The McShay Show - Week 13 Tape Truths: Dante Moore’s NFL Comp, Alabama X Factors, Underwood Evaluations, and More | The McShay Show

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

Welcome to The McShay Show! The guys rewind the tape and give their biggest takeaways from Week 13 of college football. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show!2:45 Tape Truths from Week 136:35 Alabama's Germie Bernard needs to be ready for Auburn17:05 Evaluating Isaiah Sategna's draft stock29:35 Tennessee has all the elements of a great pass rush38:45 Dante Moore's NFL comp is C.J. Stroud59:30 Max Klare is Ohio State's wild card at TE1:02:30 Where are we with Bryce Underwood?1:13:30 Coach Urban Meyer joins us on Wednesday! Subscribe to The McShay Report for access to all of Todd’s mock drafts, big boards, scouting reports, and more throughout the college football season. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. This episode is brought to you by American Eagle. Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Jon Roemer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Big show today. It's put up or shut up time in college football, and we've unearthed some important need to know to prepare us all for the final two-week stretch run before the college football playoff. It's a tape truth Monday here on the show and just 150 days until the NFL draft. Minch, you good?

I'm good, man. Roll that beat, Tucker. Do you feel it, Steve? Oh, yeah. I mean, we got Thanksgiving. We got the madness after. get games on Friday, Texas, Texas, A&M. I mean, that's a massive

one. Saturday, Michigan, Ohio State, the game, the Iron Bowl, and everything in between. This is the McShea Show, presented by Fanduel, and college football Saturdays are heating up. Whether you're in for the early kick

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RG-Helpshelp.com. Call 1-88-78-9-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. This past weekend, did you know this? Like, I don't know the exact number, but I read somewhere it was one of the most lopsided Saturdays in college football history in terms of top 10 and the point difference in terms like what they beat their opponents by.

And it kind of felt like that at times on Saturday, right? Like it felt like. Yeah, that's because all the SEC teams were playing Chattanooga State, according to Dan Lannick. Right. Eastern Illinois and everyone else. But I still felt like we love.

learned a lot, and I still feel like with two weeks remaining, the rivalry weekend, if you will, post- Thanksgiving, and then the championship games, you and I, I don't want to speak for you, but you and I kind of feel like we've honed in on what's important. And there's a lot of teams that are kind of on the fringe right now, or a lot of teams that are basically locked in, but still have some question marks. And we spent Sunday in early this morning on Monday, trying to dive into the tape. I went back in, was digging like three, four weeks into the past

trying to get some trends and figure out, all right, it is what it is now. There are some injuries, and we're going to keep an eye on it. But like, where are we with these guys? Because we've seen fast starts, dips in play, resurgence, we've seen the opposites where it's been slow starts

and teams starting to rise up. But I feel like right now we kind of know who these teams are, so I'm excited to share what we found. We're going to do a little bit of abbreviated, tape trues today. We're not going to do 10. I think we're going to wind up with six. And that's fine too because, listen, it was a lopsided Saturday. There were a lot of directional schools getting beaten up by powerhouses. And so let's provide some answers from what we've seen. And I think it's more important

to get six tape trues where we really dug in than it is necessarily do 10 and add four more that don't have massive impact on what we're about to see these final two critical weeks in college football. remind everybody the mcshay report is out from this past weekend we're not going to have one later this week everyone enjoy some time with the family i don't want you looking at your phone i don't want you reading anything that i have to write i don't want to write anything but we're going to be back on sunday again with the with the mitche report if you're not a subscriber please google the mitche report and subscribe you can subscribe for free premium members get a lot of benefits especially now

as we're ramping up into the college football playoff in the nflb draft season so yeah mcche is going to start cooking now you got to get the mccheye report Yeah, she's going to start cooking now. Yeah, we get, I mean, there's a lot of exciting stuff coming and a lot of exciting news for what we're trying to do in the next, I would say, in the next four to six weeks. So stay tuned. With all of that, tell the fine folks who are watching this show right now how they can support us, Steve. You always, why do you always do this? You wait like four weeks and then you pop it on me.

Because I like to see you scorn. It's why I am. It's why I talk about Isaiah Satanga running for 70 yards and, showing breakaway speed and relate it to a beautiful woman walking into a room who seems to have confidence in the hair is flowing and laughing and all those sorts of things and then throw it to you like do you have that same sensation that I get and I only do it to make you uncomfortable because it's just as entertaining for me and I think it's entertaining for all the folks who are watching and listening yeah if you're watching I look like a tomato every time he does it

turn red all right go to the youtube channel the mcshay show and hit the subscribe button get the alert to hit the alarm button so you know when a new show comes out. Also go to Spotify, hit the follow button, check for new episodes there. I think you can also set the alert there as well. Anywhere else you can find your podcast, you're going to find the McShay show. Consider getting the McShay report again.

This is the time. You should have already gotten it. He's great during the season. If you think it's great now, it's only going to get better. So consider getting it. He's at McShay 13 on all socials. I'm at you Goodmensch.

That's M-U-E-N-C-H. Hope that helps. It's perfect. Really well done, Steve. Just jumping right back on the bike. I had to buy time, though. That's what I was doing the whole time. I was just trying to buy some time about what I'm going to say.

You nailed it. You nailed it. And even the fine folks on our chat every Saturday night, get mad at people. And I love when they're kind of in the corner throwing haymakers for us. Like, yo, we got like over a thousand people on this chat right now. There's like 120 likes. Just hit the like button.

hit the subscribe button. It doesn't cost anything. And honestly, I hate being a shill. I hate asking and begging and all that stuff. But it's important for the show as we continue to grow. And we've made huge growth in just over one year. Yeah, it's the nature of the business now. It is.

Okay, moving on to the fun stuff. Tape Truth number one. What do you got for us, Mench? Tape Truth number one, Alabama wide receiver, Jeremy Bernard had better be ready to go against Auburn. I'm telling you, look, Alabama's going to have a hard time running the ball in that game. It's great that they could run the ball all over Eastern Illinois. That's cool. That's awesome. They were averaging 3.1 yards per carry against SEC

defense as running the ball. You're going up against an Auburn defense that ranks fifth in the FBS, not the SEC, the FBS and average yards per carry allowed. They are giving up 2.5 yards per carry at home. It's going to be tough sledding for that Alabama run game. That means this game is going to really depend on Ty Simpson and his arm. And look, I got a lot of Faith in Ty Simpson. But over the last month or so, he's been trying to make some plays, I think. I don't think he's been rattled, but I think he's trying to make plays, and that's manifesting in two bad outcomes, to be honest with you.

One, he's holding on to the ball too long, and two, he's throwing the ball into harm's way a little bit. You saw that on the interception, I think, especially on the interception that was called back against Oklahoma, trying to squeeze a ball in there that he doesn't need to. Even the first pick, he shouldn't have done it. And then last week against Eastern Illinois, he threw two picks. And yes, one was a Hail Mary, but the other one, he just didn't see the linebacker dropping. He's trying to force some balls in there.

