The McShay Show - Ohio State–Penn State Takeaways, Georgia's Close Call, and Another Oregon Master Class

Episode Date: November 3, 2024

McShay and Muench fire up their mics after the end of Georgia-Florida with their biggest reactions from Week 10 of college football. They kick off with Penn State falling short once again to Ohio State, the Buckeyes’ dominant run game and PSU’s struggling offense (02:52). Then, they go over Oregon’s assertive win over Michigan (39:53) and Georgia beating Florida despite Carson Beck’s massive struggles (46:24). 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: Conor Nevins, Dan Comer, Eduardo Ocampo, T Cruz, Stefano Sanchez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The McShay show is back. It's the college football Saturday night instant reaction show, right? We're going to do this every Saturday night. We're usually a little bit more buttoned up. Let's face it, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we've got more imagery, and we've got, you know, we like to use everything that our producers and directors and everyone wants us to use. But tonight, it's just about talking ball from today.

A few great games that we want to get to. Penn State, Ohio State featured game, number four versus number three. 20 to 13. Ohio State wins that one. We've got Florida, Georgia, rivalry a lot closer than we expected Munch. But Georgia holds on 3420. And Oregon, Michigan.

Thought Michigan would have a little bit more fight. My goodness is Oregon. They are just rolling, man. We'll get to that too. Oregon wins that one, 38 to 17. So before we get started, I want to mention this, because I'm fired up. We got the green light on this Mench.

This is our last Saturday night reaction show. It's only our second one, but our last one that will not be live. Starting next week at the end of every primetime game, and every week after that, go on and watch the 730, usually 7.30 ABC primetime game. It's usually Herb Street and Fowler. After that game, we will be on live on YouTube. And then we'll obviously have a podcast that's produced from there

that will be on Spotify and everywhere else you get, everywhere else you get your podcast. but starting next Saturday night after one of my favorite games in the college football year, every year, Alabama, LSU, Baton Rouge, best place to watch college football on a Saturday night. So we'll get into that next week. But just so you know, starting next week and every week after, after that primetime game, we will be on live on YouTube. So with that in mind, Munch, let's get to the big game today, right?

Let's dig right in. Like I mentioned, number four, Ohio State goes to Happy Valley. plays Penn State, Buckeyes and Ryan Day get a much needed win, right? Both teams needed it. All the numbers were out there. James Franklin, all the struggles he's had against Ohio State, against top five teams,

all the struggles that Ryan Day in this program has had against Michigan, we know, and also in top five games, a lot of close game. But a huge win for Ryan Day in this program. And really, it was fascinating to me, because the final score was 2013, right? The first five minutes were dominated by Penn State. I thought, okay, is this finally the year? We talked about it.

Is this the year that Penn State's got a little bit more? James Franklin's going to get them over the top. They come out, and let's just say, you love when you have a big game like this, and there's no excuses after. Penn State can't come back and say, well, if Drew Aller played, because we thought coming into the game,

there's a chance. We knew Drew Aller was going to play, but was he going to be able to play at a high enough level? Was he going to be without his mobility? And with the knee injury, it just wasn't the case. We saw in the first drive, his mobility not only was adequate,

it was a key component in what they were doing offensively. He had three runs in that first drive, climbed the pocket on another throw, and was able to connect with his receiver down the field. So, and then to be honest with you, a beau per bullo the backup who played so well last week against Wisconsin he came into the game in a certain package that they like to run with him in the red zone comes in the game i think it was an incomplete pass

and more importantly it was a penalty for an illegal uh offensive lineman down the field so that actually set them back they wind up kicking a field goal in the first drive Ohio state comes out will Howard doesn't see the cornerback squatting and jumping that row and all of a sudden it's a pick six and now it's 10 nothing. Nittany lines are up. The place is going, yeah,

they're going nuts. And you're like, uh-oh. You know, is Ohio State with that offensive line? Is Ohio State going to be able to climb its way back in? The Buckeyes absolutely dominated this game for the final for 55 minutes. Dominated this game. Right.

I mean, go ahead. If there's no pick six and, I mean, we'll get into it probably a little. bit later and Will Howard doesn't fumble at the goal line. I think this game's a blowout. I don't even think it's close. So, I mean, it just speaks to, and again, I think that Ohio State has that big game experience. They don't panic. They've been in a lot of, you know, I mean,

they've already gone to Oregon this year. They've been in hostile environments. That program knows how to handle a big game and handle adversity early. I guess the question for me is always going to be what stood out the most. Let's start with that. For me, what stood out the most was that Chip Kelly, the offensive coordinator who's been a head coach in the NFL, the head coach of the Oregon Ducks, you know, the offensive system, it didn't start the spread, it didn't start the uptempo, but it revolutionized college football at the time, goes on to be the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, the head coach of the UCLA Bruins, and makes the highly unusual decision

because we, I mean, you know, Chip, we go back to UNH days. He was the head coach of UNH. We're playing at Richmond. Ryan Davis was his quarterback. Where were the Richmond spiders? We kind of know all about him going back 25, 27, almost 30 years now, right?

Right. The highly unusual decision to make the move from head coach for the vast majority of his career to say, I want to go coach ball again. I love it. Transfer portal, NIL, all this stuff. Like Jeff Hathley here in Boston, I talked to him after he decided to go back to Green Bay.

We were texting back and forth. Same exact line. You know what, Todd, I just want to go coach ball again. And I think we're seeing a lot of coaches with that same mindset. So with that as the backdrop, you have, in my opinion, Chip Kelly is the best play designer and play caller in the run game. in all of college football. And, you know, you know him for the spread and the uptempo and all the points and everything.

But really, like, the foundation of everything he does is get, yeah, is the run game. And then to have a quarterback distribute the ball efficiently and quickly and wisely, you know. And I'll never forget asking him, game day sent me out to do a feature 20 years ago. Let's go out, 17 years ago, whatever it was. And I asked Chip, because his offense was so unique at the time, I'll never forget this question. And we're, you know, born and raised in Massachusetts, New England. You're from Andover. I'm from Swampuskot.

