The McShay Show - Who Are the True CFP Contenders? Plus, the Latest Scouting Intel and Five NFL Draft Prospects on the Rise.

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

Welcome to The McShay Show! Todd and Steve are back after Week 3 of the college football season to sort through the AP rankings and identify which teams they think can win a championship. Then, they share five NFL draft prospects who have improved their stock in the eyes of scouts. 0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show! 2:35 AP Poll Top 15 Takeaways 5:10 Evaluating the CFP Contenders15:50 The Pressure on LSU 31:00 Who Are the True CFP Contenders? 47:58 Week 3: Prospect Risers50:03 Riser: Jaren Kanak (Oklahoma TE)53:05 Riser: Arvell Reese (Ohio State LB)55:28 Riser: Vincent Anthony Jr. (Duke EDGE)57:33 Riser: Chris Brazzell II (Tennessee WR) The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit ⁠www.rg-help.com⁠ to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Jon Roemer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Please visit RG-hap.com to learn more about the resources and help lines available. And listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Must be 21 and older in present in select states or 18 and older in present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Helpshelp.com. Call 1-88-78-88-88-8-9-77-7-7 or visit cpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. Well, week three in college football lived up to the hype, huh? Today we dive a little bit deeper with our tape breakdown Monday. What's the college football playoff bubble looking like right now?

Which teams legit look like national championship contenders? Plus, we got a little bit of a risers session going on today with the NFL draft landscape. Just 220 days till the NFL draft. Ments, you good? I'm good. All right, Tucker, roll that thing. How was your Sunday, Mitch? It was good, a lot of family time, and then I'm getting some tape in.

It was a busy day. The turnaround's tough, but it's fun. Yeah, there was a lot to get to, right? Like, so many big games, you look at the Georgia, Tennessee, and I wanted to dive a little bit deeper in both of those offenses and kind of what's going wrong what's going wrong with the defenses you've got vanderbilt coming out of nowhere you've got I mean it was like top to bottom A&M upsetting Notre Dame on the road how legit is A&M Clemson with its problems how good is Georgia Tech so I kind of want to just start today

clear the slate you and I haven't talked at all you're with the family I was with family watching tape kind of just going through notes, right? I wanted to just look at the AP poll. Don't put a lot of credence into it, but I wanted to make it as our kind of jumping off point, if you will. Where are teams ranked right now, but then really dive into what we're seeing on tape. I want to talk to you about the college football teams,

like legitimately that we think have a national championship chance. I want to talk about that college football playoff bubble, if you will, like the top 12 teams and work our way down. I was looking at this A. P.P. Poll, right? Ohio State, Penn State, LSU remain one, two, three, for whatever it's worth. Then Miami's up to four from five. Georgia's up to five from six. Oregon, kind of a, I don't want to say lackluster, but not as impressive as you might. If you saw Big Cat on the Big Noon kick, and we talked to Big Cat at our live show, he's, he had a big rant about 11 a.m. local time, Northwestern. and it can't know. It's one of the most challenging places in the country to play.

I think it's a little bit overblown. I think as a Wisconsin fan that got skewed in his mind. But it is, it's difficult to play with the same energy level, especially when you're traveling in from Oregon, right? After that, Florida State is now bumped up from 10 to 7. Texas only drops one spot. I want to get into Texas there sitting at number eight. Where are we on Texas?

Illinois at 9 remains that same spot. but Texas A&M all the way up from 16 to 10, Oklahoma from 13 to 11, Iowa State, not buying the stock yet at 12. No. Ole Miss, if you look at the strength of record on Ole Miss, they're six in the country. But it hasn't been body beautiful, as we like to say, scouts. Quarterback questions, offense firing, though. so there's some intriguing stuff to get to there. And then after that, Alabama, surging after that opening loss,

offense looking great, even without an established, consistent run game. And Tennessee remains at 15. I don't have a problem with it. I told you late Saturday night, early Sunday morning, like, I'm fine if they moved up. Right. I was that impressed with the Tennessee offense. So a lot to get to there, right?

Just looking at the top of this thing. Ohio State, Penn State, LSU, Miami, Georgia, Oregon, top six. Is that the, are those the legit contenders? Yes, I think that's fair to say. I haven't seen enough of Florida State yet. I don't think you can say the Texas is right now. I don't believe enough in Illinois. Texas A&M and Oklahoma, though, are two that are not in there that I think are,

I feel like it could tend. So I would add those too maybe. But I think that's those are the, those are the odds on favorites, right? I think that's fair to say. I will get into the ranking. I'm holding back on some things right now. Just to answer that question, yes, I think those are the top contenders, maybe at Oklahoma and maybe add Texas A&M.

It's tough because Ohio State lost so much. Right. And then we watched them play against Texas. and we're like, oh, it's just Ohio State. Right? And then you watch it was 70 to nothing the following week against, you know, not a, not a legitimate competition. Right.

And then this past week, they're struggling with Ohio. And then you're watching Texas on the other end that, that huge win in week one. And you're like, but I know Texas is super talented, but how good is Texas as a football team right now with Arch and the struggles and the offense and all the issues? So you look at Ohio State and you're like, we think that they belong at the top,

but I'm not certain that they're the best team in the country yet. Penn State hasn't played anyone, but they've looked amazing. Had they looked amazing? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, go. Let me just throw this at you right now. What is the biggest concern that you had about with Penn State coming into the year? For me, it's Drew Aller in that, other than James Franklin, okay,

and whether or not they can win the big game, it was Drew Allenor in that passing game. The last two weeks, he's played against FIU and Villanova. He completed 57.6% of his passes against FIU, and he completed 55.2% of his passes against Villanova. He threw a terrible pick against Villanova, terrible pick against Villanova. I think that Penn State is wildly overrated at this point. I think they are, I have them at six.

I think it's way too high to have Penn State as high as the AP Bowl has them. I don't know what they're seeing. I don't know what they're so excited about and what they've seen other than that, meaning the run game. The defense is playing lights out. I think they're giving up fewer than six points per game right now. But again, Nevada, FIU, and Villanova. so great.

