The McShay Show - Week 14 Reactions: Buckeye Vengeance, Latest on Lane, and More Rivalry Reactions | The McShay Show

Episode Date: November 29, 2025

Join Todd and Muench every Saturday night throughout the College Football season to recap and react to the biggest games, plays and prospect performances. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show!3:12 Week 14 Live Reactions!3:34 The latest on Lane Kiffin27:12 The latest on Penn State's coaching search31:07 (1) Ohio State defeats (15) Michigan: 27-955:11 (12) Miami defeats (22) Pitt: 38-71:05:27 (16) Texas defeats (3) Texas A&M: 27-17 1:18:40 TMS Top 12 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, Conor Nevins, Daniel Comer Social: Alysha Tsuji Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a special edition of the McShea Show. Rivalry Weekend. And we're live. And the whole gang is here. You've got myself. You've got Dan. You got Connor. You got Tucker behind the scenes.

You got Mention his new green hat. He's getting ready to be draft Santa soon. And you've got the chat live with us. And it just doubled in size in a matter of 30 seconds, Mench. Let's go. Matt Metteis is there holding it down. Cole, Marie doesn't have anything better to do. And I love it.

better to do on a Saturday with Ohio State, Michigan. You got Haas. Haas is in the house. And always tradebacks at the Iowa State game. He's still on the chat. ATB's there? Yeah, he's at the game and he's still here on the chat. All right.

Then I'm here and you're here. And you know what, Mench? We got some Lane Kiff and stuff to get to. We got Ohio State's huge win. We got a Texas update of the number three team in the country. and we got 145 days until the NFL draft. And I can see it on your face, but I'm going to ask you anyway. Mentsch, you good?

I'm good, man. This is the McShay Show, presented by Fandul, and college football Saturdays are heating up. Whether you're in for the early kick or the late night action, Fanduel lets you bet your way with the same game parlays, live betting, game props, and more. And Missouri, get excited because Fandul is coming your way, on December 1st.

Download the app or head to fendool.com slash McShay and make every Saturday count. Must be 21 and older in President Select States or 18 and older in President D.C., Kentucky, or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Roll my favorite beat tuck.

Man, I'm fired up. We got the Christmas tree this morning. I got a wreath so big that now I don't know where to fit it on the house because it doesn't fit. We get here by 11 o'clock. I get showered and dressed. I get all four kids running around going crazy. You'll probably hear them screaming. Apparently there's some kind of live thing going on with some video game.

I don't even know what I'm allowed to say or not say anymore, Fortnite. Some Fortnite live, something. So I'm trying to grab them downstairs. I get two screens going in the living room. And when we're done with this, I'm going to go right back down for the 330 games for the Iron Bowl. And you know what, Mensch? Maybe just maybe during your 30th reunion tonight, I might be giving you a call and you might have to sneak out to the bathroom or you might have to sneak on the end over field. I don't know where you're going to do it.

But if there's something we got to get to after the Iron Bowl in these 330 games, we're not going to miss it. And we'll be right back here for just a little bit. But we'll see. But what would I want to do now? We got a lot to cover. You can feel the energy on this show because we are here and there's urgency. There's urgency with college football. There's urgency for college football playoff looming and there's urgency with some of this

this coaching stuff going on. And I want to start here because Ohio State Michigan just finished and we will get to that in moments. And we got a lot to talk about from Texas, Texas A&M last night. But this Lane Kiffin situation is fascinating. And I am not a, I'm not a reporter. I do not do the multiple sources. I try to stay out of that as much as I can

because I learn early on in my career, stay in your lane, right? That's the important thing. Stay in your lane and we got a pretty damn good lane and we love living in it, okay? But I've gotten to know Lane kind of well. And throughout the years, 25 years, I've gotten to know who Lane is and I've seen the evolution of Lane Kiffin.

And I feel like I'm uniquely qualified in that kind of a remodeling. of life, which I have had, and Lane has had. And very publicly, you know, you go through certain things and you have downtimes. And then if there's the strength within, you're able to pick yourself up off the mat, kind of refocus, change your ways, still be the best version of yourself and move forward. Now, that's what we've seen with Lane Kiffin. But still lying within this Lane Kiffin character, a buddy of mine, is the

circus that surrounds. And it's part of the beauty of him. He loves trolling people. He did it on the field yesterday. Whether the young man called him a hoe or didn't call him a ho, I'm not here for all of that. But it's last night around 1130. I get a text from somebody who has been a source, if you will, to try to keep us informed on this show and throughout my career. And somehow they, I'm just going to lay it up, right? Lane Kiffin, it's highly publicized. The he had the meeting last week with Ole Miss. He wanted to coach this week, and a decision is to be made today on Saturday, November 29th.

Is he staying at Ole Miss or is he leaving for other pastures? Let's not say greener because it's hard to say what's greener in college football these days. We know that LSU has a strong desire to make Lane Kiffin its next head coach. We know that Florida had a strong desire to make Lane Kiffin its next head coach. It has been widely reported. and I got that same information last. Actually, I got it two days ago. Florida is out.

Right. Yeah, they like to get ahead of the news and say, you know, we're no longer, you know, in the Lane Kiffin's sweepstakes because they knew that they were no longer. The Lane had made. Yeah, it's, you can't fire me. I quit. You know what I mean?

Like, what are we doing here? And I also find it interesting. that if you kind of dig deep, and I'm sure everyone in SEC country knows this, right? But if you dig deep on it, that Layla Kiffin, his wife, who they divorced and are now back together, and has been kind of the whole renaissance of Lane Kiffin, right?

Getting back with his family and family is first, and today, first, Marty Smith is reporting that we're doing hot yoga with the family. That's what we do every, you know, every Saturday morning. But Layla was, born in Gainesville. And Layla went to the University of Florida. And Layla's dad was a, was a big time, I'm going to look it up right now.

No. Oh. Was a big time quarterback. Oh, okay. Someone told me, John Reeves. John Reeves was a Florida quarterback. Yeah. And John Reeves went on, I think the table.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And I think that's how they met. I think Leila worked at the Buccaneers, like PR or something like that. So anyway, none of this is very important outside of there. There were ties there. Right. And so I don't know if that played for or against Florida. Maybe Leila, like, I'd rather not go back to where I grew up in all in my shadow of

my dad and all that stuff. But certainly they were in the mix for a while. So then it became down to two. Are we staying at Ole Miss or are we going to LSU? and we know about the financial package that's been offered and basically write your own check, all the resources, everything that goes behind LSU.

I got to thinking yesterday before I got this text message from someone that I trust that wouldn't share information unless he believes strongly in it. That in my life circumstance, I'm not going anywhere without you. I'm not going anywhere without Marissa. We're not doing anything unless it's with the right people with Dan and with Connor and with Tucker.

and like but if you know something came along to grow this opportunity then you got to kind of go back with your people and see what's important and what we want to do right and if the money to match the money and it sounds like old miss is willing to match the money so it's not a money thing and i've truly believed that it's this has never been about the money for lane i'm not speaking about the past i'm talking about this this situation has never been about the money the money's great and it sounds like it would be matched at Ole Miss, what is being offered at LSU or something very, very close. But when you've transitioned your, when you've had this renaissance and you've worked so hard to cut out the negative in your life and you feel like you are now in the best

place that you have been as a human being, as a husband, as a father, as a coach, as a person, there's an element of do I want to step outside of this? Because man, it's never felt better than this, right? Yeah. Well, if I go down that path, like, am I going to be able to maintain what has made me the happiest I've ever been in my entire life? So Marissa and I had conversations about that yesterday

because it's a fascinating parallel, you know? Is she coming on? We should have run. No, no, she would never come on. There will be a day. There will be a day. Yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll, sneaker in it accidentally. All right.

So I ask you something, though. Yeah, go ahead. If you're, if you're Lane Kiffin, and I hear what you're saying, and I agree with everything you're saying, but he's also a guy that believes in, you know, change and pushing yourself and evolving, that's got a way in some, a little bit here, too. Like, are you getting too comfortable? Is this, are you growing now? Are you just gotten to a point in your life or you're just satisfied with staying in one lane

and doing this thing? Or do you want to push yourself and evolve and find it? a new challenge. And LSU is a different challenge than Ole Miss is. It's one of the ways that these things are unique. I do think there's an argument to make, is LSU really greener pastures than Elmiss in the new college football landscape? There's an argument there.

