The Triple Option - Arch Manning vs Jeremiah Smith Delivered | Urban Meyer Breaks Down Week 2

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

Arch Manning's 4th-quarter comeback over Jeremiah Smith and Ohio State headlines a wild college football weekend. Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone break down everything: 🏈 Arch Manning vs Ohio State — how Texas stole the win and what it means for the CFP race 🏈 Michigan football — the bounce-back win over #11 Oklahoma and Bryce Underwood's next step 🏈 Oklahoma State — the biggest upset of the weekend as the Cowboys took down Oregon; we talk Mike Leach's influence with head coach Eric Morris 🏈 Kyle Whittingham — the Wolverines' coach on his first signature win and what's next for Bryce Underwood 🏈 Dawg of the Week + the guys make their Week 3 picks, including Lane Kiffin's return to Baton Rouge Chapters 00:00 Show Start 02:15 Texas Takes Down Ohio State 06:45 Arch Manning Confidence Level 11:45 End of Game Strategy 19:25 Michigan Gets Signature Win 28:30 Eric Morris, Oklahoma State Head Coach 43:22 Kyle Whittingham, Michigan Head Coach 53:28 Dawg of the Week 58:50 Houston at Texas Tech 01:02:02 Florida State at Alabama 01:05:54 LSU at Ole Miss New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Monday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (https://tripleoptionshow.com) The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s. Wendy’s: Bring the Beef. Thank you to our additional sponsors Draft Kings - New DraftKings Customers turn five bucks into two hundred in total bonuses, paid over 21 days. The Crown Is Yours! Use my promo code TTO. #DKPartner Las Vegas - There's no better place for college football. https://VisitLasVegas.com. #CollegeFootball #ArchManning #Michigan #OhioState #OklahomaState #Texas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What grade do you give the Michigan coaching staff from what they did from the end of Western Michigan through the win against Oklahoma? Well, I'll tell you, I got to be careful flying into Columbus, Ohio. I might get assaulted. Hey, when you're keeping it real, man, it can't help but appreciate, man. You're just keeping it real. It is what it is. That was an A-plus. Light it. The Triple Option is presented by Wendy's, the fan favorite pretzel bacon pub cheeseburger is back. Enjoy high-quality ingredients like fresh beef, cream. meat, beer, cheese, and more all on a pretzel bun.

We're back, baby. Another edition of the Triple Option presented by Wendy's whole lot to get to as week two provided a lot of talking points. Rob Stone, Erb Admiere, Mark Ingram, the second back here with you. It's a two-guessed show today. We'll go to Ann Arbor. Two? Dose. Duce. Deuce.

Yes. We're going to go to Ann Arbor, Michigan head coach, Kyle Whittingham. He's going to talk about that big win over Oklahoma. and we'll go to Stillwater, Oklahoma State's first year coach, Eric Morris. He'll join us after that big home upset of Oregon. But first, we've got to talk about that huge comeback win in Austin on Saturday night as Texas takes down number one Ohio State. Was it a Texas win? Was it a Buckeye collapse?

We'll talk about that in a second. Could it be both? Yes, yes. The answer is yes. And there's some certain game going on this. week in Oxford, Mississippi that I think people care about LSU Lane at Ole Miss. We'll get into that one as well. Please rate, subscribe, send us all your questions. We are on social media at 3X option show.

Great follow throughout the college football week. Our social department team has bulked up and they've been playing an A game as of late. New episodes coming your way on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. All right, here we go. This was the kind of week while we just... absolutely love college football because there was just beautiful chaos and upsets and results. They're going to change everything. So this is why we love any given Saturday.

Start in Austin. Texas 24, Ohio State 23. Tell me you saw that score line coming when the clock turned us into the fourth quarter because it was a game, particularly at first half, coach dominated by Ohio State. So just real big picture. Did Texas steal this one from Ohio State? Did Ohio State hand it over to the Longhorns? So I left Detroit, Michigan, and flew to Chicago.

And when I landed, I saw the score and I was like, wait a minute, this can't be right. You know, because the game just started and it's 10-Zip right out of the jump. And I saw the two turnovers. I heard him. I didn't see him. I went back and watched them. But Mark, I was shocked to see, especially in that environment, go down there and to see them dominate the game the way it did.

Then I sat down and started watching it. Here's my initial reaction. Those are two great football teams. Those are, they look like the Bama, Florida, a couple, you went back when some guy named Ingram won that big trophy behind you. They look really fast to me, Mark. They look big. They look fast.

There's a couple alarm. I know we're going to talk about this for a minute, but I would not panic on either if I'm, first of all, if I'm Sark, which I'm thinking, he's, you know, I can see the way he's handle of this, move on. You had a great win. You got a lot of, you got a tough-ass schedule coming up. If I'm Ryan Day, back years ago, this is a problem. I don't think it's a problem.

You've got a great football team that you got to, you know, there's going to be so many what-ifs because you should have won the damn game in that fourth quarter. All you need to do is a couple first downs and make a field going, it's over. But that didn't happen. My point is this in the FC, in the, uh, in the era of a 12-team playoff, you're fine. Take care of business, keep getting better, solve some of these issues.

But there's one big alarm going off when I saw this, and that's the last three drives. And I watched them live, and I went back and watched them on tape. You had a 15 play, Mark, you had 15 plays 91 yards. Yes. And Arch did a good job, but I'm telling you, they ran the ball right at them.

It did. That made it 23-10, coach. It is all in the fourth quarter. The next drive, 13-10. place. 72 yards. And then finally, and this is to win it, I kept waiting for, at some point, step up and make a play on defense.

And that's normally what's happened under D-Corporinator, Matt Patricia, all that freaking talent that you've had. Now, remember, they lost a lot of guys in the NFL. Mark, they ran right out. They did. He made a couple of nice throws. He went to hit that slant right behind him. But there was no mistake that they were going to score.

You know, I kept watching to say, make a play, make a play, and they couldn't. Yeah. So that, of all the concerns, that's number one. And I would say number two is all those talented receivers. Understand you got the freak Jeremiah, the best player in college football, had, I believe, eight catches. Mark, every other receiver combined had two. Wow. So those are my two that just stick out with me.

And there are studs in that receiver room beyond just Jeremiah Smith. Yeah. They got players all over. I mean, they have the number of receiver in the country coming out of high school. They had McCune. They have a plethora of options to get the ball to. But, man, I'd just more so just say, like, when the game was on the line, Arch took up to the task. In the fourth quarter, he was 8, 411 for 83 yards.

They ended up, instead of getting, you know, instead of taking all the pressure, Ohio State was getting physical with him the whole game. In the fourth quarter, I think they had, like, 11 carriers for 55 yards, too high that he would, small those touchdowns. So they became balanced. And it took some pressure off of arch. And so Texas went from getting controlled for three quarters to leaning on Ohio State in the fourth quarter. And I think that run game took pressure off arch and completely changed the feel of the game.

And in the fourth quarter, man, they responded. 21 unanswered in the fourth quarter. I mean, that's winning football, especially against a really good Ohio State football team. I think moving forward, both these teams controlled their own destiny. I mean, this was a top four matchup here. So, I mean, it was a great game. And it was only week two. so I think it's going to be, I think both these teams are going to be right in it at the end of the year still.

Mark, do you believe more in Arch Manning now than you did before this game? I do, because last year we saw Arch kind of grow, right? We saw him grow and in a tough environment, you're down 21 points in the fourth quarter at home. You don't win this game, all the critics, all the naysayers, they're back on you again. He can't do this. He can't play. He can't win the big game. for him to stay focused and lead his team as a quarterback.

