The McShay Show - Cotton Bowl Instant Reactions: An Ohio State–Notre Dame Natty, Jack Sawyer’s Signature Moment, and Quinn Ewers’s Next Move

Episode Date: January 11, 2025

Welcome back to ‘The McShay Show’! Todd and Steve kick off with their live reactions to Ohio State’s 28-14 win over Texas. Then, they talk Quinn Ewers’s draft decision and what to make of Ohio State being a 9.5-point favorite in the national championship against Notre Dame. 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, Mark Panik, Conor Nevins, and Daniel Comer Social: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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must be 21 and older and present in select states. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Ments you good? Yeah, man. I'm good. We tried to catch lightning in a bottle too nice in a row. We did. We had every good intention.

We were here. And then Captain Jack messed it all up. No, I mean, what an amazing play. I just heard Herbie say it. And he's obviously an Ohio State alum and former player and has lived in his whole life. His dad was an Ohio State Buckeye. He said this is like the top top three plays in the history of Ohio State. Wow.

Yeah. And how about like Jack Sawyer, the career he's had, the captain he's been, the fact that I didn't even realize that he was the first recruit of the Ryan Day era and helped bring a lot of those. Yeah. I guess that's what they're saying or helped with that class. whatever it was. And on top of it was roommates with Quinn Ewers. Yeah. And then to have that strip sack to seal the game for Ohio State,

to send him to a national championship in the same year that it looked like Ryan days out, it can't beat Michigan, everything's falling apart. It was not the game I expected, but it was still, I mean, there were so many fascinating things this game. I'm excited to get to get to it. What are your initial thoughts, bud? Uh, I mean, that first of all, that play, I mean, the way he beat Cameron Williams clean, just a great move with his hands.

And, you know, got Cameron Williams, was top heavy, slipped them, I mean, right away. I mean, it wasn't like you were, as I thought at times held onto the ball too long tonight. That wasn't the situation on that throw. Sawyer was there in a heartbeat. Um, and then I just thought like, I'm like every other big guy. I was like, there's no way he's going to make it. never make it. You know what I mean? We never get all the, we never get all the way to the end zone. Like I thought for sure someone's going to catch them. But no. Um, ultimately a little disappointing at

the end, I felt like, you know, I wanted Texas to score there. I wanted it to be a little bit more interesting. Uh, but I also, as soon as they got down to the goal line, I didn't have faith that they were going to get that ball. I wasn't, I did not think for a moment that this was a lock that they were going to tie the game. I didn't either, to be honest. And, and, and I heard Fowler, you know, talking already about what a response by Quinn Ewers and what a drive. And I'm like, whoa, slow down, man. He's not in the barn yet, man. I mean, just a wild finish.

But I want to say this, just my initial reaction to the whole game. The game is a whole now. It was not great. It was not made for TV, right? It just wasn't. But as the game went on, I grew an increasing, level of respect for what was actually going on in the field. Okay.

All right. I thought this was, this was like watching NFL defenses with college uniforms. Like the level of play from Pete Quikowski and his Texas defense and Jim Knowles from his in the Ohio State defense. This is a game where like, first of all, the college football playoff semifinals, if you're a big fan of wide receiver play,

if that's why you're in it. like this was not for you man like not your year was not for you jeremiah smith came in on an absolute heater they shut him down i don't know if he one for three was what he had you know deep into the game i don't know what he ended up with so but but to the point coverages dropping seven dropping eight disguising zone like eyes and instincts in zone coverage the back seven of these of both of these defenses were absolutely phenomenal and not in a traditional way. When you think, oh, it was a defensive, hard-fought defensive game,

they're usually like sacks and great defensive individual efforts, your pass rushers and one-on-one. It wasn't that. It was a bunch of dudes in the back seven playing with the amount of discipline that you come to see from great NFL defenses. Like in their spots, dropping in zones, disguising coverage, timing things perfectly. And it made for a boring game.

game for a good portion of it made for a frustrating game for both of these quarterbacks for the vast majority of the game took out all the top wide receivers i mean i'mika i meka um i thought i thought early in the game yes early in the game i thought this was going to be his game because it was a lot of zone coverage he's great in states and he's parent it up he was early on and then he went away and so now jeremiah now the credit to um to for ohio state with Carnell Tate. You know, he had, I don't know if he finished with it, but like midway through the fourth quarter,

seven for 87 yards. That's what he had a big game. That was what he finished with. Yep. And it was a result of something had to give on the smothering Texas defenses doing a great job in the zone coverage while also bringing another, you know, safety over, bracket coverage doing all the things they had to do to keep Jeremiah Smith

to one catch for three yards. So I give these, both these teams, like to game plan for this game, to continue to show different things. And like, how about, I mean, how about Jim Knowles? We talked so much about Chip Kelly and what he did in terms of adjusting things on offense, becoming more aggressive in the past game, opening things up, counter, you know, going from a zone blocking to the guard tackle, backside counters, misdirection, all the stuff that they were doing the offensive side.

Well, defensively, you just the other day, I thought, did a brilliant job of a explaining, like moving a corner into the free safety spot, downs into that, like, that rat roll and the safety. Yeah. You turning and covering and getting him closer to line of scrimmage, having a three-deep. Nick Saban did a good breakdown on it today, too, for those of you who were watching. But I just thought it was brilliant defensive football. And it made two good college quarterbacks, not great, not elite prospects, good college

quarterbacks with a lot of wars. I mean, what, like over 100 games started between them, something like that around that, made them look very average and even more so. I thought it made them look confused. Like they were swimming in it, especially Ewers for a good portion of the night, swimming in it mentally.

