The McShay Show - Michigan’s “Miracle,” Kiffin’s Revenge, Dabo’s Inferno, and 2027 QB Overreactions

Episode Date: September 6, 2026

Todd and Steve break down Michigan’s controversial “miracle” finish, Lane Kiffin’s revenge game, and what LSU’s blowout of Clemson means for Dabo Swinney. Then they dive into the 2027 quarterback class, the biggest Week 1 overreactions, and the WR prospects who announced themselves on Saturday night.(00:00) Welcome to The McShay Show!(01:35) Week 1 Instant Reactions(02:47) Michigan's Miracle(10:03) LSU's Dominant Win over Clemson(20:56) Sam Leavitt's Debut(36:36) QB Prospect Takeaways(52:15) WR Prospect TakeawaysThe Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit https://fanduel.com/playwithaplan to learn more about the resources and helplines.Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Abou Kamara Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Was it a Michigan miracle or a manufactured win? Lane Kiffin might not be the last laugh, but he certainly gets the first laugh. And then this quarterback class, we've been hyping all along. Is it actually underrated? How good it is after the first week of college football. Just 235 days until the NFL draft. It meant you good? I'm good, man.

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or flower delivery orders only. Terms and conditions apply. I'm going back and forth, right? I'm watching Clemson, LSU, watching Michigan, Western Michigan. I watched good portions of Michigan, Western Michigan, but I'll be totally honest. It was hard to watch at times. And I'm dialed into this battle between Clemson and LSU and all the hype leading up to it. going back and forth, keeping tabs on it.

My mom, Deborah McShay sitting in Mason, Ohio. She's a diehard Michigan fan. I've told you the lineage. My grandfather, Marshall Brown, worked with Bo Schembeckler and all that. So even if I don't want Michigan updates, I'm getting them. Trust me. Right. But I click over and ball drops, zero, zero, zero.

I see Whittingham, the new Michigan head coach on the sideline. I see the scorebug. It says final. And I'm like, holy shit. Like I knew like it was happening. We knew it was happening. But until you see final, you're like, and then I start thinking about like my childhood and growing up and going to Michigan games.

And I'm like an Appalachian state. Remember that that upset? Yeah. Right? And it was like, and I'm like, this is this is that. That's yeah. And certainly that level. And then I and then I had the quick flashback in my mind of like that first drive today.

It was exhilarating and it was kind of sloppy, but the ball goes over his head and he picks it up and he scrambling, throws it to his receiver who's open, the tall, wide receiver catches it, and they're kind of rolling that first drive. I'm like, who, I even put out on a post on X. I saw it. This doesn't, and he's working with Jordan Palmer,

and like his feet look a little bit better. I'm like, all right, like, this is the underwood we expected when Portnoy and the gang and however that worked out It was like $12 million to bring him to Michigan. And then the rest of the game happens. And then the final score. And Western Michigan wins. And I click back over to Clemson, LSU.

I did the same. I turned it off. And then they break into that game and they show Underwood. Hail Mary, 46 yards in the air. J.J. Buchanan goes up, gets it, hauls it in, and the place and the crowd and the so i ask you this mensch was there time left because i went not i went like and i on the scoreboard it was zero point zero zero of course what do you what do you think i mean to me time had expired it was over and the only thing you can say is

that the clock that the officials clock was different than the tell television clock. And to me, that can't happen today. Like in today's game, like, really that's going to happen? Like, yeah, I agree. It's, I'm not a conspiracy theory guy. Can you imagine? Because what they wound up coming out and saying, essentially,

is my understanding, and we'll see about the reporting. And I'm sure, like, I'm sure that Thammel and, and, and the likes will, Bruce Feldman, and I'm sure the information will be kind of confirmed overnight that sometimes it can be, you know, 0.2 seconds difference on what the, they're working off of versus what's in the scoreboard in the stadium and what you might see on TV. And I'm with you. It's like bullshit, man. It didn't seem close. It didn't seem like a 0.2 second thing. I don't know. So you're telling me the clock was off by like a second. Here's a full second in 2026. Obviously this isn't very science. Yeah, that's crazy to me.

It's not very scientific, but when he, when he scrambled a little bit on that throw, before he even let go, it's like, oh, this is it. This is the last throw. Like, you've seen enough of these to know. He's now bought enough time that this is it. They were not trying to throw one quick and try to get two out of this. This was going to be the last throw of the game. Now, if you're Western Michigan fan or if you're anybody else out there,

and there's a large contingent of people like, kind of like the New England Patriots here, right? It's like they cheated again. Of course, Michigan, like, even within the state, they're not going to let Western, lowly Western Michigan, going to the big house and beat Michigan.

Yep. And they're talking about stealing signs and Harbaugh and all the things that have gone on with the Michigan. Was it Connor Stallions? Was that the guy's name? Conor Stallions? Yes. Yeah.

And I hear you. And I'm here for it, and it's part of the beauty of sports, not just college football sports. But I also do want to say you still had to throw a 46-yard Hail Mary. By the way. It's not like they,

we've seen it in like the NFL where they award you and you're down at like the three-yard line and they're like past interference. That was a bullshit call. Yeah. Like they had to throw a 46-yard Hail Mary. And yes, so if you're a conspiracy theorists and like on this one,

I'm kind of, I don't, I don't want to say it's a conspiracy, but somehow some way, being in the big house felt like it afforded them in the situation, felt like it afforded them another play. But they still had to convert that.

Because you probably didn't see, I know you're bouncing back and forth, so I don't know if you saw this. There was a measurement earlier in that game where it looked like Western Michigan, it was second half. It was important drive where it looked like Western Michigan was stopped short of the line to game. I saw that. I actually did see.