That's what you do. You lead your team. He wield his team to a victory. Although they ran the ball, although they had played great defense and got stops, he led his team to three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter that helped them get the win. So I believe in him more now. I think that shows a lot of growth in Archmanning. And we'll see how he does moving forward because this SEC schedule is going to be tough for them.

And I saw his reaction out to the game. Let me throw some context on that. So Tebow, when I had him at Florida, his sophomore, you won the Heisman. He had great numbers, but we lost three games, and he had the ball in his hand, the final, we could have won the game. And the media beat him to death. And I saw the wear and tear on him. And it was almost like the monkey off his back to go win that big game. Don't think that was not a cathartic moment for Arch.

I mean, he's still a young guy. I just loved it. Do you see the end of the game when he went nuts? Yes, celebrating. Yeah, and he should. So you didn't ask me the question, Rob, but I have full, full confidence in that camera. To say I did before, not really. Hey, coach, he had to ask you the question.

You got the right to answer any question you won't because you really him. You know what I mean? Hey, let me throw this at you too, because I know we talked about this on Big Noon. We need these games, man. Got to have them. I don't want to see Indiana shortening the quarters to 10-minute quarter. We somehow we got to get to control these schedules and stop playing Howard and adding. And I wish there was some kind of rule.

Your kids are going to get hurt. You know, I've been a part of those games. Somehow we've got to stop that. Like you said, Coach, you said it on Big Noon. It comes down to this human element of picking the playoff teams. If Texas is getting punished for going to Ohio State last year and we can't, two, week one, was it week one last year? Yeah, week one.

Yeah, going to, if Texas got punished last year, right, for going to Ohio State and playing that game in week one. Now, Ohio State were on the reverse side that we can't punish them if they lose, they drop one down here, you know, if they drop one here in the future, you know what I mean? They have Indiana and have a war. But they did get punished. That's the problem. They dropped five spots for going to Austin.

So we got stopped. So we lost to the new number one team. They dropped, but they still have their own, they still control their own destiny for their playoff, right? Understood. Yeah. We were seeing historically awful matchups right now. Texas didn't make the playoff last year.

Coach, I think your point is Friday night, Miami, taking it out on FAMU, and they pulled it with five minutes to play in the fourth quarter. There was no need for this, right? No need for that game at all. Florida played Campbell. I don't know where Campbell. What are you doing?

We need these matchups. Yeah. It's great for the game. Here's another perk of the potential talk about expansion for the college football playoffs is that more or more programs are going to be less hesitant to schedule these type of games, the games that the broadcasters obviously want, but more importantly, these are the games that the fans want.

We are talking about this game. We are engaged about this. The players want it, Mark, Rob. Yeah. Tell me who doesn't want these type of games. You go to Alabama, you go to Ohio State, you go to Texas to play any type of matches. You want to go to these legendary places. Oklahoma wanted to go to Ann Arbor.

Their fans wanted to go to Ann Arbor. All that crimson and cream in the state of Michigan last week and looking around and going the big house. Like, these are great opportunities for everybody involved. We got to move on. My, and obviously no one's listening, but get rid of the committee goes by-bye. There's no more committee. And it's all play in. The big 10, you get four spots or whatever happens if the playoff expands. You get four spots. However, one plays two. You're both in, and the winner gets a big ring, a big one. That's, you're called a conference champion. And when people say that's not important, I'd argue that as long as long as.

as I'm around. Three place six, four plays five. We call playing Saturday. Fox gets a bunch of those games. We get to go to them and let the teams go, decide who goes to the playoff. No more committee. And that way, the preseason games, I'm the head coach at Ohio State. Then I'm playing Texas every, because I want to, I want to roll those games out.

Yes. Unless you change it, if I'm, I'm not playing that game anymore. Right. It doesn't make sense. Let's just go back to it. go back to that game real quick, one more thing. Clock management. That was a big talking point in that fourth quarter in

Ohio State and how they managed the clock on the defensive side. So we were having this chat back and forth. We were on the plane coming back with different guys. At some point, and Mark, you were talking about this. You guys used to practice this. Just allowing the team to score the touchdown because

you're out of timeouts. You need the ballback. And you need it with time. So number one, the Ryan Day late timeout caught me off guard. It was under a minute left. I didn't understand why he was using it there. And it was this like long delay. Like he was having that conversation.

You guys saw that with the linesman, I think it was. And they were debated. I have no idea what was going on. But it just seemed like they were in a good spot. I don't know why they were burning that time out. And then the debate coach about at what point do we believe in our defense? Yeah, we can stop you because they need a touchdown, not a field goal. Or just let him skate in and get the clock and the ball back on our.

side. Let me, let me throw it out on the little hands at the mark that I would have a really hard time letting them score. Yeah. That means you're basically in that kind of situation. Especially we need a touchdown. Yeah, you need to stop. I have enough confidence in my defense and I almost worry if I throw up the white flag on our defense, you know, what am I telling them down the road too? You know, so it's Ohio State defense. You're, you know, I, you know, I, just, I couldn't do it. I know people were going to say let them score. I would have never let them score there. I would have been all over the defense trying to get them make a play, make a stop. Oh, you got to just make a stop and you win the game.

Or a turnover, by the way, right? I mean, weird things happen. Just to clarify real quick, day was on the sideline having that conversation. There was a debate. Did a helmet come off? Would there be a 10 second runoff? Do I need to burn the time out? You're like, what would make the best sense for time management? I wasn't able to hear the game at that time on the, on the flight. So that's what that conversation was about. But I had the same feeling, coach, but that's kind of an old school feeling, right? Like, I believe in my guys, you guys make some crazy, quirky stop. But at all that momentum, Mark, everything was going Texas's way at that point. And you just knew it felt like it was inevitable that they were going to finish that drive

with a touchdown. Yeah, I mean, you could see it and you could watch it. It felt like they were what, first, second down from, I don't know, really close. Yes. Like, you know, really close. And, yeah, you know, they do need a touchdown. So, and we've seen Ohio State time and time again, especially in their championship season, get these goal line stands. So I can understand that.

But I do remember vividly practicing the situation where we would, the defense would allow the offensive score so we could get the ball back quickly and try to get, because you're down one now, and now all you need to do is get in field coal position. You have Jeremiah Smith. You have these playmakers, right? So you let them score.

I don't know exactly the timing right now because we were all kind of traveling when this was going on. But I do vividly remember the situation we would practice letting the other team's course. In the NFL or in college. Did he didn't practice it? He didn't practice it. Coach Saving didn't practice it. I was told to practice it.

And I looked right at the person telling me, I said, no, we're going to stop them. No, that's not the way we do. We didn't practice it in college at all. But in the NFL, we practiced it weekly. I remember that. It was interesting, too, because there was obviously a lot of talk about the clock. at that stage of the game and Texas driving. And they kept saying like,

Texas doesn't want to score too early to give Ohio State the ball back. And I'm like, hey, bro, you just got to score. Like, don't worry about it. I understand worrying about the clock in your ideal little utopian world, but you still got to get that ball across the line. And that's not an easy task.

And it's like, all right, let's take it down. Let's make it tight. I'm like, again, there was this feeling of inevitability that it was going to go in. And that scared the heck out of me. but you knew what was going in at some point, right? Last thought, last thought is that, is there a, you know, Texas was used to that ungodly heat down there?