And I think that, you know, when you're looking at a quarterback who's going through that kind of a rut or a phase, I would say, you need your number one receiver out there. And Jeremy Bernard, as good as Ryan Williams is, as good as I was going to ask you that. And I don't want to interrupt you because you're cooking right now. But it's interesting to hear, like, coming into the year. Yep. The fact that here we are in week 11 or 11 games in going into the Iron Bowl, that you're saying the guy that's got to step up as Jeremy Bernard and you went like three minutes without even mentioning Ryan Williams. Why is that, I guess, is the follow up. Ryan Williams, super talented.

I hope. I don't hope. I don't know. I said that. He could make some play. He should make some plays in this game. And he will be important in this game. But what I'm kind of, the connection that I'm seeing is when your quarterback isn't maybe,

necessarily playing with the same kind of confidence or in the same kind of, you know, on a streak as he was earlier in the career, early in the season, then you want your most trusted guy. So maybe he's not the number one receiver. You can argue that it's Ryan Williams, I guess. I think he's the most reliable. Like, as a quarterback, you, I can remember, like, there's the guys that are security that you trust that like, like, I know I can. Then there are the guys like, if this is open, he's going to give me,

he's going to give me a chunk that I maybe can't get from somebody else. So there's almost a different mentality as a quarterback when you're approaching, you know, certain plays and certain, you know, dropbacks. Yeah. And there's not to get too technical about this, but Ryan Grabb,

the offense coordinator will, he'll use Bernard in different ways. ways, whether it's lining up in the backfield, putting them in motion, putting them in the slot. One of the things that I really like that Alabama does, and I think it's a great confidence booster for Simpson is the way they run outs, is that Simpson, the timing and chemistry with Bernard on those kind of routes is different. And if they get access from the corner, what I mean by that is if you see a corner playing off and he's not going to be able to close in time, if they get access from a corner, it's basically

a handoff for Simpson. And those kind of play when they run that out. And those kind of plays are just confidence builders. You're looking to get your quarterback into a rhythm. And if you can get Simpson into a rhythm in this game, Alabama is going to be in great shape. But he has been a little bit off. I think really over the last month, to be honest to you, especially over the last two weeks. So again, as good as Ryan Williams is, and I like to other receivers on that team too,

I think he's going to feel a lot more confident and more likely to get into that rhythm if his security blanket is out there. And that's Jeremy Bernard. There are two add-ons I'll provide here, because I did a deep dive. I think it was last week when you were gone with the family. I did a deep dive, and, yeah, you weren't here. I went back and looked at Ty Simpson and some of the struggles, and everyone's kind of losing their minds.

Like, he's overrated. I can't believe. Yeah, I think that's way alone. So I went through a hole. And I'm not going to get into all those things again today, but if you haven't watched it, then please go back. and you can, I think it was the last Monday in the tape trues that I went and kind of, I just dug into the last like four or five games

for for Tyson and Alabama. And what's going on? Cliff's notes, version, version. The run game is so unreliable. And there were even spurts in that last game where you thought, okay, and they made a couple moves along the, I want to say, the right side of their offensive line. And you could see a little bit of progress.

They've been shuffling those guys, yeah. They have been. And so for a period in the game, in the first half of the game, you thought, oh, maybe they've solved it, maybe the run game. And then it just disappeared again. I equate some of the stuff to what we saw with Nussmeyer 2024, where remember I watched, I went back this summer and watched the tape. And I was like, I don't remember, I don't recall ever watching a quarterback from beginning of season to end where I felt like, literally like the mental and the physical toll that it took on him, Nussmeier. because they didn't have a run game. And it was 40, 45, 50 past,

like it was an insane number of dropbacks per game. And the amount that he had to carry that team, you could see it physically. He wasn't as twitchy. He wasn't, and you could see it just wearing down. And then you could kind of see the emotional toll pressing at times, doing different things that you wouldn't want your quarterback to do, but you kind of have to write it off because what's the other option here?

Okay. So I've seen a little bit of that in tie. I don't think he's pressing the way that Nussmeyer was a year ago at all. And I give him a lot of credit for not. But when you're putting that much onus on the quarterback, it's going to wear on you, especially with that schedule, we'll week in and week out against the SEC opponents that they've been facing. The other part is, and just looking into this game, right?

And I kind of touched on both. The first part is he has lost a fumble in each of the last five games. He has fumbled the ball and the last five games. It's not all because of this, but the majority were because of this. He has got to, and he's a smart young man, obviously,

and he's been around ball his whole life, obviously. He has got to now make it a concerted effort, ball carriage protection inside the pocket when it starts to collapse. That was like four of the five fumbles, a version of, a variation of, just not that last second,

not just covering it up and trying to maybe get like, you know, so that's going to be important in this game because it is going to be a highly charged emotional game against a damn good defense. He's got to protect. On the road.

On the road. So take the sack. Yep. You can recover from it. You got Ryan Williams. You got Jeremy Bernard. You got Isaiah Horton. Trust your defense.

But you can't recover from it if you hand the ball over. Okay. And then the final. thing is, and I'm encouraged by what I saw this past week, just a literally one catch. We did a deep dive earlier in the season on Ryan Williams and the drops. And remember, the high percentage of those drops were contested defender closing in, focus coming off the ball to see if he was going to take a big hit. I saw a catch just last week. Is it this last week? Yeah, this past week,

where, or it was it two weeks? I forget. In the last two weeks I've seen, Ryan Williams make a couple contested catches with defenders coming in on him. And I'm watching him. And I went and watched the tape to see. And the eye focus is remaining where it should. And so I'm hopeful for Simpson and for Ryan Williams. And if you're an Alabama fan, that that trend will continue because they're going to need to make. He's going to need to make a couple tough catches in this game.

And Jeremy's the guy, and I agree with you. But when Ryan Williams starts to get involved and all that speedy, and athleticism starts to pay off in chunk yard plays, it changes the whole dynamic of this offense. Listen, I agree. And I should say that I'm kind of bearing the lead here in that Jeremy Bernard did not play against Eastern Illinois last week, was banged up against Oklahoma.

But the reporting is- It was the Oklahoma game. I was talking about the Oklahoma game where Ryan Williams made a tough catch in that one. That was- Okay. The reporting is that it was precautionary reasons and that Bernard should be raised. to go. But it's a little

uneasy because they need him. I think he's going to be a big part of his game. Even look, we talked about how the run game is, again, 3.1 yards per carry against SEC defenses. Great, you can run against Eastern Illinois. You've not been able to do it against the quality opponents. Just not a thing for Alabama this year. So even the run game, you can get Bernard involved there a little bit too.

When he's had the ball in his hands, I think he's had the most mistackles out of all the receivers. I think he's a guy that could play a big role in a couple of different ways. That's a Saturday night primetime game. That's obviously like it just doesn't get any bigger, right? Yeah, it's terrible. And we've seen the upsets before and hopes, dreams dashed, and Auburn's got an opportunity to do just that again.

So we'll be dialed. And just an update, we're still working out the logistics of it, but I know we've got a lot of fans that love our Saturday night show. We will have a show on Saturday. Stay tuned. We've got more information coming out on that. We may tweak the time of that, but there will be at least one show.

We're kind of working through options right now. But for those of you who are worried that I've got, I'm an old man now and I've got my 30th high school reunion. I ain't going. And Mench's got his 30th reunion and we're working out detailed. So we're going to be there on Saturday in some shape or form. But we'll give you more information on that. All right, from one SECY, wide receiver to another.

