The McShay Show - Conference Championship Reactions, CFP Predictions with Ryen Russillo

Episode Date: December 8, 2024

Todd and Muench welcome Ryen Russillo to react to the SEC, Big Ten and ACC championships games. They also compare the College Football Playoff resumes of SMU and Alabama. 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: Ryen Russillo and Steve Muench Producers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Marcelino Ortiz Social: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They won. I thought they're... Championship Saturday does not disappoint. What a day. What a day. Mench, you're always here. Rissillo, wearing another wonderful ensemble.

I mean, the first time you joined us, like five, six weeks ago when we did our first reaction show, by the way, we're grateful that Ryan Rissillo's here. We appreciate his time. But the first time he joined us, it was sleeveless. And tonight it's a, I don't know, like homeless chic i'd say it's got like a fletch undercover on the beach vibe to it i think yes that's good i do wear this to the beach and the funny thing is i went to take it off right

before we started and i wanted to look nicer because you have so many graphics now and then i didn't have a shirt on so i was like let me put this back on so here we are we're better off that way she was like no that's cool you're fine yeah you're good you're um all right i i mean i'll be honest a couple hours ago, I thought we were just going to kind of have to hang in there for the ACC championship, see the thing through. Clemson was just, just railroading them. Oregon jumped on Penn State, too, and then all of a sudden we have two photo finishes. But the day started, really, Texas and Georgia, four o'clock. It truly started with Arizona State and Iowa State, and we can get into that in a little bit towards the end. But Georgia, Texas, overtime game, 2219 was the final. Georgia comes out on top.

A lot of different places we can go in this. And we'll get to the Carson Beck situation in a little bit. But I wanted to start with this. Texas, to me, I struggle with them because I feel like all season long, they can't seem to put together a consistent four quarter performance on the offensive side of the football. I mean, this team jumped them early. And I'm curious to get your guys opinion. Like, Quinn Ewers is averaging about six yards per attempt all year long. He comes out early in the game, first quarter. He's averaged 14 yards per attempt. They're throwing the ball down the field. Finally, I'm thinking to myself, this is Sark's offense. He's been, he's been holding back, protecting Ewers. Hewors hasn't been 100 percent, but we finally have what we're looking

for. The first drive, yeah, they're kind of back in their own territory. And they had a big, in that drive to D'Andre Moore, the 22-yard conversion. It winds up in an interception, but they flipped the field on that. The second drive, huge catch, Matthew Golden on the right side, 50 yards. Malachi Stark's safety is going to be the first safety off the board in 2025 in April. Uncharacteristic, late recognition, poor angle. That drive only led to a field goal. So now you get two drives, only three points.

Then a third drive, Golden again, 32-yarder and contested catch down the right sideline. They're moving the ball. They're attacking number seven, Daniel Harris. And Sark even like all eyes on Arch Manning. He comes in, fourth down conversion. They snap the ball to the deep guy and they run the ball away from Arch. Brilliant play. Everything's rolling.

But now all of a sudden, we're early in the second quarter after those three great drives. And you look up and it's not. nine total yards and two drives for Georgia compared to 193 yards for Texas on three drives, but it's only six nothing. Right. At that point, I'm like,

this is not how you beat a damn good Georgia football team. What are your guys' thoughts in that game? Bench, go ahead. The penalties killed them, man. I mean, those holding penalties, I thought were just absolute drive killers. And then it's like every college game you see momentum shifts. And when they had the momentum, they just couldn't.

They were getting field goals instead of touchdowns. And that's just not how you're going to win that game. So to me, and then the fact they can't run the ball. I mean, they just cannot run the ball. They've run the ball better in recent weeks, but they can't run the ball against Georgia. And, you know, you put those two things together. And, I mean, I thought they did a good job of staying with the run and not getting away from it. But it's not productive.

And then, you know, you, yours was good. I thought he was really good. But they just, at the end of the day, if you can't run the ball, you commit penalties at key time. you don't take advantage of your opportunities, you're going to lose to a team like Georgia. Yeah, I know Sark was obviously frustrated when they asked them at halftime, like what do you want to see?

I'd like to see them get called for holding too. I would save the penalties that we saw, though. Like sometimes your team just commits more penalties. And every flag that was thrown, not to say that I saw everything that Georgia was or wasn't doing, but whenever I saw a flag thrown in Texas, I was like that actually looks like it's the right call. But I think, Todd, you're absolutely right.

I mean, the first 20 minutes of this game, I'm sitting down. I wrote the exact same yardage differential in this, 20 minutes of domination and it's 6-0. And it was funny going into this game. I was thinking about it all week and I was just trying to figure out like, could this just be a bad matchup, especially with banks, the left tackle out for Texas, Texas here going up against this D-line that I still think that, you know, it's like the most impressive

performance that we could see six weeks ago and what they did down in Austin. But then I could also like talk myself and do, okay, Sark is really smart. Yours have been around a long time. They haven't. Like, they, okay, this is what it was like six weeks ago. No one should be more ready than Texas was. And I thought they were hitting on some deep shots. And then on the other side of it, back for Georgia, I mean, just another one of those games.

And I know we got hurt. We'll get to that last play at the end of the first half. But there really wasn't anything there. So I didn't know who was supposed to feel better because Texas certainly was playing better. But you look up and you're like, how has this been total domination the first 20 minutes of this football game? And they don't have the score for it. Then they missed two field goals and everything. Yeah.

They got after Ewers again. Like I think Uers, they hit some deep conversions. there were like two third and 14s that 10th converts on that you don't expect Georgia to give up that often like multiple times during the first half. But they still got viewers, you know, five more times. That's 11 times they've gotten him this year. So you're never comfortable. Even if he's making some nice throws and Golden had a really good game, you just are always worried.

And it looked like Georgia kind of dialed up the pressure even more once they knew that Texas couldn't run the football. Yeah. If you had told me coming in the game that Golden and. and Moore, Matthew Golden and DeAndre Moore, those wide receivers would combine for 17, 276. Right. And a touchdown, I'd be like, all right. Yeah. I mean, that's what we've been looking for.

Other receivers spreading the ball around, but also vertically, big plays. And you haven't seen a lot of that from Texas this year. And to do it against Georgia, that's kind of what I thought that they had been missing. And it's frustrating in that I almost get the sense that, and you look, Texas A&M was kind of similar to. When you pull away early and then you decide you're going to kind of get conservative and kind of try to grind it out and do different things. I can understand that. But when it's six three, I just felt like they got conservative. Now, there was one drive early in the second half where they picked it back up and they got a couple big plays.

Silas Bolden had a nice night, 268 pounds, kind of wet and wearing boots. But other than that, I felt like they started to grip a little bit in the second half offensively. And in the meantime, I mean,

the most, probably the most unexpected storyline of the entire day. And one of the most unexpected storylines of the entire season is that Georgia rallies and makes a comeback with some dude named Gunner, Stockton that I've never even heard of before. I made the comment earlier.

Like, I feel like everyone in the South that just names their kid, a quarterback name. If you have a boy, you name him a quarterback name just in case, just in case you get in a moment like this. And all of a sudden, of course, it's Georgia's, yeah, okay, Carson Becks out. Gunner Stockton comes rolling in. But he comes in and he's not great, but he's 12,

16. He's running the ball, lights a spark for this offense. And all of a sudden, it's almost like, it's weird to say almost like a relief, almost like the rest of the team. I was like, oh, it's not on Carson anymore. We got to all chip in. Now all of a sudden we're running the ball. Trevor E.T.N is grinding it out. Fraser, when he gets his occasional carry in the second half, is averaging like 10.6 yards.

