The McShay Show - 10 Tape Truths From Week 5: Ohio State’s Defense, Alabama’s Upside, Penn State’s Slide, and Dante Moore's Climb

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

Welcome to The McShay Show! Todd and Steve are back to rewind the tape and give their biggest takeaways from Week 5 of college football. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show! 6:28 10 Truth's from Week 57:50 There Are No Unbeatable Teams in CFB15:52 We Need to Expand The College Football Playoff19:02 Get Penn State OUT of The Playoff Conversation31:22 Watch Out for Alabama 43:17 Dante Moore Can Become The Number 1 Overall Pick52:45 The Ole Miss Run Game Is The Ultimate Stress Test57:55 Ohio State's Defense is the Golden Standard1:06:50 Lots of Running Back Talent1:14:05 Takeaways From Fernando Mendoza's Ugly Win over Iowa1:20:50 Who's Winning The CFP?  Subscribe to The McShay Report for access to all of Todd’s mock drafts, big boards, scouting reports, and more throughout the college football season. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Jon Roemer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We promised week five of college football would slap, and it delivered. Now it's time for the top 10 taped truths from the weekend. Just 206 days until the NFL draft. You good, Munch? I'm good, man. Let's roll that thing, Tucker. What an awesome weekend, Mitch. What an awesome weekend.

I mean, if you're into golf, we had the Ryder Cup, right? That started on Friday. And then Friday, when we're done with the first thing of the Ryder Cup, we won't get into all that. That's what we're here for. Yeah. We had the number. We don't want to. The number eight team getting knocked off in Charlottes, Bill.

This is the McShay Show presented by Fandul, and college football Saturdays are already delivering. Every game means something right now. Ranking shift, upsets hit, and the best place to stay on top of it all, Fandual. Whether you're riding a noon kickoff or betting the late games, Fanduel lets you bet it your way.

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Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-88-78-8-8-9-77-7-7-7 or visit cppg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Then we had a couple quarterbacks that were on the, you know, with Josh Hoover from TCU and Arizona State with Sam Levitt, And we hadn't even kicked the thing off on Saturday. And it was it was like block after block from the noons to the 3 30s, sprinkle in that 415 with Tennessee, Mississippi State. Then 7.30, the two games that we broke into late Penn State, Oregon,

double overtime, and the Georgia, Alabama, just a heavyweight fight. And so we did an awesome show. By the way, thank you to everyone. It was our most viewed live reaction show that we've had. and now, you know, it's almost a full year. October 22nd is a full year of the McShay show. And we just appreciate all the support. And we keep on growing.

And it's because of everyone who's watching. I mean, the comments, we carried over like 1,100 comments the entire night. All right. And people were in and out and people stayed. And then the most viewed live show that we've done after a college football game and reaction show in the show's history. So we're building this thing. We're building it because of the support.

that you're providing, and we appreciate that immensely. I do want to say this. Yeah. Where to chime in, Mitch. I do care. I do appreciate it. The newsletter, the McShay report, had a great one, a lot of fun last week. And Alar versus Dante Moore previewing the Penn State game and kind of, you know,

it kind of was a microcosm of what I want to be able to do here and what we're able to do with all the tape study. Go back and read that. It's actually, I think just as good to read after the fact as it is, because it kind of outlined what was going to happen, and it played out very similarly. This week I want to, I've got a few ideas for a newsletter. We're going to have two newsletters this week.

It's going to be during the week as we normally do. And then Saturday night kind of a reaction to what was going on, but kind of digging into different avenues, whether it's players that broke out and all that. But I do want to ask you, the viewer, our support team, here. If you got some ideas, like I got my tape right here, okay? I can just, I can, like literally any game from FCS on up can rip up like any game you want. If there's a game, there's a player, there's a prospect. Shoot us a note. Put it in the comments here, whether you're watching on

YouTube, the McShea show page, whether you're watching or listening in Spotify, whether you're listening to Apple, wherever you get your podcast. Shoot us a comment. If I'm not getting through it every day, then Mench is and he'll let me know. Dan Comer is, Tucker is. You know, everyone in our group keeps an eye on all those. And also, shoot us a note at our social. It's at McShay 13. It's at You Good M-U-N-C-H on X.

And then it's McShe 13 on Instagram. I don't know. What's your Graham, Mench? It's the same thing. At you-good-Mensch. Let's keep it simple. That name's hard enough. Yeah, you're smarter than I am.

Um, okay, so that's the deal. So send us some, like, is there a prospect you want to know about? Is there a defense or an offense or a scheme? Uh, I just think it's cool when we get a suggestion. And then I'll let you, I'll, I'll, I'll put it in the newsletter at some point, uh, this week and, and give you credit for the great idea. And then finally, we're on a role now with the Saturday night show. So let's just get ahead of it. This Saturday night, it's maybe not quite the billing, but I have a feeling it's going to be a monster game. it's number three Miami at now 18 Florida State they dropped in spots in the poll understandably did not show up against Virginia and I didn't expect that to be honest I thought that they they would not it would not necessarily be the look ahead but when you get those two

programs from that state all the high school crossover they all know each other they were recruited together and against one another it's going to to be an absolute war. And we'll break into that game late, kind of watch the end of the game with you. I get the big screen here, Menches get us big screen there. We'll be talking through it.

We'll have live reactions, reset and do the whole show. So put that on the calendar. Mark it. We'll send out that link this week, and you can be ready and you'll get a notification. So, all right, let's get right into it. It's Monday morning.

And we started this last week and it's not going away, folks. Like we're finally into a groove. And Dan Comer, who kind of is our brainchild. when he's not going to concerts and like scooting home at one in the morning out in L.A. He's acting like, don't. If you'll get to know Dan on this show, I'm going to get Tucker and Dan on consistently. They keep pushing back.

But when he's not out doing this thing, man, in the L.A. scene, it's kind of a genius when it comes to concepts and ideas and the way to package all this stuff. And he helps keep this crazy brain on track. And I came up with the idea last week. It's like, you guys, you guys watch all the games on. Saturday and then you sit around on Sunday while you're watching NFL games in the background and you're watching tape. So instead of doing like, let's go through each game, like, let's just do the 10

tape truths. We might only have nine this week, but something tells me we'll wind up with 11. But the tape truths, things we're seeing, tape truths, it's actually easier to write than it is to say. Things that we're seeing on tape that can kind of advance the conversation from what we were talking about Saturday night. The 10 things that are standing out the most to us when we're watching tape. And I watched a bunch of it yesterday and I know Steve, you did as well. So without further ado, let's just dive into it, man. Go here. And I'll start it because it's bigger picture. And I want to start with this and we can kind of whittle down to more like very specific player unit type stuff. My tape truth number one coming out this weekend, I think there's a lot

more really good teams in college football than we normally have at this point where you're like this thing might run 16, 18 deep with like teams that maybe aren't national championship like in the in the in the in the conversation right now like truly challengers but like I can see a path where they keep getting better whether it's quarterback or a young defense whatever it is I think there's a lot more good teams. I don't see a team yet that's unbeatable. I don't see a 2001 Miami or a 2003, 2004 USC. I don't see a 2011, 2012, Alabama. I don't see a 2018 Clemson, a 2019 LSU with Joe Burrow and Justin Jefferson and the receivers that he had. I don't see 2021, to Georgia. The closest thing, though,

that I'm seeing is Ohio State. And one of my later truths will be to dive into that defense and the special things that are going on. The reason I'm saying I'm not quite sold on this being a team that's like unbeatable or appears to be. No team's unbeatable. But like when you watch five games and now we've seen some conference games and now we've seen some big matchups, I don't feel like, I didn't feel like after week four, I was in a position to make this statement.