They reviewed it and they gave it to Western Michigan and said it was a first down. And I thought to myself, I'm like, Winningham's got to be like even in my own building. Like in my own stadium, I can't get that call. It was obvious to me that he had not gotten there. And they gave him the line to gain. And I do agree with you, by the way. That underwood throw at the end to win it was kind of a dime.

And JJ and Buchanan like climbs the ladder, goes up and gets it. It's, that's textbook how you throw a Hail Mary. I mean, it was, they extest. executed it and they took advantage of that last opportunity. It's just that, I mean, a little. Let's put a little. Let's put a, it is.

And let's put a bow on this because, like, it's, it is Michigan. And this is college football. And they are a major, major player in the landscape. That's not a very good football team right now. No. It's just not. And it's going to take at least a year, maybe two, for Whittingham to, like, get his kind of people in there.

He has more opportunity. He is more at his at his fingertips at Michigan than he ever had at Utah. And he'll figure it out. You know what, though? I'm going to push back a little bit. I actually think they are.

I think they have talent at running back. I think they have decent receivers. I think they have a really good defense. I think their defensive backs, their corners and Gianni Air Hill, specifically are a little overrated. But I think that's a pretty damn good football team. I think you have won.

So you think this result, yeah, 12 for 22. And I think that they, it felt predictable a lot of the, like what I watched. And I'll go back and watch them. It felt like a run on first, run on second. Now we get, we have to throw. We're in a, or, and they know we have to throw. You know what I mean? And it also, it felt like we expect to see this look when we go with this formation

in this play. And if he didn't get that look, it felt like we're not adjusting it was going to be difficult, which just lends to the, like, that's why you can get off to a great start. You can script your plays and you have a good plan, but then you have to adjust on the fly. And I'm not sure he's, that's something he excels at yet. And I do want to give you credit, because we drafted the six games we're most excited to watch. And you, you made this one of them. And you, you said that this, people don't realize this is a damn good Western Michigan football team. Yeah, I just, and so it's going to take Winniham some time.

It's going to take him some time to do it. And to expect them to be great right out of the gate, I thought it was too much. Let's transition. There has been so much noise around Lane Kiffin and LSU coming into this season. And I'm going to be honest, Like there were points this week, not at any point prior, points this week where I was like, how can this not be a distraction?

Pro players coming to college, Baton Rouge courthouses packed with players and media. You get attorney generals from within the state battling each other in a court decision that ultimately goes Lane's way way later in the day. You get Commissioner Sanky from the SEC sitting in the stand, you know, like, answering questions for two and a half hours, all while the SEC has filed a lawsuit in the state of Alabama, a federal lawsuit going after LSU and Lane Kiffin personally. Like, it's a mess.

And so you start to wonder, and then you see him come out, and it's Libby Dune, and it's Theo Vaughn and who's the other model? I don't know. I don't know. and Baywatch, I don't know. She's pretty. Yeah, very pretty. All LSU graduates.

All New Orleans people, yeah. Or all Louisiana people. Connected to LSU. And so they're doing the Tiger Walk, and it's like, it's, what people don't understand about Lane is he welcomes all this stuff. And I'm not an apologist. I'm just trying to explain that because I get asked this question all the time. You got to remember it.

Do you remember it at USC where he, I'm glad you're going there. Yep. I used to go out to practices there. And Pete, Pete Carroll, Pete was always great to me. He actually let me wake up one morning, go with him from the moment he woke up to when he, like, went home at night. And when bowling with the team did the whole thing. And like I'd spend a lot of time going out to USC, early days, like 2006, whatever that year was, the Vince Young year.

He wanted, he was asking. celebrities like Will Ferrell and Snoop and like he wanted them all their practices, games. Because here's the mindset, the mentality behind it is. I want to create so many distractions and so much chaos. And in the middle of it, we're going to have competition Wednesdays. And whoever, whoever plays the best in competition Wednesday is going to get the opportunity to play.

And it's going to be such a chaotic. environment. The game day is going to seem easy, man. And so I'm not saying he's doing all, but like, that's why it doesn't affect Lane. And he kind of, it feels like, why is he inviting all of this into his program? And you see, they come out tonight and not only are they talented, we know they're talented. They spent the money on the roster and they bring in Sam Levitt and they bring their Mike linebacker from Ole Miss is coming and he's playing next to Whitweeks who looks awesome, by the way.

they've got NFL talent for days on that roster, right? But they're communicating and they're playing hard for one another. And they're like, they're buttoned up. And they come out and that Clemson team, it's not a bad Clemson team. And we can get to them in a minute. It's not a great. It's not a good Clemson team. But like we saw Ball State and East Carolina and some of these other teams.

teams play the Alabama's and the Ohio states of the world closer than Clemson played LSU tonight. 51 to 10, I think, was the final. Yeah. Yeah. It was like four, and it was 44 to 3 when all the starters were out, right? Yeah. And, and, and, and, and, and even on, even more than that, it was, um, what was it half? It was. Half time. It was 20, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, 31 to 3. 31 to 3, yes. And you start looking at this and you're like, damn,

it doesn't matter. Like the chaos doesn't matter. It's almost like all the chaos and noise around helps to insulate this team. Shoot this down if it's too cheesy. Because no one knows where this quote's from. I try to look it up on, you know, try to figure it out. And I think it's just some kind of thing

that originated on the internet. But there's that there's that poem that supposedly exists. where, you know, I forget what someone, God says to the warrior, you can't handle the storm and the warrior says, the warrior says back, I am the storm. That's kind of what I think about Lane Giffon. Like, he embraces it. I like that quote. He is, I am the case.

