The McShay Show - CFP Reactions: Ohio State’s Second Act, The Dominant Nittany Lions, and Texas Holds The Line. Plus, Notre Dame Cruises to 11th Straight Win

Episode Date: December 22, 2024

Todd and Muench react to the first round of the College Football Playoff! They kick off with Ohio State’s dominant win over Tennessee, then talk Texas’s close call with Clemson and whether blowout losses from SMU and Indiana highlight the need for change in the committee’s selection process. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available.Host: Todd McShay Guest: Steve Muench Producers: Tucker Tashjian, Dan Comer, and Conor Nevins Social: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

State message received right yeah uh i've gotten a lot of feedback on twitter about my ohio state takes this week yeah that was a that was a shitty pick munch it was a terrible pick but like i'm not i'm not even here for that that's fine we'll get to the money or the money that we won some people on fan dula this week but uh but much more importantly welcome into the mcche show thank you everyone i looked in the queue i was just told like there there are hundreds of people already in the queue ready to go. Like we're building something here, man. And we can't do it without you people out without all the folks in our audience,

like being here, supporting what we're doing. So thank you. Let's start with that, truly. It's 1146 Eastern Time. The game just ended. We're here to react. It's been a majorly disappointing weekend in college football, majorly. We will get to all of that.

We'll get to all four games. we'll get to big picture. We'll spin it forward just briefly. We've got 10 days to do a lot of that. But, I mean, honestly, the biggest takeaway for me from the entire weekend, the four games that we saw, Friday nights game, Notre Dame, Indiana, and today's three round one games to wrap up the first round of the college football

playoff, that version that I just watched, that version of the Scarlet and Gray, if you guarantee I'm getting that version of Ohio State, the one I just saw, that's the best football team in college football. Yeah, we thought that earlier in the year. We thought that they, I mean, when we did our draft of the teams that we thought were the best at the time, I took Ohio State, I think, won because I had felt that way. And then the injuries along the offensive line, not only Simmons, but the center,

South McLaughlin. And look, they just didn't run the ball that well the last two games they played. They didn't, you know, Jeremiah Smith looked average, and that dude is anything but average. And I just, you know, I kind of felt like after that loss to Michigan, you were dead on about this. I thought that that was going to tear that team apart. And you saw that that was going to bring that team together.

And that's exactly what happened. They bonded over that. And they've gotten back to playing at an extremely high level. The defense was always there. That offensive line that I saw tonight, and that's where I want to, you know, that's where I need to start because I thought that offensive line was going to get handled by Tennessee. And truthfully, there's no way of getting around it.

It was the exact opposite. I mean, that office is why I was getting off the ball, man. And it was impressive. So yeah, give me that version. And it's going to be hard to, it's going to be hard to pick against them against anyone right now. Mensch, the defensive line was causing fits. The line by Simon was just erasing dudes. offensively, you talked about the offensive line. Like they was passed to set up the run. They were feeding the wide receivers, right?

Hendu and Judkins were taking advantage of a defense that was on its heels, stretched out, concerned about the pass, and then they'll come in and poke for a big run here and there. It was spread out and disoriented. defense to set up the run the opposite of what we've seen and we'll come back to all that but this was a physical ass kicking it was an ass kicking it was like right sometimes like I remember we like got in some college fights right and like five minutes in you it's like all right we're here to fight this could be you know there's going to be a battle both ways or or it's like retreat you know like

where'd you go I like you know you meet up after it's like where'd you go man what happens you know This, I mean, Nico I amaliava's got his helmet cracked open. Dylan Samson's star running back. MIA, their best wide receiver is off going to the, going to the locker room. The tent on the Tennessee sideline, it was like a triage unit. It was, I mean, this was a physical ass weapon. It really was. And like you hear Ryan Day after, you know, every postgame interview about how physical we are,

and like the mentality that they've been trying and Chip Kelly running the ball when they know, we know they need to pass. And then they line up against Michigan, the more physical team. And it's like they coach not to lose. And like something's in their head. It's like in the, like it's in the building every time those two teams play, not every time, but in recent years, the last four times. But this is the Ohio State team that when we talked about the $20 million roster,

the best roster that money can buy, when we talked about all this talent, the 15 guys, I've got the list of 15 guys that NFL scouts are, they're giving legitimate, like, potential draftable grades to. This was the team. This was the team, right. And coaching staff, by the way, too. I mean, that coaching staff as well.

Yeah, I feel like you were going to say something. Go ahead. No, I just, I was like grabbing my headphones because I don't have a hat to pull down over my head. Yeah, but I mean, Ryan Day was, I mean, he had something to prove tonight. And Chip Kelly, it felt like, and again, I, let's get back to the starter. And it was a physical ass kicking, but it was also Chip Kelly a little bit of like, oh, watch this. Watch me. Yes.

And you thought that, you thought that I was. I was all out of tricks and you thought that this offensive line, there was so much I could do. And you thought, I only wanted to run the ball against Michigan. Now watch what I do with Jeremiah Smith in this game. Watch what I let, you know, or encourage or put Will Howard in a position to do in this game. I felt like he was laughing. I mean, probably not, but I felt like he was laughing up in the booth with all the things that he was doing.

And it was kind of, there were a couple times during the game. I'm like, where's this been, man? Right. Where has this been? You know, like, I get it. You didn't trust your offensive. I get it. Your quarterback's been a little up and down.

But like, and it doesn't matter now. Because like the ultimate goal, there were goals along the way, you know, whatever they are, 10 wins season, you know, when your state, like every team, you get a list of goals in your meeting room, win the conference. But like the ultimate goal, what this, what the collective was aiming for when everyone that's part of the Ohio State program was aiming for as a national championship. And so it's here now. And hopefully if you're a Buckeyes fan,

it's here to stay for the next, you know, four weeks, I guess, right? Or not four weeks, but four outings. Here are some initial thoughts. Let's just, let's rewind it back. Let's start from the beginning. Defensive line for Tennessee came out. They were relentless.

That first drive, remember they stopped him. It was a third and, third and six or something like that. They get the sack. Drive should be oil. over, but it's a face mask. Face mask, yeah. Extends the drive and all of a sudden they roll and they wind up going down, going down the field.

Touchdown to Jeremiah Smith. And we'll get to Jeremiah Smith because I got some stuff to talk about. I just got to get it off my chest. That's why we do a reaction show because it's hard to go like crawl into bed and be like, good night, honey. You know, like, and I've just got all this stuff. So like this is actually therapeutic this show. Yeah, I get to bed probably a little later.

But I go to bed with like less cluster in my brain. Okay. But right away, the wide receivers. So I'm seeing, because early on, I'm trying to figure out the matchup here. Like this offensive lines patchwork, this defensive front is relentless. And they were at first. And I was like, oh, this could be another long night. Right.

But after that face mass penalty, I started to see, and I'm sure you saw the same thing. I'm curious what you saw. But I'm like, uh-oh. Jeremiah Smith and Amika Abuka, two potential. first rounders. Jeremiah Smith will get to in a minute. Abuka, second round is the latest he's going to go. Top 40 pick, but could go in the first round, okay? They're a handful. This Tennessee team likes to play man-to-man coverage. They don't have the guys. Okay. This is going to be, so you're going to win up front initially, but we're going to

win out here. Is Chip ready to take the handcuffs off? That's all. It's all. all I could think, the first couple of drives. So, all right, maybe he is. Maybe he is. And they opened it up. And now all of a sudden, you get the deep ball for the touchdown, right? Then, like, you saw it was 21, 21, nothing at one point, 1951 total yards versus Tennessee's negative six yards with, it was late third quarter.