But there's no argument that winning at LSU is different than winning at Ole Miss. You know what I mean? And the resources and the backing, even like, Ole Miss is moving to every. It's a different thing. It has a foundation that's different than the foundation in Ole Miss, even though Ole Miss, to which credit, has literally done. everything possible. Financially,

structure-wise, freedom, everything. Like, Ole Miss should be, you know, recognized for what it has done to provide Lane everything he needs to get to this, you know, 11-win season,

potentially in the SEC championship game, and absolutely in the college football playoff, okay? And that's where they are. And LSU ain't. But you take Lane in this program and the recruiting and the energy and the new lane and the dialed in with the no distractions and the family and everything that he has and you put it into that machine.

And that's what LSU is banking on. Yeah. And that's the part. And I think you asked a great question. Because what is equal for us with my kids at their age versus Lane. with his kids off to college and all that, it might be different, right? So that's what, and here's the part for Lane.

And I think along these thought, these, I have the same thought process too. Okay, you take, you take me now where I am with you and with the support. And you take, and we keep growing this, right? And so Lane is like, hey, where I am now, and with the recruiting and with all the media attention and everything that it gets and all the players that want to come play for me and I get to bring that to LSU with that foundation.

Could I do it Nick did? Right. Because you watch the hand gestures. You watch some of the reactions, some of the phrases, some, and they butted heads and they like I know stories that I can't even tell. I can only imagine. Well, you know what? Anyone can imagine knowing those two personalities.

I know stories that I can't even tell the way that those two, however, there was a mutual respect. A true, and there continues to be a great deal. It's one of those things like a family member or a great friend. Like, I'm going to fuck with you all day long. I'm going to needle you. I'm going to put out your weaknesses. I'm going to test you. I'm going to do all that stuff.

Somebody else tries to say something about you, though. Uh-uh. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah, I get it. So the question becomes, now that I am where I am, can I be the next Nick? And I think that's what's eating at all of this. So I've been burying this lead the whole time. I am not Pete Thammell.

I am, I'm not trying to ever be. I'm not saying I have this like sourced out or in, I'm just saying I got some information. And I was told last night around 1130 at night. before I was getting ready to get some sleep to get up and go Christmas tree shopping and get ready for the show and an awesome slate of games. All of a sudden, this thing's dropped in my lap. And I'm not confirming it. I'm not even reaching out to people and trying to.

I don't care. I'm just saying, I was told last night based off of some text threads and this, this, and that and people who are this, this and that, Lane has made his decision. He's going to LSU. And there's a respectful amount of time that's being allowed. He's going to spend time with family. in the morning and I don't know any of the other details but so you know along the lines of what was presented to me that made a lot of sense was we just won this massive game we are

in the college football playoff we depending on what happens today in these games maybe an opportunity to play in the SEC championship game however there's a deadline that's looming and it's essentially my understanding 1159 tonight eastern time and so it's a Is it after the Iron Bowl when they know whether they're in or they're out? Because if if Auburn-Albys Alabama, Alabama, Ole Miss is playing in the SEC championship game. And am I trying to distract all of that? And so I've also been told that he's gone in the facilities and they're preparing for Georgia, right? Yeah, for Georgia in the SEC championship game.

Is that right? I think that's right. I will check right now. So again, I'm not sitting here. I'm not reporting it and like it's done. But I don't, I wouldn't have got this information from the person I got it from. And that person wouldn't have got it from the people who were in contact. Okay?

You follow me? Yep. Unless, unless Lane was purposely telling friends of his that are very close, misinformation, or if Lane overnight, night sleep, thought on it, hot yoga, all that actually changed his mind, and maybe something was presented to him last minute by Ole Miss. But as of last night before I fell asleep, the information was Lane's going to LSU. It's just a matter of when this is going to all be announced. And is Old Miss going to allow him and is Old Miss going to allow him to still coach?

And I'm just told right now by Dan Comer, our unbelievable editor, producer, extraordinaire who does everything for this show, that there is a meeting today. Let me pull it up. Lane Kiven and Ole Miss AD, Keith Carter, are set to meet at 4 p.m. Eastern time.

So 10 minutes from now, Steve. So this is all imminent. And that's why I wanted to start the show with this, because it's going to happen fast. Go ahead. Do you have an instant reaction, or are you going to give this a second to breathe? You can have an instant reaction and still.

circle back. No, that, I mean, it looks like he's going to LSU or that it feels like he's going to LSU. Do you want to wait? You want to give a second to breathe? No, I guess my, my,

it isn't an instant reaction. It was hours spent talking about life parallels, ironically, last night. Yeah. Prior to getting this text and then having to circle back and have a conversation. So I kind of had come to grips with he was and then it was almost,

I don't want to say full confirmation because it wasn't like multiple sourced and Thamble or or Bruce or like, you know, those guys giving it to me and are going nationally and saying it. I understand it. I don't know that the grass is always greener. I do think what they have at Ole Miss is special. I do too, yeah. But unlike Harbott, Michigan, or urban from the state of Ohio at Ohio State or Nick didn't have that tie. But once Nick became Nick at Alabama, it wasn't going to be at another place.

It didn't say, you know what I mean? Like, I never felt like Ole Miss had to be the end of the road in terms of where he finished his career. And he's young. I don't think he's much older than me. How old is Lane Kiffin? Look that up. I guess 52, 53, maybe 55 at the oldest. I don't even think he's that.

50. 50, yeah, I said a couple years older than me. Yeah. So they say your best earning years in life, no matter what the profession are 55 to 63, that eight-year span. So his best years are still coming up. My reaction to it is, I understand.

me too as long as your family wants this and we saw his daughter the most recent social media post get handing out gifts to underprivileged kids in batten bruges with whit weeks it clearly this is a family thing and Knox is is doing great in high school but you know I don't know if he's a junior or senior or what he is but I'm sure that'll all get worked out um and his wife clearly is on board and Lela wouldn't have, they wouldn't have said no to Florida before they made this final decision had that not been a family thing.

And so now, honestly, I get it. I get it because you're in a place where you're like, you know what, I can go and make a run at being one of the best of all time. And they'll have support there that maybe they wouldn't have in terms of the foundation at Ole Miss. So I understand all of that.

The hard part is, and everyone's going to just, murder Lane Kiffin for this. 100%. Murder him. But you were given an ultimatum by the school that you're at presently. And LSU has to have an answer at some point. Yeah.

So it's just a brutal position to be in. And to his credit, he danced around all this stuff this past week. He kept his team focused, which is hard to do, given all this stuff. He said all the right things. empowered his players. Players aren't the same as they used to be were the quotes. Players care about their NIL, and that's a good thing.

And, you know, he found his ways to motivate his team and keep their focus on that game. And you saw in the second half and they ran away from Mississippi State after the first half where they were dragged through the mud, fights and ADs on the sideline and all sorts of stuff the Mississippi State was trying to do to create an environment,

to drag them into that mud, right? Yeah. So my initial reaction is I understand. I mean, it doesn't mean what's good for Lane would be good for me. And you and I, I'm not taking this thing back to ESPN or some network or something like that. We're doing this here and we're going to grow it so big that it doesn't matter where we are.

So if I'm making that personal parallel, and all of a sudden we get Netflix as an opportunity. And I think this is just going to keep growing, man. And I'm certain of it. I'm not even hopeful or confident. I'm certain of it. So, but it's a different world in college football. And I think that LSU gives them maybe a slightly or a better chance to go become one of the greats

to be thought of as an Urban Meyer, a Nick Sabin, you know, one of those guys. So that's where I am. But you have to now start asking the question, this meeting at 4 o'clock, which is in five minutes from right now. Do you know how important that meeting is between Lane and Mr. Oh, yeah, the athletic director at Ole Miss? And the future of the SEC landscape? I mean, I don't think that meeting is necessarily about please stay or are you stay. I think that meeting is probably more about I'm leaving.

Can I coach this? You know? And will LSU allow him to still? Like, I don't know. Well, the reporting was that Carter wasn't going to let him coach. that they And I'll be honest with you and I heard Herbie today

and I like, I'm with you, Kirk. I would love to see it for the players and I'm with Nick on this too. Like the players have to come first.

