The McShay Show - 10 Tape Truths From Week 7: Elite Indiana, Ty Simpson Rising, Texas’s CFP Path, and More. Plus, the Latest Intel on James Franklin’s Firing.

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

Welcome to The McShay Show! Todd opens by releasing some behind-the-scenes intel on James Franklin’s firing and Penn State’s next move. Then, the guys rewind the tape and give their biggest takeaways from Week 7 of college football. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show!3:03 The Latest Intel On James Franklin's Firing and What Penn State Does Next16:12 10 Tape Truths From Week 717:50 Tape Truth 1: Indiana’s Defense Is Top Five in the Country25:03 Tape Truth 2: Fernando Mendoza's Versatility33:48 Tape Truth 3: Indiana's WR Prospects Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr.41:52 Tape Truth 4: Georgia's Offensive Line Is a Problem45:47 Tape Truth 5: Ty Simpson Is THE QB in College Football Right Now55:47 Tape Truth 6: Texas Tech Should Make a QB Change1:02:11 Tape Truth 7: Optimism Around Texas's Playoff Path1:13:10 Tape Truth 8: CJ Carr's Development1:17:40 Tape Truth 9: Notre Dame Is a Top 10 Team1:23:25 Tape Truth 10: Texas A&M's Defense Is Legit 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

Indiana has arrived. Bama might have the quarterback. Welcome back, Texas. And James Franklin, there's the door. It's a tape trues Monday on the show, and there's just 192 days until the NFL draft. Munch, you good? I'm good, man.

Tucker, one time now, kid? Anyone who lives or has lived in New England knows that it's not really fall until you get a Nor'easter. And we're in the eye of the storm right now, Munch. I just hope the trees hold up. The internet works. I hope we get through two hours here. Deep power.

You have a generator? If we go dead, this is my forewarning. No, I don't have a generator. I'm one of those idiots. Yeah, me neither. It will take me being without power for a week before I do something smart like that. This episode is presented by Duluth Trading Company. Ready to give rival tailgates the foam finger?

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speaking of storms if you live in happy valley you kind of feel like you're in the eye of it right now too right absolutely yeah um so spent a lot of time over the like more time than i normally do talking about james franklin why he needed to go selfish leadership it always comes to the surface sometimes it takes a decade sometimes it doesn't take quite as long sometimes it takes longer um if you want to know my feelings on the whole matter you can go back to i think saturday Saturday night's live reaction show. By the way, thank you everyone for supporting the show. Like the fact that we, yeah, the fact that we just did the biggest number we've ever done on a live, on our favorite show to do the live reaction show where we cut into the prime time games as we did on

Saturday night. We had the four prime times get games going. The Auburn, Georgia game lasted forever because it took 40 minutes to do the last two minutes of game time. Flag heavy. Right. But, but thank you for everyone, like the support we're getting coming on to the chat. and there's already like a thousand people in there. It's been fun to see the growth of this show. But if you want to go back to that show on Saturday night and you want to hear all my, you know, my insight, my take on what's going on at Penn State and James Franklin

and why this is a move that should have been done a long time ago. And honestly, I've talked to, it's interesting. I'm more dialed in at Penn State than a lot of places. I'm not saying it's the place I'm most dialed into, just over the years and traveling and doing, games like greasy, Levy and I did, you know, did the, you know, the half, half ice puck shot and just gotten to know a lot of people there. And there's been a kind of an undercurrent, honestly, dating back eight years ago with James Franklin. And people there saw what we were seeing and

what I got to witness firsthand and some of the things that I touched on on Saturday night. And even last week, I was talking about it prior to the Northwestern law. So this has been building here at Penn State. It's been building on this show. I've been trying to get out ahead with my experiences, what I know, my sources there at Penn State. And it's been interesting seeing the number of folks there that are in the know and have some influence that have been reaching out. There's been a lot of reports, right, Steve?

Yeah. There's been a lot of reports about what the number is. How much money is the buyout? talk about i mean i'll just give you some of the numbers based off of my sources right 56 million dollars for franklin another 14 to 18 million dollars to clean out the the staff and what they're owed i believe it's around 10 million just for the coordinators right uh and like kodolinkie and and jim noles just came in noles is like six million andy's like around four whatever those numbers are so so that right there is a 14 to 18 million

$35 million for a new head coach and buyout and new staff and branding. Those are just the numbers I'm getting, okay? So you're talking about $105 million decision that was made. Wow. Yeah. Wow. Does that change your opinion at all? Are you going to get into that?

Does that make you think that maybe they should have waited? Absolutely not. I agree. The amount of money that football programs are bringing in. And I'm not just saying, well, it's $105 million. You just go figure it out. I understand the impact of that. I truly do.

And that $105 million now, it means it can't be dispersed to other sports. It can't be dispersed towards building, towards renovations, towards a new facility. Like, or if it is, you know, with that 100, then you got to raise more money.

Like, this is a huge financial drain, but it's also one of the blue blood programs in college football. So that's kind of the dollars and cents. Listen, this is not my, Avenue. This is not, I tried desperately to stay in my lane and I've learned from past mistakes. I've learned from my own. I've learned from watching others in similar analyst roles when they start to play Pete Thammel or, you know, Adam Schaefter and different roles like that.

It's just, it's not, it's not wise. I've learned, you know, A with age comes wisdom. I've learned to kind of stay in my lane. But when I get information and our audience has a thirst, is we're seeing with our numbers. YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Like, people are generally, like, extremely interested in this subject for obvious reasons. This is Penn State. This is one of the programs in college football historically, currently. So when I get information, I just like to share.

And I think the most important takeaway is this is going to be a process. There are a lot of people involved, but only a couple. like decision makers makers and all of this but there are influential people who have a voice and who are trying with their agenda positively i'm sure some negatively um to to influence the next big decision which is the head coaching job and the names i'm hearing and it's not this isn't breaking news i told you i told you on saturday night i needed to see signetti come in and within Indiana and win a game like that, not just beating the number three team in the country, but doing it at their place, the way they did it to say, okay, like that was kind of the last

hurdle of Cignetti. The Cignetti effect is real. And it's not just at smaller schools. It's not at James Madison. It's not taking a program that for 30 years, Steve, 30 years average 4.1 wins. and to be 17 and 2 as the coach. But the big games, and it wasn't like it took two or three years.

Look at James Franklin. He's won in, Signetti's had more top 10 wins now than Franklin did in like a decade. Yeah. In 19. There's no getting around that. There's just no getting around that.

So I said right away, and by the way, I also have information on that side. And Signetti wants to build that thing in Indiana. And it would take a lot to get him away from that place. And Indiana has money, even though it's known as a basketball school. They're going to make sure that they keep their guy and do everything they can. And so maybe it's a non-starter.

But I'm also told by people that I trust if there's one place, everyone says, Signetti, the wins, Google him, Google me, right? The whole, you know, everyone knows that. Quote. Also Google his bio, his background. where he's from, you know, that kind of Western PA, like that, I'm told that if he were to be Lord somewhere, if there was some place that maybe he couldn't say no to,

even though he wants desperately to build IU into one of the elites. And he's on that track. And we're going to get to Indiana really shortly with our 10 tape trues. And I'm fired. We have some great stuff today. We're in the film room both Steve and I. This may be his, his weak spot, his, his kind of that, that sweet treat that everyone's, you know, falls victim to, right?

Mm-hmm. So that is very much something to keep an eye on. Matt Rule is the other name. Those are, to me, are the top two. Ooh. Just going to drop Matt Rule in there. I like it. Well, Matt Rule, I mean, Matt Rule's like family with the Penn State family.

Like, that's part, that, that's his. Yeah. So you've got. two guys with like roots. Right. Roots like I have in Swampscot, Mass, where I'm on the board to figure out who the next head coach is, even though like I'm not like there's,

everyone has their tug, right? Yeah. And so for Rule and for Signetti, Penn State has a, is a special place that they have a kind of special feelings towards. So keep, but then you look at Matt Ruhlin, all like the winning, the program building and all the things that he stands for. And I told you, I buy into rule.

Like I really believe in what he's doing. But has he had those big wins against the elite program? You know, so there's a lot of factors in this. I'll say this. And we'll move on from the subject. More so than typically in a coaching move type of case, we're going to be in the know on all of this. And so over the next two weeks, three years, weeks, maybe two months, as information's coming in, we're probably going to be getting like the real

information. Right. Like the real information, like there's Adidas reports, right? Well, Adidas had had enough. Edithis just said, we'll pay it. Don't worry about it. I mean, I just got some, some serious text from someone who knows about like, like, that's kind of the dumbest thing I've heard. you know and i don't want to like i don't want to compromise any sort but like you know like it doesn't even start till next summer that deal and like the whole nikey situation and so all i'm saying is fortunately or unfortunately i'm kind of we're going to get information here then we'll will kind of help people who are who are penn state fans college football fans the trickle-down effect is going to be real you know what happens now is is this coach plucked from a big time school

maybe they don't get maybe they go through their A list and they can't get a candidate now is Penn State going to have to choose from a B list it's going to be interesting to see but we're going to have a lot of information over the next several weeks or several months if it takes that long and we appreciate everyone who's kind of been here for the ride even though it's not what we major in it's kind of a minor but but we'll we'll get some information yeah look I'm interested in on a number of levels there's a you know I know you don't want to spend a ton of time with this but I have things to say really quickly is what their guy looks like is going to be interesting to me. Is it going to be a Matt Rule who's an outstanding coach? I think he's an outstanding coach. Is it going to be a Will Stein? Is it going to be a Brian Haynes, a defense quarter from Indiana who we're going to talk about here in a minute? It doesn't necessarily have to be the big name, the proven head coach.