I think a wise man named Steve Mensch came up with that quote. Yeah, it's definitely not mine. And I should have looked at it closer because I kind of screwed it up. But you get the crux of it. Like, it is, yeah, the, I, I. I am the chaos. Like you don't think I like chaos. I am chaos.

This is who I am. This is what I do. I feed off of it and I'm better when it's around. And I don't know whether that makes him focus more when he's in the building and gets his team to focus more. And, you know, there is that whole mentality. If you can get your team to gel and come together against all the outside forces that aren't in the building, it can really help you. And maybe that's kind of what this is doing. and that's how he's using it.

I don't know. This did not look like a distracted team. This did not look like a team that wasn't ready. LSU came out, first completion, nice and easy. Here we go. Tempo. They're messing with tempo all night long. But the second play, looks like they're just going to keep going.

Second play, bang, just behind the receiver. Balls up in the air. Hampton, the cornerback makes the interception. Yeah. But then it's one, two, three, field goal. three nothing. Mm-hmm. Come back.

LSU's response was 12-play drive. Nine of the 12 plays were on the ground, pounded it out, and that began, you saw right away, that was the story of the game. LSU physically handed Clemson an ass beating tonight. Mm-hmm. They lined up and they were, and here's the thing that nobody knew coming in.

We knew that Dylan Jones. Jones played well in camp. This Wisconsin transfer who didn't have great production at Wisconsin comes in and they got a bunch of backs competing. Remember I said competition Wednesday at USC? He's in there and he's competing his ass off every day.

And the coaches, my understanding coaches start looking at each other like, yo, we got our key one Lacey. There he is. Yeah. Inside runner, vision, power, toughness, forward body lean, grind out

yards, like takes hits, but takes them sideways and bounces forward. We'll hit the hole. And this offensive line has gotten a little bit more. You've always been kind of like, LSU. Will Campbell, I get it, but like they're not a physical in-your-face line up and can, when you need it, can grind it out and reestablish an offense or the line of scrimmage. That's what they were.

That's what they were tonight. And all of a sudden, you look up at the half, bud, listen to this. Yeah. At the half, this is an LSU team that couldn't run the ball last year. The last couple of years, 213 rushing yards to Clemson's negative four. Ball game's over. Yep. Pretty crazy.

Didn't do it. They didn't rush for over 200 last year. In 2024, they only did it once against South Alabama. In a game. Sorry, I don't mean a half. I mean in a game. Like, they didn't have. haven't done it in a game.

I, you know, that was the two things that jumped out to me. We'll get to Sam Levin a minute. And I am really excited to talk about Sam Levitt. You too. I'm sure you are. Yeah. But the two biggest differences for this LSU team is it felt like the running game was the most obvious.

But it also feels like they got some guys up front that they, they've had some names in the past that didn't really pan out. Like Patrick Payton was supposed to be a great edge, didn't really turn into that guy. this LSU defensive line looks like it's going to get after some people. It looks like it's going to be nine of them. It's going to be a problem. Can you remember that? Do you remember an LSU defensive line that was getting after people?

It's been a little while, man. It's been a minute. In our lifetime, there was like a seven-year stretch where yes, all the time. Some of the greats have come out of that school, man. And then it fell off. And it feels like it's getting back to it. Those two guys who were green dot worthy playing, Mike Backer. You get that six foot

three corner who's put on 20 pounds and that one is a freak show. Oh, you got Ty Benefield who comes in. The safety. The Boise State Transfer safety. And he's getting, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo. Getting everyone lined up and making

play, like, they're good. But this Dylan Jones guy is the Keywon Lacey. And that's going to be the deal. And I'll tell you one thing. Our tight end one is as advertiser. I love him. I love him.

He just keeps looking more and more like a football player. You remember, he was late to football. He started playing in high school. And he was playing, was it wide receiver or it was a different position? Like he didn't become like a tight end, like a true tight end until like his junior senior year at high school. He gets to LSU and we all know the talents there. And he's a star and he's good for like a big play here and there. But he's kind of not like uncordinate.

I don't want to say uncoridate. but like still like growing into his body he i think that's fair physical he wasn't physical enough he was like kind of this receiver who didn't know who he was yet and last year he got better and this year he just looks like a dude you know right it's going from last year we see these flashes and there were times there were stretches that he was i mean outrageous last year he's and now we're seeing seven yeah now we're seeing a guy who's realizing understanding how good he is playing for um a play caller who knows that to get on the ball with a talented quarterback,

which we're going to see right now, I hope. And this kid's just going to take off. So let's get the excuse portion of the show out of the way because it's going to be a situation all year long for LSU. They don't have size. They don't have vertical at wide receiver. And they knew it coming in. They've got a bunch of guys that are short,

Uncover quickly, short game, create yards after catch. In fact, that's what Eugene Wilson was at Florida. He was a slot receiver, get him the ball, quick slant, let him go, stuff like that. They've got them playing outside because they don't have length and that like vertical speed. They get a bunch of guys, not guys.

Right. And you could see it tonight. And I can already forecast it's going to become, an issue. I thought Leavitt, we saw some of the best of Leavitt tonight and we saw some of the problems that like, yep, he's not there yet. I also like

his arm is so loose and some of those throws, a few of those throws he makes are like it's there and it's going to keep getting better because Lane like look at remember we talked about early in the season last year with Trinidad Chamblis versus what he was in that Georgia

game in the in the playoff. Like, it's going to keep getting better. Jackson Dart was like kind of a running fullback playing quarterback, and it's going to keep getting better. But I'll be the first to admit, like, what you saw tonight as a passer after watching Darien Mensa carve up, and we'll get to all the quarterbacks, but Mensa and even arch and the ups and does,

and Maiava and Dante Moore, like, that passing isn't that. And we knew that. And I knew that. I'm betting on. the upside and the lane development. And there's a good start tonight. I hope he can stay healthy.

