The McShay Show - Playoff QB Confidence Rankings: Dillon Gabriel the Consensus No. 1, Texas’s Dynamic Duo, and Carson Beck Injury Concerns

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Welcome back to ‘The McShay Show’! With the dust settled on the College Football Playoff bracket reveal, the guys go team by team and rank each quarterback room from 12 to 1. 12. Maddux Madsen (4:44) 11. Sam Leavitt (8:42) 10. Kurtis Rourke (13:30) 9. Carson Beck and Gunner Stockton (17:32) 8. Riley Leonard (23:00) 7. Kevin Jennings (31:17) 6. Will Howard (38:52) 5. Drew Allar and Beau Pribula (49:17) 4. Cade Klubnik (55:56) 3. Nico Iamaleava (1:01:36) 2. Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning (1:07:55) 1. Dillon Gabriel (1:13:04) To wrap the show, they get into their second Asked and Answered mailbag (1:13:08) The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Todd McShay Guest: Steve Muench Producers: Tucker Tashjian, Mark Panik, Conor Nevins, and Daniel Comer Social: Eduardo Ocampo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Matt Liner to Vince Young to Tim Tebow to Cam Newton to Deshawn Watson to Jalen Hertz to Trevor Lawrence to Joe Burrow. Where are you going with this? I'll tell you where I'm going with this, Mensch. The importance of being armed with the right arm at the quarterback position. Or the left arm. Yeah, I guess so too. But it's important, right? When making a run at the college football national championship, you've got to have the correct arm, if you will. This is the first year of the McShea Show. It's the first year of the 12-team. college football playoff. So naturally today, we'll unveil our first ever confidence rankings heading into the college football playoff. We'll also dive into our second edition of Asked and Answer. And we have a lot of great questions from all of you out there. It's bowl season in

college football, week 15 in the NFL. And how many days mentioned until the NFL draft? 135. All right. Mets you good? I'm good, man. Let me hear those smooth urban horns. All right, so I'm excited for today. We've got the college football playoff, quarterback rankings, right? It's kind of an index here going through all the quarterbacks. How much confidence do we have in these quarterbacks going into the playoff, right? And when you look at it, to me, it kind of boils down to a couple things, right? It's like, where would your team be without this quarterback, right?

How much does he create on his own? That's critical. Does he carry the team in big moments? How is he in the clutch? And ultimately, like how big of an asset is he? And then on the other side, how big of a liability can he be? Has he had struggles in the fourth quarter? Does he turn the ball over?

So kind of balancing those two things. And I'll take you through our process real quickly, right? So this is kind of how we do it with draft rankings too. We make a decision we're going to go through and rank all these 12 quarterbacks. And really the 12 teams with their quarterback situations, because in some situations, there's two quarterbacks that you have. have to factor it. So Mench, as he always does, the most underrated person in, I would say, in sports media, if you will, I say, let's do these rankings. Let's have some fun with it. And he

turns over a 94-page document breaking down all of these quarterbacks. So we've got this huge document that Munch has provided. It will help help us walk through it. And so also how we do it process-wise. Munch and I get on the phone. We have a conversation. We, kind of argue some things through. We discuss some other things through. But ultimately, I'll come up with the rankings. And then Mensch will have a counter ranking, if you will, of what he, he likes. And fortunately or unfortunately for Ments, we'll use mine as the jumping off point. And then Mention can argue with me. It's great for me. You get to put out a list and then I get to tell you where you're wrong. I love that role. Everyone gets to yell at me and you get the first crack. Right. So that's

where we are. That's our process. That's what we're going to do today. We all know it's the most important position in football, arguably the most important position in sports. And I just listed off all those huge names, like guys that carried their team or were critical parts of making a college football playoff run. And going back to the BCS era and the 14th playoff. And now we have the 12 team playoff. So as expected, there are 12 teams. I think we go 12 to one, Mitch. What do you think? That makes sense to me. I like that. Unveiled the number one last. Yeah, and kind of take you through the process and how we rank them. So let's start at number 12.

And like anyone, I'm going to put a disclaimer in here. They're all in the playoff. These quarterbacks have all done a fantastic job this year. You're taking a look if you're watching on YouTube, on video here, you're taking a look at the college football playoff bracket and you'll see where the matchups are. Clemson, Texas, obviously an intriguing game in Austin, the first game, Tennessee versus Ohio State.

probably the most intriguing of all of these matchups, SMU at Penn State in Indiana, Notre Dame in state battle. So let's start at number 12, Mitch. And this was difficult, and this isn't a knock. But again, going back to value and where this team would maybe be without the quarterback or how effective they would be

if you inserted a different quarterback with a relatively similar skill set. I'm going to go with Maddox-Madson from Boise State. at number 12. And there's a couple reasons why. I even watched a little more tape this morning to make sure that I wasn't undervaluing him.

And I do see the great value he has. I think he's really good. He thrives, in my opinion. Madsen does. They call him Mad Dog. That's his nickname. Mad Dog Madsen. He thrives off of play action, kind of getting outside the pocket, not always outside

the pocket, but getting outside the pocket, taking advantage of linebackers. or safeties that take the cheat step. Ashton Genty, obviously, he's going to be in New York City for the Hidesman voting. I think he's going to wind up having the number two vote behind Hunter when it's all said and done from Colorado. But Madsen, to me, there's limitations. He's not the biggest quarterback, doesn't have the strongest arm. Obviously, this offense runs through Genty.

They have a great defense. and he's stepped up in moments. He's been great off of play action, but I think, and again, not to downgrade what he's done. He's been outstanding. He's been big and big moments, but I do think when you look at Madsen, that it's clearly a lot of other areas

are the reason why they're in this position, the college football playoff. Yeah, he takes care of the football. He distributes as well, you know, he hits a number of different receivers. He's a really good fit for what they do, but he's an undersized quarterback. And I think, you know, one of the things that we were looking at was how well did you perform in big games.

I think the biggest game of the year for them was Oregon. And I think he completed 42 and a half percent of his passes in that game. You know, keep these stats in mind when we talk about these stats. It's not all on the quarterback, but they are kind of an indicator of what you're seeing on tape. They do tie in a little bit together. So, you know, it's not always 100 percent their fault for that. But that's a number that jumps out. The one, the biggest game of the year, and he completed 42 and a half percent of his pass.

passes for 148 yards. And I just think if you, in the criteria that we set up, if you genties that offense. So if genties that offense, then you don't need necessarily Matt. Matt's is not the guy that's going to carry them. Again, very good player. Great fit for what they do. I love the way he takes care of the football. He's 22 to 3 in touchdown the interception ratio this year.

And that's important. Yeah. He's not going to hurt you. He may not win the game, but he's not going to lose it. Sorry. How do you, no, how do you fit? into what we're trying to do as a program, right? What we're trying to do as a program is be really good on special teams,

really good on defense and do it with a defensive front that I think is very underrated and run the football. And so if that's our formula for victory, we need a quarterback that can do two things. Exploite defenses when they get overaggressive versus the run, check. Two, protect the football. check three interceptions on the season that's 13 games played right so 12 games in the regular season plus the conference championship which they were dominant in and just look great um but again only 62 percent on the year you talked about the not a great completion percentage in big game

7.5 yards per attempt is is i'd say average when we go through some of these guys across the board there's some guys that are close to 10 some guys that are down at six but really for him it's about cashing in when the opportunity's there and he's done that at a very high level and then don't make mistakes with the football don't put us in a position where we're going to put more stress on the defense don't put us in a position where we're playing from behind because that's this is a team that needs to kind of get a lead and grind it out you know yeah totally agree good player i mean if we're sorry if he's at 12 we're going to have a good list here yeah exactly um all right number 11

I went with Sam Levitt here, the Arizona State quarterback. And to be honest with you, it's kind of a similar situation, Arizona State and Boise State, right? I think the Boise State defense is better. I think the run game is almost identical in terms of value and the importance for this football team. Cam Scataboo has been outstanding, not going to New York City, but if he was in New York City, I wouldn't have a single gripe about it, right? but this offense clearly runs through the running back in Scataboo, just like at Boise State, it runs through Gentie.

So Sam Levitt has had to fit into that mold and be the guy that Arizona State needs. Now, why, and again, I literally was watching tape on both these quarterbacks to make sure that we got it right this morning. And I think we did for this reason. When I look at Levin, I see a quarterback who, you know, look at the numbers. 63% slightly better than the 62% for Maddox, not a big deal. But 8.8 yards per attempt. So that's an additional yard plus, okay? And it's similar in terms of protecting the football.

He has one more touchdown pass, two more interceptions, but it's still 24 to 5. But the reason why is, again, not just what we've seen, but projecting it forward to a situation, if you need something from the quarterback, Leavitt with a stronger arm, he's got a good arm. I wouldn't say it's like elite, but he can rifle the ball into some spots, especially in the middle of the field. That's what I saw over and over again today. He loves those in-cutting routes and will drill them, okay? The other thing is his mobility.