Isaiah Sotania, the Oklahoma receiver. We came into this year in Dionne Burks. Every scout you talk to, you put in the tape, the top 100 guy. I think he still is. I think there have been moments and there have been the games where he has played to that level. and I think he's very likely still talking to scouts. He's a top 100 guy, meaning he's going to go somewhere in the first three rounds,

probably, you know, day two in that third round range. What's interesting to me is Cetania, the Arkansas transfer has come in, and he's become the guy. And I knew he was fast because there were reports about it. And he's reached 22 miles per hour, you know, in the tracker. in game, which kind of equates the 4-3 range. And then you saw, we've seen flashes of the speed throughout the season,

and then you saw the speed on that long touchdown run where Oklahoma desperately needed a big play. I think it was like a third of their offensive output. It was 84 yards, I think, right? That one catching run was 84 yards of that. And I think they had like 250 yards, like a third of their offensive output, was that one play. He's dangerous.

So I just wanted to get into, because I feel like we've talked about all these receivers, right? Steve, we've talked about Cornell Tate and Jordan Tyson. We've talked about Mackay Lemon and his rise. We've talked about Casey Concepcion and Boston from, is it Denzel Boston, right, from Washington. We've talked about Craver also from A&M, Mario Craver. There've been a lot of receivers who have elevated this year.

Jacoby Lane and another USC receiver. Chris Brazzle. from Tennessee, his kind of rise as well. But for some reason, Cetania, who's in his third year of playing college football, his first two at Arkansas and transferred here, I don't think we've gotten ahead of, hey, he's a pro prospect. He's eligible. And he's having a better year than Dionne Burks,

where everyone in the scouting community is like, Burks is top 100. So what's the takeaway here? Cetania is not the biggest cat, okay? He gets outmuscled on the perimeter. receiver when working outside there, especially when he running kind of downfield routes. Contested catches, there's some moments. There's some balls where I see him double catching. And quite honestly, more so when his ball carriage and ball security has been an issue.

And that's something he's got to clean. Yeah, I didn't expect that when I was watching. And even plays where he catches it and gets knocked out of bounds is not even technically a fumble, but like ball just pops out. And then it was. the, what game was it? Was it Tennessee? There was another play, ball got knocked out at the end. I see him not, not covered yet.

Tennessee, Alabama. Those are two of the games. I went back and watched four or five games, like South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and just, and Missouri. And it's just something to keep an eye out with him. However, he's both quick and fast. and his confidence continues to rise, right?

His yards after catch weapon. They hand the ball off to him sometimes. And it's been interesting watching Ben Arbuckle and this offense that was unbelievable, it was a Western Kentucky, then obviously Washington State, and he's one of the bright young minds in college football. Unfortunately, he's been neutered, Arbuckle has, right?

And so what they've had to do with the offensive. poor offensive line plate, no run game, and John Mateer's thumb. They have had, they've had to rely on Cetania, the quick game, screen game. And it's not necessarily, Steve, even, how do I explain this? When I'm watching Cetania as a route runner, it's not about necessarily in that, in the confines or construct of this offense. it's not necessarily about running the route tree or, you know, that specific route perfectly to uncover. For our buckle in that offense, it's more about getting him, almost like moving a chest piece, getting him to an area. So that can be a crosser from the backside where he sits and then moves and slides.

That can be an out and up, but it's not necessarily about beating him on the out and then getting up field and get. It's more about the out and up to widen the zone and then get himself into his own spot. Arbuckle uses him to get into spots, right? Right. Okay. So with all of that in mind, he's been so critical to this offense because they desperately need someone who can turn three into 10, turn seven into 84. Right? And he's provided that for them.

And he's been able to do so because he does uncover so quickly as a, just like the quickness and the speed, the acceleration out of cuts. But then he's smart, man. And it's interesting watching him. He just has a natural feel for the game. And I don't know his background. I don't know if he played quarterback. I don't know. But he, some guys, you can see they have a natural feel for where they're supposed to be.

And as the play moves and Mateer, who extends a lot of plays, he, the scramble rules, as we call it, call it, after the initial play breaks down, receivers have responsibilities and areas they have to be. And a lot of it is working with the quarterback, the way he's rolling, finding soft spots, staying in the quarterback's vision. He does a great job of that. And it's critical for Mateer, because he's on the move a lot. He's undersized, but he blocks. And then the blocking, I've noticed, sets up some of the cells in the play action. So he, like, no one can't. cares if you don't block, but then you go to pretend to block and then try to work that off, you know, but when you're blocking, even though you're undersized, you have to take you

seriously. The defender has to take the receiver seriously. So they take the, the guy, the receiver seriously, go to engage and understand that he does this on runs, so I better be prepared. And I've seen him kind of, you know, not guys who weren't prepared for me to come, for this undersized receiver to come in and clock him. And by doing that, then right before he makes contact, he up the field. So he's doing a lot of little things that I like. And his speed is what is attractive to me as an evaluator and is what is giving Oklahoma moments of opportunistic play to overcome all the things that are going

poorly on that side of the ball. Deep ball down the left rail versus Ole Miss. I saw easy speed. Sits in the soft zone, great feel, scramble rules, like stuff, beautiful job against Ole Miss. Another one against Old Miss, long yard after catch touchdown, that breakaway speed.

The Missouri one this past week, we talked about, 659 second quarter, backside crosser, just yet. See ya. See ya. And so I look at this for Oklahoma.

Now, let's look at it from the NFL draft perspective, just for a second. He had 52 catches and two seasons combined at Arkansas. 52. He has 56 catches here for Oklahoma through 11 games. Let's dig in a little bit deeper. After the first two games of kind of getting his footing and not having, it was Dionne Burks. Remember, it was Kanek, the tight end. Yeah. I think he had like six catches or something like that combined the first two. And it just wasn't the big impact. They didn't. He was finding his way.

He was finding his way and Oklahoma didn't know what they had in him. But after those two games, he's become the go-to guy for OU. Okay? Last nine games, he's averaging six catches per, 85.2 per, and has six touchdown catches. All six of his touchdown catches have been in the last nine games. His 56 catches, Satania's, are 10 more than Dionne Burks. And more importantly, you ready for this? nearly twice as many receiving yards

than Birx who has 46 catches. So it tells you the big play element. And I want to remind you I'm saying all that. And when I'm watching the tape, it's screen game, quick game, underneath crossers, it's a lot of that stuff.

So it's invaluable to Ben Arbuckle, invaluable to John Mateer. This guy's a difference maker. Now, yeah. And he's averaging 12.7 yards per poverty. I just looked it up. I knew he was, he was dangerous in that area too.

Yeah, it doesn't have a tutty yet, but he, he is a threat. But for a team that's winning on defense and special teams, that 12.2 is critical in, in the ultimate goal. Yeah. Some other, some other teams that are scoring 40, 40, 50 points a game. It's not as, you know, it's not that big of the deal. It'll surprise no one if he pops upon return for a score. It'll surprise absolutely no one.

So I asked this question, and it's rhetorical. If he's the guy, if he's the guy and Dionne Burks is a top 100 prospect, why aren't we talking about him in the same vein, you know? And I think we need to start to. Right. I do want to say this as we're. This receiver class is interesting, man. But go ahead.