Now after week five, I think we've seen a lot more. If you go through the top of the AP, right, and they take the AP for what it's worth. But Ohio State is number one. And I'll come back to them. Oregon number two, not quite, you can follow along. If you're watching on YouTube or Spotify, you can see the AP top 15, heading into week six. Oregon at number two. Not quite there yet, but my goodness, very close.

Miami, I still, go ahead. Why aren't they there yet? Because of their youth? Are you a little? Yes, yes. Youth, I think while Decorian Moore is exceptional and those receivers are really good. Like, I still see a team that could, like, the Evan Stewart injury. Like, I'm talking, Penn State was a huge.

And we'll talk so much more about Dante Warren and that win. But I'm just saying like I can see them if there's not, if this unbelievably talented youth movement that they have kind of at the skill position players, if they don't continue to grow at the rate that I, that I'm seeing them grow, I wonder, are they like an unbeatable team? I mean, let's face it. Like they control that game. And again, I don't want to give.

much. They controlled that game, but here we're, no, no, no, but we're sitting there in double overtime, right? Now, I know it's on the road, hostile environment, Penn State battled all the, all those things. I don't see a team that's like in big games just like very clearly the best, you know what I mean? Yet. And this is all yet. This is after week five. And so it's more like curiosity, one of two of these teams going to ascend in the areas they need to. Ohio's State specifically, I think they're purposely simplistic, offensively. I think they know how great their defense is. I think they know the youth at quarterback,

and they're going to give them a little bit more Julian saying, that is, each week. But when I went back and watched that tape yesterday, like they are protecting the ball, keeping it simple, grind it out, let the defense rest, let's take what's available, some RPO stuff, some quick games, some screen, you know what I mean? I'm not, and you've got Jeremiah Smith on one side, you got Carnell Tate, I'm not seeing a team that's read, that can, if they need to, put the foot on the accelerator

and go fly yet. Okay. I'm just saying that. All miss. I like it. Love them. But if they wind up in this shootout against the high powered offense, you know, can, And they did it this past week.

Trinidad was awesome. They threw for like $3.50. But can they, I don't know. I just, there's a lot of questions. Oklahoma, we know with Mateer. And some depth spots, Texas A&M. You know, like, so there's, but, but on the flip side, there are so many good teams that, like,

now we're looking at A&M is six. Penn State is seventh. I'll get to them in a minute. Indiana is a really good team. Watch out for Bama. Yeah. Texas is a really good team if they can get things going with Arch. Texas Tech shocked me at how good that football team is.

George is at 12. So there's just so many really good teams. But right now when I look at it, I'm not seeing a Miami-01, a USC the early 2000s, a Bama 2011, 2012, Clemson, 2018, LSU 29. You know what I mean? So that's kind of my feeling coming out of week five. So many good teams.

I just don't, I'm not sure we have one where it's like, there's going to have to be a giant killer to knock them off when we get to the college football playoff. I guess that's my point. I hear you. The way I look at it is very similar. I see the top, I see Ohio State clearly number one.

I see the top three is my favorite to these are the teams that are really built, I think, to win a championship. And then after that, I just see a bunch of teams that are flawed, but man, are they dangerous? Yes. Like A&M is a good example. Marcel Reed, how consistent is he going to be as a passer?

Sometimes it doesn't matter because they get so explosive with their big plays. And you saw that in the Notre Dame game, but is he going to be consistent enough for them to win the big one? That's something you're going to have to look at. But again, all these teams are a little bit flawed. Also, any given Saturday can win a game. The top three aren't so good that they can just, that it's not going to be an issue. You know what I mean? So there's that to it.

also I want to ask you this, is this a this year thing or is this going to be going forward? Like, this is the way college football is now. I don't know. I'm stopping now because I'm not actually stopping now in the show. I'm sharing it with the audience. I just think it's hysterical. I mean, in the middle of the show, I got Bill Simmons texting me at a quarterback efficiency chart. Oh, my God.

With Drake May in the NFL. All right, keep going. So is it a this year thing? or is this just this, this is just how college football is now? There's a lot of parity, that there's a lot of competition. I think my answer would be, the vast majority of the super talented players from Division II, even, Ferris State we're seeing with Trinidad, right?

Right. To FCS to a group of five are being plucked and brought up to the top 20, 25 programs in college football. Right? And so I think there's been some parity created as a result of they're all flooding to these 20, 25 programs. If I had to make one generalization off of where we are in the landscape of college football, that's the one I would make. I just see more talent everywhere. I agree.

So can I transition to my first tape truth here? Yeah, tape truth number two, go. I see the same thing. And when I'm watching these teams, I'm like, man, this is just, again, aspects of it that I love. We're to get into the Ole Miss offense and how much, that makes them a dangerous team every time they take the field. So every time I'm watching these talented players, these talented teams, Missouri is a team that people seem to be sleeping on a little bit. But I think it could beat anyone as long as the conditions are right. Do I think they're a top 10 team?

Maybe not. But they're dangerous. So when I look at that and I'm looking at our playoff structure right now, it screams to me. and we do this every night on Saturday night. We go through the AP Top 12, and I did what I accuse you of doing all the time the other night, and I wanted to put 25 teams in the top 12, right? I mean, I just did.

So what's your tape truth number two? So I'm seeing all this talent, we need to expand the playoff. And this is something that's coming up sooner. It's coming sooner than later. I'm going to get you on it. I'm going to get you a branding, like a marketing branding course. Tape truth number two is we need to expand the playoff.

And the playoff. Correct. So just saying that all that discussion, we just had, 12's not enough. 12's not enough, especially if you're going to have, you know, automatic qualifiers you need to do. We knew we were headed to work. Like 12's great.

When's at 16, right? And let me be clear, the playoff committee got it right by changing the seating. I am very excited about the jump that they made from 4 to 12th. They're doing a lot of things the right way. This isn't a criticism thing. I think it's looking at the landscape of college football and where we're going. and in this situation, I think more teams can compete for a national championship and you want to get more teams in. The five plus 11, that's what I like.

Five automatic qualifiers, 11 at large. I think that's the SEC's suggestion. If I read that right, I think I read that on a CBS Sports article, there would be five automatic qualifiers and then 11 at large. I'm good with that. I would be too. And honestly, I'd be, and check back with me in five years. years. I would be good with it, I think, for a long, long time. Because I think there's something about 16 where you got to earn it. It makes it critical to, you know, like you can't have a

four loss, five loss team. You know what I mean? It doesn't get watered down. I think maybe you'd have a three loss team. Yeah, you'd have a couple three lost teams. But like, Ole Miss should have been in it last year. South Carolina should have been in it last year. Because no one would have wanted to play those teams. Right. Jackson Dart, Lenora Sellers, you know, that old miss defense. So like, yeah, I don't disagree.

When is that, isn't that vote coming up soon? December 1st. They have to make a decision by December 1st about what they're going to do next year. All right. So we'll revisit then. But I don't disagree, Mitch. I think 16 is the sweet spot until otherwise notified. Yeah.

All right. Take truth number three. Take Penn State out of the conversation, please. So that's Merck for. It's harsh. It's so harsh. Well, you told me in my text yesterday to just let's not, let's not beat Penn State and Drew Aller while they're down. Yep.

And I was listening to you for a while. And I woke up this morning and I saw. the AP poll. And you chose violence. And you chose violence. And they're at number seven. And I was looking on social and different things. Here's why I say it. And I'm not going to sit here. And I'm like any, any Tom Dick Harry can go look up those numbers. Right. And I think like there's, there's so many numbers about, about Aller and what he's not been able to do in big games. There's so many numbers about James Franklin, this program, all of it. You know, what is?

Like, four and 21 against top tens. Like, we get, we get the point. The points there, the stats back it up. I'm looking at this team, and I think we have a responsibility to look at this team, this season. And what you look for when you're evaluating a Penn State team that had success a year ago, that made the college football playoff that was dangerous, right? Mm-hmm. Where's the improvement?