We're Celtics fans, right? Yeah. I said, and I was just curious because his quarterback at the time, it wasn't like, you know, gunslinger, it was a great athlete who could throw the ball a little bit. And I was like, what is it like in the perfect world, if you recruited the perfect quarterback for your system, what would that look like? And he's like, Réjean Rondo. It's awesome.

the point guard of the time of the Celtics, you know? And so it kind of like got me into his mindset, like someone who can distribute the ball officially, make good decisions, someone I trust carrying the ball up the court, you know, like, so with that in mind, like it's always been about the run and utilizing the quarterback to get the ball out quickly

and finding unique, creative ways to get your playmakers the ball in space, including your running backs. And we saw throughout this game. And it's honestly, I'm not here to not. Doc, Tom Allen, the defensive coordinator for Penn State. They've got a very good defense. They hung in there tight.

Shit, they only gave up 20 points. I'm not saying that this was, like, not even by a stretch, was a blowout or a dominant performance or overwhelming performance. But I consistently throughout the game thought that Chip Kelly was abusing him from a play design, play calling standpoint. point. Don't hold back. I know I did. Every time they involved Will Howard

in the run action somehow, I mean, Penn State had no answer. They were, they're collapsing on Will Howard when you have one of the best running backs of the country in Quinn Sean Jenkins, Jenkins as the pitch guy. And they didn't have anyone, there was no one

assigned to him. There was no one to step up and stop him. He was getting wide open running lanes. And then you saw it at the end of the game. They sealed the game with Howard just keeping the ball, and running. It was just, to me, it was, they seemed ill prepared for what Kelly was throwing at them.

Yeah, and then our producer Connor asked, was texting on our thread during the game, and he asked, Kyle McCourt, because Kyle McCord's a better passer, I would say, than Will Howard, right?

Right. And he asked the question, like, is this an upgrade? You know, when Will Howard was struggling during the game, it was a fair question. Is Will Howard an upgrade?

Because they were so, like, thrilled to bring him in from Kansas State, right? and it is for Chip because of the run component. Right. And the quick decisions, the ability, like the Rajon Rondo aspect of it. So I think it's when you look at it, like McCord, yeah, he could come out and he could probably dice you up better.

And Jeremiah Smith would have had a bigger day probably in this game. But that's not what Chip wants to be. And I thought there was no better three play series than the one where it was back-to-back toss sweeps. I think one went to Quintan Junkins. I think the next one went to Trayvion Henderson. It was that toss sweeper, the quarter where Howard got the ball and shotgun, kind of takes two steps to the right, pitches it out.

And they ran play action for a touchdown off that same action. Yeah, way to steal my thunder, man. You were getting there. But you saw what I saw, right? And that's exactly it. And then the third time they come back, and it's two steps to the right, fake the pitch, swing back just a little bit.

And now if you look in the secondary from that end zone copy, the flow of the receivers is going to the left side. And at that point, Howard, throws the ball for a touchdown on that pass. Who was it? It was not, I forget which receiver it was. Innes, Brandon Innes. Brandon Innes.

Yeah, it was. Yeah, Brandon Innes on that throw to the left for the touchdown. So that was the three-play series. There were several groupings of. plays and several times during the game where like receivers running wide open, Tate, the receiver that one time. And Howard, it was a terrible throw. Howard started the game off as badly, as poorly as you can't.

Pick six. You talked about the fumble going in the end zone. How about the receiver Tate down the right, the right rail? Frozen out of bounds. Wide open. Literally out of bounds. And that's when I think Connor's like, like, you know, on his phone. Text thing, yo, you know, where?

There's McCord, right? Where's McCord? Exactly, yeah. And it was a fair question. But, but yeah. So to me, like, the ability to create in the run game and then also when they did throw the ball, getting receivers open for McCord throughout this game, I just, I thought it was a master class. So if you're asking me what stood out most, it was this run game of Ohio State,

but specifically the run design and the play calling within the run game. and then marrying the passing game to that. It was brilliant. And that's what, you know what? Honestly, God, that's why you brought Chip in. And this is the game that Chip, when Chip is sitting out in UCLA and it's 70 and sunny, and he's the head coach, and he's watching players, the NIL and all that stuff. It's like, oh, it's beautiful out here.

He's got a beautiful place in Manhattan Beach hanging out with the Rosillo and Stanford Steve comes out and hangs out. I was out there for a UCLA game two years ago hanging out. Like, it's just, it's a nice life. It ain't New England. It ain't Columbus in December, you know? Right. But he's like, I got to go back and coach ball.

And you make that decision for a game like this. And it was brilliant to see. It was a lot of fun to say. Do we know who called who? Did they call Chip and be like, hey, man, you know, like, you think about maybe you want to do this? You think Chip called day and said, I'd love to come. You know, I know you're looking for a coordinator.

You know, I just would love to have heard to be a fly on the wall for that conversation would be great because I think it's changed. I mean, you got to remember, like I said, Day was his quarterback. Right. No, they definitely haven't really. I mean, it's not a great relationship. Right. So they're talking all the time.

You know, they're talking all the time. And I'm sure Chip's a bit bitching about to the current system, as he did publicly. I'm not saying anything that Chip has said to me that he had, I mean, every interview that he had is the UCLA head coach, not every, but a lot of interviews as a head coach talking about, you know, the state of college football, like that it went viral when he, when he laid out a plan. that would be brilliant for college football. His mind was being used on those sorts of things and not enough in what he truly loves about this game. The game is better with him calling plays. I totally agree.

And we saw it today. The other thing, so with that is kind of the foundation or the backdrop of what was most impressive for me. I know talking to you former offensive linemen all week long, how the hell is Ohio State going to fix this? problem. Josh Simmons, the left tackle, down with an injury, talking about him rising, potential with first round pick, playing great early in the year, scouts talking about him, buzz all about him, right? And then he gets injured. And then we saw in the last game,

last outing against Nebraska, right? Yeah, Nebraska. Yeah. Without Simmons in there, the backup struggles, he gets nicked up. The third string tackle comes in. Then we talked to Joel Clad. What a great conversation, by the way, looking back on Tuesday. Interesting, right? The way it played out. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, it was fascinating how it played out. I thought about that conversation while listening to him cover the game with Gus Johnson today, like five or six different times.