Fascinating. And we got a lot of time to get to it, but I want to bring it back to this season. I'm excited to talk about it. We're in it right now. Two weeks, college football playoff. Let's go. and they're in the thick of it. And I made the comment Saturday night.

Like Georgia to me is the most dangerous team in the SEC. It's the team I would want to play least, including A&M, which has not lost a game. And I said, Oklahoma is starting to scare me too. This defense is arguably the best defense outside of Columbus, Ohio, okay, in all of college football. And what they've been able to do with this offense is just remarkable. Special teams has been one of the best groups in the country.

And if you're an Oklahoma fan, And I told you that I was going to be talking about you, you guys having one of the best special teams units in all of college football this year, after that filthy mess a year ago, you would be stunned. All that's great. And I love that they've taken on the temperament of Venables. And this is just a chaotic, nasty team. And you don't want to have to line up against them because you know it's going to be an absolute war.

My next tape true, two tape trues, one of them is Oregon's offense. and I watched that offense and I watched this offense and my goodness is it scary the difference. Right. One's intro level and the other one's graduate level, right? Yes.

Yeah. And it's not Arbuckle because you go back and you look at his last, previous two stops and they're just slinging it and early this season you could see that even against a good Michigan defense. So it's part in the thumb, but honestly it's its opponents know what they can

do against this offensive line and opponents know they can't run the football. And so while I do believe you don't want to play Oklahoma, I don't know that there, unless something changes in that three weeks or two, three weeks span between the end of the season and the college football playoff starting and whether that's Mateer's health, whether that's great coaching and solidifying offensive line play, whether there's running back stepping, whatever it is. Unless something significant changes, yeah, maybe they could steal a game in the college football playoff because of the defense and special teams. This this team as presently constructed with this offense, they can't make a run

and win a national championship. So that's what I'm with you. I don't see them winning four in a row. I don't see them winning four in a row. Not with that offense unless something changes. All right. And who knows? All right. Tape Truth number three, Tennessee is tied for six in the FBS with 35 sacks and they have all the elements of a great pass rush. I threw on this the tape. I watched every single one of these sacks, man. And I am geeked up about what I saw. And when I say all the elements, I'm going to focus on three, okay?

Talent, depth, scheme. That's what I'm looking at. They got the talent, man. And it starts with Joshua Joseph's, who I think a lot of people know about the talented edge. He is a handful coming off. I don't care what the sack numbers are. I know they're not that great.

He is a handful coming off the edge. He is explosive. He can win with his hands. He's a little undersized, but he can still win. He's got some explosive power. He can still win with his upper body. But he's not the only guy there. They are about four deep on the edge.

They rotate guys. Then they have guys in the middle that get upfield, who are, you know, great push who can win on the inside. So are they, so that gets into, they have the talent. Then you get into the depth. I've already kind of talk. about it a little bit. Are they as deep as last year?

No, they're not. I mean, that defensive line last year was ridiculous. But they are still rotating guys. They are still keeping guys fresh. And they're still very explosive up front. And the last thing I'll get into, and this is the thing that I really want to talk about, is Tim Banks scheme.

Tim Banks runs a multiple front where he can rush four and drop seven, and they can do that and still get to the quarterback, but some of the stuff he does in terms of simulated pressures and blitzes are unbelievable. You don't know who's coming. You don't know who's dropping. It's a really tough thing for quarterbacks to figure out what's going on. And it's a really tough thing for protections to adjust to.

And the last thing I'll say, and I didn't really put it in the top three, but it stood out to me, and it's very important for them going into the Vanderbilt game. When I was watching these sacks, they don't, They're not over aggressive and give up lane integrity, rush lane integrity, to get to the quarterback. They are still, everyone's still in their lane. And the guys who are inside who rush inside, whether it's a linebacker or a defensive lineman, are very disciplined about getting vertical and getting push, but not losing that integrity where they shed in one direction or the other and give that quarterback a lane to rush.

They can get to the quarterback without having to do that. And the other thing they do is they are. are incredibly unselfish. They're, you know, they talk about picks on these line stances on these blitzes. When these guys are, when it's their job to create a lane for a linebacker or for another defensive lineman,

they are unselfish about it, man. They are taking that defensive line with them. There are a couple times where linebackers just had free paths to the quarterback because the defensive line is just doing such a great job of bringing defensive line, I mean, offensive linemen with them and creating seams. I look at all of that. And to me, it's just impressive.

The other thing, again, I'm going to keep going here. They have batted down 11 passes this year. Four was against Eastern Mexico, I think a couple of weeks ago. It's worth noting that there was a high number in that game. And it's also worth noting that Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia does not get a lot of passes batted down for a guy his size. I think he's only had two batted down this year. But it's important that they stay in their lanes and they get their hands up with him and make it a little bit tougher for him to see the passing windows.

Even if they don't bat the passdown, they can affect them. That'll be something to keep an eye on in this game. And I'll say this. They are the X factor in this game, this pass rush, because Tennessee has given up a lot of passing yards, and Diego Pavia is white hot coming off that Kentucky game. 484 yards, five touchdowns, 33 of 39. I went back and watched the tape.

He looked awesome. He is under control. he's moving around the pocket without being frenetic or without losing his fundamentals. He's getting the ball out. His deep touch in that game, I don't remember him having that kind of deep touch. And all of a sudden, you got Trey Richardson Jr. Cheryl at wide receiver to compliment Eli Stowers at tight end. This is a legitimate passing attack from Vanderbilt. I mean, it is better be ready.

I am stunned at what Trey Richardson is going to do. I didn't feel like it was that way. thought it was a lot of, not patchwork, but like, there were, there's still doing his thing, man. He's still doing his thing where he's moving around and he's extending, but he was making plays within that pocket too, man. More so than I remember, it's really encouraging Vanderbilt. I think Tennessee's pass rush is going to have to get after him in a big time way for them to win that game. I'm fascinated to see what the college football playoff committee does. And everyone's like, oh, who cares about the rankings this week with the rankings reveal? I think it's,

absolutely critical because I'm out on on the state of Utah football as I said Saturday night. Did you see the AP? No. Utah is at 14. So Vanderbilt, Miami are ahead of Utah. But BYU is at 11. So it's right. It's sort of it's a little bit encouraging.

Yeah. And I feel like the committee did that to give it. Sorry. I feel like now if the committee were to do that. it would be to kind of hedge its bets on, well, BYU is still there. But what does BYU have? UCF this week? Is that right? Or did I get that wrong?

Let me stand, pull it up. But they remember have to play in the Big 12 championship. You're right, UCF. So it's UCF, but then it's the Big 12 championship. And if the result is anywhere similar to the first one, that should effectively knock BYU out of this picture. Correct. And by putting Vanderbilt up there, if that's what the playoff committee were to do,

then it kind of wedges, would wedge them, the SEC, them, into the picture. Like, Utah's got to get out of here. You know, we keep forgetting about that? You can't do it yet with BYU. I get it. But, like, I'm watching BYU and I'm watching Utah. And with all due respect, like, I couldn't, I couldn't appreciate the coaching and the play level and the intensity and the toughness and the discipline and all. that from both of these programs. However, I watch them and then I watch Vanderbilt, and then I watch

Texas, and I watch Tennessee, and I know the records aren't great, and I know there's been moments, and I know there are flaws, but you can't tell me. Tucker, let's find that out for us. BYU versus any one of those three teams, if we could have that. Maybe by the end of the show, if not, we'll circle back on that Saturday night. BYU versus Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Texas. What would the Fandul the odds be on that?

