The McShay Show - 10 Tape Truths From Week 8: Finding Florida’s Next HC, Buying Julian Sayin Stock, Carson Beck Trust Issues, and More

Episode Date: October 20, 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 8 of college football. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show1:35 10 Tape Truths From Week 82:25 Tape Truth 1: Ole Miss's Run Defense Is Not An Easy Fix6:37 Tape Truth 2: Alabama's Offense has NFL Personnel and Sophistication17:10 Tape Truth 3: CJ Carr Played Like a Redshirt Freshman21:55 Tape Truth 4: Notre Dame's Jadarian Price Is Not a #229:55 Tape Truth 5: WARNING: Time to Buy Julian Sayin Stock38:55 Tape Truth 6: Carson Beck's Turnover Problems Will Continue 46:45 Tape Truth 7: Zion Young is Completely UNHINGED52:25 Tape Truth 8: Florida Needs Lane Kiffin1:00:45 Tape Truth 9: Still High on Texas Tech's QB Will Hammond1:05:25 Tape Truth 10: Oregon's Running Game Has Improved 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 McShayGuests: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Jon Roemer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Man, do we learn a lot in week eight of college football. And then we got to the tape on Sunday. There's too much to get to for some long poetic open to this show. It's Monday, so you know it's 10 tape truths from Stevie Boy and myself. Mention, you know this? Only 185 days until the NFL draft. I'm aware. So Metsch, are you good?

I'm good, man. One time now, kid? I feel like there's a clearer picture now, Steve. Week 8 told us a lot. Like, really starting to hone in on who the top teams are. what the struggles are, and now some questions have to be asked. Some coaching questions. We'll get to that.

Some questions about can a specific unit fix what's going on in order to kind of write the ship and make a run here at the end of the season. This episode is presented by Duluth Trading Company. Ready to give rival tailgates the foam finger? Duluth Trading Company crafts Hall of Fame game day gear to help you grill hotter, cheer louder, and tailgate longer. Bibbs loaded with pockets. gusseted pants so you can crouch without snuffing out your coals and free swinging shirts

tailor made for cornhole tossing. Stay comfortable from preseason to playoffs in the toughest tailgate attire around only at Duluth trading company. We're in the second half of the college football season. We spend Sundays watching tape to share with you our 10 tape truths. And yeah, the McShay report is out. Google it, subscribe, be a part of it. Got another one. huge show on Thursday. First big board of the year, top 32. We did the quarterback rankings last week, and I already want to start tweaking that a little bit, right?

And we get the top 32 coming out on Thursday. We'll have a follow up on Friday. It's a busy week. If you don't subscribe to the McShay report, you probably want to do it. Like now we're going to start ramping things up, both for college football and the NFL draft. But today's about 10 tape trues.

And honestly, I just want to jump right into it, Steve. Give us your first truth from sitting down on Sunday, watching the tape specifically where you wanted to dive in and figure out kind of some questions and hopefully get some answers. The Ole Miss run defense can get better, but it's not going to be an easy fix, okay? Old Miss is 99th in the country and rushing yards allowed per game. And I want to be clear about this. They don't have to be great. They don't have to be, you know, that great Bears defense from the 80s. It doesn't have to get there. This team's already six and one and gave Georgia a run for its money at Georgia. We don't need it to be perfect, but it's got to be better than what it's what it is right now.

And there's a couple of things that are, if you're looking at this on the positive end, they got some dudes up front. You know, they've got guys like Xavier Harris, who's 330 pounds, it moves really well for size, got seven tackles for loss. You know, you're looking at, they got some players, Cam Franklin's another guy, 290 pounds. These are guys get play inside and outside in that scheme. So they got some dudes up front that they could, you know, get things better than they are right now. But watching the tape, there are some significant concerns. We'll start with Harris.

As good as he is getting in the backfield and making some plays, he plays high. He's 6'8 foot 8. He plays high. He's a little bit easier to move than you would think. Franklin, the same thing. They play high. More importantly for me is it's too lateral. Their run defense is too lateral.

You see, they like to play games up front where they're stunting defensive tackles, they're slanting defensive linemen. And that's great when you get into the gaps and you make plays. it's a problem when offensive linemen can get a body on you and move you. That's an issue. I love Santeran Perkins the edge. He's light. You saw George's tight ends,

we're able to block him one-on-one. That's kind of an issue. You've got to be careful about that. I didn't see a lot of mistackles on tape. That may have been an issue at times. I didn't see it. But what I did see is because everyone's playing laterally, when they go to tackle a ball carrier,

he gets three, maybe four more yards because they're not getting down and being violent strikers. So these are fixable things, but it's not just one issue. There's a number of things they've got to get right. Yeah, and I, for, like, as difficult as the schedule is for all these SEC teams, and it seems like every week is a new challenge except when they get a team like Citadel, right, in November 8th. When I'm looking at this, I see, I see opportunity.

I mean, they all miss, and it's just the A people for whatever that's worth. But they only dropped to eight in the old, in the, um, a people. Now, in a few weeks, we're going to have the college football, the playoff. The committee is going to come in and give us their first rankings. We'll have a feel at that point for where they view old miss in the big picture of all of this. Oklahoma up next is, like, at Oklahoma feels critical, you know, and the good news for a whole miss is what their weaknesses that you're describing is the weakness of Oklahoma's offense. They're struggling to run the football. And they ran it a little bit better than this last week. Jade and not existent.

And so like it'll be interesting to see South Carolina is a shell of what South Carolina was last year and what Gamecock fans hoped it would be with Lenora Sellers this year. That's the next game. First, first game in November. Then you get the Citadel. Then you get Florida. Obviously, reeling just just fired Billy Napier. And we'll get to that coaching. position a little bit here in the 10-tape truce. And then you finish at Mississippi State. All things considered, man, when you look at like Alabama's schedule, when you look at Oklahoma's schedule, when you look at Texas and Texas A&M and what they have remaining,

with one loss in the SEC, they're sitting in a good spot. But that's why it's not, to me, it's not the same as like Notre Dame against USC for Notre Dame was an elimination game. if they won that game we said the schedule lines up favorably where they should win out and be in if they lost that game seasons over i'm not saying it's quite to that level but man is saturday and norman a big one for lane kiffin in that team agree all right they're in a they're in poll position if they can get that win tape truth number two and there's a reason why i'm leading off with this one for my tape truce Alabama has

NFL personnel on the offensive side and NFL sophistication. Like nobody else in the country. I haven't seen this anywhere else. And I've got to just like, this Saturday I turn the page on, he only had six starts. How's he's doing this? This is just his seventh start talking about Ty Simpson, the quarterback. Doesn't matter.

He's playing like a fourth year starter. We don't even have those at high level. Guys go move on to the NFL typically. if they've started three seasons and playing at this level. So this is kind of a unicorn situation, if you will, but let's get past that. And that's why I went and dove into the tape. What makes this group so special?

I've shared a lot of the reasons why, whether it was last week on Thursday, I did a deep dive into Ty Simpson with the other top quarterback prospects in the class. We talked about Ty a lot on Saturday night going into Sunday morning, reacting to the Tennessee game. it's more he deserves all the credit there's nothing when i went back and watched more tape and i had watched every other game every other throw it's more than just tie though so while he

deserves everything that's coming his way let's not lose sight of what else is going on here okay so much attention is being given to two and five the wide receivers that's ryan Williams, a superstar, who's been up and down this season, but was... The drops, they had the head injury, kind of nicked up in another game, just not himself. That big drop against Georgia kind of stands out the most on that first drive of that game. But he was back to his peak on Saturday against Tennessee. And even when he wasn't at his peak, you've got to give him the respect that he deserves because he'll kill you. if you try to man him up against some mid-level cornerback, okay?