They truly do. I agree with you. For everyone but the AD and the person who's representing Old Miss, that's the problem. Right. Because if I'm,

if my sole job in this world is to do what's best for Old Miss, it's about a vision that's greater than the next seven weeks or whatever it is. And I'm not letting this guy leave to go in conference, in division, to a rival that's literally down the highway. And coach my program in the college football playoff. I don't think. Are you?

You know me. I'm a sentimental in my bubble, do what's right for the player type thing. and I hope that that's what prevails, but I hear you. Like, this is about the, it's about the future of the Ole Miss program. And that's really, that's what you've got to look at when you're making the decision. It's lousy. I mean, it sucks that you have a team as good as Ole Miss is this year, and it's going to go this way at the end.

And we'll see, maybe they make some kind of run. Maybe they rally around, the team rallies around itself, circles the wagons, and somehow makes a run here. But my gut tells me that Old Miss. that Ole Miss is not going to be coached by Lane Kiffin in the playoffs if he leaves for LSU. That's my gut. I think it even gets more interesting than that is how much of his staff does he take with him

and who's allowed to stay and who's going to go and all of that. And where does the committee look at them in terms of seating if Alabama wins tonight? Is Ole Miss going to be hurt? I can't imagine they're going to keep him out if Lane Kiffon leaves. I mean, that would be wild. I mean, I don't think they can do that. But if he leaves, do they drop in the seating? Are they now go from whatever they were going to be to a lower seed?

I don't know. It's going to be interesting to see how they handle that. It would be interesting how they handle that if Tulane gets in, too, based on the reporting about some are all going to Florida. I mean, the way these coaching changes are happening with these big time programs or programs that are winning at least is something to keep an eye on. This is unique, but I'm not sure it's going to be unique going forward. I see you, John D. Dollar.

Yes, I understand that there's not deviant. divisions now. I'm just saying that this has been a forever in the SEC has been playing every year. And like I understand where we are in college football. I'm saying like, you know, there was a difference going like from Ole Miss to Kentucky or Florida or Georgia to go into one of the traditional, you know, West. So that was my only point. But I also see everybody else in in the chat are like, okay, great. Thanks for, thanks for the update. Thanks for the intel.

But like, let's go. Move on. And I'm not. I want to make this point. Yeah, Florida is out. And I'm glad you mentioned John Summer. I'm going to make a couple quick notes and we can move on. We don't even have to discuss.

Summerall is the likely choice there. And yes, they are playing tonight against Charlotte. And they are the top ranked G5. And Mench just covered how critical all of that is for, for potentially that Tulane program, right? Yep. Alex Golish is also in the mix. What's interesting is there is a huge domino effect and trickle-down effect or whatever you want to call it.

And what's also fascinating is Jimmy Sexton, the, I believe he's still at CAA, the super agent of college football coaches and what he is, his role behind all of these things in the SEC. At one point, I think he had 14 to the 16 coaches he was representing in the SEC. see, that was in 2024. I'm not sure if that's the exact same number, but it's the vast majority. He also had James Franklin. Okay.

And so there's a lot of interesting stuff here. But when you look at, is it LSU or Ole Miss that now is open? After Lane Kiffin decides, and they have the meeting that's starting literally right now at 4 p.m. Eastern time. But Alex Golish is a name. You've heard already at Arkansas.

And if it's not, for some reason, some roll at Florida, Alex Goalish from South Florida is in the mix at Florida. Also in the mix, potentially at like an Ole Miss. There's Auburn. There's Arkansas. And Golish has been strongly tied there. A lot of moving parts.

And there's also Penn State out there, as I mentioned, where a Jimmy Sexton client, James Franklin, was recently fired and then recently hired by Virginia Tech. Why do I bring Sexton into all this? I hear Penn State has been, I've talked about Pat Kraft and the athletic director of Penn State, and there's mixed opinions on how that's going, right? I'm not, I don't know him personally. I'm not here, but I'm saying I think, unfortunately, if you're a Penn State fan,

there's been some playing that's been going on with Penn State a little bit. I'm told, and again, I'm not going to go into all these sources and this and that because I'm not reporting anything. But there's some information out there that Bob Chesney, who I told you is going to be a fast rising coach in this business. And all of a sudden, his name's everywhere. And he's doing a great job at JMU, right? He was at Holy Cross. And when he was at Holy Cross, I was told by multiple people that I trust in this profession, Chesney's a name.

He's going to go, right? and all of a sudden it's Holy Cross, JMU, and now, holy shit. Like, big time programs are like, and Penn State. Penn State apparently was interested. In fact, may or may not have been on a plane to go see when Jimmy Sexton calls and says,

I think Chesney's going to UCLA, don't need to make that trip. Again, just stuff I'm hearing. Bottom line is Chesney, now it sounds like, is going to be announced after JMU plays today or at some point. If J.M.U.'s eliminated from the college football playoff, I think that's when it will be

announced that he's going to UCLA. All right. So that's a nugget for you. Also represented by Sexton. Eli Drinkwood's, also who just signed an extension at Missouri, was in the mix of Penn State. And his name was up for some other places. Also represented by Sexton, Clark Lee. See, he just signed a massive extension? Yeah. I didn't think he was going anywhere anyways, but yeah, it's interesting. But Penn State had interest. Yeah.

And Penn State had interest in Drinkwitz. And Penn State had interest. This is what I've been told. I'm not saying, I'm just saying, Bob Chesney. Okay. Sounds like maybe Penn State's now down to Brent Key is a possibility, not represented by sex. In fact, I don't know exactly.

I couldn't find. I don't know that he is. That'd be a great hire for them. I love that hire for them. And there was some kind of big name coach that was being batted around. I was told last night, don't count out Lincoln Riley as a major target of Pat crafts to Penn State. That's interesting. And he's not represented by Sexton.

You follow in the tea leaves here? Dan says, Brett Keyes never leaving his Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech team. Cut him open and see what colors he please. I'm just saying, this is the information I'm getting. Trace Armstrong represents. So maybe Penn State's out of the Jimmy Sexton game. Let me ask you this, because this is the problem,

and I'm sure I'm not as savvy in this area as you are, so I'm guessing there's an easy answer to this. Is that doing a disservice to his clients, though? Like, shouldn't he be listening to what Penn State has to say? You know, if you're like for Chesney and what that's going to look like in terms of a financial package? or is it just... Listen, and everyone in the chat is right.

And Jeremy Godden just said rivalry week. He was actually defending us saying it was boring. I hear you. All I'm saying is these are nuggets that are coming in fast and furious. Keep an eye on them. And who knows? We may find out in 15 minutes that Lane Kiffin's going back to Ole Miss. She didn't know anything.

All right. Ohio State, Penn State. Man. Ohio State Michigan? Oh, come on. Yeah, let's go. I'm getting Penn State off my mind. Ohio State Michigan, the game.

I grew up on this game. I told you, Marshall Brown, my grandfather. I was a Michigan fan from birth. I went to many Ohio State Michigan game, many a Michigan game, and grew up with Beauchampekler as a family friend, very fortunate. So I have a great deal of respect and like family memories and every Saturday after Thanksgiving.

was spent on this game with my grandfather, with my family, like, you know, and driving around and the M's crossed out everywhere and the flags hanging everywhere. So I just, I love this game and what's not to love. But Michigan has dominated it in recent years, but Ohio State has clearly been the better program in recent years. I thought it was, let's just start from the beginning. I thought it was critical that Michigan got out to an early lead in this game. Find a way to get out to an early lead, set some kind of a tone. Get Ohio State nervous. They're like, oh, man, is this happening again? Right. The snow's about to come, and this game could get mucky, and we get these Ferraris on the

outside and Jeremiah Smith and Cornell Tate, and we get this young quarterback. Banged up, by the way, too. They're not going to have been healthy. Yes. But, but, but it, so a banged up pair on the outside, snow's on the horizon, let's get a lead and possess the ball and let's make this as ugly as we want it to be. If you hear people screaming in the background, despite me begging them not to, it's some Fortnite live, and it should be, although it might be Clemson. I don't know if Clemson's game's over already. And they did, and Michigan did, and they got the run game going early. The first team all season, no, since Texas to rush for over 100 yards. and they get it rocking early on.

Jordan Marshall, four for 61 rushing in the first five minutes of the game. Then Michigan gets the pick. And Michigan gets a little bit more yardage but winds up with another field go. So it's six nothing, but they've been deep in the zone of Ohio State twice and they only get six points.