Yeah, this was the microcosm of the Quinn Ewer's experience. Yes. Times where you're like, you know, he goes, he flips the ball to the running back and the running back makes a play. He made some nice throws of the, the blue like the touch i mean those throws the blue i know that you know one of them was wide open and the other one he had a blue had the linebacker beat and i get it but there were still nice throws he made some nice throws in this game and then he's stepping into sacks then he's holding

on to the ball too long then he's high on a throw you know that drive just before ohio state went up by uh seven 21 14 he had golden and he just and i know there's a little bit of pressure man but you got to make that throw and he just he sailed it sailed and it was over golden's head and golden couldn't come down with it i was just if you just wanted him to be more consistent you saw flashes of it like you always do and then i mean what about the run where he did they ended up reviewing it and you were short but they ended up that was the play before the archmanning where he ran and he lowered his shoulder and i was like all right let's go man a little fire a little emotion you know willing to sacrifice your body to make a play that can get you rolling as a passer too

But again, it's a microcosm, right? It's the good, good, good, what are we doing here? What are we doing? Okay, what are we doing now? And I thought that, you know, I don't think the strip sack is his fault. It'll be interesting to look back on it because, again, I thought Cameron Williams got just got beat clean. And it's hard for a quarterback to see that coming right off the bat. But it'll be interesting to go back and look and see if there's, you know, when I think he's holding onto the ball if he had better options.

Because it just felt like he was indecisive at times. Nobody's the level of nonchalant that Cam Ward is, but but watching Ewers all year long, it just leaves you wanting. And I feel like I've said that 10 times this year with, with Quinn Ewers and the Texas offense. There are so many flashes, there are drives, there's a play here and there. But, but Quinn Ewers just, and, and I respect and appreciate the level of, of chill, of poise, the game, you know, the moment not being too big.

He's excellent on finesse throws, layering the ball over, touch, you know, angles. He's great in certain, certain situations, certain throws. But when you need someone to just rear back and drive one, when you need a quarterback to like climb the pocket, quick, decisive ball out, but just rip it. He's not your guy very often. He's just not your guy. You have an arm. Rip it. There are some of the times I was saying that.

We flashed in the Arizona State game, right? That deep throwed out into the end zone. Yeah. Didn't see enough of that this year. Didn't certainly didn't see enough of that in this game. But I also, I think both these defenses in Ohio State, especially, they just were brilliant in their coverage. And it's like the more shots that I got from that Skycam view is of what the quarterback was seeing. the more I started to realize, like, yeah, he's swimming in it, but like a lot of guys would be.

Right. That's fair. You know? That's fair. Yeah, I would agree with that. Again, I want to see the, I want to see the coaches tape to see, because it's tough when you're watching on TV. They show you the big plays, the third down plays. You get to see a little bit what's going on on the coverage end of it.

There's other times where you don't see it. And it just feels like, come on, man, get it out. I will tell you something about this game, unless you want to make another point about you. No, no, we're going to bounce around all over the place. Before you jump in, I just want to say, thank you everyone again. This is two nights in a row. Audience keeps growing. Like the fact that people are coming on live to watch this show, we appreciate you.

You've been here from the beginning, a lot of you. You continue to grow with us, and we truly appreciate it. So, and we tried. Like, we tried. I sent out the tweet, X, whatever we want to call it. I was like, let's go, you know, let's run it back tonight. and then by the time we got things fired up and going, Stripsack, I thought for sure, I didn't think for sure. We both stayed.

But had Texas scored there, we would have been like, my eyes here, you would have been doing your thing. Right. The screen like last night in a stiff neck. And we could have had a lot of fun. But we will, for those of you who are here now, we will be back January 20th, national championship. The game is set. We've got number eight Ohio State, which is ridiculous that they were number eight, number seven, or Dame, ridiculous. They were number seven, going head to head in the national championship.

And we've already decided no matter what happens. Five minutes remaining in that game, we're going to be here live. Please come join us. We'll promote it and we'll remind people as we get closer. But again, we just want to truly show our appreciation for everyone being here. And yeah, we'll do our best for the next however many minutes to break this game down, start projecting a little bit forward. And a couple of things draft-wise I want to get into with you, too. ahead, match. Interesting. Yeah.

I thought outside of the Texas touchdown to tie the game in the first half, from the time the Trevion Henderson punched, I don't even know, I can't remember he punched in the phase. Yeah. From that time on, what a sloppy end of the half. Oh, my gosh. So many penalties. Then the refs missed the PI against Wingo, but in fairness to them,

throw the ball to, like, in the area. The ball wasn't even close. so the rest aren't really, it's tough for them to see that. I thought that U-Rs was so off on that throw that it costs them the penalty. You know what I mean? But that ball's even close. I think the refs are seeing that Wingo is getting interfered with, and then they have the call.

And the screen is a great, let me listen, Trayvon Henderson, great vision, great patience, great play by him, great play call by Chip. You can't let that happen if you're Texas. No. It cannot happen. It's basically, it's the equitimate. It's the equivalent of giving up a Hail Mary. Right.

Right. It's like what Chicago did against Washington. Like, you know, your cornerbacks taunting me. It just, it can't have that defense. That defense had a fun real year. And it wasn't. And I'm not saying that that's the side of the game. But it just can't happen.

And you know what it did? You know what it did mention? Here's what, here's the whole story of this game, right? the right team won this game the better football team the team who has played better the majority of the season the team that has played better in the college football playoff won this semi-final game tonight ohio state has been the most dominant team in the college football playoff there's no no arguing that no coach that was in the playoff would argue that they weren't the most dominant team tonight but they were the they didn't

didn't play like that dominant team that we had seen in the first two outings, but they were the most dominant team in this game, especially in the first half. What happened was self-inflicted wounds, right? They controlled the line of scrimmage early in this game, both sides of the ball. I thought there was a chance after that first drive, first two series, that Ohio State was going to be an ugly one.

