 45.

The difference between that game in 1982 following the 81 season and yesterday's game, is the second half of that game was just as good as the first half. The Dolphins came back, took the lead, then San Diego came back, tied it up. The game went to overtime, and San Diego eventually won the game, 41 to 38 in overtime. And then the following week had to go to Cincinnati for the freezer bowl, the minus 59 windshield game at Riverfront Stadium and lost the AFC title game to Boomer Assison and the Bengals.

and that particular team. Icky Woods, that team, the Bengals went on to the Super Bowl that year, lost to the 49ers in that Super Bowl. I'm sorry, that was not Boomer Asiason and Nicky Woods. My fault. That's the Ken Anderson team, Cincinnati team, that won the freezer bowl over the Chargers. The Bengals got to the Super Bowl later that decade with Boomer Asiason and Nicky Woods.

That was Ken Anderson, great team. That Cincinnati team nearly beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl. that Super Bowl lost 26 to 21. Anyway, that was the game it reminded me of in the first half. It didn't end up being the game that that game was because Kansas City, you know, coasted. And Mahomes threw for five touchdowns. And I don't know that I've seen a better quarterbacking performance. I've seen quarterbacking performances equal what Mahomes did.

I don't know if I've ever seen a better three quarters by one quarterback than the three quarters that Mahomes played. You know, he had all those balls dropped early in. the game, still threw for five touchdowns, 321 yards, and basically three quarters. Sort of like two and a half quarters, actually. And he did it in so many different ways, right? The quick release, the perfect accuracy, the deep ball, the short ball, the running. I mean, how many times did we see Mahomes?

Get outside the pocket, rolling right, still behind the line of scrimmage, putting the defense into major conflict. Is he going to run? Is he going to throw? And then all of a sudden he would just jog Aaron for like 15, 16, 16, 17 yards, you know? He ended up with 53 yards rushing in the game. Almost all of them in the final two and a half to three quarters. I don't know. It was one of the better quarterbacking performances I've seen. I mean, he was brilliant. I actually thought Deshawn Watson played well too,

but Houston defensively just could not get a stop at all. And maybe they only needed one or two, but they didn't because Kansas City on eight consecutive drives score points on all of them. The other thing Mahomes did for those that were watching this and heard about it, Mahomes tied Doug Williams for the greatest quarter in NFL postseason history with four touchdown passes. Now, the Doug Williams' four touchdown passes came in the Super Bowl and generated a lot more yardage than the Mahomes TD passes did in the second quarter. Doug Williams, you know, is part of that 35 points on 18 plays for the Redskins in that Super Bowl win. over Denver. Anyway, the Chiefs get Tennessee. The Titans are much better on defense than Houston is, and they're going to be able to run the ball against the Chiefs. So I do think Tennessee has a chance

at Arrowhead on Sunday as a seven and a half point underdog. And Tennessee's win came in Baltimore, and we'll go to that game next. In, I mean, it was really brilliant the way they, first of all, you know, frustrated Baltimore. I think Baltimore, you know, you asked about the Minnesota game plan. I think Baltimore went away from the run too early. Yeah, they panicked. They panicked a little bit and got away from the run. Now, I know Tennessee was filling that box with eight, nine players. I was watching the game, okay? But Baltimore has run it down everybody's throat all year long. I did not think Lamar Jackson had this horrific game. I really appreciated the competitiveness that he had. It's the fourth downs, you know, that killed him. You know, the fourth and fourth,

one in the first half on their on their drive down seven nothing and then the fourth and one at 14 to six on the first drive of the third quarter you know Baltimore still very much in this game it's 14 to six they're on the move on with the second half kickoff they're down inside the tennessee 20 yard line and they're faced with a fourth and one and they didn't get it again and i just didn't love the play call and i haven't watched the ravens enough this year to know whether or not there was a lot of sort of quarterback, you know, power runs. I'm sure there were. That first one, though, it seemed like Lamar just went to the wrong.

He didn't follow his blockers. It seemed like there was a hole and he just missed it. I think the second one looked that way. And then he turned it back in the other direction. I'm not talking about the first one where he just kind of plows into the line instead of following his guard. Yeah. The second one, you know, was bad too. And I would have loved to have seen him have a pitch option there, you know, coming down the line.

But anyway, Baltimore's out. I mean, Tennessee, you know, Derek Henry rushes for, you know, 195 yards on 30 carries. Last week he had the 182, I think it was, against the Patriots on 34 carries. I didn't even think he got it enough. He got it enough in this game. And Tannahill, another game, under 100 yards passing, and they win. First quarterback to win two playoff games with two passing performances of under 100 yards since Terry Bradshaw with the Steelers in the 70s.

You got, you know, Ryan Tannahill, the last two weeks, I mean, in 2020, NFL playoffs, last week he was 8 of 15 for 72 yards, a touchdown and an interception. And on Saturday night, he was 7 of 14 for 88 yards. To see those quarterback stat lines, you pretty much have to go back to the 70s to find him. You just don't see that anymore. You know, he's thrown 29 pat. He's completed 15 balls in two weeks.

His two-week numbers are 15 of 29 for a buck 60. That's a game. And sometimes that's not even a game. But like I said last week, I thought Tanna Hill played well despite the numbers. I thought he played really well. He had that, you know, after the fourth down stop in the first half, he had the bomb for the touchdown, which was a great throw. Had a couple of other, you know, third-down conversion plays.

They were 7 of 13 on third down. the Titans were. They have the formula right now. It's one of the formulas. I don't like getting into this, you know, there's only one formula to win in January. That's not true. We've seen that over the years. The Patriots have won at all sorts of different ways, you know, but we do know this. If you can run the football and play good defense, you do have a chance in January on the road. Defense travels and a running game tends to travel. And the Titans have that right now, man. And Kansas City, I don't think they're very good defensively.

Now, are you going to be able to match Kansas City? We were thinking the same thing about Baltimore. Let's remember that. It's a different way that Baltimore scores a lot of points, but they were scoring a lot of points, not getting stopped very much. And Tennessee, remember we talked about last week, they need to get ahead.