I think it was like three minutes, late first quarter, I think about three minutes left. They jumped them. But then things kind of slowed down. First drive, they stopped Tennessee after it became 2110 right before the half, right at the half. Come back out, stop Tennessee. Ohio State gets the ball. And it's almost like, all right, we jumped them, got a little closer. We can't just grind this thing out.

Let's not go back to what got us in trouble. Let's not go back to the issues we had. Let's be this version of Ohio State moving forward. And right away, that drive, three. throwing the ball, spreading it out. And I thought that it was the most important drive of the game. Because, yeah, they had 21-0. Then it was 21-10.

But to get that score and to do it aggressively, Will Howard came out, who was four-for-four, and through the best ball I've seen him throw, I don't want to say all year, but one of the best balls I've seen him throw. And to that point, it was just a beautiful ball. Call it what you want. It was a beautiful ball.

Left end zone, left rail shot, drives it in, comes out, and it's going high. And I'm like, is he going to run under it? And it's just perfectly, it was like watching a plane land. Yeah. Right. And now all of a sudden, it's, they've extended their lead back up, right? And now it's 28 to 10.

That's the most, and I get, I said all of this to set up this. There was first of all a design by chip. We're taking a shot on the first drive. If we can extend a drive, we're taking a shot. if we are sniffing. If we get on the other side of the 50, we're taking a shot to Jeremiah Smith. Third quarter comes, right?

Let's get, we've got a handful of plays. If we get past the 50, we're taking another shot to Jeremiah Smith. That has not been the case. You know what I mean? Like it just, we kept saying after games, like you've got to find a way targets, get them targets, hand them the ball,

whatever you have to do. Right. And so that was a design. But this, the big takeaway for, me is that this is the most confidence that Chip has shown in his transfer quarterback and in this retooled offensive line since Donovan Jackson moved out to left tackle. That's the most confidence I've seen. Maybe all year, especially given the moment and everything that was on the line,

it certainly was the most confidence he's shown in Will Howard all year, given the circumstances and the pressure and coming off that Michigan game. but he was aggressive with his play calling, creative with the play calling. They took the fight to Tennessee. They dictated terms tonight, and that's what I enjoyed watching the most. Yeah, and then Howard returned the favor by having the best game of the, I mean, not only that throw, but it was his best overall game of the year, I felt like. No question.

You see it the way they were carrying themselves. I mean, at the end of the first, I mean, obviously it was 21 nothing, but at the end of the first quarter, the offensive line is like, pumping up the crowd. It just had the feel of, you know, we, we knew this was going to happen and we think it's going to continue to happen. I think, like, Nico didn't have his first completion until nine or like nine and a half minutes left in the second quarter.

I mean, it was, so it was really complimentary. It was all complimentary football. The defense was playing extremely well. But then they weren't like, we're just going to rely on our defense to keep this a low scoring game. They wanted to, you know, hit the gas. They wanted to keep their foot on the throat and finish Tennessee. A couple other things.

Dylan Samson's out of the game after two carries. I don't know. I just tweeted about that. I don't know what the deal was. I don't know what the deal was. But if Dylan Samson's not healthy enough to go three, three plus quarters, why are you putting him in down 32 points with like six,

eight minutes left in the fourth quarter? I don't know why he was in the game. but that was weird. More importantly to the game, and I don't think it would make a difference. I think Dylan Sampson, arguably, I would argue maybe the third most impactful running back in college football this year, Ashton Jinty being one,

Camp Scadaboo for Arizona State being two. Impactful. I'm not saying talent. I think, but my point is, very few offenses in the country rely so much on, a running back, relied that level of reliance on a running back like Tennessee does. I put them in the top three in the nation in terms of how important the running back is

with a freshman quarterback, just the way they're built. Everything went through Dylan Samson. So when he's out for the vast majority of snaps that matter in this game, the vast majority of snaps in the entire game, that's a huge hit. But it wouldn't have mattered tonight. I'm convinced of that. This was not a Dylan Samson being out thing. This was about getting whooped on both sides of the ball.

This was about Ohio State opening things up offensively. I also want to mention this too, because it's important to say this. Because there were two teams playing in this game. Nico I amaliava, you want to talk about Ballant, man? Like, he gets... I cannot wait to see him next year. I was so hot. Yeah, me too.

Like, they just got blown out. and I'm so fired up about what that kid could do next year. Isn't that, that's like a weird thing, right? Even like the future is like there's, there's a lot of promising signs that he's going to be. There was no run game when Dylan went out. And by the way, when Squirrel went out, there was no, the receivers weren't separating.

It was interesting because when Dylan was out, Ohio State likes to play, likes to play zone. They're comfortable with those big, big cornerbacks on the, on the outside. more physical than they are like, you know, pure man-to-man fluid, oily hips and all that stuff. But they really backed off, you know, they backed off and they were begging tennis. They were like, go ahead, run the ball. But they didn't have a back to run with. And they didn't have confidence in handing the ball off.

And so it became the Nico show. I mean, he, he literally carried them back within 11 points and kept them. and kept them competitive, you know, I guess like middle of the third quarter. That was about it when it, when things separated. But the wide receivers aren't separating. No fear of the run from Ohio State. And it was just about Nico carrying, excuse me, that team on his back. And he, I don't know how he could have done a whole lot more given the circumstances.

So I just. 20 carries tonight. Yeah. I do want to give him credit early. Yeah. But here, so it's almost the same thing with Ohio State's offense as its defense. I feel like I watch this team and I see a ton of NFL players. I see a ton of solid to good NFL players.

I see a handful of potential role players in the NFL. I haven't seen a team where I'm like there's a bunch of NFL stars. And more importantly for what we're talking about tonight, I feel like every time I was done watching Ohio State, just about every time, it, I was left wanting more. I felt like I was left. I've been left wanting,

kind of like Texas's offense throughout the year. I feel like you finish the experience and you're like, yeah, it was good. No, it was good. Any complaints? Do you want to file any complaints? No, no.

So why? What's the hesitation, Todd? I don't know. I just feel like, I feel like, I feel like I'm left. wanting. And so offensively, we already kind of went through what we had been left wanting throughout the year and what we got tonight finally. Defensively, it kind of felt like the same experience, right? And I say that particularly, like especially specifically, the defensive

line. I see a bunch of good dudes. I see Jack Sawyer. I see 33 and 44. I see J.T. and Jack, good players, gap sound, discipline, keep contained, physical, give good effort, love the game, bring a lot of energy, all that stuff. But Tuia M.o Lelow and Sawyer, I just have never felt like offensive lines are going in the game, like, okay, and quarterbacks, even more so going to the end, like, where's 44, where's 33? Tonight, I felt like that was the case. You ever been at the airport? I mean, I know you have.

I've been in the airport with you, but at the airport with the moving walkway, please watch your step on the moving walkway, right? Yep. I feel like tonight was the first time. Like great pass rushers, it's like the moving walkway. You see someone who's in a hurry to go in the moving walkway.

You see someone who's going a little bit harder without the moving walkway walking parallel. And the guy who's kind of a jackass who's like struggling with this bad. he's still going faster. That's what I was watching tonight. Those defensive line, and it's like they had the assistance

of a moving walkway finally, like firing out. You like Kirby said they were playing downhill. Yeah, like they were playing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like rolling downhill. I just saw like more suddenness with everything, more explosiveness in their movements. And Ty Lee up and down a little bit this year.

Defensive tackle, you could argue he's the top prospect in, for this class. Josh Simmons at offensive tackle, but he's been injured, you know, a good portion of the year. But Ty Leak Williams, defensive tackle, 91.