I really did. And it didn't have that same feel of big plays and all that because Texas wasn't going to allow it. That's not what they do. They're a zone heavy defensive team. They're going to take away the big play. You're going to have to drive and earn it. Ohio State made three penalties, one on each of their three drives following that

touchdown drive that ruined the drive. And in doing so, Ohio State let Texas back in because you saw all of a sudden this Texas defense that looked kind of knocked back on their heels. They came out and they quit John Judkin was running all over there. ass, like chunks and just more physical up front. But all of a sudden it was like, oh, a second and 20. Now this Texas defense is like, we got an opportunity to get after the quarterback. And I saw a defense literally like before my eyes with each one of those penalties

and each one of those series in the first half, it was back to back to back. One penalty killed what was early on a promising drive. and then you start to see a defensive lineman make one big one big play but it was second in 25 or second in 20 you know what I mean and so and it went from like would have been midfield to now they're back up on their own 20 and and like they kind of blowing up their neck and it's like yeah we got this all right four quarters we're going to make this a four quarter fight right it's fine that yours is in the tank it's fine that our offense can't run the football we're going to keep this thing close. And so Texas had one drive in the first half, and all of a sudden, it's 7-7.

And now the, like that defense from the first series of the game to the second got better, to the third got better, to the fourth was now the dominant unit on the field. Truly. Right. So those three penalties, self-inflicted wounds, and the bonehead penalty on Henderson kept him alive. But then Henderson erased all that. Right. He did. And then they come out and they didn't get off to a great start in the second half. Texas then has the really good drive. I thought that was a critical drive in the second half to what was it. It was Jaden Blue, the second touchdown than he had, right?

The game that the play, sorry, the series, though, that decided this game was Ohio State fourth quarter, tied up 14, 14, 14. 13 play drive. The first eight, they came out and threw the ball. Eight straight passes. And then it took the Will Howard run, chunk run. They got down to the eight. And then it just, then Ohio State was back to, all right, we're going to, we're going to have physical you,

just like they did on that very first drive of the game. And it was just, it was three runs from the eight yard line, and they just outmuscled Texas. that that drive to me was was the difference in this game yeah the will howard run which i think faller called or did erbie might have called fowler fowler predicted it yeah that was a and they talked about it but i'm just going to echo it because i thought it was a really important point formation wise it's we always talk about this with the offense it's a numbers game especially with the rPO the development of these things it's a numbers game and you're looking at

that defensive front and there's a defender over the tackle or the defender over the guard and defender over the center. And then there's no one. And you're seeing that and you're thinking my, you're thinking to yourself, I'm I mean, I run left. I got a, I got a hat on a hat. I feel really good about our numbers if I go that way, especially if it's a quarterback run because you got the extra blocker.

I thought it was a great call and I thought the Texas wasn't prepared for, they didn't make the right adjustment in terms of their alignment and in terms of their personnel, but it does why, so why didn't they? well, because you have these studs at wide receiver on the other side of the formation. They had three of their three top receivers on the right side of the formation and Howard runs left. So you're putting safeties over there. You're making sure that these guys still aren't going to beat you over the top. The problem is that it opened it up for the Will Howard run.

I guess say something. I got like aesthetically, Will Howard's, I don't love him at times. Like when he stumbles and he falls. And, you know, I think that's, it's kind of a problem that I need to like get that out of my mind. when I'm evaluating him. And I thought he got lucky with a couple of throws tonight. Like, he threw one that Scott caught into traffic. And I was like, good luck making that play every time.

And then there was another one that went through, I think, Hill's hands early on. And then he had a pick. And there was just a couple plays where I was like, I don't know. But you know what? He made plays when it mattered, man. And you got to give him credit for that. And I just think that I maybe, you know, I know it's hard on him earlier. and I know that he didn't play as well tonight,

but they played the best team they've played so far. I know they played Tennessee or the best defense, right? Yeah, they played Tennessee and Oregon. I think the Texas defense is better than both of those units. So I think there's a little bit of a, you're expecting a little bit of a coming back to Earth for Will Howard, but he still played well. He did, and I'll give him, I'll give him this for credit.

They haven't leaned on him all year, really. they they gave him the opportunity they opened things up in the previous two games right and it was just the game plan they came in with they leaned on him tonight the run game wasn't there and and chip chip recognized that like Henderson jupkins combined had 15 carries they weren't running on this text after there were after that first drive they just they recognize we're gonna have to throw it in this game. Now, the running backs got heavily involved. Like, Henderson had the one catch for 75. Junkins had three catches for 22.

But it was interesting to see that 33 pass attempts for Will Howard in this game, compared to the run game, just 15 carries for those two guys. And Will Howard had seven runs of his own, seven carries of his own. A couple of those were sacks. But it was just, it was interesting to see how the shift in that, like, late at the I remember that Nebraska game tighter than it should have been. Hell or Highwater were running the football, right? Right.

Penn State at times. You know, Howard made a couple of mistakes in that game, but Hell or Highwater run the football. Michigan can't run the ball, still running the football. That's when it all shifted. But Howard has been, he hasn't been brilliant by any stretch of the imagination. No.

But he has absolutely, I don't feel like he carried the team in the previous two games, although he was the distributor to a lot of big plays, right? And a scheme that was scheming up wide open receivers and one-on-ones. And Jeremiah Smith was phenomenal. And Abuka was outstanding, right? I felt like those were the receivers in the scheme. Tonight it felt like Will Howard's going to determine whether we win or lose this game.

And he did what he had to do. Wasn't brilliant through the interception, had some moments where it was frustrating. Never pretty. My God, is it. It's just never pretty. But that's why they brought him? You asked me, like, why did they bring him in? You asked me in mid-season or three-quarters.

Why him? Why not the kid up in Syracuse? This is why. Or why not Cam Ward? And we talked about this a little bit. Why not Cam Ward? Why not, you know, one of those bigger named transfer portal guys. And, you know, you think of Will Howard.