What would the spreads be? Because you can't tell me that those three teams aren't all better than than BYU. Yeah, we didn't talk about this. We kind of let it slip on Saturday night. We're forgetting that a Virginia

or a Pittsburgh's going to get in there too. Oh, yeah. But I was including Miami. You were, but Miami. in Miami's not going to play in that game. Yeah, it's brutal. I love the honesty. I'm with you.

I am right there with you, man. It is. It's brutal. And I don't know what the answer is. I don't know what the solution is. You're going to put pit. I know. They don't have a choice.

I get it. Fun team over Texas. But after watching that Notre Dame game? I mean, yeah, no, I'm with you, man. I think it's a fun team, but you can't tell me that a Texas or a Vanderbilt shouldn't be there ahead of a pit. It's an imperfect system. It's better than it used to be, but it's imperfect.

The rankings come out Tuesday night, and obviously we'll continue to sort through it. And this Saturday, this Friday, Saturday combo package is going to be absolutely massive. And as a college football fan, you want it to come down to this. Rivalry games, end of regular season, and so much is on the line getting in the college football play.

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covered. You can check it all out at A.e.com or just go to the store. All right, tape truth number four, Dante Moore, C.J. Stroud. Interesting. And I'm going to ask you some poignant questions at the end of this tape truth, but let me get to why. He's got some mobility, but he won't run unless it's wide open, he'll run and he'll hit the sideline and get out of bounds. Doesn't love getting hit, not twitchy in the pocket, so he's going to take some hits, and he does take some hits. But he's the best pure pastor in the country.

He sees the whole field. He stays in rhythm. He goes from one progression to the next, and he's still developing because he doesn't have the great game experience, but you can see him do it. And I've seen the last two games, because I went back and studied the last two games, Minnesota and USC,

there is a definitive progression being made by Dante Moore right now. Yeah, okay? And I'm also seeing the easiest stroke that you can find out there. Just smooth stroke. Everything is thrown catchable, layering the ball, hitting spots, leading receivers open. USC's like, go ahead, beat us in tight windows in the seams versus this zone and hit these throws that are NFL throws, and you can beat us. And what do you do? The guy's special with his passing skills.

I told you what he's not. But I also have to tell you what he is. And yeah, there's no one who reads coverages and processes and can run an NFL system like Ty Simpson. There's nobody else in this draft class of quarterbacks that's 65, 225 pounds, has an arm and is mobile like Fernando Mendoza. But if you're asking me, who's the best pure passer in the country, it's Dante Moore.

And the reason I get the C.J. Stroud vibes is because it's literally what I sat there and talked about for like four months on TV and going to pro days and everywhere else about C.J. Stroud. He can run a little bit, not twitchy, not like super quick or super fast, but he can run a little bit, but doesn't like to.

He did finally in that Georgia game, if you remember, right? I was trying to remember which game it was. Yeah, the Georgia playoff game. Yeah, he shut everyone up with his big, running performance. I thought it was funny. Right. Almost like, watch this. You know, I can do it. I swear to you. I swear to you, right?

Right. So he did that. But throughout his career, it was the biggest knock on him. And now you hear McDonough and coming out and being like, yeah, we've talked to the defensive coordinator for USC. And they're like, yeah, he doesn't like to get hit. Doesn't want to run. So that allows. Can I interject here? Yes, sir. I, it, there, people will say, like, who likes to be hit? There are quarterbacks that like to be

hit. I mean, I think Drake. Drake May doesn't kick into form until he gets hit a couple of times. I swear Baker Mayfield, I think has a screw loose. Josh Allen, he didn't get hurt. Yeah, Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield, John Matier, if you want to go at the college level. There are guys that I think they want to get popped. I mean, don't want to get pop, but don't mind it. I think it gets their blood flow and it gets them in the game a little bit. I don't mind a quarterback that doesn't like to get hit. I'm okay with that. I think there was a time, and I'm not saying that you're saying this. I'm not putting words in your mouth. No, I'm not.

But some people might hear when you say, when the defense coordinator, Dan Ton Lin from USC is saying, oh, he doesn't like to get hit. Some people might hear that as a questioning of how tough he is. I'm glad you said that. Because through that lens, I was watching Minnesota and USC this past week, and I saw him take some big hits. Because the other thing that people, when you say he doesn't like to get hit,

this is why you're the best in the business, match. those type of guys fade away and and and we'll do things like I thought Derek Carr was one of them in Fresno State there was some element listen Derek Carr ended up being a pretty damn good quarterback there were elements of that of his game in Fresno State there's no question but I don't see that like I just saw him against USC and and Minnesota taking big hits because he chose to hang in there stare down the gun barrel and make throws so and yeah I'm just look at my notes on time like the the seam stuff again USC and hitting spots and leading receivers into tight little windows, making tough

throws with zero panic under pressure. That's not a guy who's not tough. That's not a guy who's afraid of getting hit. That's just a guy who doesn't want to take off and run because he wants to extend it long enough. He trusts his passing skills, as he should. And he views mentally internally right now his best asset and the way he can provide the best ability to beat this defense is to stay behind the line of scrimmage

and wait for the last possible second. So yes, it's not a toughness thing. I ask you one other thing that you might not get from the all 22, but you get it when you watch the game. This is a team that's turned into a run heavy team. They have the best, they may, one of the best quarterbacks in the country,

but because of their issues at wide receiver and all the injuries there, they've turned into a run heavy team, right? and maybe I'm jumping. Maybe this is too much. Doesn't it feel like he's just a team guy? Doesn't it feel like I'm going to do what, like he's not upset about it? He's not bothered by the fact that they're not airing it out 40 times,

even though he knows what he can do, that he is just there to do what's best for the team. I think he has an immense, immense, immense, immense level of respect, appreciation for his offensive coordinator, Will Stein. He's a, sure, dude, it just seems. he's on another level when we talk about that those kind of intangibles i totally agree i think and you know what i there's a very very short list of guys that i would put all of my trust into as a quarterback in the country right now and will stein's on that list like yeah like i agree it's like like trust

everything this man says because we saw what he did with bow nicks and the transformation from auburn you saw what he did with dilling gabriel and the transformation from two previous stops he knows what he's doing. And I just told you, and my final tape truth is Michigan's offense, and I get a lot of respect for Chip Lindsay. But watching this offense compared to a Michigan offense to an Oklahoma offense, and obviously I have a ton of respect for Ben Arbuckle. He's one of the most, one of the brightest young minds in college football,

the offensive coordinator position. Will Stein is at a different level, okay? And so I do believe there's some elements of, I'm going to, like this, I'm operating within this system because this is, This has been proven. It's like, why would I go against Nick Saban and what he's, what he's laying out for me when his way works? It goes back to Frank D. Felice.

Hey, boys, we tried you. We tried you away. He gets so much play on this spot, man. If you talk to him, he's soul. No, God rest his soul. Oh, no, I didn't know that. Within the last year, yeah. But, um, sorry.