And you have to wonder, is that going to wind up coming back to bite them, right? And then I thought Ohio State's response, right? After 6-0, after the interception, offensively to drive down the field, Bo Jackson, 36-yard run by Bo. And then they get down inside the three-mensch. One play stuff, two-play stuff, three plays stuffed. Then it's now going to be two-play stuff.

Then it's going to be third in goal. And J-Shaun Barham, right? Yeah. four sacks on the season. He's been the second best pass rusher from Michigan. Talented dude. Talented dude loses his mind. Freaks out on players, then turns around and headbutts the ref.

Lucky to not be kicked out of the game. Should have been kicked out of the game. Agreed. Lucky. I mean, lucky the letter of the law. Yeah. You later, man. So, but that gives Ohio State a fresh set of downs.

First down stuff. Second down stuff. third down stuffed. Go to go for it on fourth down. After the knee was down by saying on the push, they called it a touchdown, reviewed it, wasn't a touchdown. Here we're going again.

Quarterback sneak, probably a touchdown. Flag. Five yards. Now we've got to kick a field goal, six, three. So so far, things are going really well for Michigan. They stopped them six times inside the three-yard line. But then it started to happen. Jordan Marshall, the running back, injures his shoulder, doesn't come back in.

Michigan still has some run game going, but the receivers and saying start to take off. And I think we learn more about saying in this game than in any other game that we've seen all season long. And despite his number, I don't even have the final numbers here, we can pull them up. I thought we learned an awful lot about him. and I also think, and I'll just, I'll tell you now who my spotlight player of the day is, it's Bo Jackson. Yeah, yes. You didn't tell me that.

I love it. Bo Jackson, he was the best player in that game. He was the best player in the game. And also, you see, the 22 carries 117 yards. He averaged 5.3 yards against this run defense, had four catches for almost another 50, averaged over 12 yards per catch. I thought there were two reasons why he was, not only like statistically was awesome in this game.

There were two things about his performance today that were incredibly important in my eyes. And I want to get your take on this. The first is the Michigan component of it. Because Sayan and Tate and Smith took over the game for a couple quarters, second quarter, third quarter. The long touchdown catch by Jeremiah Smith, you had the long touchdown catch by,

by Carnell Tate. 50 yards for Tate. I don't know what it was for Jeremiah Smith, but it was that inside out route that was awesome, right? It was unbelievable. He fumbled out of the back of the end zone, but we won't talk about that.

Right. There were a couple errors by the officiating crew today. It was bad. I think Ohio State still wins this game handily, by the way. So don't get all caught up in that Michigan fans,

but I thought it was a bad call. Yeah. Unbelievable route, though. That doesn't take away from the fact that route was sick. It was unbelievable. But the reason why Bo Jackson was the most important player was that they, you saw that they got a lead and now they're up two scores.

And you've asked the question. I've asked the question. And I know you've agreed. If there's one flaw in Ohio State, I don't know that they have the run game this year. Right. Do they have that back? Do they have Eddie George? Do they have Judkins?

Do they have Henderson? Do they have, oh gosh, what's his name? The Chargers and, I'm going to blank right now. Dobbins, J.K. Dobbins. Do they have that guy in house, right? Yep. We know this talent. We know he's next, Bo Jackson.

We know he's the future. But if we're going to make a run at this year, do we have that back when things get ugly and we need to, whether it's wear a team down, whether it's kill the clock late in the game? And to watch him in the fourth. quarter take over this football game was hugely important because this has always been a rivalry and in recent years about Michigan's just more physical you know yeah Joe Moore award winner

defensive tackles last year they just win in the trenches they got all the athletes up in Columbus or down in Columbus but but we're the tougher more physical team right and it goes back to Schembeckler breaking yard sticks on the back of calves of offensive linemen okay that's been there identity forever. But late in this game, Ohio State was the more physical team, and Bo Jackson allowed them with his contact balance, his cutting ability, he obviously has great speed, but it's more than just that.

So that's the first part, first part was the Michigan element of it. Can we shove it down their fucking throats in the fourth quarter with a lead? And the answer was yes. then the second part of it is, all right, now we're going to go to the college football playoff after this Big Ten championship game. And we got a back. And we should have seen the signs,

but we didn't know to trust it. All right, because early in the year, it was nine for 108 against Grambling. It was nine for 109 against Ohio. It was 17, but for only 80 against Washington. 13 for only 63 against Illinois, against Minnesota. 10 for 47.

10 for 26 against Illinois and Wisconsin, respectively. But then something started to click against Penn State. 13 for 105. Purdue, 1475. UCLA 15 112. Rutgers 19 110. And you kind of, but you're still wondering, can you do it against Michigan?

And to watch his talent and to watch his confidence, I think he completes this team. We know the defense is exceptional, and they proved it again today. Three field goals allowed. We know the quarterback has developed, and today was obviously, we wanted to see what we saw today from Julian saying he was outside of that first interception and kind of the first couple drives, he was flat out brilliant under these circumstances. But do they have the run game?

And now I see it with Bo Jackson. A couple things that I think are interesting. One is that you were talking about Bo Jackson, I think either after. before the Washington game of you saw you did see this coming you're not giving yourself enough credit you did talk about bow jackson where they thought they're going to be two i think it's interesting you talk about the physicality and don't mention the offensive line once in that statement that's typical for you so i'll go ahead and do it now i wondered not only did they have the back but did they have the offensive line i made the same mistake last year this offensive line is doing exactly what it did last year which is playing its best football late this season and really come together and that is a ad sign for the rest of the playoff field. The other thing I want to say here is, how about Brian Hartline, man? You talk about the run game and you talk about being able to shove it down

Michigan's throat. It seemed like, and I have a ton of respect for Chip Kelly and I'm not going to kick a guy when he's down. Obviously, that has gone, that did not go well for him in Las Vegas. But when you looked at this game last year, that seemed like their only goal in that game was to say, we can shove it down Michigan's throat and we're going to run into a brick wall over and over and over and again, over again.

They didn't do that in this game. They did a great job with their best. balance and then wore out that Michigan front and then ran the ball late. It was a great game for Hartline. I think Hartline's been awesome this year. Even the Brendan Ennis touchdown catch, that play designed at the end of the first half, I mean, holy shit, that was awesome. That was awesome.

Needed to play there. And the last thing I want to say is Ryan Day has gotten a lot of heat for this four-game losing streak. And I understand it on some level, but last year was bad. He also lost to some really good Michigan teams, including a national champion Michigan team. So I think they got kind of lost in the mix and started just turning into a four-game losing streak because last year was a bad loss. And it was, again, a bad loss. But I think Joel Klaught was dead on about what he said.

Ohio State decided that they were going to be themselves coming into this game. And that's exactly what they did. They didn't try to change their identity like I had hinted at earlier and try to be this run-heavy team that was going to out physical the team from the north. That's not what their goal was. their goal was to win this game. And they were just themselves. They asserted themselves. They asserted the fact that they were the deeper, more talented team and just took care of business.

And even though it's not like any other game, they handled it like any other game. And I think that was huge for them considering all the mental hurdles they must have had going into it. Yeah. I thought it was an awesome performance because it showed the only like literally the only two complaints are with Ohio State. all year long is do they have the run game to balance it out when they need it? And we've gotten the answers recently and it was confirmed today. And then also, how are they in adversity? Because we just don't know.

And they went on the road against a good team. How good was that Texas team? Like, you know, they answered a lot of questions for me today. That's a good Michigan team, by the way. Underwood's got a long way to go. You talked about it last week. You were dead on about it. And it showed up big time in the second half where he just was rushing everything,

checking down, didn't look comfortable a lot in this game, didn't have his best game. They needed him to have his best game to compete. Holt be better, he'll be better, but it was not a great day for him. And it was interesting, too, having Urban Meyer on on Wednesday. Yeah.