It's the guy that they think is going to get them to the next level. Look at what Indiana did with hiring Signetti from JMU. I don't, you know, like, people were like, oh, that's kind of cute. It was kind of like Dan Campbell when he got hired with the lines, right? this guy who's talking about biting kneecaps and no one's really believing in and all of a sudden, Dan Campbell's a perfect fit

for that Lions team. So I hope they find the right guy. I hope it's not a, looking at a resume and being like, well, who's got the most experience and all that? I think they do it. I also want to say this.

I hate the take that Penn State should be happy with 10 wins a year and not winning the big game. And that that's, you know, are they going to do better? Find a way to do better. There was time for a change. Like I just,

I really believe that deep down. And Penn State, I believe college football is at its best when Penn State is competing for national championships. And you can't use it as a, oh, well, you know, maybe we're just a team that's going to win 10 games a year and never really compete for an adi. No, no, this was the right move. This is a program that should compete for national championships.

Yeah, I guess there are two final thoughts on it. One is, like, I don't bash quarter, head coach is very often because I have a great deal of respect for most of them. So when I do, when I do, Steve, it's not because the people who are texting and calling me in the last 48 hours. I am very easily separate church and state when it comes to that. It's personal interactions. It's knowing the truth behind some things. It's 25 years of experience in this business.

So I don't want people to think, well, now Todd's saying that. he's got people who he's talking to and maybe they didn't like him going back eight years ago. Like I respect the people I'm talking to, care deeply about a couple of them. Like I'm very close. But I've got people in my ear from all. Like I've talked to a lot of people and have a lot of friendships. Like,

but at the end of the day, it's my name that clips are out there on social media and our show. Like, I'm not going to say something unless I have a personal experience or I've done the work on tape or I've done. so I'm separating all those things. The second thing is, players did, there are a lot of players that do,

that did love James Franklin, to still love James Franklin. I'm not saying he's been horrible and like this dictator. And like now all of a sudden, all these people are going to come out and be like, oh, listen to this story. Yeah. Micah Parsons or Abdul Carter or someone came out.

I saw, I should probably double checked. I didn't plan on, but like in full support of him. and like I wouldn't be where I am today. You can just, you can look it up on, on social media. So there are,

there are former players who were coming out and supporting him. And, and I think that's wonderful too. It wasn't all bad that they won a lot of games. They were in the college football playoff last year. He's had some great players that he's helped develop and has been part of that and have gone on to the NFL and had successful careers.

But there are things. And, and, and it starts with selfish leadership. It starts with, um, not always being trustworthy that I'm putting the right things. I gave you the Mac Brown quote the other night.

Right. I'm an old man, Todd. Be consistent. Yep. I'm an old man, Todd, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, but, I'm an old man, Todd, but, but, but, but, be fair, be consistent and do the right thing.

And do the right thing oftentimes is putting the program, morals, but, but, all, all the things that, that we know are important ahead of, what's the messaging for me? okay so yeah let's leave it with that but we will have a lot of good information but we yeah we also have way too much uh invested in the work that we did in the last 48 hours again me too we've got we've got 10 tape trues today okay and we're gonna we went back and watched a bunch of tape steve like we always try to figure out what subjects do we want to go and attack steve will take five i'll take five and this is our monday and it's become like a staple now on our show during

the college football season, every Monday's our 10 tape trues. We're going to dive a little deeper into specific things that are standing out to us on tape and let's get it started, Mesh. And I'm just going to forewarn everyone. Indiana has arrived. And so the first few truths right now are going to be, how have they arrived? What's different from the program? And I saw someone who said, just a few weeks ago, you were saying that Cignetti's a fraud and Indiana's a fraud.

Do you ever say that, by the way? No, no, dog. I said last year, they're the best, might be the best coach team in all of college football. They're playing above their talent level. I think they're a damn good football team, but I don't know that they're one of the 12 best, and they prove that to us pretty quickly in the college football playoff that they weren't. Two things can be true here, you know. I can have a great deal of respect for Signetti, which I do, but I also can be a realist. And when they get into the college

football playoff, they're probably going to play a team with significantly better talent where all the coaching in the world isn't going to put them on top. Now, I've said since week one, this Indiana team is different than that Indiana team. And one of the reasons in your first truth, and I'm going to kick it off to you, Steve, is the defensive side looks different, even though they lost a couple guys from last year's group to the NFL, which they don't, they haven't historically done very often at Indiana. Yeah. Look, tape truth number one is Indiana's defense is a top five defense. And you could say to me,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Top five in the country. In the country, FBS. I think they're up there with Ohio State. I think they're up there with Texas. I think they're up there with Oklahoma. They're right there. They are right there.

And you could say to me, Mench, they were sixth in scoring defense at the end of year last year. Yeah, they were, but it was a lot like that team, right? Like how inflated were those numbers because of the schedule? And you look at what they did against Notre Dame. I think they gave up 27, and they gave up 38 against. Ohio State. So they were a good defense.

And I like, I mean, the defensive tackle, C.J. West, who's longer there who got drafted. I love C.J. West. I talked about him a lot last year. They were a good defense. They weren't great. This defense is great. And I'm going to try and keep the short and try not to get too excited about it because I am really freaking excited about what I saw on tape, like really excited.

And I'll just say this. First and foremost, the way this team plays for one another, the players play for one another and this team really jumps out to me on tape. and one of the things that really is an indication for that is contain. And it's a small thing, right? They make it very hard to get outside, whether they're the edges or the corners. They're not trying to shed and make a play to the inside

when their responsibilities to funnel people inside. And then their teammates hustle, hustle to get there to make the play when guys are funneled back inside. They minimize big plays with the way they play the run and their unselfishness in the way that they play the run. They're physical. They're aggressive. I love their linebackers, Aidan Fisher and Isaac.

James. Both those guys play downhill. Aden Fisher's number four, right? Yes, Aden Fisher's number four. Isaiah Jones, number 46. I'll get into the linebacker play in a second. Love those guys. Then you get into this guy, Brian Haynes, and what he does in terms of coverages,

in terms of the looks he throws at guys and what he threw at Dante Moore. And I'm going to give you zone, zone, zone, third and ten, here comes a man look. Here comes a single high man look that you didn't expect. I'm going to rotate safeties where you think you've got single high pre-snap and it's going to be too high.

Or you think you've got two high, and now it's going to be three high. And they play a lot of zone. And one of the things I love about their zone, and this is crazy to me against a mobile quarterback, they do a great job of matching up in zone and then knowing which player needs to step up when the quarterback gets outside the pocket.

Watch it against Oregon. It is a thing of beauty where they know, if I don't have a guy in my area, I am the player to step up without leaving the coverage vulnerable to force the quarterback to either make a play or I'm going to tackle him. It's crazy to me. And then again, Dante Moore is seeing zone all day.

then they get a big third down in 10 early in the second quarter. And all of a sudden he gets man and he's got to hold on the ball a little longer. Then they've got guys that can win as pass rushers one-on-one. He creates one-on-one matchups by bringing five or more at times. This guy is super talented, just super talented. I'll go into the linebackers a little bit more too because I think they do three things really well in terms of linebacker play, Fisher and Jones. One is, like I said, they're downhill against the run. they chase, they tackle well.

So they're good run defenders. The second is good luck trying to block these guys with running backs. And you saw it time and time again in the Oregon game. These guys are great pass rushers one-on-one. The other thing is I love the depth that they get in their drops in certain situations. I will say they're vulnerable to play action because of the way they play the run. But if it's second and 16, they're not biting. They understand situationally where they are in a game.

If they're up big, they're not going to bite on play action as much. They understand where they are in the game and what's happening. within the game. And they get great depth, which makes it hard to get behind them and allows them to the rally the football and come up and make plays after the catch. So that linebacker play really good to me. And this is one thing that I have to say. There's other stuff too. I'll say this. Mikhail Kamara, who was their star last year, had 15 tackles for loss in 10 sacks. I think he has two tackles for loss in one sack. They're still one of the best pass rushes in the country. And he's still making plays when you watch on tape, the pressure. But you see the numbers drop for

a star like that. And you're wondering if something's going on. No, he's still playing well. They just got other guys who can get there too, and they're getting there quicker. It's just unbelievable. I will also say this. It is clear that Indiana's advanced scouting is doing an outstanding job. They had a great, they had a great feel for what Oregon was trying to do. Here's another. When Dan Lannin comes out and says something, and I'm paraphrasing, but I read a quote,

something along the lines, like they were more prepared for this game. It was. And I know it wasn't necessarily X's and O's, he's referred to, like mentally and dialed. like what and he's sending a message to his team but to even like whisper something like that yes he's talking to his team about what we need to do to prepare and like but it's also there's a hint of truth in damn were they were they ready right listen there's there's a play that oregon runs it's they stack they have a stacked receivers to the left of dante more in this game and dante more looks out and sees a corner lined up over these two receivers and a safety high

and you're thinking to yourself, I've got numbers. Any young quarterback's going to look out there and be like, I like my numbers here. I've got the option. I'm going to flip it out to my receiver. What does Indiana do? They have their edge defender drop to the receivers right at the snap of the ball, and the next thing you know, it's like a two-yard game.