And, you know, you have to look, 15 play drive, 13 play drive, 12 play drive. Took it stult. Obviously, the offense, the offense getting a few first downs would eliminate those long drives, which they did not do. But was there, you know, and I go, I watched it back. I'm going to go watch it again. and I don't know if I've seen a team run the ball at the center of Ohio State's defense in a minute.

They did it. We're going to go to Michigan in a second. I got one more question for you, Coach. I think it was second quarter. And at this point, everything, everything had gone Ohio State's way, right? The turnovers, including that quirky interception, you know, that bounced off Camp Coleman. That's my point is that they were getting all these red zone opportunities.

and it was it was imbalance. It was field goals instead of touchdowns. And Coach Day went for it on fourth down when they were deep in there, when it was a chip shot. My gut, as I'm watching this, is he saying, we have had this game handed to us. I got to get the six here because these field goals are going to catch up to me. Ironically, had he kicked the field goal,

things certainly would have been different. I don't know if you were feeling that way as well or, you know, what's that coach's mentality when you know, like, this is too good to be true and this can't continue. I got to do something. It also scared. It also, I don't want to say use the word scared,

but it also, you don't forget that as a head coach. When you make that call to go for it, you don't get it. I mean, you're ill. You physically get ill on the sideline and go, why did I do that? Why did I do that? Then I'm not going to do that again. I need points.

But then you look on the other side of the ball. And Sark, I mean, of all the kids, criticism he's taken. Big ball calls. The fourth and six and the fourth and seven. I think it was fourth and six, fourth and eight, both inside his own territory. One on the 30, I think 33 yard line. I mean, those are those are the ones you walk away. Right now, whatever he can tell his team to jump, they're going to say how high because they believe him. And I'm sure he's utilized in team meeting saying, I believed in you. You know, and don't, don't, you're still, these are not pro athletes. I know they're getting paid, but don't undervalue those players looking at that coach and saying,

I got you because you know what? I know you got us. And right now, that's what's rolling in Austin. So what's rolling in Columbus right now, then? She only got 5-0, 50 new players. I talked to Coach Day at length about this, and there's some concern. You know, you don't know until you know. And what does that mean?

You don't know until you know. Well, you just found out about on film, he can, you know, you're exposed. and are there certain guys that maybe they brought in that aren't what they thought they were. I'm not saying that. I haven't talked to them yet this week. But I would not panic because, as I told it, the first comment I made on this thing is those are arguably

the two best teams I've seen on tape right now. When I watch, they look like the old SEC days. They look fast as hell, man. Big and fast. Listen, listen, you know what's going on in Columbus? A miss field go from 45 yards makes it a two-score game, and we're not even talking about this. So it's a handful of plays that determine the outcome of a game.

You can't say it was a field goal. You can't say, you know, if the defense would have got off the field on fourth down. But Texas, I mean, Ohio State had the game. Like, they had the game won. Texas found a way to win it. These are two really good teams. I think we're going to see them both in the playoffs. We better see it in both in the playoffs.

We better see it both in playoffs. There's something went really sideways the following weeks. All right. So from Buckeyes, we transition to the Wolverines. Whittingham, boy, the duress, the stress, the questions that were going on in Ann Arbor after that that asterick win over Western Michigan. And then you get a top 15 Oklahoma team coming into town. In the end, Wolverines win it 1710. The big phrase, coach, you and I, you kept hitting it and I kept reminding you about it post game or whatever, buy-in. You kept saying like, Wittingham's got the buy-in right now.

Explain what that means and what that does for a program. Yeah, every coach, whether they admit it or not, it's reality is that if you take over a program that has had success, there's going to be a constituency, and the only one that matters are players, but you're going to have administrators, you're going to have fans, and, well, this is the way we used to do it. When I took over a Bowling Green, there were one in 10, no one gave us how they did it,

because I could have walked in and it's blind faith. When I took over Ohio State and I took over a guy named Jim Trussell, you're damn right. They're going to be naysayers. So you have to get the buy-in at some point. And when that happens, the buy-ins over. And how do you get a buy-in? A signature win. You can't talk your way into a buy-in.

Not a not a place is not not a place like Alabama and the Wolverines, Ohio State. No, no, no. You're going to have to do it because he's much different that, you know, he's a different guy now. He's a different than what they had there. He's not a Wolverine man or whatever they call that. Michigan man. He's his own guy. Yeah, he's his own guy.

He can't even say Michigan, man. He's got to be a Wolverine man. Coach, where am I from? But you're from up there. You're up there. You're from Flintstone. He's a Flintstone. Exactly.

He's from Flint. He's not from Michigan. He's from Flint. So here's the good news, Frayen Arbor. It's complete. You don't need that like multiple buy-ins. Once it's bought in, they had a signature win against a good Oklahoma team. Their defense is playing freaking lights out.

I talked to Jay Hill, the D coordinator. But buying is complete. Now they've got to continue. And I said this on tape on TV. Mark, that's the worst version of that team you're going to see because those coaches, they have really good coaches there. And you know they have good players. Yes, they do.

They continue to get better. And coach, the fact that a matter is they did it in Michigan, bashing too. They played a nasty, gritty game. Dirty. They had two turnovers on defense. They played field position game. They all over a tier. They got three sacks, eight tackles for loss. They got, they're using Bryce Underwood strengths. He had 18 carries for 87 yards. They're throwing it when they need to. They made it just a gritty, nasty old Michigan wing helmet game. They just made it one of the nasty games and they made it.

How about the starting field position, Mark, for Oklahoma? I think there was a 14-yard line at one point. Yeah, the average starting line was the average starting position for Oklahoma was the 14-yard line in the first half, right? Something like that. They were backed up. They played backed up a field position game, made it nasty, made it dirty, made it ugly, the Michigan way. Yeah, it wasn't sexy, but it was effective. Does Michigan, though, still have a quarterback quandary, Mark, Bryce Underwood?

I mean, the passing numbers and the passing game still aren't there. 9-17, 111 yards, and we knew this was going to happen, we knew they had to run him more. They did 18 carries, 87 yards, and that touchdown, and they're rolling them out of the pocket. I still feel like they don't have a quarterback. At some point, you are going to have to be able to throw this football. Like, what if you get behind, 10-0, 13-0? You know what I mean? At some point, you're going to have to throw the ball for first downs.

37, you're going to throw the ball for first downs. There are 4 for 13 on third down. That's not going to cut it if you want to win the Big Ten championship, if you want to go to make a playoff, right? So this kid has to continue. They are playing to a strength. They moved them around. They bootlegged him. They ran them.

But at the same time, he is going to have to develop every single week. Every single day, there has to be emphasis on his footwork, on going through his progressions, on finding your trek down, of taking what the defense gives you. You know what I mean? So his growth and the success in Michigan goes hand to hand. I agree with you, Mark. And I'm going to add this Big Ten network. We broke down Bryce Underwood.

and I don't know. You didn't see that in the first game against Western Michigan. And I can't imagine that they did have that in the game plan, but maybe they were saving it for Oklahoma, which as you look back was a mistake. But I would say this, that every ounce of investment you put into that freak, there's a play.

There's two or three plays, but there's one. They ran a loaded option into a field pressure. He ran for a long touchdown. I think a 50-yard touchdown, whatever it was. And I paused the film with Coach Stardo there in the United States America, how many big fast men can do that? I'll help you. So every ounce of investment, I would agree with you. I would continue to get Tommy Carr ready. But I'm telling you, after what I saw as a coach, they're doing, they did half-field raids,

they did isolation routes, which mean I'm going to throw to JJ Buchanan on that one third down and seven or what. It was a beautiful, it was an offshore. There's no read on an offshore route. I'm going to throw to you. He set his feet, set his feet, and he delivered a perfect ball. So I think Jason Beck, the offense coordinator, did a much better job in week two than week one. But I'm telling you, it's worth the investment. But I agree with Mark, at some point, just the way the world works, you're going to have to sit in that pocket in a two-minute drill and go win a game. And I don't think he can do that right now.