The defense looks great. That's good. They've played no one and their passing game has not looked good. So for me, man, Penn State, too high.

Okay. I mean, I'm not, I'm not anti. I mean, their strength of record is like 47, 40th, I should say. It is interesting, right? Like, at this point,

and again, like, I don't want to do an AP ranking, you know, uh, college football. power index or top 25 polls show, right? But I do think it's interesting at this point,

a quarter way through. Some teams have played. Some teams have not. Right. I'm talking about competition. And so you still are stuck as a voter or as someone who's analyzing college football as a whole. You're still stuck in this.

How much do I, how much credence do I put into what? teams have done versus competition. And you have this tug of war with the other side of it is how much you just rely on your eyes and evaluating players and talent, right? Because when you look at the strength of record, which I think is the most important, it's like kind of one of the only indexes or analytics numbers that are important. And strength of record is who you've played, how you've won those games, what the competition, what they've done against other opponents,

it factors all those things in. Strength of schedule at this point means nothing to me, because just because you're backloaded, like Oklahoma is backloaded with a ton of big-time games in Florida, and you can think about LSU and a lot of the teams and backloaded when their schedule. But it doesn't mean that you've beaten them yet. That's why strength of record is important to be.

But you got Oregon at 20 with strength of record. You get Penn State at 40. You get Texas at 47, right? Yeah. But you know those teams aren't 20, 40, and 47. But then you look at some of the other teams, like the strength of record for Texas A&M is one in the nation. Georgia, two, Florida State three, LSU four, Ohio State five, Ole Miss six, Miami seven, Oklahoma, eight. So those teams not only have the talent and pass the eye test, they've also, to this point, point and part of it's not it's just circumstance but they've also handled a stronger record than the other teams in the country so it feels a little bit more tangible right right i agree with that

throw these rankings out i guess my point i was trying to make before is ohio state we know they're really good but are they like clear-cut number one team the country penn state sitting in two you just told me and coming into the year we had the questions about aller We did a whole tape breakdown. If you want to go back and watch it, nothing has changed for me yet. But I also haven't. Just the passing attack overall.

Like, was this going to be a better passing attack? I don't want to put it all an hour. But the passing game hasn't like blown us away with what we've seen so far. And you would think that at this point we would be encouraged. And I'm not. I haven't seen enough to be to think to myself when this, when they get into the big games,

they've got a passing game that they can rely on. The running backs are awesome. Defense is awesome. but I still, again, that passing attack was a problem last year, and it feels like it's going to be a problem this year. I think we knew coming into the season with Penn State. These are nice preseason games, and we weren't going to find out until September 27th.

And now it's already scheduled. NBC drafted that game, 730 Eastern Time, primetime game on NBC, just like we watched with Todd Blackwoods, right? with Notre Dame, Texas A&M, it'll go up against whatever ABCs with Herb Street and Fowler, whatever that game is, the primetime game that week.

But that game on the 27th is when like rubber meets the road. You know? Yeah. That's when we find out. They've got a buy week now. They've had Nevada, FIU, Villanova, buy, all in preparation for Oregon.

And so if you're a Penn State backer and your glass half full, it's like, you know, not rolling out anything offensively. We're not showing Oregon anything. Very basic, right? Vanilla, all that stuff. If you're a skeptic, which you and I came into the season, I'm not a skeptic of the talent and what Penn State has, how they've recruited their ability to legitimately be there at the end. I am a skeptic is Aller as good as advertised. And in a big game, which he has proven to be, like, that's his kryptonite.

These big games, can he perform as a passer, throwing to receivers, running away from him, anticipation, spotting balls, doing those sorts of things as a guy who, yeah, can pick up a first down here and there. But his lack of mobility shows up time after time on tape in terms of against pass rushers with speed. We saw it all summer when we watched his tape. So that Oregon game is going to tell us a lot really about both programs, but certainly about Penn State. Because Oregon's look good. Yeah, by the way, Oregon dropping two this week after winning by 20 against Northwestern on the road in front of 12,000 people and not giving up any points until the fourth quarter when they gave up 14 late ones. Give me a break with dropping them to.

Like, I don't understand why they're getting punished for whatever. They still look really good to me. I am as high on Oregon as I've ever been. And it's that that one to me was interesting. Yeah, I mean, it was there was 31 nothing going into the fourth quarter. Yeah. I think it's important to give. And the toughest place to play in America, according to our good friend, Big Cat.

I mean, that's, you know, let's give it some. For all the wrong reasons. All right. But I want to, I want to shift it now because those are the top three. And then LSU, my question was like, offensively, they clearly, even in the game where I talked about how amazing Nuss Meyer was. They still only scored, what, 17, was it?

Yeah. Or 14 to 10, 70, whatever the final was. Don't tell Brian Kelly that, though. He doesn't like to answer questions about that. No, I understand. And I get Brian Kelly's point. And I know one of his points is, like,

it's all about getting to the end of the game and whatever, like figuring out the dynamic of the game. Right. And in this last game against Florida, it was a defensive struggle. Florida's defense is really good, but LSU's defense is one of the best groups in the country. And I want to get to that in a second. So if our defense is going to turn over Lagway five times and cause all sorts of problems, let's play conservatively, manage the game, not make mistakes, and come out of this thing on top.

It's just like being a golfer on the, you know, the last nine, ten holes. and you got a three, four stroke lead. I'm not going to come out in Driver where it's kind of one of those questionable driver am I going, am I going three wood here? Am I hitting a long iron, you know? I hear you. I hear that.