It harkens like, you know, the Jackson Dart stuff. And he is, he is just as reckless. He is just. Oh, my God. And I love that. I mean, how do you not love that? As a teammate especially. I mean, as a teammate or a fan,

you just love that your quarterback is willing to do that. But as a coordinator. There's plenty of ammunition for people who don't. I don't like him, and I'm going to give you the side, and you can take it. But there's plenty of positive to say this is a pretty good stepping stone. In a game where it was very clearly, we're going to line up and we're going to dominate you in the run game. Yeah. I'll say this.

He was 16 for 28. Okay. 230 yards. A touchdown and an interception. By the way, that Eugene Wilson fade throw was absolutely beautiful and how he doesn't pull that in. Oh, here we go. I can't even get it out. 17, 17 for 28, add 40 more yards.

Go ahead. So he is 16 for 28, 2030 yards, a touchdown interception. Interception, not his fault. So this is not one of these things where... It was a fluke. It was a fluky. It hit the receiver's hands.

I understand. It didn't deserve an interception. It didn't feel like the punishment fit the crime, right? It didn't feel like... I agree. Yeah, okay. So that's what I'm saying. It could have been a better throw.

I understand your point. I don't look at that and say this was a decision-making issue or this was just egregious where he missed high over the middle or something like that. So I'm okay with the pick. Those numbers you look at and you think, okay, compared to some of the other numbers, I don't know how you're not doing backflips right now

because I am. I'm so excited about this start for him because I said coming into this, you were higher on him coming into the season. I see a player that is, that I started to see two years ago at Arizona State, not last year, two years ago. Last year, I felt like he regressed. I felt like he wasn't as good last year.

I feel like the Mississippi State tape was a problem for a quarterback prospect. It really prevented me from putting him up higher despite the skills. I saw a guy tonight that I, this is the guy that you were talking about in the preseason McShay. This is the dude. And I can get behind that. And I can get excited about it because now I'm seeing it. I'm actually seeing it.

coming out. He did miss a couple of throws today that he just absolutely should make. But at the same time, he also made some throw. There's a lot of dudes that can't do. Arch is super fast on a straight line. He can't do that. Dante can't get out of the trouble. Lenores can. Demand Williams can. But just as a, maybe. As a passer, I was encouraged.

Yeah. Forget the 12 for 113 and two touchdowns, which my Lord. Lord is impressive. That's impressive. Yes. As a passer, some of these deep crossers, putting guys in position to run after the catch, I mean, he looked confident.

He looked good. I was the best I've seen him in at least, I would say 24. I don't know if there was a 25 tape that was that good. I really don't. And so good for him. And there's a lot of pressure on him, too, to come out and do that in that environment. And I also, you might be able to speak to this

and maybe I'm putting too much into it. But like, when you get these weather delays, does it like fuck with you a little bit as a quarterback? Are you like, if you're one of those guys that's super amped up and I'm going at seven and then all of a sudden it's 940? He's, Herbstree was saying, is that a thing? And I, he's like a baker guy.

And I was one of those. Like, I'm ready to, I'm ready to like, chisel my way through the locker. I'm like, let's go. Let's go. And then you got to, you got to temper it for another. two hours. Yeah,

I'm going to grow up. That's what I would say to a young me and like grow up and learn how to manage it. It's a good opportunity to learn how to manage another difficult situation. But this whole week leading up could not have been like

a normal, felt like a good routine for the quarterback. You know? But he's got Charlie Weiss Jr. who's doing a great job. You know, so like they've insulated it all. But yes, there, The pick was early, too, by the way. The pick was early. It didn't snowball for him.

It wasn't, oh, shit, here I go again. You know what I mean? That was great, too. And listen, I get news for you. There's no saying that they will. But they play like that for the rest of the season. They can win every single game on that schedule. The problem is they got to play like that in several games in order to, in order, like they're going to beat Louisiana Tech.

But now all of a sudden we're going to Ole Miss. and you think today was a zoo at home, that's going to be a zoo. Then the scary, I actually think they win that game. The scary one for me is A&M then seven days later. And yeah, you're back at home. But that's one of those like,

oh, okay, that circus is over. Oh, now we're going to face A&M, you know? Then you got McNee State in Kentucky with Will Stein, Mississippi State, Auburn. But that November schedule, Bama, Texas, at Tennessee, and then at Arkansas. Bama and Texas are at home. But yeah.

Yeah, I know. They're one of a few teams that have new SEC, five game, nine game in conference schedule. Some teams play four at home. Some teams play five at home. They play five on the road. So it's stacked against them in many ways, like that in that regard.

but that team we watch tonight is as good as any team in the country. You think they could beat Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee three weeks in a row. If they take care of business and they only lose... If they get some pro players,

they might be able to do it. They're better than Alabama right now. We'll see what they are in November. You didn't even hear me. What? I said if they get some pro players, yeah, they could probably get it. Do you hear that at halftime?

Do you hear it at halftime? What? He was, I think it was Holly Roe interviewed him. And he, and he did the whole thing. And then he turned to her and you could just hear it off, Mike. And he said, imagine if we had pro players. And then he ran off. I love it.

Oh, yeah. I'm here for, I think they can. I think they can do it. I think they can. I'm not saying they will. Let's see how this goes because as much as we're all fired up and I am, I shouldn't speak for you about this whole Lane loves chaos. Sometimes the chaos catches up.