What's going to make that? I've been saying it all year. Where are they better? Right. Because they were great at running back last year with Singleton and Allen. They were great on defense with Abdul Carter. I think the defense is still really good. I think they can go toe to toe physically.

I think that they're a tough football team. I love their grit, the fight they showed in the fourth quarter. I do, I know I'm like the bang on Aller guy. I do love his competitiveness. I don't think he's quick, twitchy, fast, any of those things. But somehow you can see he was a three sport athlete in high school. He has an instinct about him in the pocket sometimes when he decides to take off and run. He finds his, there's like this competitive instinct that shows you his athleticism,

even though he doesn't look very athletic in his movement skills, okay? Yep. But they're not better. No. Because they don't have Abdul Carter. And they're not better because it's the same head coach. And they're not better because the same quarterback is doing the same things. And so while I'm not going to sit here and bang on Aller, I ask you in our audience,

go watch that game again. did you see how many times Allers throwing off his back foot and drifting? Did you see what we're warning you about in terms of faster defensive fronts and he can't elude and evade? Did you see the time he tried to boot out to the right

on the design and they had the linebacker? Tuiatto, I think, pardon me for mispronouncing his name, rolling out to his right and the big physical, strong linebacker changes not on a die, but it wasn't the Titanic. Right. And tracks him down and forces Aller to cut back up.

And most importantly, Steve, did you see their inability to get the ball to their playmakers on the perimeter running away from him? Those type of throws. And it shows up every time. So I was hopeful that maybe it was just early in the season, some of the same problems that we saw on tape, but it's not.

And this program, this is playing at home against the quarterback making his 10th start. No matter how talented Dante Moore is, that's a tough spot, bro. Yeah. Okay? To go on the road, you get the whiteout, primetime game, night game, happy veal,

everything's in your favor. And I got a veteran quarterback who's been through a lot of wars and won a lot of games. And I got a really good defense. And I got an offensive line with veterans. And I get arguably the best backfield in the country. And so when I wake up on Sunday, day and I watched that.

Yeah, it was a double over time game. But they they controlled Oregon controlled that game. Completely controlled that game. Yeah. Like completely, man. And to the point where like,

what was it like a hundred and I've got the notes somewhere, but they they rush for like 70 something yards. right yeah i'll pull up right now who penn state Oregon had 424 total yards of offense Penn state had 276 right so what's different so while we talk about Ohio state in Oregon and Miami and old miss and Oklahoma ascending and hopefully they can kind of hang on until they get their

quarterback john matureback and Texas A&M is much more complete and they can win with offense, they can win with defense. And we talk about Indiana looking different, even though they got dragged in the mud against Iowa, as expected. They found a way to win. And you talk about Texas and all the talent they have there if they can get arch right. And they talk about Alabama. And the hiccup against Florida State, they weren't prepared, they didn't play to their level, but they've responded. And you talk about Georgia. And Georgia's just going to keep getting better. I'm convinced of it. And Texas Tech is a different animal that we saw. And Tennessee's dangerous.

How do they fit in? They don't, in my opinion. So my takeaway is take Penn State out of the conversation. Go ahead. You take them out of the conversation after they lost to the number two team in the country in overtime because of their history. And I think I get it. Listen, why are you putting, I feel like this is your mind games right here. Everything you've said, I've said before.

That's how I felt about this team coming in. but they also are super talented and they have a deep defense, they have a good coordinator, they have a quarterback who could, if he unlocks it, figure it out and make some plays. The running game is still outstanding.

I still think this is a top 10 team in the country until they go, and again, if they lose to Indiana, that'll be the game for me. And we'll figure it out when we get there, then we'll see. But you can't just dismiss them

because of all their past issues and that's kind of what I think is going on. So, yeah, I hear you. You're not wrong. And I get it. And I, if you were asking me right now, do I think Penn State's going to win the national championship? I would say, hell no. They're not as good as they were last year. They shouldn't have been ranked as high to begin with. But to say, you know, I'm not ready to write them off yet. I'm cool with you. Like, I don't care where they rank them. I guess I'm saying what's, why is Penn State different?

Oh, okay. We're on the same page. Yeah, you can rank them there. And I see. all the things. I'm just saying, like, when I'm having a conversation about who's, who's a legitimate national title contender? And I'm talking about all these teams that, like, can ascend and I can see the areas where they're weak now, but can improve and could be Ohio. Because here's the model, okay? Here's the model. And I, let me, let me start with this. You got a Devante Ross, who's a burner, right? Comes in from Troy. And you saw that 35-yard catch and you can see the speed and the talent and the difference-making ability. But he winds up

put like 50 yards in the day, four receptions, and 35 of them were on that one catch. They can't get him the ball. Why? Because they don't have a quarterback who can do it. He's just not accurate on throws that require leading receiver trajectory, visualization, anticipation. So that is a massive limitation for a guy who's supposed to be a strength on your football team. And you add his lack of mobility. And it drives me nuts because you go back to 23 and it's Keandre Lambert Smith. And I hear reports that James Frank was that, well, addition by subtraction. Yeah.

Okay, but then he goes on to Auburn and now he's with the, I think the Chargers. So that's not addition by subtraction. Maybe it's the quarterback play. And then last year Harrison Wallace, the third, right? Yeah. And Omari Evans. And Evans told you two weeks to go ahead of 53-yard touchdown catchings, first game back after being nicked up for the first couple.

And Wallace, after three or four games, was fourth in the country and receiving yards per catch. Received, yeah, receiving yards per game at Ole Miss. So they're starring, whether it's Lambert Smith, Wallace, Omari, Evans. Yeah. They're starring and making me play this other, but this year we brought in Peña from Syracuse and we got the Troy Kid. And Ross.

So I just, I don't see the explosiveness. I don't see the ability to win in different ways. They have to win one way. Yeah, that's true. They have to thread that needle. I hear you. I don't disagree with you. If that's what you're saying,

I thought you were like, let's just take them out of college football for this year. Like, let's get them out of rankings. No, I'm saying out of taking a team, because here's what happened with Ohio State last year, right? And this is the example I really wanted to make. and I started this whole thing before I got on the tangent about the weapons. Ohio State last year dropped that game to Oregon.

Yeah. And we saw a veteran quarterback make a tough decision at the end of the game. They didn't have clock management, but they lost that game. But they slowly got better each and every week. And then they ran into the Michigan buzzsaw that's just their own personal problem, right? Yeah. But they got in the college football playoff and kind of, people wanted to write them off a little bit, and it all started to click.

And Chip Kelly started to get a little bit more aggressive and change some of his blocking schemes. And defensively, they had already kind of started it, but then now they were excelling with the three high safeties. So like the talent was there and it just took a little bit of time for it to all come together, but it came together at the end. My point in this is I don't, like Penn State has a lot of talent. And Penn State followed this model.

Like they're not stupid. on paper. What did Ryan Day do to try to remember he was trying to save his job last year and take Ohio State to the level that they have the standard and the expectation. So he went in, they bought their defense back. Right. They paid their guys on free agency by keeping him, right? Then they added Jutkins and paid him some money.

But they plucked in a couple, you know, a weapon. and a quarterback, right? Yeah. So they plop those guys in and then brought in a new coordinator to change things on the offensive side. Well, Penn State brought in a new coordinator. James Franklin went out,

Jim Knowles from Ohio State. They lost Tom Allen, who's a really good one, but Jim Knowles, some people would say maybe a little bit better at what he does and can provide kind of a fresh look for what they're doing. And they kept their guys. Yeah. Their quarter,

Aller didn't leave. And some people thought he could have been maybe a second round pick last year. Aller didn't leave. The running backs didn't leave. And they went and plucked, instead of running back like Ohio State did, they went and plucked new wide receivers,

hoping that would solve the problem. And I just told you it didn't and it doesn't and it hasn't. Okay. But the team to me, Mench, and I'll transition quickly here, the team to me that might be the Ohio State this year is Alabama. Okay. The early hiccup didn't look like themselves.