And then there's five, Jeremy Bernard, who will get in the top 32. I'm not going to spoil it right now. He might be in the top 32. So we're talking to first, worst-case, second-round draft prospect as your slot receiver, okay? So much attention, that was one of the first things that jumped out in the early series. So much attention is given to number two and number five, Williams and Bernard, okay, that and the number three production role i i don't i haven't heard anyone else talking about this

the number three production role is not isaiah horton it was for a minute and it was expected to be coming into the season remember the for the the the the miami transfer productive last year ex-wide receiver thought he was a perfect compliment to to uh ryan williams and he's had moments but it's really been the uh the freshman was a loads lode zier right yeah he's become the guy. Lottie. Yeah. So Lottie's become the guy.

And I went through like the pre-snap motions. And I want to make sure that people understand this. The talent wide receiver is NFL caliber. The offensive line keeps getting better. The run game's not where it needs to be. But I'm just talking specifically specifically about this passing attack. The route combinations, the play calling. One of the biggest things they do that's critical.

to what they do. And this is why I say NFL stuff. You see a lot of motions and misdirection and eye candy and all that throughout college football. But there's a difference when you're when you've watched tape this long, there's a difference between doing it to kind of, you know, let's figure out is it man or zone and let's throw a lot at them because they're 18 to 22 year old kids with limited practice time and tape time. And let's see if we can kind of get an edge here versus we're doing NFL stuff. okay and Ryan Grub comes in and it like with a little NFL experience but he's been doing these kinds of things but now he's got a quarterback and he's had some of he had penics like but but he is

putting on the plate of a guy who doesn't have a lot of starts what you would put on the plate of a third fourth fifth year quarterback okay so the pre-snap stuff is not just eye candy or figuring out man versus zone it's intentional there was an example there was an example right? 937 left in the first quarter. They're in bunches, tight to the left. That's three receiver. One was a tight end, two receivers. They're bunched up. Then they motion 11, Rico Scott, from that bunch out wide. So now you've got, you get two targets in on the wing, if you will, and kind of a slot area. And then one one receiver number 11, Scott motions out wide. Snap of the ball. This is a lot of grub, but also having a quarterback who understands what he's

seeing and can make the right the right play calls pre-snap he's in complete control he'll look over sometimes but he knows what he's looking for son of son of a head coach in college football university of tennessee martin simpson's dad 18 years is the head coach there so they motion scott out to the left and now now they at the snap of the ball the the wide receiver or sorry the running back that's that's standing next to simpson and the h back, stretch the defense wide by going, going out to the left. It looks like they're going to try to pitch to the left, right? And this is all done, all of this is done to stress the linebackers and the safeties. Okay. And then they have the two receivers that go out and they run in-cutters,

almost like a layered thing. They run from the left side, in-cutting to the right. So now these these safeties have to respect that. The linebackers have to respect the middle of the field. All this shit's done, Steve. To create a one, a magic show to create a one-on-one opportunity for Williams, which is hard to get. But because there was so much going on, from the bunches to the motion out, to the two receivers running in cutters, to the fake pitch with the H-back and the running back going to the left.

Now the safeties and linebackers are all kind of like what, everything's flowing to their right, the offense is left, all so that they could get that. one safety to second guess before he goes and gives deep help over down the right rail. In the meantime, snapped, fake the pitch, bang, balls out. And it's not just out. It's perfectly thrown over the shoulder, leading him back to the sideline, but inbounds. And he makes an unbelievable catch. All you see on TV is, oh, it's a nice throw.

Great catch. All that, but all, it took all that other stuff, okay? And then there's this throw from Simpson, right? it's a minute 45 first quarter. It's a crosser to Williams. I talked to Alex McLaughlin, the M2QB here in Massachusetts, and he, like, we text,

and he's obsessed with Simpson too. It's hard not to be, especially as someone who's got a coaching background, right? Right. And he texts me with that throw, if you go back and watch it, it's 1.45 first quarter. There's this crosser that Williams runs,

and the defender literally, like, is in his pocket. It is not a throw that you want to make unless you're an NFL veteran quarterback and you trust the receiver and he makes this throw with so much confidence put just like we talk about layering. This was more like,

but just enough arc to it. And the ball comes in with the DB like literally right there, but it happened before the DB could even get like, get his bearings. NFL stuff. Alex text, Alex texts me like right in that moment.

I get this text. I looked down on my phone and says, stop the fight. You know, like, it's that level stuff. I just hope people in the country, because everyone was stuck on, what's it going to look like? New quarterback this year,

not sure how gifted and talented he is, doesn't look the part, not like super mobile, doesn't have the biggest arm, although he's showing more velocity on the ball than I expected to see. What's it going to look like this year? And then they lose to Florida State,

and he's gotten better and better each week. And everyone now is talking, about Simpson and they should. My point is they're doing things at Alabama that I don't know that anyone else in the country is able to do because they've got the offensive mind calling the plays and all the misdirect, not even miss all the motions and setting up plays the way NFL teams do in order to create matchups and a quarterback who can execute it at a uniquely high level. And I look at this schedule now like you got South Carolina on Saturday, you got to buy,

then you get three tough but winnable games in November. LSU's reeling. Where's Oklahoma going to be at that point? And then you got the Iron Bowl, which obviously there's a lot of emotion, a lot of history and a lot of things go into that. But they're all winnable games, if you look at it right now, right? They're favored in all three.

Yeah, I don't know. This has a chance to be a special, special run. For a coordinator who's just come back in with his head coach, a first year starting quarterback after losing week one and everyone having them for dead. Yeah, I mean, it's different, but there's shades of that, you know, the Michigan game burying Ohio State.

Florida State was going to bury Alabama this year and all of a sudden they look like the best team in the country. Something I'll say is I love Lottie Brooks. He is super talented and I can't wait to see what he does going forward. I also love Isaiah Horton. I think you're right. He's had his moments. I think he's played really well, to be honest with you.

There's just so many malice defeat. There's so many mouths to feed. That's what a problem to have. I mean, there are six players with 16 or more catches through seven games. I mean, there are players everywhere that are making plays to them. So I'm with you, man. Ty Simpson's been great, but Ryan Grub deserves a ton of credit. Kailen DeBore deserves a ton of credit.

Those receivers deserve a ton of credit. I think that offensive line, I'm with you, has gotten better and better. And I think it still has room to grow. I mean, you look at all of it. It's like, I think I texted you last week. I was like, as good as this Alabama offense is, it's a rocket chip. It could absolutely be, like, just be different. Yeah.

All right, take it away. What do we got? ChapTruth, number three. Notre Dame quarterback, C.J. Carr played like a red shirt freshman making a seventh start against USC. After I gave him all his flowers, all his flowers, he went out. And the only thing I can chalk it up to really is I think he was tight. And that's why I say that he played like a red shirt freshman making his, his seventh start.

And I think really, for me, it was the second throw of the game. It seemed like that, right? So the first emotional, the emotional reactions on the sideline, it felt, this is the first time that you felt the youth.