Right. This guy's underrated with his mobility. Time after time, first and second reads aren't there taking the ball and running. Third downs need a conversion. Options aren't open at wide receiver in the passing game. tuck the ball, run, pick up the first down. He's really effective running the football. And so when you talk about a little bit more arm strength,

more mobility, to me, he just brings a little bit more value at the quarterback position. Now, without Jordan Tyson at wide receiver, it's going to be interesting to see in a college football playoff game that, you know, and they don't have to play. They get a buy in the first week, probably going to play Texas in round two. Who's going to step up a wide receiver? but I feel like I'm getting a little bit more value out of 11. Yeah, he's a young kid who's developed and I think gotten better seemingly every week.

I thought the Iowa State game, the conference championship game, was his best game. He did it without his best target. So I'm excited to see where he goes from here. For me, I haven't, you know, we just haven't seen enough. There's not enough on his resume. Playing in that conference, I don't think you play. Even, you know, Iowa State doesn't have a great defense. Let's just, let's be upfront about it.

And when you have a running back that's gashing. them like that. They're loading up to get the run. I mean, he's taking advantage much like Madsen is. He's taking advantage of that, just as you said. So I want to see him against tougher competition. But man, I'm excited about where this kid could go in his career, because if he continues this arc, the arc that he's been on this year, he's going to be a damn good quarterback next year. And I think he's already, you know, playing at a high level at this point. I think, I think he's playing his best football. Right. I really do. And I think that's promising for Arizona State. And you have additional time to get ready and prepare. And you got to believe

that they're, listen, they're going to run into an absolute buzzsaw you would expect with Texas. It's a Texas team that's going to come in, Ornery, a Texas team that will have played a game. And it hasn't had to sit out like 24 days or whatever it is that Arizona State has to sit out. I think it's over three weeks, which can be good. You can rest up. And I think it's really it's helpful for Scataboo, but I think some of the rhythm and the timing on offense can be affected. And so all of a sudden now after 23, 24 days of kind of waiting and preparing and getting in your own head and like who we're playing,

and then all of a sudden you realize it's Texas or maybe an upset Clemson, now we've got to go. It's going to be interesting to see how a first-year player responds to that and how much this three-weeks, three-plus weeks off, has helped him develop more of a rapport with the other receivers, right? Because they've got to be able to, if they, to have any chance against Texas, they've got to be able to win on the outside versus zone coverage because that's a zone heavy Texas team.

So that's where we are. I feel good about that because I do think there's a difference. Now at number 10, between Maddox and Leibbitt, I should say. I think there's a physical tools difference and you just get more, a little bit more from Levin. Now at number 10, this was a tough one for me. because I think one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country and one of the most effective quarterbacks in the country and arguably one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the country when things when when protected is Curtis Rourke from Indiana. I truly do watching his tape this year every game but Ohio State there's a lot to love again another guy who protects the football 70% completions 20. 27 to 4 touchdown to interception ratio.

I mean, that's better than the, that's better than Maddox slightly. And right about, it's better, that ratio is slightly better than, than 11 and Matt, Madsen, I should say. Also, 9.9 yards per attempt. I think he's the highest of all these quarterbacks.

Just looking at the list right now. I truly believe that's the case. Maybe Dylan Gabriel. I don't have his in front of me. But regardless, here's my problem. Here's why I have him at 10. I watched, I studied the Ohio State tape.

And when protection's not there, unlike, unlike Levitt and unlike a lot of these quarterbacks that will get to ahead of him, the lack of mobility is truly concerning. And I think that offensive line does a fantastic job working as a group, like working together. I think they're extremely well coached. But I think there are physical limitations. and I know there are because I watch Ohio State and what they were able to do. So when they dialed up with five-man pressures, things got real ugly, real fast. Part of the quarterback position for me, Mench, is do you have answers when the initial play breaks down? What's your answer to it?

And part of that is winning with your mind and knowing where to go to football and processing fast. But the other part of it, and I think this is why it's become so important evaluating quarterbacks to the NFL, you're not going to have the answers at a high percentage early in your NFL career. So mobility at that position has become critical. It has been for a long time in college, and now it's trickled up, if you will, to the NFL. Rourke's lack of mobility paired with the struggles that I think that Indiana is capable of having in this college football playoff, first game against Notre Dame,

I wouldn't call it an elite pass rush, but a good pass rush. and I think that they'll create some confusion and some problems. And if they were to pull the upset in that game, now you're on to Georgia. Right. I mean, good luck blocking that front with that offensive line, which again, is played well, but I don't think matches up well with that defense front. I mean, I wrote about Rourke. I just think he's the ultimate point guard.

I mean, he just spreads the ball around. If you give him a clean pre-snap read and he's got a good matchup that he's like, and I think that the yards per attempt speaks to both his accuracy and ability to lead people after the catch, but he'll take shots downfield. He's not afraid to take the shot down field. He's got, he's accurate. He's got good touch, but it's, you know, I'm basically on the same page as you. If you can get pressure on him, then he's in trouble. If you take away his first read, I think if you take away the middle of the field, I think that hurts him too, but if you take away his first read, you force him to move around the pocket by time, that's just not something

that he does well. There's a lot of things to love about his game, but he's not, he's not that guy that's going to improvise and make off platform throws. All right. Any, any Any major complaints with the with the first three. Madsen at 12, Leavitt from Arizona State at 11, Rourke, Indiana at 10. No major complaints. Not not yet. I think we're going to get into one coming on here.

It's a mess now. Like, I'm just going to. I, because I didn't unveil to you last night when I was my final decision. Oh, I'll get some changes. No, I'm not saying I made changes, but I tried to play coy with you last night when we talk. I love it. Let's go. people are going to lose their minds in Athens, man.

But I put Carson Beck slash Gunner Stockton at number nine. I'm scared about this quarterback situation. If you told me it's Carson Beck, and I want people to hear me, because usually people just look at a list and they go ballistic. Try listening this time, okay? 24 and 3 is a start of the last two seasons. We have documented over and over again. We talked about how his regression is real early in the season.

He admitted his regression was real early in the season. We talked about the drops at wide receiver at tight end, talked about the ineffectiveness of perimeter playmakers. We've chronicled Carson Beck as much as any quarterback in this entire college football season. Okay. Then we talked about in a loss, an ugly loss to Ole Miss. I thought he turned the page. He admitted to it.

He talked to Molly McGrath in the broadcast. And Greg McElroy talked about it too. he kind of went back and self-assessed and he's pressing. First and 10 shouldn't feel like fourth and fourth and 11, you know, in the fourth quarter every single play. Play more loose. Take what the defense is given. And I saw the difference, even in that loss.

And then the next week played, played, you know, one of his best games of the year. If Carson Beck were healthy, 100% healthy coming into this. And if he had a, you know, coming off of even an average to slightly above average game against Texas, I want you to hear this. I would have him at number two. Right.

Despite all of his faults, despite his ups and downs, as great of this of a list of quarterbacks this is, I, and we'll get into the rest of it here. I don't want to, you know, unveil too much early. But I would say Carson Beck, I trust. I mean, look at the win-loss percentage. Look at the big games he's played in. Look at the grind that, yeah, the grind that George has been through.

I started to trust Carson Beck a lot late in the season. But now you've got the reports of torn UCL, the elbow injury, whatever it is. I don't know how legitimate the reports are. I don't know if he's going to be just fine to play in 24 days. I don't know if he's going to be less than 100% if he does play. I don't know if he has to sit out the first and second game and could maybe come back. We don't know. So as we sit here right now, I put Carson Beck and Gunner Stockton and the Georgia quarterback

situation, if you will, at number nine, because there's too much uncertainty. There's just too much uncertainty. And what I saw from Gunner Stockton, yeah, he lit a spark and it was exciting. And he did more in two drives, two, it was a touchdown drive and then a field goal drive. He did more in two drives at that offense against Texas than Carson Beck did in the first half. Okay. So it was exciting early. But then you got kind of saw, all right, Texas is adjusted. They now know who Gunner Stockton is. They realize that mobility is more important,

that Georgia's got to run the football if they're going to be successful. And Gunner looked really human. He looked like a young quarterback trying to figure it out. I mean, I know Georgia fans are going to be like, but we just beat Texas with Stockton. Yeah. And I get it. I get it.

And you should be. You should be excited about him and about his future. But I see the same thing that you did once you adjust, he's going to be, you can limit what he does. And to me, look, he's either, they're either two or three, Georgia's either two or three, or they're 11 or 12. Because I don't, I just haven't seen enough from Stockton to have enough faith for him to be. And this is a confidence thing. It's not about where I think Gunner Stockton's going to be in two years.