Right. And the first time was when they brought out Donovan Jackson at the left tackle position, but then watching throughout the game and how they kept talking about the offensive line and how he told us that that position switch was going to be made. So you as my resident offensive line, me like, what did you see today from that group? So you take Donovan Jackson, your all world left guard. you kick him out to left tackle. You bring in the guy who played center last year,

Carson Hintzman, hasn't played a lot this year, and you're playing him at guard. And I thought, you know, never started a guard before. Right. And Joel Klam had this point during the broadcast. She's like, you know, he's never played guard before. Jackson's never played tackle,

but they have played next to each other. And I do think that's a good point. They know, they have a feeling for, and when you're talking about not to get in the weeds too much with the offensive line play, because I know you'll be like, all right, Mitch. But when you're combo blocking up to the second level,

and you're deciding who's going to come off for that linebacker, when you're passing off stunts, when you're picking up pressures, that experience, that knowing what the other guy is going to do is important. And I will say that I didn't think it was a flawless performance. There were issues with pass protection.

They didn't always run the ball well, but I will say when push came to shove and Ohio State had to win this game and run out the clock, you know, they were physical, they got off the ball, they created seams. they did what they needed to do for Ohio State to get a win in that game.

And I think it's encouraging going forward that if that's how that group of five played in their first game together, there's no reason to believe it won't continue to get better. A few other things that jumped out. And that was awesome to see. A few other things I want to touch on before we, I then want to circle back to the fourth quarter. So we're always keeping an eye on prospects, right? And I can't wait to watch this tape. Like we just watch on TV.

We got to study the tape. probably get to it tomorrow on Sunday and a little bit on Monday. We can circle back on Tuesday and see what we saw from the coach copy tape. But my goodness, did Penn State struggle to get open? The wide receivers and the tight ends, right? And couldn't even get off the line at times. I mean, the play where Warren runs into his receiver, the receiver just couldn't get into his route. So now the timing's messed up.

they collide. It's guys, you've got to get off the ball and into your route. Even if you're not going to catch the ball, spacing-wise, taking away, you know, causing the coverage to account for you so your best player on your team can get open. It was tough to watch the times on the outside. Yeah, and I remember 50, 50 balls. I remember asking Joel, like,

so Tyler Warren's not going to have 17 catches in this game like he did against USC. We all love Tyler Warren. One of the top three prospects at the tight end position coming up in this class. You know, probably going to be a top 50 pick. Love them. But you can't beat Ohio State with just Tyler Warren. And USC doesn't have the safeties of linebackers to cover Tyler Warren. The 101 matchup that was awesome to watch, and this is the one I can't wait to watch on it.

How about Caleb Downs? Yeah. The youngster. I mean, that cat's going to be a first round pick. The one time that I saw that he wasn't matched up, and I didn't watch every single play. I was focused on everything else. But for the vast majority of the game, and Klapp brought this up,

that Downs was following him around. It's kind of like your premier corner moving around, you know, trying to like Certan versus Julio Jones back in the day, you know, that Alabama LSU matchup, I'll never forget. It was very similar.

Like, all right, our best guy is going to be on their best guy. And he shut Warren down the best majority of the day. And when Warren had that big, it was like a 31, 33-yard, reception, he, he, um, that was versus ransom. Right. The other safety.

And so that was that, what a play that was, by the way. Great point. And we'll get to, I want to come back to that in a little bit because that, that drive drove me nuts. But anyway, yeah, if you're, if you're an NFL, if you're an NFL, if you're an NFL, if you're an NFL, watching that one-on-one matchup was fascinating to me. The other thing that was fascinating to me from a scouting perspective and just from a game perspective, talk about like the wide receivers not winning.

was critical in this game. Do you know it was until late in the second quarter that a wide receiver or tight end had a reception for Penn State? I didn't think, I thought he, I thought he only had five, I missed it. I thought he had five completions to all and word of Singleton in the first half. There was one, I think, late in the first half, but I'll have to go back to that.

I thought there was one to a wide receiver. It wasn't of any major significance, but one to a receiver in the first half. Yeah. And, yeah, Singleton had the five catching. out of the back. I like Singleton. I like Singleton. I don't love them. This is an unbelievable running back class. But Singleton's a good player. But those corners, the other thing we talked about with Clat, what's going on to the Ohio State defense?

Well, part of it is, and I'll never forget to say it. Part of it is the individuals aren't playing to the level. And some of it is a cornerback. And he didn't say the name, but we kind of both knew Denzel Burke was the guy that he was talking about a little bit. Denzel Burk had not played great. Denzel Burke played pretty good today, man. And I know those Penn State receivers aren't great, but they're still Penn Statewide receivers. Like, you know, so there's a good competition. It was a good competition game for Burke. The week before he got beat for the go-ahead touchdown in the Nebraska game.

Yes, exactly. And then Davidson, Abignoson, who's played better this year, hasn't been perfect, but played he was awesome today. From what I saw, I couldn't believe that pit. I didn't think that. There was no way in real time that I thought he came down with that. able to pull that away. And he was interfered with.

He was like the receiver, I think it might have been Fleming, pushed off on his helmet. And somehow he was still able to keep a foot in, grab, I mean, it was, I mean,

those are the kind of plays you just don't see every Saturday. It was incredible. I mean, there was a, there was a couple of those. I mean, we've seen like the one-handed interceptions.

We've seen like the, you got moss interceptions over the head. We've seen all sorts of special. That one was so freaking unique. Yeah. Like, it happened so fast, like in real time.