Yeah. No, no. It's, he lived a wonderful, fruitful life. But it was, one of his, one of his, one of his, was all time lines was boys we tried your way your way don't work you know like there's always a four one four one I imagine take gets the four one every once at all hey hey son we tried your way your way don't work but anyway so so those are all the things that I'm seeing and I do think it's important that what you just mentioned this run game has taken off and Noah winning him has been uh sorry

Noah Whittington winning has been awesome And he's up over, what is he now? What is he rushing? There's 727 yards, but has really taken off recently. He's only played in 9 of the 11 games. You got the backup, Jordan Davison, who's been awesome. Deere Hill, who's been really good. They just, they have talent at the running back position, and it's all balanced out.

I want to make this point perfectly clear, as we talk about Oregon right now. I hope the college football committee, and obviously they have a massive game against Washington. Rival on the road, horribly tough environment to go play in. And that's a good team that has kind of had some stumbles in the middle of the early middle season and has slowly gotten better under Jedfish and they've got talent. Okay. A loss, you would assume Oregon's out. A win, they're absolutely in.

And right now tracking towards having a first round buy or not a buy, a first round home game. Yeah, I would say that. So, but I want people to understand, just like we put a lot of emphasis on with the committee I'm talking about now, on, hey, quarterback's out. Maybe, you know, let's let's not, maybe we don't knock him for that. And we've heard the committee talk about the losses with John Mateer. He had the thumb injury and came back and this isn't the same. Well, I would argue, John Mateer's kind of the same. guy, maybe not that Texas game and not, not old miss.

Was it all miss? Yeah, old miss game where I was, I couldn't. No, that was Nussmeyer that I watched. The Texas game was the game where he really just wasn't himself after the first a couple series. And he still has never gotten back to, but there's been no proof that he's going to be or the offensive line's going to get better or the run game's going to get better. But with Oregon, man, I hope the college football.

Playoff committee keeps, and I'm talking about maybe if they lose on Saturday. Evan Stewart's supposed to be a first round wide receiver got injured in the preseason. Now, that ain't going to change. He's not walking out that locker room door, okay? Is he definitely, I thought there was something earlier in the year where he could come back. Okay. I'm going to look at that right now. Keep an eye on that committee.

But more importantly, Decorri and Moore, the star freshman wide receiver, tweaked his knee in a non-contact injury before the Iowa again. game. And was Gary Bryant Jr., right? Went down with an ankle injury in the first quarter of that Iowa game. They haven't been out. Those are the two leading receivers for Oregon, okay? They haven't been on the field since. And then you got McClellan, who also suffered the injury against USC. And I looked and I did research and we're taping this on Monday morning. I don't have any updated information. I think it was a surprise to everyone. Pete Thamble had to announce that Brian Jr. and and more weren't playing against USC.

So I'm hopeful that they will be playing in the rivalry game against Washington, but we'll have to see how that works out. But if they're not in there, I hope it's kept in a perspective. And more importantly, like, how good is this fucking offense man? They've scored 84 points against Minnesota and USC the last two weeks. And they haven't had Decorian Moore. They haven't had Bryant Jr.

year. They lost McClellan. They didn't have Evan Stewart all year long. Dude, they were losing offensive linemen against USC. They lost their center. They lost their right tackle. They were, they were banged up up front too. So like, let's talk. Train keeps rolling. Train keeps rolling.

84 points. It's pretty remarkable. You know, I think it's 42 and 42, the last two games. Looks like I misspoke that earlier in the year, they had some optimism. Yeah, then there was an update. It's dawned on me. Yeah, there was an update that he's not coming back. And that's when we were like, oh, man. John Swarsky, Swarsky was this coach at ESPN, right?

And for all like sideline reporters and field analysts as I was for several years, you would go to this seminar and he would teach you about asking questions. So don't ask. That's great. Don't ask a question that can have a one word answer. Coaches will give you the one word answer and you'll look like a jackass. All these different rules. Use who, use why and how, not when and what, you know, so there are all these different rules.

One of his major rules were don't ask a double barrel question. I'm breaking it, Swarsky. I'm going to break it here and ask you a double barrel question. Here we go. Question A. I mentioned C.J. Stroud. I'm getting a lot of those vibes in terms of what I'm saying. saying when I'm reporting back to people from the tape study on Dante Moore.

So the first question of the two questions is, you know what? I'm going to stick with the Swarcky rules. Forget it. I'm going to stay in line. Question A, knowing two years ago it would have been different, knowing now what we know about C.J. Stroud, is that a good thing or a bad thing for Dante Moore? Interesting. C.J. Stroud's banged up.

And I also think that C.J. Stroud, when you look at, I think external factors have so much of an impact on quarterbacks. I mean, whether it's the scheme you play in or your offensive line, I think C.J. Strow was put in a bad place. And I know that Davis Mills has come in and play it all right for the Texans. I get that. But before he got hurt, I don't think that offensive line was very good. They've had injuries at receiver last year that, you know, Nico Collins missed time. Stefan Diggs got hurt. I forget the ex-Huston receiver that we really like to have the terrible leg injury. Tank Dell. Tank Dell. Yeah, Tankdale.

Right. Terrible leg injury. I think C.J. Stroud has shown at times that he can be a really good NFL quarterback, and I think in the right situation he can still do that. So I think it's a good thing. I think if you're out on C.J. Stroud, then that's on you. I get it. He hasn't played as well as he did. I think his rookie year. Yeah, I was just curious because I'm saying that. And I'm saying it in a positive light in my mind as I'm, I think it's a positive light 100%. I think it can't be too.

I do. But I just, if you want, if you're, what? Do you want Dante Moore to run more? I'm not saying that. I'm just, I'm just saying, no, you're not saying that. I'm asking you. Do you want Dante Morton? No, I don't either.

Not necessarily. There's not a lot of times where I'm watching his tape where I'm saying, what are you doing, man? There were a lot of times when I was watching CJ Straub, like, you know, just take off. You got to, there was a couple times that was true. But, but no, not to that level. I would agree. I also, I love to hate your comps.

And you made a strong case here. You did make a strong case. All right, question B. And this is, this started me on the Dante Moore thing. And it's all Dan Comer's fault. And I purposely, I purposely did. And we're going to run long in the show. Of course, we're doing six trues and a wind up.

We do six running over two hours, yeah. And so it's kind of my push. back to Dan because he took me down this rabbit hole. Dan said on Saturday, I think we should revisit the conversation on Dante Moore because Todd's got these sources and the sources are telling him he's going back to school. It's aligned with Dante, Dante's parents, the coaching staff at Oregon, obviously the money that they have, the NIL he'll have.

It makes all the sense in the world. He's an inexperienced quarterback who has shown a lot of signs of inexperience at times, needs another year. He's with the perfect offensive coordinator who's developed NFL quarterbacks. Why wouldn't you? And you're at Oregon with Phil Knight and Nike Money. Go back to school.

And I talk to scouts who have been in there and have talked to people and have their sources. And they have sources, man. Yeah, now he's going back to school. It's a done deal. So like be out ahead of it or just don't worry. Like whatever that means for you, Todd, Dante's going back to school.

So move on to like Simpson or Mendoza Like nothing to see here Make a name. But that was three or four weeks ago when Dante was struggling a little bit. And I don't think anything's changed. I think this is a permanent one. This wasn't like, well, if you remember the Drew Aller stuff?