It's not about whether or not I think he throws well or he's talented. It's about whether or not he can manage that offense and lead Georgia to a national championship. And I haven't seen enough to make me think that he deserves to be any higher than 11 or 12. So really, if you're doing it, you're splitting it that way. Healthy Carson Beck, two or three. If Stockton has to come in and play, then it's 11 or 12. And then if Beck plays and he's not 100 percent, who knows? Yeah.

You know, who knows? I mean, it's just an impossible thing. So that situation is really kind of muddied the list. I mean, it's just, you know, all the respect to the world. There's no perfect spot. But I think the point is the point is taken and whether, you know, it's 11 or 12 or nine or eight. Right. that like there isn't a bigger question mark or unknown going into the college football

playoff than Carson Beck's health, period. I mean, George's fate, Georgia's ability to make a run in a national championship lies solely on the on the elbow, if you will, of Carson Beck. Not the shoulders, but the elbow of Carson Beck. And they've played great. They've played great and big moments. Their defense was awesome against Texas again. and Carson Beck's been up and down.

You know, you look at the Alabama game, three interceptions in the loss. Three interceptions against Texas the first time around still got to win. But like I said, the Ole Miss game played better from that point on, you know, he really improved. But my goodness, is a lot of weight on this decision and how his, you know, how his recovery goes. All right. So I guess we're comfortable with Carson Beck, Gunnerstocked in Georgia at number nine. As comfortable as you can be. Right.

Number eight, we kind of get back to the list of where we actually rank guys because it was just such an asterisk in number nine. But at number eight, Riley Leonard, Notre Dame. I don't know if people are going to be screaming at me because it's too high or it's too low. I'm sure people in, you know, in South Bend are going to be screaming that it's too low. here's what I'm going to say about Riley Leonard. I think he's shown improvement this year. The 721 rushing yards, as you see on the screen right now, and 14 rushing touchdowns,

that's where his value is, truly. They do not have great receivers on the perimeter. And quite honestly, if they did, I'm not sure that he would be able to take full advantage of that, from what I've seen. He's 24 and 9 as a starter the last 2,000, 24 and 9 overall as a starter, 15 and 4 the last two seasons. I love his competitiveness, man.

The guys love him on the team. He's tough. He finds ways to win. And you look at some of the games here, Texas A&M, 60%, 158, but rushed for 63, win. That was early in the year against Army. Again, not an elite opponent, but they didn't play a lot of elite opponent. So it's tough to gauge.

But he almost 77% in that game, and 48 yards and two touchdowns, but also rushed for 50 and one. So his value to me, it's, you know, it's all about running the football. I told you, we were talking to Pollock early last week, I think it was. And the more tape I study, like, it's not that he's afraid to take chances on the perimeter and down the field. It's, I think he understands we're really good on defense. We got two really good running backs.

We're running the ball effectively. I can't screw this thing up. And my mobility adds a lot of value to our already successful running games. So there's absolutely a focus on that. There's a focus on throwing the ball to tight ends and to running backs. But when you talk about the quarterbacks in this college football playoff, all 12, 15 of them, I think that we'll chronicle over this experience, if you will. I think I have, I put him somewhere like 10 or 11 in terms of guys.

guys, I trust, if forced, if the run's taken away, if the tight ends, the middle of the field, easy stuff is taken away, he's very low on the list of guys I have confidence in throwing the football in the perimeter and down the field. That's where I am with Riley Leonard. Yeah, I just don't know why you're such a hater. I mean, he should be, I think he's, I think he's much higher on the list, to be honest with you. I just think because of his strength, his ability to make plays with his feet, I mean, you're talking about, listen, we can go through a bunch of quarterbacks. We'll get into this a little bit later about the quarterbacks. I think if you put them in the same scenario that I would take Riley

Leonard over. Okay. Because and I thought you're joking at first. You're serious. No, no. You think I'm undervaluing him. All right, good. Yeah, I do. And I kind of flip-flopped a little bit on this, but like, you know, not to get too much in it, I would take him over Will Howard from Ohio State, which I'll see, we'll see where you come up with him. I just see, look, the level of competition is concerning. But, I mean, They went into Texas A&M and they won the first game of the year. That was a tough environment.

And granted Texas A&M got to be a better team. I know you got to play the schedule they got to play. I just think that he's gotten way better as a passer this year. And I think that when you look at what he can do and what they can do with their run game, he's a great fit for what they do. And I do believe that if you need to play at the end of the game, he's got enough experience, the mental toughness and the competitiveness that you just talked about, to make a play, to find a way to make a play for his team to win.

But what if I take away the running game from him? He had a season low, listen, season low 16 yards rushing against Northern Illinois. Through two picks. Yeah. Yeah. Concerting. So against Indiana, what if Indiana is able to take away the run game and take away him as a factor as a runner and force them, force them?

Remember, Notre Dame has not played a lot of great competition since A&M, really. What if they're able to force him to throw the football on the perimeter? They bottle everything up in the middle of a traffic jam in the middle of the field. Listen, I understand, but what if you do the same thing with Will Howard, who's got better receivers, but I have a lot of questions about him as a passer too. I mean, there's just there, you can do that with a lot of quarterbacks. Good luck slowing down that run game, Indiana. I think Indiana has got a really good defensive run. I'm not sure that against that offensive line that they're going to slow them down. Now we're getting into a little bit of a bigger picture argument. But, you know,

these ifs and butts, if they were candy and nuts, you know what I mean? Like, you can do that all day. You can talk about like, well, if they do this and if they do that, I just trust Riley Leonard to make enough plays because I think he's got the guts. I think he's got the talent. And again, I understand his own taste of the caster. I agree with the guts. I'm not advocating for him for him at number one by any stretch. I don't even have him. I think he's maybe top five. But I think the eight five. Yeah. You put them in a top five. Yeah.

There's some other quarterbacks that we're going to get into that I think that, you know, that I am lower on than I feel like a lot of other people. But we'll see. And again, I get the naysayers. I get the critics. They have,

he's given them enough fuel for that. I get what you're saying. You know, he's not a great passer. I think he's gotten better. They haven't played a very tough schedule. I get that. So we'll see if when they run into these tougher teams,

what happens? But I've seen enough. him at Duke. And I don't love, by the way, I don't love him as a pro prospect for the reason

that we've talked about. He's a much better college quarterback than he is a pro prospect. But that's what we're talking about. We're talking about who do you think can win you a college football game in the playoffs and take you where you want to go.

And listen, I'm buying on Riley Leonard right now. Apparently. Like, we can yell and argue about this all day. Apparently. I'm interested to see against Indiana because Notre Dame is a is a significantly better football team, but, but Indiana is exceptionally well coached. And I, and I, I feel like everyone says that and it takes away from what the players are doing.

When I say that, I also like give all the credit, you can be exceptionally well coached and be a shitty player or be an undisciplined player and the coaching doesn't matter. Like the marriage between Signetti, his staff, and then the players buy-in is what makes Indiana scary and what has allowed Indiana to be a one-lost team to this point, that in a schedule that was very favorable. But truly,

and so I'm fascinated to see, yeah, they're going to be outsized. They're going to be out-strength. But the one area that- You know I love that front. I just, you know, good luck. The one area that I don't think that they're going to be out anything is on the perimeter in the passing game.

So it's going to be a fun matchup to watch. I'm not rooting against Notre Dame, but I do want you to eat a little bit on this Riley Leonard thing. Okay. Fine, fine. Mench would have them in the top five. I've got them at eight. And it doesn't sound like a huge discrepancy,

but in my mind it is. And it is because of some of the names we're going to get to, okay? Number seven. So here's how I look at this. And we'll pull up a graphic when we've done all 12, right? But in my mind, it went like this. And you know, I loved to tear everything. I'm, you know, toddy tier, right?

The tier at the top or at the bottom, I guess, 11 and 12 was a tier. I think it was Maddox Maddox Madison versus Sam Levitt. That was a tier. I think kind of a notch up from that is Rourke. And then the Georgia Carson, Beck, Gunner Stockton, where do you put them? But also Riley Leonard was kind of a next. tier for me, clearly not for you. Now we're into a third tier working our way up. And this third tier had two quarterbacks involved. And I won't, I won't unveil number six before I get to

seven. But Kevin Jennings, I struggled to maybe put them up one more spot. Not two, not into my top five, but one more spot. Kevin Jennings from SMU, I put in there, remember, this guy was named starter in September. He wasn't the starter coming into the year. And so we didn't have a lot of tape on this guy, didn't know what to expect from him. But he comes in as a starter. He's nine and one as a starter, okay? And was undefeated in the regular season versus Clemson. I mean, terrible start. Protection wasn't there drifting in the pocket, looked kind of lost. They'd had no chance. Things were falling apart. but then like the Kuyan's mensch the onions you love the onions the onions of Kevin Jennings to bounce back and complete 62% for 304 yards three touchdowns after the start that they had the interception the sacks the the just nothing going on offense really impressed me now he's only six foot he's 185 pounds but and yeah are you worried about him holding up and if he starts to take a beating there they're they've played Penn State in that vicious front early on. Could it be a problem? Yeah, it can be a problem.