I saw, I saw explosiveness out of him. I saw some guys coming in in depth and rotation. I don't know. That defensive front finally played where I'm like, ooh, I'm scared of them.

Not like, yeah, they're really good. They're solid. I'm scared of that group if they play like that. Yeah, I've always loved Ty League, but the edge really jumped out. All of their edge guys,

even their depth edge guys, like 97 was making plays coming off the edge. I mean, it was, it was noticeable. Because to be honest with you, it's been noticeable the lack of plays from those two, really, Jack and JT. You know, again, very steady, like just steady, steady, steady, but no, like not striking fear anyone, not like an Abdul Carter. They don't have those tools.

But at the same time, they weren't really getting off to the quarterback. I felt tonight they could do whatever they wanted on the back end because of that front four. You want to bring, they want to, you know, bring sunny styles off the edge. or insert Simon in the past rush, great, they can do it. But they didn't have to. They could rush four tonight and they were going to be just fine. I've kind of suspected that Jeremiah Smith, an 18-year-old when he started the season, a 19-year-old now.

I've kind of suspected that Jeremiah Smith is the best wide receiver in college football for a while now. It was confirmed tonight. Jeremiah Smith is different. He's different. He's arguably the most talented play. in college football at any position. Truly.

I heard on the broadcast, you know, they talk to the coaches and they're comparing to Randy Moss, Calvin, Calvin Johnson, Megatron. I don't, like, talent level, yeah, he's in that, I guess if we're talking about freakishly gifted, then sure, put him, I don't see that, that player in terms of when we do pro comps, the NFL comps. I see Julio Jones. Okay. 6.3, 215 right now.

I think Julio was like 222 or something when he came out. I'm not saying it's a pro. I'm just saying that's more of a, if you're going to liken them to a former NFL star or a current NFL star, that's kind of the type of player, I think he is. But. Yeah, Megatrons.

I mean, that's rich for anyone. Do you remember Joe? Good. Do you remember Joe Klaught was on? on the show, like second week we did the show, I think. And he talked about Jeremiah Smith and talked about how he has the potential to be the best Ohio State receiver to come out of there. Oh, no, I think he's going to be.

I think, I think Jeremy, let me put it this way. He was like, he was on a den about how good that kid was. Yeah. And he's developing. And I see it. I see it in his confidence in his movement. I see it. You know how I can tell receivers have gone from from one step to the next?

it's it's when the ball is coming in how catching the ball is not part it's not even really it's it's the smallest part of the equation for them does that make sense yeah it's a natural fluid thing like it just it's just it's just easy to them it's like you and i walk walking down a buffet and just grabbing a muffin it because we're heading out we got to go you know what I mean like like you're looking at something else you're having a conversation and just grab the muffin right right? And so and I say that because that means like there's a level of confidence and you're starting to put everything together. And when you're able to just go pluck something on

the go, that means you're able to now like you're thinking about what you're doing next. And so I'm seeing a guy who's, whether it's in his route, setting up receivers, whether it's on the run catching the ball, setting up that first step. Like I'm seeing a guy who's advancing already in his fresh. year, true freshman year. He's smooth. He's physical. His ball skills are excellent. He can make the contested catches. He goes up and just the way he tracks the ball. You're not going up and fight. Like he just, he knows his hands down is to go go up and high point it. He's just, he's starting to get it all. And it's coming together. And it's the perfect time for it to happen.

And it's also the perfect time for Chip to get some confidence in his quarterback. to exploit this. But I want to go back to Jeremiah Smith. And I don't do this. I hope I'm not one of those guys. You've known me for 25 years. I don't like, well, he's a freshman. If he were in this draft,

I don't like doing that because so much can happen between now and then. But I just want to say it. Jeremiah Smith is the number one pick in April's draft if he's eligible. Oh, yeah. He's the number one overall pick. Not the number one receiver, the number one. The number one overall pick ahead of Travis Hunter, ahead of the quarterbacks.

Jeremiah Smith's the number one pick. I think he's that gifted. I just watching him tonight and watching him getting like eight targets and seven catches, whatever final numbers were. I saw, I think he had one more game. I think it was a six for 103, two touchdowns.

Yep. I don't make this comment flippantly, man. I don't. And I stand on it. I really believe it. And you got to go back to Keishon Johnson in 1996 to have a watch. wide receiver taken number one overall.

That's how talented I think he is, that he could be. He moves like a much smaller receiver. Like I almost didn't realize, you almost don't realize how big he is. And then you see the contested catches and you're like, and then you see like the power after the catch. There's not a lot of holes in his game that can't be or flaws that can't be fixed or that aren't going to get better over time. I mean, physically he's got every tool in the toolkit that you want to give a wide receiver.

and then just, you know, he's just getting better. I mean, name a better place to go play wide receiver if you want to get better and turn into a pro wide receiver than Ohio. There isn't. I mean, so now you're taking that pipeline. And the quarterback's not great. It's run, run heavy. I get it all of that.

That's where I'd send my son if he were a great wide receiver. Right. So you're taking a kid that you could have created in a lab in terms of the tools to play wide receiver. And then you're sending him to the best environment, the best coaching to realize your potential. It's just so everyone understand, like, I'm not promoting one thing over the other. There are a lot of great, like I'd send them to Texas.

I'd send them to Alabama. I'd send, you know, like there are plenty of LSU. I think there are plenty of places to go. But this has been and continues to be, as long as Brian Hartline is there, the best place to deserve, to, yes, deserves it. Best place for a wide receiver to go develop. Interestingly enough, and we can move, we can, you know, start. spinning forward and turn the page. The wild part of all this is the 15 draft prospects we talk about who are getting

draftable grades from various different NFL teams. They're all eligible prospects. The best two football players on this Ohio State roster and arguably the best offensive and defensive player respectively in the country, Caleb Downs, Jeremiah Smith, one's a freshman smith and the others the sophomore and downs neither's eligible for the year's draft that's pretty cool that's pretty cool man so you guess this right man Tucker our unbelievable producer and mr do everything one of the handful of people have been hugely critical to not only just getting the show on the air which you and

I couldn't do. But to make it run smoothly and as efficiently as it does, he, he handles a lot of the stuff with Fandual, right? So I asked, and we'll go through all the spreads for round two. As we get through each game, we'll talk about who they're playing next. We'll go through the spreads. I think we'll pull up a graphic in a minute. But you guessed it.

I was just jumping on, throwing the headsets on games ticking down. And I heard you say Oregon plus one and a half. That's the spread. Ohio State in a rematch after losing at Oregon, in a close one, obviously. I think, I wonder if it's just, it's the recency biased or whatever it is or just band will seeing what we saw tonight. Like, neutral. Here's an interesting question.

We get 10 days to get ready for this. I just want to ask you this question right now. Okay. This was the best version of Ohio State. I truly, but like, this is the best. best you're going to get. And if I'm promising, I'm guaranteeing it, you're going to get this version of Ohio State and you're going to get the best possible version of Oregon. Who you got? Ohio State. I'll hang up and listen. I got Ohio State. I think they have more

talent top to bottom. I think it's going to be a shootout. It's going to be extremely close. I think it's going to be, you know, there's things about the Oregon offense that scare me that those corners against Tess, those, you know, even if they get the right matchups for Tess, Dylan Gabriel's got enough guys to spread the ball around the offensive lines, I think, I think is better than Tennessee. I expected the Tennessee offensive line to play better than night.

But I think the Oregon offensive line will be better than Tennessee's was. I think it will be a high scoring game. But I do think that Ohio State on a neutral site with the confidence coming off of this game, by the way, maybe a little bit of a benefit of playing in the first round and beating a team like Tennessee. I mean, can you imagine if Ohio State had to wait another couple of weeks to play and maybe all that stuff still stewing with them.