And listening to him as one of the, like, founding fathers of like the spread, kind of the option stuff and all this, you know, like I'm not saying he was the first, but like he kind of took it to another. And throughout his career and kind of evolving and bringing in other offensive coordinators to mesh with his principles and all that, there's no denying that Urban Meyer has a great offensive mind. And to hear him talk about what he would try to do against Ohio State,

I felt like I kind of trapped him into giving me a game plan that might work for Michigan against Ohio State, which is not something that he wanted to do. But sometimes when your mind just ticks like that, and he was talking about indicators. Oh, it was a great question. Yeah, you want to know what he would do. But it was a way better answer. The answer to the question of like what, you know, when you know you've got a young quarterback and you know this defense is amazing

and you know that you know that defensively they're doing different things this year with Matt Patricia, what would be the approach? And he was like, as an offensive coach, it's about indicators. We're always looking for tips. And it's usually like the safeties and the rotations and what they do on certain downs and distance. and find it indicated it was it good interesting enough on game day this morning Sabin was talking about the boundary safety when talking about reading Michigan's defense and what they do and you're like you know these guys football it's funny when you get to that level and I can't even imagine what that level is

with like the Sabins and the Myers of the world it's such a simple game for them and they both talk about if you have this great defensive coach and this great offensive coach and what are you looking at it's the boundary safety and both of them both of them hinted it or talked about that going into this game. But Urban was saying, I'm having a hard time when watching Ohio State binding true indicators. You know, it was interesting about that answer, though, is Urban was, I think he was really, it was a great answer.

And but did you notice as he, it's just the answer evolved? He started going, well, I'm going to run the ball at him. And when I run the ball at him, they're going to have to show their hand a little bit. And if they show their hand a little bit, now I got in the second half. Yeah. But that's what it's a. club one, but I could crack it. It was a simple question that trapped him a little bit, but it got him going down this road

where he couldn't stop. And now he's talking about, like, all right, but if I get him in game and get him into the muck a little bit. Right. But like now they've given us tells in the second half, then we're going to adjust to, you know. So it got him going and showing the thought process, which I thought was fascinating. But he said initially what he would do is come out and he would run the hell out of

Bryce Underwood. He said, I had a, I had a. I had an Underwood, a big, strong, physical, athletic, mobile quarterback. His name was Tim Tebow. And in games like this, we ran the hell out of him. And early on, they were running the hell out of the ball. And Underwood had a couple carries and all that. But I think after that conversation with Urban, if you told him that night, when we were done,

if we were like, hey, Erb, I'm going to tell you something. Underwood finishes with six for one. based off of that answer you just gave, what do you think? And he'd be like, yeah, no chance. And there wasn't. It's just interesting that Michigan didn't try to run under Woodmore. That was the long way to get to what my point was.

When I look up at that stat line and I see six carries for one yard, Ohio State clearly was expecting that. And Ohio State clearly put a lot of work in with Matt Patricia and this very smart, talented, but also I said this in week one, you got to have a bunch of smart dudes and we know that Stiles is and we know that Caleb Downs is extraordinarily smart football smart

but you got to have a bunch of other guys that are pretty good to damn smart to pick up that NFL scheme and to make it look that polished and that confusing for a young quarterback in week one when you get eight new starters and a new defensive coordinators not easy to do with the college football

coaching time, teaching time, limitations. And to see them now evolve in week 14, but the 12th game of the regular season was pretty special to see. And they clearly were thinking the same way that Urban was. We got to run the quarterback. And Ohio State was like, we're not going to let you run the quarterback. In fact, we'll let your running backs get some yards. We're not letting you beat us on the ground. Beat us in the air. You're running backs, but we are going to squeeze the life out of your quarterback and his ability to run the ball. And it worked.

And I, like, there was a flash or two of Underwood thrown. Like that seam route to McCulley was awesome. The Dunovan McCulley was an awesome throw. Oh, my God. Yeah. Even better catch. But it, like, and by the way, where was Andrew Marsh today? Was there an injury situation?

He didn't have a catch. And he's, he and McCulley are the two guys we talked about last week. So just an awesome job. Now let me ask you this question. Dan, get this ready. And I'm going back to you guys in the chat. Sorry, I've been on a rant today. I don't apologize.

Been on a rant. And Matt Mateus wants Santa Minch. And we're going to get them. It's coming. It's coming. Yeah, this is the warm up. This is like the first elf coming out on December 1st, you know? Get this ready, Dan.

Now, after watching that performance, and I'm not saying Michigan's, but Michigan was ranked 15. Michigan's a good team. And Michigan's been. beaten the hell out of Ohio State the last four years. After watching that, Ohio State today, are you taking Ohio State or the field? Oh, I'm taking Ohio State.

Hey, Tucker, let's find out Fandual. Maybe we'll get back to it tonight if I bother mention his 30th reunion. I'm hoping it happens, man. Oh, you know I will. I can't help myself. And everyone on the chat, like we just keep an eye on on on social media. If things get twisted, we've got Vanderbilt in Tennessee or Tide, 7-7. LSU's not doing its part early on, just 10 offensive yards, but they're trailing 3-0.

More importantly, Auburn, Alabama tonight. If things get chaotic tonight, we might have to come back, recap really quickly, and more importantly, kind of go through the TMS top 12. But Ohio State or the field, and Tucker, I was saying, fan duel, what are the fan dual odds now to win the national championship? compared to, I guess, I'm sure they've gone up or gone down, however you want to look at it. So let's see. I'm going to pull up my app, FD Sportsbook, by the way. If you love our show, then you got to be a fan dual guy or girl, Cole Marie. Here we go, national championship odds, plus 170. Okay.

Indiana is number two at plus 490. Why don't I? Why? I love Signetti. I love that team. I think they're capable of making a little run. Why do it? I just couldn't put my money behind Indiana at plus 490.

But then it's interesting. Georgia 800, Notre Dame 1,000, A&M 1,000, Oregon, 12. Like, those are long odds compared to plus one. They are a massive favorite. So Fanduil has spoken. And I kind of tend to agree, 76% on the early voting for Ohio State. versus the field. Anything else in this game you want to get too much?

I think we're good here, man. I mean, again, I'm very impressed with top to bottom, the organization of Ohio State and how they handled it to go on the road. And I thought Ryan Day did exactly what you did do to kind of get exercise those demons. I'm glad you mentioned the heartline too. Yeah. I mean, I just thought, like, look. And that was, remember that?

That was the whole discussion last year. They just kept trying to run the ball with those two talented backs against a talented Michigan offense. and they never really opened it up. And I thought that Hartline had a great balanced game plan for them today. How about being a first year starting quarterback on the road? Game turns to snow, but that's not even the factor. Throwing an interception early on, that crowd,

the third largest stadium in college football, that crowd, that history, even though it's none of your history, but you sense it in the building, you sense it from the staff, You know that no player, do you know no player on that roster today, Steve? Had been... I know. I couldn't believe that. Zero players of win.

Yeah. Wow. And to be like, yep, I got this, no problem. 19 for 26, 233 yards, three touchdowns, and that one early pick that he bounced back from. And he did it, he, you know, it was, it was, it was, Tate had the one long catch, but he had five for 82. Jackson getting involved in the run game, as I mentioned, as the spotlight player of the day, four for 49.

Jeremiah Smith had the one touchdown catch, two other catches finished three for 40 with a touchdown. Casmaric, the tight end. Claire, the tight end. They combined for five catches for 50 yards. Brandon Innes, two for 12 with a touchdown. So he distributed it. They don't have a ton of guys,

but the guys they have are just better than yours. yeah Julian saying looks like he's all of 12 yeah your name said not that this game matters your name 7608 I get the four box going and even though the show's a lot of people are going to listen and watch this show after

and we appreciate everyone watching on YouTube would you please give it a like and a subscribe appreciate everyone on watching and following follow uh everyone watching listening on Spotify and everyone who's listening on on Apple and anywhere else you get your podcasts.

But, and I recognize that this is, most people are going to wind up absorbing this content after these games, but it is an absolute blizzard. It looks like in Minnesota right now. I'm seeing that now. That looks awesome. I got the four bucks going, a beautiful day in Norman, Oklahoma.

You got Tennessee, you know, you get the Tennessee teams going, Vandy at Tennessee in Knoxville. It looks like a nice day there, probably a little chilly. You're out in Washington for, Oregon, Washington, three nothing game in that. And then you go down to the bottom left at my four bucks and it's just a blizzard.

I just, I love games this weekend. All right. Let's get to let's get to quickly. I just want to quickly mention. And we'll get to the TMS top 12 and we'll see if we have to revisit that. While I'm doing this, Munch, is BYU UCF over? Give me a quick update on that. They must be over.