And I'm not, he's not wrong, but I'm not buying all of it either. Because I watched the tape last night. Go ahead. I just, there's this, it just rubbed me the wrong way because I actually think that he does have a point. agree with you. And I think there's a way to handle that with a reporter, but what drives me nuts is, can you imagine making $10 million a year at LSU and losing three to four games a

year since you've been there and calling a reporter that makes a fraction of a fraction of what you make spoiled? I have no, I have no concept of that statement and him saying that. And it just goes to, I mean, he seems tight to me right now. Dude, you have one of the best teams in the country right now and I texted it to our group text that night. I mean, he looks miserable. Cheer up, Brian. Cheer up, Coach Kelly. It's not that bad.

He just looks miserable on the sideline. And if you want the people around your program, including beat reporters, which are part of the program, I really do believe that, to have more joy and to have more positivity at the way they look at your program, then maybe put a smile on your face

when your players are making a place. To me, it just like, it rubbed me the wrong way. I'm just going to say that. And I get his point. I get your point. You play the game. You play situationally. But for him to come out and get angry at a reporter for asking him questions.

And by the way, I think the reporter was trying to needle him. But get over it. Just handle it. Don't, you don't have to go that route. Listen, I think it's one of the untold stories in college football every year. And I get it like sitting in New Hampshire watching on TV. Like, you're not wrong. I've had the privilege and the opportunity over, you know,

know, the last 20-something years going out to games and covering it landing, not just landing, like connecting in Charlotte or Atlanta and getting on that plane and hearing like, you know, fight songs and like conversations. And then you land at the airport and then you drive to the, you know, college campus. And you read the local papers or that you read the local stuff online. You go into the facility. You see it, it is a. bubble that's hard to explain.

And it's not necessarily everywhere. Ohio state's bubbles different because Columbus is like the 14th biggest city in America, surprisingly enough. But there's, it's a bubble. Austin, major city now, right? It's grown like,

what Austin looks like when you pull into, into city limits now versus what it looks like in 2000. Like, it's not even recognizable. Right. But there's still, you have like the Dallas media, like all eyes of Texas are on the Texas football program, right? Even more so when you get to a place like Clemson, when you get to a place like LSU and Baton Rouge, okay? When you get to some of these places, it's hard to explain.

Florida is another one. It's hard to see outside of that bubble. And so all day long, all week. week long, all off season. It's the same people writing some, you know, some version of the same crusty story and fans kind of hearing it and regurgitating it. And so like there's always this, it feels like an agenda, even when it's fact and true. But you get hardened by it.

And so as a national guy covering it, you come in, you're like, this is awesome. LSU night game. What a great scene. The tailgate. food's so good. People are drunk and happy and all of it. But when you're living in it day to day on a Monday morning and a Tuesday and you know what I mean? It's exhausting. And I think we've seen in the offensive play at times the pressure that has mounted. I talked about it on Saturday night. Like Clemson is not playing with pure joy, excitement, thrill. Everything's like pushing this,

this crater up a mountain when it feels like it shouldn't have to but we don't live it. You know, and I know there's a long rant, but you see, you can see it. And defenses like it never shows up there because defense is a motion, fire, react, run around, you know, offenses, there's an economy, like literally a local economy like resting on the shoulders of Cade Klubnick, Archman. Manning, Garrett Nussmeyer, offensive fireworks, scoring points, getting everyone, so like when they're not living up to standard, everyone's writing about it, everyone's talking about it, it's on the local radio station, like all of it. It builds. And I think we're

seeing that like firsthand with some of these programs. I hear you and I agree with you. And I think Coach Kelly is a good coach. I don't want to like, if people have bad days and I don't know if regrets making the comment, we'll see if anything comes out. I mean, Everyone has the bad days, right? But that, I mean, I'm sorry, Todd. $100 million over 10 years to lose three or four games a year at LSU. Give me a break. And you're three and no.

And the big knock on was slow starts the season. So be happy about it. Three and O. Be happy about it, man. Be happy about it. But his point was like how spoiled or how spoiled have you gotten? Everyone was complaining about we're through where, you know, we start slow. We always lose the first game.

You know, we, we crush dreams in week one. Now we're three and oh. beaten two damn good football teams. I know Clemsons lost two games. That's a really talented football team. I know Florida lost two games, but they're responsible for one of those losses, and they're two really talented football teams.

And so aesthetically, it hasn't been as pleasing as you want. We're three and oh. We're like third in the country. Totally hear you, but you're going to get some questions. And that's your first, and that's your first question. Get out of here. No way.

I totally, I totally disagree with you. I'm sorry. His first question have been like, how did you get so good at coaching? How awesome are you? How did you guys win these first three games? Because it's just incredible. This mountain.

No, but you don't sit in that office all week. You don't sit in that office all week and get the same questions asked, the same negativity. And your job as a head coach is to deflect, protect, protect, show leadership. Yes. And sometimes circle the wagons, create us versus the world. Okay. I don't know. I think there's a better way of doing it, but I hear you.

I hear you make some strong points. I hear you. And I don't want to be overly critical of this. It's just to me, it was the guy, you know, it just seemed to miss its mark for me. And I think there's better ways of handling it. Can we get to LSU while we're on the subject? Yeah, let's do it. I love this team, by the way.

I love that defense. I do. I love this team. That defense. it's kind of special. I'm just trying to pull this up here. God forbid it all works. That defense, 20 to 10, 5 interceptions, okay?

Yeah. Just watching, I watched the tape last night. You know what really jumped out to me, bud? Blake Baker, the defensive coordinator. We've talked about what LSU was the year before. We talked about LSU in his first year there. You know, the huge jump it made. And can it make another jump?

It has made another jump. Okay? No question. And just looking at what they did on tape, I was even more impressed than I was just watching the game. Also, can I just add this thing? Because I don't think we made this point on Saturday night. All the difference makers on the back end are either transfers or Harold Perkins,

who only played four games. So they didn't really have any of these guys last year. They haven't really played together. And the fact that they're playing this well right now, this early in the season, is super encouraging for what you're going to see down the stretch. I was watching this game. I totally agree.