But now they have momentum. And I think you look at the talent, you look at the momentum. I give Ohio State the slightest of edges. That Michigan game, I don't know if it fucked the whole thing up or it made it this cool. But had they had this rematch in the,

you know what, I think it made it cool. I've just thought about this. Because in one way, in one way, it's, I don't want this as a quarter final game. I want this as a semi-final or national championship game. That was my initial thought. That's why I was kind of like, I don't, this should not be a quarter-final game, but it is.

Ohio State should not be eight, but they are. And this has every, and we'll talk, we've beaten it and I'll continue to beat it until it gets changed. But the seating should. absolutely not have been the seating with the conference champions getting the top four seats. Ohio State should not be seeded eight. But the positive in this is, I think it would be a little stale had this been a semi-final matchup or even a national championship matchup had these two teams lasted and gotten there. And we're now going to have to watch it for a third time.

we've seen that before it was like Alabama give me give me Arturo goddy Mickey Ward man I want to see it as many times as possible remember they had like yeah fights they were unreal all right so then so then the Michigan game mucked it all up but um yeah in my mind it did I mean because I feel like

these two teams imagine that three absolute battles and then one oh man I don't know I think that would be great I'll tell you one thing about Ohio State wins this whole thing my goodness did they earn it i mean that's a pretty good tennessee team that they just dismantled i agree and we'll get into all the cc stuff in a little bit yeah it throws a real wrench i think that's why there were a couple hundred people already on yeah but i'm not if if you if you came here tonight for me to apologize about the cc because of what happened to tennessee like get out of here

it's gonna be a long night i got nah one has nothing to do with the other and i'll i'll complain later I tweeted out earlier, like, tonight's going to be an exercise and anger management for me when we get to a couple of these other games. I fully admit I was wrong about Ohio State tonight, though, for all the people who get hit me up on Twitter. You're right. I'm wrong. I should have been better there. He's a lot of things, folks. I can confidently say this.

He's a lot of things. Trust me. He is a lot of things. But he is not a man who will run from taking his punishment. He absolutely will. He will own it when he's wrong. He does, and he does with a, usually with a laugh, which is one of the many reasons why I appreciate him. All right.

So that was Tennessee, Ohio State. But my point before I go, you'll have had to beat Tennessee a good football team, at home at least. But then you'll have to beat Oregon, the only undefeated team in this whole deal, right? And if you're watching on YouTube, and I presume you are, because that's the only place you can be viewing this right now. But if you're listening later, you won't be able to see it. But if you're watching on YouTube now, you see the brackets. Ohio State will have had to beat Tennessee, then beat Oregon, which I would argue, I mean, Oregon's the number one team of the country.

Texas, you got to have somewhere in your top three teams coming into this. At least I did. And then beat Texas to get in the national championship. And then go have to take on the hottest, best team from that bracket, whether it's Penn State, Notre Dame, or Georgia, if Carson Beck is back and playing at that point. We'll see. But talk about a run. And then Ryan Day will probably still get fired.

All right. Moving on. Let's throw that in. Next up, Clemson, Texas. Go ahead. You start us here. I think Clemson deserves a lot of credit, man. I think Cade Clubnick, in particular,

just played his heart out down the stretch. I was going to say this when I said, talk about Nico. Another guy I look at, and I cannot wait to watch next year because I just, I look, I think he's taking that next step. I think those receivers more today, those young receivers, they're going to take the next step. I hope you got to get some help up front. But I'll say this, they, I stand by my criticism of Clemson this year. And it showed up again today.

You got to stop the run, man. You got to be able to stop the run. And they haven't been able to stop the run all year. And it showed its head again today. and if you can't stop the run, then you're just not going to be able to win those kind of games. So they deserve to be in because they won the championship and all that. But it doesn't surprise me.

And in some level, some little bit of indication that the ACC teams didn't do well today because we'd seen that. We knew that coming in that they were fatally flawed teams for a lack of a better way of saying it. So I think in some ways, they deserve a ton of credit. They were banged up at running back.

They figured that out. They have a lot of talent at quarterback and at the receiving position coming back. They just got to figure out that run defense and I think they got to get better up front. So I totally agree. Clubnik finishes with 336 passing yards. Loved his second half. Not only from like from X's and O's and from a just like game tape study and the throws that he made and the decisions that he made. But from like just having the the kuyans.

Yeah. to hang in there, the heart, the competitiveness, the like, we talk about the it factor, right? And it's so overused. It's like it pierces my ears when I hear people. He's got the it factor. All right, we'll find something else. But we talk about that jenise qua. We talk about that thing, that thing that quarterbacks have, the good quarterbacks have.

And Steve Young, when I used to talk to him over my dare body, or over my. my dead body. How dare you or over my dead body. It is getting late 1221 Eastern time. Over my dead. It's over my dead body. Even when you know you're losing the game, it's, you're going to get everything I got. Right. No chance. And that's what I saw from Clubnick today. And that's awesome. That's an awesome thing to have, a quality about you. I thought they had a good plan coming out. I really did. I thought Clemson had a good plan. They show confidence in Clubneck, pass heavy first drive. They spread things out, getting the ball out quickly, try to neutralize that pass rush.

Wide receivers were doing a good. Texas plays a lot of zone coverage. Wide receivers were doing a good job working, finding soft spots, soft spots, sitting. I just, I liked what they were. But like, at the end of the day, we'll get to the other two matchups and what they were. Clemson wasn't overwhelmed by a moment.

Clemson wasn't overwhelmed by a crowd. Clemson wasn't overwhelmed by weather. And Clemson battled back valiantly. And one guy really threw them on their shoulders. They just got just dominated physically by a more physical, talented Texas football team. And that was clear as day as I was watching it. One team is this. The other team is lesser than.

truly and clemson is you know and dabbos get the second most appearances in the college football playoff behind alabama the clemson program does and but like this is not that clemson now club knicks back wide receivers get a year older and this doesn't happen this is not going to turn into a Clemson show. But like, if we're not going to dabble in the transfer portal, how are we going to get better? Like everybody else in college football is getting better. So Clemson fans, as you as you sign off here, that would be the question you have to ask. Now on to Texas. How we feel about yours? How are we feeling? Give me my years, my year's weekly check in. Go make love to yourself, Mench.

I thought the right side of the offensive line and the offensive line as a whole was awesome today for Texas. Considering all the injuries too, man. They're banged up. Jaden Blue. What a game. Q. Wisner. They combined for 256 yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns. And they were awesome.

But you know what was even more awesome that Texas offensive line. They were absolutely dominant. And we talked about a preview in the game. that Clemson's good versus the run. This is a game where I think that Texas has got to have to come out and take the attack to them. And at times they did. They truly did. Like they forced, was it, A.B.

on Terrell had three pass interference penalties. Yeah. But they, they, there were times. And like Matthew Golden had a great catch. Gunner Helm had that fourth, fourth touchdown, the catch in the back of the end zone. There were moments. There were moments, but it still ain't right. I don't, it's, I don't know.

It's not right. And it's hard to put your finger on it exactly because I don't know that physically, and you keep saying, like, I don't see the velocity. And I don't, I don't see anything that jumps out at me, truly. I don't see anything that jumps out velocity wise or drilling it. I don't know. I'm, I'm left like wondering. Is it a confidence level at times?

is it inconsistency, confidence in the pocket. Like there were a couple times I thought he could have climbed and stayed. I don't know. I just, there's a bunch of little things that are adding up to putting a governor. This was a huge win. They were dominant. They played great. Right.