And I was like, was that a catch? Now it's not a catch, incomplete. All right, next play. And the next thing, it's also in that corner

of the end zone where you can't see everything you know, so it's like, what just happened? Like, God bless that camera man. And I think the Gus

or one of the guys that gave him, like that camera, like the angle he had where it was unreal. And then, and to gain possession of it so quickly,

that was the thing. It was like, see, it had stick them, right? That was that fucking catch, man. That interception. I mean, that changed the whole thing.

Right. I mean, if you think about that, they get that score there. That's a score. End of the first half. It's a different momentum. It's got a whole different vibe. The whole different vibe. That was the play of the game.

There's no, like, in my mind, there were a handful of great play. That was the play of the game in one of the plays of the year in college football. Huh, worked up about it. Yeah, we're going to know. Yeah, it was, all right. So the wide receivers and tight ends for Penn State getting blanketed was huge. I mean, they're there.

And just schematically, right, when you realize in-game, like third series as defensive coordinator in your Ohio State, and you're like, oh, yeah, this isn't a problem. Now it's like, cover zero, cover one all day long. If we're playing cover one, we're doing it because we're hoping our free safety just gets a beat on a ball and goes and gets a pick. but we don't need them back there. And then what else is that too? Now your safeties are involved in the run, like all the cliches.

But as a defensive coordinator, allows you to get a little more aggressive, a little more exotic. And you see early on, the refs, I mean, Joel made the point, the refs said to him before the game,

we're going to let him play. And they let him play. I don't think it was unfair one way or the other, but you got to play the game that they're calling. And if you're Ohio State, and you're those corners and they're letting you get that physical, then play that physical.

That's the way it's getting called that day. So I thought that was something else that took advantage of. You want to play cover zero and you can get real physical with receivers getting off the line. I think it's a benefit to your defense. All right. So three things that stood out in the fourth quarter. I just want to rip through the fourth quarter real quick.

This game was, I mean, this game was huge. That Ohio State has the ball. It was a rule to fumble, I believe, a catching fumble on the field. Incomplete pass. That was early first quarter, fourth quarter, early fourth quarter, quarter. Then it was reviewed, ruled an incompletion, not a fumble. That was a huge call. Huge. Massive call. And I thought, again, that was another opportunity to, where the thing felt like it was about to shift. Felt like it was about to shift with that Igbenoosin interception right before the

half. And then it again felt like it was going to shift that first drive in the fourth quarter. Okay, Penn State is going to get the ball back. Here we go. And all of a sudden, that play allowed and extended. They didn't get a touchdown, but a result in a field goal. Now all of a sudden, Ohio State's up 20, 13, with 10 minutes and 17 seconds left. What did you have to say? Do you think you get, I was going to say when it was first call,

when you watch that play, Will Howard actually makes a game saving, I mean, a touchdown saving, I think a touchdown saving tackle. So he actually is the one who makes the tackle on the plan. I was like, oh, that's interesting if they get the ball. I ultimately think they got it right, though. I mean, it was a bang, bang play.

I meant to say it was a huge call, but it was the right call. I think it was the right call to. Yeah. I think the replay booth, I mean, what a monster game for the replay booth. And I thought that they had a great deal. I mean, those two plays were critical.

And they got like that. Remember the interception was called the incomplete? Yep. The callback on the fumble. And I'm missing the third one now. Oh, the Will Howard. Oh, yeah, the fumble into the end zone. Into the end zone.

Yeah. So those three, there's three big time calls. And they got all three. You really, like if you're Penn State, you can bitch because you're Penn State and you want to, but like you really can't. You're not getting like national sympathy. There's not going to be shows to watch where people are like,

oh, I don't know. Like they were just the right calls, man. So anymore. Sorry. So Penn State now gets the ball back. It's 2013, 1017 remaining. They get the ball back. Best drive of the game.

Best drive of the game. We talked about the 31-yard catch versus Ransettles for Tyler Warren. Okay. then, hey, hey, by the way, our best player really hasn't been involved in this game. Maybe we should get them involved. All right, let's run that option, creative option. Get it out to Tyler Warren again, 33-yard run. Get some down to the three-yard line.

First and goal from the three mench. Yeah, I think you were echoing what every Penn State fans in a three. And Tyler Warren doesn't touch the ball again. I don't care if you put him in it, fullback. I don't care if you have him throw a pass and run the option himself. I don't care. He's actually, he has actually gotten behind center and quarterback sneak, you know, run the sneak. I don't care how you do it.

Tyler Warren has to touch the ball at least once, probably twice. What you cannot do is run the ball three times. Get into a fourth down situation where everyone knows you're going to pass. I mean, if he would ran the ball, I would have been stunned. and then run some kind of exotic, I mean, some kind of exotic play action where you're, I, I just don't understand it. We, we should, like, your receivers had one catch, maybe. We got to go back and look at the stat sheet. That's why a quarterback's been making the reaction.

But your receivers aren't winning all day. Why are they going to run now in this moment? Play the odds. Get your guy the ball. And so it's first and goal from the three. second goal from the three third and goal from the one fourth and goal from the one

unreal and that Ohio State defense that we gave you know I don't know if we were overly critical of them but man they stood up I mean that was second week in a row by the way and they pointed that out too yeah in Nebraska they had a critical goal on stand as well so give that

I will I will never understand that fourth down call you mean you are it's football in so many ways is a numbers game Right. So now you have a tackle eligible. You're going to put in motion on the left side of the field and release your best player, Warren, to that same side. I want to go back and watch the play. I'm not 100% certain about this.

Even though that tackle was eligible, do you think anyone from Ohio State gave him the time of day? Do you think anyone was like, let's match up with this guy? So you know you had someone lined up over him and you're releasing your best player into the same area of the field. You're going to have two or three guys to cover more. It just doesn't make any sense. you're throwing over the middle, which is also compact because if you run it, they have to have guys in the middle. It just didn't make any sense. Roll your quarterback out to the right with their space, giving them the opportunity to make a play with his feet if nothing's available, give guys the chance to get open.