The tight ends are making play. Was it lucky on the sideline? Yeah, lucky had that catch on the sideline. Yeah. I mean, there's a still of that where we're. He's just his whole body's out of bounds and he kept his foot just in. And so to me, that that was fascinating, that all of a sudden this guy, Gunner Stockton comes in. And the whole dynamic of the game, the whole feel of the offensive attack for Georgia changed.

They had two long drives, 10 points on those two drives. And now all of a sudden it's a football game. Yeah, the offense coordinator, Bobo did a great job when Stockton came into the game. I mean, they simplified, it looked to me that they simplified everything. And then I thought Texas was a little, like, like a drive too slow. They gave up that one drive to react to what he was as a kind of his playing style, right? They did a good job afterwards of like making sure this kids,

we're going to try to get this kid to beat us with his arm. He's not going to beat us with his legs. And I think until overtime, they did a pretty good job of that. But they let him make too many plays on that scoring drive with his feet, I thought, and we're a little bit slow to react. And then after that, we're fine. But I thought, I mean, like how many times was he just dumping the ball off to Fraser or a back or hitting one of his tight ends?

on a rollout, you know, really simple Reed's design plays. I thought Bobo did a great job when, when Gunnar Stockin came in. Yeah, you know, it's funny because I was wondering if it was going to be like the Marcel Reed coming in for Wigman for A&M against LSU, where you prep and then everything changes. And LSU was just a mess because Marcel Reed's so dynamic. And I still can't understand like why teams can't be better prepared. He's probably going to keep the ball all the time, right? But Reed's more talented in stock.

I mean, Stockton still was a four-star kid. I think he was seventh overall. I'm sure the rankings are all over the place of that. So he's not like a non-recruited guy. But it was pretty obvious that Georgia had given up on him passing the football. I mean, he had the lucky throw. He missed Delp twice in the end zone. And when they had the field goal to make it 136, like they let him throw a pass.

He had one pass where I thought he dented the stadium. Like he threw it so hard out of bounds. I know. I mean, it wasn't nobody was catching it. Would have knocked out the mascot. Yeah. It would have been like a misdemeanor or a stadium. salt charge if somebody had just been hit with it like a camera guy and after after that you could just

see it's like stockton run cash jones run stockton run etienne run stockton run and they were just like all right whatever like we're playing for the field goal here so you know texas is probably one of the best defenses in the country i think we'd all agree yeah and you're looking at this situation and i know we'll get to beck here soon but you're playing a one-dimensional football team you are like there's not there's not really much is going to be challenging from the outside. He's not going to, like they really gave up. Yeah, I know he had the 16 attempts, but it felt like when it mattered, they're like, we don't really trust this kid.

And, of course, he throws that interception that gets Texas back into the game, where if you run that playback, the middle of field is wild. There's three Georgia players running routes that are all wide open. And I can understand, hey, Stockton is expected he's been playing for the SEC title here. He gets pressure from the left side. He thinks he's getting rid of the football. He throws a pop-up to one of the fastest players in the field. They're lucky that wasn't a pick six.

so it's an awful, awful decision throughout all of that. But you're right. There was some juice to Georgia once he got into the game where I think it's just not to overuse the word of culture, but the fact that they responded like that. And on the other side of it, too, I think that they bothered you were as far more than they did in the first half. Let me ask you guys this question.

Here we go. And I want both of you to answer this independently. what was your experience with the Carson Beck injury? All right. Well, the only thing that I could say that I wouldn't be guessing would be when he came out. Now, Stockton runs, and I thought he was dead. Yeah. So the overtime run.

Oh, my God. I didn't realize we were talking about it first. Go ahead. Right. I mean, it's just an absolute ball of run, but you're looking at him going like, I don't know if there's going to be much more room there, dude. And, you know, credit to him. And his helmet ejects his, I thought he might have broken his right leg.

And he pops right up. But since the helmet's off, he's going to come out. But the penalty doesn't really matter. It's like first down from the three. And Beck comes in. And if somebody had said they replaced his arm with like a prosthetic arm, it was like this raggedy and doth. It was just hanging. And I thought.

But here's the. So do you think that they were, they were trying to like play possum with it? because he comes out, that arm, it's hanging off through his side, like he cannot move. But arms don't hang like that. I was just confused by that. Like, I get it where,

or so here, here's my experience with that play specifically. When he comes in, he takes the hand off and they score the touchdown. And Fowler's playing, like, and he's right, like this is a Hollywood store.

You can't make this up. The injured quarterback who's out, comes back in the game to take the snap, the final play of the game, hopefully, you're Georgia fan. How was he back in? How can he play this play if he wasn't playing the rest of the game?

But then he starts to say in his arm and then like right at that time he's talking about a Hollywood story. I'm literally watching Carson Beck with his arm as if detached. He's tilted. Correct. Detached and tilted. They didn't have a wildcat package. They didn't have a wildcat package they go to or they thought that they were going to bluff

the play action there. So here's my experience. They've got to be playing. This is all bullshit. They're playing posse. They're they're selling this because no one walks with their arm like that. Like you hold. Even if it's just detached from your shoulder.

We're going play action here. That was my, that was my experience. I was like, oh, watch it. Wait for it. You were thinking when you play action. Let's get, let's get lucky. Did you really think they were on the first? football there on first down. I promise you. No way. And maybe not on the first

snap. But you're wondering why he's he's being like his his arm obviously hurt, but I here, you know what else I noticed too? Because I'm seeing all the same stuff. And I'm thinking like if it's this bad, how does he even hand it off? Same to you, Munch. I'm like, if it's this bad, don't you just run some kind of wildcat package? I mean, it's actually kind of nice. You get an extra blocker of thing. And then I noticed he went to a justice chin strap, totally fine with the arm that was dangling. But when he got behind Saturday, they were setting up a play after that. So I don't, I don't know what was going on there, but it didn't matter because

ETN running out. Now we're all detectives, like trying to get these clues. I just, I had an experience and I wanted to see if you guys had a similar experience. Sounds like Riscilla maybe had some of that. No shot. They were throwing that ball. No shot. And just, yeah.

Can we talk about the big butt now? What if, what if he's stuffed on the first, like, do you think? Well, they would have just brought. Stockton back in, right? Yeah. He's fine enough to do interviews after the game. Yeah, he seemed fine. He sounded fine. I think it was like an Edelman Super Bowl moment where like, we're just going to not worry about protocol right now. It's kind of a big deal. That's what it felt like, but he seemed after the game.

All right. So what do you want to talk about, Mitch? The fake punt. Am I overly critical for thinking Texas, hey, their punters injured, this big, big moment in the game, great place in the field to fake it. I mean, and you're right, like, we kind of texted about this. Kirby, you know, great onions. Onions, big call in a big moment. That's their own 30. Yeah. We're not getting ready for them, maybe the, uh, the fake there. No, with the with the puncher injured, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And, and not only were they not ready. He, he was like seven yards into the run and the guys were still trying to defend the gunner. Yeah. That's, there was very little awareness because like, I know we'll get to Penn State later, but there was a Penn State punt where I'm thinking about the Minnesota game, and I'm going,

there's no way. There's no way they're not ready for this. And Penn State had a really weird alignment with the way that they were lining up. And look, they ended up punting the football. But I completely agree with you. It's, I mean, with the punter being out, it's not to say that you're guaranteed to stop it because they executed it really well, but it looked like Texas wasn't ready even for the thought of it. Right. They never punted the rest of the game. And then, I mean, that turned into a 14, I know, a 16 play, nine minute and 22 second drive. That's the game to me. Well, we go, all this other stuff happened, right?