Played great. They get Arizona State next week. They're going to win that game. They're going to be in the semifinals. And they're going to play Ohio State or Oregon. but that's when it gets real. Yeah, the fourth and two passed to Golden that was behind him was, that was the one that kind of caught my attention.

You know, you're not going to make every throw. I get it, but if he was the quine ewers that I thought he was going to be coming into the season, that's a layup. That's an easy throw to make. That's not a velocity issue. That's just him throwing the ball behind the receiver in a big moment in the game. And I thought this guy coming into the year was going to be the big game guy. and right now, I don't know, you know,

fair or unfair, I just, when he drops back, I just don't have a ton of confidence that he's going to make the plays that I thought he could make again. I keep waiting for Arch to appear more. And I'm curious about why not. They've used him a little bit. I mean, well, he fumbled the snap today, so. Yeah.

Well, the first time he came in when the game, when it was like tight early, he, he just handed the ball off. It was a read option. He could have kept it. Right. I haven't thought this thing through. So bear with me.

We know about the two Georgia losses. The A&M win was impressive, but it kind of, very different score. But it kind of, when I talked about Ohio State, it leaves you wanting a little bit. They got it, they jumped out to a lead. They looked great in that game. And then they just kind of held on. Right. Right.

Florida was their most impressive all-around win in terms of just. I guess my point is this. I don't, it's been a while since I feel like they've come out against a solid opponent and kicked their ass and kept their foot on their throat the whole time. I guess that's where I'm going with this. Michigan, September 7th was the last time I felt like that. And it was just prior to Quinn, you was suffering the oblique injury. Yeah.

I mean, UTSA, Louisiana Monroe, Mississippi State, Oklahoma. which was, you know, in the lowest point of its quarterback situation and everything else. And all the, like the 95 wide receivers injured and everything else. They lose to Georgia ugly, just get by Bandy, but played really well against Florida. Remember Arkansas was a struggle? We talked after that game. Arkansas was a struggle. Yeah.

Left one. There's like a visit to the dentist man watching that game. You're like, oh, God, come on. Texas, A and Kentucky, I don't know. I don't know where I'm going with this. I just, because they jumped on them. And like, all of a sudden, I was like, all right, it's playoff time. And here's the part of the Shargoo.

The team as a whole played great today. The team as a whole played great. I just think the passing attack, once again, the governor was on it. and it's Sark understanding his team and doing the right thing for his team. We got the better team. We jumped out to a lead. It's, uh, it's 28, 10 at the half. By the way, the third quarter, third quarter.

Yes. I meant to check. It hit. Yes. I've reposted on, on Twitter. By the way, I don't have this under, but for those of you who weren't listening to the previous show, uh, I, I got into a wrap. habit hole for this Fanduil stuff that I'm kind of weirdly it's like on the side I'm glad to hear

Kuiper and I talk this summer he's an absolute lunatic in terms of handicapping gates so it must be something with the brain of like numbers and rankings and orders or whatever it is but I just like now that I'm doing we're doing some stuff for this show we're our show is sponsored by Fandual we love the partnership um so many different reasons but just trying to pick some I appreciate everyone who's on the who's who's joined the show tonight and every single week they're you know so i'm trying to give back to the people to our people mensch so i gave out texas i said texas is going to win big in this i actually thought it was going to be lower scoring so i'll take that but i gave out a very specific one here by the way i gave out ohio state is my biggest you did you call that yes um

i said third quarter under ten and a half points and we don't have to go relive it relive the whole thing but i did it like some weird research searching that and it was 10 points scored in the in the third quarter it was a little nerve wrecking but uh but anyway but you're up 20 28 to 10 is my point on Texas Ohio State they gave up then it was 21 to 10 came out in the third quarter and it was like all right open it back up let's put them away let's you know and it's like down the field Howard four for four Jeremiah Smith let's attack everything I said about Chip Kelly tonight that I was frustrated with Chip,

who's a friend, legitimate friend. And so like he's going to yell at me and we'll laugh about it. But like stuff that I was frustrated and I knew the reasoning why with the offensive line and all that. I just, I know why Sark's doing it too. Because you're seeing the same things we're seeing.

There's not a level of execution. And at the end of the day, you just said it, you just nailed it. I don't have faith in my quarterback to the level that I should, considering he's that talented, and it's this late in his career. That's it, period. And so it begs the question. And I guess it's not to upset everything and to create all this national media frenzy.

And I don't think it's about that. But like, let's stay the course as long as we have, we can stay the course. But if shit's going down, I'm pulling the plug and bringing in our. we saw that against Georgia the first time around. So I know that's there for me. It's right there in the corner of the room. Break glass in case of emergency. That's what Arch is.

But in the meantime, I'm just curious and we'll probably never get the truthful answer. I'm just curious why in the meantime, in certain situations, we're not seeing a little bit more of Arch. Yeah, I think it's a minefield for Sark. You start working on more and more and then it starts becoming more and more of a conversation. of well, you know, Arch did this and did that. And then you start comparing. And I think it's a slippery slope for him.

And I think that's what he's trying to do. But I mean, we don't know. But that that's kind of how outside looking in, that's kind of what I'm thinking. Yeah, I think if Arch was the super talented quarterback, if Arch was everything that he is, but he was just a passer, if he had a similar skill set,

but it was just a better skill set with less experience than Quinn, I think we wouldn't see him at all, except in like at the end of blowouts and an emergency situation like we did against Georgia. I think because it's a different set of skills, it gives them the opportunity to let him go out there, get his feet wet, get used to like the thing a little bit, get three or four snaps like he did today. And then put him right back in that, put him right back in that glass case that we might have to break down the road. I think that's probably the deal. I also say this about Texas today. Their defense looked a little vulnerable at times. Yeah, I was, but they made plays when it mattered, man.

The goal line stand, the fourth down that the safety came up and to end the game with that play was unbelievable. But when it mattered, the defense was there. I was surprised early on, though. Those defensive tackles are quiet for long stretches. And the pass rush was great for spurts. Baron Sorrell had a good game today. He's had a really good year. appeared for a little bit?

Yeah, he has. These guys all over that defense where you start to dig in and you're like, that guy's good. I mean, Barron, Judi Barron looked awesome today. I thought at times. I thought he was a difference maker in this game as well. But again, when it mattered most, that Texas defense showed up when it needed to. Yeah.

Arizona State next week, I mean, you look at just using this as a preview. Like, Ohio State 15 prospects and the two best prospects aren't eligible. We talked about that going up against Oregon with 11 prospects. That's a fair fight, right? We're talking about draftable prospects, guys that are eligible with draftable grades, in our opinion, potentially draftable grades. Texas has 12 draftable prospects that are eligible. Right. Arizona state's got one in our top 250.

Right. Cam Scataboo. Where do you want to? I mean, we don't have to dive into it, but I do agree with you. The problem is, I do think because you had West Go and you had those receivers and you had Klovenik on a heater and just carrying that team, he was not going to be denied in the second half. I think it was a good test for Texas. It became a good test for that defense. And they have not had a lot of them if you really look at it.

I mean, even against that first Georgia game was three interceptions. You know? and the second one, they knocked back out and they brought in the backup. Like they haven't had, who are their big tests defensively? I'm not saying they're a fraud by any stretch, but they haven't had to go.

Texas A&M can't throw the ball. Kentucky can't. Arkansas can't. Florida was playing Yale transfer guy, third quarterback. By the way, we're one in a, we're one and oh with the coaches coming on. And hopefully if things go well,

we won't have another coach on for three years. But I love Billy Napier. He was awesome and previewed all the games with us. But this isn't going to be a coaching show. But my point is we're 1 and 0 having a coach on before a game. They had a big win, not a big win, but an impressive win against Tulane. But go Vanderbilt, not a great passing attack, but a competent quarterback. Oklahoma, not a terrible quarterback in wide receiver situation.