But I'm still saying he's going through some development. He has all the tools, we said. He has all the tools. When you say you want to make a quarterback, you make it to look like him. But the development and the growth has to happen every single day. It has to be emphasized. And we're going to hear from Coach Woodingham here, but just a moment. I want to leave with this question.

Coach, what grade do you give the Michigan coaching staff from what they did from the end of Western Michigan through the win against Oklahoma? That's an easy one. And I'll tell you, I've got to be careful flying into Columbus, Ohio. I might get assaulted. Hey, when you're keeping it real, man, it can't help but appreciate me. You're keeping it real. But I know the staff.

I know. And even if that was the previous staff, I am. It is what it is. That was an A-plus. That was, you can't, the negativity, because the reality is there should be one-on-one. They lost. They should have lost. But that's good.

Here's a good thing is you won't hear anybody talk about Western Michigan again now because they took care of business. So I'd give them an A-plus from the head coach, Jay Hill, the defense coordinator, and Jason back to the offense quarter. I didn't see that. I picked Oklahoma. I didn't see a way how Michigan could win. You know what I mean?

I didn't see a way how. It was funny though, Mark. You and I were driving over to the stadium and we're having this conversation. I think Bear was in the car with us. I can't remember who else. And we were like, of course Oklahoma is going to win. There's no way Michigan can win because of A, B, C, D. And then we all paused and we're like, which makes us feel like, this is why Michigan's

This is the games Michigan wins. You know what I mean? So, man, hey, this is why we love football. And your job as a head coach is to win a football game. They put together a great game plan. They went into Ann Arbor, Oklahoma came in, with all this hype, won the game. So A plus. Here's a great thing that's going on in Austin and in Ann Arbor is, and Lou Holtz used to say this to me all the time.

You don't coach hard when you lose. I mean, you do do a degree, but you got to be careful. careful because everything's fragile, you know, unless you just don't give a shit like, you know, I've done that a few times. But I mean, when you win games, right now you got them. So you're going to see a lot of hard coaching going on in Austin, Texas, and Ann Arbor right now. Because, you know why? They're listening. And the who is they, the players. Yes. They got the buy-in, coach. They got the buy-in.

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Let's visit Stillwater, Oklahoma, and bring in Oklahoma State first year head coach Eric Morris. Coming off that huge upset of then number six, Oregon. Coach Morris, welcome to the show. Hey, have things settled down in Stillwater yet, or people still celebrating? No, they've settled down. So we had a hard reset with our team this morning. So it's the last we're going to talk about it. And obviously, you know, the tell of two tapes.

And at our worst, this team, you know, lost by two touchdowns to Tulsa and our best. We beat a top 10 opponents. So it showed you, you know, our preparation was phenomenal last week. That was the difference in what happened. We challenged these guys on so many different levels after that loss, you know, such an embarrassing loss, lost in the trenches. And just hats off to our O and D line. Like we dominated that football game up front on both sides.

Congrats, coach. So whenever I remember being at a place for like you're taking on, David versus Goliath, I'm sure not. And that's what you used to do, team. But that's the outside. I looked at it. Was there something on tape that as you were prepping for Oregon, you're like, wait a minute now. You know, we can take a swing at this thing.

And then the second part of that, how did you get that across your players after the tough loss in week one? Yeah, I spend a little bit of time talking to coaches and players. And when you lose, everybody has answers and they have a million reasons of why it happened. And you hear these excuses and it was hot and this and that. And so I listened to those on purpose for about one day. And then I had a staff meeting and a team meeting on Tuesday last week and just had a hard reset and said, hey, like, we're not paying attention to any of this. I said, the only thing we're grading this week is how fast.

our players play. Like we don't have a chance against Oregon unless we're able to pull the trigger and play extremely fast. So, you know, it was a very simple message and what I wanted. And that's the only thing we've graded. Usually keys to victory, we have eight different things, which coach knows. I mean, it's field position, it's turnover battle. It's starting fast. It's money down, third and fourth down conversions. It's red zone conversions. When we evaluate our performance against Tulsa, it was all red. You know, we put what color if we won that or not. And I told, our players, I said, I'm not judging one of those things. Like, if we can't take this game to a simpler form and get our players to execute at a fast level and get them to believe. And so that's all

we graded. We had one goal this week. And I thought our coaches did a great job getting that across our players and our players went out and performed at a high level. I watched some of the tape, and I can't remember seeing an Oregon and landing team beat at the line of scrimmage the way you did on both sides of the ball. And again, I don't want to beat up the Tulsa game, but you mentioned that you lost a Tulsa in the trenches yet you're flipping in probably what, Tuesday, Wednesday practice, did something trigger? I mean, my God, this is a great win. Is there something that triggered in your and his staff's mind is like, wait a minute, we can do this? Yeah, we went back old school and I take some of the responsibility of this as well as as the leader of this program is, you know, my

personality has always been. I have a little man syndrome. Everybody knows it. Like I've had a chip on my shoulder my whole entire life. And I kind of bought in to really study and how NFL teams practice. You know, how, you know, everybody talks about how Kirk Sidnetti has these short practices. And so we have the indoor or whatever. Like we went straight old school. I mean, we, we had inside run. We went outside the whole entire time on the turf. I mean, it was bloody. You know, our scout teams were as geared. it up as they've ever been. We did more good on good than what we've done. I mean, they were two hour hard nose practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. And so just kind of went back to old school way of thinking. And hey, we got to earn this victory in the trenches on Tuesday and Thursday and Thursday and have great days mentally Thursday, Friday. And our kids were locked in. And I think they stepped up to the challenge. And we're a little beat up front right now. I mean, that's just it is what it is, but that's who we have. And, but we went out. And obviously this D-lines is good of a D-line probably as we'll face talent-wise,

just the length and things. But our guys, I thought, you know, especially we ran outside zone as well as we've ran outside zone a long time and we're able to kind of beat a hammer and nothing to hell in this game. Coach, your quarterback, Drew Mestemaker, huge numbers in a wild backstory. I don't think enough people realize that he was all district in high school as a DB and as a punter, but wasn't even a starting quarterback. How did you guys find them. How did you mold them? How did you make them into into this NFL type caliber QB that we're talking about right now? The great quarterbacks that I've been around, what makes them different, I think, is they have great spatial awareness. And we talk about that

when we're recruiting people. And that's why I love people that play other sports and other positions because they're used to playing with their eyes up and they're able to see things develop in front of them and they have great awareness in the pocket. And then they're able to throw people open and anticipate windows. And Drew's as good as anybody I've been around at those things. And then, too, his recall is phenomenal. You know, we do some, some AIQ testing around here that the NFL and NBA used. He's just off the charts and his testing and recall. And so he's somebody that, you know, you can really put a lot on. He can hear it one time in a meeting room and be able to go out and execute it at a high level. Just made some big time.

He's like, I mean, the throw on the flea flickers is good at a throw with somebody, people all around him. And I thought, you know, he was a little bit hesitant. And that's college football this day and age, right? Everybody knows that, you know, these guys are making money. And I think, you know, the build up, like we won the offseason here. I think we had so much positivity. But at the end of the day, we've got to still teach these players how to win, this team how to win. There's so many new guys around it.