But that nine minute and 22 second drive. Just, I mean, to me, that's with your backup quarterback, to me, that was the game. Right. And even with the Ewers pick where you kind of think it's over, it's third and 17. So you're asking for a lot from Ewers there, but it's still fourth down territory. You're imagining, you know, 3.30. six, maybe not, but he throws that pick, you kind of think it's over. And then three plays, three plays later, stocking gives it right back to you.

So you're back in the game. And again, we, we realized that because they ended up getting the game time field goal. And I actually liked that Sark was taking shots into the end zone, too. I mean, they got the one PI. Then they had the other two plays that didn't work out that I thought were just kind of defended well. That other over the shoulder thing to the right side was just going to be a really tough catch, even though there was a little room one-on-one over there.

But that, I, there's nothing else for me to add other than I completely agree, because I don't I don't know how Georgia I don't you know the offense you're like where are they going to come up with this offense against this Texas defense and honestly if you're a longhorns fan today playing this back like I know the penalties you're probably point to that but it's it's a it's not a bad loss because it's a tough one to stomach because it was there like you should have won this football game yeah 258 passing yards compared to Georgia's 127 how do how do you lose this game? But in Texas, they got out rushed. And I mentioned ETN and Frazier. They combined 22 carries, 141 yards, two touchdowns. And the two fumble drive where they recover their own. Oh, my gosh. Which is why Frazier doesn't get as many.

That happened a lot to that. Yeah, that's exactly why Fraser doesn't. Because every time Frazier gets loose, like once he gets past the first, like, area of traffic, you feel like he's going to break it every single time. But I think the staff thinks he's going to fumble it every single time. And apparently his fumbling problems in practice were worse earlier in the year than they have been in games, too. And so that's why I took him a long time to get the touches he was starting to accumulate. But 358 to 127 passing yards dominate the first half of the game they weighed that they did.

I guess my question to you guys is like, when I look at Georgia, they scare me the most in terms of a team if I had to play them in one game because of that defense, because of how battle tested they are, I just don't want to play Georgia. I don't think they're, they're not as good as Oregon in my mind. And we can argue some other teams. But I'm scared to death of playing them in one game because the way they, it's like the, you keep defeating the dragon and it keeps coming back every game they're in. And it's not pretty. It's never pretty.

But they just find ways to win. They're like the chiefs this year. they just find ways to win. But do I trust them to make a run through the playoff? And now Carson Beck, we don't know what. With or without Beck, are you saying that? Are you saying that only with LP back? No, I'm saying with Beck.

With Beck coming back and probably being, I don't know, 85, 90 percent. Because Carson Beck's going to be back. I'm curious to see if Carson Beck, if Gunned ahead could have played. But they're looking at this long, long play. I don't know. And this is not accusatory. I'm just, I think you get to a point and you say, well, he's not going to be, he's not going to be himself the rest of this game.

The, the largest goal is, is the national championship in a playoff run. If we put him back in there and something like it could get significantly worse, we could be without him, you know, so I, and I don't know. I have no information on that we're talking, you know, just a few minutes after the last games in championship weekend. But I'm curious, like, I don't trust Texas as much as I should trust Texas. Georgia scares me a lot, but I don't know. I don't know.

I just don't know where I am with these two teams. I guess it's a question. Terrible question, but it's a question to you guys. Where are you with these two teams? Well, I don't like Beck at all. Okay. I just can't do it again. I think I've watched eight full Georgia games this year.

And it's the ones you would have to watch because their schedule was so good. And there's just way more evidence that what, whatever he was supposed to be, he's not that guy. Like, if you just want to do, I like, I still like yours better than him. I like Aller maybe better than both those guys. I like Clubnik better than Beck. Like, Beck feels like he sleepwalks. I know they lead college football and drops.

And we saw a handful of those again today. Yep. But there's just, like, that last play at the end of the first half, like, I'm sitting there and I'm going, you know, this is one of those moments where the coach loves his quarterback in that spot or hates him, right? because he'll be like, hey, look, it's probably not going to work, but get rid of the foot. Like, just don't do anything stupid, right? Don't put us in a situation where something dumb could happen here. Just get the ball out or throw it, throw it away or run it and slide or, you know, take the two-yard gain out of bounds.

You know, we're going to halftime. And I was like, you know, with him, and I'm telling you, like I had a Todd before. Yeah, you did. I was like with him, you almost feel like you have to remind him, hey. and it's still, I mean, it knocked him out of the game. It turns to that fumble, that ridiculous rugby play there towards the end. We're like, is Texas going to end up scoring from this? So, you know, I'm sure, because you guys do this for a living with the evaluation stuff,

there's plenty of stuff that I don't see. But I thought, like last year, there was clearly a moment where it felt like he saw the field a lot better. Things had clicked. He was putting up good numbers. He was efficient. He wasn't dangerous. Clearly, the receiving core was more talented. his options between Bowers and Lad and those guys versus what he has this year.

But, you know, it's, it's an awesome season for them to get through it with only two losses. They're not a special football team. They have special D-line and linebackers. They have a special safety. I think some of the other corners are, you know, okay. I think there's one that's not great. And when I know what you're asking, I think the problem is that it's not a definitive answer about this football. team. I think that's the problem. That's why we're all kind of sitting here going,

ooh, you know, I don't know. I'm not like, I don't look at Georgia going through this whole thing winning the SEC going look out, which is I think why there's such a large portion of the country that is down on the SEC. And they may be right because we don't have that one powerhouse team to pick and point to as going, okay, that's the team. Everybody else in the country should be afraid of. There is not that team in the SEC this year. Yeah, there's a lot of law teams. Just hearing you talk makes me wonder, throw out, because I know he has limitations as a player, but the best college quarterback right now is Dylan Gabriel, right? College.

Orosha, or in the, I'm sorry, in the play. In the playoffs. Yes. I mean, Jalen Milro, more dangerous. Quinn Ewers, way more talented. I'm talking about trust. Dylan. Yeah, right?

Trust. Well, we're going to, on two. I already decided. I know. Riscilla, you're going to come back. We're going to do a confidence draft in the 12, once we know the 12 quarterbacks, and I think we kind of do now. Once we know the 12 quarter, we're going to do a confident,

a quarterback confidence draft and try to go through it. Because I think it's going to be a fascinating exercise. I truly do. Yeah, but, but honestly, yeah, Dylan, Dylan would probably be number one. Yeah. And it gets back to the Georgia versus Texas. They're not that different. I mean, they seem different, but they're just not that different.

Great defenses. I think they have talented quarterbacks that don't always play to the low level that they should play at. I think that their offensive lines are good, not great. I mean, they're pretty similar. Yeah. All right. It's frustrating. I feel like had Texas just finished the drill, right?

Had Texas, like, done what it was supposed to do, finish a couple of those drives, come out aggressive in the second half and take some chances. and won this game, it would be like, all right, we've got our, like, that's our SEC team. Georgia can go clean things up. They get a couple of weeks, get Carson healthy, try to figure some things out. I'm always scared of Kirby Smart and that program. But Texas is like, hang your hat. I just don't feel like we have that right now.

No, look, if they had made one of the two missed field goals, we're probably talking about them as the one seat, or not the one seed with Oregon's win. But we're talking about it as the two seed. Because I thought the A&M game was dominant. know it's 17-7, they kicked their ass for three plus hours. The only seven points are the pick six, the pick six and the fumble in the red zone. You know, I know it's annoying for everybody to do imaginary math, but I don't know how you watch that game and think it was close because it wasn't. And so I felt like, you know, even though I picked Georgia because I kind of couldn't

get Austin out of my head from six weeks ago and because the left tackle was out, you know, halfway through the game, I'm like, I don't know who I'm supposed to feel good about at half time. It was such a weird game at halftime. I'm like, are you supposed to feel, I guess you just feel bad because you're Texas and you're just like, we were too good in that game in the first half to let that happen. So maybe it played out the way it was supposed to without that scary SEC team this year. I mean, you just mentioned Oregon.