They're just going to keep getting better, you would think. I would think, yeah. I don't know that they're elite up front, even though they've played really good, like talent-wise, okay? I'm talking like NFL talent guy like first round. LSU always had one or two first rounders along the defense. I'm not sure that they have that this year. But the way they play collectively.

Better depth than talent, right? I went back and watched the Clemson game. You got Monsour Delane, who's been a delight, a treat at cornerback, right? Transferring in Virginia Tech. He was following around receiver all over the field, man to man, cover one, cover zero, the whole game. Not the vast majority of that game. That was a man-heavy defensive game plan.

I watched him against Florida, and I didn't realize this just watching the actual game. When I went back and watched the tape late yesterday afternoon on Sunday, zone, eyes in front, instincts, feeling it, communicating. And it's not just Delane. He's just kind of been the highlight. and he's one of those rising prospects that we'll get to later. It's the whole defense.

And now I've got three safeties on the field. I've got Spears and Halsey. And I've got, and Coley. And I've got Perkins at that star position, which, by the way, is a quarterback, is a fucking nightmare. That guy hangs around.

He's a nightmare. Yeah. That guy hangs around to my left or to my right, more often left for some reason. his right side of the defense left side of the quarterback's view he's hanging around i don't know if he's covering i don't know if he's an in-the-box player and i don't know if he's blitzing almost every snap so like how do i make protect set protections how do i make my pre-snap reads not knowing where he's going a lot of times they've got two guys with their hand in the dirt up front

it's crazy they get those weeks brothers and i know one got one got ejected for targeting the other one got knicked up at one point. But like when they're both healthy on the field, they have two freshmen, off ball linebacker. But when they're healthy on the field, they're animals. And,

and not just like effort and flying the ball and talent and all that. They, they can, they can rush off the edge. So now I've got got, it's like this amoeba defense. Remember UNLV? Yeah.

Like, you just don't know what you're going up against. And Baker has the personnel to be as multiple as he wants. and he's being NFL multiple. He isn't, when you go, that's Belichick shit. When you go from man to man week one versus Clubnik and Clemson to zone versus Lagway in Florida, which makes all the sense in the world. Clubnik is a running threat, but he's not lagway.

And they respect, I believe they respect Clemson's passing attack, the consistency and the potential efficiency of it. more than they did Florida's consistency and efficiency throwing the football. And so let's throw a bunch of zone in different looks and let's have guys coming from all different angles as pass rushers. I mean, not only that. For a loop. Yeah, not only that, I just, I'll go back to this.

The last play of the Clemson game, Perkins serves all the credit in the world for the way that he looped around and closed and took away the running option for Clubnick. It was a great play by Perkins, but it shows how much Baker understood his personnel and understood Clubnick's tendencies. It was a great play call at the most important time of the game. I mean, the way he's calling these games,

not only being multiple, the way he's calling them, the specific calls, to me has been super impressive. The McShay show is brought to you by Fandul. Football fans, the best way to game day is on Fandual. The Fandual Sportsbook app is your home for all your favorite NFL bets, from yards to touchdowns to who will win with Fanduil, any play can be the play of the game. And when the Buccaneers and Texans and Chargers and Raiders play tonight,

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only at Duluth. trading company. At this point, like, I'm cool with Ohio State. I'm cool with LSU up at the top. I got to see it on the 27th of September in Happy Valley when Oregon travels there to be able to stamp Penn State as a top three team. But I get it. Like, it's fine. We'll, we'll see by the end of the year. Yeah, I hear you, but how do you not put Miami ahead of them right now? I don't understand that. And I don't disagree with that. And Georgia, too. I would put Georgia ahead of them.

I would put, this is a little hypocritical. I totally agree. Oregon ahead of them. But I think Miami and Georgia, I think you have a hard time not putting ahead of them ahead. When we did this the other night, I think I had Penn State at five or six. Yeah, I was cool with Miami head. So five or six.

Right. And I remember being like, I'm cool either way. But my point is those teams all to this point, whether we've seen a lot versus, competition or we haven't seen anything. Like, I can understand why they belong in the top six. And I think that they're all in the conversation as national title contenders. Miami, like, Carson Beck has looked phenomenal.

And what's going to be interesting is, like, as the season progresses, can they keep that up? Like, are they legitimately is? Are they a really good football team in the ACC that's going to be in the ACC? that's going to be in the ACC title game? Or are they a legitimate national title contender? That part I don't know yet. What's your gut tell you right now? Second tier.

I think they're for real. Really? I just think that you look at the fronts. What do you need to win? What do you need to win late? I think you look at that offensive line. You think look at that defensive line. The offensive line's not, I don't think it's elite,

but it's very, very, very good. And I think that defensive front is elite. I think that group is elite. And then you add on an accurate quarterback. Malagai Tony, C.J. Daniels, they got guys that can make plays in the passing game. I think Mark Fletcher is a really good running back. I think they are in elite program. I have a very high opinion of Notre Dame still.

And they beat Notre Dame in the opener. And it's to me, my gut tells me that Miami is for real. This Florida game is fascinating. Like the state of Florida, by the way, in the next two weeks. I just bench jinxed the hurricanes. I'm so sorry. But go ahead. I know.

The state of Florida is going to get sorted out in the next two weeks. South Florida just got sent back to its, you know, got knocked off the perch. Yes. Right. But you've got Miami versus Florida in Miami at Hard Rock this week, ABC primetime game. And then Florida State is their next game. at Florida State. So those three powerhouses right now,

and not that Florida's a powerhouse, but those are the three powerhouse programs in the state of Florida. Right. And we're going to get it sorted out. Right. And I can't wait to see it. But just looking at Miami's schedule,

you got Florida, Florida State, at Louisville at home, you get at SMU, and then it's four winnable games down the stretch. So while Florida is a, a hugely important game nationally. And Florida's dangerous. I don't care what you say.