Let me find it. Yeah, they probably finished, I think they started. 41, 21. So they pulled away. They were starting to pull away last summer. After UCF jumped them in the first quarter, 14-0. Yeah, and it was 14-14, then it was 17-14th a half. Get BYU out of there.

And they'll do what you saw Texas Tech with that massive win against West Virginia. Handling business. It was a 59 to nothing or something crazy. 49-0, yeah. 49-0. I do want to mention, we could be in a predicament depending on how the rest of these games fall,

this Miami situation is worth noting because Miami came out in the efficiency of that offense and most importantly the efficiency of Carson Beck in that game against a pit team that is not good enough to compete with Notre Dame but is good enough to

has been good enough with a young quarterback since taking over the reins to kind of run through the ACC. Two Pitt? Yes. Yeah. They lost in Notre Dame 3715, but they beat Georgia Tech handily by 14 points, Steve.

Georgia Tech just kept it to seven points against Georgia. They whacked Syracuse. They beat Florida State. They whacked Boston College. Bad teams, man. Bad teams. No, I know that. I'm just saying they were four, five, five and oh, six and oh.

since the freshman quarterback came in, they'd won six straight ACC games, is my only point. Miami today at Pittsburgh this time a year, 38 to 7. Okay? And I was watching Michigan, Ohio State. I'm not going to pretend that I wasn't paying 90-10. But every time I looked up,

every time I looked up, Beck looked in control. And we've seen that defense give some others some fits. and the run game was not great for Miami and has not been great this season, although I do want to say this. Mark Fletcher, since Damien Martinez left, it's been a different feel this year. And Fletcher's had some nice games,

and they had the other backup, was it Brown? No, well, Brown. I think it was Brown early in the season. That was the two-headed, if I'm right. But recently, this Gerard Pringle, has come on. He's a freshman, right?

Yep. He's a freshman out of Tampa, Florida, and he's got a lot of talent, but I don't know that they trusted him, but they've recognized that they've got an issue. They've got an issue with the running back game. And so the running back position. And he has been pretty darn good recently.

He finished with, yeah, 10 for 82 today. Okay? Mark Fletcher had 10 for 30. You see the difference? Yeah. So keep an eye on this Gerard Pringle guy if we start, if they wind up in the college football playoff because he could be, I'm not saying he's the Bo Jackson for Ohio State,

but he could be a boost to this this run game that Miami desperately needs. More importantly, Malachi Tony, this is a set after kind of going witness protection, being nicked up, not being himself for the middle of the season for a few weeks. Tony, this is the second straight week that he's been awesome. He had 13 for 126 in a touchdown today. Most dynamic freshman in all of college football in one. Did he throw one too? I think he threw a touch.

Yeah, he threw a touch. Yeah, he did. He was one for two passing. Fletcher was 0 for one passing. But Beck was 23 of 29. Completed 80% of his throws. 267 yards, three touchdowns, and one pick. Yeah, the pick was fluky.

It looked like he tried to pull it back and kind of came out of his hand. One, he'd probably like back, but not one I'm overly concerned about, to be honest. But Beck looked really good. Yeah. He did. Early in this season. And then Beck went through what you, you and your crystal ball, you said, my data trends analysis. He goes through these interception ruts.

Be careful. And you called it. All of a sudden it was two picks, three picks, four, whatever it was. But then he settled back down. And I want to give this coaching staff credit. I want to give Beck credit. I want to give Malachi Tony credit. The whole program, they, they told.

took on a lot of water in the middle of the year. And they were kind of an embarrassment and a joke and like all the talent in the world. And they look like the NFL, but they can't ever win. And November and December is where it all falls apart for Cristobal. Well, maybe this team's different. Yeah. The problem I have, Steve, before we transitioned to last night's game

against Texas, Texas A&M, if Miami doesn't get in the ACC, if they get in the ACC championship game, I'm convinced they're winning it. and there's one ACC team in. If they don't, they're sitting on the doorstep. They were 12 last week. Now you've got a convincing win.

What happens if you get an Oklahoma loss against LSU? What happens if you get a BYU is going to lose next week, right? We all believe. What happens of Alabama lose? So now it could be an ACC team from the championship game versus Miami isn't at large. I mean, plus Miami as an at large, if they don't get in the ACC.

So now you get two ACC teams. Same thing as last year, right? You ended up with SMU and Clemson. Now you're going to end up with Miami and, you know, Virginia, SMU. Potentially could rob an SEC team that we believe should be in, but we'll see when it all plays up. Anything else on that?

Are you good? Oh, I thought Rubin Bain, from what I saw, I had a good game, but I didn't see a ton of it. It is a masterclass in how to make a push for a playoff spot at the end. They went on the road late in the year, destroyed a ranked team that I think is flawed. I think Pittsburgh's flawed, but I obviously like some of the things. I mean, I've talked about what I like about Pittsburgh, too.

I mean, that's a good run defense. They got that quarterback, Henssel has an exciting future. there. There's some things I like about that pit team, but it is deeply flawed. But regardless of that, they went on the road, they beat a rank team by a lot. And the energy that I thought Christabel and the staff and the team had throughout that game, Beck was jumping around looking like he's having fun. It was a masterclass of this team is peaking at the right time and trying to market itself for a late nod.

And look, it's going to be interesting how it all shakes out because we'll probably talk about this a little bit later. we're going to get into conversations about that head-to-head win over Notre Dame and Texas losing into Georgia the way it did and some of these other things that I think are to come up that will ultimately decide whether or not Miami could get in if they don't get in the ACC championship. It's going to be an interesting, interesting to see how it unfolds. I do think if I'm a committee member, I am really hoping that there are some outcomes that make my life a little bit easier in the next few hours here. How about it is interesting. if it were to somehow come down to it, and it doesn't look like it will, but it potentially, could Notre Dame with a very similar resume wind up getting in and Miami having beaten them

head to head and with a very similar result? Someone just mentioned that on here. I want to give credit. Yeah, no, that's the conversations that you're going to have to have. I think, yeah. Hog wild fishing. I like hog wild fishing, man. but yeah multiple people are bringing this up

Miami Notre Dame and now it's like we we've multiple data points now with Notre Dame were two losses Miami were two losses both nine win you know and so both going to have 10 wins if Notre Dame beat Stanford tonight as we all presume head to head and now we have another one where it's like okay late in the season Notre Dame beat them 30 what did I just say 35 15 Yep. And Miami made sure to, well, yeah, you beat them big, but we beat them bigger.

Both at pit. I don't know. It's fascinating. So why is Notre Dame sitting there at nine and Miami sitting there at 12? Because Notre Dame lost to A&M and to a really good Miami team. Miami lost to SMU and Louisville. And that's, I mean, that's that to me. And you could say it doesn't matter when you lose.

No, I understand. I think it does matter when you lose when you have a, like you have to look. It's not an easy thing. thing to do right here, right? CJ Carr is a freshman first year starter. Notre Dame is a better team than they were at the beginning of the year. I'm not sure that Miami is turned into a better team. I think they've been an inconsistent team who is talented enough to compete in the

playoff and make a run. And I think Sabin said this morning that they would be one of the most dangerous teams that they got in. And I wouldn't argue with that. But the reality is that I think where you look at where Notre Dame is now and where Miami is now, I give Notre Dame the nod. And I know that Miami beat him earlier in the year. but that was the first game of the year, and it was close.

And we just put in the poll in the chat. Does Miami deserve a college football playoff birth without winning the ACC? And it's 42% yes, 56, or 44 now, yes, 56%. But then so does no, yeah, does Notre Dame get in for those 56%. But I hear what you're saying. And when, just like if your quarterback gets, injured at the end of the season or if your coach isn't going to be there and that could affect you it has to matter who's playing well when and Miami has played really well the last few weeks

but didn't in the middle of the season where Notre Dame struggles came early Alabama's loss came in week one you know until the most recent you're so like that part is is is interesting you know yeah and but Alabama was flying up because it was week one. It was Florida State. It was a terrible loss. But it was week one. They like, new starting quarterback, different team. Yeah. The same, that same thinking applies.

All right, let's bring it back because we'll get to the TMS top 12 and we might have to revisit it tonight because there's a lot going on. But I want to get to what an awesome game last night. Texas, Texas A&M, number three team in the country and undefeated goes to 16 Texas. in a rivalry that how in the bleepin world did we ever let them not play on a Friday after Thanksgiving, you know? And it's so good that it's back. Go ahead. You start this.