Let's get to it. And this game was fun. I mean, are you kidding me? 82 points, 45, 37, 82 points in a big 10. 82 points in a big 10 championship. There's a lot of things to unpack here. Oregon obviously wins 4537. I'm going to make two comments,

and I'll let you guys take it where you want. First of all, unlike Texas, hanging the hat, Oregon, Oregon to me showed exactly what you need to show is the number one team. Even if you're trying to just maintain a spot going into the college football playoff, like we're one of the elite teams

instead they to meet tonight said we are the elite team heading in that doesn't get us anything it doesn't earn us anything outside of a buy but we're the elite team going into the college football playoff and they did that not only throughout the game like i love the way they started the game like all right here we are we're Oregon we're the west coast team we're going to come into indianapolis and we're going to kind of take over your party in the big 10 and we're going to shove it down your throat with physicality and toughness we're going to run behind my boy connerly at least left tackle. We got James, Jordan James,

just running left and right. And then we're going to get our wide receiver, Tess Johnson, who was fucking unbelievable tonight, by the way. 11, what was it, 11 for 181 and a touch? That guy's different, man. I know he's skinny. Can he stay healthy and all

those things? But my goodness, is he different? But I love their mentality. They jumped Penn State. Penn State fought back and everything that happened. But then the fourth quarter, 97-yard touchdown drive from Penn State to make it 3830. We'll get to the decision to go for two at that point. I thought it was ridiculous from James Franklin.

But then Oregon has that respond drive, 10-play touchdown drive. That showed me everything because it's one thing to get out and run away from a team. But like when you're facing it and a team's coming back for Oregon to have that 10-play drive to go up and basically steal the game, although it got tight again, that shows. showed me a lot of things. So my first takeaway is that Oregon is that team. They are that team. My second takeaway is for the first time in James Franklin's tenure,

miserably disappointing big game tenure at Penn State, I actually like, appreciate, and trust that this team is going to compete with anybody out there. I gained so much more trust for Penn State tonight than I've ever had on James Franklin. This is, to echo that, this is the best I felt about a Penn State team in years. And, you know, when I go through it this year and my knock on Penn State is always kind of like, you know, they even brought it up tonight on that broadcast.

It was like, you know, if it had been a 12 team playoff, this Penn State team would be in the playoffs like all of these years. You're like, cool. Awesome. Make sure. You know, like, I don't want to hear it. You lose to everybody that's good. But I would say this year, like, I might be the only person still bringing this up.

I thought beating USC that Saturday afternoon was a very tough win. I know I'm not allowed to say that because of SC's record, but I'm telling you, it was a tough game to win with a ton of talented players all over the place. I thought the Minnesota game was tough. I wouldn't put Minnesota on par with some of the middle tier SEC teams, but Minnesota, you know, you're going to show up. You've got to be ready to play some football.

And yet just like when we had Todd on after the Ohio State game, you're like, okay, you know, here we go. go again. So when I saw the line, I thought it would be like minus six and a half and then it was three and a half. I'm like, oh, okay, this is a little different. And I would say we could sit here and just name Penn State guys for a few minutes of guys that we all really like. But there's defensive guys all over the places that I like. They have the best tight end in football. Both the running backs are nasty. And I like Aller, despite the huge mistake there late. But they ran the football for 292 today and lost. And they controlled the line of

scrimmage. I mean, when they were when they were handing it off to KTron, they were their offensive linemen were swallowing up Oregon, swallowing. That's a good D line. Yeah. You know, and I know that there's a name missing there, but it's just still like, because that game was progressing, but every time I started feeling like really good about Penn State, I'd go, yeah, but the problem is Oregon's going to get the football back. And then they get to run plays. And they started this off, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown. And so even though I really liked what I saw from Penn State and there were a couple moments where you felt like maybe if something happens here,

like this has come down to them trying to throw it in the end zone. And that's still kind of what happened on the last possession before the pick. It just, I guess the difference was, because there's so many things that were great about what Penn State did tonight, the difference was is that once Oregon got their guys kind of in space, there were just so much more dynamic as opposed to Penn State having one guy in 44 the tight end that scares the hell out of you. You know the difference tonight, honestly? They don't have a TES.

Yeah, no. Yeah. No. Because if they have a TENSC, if they have a real number one receiver option, they win this football game probably. I agree. They have nowhere near the depth that Oregon has in terms of playmakers, I think. I mean, they have guys everywhere. Ted's is different.

I mean, he is, he's just different. He's clearly the alpha on that, that offense, you know, in the receiving game. But they have guys everywhere. I mean, Terrence Ferguson's a great player. Sadiq, the other tight end. Sadiq had two touchdowns. I mean, he was the guy early. And then that Ferguson catch.

on fourth and two, that's all of those guys. It's Ferguson, pushing off running the right route and trusting Dylan to deliver the football. Yeah, I mean, he can spread the ball around, but Penn State had, yeah, sorry to cut you up, but Penn State had two wide receiver catches in the entire first half. Yeah. Like you just, but yeah, go ahead. No, you're right. I mean, that's the, I completely agree.

Can I say something? And flip the script a little bit here. Are we at all worried about Oregon's defense and big games? They gave up 34 to Boise State. They gave up 31 to Ohio State. And then tonight, 37 to Penn State. I mean, that defense looks great. A lot of the times, I think 10, he's a rising star.

They got some players on that side of the ball. Obviously, Harmon's got a lot of, you know, buzz this year. They've played three really big games. You know, Illinois was that, I mean, they shut down Illinois. So I guess if you want to throw that one in there, too. But the three biggest games of the year, they've, they've given up some big points in those games, man. And I just wonder, you know, until now it's been fine because they just, it's like you said, Ryan, like when they get the ball, you just expect them to score.

You expect them to extend drives. You expect them to make plays. But I do wonder if that's going to catch up with them at some point. If they are not, if they're not as great on defense as maybe we once thought. Yeah, I love their linebackers. And I know that Harmon, who had that huge penalty too, by the way, when they backped stay up. You know, it was kind of a quiet night. from him and Birch is out.

So that's somebody that you're expecting a lot from. But I don't know, man. Like last year I thought they were better than Washington, they lose twice, right? It was one of those games they lose on the road, all the fourth down stuff. And I remember, like, there will be moments during the season. I think we all do this when we know a team is likely, or two teams are likely to face each other again. It's like, don't fall for the outcome, right?

Don't fall for the outcome. Remember this moment. That was kind of what I was doing with Georgia and Texas a little bit. My biggest lesson ever was the LSU Bama rematch in 2000. 11 because I left Tuscaloosa that night going Alabama's better than this football team. And then like an idiot, I just got caught up in all the Louisiana stuff for the week that I was down there. I was like, all right, tigers are doing this. No.

When Washington rematch with Oregon, I mean, Dylan gashed them last year in the rematch. And I think Oregon, because of the, you know, I mean, I know this is stupid. It reminds me a bit of like the Golden State Warriors run when they were amazing. It's like, yeah, they shoot a lot of threes, but they don't do this. It's like, actually, they're also like the best defensive team in the NBA, too. It was hard for people to understand that. So I didn't watch the Ohio State game, guys, and I'll just pivot it back to you here. I didn't watch the Ohio State game thinking, ooh, Ohio State big bad, big 10 lineage, just pushed the ducks around.