And there's an art to doing that, right? And I thought, you know, that's why I was so proud of our kids, just the toughness and the grittiness that they showed for four quarters. And maybe that was best, you know, epitomized when Drew went airborne and spung and flipped around and got himself into the end zone for that kind of iconic touchdown for your program. What was going through your head when you saw him launch himself? And when he landed on the right side, what did that do for Oklahoma State football? Yeah, and I said in the postgame conference, I hadn't seen the pitcher yet, which the pitcher is phenomenal, right? Yes. I said there's probably going to be a pitcher that will live, you know, in the history of this.

program forever, right? And something he'll be able to show his grandkids someday. And so the pitcher is obviously phenomenal, but I think he just shows his competitive character, right? And, you know, he's got some dog in him. He's super competitive. So he got the breath knocked out of him on that one. And we're about to go for two.

So he runs off and, and I said, hey, are you good to go for two here? Should I kick it? Because the book said, go for two in that situation. And he said, let me get a, let me get a drink of water. Let's go for two, coach. So you kind of, you mentioned Signetti. You kind of followed his plan with, have a great season 11 and 2 in North Texas.

Then you pack a whole bunch of them up and bring him with you. How many guys came with you and how many are actually playing? And the turnaround, you know, to beat Oregon probably doesn't happen without you having your guys that know you and know your expectations. Yeah, 22 of them came with us and you include our coaches too. Like the biggest thing for me is, you know, obviously we had to build relationships. Everything's so expedited nowadays when you have so many new people on your roster. And so I think that's something you worry about as a head coach is to be able to build those relationships and get guys that want to go out and sacrifice and for one another on on game day.

And so, but the cool thing for me is like, I didn't have to spend time this all season coaching my coaches. And you know that better than anybody. Like my strength coach came with me. So, and then having those 22 guys that understand. expectation day in, day out, help us in a lot of the off season as far as going out and running some player-led practices. But then like we practice more than we've ever practiced, which I think is going to be another great off-season study for me. But at the end of the day, like these kids are

still young kids. They're still growing and learning. I think as coaches, we expect everything to be perfect early on in the season because we do practice so much more in the summers. It's almost the opposite, in my opinion, watching football right now. Like, I mean, there's been some sloppy football in my opinion, just watching all across the country. And I think it just takes time for, for everybody to get a feel for one another, coaches and players, and to go through and how do you handle adversity. And that was my biggest fear going into the season. Everything was so positive. Like, what are we going to do? How are we going to react? The first thing, something, first time something goes wrong. And obviously, we handled it really bad, week one. And week two, we were able to hard reset.

And I think hopefully this is a blessing in the skies that this happened early in the season. Like obviously we'd love to go back and play Tulsa again and have that game over. That's not the way football works, right? And so we got to do a great job staying in a moment and building off this positive momentum. And not, you know, Mike Leach would always said, don't read your own press clippings, right? And so we got to do, I mean, we'll practice the same way we did a week ago. Like, we'll have some tough practice Tuesday and Wednesday because that's what word for us. Well, my last question for I turn over to Rob is you mentioned them.

It became one of my closest friends, Mike Leach, a legend, a guy that I share quite often. The guy never played. He's a jurist doctor, his attorney. He would say things that made the whole country laugh. But deep in that mind of his, he was a genius. The way he, and he was a tough ass. You know, and I can tell the way you're talking and I've heard about you, that your teams are tough. And I think that's one thing about Leach that people don't give him enough credit.

I can speak to our staff a couple of times and his toughness. And the question I have for you is he would coach coaches on individual drills more than he would the team drills. When he spent a lot of time with him, he said he would watch every individual drill. I've never heard that I actually changed the way I approach things of practice. Do you still, do you have some of that where you coach your coaches off the, you know, the period? at one, two, three, four, which is usually the developmental or individual drills during practice. Is that part of what you do as well? Yeah, there's no doubt.

And too, I've spent a lot of time in reflection. It's my very first job. You know, I was 22 years old and went with Mike to Washington State and to help get that program rejutilized. And, too, I remember back thinking, like, if you didn't do his way and what he believed in, like, you just weren't going to make it, right? And so early on in that season, we weren't very good and we knew that. I coached the wide receivers at that time.

And after week two, obviously things weren't going well. And he was resetting the culture. And he got rid of my best two players because they weren't doing things the way he wanted to do it and weren't accountable to the team. And I just remember thinking and talking to my wife at a young age, like, holy smokes. Like, we're already not very good. And he just got rid of my best two that gave us a chance. but like just in hindsight being able to deliver that message. And yes,

like it was something he taught me so much, you know, through the things. And, you know, I remember we said in the, he didn't think our zone blocking was very good. It's a true story. He,

he had a video of a Crowler drill that he used from the old Oakland Raiders, and they didn't have face mask in this drill. I can't make this up. It was a VHS. We got it translated. And he wanted that to be taught like they taught it. The Oakland Raiders taught it back in the day with no face mask. on and me and the O-line coach sitting there and watch video black and white.

We got to put on the server. And I remember our kids like, holy smokes. Like we're teaching the individual drill, the O-line drill that Mike's teaching from, I don't even know what year it was. But yeah, he was a mastermind of that. And he was so militant behind the scenes, which people don't get that because he was so quirky to the media. But yeah, I would say I run my program like Mike, a lot of day-to-day stuff.

as far as accountability piece of it. Well, you're running your program following the footsteps of a great guy, right? And congratulations on the big victory. You put the Big 12 on notice and put the nation on notice. Cowboys are back, man. Coach Morris, thanks so much for your time. Congrats on the wind. Time to move on from that wind, though, right?

Get back out to practice. Get those wins. We're on to walk through now. It's all over. Perfect. Coach, thanks so much. Coming up next, we hear from another big winner of the weekend, Michigan head coach, Kyle Whittingham joins us on the Triple Option, presented by Wendy.

college football season. It's finally here, and there's nothing quite like a college football Saturday. But you two guys know better than most what it means when an entire season builds towards that championship stage. You know, I remember Mark, our first national championship run, and that was in 06. Really, we didn't think we'd be there. This is back in the BCS era where there was only two teams that would make it. And ironically, we got to play Ohio State. There's nothing like it, man, being able to. who obviously win a national championship with the squad,

win the Heisman trophy. There's nothing quite like chasing those goals with your boys, man. The blood, sweat, and tears you put in, and I'm glad that these young guys going to be able to experience it soon, and especially it's going to be in Vegas. And we know how Vegas gets, man. It's going to be turned up.

It's going to be electric atmosphere. So, man, national championships, Heismans and Vegas, sign me up, dog. I'm all for it. Yes, sir. And this year, the road to Vegas is real. for the first time, as you mentioned, Las Vegas is hosting the college football playoff national championship. College football doesn't just end in Las Vegas.

It builds there all season from opening kickoff through rivalry weekend to the college football playoff national championship. There's no better place to spend your Saturdays for more information and hotel deals. Visit Las Vegas.com. And you know I got to say it, Stoner, who's going to Vegas, baby? We are. Welcome back to the triple option presented by Wendy's, Rob, Mark Urban back here with you. Let's take the conversation to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the head coach of the now 19th ranked Michigan Wolverines. Kyle Whittingham joins us coming off that impressive home win over Oklahoma.