Ryan Williams has the concussion in the first game. Things don't look right. The defense, there's gifts and memes and all the hustle's not there. He's lost the team. It's not Nick Sabin. Kalen DeBoer. Kalen DeBoar's team just played the best football game of the Caleb DeBore era. Agree.

And I'll let you take it from there. But if there's a team out there that fits the Ohio State model, because I even mentioned it the other night was maybe, If you're a Penn State fan, you're hopeful that this is the Oregon game for Ohio State a year ago. That's the glass half full. Sure, a lot of nitty line fans don't want to hear it. But the more I thought about it is, no, it's not going to change. It's the same cast.

It's the same leader. It's the same quarterback. Go ahead. Yeah, I hear you. All right, well, I'll transition to my next truth, my tape truth. And that's Alabama's offense. That's tape truth number four. Trape truth number four is Alabama's offense has a chance to take off

depending on how they handle that offensive line and this is what I want to say about it. You're looking at Ty Simpson, most notable thing that that jumped out to me, I watched Florida State and then I watched Georgia. The way he is handling pressure in the pocket and climbing instead of trying to get outside, he was always trying to get outside against Florida State

all outside of Florida State. Now he's getting vertical and he's buying his guy's time and he's keeping the whole field open to him. and he's becoming, he's just, I'm seeing a quarterback's developing at a pretty quick, quick rate. We'll see if that arc continues, but it's, it's very encouraging. You are loaded at wide receiver. The run game, not good. But I also think you just got Jan Miller, who's your best running back back.

Yeah. You got some young running backs. I think there's potential for those young running backs to figure it out. There's a lot of running into the back of offensive linemen early on in that Florida State game. It's like little patience, let's let this set up a little bit. It wasn't all just the offensive line in that game. But I think the backs will get better. You've got offense coordinator and Ryan Grubb, very familiar with Kaelin-Dibor,

but this is his first year calling plays for them. I think he's getting used to his players. I think you saw that with the way he used screens in the first half of the Georgia game, really effectively understood what his team did well and what they could exploit. He's only going to get better. Now, he maybe went to the well too much in the second half with the screens, but this is him developing. I think that all of that stuff is growing.

The quarterback ascending, the running backs getting better. but it comes back to me for the offensive line. And I want to be clear about this. They have played really well at times. I will say they played really well at times. But I'm going to start here with the left tackle. Roll up those sleeves, big boy. Caden Proctor has all the talent in the world,

and he's played really well at times. And everyone loves a screen pass. I get all of that. It's just too inconsistent. He should be a locked down left tackle. He has the talent. He has the ability. Just has to stay clean with his technique.

He's got to keep his pad levels down. He's a taller guy. He's got to get there. Parker Brailsford at center is a luck. He's a very solid player. He's not elite, but he's smart. He's quick. He's good for what they want to do.

I like Parker Brailsford. Now, the other three positions are kind of in flux, to be honest with you. They played eight offensive linemen, got meaningful snaps against Georgia. And I think really what the most interesting position to me is, right tackle will Wilkin Form be his play. and has looked good at times, but is maybe a better fit at guard

from an athletic profile. I think he might be a better fit at guard. And where it gets interesting is they have a true freshman named Michael Carroll, who has a chance to be a stud, but is going to go through some growing pains. Again, this kid's playing meaningful snaps against Georgia, so they have some trust in him.

If you could play Michael Carroll at right tackle and you can cook 4B inside the right guard, there might be a little bit of a growth there, growth issue there, but that might be their best lineup. And then you have plenty of depth at left guard. You can figure it out. You want to go with Cam Dewberry, the Texas A&M transfer. He's played pretty well there.

Gino Van Damarck's played okay at right guard. Jane Roberts is kind of working himself back from a concussion as a two-year starter. They can work him in there. But that really, that right side of the line, I think they have a chance to make a movement. But regardless of what they do, this offensive line has to be more consistent in past production. It can't just be, wow, look at that gorgeous pocket. you know, some of the time.

If they can protect this kid, they have the weapons to hurt defenses. And they also have to do a better job of getting the second level in the run game. So the offensive line, and again, we're talking about a new configuration of this offensive line. It takes time to gel.

You saw that in the Florida State game. They're doing a better job of picking up stunts now against Georgia than they were in that Florida State game. They would look like there's a lot of miscommunication. So there's already some growth there. But to me, I think you have a chance to put the best five,

on the line. I would do it now. I would stop rotating guys. Let them gel and see if it takes off. Because I think including running back, and I know there's some concerns there, I know it's not as great as maybe some past Alabama teams, but this offense is primed to put up a lot of points. And I know they're putting up 38 a game right now, but they had 73 in the Louisiana whatever game. You know, they had 73 to nothing in that one game. I think this offense could be a lot more explosives. I think some people will listen and watch and be like, you're fucking crazy.

That it could be better? George, I think we all agree. Yes, it can be better. No point to the second half of that. But they went into Athens and that was the lowest percentage, pressure percentage that Georgia has had on a quarterback all season. Yeah.

I get it. I get it. There are some times they get beat though. And I'm just I'm just saying it's it I get that they're playing well at times I just think it's an inconsistent group and I think they can take the next step I do and they had no but they did if they do if they do my preseason pick of Alabama winning the national championship like and that's why I do think I don't just disagree with anything you're saying I just want to make sure we have a devil's advocate here to like point out that they like by by statistical standards and by production and by circumstance, like the situation between the hedges, night game, Georgia, home crowd,

longest home winning streak, I think it was, or his record is a bet like Kirby Smart at home, Georgia at home, all those things. They went in there, man. Ryan Grubb, and it's damn near impossible to do this. Ryan Grub in the first half, and really throughout the game, even though they kind of, they got shut down points-wise in the second half. Had Kirby smart in his defense in the spin cycle. Again, listen. No, I, yeah. Perspective.

Do you know who else did? Joey Aguilar and Tennessee for a period of time. For a stretch of the game. That's what Alabama did to for a stretch of the game. I guess I'm not even countering your point. I just want to, I guess because I watched some of the tape yesterday. And I came away. so like like holy smokes man like grubb like grub came in and he from from like that screen

pass after the touchdown the georgia scored where it's like a george is back in this thing they've stemmed the tie like the momentum shifting it's a home game it's a athens between the hedges all that stuff and and knowing that like the defensive guy and smarts like get after their ass and they send a blitz and grub's got the little screen pop you know to like some of the play calling even in the fourth quarter, like the third down to extend to put the, put the game away. And then to watch Ty Simpson. He's unbelievable in that game.

I always, I don't just rate quarterbacks or kind of put it into such a small box. I mean, there's so many things. How do you do when the game's on the line in the fourth quarter, minute two left? How do you do converting third, third downs, fourth downs? How do you do in like those critical situation? But I do always keep a close eye on after an interception, after a big drop, when something really goes wrong, how do you respond? And to see him respond with a free rusher and the play he made on the third down,

after that drop by your best player, your best receiver, one of the top two receivers in all of college football. Ryan Williams has that uncharacteristic drop. And to see him respond, I'm like, oh, this guy's growing up. He's not, he's not bailing like you talked about, like he wasn't Florida State. He's climbing. He knows where the rushers are coming from. This is different.

So, I mean, if you're an Alabama fan, the amount of promise that came from that game, all, like the whole thing. And yeah, it was tight at the end and they had to grind it. out, but like they controlled that game. It is interesting, though. I mean, your points are noted because if they get that offensive line to an even better level than it was against Georgia the other night, like look out, man. Look out.