Because I think the ducks have actually been more physical than people even give them credit for going back to those years. You don't run the football the way they used to run the football. It was flashy and they'd get these plays and open. But they still had started with the old. line and pushing all these guys around. But tonight's defensive line matchup against Penn State was alarming. And you could even play it back to, does it actually mean that the assumptions made about big bad Ohio State, like play out the rest of the year where you're like, you know what? Ohio State hasn't really been as physical as we would think based on their standard

for the last two years. So I don't have an answer. But I certainly thought about all those things as I watched Penn State gash them whenever they wanted to. Yeah, I mean, we talked about how it's a down year for the SEC. It feels like it's a down year for the big 10 too. I mean, Ohio state's not what they, what we, or what I thought they were. I thought they were, you know, a few weeks ago, I was talking about how I thought they were the favorite, even after losing Oregon, I thought they were going to win the national championship. I thought they were the favorite. And clearly that hasn't played out. Michigan's obviously having a down year. I mean, Indiana made a great run and that's a great story, but

I don't think anyone's, you know, saying that, you know, that's a, yeah, the Indiana win is this massive win because, right, right. Fair or unfair, that's what it feels like. Exactly. So, like, I don't know. Oregon looks really good. And I think they're the, I think every team is flawed, though. I think every team is the least flawed. But there is, that, that concerns me all the points they've been putting up in those big games. Yeah, I get it. But of all the flaws, I think, like, Oregon, I think Oregon has the fewest. I'd rather be a team that can, that can answer scores. Yes. then being like, oh, we're going to force three and outs, but if we're down seven, it's like, you know, I'll use a perfect example, like the Illinois game against Penn State, like it was 14-7. It felt like it was 42 to 3.

Right. And I think we saw that throughout the day today. You know, I think we saw that, I mean, I guess to a lesser year, like Arizona State, but we saw that certainly with SMU. like if SMU doesn't have that offense, they don't come back. We saw that with, I think with Oregon, absolutely.

I just, yeah, I want a great defense that travels. I want it all. But I really, especially this year with the teams in this field, I got to be able to score. And I just, you know, I wonder, I wonder with Georgia. Are they going to be able to score when we get into this thing? Yeah, I don't know.

Yeah. Look, I think part of it, too, is just a credit to Penn State. You know, I think that they threw a lot at them. And I know that, you know, that can be frustrating in the two-point conversion where it looked like they went filly-filly on that, where Tyler Warren was supposed to throw it back to Aller and the play got blown up. Because, again, I think the best part of the Ducks defense is those linebackers and how active they are and how aggressive they are. And, you know, maybe Pribula could have come in more and give you a few more looks. I think the most frustrating thing is that Aller, you know, the pick was a bad throw, gives Oregon a short field.

So who knows? Like if Oregon was backed up 80, they may have just scored from 80 yards out instead of one. So sometimes the yardage math can be a little misleading there. I think the second and one shot against a deep safety and read on the interception where it's an incredible interception, the replay, if you're a Penn State fan, you know, like he's got his jersey. Danielson kind of let it go a little bit more than I'm sure some people would have liked.

but I think it's the decision with Aller where I know it's not always going to be perfect and maybe we want perfect out of these quarterbacks. Like I think there's a lot of really good throws and a lot of great athletic stuff. What he did on fourth and 10 when he's getting grabbed and throwing it into the end zone and split in two defenders. Like that's, I don't think there's a lot of guys that can make that throw. But in second and one, when you have a chance to get back in it and it's against safety help, it's just a throw you got to put in your back pocket.

He's a damn warrior, Aller. I went from like, eh, I'm all set to, I like him. I actually, I like him. I enjoy watching him play. He is imperfect. He still has moments where you want to rip your hair out. I think this offense on the outside. I think this offense is gimmicky at times.

And then every time I want to go beat him for like, beat them up for being gimmicky. I'm like, well, what the hell else are they going to do? They don't have a single receiver that does anything for you. This, and it's a larger discussion. But you talk about the haves and have not have knots in college football at wide receiver. When you're watching games and stacking them on Saturdays, like it is so obvious. Like the teams that have them, even if it's just one great one, the teams that have them, there's this freedom to them.

There's this, like, you know, there's this threat to it. There's ability to make a big play. There's safeties back off. You know, Ohio State only has one. And they've gotten away from utilizing them. But when they were, that strikes fear. Texas has a bunch of really good ones, not great ones, but I'd take theirs over. That's exactly what I was thinking about.

Like Ryan Wingoes had more than one catch in a game. It hasn't happened. The last time he did it was October. You know, he'd have 80 catches at Happy Valley. You know, exactly. Between Bond. I mean, Bond, the transfer in for Alabama. So, like, it's just.

Bond was a disaster tonight. But go ahead. Sure. Well, still, he'd be the number one option on the outside of Penn State. but like the thing the thing but like Penn State two years in Notre Dame I watch Penn State Georgia Notre Dame and I'm like there's only so much we can do I would take George's three receivers before I would take a Penn State one dude their number one receiver Aryan Smith who was like the only guy and I don't have the numbers he was like the

only he I think he might but let me pull this shit up it's a real race to the bottom right now Look at that. I got... You guys see a McShay show? They started trying to draft Georgia receivers. Who are the worst receivers in the nation? Here you go. I know I had a note in.

Ariens Smith, I think, was the only receiver. And he had 41... Only 40... Here we go. Only 41 receiving yards from a wide receiver for Georgia tonight. All were from Aryan Smith. Yeah, it was Delp, 84, lucky. One of their other receivers had three catches for zero yards.

Yeah, love it. Love it. So, but, but I also want to remind you, and I, like, maybe it's late. I'm being stupid, but I want to remind you, like, it felt like I was watching a junior varsity high school game with like one of the dads who had a couple drinks covering a game and doing the play by play with his buddy and he was the color analyst. I'm listening to Herb Street and he accurately depict the situation. But the fact that we're in the championship game with Georgia and we're talking about their number one

and only receiver that had any receiving yards tonight. Every time he catches the ball, he has to jump and coach is working with him. So you talk about the haves and have-nots in college football, wide receiver. I got to put Georgia in the have-nots. Yeah, I agree with it. I mean, it's been an issue all year. And then, again, the drop stat, most drops in FBS. And we saw it again tonight.

So couldn't agree more. I don't know what else to add to that. Yeah. Yeah, I just wish Penn State had one. I wish Penn State had one of these guys. Because they're actually creative. How do they not? I mean, I guess that's...

I can't believe that. That's like what you remember Florida would just always have like, who the hell is that guy? Like I remember the first time Jeff Demp's had the football in his hands. And I had to like just walk outside for five minutes. I'm like, what fuck is Jeff Demps? Okay. And then Florida went on this really, I probably,

we'd get to move on to the other games. But like, Florida would just have this stretch. we're like, how do the gators not have a dude that scares the hell out of you on the outside? Like, that was a given every single year. And sometimes it just happens. And I know like Penn State is a different recruiting base than say the Gulf area and parts all over Florida. But they, it was a massive issue last year. And I think, you know, a Penn State team that I've probably, well, I know of me,

but I think I've been justifiably critical. Like, I just have a hard time when you haven't had the great win for two years. And people are talking about you just missing out on the playoff or whatever. Now that it's expanded, they're in the playoff and we'll see. But I actually- Why do I feel like it was a win for Penn State tonight? Why do I feel like it was a win? Well, because they didn't get it handed to them.

You know, if it would have been the same, like you were so down on them after the Ohio State game because you felt like that score was misleading. And we talked it out. It was, I'm not going to debate with you and tell you that you were wrong. And I know this is crazy. considering like a number one seed was on the line here for Penn State, but I think we all agree. Oregon's the best team. I don't really understand the argument against you.