You're like, oh, really, Will Howard. And we talked about it then. Like, he's a fit. He fits what they want to do. He's a fit for what they are. It's the fit. It's the fit. And it's just enough running ability to keep you honest, but it's not going to be the feature, you know?

I thought Chip and Howard, the first drive, Chip's play calling Howard's execution was a thing of beauty. They're mixing it run. They're mixing it past. They took the deep shot to Smith that didn't hit, but they sent the message of, hey, listen, I mean, he may have one for three tonight, but he's going to open up all kinds of space for everyone else. And if you stop, if you stop giving him that attention,

that's, yeah, if you stop giving him that attention, fine, giving that attention all night, he doesn't have to catch the ball again, or maybe, you know, right, to catch us tonight. And that's going to open up every other thing for us to a certain degree.

But, yeah, that was fascinating. So I thought they had a, their first series was, I mean, boom, boom, boom. I wrote efficient, methodical. He was accurate. He was getting the ball out on time. They're mixing and run with pass. I thought they were throwing to different levels of the defense.

I thought it was a really knocked Texas off balance with the way they came out of the gate. I thought it was a great job by Chip. And I thought it was a great job of Howard executing that script. It was awesome tonight. Sunny Stiles. Yeah. Other than he did get beat on the touchdown, I think. But listen, man, I've been saying this for.

for a few weeks now. Yeah, and Simon has, Simon's been the better player, but, but, styles tonight, outside of that one play,

I thought played it, the best game I've seen all season, but you're right, you've been, even the last two weeks, you've said, I mentioned Simon, you said,

don't keep an eye on styles too. Stiles is awesome tonight. Team high six, 10, nine tackles, had a sack, felt like he was just around the ball a lot, made a couple of plays in coverage. I just,

I was impressed by him. Those safeties as good as advertised. I thought they were as good as advertised. The corners I still have concerns about, but who's going to take advantage? When's the last time you heard Igbenosin's name? Without a,

and I don't even mean to be like, I don't mean to be like a critical or like a, you know, the grumpy old man without it being attached to a call. I don't know. I mean, the Penn State, the Penn State interception is outrageous, an unbelievable play he made.

but he i think he saw it tonight 14 flags this year 14 flags really yeah and i think that might have been before he got his last one uh so that's been a real issue for them but again we talked how many times that we had a conversation about Ohio state's got all these receivers there's a couple other teams that we liked but none of the top end contenders had that like stable of weapons that they could come out and really challenge these corners. And now you now you get Notre Dame when I don't want to look too far ahead of here. I know we're viewing this game. Holy shit.

Holy shit. Breaking news. Breaking news. Don't look at your screen. Have you looked at your screen? Don't look at your screen. I saw it. I saw it.

All right. Everyone watching on the live screen right now. We just fan duel breaking news. We just got this in. I love this stuff, man. What's the spread? Ohio State, Notre Dame. national championship game.

What is the spread? I'm going to try to pull up. Are you asking me? I'm trying. No, I'm asking everyone who's watching live, Mancho. I was trying to pull up our feed right now

and see if we can get some answers. Here we go. Live feed. Come on, give you your answers. I want to see them. Everyone. Our guys,

our guy, St. Steve said, get it in now. If you can get Ohio State, Notre Dame in now, get it in now. Because of Ohio State

wins this game convincingly. think when you look at 2814, it feels kind of convincingly. If it, then that number is going to jump and it's already jumped. All right. Always trade back. It said minus nine and a half. Scumbag, you already knew it. Corey Hansford's the only guy on this, on this live feed right now, was being honest. He's got Ohio State six and a half. Bradley Wilson's another cheater. Elijah Taylor, minus 10.

These are our listeners. Res March. I know. They're flying in. Jason James minus eight. Chase Bigelos is Ohio State minus 100. Corey Ballas minus 21. Keith Merce, or Mercy, minus 14. Trevor Carpine minus two.

It's nine and a half, folks. It's nine and a half. I don't know why it shocked me. I didn't. It's a big number for a championship game. It's a big number for a championship game. Thank you, everyone, for throwing those in. I appreciate you guys.

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Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. I like this. We get like a little community here, Mesh. We're going to grow this thing. Yeah. I mean, these die hard. It's 1135 Eastern Time.

joining us on the show. That's awesome. And the quick responses, I appreciate it. Let me think. Let's just be honest with ourselves. Okay. You asked me the question, Tucker doesn't ruin it, ruin the surprise, but you broke the news for us. Iowa State, Notre Dame, I would have said, what, it was six tonight.

Yeah, I guess I would have said seven and a half. Maybe six and a half, seven, but seven and a half. That's interesting. Here's the other thing. I'm just going to throw the caveat. We'll come back to it. But caveat, the injuries for Notre Dame are real. And I'm not saying they're all going to be,

but like figuring out between now and then, if you're trying to just annihilate the book, Fandul, take them down, you're going to have to really get the injury information. Because, I mean, there's a lot of question marks versus Ohio State, like, yeah, JTT kind of tweaked his ankle today. But I mean, Ohio State, though. He came back and played well.

Yeah, he came back. All right. So jumped in. Ohio is not to preview that game right now. I'm trying to, like, save that for the next time we sit down and talk. But it's right now I'm looking at that and thinking and I'm already like projecting forward what I saw tonight, whether or not Notre Dame can do some of those things. both schematically and personnel-wise,

but we'll get, go ahead. This is your show. Well, listen, I think mine and just as much as it is, T.J. Raymond's and,

and, and Quentin and everybody else just chimed in. Go ahead. What do you, Notre Dame's played a lot of man, a lot of single high, and I wonder if Algole.

And rely on it. Yeah, I wonder if Algodon's defense coordinator is going to come in and say that's our identity or is he going to say, I just saw what Texas did to effectively

slow down. And I think they did. Remember, they had the defensive touch. touchdown and they had the screen pass. So take away, and I'm not saying that you can take away those scores, but Texas had a good game plan, I think, for this game. I think if you're looking at it.