Coach, thanks for joining us. You bet. Happy to be on with you. Appreciate you, Coach. It was good to see again. I feel like I'm part of the damn Wolverine Network or something. I mean, my gosh. enough and I big new new might not be

might be coming back again I was thinking about you the other day and after our conversation and this is really your first you know taking over completely new in your entire which you think about Kyle Whitting and I'm a legendary coach great career but you're like wait a minute

you know you kind of you took over Utah when I was there you ran your I mean you changed however you had to change it but this was a complete new position And the one thing I brought up on, because I dealt with it, is every coach who takes over a program, maybe you haven't felt it. But at some point, you got to get that locker room to buy in what you're doing, especially if you take over all the stuff that was going on in Ann Arbor. They still won nine games. Right.

And it's a winning in this program in college football history. So there's always going to be that, you know, the constituency out there, whether it be fans or most important of those players. well, this is the way we used to do it. Until you get the signature, then it's over. That's what I felt. And I said that on TV, when the clock tick zero in my mind, just after being around the game for so long, if I'm a player, I'm good now.

I'm good. I know we're offensive we got. I know there's stuff to be done. But you want a big-ass game when all the chips were against you. So have you felt that in Ann Arbor? Absolutely. And I think, well, first of all, taking over was a pretty daunting task because, like you said, I had never been anywhere in that situation at all. And so it was, you know, just getting to know everybody and the names and the faces and all that was a challenge.

But that went on Saturday certainly gives credibility to our staff and what we're preaching and, you know, how we're, you know, what we're expecting in the preparation process. And first of all, the buy-in has been pretty darn good to begin with, but I think that really went a long ways to cement that buy-in. And, hey, if we do things a certain way and we respond and practice the way they're asking us to practice, you know, watch film like they're asking us to watch film, then, you know, when you get that kind of result, then obviously the buy-in does get greater. Coach, man, congratulations on a great win. Y'all did a hell of a job going to get that win.

It was great to watch. But I know you ask a lot. I know you answer a lot of questions about your quarterback. Me and coach and Rob, we always say it, man. He has all the physical tools to be a great player in the country. What did you see in his progress from week one to week two? And where do you think he needs to continue to get better? Well, first of all, he did a great job running the football force.

He gained nearly under the yards. He was 87 or something like that. And so that was a big asking. He was going into that. That was a big part of the plan. And to his credit, he was absolutely receptive to that. He'd had no pushback. He said, coach, whatever it takes from winning this game,

and what you can do is what I'm willing to do. So that was probably the biggest factor in the game is the rush yards that he provided us. And in fact, somebody told me, I had researched it, but Oklahoma, that was the most rushing martyrs they've given up since the 2024 season against Navy. That's pretty stingy rushing offense.

And to be able to run them all effective as I can do. And defend a lot of effective, We got off 100 yards on the ground, which those numbers this past week were much more who we want to be and who we try to be. And then we got more plus two in the funeral of the margin, whereas a week or minus three, I mean, there were so many things that were more conducive in week two that we put on tape in week one. And that was great to see because that needed to happen. In week one, we were atrocious. There's no two ways about it. We escaped in the victory, but it didn't feel like it.

I mean, it was something that we were, you know, shaking our heads and they were wonderful. what happened. And I think it was a situation where it almost seemed like you just needed to show up and week on and everything would take care of yourself. That's now how football is. You've got every single week. If you're not, then what happened to work on Saturday? Not ready to play. Pretty much any given Saturday, anybody can meet anybody if one team is not ready to play. I think we got that message loud and clear and our guys responded on this past Saturday. Hey, I want to build on Bryce Underwood. I did a breakdown on Big Ten network. And I thought Jason Beck, your OC, you know, we've all had a quarterback, and he's still

young. I mean, he was thrown into the fire, you know, with all the chaos and all that, he was throwing the fire. Then all of a sudden I saw, you know, that you pumped the hitch and then you threw the whole shot. You ran, I haven't seen you guys run the option route on that third. I think that was the best throw of his career where he reset his feet on a third and eight. I mean, he finished on balance. So I see in isolation. and Helfield Reeds. And then you're seeing, I broke down the, it was actually the perfect play I called it.

You checked, I don't know if you checked into it or not, but they felt a field pressure, and you ran the load option, and he kept it. Right. And I paused the film with Jerry DeNardo, and I said, how many men in the game can do this? And I answered it. That's a big-ass guy running.

He outran an SEC secondary for a time. touchdown. So every investment that you put into this cat, it's got to be where I know you're getting Tommy, you know, because at some point he might have to, like Mark said, to do a two-minute drill. Do you feel like you're seeing return on your investment with Bryce? Absolutely. And he is such a willing football player. I mean, he, like I said, he, whatever he, you know, we need him to do, he's willing to do. And his work habits are terrific. He's a leader at practice. You know, we run our 2020's before practice to warm up and he's first in every single rep. I mean, he does things the right way. And you're right. He's still very young in the big scheme of things. And we just

turned 19 years old a month ago. And he's, I think the best days are ahead for Bryce. And he wants to be great. I've said that probably a hundred times in the last, you know, a few months. But he is a guy that that is the team leader. You know, he's voted by a landslide team captain. So the, you know, he's got his peers, you know, all the respect from the peers. And, and also, you know, on Saturday, Bryce was awesome, but the offensive line played so much better than we. We did not play well at all up front. And I'll tell you what, we ratcheted things up. We, the challenge I threw to the team on Monday in last week's team meeting was do more. Simple. Simple. Just do more. And everything you do, weight room, film room, with your hydration,

with your nutrition, at practice, find a way to do more, not just the players, everyone in the building, you know, coaches included, and they really answered the bell and responded. And they were absolutely ready to play on Saturday with the right mindset. And the effort and the energy and the passion they played with was great to see. So if the model last week was do more, you have UTEP this week and then unbeaten ranked Iowa in town week four, what's the messaging? What's that mantra going forward this week? Well, we've got to build on the Oklahoma game.

You know, we can't just think that, you know, we can't revert back. But week one of you show up and things will take care of themselves. That's not how football is. And so hopefully we've got the message loud in career, but if you show up with the right mindset, play the game like it's supposed to be played with passion and energy, then, you know, that's what are you going to be successful? And so the proof is in the pudding.

I'm just looking at the two game. I'm just looking at the two-in-chaudet on week one. Are we going to be the team showed up on week two? Or not sure to move two. And that's, you know, those are the auctions. I got a last question for you, coach. I talked to Jay Hill yesterday. I just texted him and said,

I watched tell you, you know, you spied Mateer. You know, you did the 38 and multiple coverages behind it. You know, you bring in a guy that, you know, you're a defensive-minded coach, but the value of having a guy that's almost like when I had Dan Mullen, you know, when I had my guy. Right. And he was, I'm not sure the whole country realizes that Jay Hill was a GA for me, but he's actually was your guy.

And I watched you two work together. Then he worked for you, one on his own, went to BYU, and you brought him. The comfort level with a guy like J.O, you know, is your defense court here has got to be phenomenal. And that isn't it's huge. And you have a blast and you trust on your staff. You know, I always need your staff. But hey, if somebody came in and said, hey, I'm thinking about moving on, would I be disappointed? Do I be excited?

I'm telling me why now there's not one guy in our staff. And if they came in and said, hey, I'm thinking about taking them the job, I'd be very disappointed. I don't want to use any of them. And Jay fits right into that category. He's, you know, we recruited him. He played for us. He coached for us. And I can't think of a better fit for Michigan right now than Jay.

He'll run this defense. And he's done a great job the first two weeks. And Jay is very sharp, obviously, and does a great job of disguising and constructing a game plan that, you know, so two for two now around. But he'll only allow more touchdown in eight quarters of football and zero touchdowns in the red zone. And we're doing some good things on defense. Coach, we know your time is precious.