And they can start running the ball. I mean, they're 14th in the SEC in the running game right now. That's like a big deal. And again, getting those guys up to the second level has been kind of an issue. Yep. Especially against three men fronts, but I'm not going to get too deep into this. Here we go. The McShay Show is brought to you by Fanduel.

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Oregon quarterback Dante Moore didn't have the best game Saturday night, but he's going to be the best quarterback in college football the second half of the season. And people who stay to me, what do you mean he didn't have the best game? What do you want? Are you on drugs? Who's 29 of 39, 248, three touchdowns, no interceptions, ran for another 35 despite some sacks.

Delivered in critical moment. He did. He did all those things. He was awesome. I watched him. I'm like, he could be even better. He's going to get better. And that's frightening.

Dante Moore is. You got to remember Dante Moore coming into the season was fighting throughout the entire summer. They waited longer than they wanted to to name this starter. Dante Moore had a disastrous first year at UCLA in five starts. Dante Moore, when he came out of the high school, I went back and looked like the high school, the elite 11 and all that stuff. It was like some people really loved him. Some people were like, I don't know if he's got the stuff.

Sits out in 2024, has to fight to earn this job. and he has been nothing short of brilliant this year. And it's not just like he's played brilliantly. It's this guys get the potential to be a number one overall pick in the NFL draft. He's that level, Steve. And I know you know that. I'm not telling you this. I'm telling everyone who might not know.

The thing that stood out to me most is in that environment, night game. This is the biggest game by far he's ever played. night game that defense that environment white out happy valley all of it it was like remember joe burrow would be like what's wrong with him he's so calm yeah he's there wasn't a moment in that game where i was like oh it's getting to him there's you can just see it in his eyes i mean you look in the kid's eyes and he was it's just no you know no heartbeat no no He didn't waver.

Cold-blooded. And you know the fucking cool thing about all of it is? The head coach believes in him as much as I do as an evaluator predicting him as a potential number one overall pick. Yeah, they're not running from it. They're not going to be like, oh, he's still got a long way to go. And you watch Sarkeesian with Arch. And you watch Ryan Day with Julian saying, all inexperienced guys making their way in their

first year is full-time starters, right? go look at how they're handling their young stars versus what Lannings doing with more. You know they went for seven fourth downs, Munch on the road in that environment. Yeah. They weren't false stars. I think they had won.

They weren't no self-inflicted. He trusts his quarterback. And it wasn't just like fourth and inches, let's hand the ball off. they got like eight running backs by the way and the juice that they have in that running but it's wild it was shotgun to Moore

and either he's run like they were five of seven I was watching the tape yesterday and every time I went I would click back to the scoreboard it's like oh this that was a fourth down play why are they running him on a quarterback draw a quarterback lead

and then the one fourth down play I've got the whole thing fourth down conversion in the the first half, after they'd already converted, I think, one or two before with his legs. Then they run a play action off of it because the Penn State's going to start, okay, well, this is what they're going to do tonight. They don't get a third down. They go on fourth down, and they're going to run their mobile quarterback.

So now we play action. We get two receivers out there, crosser. Like, you know, left to right is going under. This guy's going over, and the receiver's open. but the calm that he had throwing that ball and knowing not to lead him, knowing not to get air under it, stick it on him.

We don't need the 20 extra yards. Now's not the time for that throw. But he did in other spots where he did lead receivers open. So, but there were some, the reason I said like it wasn't his best was because there were some open throws that he just threw into the dirt

that he normally doesn't do. And it wasn't the pressure, the effect, all of that. it's like that's his first massive opportunity on that on that stage and it wasn't perfect but it was still like 29 to 39 three touchdowns no interceptions your biggest game ever the the the the double overtime touchdown throw that he makes might have been his best like most complete like from the decision to the footwork to the to you know on the move extending all of it like I don't No, man, this guy's special.

And it's not even his best yet. Right. So as good as Oregon was the other night, I think they're going to keep getting better. I truly do. And I want to say this while we're on this point. And I could go through, I've got like 15 plays, like the 806 third quarter, third and three,

backed up in his own 27, game tied 3-3, rolling to his right, extending, throwing back over the middle to Sadiq. Huge play to drive them down to, field, right? The fourth quarter, first play of the fourth quarter is a third and four patient in the pocket. Nothing's available. Extends to his right again, hits Decorian more streaking down the right side. That was a really hard throw. That long throw, remember he's rolling to

his right in the fourth quarter and they needed the offense to get rolling. Like they had moved the football all night, but they hadn't, they hadn't finished drives. They needed to get points because they were, they were winning this game without the scoreboard being reflective of that. And so he rolls to his right. And I watched it back probably five times with this clicker, right? His body is like falling out of bounds. You know how hard it is to throw when you're like literally full speed running to your right? And to throw it, it wasn't back against middle.

It was down the sideline, but because his momentum was. And to throw it with the touch that he had and to put it on more. Like he does special things. But I want to make this point. Dan Lannning, like, how if you're an NFL organization, are you not? And I know Phil Knight's got all the money in the world. I'm sorry, Phil, because I'm going to start the campaign. And I don't want him to leave college football ever.

Here we go. But how are you not, how are you watching this thing if you're an owner, general manager, decision maker, and an NFL organization saying, and Lannings not the next Dan Campbell. But I think even more, like, I don't want to say sophisticated, but like younger, I don't know. The way he motivates his team,

and I know it had a clip the other end, we talked about it was like from 300 to Gladiator to, like he just presses all the right buttons. And to see the confidence he has in his team and the way he kind of empowers them to go out and he lifts everyone up, even though he's a badass and he's tough on them

and he gets the most out of them. But Campbell's the same way. Dan Campbell's the same way. He grinds them, man. We saw the hard knocks. You see like the physicality, the toughness, all of it. Campbell knows how to then lift up

and you, like this. Lending's special. He's special. I agree. I completely agree. I, you know, that's, that's going to be up to him. If you're a coach who's kind of have that kind of success,

and he hasn't, I mean, let's be clear. He hasn't, I think he needs to win a national championship and beef up that resume. I think those are all things that are coming his way, though, whether it's this year or next year or whatever it is. I think only good things are coming his way because of the elite coach that he is, and we'll see what happens,

and then he'll have a decision to me because I'm sure at some point an NFL team is going to come calling, and then he'll decide what his goals and what his priorities are. And I would love, I get it. I understand maybe one to coach to the highest level with the best players in the world. And that's for each individual to decide. I just love the idea of Dan Lannning staying in Eugene and being in Oregon for his career and being that kind of saving, smart kind of career arc where they just, you know,

they know where they're happy and they know what they're really good at. But you're not wrong. You're absolutely right. If I was an NFL team and I'm looking around at the coaching pool and I'm thinking to myself, look what this guy's doing. He would be a perfect fit for what we want to do. I would make some phone calls. All right, what do you got now?

You didn't like my take on landing? No, I loved it. I'm just curious what you got next because I know you put a lot of work in yesterday too. Oh, God. Listen, I know I'm going to be labeled like Elaine Kiff and fanboy, and I'm fine with it. That's fine. The Ole Miss Run game is the ultimate stress test. So tape, take number six is take take tape number six or tape truth.

By the way, I don't know how we're branding it. Taped truth number six is the Ole Miss Run game is the ultimate stress test for any defense. And it does it in so many different ways. And I think the first and most obvious is gap discipline, okay? If you're a defense, you have to have a defender account for every gap, especially, you know, you want to have forced defenders making sure you get contained all of this. You want a defender in every gap to defend the run. The problem with this is you also want to react quickly, right?

and I've heard, you know, Dan Kern, who's the coach at Holy Cross, who played for Chip Kelly at U&H, always talks about these motions and these shifts and using receivers in the run game as the magic show. And guys get caught watching the magic show. So a couple of things happen, right? One is you get caught out of position because you see this jet motion. And let me rewind here a little bit.