Right. So we both agree on that. Jeremiah Smith had one catch. Right. So if you're looking at that, I'm saying to myself, no matter what Smith can't beat us, which to me is too high looks. So is Golden going to be, are they going to transition to more too high looks and play it safer?

Or are they going to do what's gotten to the national championship, which I'll be blunt, I think, is a mistake it would be oh man i mentioned of morrison was still healthy and they had him in this game and that matchup that would have been unbelievable unbelievable but unfortunately that's not the case first round cornerback he was ascending towards that to an all universe wide receiver yeah um so does golden switch it up or does he stay or is he one of those guys that says this is our identity this is what we do i don't see them changing i think it's hard to yeah i mean but it was hard for for to go from zone scheme to counter.

It was hard for Knowles to go from from his coverage look to bringing, bringing Caleb Downs in and playing him as the Tampa 2 linebacker, essentially with a lot of like three deep safety, three high safety looks like. Yeah, it's hard, but you got, they've got an extra day of prep, 11 days as we chronicled last night. I don't see them changing schematically what they're doing, but there's going to have to be wrinkles and adjustments. Right. And we said this during the season with Notre Dame.

They never really faced. They never faced. Indiana was the closest thing, right? Right. To a path, to a, like a dangerous passing attack, right? Am I wrong? No. And their other big one was at Texas A&M and that's when we moved playing.

George's biggest weakness personnel-wise, wide receiver, led the nation and drops. had a couple of guys who are dangerous, but could never put together a complete game. And a guy making his first start a quarterback. And I've got exactly. Penn State, really, truly, their only, like, only personnel weakness is wide receiver.

My goodness, did it stand out? They didn't have a receiver with a freaking catch, okay? They played the army and Navy. And a couple times, they, USC, not world beaters, and a backup quarterback, right, became the start, but like the guy who didn't start the season

who was inexperienced shredded it for like 365 or something like that. So, and I'm, yeah, it's going to be a big challenge talking myself into Ohio State minus nine and a half. No, but we got a lot of time to get into that. But that will be fascinating.

The injuries will be fascinating, matching up in coverage. and like you said and Texas almost did it tonight Texas actually effectively did do it Texas was what four yards away at one point from tying this game and things getting really dicey Texas did it tonight

exactly what you said watch out if you mess around long enough and find out with Notre Dame they will drag you into a fight you're not comfortable fighting in and then see what happens in the fourth quarter. And that's what Notre Dame does at a very high level. And that's what Ohio State has got to guard against in that game.

Great. All right, I'm jumping around on you now. Okay. Do you see the report that yours is? I did. That's exactly where I was going to go. All right, let's go. What do you got?

I think I sat here and I yelled and screamed about Carson Beck and how an NFL scout said he was foolish and how I completely agreed. I think I've been yelling and screaming about Jalen Milrow, how he needs to go back, not because he won't be a high draft pick or where he'll go in the draft, because he ain't ready. And I've spent so many years in this career

worrying about where a guy's going to go and get drafted. And I guess I've gotten closer to the game and closer to the players every year and going out to pro days. And I've been around too many families and too many sisters and girlfriends and mothers and dads and who have, like all of it. And I'm getting older.

I'm probably getting softer. Like I care about these guys. Even the guys I don't yet know. I care. Like I want what's best for them. Garrett Nussmeyer, we said from the beginning. Yeah, he'll be, if he decides to flip tomorrow, January 15th to date, we got five days until the underclassman declaration,

unless it's changed a little bit. But it's always January 15th, right, right in and around that date. Garrett Nussmeyer decides to come out. He's going to be a first round draft pick of quarterback. Is he ready? No. Does that put him in a position where he's got to start early in his career? Yes.

And if he's in that position, did Garrett and Usmeyer the last few weeks at LSU look like a guy that was ready to go in and went over a, and like to have success in an NFL office? No. Carson Beck, the same thing. Carson Beck, Georgia fans, hey, how are you? You've hated me for several things over the years, you know? And like, I love you.

I love Athens. We talked about Chuck's Fish. Like, I don't know what the feud is, but I said all along Carson Beck's not ready. Carson Beck's making a huge mistake. I even went as far as you go and break down his salary over a four-year span if he was a second to third round draft pick, literally sat there and gave you pick 33 to 62 and what it would be.

And he's going to make more money in an NIL. So if you're not developmentally, developmentally ready, you got opportunities and you're, actually going to make more money. And I remember saying this to you, I was yelling. Kind of like I'm yelling now. And I don't know why I'm yelling now.

But I love it. I was saying he's, what's an NIL worth? If he goes somewhere, if he comes back to, I thought maybe come back to Athens. And I was, I'm sure the folks in Athens will raise like two,

two and a half, three. I don't know what I said at the time. I don't know what an NIL deal is. I've heard different numbers here and there. It's not what I cover. Now he's making $4 million dollars to go to Miami. What's wrong with that?

Four times more money he would have made as a rookie quarterback as a second round draft pick if he was a second round draft pick because he wasn't going to be a first round draft pick. Will Levin made $985, $995,000 as a rookie second round pick is what I read today. That's four times as much money to go back and play in a new system, get a different opportunity, see if that fits a little bit better, play with new wide receivers, play with competent wide receivers. They got some there at Miami. Try to have the season in 2025 that you were hoping to have in 2024. And let's see. Now, maybe that rookie contract, that rookie year is instead of $990,000, it's $3 or $4 million.

And you're not taking a pay cut going to the NFL. So all of that ranting and Raven gets me back to the point. I don't know that another year with Quinn Ewers is necessarily going to change. him like I think it could elevate a Carson Beck, Garrett Nussmeyer, Jalen Milrow, if I'm being totally honest. I think there's a difference.