I mean, they just had a great plan. These guys execute. They play for one another. The weaknesses, I will say this, this is the weaknesses. They are vulnerable to those deep. They're vulnerable to those crossers behind their linebackers off play action. and two, I think you can run downhill on them. But the problem with that is, I'll just say this,

you better buckle your helmets up because you have to be ready to go two, three yards, you know, three yards, and then you're going to get an eight yard. Then you're getting a 12 yard. You can run on them if you get right downhill on them. Don't try to go outside on them. It's not the way to go. You have to get right downhill on them.

If you're willing to be patient and you have the guys up front, because not every team can do it. But if you have the guys up front, I'm thinking of a team like Miami, if we're looking further down the road about how these matchups are, if you can run right at them and you're willing to be patient about it, you can do it.

But they will test your patience because there will be a loss. There will be a two-yard game. There will be a three-yard game. There will be a three-and-out. Are you willing to stay committed to the run? It's a damn good defense. That's interesting. I mean, there's nothing you can tell me,

like literally you could give me a three-hour dissertation with play breakdowns and everything else to try to compare them to Ohio State because I think that that Ohio State... I don't think there are high. No, I know. I'm just saying, but after that, we've seen, you know, kind of flaws in all of the other top defenses, which are really great.

I'm going to get to another one. I'm going to get to Texas A&M in one of my tape trues later on. You're right. Ohio State's different, but they're right there with Oklahoma and Texas. I'm glad you said that. You're right. I don't think that there is good. I just didn't want people to be just, just, listen,

Buckeye fans are what college football is all about, but there is, as Herbie calls it, like, a lunatic fringe that you got to be careful of and so I'm just protecting. Thank you. I appreciate it. And they would and I hate when they're right. The worst part is every once in a while sometimes the lunatic fringe will be right. And so I didn't want to give him any ammunition. So, um, all right, let's transition. Tape truth number two. Fernando Mendoza's secret sauce is that you got to deal with everything when you try to defend him. I almost started this truth with, you know, Mendoza's tracking or I'm seeing the, like,

and he is tracking and he is developing and he is a perfect fit in this system. But at the end of the day when I was done watching tape, my biggest takeaway on Mendoza, and I went back and watched a couple games and dialed in obviously to this last one against Oregon on the road, really wanted to see how he handled it, where he is in this offense. you got to understand 6-4-220 pounds he's got mobility he's got a live arm i'm not putting him in the class of a josh allen or you know like even a matthew stafford but he's he's he's he's a check plus arm strength agree okay um actually that was one of things that jumped out to me watching him recently is his arm is stronger than i thought in the preseason yeah but he but he also layers it

So there's certain throwsies making from one hash to the sideline where there's an arc on it, but you're like there's a reason for the art. You know what I mean? Yeah. Why am I saying all this? Because what Indiana was missing last year in Curtis Rourke was a guy who threatened with his mobility and had the arm strength to really threaten all parts of the field. Okay.

And so we're not seeing Mendoza take off and run a ton. Okay. But when he does, whether it's on an RPO or more so, I've seen from the tape I just watched, you know, go through progressions, take off and run, or a design run kind of a quarterback draw. Right. One play I saw, 109, first quarter in this last game against Oregon. I wrote Daniel Jones looking quarterback draw. It was a QB draw all the way. And when he took off to run with those long legs and the chewing up yards with each stride,

he's not no there's not a lot of suddenness or twitch but when he gets out going but it's not like a long runway like he can go but it's more straight line and then kind of gliding and we'll like bounce off a one tackle

and keep going and it's not always this beautiful thing but you look up and it's like shit that was 16 yards right you know what I mean so so he's got that element of the game which again I'm looking at this through the defense's lens

I've got to account for that. So maybe it's not a spy like you'd have to have against like Tommy Castellanos. Maybe it's not two spies and half field and all that. But it's an element that I have to account for, both RPO, QB draws and scrambles on design dropbacks. The other thing and way more important, this is my biggest takeaway. There's not many guys in college football where you're on the right hash with a right-handed quarterback. and the design of the play is a 15 back to 12 out to the left sideline. Yes.

Sometimes quarterbacks will be forced into that throw, but it's not like, not only are we willing to do this, this is the design, because our guy can make that throw. So now I've got a quarterback who can run, so I got to account for that. Now I've got a quarterback that it doesn't matter what hash he's on, we've got to cover the full 52 and whatever. And he can drive it vertically. And he's sensational.

He and his receivers. And I'll get to his receivers in the next tape truth. The back shoulder fade is a thing of beauty at times. Like that final drive. The game winning drive, the game winning throw to Surat on the left side, the back shoulder gets it out. Beautiful throw. 627 fourth quarter perfectly timed perfectly placed so if i've got to cover vertical and i got to

cover horizontal i'm talking whole field and they got the ability if it looks like a vertical and now the back shoulder like i'm in a jam man and the run game's been good i don't think they're elite at running back you get black and um um hemby right roman hemby and kail black i like that running back the running backs yeah yeah i like that running back the running backs yeah Yeah, they have over 100 yards against an Oregon front with two NFL defensive tackles and some guys in the, so like, they're good. But I'm saying it's not like Notre Dame's running back, you know, situation. Yeah. We thought Penn State's running back situation, run game was going to be this year.

But my point in all of this is that's why he's so dangerous. That's what. And the other point, the other part that jumped out to me, Steve, and I think it's by design. And it was a comfort level early on. Signetti recognized that they did like a lot of RPO stuff. And he's despite the long, long levered, you know, six four guy, he does a really good job of RPO, quick, quick decision, get the ball up. But I'm not seeing as much of it now that we're getting into the bigger games. And I didn't see as much of it.

This game was much more, hey, you better cover the whole thing, Oregon. And we're going to come out early on, like that first drive. like 11-09 right hash throw on time perfectly placed deep out to the left sideline big time throw one of a couple all of the outbreaking routes is where he excels he also has a receiver in sarat elijah sarat who i'll get to who excels along the sideline on the perimeter so they're they're keeping you out wide and now and we're going to stick with us this week we have um and i think we'll have a graphic we can throw up too. The McShea report,

the biggest numbers we've had in the McShea report during the college football season was this weekend. And so this thing's starting to grow too. Get involved if you can. You can Google it first of all, the McShay report. Subscribe for free and you'll get a chunk of the pieces we write. Here you see the graphic. Midseason quarterback rankings on Thursday, though.

Some of them is going to be premium content. And it should be, right? Then the following week on October 22nd, we get the very first big board of the year, top 32 prospects overall. Then we get the Q&A for the premium subscribers coming up on the 29th. So the next three weeks, we're really ramping it up in the McShea report. Yeah, you can tell we're starting it closer, man. With those topics. Here we go.

The top 32? Top, poof. I'm more nervous about these quarterback rankings because I'm seeing a lot of different things that I wasn't expecting on tape. But my point in saying this is we're going to get to the. like the NFL side of all of this in a little bit. But I'm starting, even though Mendoza is not there, he's not perfect. And I think that maybe 2027 could be one of the brilliant, most brilliant, all-time quarterback classes of some of the guys I think should stick around for another year, do stick around. But I'm seeing why NFL teams maybe are higher than him than my preseason grade,

because my grade's starting to climb two with him. And I'm not putting him at number one overall. I'm not there. But I'm saying, man, that's hard to deal with him when you get a guy who can make all these throws and can run. Man, he's got the frame we're looking for. So there's a lot of cool things that they're starting to do. And they're doing it differently than they were early in the season. Love it. Go ahead. Go ahead.

That's why I pause. I love him. I love him as a college quarterback. I love the fit. We'll get into this more later on. I still have my concerns about him being. I think he's a little overhyped and as an NFL draft prospect.

I don't disagree at this point, but I... He's awesome. College quarterback. But I can see a... I can see a situation. Ah, it's not going to end to all this. Let me just say... Yeah, let's save it.

We'll save it, yeah. I can see a Denver Bow Nix when you got a head coach intimately involved, experience with quarterback development in a certain system looking at this guy and being like, with that,

I can do a lot of the things I want to do. So maybe league majority might be picked 25, 30, but he winds up going higher because someone's looking for something specific that Mendoza has to offer and there's still a lot of growth in front of him. Take it number three. And I'm going to stick with this because it's on Indiana. Let's finish off Indiana with the first three. And they deserve it.