They can't get behind. Well, they did get ahead. But what if they get ahead? Like Houston got ahead. It'll be different for the Chiefs coming back against Tennessee. Derek Henry is just a monster. A monster. One last thought, two last thoughts on this game. First of all, you know, John Harbaugh and the Baltimore people have really gotten a little bit too analytics, you know, chesty for me this year. You know, we're going to have a conversation one of these days, what analytics even means. People use that term. It sounds like it's fancy, you know, difficult to understand. It's just advanced statistical data, you know, and sometimes based on, you know, historical data and

seasonal data. And to me, a lot of this stuff and a lot of these decisions really are context decisions, not historical decisions to make. They went for two fourth downs. They're a big going for fourth down team and they had been successful all year. Here's one thing that I would, I would recommend John Harbaugh and the Ravens who are so smart. Know when to call a timeout at the end of the first half. You're on the move down 14 to 3, and you basically limited your team's chance to score touchdown at the end of the first half because you didn't manage the clock well. There's a play at about a minute to go, a Jackson pass to Sneed into Tennessee territory. They've got three timeouts left. Immediate timeout. Okay, you've got to get an immediate timeout after that. You

blew 25 seconds, 30 seconds after that play. Somewhere in that neighborhood. You could have used that at the end of the half. That big throw to Hollywood Brown got it down to the four-yard line. You ran one play from the four-yard line. And that's Lamar Jackson's fault because the first down play, he gets flush from the pocket. He's running around, running around, burning all at too much clock. So they kicked the field goal in second down. You should have had, you know, quick throw on the first down play, a second quick throw, and then you could have, you know, potentially kicked a field goal on third down instead of second down. But they didn't manage the clock well. You know, they're really, you know, John Harbaugh, and I love him as a coach. I really do. I think they're always well

coached. I think the organization is first class. But they got a little bit, you know, talkative about analytics and how smart they were this year. And they really, really butchered the clock situation and the timeout situation at the end of the first half, which cost them the opportunity to be down 14 to 10 versus what it was, 14 to 6 at the end of the first half. Last night's game, great game. I thought Russell Wilson was going to complete the comeback. If you had Green Bay lay in the four and a half,

or if you had Seattle plus the four and a half, the two-point conversion and that game was everything. And the Packers got to stop. I thought the fumble, I thought there was a clear recovery on the fumble in the first half by Green Bay. I don't know how replay didn't see the clear recovery of the fumble. and then on the gram play at the end, I didn't think replay really showed a definitive view where he was short of the first down. I thought he was short of the first down, but they called it, you know, they spotted it where they spotted it.

And I didn't see a replay that clearly showed it. Apparently the first down yellow mark, yellow line on Fox was a little bit off on that play too. What a game, though, what throws by Aaron Rogers on that final drive? Russell Wilson is just so good. I thought when Seattle did get the stop down 2823 and Russell Wilson got the ball back, I thought they were going to take the lead there with five minutes to go. There was a drop by Turner at midfield, big play in that drive. And then there was a sack by Preston Smith on Russell Wilson. I think they would have gone for fourth and five had it been incomplete on third and five.

But when Preston Smith sacked him with like three minutes to go, it was punt time because they had three timeouts left and they never got the ball back. And Green Bay is on to the title game where they are seven point underdogs. And I personally don't think that they've got a good chance of beating the 49ers in that defense on the road. I think we're going to see San Francisco in there. I would not definitively pick the winner of the Kansas City Tennessee game. It would not shock me if Tennessee does it again at Arrowhead.

I'd rather see Kansas City and Mahomes against the 49ers. It'd be a hell of a Super Bowl. Aaron Rogers was spectacular when he needed to be last night. And I don't know how they didn't cover Devante Adams better. You know, they Green Bay lost Cumao in that game. They didn't really have any other options. And Seattle, who has not been a good defensive team this year, just did not do a good job of taking the one legitimate threat away.

Adams kept making catch after catch in that game. The 49ers, they'll do a better job, watch, of taking Devante Adams out of the game, or limiting his opportunities. So four, you know, games, three of them pretty entertaining. One of them, a blowout that started the weekend. The big takeaways, once again, Derek Henry and his performance, the Titans performance in particular,

and man, Patrick Mahomes and that Kansas City offense when they got behind 24 to nothing. Spectacular. All right, quick mention of mybooky.ag. I want to bet these championship games, college basketball this week, the Super Bowl. MyBooky.ag is reliable, fast payouts, quality lines, lots of ways to play. Plus, right now if you join, MyBooky will match your deposit halfway, all the way up to $1,000.

That means if you deposit $2,000 or deposit $200, you'll get an extra $1,000 or $100 to play with. You've got to use my promo code. It's Kevin DC. It's K-V-I-N-D-C. MyBooky.ag, Kevin, D.C is the promo code to get that deposit match. halfway to your total deposit. All right, let's bring in Stanford Steve from the Scott Van Pelt show. I urge you to follow him at Stanford Steve 82.

Follow him on ESPN.com. And of course, watch him as Scott's partner on the Scott Van Pelt show. I think we'd be remissed if we didn't start the conversation with, Welcome to D.C. brother. Here you come. You're coming south. The announcement came out Friday for those of you that missed it. Scott is moving back to D.C. after, I don't know, 20 years plus of being, no, more than that, shit. He moved in 94.

95, he moved to the Golf Channel. I think it was 95. So he's been gone for 25 years. He's moving back to D.C. He's going to do his Sports Center show from Tony and Mike's PTI studio downtown. Stanford Steve's moving with him. So, you know, you and I, we've had so many conversations via text and phone over the years. Now we'll get to hang out with each other because I can tell you this. I swear to God, our boy, he's anti-social for the most part. So my wife's like, aren't you excited? Scott's moving back? I'm like, yeah, I am. It'll be great for him.

It'll be great for Stephanie, the kids, the whole thing. But he doesn't like to hang out with anybody. So I'll probably have more conversations with him on the phone than I do in person, even though he'll be sort of right around the corner. But are you looking forward to it? Absolutely, Kevin. Thank you again for having me on. It's awesome.

Really, really looking forward to the opportunity that D.C. brings us. The one thing I'm a little worried is I'm kind of a bigger guy than Tony and Michael and Scott is too. So we're going to need a newer desk in that studio. And I think we might need to blow another wall or two out to make us fit. and look appropriate in that studio, which has been incredible for what they have done. But, no, I'm absolutely fired up. I have no idea where I'm going to live yet. But, like I said, the opportunity and the ability that D.C. provides us is awesome,

and I can't wait to get there and get settled. You know, it's just the anxiety of a move. and, you know, there's a lot of unknown, but I'm not worried about it because I know it's a huge plus. You know, I have three daughters that are young, and I'm looking forward to raising them down there. You don't really want to move, do you? Seriously. Yes. What about is your wife, is your wife up for it, too? Where's she from?

She's from Connecticut. We were actually from the same old town. a little San Diego 20,000 people city right outside New Haven so there's

there's you know I said the anxiety of of she's you know there's a lot more unknown

on her side but the the the promise that D.C. has just to be able to get out of Connecticut I think is

I mean there's not a better place you know school systems and area benefit from the weather. There's a lot of pluses to get out of from Connecticut, so we're super fired up.