Lane Kiffin will make three, four different plays look exactly the same. He's, you know, you're going to get hit with this runout. outside on this jet sweep and you're thinking it's exactly the same. And also the quarterback takes it and runs or he flips it outside, whatever he sees in the weakness of the defense he's going to attack at that point. So you will see the same play or the same motion of a play and think that you now need to jump something and oh, oh shit, he's out the back door. So that's what he does.

He does a great job of disguising. It puts defenders in such conflict of should I be trying to jump this outside run. Are they going to keep the ball go inside? Are they flipping the ball outside? Your mind is absolutely in a blender. Guys get caught out of position. Guys are late reacting, which makes it easier for blockers to get in position, which brings me a nice second point.

You got to tackle in space. You got to get off blocks in space, and you got to get off blocks between the tackles. And the reason he does that is, and I do think that their quick hitting passing game, like any other quick hitting passing game, supplements the running game. And his quarterback could just sit there and be like,

okay, I got two receivers out there, and you got one defensive back. I'm flipping it outside and we're going. Okay, now you want to let. tighten up the box to make sure that I can't do that anymore. Now I'm running inside. So you guys better get off blocks because you're not going to really have that extra defender to come in to make plays.

So it does it in that way. Then there's the speed of it all. He loves getting runners the ball as they're in motion. He'll just do this short motion to his running back outside and then start motioning him back inside. So the running back just gets a little more momentum. If you're late reacting to get out, if you chase, I saw Harold Perkins do this in the LSU game.

He tried to fight. under a block and then get back out, uh-uh, ain't going to work. It's too late. As well as Perkins moves, this kid, Kiwan, Lacey, he moves a little bit better. He will get outside of you. So there's that aspect of it. There's the team speed. And then add on to this, the tempo.

Ole Miss ranks 10th of the FBS with 376 plays run. They are going to wear your ass out. Say that again? 376 plays they've run this year. Wow. That's 10th in the FBS. They're going to wear your ass out. So you better come to play.

And the other thing that tempo does that's really affected in today's game makes you hard to sub. So if Lane sees a weakness and he's like, oh, we got something here. And I know that if you want to bring in this package, you can counter it. Uh-uh. We're on the line. We're going. You ain't getting it. You're not getting that guy back in here to slow down whatever run you thought you were going to slow down or to be in a better position to fend whatever pass.

And also, just to branch off this one thing, the windows, the Trinidad Chamblis gets to throw. into because Ole Miss is a run heavy team. I want people to understand. Big time, yes. The windows he gets to throw into off of play action, I was literally laughing. The LSU linebackers who I love, they were flying all over the field and all of sudden, there's guys who are like got five yards behind them because they're so far up the field trying to stop this run.

The windows are insane off of play action. So to me, it's the ultimate stress test. It's going to test your death. It's going to trust your tackling. It's going to trust your gap to something. It's going to trust your ability to get off blocks. It does all of these things to do. And sometimes when you hear this,

like when you talk about offenses like this, you're thinking about the service academies where you have smart, tough, gritty kids who are doing all that stuff. And that's how they win or they're competitive in games. He's doing this with SEC talent. That's like it's a different animal man. It's really tough to defend.

That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, they got bumped up to fourth in the country in the AP poll. And that's exactly where. I said Saturday night they had to be based off of what they've done so far this year. Yeah, you had made some calls there. Oregon did too.

You said Ohio State's going to, I mean, but Ole Miss was going to have to go up the four. I mean, they were listening. Well, I don't think they were listening, but I think every once in a while, there's some common sense. All right, tape truth number seven, because we've got to keep it rolling here.

Ohio, and maybe this should have been tape truth number one, Ohio's defense is the golden standard in college football. And it's shocking because they lost the eight guys to the NFL draft. But like, I'm over that now. Let's turn the page. Doesn't matter what last year's group was. Doesn't matter the names that were on the back of the jerseys. Doesn't matter that the coordinator's different.

Doesn't matter. Jim Knowles is a Penn State now. Okay, Matt Patricia, come in. And Matt Patricia's done a brilliant job. But somebody's got, you can only, coaching only goes so far. And in a short period of time where he hasn't been with the, Patricia, with the program for years and it's not an established program that they're running and veteran guys who have been full time starters. And they had that with Knowles last year and a bunch of guys that came back because they kept all their guys from going, not they kept them. They kept them there and they chose not to transfer somewhere or probably more likely to leave for the NFL draft.

So it was understandable that when they made some schematic changes throughout the season last year, and they put Caleb Downs in a different spot, and they kind of had that three safety look and that that they would pick up on that because they'd been in this system for four, five years, three, four, five years, right? Well, Patricia comes in, short period of time, a bunch of new starters. And I'm blown away with great defenses. And I think everyone goes back to like the Belichick. Glory days and every week it was a new game plan, right?

We take away the best thing and we can play man to man. We can play match. We can play zone. We can play this. We can play that. Three man front, four man front, all that stuff. Great defenses adjust and can be one thing one week and can be another, another week. And LSU was doing that early in the season.

We talked about what they were against Clemson was different against what they, you know, zone coverage here became man to man coverage here or man to man against Clemson was zoned against a more mobile quarterback in lagway against Florida. They're doing this guys, a lot of guys that have not been full-time starters, right? And so I put in the tape and I'm watching. First of all, I want people to understand. When I say this, I'm not saying it lightly. I'm not saying it coming off of some middle.

Like I have the utmost respect for Jed Fishy off the head coach and also offensive coordinator. I think he's the OC there. He calls the shot. I think so. I think you're right. Yeah. I have the, and Washington, they're going to score a ton of points. They're like, you got to understand Washington had won 22 home games in a row. This is a buzzsaw they were walking into.

Washington has a quarterback in DeMond Williams, who's an absolute star. Dual threat, big time arm, awesome runner, speed, explosiveness, all that stuff. Jonah Coleman is a dude at running back. Denzel Boston's a dude at wide receiver. They have personnel, they have scheme, they have it all, and they're playing at home, and the comforts where they've won 22 straight as a program, right?

Washington was averaging over 50 points per game coming into this one. They finished with six. Yeah. It wasn't Washington at the shoe. They looked average. I mean, they made them look average. That's not an average offense. 173 through the air, Minch.

61 on the ground. That's 234 yards for one of, one of if not the most explosive offenses in all of college football the first four weeks of the season. How'd they do it, Ohio State? In this game, different, a little bit different,

but definitely some tweaks and differences in terms of schematically what we saw against Texas and that awesome performance. We left that Ohio State. state game, Ohio State, Texas game saying, man, it was like a lot of amoeba stuff. And we guys standing up and three man rush, two man rush sometimes. A lot of different looks.

Let's confuse the young quarterback in Arch. And it worked brilliantly. Okay. This game, you could tell from the first series, they gave up a big run on the first play, but like right back at it in the second play. It was five man fronts. Okay. It was seven and eight man.

boxes. It was man to man on the back end. Because while they respect Denzel Boston and they respect DeMond Williams, what they respected more was this run game for Washington. What they respected more was the threat that DeMond Williams was and with Jonah Coleman in the backfield. And what they respected was even if he's not running, DeMond Williams' escapeability is going to be our fatal flaw if we don't keep that bottle up, okay? So I'm watching, I'm watching the two linebackers, eight and zero. Reese and styles, right? Split spy duties. You got this half of the field. If he takes off run this way, you got this half of the field, vice versa for Reese. And they're, and they're doing it with discipline.