Texas A&M. Texas. What are your thoughts? The two things that really jumped out to me outside of Arch, which we'll get into a second, are the way that Texas ran the ball in this game, Quinn Weissner had 19. for 155. If they can run the ball like that, they're in good shape.

And the other thing is that when Michael Taff is in the lineup for Texas, their past defense is different. Throughout all the numbers, the people have been able to throw the ball against them this year. When Michael Taft is in that lineup,

it's different. He is the quarterback of that defense. You saw it. Those were two picks that reminded me, the two fourth quarter picks of Marcel Reed were, you know, vintage Texas from last year, which made that team so good.

Zone looks, tracking the ball, attacking the ball, feasting on a quarterback, making a bad decision and a poor, and I think poor throws, it wasn't a lot of loss to be on those throws, and taking advantage. So those are the two things that really jumped out to me.

That Texas defense is for real with Michael Taff in there. I think he makes a tremendous difference, and they run the ball like that, and they are going to be tough to beat. It was a very different team, second half, first half for Texas. Yeah, and that's a good thing.

That's great coaching. That's players that are capable of adjusting. That's maybe getting some of the nerves out, whatever it is. Let me give you what I got. Arch's legs kept him alive in this game early on. I thought as the pressure was ramped up, as the pressure was ramped up, and I do want to give a lot of credit, Trevor Goosby, and I haven't watched every bit of tape on it,

but some of the plays that I've seen pushing around Cassius Howell, howl, 11-5 sacks the season didn't really sniff Arch last night. but as the pressure was ramped up in terms of blitzers, five, six-man rushes coming after him. And the offensive line inconsistent, I would say, not very good at times. Yeah, that's fair. It started to get to him.

And here are the two things that I saw from Arch last night that I didn't like. One, I think there's still, as a first year quarterback, there are times when I look at him and I'm like, yo, deer in headlights, we got to, you know, the pressure's coming fast, we got to adjust, adjust quicker. There's this like quarter count that happens sometimes with him where it's like, you there, yo, you there, you know? And that only comes with game experience and recognizing it and knowing the clock's got to

speed up in those six, with five or six are coming or you get an overload of five on four as we saw in that one sack um you got to know it and you've got to you're you've got to react differently than if you've got a four man rush and five in to protect it's just a different it's a different animal that you're going up against and i thought there were several times i saw it and i kept saying it's like almost like a deer in headlights like that pause and then like move from there okay yeah the other part that's that is interesting because I didn't notice it last year. And at times it's really good.

But for some reason, throwing on the run has become challenging for him. He skipped that one ball. Like, what are you doing in the back of the end? So he almost overthrew Wingo. Wingo. That was close, man. I mean, that was a highlight for the game. But, I mean, he almost, that was a wide open Wingo, man.

That didn't need to be that interesting. And so that's some, those are the two things where I think he has to continue. you to improve, okay? But I put this on X last night and on threads and like I felt like this was a culmination type game for Arch and what he's been doing.

Because in the last six games, they had the loss to Georgia that wasn't nearly as ugly as it looked the final score. They had won five other games all against SEC opponents. He threw two interceptions. One went right through his

receiver's hands. The other one was on him. He has not fumbled the ball the entire season. He had thrown 14 touchdowns to the two interceptions, only one of which were his fault, and they beat five SEC teams. And you can say, well, they weren't the best, but he beat a couple of top 10 ranked teams.

Now, I think they have three, at the time, they've beaten three teams that were ranked in the top 10. Okay? Right. And we can get to resume in a little bit, but what I want to say is, and while you look at it, he's like, he didn't even complete 50% last night.

No, he didn't. But when he completed those throws and after bouncing back from a first half and the run, like the 35-yard touchdown run, a couple of other runs, I thought he just stepped up and finally, like, he finally took over, he's been taking over games and playing really well, despite the supporting cast being up and down.

I felt like he took over that game to a certain degree with a great defense and a run game in the same. second half. That's the other part. To me, it was kind of three things. The defense was dominant and opportunistic for Texas. Second game, there was no run. Second thing, there was no run game in this game for Texas. Yeah. And it was scary. And you can see the pressure mounting. And I was like, oh, no. Because I called it before the game. If both teams, the other 21 starters play equally, I said, essentially, I give a big edge to arch in this game. at quarterback.

You had Arch over Reed is what you were saying. You give the edge to Texas and quarterback over Texas A&M. And so if all 21 started, the other 21 starters outside of quarterback played equally in this game,

I'm giving the big edge to Texas because of quarterback because of Arch over Marcel Reed. And you know me on Reed. I've been in an open book. I love the dude. I love the athlete. I love the clutch plays in the moments.

And I think there's just like a special magic in him. that's different from a lot of other cats that you watch. His quickness, that first step, I told you, he might have one of the fastest, like first three steps of any quarterback I've watched. Like Vic stuff. Now, he's probably a four or five guy. He's not a four or three guy like Vic or like Lamar, you know? Mm-hmm.

But I've said if A&M gets got, it's going to be because Marcel Reed is just not where he needs to be as a pocket passer. And it happened. On the first half against South Carolina, it almost happened. And a large part of that was on Marcel Reed in the first half of that game. In this game, it was the second half against Texas,

the two interceptions, and just not being able to make throws because the footwork, the mechanics, he's just gotten away with a lot of slot because he's such a great athlete, and they're going to have to live or die in the college football playoff with it. And he's back next year,

and hopefully he'll continue to work on those sorts of things. but it was like everything that we talked about for months from the preseason to the evolving Casey Concepcion and Mario Craver. Both were awesome, mostly in the second and third quarters of this game, but they were awesome, the run after catch, the big punt returned from Concepcion, making big plays, all those things. But if they're going to fall apart, it's going to be the quarterback,

it's going to be turnovers, it's going to be those mistakes, and it might be some tackling problems on the other side. And then the second half we saw, as I mentioned, defense was vicious and opportunistic. The run game was non-existent in the first half. And then all of a sudden, Wisner had that 48-yard run, first offensive play of the second half. It's like the whole game changed. It turned. That 48-yard run, almost you could feel like a sigh of relief on the Texas sideline and in Arch's helmet specifically.

Like if we can get some run game, we can balance this thing out. And then they start going and the run games keeps clicking. Quintavius Wisner finishes with 19 for 155. I wonder what the Fandul bet would have been on that. If you could bet the rush yards after that first half that he'd finished with over 150 rush yards. My goodness. Arch had seven for 53, including that 35-yard touchdown rush.

U.T. rush for 23, Munch. for 220 yards. That's almost 10 a pop and two touchdowns on the game. And that was the difference. It was those two things. And then keeping how silent was another kind of side factor.

But those two things were the difference. It was that defense, finally playing defense with Taff as you talked about, and that run game finally getting going. And the flip side, I've never felt better about an evaluation, and your evaluation of Reed as a player is dead on, I agree with you.

I've never felt about the evaluation of a team as I do about Texas A&M. We knew that game could happen. We were waiting for that game to happen. And by the way, they still... They're still... South Carolina. Yeah, and they still were competitive in this game, by the way. This is Texas A&M.

I don't think they're good enough to win four in a row. Against that quality of competition. No, and I don't think they'll get to buy now. But the weird part is they're also capable of beating any team. in the dance, including it. If they put it together, like if things go wild and all of a sudden you can't, you can't corral, read, and the pass rush gets going, they get a little bit of belief. Like, they could beat Ohio State.

I would be curious what the neutral site line with A&M. We asked for a few of different ones, but I don't think it was, yeah, it was A&M. I think my guess is it would be a lesser spread, Ohio State favored over A&M, than most other teams. Not all, but most other teams, even after that loss. You know, it's interesting to me. Maybe we'll get into this game in a second here,

but Georgia is a team that I could see winning four in a row, and I can see doing that. But I don't, it's almost that they're not as dangerous. And the other thing is, I respect Georgia so much. I am popping the popcorn and getting ready for any Texas A&M game at this point. It is must watch TV because it's just so,

It's so volatile. It's so exciting. They're so explosive. And their defense is kind of the same as it is on offense. Like that defense can be great at times. And then at other times, they just like a shell of what they are at their best. So, man, I love watching that team. It's going to be interesting to see what kind of noise they can make in the playoff.