But I also think we didn't see the best of Quinn Ewers this year. Whether it was the oblique injury, whether it was the ankle injury at times, whether it was the pressure of playing at Texas, which is a lot more overwhelming than people think. Just go ask like the handful of coaches

who have been fired. It's a different animal. It's like the media coverage that Texas high school football, all of it. Maybe just an opportunity to get somewhere else, see the game a little differently, new opportunity. We've talked about every single one of these quarter by Shaden Daniels, really Caleb Williams, Bo Nicks, Michael Pennix, all these guys. New Spot could have a really good career somewhere, like in Texas.

Quinn and yours had a really, really good career, Texas. It's over at Texas now. the report that you're referring to is he talked to Pete Thamel, and unlike Drew Aller, Quinn Ewers came out and when Drew Aller was asked the question, hey, you're still standing by, you're coming back to Penn State next year. He said, I don't know, we're going to have to,

I'm just going to deal with that after the season's over, where she already had declared, if you will, that he was coming back to school. And when the question was asked by Pete Thammel to Quinn Neuer's, I don't, I'm paraphrer. raising, but I have no intention of playing college football next year. It was ultimately what he was saying, right? Yep.

When I talk to NFL teams and I've solicited and I've gotten unsolicited, every single one of them, even before I was starting to ask the question, and it wasn't even in my head of Quinn going back because he's played a lot of ball. And Sark's an awesome coach. And Sark has developed a lot of guys that have gone on and had success in the NFL. Sark was with Matt Ryan. Like he's been in the N. Like you're not going to get much better than Sark, but maybe a different setting.

It doesn't matter what I think for a second. When I'm talking to guys in the league, landslide, he needs to grab transfer. Everyone knows. Everyone knows it's Arch's gig the second that gun went off, right? It's Arch's gig next year in Texas. Archie Manning will be the starting quarterback there. But everyone I said, grab transfer, transfer somewhere else, get one more year. What do you think?

I think you should. I mean, let me ask you this. I'm going to fire right back at you. You're the advisory committee and he puts his name in. What do you come back to school? We said it last night, but for those of you who weren't with us last night, the advisory committee is made up of,

excuse me, ex-NFL personnel people, scouts, guys who know how to evaluate players. The NFL put this in, put it in a motion several years ago for the purpose of of trying to combat, the bad information that was out there by NFL agents, okay? And so for so many years,

we saw all these guys being told their first round draft picks, you know, and guys coming out and they would go in the sixth or seventh round. They'd hire, they'd go to all these training facilities and rack up. People that are like, oh, you signed with an agent. Oh, you're going to train with,

you know, you're going to train out in Phoenix. You're going down to Bradenton. You're going, and it's like, yeah, they are. And it's cool. But what people don't realize in the outside looking in, and I've experienced it. Like with Peter Warren,

and Travis Taylor, Ron Dugans, Daryl Jackson, all those guys that I helped train when I was first coming out of college, right? We were down in Braggenton doing it with them and all that. And there were a couple other players. I won't mention their names that came along because they, you know, they played at the same schools and were friends of those guys and the agency that I was helping out. I was just helping out to show them like what the combine drills are, you know, all that stuff. they're they're living the lap of luxury and saddlebrook look up saddlebrook like you know like martina hingis i think it was jennifer capriotti they were trying to advance into the into NFL into football right they were doing a lot of a lot of tennis at the time a lot of the big stars beautiful

facility pools massages every day like athletic massages training all the stuff for like high level athletes, but you had some of these guys who were fifth round linebackers and like a seventh round offensive guard that were hanging out there and racking up 50, 60, 70,000 dollars that weren't as big as their signing bonuses, right? Someone's got to pay for all that stuff. Someone's got to pay for all this stuff. And I don't even, I forgot my train of thought. I got so deep in the story.

Where are we going with that mentioned? We were talking about the advisory committee. The advisory committee comes out. The advisory committee comes in to try to help prevent a lot of that stuff. And so the advisory committee now, you have to submit your name. I think schools can only put in five names. I think that's what it is. But anyway, not to get caught up in the logistics, but it's too late now.

They give you three, one of three grades, first round grade, second round grade, or go back to school. So when I say the grade I would give if I was on that committee, the Quinn Ewers would be go back to school. because I think he quite honestly would be a third, fourth round draft. Wow. You? I don't. It's not, I hate being on the fence. It's not that I disagree with you.

It's just that, and that's the grade I would give him, right? I would give him a third round grade. I would give him, you know, maybe a fourth round grade, probably a third round grade. But the class is so weak. It's probably going to inflate his value a little bit. Where he actually goes will probably be earlier than where we or I would grade him. So I get that. At the same time, I completely agree with you on the overall point, which is he should go back to school.

I do think he might go earlier than the third, you know, maybe someone falls in love with him, maybe has a great pro day, the pre-draft process, all that stuff could all fall in line. But even if that does fall in line, I don't see him going early first round. That's just, I don't say that he's got too much ground to cover to get there, in my opinion. And I also believe, maybe more so than you do, listen to what you had to say about the other quarterbacks, I think he would benefit from going back. I think momentum and confidence are a huge part of that position. And if you can go to a school and you can get that Mo going a little bit and that confidence, and you start putting up big numbers and you're like, oh, my, and you stay healthy for a year,

that's the other thing. We don't know behind the scenes about what the kids been dealing with in terms of his health. I don't think he can hurt him. And he's getting paid. Remember when these kids had to make a decision of I'm going to have to go and try and support my family? Yes. It's a totally different world. That's not a thing for the players that we're talking about tonight.