Number three team in the country coming off the signature program win for Cignetti in game number 19. in his era there at IU. These receivers, man, I like him a lot. And there's other guys besides the top two, but they've got two NFL guys at wide receiver, okay? Indiana, man. I love it.

Indiana has, and I like last year's group too. Right. And Omar Cooper was there, right? He was there. He's had a long road and he wasn't a big part of last year necessarily, if I remember correctly. Yeah, this is a different Omar Cooper. And so when I'm watching this year, it's really those two guys that are the problem.

Yeah, in 2024, he had 28 catches, 594. He still averaged 21 yards to catch. No, he was the big, he was the big play guy. Yeah. But he had 28 catches all of last season. They played, what, 14 or so games? Yeah. He's got 29 catches through six.

Six. Okay? So it's a different. Cooper we're seeing. He's he's he's the guy along with the other the guy in Elijah Surat. Let's talk about Surrott for a second. Eight catches 121 yards in this game and a touchdown and the game winning touchdown. He's not a burner, but I think he might be a little bit faster than people think. He's six two. He's two. He's 205 pounds. He's not the go over the middle all the time, do the the dirty work and all that. He thrives on the

perimeter and it's a combination of size, body control, awareness. Like the way he gets his head around sometimes and peeks back to his quarterback and kind of signals what he's about to do. He does some next level stuff. And I talk to scouts who think, yeah, he's late day three coming into the year. Like, I just, he's fine. That's who scouts are. Yeah, no, he's fine. Literally, that's the look. Yeah, no, no, like he's fine. But I've also talked to some people like, I think, think there's a little more there. I kind of like this guy. You know, and as a number three, number four in the league early in his career and maybe elevates to number two, number three, he catches the ball consistently, really good focus, great body control. The back shoulder stuff

is beautiful. Body control, I keep saying that phrase, body control, because like along the sideline, working it, understanding like spatial awareness, when to break off his routes, using a little nudge, using a little hand check to create separation. He is, he is, he, he, He's just got a lot of NFL qualities to him. And when you have a quarterback who can make all these throws, it works. Right. Then you got the other guy, Omar Cooper, who's not as tall. Elijah Surat's 6-2, 205.

But this guy's tightly packed. Six foot he's listed at 205 as well, who's in that same range. Surat might be up to 213. It depends on what you look at. Um, but Cooper is the, the, kind of the flex guy. You'll see him a lot in the slot. You'll see him a wide opposite, um, opposite sarat. He's got a little bit more juice.

As you can see the 21 yards per catch last year. What is he average? Like 16, 17 yards per catch 16. Yeah. 16. Okay. So he's got a little bit more juice and a lot of it's run after catch. He'll catch some of the slants and go.

I watched, I watched. So what, like the tempoing the routes and all the body control stuff from Surratt. Then I go to Cooper and I'm watching him, studying him as an NFL prospect. Both of these guys are going to be drafted. Both probably middle round range. Okay. With him, it's these feet and different kind of body control where where Surratt's kind of like gliding, smoothing, moving. This guy's got some suddenness sharp breaking and catches the ball like that.

One catch along the sideline. I don't know if there was one catch along the sideline where it's like pluck two feet in. good he can't you like stop on a dime type of body control and so crisp out of his brakes he separates with his feet and his change of direction okay and then he had this one catch it was 614 second quarter wasn't like it was a four yard kind of flat route and it almost looked like it might be a throw away it wasn't a throw away it was a high throw from from mendoza not a not one of of his best passes of the day. He goes up, this is what was beautiful about.

He goes up, one-handed catch, pulls it in. But most guys, especially the college level, most guys make that catch and kind of fall down to slide. Let's pick up four, second and six. He focus, bring it in, stop, shakes off two guys. Like his balance and the way he's tightly packed, breaks through two trackles with tackles with a little shake and winds up picking up like 11 for a first down, you know, and that's kind of what you get with him. And he does some of the dirty work.

So with Mendoza and these two guys at wide receiver, they've got something really good here at Indiana. And I think that's that combined with the defense you're talking about the balance, the coaching. Like, I don't, it's going to be interesting to see how this thing plays out. But but I don't think they're over, they're overhyped at number three. And I certainly think by the time this is all said and done, they're going to be one of the top five, six teams going into the college football playoff.

They're that good. All right. Let's take it. Go ahead. I like both of them after the catch, by the way. Cooper, again, it's different how they do it. Sarat's more of a power guy, and Cooper's more of that, you know,

make you miss and but still good effort. Also, Sarat, game-winning touchdowns in the last two games against Iowa and Oregon. Kids making plays when it matters both. The McShay Show is brought. to you by Fandul. Ready to fire up your Saturdays? Fan Duel's got a boost you don't want to miss. It's called boosting with the boys. And it's giving everyone a college football profit boost every single week. So here's how it works. Each week we're giving everyone a profit boost to

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or just go to the store. Taped truth number four. Georgia's offensive line's a problem. It's a problem, man. We talked about it on Saturday night. 31 carries for 79 yards and two touchdowns against that Auburn defense. And let's get into it a little bit.

Some of those are situational numbers, right? So if you're coming out from, they had a run where they're coming up in their own end zone, they're just going to try and run it right up the gut. You're not going to expect to get five, six yards on that carry. I understand that. Downing the ball at the end of the game, sacks count for rush yards in college.

I get all that stuff, right. It was bad. And they're banged up up front. I'll say that Georgia's offensive line banged up front. Both offensive tackles were out. Ernest Green, the left tackle has been out now since the beginning of the of the season. So they were banged up. I get all that. And that Auburn front is really good. Six of the FBS is rushing yards allowed. But they got manhandled up front. I mean, they were manhandled. And so I say to myself, well, maybe if it is the situational stuff and maybe it is that front, let's go back to the Alabama game where they ran the ball much better statistically. And I look at that.

game. And guess what? Alabama got gashed in that game on some long runs or a couple 43-yard runs. You know, they got gashed. They were caught out of position a couple times and Georgia took advantage. But when you watch the overall tape, Georgia was also handled at the line of scrimmage in that game at times, too. So I just look at that and I'm concerned. And it bothers me too because selfishly I want to see Nate Frazier, Josh McCray, and Chauncey Bowens, those talented running backs get going. I love their talent at running back. And that's a big part of what they need to be competitive going forward is they got to get that group going. The offensive line is just, it's not that physical group that can take over and control the line of scrimmage like you might expect for a Georgia team.

And on top of that, they're not that great in pass protection. I was watching that offense, and there are some things to like it about it. Kobe Young is developing a good receiver on the outside. I like their tight ends. There's some aspects of it. But that offensive line going forward for me is a concern. You know, when you're talking about their schedule and some of the teams are going to go up against, you know, a Florida, a Texas, those are teams that I would be, I would be concerned about how they're going to match up front. Interesting. The SEC is getting intriguing. It is. We're starting to figure some things out. The Big 12, I know it's not as sexy. We're going to start figuring out some things in the Big 12, too. This is when we're getting into who are the pretenders and who are the contenders? Yeah. And as much as we think we're figuring things out in the SEC, I'm not sure it's going to look identical to what it is right now.

But there's a lot of content. Like, is LSU going to pull it together? Is Nussmeyer going to get, like, is he going to be healthy enough and what's the deal there moving forward? You've got Texas coming off that huge win. And I'll get to Texas in a minute. You got Alabama playing at a high level. Georgia, like, resilient. and all those things in the offensive line you're talking about. So there's just an Oklahoma, how's Mathieu look moving forward? Does he get back? Right. So there's a lot of teams as we kind of suspected coming into the year. Tennessee doesn't look, doesn't look all that great last couple of weeks, but looked great early in the year and that Georgia loss. But as Georgia is, like still a lot of questions, but there's, there's depth to, sorry, depth to that conference that you can't find anywhere else.

Yeah, it's tough to go against Kirby. I texted this group last night. I wouldn't be surprised if they won out because Kirby's Kirby and they figure out a way. But when I watch this team and the defense isn't as dominant as it has been in the past, the offensive line is not as good as it's been in the past. There are some, if we look back and they lose two games down the stretch, we'll be able to say, we'll be able to say that there were the signs. The signs were there.

You know, Georgia's still tough to beat that team, man. But again, if they drop a couple, we'll look back and be like, well, this is why. We kind of had a feeling this could happen. All right, sticking in the SEC, tape truth number five. Ty Simpson, the Alabama quarterback, is the quarterback in college football right now. And Dante Moore is still the most talented passer at Oregon. And there are a bunch of other guys that we've talked about and we'll get back to the quarterback class for 2026 and a lot of 2027 guys when we come back on Thursday. but if there's one quarterback that's playing at the highest level right now that I trust the most,

it's Ty Simpson. Ty Simpson through six games is doing what I expected to see out of Garrett Nussmeyer this season. And it sounds very, like it's very much true, and it looks on tape, like it's very much true that Nussmire's going through some physical things that are preventing him from being the guy. I was hoping that he was going to be for his sake and LSU's sake this year. But Ty's that guy. From the pre-snap stuff, and I know he looks over to the sideline and, but like he's setting protections. He's in complete control.