You know, I mean, our boys wanted to do this for a long time, but, you know, I've said this to him. I wasn't sure that he would ever do it because he's a major creature of habit, and they like it up there. You know, they really do. But it's like anything else. You move and everybody gets used to it

and then three, four years down the road, you can't see yourself being anywhere but where you are. I think you guys are going to love it, and it'll be great to have you guys down here. You know, for those of you who have watched Steve as a part of Scott's show, followed him on Twitter, read all of his college football stuff, he and the bear doing their podcast and doing all their picks over the years, you know, the reason Steve's nickname is Stanford, Steve, is he played football at Stanford and was his senior year in high school, one of the highest recruited players in America. I mean, he was, were you the number one tight end on, like, rivals or whatever sites were around at the time? It's funny.

I don't know what happened when we crossed into the whole dot-com era, but there was back in the, this is 1995-96. back then there was one, not rivals, you know, not ESPN, Yahoo, anything. There was a magazine called Super Prep. And, yeah, I was like the number one, I think athlete, that's when they started using that term, because I honestly wasn't sure what position I was going to play in college. It's quarterback, wide receiver, you know, tight end, and even sub-schools wanted me to play like outside lineback or safety. So Super Prep coined me as the number one athlete.

Really? Yeah. So actually, at my mom's house, the magazine is somewhere there is proof. So that is, but Super Prep, I don't think they never made it to the internet. They were just a magazine. But yeah, that was, I always hold Super Prep in high regard because of what they thought of me. I know we've had this conversation before, but I don't, I don't think we've done it on the podcast or the radio show,

but you were a really good high school basketball player, too, right? Yeah, yeah. We actually, we have our 25th anniversary, my high school, Ansonia. It's the only state championship in school history and basketball in 1995. I was actually a guard on that team. We had some unbelievable size. But we, yeah, 1995, I was,

Allstate or second team, Allstate, whatever, around there. But the big thing in our – because our league was considered the best league, and I was able to make the All-League, which was only five guys back in, you know, the MVL days. So, yeah, that was – it was big – I am a college football player, obviously, but the high school basketball accomplishments are – I hold them right up there because they're absolutely incredible. Did you get D1 off? Offers and hoops? What's that?

Did you get D1 offers and hoops? Lower, low, real low, Hartford. You know, Calhoun actually came to watch his play a couple times because there was Yukon players that ended up going to Yukon in our league. But I never got to that level. But it was all lower division one. Calhoun, I'll just tell you this story real quickly. I was at the year that.

They made that run where they won five games with Kemble Walker to win the Big East title. So I happened to have been in New York that weekend, and we went up there for like a long weekend with really good friends. We were staying at the New York Athletic Club. And on that Saturday morning of the Big East final, it was Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. My buddy and I went down and we were just playing pickup basketball. There was like, you know, full court pickup basketball games going on in the gym. And, you know, playing for, you know, an hour or so. And at the end, we saw the Connecticut basketball team start to walk in to the gym.

Yeah. Because that's where they were practicing. And so the PR guy or somebody from Yukon comes over and walks out onto the floor in the middle of the game. It says, you guys have to get off the floor. This game's over. You know, you guys got to go. The Yukon basketball team's here to practice. And I said, because I've got a big mouth, I've said, I said something like, dude,

we're one bucket away from the game winner. You know, the score's tied. We're playing. We need one more bucket here. And the guys, no, no, no, go. And then I hear this big booming voice come out of the background. And it was Calhoun, and he walks down to the floor and he said, what's the scraw? And I told him what the score was, he said, what are you playing to? And I said, I told him what we were playing to.

He said, yeah, you guys go finish up. You finish up. We'll just sit here until you're done. I swear to God. And so we finished the game. I mean, it was over like three minutes later. And then he said as we were walking off the floor. he invited everybody to stay and watch him practice if we had any interest, which my buddy Jimmy and I did.

We sat there and we watched them practice and they were playing Louisville in the final. They were playing that Louisville team, which was a pressing team under Patino. And all he was doing for the first 30 minutes, it was walk through. They weren't practicing because they were on night five, I think. And all they were working on was their press break. And it was actually really cool to watch. watch him because I love coaching. I've coached hoops for 25 years, 30 years, 25 or 30, something like that. Now, Jesus Christ. But anyway, that's my Jim Calhoun story. There you go.

Incredible guy, man. Awesome. That's what the other thing is, is people don't even remember when you con really got to go home, even before the national title, he was the pressing guy. Yeah. He was the guy, you know, get the ball out of the hoop after a maid bucket and let's go. you know, let's play fast. So it's just, it's amazing how it's come full circle. Yeah, I'm Googling it. I'm trying to remember what year that was. I think it was 2009.

I think it was. Maybe it was 2010. Could have been earlier. Yeah, I think they won 2010 and 2014. But 2010 would have been Kemba Walker, right? Yes, yes. And I think they won five games to win the thing. Yeah.

Yeah, they did. Yeah, it wasn't 2010. Because 2010 West Virginia won it with Huggins. Maybe it was 2011. You know what? I bet you it was 2011. Yes. Sorry, not that you say it. Yeah, here it is. Yeah, 2011. Connecticut over Louisville in the final.

They won, yeah, they won on the first night. Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, won five games to win the Big East tournament, 2011. And they didn't lose again. All right. Let's talk before we get to the game tonight. In Stanford, Steve's in New Orleans for the championship game tonight, LSU a five and a half point spot over Clemson.

What did you think of the games this weekend? Man, I mean, I was fortunate enough to be with a coworker who was really, really invested and interested in the Titans. So we watched the game together, and I was fortunate enough to be on board there. On board, meaning plus the 10 on Saturday night. Actually, money-lined. You money-lined it. What was it plus 380?

375. Oh, wow. Jeez. But other than that, it was not a pretty weekend. I thought the underdogs were the play. And, you know, again, on this divisional weekend, it's a moment. amazing how the wild card weekend, where it's underdogs and unders compares to what the visual round is with the favorites.

And I'm sort of happy because, you know, those teams, you know, they play all year to get those buys and three of the four moved on. But I actually was impressed with Green Bay. Like, I thought that, I mean, it was the typical Russell Wilson game. You knew you were going to have to, you know, hold your butt until the end. And I don't know if Roger's audible to those plays, but the ability to move the change, I mean, Adam's not going out of, I should say, Adams going out of bounds was an issue late. But I was impressed with what they did, knowing how all the pressure was on them,

seeing him in that atmosphere fold a couple times in his career. It was pretty eye-opening to me. Now going on the next week, I'm not sure. but I thought Green Bay that was as good of a win as I saw this weekend. Yeah, and the two-point conversion was obviously the difference between Green Bay. I was on Green Bay laying four and a half. I was on Houston yesterday plus the number, and I was on. The funny thing about the Baltimore game, and this is where you probably roll your eyes,

you know, when Scott and I are like, you would have literally just said, what are you doing last week? All week long, I'm talking about how. I personally think that Tennessee is a tough matchup for Baltimore, and I think they've got a legit shot to win the game. But the public was on Tennessee, and there was sharp money on Baltimore, so I put Baltimore into the smell test laying 10. So, you know, and they really, I mean, they actually, I thought the game was an odd game in that, you know, the two-fourth down go-for it, you know, didn't work out, and they've worked out all season long for Baltimore. And those were