Sometimes it does catch up. It'll be interesting to see if you can get through it all. Can I make one quick detour, but unfortunately this is like a detour, like dropping you off of a cliff. Oh, I love that. I'm here for it. Let's go. Like we were just out in Montana. Like, picture you, I just threw you off the top of one of those mountains into the Yellowstone.

That's not great. Into the Yellowstone River, the Bay, the foothills. was this the game that gets dabbo? I don't think so because I don't I just don't think they're I don't think Clemson has the balls to get rid of them I don't think so I think this is such this is such an eyesore and it's like all right you had all the NFL players last year but we got through it and we're going to do it our way and we're going to but we're going to bring in a couple players but we're not going to

And it's like, and you get all the distractions at LSU and you're making the comments and you're kind of get, I don't know, I'm asking. I don't know what that was. Let me ask. Let me. This. Do you know what their odds of winning the ACC were for a fandle? They were, I forget what the number was. They were like fourth or fifth in the odds to win the ACC.

Yeah. To win the ACC. So Clemson fans have we just collectively, and I know there are plenty of fans, but like. Have we just collectively decided it so we're going to, because you got to understand, when I started scouting and going on the road, and I was going to Clemson Games in 2009, or 2000, Clemson was known as like,

they think they're better than they are. This is pre-dabo. They think they're better than they are. They think their program's so great. They never win. Yep. They live in mediocrity. That was the tradition nationally,

not the tradition. That was the national picture of Clemson. And then we had this quirky coach who came in, I don't know, 2005, 7, 6, whatever it was, and started doing really funny interviews and had all the fans come down. And then it started happening. This magic happened. I don't know. I just, this one felt different from me for some reason. This one felt like, you know what? It is so far past. And this was good versus evil tonight. And I think at some point there's going to be some people who write some checks and make, this was.

You think Daubo was good? If you're, if you're championing the cause of tradition and do it the right way and high school recruiting and develop and you leave. And dabbo has his list in his, in his desk of these are the guys who still haven't come back and graduated. and I tried to cross one or two players of. He, I'm not, you can make your own moral however you want on whatever you want. Okay. Yep. I'm just saying he represents old guard traditional doing it the right way, good for a lot of people.

Yeah. And then there's Lane. And then there's Lane. Literally, Dabo is like one of the last standing of, I'm, we're not, we're not, we're going to do it the right way. And then there's Lane who's like, let's fucking go. Any celebrity with me, all the history, all the nonsense, the more chaos, the better, fighting the SEC, fighting the, fighting everyone.

He's a, he's a modern day pirate, gangster, whatever you want, you know? Yeah. It's good versus evil tonight. And evil absolutely. annihilated good. It's what happened. And so now the decision-making's a Clemson has to look...

Now the decision-makers to Clemson, like, do we want to be good, or do we want to win football games? I don't know. I just... I think you could be both. I think you can... I think the whole doing it the right way,

that stuff drives me nuts a little bit when I hear about, like, the right way. players staying at the same school. A lot of that is not pro. It's not pro player. A lot of the right way is not really for the players. And I kind of think of the players

and think they're a part of the game. So I think you could be good and still do it the right way. I think that I know that, you know, I bring this name up a lot, but I think Dan Laning is good and does it the right way. You know, they're Kirby Smart. Does it the right way. But he's also learned to adjust and understand that we're going to have to pay players and then we're going to have to get transfers in here.

We're going to have to do things a little bit differently than we did 20 years ago. And I do think at Dabo, and I wouldn't compare these two really on paper, even though Dabo, I think, is a Hall of Fame college coach. It gets a little bit like the Belichick thing. Is he willing to have, you know, the athlete group come in and Jake Rosenberg come in and say, we're going to do an audit of how you guys do things around here. And maybe you need a GM or you need to structure your program a little bit different. and you need to take a little more off your plate and we're going to do it this way. Would he be open to that?

They brought in Kevin Kelly. They brought in Kevin Kelly, who you and I respect greatly, but I don't know how much. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And no offense to him.

I don't, like, I think you need someone from the outside to come in and say, this is, you know, we're going to do. Yeah.

So was he, he won't, but that's no. It's like a Belichick thing, right? Like it's, you, yes. There's no way that he's going to relinquish

some of the power. No. No. So I think maybe the game has passed them by. It's a lot of great years. The McShay Show is brought to you by Fanduel. Good news, folks. FanDuel is now available everywhere.

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We spent the entire off-season watching these quarterbacks. I am guilty as charge of overhaul. hyping the quarterback group as a class last year. Some of them returned to school. Some of them got injured. Some of them just sucked. And one of them was one that played at Clemson, but had a really good preseason.

We'll see what happens to Clubnik. Drew Aller sucked and then injury. But the whole program fell apart of Penn State. Nussmeyer sucked because he was injured the entire season. Whatever. It was overhyped as a group. It did not live up to the hype. let's put it that way at all.

Then we tripled down on this class. Like we're a cornerback that just gave up two 70-yard touchdowns and we're like still playing press man and didn't change a thing because we believe in what we're doing. And we came back and said, this is the best quarterback class. If these guys come out, this could be the best quarterback class in the history. bare minimum in our life,

in our lifetime of working in this industry. And my gosh, I think we might have underrated it. It's, yeah, I already got Sam Levin. Climbing my board. Like, yeah.

Yeah. And he didn't have a great day. I want to throw up, I want to throw up this graphic. I want you to look at, these are the top 13 quarterbacks that we have in our rankings. and we had to kind of meet in the middle on some of them.