So thanks for joining us on short notice here Monday on the triple option. We look forward to it. I have a funny film we might be seeing you in the near future. Michigan back inside the top 20 unbeaten at 2 and O coming up next. Mark's got his dog of the week. And we look ahead to week three, including Lane Kiffin's return to Old Miss on the triple option presented by Wendy's. Welcome back to the triple option presented by Wendy's.

before we make our week three picks it's been a while since I've heard oh is that what it is I thought it was a blip there's she is the dog of the week is back coach the do's do which is not as excited about it

as I get the deuce but you got to listen to the dog though because are you a dog are you a dog no I love the dog I hate the I love the park. I love the park. My dog is right behind me right now. Her ears are perking up, Mark.

All right, time now for your week two. Duce-Duce, dog of the week. Oh, I know where we're going. I know where we're going. We've been there already today. Let's go back there. You know what we're going, Coach. Still on.

We got to listen to the dog. But you got to listen to the dog. Because it was a dog performance. And you know who I'm going with? I'm going out to Oklahoma State. I'm going with Drew Messemaker. He gave us 426 total yards, coach. He gave us 300.

and 17 passing. A huntie, what you call the coach? A huntie and nine on the ground. Three TDs and his legs were a huge part of why they defeated and upset Oregon. When he needed to make plays, he made them. When he needed to throw, he threw it. When he needed to run, he run it. And when he needed the ball, he did the shot call and he got the dub against Oregon. So Drew Mestemaker, number one, dog of the wheat. You'll never be number two because you was number one. It's the first doose doose dog of the week and you him. I'll tell you what, what Eric Morris, the coach said about that quarterback when he said,

and when he launched himself in the end zone, he said, hey, we're going to go for two. You're good with that? He said, let me get a rinse here real quick. Give me a set, coach. But he said, yes, let's do it. Just give me a beat, man. That's a doll performance. Hey, hey, that win, that win changes a lot.

Listen, that changes the narrative in the Big Ten, big time, right? Remember, Oregon at two to six and now plummeting, plummeting down the AP. And say whatever you want about the AP 25. But boy, all of us had huge expectations for Oregon. Mark, on Big No, we were like, hey, what's your concern level for Oregon? Low. You were like a four, three, a four after the struggles at home with Boise State. So how about this?

What's your concern level for Oregon right now? 78,000. It's off the radar. A fire alarms. I wasn't concerned. Now I'm extremely concerned because not only what you continuously do, what you repeatedly do is who you are, getting beat up in the front of the trenches with amazing players.

I don't know how. All this is a line, defense line, both getting beat up. And you just play it down to your competition, right? So I don't know. Right now I am concerned. I got to go watch the tape, but I am concerned about this team right now. Coach, you talk about this all the time, and it's one of the reasons that Indiana is having this

sustained success. They're not having the turnover behind the scenes with the coaches. Oregon lost both coordinators in the offseason. I'm not blaming the two new coordinators, but at some point, all this turnover and turmoil starts to catch up with you. Yeah, it caught up to us. I mean, that's awful when you start losing great coaches, which they did. Both Will Stein went to Kentucky, Tosh went to Cal. But they, you know, the elevator from within. So, you know, we talked at, length about the buy-in at Wolverines with a new coaching staff, even with I seen it, even with a coordinator transition.

You still, right now, there's, because it's very hard for a player or a coach to say, you know what, that's on me. Imagine all the social media, the, your agents, you're telling you, it's not you, it's the coach. So that obviously starts to bleed into a program. I've witnessed it. I've seen it. I promise you that's going on at Oregon. And what degree?

I don't know. I mean, that's, and Coach Lannning, you could see his concern in his interview. He, you talk about owning it. He said, that score might have looked close. It wasn't close. Wasn't. So he's owning it, and he's a tough ass, and don't get it right, but the concern level is legit, legit.

And I think, you know, point out the new coordinators. Are the coordinators back coaches? No one's ever said that. But right now, it's seeping into a program, and I've witnessed it over my, of Mark has that we all have. in any sport. Whenever there is a failure,

it's very hard to say, I did that. It's going to be, well, if they were to call different plays, we don't want. But it stopped.

Or even a coach, or a coach, and if I had different players, we would have won. So there's that going on, I promise you. But, you know,

to what degree that's up to Coach Laining and that staff? I got a ton of belief in Coach Lany. He'll sort this out, but the teeth of the schedule is starting to show,

right? and USC's coming up in a couple weeks. By the way, not enough people talking about USC. I'm just saying that right now. The Trojans, Mark, you know what they are? They're a problem. They are a problem. And that was Bring the Beef.

Your team's beef is never frozen, and neither is ours. Wendy's Bring the Beef. All right, let's transition now to week three, and the weight is over. Football is here, and so is Draft Kings. The Draft King's Sports app is now live in all 50 states. That means from Texas to the great state of California, or I'm sitting here right now to Florida where you guys are.

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two ranked Big 12 teams, two unbeatens. Houston at number two. 22 and Texas Tech at number 13. Texas Tech has been that program mark that when you talk Big 12, you're talking Texas Tech lately. Well, guess what? They are no longer the highest ranked team in the Big 12. Why?

You. Up four spots to number 11. So right now, BYU is running the Big 12. And again, I think some of this narrative is because it has been a sluggish start for the Red Raiders. Losses on the defensive line certainly start. starting to impact than the pass rush hasn't been what we've seen from them in the past. Then there's people like, man, you know what, maybe we just bought in too much on Texas Tech and we need to cool our jets a little bit.

Quarterback issue, we know everything that went on in the offseason. Will Hammond so far through two games, two touchdowns, one interception. That's it. Just two touchdowns from a Texas Tech quarterback through two games. Doesn't sound right. 487 yards. Remember, came back earlier than they really wanted him to from that knee. injury. The other thing to remember at quarterback, they had that late ad, Tommy Castellanos.

So Castellanos, right? Remember, UCF, B, C, Florida State last year. So he's a guy who can throw it. He's a guy who can run it. He's just an athlete. They have been utilizing him. They've been dropping him in in certain packages. It'll be curious to see how that balance progresses. For Houston, excuse me, they stayed at number 22 this week. They've been a trendy pick for a while, to make noise here in the Big 12. Willie Fritz has this reputation of kind of year three is where he really starts breaking things out. Listen, if Houston gets the win,

Big Noon kickoff is looking at Houston's home schedule. Right? We're saying we need to get down there. We need to check out on the Cougars. But guess what, guys? It ain't happening. Texas Tech is home. I got this one wild stat for you,

and I know it's only two games. 100% of the time, when Houston's opposition is in the red zone, the opposition scores. So they're not playing no defense in the red zone. 100% of the time Texas Tech's offense is in the red zone. Hello. Red zone will be a factor.

I think Texas Tech gets a get right thing that I think they need. They need. You know what we're going to be watching that one from London. London. By the way, or maybe we'll assume we're going to be watching it from London, isn't it? I know. We can't wait to get to London.

All right. let's get to game number two. Florida State 1-1. Alabama, your crimson tied, get a little chance at some revenge. By the way, the big news, though, out of Tallahassee early Monday, they fired their athletic director,

Michael Alford, which immediately puts the head football coach Mike Norvell on an even hotter seat. What they say? The guy who hired you isn't there. What they say? Crap runs downhill. And when the top geek got

is coming down for the rest of the sport, spots. You know what I mean? I had not heard that. Crap run down. What kind of... See, for some people, I thought it would just stay where it happened. That's what I heard.