But it's like we've said for probably the last month, maybe the last two months. Really good. It could beat anyone in the country. I don't know if they can win three or four in a row. Yeah. So that's where we are. And next up, we've got to finish these 3.30 games. Oregon's up 10-0 on Washington currently.

21-14 is Tennessee over Vandy. 3-3. There's someone on the chat. I forget who it was. I want to give them credit for their allergic to offense, both Oklahoma and LSU. And this is the thing with Oklahoma that's frustrated. Ooh, always trade back, man. Texas A&M is NASCAR.

You're watching for the crash. That's interesting. That's interesting. ATB, we have a lot of respect that you're still popping in on the chat. We know what games he had? He said he's scouting big citrus, Dominique Orange, the defensive tackle for Iowa State. Yeah, Iowa State, Oklahoma State. Getting ready for the senior bowl.

We'll see you down there, Mobile ATB. All right, let's finish it up, as we always do. And again, we may have to cut this portion out or we'll just let it live and we'll do an add-on tonight. and I would love to talk to mention a bathroom tonight if I could. I hope it happens. I'm like rooting for it. You better have your phone on. I'm bringing the portable charger, whatever the kids call it,

so I can make sure that I don't lose battery. And you know me. I'm all for the fun. Like, I don't care for your nine drinks in. You're a big man. You can hold your water. It doesn't matter. Here we go.

It's, it's, it's, it's, uh, TMS after dark. All right, speaking to TMS, the TMS top 12. So Ohio State's sitting in number one. I don't know if we have the graphic from last week's TMS top 12, which is not from the college football playoff. But here it is. Keep this up, Tucker.

It makes it easier. Ohio State obviously just cemented that number one spot heading into the championship games. Indiana, the win in Purdue. It doesn't do anything. A&M out at three, okay? Georgia beats Georgia Tech. It didn't matter to me if it was by a half a point.

That's a tough game. It's hard to get up for if you're Georgia with the schedule they've had. The SEC championship may be looming at that point. They get the win over Georgia Tech. Texas Tech routes West Virginia, Ole Miss. Second half pulls away from Mississippi State. I mean, to me, it's Ohio State one, Indiana, two, Georgia three, Texas Tech four, or Ole Miss five. Any disagreement?

I still have Oregon ahead of Ole Miss, but we're flip-flopping too. And I honestly, I don't disagree with you. And I said that to you the other day. Yeah, I thought we did that, but... No, no, no, you, and then I watched the tape on Oregon. Remember, I went back and watched the tape on Oregon. And I said, I actually wouldn't have a problem anymore because I do think they're more advanced on offense.

No, not more advanced. I do think, but then again, they don't have the wide receivers. I don't know. It will be Oregon ahead of them if Kiffin's not there, I promise. And Dan, if you see anything on Kiffin before we jump off, let me know. Oregon's defense is significantly better than Ole Miss's defense. Let's do it. Let's go Oregon 6, Ole Miss 7.

No, sorry. Okay. So let me re-wrack this. gets confused. He texts me after every show. It was like, yo, you had like 14 teams in the top 12, and I don't even know what the order was. We reserve that right, Dan. We reserve the right to have 14 and 12.

I'm going to mark it down. Ohio State 1 and chime in here if you're on the chat. Chime in if you're screaming. Yeah, live show at the Senior Bowl, yo, M.R. Brian. You're right. Get with ATB. Get with Godin. Get with the crew.

They'll tell you what's going on. We're going to, they're going to start orchestrating and we're going to give, we're going to give some facilities for the operation, if you will. Ohio State 1, Indiana 2. A&M drops. We've got to figure out how far A&M drops. Georgia 3, Texas Tech 4, Oregon 5, Ole Miss 6, right? Yeah.

Then I'm going to A&M 7. Okay? Yeah, I like that. Yep. excuse me um marissa's laying into them downstairs i can't wait to see what i'm walking into after the show maybe we'll stay on another half hour maybe we'll just stay on until it calms down up there

can we go mobile do we have a go pro that you can just walk in there we can get it i don't think you want to it's that italian blood man when it gets boiling up all right so so a and m is seven now we got eight is oklahoma they're playing in a tough game. Yeah, I'm with you. Oklahoma. Oklahoma beats LSU. They leapfrog Notre Dame. But the way they're playing so far, I'm not ready to get them to leapfrog anyone.

But I think we agree on this. Oklahoma and Notre Dame are the next two. And if Alabama wins at Auburn against that defense tonight, I'm putting them at eight. Okay. But I can't right now. So let's leave it alone. Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Alabama.

TBD. Is your nest bucket. Yep. That's a bucket. I'm going to put a bracket around it because that's seven. So eight through ten is those three TBD, the results. Oregon's taking care of business. Three, three, Oklahoma, LSU.

I knew that was going to be tight. And then Alabama. But I'll bump Alabama up if they look good tonight against that Auburn defense. Then the world has been. BYU and Miami 1112. We put Texas in last week and we didn't look so stupid, did we mention? No, we did not.

So I'm going, I'm going Miami 11. I was impressed with that win. And Texas 12. No. Yeah. You want Texas 11? Yeah. But how are you having Notre Dame at 8 and Miami at 11?

11 in tech yeah they just beat the number three team in the country they have three losses the only one that's bad is four yeah you're right let's all right i'm with you munch i'm going to ride with you 11 is texas miami is 12 i like it where this is the top 12 by the way this is not in who's in who's out we'll do that at some point this is the tms top 12 and the tricky part is with texas at 11 and Miami at 12. If Miami gets in it, they wouldn't in our situation, but if Miami gets in isn't that large, okay? And the ACC, ACC has a different representative from the ACC championship game that Miami wasn't able to play in. If that's how it shakes out today, then there is no Texas. Can I also tell you something else that I want to amend?

What? I got Oregon ahead of Texas Tech and I don't even know what we're doing anymore. I mean, I don't know why we wouldn't have Oregon ahead of Texas Tech. I love the Texas Tech story. That's cool. They lost the Arizona State. They lost to Arizona State. You know who Oregon lost to? The number two team in the country. That's their only loss.

I don't know how we're doing this. I get it. I understand. And by the way, I feel like the receiver thing is a little overblown, but like you're not alone there. There are a lot of people concerned about that Oregon receiving room

about the injuries there and what that's going to look like going forward. But I don't know how you don't have Oregon ahead of Texas Tech. It's a great story, and that's a good Texas Tech. team. I mean, Oregon lost to Indiana. Texas

Tech lost to Arizona State. I'm not changing it right now, but I am going to put a little box around T-TU, Oregon, and I'm going to initial it, SM. Question mark with the double arrow. Okay, that's noted. Fly, Ducks, fly. Let's go. I'm not,

I'm still in on the Ducks. It's noted. If you can see it in there, there we go, see it? There you go. Yeah, yeah. It's in focus now. Double arrow, SM. All right. This has been fun. It's been good. I hope I see you in a bathroom store tonight.

It'll probably be outside of a bar, but yeah, it's something along those lines. The lighting's going to be terrible. I cannot. I'll try to get away from people that may want to get involved in the broadcast, but like we'll see what happens. Pro draft scouting. I'm not Italian,

but my lady is. And I used to mess with my mom and say, I think something happened between you and the Italian milkman because I love Italian people. I love Italian culture. I adore Italian food. I love their passion. And so I'm an Irishman.

And we, for some of our strengths, just horrible taste and food. But I have a great deal of respect for the Paizans, the Italianos. I hear you, J.P. McKenzie. I know the Texas Tech lost Arizona State with my guy Hammond. I get that. There's no way they should lose that Arizona State team. Yeah, blame it on Mench.

Blame it on Mench. Also, can I say something? I wanted to say something really quick, kind of serious. The first time in the history of us doing this, we had an asshole on the chat today and saying some shitty things. And the way that the rest of the people who are on this chat all the time responded

was freaking awesome. I love the way they responded and weren't having it. And it was one of the prouder moments I've had in terms of our community and our group. It was good to see. I love it, Mench. I didn't see it. Yeah, it was not good.

Sounds like it probably, it's better off that I didn't. Ignorance is bliss. And I mean, if I wasn't going to give it to you before, I'm definitely giving you five stars now, Munch. And hopefully I see you tonight. 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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