just crucial plays, especially the one in the third quarter when they were down 146 and on the move. You know, if they get it in there and even if they missed the two-point conversion, you know, now you've got more pressure on Tennessee. But good God, Derek Henry, has been the story of this postseason. I don't, I mean, Kevin, you're obviously a fan and know the league, you know, as good as anyone I ever talked to. But Brable, man. Like this, the, the identity that he created with this team is so perfectly done when you watch it. Like next week, how don't you think Henry can run the ball against Kansas City? Like, that's all I can think of after seeing Kansas City do what they did,

but then come back another week later with all the pressure on them, you know, an unexpected home game to go to the Super Bowl. You have the Andy Reed factory. You have the Mahomes thing. But like Tennessee, you know what you're going to get. there. I mean, he's the head coach that Tennessee Titans. He played for the Patriots. Ohio State, you know, the whole thing. I just think he's going to take another job, like, that he's the one, he's the guy that's more fascinating to me than Derek Henry is. Yeah, I mean, you can tell

they're really well coached defensively, which they've been. You know, this is, they beat Kansas City earlier in the year when Mahomes was back off the injury. It was his first game back. Crazy. You know, you were very close. I mean, if, you know, you know, you know, Houston didn't win the game. They're up 24, nothing in the game. But you were very, you know, potentially close to sort of a Belichick tree game with O'Brien and Vrabel against a Shanahan, which you do have in the NFC championship game, you got a Shanahan coaching tree matchup, you know, in Kyle against LaFleur.

But, yeah, Vrabel, very, very impressive. His team, and really since they made the move to Tannahill, they're seven and three, or now nine and three with the two playoff wins. I mean, they've been one of the better teams since they switched to Tannahill. Yeah, no doubt about it. And I was wary of them just because when they got on this run, you know, late in the year, you know, they go out to Oakland. I mean, give them credit, they won all the games.

But I think at the regular season ended, they beat two teams that ended up in the playoffs. And it was the Chief and the Texans. and that's why I was kind of like, I'm not really sure here, but, I mean, like I said, the identity that he has created is so perfectly fit for what they do. And he said the defense is really balanced. They don't get out leveraged on the outside. They don't get beat deep.

It's just so sound. And, you know, I hate saying, you know, a defense having purity, but they do every phase really well. I thought it was really cool that Nance on the broadcast last week in New England talked about how Belichick came in and said their punter is the MVP. Like you never hear that stuff, but in the playoffs, like you just, everything needs to, you know, you need to play well when you get on that stage, and they have done that in every single facet.

And that's when I look at a coaching staff and want to give them credit, and they totally deserve it. Yeah, and like what you said, I mean, I think for anybody that's watched the first two weekends of these playoff games, it's hard to, you know, to talk yourself out of Tennessee being able to run the ball at Arrowhead on Sunday. Because they ran it the first time they played the Chiefs earlier this year. Henry had 188 yards. And this dude now has 64 carries in two weeks and, you know, 380-something yards or whatever it is.

He had a buck 82 on Saturday night and whatever it was last week. It's three. Yeah, somewhere on there. So, yeah, it was, I'm sorry, it was 195 and 182, so he's got 377 in two weeks. I mean, it's ridiculous. And Kansas City's not great against the run. They were missing Chris Jones yesterday. I actually thought Houston could have run it more.

And they did run it halfway effectively, and then they got down and had to throw it for the second half. That game, though, yesterday, Mahomes, I don't know if we've ever seen a better performance by a quarterback in a game. I'm sure we've seen plenty that have equaled that. But given the situation of down 24-0, the three-quarters that he played were just amazing, both as a thrower and runner. The dude was jogging for 15 yards because he was threatening that, you know, downfield so much. It's, I mean, I mentioned Green Bay. being impressive, obviously, of the weekend. This game, I just put it in its

totally its own category. You knew it as sort of the fake pun didn't go well. I mean, at least I did when I was watching it. That it was, I mean, I thought it was curtains, man. Like, that Kansas City offense, you just, everyone always, you know, the flash plays and

the quick Mahomes, you know, no look throws, all that. Everything coincided with them just getting a focus and getting the momentum, and that stadium was incredible. And it's so hard to explain to see it turn that fast. But right there, like you said, Mahomes doing whatever he wanted to do and everything.

I mean, the ball in there plus territory the whole time. Once it was, I mean, that fake pun, I really thought, I didn't even look at the live betting thing, but there was no doubt in my mind. The chiefs were going to win that game after that fake punt didn't go well. I talked about it earlier. I actually didn't have a problem with the fake punt attempt. They didn't execute it well.

The guy Sorensen made a great play on Reed. The play, if he's able to elude Sorensen, I mean, that thing's out at the 50-yard line. And that little momentum that Kansas City had with the touchdown and then the three-and-out is taken back a little bit. I actually thought it was a risk worth taking in that particular spot. But, you know, once they got stopped and they scored, you know, two plays later or whatever it was, it's like, oh, my God, it's 24 to 14, and there's still like nine minutes to go in the first half. It was the ultimate they scored too soon. It really was.

Like, look at how fast they scored. Blockbant. First driver or second drive goes right down the field. It was, oh, man. It was a college first half, you know. Unbelievable. No ball effect to the max. Yeah, it's like the NFL because the games tend to be shorter with fewer plays, the clock stops less.

You don't usually have an opportunity to come back from 24-0-0 down. You see it all the time as we do on Saturdays with, you know, boatload of points. And, you know, it's 35, 31 at halftime. I mean, yesterday 28, 24-a-half time is a great game. All right, real quickly before we get to the game tonight. So Kansas City is a seven and a half point favorite against Tennessee. Do you like the game, and if so, how would you play it? You don't have to play it.

I'm taking the seven-and-a-half. I think so, too. I get it. I get it. But like I said, the identity, I just feel like I know I'm going to get. Kansas City, I mean, they answered the bell. I mean, it was one possession. They had the ball, and they were down 14-0.

but the the idea of how different Tennessee does things from even to Houston and, you know, teams that Kansas City's played. I just, I like it, and I think most importantly, it travels. Like that defense is going to travel to Kansas City. And, I mean, you take Tyree Hill, you just, you know, coincide with just don't give up the shots over the top and keep everything in front of you. and I think Mahomes is still going to press a little too much. So I would take the 7 and a half. Yeah, that's the way I'd lean right now. I also think the over.

I like the over too. What is that number? 51, 51, I believe. That's the one thing I did like yesterday, and it would have been right about. I did lean over in that game. I thought there would be points because I don't think Kansas City defensively is very good. No, I mean, they've got two edge guys.