Right. I picked up on that too. He's, you think about it. He's eager to come out after losing, they haven't really, quote, unquote,

played a, you know, a contender or, you know, what you would say, a real opponent since they lost that game to Texas A&M. I think he's looking to redeem himself

play a little bit better than he did in the first two games. He wants to show what he can do. And I think also other players are making plays. I mean, everyone's making plays on Notre Dame, and I think he was just pressing, right? And the biggest key for me was, I mean, the first play of the game wasn't great.

He missed his tight end over the middle on a crosser. He kind of flung the ball instead of moving around a little bit and resetting his feet and delivering it accurately. That wasn't a great throw, but I wasn't really overly concerned about it. And then the second throw of the game, he had to roll out to his right and hit Jordan Faisa on and out from the slot. he's made that throw. It is a pillar of their offense.

He made that throw a ton of times of the last four games, and he missed it outside. And he missed a few of those outside. And that was when I said, uh-oh, this is concerning. He's got a little too much juice. He's pressing.

There's obviously more throws. I mean, I give you the whole list of, you know, but it was really missing the outbreak of throws more than anything else. If you're just listening, Ments just flashed a sheet of, of paper like like probably it's a full sheet of paper of all the plays three thousand words and like 12 throws and we get to the interception i mean you look at that interception it is as bad as it gets i mean

it's a two-man route it's play action two-man route you're in the red zone you're up four at that point there's six minutes left in the in the in the second quarter you look like after u s you got out to an early lead it looks like you're starting to take control of this game they run play action they run a two minute out to the left it's not there throw it away or try to run, whatever you want to, you want to try and be the hero with the running the ball. But what you cannot do is then work back to the right, kind of run around for a minute,

and then throw up an off-balance throw that gets picked off. And USC comes down and makes it a 14, 13 game and a half. You just can't do it. On the plus side, I'll say this, that first drive of the third quarter, I think he went four for five. He had the six-yard touchdown to Faison at the end. That's the dude that I saw on tape.

Timing and accuracy. See, he made a, he threw a curl route for 10 yards and the timing was perfect. He looked really good on that drive. It looked like he started to calm down in the second half. They didn't need him as much. They were going with the run game. So there was some positives to take out of it, but they've got to find a way for him to get off to a stronger start. And, you know, your guy, Todd Blackledge was perfect about it.

He said he's just got to trust his arm, trust his read, trust his reads, and trust his receivers. And it seemed like he just wasn't doing that early on. Yeah, and you mentioned the word trust. I don't know if there's an analyst out there that I trust more when it comes to, you know, what he's sharing on a broadcast than Blackledge. So, you know, people are probably listening or watching right now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcast and we appreciate everyone for doing it. But just sitting here being the audience for a minute, they're like,

who pissed in Mench's oatmeal, man? Like can someone remind Mench that like we just won 3424 and like, and like kind of dominated a really good USC team and pulled away. But I do know that you have another tape truth. So instead of waiting, as we go back and forth here, this isn't some kind of snake draft. Get to your next point because I think,

I think it's important for people who are throwing things at their devices right now at you specifically, because you're not getting the point. You are getting the point. And the point is this. You got BC, Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Stanford. And Stanford beat Florida State the other night. but Pittsburgh's the tough one at Pittsburgh on the 15th.

That's going to be a challenge. But other than that, and even in that game, this is about developing this young quarterback to get ready for a college football playoff run because that's exactly where Notre Dame is headed. But now I want you to give the positive to Notre Dame fans and kind of walk them off the ledge here. Really quickly, it's a great sign for Notre Dame that their quarterback didn't have his best game and they still play that well against USC and we're able to pull away.

That being said. A really good USC team. Yes. Here's my next tape, truth. Notre Dame's Judarian Price, it might be behind Jeremiah Love on the depth chart. We should never call him. We should never call Price a number two.

He is not a number two. I mean, he's a number one anywhere else in the country. I think one, you know, I want to talk about two things about him other than the way he runs the ball and is a compliment to love in the running game on offense. And the first is the return game.

He's got two kickoff returns for touchdowns this year. He's got that aggressive, you know, Fearless nature that you love in a return man, he could break a tackle and then he's got the speed to pull away as soon as he gets a crease. You know, when you look back at that game, I would never have price pegged as this like monster kickoff returner. I know. Watch him as a running back. Isn't that interesting? It's very, I think it's honestly, I think it's super interesting.

Also that I'm going to get into that. I was going to get into this later. I'll talk about it now. This is a guy that went over like 740 yards for Notre Dame last year. I think could have gone anywhere in the country. I read an article. from the South Bend Tribune that said as much that several teams were trying to get him

to go somewhere else. And instead he stays at Notre Dame and is willing to return kickoffs and help his team in that way. Marcus Freeman and staff deserve, and I don't know if it's the NLL. I don't care. Figuring out how to keep a kid like that

in your building is obviously making a difference because remember, USC was up 24, 21 with five minutes, less than five minutes left in the third quarter. They had just taken a lead. It looked like momentum had shifted. And then they made the mistake of kicking off the press. Rice, who broke two tackles and went to distance.

He did the same thing against Purdue. He's got that contact balance to break tackles as a return man, and then the juice to go the distance. So one, you have him as a return man. Two, he doesn't play a big game. He doesn't play a big role as a receiver. I think he's 11 career catches. I think he might have two this year.

He doesn't play a big game, big role as receiver, but he pass blocks, man, and he competes. And this is, again, a dude that could be starting anywhere else, be a star anywhere else. But here, he's willing to go in. and stick his face in the fan as a pass blocker and fight to sustain. It's not always perfect. A lot of college running backs aren't perfect in pass pro, but this dude's competitive. And then you add on what he is as a runner.

Yeah. Let me just start here. Notre Dame's run game right now and over the last month, really even early in the season, is so much freaking fun to watch. I mean, guys are getting blocked up. I mean, this run game is special. Statistically, it should be ranked much higher,

but I think they've been balanced on offense and they've been using car more. they want to be more balanced. If they wanted to, they could run over all over anyone. I really believe that. There aren't many, maybe not Ohio State. I should say that. But there are a lot of defense that's going to have a hard time stopping this.

And I think the, when you look at it. And it turns out that Texas A&M has one of the best defenses in the country. Yeah. If you're able to throw out the Arkansas game last week. And it turns out that Miami has one of the best defenses in the country if you throw out a handful of place. And they didn't give a love enough touches that game. Yep.

And they did. So I want to put it into context because it is a two-lost team. And maybe you want to put it a little bit on Freeman and the offensive staff. Maybe they should have run the ball more. But maybe they just went up against two great defenses that were expecting the run. And they had to throw the ball to find success. And they learned from that game. And they clearly have gone back to Notre Dame football with those two.

Yeah, which is awesome. And the thing with Price is we talk about slow two and quick through the hole, right? Like slow two, where you're allowing blocks to develop quick through. As soon as you see that crease, you're going to explode. He excels in that area. And then what makes him really special, I think, is his ability to pull away when he gets a crease. And then when he gets, he hits the second level so fast

that I think it surprises safeties. I think it surprises defensive backs. Like, oh, my God, he's on top of us. You know what I mean? And then if he's one-on-one, some guys will try to make that safety miss. He just runs away from him. He just pulls away.

And you add on to that, he runs angry. He's got contact balance. And I really wanted, there was one play that, I mean, the Boise State 49-yard touchdown, is the one that I think people are going to look at. He broke like five tackles on that play. People were going to point to that play as his best run of the year, and I get it. I loved play 16 in the USC game.