However, Dante Moore comes out and throws for 378, completes 28 of 37, three touchdowns. By the way, not seen here, every one of these guys, Mench, from more to sellers, Levitt, no, that's excluded. This is, I'm thinking about before. More sellers, Mensa, Miava, saying,

Meteer, none of them threw an interception. So keep that in mind. Sellers comes out 19 to 23, not nearly the volume of more. Those were 273 touchdowns.

Arch Manny goes 20 for 27, 305, four touchdowns, and had the one pick. We can get to that if you want later. It was not good with his eyes. He led a safety right to that interception. Leavitt did what he did

with 113 rushing yards, three touchdowns, 230 pass. messing. Mensa was absolutely sensational. 401 yards, five touchdowns. That offense is frightening. Mayava, another guy, just absolutely dealing for two games in a row now. Two weeks and 49 yards. Two games in a row, two weeks. Saying 320, by the way, Arthur Smith's going to come in. He likes to run the football. He's from the National Football League. Fuck that. I got Ferraris on the outside, man.

We'll get to the run game against Texas. I want to showcase this thing a little bit. 320. Yeah. We could take this wherever you want to go. By the way, they took Sellers helmet away from it with like 10 minutes left of the third quarter. They're like, you've done enough today.

So just that was about a half for Lenora. I want to start the conversation off here. I didn't plan for this. And I had a bunch of different ways we could. Let's start it this way. Because what we saw on Friday night from Miami, albeit, and with all of these guys, I want to say, albeit versus that competition, I get it.

But some of these guys are putting up numbers that are hard to put up in seven-on-sevents, okay? I want to start with this. I got a text from a scout. I think you know him. I don't know that you do. I'm not certain. He's been in very high positions throughout his career,

different organizations. He's got men to, ahead of Dante more. Let's start there. Let's have some fun. Okay. What do you think? Thoughts.

I told you coming into the year, I don't think there's a big difference between the two, and I actually think Mensa can move around a little bit more. I didn't think he was quite as advanced, and I want to see it against better competition. We'll see, like, when he... Right. He's not going to have the schedule that some of these other guys do,

and he's got a receiver, and... Oh, my gosh, Malachi, Tony. but go ahead what do you think i agree with you it's not it's not that far as a matter of fact if i were i'll put it this way if i were to re-rank my three right now i would probably have more in mensa one a and one b and then sellers is third so i would have mensa he's definitely in the conversation to be the top quarterback i just think he is and we've been talking listen we he's not new to us when he was at two lane we were talking we were talking about about this kid and how good he was.

And then we're talking about when he was at Duke last year and about how good he was. And then you hear the noise about Miami trying to go in and get him and all the stuff they're going to have to do, get him out of there. And now they're fighting for it and all that stuff. And it's all for good reason, man. This kid is so accurate and precise and on time.

I loved his energy against Stanford. And because, look, you're Miami. I actually was a little worried about how they're going to play early in that game. You're Miami. and you're going cross-country to play a Stanford team that is really beat up, that doesn't have your kind of talent. It's, again, on a Friday night, 9 o'clock game, it's a weird start time. Like, it's all these things.

And it could just lead to you coming out and having a sleepy start. And I think when you have Malachi Tony, that's tough to do because he's such a leader and such a tone setter. But Mensa had that energy too, man. It was, this is the standard. This is what we're going to do. And I don't care who we're playing because that was a problem with the Cam Ward. was that they were awesome and competitive,

but they would play down to competition. This was a, we are here to step on throats every time we step on the field. We are here to annihilate our opponent, no matter who that is. And I think Mensa has a big part of that. And it's just his way of doing it is how precise he is and how he spreads the ball around

and how accurate it is and just keeping everything on schedule and just so frustrating to try and defend a quarterback who's going to make the right. decision and deliver the ball accurately consistently. It's just a hard thing to do. So to me, it's, yeah, I'm with you. I understand why people are excited about Darien Mentsa. And I'll tell you what, that Barcate guy, Cooper Barcate who came with him from Duke, like he's got two NFL. Like, I get the talent with Malachi Tony.

It's not going to get me in trouble. We grew up in locker rooms. It doesn't, it's not going to get me in trouble. I had this thing. It's a bad idea. It's a terrible idea, but it's not because like, because he's like, honestly, it's like, it's like God woke up one day and was like, you know what? I had a lot of fun watching Tom Brady with all those white slot receivers who were always in the right place and did all the right things and caught the ball and were tough and all the stereotypes, right? Like precise routes and we'd do the dirty work and we're first guy in, last guy, all that shit, right?

Now I want to give him genetics, you know? Yeah. Like that's Malachi Tony. Now I want to make him an absolute star athlete. Not a good one who makes up for it with all the details and the option routes. And I'm going to read the defensive back. I'm going to make, I'm going to give him the ability to do all those things because he does. And he's going to develop this work ethic that is maniacal.

And I'm going to make him an absolute superstar. athlete. Malachi Tony is a super charged Wes Welker, like all those guys. And I would just add the element of the intelligence,

the work ethics, the talent, but the toughness. He's awesome. All of it. It's everything. And then now you get this barcate guy who comes over from Duke

and he's everywhere he's supposed to be. The McShay report is out probably by the time you're watching this. Okay. It's our first one in season. And if you don't just subscribe, Google it, subscribe, or go to the ringer.com slash McShay. You can get it there. I went and broke down a lot of the different things.