If Lagway doesn't throw five interceptions, if Lagway throws two interceptions, they beat LSU at LSU, truly. Yeah, you're right. I didn't want to buy that, but you're right. The more I thought about it, you're right. I mean, not only were the interceptions,

it was where he threw them. The vast majority were in LSU territory. They were driving the football. Then you had that 87-yard touchdown run. called back because of holding. Multiple holding calls. I think they had seven or eight penalties in that game. I think five or six of them were holdings.

And three or four of them were like really costly moments. So we're talking about LSU as a top three team in the country and singing all the praises in the world. But if Lagway plays a notch better and does not make the mistakes that you simply cannot make at this point. And we can have a whole other lagway conversation with a lack of practice time and inexperience. and like his development at this point.

But if he is just like mid, Florida wins that game. So like you can't, this is a huge game for Miami nationally. But then the ACC, that Florida State game. Yeah. Because I'm looking at Georgia Tech. And I know Georgia Tech is, what is the seven and one? You love the rambling wreck. Seven and one under Brett Key against versus ranked opponents.

Like they, they are giant killers. They are college football's giant killer the last couple years. That's three years, two and a half years. But can they handle their business week to week? Because I just laid out the schedule. If they play close to the level they did against Clemson, they're undefeated going into that Georgia game, which is a non-conference game.

They're in the ACC title game. I will be shocked. Georgia Tech will have blown an unbelievable opportunity if they wind up, if they wind up not in the ACC title game. I agree. Georgia. I want to get to Georgia now. Okay.

You want to talk about resiliency, man? It's, yeah, it's impressive. Down 21-7 and going back and watching that tape, that offense for Tennessee was rolling. The defense has got to be sorted out, but, and it's not 2020, 22, 2023, Georgia that turned into the Philadelphia. you know what I mean. But there's a lot of talent there. And this is really good coachable tape. And I'll get to brazil in a little bit.

But like not a lot of guys, not a lot of teams are going to have an answer to that cat. So my point is, while Georgia now is undefeated, Georgia's got the number two strength of record. George's biggest question coming into this year was do we have a quarterback? And so far the answer is absolutely. I agree.

I agree. I think I was, I wondered if Georgia was a paper tiger going into that game. And I come out of that game, firmly believing they're a top five team with a chance to win the national championship. And I think that says two things. One, it says, I believe in Gunner Stockton.

And right now I believe in Gunner Stockton. I think he's got the guts, enough mobility, the playmakers. He's going to, I think he's good enough for them to win. And I think the other thing is it speaks very highly of Tennessee because I felt that was a, that was a tough win. And the only reason it was a tough win is because that Tennessee team is damn good. And I, I don't love the weapons for Georgia. I don't hate it.

But I, but I like them more than I thought I was going to. And it's really nice to see Colby Young step up with. the big place. Right. With that 6-4-6-5 frame, whatever he's a, I don't know what his exact height is. I'll look it up right now. 6-3 frame, speed to get down the field. Zachariah Branch, undersized but explosive.

Yep. Those guys in London Humphreys just seems to have a clutch catch here and there when they need it, including the Tennessee game. They're all averaging over 12 yards per catch. Zachariah Branch 16 and a half. Oscar Delft. I don't have huge. I feel like he's had a couple of important catches, though.

I feel like those guys could pop in a game at any point. I think both their tight ends can just pop. They may not have all these big games, but you better not overlook them. They can make plays. And Nate Frazier has been really good as advertised. The offensive line hasn't been great, but it's been really good.

They got to get healthy. The passenger checks has been an issue. But if they get healthy, they could be okay. that Dwight Phillips, the backup running backs averaging 8.5, like, they've got an offense. And I can't, I can't believe that Kirby Smart's going to, like, not fix a lot of the problems on defense. I'm not saying it is not an elite, elite Georgia standard unit. It's not up to that standard, but it's going to keep getting better. And I think Tennessee is going to put a lot of points on a lot of opponents.

And I thought about this yesterday, too much. this has been for Heipel and that Tennessee program, this has been their kryptonite. So I can't even imagine how much time in the offseason went into how do we not score 14 points against Georgia. They figured that out. They did. And you saw it right away. But here's the other part. We talked about Tennessee sitting at 15.

I'm chill with tomorrow the college football playoff comes out and they're one of the top 12 teams. I'm fine with it, man. After that loss. You kidding me, they'd be a lot of fun to watch. I'm fine with that. So it begs the question like, all right, we've got these six teams, Ohio State, Penn State, LSU,

Miami, Georgia, Oregon, and whatever order you want. Who else? Is A&M good enough? So here's what's interesting about the Marcel Reed situation today. in him. Okay. The numbers, I think it was 17 for 37. I think that's right. So you look at that and you're, oh, boy. In watching that game, I actually felt like he made some progress and there were some things for him to build on. A lot of what's going to happen with them is how well does he develop? What's his arc this year? And I think he's an ascending player. I think as a passer,

I think he's ascending. Those numbers don't really, don't really back it up. I get that. But when I watched on tape. He makes some plays in the pocket, and they've got some outrageous playmakers on the outside and Carver and Concepcion. So I think that at the end of it, when we're at the end of the season, I think they're going to be a contender. Right now, I get the flaws. I get the holes and where people might be like, well, they're not accurate enough at quarterback or consistent enough at quarterback to really be considered that. Oklahoma absolutely belongs in this discussion. I think I got Oklahoma at six right now. Here's the hard part. The cannibalization of the SEC starts to happen. I mean, really this week a little bit, but October, November. Like,

I'm just looking at A&M. They've got Auburn. They've got Florida at Arkansas, at LSU, at Missouri, South Carolina, and then finish it at Texas. It's at least one long. It's at least one because if you went and did this for Texas or you went and did this for LSU or you know what I mean? Someone's got to win, someone's got to lose. And it's the same thing for Oklahoma. We talked about the gauntlet that Oklahoma has.

It's absolutely brutal. So like, it's frustrating. Here's when everyone's going to start yelling at me. SEC bias and all that. But the SEC is better this year than it was last year. And the SEC has weapons this year. And I think that's a big difference. A huge difference, right?