Mississippi State, Louisiana Monroe, UTSA, Michigan. They haven't faced anyone who can throw the ball. Today was the first time. Right. Today was the first time. So that's in, you got to file that. Don't file it for Arizona State. Jordan Tyson's out. They don't have a receiver. Quarterbacks of what, a red shirt freshman. That's not going to be an issue. But file that when, whether it's Ohio State or Oregon in the semifinals, that's going to be. They do get credit for the two Georgia games. I know they lost those games, but the defense played well in those games. And I know Beck and Clint said that. I'm talking purely what quarterback with a competent wide receiver group.

Georgia's receivers lead the nation in drops. I know. I know. It's been the biggest problem all year long. Yeah. Okay. My point is they haven't faced for a Texas team that's been so good all year long, it's been dominant that plays in the SEC.

They haven't faced any quarterbacks that are, that are like, that strike fear in you. They haven't. Right. outside of Pavia, right? Yeah. For Vanderbilt.

And he's kind of run. He's like, you know, grinding out guys. He's awesome, but yeah. But he's not, yeah.

Clubnik's the best peer pastor that they faced all year long. And he, he went for 336 today. That's my only point. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

Next up. We go. We're 53 minutes in. I don't want to go on a big ramp. I love that. That's how you started it. I know it's low-hanging fruit. So I hate low-hanging fruit.

I've built a career on not being that guy. And I also am pretty self-aware. There's not many people out there who are dying for McShay's take on the state of college football. But I do think there are a lot of people out there who are watching the games this weekend who were so fired up. First year of this 12-team college football playoff, If you're watching on YouTube, you can see 19 point spread, 19 point difference in the games. The margin of victory, 19 points across the board. Texas Clemson, it was more dominant than that, but I don't want to slight Clemson at all for that 3824 score.

Penn State SMU felt like it was indicative of what I watched on tape, 38 to 10. Notre Dame 2717, not even close. That game in my mind, if I'm Stugats, in my personal record book is 27 to 3. That's exactly what it should be. If Notre Dame had any firepower and we'll get to it, it would have been 41 to 3. But Indiana, late in the game,

Notre Dame's backing off. They almost messed around and found out, by the way. Yeah. It got like a little too weird right at the very, end. Had they got that two-point conversion. We'll get to it. My point is this. What are we doing? That Penn State SMU game feels like a one versus 16 in its NCAA tournament. Yeah. So let's get to the game in a minute. I just want to say this. And why is it in college football that it always takes a disaster? It's almost like the government in certain things. And I'm not a big

government like in politics, all that. So like, me out of it for the most part. But why does it always take a disaster? So like a public. Why does it always take a public embarrassment in college football to affect change? Why are we always like, oh, okay. And I even saw Reese is so brilliant with his words. And he said something like, maybe we don't have to bash the, you know,

the seedings of the matchups and all that. But we can use this as a tool to look to next year to make change. He's right. Right. He handles the shit better than I do. There's a reason he's got the perfect hair. He's my, R.D. is my guy. And he's the perfect guy to be in that seat and to manage both sides of college football.

He can, he, he handles it all well. For me, though, it's like, we, it took us this long to get a 12 team playoff. Not only do we, it was so abundantly clear that the, the seating situation was a disaster waiting to happen. What everyone, but everyone got so caught up. Oh, yes, we got a 12 team college football playoff. And they forgot to like, no, that's wrong. Let's fix that now before we get to December.

And it becomes a problem then. Even bigger, and I'm not going to go on a rant, I promise you. This is going to be the extent of it. Rant, I want to rant. Why does it take this like public shaming? We have to be dragged into town in front of the nation with two. NFL games going on. We got to be dragged into the center of town and get shamed in front of everyone.

Here's your wife cheating on. He's the guy that she's cheating on you with. Like, whatever it is, this guy, this guy didn't pay his taxes. Like you got to be dragged into the center of town for everyone in town to see you before we have. Where's the vision in college football? And I'm saying all this because like the committee is so wrapped up in the policy. of all this. And I get it.

The situation, there's a lot of changes going to happen and it needs to happen. Like we got to regionalize the conferences. There's too many, we've got a couple super conferences right now. Not enough of the teams in those super conferences are playing. We don't have a structure that funnels the proper teams to the college football playoff with the respect of getting different conference,

different conference champions in. I get that. That's a future problem. But the now problem is in what world is a member of a committee who we've assigned to make a decision on what the 12 best teams are minus the five that have to be put in? They're off the hook for the five. It's not their fault. Boise states in. It's not their fault.

Arizona states in. That's part of the system. I understand that. Hopefully with conference realignment and bigger structure later, we'll get that solved. but there are seven other teams to make up the college football playoff, the 12 team playoff. If your job is to get the seven best teams outside of those five in, how are you watching football and saying that that SMU team deserves to be in?

And now's when you can go, oh, oh, the SEC. It has nothing to do with the SEC. And yet Tennessee got its ass kicked by a big 10. team. I got it. And I could defend that all day long, but I get news for you. Alabama versus Penn State

I think that would be a better watch. South Carolina, the hottest team in college football with Lenora Sellers, and that defensive line made up with NFL dudes against Penn State, you think that would be a better watch? Ole Miss,

old miss with those weapons. And that defense of front, that defense of front that might have, oh, yeah, of course. Lanes. Did you see Joel clats? Did you see Joel clapping back at him? No.

If you were, if your team was played as, not create, played as successfully, played as well as you tweet, you wouldn't have gotten yourself in this mess. Not afraid to go back at him. I love it.

I was like, Joel. It was one of the, It's like, it's like a junior high. It's like, all right, let everyone back away. Let these two figure this thing out. It's going to be fun. Yeah.

I just don't understand it. I don't understand it. I get like, Clemson has to be in. SMU's got to be out. In the, in the Ohio, Ohio state's representing, Oregon's representing, get Indiana out. Get Indiana out. I've said it for, I've said it for months.

And it wasn't the last one. It wasn't the last. rankings reveal rankings that they did. It was not the last one that got them in the trouble. It was the times before that when they were married, absolute prisoners to the win, loss record. I agree. I don't know the names of the people on the committee.

I purposely try to not make this personal. But who's in that room who's arguing and saying, like, no, I know football. I'm watching these games. Do you understand the gauntlet that it is? I'm telling you right now, 8 and 5 Florida makes it a fucking fight

versus Notre Dame. Makes it a war against Penn State. Eight and five, Florida. Do they deserve to be in? No. But an argument could easily be made for those three lost teams in the SEC. Because I got news for you.

That nonsense that we watch from SMU, that, like, the moment's too big. 30, 40,000 seat stadiums. That stuff that we watched, the Indiana that we watched, we got our preview against Ohio State. Yeah. What would, how would that hold up in the SEC?

If you're playing that Georgia schedule, if you're playing South Carolina's schedule, if you're playing Ole Miss's schedule, if you're playing Bama's schedule this year, would they have three wins against top 25 teams? No. Would Indiana or SMU have three wins against top 25 teams.

No. Because Alabama did. And South Carolina had two wins against top 25 teams in the last three weeks. And all their losses were, yeah. All right. It sucks is that a guy like Kevin Jennings goes out and has that kind of a day to day.