It's a 16-yard run. Actually, it's not that one. I don't know if I wrote it down. There's a play in the USC game. I must have wrote down the wrong one where he has a chance. When you look at speedbacks, they have a chance to go outside. They almost always take it. And I think Price is a speedback, right?

He reads the position of his tight end. and instead of trying to pop it out, he cuts up field off the tight end. He's not trying to just make big plays. He's looking to get north-south and use his explosiveness that way, more than anything else. I look at him, I'm just, I mean, you talk about a number two back.

Well, the beauty is too. And again, like, I think people are like, okay, Mench is digging on car, Mensh is featuring a price. And are we ever going to talk about Jeremiah Love with 260, 60, are around 260 yards of total offense. The point to this whole thing,

and I think this is a perfect example, the point to what we do on Monday is to tell you something you don't already know, is to go into the tape and maybe find something that's a little bit different that's critical to what's going on, positively, negatively, looking to the future, whatever it is. And these are two great examples.

Like, if Notre Dame is going to run the table and make another legitimate run in the college football playoff, cars got to make the improvement on the things that you talked about and your first truth here. And then the second truth is like, Jeremy, we all, any,

any slap dick could come on the show right now and tell us that Jeremiah love was awesome. But the combination of the two and the return game are so critical to what Notre Dame is doing that like we need to, we can't overlook that. I think is the point.

Yeah. Yeah. That's, I mean, that's exactly it. The McShay show is brought to you by Fandul. Fan duel is changing the way you live bet football. And it starts with Next Drive SGBs.

That's Next Drive same game parlays. You can bet what's happening on the next drive. Will it end with a touchdown? A punt, a field goal. Then see the player stats you need. Stack in player props and build your bet exactly the way you want. And every NFL game day comes with a profit boost you can use on your next drive SGP. so you can get more out of every play.

Whether you're betting a drive, a player, or the next big moment, Fanduel makes live betting feel smarter, faster, and way more fun. Visit Fandual.com slash McShay to download the app today and bet the next drive your way. Must be 21 and older in present in select states or 18 and older in present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Opt-in required. Bonus issued as non-witrable profit,

boost tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wage or amount. See terms at sportsbook.Fandual.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help8.com. Call 1-888-88-889-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. This episode is sponsored by American Eagle. So it's official. American Eagle, just launched their exclusive limited edition collab with true colors by Travis Kelsey. And we could not be more excited to check it out. From sweater polos to loose and baggy pants to comfy sets, there's literally something for everyone.

They also dropped a handful of incredibly comfy graphic teas that you can easily wear on repeat with relaxed cargoes or with jeans. If you're a huge fan or just love the collab, shop the first drop now before it's gone. You can check it out on A.E.com or just go to the store. All right, my tape truth, number five. Consider this your warning. And I didn't know until yesterday on Sunday. This is October, so it was October 19th.

I didn't know until October 19th when I actually sat down and watched the tape. Buy Julian Sayin stock now. You're in, all in. This is my PSA. he's still yeah yes he's still an experience no it's not a a complete product at this point but it is a stock that is ascending and we're watching it right now and i think because we have georgia old miss and we have all like Alabama tennessee and u.sc notre dame and ohio state's schedule just isn't it isn't that it's kind of flying under the radar

they're playing noon games or 3 30 kicks and it's wisconsin and they're just they're not in the spotlight like Ohio State typically was. Ohio State really hasn't been in the spotlight since week one against Texas in terms of like big time opponent, challenge, all that. But it doesn't mean that you're, when you see growth, you see growth. It doesn't mean that the opponent defines whether the player's growing or not. And I'm telling you, Julian saying is growing and he's growing. It was a slow, like slow up the hill, cautious.

Let's make sure we have our footing. And the last couple of weeks, two, three weeks, it has been kind of started a slow jog to a borderline sprint in terms of his assent. And I'm seeing certain plays, certain reads, certain decisions, and then mostly certain throws. That they wouldn't allow him to do. I want to start with this.

I give a lot of credit in the like what have you done for me lately seven seconds of attention social media society that we're in right now coaches getting fired every third day it feels like right I want to give a lot of credit to Ryan Day and Brian Hartline for recognizing the task here we've got a special talent at quarterback but if we go throw him in and expect him to play at that special level right away. We're doing him a disservice and our program a disservice. Let's ease them in. Now, that sounds great in summer meetings. That sounds great as you're putting together your plan. Even that week of game, it sounds great going into Texas. But can you have the patience and the discipline to maybe leave some stuff and some potential big plays and some chunks and some

to leave that on the field and say it's okay if we don't get that right now? We're good enough on defense. We've got a weapon here or there. They'll make a play here or there. Let's just win, but let's develop him properly. And as he's, each week, you see the confidence growing. He's taking shots now he wasn't taking before. I'm assuming, without talking to Brian and Ryan, that they've greenlit him to do so. But I'm just watching this tape, man, 833 first quarter. like the touchdown the touchdown catch by carnell tate is the highlight it's awesome you watch sports center or any other show that it's the catch the helmet off the screaming at the camera it's awesome cinema what's not being talked about is what got got the ball to that point where he could make

that play in bracketed essentially double coverage to get two defenders hanging on him watch say in that play go back and actually watch from from snap to finish the sliding left because pressure's coming up the middle. Then instead of most quarterbacks, and maybe even saying in the first couple weeks, that pressure comes up the middle, bail. Absolutely bail. Even Cam Ward,

Shador Sanders last year. We watched, it was bail, drift, sprint out. He was slide left and then climb back into the lion's mouth. And by doing that, where are his eyes? Down the field. Okay? And it's not like he threw into double coverage, Todd. What are you talking?

Like, you know, maybe it's, what does that? Because his eyes showed him the leverage that his receiver had on these two with one, with one defensive back, with his back turn and the other defensive back coming over. You know, it's the leverage that he saw. So as he's sliding to his left and climbing, he also, what does that allow you to do? if you're not drifting back and your momentum's not going back. And if you're not sprinting out one side or the other, it allows you to keep your feet under you.

Because you've been like I don't care how talented it is, how many TikTok and YouTube videos are out there about Julian saying, throw it off balance, left, right, all this stuff. And yeah, that's some pretty cool stuff. You can't make that throw and put it right where you need to put it unless you get your feet underneath you and you can actually drill it and drive it the way you need to. So the feet were underneath, the eyes are where they're supposed to be,

all because he shows that veteran savvy of, I better slide and then I better climb back into this thing if I'm going to make this throw. And then he delivers it and puts it right where it needs to be. And then, yes, the rest is Tate, making an awesome play, helmet knocked off and all that. That was like the first side. Then there's this 212 first quarter rolling to his right,

drills a strike along the right sideline. That's a big time throw to Tate. Then that back corner end zone touchdown, right? 535 left fourth quarter this is all against Wisconsin I should have said to Brandon Innes while rolling to his right that wasn't eyes that wasn't feet underneath them that was just I'm talented enough to make this throw but I'm confident enough

the coaches have greenlit me we're doing this thing now we're opening this thing up and and for day in the heartline to recognize okay let's get let's weather the storm early on and then we get this this stretch of games, man, where we can allow him to open things up and gain his confidence and take some chances. And if he makes some young mistakes,

it's okay. This defense is, so yeah, we're not going to give up a point. So throw a couple picks if you need to do. But get it out of your system, learn from it. You know,

I was talking about, rinse, refine, repeat. Yeah. Well, he hasn't had to rinse a whole lot. He's just kind of refined. You know what I mean?