You can pick against them, which is totally understandable too. But Penn State, despite being down, battled, move the football, we're the more physical football team. And I think you said it, like we keep saying the same theme over and over here again. I look at them as a tougher route today, even though they lost the Big Ten championship. And I think it's okay to say that sometimes these teams lose. I think we're so ridiculous when a team loses a football game. We're like, oh, they sucked the whole time.

Like we get to the end of college football season, and you have these people convinced nobody is good and no one has beaten anybody good. You're like, is it okay to pick a couple teams we think are okay? Yeah. I mean, the way they lost Ohio State, though, is tough to get down to the goal line and not run Warren, not get him a touch. In watching the game, it felt like Ohio State easily could have won by more. It's the way you lose, right?

tonight you felt like they got punched in the mouth and they responded and they were physical. I mean, that second half, they were physical. That was the first time I really felt like watching them against, you know, I guess the other board game would be Ohio State, but they really got downhill in the running game. I mean, they were- Was unbelievable, man. They were getting after them in the run game and it just felt different. And then you're seeing Abdul Carter felt like he was all over the place tonight.

I mean, he felt like he was everywhere tonight. You know, it was just the way you lose matters. And I agree. If you think Oregon's the best team, which I do at this point, then, I mean, that's, you lost by one score, man. They wound up in a shootout with Oregon and they hung tough. Maybe that's part of it. I don't know. But I'll say this, it obviously hurts them that they lost.

But what really hurts Penn State is I look back at the brackets. And we'll see how it all plays out. On Monday, I'm going to join Rosillo and we'll talk about it. and Tuesday we'll continue the conversation with Mention, have our quarterback confidence draft. But remember, we were talking last week after it came out. Penn State's in a great spot. The number five spot is a great spot.

Because if you're not getting- Well, if, but this committee's been really standings-based, man. They like the Big Ten, so maybe you'll be right, but they've been pretty straightforward on the math of like, you have this- But Georgia's got to be number two, right? Georgia's going to be two. It's going to be Oregon, Georgia two,

So then three and four will be. We'll see what happens here with Boise. Boise, Arizona State or SMU. Or Clemson. Clemson, Clemson. Clemson, sorry, Clemson, yes. Right, but I think what you're looking at here is the 5, 6, 7 conversation with Notre Dame, Penn State, and Texas.

Yes. Right. So why don't we do the agency and then. Yeah, we will. I just thought that was interesting. Not to run your show. Sorry. No, I mean, you're a much better host, and that's why I'm a disaster in this role, but

we have fun anyway. All right, Clemson, SMU, ACC. Clubnik comes out, he's dealing. My guy Cade, who I thought was going to fail me early in his career, and he bounces back this year, came out dealing in this game, confidence, throwing the ball down the field, that throw to his, Westco, right? Wesco, who looks like he's going to be carded until he's 38 years old.

Yeah, but he can scoot. Great throw down the seam to him. just picking apart this defense. SMU is a disaster. Weren't ready for the big spot. Two turnovers in the first half. Two personal foul penalties. Missed a field goal.

It looked like it was cold out. They were overwhelmed. It just like all of a sudden is like, they're not ready for the moment. Oh, I mean, out of the jump. If you're thinking of it, it's a fumble, touchdown drive, two plays 33 yards. Punt, a nice return, end of penalty,

four, so Clemson runs six plays for a total of 61 yards that are up 14 nothing, before people are really like even in their seats. Yeah, four and a half minutes. And I think it was. And you're looking at this whole thing being like, oh, okay, SMU. But, you know, it's just funny how like, I know you guys get it, but have you watched a football game before? Yeah.

There's going to be a swing here. Yeah. Yeah. So go ahead. It's not the NBA, but there's going to be a swing. And the scariest part. for me too was that it's a veteran offensive line for SMU. And they were getting, and I thought McDonough and Greg McElroyd did a great job.

Like they weren't just getting beat after like a second and a half. It was like something's up. Like they, we got to change the cadence. We got a snap count. Like they were beating him so much overmatched. And then all of a sudden Jennings is starting to drift. There we go. But yeah, it's like the it's like the avalanche is rolling down.

and it's and it's catching out. It's nipping at their heels. But then to turn it around the way they did, take it wherever you guys want it. But I was after the first, really going into halftime, I'm like, all right,

SMU's out. And they're out, out. And Bama's in. And it should, and I'm already starting, I'm thinking about what I'm going to say. Like,

okay, so now Clemson just gets beat at home, Happy Valley by South Carolina. And Clemson's going to get in. And now, and Bama's, I just, I went down that.

whole rabbit hole. But my takeaway is SMU absolutely deserves to be in. After that final three quarters, they outplayed Clemson. Clemson's an average football team in terms of top 25 ranking. They had a great night. They had a great first quarter. But SMU, the way they fought back, like, I don't see how you keep them out. What did you guys see?

Go ahead, Mitch. I mean, Alabama's a better team. That's how. I mean, you're just sorry. Like when you think that that team's playing Alabama and that and they're going to beat Alabama. I mean, if they play 10 times, I mean, don't give me the miracle speech after this. They might win, I mean, SMU might win two games.

I'm, and that's just honestly how I feel. And look, it's a great story. And I don't want to, Kevin Jennings is so much fun to watch. Those kids are resilient. But you know how I feel about that Clemson team. And it's, I'm not overly impressed with you losing to a three lost Clemson team. Like, I'm just not. You lost to BYU.

I mean, there's been some other, you know, you beat Duke by a point. And it's a great story. and it's a great run that they had. But if you're telling me, you want to get the best teams in, you ask Kirby Smart whether he wants to, you know, go against Jalen Milro in Alabama or Kevin Jennings and SMU. And look, that offensive line is not going to look better against some of the teams that they might see in the playoff.

So to me, I'll also say this really quickly because I, you know, I have to say it. Amazing that Clemson didn't commit a penalty night. I mean, that was just incredible. I mean, I don't know how, like, just the cleanest game I've ever seen. Dabo does love Charlotte. He mentioned that a few times. It was textbook, man.

Textbook, you know, they're taking a headshot to the quarterback. They didn't get the face mask on Clubnik, though, when it was right in front of the other. Yeah, they did miss that one. All right. It gets two teams in. Like, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but that's fine. I am not a conspiracy theorist and Mench is, but it does get two teams in. Jesus was an underdog.

He was. Well, if I'm just talking about game and if I'm being completely transparent here. It's going up against 12.55 a.m. Eastern time. Here we go. Yeah. The two big screens, and I only had two screens up, so I have both these games on. So I was trying to like

time it to get as much of the ACC game as I could get in. And so I was fully aware of like to start and how things are going. And you also know that Clems is not going to be able to run the football on SMU because nobody can run the football on them. Two yards per carry on 32 rushes. SMU is sixth in college football on opposing yards per carry.

So it's like the opposite of Iowa State that we saw earlier today against the Sun Devils. So you're like, okay, well, that's good. But on the other side of it, like, Clubnik has had a really nice year. And the other thing I love about Clubnik is that he'll throw the football. Like, it's a little dangerous. It's a little, it's not as dangerous as Nussmeyer. You know, I was talking about Nussmire, like third and 17. This ball's going 18 yards from the line of scrimmage.

Like, I'm going for it. But, you know, in college with some of these offenses, I appreciate a quarter of back in an offense, it's like, you know what, let's get the ball down the field. Let's see what we can do here. Having said that, Jennings is like, man. I would have an Oregon Penn State play going, and then I would look up and I'd be like, how is Jennings 40 yards behind the line of scrimmage almost out of bounds? And now he's running back in.

Why are there four defensive linemen behind Jennings chasing him? him that guy uses all of the field he gets his money's worth and even though it's scary and the interception was terrible he's such a baller man he is such a baller so fun to watch that you started to fall in love with that's him you he doesn't have a pulse man no yeah that's your problem not mine i think that's how he treat everything in life is like that's your problem I feel like they don't have a system. He just breaks and goes, get open. Yeah.