Yeah. And ends a season like that. Where if they had gone to a different bowl, they weren't in the playoff, maybe he throws for 500 yards, name MVP, has a great end of the season, goes in the next year,

more confident about everything. you know, it just sucks that that's the way their season ended because I like, I mean, there's a lot of players on the SMU team and Rhett Lashley is a good coach. It's easy to root. It's easy to root for that team. Like it sounds like we're picking on them. We're not. The reality

is they just didn't belong in the top 12 teams in the country and that's obvious. I will say this about Lashley. And the other thing too is like maybe an SMU level like a Boise State should be playing in Arizona State or you know, like maybe

would have been different playing even, you know, I don't know. Let's get into, let's get into Penn State. We don't have a ton of time left. I mean, we can stay all night. No one's going to stop us, but I just, I think I don't want to beat it. I just, I think I was feeling what a lot of people out there was feeling. Like, we waited so long to get to this college football. I've got like family around, getting ready for Christmas.

the holidays, whether you're celebrating Hanukkah or like everyone's got family or like we're excited about we got the weekend and and that's what we trotted into the center of town and just get embarrassed, you know, it just sucked. Penn State, a couple things I want to say. I will say this. And like it sounds, it was very disparaging what I just had to say about SMU and about Indiana. This is more a system thing.

this is not me. It's about the committee. I want to say this. That SMU defense was coached up like a mock. They were ready. Like they gave Drew Aller fits early in that game, truly. Confused with his reads, didn't know where to go to the ball. I don't know what he was thinking on the fourth and fourth and 14.

I understood they had to go forth there because the wind and the situation. It was that you just couldn't kick in that side of the field. And Franklin made that report in his report. He talked about that. But I think if I'm a future opponent now, if I'm Boise State and then beyond that, Notre Dame or Georgia, I'm watching some of the stuff SMU did to really confuse through Aller in that game. And I'm implementing and I'm playing with and trying to advance with my better cats,

right? Right. Um, I, but I, but I, Aler, I thought got better as a game went on. My couple of my takeaways and I'll let you rip because I, I just haven't shut up for a while. Is a. Tyler Warren every week does like a little bit more to just, I just fall in love with the guy. When the ball's in his hand, he is. so confident. It's like there's not many six, six, two hundred and fifty six pound

running backs are full. Like the confidence he has and the way he sets up blocks and it feel like tight ends catch the ball. Like find contact, you know? And it like stumbling it. That dude is so comfortable with the ball in his hand. And just like, throw he had to singleton. Get off me. The throw he had to single 10 was an incomplete. I was like, dude, how is that, how is that humanly possible? Because the throw was, he'd probably going to take it something off it, but you're like, dude, this guy's that big. He was the high school quarter.

I know, and he just turns and flips the ball out. But, like, he had to run along the sideline today with a body control to tightrope the sideline. And then the way he got his pads down. He's so tall, but somehow he's running behind his pads. I was like, how was it even possible for you to stay in bounds, get your pads down, and somehow continue your forward momentum? He does things that, like, as I'm watching him, I understand what's happening, but I have a hard time understanding how it's happening.

He's that different of a player. Did you hear the Granc comp today? No. Yeah, I was on the show. I was like, yeah, we'll see. I'll tell you one thing that I love that, like the blocking. Do you see that one block in the end zone? Yeah, he buried the dude.

Like 15 yards, he must have fucking just. How many two hundred thirty five? He's six, two fifty six. It's not, we've been, we've had guys that have been coming in the league that have been early picks that are six four two forty five, you know, like. Yeah. This dude's a legit like he's going to be like six oh five six, six five and three quarter, something like that, two fifty six.

You know? Yeah. We haven't seen. So like while you're, you're not drafting a titan for his, for his run blocking, normally you're drafting a guy who can do all the, the, the dynamic. himic special things in the passing game who just like, you know, put your head in there, dabble a little bit like seal them off. Compete.

We'll seal them off. Give him some effort, you know. But he'll, he'll be like a certified, like, factor in your run game. He can, he can help in your run game. Yeah. The other thing is I was watching my son, Tate. He's 10 years old. We're watching the game.

And he's like, who's that? I look up. He goes, who's that? I look up. I said, who? He's like,

it's Micah. That's Micah. I was like, 11? He goes, yeah, Michael wears 11, dad.

I was like, yeah. Yeah, dad. He goes, who is he? I said, it's Abdul Carter.

He's like, you're telling me that's not Micah Parsons. He goes, you, can he get drafted? I was like, yeah.

he goes, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, I was like, bud. But I've got, I've got Abdul Carter's number three prospect. He's like, you don't talk about him enough then. I don't know. He was like pissed off. But I mean, he was awesome today, man. He was, I think he's been really good this year. I think people, I think the expectations are so high for that dude that they don't realize how

good he's been. Yeah. I'm curious to go back and study the coach, the coach's tape and like, watch the, the nitty, but like from what I saw the effort flying around. Draft prospects in general, I just felt like, who, um, oh, Pierce in the loss, James Pierce, Jr. Tennessee, the two plays chasing from behind. Yeah.

You know, effort range, speed, range, all that. Like, I just, all day long, they're like, we just talked about the two defense events for Ohio State. Right. JT and Jack, 33, 44. they played at a high level. Tileak Williams, defensive tackle, high level. Playing like true second rounders,

Tyleek maybe late first. You know, those guys showed up. James Pierce in the loss for Tennessee. First round pick at edge. Only plays like 24 snaps a game because they're so deep. And so he doesn't have the stats on this stuff. He showed up. Micah Parsons,

aka Abdul Carter, according to my son, he showed up. Like there was Tyler Warren showing more and more. I don't know. just a lot of guys who were draft prospects really stood out. Penn State now, they've got Boise State. With Penn State, I just, I love them. Notre Dame's a more talented Penn State.

Notre Dame's bigger, stronger, more, a little bit more physical. Okay. Really? But Penn State has the quarterback, but they both face the same issues. I think less at cornerback for Notre Dame, in Penn State and follow me here because it's real easy in my mind, but I need to like portray what I'm thinking.

They, they are both damn good football teams in most areas. But they both have problems in the perimeter. And it's going to catch up. And it ain't going to catch up for Penn State against Boise State.

And it ain't, but it might catch up against Georgia for Notre Dame. We'll have to figure out what's the quarterback situation is there. It's very likely to at least make things unbelievably difficult against Georgia. But the lack of wide receiver play, the inability to create and stretch and threaten is scary. And for Penn State, way more so than Notre Dame. For Penn State, like they're cornerbacks, I thought we got exposed.

times. When they weren't throwing pick sixes, SMU, I've seen it over and over again. I think that it hasn't been exposed to the level that it will be against a team that can actually throw the ball. And that may not be until the national championship. Because Notre Dame gets to play Penn State and semifinal if Notre Dame knocks off Georgia. And so it may not be until the national championship. But at some point, it will rear its ugly head because neither of these teams do, I mean, it's why. how good they both are as football teams and how few, I mean, none.

They have none. They have no weapons that scare you. None on the perimeter now. So I'm going to transition right to Notre Dame. And I've got so many great things to talk about with Notre Dame. But Jordan, um, Phazon seven for 89. He had a really good game.

But that's not like always the norm. He's not like, you know, he had a couple good plays. No other receiver had more than 18 receiving yards. Bo Collins had two catches for 18 in that game. Jaden Thomas had two for 13. It's just not enough. No, Faison might be the number,

might be the number three receiver for Ohio State. I think it's between him and Tate. Like, I mean, if you're going to put him on another roster where it's loaded, yeah, he's probably the number four. He's four. Yeah. Just to keep that in respect. I just want to get that, and I just want to get that out there.