Yeah. You know what? It's interesting to me is when you're talking about the way he's moving around the pocket there, all I'm thinking about is you talking about Jackson Dart last year. There's a little bit there. There's a little bit there. That's what I'm hearing. Yep.

There's a little bit there. And I'm excited to see the growth. But I'm saying buy that stock now because something's happening at Ohio State and kind of on the back burner. Like, don't talk about it. Be quiet. You know, yeah, they come back to the high rate. But let's focus.

that O. Tate with a great catch and the receivers are stepping up. And Jeremiah Smith, like, yeah, he makes a few catches, but like, we've got all these guys doing things. Don't, don't worry about a court. Yeah, we're just a young guy. We're just developing them here. And all of a sudden, we're going to get to Michigan. We're going to get to Michigan. And everyone's going to be talking about Underwood and, you know, all the talent and all the –

But the best quarterback on that field is it's trending right now is going to be Julian saying. So I'm excited to see the development. Listen, it's truly hard to evaluate. I get that. And if you go look at their schedule and I won't bore you with the schools right now, but they're not going to be challenged at all until Michigan. It would take an absolute collapse. Like Friday night lights going out to the gentlemen's club and like not showing up to the game type situation for them to even have trouble between now and then.

Okay? But we're going to find out it's just good enough to finally do the minimum. Michigan thing. And then in the college football playoff, I think he's going to be ready to where he, he's an asset for this team rather than, yeah, he makes some plays, but we got to kind of protect our quarterback because he's just young. Yeah, I'm with you, man. I'm excited about it. I can't help but ask this question. If Ohio State loses to Michigan and wins the Big Ten championship, there's still one seat, right? Yeah. There's still the one seat, right? I think you get Yeah, I think after last year, they get the benefit of the doubt over any other team.

And it shouldn't be last year or should be any previous year. But what they're doing defensively is becoming a thing of legend. So, yeah. I hear you, but in the back of my mind, I'm like, Ryan Day knows how to win that tournament. I don't know. I think it might creep into the committee's minds. Yeah, yeah, I could. Yeah.

All right, you're up. Next tape truth. Carson back through four picks. I actually had one callback because of a penalty. And if 2024 is any indication, these turnover issues could continue. What do I mean by that? If you look at his 2024 season, right, that Alabama game that Georgia lost after trying to make that furious comeback, they lost at Alabama. It was a nightmare for Beck in a lot of ways through three picks.

Comes back to the next week against Auburn. He's fine, you know, has a pretty good game. Then he goes to miss, then they play Mississippi State two picks, Texas three picks, Florida three picks. And when you watch that tape and I went back and watched all those plays, plays from last year. You watch that tape and you can see how things start to snowball on him. You see how he gets a little overconfident pre-snap reads. He gets a little lackadaisical with his reads and he puts the ball in danger more than I remembered, even more than I remembered. And I saw some of the same things show up in this past game. So against Louisville, the first thing

I'll say is this. The first throw he made, he put two, the first pick he threw was the Malachi Tony against cover three look. If he gets rid of that ball earlier and puts that ball ahead of Tony, it's a good ball, but it's a bad execution on the throw. The second pick is more concerning to me. This one, he's on the right hash. They're trying to sell a double move, a hitch and go. He pump fakes. The corner doesn't bite on it.

And he tries to throw this ball from the right hash down the left, outside the left numbers. It's too far inside. It's not enough air under it. The corner never bit on it. And I was like, I feel like I've seen this play. Well, yeah, it's a carbon copy. of the play he tried to make against Texas in the SEC championship game.

Now, Texas had a pass interference play on the call. It would have been picked without, the safety picked it. It would have been picked regardless of that call. But it's the same decision that he's making. He just gets, he starts to lock on to guys, and he starts to get just almost too casual with his pre-snap reads. He's still, look, he's still playing well in certain ways. He's still, you know, the numbers look good in terms of the accuracy.

He's still, you know, spreading the ball around. But again, he every once in a while just makes a decision where you're like, what are you doing? And we might as well just skip ahead to the last interception because it's the one that's getting all the press from him about him in the post game talking about the receiver needing to make an adjustment. And I understand that, okay? If you look at that play, Louisville brings five.

They rush five. But Miami is a six-man protection. And if you watch that the way that play develops, they pick up that. It's no problem. Now, you might be making an adjustment, but you don't have to hot run. There's no free runner where the quarterback has to get rid of that ball or he's going to get hit. That's just not the case on that play. Also, it's a first and 10 play.

You have timeouts. You don't want to make that throw. You are in the plus, I think they're in the plus 31 yard line. You're already in a situation where you can attempt a game tying field goal. You don't need to make that throw. What happens is Louisville makes a great call and the linebacker makes a great play. But Beck never saw it. And so, yeah, maybe the tight end was supposed to run a different route.

I'm not sure what route he would have run that would have made that throw okay. I just don't. So when you're looking at this, when you're looking at this in terms of he just, like 12 interceptions last year, but he had 11 of them and four games. So you're seeing these spurts. So I'm concerned. He's not going to face the defenses that he faced on that run last year. But I'm concerned about the decision of making.

and what we're going to see from the next few games from Carson Beck. What's the most important thing, Steve, in a relationship? Trust. I'm just glad you didn't say sex. Yes. I'm blushing. I know. I mean, look at you, man.

We all know what's going on there. Trust. A relationship without trust is a toxic relationship. And as an evaluator, you kind of have a relationship with every prospect, right? There's highs, there's lows, there's defending, they're seeking information and truths, all of that. But just like in a dating relationship or a marriage relationship, like trust is the number one aspect of a relationship.

Without it, it's toxic. And I feel like I'm that guy with the, with the, this is, I don't want to put a mental image in it. I'm in a relationship with Carson Beck as an evaluator, and I lost trust in him. And sometimes in a relationship, Steve, the best thing you can do is get some space. I think we've all been in that relationship where we're like, you know what, I just need a little space. Let me think clearly. Let me take a minute away. Let me go on a trip.

Let me go regroup, right? And I took that vacation from Carson Beck this summer. I remember everyone's asking on our comments. You guys are talking about Mateer and Archmanning and Mendoza and Nussmeyer and Clubnick and all these quarterbacks. Where's Carson Beck? He was supposed to be top 10 coming into last year. Yeah, he had a bad year at Georgia.