But, I mean, I love Matthew, but I mean, as long as you can protect and give yourself a chance. There's plenty of holes out there. What about the NFC game? 49ers are a 7-point favorite in Santa Clara against the Packers? That one's a little tougher to me because of the

we saw this game in primetime. I think it was a Sunday night, Monday night earlier this year. And I mean, the Niners just gave them a dose. Like, they, offensively, defensively, they couldn't protect Rogers and Bosa, you know, he really saw what he's capable of doing.

That 49er defensive line is incredible. It's amazing how that story, you know, their defense coordinator is solid. He's mentioned for every job. I just think it's funny. He has like, he has two all pros on the defensive line. You know, like if it's any other defense coordinator, they're also getting mentioned for whatever head coaching jobs are open. Right.

But, I mean, hey, that's a credit to the defense line. them. John Lynch has been absolutely incredible with the pickups and the moves that they made. Kittle is the best tight end in football. I try and keep that as a close ranking being a former tight end to me, but he is past Kelsey.

It's not even close. He's in his own category with the ability he has to run, block, catch. I just haven't seen it. It's unbelievable to watch him. I feel bad when I'm watching Niners games because I'm not even watching the ball. I watch him.

because he is so good at what he does. But I think Green Bay's got a lot of work to do. And I just think the Niners thing, in its totality, they have everything. You want a pass rush. You want balance in the past game. The one thing I will say is, you know, it's easier to say after it happens, but they're in that Ravens category that the only thing you can think of in order to beat is you've got to get out early

and put a little pressure on Garapolo as we saw the Titans do to Lamar. Did he throw the ball over 50 times? I thought I saw it. Who Jackson? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, over 50.

Yeah. That's the recipe. I just, I don't know if Rogers has the patience to do that. And, you know, Jones has been incredible for the Packers. I think he's their team MVP. But when you look at the thing and it's the whole thing, I just, I don't. don't know if the Packers have enough. I call them the worst two-seed we've ever had in the league. So that's where I am with them before the playoffs started. You know, you talk about, and I mentioned

it earlier in the show about the 49er just absolute mawling of the Packers on that Sunday night, and I think it was in November, was such a dominant performance. And before Saturday, it was the last time they had been healthy defensively. You know, they got D. Ford back. They got Tart back. They got K. one Alexander back for Saturday's game. Those guys had been out for a while, and they had not played great defense since that went over the Packers. I mean, they gave up to, you know, gave up 46 against the Saints. You know, they had been moved on, and Saturday was back to them at full strength.

And when they were full strength against the Packers, they held Aaron Rogers to basically 74 yards passing. And Aaron Rogers to 74 yards passing. And then he had a garbage 30-yard passing drive down 30-7. to eight in the fourth quarter before they pulled him on, before the final drive. He got sacked five or six times. I mean, it was, it wasn't Aaron Rogers. I mean, I remember after that game, people are like, is that San Francisco or is that

Rogers deteriorating? No, it was the San Francisco defense. They're dominant. I don't think the Packers have a chance. Yeah, I'm with you. I still can't believe the Overtin coming in that Niners Vikings game Saturday. Well, I mean. 14-7 like that. I was good to go.

Yeah. Nothing. Yeah, it was 14-10 at halftime. All right, let's get to the game tonight. You're in New Orleans. First of all, I did read this story about the bad weather down there and Davo having to practice in their hotel while LSU was getting the Superdome to practice. It doesn't seem very fair for a national championship game. What happened there? Well, I tell you right now, I mean, if you watched any of the ESPN NFL

countdown shows this weekend. I was here. I got here Friday, and I was doing TV hits in the early afternoon, and then Word got in there. I mean, it was a tornado, and actually it ended up, and they moved. We have all these sets outside on balconies,

out on porches of the big buildings, you know, down in Jackson Square. It's an awesome setup. It's my favorite city for an event just because of the ability to walk everywhere. But then, you know, these news comes in, the tornado wins, and they moved everything in, like Countdown was inside on Saturday.

Basically, they constructed the office and redid everything. So, you know, people can read into it, though. Everything is already designated when you are coming to this game, you know, as far as your facilities, your hotels, you know, where you're staying, the whole thing. So I don't read too much into, you know, you're already in the walk-through phase. when you get here, you're not really, you know, getting after it in practice. So I didn't think that was too much of a big deal. Will LSU have a significant home field advantage tonight?

Really fun. I keep bringing this up with people that I've worked with that were here in 2011. 2011, obviously, was the rematch, LSU and Bama. You know, and I was actually talking to LSU people yesterday. I still think that is the most impressive resume I've ever seen in a regular season college football. And the idea that they had to play Bama again just wasn't not fair, but it just, it's, it does, you look back and that season doesn't get it to do. So, you know, in that game, I was talking to people, I'm like,

I thought Bama had more people here than LSU, and all the LSU people were really quick to point out, like we didn't have one thing to cheer for in that game. Yeah. It was 21-0. Yeah, right. They didn't get the ball over to 50-yard line until the fourth quarter. So that kind of made sense to me. But that's the most people I've ever seen here in the city with that game.

LSU does have a more presence here, obviously. And I think it's only going to increase today as a majority of their fans could just drive into the city today for the game. Yeah, that 20, the 2011 title game was the year where it was the 9 to 6 regular season game, right? Yep. Yep. The, yeah, you know, sometimes these things get overrated, you know, in terms, I mean, Clemson's going to get their fair share tickets. And they've got, you know, they've got a fan base that travels big time and they won it last year. But it's not like you're walking into the Superdome to face the Saints, you know, tonight. You know, if you're Clemson in terms of the crowd, I don't think.

Any chance this game stay, how does this game stay under 68? You know, I think it's an absolutely perfect number. The one thing I was thinking about was I was out at the Fiesta Bowl for Clemson in Ohio State. You dropped a pass on the sideline that was thrown to. I did. Thanks for reminding me. There's video out there for the people that are listening if they want to go look at it. Anyway, it was, everyone seemed to say, you know, after Clemson wins that game, Ohio State would have been a better matchup or a tougher matchup for LSU.

And I totally disagreed because if you're going to beat LSU, and obviously Clemson's here to do it tonight, you have to outscore them. You have to keep pace with them. And Clemson's way more capable of that than Ohio State was, I think, offensively. Trevor Lawrence showed me, I can't tell you how impressive he was on the field in that game, getting up off the deck time after time. Everybody's talking about Chase Young and how he didn't have any sacks, but he knocked Lawrence down. I would say he was a factor in the game. 70% of his close. I heard that too, and I don't know if I've mentioned it actually in the podcast. I had so many Redskin fans tweeting me,

Oh, your boy, Chase Young, who I'm a huge fan of, and I'd like to see him picket number two. He was non-existent. I'm like, what game were you watching? You know, there's so many people that'll read a box score and tell you that somebody played poorly. He was a factor of the entire night in that game. But go ahead. I can't agree more. I know it's the Bengals, and I know Joe Burroughs from Athens, Ohio.