It was a problem against Clemson in the first quarter. But I also know he'll bounce back. And this guy will back down to nothing. He's kind of like he's got no conscience. He's like a serial killer at quarterback. He doesn't care, you know, like over and over again. He just keeps coming at you. And I think we were talking to Pollock, he made a good point. Like he, like for better or for worse, he uses every inch of the field. And it's a roller coaster ride. And it gets scary at times. But I also said when we started this whole thing out, value is critical to me. Where would this SMU team be without him at quarterback? You can't tell me there are many other guys who could have SMU where they are. Okay? No. No. And secondly, sometimes I just have to close

my eyes, right? And think about, okay, it's fourth and three, down six points, fourth quarter. Who do I want taking that snap? Do I want Riley Leonard? Uh-huh. Maybe. Do I want Curtis Rourke? I'm like, if protected, but that's a huge, you know what I mean? Right. Or do I want Kevin Jennings? Because even if things are a mess, even if the receiver runs the wrong route, even if protection breaks down, I still got a chance. hands. So that's why I have Jennings up at seven and could have gone as high as number six. What say you? I want to be 100% clear about this. For any SMU fans who might be listening, if you have not watched Kevin Jennings, watch Kevin Jennings. He is so much fun to watch. I am rooting. I always root for the underdog. I mean, inherently, that's what I do. I hope these guys make a run.

I hope he has a great playoff. He is, again, just so much fun to watch. I mean, he just makes plays that you're like, no way he should be making that play. I remember watching the Cal tape and I was like, don't throw that, don't throw that. And he throws the ball and makes a play. So I want to be clear here. He's not played a lot of football yet, man. And it's a little concerning to me that he has not played a lot of football.

And I love the way he battled in the Clemson game, but there were also plays in the Clemson game. And there were drops that he wasn't as bad as his numbers look and his numbers aren't that bad. You know, they had some guys had some drops in that game. But I was just there times where he is willing to put the ball in harm way a little bit too much. And he might get away with that against a Cal, and you might get away against Stanford and Navy and all those teams. He has one big game under his belt, in my opinion.

I know he won the AAC championship last year and beat Boston College in the bowl game. You know, that's good and all. Clemson was the different game for him. And he played well, and it's encouraging, but I just haven't seen enough to put him ahead of a guy like Riley Leonard who has been, he has played in a lot more games, who played against Notre Dame, who played against Notre Dame who beat Clemson last year when he was at when he was at Duke, you know, played against a good Louisville defense. That great Florida state defense last year. He played all those games.

He goes into Texas A&M, one of the toughest places to play in the country, gets a win. Those are the things that kind of separate it. Again, I love Kevin Jennings, but I haven't seen enough, and I do think that you live by the sword and you die by the sword. And some of that, you think he can just create magic. He can, but sometimes the magic runs out. And to me, I would have them a little bit lower down the list, basically more than anything else for lack of experience. Yeah, I mean, he's an inexperienced, lankier, leaner, Malik Willis.

Like, that's, when I think about Malik Willis and watching his tape, it's like, it's a similar experience. It's frightening. It's kind of like there's missed opportunities. There's missed receivers. There's receiving yards that he leaves on the field at times. but there's also plays where like remember the highlight reel of malik yeah you know if you just if you just sifted through like 15 20 of his best plays and you're like wow you know i'm not saying he has like malik had a monster i'm not i'm not saying he's going to be like malick was

a what a third round draft pick and i'm not saying he's going to be that in the nfl but if you're just going back and kind of thinking about who does you remind you of of a quarterback who's now in the nfl it's kind of that same experience as the malik will thing. Yeah, I completely agree. If this was a popularity contest, that kid would be towards the top. I mean, he's, again, the tape is silly. I mean, if you're, you know, I imagine my son sending me highlight clips of him and being like, this kid's going to be the first overall pick because that's what he loves to do, you know what I mean? He sees like one highlight reel of this kid making crazy plays. And that's what they get into, you know what I mean?

My son's 10 years old and he's already starting in on that stuff. He's got an opinion now. Yeah, they want to set up the board for you. Yeah. So yeah, I love, I love. I love the kid. Jalen Daniels from Kansas is an example. He plays with Kansas's offense and, you know, in a college football on EA sports. Right. Like, how was this guy?

Not dad, like, what's your answer? How do you stop him, you know? I just hung 70 on Nebraska with this game. Yeah, yeah. So I understand. All right. So I get Kevin Jennings at number seven. Sounds like you'd have them a little bit lower.

Yep. And clearly behind Riley. Not much lower, though. I mean, he's probably eight. But I have a problem with him being ahead of Leonard. So that's really where that comes. The McShay Show is brought to you by Fandul. Keep your college football season going with a win on Fandual.

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Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fandul.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG dash health. Help.com. All right. Well, number six, we already know that you have a problem with this guy being ahead of

of Riley Leonard. I'm going Will Howard, Ohio State. This one was tough. This one was tough because my goodness, like you want your son to grow up to be like, Will, you love his game experience, you love his toughness. You love his, I wouldn't say I love him as a runner, but his competitiveness as a runner, his toughness, his vision, his understanding of his role in the run game. I can see why Chip wanted Will Howard.

We've got an unbelievably talented roster, $20 million roster, the best roster money could buy. I think that's been completely overrated, but it is a very talented roster. And we went through, and we'll get to this later this week. I'm going to spend some time on Thursday with the draft prospects, like top 200 prospect for each of these teams, Ohio State has the most. Now, part of that is, you know, they just have a lot of upperclassmen who decide to come back for one more year, make this national championship run. But with that comes experience and talent.

And when I think they were surveying Ryan Day and Chip Kelly, surveying the landscape of the transfer portal, let's bring in a guy who's been through a lot of wars who will protect the football, although he did not against Michigan. You see the two interceptions there had his, unfortunately for him, his work. worst game of the season against Michigan with two interceptions and bad interceptions too. You know, it just like that was 57.6% only 175 yards. Part of that was they just, they were committed to the run game even though they should not have been. Part of that's on Chip. And I think Chip would own that right now. But the two interceptions were daggers,

where they happened, deep in your own end zone. We talked about that Chador Sanders versus Nebraska pick six, very similar. holding on the ball a split second too long, can't make that throw out to the perimeter. And then the next one was going in for a score. So almost like almost 28 points swing in that game, if you will. Could have been, right? Right. But with that put aside and whatever the curse it is,

however you want to put it against Michigan, just a bad matchup, mindset mentality, whatever you want to chalk that up to, the rest of the games this year, he's played pretty well. and he's he's he's he's kind of a dog in terms of his competitiveness his toughness they rally around him all the things you were talking about riley leonard i think are there for will howard and maybe more so in some regards but but similar type of like we trust this guy he's physical he's aggressive um why is chip running the ball so much when they can't run the ball why isn't he put in the ball in will howard's hands you know you're looking at just that michigan game just running running running

Like, why not let Will Howard throw to the best receiving core in the country, maybe? I mean, there's some things here that. Best one-two tandem. Also, walk me through. With Amika and Smith, yeah. Yeah, I think Tate's pretty good, too, man. Yeah, yeah, you're right. You're right.

So walk me through. We get off the, we watch the Penn State game. We talked that night. And we're like, wow, man, Will Howard with the fumble at the goal line. There were some plays that he made in that game. where we kind of felt that Ohio State won in spite of Will Howard instead of because of Will Howard, right? I didn't think in spite of.

That's too harsh? Slightly. We might be, you know, we might be splitting hairs on that. I thought, I thought if Will Howard played better in a couple key moments, they win bigger. I didn't think that they won in spite of him. I didn't, you know, it certainly was not his best performance, but it also was not a bad performance. I give him credit. He overcame a couple tough plays early on. And some got, and that's why Chip and Ryan wanted him there, right? Some guys might have gone in the tank.

Some guys might have gotten cautious. I never got a sense in that game after making a couple mistakes early that he backed down or took his foot off the gas. I did not. But I hear you. I'm not denying what you're saying. Him scrambling with six seconds. left in the game and sliding in the middle of the field against. Yeah, it was a bonehead play. But again, he bounced back from that. And he also, I think the thing we forget because of that one play, there were other reasons they got themselves in a shitty spot and needed something

miraculous, borderline miraculous to happen at the end of the end. But they're in that spot. He completed 80% of his throws for 326 yards and two touchdowns in that game. I understand. Are you getting in, when you get into these games, we know that it can come down to one play one decision, all of that stuff, right? You're going to have a great game. I want to know my chart is

about guys that I think, and I think Will Howard can do this. Again, let's get back, snap back a little bit here about these guys are all great, right? So I want to bring that back up, but I've seen some things in big games where I'm like, huh, I'm a little concerned about that fumble.