Now he's in a new place. And I kept saying, I need a break from Carson Beck. And yeah, I always go back to it. And it's not really for the laughs. But it's just like, I'm talking to scouts and there's all this stuff about Lamborghinis and Lamborghinis that have stolen and the Cavender Twins and maybe some infidelity and all those. sorts of things. And so, and it's not dissimilar from being in a relationship where you've got

friends in your ears, right? And they're saying, well, I don't, I don't know if she's, if she's faithful to you. I saw her out at the club. Um, you know, she, the way she talks to you or you're not, you're not the same person. I mean, how many times you see that in rom-coms or, or in real life, right? You're not the same person when you're with that, that significant other. And so you take a little break. But then what happens in toxic relationships is, typically you wind up going back together. Oh, she's, you know what? She's a really good person. She did some good deeds. She's showing up first to the building. There's reports of her being decisive as a, and the decisions and the teammates. So like, then you start, you're like, oh, maybe it wasn't as bad as I

thought. It's got a fresh start. And then you start dating again. And eventually, the toxicity, the same things resurface and i kind of feel like that's where we are with cars and be back and honestly god i wouldn't be saying all of this if it wasn't for that interview after the game it just doesn't feel like it's ever a fully trusting relationship with Beck and i i'm pulling for him he's not a bad guy by any stretch teammates do love him there but he's got some stuff now not just the four interceptions but the way the things he said afterwards yeah he's got to regain his trust teammates coaches program and evaluators as well. But that's the last thing

that should be on his mind. Yeah, from a draft standpoint, my antenna's up on how he handles adversity in a big way because you think about it. On the field and off. Right. So the Alabama game is on the field. They got down big in that game and he starts pressing and making throws that he shouldn't.

And now you're looking off the field. Think about me, I know I just, I mentioned in that time period, it's middle of October until, you know, early November of the time that he's throwing all these picks. And what's going off the field at that time, everyone's talking about how Carson Beck's draft stock is plummeted. And I'm not saying that, you know, one being true doesn't necessarily mean that it caused the other. I understand that. And there's a lot to uncover as we get farther down

this process. But my antenna is up for how does this guy handle adversity on and off the field. All right, you went back to back on Notre Dame. I'm going to go back to back here on SEC tape true. So truth number seven. Missouri Edge, Zion Young, is completely unhinged. And I'm here for it. I'm here for it. I want my past rushers and defensive linemen to be certifiably crazy.

Like, and nothing screened more certifiably crazy. If you have it, we can't run the rights here. If you haven't seen it, please go watch it. It's awesome. The overtime coin flow. the referee like he lost complete control of the thing because zion young is on his and the best part what they call the reverb inside the stadium the best thing is it's not only going on national television it's being echoed throughout the stadium he's F this and like he's going nuts

and you look across the field and it's like oh their captains are they're worried this guy ain't right And all of it would be a show where I'd be like, eh, like, I'm not here for it. If he didn't do what he did. Right. You have to back it up. It was the fourth quarter sack against the right tackle that helped him get into overtime, right? Then after he shoots his mouth off and scares everyone at the coin flip, including the opposing captains,

but everyone in the stadium's a little like, he goes out, sack against the left tackle on the, the second play of overtime. Then the third and 17 that he created with that sack, seven-yard loss, he almost gets back-to-back sacks versus that left tackle. He did it against the right tackle in the fourth quarter. Now I'll do it against the left. But forces a throwaway.

That leads to the miss field goal, okay? Then in the next overtime, it's a second and 13. He explodes past two blockers and makes this violent tackle for loss, setting up third and long. This guy's, yes, he plays a little high versus the run. There's some stuff that he can improve upon. But this guy is so violent and explosive. And you can see it's not just crazy.

Like look at me, attention at the coin flip. That's the way he plays. Chasing from behind, sprinting around the field, meets you with violent intentions every time. He's got this quick swipe and violent hands. Everything's violent. I know I've said it 10 times, but that's why I kept writing it down.

The finishing burst just like through, ball carriers, quarterbacks or running backs, he's the tone setter from Missouri. And it's important when we get to the edge class. And the top 32, I'll remind you right now, it's coming out Thursday morning on this show, my first release of the big board this year

for the NFL draft. Rough draft has become our flagship show. It's on Thursdays every week of the college football season. I hope you join us on Thursday. I'll get into all the edge rushers. This edge rushing class, by the way, is starting to take off. you got reuben bain might be the best prospect in the entire country from miami you've got fog

uh keldrick fogg from auburn t j parker's starting to play a little bit better for clemson even though the results wouldn't show you cassius howell i told you he's like a rabid dog like just david bailey is on an absolute tear david bailey's on a tear matthia uiunga lele is a player uh even this past week you had r mason thomas it's only six five six one and a half two forty nine another sack and a half. Now five and a half through six, six and a half games because he missed one because of targeting. The edge Derek Moore from Michigan, six three and three eights, two 65, had two sacks and a force fumble, a pass rush win rate like in the 35 percentile this past week. So this edge class is awesome. Yeah. You might see Zion Young in my initial big board,

top 32 on Thursday. He's playing at that kind of level. And why is it important for college football? well all of a sudden you got two teams vandy and Missouri going head to head there's two combined losses and they're both to Alabama and we knew Alabama was good at the time but now it's like oh Alabama might be the second best team in the entire country right and Missouri held them to 24 or 27 in that game and I say held because look at what they've done what Alabama's doing to everybody else okay and he's leading the charge up front and then I talk I talk And then you look at, okay, we got Diego Pavia. And it's going to take discipline and he's going to have to play smart. That's what's interesting about it. That's what's interesting about it. We can get to it later in the week and we can talk about it after the fact. It is something we're going to have to walk.

But when Pavia starts running around and doing some of those things, I don't know that Zion's going to give him the time to do what he's been able to do. Can't wait to see that. This Missouri defense, 16.7 points per game allowed all season. That's 16th in the nation. and this game on Saturday is going to be a lot of fun, but you got to keep your eye on Zion Young because you never know what you're getting with this cat.

I love it. You talk about setting the tone. The tone was, we're going to overtime. You guys might be a little tight. I live for this shit. And I think he left. I think he walked away before shaking hands, you know, a little Baker Mayfield type thing.

I think he walked away before shaking hands. And the message was loud and clear. Like, I live for this. I'm not your buddy. I'm coming now. Like, you guys got a problem with me. I loved it. I promised I'd say in the SEC.

So tape truth number eight, Florida needs to hire Lane Kiffin. I think Lane Kiffin's daughter might be upset about that. Isn't she at Ole Miss and convinced him to say? And if they can't hire Lane Kiffin, Scott Strickland, the AD, if he has full complete authority on this, this is his third hire.

And there's, you know, depends, but they just extended his contract. Whoever's making the final decision, I'm assuming it's Strickland with some voices, some input. Focus on a Lane Kiffin type. And I know these are taped true, so what does this have to do?

I've spent a lot of time watching this Florida offense this year. You've got this beautiful, small window if you're Florida to accomplish two things. A, you've got to hire someone that, not with their words, but with their history of developing quarterbacks and offensive play calling and offensive production. that convinces them these guys to stay. DJ Lagway is loaded with talent.

And I, Billy Napier has been on the show. He's a friend of the show. I've talked to you about my, my, you know, working relationship with him. I love the guy. I think he's a, I think he's a great man. He's a great man. And what he did at the end of last season was amazing. And Tucker, our sweetheart of a director and producer,

was really upset with the timing of it. And I get it. But I think this is something with negotiations. This has been in the works. and I'm sure Billy was clued in on it. And I'm sure the age, I'm sure there's a lot going on behind the scenes where it wasn't, they didn't fire him after a loss.

They fired him because they got all the administrative stuff done. And it was happening this week regardless of the result. Okay. So we know what we feel about Billy. We know about what he did at the end of last year. But I never felt like, and this is, whether you want to put it all on Billy or the coaching staff,

I never felt like there was a decided schematic advantage offensively for Florida. Okay. But here's what you have. You have DJ Lagway. You have Dallas Wilson, who's a budding star at wide receiver. This guy's going to be special.