And that final drive. It worked. You know, got him back into the game. I mean, how many times did it look like he's flushed out? There's no chance. And then he kind of runs up. And then you're like, is he running? Is he throwing?

I don't know. And you know what, credit to his receivers because they know it so well. They get back in a position. They find a good spot to drop down. All of a sudden, the camera will pan and will go, that sideline view, they will pan. And a receiver will have, it would be open by. seven yards waiting on the sidewalk like you know like they they they they work it together

they work it together and and i looked up so i don't know these he had like nine different he doesn't have a receiver with more than 30 receptions this year but he's got like nine guys with 22 or more i mean i guess when you're running 150 yards four times a drive you got to be rotating guys in and out yeah that kid's exhausted by the way he's He's got an IV in right now. All of the receivers. You can only handle four plays of drive with this guy.

But it's fun. If you're a defensive lineman in this game for Clemson, you're like, this sucks. So SMU is better than Alabama. Is that what we're saying? You want to do a little resume? Now it'll change because they've got to

recalculate the strength of schedule. I'd love to do a little resume. Well, can we talk about Breschard Smith first? Can we talk something positive before Ments ruins this whole. Richard Smith. That's my guy this week, right? 24 carries 113.

Six catches, 34 yards and a touchdown. You're telling me he's nothing next Tyrone Tracy? I like him. I mean, he had a tough drop, but he had a good game overall. Yeah, he had a tough drop. He had six catches.

Just saying. What's the resume? Give me the resume. All right, here we go. Do you got it, Ryan? Here's my thing. Let me jump. I know, Miami, he just eating.

I mean, I know they threw it to him in Miami a bunch, but I mean, he had, I think he had, I mean, he just, they didn't, they didn't use him as a running back. Yeah. No, he wants the Alabama. He wants the Alabama SMU resume. While, while you're pulling that. I can do that.

Oh, I thought you wanted the Breschards. I thought we were still in Breschard. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Well, while, well, Rosillo is pulling up the, the, the resumes here. I want to say this to every Alabama fan out there that's going,

crazy. I agree. I agree with Mench that if they play 10 times, Bama's probably going to beat them eight to nine times. And I am all for getting the best teams in. Would you pick USC against Boise? Right. But there has to be some kind of standard. There's got to be some kind of like this. This from the guy, they made themselves. He was the one win the Indiana team out. I guess. Who, me? No, me.

Look, I, I never thought I had Indiana at 11 and 1 in. I want South Carolina in. I want Alabama in. I don't want Alabama in for the record. The committee's going to put him in. I think he's going to put him in. Okay, because like you could break it down and everybody can do this. Okay.

I mean, it's like, it's like honoring somebody at a dinner, you know, at the Elks Club. You're just going to say all the nice stuff. Right. Right. Not that he cheated on Tammy four times and he beat his dog back in the eight. and, yeah. Has he cheats on his taxes and his wife, but he's one of these,

he's a, Gus is a good guy. He's a hard worker. The record against the top 25 teams, I think SMU's now, what, O and two and Bama's three and one. But I don't, look, I don't like Bama's quarterback.

I think their defense have been gashed about four or five times. I know their linebackers are supposed to be awesome. I know the O line's supposed to be awesome. I think the O line was a coin toss times this year. you know, the Bama part of this, I know the committee had them at 11, which made you think, okay, they're still going to find a way into this whole thing, all right? But I would pick Ole Miss over him.

I would pick South Carolina over them, which I hate because of the head-to-head. So as much as I think rightfully so would argue for the SEC when it's close on some of this stuff, and I think the schedule should come into play. And I don't think the committee cares about the schedule. They also don't care about the schedule imbalance within conference. I mean, Felica came on Friday, and I was like, I feel like we're the only two people really talking about this. Like, have you dug through how crazy it is that some of the top teams that were playing a conference championship games, how much easier their schedule was than other teams? So we may have flawed teams because not great teams are winning their conference because they just had an easier ride through it.

Again, that's not the case of Georgia, because nobody in college football had to even come close to what Georgia had to do with their six opponents. Like, go ahead, try. You're just going to be wasting your time. But I also think there's something to be said of like, we've gotten so far. away in the sport from just being able to say, hey, I think this team is good and I don't think that one is because I watch it all day on Saturday. And we could do a Bama SMU resume here, but if SMU is in over Bama, I'm not going to freak out after that chaotic SEC Saturday night where those three teams lost. And I still think Bama's loss at Oklahoma is far worse than losing in Florida. And also, you know, look, A&M losing Auburn. On paper, Auburn is the worst team.

But at least it got to overtime when they were down 21-0 and came back in that game. or an Oklahoma team that can't score. Granted, it was turnovers. It was short fields, but that running back gashed them again. So normally I would be the guy who would agree, like, hey, who really actually wants to play Bama in some of those other years? This is not one of those years for me, especially when I'm arguing about them getting in as one of the bottom seats.

So do you have S&U in? You would take one of the three SEC teams, or you're good with SMU? I would argue for South Carolina or Ole Miss over S&U. Agreed. Agreed. I would argue for a chance in the other two. Wait, you're SMU over. So you don't want the other SEC team in.

You'd say SMU tonight after what you saw. Me? Yeah. I think they're going to be. I just, I guess it's, it's recency bias coming off that game. The way they battled back.

Like, that was, that was pretty freaking special. What an awful way to lose. Return. I mean, SMU's going to play, brutal.

SMU's going to play like Notre Dame in the Penn State or and state in the first round. Yeah, I get it. Okay, what about what about Arizona? Go ahead. Can the committee? The committee's sitting there and they're like, God, how do we, how do we just, we told everyone you were not going to penalize you for losing in a championship game.

We stacked these teams up. It was a three point. The committee was dying, dying for that, that first half score to hold up. Dying. easy. SMU, nice run, but not the level.

Now, the right thing based off of all of their bullshit is to put SMU in. The best team is South Carolina followed by

Ole Miss, Alabama. So, like, I don't know what to tell you. After the SEC teams. SMU in. If I'm going best teams, I'm going,

I'm going South Carolina, I'm going to go Alabama, then I'll miss, then I'll go Miami, then I'll go smooth. I mean, that's very close to where I'm at. But I also know it's not reasonable. I'm trying to have a reasonable conversation. No, I like what you said, though. That's relevant to the situation. I like what you see because I don't, I don't want to penalize the extra game people.

Like that would not be a habit that I would want to get into. But, you know, you can have rules. But every year you're going to, you can't have these hard and fast rules with it. you're going to have scenarios that play out different every single year when you're trying to put together these 12 teams. So I personally would rather it be one of those other SEC teams, but I wouldn't get mad about it. I'm not going to, I wouldn't be like you're totally wrong because it kind of gets back to the original point, what the committee said here. The ACC, bottom line, I'm not calling any conspiracy here. The ACC, bitching and moaning on game day today, we're a much better conference than you believe than everyone believes.

everybody i love i love that by the way it's this fake like imaginary everybody agrees the cc's the best but we're better than you think it's like what what did you hear the commissioner today he's like we better record versus the big 12 better record versus uh the big 10 and a better record against the cc then well i guess you're at this conference yeah no no listen better record against the cc than all the other conferences record against the SEC. Not a better record. Not a winning record. Yeah.