Well, he's kind of getting hot. And he has a great college football playoff. Maybe he's going to come out early. And you can go back in second guess that, unfortunately, for Aller. But at the end of the day, it's about success in the NFL. And Aller is never going to have great success as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Dante Moore has a chance to be a damn good starting quarterback in the National Football League. And his chances of becoming that, in my opinion, greatly

increase with another year at Oregon with Will Stein. Well, here's history is short a. But I do want to ask this question that Dan asked on Saturday. And I only revisit it because, A, it's critically important for this Washington game. And as we get ready for the college football playoff. And I think we've covered the Oregon Duck offense and what everything that's going on really well. So I'm comfortable now shifting this to the NFL for a minute or two. If he plays great against Washington and he plays great, and this is what Dan was getting to, plays great in the college football playoff. And he then takes a minute and looks at the landscape and he looks at next year and he looks at John Mateer's going back to school, but much more importantly, Ty Simpson might be going

back to school and Arch is going back to school and Julian Sayan will be eligible. He's going back. And you get all these names for next year. And Lenora Sellers is probably going back to school as my information. Maybe not at South Carolina. But so all those guys, you could have six, seven guys going into the year where we're like, yeah, their first round, their potential first round draft picks, right? And then you look at this year and it's like maybe it's just him in Mendoza. And you get 17s in the top 11. And now I'm seeing like Pellasaro's sending out a ex post and Bruegler sending out

an ex post and I'm sending you guys just laughing as I'm sitting on the couch with my family and we're watching an NFL game. Here we go. Friends over for Friendsgiving and I'm like, there you go, Dan.

Congratulations. So my second question is will his draft stock be enough for more to change his mind even though we both hope not? It's a fascinating question. Here's how I'll answer that. I would frame it

as that's only, that's up to the young man and his family and his team. And I am a Dante Moore fan. I am a Ty Simpson fan. There's a lot of quarterbacks I'm a fan of. And if they ultimately decide that it's the right move for them or they believe that it's the right move for them to come out and go into the draft, I will be rooting for him. As an analyst, I will express all the concerns that you just expressed that he could have

used another year. But I'll also do the same thing. I am with you. There are some players that we just completely agree on. And I completely agree with you on Dante Moore. He has a chance to be a franchise quarterback. He has a chance to be a franchise quarterback early and a really damn good quarterback for a long time.

If I am part of his team, this is what I am telling him. And I think this is something that we all have to keep in mind. If you have a chance to be the first quarterback and the first overall pick taken in this draft, assume the jets are taking you. Assume the jets are taking you. Regardless of who's picking first,

assume that you are going to be a New York jet and factor that into your decision and look at their history of quarterbacks and what they've done with quarterbacks and whether or not you want to get into that game because it doesn't matter the coaches, the GMs, look at the history of the quarterbacks there. It's a mess.

It is a problem. And I have to say that. I have to have that as part of the conversation. You're going to be a jet, man. Do you want to be a jet? It's either going to be you or Mendoza. If that's the two guys that come out, say Tyson comes out,

If it's a two-man race, one of you's going to be a jet. You want to be a jet? I'm not sure you do. Maybe Swatsky knew what he was talking about. Because I just got two awesome answers rather than one jumbled one. All right. You have to assume that, though, right? You have to assume.

It's brilliant. I'm not even following up because it's the perfect answer. And I couldn't agree with you more. I think it's an awesome answer. All right, tape truth five. Max Claire is Ohio State's wildcard. and we're talking about this Ohio State team. Yes, the tight end.

Tight end, Max Clare is Ohio State's wildcard. And you know I've been high on them and I've been waiting to talk about them all year and it's kind of got, it was a slow start and is this guy going to do anything? Full disclosure, there's some bias here because I like this guy so much. That being said, Jeremy Smith out last week.

Cardinal Tate hasn't played football in a month. I don't think people realize that they're banged up at wide receiver. Meanwhile, Claire, again, it's a, the Rutgers Fast defense hasn't been good this year, but he had seven catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. He's had four or more catches in six of the last seven games. He's become a big part of their offense. He is the third leading receiver. He can make plays.

I'm interested to see what the situation is with Tate. Jeremiah Smith was probably more of a precautionary reason. It sounds like Tate's going to be back for this game, but they're banged up on the outside. And it's something that's going to be talked about to think as the week progresses. They're going to need someone else who can step up and make plays. And Claire's that guy, man. he's a big target. He's a zone buster, both in terms of his ability to box out

and give that big target to Julian San. And also just feel for it, his ability to settle in. He's also above average route runner for a guy his size. And it's only gotten better since he's gotten Ohio State because that's what Ohio State does. They make everyone a better route runner. So he can separate for man too. The ball skills are really interesting to me

because sometimes I'm watching him. I'm like, I don't have that same kind of confidence there. He had a drop on the very first target of the season, and I was like, oh, no. I remember that. But he's had one, I think he's had one other drop since then. I think it was in the Illinois game. He got popped and he dropped it.

Like, with bang, bang, play. But that being said, he catches everything. It's not always pretty, but he catches everything. He's got really good body control. His ability to adjust the passes thrown out his frame are really, it's just, it's all there for him. So when I'm looking at this game, and if they're banged up on the outside

and they need a guy to step up. Watch out for Max Clareman. He quietly leads the Big Ten leads all Big Ten tight ends with the receptions. He's got the most big, yes. Ken and Sadiq, I will say, has more receptions per game. He's played one more game. But Claire has the, Claire's played one more game than Sadiek.

But he has the most catches for a Big Ten tight end right now. Keep an eye on a man. He's a super talented player. They may need him to step up and play a big role in this game. I like that. It's a good update on him and highly important, obviously, heading into the game against Michigan. And that brings us to tape truth number six. You asked me to do this one. I can't wait to hear this. I'm actually really excited. I don't like saying no to Metch. So tape truth number six is, I'm going to form it as a question. Where are we with Bryce Underwood? You asked me to go back and watch some tape and provide an update as we coming to the game. And it was a great suggestion. I was going to go in a different direction. I was like, yes, of course, absolutely. I don't, because I don't know. I felt like I watched a lot early in the season.

We watched that Oklahoma game. I saw a couple other games, but I haven't kind of circled back because Michigan has been kind of on the outside looking in, and we've had all these other quarterbacks and all these discussions. So let's get to it with Bryce Underwood, the super talented freshman sensation at Michigan, right? Let's start with the positive. My goodness, this guy is talented. I mean, he is big.

looks the part, the ball explodes off his hand. He can hit spot. He can drill the ball into spots, I should say. Better than almost, I don't know. He's in the top three percentile, let's put it that way. I mean, it just fires off of his hand. He's mobile. He's strong.

He can break tackles. There are flashes in his game, and I'm starting to see more than just flashes. There are consistent trends on, like the deep out throw. When receivers, when he's got, when he's confident in where he's going with the football, he can absolutely just drill it in there, man. Okay? Drill it. And it looks beautiful.

It looks like Josh Allen's shit. It really does. Like, not many guys can just snap a wrist. And then there's the mobility. It was on display early in the, uh, that Northwestern game, early third quarter. There are two, the one run and then the touchdown run. Like, you could see his mobility is a factor.