I'm a little concerned that you've thrown three interceptions over the last three games. I'm a little concerned that you slid at the end of the Oregon game. Is it fair? I mean, I don't know. I think it's fair to take a look at that and factor it into all of these things. I think he's still very much. I think he's right there. I would take Riley Leonard slightly ahead of him, but I think that's a real good debate between those two. And again, you have Chip Kelly, by the way, when you watch their offense, Chip Kelly with all these routes and motions and all that talent,

creating favorable matchups, yeah, you should, like, sorry, you should be completing 72% of your passes. I really believe that. I think if you're a quarterback like that, you should be able to do that. I mean, the talent, tell me out of those top receivers that we named, which one of those three guys wouldn't start for Georgia, wouldn't start for Notre Dame. You know, these, these, he has a plethora of riches at wide receiver. So yeah, I expect you to be good. You have a great, you have two great running backs.

Like, the supporting cast for Will Howard is pretty good, man. And again, like, the offensive line protection has not been great. And I think to answer your question, question, why are they not throwing on the outside and taking advantage of those mismatch? Don't forget, Ohio State is going up against a Michigan defense that did not have its top cornerback either. Right.

And Will Johnson. Again, Will Howard is a good quarterback who I would think he's at least in the top eight. You know what I mean? I'm not saying that. But what I am saying is that I just, again, there's there, I have some current concerns about how this is going down this year. My silence is not me ignoring. My silence is me thinking.

Okay. Because you're not always wrong. A lot, but not always. I think the thing that that impact me most of all the things you just said about Will Howard, the thing that impacted me most is you're running. Why are you choosing? Chip Kelly's not an idiot. Why are you choosing?

And I'm trying to decide this in my own mind right now as we talk it through. Why are you choosing to run the ball against a brick wall when you know Michigan's only personnel advantage in this game is it's defensive tackles? It's defensive front in general, but those defensive tackles who are going to be first, second round draft picks, right? You think Graham is going to be maybe top 10 pick. Why are you choosing that option when you've got two lanes on the highway on the outside that should be pretty wide open? Why are we grinding it out in the middle of this traffic jam? And that statement impacted me because they didn't believe. Now, is it?

But I return the question with a question, which you should never do, but I'm doing it. Is it because they didn't trust the protection? And they thought that there was more, there was more risk in trying to protect him to take advantage of get down the field and do all those things. Or, and it's a fair question. to your point, or we don't believe in our quarterback in his ability to throw the ball on the perimeter to these great wide receivers. In my opinion, if you take away the run and Chip elects to throw the football, I think that they have a much. And yes, it's in part because of those great wide receivers. But I think Will Howard is more capable throwing the football than Riley Leonard, period.

Do you think Riley Leonard's a better runner? Yes. Yeah. So I think both of those things are true. I think it's the gaps. I think that he's, I don't think Will Howard's that much better of a passer than Riley Leonard. And I think that Riley Leonard is clearly a better run than Will Howard,

who is a good runner, who is a good runner, but I don't think he's, he's on the Riley Leonard level. So it's kind of the gaps there, I think. Yeah. I think that's a good, that was a good discussion.

Honestly, Will Howard's, Will Howard's tough, Kevin Jennings tough. That's why I said there's kind of a tier here, right? Yeah. Like the bottom tier of Maddox and Levitt has so much to do with, you know, inexperienced to a certain degree.

The run game is really like the heavy focus of what they do. They're there to take advantage of what the run game provides. That next year that I talked about, Curtis Rourke, like unbelievably efficient, can absolutely just carve you apart if protected, but I'm not sure that he's going to be protected appropriately and effectively for him to do those things against the opponents that they're about to face, starting with Notre Dame. Then that next tier, throw out the Carson Beck, Gunnestockton. We had to drop them down somewhere because of the uncertainty.

But then that tier of Riley Leonard, Kevin Jennings, Will Howard. I think you can move it up and down. I think we're saying the same thing. As runners, they're dangerous as passers. There's limitations and or concerns, right? Okay. All right. Now we get into the top five.

And this is where it's going to be interesting. I, for some reason, I'm not saying I'm a believer in Penn State, but I've come a long way. Yeah. I've come a long way. And it was over the course of 60 minutes, really, where my appreciation for Penn State really really grew because of what they did with Oregon. That is not the kind of game they wanted to get into in a shootout. against Dylan Gabriel and Oregon's offense.

And they still hung in there, man. Right. They were down early. It looked ugly. Every opportunity to just kind of mail it in. We're just, this is a nightmare. They didn't. Yeah.

And I'm not saying he was awesome by any stretch. But I think, I think we saw a version of Drew Aller just gutting it out, finding, finding ways to make plays. That one throw where he's under pressure. flicks his arm into the end zone. Like moments like that, I'm not seeing many moments out of Will Howard or Riley Leonard as a pastor doing those things. So that's why I have Drew Aller from Penn State at number five.

His arm strength. I think this is important. His and mind you, Penn State does not have the weapons. There's so many. It's just, you look across the landscape of the top teams in the country. It is the haves and have-nots at wide receiver.

And there's a lot more have-nots. than halves. And this year might be the worst wide receiver draft class in a decade, Munch. It's glaring. And we see it with a lot of these top teams, like the freshmen for Ohio State, best wide receiver. The freshman for Alabama, best wide receiver. Clemson's got, you know, got one veteran receiver who stepped up at Westco's. They're most talented. So there's another group coming behind them, but this, the upperclassmen in college football wide receiver are not great. Now, I say that because Penn State's one of those teams. I lump them in with Notre Dame in terms of where's the talent. I lump them in with Georgia. Where's the talent to beat you on

the perimeter? So Drew Aller with this big arm. You could argue he's got the biggest arm. Nico maybe. He's up there in terms of the top arms in this class, in this, the college football playoff in terms of all the quarterbacks are going to be rolled out there. Big time arm. major improvement from 23 to 24, almost like watching a different quarterback. Confidence, better ball placement, all those things. But when you study him, and this is probably more towards the NFL draft than it is even in college, but it's still true in college. I still see him late on some reads.

I still see his ball placement is a little bit too erratic, but significantly better than last year. I still see him at times struggling with touch. He'll drill it in there and fit it in. just a laser shot, but the touch can be a little bit of an issue from time to time. So that's where I am on Aller, but I've seen a guy really grow. And I've seen the confidence in the players and the coaches around him grow. And if I'm Penn State, I'm worried about my receivers and how we match up on the perimeter, but I ain't worried about the quarterback.

I really am not. Yeah, I'm buying almost everything you're selling. I mean, it's this, you know, you look at the numbers. And again, this is why it's important to watch tape. I mean, the numbers against Oregon don't look good. I mean, it's 51.3% for 226 yards, three touchdowns and two picks. But watch the tape. You see a kid who's making plays with not a lot of help on the outside, like you just mentioned.

I think when you look at the big games that he played in 2023, the numbers are terrible. Terrible. And I think he played better against Ohio State this year. And then I think he played even better against Oregon. Again, this is not a guy that are putting the top three. I don't want to get ahead of ourselves because I want to see him. that bro that we talked about where he was under pressure and he looked like

that had to be a pick, right? I mean, it was like one of those throws were like, who came down with that? Right. And it was, you know, it's a touchdown. And again, you know, even Connor, our producer, you know, Texas was like, is this where Penn State folds?

And that's fair, man, because they've, in the past, that's, they've not played well in big games. And they did not. That was early on and they did not. They kept battling. And so to me, it seems different. It feels different. We can get through all the stats we want.

We can talk about it. What's your gut tell you? And my gut tells me that this kid is maybe we're starting to step into the spotlight as the player that we thought he could be coming out of high school. My gut tells me that he can make a play when it matters the most. Again, there's no moral victories in college football. But I don't know how you come out of that game and not feel better about Penn State going to the playoff than you did after the Ohio State game. I just do. I think it's also worth mentioning.

And I would have, I would have Drew Aller here if he, if no other quarterback ever stepped on the field, just so we're clear. Oh, right. And I, and I hate when people do rankings. We're going to rank the quarterback unit. And they've got a good young quarterback that we haven't seen. But, like, we're not here for that. The only time I'm going to mention or, or on our graphic have two quarterbacks is when it's relevant. And how is it relevant?

It's relevant because we just saw Gunner Stockton from Georgia come in and he could wind up having to start. or play significant time in the college football playoff. It's relevant when we get to Texas, right, with Arch Manning as the backup and how they're utilizing him. And it's also relevant here with Bo Perbula, who has come in in big moments. He played significant time in the second half of game. Was that now?