You've got another year with Vernel Brown the third, and you've got another year with Jaden Baugh at running back. There's not many places in the country that if one guy can come in with his staff and convince those guys just to stay, that returns that level of offensive play-making ability, okay? And why? So the higher shouldn't just be for the next year or two years.

It should be a decade-long outlook. But I'm telling you that this talent that they have on the offensive skill is so good that if the right guy comes in and gets the immediate results that should be gotten from this kind of talent, it then changes the whole buzz and the whole feel of the program moving forward. this becomes a destination for the top quarter, some of the top quarterbacks. It's not just like Texas or Ohio State or Alabama or Florida gets in the conversation. That's why this conversation, this hire for Florida and Strickland and whoever else is involved is so critical. Because they've had to hire other coaches.

I told you, this is the third time that Strickland's had to hire a football coach. But they've never had this opportunity. It's unique and it's special and they can't blow it. Now, how do you blow it? Bring in a defensive coach. That's how you blow it. There's some amazing defensive coaches out there. They truly are.

John Sumral is like, you're going to hear his name a lot of SEC jobs and bigger programs. He's done an awesome job. He's a great candidate for other places, but not here. Lane Kiffin is so uniquely, I've spent a lot of time talking to you mentioned. We've gone back and forth. the way he has adjusted what he does from the USC West Coast days to early on at Ole Miss with the fast tempo and all that stuff to back to more West Coast principles, but a more diverse look with Jackson Dart to we're going back to tempo, but it's a guided, intelligent tempo with a mobile quarterback first. If he can do for Trinidad, if he can do for Trinidad Chambliss, what like at Ole Miss, what could he do for DJ Lagwa?

Now, I'm a realist. I understand, like, this is, I was wondering if you're going to get to this part of it. This sounds easy, right? Sounds, I love to take so far. I am, I am sold. But, like, I'm not just throwing it out there

because I take the biggest name and the hottest sports and all that stuff. I'm saying it because the fit is just too good. And I'm sure, sure they'll throw a lot out. It feels like spurrier. It feels like spurrier going to Florida. I'm just being honest. What has, what has worked at Florida, man? Yeah.

Spurrier and Urban Meyer. What are the, that bind offensive coaches. Right. It was Spurrier with all of his crazy stuff on and off the field, and it was Urban who really got his rise in the coaching community because of some of the zone read and the RPO's, triple option stuff. And yeah, he passed it down and became a great leader,

but offensive-minded, okay, and help the growth of Tim Tebow and so on and so forth. So it's got to be an offensive coach for all those reasons. And Spurrier, I mean, let's face it, Lane Kiffin's a modern-day Spurrier. He's a more advanced sophisticated Steve Spurrier. Yeah, the comp, I think is great. And he's cooking crazy enough to make it all work down in Gainesville. It's a wonderful fit. But if it's not him, like I hear Marcus Freeman, I hear some role, I hear, it can't be

a defensive coach here. Will Stein, Morgan, wouldn't that be a name? Will Stein would definitely be a name. Eli Drinkwitz is a name that everyone's saying, yeah, he's an offensive guy and has some high. But like I feel like Florida would be middling with Drinkwitz, if I'm just being honest. And I don't get involved in this for a and I,

well, you've been talking about James Franklin a lot. Like, yeah, these are two where I can't help myself because I have too much information and I know what's going on. So if it's not Lane, it's got to be, it's got to be a guy. And my God, don't allow it to be James Franklin. my god don't please don't so it's got i think here three names well two names out three names outside of kiffin and we'll move on if it can't be kiffin and throw everything you got at him if it can't be kiffin

i would say jeff brougham it's going to come to get him out of louisville where he loves and this is alma mater and all that stuff but jeff brom can do this job and we just saw it if you didn't know it already what rock you've been living under but you got reminded on friday night against miami jed fish would be another name i would strongly consider with his offensive background at washington but i also if if it can't be kiffin i would put a lot of time into alice golish at south florida he's a program builder with an offensive background all right i'm done you're and a history in that area for recruiting um all right tape truth number nine i look first of that might be my favorite take all year.

I love that. I really think the Kiffin is such a good fit, and I love the comp to spurrier. I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think it's going to happen. But you're not wrong about. You're not wrong about why it should and why they should go after. What I'm definitely not wrong about, though, there, I promise.

It cannot. Florida has always got good defense because it is a fertile recruiting ground for defensive line and cornerbacks. Right. They will have a good defense. All you got to do is hire a good. It doesn't even have to be the top. of the top, a good defensive coordinator,

they're going to put a really good product on the field defensively. They always do. The offense has been what's been so up and down there, and you've got to bring in a guy, Kiffin would be ideal, but maybe it's a brahm, maybe it's a fish, maybe it's a goalish,

someone who can actually develop the quarterback and give you a decided schematic advantage in a lot of games. I hear you. I love it. No, no, I loved it. Tate Truth number nine. I am still as high on Texas Tech quarterback, Will Hammond, as I was going into the Arizona State game. Stop it.

Yeah, listen, man, don't. And I get it. But we lost, Steve. We gave him one start. He was also 22 for 37, okay? 167 yards. I understand all that. And I hope that people know me well enough at this point to trust the fact that I'm not just trying to cover my own ass because I was.

so high on him going into the game. I really hope that's up days. I went in. I watched the tape. You're the worst. I wouldn't watch the tape. Let's start with the bad. Okay.

Okay. He was, the third quarter was terrible. He did not play well in the third quarter. Guess what? Texas Tech didn't play well in the third quarter either. They had seven total offensive plays in the third quarter. Arizona State just had an eight and a half minute drive. I think they just took over.

That was the interception quarter. The interception is kind of funny to me because he put the tight in in a tough spot. But the tight end should have caught the ball and it bounced off the tight end. That's the interception, okay? There were some, I'm just being honest about what I saw. Trust me when I say this. Receivers were not separating well in this game. They didn't have their talent to tight end for large portions of this game.

He was knocked out with an ankle injury. Terrence Carter, I believe his name is. Yeah, Terrence Carter Jr., who's a really good player, was knocked out for large portions of this game. There are a couple drops. I just want to be clear about that. You go back and watch those two touchdowns. the first half touchdown and then the second half touchdown where like tell me tell me a lot

to point out a lot of quarterbacks can make that throw in the college game those throws the first one was a 30-yard touchdown pass off the back foot perfect timing perfect placement corner of the end zone it was 30 yards but the ball traveled 42 yards from where he threw it with pressure closing in on him unbelievable throw the second touchdown was a back shoulder throw perfectly placed You're looking at some of the other throws throughout this game too. And the zip on the ball, the accuracy on the ball, even when things aren't working out well, it is clear. It is clear how talented this kid in is. And then I've said this from the beginning.

The difference between him and Baron Morton is the run game, how well he runs. The touchdown run he had, which is at a critical point in this game, he is wrapped up in the backfield, fights off, and finds a way to get into the end zone. The two-point conversion, he decides, he just chooses violence, lowers his shoulder, and tries to run. over a defender and gets into the end zone for the two-point conversion. They had no business being in this game late. They somehow found a way. This kid battled all day. I will say this.

I'm out of the, I'm out, Texas Tech. I'm not making decisions about your depth chart anymore. I never should have gotten that game. I won't say that. But what I would like to say is this. When Will Hammond gets the chance to take over an offense and he gets a chance to be the guy, I am super excited to see what this kid does next. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I was just going to say it sounds like you're saying, like, the Matt Adelor Club needs to keep recruiting because they've got their guy for the next two, three years. I firmly believe that. But Morton might just be the steady of the ship for this version of the Red Raiders this year. Fair enough. Don't bait me. Don't bait me. I would stick with the kid.