That's not a thing for a Quinn. Because if you're going to go get paid in the NFL, you're getting paid in college. And then I get a guard or a tackle isn't getting as much, but a first round tackle or second round tackles still getting enough money where it's helping out. Right. Not for nothing, but if someone came up to us at the end of our careers in Congress, in college it was like i'll give you uh you know 750 thousand dollars to hang around now that wasn't like really in our the stars for us but if someone said that to you i mean what are we doing i get to go back someone said someone said 20 grand i want you to think about it

like we're hard up for like we're hard up for like a night out and yeah you know like yeah ramen we had to eat ramen during the off season because papa johns like we were looking for those coupons, you know? Old. Yeah, we are. That being said, go back. And we've been saying this, this has been an overall theme for us for a little while now. And I just think it's true.

Even, you know, to spread it out a little bit, too, like the tackle Cameron Williams from Texas is a really talented kid. This was his first year as a full starter. He got beat tonight. And he's had that problem on tape, too, where he's lunged and he got beat by Jack Sawyer for the sack. back, man. Go back. I'm sure he's going to get a little money too. He's that talented

of a player. And he's going to be a very good pro in the long run. I think he's going to be a really good pro football player. But right now he's just got some things to work on. And he's only got one season of starting under his belt. Why not go back? And, you know, Austin seems like an awesome place to be. I don't understand why

don't stop rushing this if you're these kids. Like, it's just, there's no need for you to get out earlier than when you're ready. I thought the defense was awesome. I'm going back to Ohio State. Let's swing it back. And I love the U.S.

talk. And I love the draft talk. And I can't wait. January 21st, like, we're going to hang. Yeah, we're going to, I promise we'll be a fun hang. I can't always promise that year around. But for a few months, we're going to do some awesome stuff and have a lot of fun and talking to GMs and scouts and breaking down tape and going through the process and really doing it. right and we're going to get creative and we're going to show you kind of behind the curtain of

everything we do. But I do want to make sure that like if you tuned in the nights to talk about Ohio State and that awesome win that we get enough into it. And yet I keep looking like we covered Will Howard. Jeremiah Smith didn't do much. Mecca, Buka was was really good early. I think he had one other catch that I can remember that was like of significance, but he tailed off. Carnell Tate, we talked about it was awesome. Seven for 87. I don't know if that was his final numbers. I'll look at here.

Yeah, seven for 87. They needed him tonight. They even needed Carnell Tate. Carnell Tate has been like, you know, throw some sprinkles on top. Yeah. And I think they said in the broadcast, I agree, he'd be a number one or number two most places. He'd be a featured guy. I mean, Penn State would love a Cardnell Tate.

Oh, my gosh. I can't unsee that. I can't. I still can't unsee that. we've had some bad wide receiver playing college football this year, but at Ohio State, it's, it's, it's their calling card. And we had some, some, not some featured wide receiver play at Ohio State for a long time, but not the case.

And to see a guy like Carnell Tate step up, that's huge, you know? And, but this defense, I just keep going back to it. Like, like, Stiles was awesome. Hancock made a lot of plays, downs with the interception at the end. of the game. I didn't like he he he wasn't on TV as much tonight but he's still like I caught him in the tail end like trailing guys deep in coverage you know I'll be interested to go back and watch the tape but just like locking guys down all night. He had a big tackle on the and on that goal line run where they tried to run outside with blue late. Yeah. And that was the same. Yeah. Oh yeah.

When the in six when he went on the inside out right. And you're like, dude, not a lot of guys could do that. And there's a lot of guys you wouldn't even tell them to do that. You're telling them the fight over. But he closes and he reacts so fast that he's one of those, you know, unique individuals that can do it. You mean, Captain Jack, you know, the bad. He had an unreal game. He did. And then not like he didn't have like 10 tackles or anything, but like the batted down pass early on doing a good job containing when I saw at times when they're trying to run outside of him. Being physical, he's gotten more violent. I don't know where it came from. I don't know if it was planting the flag in Michigan, like, but he has been more, that whole defensive line has been

more violent during this post it's what the coaching staff was looking for all year long it's what NFL scouts who have talked to who have left Columbus disappointed in September and October to a certain degree just like expecting more wanting more right it wasn't it's not like we I thought we had a bunch of first rounders 20 million dollar roster this is like this defense has played to the level that we we were hoping to see all season long and and captain jack like you know he had a few tackles, but he had the sack. He had the batted down pass early in the game. He had obviously, you know, the fumble recovery return for the touchdown that sealed

the game. But just, I don't know, this defense has gotten better and better. It's been fun to watch. Jack, Kenyatta Jackson and Tileak Williams all had batter passes. And it was a, I thought it really affected what Texas was trying to do over the middle of the field. They did. I mean, they do a great job of just reading the quarterback and getting their hands up and being disruptive in that way. If they're not going to get home. It jumped out to me. It was in a weird way, I thought of like the hockey playoffs.

They always talk about blocks dots. All of some block shots become this big deal. And it's like, look at this guy blocking a shot. And then he's, I remember a Bruin player broke his leg and had a skate off on one thing. But it becomes a something. They don't say that all year long because I, because I'll self admit I don't watch hockey for a single minute. playoff thing. I'm telling you guys are sacrificing their body and it's the same thing. Like you're like, oh, he batted a pass down. What's the big deal? It really in in these games, these competitive close, you know, playoff games, man, everything counts. And when you start to make plays like that, it's, you know, it's a big deal to me. Who stands to benefit the most? I'm just looking. Let's take a look. Ohio State 15 draft prospects with what grades in the top

250. That was, you know, over a month ago. Still a lot of work to do, but it's just a feel. Notre Dame, not as many. Xavier Watts has been to stud. Mitchell Evans has improved. Howard Cross is still playing on like one leg, it seems like at times. Yeah. Who stands the benefit the most?

Like who jumps out of you? I feel like we've seen so much ball this year. It's like different, right? We just have like a playoff game or a championship game. in a semifinal, like, where you hadn't seen it. Like, we're now into like 16 games and stuff. Yeah, I mean, the court, listen, the quarterbacks. Are they both, are they both in the senior ball?