It's so many more positive things could have happened. If you go to the right on that play instead of trying to, I don't, do you think Ohio State was like, oh, no, they might run that same play again. We stuffed three times. It was, it was mind-boggling with it. Yeah. I mean, if you're a Penn State fan today and you wake up, and I know that's not James Franklin's call, but he's going down with the ship, right? Right. I know from talking to dozens of head coaches who aren't the offensive play callers, I've asked, and I've been on the side. I was on the sideline for like 12 years, right? I'm literally standing like 10, 15 yards from the guy. Like head coaches don't call the plays typically, some do, but typically.

don't, but they get on the headset. And I've asked, literally dozens of head coaches, I've talked to them about this. The head coach's job is, hey, get 44 the fucking football. This has to happen. This has to happen. You call the play.

You know, you've got your call to do it. We've talked about different way. Like, you call the one you want, but he's got to get the ball twice. If it takes us four plays, he better have the ball twice. And it didn't happen. I'll also say this.

We just gave the flowers to the Ohio State offensive flying, which we should. But isn't it a little disappointing that Penn State couldn't get Ohio State off the field? And this is the third part of the fourth quarter I want to get. 513, Ohio State gets the ball at its own one yard line. And listen, Will Howard did not play well. Will Howard admitted post-game, I did not play well.

Will Howard was a Pennsylvania boy, was born in Pennsylvania. We talked about the town he was born in, the high school he went to in Pennsylvania, how he was desperate, just like Joel Klaught was desperate to go to Colorado, Colorado State. Right. And got to Colorado State and threw for 417 or whatever the stat line. 417, right? So this was his Joel Klatte against Colorado State game.

Wanted to have a monster game. Shove it right up, you know where. You didn't recruit me. Fine. Here I am. How did you go to Kansas State? And I finally get a shot of being the Ohio State quarterback, and now I'm going to ruin your season. So he came out and he didn't play well.

But give this dude some credit, man. And when Connor asked me why not McCord and why Will Howard, we went back to some conversations I've had, yeah, it's the mobility's part of it. There's also something about trusting your quarterback implicitly. And I'm not talking about decision on a throw. I'm not talking about holding on the football. Trusting him as a human being as a man as football character. You hear football character kicked around all the time.

Football character, there's so many different elements to it, but part of it, especially at the quarterback position, is when we need you, when it's most desperate, when it's most important, will you do anything for this football team, including erasing the memories of the mistakes you've made in this game? What he did. So the boys that will how the NIL money they spent, bringing in this guy to fit the system,

everything that they did to make him the guy and to have that moment against Oregon, that devastating moment lately Oregon game and be like, oh, man. And to bounce, yeah, the ghosts that could have been starting to build in his brain. And it wasn't him dissecting the defense down the stretch. It was him, them putting the ball in his hand. First and 10 from the one yard line, we got to get out of here. He grinds out five yards or four yards on that sneak.

Two more times he carries the ball in that drive. First down, extends their. drive, clock is ticking. Last time they gave him the ball, first down, basically games over. Then technically it was a run, but the kneel down victory formation was the last time. So for this offensive line, phenomenal. For this team, Ohio State phenomenal, but for Will Howard, the pressure that is taken off of his shoulders now, like it's almost like he was anointed today, like, okay, you're our guy and now we know why. Does that make sense? sense? Yeah, listen, Jim Nagy had an all-time quote this week when he said,

you can't coach balls into a player. Yeah, it's true. Like, you can't coach balls into a player. And you can be like, oh, he throws it this well and he's this accurate. When the, when the chips are down, who's going to make a play? Who is? Like, I was laughing. I don't know if we gave that one enough attention when he said it, but it was great. It's just true. You can't coach balls into a player. Yeah. And he showed some brass ones today. Yeah. Awesome for Will Howard. You know, awesome for Ohio State. James Franco, now one in 14 against top five opponents.

I mean, one in eight, I think, against Ohio State. Yelling at, yelling at fans, getting booed, leaving the stadium, chance to fire him. It's going to be, it's going to be interesting. But, all right, so that's the fallout. Two things I want to get to fallout real quickly. on the other game. That's the fallout. That's the misery that is James Franklin's life tonight and this

week. But Penn State's kind of not in a bad position, man. Like they should, they should easily, not easily, they should handle business and went out. And now they don't have to go to Indianapolis.

It's very likely unless something happens, you know, something totally unforeseen happens. It's going to be Oregon versus Ohio State and a rematch in Indianapolis in the Big Ten Championship. Yeah, I don't see unless Indiana somehow pulls off that upset. But like, there's, it's a very low probability that it's going to be Penn State. Very low probability that Penn State's going to Indianapolis and it's still a very high

probability that Penn State's going to be in the playoff. Right. So while this is devastating and the trends are there and it's, you're miserable if you're a Penn State fan today, there's a there's a. a very clear silver lining. And now what's also awesome is Ohio State, Oregon, very good chance that we're going to see a rematch

of that game. Yeah, that's great for football. That's great for college football. So, yeah. And then what happens? I mean, what happens if Oregon loses and that? I mean, Ohio State loses two to Oregon. Are they still in?

They've got the win over Penn State. It's going to, I don't know. It's going to be a lot of fun. One last thing. Another text that Connor said. So, Connor, if you're there, I am reading your text all day. He said he had a good question, though, man.

It was really good question. This running back group, I don't feel like, you know, Quinshot Junkins and Trayvon Henderson, super talented. Henderson's probably going to be a, you know, mid-round pick has not been the player that he never kind of reached that elite level and sustained it, if you will. Does he look better this year than he did last year?

He does. I think this is the right kind of role for him. More juice, more burst. There's still times where I'm like, slow down, bro. Just set it up a little bit more, but he looks explosive. And they're a great combination for each other, even though they kind of, they look like they're built similarly. One is one's more speed and straight line and explosiveness in Henderson. The other is a grinder in Judkins.

But anyway, college football history recently, recently, like, what tammons are as talented is this? And I do think now that if the offensive line continues to play this way, chips now rolling as a play caller with these guys, they're kind of in a groove. I think from this point on, throughout the regular season, against Oregon, let's say,

potentially in the Big Ten championship, into the playoffs, this could become an even more special group, like something that we talk about for several years to come. So his question was, like recent history, best running back tandem.