Okay, don't bait me, though. I would still do it. I would still do it. I really believe, and I said this after the game, that this might be the case, I really believe that Will Hammond is not the reason they lost that game. I firmly believe that. Arizona State's trying to keep its hat in the ring here in the Big 12, right? Yep.

And they made a huge gash there with this win. Big 12 is kind of a mess right now. BYU is rising. But it's a great mess, though. You got BYU, you got Cincinnati, you got, Cincinnati, you got. You got Arizona State, Texas Tech. Like there's a lot of teams in the mix, man. But, but that, boy, does that game loom big?

Is it November? I'm looking up right. Yeah, November 8th, BYU travels to Lubbock. Mm-hmm. That feels massive. It's a big one. So you got Oklahoma State and Kansas State to clearly define what's going on there. I believe it will be Baron Morton, but to figure out, like, is he fully healthy?

Or, like, are we there? or are we going to stick with the kid and Will Hammond. So that's going to be fascinating. Baramo is a damn good college quarterback, by the way. Oh, I've never said that I didn't like Barrow. No, no, I know that. Okay. And the leadership, and like he's El Capitano down there.

No question. Yeah. All right. Tape Truth number 10. Last one. I finally feel good about the Oregon run game. And you say, well, this is against Rutgers, Todd. What are we talking about?

And they lost the week before. I felt like, because it was supposed to be McCai Hughes, coming in, right? From two lanes? Yes. And it just wasn't. Okay? But they've had like, it feels like a dozen running backs, but like six different guys who were rotating in and out. And by one point it was like eight guys that were like

legitimately getting carries or were part of the whole conversation. And that's cool and that's cute. And you love having that depth. But you really got to have three running backs. I'm a believer in that. Okay. Yes. And until this week, until the last couple weeks, I was desperately trying to figure out. We know the past game's going to be good. And we know that Dante Moore is sensational. And we know he didn't have his best game,

but we also know it was the offensive line and the wide receivers much more at fault after you and I went back and studied the tape. And we explained all of it last week on this very show, the 10 tape trues last Monday. So in order to not get yourself into a situation like that again, if your receivers aren't uncovering and you can't protect against a certain defense,

you've got to be able to bounce. things up and run the football. And I think now we're starting to see a rotation and a confidence in the run game that wasn't there, even a week before. And yes, it was a very different defensive front. I get it. But there's confidence that I'm seeing. Noah Whittington to me is finally the guy. The vet. The vet. You got all these young guys, but yeah. Yep. And it makes sense. We've been in rooms. You've been in the offensive line room. I've been in a quarterback room. You kind of want the top dog to be an older guy, whether it's even a sophomore with freshman

or a junior with freshman and sophomore. You kind of want the old man in there, the grisly old man, to be the guy. Because he's the leader regardless. He's pointing everyone in the right direction, so it's great when he can be the guy. Noah Whittington, 5'8, 203 pounds senior is the guy.

He was 11 for 125 in this game. And yes, one big chunk run. I think he was 68 yards was one. But I like the completeness of his game. Okay? Let me take you through really quickly. At one point, or the very first drive, they split him out wide and throw, and throw an out route or whatever it was, makes a nice catch. He had an awesome catch in the end zone, diving, you know, kind of plucks it, diving, makes a hard catch. These aren't just like screens and stuff. So it tells me that they've got a guy who actually can be

a contributor and they'll utilize them like a weapon at times. I'm not saying it's Christian McCaffrey but I'm saying when they split out five you've got to respect the running back there in Wittington okay right I see really good vision and balance as a runner I don't think he's overpowering it 203 pounds but he's tightly packed and he runs with good balance um great job tempoing and patience with his right you talked about it earlier patience before exploding and I see that burst man I saw it on that long run. He was clocked at 20.8 miles per hour. He's estimated four,

ran a 4-4-6, according to like huddle or whatever back in 2020. This guy's got burst. That burst in the street. It was 12-10, first quarter, 68-yard touchdown run. You could see it, second gear. And so now with him

is your leading rusher, but it was 11 carries. That seems about right. 11 carries, maybe three, four catches. Mm-hmm. But now you get this Jordan Davison, who's a really good compliment to that with size, power, straight line guy. He had three carries for 100 yards against Rutgers. Also led the team in rushing in that loss.

But he's a good compliment. And then there's this Deere Hill, who's a super talented freshman. They keep him involved and valuable carries. And there will be times where he needs to step up and make some big plays. And maybe the talent level isn't there for Whittington or Davison. And maybe they need him to come in and, have a couple chunk plays and to spark the off. But that's to me is the one, two, three that Oregon's been missing.

And also, like, Whittington looks like it has looked at Oregon for running back historically. I love this. Order to the ground, shift a little bit of that patient vision, feels it, but has a little scoot to him. He just looks like what Oregon should have at running back. Zero fumbles, very solid in past protection, except he had a couple, couple tough ones against Indiana. But he's been solid to pass pro. You can utilize him in the passing game, hasn't fumbled the football. He just brings stability to this group that's had, it feels like 10 guys that they've been trying to figure out. They've got to keep building this

run game, Oregon. Like, that's the thing. Because if you can balance out with a healthy run game with what Dante Moore is going to continue to develop into, I legit, like, I am not losing faith in this team as a legitimate college football playoff contender. Like, could make a long run. But they've got to have a running game and Dante's got to continue to learn from some of the when he has a hiccup or two he's got to continue to learn all of a sudden this could be a very different feeling Oregon team in January than what we saw against Indiana yeah I know we got a rhapsod I just want to say this really quickly you think about that Oregon running game historically and I love that point you make because it was Jordan James last year Bucky Irving two years ago

both of those guys are not I wouldn't put them elite in any physical traits but are outstanding running backs. Even back in the day, like Kenyon Barner and the guy, like, they're all like that safe. But the guys I just, yep, the guys I just mentioned average about 15 carries a game. This is not an offense that has a bell cow. They have, they, they like to get these guys about 15 touches a game in the run game. Yep. And that's what I think we finally are seeing that Wittington can be that guy, which is, you know, if you're, if you're Dan Lannning and you're Will Stein, kind of exciting to see, all right, here we are, start of the second half of the season. We know what we got. And let's just keep building with with this this personnel love it who there's a lot to get to man it's always

like this a monday it's great though i always get stressed and then it's an awesome show i think it is our reminder thursday's going to be a blast i'm going to i'm going to lay out the first top 32 i already got 45 guys i want to put in it so i got some decisions to make manmensch has got his board just sitting there like a like a silent assassin in the woods with this camouflage on just ready to Yep. Just to, you know, absolutely ruin me. And we'll have fun with that show. And then Thursday, obviously, with the McShay report.

So we appreciate all the support. And we will be back on Thursday. And we'll be back again on Saturday night. Get that chat going already. They found Haas last week. So I'm excited. Thank God. Five stars, Ben.

Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casasian. or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-88-88-88-8-9-7-77-7-7-7 or visit ccpG.org slash chat in Connecticut. Or visit MDGamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here.

Visit gambling helpline-ma.org or call 1-800-327-5.5. 5050 for 24-7 support in Massachusetts. Or call 1877-8-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope N-Y in New York.