Wisconsin. Yes, yes, Wisconsin game. Yep. And throughout the year, they've utilized him in a short yardage, goal line type package. So I think, again, I'm not ranking him six without. them. I'm not ranking them, you know, higher because of them. I'm just saying having that,

that additional quarterback there who provides some value. It's worth mentioning Perbula, certainly adds a little bit to Penn State's quarterback situation. Great. All right. So again, I think this is a tier of in and of itself, like five all the way down to three. So there's not a huge gap in my mind. And it starts with like, I think I'm very confident in putting Aller over Will Howard, Jennings, Leonard, Rourke, okay? But I don't, but I also could, you could make an argument, maybe he goes up one spot. Like, there's, there's debate here. Yeah.

And the reason I preface number four with all of that is, if you wanted to argue Alar at four, I'm cool with it. Yeah. I just have come a long way with Cade Clubnick. And it's been a roller coaster because I was a huge Clubnik guy. I'm not going to mention any names. there was a quarterback there that's transferred a couple times. And every time Clubneck came in two years ago,

every time Clubneck came in two years ago, I'm like, why isn't this guy playing? Right. It's just the offensive tempo picked up. There's more confidence. There seems to be more like, you know, just there was a vibe about the offense that was different. Okay.

And then last year, he, I don't want to say regressed. He just didn't play to the level that I expected him to play after the flashes I saw. in 2022. Okay? Right. 19 and 7 over the past two years as a starter, Kate Klobnik is. Not a great record at Clemson,

but he's gotten significantly better. I've seen him improve in terms of his poise inside the pocket going through progressions. I just, I saw him kind of come to life, and I'm not saying it was just that game. But there are certain games you watch where quarterbacks take that next step. Yeah.

And they put it on. their shoulders. And it's like, you know, I'm going to carry this team, hell or high water. We ain't losing this game. And for me, that was the Pitt game. That 50 yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter when they needed it, needed it. Their wide receivers weren't getting open. Pit was dialing up pressures. We all know that cover four, the safety's covering the slots. But if you don't get the ball out quickly, you know, everything falls apart. Their receivers were not separating and the way you beat that is to get the ball out quickly, exploit receivers on safeties in the middle of the field, but you got to do it fast because the pressure's on you,

because they're going to sell out. And they were not as a unit able to do that, but Klobnik was able with his legs to beat them in that game. And he did it with it just, you know, come to the sideline. There's just something about that, like this is my team now. Right. The mojo. And then watching him in this last game, the first quarter he was, was sensational. From that point on, they had they had struggles. I'm not going to lie. They really did. And his numbers were, I think it was eight for his first 10 and then it significantly dropped off. So I'm not sitting here saying I love him at four that he's a perfect quarterback or that he's, but I do think this offense runs through him. And I think without him, his running ability,

his improved processing, I don't think that they're where they are right now. And they, yeah, they backed order their way in with the ACC Championship, describe it however you want. But if they have any chance of going to Austin and pulling off an upset, it's because they got that guy Clubnicket quarterback. Yeah, I agree. I mean, in my few things, if you've heard any of these shows,

you know that I don't, I'm not very high on Clemson this year. And I thought that South Carolina game, I really thought that South Carolina was going to go into Clemson and handle them. And they did end up winning by three. But, I mean, he, in that game, I mean, they only scored 14 points.

And man, he caught my attention with. I feel like they play a lot of low scoring games where I'm like, well, the offense is functioning, though. Like a lot of yards. Yeah. Right? I also feel like, you know, you say what you said about the championship game. And I think you're right. But I feel like the offense is clicking the passing game.

The running game is not great right now. But their passing game is finally clicking. I feel like all those, you know, they've got some talent at receiver. And they feel like it's starting in a tight end. And I feel like that's finally started to click at the right time. for them to, you know, maybe pull off an episode, we'll see. But it's finally clicking for them. And I love when he makes play with his feet.

I think he should run more. He should make more plays at his feet because that's a real strength in his game. But again, this is another player that I think this is tough. This is with a really tough list to come up with. It's a lot. You know, you're talking about tears. I know you love your tears. The tears aren't as delineated as they are, for me, as they are.

for me as they are for you. But for one of the reasons I think Klobnik is up as high as he is, is that he's just playing his best football now. He's a super talented player playing his best football now, and it makes you have a little more confidence going to the playoff.

When I take Drew Alaro ahead of him, probably, but I think it's a good argument. I think you're right about that. Yeah, and I look, Antonio Williams has stepped up, zero, right? 370, four touchdowns, the last four games. He's stepped up. We know what, we know what Bryant Westco, Jr. is a burner, young, still, still learning,

but it kind of had a breakout against SMU, at least early in the game. Yeah. You know? And so, so that's encouraging. That's encouraging. But my goodness, he's going to have to play. Club next is going to have to play the game of his life. Right.

To go four quarters against that defense. Right. Yeah, that defense was not, did not play quite to the level versus the run against Georgia, but there were factors. Different quarterback comes in. Now the quarterback is part of, is a number in the run game. And so I think that led to some things. E.TN was in. That second day doesn't let you get a lot, get away with a lot of mistakes, man. You make a mistake and it's going the other way. I mean, there's no margin of error with those defensive backs. They're just smart and they play the ball well. And like I said, you know, they hunt. They are hunting the ball. So you can't, I mean,

You can't miss a throw. You can't have a receiver run the wrong route because it might be an incomplete pass against someone else. But that that defense will turn you over quick. All right. Number three. Nico I amaliava, Tennessee. I just, my goodness, he's talented. We've known that all year long, right?

Just an unbelievable talent. Look great early in the season. Kind of went through that stretch where he struggled. The Georgia game, he wasn't great, only 167 passing yards. Alabama, you look at that game, he had the interception. They won that game, but only 52%. With Nico, I'm putting him at number three for two reasons. And I'm going to make the simple.

One, his upside. He, when if things are, if he gets into a groove and gets his confidence going, and I think more than any other quarterback in, in these 12 that we're going through, you can almost, it's almost like tangible. you can feel when Nico's comfortable. And when he gets hits on a couple throws early, takes off and runs and gets things going, it's like, uh-oh,

we're in trouble defensively, okay? The deep ball is a disaster. It just is. And I don't know if we have- Not all the time, but it's pretty close. No, no, early in games. He's like he, and we talked about it, I forget which game it was.

He came out and threw a deep ball early and he and he and he and he threw it and it was underthrown it was the first time all year in the first quarter I feel like he's under thrown a deep ball I think it went for a pass interference and we're like it did all right there we got smart because he because like I've got it felt like 50 but probably eight or nine different examples of him overshooting wide open receivers on deep balls in the first quarter when he's all hyped up by like nine 12 yards remember the one like you threw a receiver out of the end zone like so but my point is this i'm betting on two things i'm betting on his upside because if he gets hot he's as scary as any quarterback in this

entire college football playoff true right scary and then number two i'm betting on his confidence in where he is right now he's been great in the last five games since that kentucky game on November 2nd, you go back and really look at him, 11 touchdowns, one interception, that last five games. I think coming into this game, they've got time off. They didn't play in the college football playoff. You got a very good coach in Heipel who's going to have them ready. They're going to Ohio State, not a big trip. Yeah, it's not the, it's not SEC weather, but like it gets cold in Tennessee this time of year. I don't think that this is going to be a frightening environment. Yes, it is a freshman quarterback, redshirt freshman quarterback going into the shoe, and it's going to be a big event.

I'm assuming it's the night game, and it's going to be this massive scene. But he's been through some wars, man. He played Bama. You know, they played Georgia. Like, and in Georgia earlier, like, he, I just think he's going to be all right. And if he's, if he gets hot in that game, I think he could carry that Tennessee team. This is almost worst case scenario for a, for, you look at every, like, no, Notre Dame gets Indiana. Penn State gets SMU. Texas gets a backdoor ACC winner in Clemson,

who's still ranked 16, I think it was. Yeah, ranked 16. Ohio State coming off that Michigan loss gets stuck with Tennessee. And I think Nico is the scariest part about playing outside the defensive line, Nico is the scariest part about playing Tennessee. Give me a break. Don't cry for the Buckeyes. Give me a break to Tennessee's not playing at home in that game. Tennessee should have a home game. Okay. You look at Ohio State lost to Michigan. I mean, I know that Tennessee had that bad loss early in the year,

but Ohio State lost to Michigan a couple weeks ago. Yeah, Arkansas. I just don't get, I just don't get how you don't have Tennessee playing at home when their losses of the one loss they had to Georgia, which is ranked ahead of, no, sorry, not ranked ahead of Oregon. But anyways, I look at their resumes and I think that Tennessee should be playing that game at home. Anyways, look at that Alabama tape, man.

The beginning of that game is, oh, no. I mean, the overthrows, just one after another, right? And he's ripping balls because he can. This kid's arm talent is insane. He is just ripping balls. And the receivers have an hard time catching them. They're a little bit off. It just doesn't look good early.