I'm watching this defensive line. We knew the back end was going to be really good for Ohio State this year. They've got Caleb coming back. They got a bunch of starters coming back, right? But we didn't know about this defensive line. We knew the linebackers would be good. The back seven was going to be good, but we didn't know how good Reese is. And I'll get to him in a second. And we didn't know about this defensive line. All four guys got drafted in the NFL, okay? And they come out and they are two things that jumped off. And it's like, coach speak. It's like, so you're really telling us something, McShea. If you go back and watch that game, the level of gap discipline and the level of effort, like relentless,

attacking, like violent effort on every play was off the charts. And so now you get this disciplined, five-man front holding up gaps. And when they've completed their job and the back has gone this way or the quarterback's gone this way or wherever the play goes,

then they're chasing relentlessly. It's a recipe for success. And it's how you bottle up and slow down. And then with the two linebacker, that can run. We know Sonny can run. We know Reese can run. It was a thing of beauty to watch.

Six points, 234 yards. And this defensive line, like Arvel Reese, let's start with Reese. Arvel Reese is the best linebacker in college football. I'm just, I'm penning it,

penning it to paper right now. I watched him from the discipline taking on blocks to the eye discipline when spying the quarterback to the speed, to the length, sometimes in coverage, sometimes rushing. This guy can do it all, man. And we talked about Sonny Stiles might be one of the top three or four linebackers coming into the college football this year for the NFL draft.

So now you've got two absolute stars at the linebacker position. And the defensive line, three guys jumped out. 92, 97, 98. This is like the old school stuff And defensive linemen are in the 90s Right That's Caden Curry Kenyatta Jackson on the edges

92 and 97 And 98's the interior guy Caden McDonald Kenyada Jackson Caden McDonald is 98 Interior guy They answered the bell And they have all season long

It's not like we're regressing It's just like they're they're super talented. They just, let's showcase them now. And you go back and look like Curry had 11 tackles, five for loss, three sacks, Steve. The other guy opposite him, Jackson had a sack. The defensive tackle, McDonald, three tackles for loss, two sacks. This defense is the standard in college football.

and I'm shocked by it because you don't lose eight guys of the NFL draft, re-rack it with a new coordinator and come out and become very clearly on tape the best defense in all of the nation. I got no notes, McShae. I mean, I love him too. I'm in the same thing as you. I just poured my heart out, Mench. I just poured my heart out to you.

I gave you the most impassioned thing I've said all day. I went through all three lines of the defense. This is the best defense in the country. It's not even close. Who cares about eight to start? I thought honestly for once you'd be like, oh, God, he doesn't have 18 things to do that. Go ahead.

What's tape truth number eight? Tape truth number eight. There's a lot of talent running back in the country. You look at it last year, right? They had 26 running backs drafted. There's some guys who have disappointed this year. You know, Jada, you know, maybe disappoints is not the right word,

but haven't played or done what we thought they were going to do this year, like Jadenott in Indiana, Mackay Hughes in Oregon. Yep. And you start to think, you know, with all those running backs getting drafted, maybe there's not as much talented. But, man, there are a lot of talented backs I wasn't familiar with coming into the year. And I'm not going to get into the Penn State guys.

We all know are awesome. I'm not going to talk about the Notre Dame backfield, and we all know that they're awesome. But there's five or six guys that watching tape are just jumping out to me. And the first one really starts with the running back, Amad Hardy from Missouri. He is the toughest man in football to tackle. he's got some cams, scatibut to him,

he just refuses to go down, leads the country in his tackles, leads the country in rushing yards, he has been awesome to watch. Also a guy that's flashing in Passboro a little bit. I want to get into that more as I'm evaluating him as a player, but just a super talented runner.

I think the next guy you would go to is UTSA's Robert Henry Jr. who leads the country in rushing yards per game. He's a small... I watched him early in the year. Yeah, man. He's quick through the hole. reads his blocks well

you thinking oh UTSA who's he going against well he had 16 carries for 177 yards and two touches against Texas A&M in the opener Kid is talented The next guy I would talk about is one of my favorites so far this year And we've talked about it before

Is the Michigan running back Justice Haynes And I cannot believe that Alabama Let that guy get out of building I know he wasn't as productive there But I cannot understand how Alabama With that kind of a back go Because we look at the power What's going on in Bamar right?

right so i look at the power you look at his ability to break the long runs which he's been doing all year love justice haines how about waymond jordan your guy from usc got to hold on to the ball my man like there's been oh by the way you son of a gun it's it is jordan not johnson and you if you're gonna correct me on the show did i i got it wrong you corrected me i said jordan you said i think it's johnson i'm like always correct me if i'm wrong my go ahead apologies to both of you that's i'm just i'm just having fun with it. No, but he deserves to have his name said correctly. Now he does, yeah. Yeah, Gus Johnson compared him the Levi-on-Bel in the broadcast,

and size-wise, not the same thing. LeVeyon-Bell was a massive back. That was your guy coming out of Michigan State. I loved them. Love them. I loved them. But anyways, running style, very similar. I haven't seen a running back that patient since Bell. I mean, he really waits. And the only way you can do that is a back

is if you have great feet and great burst. because if you do that and you don't have great feet and great burst, it's a problem. He is super patient and then he explodes as soon as he sees the blockers in position, makes great reads off a blocker's body position. A guy really like, again, got to hold on to the football. He's had a couple tough fumbles this year, but a very talented back. Your guy, another one of your guys, Ohio State's running back Bo Jackson. Yeah.

Might be the most talented player on this list. And you saw it against Washington. They increased his role. That's only going to continue to happen. at 217 pounds, contact bounds, burst, speed. This kid literally

has everything. And going forward, I don't think people are, obviously they're going to make the connection to the Bo Jackson, even though there's no relation. But going forward, people are going to really be talking about this kid.

Well, you know what the weird thing is, his real name's Lamar Bo Jackson. So it's either Lamar Jackson or Bo Jackson. In either way, like, I mean, he was a good name for running. He was destined to be a football star, right? Right.

And the last guy I get into, you talked about that stable of Oregon backs, but Deere Hill Jr. He's a threat to go every time he touches the ball, man. Juice for days. That's the thing that jumps out about me. He had the touchdown catch against Penn State, played a much bigger role against Penn State that he hasn't been early in the season. He's another true freshman like Jackson,

who's going to be a monster to watch going down the stretch for a big time program. So, I mean, those are just six backs there that, you know, as I'm watching this tape, they just jump out to me. There's no sort of talent at running back in college football right now, and these guys are fun to watch. Did you mention Jamari Taylor from Virginia? I did not. Yeah, I didn't think so.

How about Taylor to add him to the list? Yep. Another agency's... By the way, that Virginia team is a little better than you give it credit for. Yes. They're good, man. I had to... Aunt Lisa, who's always watching the show

and gets mad at you when you use the Lord's name in vain. I know I get Instagram posts. I was I texted her after the after the game that night they were they were there family was there um oh nice jammari taylor remember basul tootin from the hbc u oh yeah obviously virginia tech had the awesome combine right jacksville yeah jaguars jamari taylor came from um was it north carolina central okay hbc u guy who actually i went back at i'm watching the game the other night and i'm watching him run. I'm like, I like this guy. Low to the ground, powerful, you know, contact balance, had a little juice getting to the outside, not a burner. Where's guys out? Where's guys out?

He had like 27 for 99 in the game. I think he kind of wore down a little bit and they started to rotate a little bit more. I don't know if he got nicked up, but he had played a huge role. And some of like the one with, like ISO, him and the linebacker just get off, you know. but he had a he also tore up north carolina state for 17 carries 150 yards earlier in the year so like shooting off the radar and when he was at nccu taylor he um he he 20 20 20 20s he didn't have a season there for covid 2021 he redshirted 22 he was a rotational backup 2023 finally or 2023 or 2024 he exploded on the scene so he had one year with like 1100 yards rushing all those I think he had four years 20 21 22 five years I think it was the hbcc u I think it was and and then he gets the one big year gets an opportunity to come to Virginia opportunity against florida state right and has an awesome night so I thought that was really cool yeah what an experience for that kid.