I still think Chase Young should be the number one pick. That guy, I went out specifically, Kevin, before the game. before to watch him do. I was at the Big Ten title game also, and I did the same thing, just to watch him go through the end we call individual period, you know, in pregame where just the D-line is down in the corner of the end zone, and they're working on all their moves and their technique and getting loose. And I'm telling you right, if there was a Greek God sculpture of football, it's chasing out. Yeah. And I know you guys are familiar with. Was he on the same Damaath team as Fultz? I don't think so. It's okay. Was Markle Fultz?

Chase Young is now in his third season. There are definitely pictures that have popped up over the past week or two with them together at DeMath. I don't know if someone was visiting or what. Fultz was only there one year, right? Well, it was, Fultz actually didn't make the, it wasn't on the Demath of varsity team until his junior year. Yeah. Which is his story. You know, I saw Markell Fultz play multiple times in high school, and I'm not remembering whether or not Chase Young was on that team.

I'm going to look it up, because that would have been the 2016 DeMatha team. I'll look it up, but keep going. So, getting back to this, you know, you're talking about the under. I don't see it, but I will say this. After the game, it was one of the best things I've ever seen. I just got dabble on with Phampel, and I'm walking back to the office to get my bag. and Kevin Wilson, the defense, or I should say the offense coordinator of Ohio State, is talking to Brent Venables, the defense coordinator for Clemson.

Venables is still in his coaching entire. Wilson already, you know, a losing team wants to get out of there. He's got a suit on carrying his bag. And Wilson, they're talking, they're going through the game, and it was just fascinating to watch. And right at the end, Wilson just, you know, he's walking away and he turns back. He's like, hey, Brent, just one thing. You threw everything you had at me, right? He's like, I just wanted to make sure.

Invenibals takes his head off, and he's like still wiping sweat off his head. He's like, oh, yeah. He goes, I empty the bag a lot earlier than I wanted to. So, I mean, that was its own thing because of how Ohio State dominated the first half and Clemson had to do things. So it gets back to me. Clemson has the ability to keep pace with LSU. And, I mean, you've got to think the over-hair.

the one thing I will say is if Burrow really wants to figure out, because I think Venables is going to come out with a three-man front. I think he's going to play like a four-guy front with one linebacker in the box just to try and make Burrow think about it. So I was thinking about like the first quarter under, just because I think Burrough does have the patience to see like, all right, what the hell is he trying to do to me here, you know, playing like eight guys in the back and stuff like that?

But that's the only part of the under I can really think of because I think once these teams get warmed up and cooking, they're going to be going at it. I've never been this excited for a title game since probably SC Texas back in the day at the Rose Bowl. But this one with the offensive talent and the NFL talent we have at the skill positions of wide receiver and running back on both sides, I think it's setting up for a classic. Chase Young and Markle Fultz were on that 2015-2016 DeMatha team. And you were there and you don't remember it. Well, you know why? Because Chase Young didn't get a lot of run on those Dematha teams. I will tell you this, I do remember saying when it started to become apparent that Fultz was going to be a lottery pick,

I remember saying to some of my friends here locally who are coaches, are you kidding me? Like I don't see that at all, but he was. He was the topic in the draft, and he's actually, I think, had some moments this year. I mean, you're talking about it. Oh, you have a good year, man. I'm actually happy for him. Yeah, I'm happy. Where he was, man.

Exactly. That's tough to do. Yeah, it was psychological. I mean, there was a lot of stuff going on there. The, you know, that Ohio State, the game that you were at, I really still to this, you know, two weeks later, two and a half weeks later, believe that Ohio State was the better team. And just every break, every call, you know, basically went against him. With that said, what Trevor Lawrence did on that final game-winning drive was just sensational.

And it was his moment, you know? I mean, we've heard, and I think at times watching Trevor Lawrence, there have been games where I haven't been blown away, but I was blown away that night. And you're right, they can match them. But more importantly, you know, Clemson defensively, and we can talk about the competition all year long. But this will be, I mean, LSU's faced some really good defensive teams this year. Don't get me wrong.

Clemsons, you know, Clemson's level of defense will be certainly different than what they faced in Oklahoma by a long shot. No, no doubt about it. And the biggest issue, I thought LSU was a great matchup against Oklahoma. But the one thing I kept thinking about and scared me off of, you know, taking them in that game was, I didn't, you know, we call it the banquet tour. You know, Burroughs going to the Heism, he's going to the college football awards. You know, they have all these guys getting their individual awards, you know, you know, Blitnikov and Delp and Delpitt winning the Jim Thorpe and Orjron,

when the coach award. You know, how are they going to come out in that peach bowl? And I was stunned at how accurate and how precise Burrough was. And I understand Oklahoma is not the best deal. defense. But to still, to have the ability to just come out and do that and be that good in that first half just showed me a lot and how intense he is in his preparation and getting himself ready. So that's what I'm really looking forward to here is how does the LSU offense come out because they're going to face somebody that is trying to do something that has a collection

of what everybody tried to do. Everybody keeps bringing up to Auburn. game and how Auburn. I just, LSU didn't play well that day. You know, and I thought Auburn has the best defense in the country. But that idea of seeing that, but Clemson's ability to try and replicate, you know, what everyone did, Florida, people keep bringing up. You know, Georgia tried playing the three guys down, you know, before the snap and then changing the look when Burrell went to the sideline for the call. it's just fascinating to see what happens.

It's just, and you know, like Venables, he deserves all the credit in the world of what he's done, but he does have some NFL talent. So that's where the matchup to me lies is what Clemson can do to slow down. They're not going to stop LSU because I'm penciling them in for 28. Like there's no doubt to me that LSU scores at least 28 points tonight. But what can they do to slow down and get, Lawrence on the field for as much as possible.

You know, in thinking about the times at LSU, you know, where they could have been beaten this year, I mean, obviously, Bama had a chance. The Auburn game, just trying to think back to it, Auburn, I never really felt like they had a chance. The score ended up being, was it 23 to 20 or 20 to 17, whatever it was? It was not a, it was a lower scoring game, but Auburn was down 10, I think, and scored one late. Yeah.

The game that I really thought that they, if they had played this game again, remember Florida the night they played LSU, they were missing two of their best defensive players in that game. Yep. Two defense fans. Yeah, and I thought in Florida was right there. You know, it was a one-score game, you know, tie game. I think at one point it was 21, 21 and a half or 28, 28 at half. I forget what it was. That was the one game more than any other. I mean, we, you know, we all watch all these games. You get to see every LSU game. I think if Florida had been healthy that night, that may have been a different story. That's the only time I felt like they were actually in trouble other than the Bama game. I'm talking about other than Bama. Yeah.