But why am I confident about that after the Alabama game? Watch the play where he rolls to his right and throws a dart down the right sideline for about a 40-yard game. Watch the game-winning touchdown pass. unbelievable touch and timing on that throw, man. There's a lot to be excited about this kid. And then throw on the Georgia tape, the numbers aren't great. But the moment never looked too big for him. He was talking to his friends, his receivers about what's going on.

Yeah, teammates, I'm sure they're all close. You know, that's all going on. I just never thought the moment was too big for him. I'm excited to see what he does. Look, talent-wise, maybe the best in this playoff. and am I crazy? Does he have a little Justin Herbert in him? Do you see that at all?

I see that tall guy. Yeah. I never thought of it that way, but I like that, Mitch. Yeah. A little bit of Justin Herbert. I'm not saying it's a long-legged runner. Right.

Because he can run a little bit too. Yeah. Look at those rushing numbers and you're like, oh, okay. No, he could take off and he's got those long strides where all of a sudden he's 20 yards down field and you blink. Pursuit angle killers. That's what those guys are. Yeah.

Here. I'll just say this. If Nico had another, if this was year two, if we're talking about 2025 season, even if the results and the season played out the same way, I'd probably have him at number two. And it's, I just, I worry a little bit about the inexperience with this. And obviously he's played a lot of games and played a lot of big games and big moments.

But the reason why he's at number three for me is that lack of experience is, it's a thing. It doesn't have to be. He can outplay it. He can prove. I wouldn't even say prove, prove us wrong. I'm not saying, but it, but it has to factor in a little bit. And the reason I went with Quinn Ewers and Archmanning as number two, in part because there is an archmanning element, right?

And so if things aren't going well with Quinn, and we've seen that this year, whether it be injury or struggling against Georgia, you do have Arch as a, is a break glass in case of emergency, if you would. will, but you also have Arch. And again, Arch wouldn't be too alone. Uers, they're up there too because of viewers, but also utilizing Arch in certain situations. I was honestly, we talked about it.

I was surprised that they didn't use Arch a little bit more against Georgia. Quinn, here's where I am. Go ahead. Sorry. Yeah, I mean, I talked about this before. And I just, it reminds me of a potential Tim Tebow and Chris Leak situation where Tim Tebow was a freshman. And he came in and he just gave their offense.

a big jolt of energy every time he came into the game. You knew you had a great short yardage runner, a great threat in the red zone. I just, you know, far, you know, I don't want to criticize Sark. I mean, who am I to do that? But I am more, I'm interested to see if they start to do it more as they make a run in the playoffs. Because I just think it's an unused weapon at this point. Uers doesn't seem like the same Uers from the Michigan game. I don't, I don't watch him and I'm like, oh, something's really wrong.

I don't, but I watch him and I see, like, I just seem, I think there's like a little, like the velocity doesn't always seem to be there. Like, almost like he's holding back 10%, not 20, not 30, but like 5, 10%, just like not quite what Quinn has been at times in the past. Whatever the reason is. We always had the injuries. It was the, it was the oblique, then it was the ankle. I don't know how much that's all factored in. Not a doctor, not here for that. I'm here for what the tape says.

The tape says that Quinn's been really good in moments, but I don't think we're seeing 100% full go Quinn Ewers all the time. I thought he was awesome early in that game, though, against Georgia. And their red zone offense was terrible. I didn't like some of the long developing plays in the red zone. I think Quinn could have made some quicker decisions. and let it rip a couple times. I didn't think they'd, I was surprised.

I mean, Georgia obviously is very good versus the run, very talented up front. But you're coming off that A&M game where it was like almost 200 rushing yards and like just grinding it out. They couldn't run. What did they finish with? Like 24 rushing yards or something crazy?

So I put them at two almost because there's other, so many other question marks. And again, like I'm not here to knock all of it. but like there's no Shador Sanders in the college football playoff. Okay. There's no Cam Ward in the college football playoff. There's no Jalen Milro, despite all of his negative plays are up there without anyone in the country, but his positive plays are as good, if not better than all the quarterbacks in the country.

There's no Jackson Dart in the college football player. So this is not a great quarterback class in the NFL draft. It has not been exceptional quarterback play across the landscape. two of the best quarterbacks that have been playing that are in this have not been 100% have not played to their level with Carson Beck and with Quinn Ewer's. So this list is different than you would expect, right? Like if Miami gets in, Chador gets in now. And Quinn's been playing to his level like we saw against Michigan, other big games in the past. If Beck's 100% and was building off of what we saw in the last few weeks of the season, now it's like, oh, this list is, this is a hell of a.

a stacked crowd at quarterback going into the college football playoff, but it's not. And so that's why with Quinn, despite not playing to the level, despite the Georgia games, I think with Arch there as a backup, do you have a problem with him at two? No. I mean, I think if Beck was healthy, you'd probably put him at three. I mean, it'd be a conversation at least there. I don't. I mean, I've seen, look, he hasn't played well.

I mean, they didn't play well against Washington in the playoff last year. he you know he's played he didn't play well against georgia in the first game i thought he played better in the second game that's encouraging but i also think back to that alabama game when he went to tuscaloosa and they beat alabama when no one really gave them much of a shot in that game so i've seen him do it before i've seen it i mean in that that game he threw for you know 349 yards and three touchdowns so i've seen him do this before i know that he's capable of having ice water in his veins making plays when it matters the most i wish that have been more consistent in big games recently.

But again, we're looking at a very talented quarterback field in the college football playoff, but a lot of questions in terms of the resumes. Or, you know, at least for the back end of this list, I think. So I get it. Why is it too? And again, Arch does add to it. Sorry, it just does. I agree.

Listen, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out where we're going at number one. I want to thank everyone. I sent out on X a question told everyone. one kind of previewing what we're doing today with the quarterback confidence rankings that, you know, send in your top five. It was a landslide for Dylan Gabriel and understandably. And from two to on, it was interesting, a lot of different opinions. But Dylan Gabriel was the one consistent, you know, not all, but a vast majority went

with Dylan Gabriel, number one. And I think for obvious reasons. I mean, let's just look at the guy. And thank you, by the way, to everyone who sent those in. and it made it fun to just kind of see everyone across the country their their opinions, no matter what school you're fans of. No quarterback has ever started more college football games. I feel like a lot of these same things we're saying about Gabriel and Will Stein's

offense in Oregon. We were talking about Bo Nix a year ago. I'm going to make this argument. Throw out all the numbers. Throw out everything. Throw out the fact that Bo Nix was a 12th pick in the NFL draft. Throw out that he's a better pro prospect than Dylan Gabriel. throw out that Bo Nix has had a tremendous rookie season after a rough start and might be

offensive rookie in the year when it's all said and done. I think Dylan Gabriel at quarterback for Oregon, this Oregon offense has been more efficient. I think there's something scarier about Oregon with Dylan Gabriel at quarterback than even with Bo Nix and all the success and all the numbers that they put up a year ago. This guy is a perfect fit for what they're looking. looking to do, the decisiveness, how quick he is with his decisions. The fact that he's getting the ball out, he's got the quickest release of any quarterback I've seen all year on tape. Snaps his wrist. It's like a second baseman or shortstop turning to when he needs to be.

Also, throwing the ball down the field with touch, with timing, doesn't have a massive arm, but he gets the ball out on time. Yes, he's got Tes. He's got weapons all around. They've got depth the tight end. They've got two great running backs, but this offense is operating at this level because of one guy, and that's Dylan Gabriel. Listen, I remember in the offseason, and you're looking and you're like, oh, okay, Notre Dame went out and got Riley Leonard and Ohio State went out and got Will Howard and Miami went out and got Cam Ward, and you're like, who'd Oregon get? Who they replaced in Knicks with? And you're like, oh, Dylan Gabriel, the undersized quarterback who, had that nice win over Texas and the Red River shootout last year where he, I mean, that was a great play

that he made. Again, speaks to his ability to make plays and big games. But ups and downs. But you're looking at it and you're thinking to yourself, why didn't they get a Cam Ward? And so we were having this conversation before you actually jumped on the call and was like, if Orgy gets Cam Ward or no offense to these quarterbacks gets Cam Ward, or they get a Will Howard, it's not the same thing in Eugene this year. It's, he is the perfect fit for what they want to do. And I think it's because literally, I think he's the Terminator. Like I imagine him going up under center and he looks over and there's like numbers running across his eyes and you know this is a good matchup over here and it's information is being fed to him as it's like they're going to rotate here and there is no emotion i mean i do think he wants to win i think there is emotion there but you see no emotion in his face there's no ups and downs with this kid it's you do this i'm going to do that you give me this i'm going to do that and it's and it's so and it's so like in people i think might see this a shot it's not it's so simple for him Everything is just so slow and simple.

And I don't need to be the guy who throws it 80 yards downfield because I know I can hit Ted Johnson on this much easier route. And my guy is going to take it 40 yards from me right now. He plays to his teammates' strengths. Again, we're not talking about the NFL draft now. We're talking about college football player for a quarterback. And it's hard not to gush about what this kid has done this year. It's just impressive. Yeah, he's a hired assassin.