Not a winning record against the SEC. But my point is, if you want to go down the conspiracy theory, and I'm not saying this is happening, like I don't believe it. I truly don't. But the only way the ACC was getting it in was this exact result. A close, exciting game where you love SMU. This is the only way they were getting two teams from the ACC in. And you know how important that is financially for the brink.

brand everything. There are playoff scenarios. Right. Well, look, there are playoffs in general areas where I get mad. I would not be mad about this one. If they roll them out tomorrow

and it's still SMU and Clemson and there's that extra SEC team not in it, that's fine. Yeah. That's fine. But it is a different college football experience. And I would think that a committee that has been tasked with figuring this stuff out would really be able to dig through everybody's

schedule and go, what? Like, what happened here? You know, and I don't really blame any of the coaches for doing. I mean, Signetti's going to get out there and start stomping the table. But then he starts acting like, oh, this is all because of brand.

It's all because of brand. I guess I'd say the same thing, too, if I hadn't beaten anybody. But, and look, they're in. I mean, he was mad about not getting a home game. Yeah, I'd be quiet if I'm signet. Like, you're going to be in at 11-1, not doing anything. And now you're mad about not getting a home game. And I don't know what they're going to do because, like, all of us want to see Tennessee, Indiana.

and I don't think like this is where it gets a little weird and we'll see because I remember the BCS people speculating like oh they won't put this team in the sugar and they'll do this. You're like, oh wow, that makes a lot of sense. And then they would actually in fact do the thing no one thought they would do. So will we see a Big Ten matchup in the first round depending on where Penn State lands or does that become like a seating tiebreaker where they're like, well, let's just have Notre Dame play this team or Tennessee plays this team? I'll leave you guys with this. Cam Scataboo was awesome again today. 16 carries 170 yards, 10.6 per carry, two touchdowns, 38 receiving yards.

Sam Levitt was highly efficient. Gold chain. Their defense, yes. He plays like he wears a gold chain. Their defense was- Scataboo jacket. Boredom feels. Their defense was better than expected, like played hard,

held him to 19. Arizona State was awesome today, dominant. They're going to get whacked in their first game. I don't care who they're playing because they ain't playing that sponge of a run defense. And they ain't got anything else. They don't have anything else. I'm so like and I love Scataboo. What Kenny Dillingham has done is brilliant six straight eight of their last nine.

They had a hiccup at Cincinnati. But I just, I loved everything about the Arizona State story. I'm pulling for them. They were awesome today. But I can't envision that team without Jordan Tyson being able to do anything against a defense that can play the run. Iowa State's 122 in the country as far as opposing rushes rushing yards per carry. Like I don't even want to, I don't care about like overall yards per game. Like when you break it down yards per carry and you can see.

I think there was a Levitt keeper where he went up against a couple of linebackers for Iowa State. And you're like, oh, my God. Maybe there is a difference between some of the conferences at some of the positions. I don't know. You know, you're watching these games. I love Arizona State. I do think they're just kind of a bunch of ballers. I think if I coach, I know Scataboo had a touchdown last year.

I think if I was his coach at any level, the first rule would be I'll never give you a half back pass option because you're going to throw it every single time. no matter what the coverage is. But I look, who wouldn't love this story? Pick last Dillingham's age, the whole deal, Jordan's out. But that was kind of a bad matchup there because of Iowa State's defense. So you think there's not another, there's not a first round matchup for you where you think Arizona State has a chance. And Todd, you're okay with Boise getting the buy as the other conference champ instead of a ball. Boyce is a better football team.

Okay. Unfortunately. I love, I truly love Arizona State. I love watching him. I love the way they play. With Jordan Tyson, it would be different. Just watching, they don't have anybody else. They're in the have-nots now.

They don't have anybody else at wide receiver. And it takes a special kind of incompetence to literally know every time you line up, there's one thing that can hurt us. We have to stop that one thing from hurting us. And you do it at a disgusting level of 10.6 yards. precaried allowed. They're not going to, there's no, I'm looking at it like Penn State, uh-uh, Tennessee, uh-uh, Ohio State, uh-uh, Alabama, if they're in, no chance.

Notre Dame, God, no. Indiana even, no, Georgia, no, SMU, no, Oregon, no, like, Texas, no, no. That's every, every possible matchups. That's a no. I mean, don't hold back. I want to thank all the live viewers for staying with us throughout all of our comments

now this has been fun I do appreciate everyone we've had a pretty good crowd for Saturday night it's now 11. a.m. Eastern time Not everywhere. No, are you getting ready to go out

Manhattan Beach? Come on. Full day tomorrow too, buddy. I've seen you pull you know. Season's on a lot of over yet. Yeah, pull turn two. Um, but we want to thank everyone. So here's the deal. We got, we get the announcement on Sunday, right? We're going to not, I mean, kind of not a great

ratings poll, except if you're in the, the Tuscaloosa area for that. Um, but, but so Sunday night, we're going to get the, the, or Sunday afternoon, we're going to get the, the reveal for the 12 teams and the seatings. That will be fun to take a look at. I'm on with you. We're doing live on, Why don't you promote your show Monday, Riscilla? Yeah, we go live YouTube. I think that's going to start up at noon Eastern, 9 Pacific, and we'll just react to the rankings. And we'll just give you another hardcore dose of college ball here.

But I don't feel like, I don't feel like there'll be an outcome here where I'm going to be outraged. I don't. We might have to bring Munch on. I think he's already outraged. What's the outrage scenario for you, Mench? it's, listen, I actually kind of agree because at the end of the day, handle your business. Like if you're South Carolina, win one of those three games, the, well, they did, you were the Alabama game. I know, you're talking about sellers.

You're actually, I think you're angrier about South Carolina than I am, Todd, to be honest with you. Well, I just don't understand how we live in a world where, where you take out Florida State undefeating the season they had last year because of quarterback. But you watch a scenario in which Lenora Sellers gets injured. You're up 17 nothing with him. Lose that game without him. And the official. And terrible officiating. It was like beyond brutal.

That would be enough for me in the room to go, hey, let's treat it as two and they just, they beat Clemson, you know. And that's my problem with this committee is the, it's the wins losses. We're always going to have a problem with a committee. It's equal. Right. But it is, you're right. It's very wins losses.

There's no weighted. It's not weighted enough. I'd be in the room arguing Texas to be fifth. And they're not going to be. SMU and Miami were ranked as high as they were when you're watching those teams play and you're watching these other teams play. And you're like, it was just like they were trying to get these, the ACC and the big 12 teams in that top 12.

So it justified having them there instead of just letting one of them be the automatic bid in not having to move them all up there because they have one loss. They just played terrible schedules. I don't know. To me it was they, from the very, the jump, the not waiting the schedules was a problem for me. So that's what we got going on on Monday with Riscilla. Then on Tuesday, we're back here.

We're going to kind of expand that conversation, get into, start looking at the matchups and also the quarterback confidence draft. I'm actually really excited for that. I think we, like, in a year where we, I don't have a, I've got a good confidence in a lot of these guys, but not, I don't know. I think it's very debatable. going to be a good discussion.

But that's it. We appreciate it. Again, thank you, everyone, for joining us this late. Appreciate all the support. Download, subscribe. Riscilla is better at this. Tell a friend what all the other people on podcasts say. But we do truly, all joking aside, appreciate you being with us. And Riscilla, we appreciate you and your outfits joining us late on this critical Saturday night.

I love the invite. So thank you for letting me get in the way of what you. you guys have been doing it's been awesome but for me to sit there and then not have i would have been just calling mcshay at one in the morning i'd had to talk about this so i i can't tell you how much i appreciate the invite i was happy to be a part of it tonight so thanks brother a little kumbaya moment mentioned you get anything sweet to say too i don't i don't get in the way this touching moments going on right now i'm good all right fellas we'll talk to you soon appreciate everyone thanks must be must be 21 plus and present in select states for kansas in affiliation with kansas star casino or

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