I've like played by like all sorts of stuff on a lot of these top quarterbacks and the receivers and all that. I kept thinking to myself, like before every throw, like watching Levitt's a roller coaster. We're coming off of that tonight, right? And you're hoping it goes where it's supposed to go. but it's so exciting. With Mensa, I'm so relaxed watching it

because I know the ball is going to be where it needs to be. I trust that dude so much. And now you give them receivers who are running NFL caliber routes and the reliability. It's going to be scary this year. I picked him to win the national championship

and my gosh, I know this game means nothing against Stanford with all due respect to Andrew Luck in that program. But how do you look at this offense and think it's not going to be? All right. So let's move on from that. You said the text, though, 27 for 30 is different, man. I mean, like 27 for 30 and a 7-on-7, like, that's hard to do in that scenario.

Like, I know Stanford has the long ways to go and they're still trying to work their way back. But 27 for 30, 401 yards and five touchdowns, that's still no worth. And by the way, we get to wake up in the morning on Sunday, and we get C.J. car going. Yep. like and Trinidad right Trinidad's tomorrow too right and Trinidad Chamblis. Yeah can't wait. So you go seven deep and you love

all of them. It's wild. Yeah. And then you're really like another five to seven. What did you think Arch? I'm excited. I don't want to hear about the pick. I get it and that'll be part of it when it's all like when the complete evaluation is done. You'll talk about those decisions and I understand that.

This is about where he is in terms of his progress. And he He is in a good spot, man. I think Cam Coleman's obviously really kind of help him. I mean, just immediately in the red zone finding him and being like, I just have to put the ball in the area. I don't have to put the ball into this tight window. And I can relax a little bit and just make that easy throw easy.

To me, it's about progress. And it looks good. And yeah, it's Texas State. And yeah, he threw a pick. I understand all of it. I get it. But I feel really good about this performance. And I hope he can continue to build on it for the next week.

I thought there were, I thought there were some, it was interesting because Arch, when you look at the numbers, like what he did, it was pretty spectacular, right? 20 for 27, 305 yards and four touchdowns. 20 for 27 and I still saw some slop that could be cleaned up. Yes, it wasn't a perfect performance. It wasn't. But what's interesting is that I watched some of the, whether halftime, you bounce around games and here's like, Arch, was great, he was great, that was great. And like, no, it was really good. And it was, you said, it was really promising. Right. Because his feet, his feet look more tied to the operation.

His eyes look more relaxed yet decisive. And he looks more in command. And we saw him in command in certain situations last year. But even when he was in command, it was like, I'm going to take off, I'm going to, I'm going to take this game over. Because if it ain't there, I'm running and all that stuff. Today was about trusting when I was, and I want to remind people, too. He was injured this off-season, recovering from the injury, ballooned to 236.

I saw him in the Manning Passing Academy. Ballooned is a little rough. Or what, no, in his mind, he said, he said, he said, okay. I don't know if he said balloon. Like, I felt like I was carrying too much weight. I felt like I was whatever, inflated or something like that. Yeah.

And so he didn't have the off-season like, my Ava, meanwhile, I'm talking to folks that like the, why am I forgetting Manning Pasca? Down in Mobile. Yeah, but the quarter, for the Mobile group that does the quarterback country, sorry.

Okay. And actually, I wasn't talking to them, I was talking to somebody else who was saying, my Ava's been working hard. And like, you should see the lengths he's going. And I see that in his play, right? Arch didn't have all that time to do it, this off-season, but yet looks more comfortable, looks like he's got this thing a little bit more

under control. Now, it's cute, North Texas. True. Or you're at Texas State today, right? Or Texas State. Yeah. Yeah. Which is even cuter, let's be honest. But we're going to find out some stuff next week. And they didn't show anything. Yeah. That's the other part. They're not showing anything today. So, you had to factor that in. It was encouraging. And you know, side note, we'll get to the receivers in a second here.

What's really encouraging is that Cam Coleman transfer, not only will he bring attention away to create opportunity. If we had a question, did it light a fire under someone's ass? It did. The answer is yes. Yes. Because Ryan Wingo, that's the best I've seen him play. He came on that first half.

He was the guy. You can pay him whatever you want to pay. pay him. Don't forget I'm the guy. And you know that's his mentality. And I love that. It should be, yeah. So now you get two guys who are the guy, right?

If that's how it plays out. And that Mosley cat's playing pretty good too. So they get, I mean, they've got a abundance of weapons. The situational stuff, though, for Arch today, and again, it was against North Texas. Four for four for 46 yards

and a touchdown versus the blitz. four for four for 52 yards and three first downs when pressured three for three for 48 yards and three first downs outside the pocket and the one of the most encouraging one he threw it was first drive of the second half almost got the sense of start going in half time he was like hey we just paid that guy a lot of money let's not get him pissed off before ohio state can we get cam coleman the football right they come out they throw a right rail shot 42 yards right he had eight yards came Coleman did in the first half 42 now he's got 50 and then two three plays later whatever it was

arches in the pocket it wasn't designed for cam cam cam was backside arches in the pocket going left back middle finds him under his like right right there delivers it i think they call it a penalty too on the on the defensive line delivers it while getting hit engage on the like the skinny post 20-yard touchdown right i was like all right All right, this is good. It is good. And I don't want to go for two hours tonight, but I do, like, we have to mention it's a passing game thing right now.

I was screaming, we're entering the golden era of quarterbacks in the passing game and all of football and college football last year. I was just a little bit early. I got excited at the appetizer for the entree. Throw this up, Tucker. look at our top seven wide receivers and what they produced. And we'll get to Malachi Tony

and a couple other guys. I create a separate graphic because I couldn't help myself. Malachi Tony does what he does on Friday night and Jeremiah Smith. This is my message to all y'all. And I hope the nation received my message. 151 receiving yards, eight catches, two touchdowns.