I mean, totally. Just the way you just cold-blooded. There's no situation that I think you could put him in that I'd be like, oh, what are they, like he's not going to be able to handle this. Yeah. Now he doesn't have the most. Even he had the worst game of his of his season against Wisconsin. That Wisconsin, that was like their Super Bowl.

They played great on defense. They bottled things up, discipline, tackling, all the things. But he still, when they needed it, roll into his left, tight end, fit it into a spot, rolling to his left, throwing back a little bit to his right, like still made that play when they needed it.

Yeah. And that's, yeah, I don't think there's aren't any arguing that Dylan Gabriel is the number one quarterback. And, and that's why Oregon is the number one seed.

And that's why I think, I like, I like Texas's path better, but I don't want to play Oregon, man. I really don't. They've got an answer to everything you're going to throw at him.

Right. I mean, he's, he's played himself. I mean, coming into the year, I never thought that kid was going to get drafted. I'll be honest with you. I think he's played himself into a draft position despite, because all his physical limitations, like I wrote down, I think he's like 5-11.

He's like 200 pounds. I don't care because when I watch him and I put him on tape, it doesn't matter. He just makes plays, you know, it just all those physical limitations, you can be like, this is what he can't do. This is what he can't do. Well, what can he do? He's going to find the open guy every time. He's going to make plays with his feet.

He's not going to hurt you with turnovers. I mean, everything you're looking for, quarterback stop looking at the roster and start looking at the tape this kid's unbelievable all right so this is a fun process then yeah we dragged it out as much as we can we went 12 to 1 mention some some some some differences in opinions which i appreciate let's throw we got a graphic here let's throw it up so we can take a look there it is number one dylan gabriel number two we got the the texas kate club nick at four drew aller and Beau Perbula to a certain extent, but really it was all about Aller at 5.

Then that next tier we talked about. Difficulties kind of sort them out. Mench has a problem with Will Howard. I clearly have a problem with Riley Leonard. But we've got Howard and Kevin Jennings from SMU, Leonard at 8. Carson Beck and Gunner Stockton, we had to throw in somewhere because the uncertainty. We put him at 9. To Mention's point, either put him at 2 or 3 or put him at 11 or 12.

I got you. But beyond that, Curtis Rourke, because of his immobility kind of down at 10. but if you protect him, he's somewhere in the top five this year, truly. And then Leavitt and Madsen, Arizona State, Boise State, respectively, rounding things off so much of their offense is obviously based off of their run game. So appreciate you hanging with us on this. Now we've got some asked and answered questions and answers to provide. We got some good questions and Twitter X is what I call it because, you know,

because of the obvious. Apparently we answered a lot of them as we went through the top 12, but we got two left that we want to touch on, okay? From Eric on X, what player has the most to gain in his draft stock in the playoffs to be the football version of a strong March madness? I'll start with this one. Okay.

I think Dylan Gabriel, we just touched a lot on him. I think to do it, you know, whether it be Ohio State and a rematch, Tennessee, if Tennessee upsets Ohio State, much of an upset in my opinion, but it is at Fandul. And then eventually maybe playing Texas, like, I think the opportunity to show with his undersized frame that it's not just about playing a schedule that was okay, but in the big 10, but week in and week out, it wasn't an SEC grind, if you will.

I think he has a chance to improve his stock. I'm interested to Camp Scataboo. I told you, I talked to a scout early in the air. Like, I love this guy. like he's not getting enough national attention. We've seen what he's done. But has he played, done it against great defenses?

The answer's no. And so if he could go and have a big game, they won't be protected up front. But if Scataboo does some things against a Texas defense that you don't expect him to do, I think that will turn some people's heads. And you're looking in a, I've told you,

it could be a historic running back class in terms of running backs drafted from like rounds two to five. There's just so many, like every program you look at. You know, we even see like Breschard Smith, this guy that no one's talking about for SMU. I see some giants, Tracy, fourth rounder.

And I'm like, every single team, Ashton Jinty, obviously, love at Notre Dame, like every team, the two backs at Indiana, across the country, I've never seen anything like it. So you're trying to separate yourself from others. Scataboo, even in a loss, if he has a productive day and he's able to grind out 90,

100 yards against Texas, if that's who they wind up playing, I think would be a win for him. Yeah, no, I agree with you on both ends. For Gabriel, it's how far can he go? I mean, I think he's played himself into a draft spot where he wasn't in the beginning of the year. So it's how high can he climb? No, for me, and I'm not sure this is really the answer you want. I want to know about the offensive tackles, and I kind of want to see, I mean, it's December,

and I still feel like there's a lot of questions here. So I want to see the two offensive tackles for Texas. Hopefully Kelvin Banks Jr. is healthy. Cameron Williams on the other side. I want to see your guy, Josh Connerley from Oregon. I want to see those guys. Connerley, keep an eye on Connerley. He already had, it wasn't his best game of the year against Ohio State,

but he already faced Ohio State like James Pierce and that defensive front for Tennessee. If Tennessee pulls off the upset, that would be a fun matchup. I think Connerley is the most underrated offensive lineman in this class. Yeah, I want to see those guys sorted out a little bit. Yeah. All right. Last question. This is from multiple users on X.

What are your thoughts on the future? of the college football playoff system. I love 12 games. I don't think we ever go back, obviously. I could see it going to 14, maybe 16. I only think we'll expand. I think the committee got backed itself into a corner this year. I think too much emphasis on wins and losses,

not enough emphasis on strength of schedule and who you actually had to beat in the road that it required to get there, i.e. Tennessee, I.e. SMU. and I think unfortunately because they backed themselves in this situation, they had to make a decision over, are we going to undervalue strength of schedule, or are we going to undervalue the conference championship? And if you undervalue the conference championship

and you take SMU out and put in, I think it should have been South Carolina, but it would have been Alabama, then you're saying the conference championship game doesn't matter. In fact, you're encouraging head coaches and programs not to play in that game if they have something to lose. So those are the things that have to be kind of ironed out and could I see tweaking. But the biggest thing, number one, without question in my mind, is the seating.

Yeah. You need to go seeding. There's no reason in the world that Arizona State should have a buy. There's no reason in the world that Boise State should have a buy. It should have been one, two, three, four and seed them appropriately because they earned the right to be there. Couldn't agree more. I heard Sark talking about this. It's like March Madness.

Those teams all get in, but they don't get one. one seeds like they get the automatic bids but they don't get some kind of an automatic seating for the march matters tournament for ncdbara basketball i want to get creative with it a little bit i first of all we should just be happy that it's it's gotten to this point right like you know it's like this is great but and i get it but there when we go through the process with this committee i wouldn't mind seem like a play in game for a boise state where they had to play the lower ranked conference championship the conference champion from the Big 12 or the ACC, where we kind of eliminate, now it's, you know,

we eliminate one of the things which opens a window for an Alabama and Ole Miss or South Carolina to get into this tournament this year. Because again, I just think there's, we've said this all year, it's not a power four situation. It's a power two situation. It's the SEC. It's the Big Ten. And then there's a drop off to the Big 12 and there's a drop off to the ACC.

There just is. So to me, maybe how? have a play-in game, you know, add one more game like they do in the Major League playoffs where you have like a Boise State would have to play this year, maybe Arizona State and the winner of that game got in. And again, they don't get the one seat. That that's, I mean, they don't get a buy whatever you want to say. Yeah, I mean, I guess they could play this upcoming Saturday. Right. But. And more football. Who hates more football? Yeah, I mean, there's going to be so many massive changes over the next five, seven years in college football. It's not going to look anything.

Like from conferences, divisions, regions, it's all going to change. It's going to be money driven. It's going to be driven by, you know, by sales and big corporations. And it's probably going to be for the better in the long run. But it's just going to be our heads are going to continue to swirl with college football in terms of the landscape. All right. We appreciate everyone, truly. We've made it over like a month and a half in this thing.

Little engine that could. We're just chugging away. I'm going to appreciate everyone who's come on and watched, downloaded, subscribe. I liked all the things that you need to do. Spread the word. If you enjoy what you're watching, if not, then don't tell anyone. But we'll be back on Thursday.

Thursday, this Saturday, we have no reaction. There's nothing to react to this Saturday. We're taking a week off, but then we ramp it back up. We got the quarterfinals, the semifinals, all the college football playoff games. So we've got a lot of live shows that we're excited about coming up, but we will be back on Thursday. It's starting to get serious with the NFL

draft. We started this show by saying 135 days. You get into 120, we're talking about like, you know, down to just a few months. So we're getting closer and we're going to start ramping things up. We're already talking about the Senior Bowl, combine plans, but appreciate everyone who is tuned in and we will be back on Thursday. 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.

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