When you start to look at the big picture, but Oklahoma, it's the same deal, man. They've got Auburn this week, 3.30, ABC. Buckle up. Auburn's pretty good. They get some weapons. But even with a win there, you got Red River on the 11th.

South Carolina, we'll see about Lenora Sellers. They got a lot of work to do. That is a one, you talk about a one-player team. That is a one player or team. Their receivers are talented, but they're not there yet. Their offensive line can't protect. Their defense is light years away from where it was a year ago. I couldn't agree with you more.

But you've got Texas Red River, South Carolina, then you've got Ole Miss at Tennessee, at Alabama, versus Missouri, and then LSU to finish the season. Someone's got to lose. You're right. So the SEC is going to be its own worst enemy in the months of occupational. October and November.

I mean, you mentioned Missouri, by the way. I don't think Missouri is good enough to get in. I don't think they're, we'll see where they are at the end of the season. But I think that team runs the ball well enough. And Bo Pribula is good enough that they're going to drag someone down. They're going to get a win this year that you think, oh, wow, I can't believe they lost Missouri. And it will not be unbelievable to me.

That's a dangerous team. There are, there is danger everywhere in the SEC, man. And we had this discussion with Big Cat the other night. Like I get it. The Big 10 with the top teams from the Pac-12 coming in, even in the NFL draft, 79. Record set by the SEC, 79 players drafted last year, okay?

Most ever, by a long shot. And it was the closest, it was tied for the closest in the last like almost decade that another conference has been to the SEC, eight, eight off. But they still had eight more plays. players drafted at 79, then the Big Ten did at 71. Now with all those, with the USC's and the Oregon's included, okay?

And more than that, it's like, yes, like I do believe the top of the Big Ten can be or has been, can be and has been as good, if not better than the big, the SEC. But it's the depth that is the difference and it's the week in, week out. when I start reading all these team schedules, I'm doing it for a reason because Missouri isn't Northwestern. No. You know? And Indiana is really good.

Indiana is really good. Illinois is really good. But I think they'd be like six or seventh in the SEC. And then they drop out like the Wisconsin's. Just ask it, Alabama. Ask Alabama what the difference is playing Wisconsin versus maybe playing Missouri or, you know? Yeah. I'm with you, brother.

Like I hear everything you're saying. The SEC was missing weapons last year. And I'm going to, the final point that I want to talk about, and this kind of actually transitions, transitions us really well. Because I want to about to get into the prospects. Like we're a quarter way through college football season.

I want to get into the prospects that are rising because this is an important time. Like I got more texts in college from scouts after week three than I had in the first two weeks combined. But the SEC, we said coming into the year, the SEC's got weapons. and that's different from a year ago. It was lacking weapons. I want to just rip off some of these names. You ready?

Go. Ryan Williams, Jeremy Bernard, Alabama. Cam Coleman. Isaiah Horton, too, by the way. Go ahead. Yes, he's starting to emerge. Take any of those three. Go ahead.

Cam Coleman, Auburn, and Eric Singleton. Yep. Brasel, Tennessee. Craver and Concepcion. Anyone watch that in Notre Dame game? I think I'm called Carver, but yeah, Craver. Yeah. Aaron Anderson, Colby Young, Zachariah Branch, Harrison Wallace. I'm just ripping out like, okay. And Craver, Brazel, and Wallace, three of the top four leading receivers in the country and yards per game. In the SEC, and I know they're not all playing SEC, but like normally that's, that's like some of the whack guys and mountain, you know, like,

Right, right. Some slot guy plays for Hawaii. He's got 100 balls every night. Right. Craver's averaging 148 per game. Brazel 121. Wallace 113. Brazels also tied for the FBS lead with five touchdown catches.

So it's fascinating to see the weapons and the difference in play that we've seen, especially in the offensive side of the ball. Yep. All right. I want to get into this. If you don't subscribe, please subscribe. What is doing? The McShay report.

The McShay report, Google it, okay? I've got an article coming out this weekend. I'm not just doing it because it's a fun, Pete. I just told you, like, I'm talking to more NFL scouts. We're kind of starting to see a big list of players, and we're starting to see kind of the cream rising to the top a little bit. We're quarter way through, as I said, the regular season. And scouts are on the road, and they're excited about players that they're watching.

And they're, hey, have you checked out this guy? or man, like he's out playing what I thought. And there's some negative stuff. I mean, scouts are crusty. And it's part of their job to be skeptics. But there's a lot more excitement after three weeks about players that we thought were good or had a chance of like really rising. Okay. At this point, on the show right now, I want to go through, let's say, maybe five guys.

You can rip off a couple. I'll rip off a couple who have really stood out to us that are rising in terms of NFL draft, but it also obviously ties into college football, their programs and the overall landscape. In the McShay report, which comes out tomorrow, I'm going to do, I think it's 10 guys, handful of quarterbacks, all other positions, and it's not just what I'm seeing. I mean, it absolutely is what I'm seeing, but it's then confirming, and it's based a couple, a couple guys on that list are, hey, check out so-and-so. He's, he's, you know, like, I got a guard in there. So there's some guys that I've been tipped off on.

And so then I jump on the, you know, the catapult system, ThunderCloud and go watch the tape. So I'm excited about that piece because it's a great time to get it. Like here are guys that you might want to get to know their names right now. Because NFL, like guys from NFL teams around the country are talking about them. So I'll start with, well, yeah, I'll start with you, Minch. Give me one guy that stood out to you that is rising in terms of, of the NFL draft based off of what you've seen and heard.

I'm going to go with a show favorite and a guy who's not, where I'm not talking about a guy who's going to be a first round pick. I think he's more of a middle round game. But when you, when you think about where he was to start this season, it's been, it's going to be fun to see how high he goes. And that's Jaron Kenick,

the tight end from Oklahoma, who was playing linebacker last year, who started nine games at linebacker in 20, and made the transition to tight end this year. leads all FBS tight ends with 245 receiving yards through three games. This guy, I went back and looked at what he did in high school. He played quarterback, wide receiver, and linebacker. And you can see that he's got some of that.