Cam Coleman, I told you, he wasn't the target. he was getting all the he was getting all the looks arch is going through his reeds doing the right things wingo winds up with a monster day uh cam coleman still has three for 70 and two touchdowns they're running the hell out of the football in indiana i don't know if you noticed that um yeah so they do that they didn't they didn't but they really were today i think they're sending a message to hoover but but hoover finishes 13 of what i tell you hoover's going to come in and and he's going to fall in like,

what stat line does this sound like from last year, Steve Mensch? 13 for 16, 231 yards, four touchdowns and interception. No ass to do it today, man. No ass chew it's today. He's spreading the ball.

He only completed 13 passes, and six of them went to Becker and Charlie Becker Jr., who we have his first round grade on. And Nick Marsh, who's sitting there right around 50, I think like 52 or 53 in our rankings. But we haven't really given him the full treatment yet because we wanted to see him here. Two for 17 and a touchdown, but that one-handed catch he had was absolutely phenomenal.

Insane. Insane. He catches a day. And his physicality. There was some great catches today. The kid from Boise State had an amazing catch. There were some great catches today. It was wonderful.

Iowa State interception might have been. Yes. Yep. But Becker goes four for 64-2 touchdowns. Ryan Coleman Williams. Man, watching that game. It was like new name, New Jersey number, same old shit. But boy, is he explosive.

He's going to be the conundrum of all. And he bounced back. He dropped too early, right? Yeah. Yeah, but both jumping in the air and then looking where the defender was coming. But then he goes on and has the day that he had. And then, and so we're all fired up with this receiver class. But these pups, man, Tucker, throw up, throw up the pup list and not physically.

unable to perform because these guys perform. Malachi Tony 12 for 234. Do you know how many good wide receivers? Andre Johnson being probably the most recent. The Moss, Santana Moss, Michael Irvin. He sets the record for most receiving yards in a single game Malachi

Tony does. 12, 234, and 3. Trent Mosley, I couldn't help myself. I think that 11 for 22 and three touchdowns is the two. games combined. That might have been my fault. But Trent Mosley, he's, he's this year's Malachi Tony, mature beyond his years, tough does all the little things and dynamic. And then I'm watching Decorian Moore and I'm like, what's he going to do this year? Because he, unbelievably fast start last year. As some gets dinged up, kind of hits that freshman wall,

comes back six catches 93. I don't know if you saw that one on the left rail. It was. He broke the game open. He was. He was. won the game. That play itself won the game. I agree. By the way, his running mate, Jeremiah McClellan, who's a junior, had a monster day too. And I thought he was outstanding after the catch, tracking the ball downfield. Dante Moore's got two good ones. I wouldn't put him in the same category. I mean, the Indiana thing really jumps out to me for two reasons. One, if you told me that Charlie Becker had eight for 250 and six touchdowns today, I would have believed you because the only reason he didn't put up more number, better numbers,

is they didn't throw him the ball more. North Texas had no one on the field who could hang with him. I mean, he was winning at the line of scrimmage and then just running by dudes. They could have fed him all day. It was clearly just part of the game plan to run the ball more like you said. And then again, Nick Marsh's first uniform as a Hoosier, you're like, oh, two for 17, no big deal. And then you see that touchdown catch where he's physical and using his frame

and reaching out with one hand and making that. I play. It's like these receiving cores are insane. Insane. And we haven't even talked about Jeremiah Smith just being Jeremiah Smith. Well, let me know, I'm glad you brought up Jeremiah Smith because we all thought it was going to be in this or maybe it's going to be Chris Henry Jr. and all that coming in the year. Now this Devin McEwen kid from not kid, young man who's a senior transfer from UTIP or UTSA, I should say. I had another scout text me today. being like I really liked him at UTSA. He looks bigger, stronger, faster.

Thought he looked a little rigid at UTSA, smoother. I saw more bent today. Like, thinks that he's going to be the breakout guy. And today he was, six catches, 97 yards, and a touchdown. And by the way, remember Curtis Samuel? Yeah. Legend Bay, you watch Legend Bay as the season goes on. Out of the back field can be a slide.

It was cute. They got him a little touch here, a little touch there. He's going to be a supercharged Curtis Samuel. That 25-yard touchdown on the little flat route to the left flat. There's weapons, man. It's going to be a fun year. We got to get it out of here. It's like two something in the morning or whatever it is.

But it was, I'm charged. UCLA cows tied to 25. I mean, this is great because it's not. not a live show. But I appreciate the Tucker update. We're all just talented. We're all adjusting. Can't go live, but we're going to still act like we are.

Nico's not looking great. That freshman, I guess, Sagga, Sagga Pateli. That kid's a dude, too, man. Oh, my gosh. He's, he's going to be. But anyway, we've done enough next. Yep.

We're back on Monday. The McShay report is out. Google it, subscribe. How about us dropping our IG channel, the green room? Sort of, yeah. It was not the unveiling I had hoped for. Men showed up five to seven minutes late. That's an interesting way of wording it.

We were going to get some questions tonight. We've gone too late. But next week we're back for the primetime game. Final five will be there every single week. That's going to be our new green room live chat. We're going to have a blast with it. We worked out some of the kinks tonight. But honestly, I think that's part of the.

the font. So be on the lookout. I'm at McSheh 13. He's at you good mensch on X. McShay 13 on IG, which I guess is important since that's where our channel is. So there you have it. You got all the information. We'll be back on Monday. Fun show. Still watching college football on Monday, Labor Day. And hopefully everyone's having a great Labor Day. This is a labor of love. And Mench, you're my favorite part of it. Brother, five stars. Thanks, man. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming.

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