And you can see it throughout every tape. But just watching these last two games, Northwestern and Maryland, to see where we are most recently with him. Like, you see all those things, okay? But as we prepare for this Ohio State team and specifically for this Ohio State defense, right, with that defensive line that's playing at a high level, after losing all four starters to the NFL, with Arvel Reese, with Sunny Stiles,

with obviously the safety. Why am I behind him? Caleb Downs. Thank you. Might want to remember that name is Dumbled a prospect in the class. My head is spinning. No, but obviously Caleb Downs, who, by the way, like, Reese has stolen all the headlines. Downs has still been his sensational self.

He's phenomenal. But as we prepare, where are we with this Michigan offense? The best way I can describe the Michigan offense right now is it's uncoordinated. It's choppy. And the more I dove into it, the more I realize it's not a Chip Lindsay thing, the offensive coordinator. Chip Lindsay's doing the best he can with the circumstances he has. And I want to remind everyone Justice Haynes, the star running back, who was putting up Jeremiah Love type numbers early in the season

has been injured and is not returning. He's out, he's been out the last three games, I want to say, and he's not returning. Yeah, his right leg injury hasn't played the last three games and he's not returning for the regular season. So that has led to some of the choppiness and lack of coordination. But, and I want people to understand, if you're a Michigan fan, you're like, is just this new coordinator?

like he's putting in guardrails to protect his freshman quarterback but he also over the course of the year like we've seen what Julian saying like we've seen with Arch Manning like young quarterbacks have got to grow up at some point and when you see some of the flashes and you start to see a little bit more consistency you have to let the leash out yeah and I've seen Chip start to do that but still with

guardrails up let's let's simplify the reads here if you go one to two instead of just one and run. So like, and let's, I'm not going to ask you to go full field, safeties, move. Here's the design of the play. Here's the structure. If the corner does this, you do this. Okay.

But you've got to let him play. He's a five star. He's got the size, the talent, the arm, the mobility, all of it. And so I've seen him start to do that more in times. And the problem, the push. pole here is he'll drill a deep out. He'll get on the edge and he'll create that run pass option. He'll throw a beautiful ball on the run. He will take off running and he'll make some big plays. So you want the ball in his hands and you want to give him opportunities to do these things.

Because you know, you still have a good running game, but it's not like what it was. And you got two good receivers on the outside that I like a lot. And I want to mention that. I like Andrew Marsh. He's got the juice guy, he's the juice guy from Katie. Texas. He's the juice guy from Katie, Texas. Comes up to Michigan and you can tell the Texas is in him. He's got that Texas confidence in that juice and he's played high school ball and probably 8,000 receiver like all that stuff. And he makes plays and 42 catches, 641 yards, averaging 15.3, right? And then you got number one on the opposite side. Four is the Katie, Texas kid, Marsh, and one is the opposite side. He's your ex. Proto.

typical out of a lab, six foot five, 215, 215 pounds, looks the part, big catch radius, possession receiver, but make it, only 32 catches, but 488, average in 15.3 yards. But beyond that, man, they don't have anything. So you're relying on two receivers. They're tight-in, Marlon Klein flash at all.

I know he's been banged up. A little bit, a little bit. But Marlon Klein and Zach Marshall, solid, but nothing special. 34 combined catches. Klein had a good catch in one of the two games I watched, Northwestern. But Samaj Morgan, number zero, hasn't had to catch in five games, didn't play last week. I believe he's dealing with some injury stuff.

So all of that in mind, I told you about all the positives for Underwood. Let's get to the negatives. 1156 second quarter, Northwestern. I see you smiling. Simple zone read, supposed to fake to the running back. Come up. Get your eyes in the right spot. throw it. Not complex stuff.

He's been doing probably since he was nine years old, okay? But the running back's not in the right spot. He play fakes to air. Gives wide receiver no chance. Oh, sorry. Footwork's a mess. Shouldn't have made a blind throw like he did. It was kind of like a crosser, right?

It's one of those pop-pop things, but now the running back's not there. No one's biting on the play action because you're taking the air. The whole operation's a disaster. When I talk about choppy and disoriented, that's what I mean. misses badly high over the middle of the field because his feet are like this and just flings it. Freshman stuff. We'll get better over time.

Lucky he was his incompletion. This one was thrown to Marlon Klein, number 17, his Klein. Incompletion, lucky it wasn't picked off. Later in that game, 1247, down the right rail. He's thrown some beautiful deep balls occasionally. But he's thrown more of these. like McClelly had no chance McCulley. Just line drive right over his head.

Like just throw it up. Let the 6-5 receiver go run under it or come back to it. Just can't help. Give him a chance. The young guy with a big arm. Doesn't do that, right? Just I question, I saw a handful of throws like this. I questioned the feel and the layering that, you know.

I don't think he has that yet. and over time, hopefully it comes. Then he follows up that one with an intercept. Then he follows it up. That becomes an incompletion, right? Low trajectory throw down the right rail. Then he follows it up a couple of plays later with an interception of ball.

He just can't throw, Steve. He doesn't see the linebacker sitting underneath in the zone. The situation, though, with the game is 21-16 Michigan, tight, low-scoring game. And you're just kind of blind throwing something. and and that's where but chip but chip's like chip lindsay's like yo we've completed this four other times this game we've completed this 40 times the season but and i've got to let you do this right can't okay and then he follows it up so next so now they get the ball back right now it's

22 21 because because um northwestern scored get the ball back michigan drives down the field a lot of the run game stuff and short easy stuff underwood throws another interception another linebacker sitting in zone. The first one of the right side, the second one's to the left side. And you're like, as a coordinator, like, I don't know what. How can I get this young man to understand the concept here?

What do I do with this, right? And I'm watching that and I'm thinking to myself, that defensive line that I've watched for Ohio State. Arvel Reese, styles, downs, Matt Patricia, Matt Patricia. Look at what Matt Patricia did the sark and arch. You know what I mean? So that stuff's scary.

And then interception against Maryland. First court rolling left, throwing back, not in the middle of the field, but back kind of into, you know, against the grain, back to the inside throw. Air mails it high. This one, this one when he missed high towards the middle of the field, it was picked off. It's just erratic play.

It's erratic play. So you asked me, where are we unbelievably talented, doing things at a higher level than he was early in the year? there's some moments where it's like, oh, the light bulb, it's clicking. But then there's some moments where it's like he's still just a pup. And now he's going against Patricia and that back seven and that front four. You trust him. You have to trust him.

You get no choice. But it doesn't always get repaid. And I just looking at this game, it will take something unexpectedly brilliant. Scheme-wise, utilizing his legs, he'll have to play. the best game of his career to pull off the upset that Michigan has become notorious for for Ohio State fans, right? Did you just jinx Ohio State on this pod? Ohio State fans are going to be livid.

You just jinxed them. I mean, if Ohio State doesn't win this one. Oh, man, that's even worse. Speaking of Ohio State, speaking of Michigan, speaking of the game, later this week, Urban Meyer is going to join us and we're going to break it down. I want to talk to him about the history, his history a little bit. to stand back and watch that that happen. I mean, Urban's my guy.

It's going to be some people don't love them. Yeah, no, but we're going to have fun with that. So Urban's going to come join us and help us preview that game. That's going to be awesome. I'm sure we'll get to a lot of other stuff too. But I got to tell you, it was only six truths, but still five stars, bench. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming.

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