Would you put this up with some of the best running back? Off the top of your head, like, who do you think of? Right away, my two answers were, I had to go back to Cadillac Williams and Ronnie Brown, right? There was another back.

It was like the full back, the big guy with them. But those two. There was actually, yeah. And then also Arkansas with McFadden and Felix Jones. And also they had a, Peyton Hillis was the third one. But those two were the guys,

Cadillac and, I mean, McFadden. And didn't he win an MVP one year? Yeah, he wasn't he on the cover of Madden? He was the cover of Madden. Maybe he didn't win MVP, but he was definitely on the cover of Matt.

But also on this thread were mentioned. And Willis McGahey, Portis and Gore at Miami. Yeah. Chubb and Sony, Michelle at Georgia. The great, I mean, Alabama had runs of them, right, for like a, I don't know, 12, 13-year span with Ingram, Richardson, Lacey. But the thing, sorry, the difference in Alabama was they had, they always kind of had the featured guy. And then it was like the younger guy kind of getting his, like, earning his stripes and he's going to be next up. but it was Ingram Richardson, Lacey,

and then they had Damien, like that run, second run of like Damian Harris, Jacobs, Najee Harris, and Derek Henry. I remember seeing Derek Henry. I think it was against Washington,

like the Sugar Bowl. And I didn't know who he was. And he ripped off like a 50-yard run. And like one guy was like in the first row of the stands. He's like, yeah, that's the next one. That's the next one. In fact,

he had to have like the running back number. You must have been like, the guy's got the wrong number on. Like he can't be. But I threw this out to the X-vers. I threw it out to all of our friends on X. And you can follow me at McShay 13. Mench, what's your handle again?

It's like some really long handle. Yeah, it's like that got Scouts Munch, I think. I don't even know. I'll figure that out for you. That's why you don't have followers. I mean, come on, man. All right, so anyway, I threw it out to our friends on X. Great back and forth.

A lot of people. I forgot Reggie Bush and Lendale White. I mean, awesome. Thunder and Lightning. People will sleep on that one. At Scouts Inc. Mench. At Scouts Inc. Mench. Nice and short.

Easy to type in. At Scouts Inc. Mench. Wisconsin, I didn't realize all three were in the same running back room. I guess it was just one year. Romanty Ball, James White, Melvin Gordon. We're all in the same back for that one season.

I knew that, yeah. Minnesota had a sneaky one. I forgot someone, someone on pointed it out, Marion Barber. Moroni, yeah. And then there were some old school ones, the obvious ones, like Dickerson and James, Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas.

And then the funniest one, I'll give you credit out there, John Turner, he's got a blue checkmark. I don't know who you are, John Turner, but I was impressed. He said, he chimed in with, you also got to throw in Herschel Walker and then just pick a cheerleader. It didn't matter. So, I don't know.

That was a fun one. but yeah follow your guy mench at scouts ink mench and uh change it this week now we got to be better i mean this is the second week of the show kind of just getting our bearings we'll start like we need to start interacting more on social media we're getting clips out and doing all that stuff but like i want i want fans i want like interested you know next up scouts everyone to get involved in the show and so it's on us to start including and and getting people involved more and that's that was our first way to get started on that. All right, Mitch.

Let's stick with Oregon, Michigan, real quick. And I just want to get in, like, what jumped out real quick. I'll give you what jumped out for me because I just want to stay in the Big Ten while we're here. I talked about Oregon, like, just rolling, right? The final was 3817. I don't think I realized coming into the year the depth of weapons that Oregon has. I absolutely love Jordan James at running back. I love his run style.

We'll get into him and how he fits into this running back class. We've talked briefly about how loaded this group is. I mean, you obviously have, you've got, you got Ashton Jinty, who's making a run at the Heisman, who's going to be a top 15 pick, very likely. We talked about Judkins, Marian Hampton from North Carolina, you know, Trabian Henderson as well. We talked about him today, Nicholas Singleton.

So we saw a bunch of good running backs today. ETN got knocked out of the Georgia Florida game. We'll talk about that later. But I like this. I'm talking as a mid-round pick, like day three. I'd really like Jordan James, his lateral cuts, his bursts up the field. I just, I love his vision and his sharp.

Like the snap he has as a runner, you know? I love back to the road to the ground. I have a lot of snap. And Jordan James has that. But all these weapons are receiver, man. and Dylan Gabriel's just, he's dealing. Yeah, he is. I've talked about, we've talked about Stein and his journey to where he's gotten at Oregon.

And you talk about can't coach balls. Also with coaches, it takes Kuyans, right? Yeah. It takes Kuyans to make a decision to bring in a guy who's been like a GA and like a high school, not even a head coach, like an O.C. And that's what he did with Stein. Dan Lannning did with his offensive coordinator. But they've got weapons.

Gabriel is comfortable. Stein has got him comfortable, and they've got weapons, and everyone knows about Evan Stewart and Tess Johnson. We knew that coming in. What I did not know, bud, is that this Justice Lowe guy was going to start to emerge like halfway through the year. The last two weeks he's been a huge part of this offense.

And how about Trayshon Holden today? Who saw that come? It catches 149 yards. This team is legitimate. that is my takeaway. Holden, I mean, Holden looked,

I mean, he looked the part. I mean, I was like, how was this guy not been making more plays? I mean, he's,

he had six for 149 today. He's had nowhere near that production. It's almost like, where have you been? When you're watching it, you're like, that's just another guy

that's emerged that they can go to. I will say this quickly, uh, on the, on the Michigan side of the ball. Yep. I left that. I,

when we finished watching Penn State, Ohio State, I was like, Or it might be tight-in-one. He might be tight-in-one in this class. And then Colston Loveland goes out and catches seven for 112 and just does what Colston Loveland does. Like he,

there are different kind of players, but no one, I don't see tight-ins separate like Loveland does. And then the ball skills, he had one, I guess you could call it a drop where, you know, they had to replay it. But, I mean, he is after the catch. He's a dude. I mean, he's just,

it's impressive. And every time I'm like, oh, maybe Warren's the guy. And I thought Mason Taylor. I thought Mason Taylor was going to be up there. I think Mason Taylor's behind those two now. Yeah,

he's behind those two. I think Lovelland and Warren, I think you could flip-flop them how you want. I think if you took a poll that would be Loveland one, Warren, two, like a majority.