And listen, I get it. And we'll talk about NFL draft on Thursday. And I will include Ty Simpson in that list. And I didn't for the like for the life of me expect to be talking about Ty Simpson. I got him on my board too, man. I promise you. That's getting real. And we get some real conversations to have about Ty Simpson in the NFL draft and the eligibility and how many starts and all of those things.

And he's not, he doesn't have the frame. He doesn't have the elite arm. He doesn't have the elite mobility, although he's mobile. I like the way he moves, yeah. No, no, he does. I'm just saying, like, there's no elite physical trait to his game. Right. But there's a lot of great NFL quarterbacks that don't have like that one that don't have the strongest arm, don't have the best mobility, don't have the,

don't have the biggest frame that just shred you. And this guy's starting to look like that. And I'm stunned at his development and his growth. He played good against Florida State in the opener, better than people want to give him credit. But what I'm seeing recently is even better than that. It's the processing. It's the footwork.

It's the keeping the eyes married with the feet. It's the anticipation of throws. It's the layering of balls. It's the trusting his. eyes, man. This is like a quarterback, like a quarterback coaches, offensive coordinator's dream. That everything you see as a coach, he's out there executing. And how does that happen, six games in? Well, it's a credit to Ty Simpson first and foremost. It's a credit to Kalin DeBore, and it's a credit to Ben Grubbs, the offensive coordinator. These guys have a history of developing

quarterbacks. And this is next up for this group. So I'm watching him. Can I really quickly say it's also a credit to the way they build that roster. They put playmakers around him in. They have playmakers. So it's also that. It's putting him in the right spot in terms of that roster. They did. And yes, they have wide receivers. They've got talent. But I think this is important. That's a perfect transition. There's also an element of this competitiveness and like that I love. and the decisiveness and like this is like I got you get the feeling watching him on tape at least I did there is not trust because he's a vocal leader yelling and all those things and he does some of that it's trust because this guy's got it like I got it handled they throw this at us I got it I've got

the answers and it can be with my feet can be with my arm can be with my mind okay and yes they've got wide receivers match they do beautiful wide receivers with beautiful speed and all the things that scouts looked for. They got those guys. But that's not the reason. That was my biggest takeaway from all this outside of this. Oh, I agree. This looks like Nussmeyer should look like.

And then the next thing was, and it's not just because of the wide receiver. Because that's always going to be the first scouts thing when they look, well, you had Ryan Williams and Isaiah Horton. And he's got Jeremy Bernard, who's their number three, for goodness sake. He might be a second round draft pick. He's got all these guys, right? But here's the deal.

It's not the story here, folks. The wide receivers are not the story. Ties the story. And you look at this week, Ryan Williams is the star. Talk about him in the same breath as Jermaine Smith coming in Ohio State. Jeremiah Smith, yeah.

Jeremiah Smith, Jeremy Bernard. Jeremiah Smith in Ohio State coming out recruiting. And we saw the freshman year and the massive game against Georgia and all the things he did last year. He is a special talent. but a massive drop against Georgia, drops throughout the year,

in and out of the lineup, concussion, no fault of his own. He took a big hit against Vanderbilt, was hoping to play, listed as probable during the week, got one target in this last game. I watched the tape. Where's two? Where's two? What's up? Didn't matter.

No. He didn't get to play that much. And when he was on the field, he didn't make that big of a factor. How many catches did Brian Williams have on Saturday? zero. Oh, that's right. Zero. That's right.

One target, zero catches. I thought it might have been one. You're right. He took a hit, and DeBore said he called it, you know, carry over from the hit. He took in Vandy. So he'll get back rolling. But nine different Alabama skill guys caught a pass. Yeah.

And Ryan Williams is out. Isaiah Horton's doing his thing, but not huge numbers. Jeremy Bernard's doing his things, not big numbers. We got this freshman guy coming in. Lottes. Lodzir Brooks. Yeah. Steps in.

He leads the team in receiving. Four catches 58 yards. Those aren't even big numbers. The fourth down catch. So I'm saying it's the quarterback, man. At some point we got to recognize the tight ends are involved. The running backs are involved. It's throw something at me.

I've got the answer and I'm going to move around. I go back. I watch the Vanderbilt tape. I watch the Georgia tape. I watched it was Georgia, Vandy, and then obviously this past week against Missouri. One drive stood out to me. If I was to say, if someone said, give me one drive, Todd, to summarize what he's doing.

If I only got 20 minutes, I can watch one drive and really study it. It's the first drive of the game against Georgia. It's a thing of beauty. I'm going to walk you through it real quick. 1325 first quarter, like just the start of the game. Sends a message. He goes, drops back to throw. It's a design pass.

Read one, read two, not open. Instead of wasting time to read three and getting caught in the backfield against Georgia pass rush, it's not great, but they got dudes up front. He sees this tiny little crease and it's one, two, goes. Right? Yeah. Takes off. Looks one, looks two, explodes through the hole.

Shortly after that. So now we've got a first down, drives rolling, first drive of the game. Shortly after that, beautiful design, Ryan Williams, star wide receiver, big time playmaker. splits the safeties, gets behind them, ball dropped in beautifully. Drop. Yeah.

Doesn't let that affect him. Next up, let's go. Isaiah Horton, it was two plays later. Isaiah Horton goes on, what was it? A perfect ball. 12 back to 10, right. I'm just looking at my notes. It was a third and 10 on that drive.

So a couple plays later, third and 10 on that drive. 12 back to 10 route right at the sticks. Left sideline drills it first down. I just love that sequence. Then a few plays after that drills another cover two beater to Isaiah Horton down the left side line between the corner and the safety. Safety coming over to support corner squatting. Bang, left side line.

A couple plays later, run the ball, try to balance things out. Hits Jeremy Bernard quick slant in the end zone touchdown. He's been unreal. I see this, the great quarterbacks, the great quarterbacks, and I'm not saying that Simpson's there yet, are the guys that you expect to come back every single time and they make players and they scare the hell at you, the homes, like the Tom Brady's, the ones that scared the hell to you. They have the day. You think there are other quarterbacks. You're like, oh, I hope they can get it done here when a key situation in the game, whether it's a game winning drive or whatever it is, they need points, they need to come back or whatever. I'm now looking at Simpson and expecting.

The expectation is that he's going to take his team. down and score. And I thought, I think his teammates are seeing it the same way. When you see when you watch the broadcast and you see Missouri kind of tighten up that game and you see his teammates coming up to Simpson and smacking him on the back of the helmet and on the back of the pads of like, all right, here we go. This is what you do. Go do your thing. Go get us right back where we want to be. And it's just to watch that over this quickly when the loss to Florida State and see where he is now is honestly one of the better stories in college football. I think it's awesome. And people say, well, McShay, like,

it was Missouri. They almost want, know this, know it, don't think it, don't guess it, know this. That's a damn good Missouri team. I saw that on tape. That's a damn good. Edge rushers were running around the right tackle at times in that game. Like, give me a break with that's not a good win. That's on the road and that's Missouri's Super Bowl.

Okay, so they took their best punch. That's, that's Ty Simpson without Ryan Williams and with his star running back. Jam Miller who just got back in rolling, getting injured. That's Ty Simpson. Jump on here. I got you. Yeah. All right. Tape truth number six. Go ahead. Tape truth number six is I might be crazy.

And far be it from me to question the head coach, Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire. But I still think the Red Raiders need to make a change of quarterback. And hear me out on this, okay? Really? Because when you first texted me, you said, well, he came to play. I know. I know. I know. I know.

And I was like, you know what? let's take a different look at this mention. When I watched the tape, I had an idea going in, right? And you want to see if the information, the data backs up your thesis. And in this situation, I don't think it did. Let me be very clear about this, okay? Texas, only Tennessee is averaging more points per game than Texas Tech right now. It's not like they're not scoring, okay?

Baron Morton is a very good quarterback. He's a servicel quarterback. And the reason this came up again is this. Barrymore and got knocked out of the game against Kansas. And Will Hammond, the talented freshman came again. Last time we talked to Will Hammond, it was against Utah. He came in. He was 13 of 16 with two touchdowns, ran the ball for 61 yards.

He looked amazing in the Utah game. Well, he comes in against Kansas, and he goes seven for 16 with 42 yards. It doesn't quite look like he did when they were beating Utah and pulling away. But I went through every drop. And the first two were alarming. I will say this. The first two looked, he looked like a freshman quarterback. He looked like a guy has not started.

He's stuck on the first, reading the first one through the ball in the dirt. The second one, he's kind of fading back when he doesn't need to and he misses the crosser. And I'm like, uh, uh-oh, maybe me and McShay were jumping the gun a little bit where we're calling for this guy to come in a play. I think that's when you texted me. But Texas Tech is rolling players.