I love stories like that. Exactly. So just trying to add to that a little bit. All right. Tape Truth number nine. Fernando Mendoza, the Indiana quarterback, who we've talked a lot about as a prospect, had to win that game against Iowa ugly.

It was not the best of. But I actually learned more and feel better about Mendoza after that ugly win than I did when he was 21. of 23 in the blowout of Illinois. I got to see, I went back and watched every throw. It was like 19 key plays and I watched every throw in addition. Because the key plays add some of the runs and some of the mistakes and all that stuff, right? It wasn't pretty.

He was 13 of 23, 23 yards, two touchdowns through a pick. And I could go through. I've got a whole page of notes on Mendoza from that game. but like from the first first quarter right 14 minutes beautiful ball from the right hash to the left to the left middle of the end zone smash concept number six Omar Cooper 955 play this is yeah 955 to second quarter drills the right rail cover two beater these are NFL throws yeah now there was the mistake, 857, third quarter, rush the throw in the crosser under duress, something he needs to get better at sometimes because he's a tall, six foot five, 225, those long levered guys sometimes

when rushers flash quickly or you're forced to move, make a throw and can't get your feet around, right? You saw a little bit of that, got to keep working on that, right? 828, third quarter, just after that rush play. Remember I talked about earlier with Ty Simpson, I put a lot of stock into what happens after, right? Well, right after that, he overshoots a wide open rail shot down the right side. So I'm like, okay, mental note, don't like that. Then he comes back later in the quarter, 253 next drive. Signetti goes back to it.

Same exact design, right rail shot drills it. Right? Yeah. No, that was sorry. That was 1142 fourth quarter that happened. All right. And then you got 253 third quarter was he speeds up his clock a little bit. So earlier he didn't speed up his clock.

Comes back later in that same quarter. Speeds up his clock. Takes off running. Competes like hell at the end of the run. It's a big play for them. Then that 1142 fourth quarter, I wrote, oh my goodness, I love this. Trailing 13 to 10, so they need it. down the barrel left seam shot to 13.

If you go back and watch that play, 1142 fourth quarter, they're trailing in that game. Things are getting ugly. We just blew out Illinois. Everything's great. It's getting scary. It was getting scary.

Guy flashes at him. He doesn't flinch down the gun barrel. Bang, drills the shot. He had that interception with three minutes remaining tied 13, 13, like horrible timing for that throw. Bad decision. but then he comes right back with 156 in the game, still 13, 13, drills a deep timing stop route from the right hash to the left sideline.

Again, it was not perfect. There are things you've got to learn from. There are areas that still improve. But I walk away like, this guy's got some onions. This guy can forget the bad plays and bounce back and head's still right where it needs to be. This guy, when I need to pick up a first down, tucks it and runs and doesn't slide, lowers his shoulder to pick up back. I saw a lot more from Mendoza where I'm like, okay. I've had one foot on board with this guy.

And it was cute when he was at Cal and he was transferring to Indiana and we saw all the special things last year. But I couldn't get that second foot on board the vessel because it was too many turnover worthy plays, mistakes under pressure. A lot of sacks. A lot of sad, right? But like no one knew them. So let's pump up. Let's make sure the country knows this guy going to Indiana is actually an upgrade over Rourke. And Rourke was awesome last year for the most part, except, you know, the lack of mobility affected them in big games, fast defenses.

May have had a torn ACL. But now when you come in, yeah, exactly. But now you come into the season and everyone is saying top 50 could be first. And it's like the same shit on social media. Well, I had him in first round back in May. I had, you know, like now everyone's racing. But like, I'm going to put both feet on the vessel when I feel comfortable about it. I'm getting closer to putting a second foot on, and it comes after a real ugly win against Iowa.

I just wanted to make that clear. Like, he grew up. He manned up. He grabbed his onions in moments he had to. He made mistakes and he didn't flinch. Those are the things I want to see. Yeah. It felt like Iowa thought they had figured something out by heating him up with a bunch of zero blitzes.

And it was working until Surrath broke a tackle and there's no one there and that's game. But to Mendoza's credit, he's making those throws with guys closing on him right in his face. I will say this. I thought the decision to take the safety was wild. Wild. He should be looking at that scoreboard and get down as soon as that clock gets zero. Because here's my nightmare as someone who's seen games before. Or like anyone who's watched football before,

if he gets into that end zone and that defender gets to him and knocks that ball out, we potentially have a tied game. The clock was at zero when he took the safety. Yeah. I didn't get the decision on that. But that being sad, that's all the side. I had to do my mens rant on that because as a football guy just drove me nuts. On the Mendoza side, just the onions with the pressure closing on him.

Because that's, Iowa was like, we're just not going to give you time. We're going to bring more than you can block. And we're going to see if you're tough enough to stand in there and make an accurate throw with the game on the line. And to his credit, he did. And if I'm other defenses, and because Serat's really good at breaking tackles, man. If I'm other defenses, I'm real careful about taking that approach.

So you might be watching the first, you know, whatever amount of that game and think to yourself, we're going to heat this kid up. If you watch the end, you're like, maybe, maybe that's not the right approach. At times. Yeah, you better be careful about when you do it. All right, I promise 10 tape truths today. We got nine in. Feel really great about them.

The 10th one is going to be real quick. And it's based off of our catalog of tape that we've watched so far. All the games we've watched, all the tape we've studied, everywhere we are. Our tape truth number 10 is I'm going to give us both an opportunity. I don't want to rant. I want to provide the audience with a finish on something that will kind of hit home. Tucker, throw up the AP. poll again, please. We got Ohio State, Oregon, Miami, Ole Miss, all belong there in the top four.

Take them out of it. The rest of this list includes, if you're listening somewhere and you can't see on YouTube or Spotify. Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Penn State, Indiana, Texas, Bama, Texas Tech, Georgia. Okay? I'm going to say to you and I will give you mine after you give me yours and then we'll five stars and get out of here. You get to pick any team from Oklahoma at five to Georgia at 12. And if you had to put, get on Fandual right now, I'm actually going to make you go on your fan duel app after this. Find out what the future odds are to win the college football playoff on one of those teams, five through 12. You get one wager. Give you a $100 bonus bet. Mench, who are you taking to win the national championship outside the top four teams?

I want to see Texas Tech more, but I can't do it yet. I can't do it yet. I need to see more, but I'm excited about that Texas Tech team. Alabama is exciting. I'm taking A&M. I'm taking A&M. I know the national championship. It's your hundred bucks.

I know it is. You got a beautiful five-year-old daughter. I don't know. Iris is a wonderful woman. She needs a new pair of shoes, man. Give me a material if he's, give me Oklahoma, if he's going to be healthy. I don't know.

Right now, we're talking about. Right now, in this moment, I'm taking A&M. I know Marcel Reed is inconsistent as a passer. I love the offensive line. I love Levy on Moss in that run game. I love the playmakers and Craver and Conceptioner. They have a wide receiver. This is a team that if he plays well, as a passer, they're in trouble.

They can run the ball regardless. Will Lee had a much better game. I thought last week, the corner. That defensive front can heat people up. Scooby Williams and linebacker can chase people down. Although I think he might have got hurt last week. We're going to see on that. So we weren't going to do a long run.

And I believe in Mike Elko. I believe in Mike Elko. I do too. I like A&M. I believe in Mike Elko too. I'm actually going to go on my fan dual app and I'm going to place this wager. And tell me why you love Alabama now again. Alabama.

I knew it. Mensch, great show. Five stars, my man. Five stars. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino. Or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? call 1-800 gambler or visit rg dash help.com.

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