I think they are. I think that's right, yeah. Riley Leonard is. Yeah, yeah, they both are. And Howard is. Yeah, and we'll see how the schedule unfolds because it's tough. It really is tough for those guys. I hope they're there.

But it's, it is the games one week after. It's literally they'd have to win the, you know, playing the championship game and then they're there the following Monday. So I hope they're there. But I think those are guys, you know, it's maybe not the most exciting two players to talk about. But I do think it's opportunities for them to kind of improve their stock. I mean, who else? I think, I mean, you're looking at that.

It's tough for me to say based on one game because I think that a lot of that Ohio State Front seven has steadily been climbing in the last month. They really have. Yeah. I just wanted to take a look to see if there was like a guy or two that could jump out. Maybe we'll have something on Tuesday. I think those linebackers, I think those linebackers for Ohio State will continue. This is a great opportunity against that, that offensive line, those running backs, three-headed monster, if they can continue.

But they're not going to be taxed. No. That fact seven is not going to be taxed. This is going to be brutal sledding for Notre Dame. They're going to have to be. they're going to have to whip some ass up front. And I'm not saying that like it's not a Notre Dame thing. I just don't know many how many,

how many offensive lines in the country can whip some ass against Ohio State right now and the way that defensive front is playing. All right. You got anything else, man? I think that's it. I will say this, Jeremiah Smith. I decided to see what he does in the next game. And I think it's, you know, I get it one for three.

I do think that it's important not to overlook the contribution that kind of a player makes even when they're not touching the ball. And that Jeremiah Smith, again, we hinted at it. We talked about it a little bit. The way he's opening up space for other guys and even the run game, those are the kind of players, those elite players that can affect a game when they're not getting touches and making the big plays that they can make. you know because you just again Texas couldn't they may have wanted to commit another defender of the box to stop the run they may have wanted to bring pressure at times it's difficult to do when you have that kind of a threat on the outside always trade back's been here from the start so i want to give some love he said cody simon versus jeremiah love i agree that's a good one that's a great one's that matchup uh i'm going to work let's do this malina i believe it's malina mcglin what do you what do you think

Got to finish with this, Munch. Okay. Great question. It's got to go to Mench. What did you think of Ohio State's offensive line tonight? The penalties were tough, but it's just a group that continues to gut it out. I mean, you, and they're going against talented. Kind of like you with your voice right there.

Yeah, it did. You know, it's worth the end of it. You know, you're talking about guys like Colin Simmons, they are a handful. And it's not clean. It's not perfect. I don't think that they're the, I don't think they're the best offensive line. line in the country. But Donovan Jackson, think about the guys that they have lost and then moving, there's probably their second best offensive alignment and Jackson to tackle.

They've lost a guy that I think is going to be, is in the mix to be the first tackle off the board in the draft. You lost a center who won the Remington. Josh Simmons, yep. Right. Seth McLaughlin's the center who won the race. Josh Simmons is the tackle you think could go be the first tackle off the board. And it was kind of tracking that way. Yep. Right. And it's not always clean. There are times that they get beat, but they are just, they just gutted out. And it would be interesting to see if someone could get them in, because they're better run blockers than they are, you know, past protectors.

That's just the case. If someone could get ahead of them, if someone could get a 14-point leave, and someone could put them in a position where they have to throw the ball more to see if they can kind of expose those weaknesses in obvious passing situations. But it just hasn't been the case yet. So I think it's impressive what that they've done as a group. Imagine, it does make me think this, imagine if they were healthy up front. Imagine if they were, because I mean, we're talking about eight.

You're talking about the talent receiver. You talk about the talent running back. If they are healthy up front, I don't think this is, I think this might be a historic run for Ohio State. I mean, they would have been that good. Yeah, I don't disagree. I mean, you get Simmons as a first round offensive tackle. center is an absolute stud then you move jackson who's been pretty awesome at left tackle and move him

back into his natural guard spot yeah this this would be uh it's hard to imagine it being a whole lot better than the run that's been but i i think it would be just a lot of easier sledding but all right yeah i mean the guy yeah go ahead no go ahead i mean josh fryer is playing tackle right now i think if he's he's going to make it in the nfl he's going to have to kick inside i mean they don't have They have, like, I think, two guys who are going to ultimately be guards playing tackle right now. Yeah. And it's not like they lost guys that, you know, I'm not going to be overly critical of the guys that are playing right now because they're good. It's not like they lost their fourth best offensive linemen.

I mean, they've lost dudes. Yeah. Yeah. We appreciate everyone. It's been fun. Thanks for joining us. I'm glad we got to interact a little bit more tonight. We're going to make that an emphasis moving forward on these live shows.

We got one left during the season. We'll find some way. We'll do some live stuff from good. Maybe don't call them scumbags. I mean, I don't think you have to call them liars and scumbags when they're coming up with the spread. I think they got the point. Yeah.

I mean, if you, my best friends are sitting in a room. If I'm not calling you a scumbag or calling you up for being a liar, then we're not close. So we're getting close fast. All right. Appreciate everyone.

Appreciate everyone staying up late and doing this with us. We will be back. National Championship. January 20th. It's going to be interesting. We'll see. I don't, Notre Dame's just count them out. Count them out, you know?

So this will be fun to build up. We'll break it down from every angle. We'll start a little bit more heavily in the draft. We get the NFL playoffs coming up. Got to start talking about team needs. Where are we going? We get the draft order set. Like, everyone's winding down.

Like Herbie and Fowler figure out where they're going on vacation. And like, you know, we're, We're going to work. My hat says it, right? Something about going to work. So let's go. Appreciate you being with us. We'll be back on, what is it, Friday night?

I'm so thrown off. From the holidays to the game schedules, it's Friday night. It's now Saturday morning at 1205 Eastern. We will be back for our show on Tuesday, for a regular scheduled show on Tuesday. And appreciate you joining us. So we'll talk to you soon.

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