Because I said before it would have been 41 to 3 before it became 41 to 17 late with Indiana. It would have been 41 to 3 somewhere in that range if they had a couple guys who could who were perimeter weapons. But Notre Dame, awesome game. They played an awesome game. They really did. I'm thinking about who's the guy who's going to show up as like the, the star of these playoffs the kind of the sweetheart

guy that wins everyone over Jeremiah loved the running back from Notre Dame might be that guy. I've been I've been I know but I think America when America gets to know this guy if they don't know him already I mean why tell me a little bit

he's just so much fun to watch he's so explosive and powerful he's jumping over guys he's I mean he is there is no it's always at his going a full throttle, always a full throttle without being out of control either. He can make plays in the passing game.

I just, I mean, it's hard not to gush about him. And then I think he's got speed that is probably a little bit deceptive. He can pull away when he gets a scene. So there's, you know, we've talked about a lot of talented backs and it probably sounds repetitive with some of the things we say this year. He's different, dude. He's different. That's what I was saying during the broadcast, too.

He'd be the second back drafted in this year's upcoming class. Yeah, he bet. Yeah. I mean, he'd be in the conversation. But yeah, he'd be definitely in that mix. Just the bad class is sick. He's sick, though. No, I, I, I'm telling you from, like, I think the dude's special.

Yeah. And Starry and Price is like really good. And everyone loves, like, and you always love the backup quarterback, right? Yeah. I feel like that's what, like everyone wants to make the bullet. Catcher. He would be a star everywhere else. Yes, he would.

But maybe not college football this year because like every team has a star. It feels like a running back. But it's, this is exactly, this game, Indiana, Notre Dame was, first of all, the scene was awesome. Friday night, McDonough on the call. Like, it just felt big. Like, it just was awesome, right? And they come out. And Indiana is just exactly what we,

talked about. Yeah. If you can't protect them, they can't beat you. Right. And I give Notre Dame a lot of credit. I do think this, it was encouraging to watch,

because I think that Notre Dame pass rush has been a little bit up and down this year. Howard Cross back brings a little more juice. And I just, I thought that their, I thought that their pass rush was really consistently good. Yeah, again. Yeah, no, I agree.

I mean, that defense played, I mean, that was the, that was probably, I mean, say what you want about Indiana. That was one of their tougher opponents that they faced in a while. Certainly one of the more balanced. And they, I mean, they still look like a dominant defense the way they played. So in their past rush, I mean, Rourke did not look. I mean, it was talked about pretty heavily on the broadcast. I mean, he just never looked comfortable. I mean, they made some plays, but it was towards the end.

But, I mean, again, it was very similar to Ohio State. like he just never felt like he was ever going to get into a rhythm. Yeah, me, Ohio. Go ahead. Do you think that Signedtie was a little conservative in that game, by the way? The punter day was just controlling the clock and they're punting and, you know, I just, I just felt like, like, like, I don't think it would have mattered. I just don't think it would have mattered. Yes, I do think he was.

I mean, if you're going to be that brazen, if you're going to be that brazen, you better. Yeah. Yeah. If you're going to walk in the stadium doing like, yeah, I hear you. Come on waving and all that. And all the, I mean, game day. We don't beat top 25 teams. We beat the shit out of them.

Wait, who. Who? Who? Yeah. What are you an owl? What are you an owl? Who? But that Notre Dame run defense is awesome.

They held Ellison and Tyson Lawson. I don't know. Why does Ellison keep getting so many carries when Lawson's just got more. It doesn't matter now. Season's over. Sorry, Indiana. But Ellison and Lawson just said, sorry. I'm just pissed, man.

I'm just pissed. It should have, it should have been South Carolina, Notre Dame, Alabama Penn State. You know what I mean? If you're mad now, wait until the, wait until the second round. throw those Tucker, are you still alive back there, brother? Throw those that graphic, there we go. I mean,

so we got two games where it's like, this is what we signed up for. Notre Dame, Georgia, Georgia minus one and a half. Don't even know who's starting quarterback. Georgia's number minus one and a half. Oregon, Ohio State. Oregon beat Ohio State earlier in the year. but Ohio State, that version is the best team in college football.

If we can get that bottled up, Ohio State minus one and a half against Oregon. All neutral sites. How about this? Classic Rose Bowl rivalry. Right. Big 10 versus Act 12, even though it's, even though it's now Big 10, Big 10. You can't, I mean, talk about just things working out. But a classic, I wouldn't say classic.

It's not like USC or something like that, but it's still a pack 12, old pack 12 Big 10 matchup in the Rose Bowl. That's going to be an awesome, awesome scene. And then Georgia Notre Dame is the Sugar Bowl, right? Sugar Bowl. But then we get, then we're still, here's, you ever like when you're dating when you were younger and you're like, you date a girl and, and it's like, you had a terrible other boyfriend or you hear about a friend who's dating someone.

It's like, it's like no one wants to pay for the debts of the last. I feel like we're still paying for the debt, right, paying the debt of the committee and then the mistakes made. So now we get, we got another week with two double digit. Why do we have double digit favorites in the playoff? In the playoff. But we do. Double digit Penn State minus 10 and a half against Boise State.

get any lean on that bench uh i like penn state to cover of course you do you take the favor in every game texas minus 30 texas minus 13 and a half over arizona state i'm not gonna i'm not gonna even say it i don't know if i trust texas to pull away from anyone um all right but yeah that's where we are today yeah they did yeah they did i think right Yeah, I was thinking of, no, they did. They did. One of my talking about, yeah. All right.

It's an hour and 20 minutes. It seems I can't, I have to go a minimum of an hour and 20 minutes every show. Anything else do you want to get off your chest, Munch? I think you really said it well. I do hate that the way that Tennessee lost tonight because, I mean, it was going to be such an easy argument to make. If Tennessee loses that game 4 to 2.35, we're like, yeah, look at this. You know, two lost SEC team. But the way they lost that is going to fuel.

so many arguments about, well, you know, the SEC isn't as great as you guys think it is. But you're right. I'm not apologizing anyway. I feel the same way that I did before today that I do now. I wasn't like, oh, maybe I need to stop and think about this. Tennessee ran into a free train and their home building and had a lot of injuries and key spots. I just, again, if you're watching it, I know we're getting back into it, but if you're watching it and you can't tell me that Alabama, SMU, how that game, I mean, SMU doesn't match up well in these games.

They're just not there right now. So, yeah, I just wish Tennessee had kept it tighter that for that reason. Yeah, I hear you. Well, thank you, everyone. I mean, the fact that this many people at 106, 106 in the morning are still here. We appreciate it greatly. Happy holidays, everyone. Like you get 10 days.

So I think it's 10, 9 or 10 days until the next, next round of college football playoff games. We're going to have one more show. We're actually going to tape it. We're going to do a redraft of the 2024 NFL draft. I don't know what I'm like. I've already done what did I send you like 12 picks. 10?

I think 10. It's a good start. Yeah, but I like some interesting stuff in there. I got to catch up. But that's going to be fun. We're going to do a redraft. It's going to air. I don't want to say Christmas Day.

They're going to air it. We're going to tape it on Monday. Might be Christmas Eve. But it'll be out. Obviously, everyone, enjoy your holiday. We appreciate you being here. Thank you very much for joining us staying on. Thank you for liking, subscribing, pass the word on.

We're trying to build this thing up and can only do it with your support. We will be back for one show this upcoming week. And then after the holiday, after Christmas, excuse me. we'll kind of get right back in the schedule. But yeah, we're fired up. And our next reaction show will be in I think it's 10 days after the first. And we'll have a ton to cover that. Two really good games.

Yeah. All right. For Steve Munch, you can find him at at Scouts Inc. Mench. That's M-U-E-N-C-H. And for myself, Mary Christ. Happy Hanukkah. Happy holidays.

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