Even though he hasn't played an offense at Oklahoma until this year, you can see some of that when you watch the tape. He's got a good feel for how to attack zone looks. He catches the ball well. He's not a great runner at this point, but he's got the upside. I love how hard he runs after the catch. He's just fearless, has no concern about you know, safety.

I thought the catch, the early third down catch, early in the Michigan game over the middle where he tracked the ball, brought it back into his frame, set the tone for that game. Let Oklahoma know and let Michigan know we're in this game. We've got some guys who can make some plays. I thought that was a huge play for them. The downside.

He is listed at 6-2-233, and I think ultimately when you're looking at a tight end, that's going to be tough to go early with that. and he's not a great blocker at this point. He's tough and he makes in the efforts all there, but he's not a great blocker at this point. I think when I looked at that frame, I was like, well, what's, what's this kind of a tight end?

We have a guy like that in the NFL. And I think Titans tight end, Chiga Gonquo is a good, is a good comparison for what he is. Now, I don't know if he's going to run as well, but he can do similar things. And Agonco has been pretty productive for Tennessee, considering they have had a very inconsistent quarterback play.

but this kid has come out of nowhere, nowhere to put himself in the middle round mix. He's a good one. I mean, yeah, and I told you, like what Nagy said, it's just like one of the favorite players. And you're getting special teams, by the way. You're getting special teams. This kid's going to play special teams, but go ahead. The Motley crew t-shirt.

Is that what he said? The Motley crew t-shirt is just like total throwback, you know, doesn't care. He's what you want in the, you know, let's say an early day three pick. or whatever he is, special teams. Right. Upside, just scratching the surface, going to keep getting better. He's going to play a lot of years in the NFL.

He's never going to be a star, but I think he can play a lot of years in the NFL. And he's a guy whose career was about to end. Am I going into accounting? Am I going to be like, am I going to sell insurance? And he had an epiphany. Like, coach, mind if I just try out tight in? Played a little bit in the office, you know,

played some offensive high school. I'm not getting anywhere on defense. It's an awesome story. I'm going to save my favorite for last. Arvel Reese, Ohio State, I put on the tape because I've heard from a couple of scouts now. I put on the tape last night. He's 6-4 listed, 6-4-237.

Ohio State's had a couple good linebackers, right, come out of that program. He's the next great one. And it's happening right now. and and they you know we saw it against Texas and what he could do you're looking at for an off the ball linebacker with length there are pain in the asses a quarterback to throw around underneath like that length it it shaves off a quarter count in terms of of how where you have to get he's fast he's he plays violent he plays aggressive he's instinctive I didn't know because we spend a lot of

I'm talking about what, Cody Simon, right? Mm-hmm. Sunny styles. Yeah. Sunny styles, those guys, right? And obviously they were outstanding last year, but I didn't realize that this Reese guy was about to break out to the level that he is. He's a junior.

How was this kid on the sideline for two years? I mean, you know what I mean? I have, I, I'm like, man, Ohio State's so, so deep. I mean, this kid's incredible. It's three games. one of them, yes, against Texas, two not great competition, leads the team in tackles. He's got some tackles for loss. He's got a pair of sacks. He's got past breakups. He does a little bit of everything. And so Arvel Reese, like, as we, as Ohio State starts to stack wins,

and it gets into like the heart of the Big Ten and they're playing, playing some big time competition. Like, Arvel Reese is going to be, remember, you got Caleb Downs on that, on that defensive side, right? And like and obviously all the all the attention is going to be in the offensive side. But like I think as we get later into the year, you're going to start to see Arvel Reese. Like Sonny Stiles is such a good player. You had a man crush on him coming in the year. I agree. And he's still a really good player.

Hadn't done anything wrong. But this Arvel Reese is different. He is an absolute dude. And I'm like there's buzz now talking to guys in the league. like maybe round one. I agree. All right.

Who do you got next? I went with Vincent Anthony Jr., the Duke Edge. I was watching the Illinois game and this kid was all over the place in the first half. And I looked,

I was like, who is this guy? I have not heard of him. Look him up. He's listed at 6 foot 6, 250 pounds. I mean, he's winning with speed. He can bend a little bit

off the edge in that game. He had seven and a half sacks in his first 36 games at Duke. He's got five this year. Three of more in the Illinois game. Yeah, he's got five. Yeah, he's tied for the FBS lead with five right now. He's got five sacks. Uh, got some

bend, like I said, he's got active hands. I really, the motor jumps out at times. I don't think it always jumps out. He's never, it's not that he doesn't always play hard, but there are some championship effort plays. So I like the motor overall. He can drop a little bit, strong enough to set the edge against the run. He tracks

the ball well. Higher cut, a little bit tight can drop not something that i would like ask him to do a lot but for a guy that i didn't really know much about coming into the season he's going to be someone i think at the end of the year that people are going to be looking at i like that i didn't realize quite the the sack production um all right i'm going to give you one more and then i'm just going to encourage everyone to go read the mcshay report i put put in a lot of time on tape phone calls texts a lot of time into this it's it's a fun piece early in the year we'll update it probably around midseason and then as we get towards the end of the college football season,

guys who are like standing out making a move in the NFL draft. Like, I just love it. I just love coming into a year and you've got the guys at the top and you know who they are. But every year, I'd say like maybe not a half, but like at least a third of the first round draft picks were not that coming into the year. And five, six, seven of them were like day three guys,

including Cam Ward last year. You know what I mean? So like I just love this time during the season and where you're starting to see, like, oh, there are some cats that, like, weren't, like, weren't on the list that are now pushing for, like, round two, round one. I've mentioned his name a couple of times, and we talked to a lot about him the other night.