But I don't think anyone's going to beat you up. And I think Taylor's three. There's a drop off after that. There's some other decent guys, but there's a drop. But there's three. Kid Ferguson from Oregon. though, he's playing well, too.

Speaking of other weapons. He's a catch-wise. And is it Sadiq? Is the other one? I think it's Sadiq. Yeah, Kenyon speak, yeah. They've got weapons for days. I just didn't realize coming into the year.

I knew that they had dudes and I knew, but I just, like, this is a little different than what I'm used to seeing with Oregon. And then you have, you have your, it's in a weird way. I know Chips in Ohio State now, but you have your Rondo and Gabriel. The key is just, I'm going to go wherever I need to go.

He looks so calm. Yeah. You just looks. Everything is poised. Everything is calm. I keep waiting for a Dylan Gabriel game. And I thought, okay. And I said it before.

Like Dylan Gabriel in the past, whether UCF or Oklahoma, would play great, put up big numbers, have awesome moments, like gutsy, big time plays when they need like awesome player.

But would always like, there would be one game or there would be like a couple series where you're like, God, like, where he's holding the team back. Okay?

Right. Or the team was counting on him to carry and he just like, that day wasn't his day. keep waiting for that from Dylan Gabriel? And it might not be coming, bud. It might not be coming yet. Because he looks so much more comfortable in what he's doing.

He's not pressing. And that's, to me, is the secret sauce of what Stein has done. He's gotten the best of him, right? And this is what a great coach does. He has bottled up and channeled the best of what Gabriel is and has kind of chipped away at all the things that would get Gabriel into trouble in the past. It's the same thing he did with Bo Nix, dude.

Yeah. It's the same thing he did with Bo Nix. Bo Nix was a, it was a disaster at Auburn. Right? Same kind of stuff, like five great games, but three games where it's like we lost because of Bo Nix. Or we lost this game, a close game at the end because he made that Bo Nix mistake.

He gets to Oregon and then it was signed like just last year. He didn't have those moments, those games. So I don't know. It's fascinating to watch, but I, and this was the first true road test for Oregon. And I know Michigan's got all of the problem that's got, but it didn't matter who they played today. They played ball today at the level that they wanted to play. And that to me is a sign of a championship level team, is that the consistency every week, that we're not, we're not going to roll it out there. We're not worried about traveling across the country, going to Michigan. We don't care about the 110, 115, whatever's in the

in the crowd. We don't care that this is the national champion. We don't care that they've got two NFL defensive tackles and an NFL edge rusher. Like it didn't matter. Like we're playing our game. That's what really jumped out with Oregon. So, and then finally, Florida, Georgia, I did not expect to have to talk about this game, the way we're going to talk about this game.

The injury was devastating for Lagway. Yeah. that hamstring and it looked bad. Yeah, I've never seen hamstring look that bad. Even coach said it half time. Like, yeah, he goes, it's a hamstring, but it's a bad hamstring. It's a serious one or however he phrased it. So, I mean, obviously thoughts and prayers with Lagway, like, just a freshman out there, you know,

made some mistakes early on. Great long, throws a beautiful deep ball, man. Yeah. He throws a beautiful deep ball, but I mean, he's still like. like a dangerous guy. They can play. Yeah. So, and yeah, it was 7-3 after that deep ball.

But the story of this game, and you can say that, you know, Trevor E.TN, rib injury, not playing. Yeah, that was a story, but that was like the subplot. Maybe the story of the Georgia season. Yeah. Carson Beck's regression is real. Yeah. He's not the same guy.

And I'm not basking in that. I'm frustrated for him. as we've talked about endless times, and we will always talk about, like, I'm here, I pull for all of these dudes. And this is an opportunity coming in in this season to take his game to another level.

There are a lot of people that thought he could be the first quarterback taken. It's not even about that right now. It's about Carson Beck, getting back to the drawing board and figuring out what's going on. I'm not in the meeting room. I'm not, you know,

I'm not one of his best friends hanging out with him. I don't know what's going. I don't know the why behind it. I know the product on the field, and that's what we're here to talk. about. And the product on the field, the product on the field is 11 interceptions in the last nine games. The product in the field is, I think, is it four games now this season with multiple interceptions? And more specifically, the product on the field shows me a quarterback that

desperately misses the comfort level of Ladd-McConkie and misses the security blanket of Brock Bowers. And unfortunately, what you expect, especially at a place like Georgia, and we've talked about the recruiting woes comparatively, like within what they, how great they recruit. They don't get the receivers like LSU or Texas or Alabama or Ohio State. They just don't because of the system they run and all, but they still get really good athletes and they still get really, you know, top tier wide receivers.

And for some reason, he is not, he does not trust his weapons. And Pollock said this to us earlier in the year when we talked to him on our very first show, doesn't trust his tight ends. You know what, Pollack's right. Right. He also does not have a great deal of trust in any of his weapons that he's throwing to. And then you take ETN out of the game. And now the running game is not the same.

ETN gets involved as a receiver. Now that aspect's not. And although the dude they brought in, I don't have his name in front of me, the dude they brought in. Look it up. The white. The white. Fraser. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no. White Phillips. Huh? DeWite Phillips is the woman. He had like seven, seven catches or whatever it was. He was awesome catching the ball in the backfield. But my point is, looking down the field, going through progressions, I just see a quarterback that's not comfortable.