Yeah. So then I start to watch it. And I start seeing some of the throws, even the ones that aren't completions. I'm like, man, that's, That's an accurate ball. The receiver just didn't separate. And that's a tough throw, and he didn't hit that. But, man, it was close, and you see the talent.

And here's what jumps out to me more than anything else. This kid is a problem as a runner. He adds a different element to their offense. And when you look at the overall, he's had one good showing against Utah, and he's had one, you know, I would say questionable showing as a passer against Kansas now, okay? But he hasn't been given the opportunity to come in and really be the guy. and to me, if you can get this guy to play at the level or close to the level that he was playing at Utah

and then you add in what he can do with his legs, which is a whole element to your offense, I get it. Texas Tech doesn't need to make a change. This isn't in a situation where like, well, Baram Warren's not playing well. But actually the numbers are good. They're not great.

I just think this team is built. I really believe this team, it has the defense of a contender. It has the running game of a contender. if you're really going to you're going to take your shot now as Texas Tech and really see how far you can go with this thing this year, I would really consider getting him at least to start and see how he does. And that might be tough to handle in terms of like that's,

it's ignoring how that might affect the locker room and how if you have to go back to Baron, how it affects him. I understand all these things. And I shouldn't question Joey McGuire, who's on an absolute heater with the way his team's playing. But if you're just looking at this as X's and O's, you're watching tape on Sunday

and you're thinking to yourself, man, that'd be interesting. It'd be kind of interesting if they went with this. So again, it's in a bubble. I understand. But man, I watch that. I'm like, how do they get their best team? What's the toughest offense to defend for them?

And I think it's with Will Hammond on the field. What's their next biggest game? Did you say that and I missed it? I will look. I actually looked at it, but now I'm driving. Here's the way I view it. It's like it can be viewed as this is a great problem to have, right? It's a great problem to have.

Until it becomes the problem, right? Yeah. This is a classic, by the way, classic men's just living in this bubble. Living in his, like, just, you know, in his office watching tape. Classic take for me on this. Because it ignores a lot of other things. I said it. I said it after their Utah win.

I was like, all in. Here we go. And Morton's come in and he's done a really nice job and that's who he is. And he operates the offense. The part that we don't quite understand because we don't wake up, get out of bed, go to the mess hall, get our breakfast, go over the building and spend the day in the building on the field in the wait room, in the meeting room. What's that dynamic? Out going out to going back out to the training table and getting dinner or going out to me. Like we don't know that.

But by all accounts, that stuff is real. Like it's a big. Of course it is. Yeah. So, like, we're not ignoring that. We're just saying there is a tape element. This is the tape truth, right? This is the tape truths.

These are not the, this is not the, the, um, leadership intangible truths. These are the tape truths. And the tape is telling both of us, there's more offensively for Texas Tech with the young guy. But is that enough to, to surpass all the other stuff that Morton brings? And I mentioned this all the time. I have talked to scouts who consider, he's an intriguing day three guy. Like, you might hear his name draft, like in the NFL draft. So Baron Morton I'm talking about.

Yeah, he's not bad. It's just a different element. And I think that Hammond's as talented as a passer. They've got Arizona at Arizona State next. I don't know if Sam Levitt will be back. That's obviously a different team. Utah just ran over Arizona State with L. Levin in the lineup last week. And then they've got BYU in early November.

The other teams are Oklahoma State. Just something to keep an eye out. Yeah, keep an eye on. And I'm glad we're talking about Texas Tech regardless of what the subject matter because they're a top 10 team. They keep winning. No question.

Loaded talent. And I feel like of all the top 10 teams for the last several weeks, there's just not a lot of talk about this team and how good they are and how legitimately talented, well coach, and all the things that they are.

All right, take truth number seven. I need to be, I do need to be clear about something because I say we're going to find out a lot about the Big 12. I think we're going to find out a lot about who's going to lose the Texas Tech and the Big 12 championship. That's what I think we're going to find out a lot about in the next couple weeks.

Texas Tech is the best, yeah. All right, tape truth number seven. There's reason to be very optimistic, but also cautiously, when it comes to Texas in their path to get back in this college football playoff. They're ranked number 20 this week by the AP poll. You know my thoughts on the AP poll. Don't trust them. don't believe in the process, think there's a better way to do it, is what it is,

because at the end of the day, it does not matter. So I'm cool with it. If Steve Sarkesian and this staff can bottle up the second half of Oklahoma, and that becomes like the jump, like the springboard to the rest of the season for Texas, they might be every bit a part of this thing as we thought Texas was going to come, was going to be coming into this year. that second half against Oklahoma, that Oklahoma team was what we thought Texas was going to be. I agree.

They got punched in the face by Ohio State. By an Ohio State defense, we're now coming to figure out that might go down with like the Alabama's of the 2011, the Miami's of 2001, the USC's with all those star, you know, like. those former canes aren't going to be happy about hearing that man that defense was insane and so i'm just saying like you when you think when you just like close your eyes for a second you think about some of the defense the great ones yeah right great ones um so anyway there was a residual effect after that and arch clearly was affected it's so good to see arch right now and it's not all beautiful and he only threw for what you can look up the numbers like a hundred and

66 or like it but this is what we expected to see from arch to a certain extent and it's just going to keep it should just keep getting better okay um this is arch the creator and the distributor this is arch when the protection's not there or they're just so good on the defensive side as oklahoma is they're going to get home sometimes they're going to wreak havoc in the backfield this is arc showing yeah i'm not eli i'm not peyton like i'm my dad and my mom's son i'm the athlete of the group i'm more like my grandpa yeah i'm more like archie right and so we're seeing that element of his game we're seeing it more decisively and even go back to florida in that ugly loss for the longhorns he played pretty well in that game and we saw kind of a steady build up a little bit

like the obviously the sam houston state i think it was um and no one cares right, but I saw some confidence growing inside of him. This Texas wide receiver group is astounding. It's one of the best groups in the country. Put it in the top three or four. I know you've got to put Ohio State up there. And we just talked about Alabama with Ryan Williams and Isaiah Horton and Jeremy Bernard and now this freshman cat.

But Texas is in the conversation up there. Maybe not one, maybe not two. but like you can't get past five without having Texas in the conversation. But we didn't see it early this season because their offensive line was not playing to the level. Arch was flooded with Heisman, number one draft pick, national championship, Manning, Jersey, all of this stuff. Now he's not. Now he's playing free. And his mechanics aren't exceptional.

There's some throws that he still is a little, but like he's feeling it. He's playing. He's reacting. And now he's getting the ball out to these guys. And he's missing in the strike zone sometimes. I watch the tape. I see it. Of course.

So he can lead a receiver and maybe we get five extra yards or what. But there's refinement. But before it was like, oh, shit. Right. We all just overhyped this guy. And it's like, yeah, he didn't play at a very high level in high school. And it's the Manning name. And why didn't he start?

And the quarterback Quinn Ewers wasn't that great. And they, they, so like, questions start creeping in your head like real serious questions but now i'm seeing the guy that we expected to see and i'm expecting to see growth now i want to say this because it's important to say i've covered live on the field these games and you think oh oklahoma's back they like they figured it out they had a two-loss team but they just beat texas and this is what i expect to see the rest of the way texas well they're struggling but they just pounded oklahoma huge upset i've seen those games and in this history, the last couple decades, those have happened.

So it can be fool's gold to think, like, this is just a different game. This is a rivalry. Sometimes a bad Auburn team beats in Alabama. Right. Sometimes a bad Michigan team by standards beats Ohio State. Yeah. And even vice versa in the history. So I want to preface with, preface this with, I'm not blind to that concept.

And I'm also not blind to the concept that John Matto. was playing with a recovering broken thumb. Right. But the second half is what we expect to see. The offensive line's protecting. The penalties were there for Oklahoma and the second half in the offensive line. They weren't really for Texas.

They were in the first half a little bit. They only finished with four penalties on the day, which is a step up. The protection was a little bit better. And that defensive front is legit for Oklahoma. Yep. They had 15 more total yards of offense. And remember, Meteer was dealing early in that game.

And most importantly, they didn't turn the ball over. And when they needed a clutch throw a couple times, Arch made it. When they needed their quarterback to run because the protection wasn't there or something, Arch did it. Okay? And the defensive side. That to me is just as important as what we saw from arch in the offense. Before I switch over to defense, when I say the receivers, I didn't mention like,

these receivers, we're talking Wingo, D'Andre Moore. We're talking injuries at the tight end position. And what's beautiful is this Parker Livingstone guy, roommate of Arch. When Arch was in crisis mode, he was only looking when trouble was happening and he was flooded with bad thoughts and all. He was going to Livingstone and that was great to see some big plays. But Livingstone's the third best receiver in that group. He's just a red shirt freshman.

and he'll keep getting better. He should be the kind of the secondary third, you know, third type of target. And that's what he is now. And that's a wonderful thing, that that guy who is starring in some big, big moments can be your number three wide receiver and maybe your number four target.

Yeah. So now on the defensive side, welcome back Colin Simmons, and I know the pressures were there. But when you're Micah Parsons, and when you're Abdul Carter, and those are the comps you're getting for where he can develop to.