No, but sometimes Stone, it doesn't matter about stats. It doesn't matter about who you have lined up. All that matters is, you made us a mockery. You made us the laughing stock of college football. So right now it's about pride. It's about Bamma Nation, the ones who come before you, but once are coming after you. We have to hold it down and make this about principalities, Sir Stoner.

We have to make it about principalities. And we got to whip that tail when they come to Tuscaloosa. Now I'm going to break it down to you. But none of this matters because it's about pride. Okay, we should make Ashton Davs throw the football. We need to make this man throw the football because they got a back named Kroma who really toast that rock. Then they got Ashton Daniels. We could tote the rock as well. So if I'm Alabama,

which we've been doing really well against the run this year, we need to stop the run, make Ashton Daniels throws to beat us. And offensively, offensive line, I challenge you. We need you better than you was in week one. We need you better than you was in week two. Because offensive line, we're going as far as you take us. And their defenses cost five turnovers so far this year. So take care of the football. Let's run the football and protect my young bull, Keele and Russell. Let's go. Vamination. We're going to win this game. You know this

because they don't appreciate us. They don't believe in us. But I believe, and I don't give a piss about nothing but the tide. And you know that, Coach. But some stuff's about pride. And this shit is about pride, coach. Is a lot of that because of what happened last year, the 31-17

lost in talent? Yes, I know. The laughing stock. It's about pride, don't. It ain't even about none of this. They tried to, hey, they did us one type of way and we got to do them three, four, five different kind of ways on Saturday in Tuscaloosa. You can't come in our house and do this stuff, man.

Coach, I love when Mark gets unhinged and just starts going on these rants. Like, I guarantee you, principality was not in your, on your script tonight to talk about principalities. You know what the principalities is, coach? The principalities. I'm just enjoying us, Mark. I know.

I'm so. I'm done. It's about pride, coach. I am. Hey, Coach, in all seriousness, if you're Mike Norvell right now, you can't be really enjoying enjoying things. And this game just took on a greater magnitude inside that personal office. Yeah, Mike's a great friend, and I just, I'm a coach's guy, so I've been there and you feel for all those families. In reality is it's staring right in the face. He's coaching for his career, his life, and is what it is. You know, it's not just him, too. You got nine, you used to be nine coaches.

now it's probably 25 coaches and a group of players right now that are just getting smoked right now by the media. So yeah, this is a tough gig for, and then, you know, you're probably the guy that hired you and the guy that you see every day, you're AD, and you're trying to figure things out, and all of a sudden that office is empty. Yeah, it's tough.

It'll be a tough one for Florida State, big road trip for them, but the game. The game. Hottie. Toddy. Tottie. Hey, Lane Kiffin, an unbeaten LSU, roll into his old neck of the woods, beautiful Oxford.

Hey, Coach, what you said after week when we saw? You said they got some fast, fast dudes on the outside, huh? Talking about Ole Miss, huh? Yeah, both. Who's the best teams in the SEC right now? They're playing, I think. It's so early you don't know because a lot of guys have a pretty. Georgia, Texas.

Nobody's talking about Georgia. Nobody's talking about Georgia, by the way. Nobody. Kirby loves it. I saw what I saw with Ole Miss, and they gave up some yards on defense to Louisville. But this is, I think this is, I hate always talking about coaches,

but I just, I can put myself in it a little bit. And you have two of the brashes, you know, I don't know Pete Golding, the coach at Ole Miss. I never met him. Obviously, he's a hell of a coach, but I go back to the tampering thing

that happened to Clemson. And he came out, I think he came out and said, you come after me. I'm going to tell you what's going on. is, you know, and I mean, who does that? And I was like, watching that going, this is the new era. And then you have a guy, Lane Kippano, I know fairly well, he's shooting free throws. And someone said he shot an air ball, but he's shooting free throws. It was a fade away. It was a fade away

from distance. But, Rob, the game was going on. Yes, I'm aware. And you walk in wearing your double-breasted suit and I'm just, I'm staring at, and, you know, this is the new era of coaches. You know, and I heard Lane Kippen say this, that how do you have a program like a saving type discipline, yet let them have be themselves and all that? And my answer is, I don't know. I don't know how to do that. I would say, do it the saving way,

and like we did it, and very regimented, and they're not doing that. So this, I can't wait to watch this game. I can't, because discipline will win this game. The team that screws her. around and turns a ball over, has stupid penalties. It always happens in these kind of games. You just saw the Wolverines. Mark said they won a dirty, nasty, ugly game.

And how they do that? Play very disciplined ball. Then turn a ball over and play field position. That what this game is going to come down to. Who can play the most disciplined ball? You have an offensive coach, Lane Kiffin, against a defensive-minded peak holding. They've seen each other in practice for years.

So this is going to be a very intriguing game. What are you got, coach? And I can't call a winner. You have to. You have to pick somebody. This is called pick them. It's week three, pick them. Pick somebody.

It is. I have to pick someone, Robb. Robb picks tech. I pick Belma. Ideally, it would be nice, coach, if you pick somebody. Yeah, you guys have easy pick. You picked this game. You had your choice of all three of these games, and you picked this one to talk about.

All right, I'm going to go with, I think LSU is the most talented team. Talent, usually talent. talent usually wins. I think it's going to be a walk-off, and the legend of Lane Kiffin will continue to just mesmerize the country. It's week three pickle, coach. It's not week three, cliff-hanging. It's week three pick-l.

Can I go back to the basketball shot one more time? Was it an airborne? I need to know that. Do we have the clip? I thought he caught, I thought he caught him. Admin. I know we had the clip. Admin. Do we have the clip?

Admin. Oh, my goodness. People are like banging on keys. I'm not trying to press. I want to go back. If he shot an air ball, I'm going to Ole Miss. If he at least hit rim, I'm going to pick. Okay.

All right. But all right, I want to go back to this shot. Can you even imagine coach if one of your assistants is firing up a shot in the middle of a game on some like little prop basketball hoop? My guess is you would absolutely lose your mind. What would have it? But, A, you wouldn't even have it on the field. And probably same with Coach Save it, right? because that's a smart thing to do.

But Mark, you're a young man. If you're an impressionable teenager, if you're a five-star, four-star recruit out there, and you're laying the beat-down on Clemson, and your coach with his visors out there firing up a shot and engaging with his team with these kids because clearly that hoop is there because it resonates. That hoop is probably in practice.

That hoop is probably in meeting rooms. And not only is your coach shooting fade-ways, your guy who just went for pick six, he's doing a Vince Carter windmill dunk on it. Heem. A Vince Carter windmill dunk on him. And if I'm a young boy, if I'm a young baller, and I'm from Louisiana, and I'm from the South, and I'm from anywhere, I'm like, damn, they balling.

They're having fun. And I want to be a part of that. I want to be a part of that. Yeah, coach, I'm going to talk mess to you because you hit the fade away. You know what I mean? I'm talking about Coach Lane, you know, hitting the fade away, but you ain't you airballing her. I don't know what he did, but listen, Coach, the players, they out there windmilling on the thing.

Mid-series, hey, man, I'm telling you, I told you guys from the start when they hire land, I said LSU is going to be a problem. Then you give them the resources, give them the backing, and all the Cajun, all the Louisianaans, they are loving it, and you can't tell them nothing right now. All those principalities down there. It's about pride.

I see power. I see a bad ape mother. who don't take no stuff off of nobody. That's from Cool Runners, so whatever. Man, I want to know what you had for breakfast today because it's working. I need a piece of it. One app, every sport, all 50 states. New Draft Kings customers sign up with the code TTO, like the triple option.

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