I actually sat down and watched the tape. Chris Brasel, the second, CB2. I'm telling you, man, he's 6.5. He's listed at 200. So he's probably 6'4 and change. I think he's put on a little bit of weight. I would guess he's going to be, like, 205, 207, when we get to the combine.

Great. I don't know. I mean, I know his background. I know he had 44 catches at Tulane as a red shirt freshman in 2020. I know he transferred. I know his dad was a six-round pick. I think the New York Jets. Like, I know that background.

I don't know about like, is there durability stuff? Is their character stuff? Are there questions about like, I don't, I haven't gone that deep yet because he wasn't supposed to be. It was, you know, we thought he could emerge and be maybe top 100 picks. something like that, but I had no idea the talent level. And I'm looking around the country at some of the other top receivers in this draft, not talking about Jeremiah Smith or Ryan Williams or Keon Coleman's, those guys who are

2027. I'm talking about the 2026 NFL draft. I have not seen so far through three games in college football, a wide receiver with the skill set and the production against legitimate. competition that Chris Brazel the second has. Brazel looks different than everybody else in the country at wide receiver in the 2026 draft class. He just looks different. He's long. He's kind of get that acrobatic athleticism. He's adjusting to the ball in the air. He ran this route. I put it out, if anyone wants to watch on, go look on X and threads. I put, I put these clips out last night. Two plays.

I did a cut up, two plays in this past game against Georgia. First one, he runs an out route, and he drives the defensive back off, and the corner, to his credit, was smothering him. And then he drops his, what you know how hard it is at six, four and a half, six, five, to just drop your weight like Marvin Harrison, not junior, I'm talking senior, to just drop your weight and come out of your break. he did it like that. And then the ball is up in the air

because Aguilar is great as he is. He likes to throw high. It's a good thing he's got a 6-5 weapon. And to make kind of this acrobatic catch on the sideline looks so easy. And then the next clip I showed, he just runs, like, he just, and I think he's been like around 22 miles an hour.

Projected like high 4-4, like 4-48, something like that. I'm not saying he's a burner, but he's one of those long-legged guys that just eats up cushion. And he smoked this corner by like five yards. Straight up man to man, here we go. You versus me.

Smoked him. But then the ball is thrown behind him. Aguilar doesn't have the biggest arm, but he gives his receivers on like a couple, like Milton and, and who is the last guy? Oh, Nico. Overshooting these Tennessee wide receivers. Like, want to rip your hair out.

Aguilar's undershooting him, which is great. they can go up and make a play with the defensive back having their backs turn to the quarterback. He comes after smoking him, comes back, gets the ball. The most impressive part of that long touchdown catch was not even the speed, not even coming back and tracking. It was after he caught the ball turned around with the defender on him and the balance. Kept his feet. Kept his feet, man.

How do you keep your feet? I would have like 15 torn ligaments if I try to do with that. guy did in that play. So I'm seeing a talent in Brazil. I'm seeing a talent in Brazil that I'm not seeing from any other 2026 wide receiver. And Carnell Tate's playing well at Ohio State. And Jordan Tyson had a big game for Arizona State the other day.

Like, there's some really good receivers. Jeremy Bernard's been awesome for Alabama, but he's a slot. And Tyson is a big physical Debo type who has some drops. this guy put up huge numbers this past week and his 20 catches, 365 yards, averaging 18 yards per catch. And he has five touchdowns. Five of his 20 catches of gunford. He's a man amongst boys. So I'm asking you this question. And I know why he wasn't coming into the year. why isn't brazil number one why isn't brazil

wr one okay i didn't want to i did not want to rain on your parade and i want to be very clear about this i'm not sure he's not i want to make i'm not sure he's not i want to see more i want to see more of the route running right now i think tyson is a a an elite route runner and i'm not sure i would put this kid there

he had a focus drop against syracuse he had a drop where he couldn't he didn't whatever with contact. But again, like, I'm nitpicking a little bit. I am super excited about this player. I am, I share your excitement for this player. And I think, let's forget about wide receiver one for a second. Okay. Let's forget about where, why, whether it is not, this dude is without question a first

round talent. Yeah. He is without question a first round talent. Now, how early is it wide receiver one, wide receiver two? That's all going to get sorted out. and again like every every receiver every player has some some flaws some holes in their game but dude is he fun to watch and there is no doubt my mind he's a first round talent he just went six for 177 and three touchdowns against Georgia and I get it you beat him once you catch him off guard

you have a couple catches but you're like Kirby had every opportunity in the world roll coverage like and he still kept reducing. This guy, this guy might be special. I agree. And listen, there's two things. One, do not give him a free release. You're out of your goddamn mind if you let this guy get off the line. And the second thing is, this is one of those guys that you, you know, you end up, they put four guys on one side of the formation. And then they put brazzle on the other side in the red zone. And they run these five-yard fades in this poor corner or this poor safety is going to be over there trying to win a jump ball against his kid. and good freaking luck. Like he is a problem in the red zone.

Check out the McShay report. We've got at least 10 guys. The list keeps growing as I'm getting more texts and calls and watching games. That'll be out tomorrow morning. I know we're running long. I had not watched the Michigan State quarterback and I am intrigued. Aidan Childs. I am intrigued.

I literally have the tape. Like he's on my list of guys that might make the list. I have the tape queued up. I have the last two games queued up. intrigued that BC over extra with two or three over times whatever it was it's queued up i'm excited to watch so check out the mcshay report google it subscribe subscribe for free become a premium do all the things you need to do uh but that that's going to be a special fun article um newsletters and it's in your inbox you don't have to work for it you don't have to go look at just

subscribe send it to your inbox come straight from me me to you me to you match this is a fun show there's a lot going on. I'm excited. I'm excited for week four. We'll be back on Thursday. We'll start previewing games. I don't know. Should we bring a guest on? Yeah, let's do it, man. We haven't had one in a while. I know. We're getting a little big for our britches. Maybe we need someone to come on and make stop us out here. All right, five stars. See you. 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. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit r g dash help.com.

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