And we saw the flashes of the freshman, you expect a two and a half sack game. And that's what he provided against Oklahoma. And on top of that, Anthony Hill Jr.'s been doing some really good things. But he was like all over the football. He finished with, I think, seven tackles in that game. And the defensive backs with this system, right, Kwikowski, right?

Kwikowski's system, it is zone heavy, eyes forward, make plays on the football, number one, and be awesome tackling. That's this whole deal. Right. We can get home with our front four. We've got athletic linebackers, and our backs are normally in nickel, our five defensive backs have got to do two things. Tackle, they don't have to be the, you know, oily hips, turning, running, man to men.

They don't have to do that. They've got to be smart with their eyes. They've got to tackle really well, and they've got to make plays on the football. And I look up and I see every single time there's a play being made, whether it's a turnover or a big tackle or a tackle for loss. It felt like these guys were involved. Jelani McDonald all over the field. Michael Taft, the enforcer, as I said, they combined for 17 tackles in the sack doing their job. And then you got Malik Mohamed two interceptions doing what Texas D.Bs do.

I'm excited to see the path. Now, here's the path. They win the next two. agree Kentucky and Mississippi State and those are kind of the schedule gods are kind of on their favor even though it's it ain't easy

but to have because you wonder is there going to be a little letdown what's the residual of this Oklahoma game it is you know everyone in Austin and all around Dallas is getting excited and getting inflated egos so now now we have time to kind of reset if you're sorry work on things and get better

Kentucky Mississippi State start to like not start continue the development and the growth especially in the offensive side of the ball and the defense, like you're on notice now. That second half, when you shut out Oklahoma, the turnover, like that's what we expect here. So you get done with those, but November's a bitch, man, okay?

Vandy's a dangerous dog. Yep. But you get that game at home. Then you're at Georgia. That's the one, yep. Georgia's getable, though. You and I both see it. I just talk about it.

But they're also, I don't want to play them. Like they are one of the 10 best. teams in the country. But if Texas uses the next two, three games to keep growing, they're capable of that win. Whereas 10 days ago, 15 days ago, I'm saying, there's no chance they're going between the hedges. Not that team. Okay. Then you've got Arkansas. They handled them last year twice. Then you get that kind of sandwich game, Arkansas, which is kind of concerning. But assume they're going to win there, that'll be one of those ugly ones. But then if they, if they handle it, this is the course, man. Remember, one of those

losses was Ohio State number one team in the country. The other one is the only SEC loss. It ain't a, they went out and have two losses they're in just on the, on the record. Yeah. Because one of them was Ohio State. And if, but if they, they get to the SEC championship game, right? And we know the committee is going to reward teams for being in the SEC championship game. that A&M game becomes the one. It does. There's a path, man. Hey, listen, if you wanted to be easy,

you don't play in the SEC. If you wanted it to be easy, you just can't play it. I'm just saying a week ago even, but definitely a couple weeks ago, it's like, no, they're done. Oh, no, it's panics. Yeah, all right, go ahead.

Tape truth number eight, I agree with you on Alabama quarterback, Ty Simpson. he's the guy. He's the guy in America. But Notre Dame quarterback, C.J. Carr, is averaging 310.8 passing yards over the last four games. And the tape absolutely matches the production. This kid is on fire. And he is, I think people may not have been paying attention to Notre Dame after two losses.

They haven't had really that big time matchup since then. So maybe a little bit under the radar if Notre Dame can go under the radar. I don't know if they can. But C.J. Carr, I love his game, man. the touch and the timing that he's showing on passes and for a young quarterback, we'll get into some of the other stuff for the negative of being a young quarterback, okay? But for a young quarterback, I really want to point out a couple of plays. Boise State, play 17.

It's fourth and nine, okay? I think they're on the 19-yard line, okay? He's got two-by-two, ten personnel. He's got a single high safety look. The safety is shaded to his left side, okay? To his left side. What's he do? he turns to the right side and he starts making all these hand signals he's like hey over here look look look

meantime that you see the safety start to rotate over cj car flips his hips like he's going to throw to his right and then as soon as he's got that safety flips back and throws a gorgeous back shoulder touchdown pass to the left side whole time you know look over here i got you safety hey you look over here i'm making all these hand signals like look at this i'm setting up over with these routes there was no way he was ever throwing the ball right. It was quick right. I'm going to sell this and then back to his left. And again, the touch and the timing keep showing

up. Great example. Play 27 this past week against North Carolina State. Eli Rain and the big tight ends running down the seam. He's kind of run across her, but the seam, it's a seam throw for him for a car, drops it in over the trailing linebacker and in front of the safety for a big play.

This kid's, he's jumping out. I think he played well in the first two games for a guy who who's coming in and just starting for the first time for Notre Dame. And then he has just elevated his game over the last four games. I am so impressed with what he's doing. And then you look at like he's spreading the ball around. They don't have the receiving core of an Alabama.

They don't have that the receiving core of a Texas. But he knows what he's got. He's got Randon, who's emerging as the next great Notre Dame tight end. I really believe that. Then he's got Malachi Fields, who's 222 pounds on the outside. He's got those big targets for back shoulder throws, red zone throws. He knows what he's got there.

And then with Jordan Faison and Will Pauling, he's got these quicker guys that separate well. He's got the tool. And then, by the way, Jeremiah Love is an absolute weapon in the passing game. So he's got the tools to be, to be productive with that group. Again, 310.

I don't think people think of Notre Dame is that passing attack being that good, man. It's the 19th best passing attack in the FBS right now. It is dangerous. It's a different looking team that it was last year. Now, on the flip side, there are some things that he still does.

There are some times where he, you know, he's gotten away. I think he has 10 touchdowns of one interception in the last four games. There was a, there was clearly a dropped-in interception against Arkansas. He got to go away with the decision against North Carolina State. He's young. There's still some things that he does. But I think he's more, he's progressed to farther than most freshman would be at this time. He's super talented.

He's got arm strength. He's got touch. He's got timing. He's got mobility. All of these things that Notre Dame passing attack is for real. And C.J. Carr is for real. aren't you surprised that that's the case? Considering all the reports in the summer and it was Minchie, who was...

Yeah, is he going to win it outright? How much of that is Freeman, though, keeping him on his toes of nothing's going to be handed to you? Also, the team, too. Like, even if you like Carr, you might say to the team, like, he's got to earn it. This is the grandson of Lloyd Carr, the great Michigan coach. I don't want anyone to think that someone's going to come in here and be given something. And so even if they like them, I like the idea of saying, oh, it's still a race, man. You know what I mean?

Like you're still going to prove yourself every day. Yeah, no, all those things can be true. I'm just saying, I guess because, A, it's Notre Dame in the run game and the defense and what they've built on and with the run they made last year. And to see the shift in the offensive style and the quarterback position and what. So it's cool to see. I love it. You got another tape truth on Notre Dame. Might as well just do it do it here, back to back.

go ahead. Notre Dame is a top 10 team and it's not even close. Notre Dame is a top 10 team and it's not even close. They got a tough game against USC this week and they can't lay an egg. They better be ready to go. They haven't played a team like that since again, the first two wins. But listen, I just talked about the passing attack and then you're going to add a running game with Judarian Price and Jeremiah Love. And I know it's, I think it's 50th in the country and rushing yards per game. Those guys can run against anyone. I mean, Jeremiah Love is the best running back in the country. And Judarian Price has looked, I mean, outstanding at times. The offensive line, hasn't quite played up to expectations, but it still played well, has room to get even better.

I mean, it's a really good group. That offense, again, I'm telling you, it's tough to defend it. And I'll add in, it talks about love as a receiver. Just a few reps that I saw, Judarian Price, is really competitive in past protection, man. These are guys that are willing to step up and help out when they have to in past protection. So I'll just talk about, you know, that's the offense. I had concerns about the defense. I thought the offense would get there.

I had concerns about this defense. but you look at some of these guys like Bubukar, Traori is a legit edge. And then you look at their, you look at their secondary with guys like Leonard Moore and Christian Gray and Aden Schuller, like, and they're deep there, man. They have, they have 11 interceptions this year. Eight different players have interceptions. I mean, they can turn you over. That defense is settled in.

That defense is much better than what we saw when it was getting gashed by Texas A&M. Again, this is a group. I think that it's built and you think about this. I want to talk about their I don't know where I put it but they're their margin oh they're top 10 in turnover margin they're really good at taking care of the ball

and turning the ball over I think that's a big staff for teams and I go ahead no I'm looking at this thing man I just like I don't and I get it it it's Monday but like I don't think this is Notre Dame yeah Notre Dame

right like this is the touchdown like this is why aren't we this is like the this is a Super Bowl for Notre Dame on Saturday I hope the Irish fans know it's a big big game man because that's a good USC team I'm not sleeping on that team

there are two truths here one is Lincoln Riley's got this this team and yeah they didn't travel well to Illinois and we're going right back to the Midwest and all that stuff and so maybe it won't be the same USC that we saw at home USC's a very good football team that is a and they're starting to peak

and they're playing with confidence. And so what you saw on tape against Illinois is not what you're getting when they come back to the Midwest on Saturday. Number two here, this is the most important part. Like, it is an absolute no-brainer that Notre Dame wins this game and wins out. And I want to mention to the wins out portion of it. It's BC, I got to get my face. It's BC Navy Pitt.