No, the Bama game was, you know, you knew that was coming full circle. They were just, you know, they jumped out early, too was going to get the momentum. You know, that's in its own category. But, I mean, I'm giving them all the credit, because I still think that's without a doubt the best win we've seen. college football this season. The win over Alabama. Yeah. It was impressive. All right. Let your run here, but just so are you on record here with an actual pick on either the side or the total? Yes, I am on Clemson. I think LSU wins 36, 33. I will take the points. I mentioned it before. I think Clemson has the goods to keep pace. I think there's going to be a lot,

a lot, a lot of pressure with LSU in this building. We talked about the fan base and what the building should be, you know, expecting it to be, you know, a pseudo home game for LSU. The over-under is, like I said, I just think the first quarter, you're going to know right there if people are into the live betting thing, I would look at that. You know, if Clemson really wants to do all these quarterback runs that they did against Ohio State, which they were fortunate,

enough to be able to still do because Ohio State had to kick field goals in the beginning of that game. That was the difference in the game. Of course. Then that's for you. But I was blown away with how good Lawrence was. I'm getting killed all week down here because I said I would rather have Lawrence than Borough. So that's not going over too well with the locals out here.

Right. But, you know, it's, it, Lawrence, I was blown. away at what he did, man, in that fiesta ball. Like I said, getting up off the deck getting hit every time he threw the ball. The quarterback runs. You saw the long when he broke off. Oh, God. With the speed.

And then everything, all the pressure in the world on him and four plays, 94 yards. Like, just, that's not normal stuff, man. I think he's pretty special. So I think the points are worth taking. It jumped to six right after it opened.

I want to say like four days after the number opened. And I bought it up to seven and a half. I paid minus 140 for that. So I feel really good about Clemson there with seven and a half. But obviously, what do we have? Five and a half. You bought it from what to what? Where did you buy it from six to seven and a half? I bought it from six to seven and a half. And it only cost you minus 140 to do that? Or minus 150, I think. Wow. That's actually a bargain. That's, that's inexpensive. I thought it was a no-brainer to cross. over the number, you know? Yeah, well, I mean, I don't think I would have bought it to seven and a half.

I would have just bought it to seven, but it would have cost me at least minus 140, minus 150 to buy it to seven. So, you know, the price is good on that. All right, enjoy the game tonight. Thanks for the time. Looking forward to you moving down here. We'll talk soon. Thanks, Steve.

Yes. Anytime, Kevin. I really appreciate it. Stanford Steve, everybody. Follow him on Twitter, too, and watch all of his stuff. I mean, Stanford Steve 82 on Twitter. He's co-host of the Stanford Steve and the Bear podcast. And obviously he has been Scott's sidekick on Scott's SportsCenter since it launched the Midnight SportsCenter show.

It'll be good to have him in town. He's such a good guy. All right. Wanted to finish up with a few things that we haven't touched on. I want to start with this. Bill Cower into the Hall of Fame, if you miss that. this. It was presented to him during the CBS pregame show before Saturday night. And then Jimmy Johnson, it was presented to him yesterday on the Fox pregame show. I actually thought Jimmy Johnson

was already in the Hall of Fame. I didn't realize that Jimmy Johnson wasn't in the Hall of Fame. And I don't even know that the, you know, and I said this this morning, I think, I don't even know the differences between Jimmy Johnson and some of the Hall of Fame coaches. To me, Jimmy Johnson is a Hall of Fame coach. I just think that what he did in Dallas, and then even in Miami briefly, you know, at the end, Jimmy to me is an innovator. He's one of the all-time smart guys,

combined coaches and personnel guys, you know, of the last 35, 40 years of the NFL, 30 years of the NFL. I guess I just thought Jimmy was in the Hall of Fame, didn't realize he wasn't. The only reason that I did know that is because he's always or he was, one of my friend always said, oh, Tony Dungy's in and then Bill Cowers in, why isn't Jimmy Johnson in?

Well, Bill Cowher wasn't in until this weekend. But he really went off on Saturday when Bill Cowher was announced. So, you know, Bill Cowher, to me is Mike Shanahan Light. I mean, I'm sorry. I know all of you know that I'm a big Mike Shanahan fan and, you know, and I've developed a friendship with him over the years. I don't understand how Bill Cowher is in the Hall of Fame. and Mike Shanahan isn't.

Now, his regular season record and playoff record are better than Shanahan's. Shanahan's got two Super Bowl victories, you know, and by the way, one is a coordinator, too, in San Francisco, and Cowers got the one Super Bowl, you know, in, by the way, that season, they beat Denver in the championship game. Denver also beat Pittsburgh in an AFC championship game back in 97. But Shanahan's influence on the game, you know, in his coaching tree. And Cowers probably got a decent coach. tree, I'm assuming to. I don't know that he doesn't. You know, let's see, he can't be Shanahan's

coaching tree, right? Because Cowher came off of the Marty Schottenheimer coaching tree, and to me, Marty Schottenheimer was a better coach than Cowher. Let me just be clear on this. I think Bill Cowher was an excellent coach. Teams always well-coached. I just don't know if it was a Hall of Fame career. And if we're going to get into his version, versus other guys that aren't in, I think Shanahan and Schottenheimer should have been considered for the Hall of Fame if Cowers in the Hall of Fame. It goes to show you that if you stay in sort of the spotlight, the media spotlight, you just seem to have a better chance as you get older. How about Holmgren and Dick Vermeel if we're putting Cowher in there, pretty comparable to him as

well? And in Holmgren's case, you talk about a tree. Yeah. You know, and in influence on the game, you know, this weekend, you've got somebody from the Holmgren tree in Andy Reed. against somebody from the Belichick tree in Brable, and then two from the Shanahan tree in the NFC. You know, in Lefleur. How many from the Coward tree are we're in the playoffs this year? In the playoffs, none. By the way, his tree, just like I pulled up Wikipedia,

Bruce Ariens, Dom Capers, Chan Gayley, Jim Haslett, Dick Leboe. Bruce Ariens is a good guy off of that, yeah. Marvin Lewis, Mike Mularky, and Ken Wisenham. Marvin Lewis? Yes. Marvin Lewis coached in Pittsburgh with Cower? He did, let's see,

yeah, he was the linebackers coached for a number of years. Got it. I guess I did know that because really, you know, for whatever reason I'm thinking, you know, most Cowher's first year was replacing Chuck Knoll, which would have been 91 or 92. And that's when Lewis came to his linebackers coach. Okay.