I'm going to go back and study this tape. But I saw it, but like the camera angles and watching the game, they're so good. And it's basically like watching the tape sometimes. When you got Herb Street and Fowler on the game, when Herbie's got his clicker going and they've got the Skycam, they've got the end zone, they've got the all 22. Like, they show you what you, on,

certain plays, especially with quarterbacks and big plays, you're going to see everything. You need to see it. I saw it. Right. The first two interceptions, just bad ball,

not seeing the picture clearly. And that and I don't see, I don't see impressing, but I don't see Carson Beck having an awful lot of, like, air for protecting the football in certain situations. They're just throws you can't make, man, with the game experience he has at the level that he has played,

there are decisions that he can't make, there are throws that he can't make, and the lack of seeing certain, like on the first interception, the, I want to say, was the safety dropped, or the corner,

the six foot two corner, 28, I want to say, dropped off. And he had kind of looked and he was looking back, and then he came back to it. And it was just a lack of, it was kind of like when you're driving a car,

and you look, to your left, right? No, no car coming. You'll look back to your right. Now that you're all clear, no car coming, but then you, and then you just take off. Yeah. Right? Instead of looking back one more time. Now, all of a sudden, this this, this Lamborghini we call it, because that's what Carson Beck is driving these days, not to be a ballbuster, but this Lamborghini comes screaming, comes screaming down 95 miles an hour. You didn't see him because you didn't look, you didn't peek left before taking her and the left. That's what that play was. Okay. And then, And the next one, they said on the broadcast double coverage,

even the defender who was in trail, trail man to man coverage, trailing the receiver, I think he would have gotten there, had the first guy got the interception. The guy behind him would have had the interception. And at the very best, the third defender who was in trail would have probably batted the ball down. So those, I caught a glimpse to the third interception. I don't know if you saw it, but really the point is made.

He also got away with one. He threw one right to a linebacker, saved a job, and underneath and went off the guy's hands. It was, I mean, he easily could have had four picks in that game. But he's got, he's got five over the last two weeks, eight over the last, or five of the last two games, eight over the last four games. Yeah. Not good, man. No, obviously not. So when we start talking about, let's keep it on Georgia for a minute.

on Georgia, he does bounce back, a little bit like, I mean, they just say they can't get away with it. They get away with it against an inferior Florida team and a third string, not a second string, a third string quarterback, and Aidan Warner who was playing at Yale last year. So they get away with it. They get out of there with a, you know, looks on paper was a 14 point win. But it was an absolute battle because of Beck. you know and so when the positive is as i was about to say against texas second half no alabama against alabama second half he had he bounced back and was really good um and after

the third interception he was 12 of 14 for what it's worth but like right yeah it's just thought that they did a good job of getting to what he was comfortable with is which is just getting you know a lot of predetermined reads getting the ball out of his hands quickly and and not really putting a lot of pressure on him to make reeds or downfield throws. So, I mean, it is what it is. By the way, they go to, they go to Mississippi next week. And Ole Miss kind of woke up a little today. Ole Miss put up 63 today.

And I don't think Trey Harris is played in Alaska. No, Drew, he didn't, he did not play today. I know that. So he, I mean, did they get him back? He's, by the way, he's, I love his tape. But do they get him back? And now you're, you're going against that offense. Are they able to put up some points?

Are you pressing a key to, to keep pace. I mean, that's setting up is a pretty interesting game. And they have some guys on the defensive side of the ball and Nolan and Ivy who can get after the quarterback a little bit. So, you know, that's a fun one.

Yeah, see how he bounces back. And then we've got a lot to talk about with this quarterback class. You know, Beck came in. As always. Pete Thammel mentioned to us that, I mentioned to everyone in the game day early in the year when he pulled everyone,

pulled all the NFL scouts that he talked to. And Carson Beck was the, you know, coming in the majority vote to be the first quarter of, quarterback taken. And now, like, Chador Sanders, Garrett Nussmeyer, Cam Ward,

Quinn Ewer's up in the jail in Milro. Like, he could be the sixth quarterback. Now, now Milrow could go back. Nussmeyers, we talked about, could go back. The love is not there, as Jim Nagy pointed out for Cam Ward, like a lot of people thinking that's going to be something we're going to,

I'm going to dig really into Cam Ward's tape this week. Yeah, that was a fascinating part of the name. And I think it's great because I watched the first tape against Florida. I've watched them on television. I'm going to dive back in. We're going to have a conversation about that on Thursday. But speaking of Pete Thammell, kind enough to join us on Tuesday. It's the rankings reveal, the first rankings reveal for the college football

playoff. This is going to be exciting, man. You know, 12-team playoff. First rankings reveal is on Tuesday. We're going to have our show. And I'm sure my producers will yell at us after. but we're going to have our show on Tuesday as regularly scheduled. Then we're going to do an ad on show.

I'm certain you can find it on Spotify. I know you're going to be able to find it on YouTube at some point. We'll see when we're able to get that up. But it's going to be after the rankings reveal show is on. And you and I are going to come on and just talk about it, man. Figure out what the landscape is. We've seen the AP poll, the horrible coaches poll. We've put together our polls, all that stuff.

But now we're going to have some insight into what the committee's looking at, where those guys are all going to rag. And my good friend Pete Thamwell, who's also a new New England ties, he is going to join us on Tuesday. Very busy, man. Don't know how long we can get him, but he's scheduled to come on with us Tuesday. And then we'll come back after that show,

which will be on Tuesday morning. We'll get it to you as soon as we can, probably early afternoon. After the rankings reveal show, we will have a follow-up where you and I break it all down on Tuesday night. So an exciting week here, the McShay show, and then next Saturday, remember, we're fired up for this. Next Saturday, we're going to be live after the LSU hosting Alabama game. Always one of the great games of the season. And we'll be on.

We'll screw it up. We'll have to fight through it. But we will see if we can put together a show for an hour or so next Saturday night. So until Tuesday, we appreciate you downloading, subscribing, liking. all the things that you do, please check us out on X. At McSheh 13, McShea, I mean, and Mench is at Scouts. There you go. Send us some questions, folks.

Send us some questions. Send us some topics. There's a lot that we want to get into, but there's a lot we want to hear from you, too. So until Tuesday, take care. 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. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com.

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