Pitt's playing really well now with the new quarterback. But Pitt, Syracuse and Stanford. Notre Dame's winning out. So it's either a three-loss team with the third loss being in October against a good but not elite USC team. And now it's like probably A-N-in. Or it's we beat USC.

And by the way, committee, our first two losses were back in, you got to go back to early September against two top five teams right now. Right. And by three. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, mench, munch. three, no, four combined points.

Four combined points. Yeah. Listen. By one to A&M and three to Miami. So this is it. Like USC, Notre Dame, Saturday night, NBC, 7.30 p.m. We're going to be here Saturday night. We're going to cut into this game.

I'll talk to Blackledge this week, see what's going on. We're going to be ready to break into that game. And I'm sure there's another game or two. I haven't even looked ahead yet. I'm too busy watching the tape from last week and talking to people at Penn State, my goodness. But this is like the, this is the biggest game of the year for Notre Dame.

This is going to decide we're in or we're out. It's an elimination game. Yeah, two quick points. Yeah. Think about Marcus Freeman and how deep they went in the playoffs last year and how that's going to help him in this team. All the players that did return, like they know, they've now navigated that playoff better than anyone else

other than Ohio State. They were the, they were, they finished second. So they have a good feeling for that. Marcus Freeman has a good feeling for how to prepare anything that he might want to tweak. I think that helps them. I think that's something that maybe slept on a little bit. But I want to go through this really quick because I say they're a top 10 team and I want to be clear about this. If I put them head to head, I like them against Georgia Tech.

I like them against Tennessee. I like them against LSU. I like them against Ole Miss. I mean, Ole Miss is a top five team. You're saying they might be top seven team in the country. Yeah, I like, well, listen, Ohio State, Miami. Indiana, Texas A&M, Alabama. So now we're at five.

Texas Tech, I like better at six. Yeah, they're eight in Oregon. I would put them at eight right now. I think they're that good. Okay, interesting. I'm fired up for Saturday night already, and I hadn't even kind of started thinking about that. We've gone way over.

It started with Penn State. I know, I'm sorry. It's important stuff to shit. No, no, no, it's all on me. Normally we do the 10 tape tours. We're in and out in about an hour. We're not trying to take up people's time. It was important to get to circle back on Penn State for all the reasons.

and I'm not going to cut my 10 tape truth number 10 short but I am going to say we've got to car wash this thing because I don't want us to have an hour and 40 minutes show on a Monday. Texas A&M's defense is one of them.

That's tape truth 10. And no, it's not Ohio State. I get it. I'm not saying it's top two or maybe even three, but I find it hard to believe after I just studied the 10th. I've now spent two sit-down sessions with the A&M tape because I watch Cassius Howell as a pro prospect getting ready for our new flagship NFL draft show during the college football season,

rough draft, which comes out on Thursday. I got that ready for last week. And so now I've sat back down with more tape to watch of Texas A&M. And I'm just saying that group's one of them. Whatever them is, whether it's top three, top five, they're one of them. They're not Ohio State, but after that, keep them in the conversation. And I'm saying that because I was worried early on against Florida,

just watching the game on TV. I'm like, maybe they're not quite as good as I thought. Maybe if you can kind of, you know, bottle up Cassius, then you get a chance. Because Florida starts rolling. And maybe Lagway has found it. Maybe it's a practice time. Maybe you get the freshman receiver, Wilson. Maybe things are rolling for Florida.

I went back and watched the tape, mensch. like this is you got to remember this is elko's baby elko built his career on defense you know elko's been to spots whether you know duke is head coach but notre dame and um where other places like it oh a and m before that he's a defensive guy so this is his baby and it's great that marcel reed has got all the mobility in the world and he's flashing on as a passer and they got k c conceccione and mario craver and they're running

game, all that stuff. Don't get it twisted. A&M's number, what, five in the country, six in the country right now, because this defense. Four. The number four, yeah. Yeah, sorry, four. A&M is number four in the country because of this defense. And that for those first two drives weren't pretty. But I went back and watched it and it was like really horrifying stuff. If you're calling plays defensively. But super coachable and correctable. Like just like high school type breakdowns. And it was like the first play of the game, the DB retreated instead of covering the flat.

Like he got Turn around was sprinting to get back in coverage. But he hit the flat. It was just like it was a breakdown. Right. And give Florida a little credit for they created a situation and a passing concept that they confuse what. But then the next of the slant route, two DBs didn't communicate at all.

And then I saw another time on tape early in the game, like the two DBs, like literally were tripping over themselves. Okay? So it was just kind of not fluky, but just kind of stupid stuff that Elko's defenses don't do a lot. So you don't come to expect it. And I want to make the point here, too. Like, Will Lee's a pro prospect, probably like mid-round range cornerback. He's been, he's good, but he's been up and down. He has been. The Ratcliffe 18, Marcus Ratcliffe, he's a bad dude, man. That guy's going to play in the NFL. That's why Lee's getting targeted. Yep.

And he's a free safety, though. He's a free safety, but he's coming up and hitting. He's covering tight ends. He's rushing the quarterback every once in a while. He's doing a lot of different things. But my point in saying this about Radcliffe and Lee is a prospect who's been up and down is the rest of those guys are just kind of guys, if I'm being honest. This defense is about that front seven. Okay? Yeah. They got two really good linebackers, 21 and 27.

21's Tori in York. Excellent versus the run and in coverage, okay? Yeah. That dude can flat out cover. 510, 227, but all flying around the field. 27's Damien Sanford. Flashes as a pass rusher does okay things sometimes in coverage, but really, like, can be more consistent, but he's tough versus the run and run fits and all that stuff.

the guys up front they play that like it's almost like two interior guys with an edge and an edge if they're a nickel but they've got three different guys that they rotate up front the best two are 17 and 11 it's Albert regis and tyler ony endem on item whatever however you pronounce it I apologize I didn't even expect to get into it but he but but 11 is six three two hundred ninety five pounds and regis number 17 is massive short stout Like exactly what you think to plug things. But flashes, 6-1, 317, excellent versus the run. Get some push, though. But I'm telling you, like it is about this front seven,

but Cassius Howell is at a different level. And I said it last week on the rough draft show that we had on Thursday. Watching him in this game, man, I read this, I watched the game and then I was kind of looking through to see if there are any nuggets. he was so impactful and they had to double him because things were going horribly wrong and he was he was oh i read this pff right i've never heard of this and and i'm not trying to target austin barber it is what it is and austin barber's an interesting draft prospect we'll talk about it offensive tactics he's got a lot of talent i just moved him up you might want to

watch this he got a zero point zero blocking grade if this is correct what I read. Wow. Four pressures allowed, two sacks allowed, two penalties, one hit, one hurry. And it wasn't all howl, but it was mostly. And so, and they're double teaming him, and that's opening up other things. So my point is, when we're talking about the elite defenses, and we get past Ohio State, this is one of those groups. And my favorite part of watching the broadcast, I love Quint Kessnich. I have a great deal of respect for him. I've worked. I've worked worked with him hand in hand. He works his ass off. He does all the right things. He had this like kind

of uncomfortable halftime interview of Elko because remember it was 1414. It was a shootout and that pisses Elko off more than anything. Right. Much rather it be an ugly three three game. But but they made the I was listening to the game, the broadcast for a portion of it and the, the analysts and the play by play guy were talking well they were in man to man's with some bracket stuff early and they've switched to more zone. I'm not going to say who the announcers were. It doesn't matter. So Quinn was like, and a lot of times the sideline folks go off of what they're saying

to try to. Of course. Because that's an important point. They scored 14 on a couple drives. Now they're not scoring at all. What was the difference? Great question. He said, you know, it looked like according to what's going on up in the booth,

that you guys switched from man to man. And he's like, I forget the exact phrasing, but Elko's like, he's like, so you shifted from man. it sounded like to zone coverage. You know, how has that been a difference? He's like, we did. Yeah. Yikes.

Yeah. And he's like, well, so what was the difference? He's like, well, we just were, you know, basically communicating better and doing all the things. So it was funny to watch. Yeah. Yeah. To watch it.

I don't know what the guys are telling you upstairs. It's not what's happening. But this defense is awesome. All right. We've gone too long. We're back on Thursday. Rough draft. It's our new flagship show in season.

And I, NFL draft, but also looking forward to the awesome week coming up. I'm sure we'll get back to Notre Dame and USC and the schedule that we have in week eight of college football. The McShay report's coming out 48 hours. Get ready for that. Big one. Yeah, quarterback.

The first quarterback big board, if you will, of the college football season. And I'm kind of dreading having to stamp my name on some of the quarterback plate that's gone on. I love it. We'll see where we are on Thursday. Until then, Mench, 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?

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