So who else did you mention there at the end? Marvelous Mike Mularky and Ken Wisenhunt. Ken Wisenhunt, okay, coaching-wise Ken Wisenhunt's probably off that tree, but Ken Wisenhunt played for Gibbs. But anyway, Cowers a great coach. Mike Shanahan's regular season record, I looked it up earlier, and playoff record, is less than Cowers. I just think Shanahan's ultimate influence, you know, which we're still seeing to this very day, with the zone run scheme and everything, you know, the boots off of it and the play action off of it. And that style of offensive football, I mean, he was an innovator. He was. And he's,

you know, you're seeing his influence continue. You saw it on big time display all weekend. The Minnesota San Francisco game was a Shanahan game. Kyle's son against Kubiak, you know, essentially not the coordinator, but the assistant head coach offensive consultant for Kevin Stefanski in Minnesota. And then obviously the Lefleur influence as well. Anyway, I wanted to mention that. Also wanted to talk a little bit of college basketball on this show before we wrap it up for the day. So Maryland lost Friday night at Iowa, and they scored 49 points. God, some of you Maryland fans, you just have to stop.

When they lost to Seton Hall, I think I told you, Aaron, there are going to be some nights where we're going to think we're really good, and there are going to be some nights where we do the Maryland basketball fan thing and we say we stink. In the Big Ten in particular, this is going to happen. Maryland had a terrible night Friday night against a team that was desperate in Iowa. They had lost, I think, three in a row. They were home Friday night. They're a decent team.

They threw a lot of multiple zone defenses in particular at Maryland. Maryland did not run good zone offense against Iowa. and even when they had open shots, they didn't make any. They were four for 22 from behind the arc, and they were 11 for 20 from the free throw line. Anthony Cowen was three for seven from the free throw line. It was the worst game he's played in three years, and they just got manhandled,

and they got beat up by a Big Ten team on the road. That's going to happen. You know what happened yesterday? A team that scored 37 points against Illinois, Purdue, a week and a half ago and lost by like 30 against Illinois, beat Michigan State yesterday by 30 points, 29 points, and held Michigan State to 42 points. So now if you're a Michigan State fan, do they stink?

I mean, they had won nine in a row or whatever coming in. Do they stink because they scored 42 points against a Purdue team that scored 37 a couple of weeks ago? it's just the nature of conference play, the best conference, which is the Big Ten this year. There is no argument this year. The Big Ten was the best league last year. It is the best league again this year. I mean, you're going to be shocked at how many teams end up in the NCAA tournament from the Big Ten. It's a long way to go. Wouldn't surprise me if nine or ten teams from the Big Ten end up in the big dance. Maryland played awful. Awful. They have struggled at times with

teams that are really active and play good zone defense and multiple zone defenses, which is what Iowa did. I could sit here and go through some of the ways they attack a zone that are absolutely puzzling to me. It's been explained to me that it's sort of the Larry Brown way of attacking some zone defenses and Turgeons off that Larry Brown tree. Meryl's had nights when they've been very good with their zone offense. They were terrible the other night with their zone offense. Wisconsin will play a lot of man-to-man. I actually think Maryland will play well tomorrow night in a bounce-back game against a Wisconsin team that's played pretty well. But anyway, Maryland's going to be just fine, people. They're going to be just fine. They're going to go to the tournament.

People telling me they're not going to the NCAA tournament. No, that's stupid. They're going to the NCAA tournament. I guess there is a chance they won't go. Like if they, you know, go sub-500 in the league, I guess they wouldn't go to the tournament, although sub-500 may still be good enough. But anyway, so I wanted to mention that. And then I wanted to mention the streak that finally came to an end. Because as a lifelong ACC basketball fan until Maryland moved to the Big Ten, I'm very familiar with Clemson getting beaten every year at North Carolina, 59 times Clemson basketball had played in Chapel Hill,

and they had lost all 59 until Saturday. North Carolina is terrible this year. I mean, this is a bad North Carolina team. Roy, we talked about last week, Roy making the comments about this is the least talented team he's ever coached. They had lost several games at home coming in. They had lost the game to Georgia Tech, a game they trailed 36 to 8 at one point, in the Dean Dome. They lost a pit last week at home, and then they played Clemson. And they were actually playing well for the first time in a while. They were up 10 with two minutes left in the game.

And they blew it. Game went to overtime, and Clemson finally. I mean, you know, what's really remarkable about this? Clemson's had some good basketball teams over the years. You know, they, for years in the ACC were the football first school. You know, it was Clemson and Florida were the two football first schools. Everybody else, and I'm talking about before the ACC expanded here in recent years and changed dramatically. Clemson and Florida State were always the two football first schools. Every other school, you know, the four Carolina schools, North Carolina NC State, Wake and Duke basketball schools. Maryland basketball first school. Virginia really, for the most part, has been more of a basketball first school, even though they love their football.

Georgia Tech, ah, that may have been one that was sort of east. football and basketball. But Clemson's had some really good teams over the years. Rick Barnes coached them in the 90s. They had some really good team. It is one of those streaks where it's one thing if you're a terrible team, you know, forever. But, you know, you had some teams, man. You had some well-coached teams. Rick Barnes. You had Bill Foster, not the Duke Bill Foster in the 70s, some good teams. Oliver Pernell, a couple of decent teams. at Clemson. And Brad Brownell, who's now been there for 10 years. That's amazing. I think this is 10 years. It might be his 10th year this year. I actually have always thought that Brownell was a decent

coach. He's taken his team to a few tournaments over the years. Not a lot. And they're not a great team this year. It's just amazing that a team like Clemson in basketball, who's had good teams, never could win at Carolina. Well, they finally got it done. They won the game in overtime. after, as Aaron mentioned, rallying from 10 down to win that game in overtime. So good for them to finally end that streak. All of the non-N North Carolina and Duke fans in the ACC, we were always sort of part of a club. You know, it's like Duke and Carolina and then everybody else. And really, it was Duke and Carolina.

And, you know, Maryland still, to this day, is the third, like I'm taking pride in that, but is the third all-time winningest program in ACC basketball history. But, you know, it was never on par with Duke and Carolina. And, you know, the Maryland and the NC states and the wakes and the Virginias and the Georgia Techs and the Clemsons. Always, you know, those two games on your schedule every year, you know, four times, you know, two against Carolina, two against Duke. Those were always big opportunities. And Clemson could never get it done at home against North Carolina. All right.

That does it for today except for this. a smell test pick for tonight. Give me Clemson plus the five and a half. I'll take Clemson plus the five and a half. It's an anti-public play. The public's definitely leaning heavily on LSU. I'll take Clemson plus the five and a half. The smell test went one and two over the weekend,

had Baltimore, even though I thought Tennessee could win the game. Crazy, I know. Been a rough year for the smell test. We still have a chance working our way back, you know, here over the final. There are only four football games left, You know, this weekend I could have two games and two totals and then the Super Bowl, the game in the total, who knows. You can always bet the Pro Bowl.

Always bet the Pro Bowl. And then the XFL. I won't. But yeah, I had Baltimore and then I had Houston and then Green Bay was a winner minus the four and a half. Give me Clemson tonight plus the five and a half. All right. Thanks to Stanford, Steve for being on this show. Thanks to Aaron.

Thanks to all of you. Have a great day back tomorrow with Tommy.