Will Cain Country - The Truth About College Football Contenders: Arch Manning, Clemson, and Miami (ft. Jake Crain)

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

On the Friday sports edition of 'Will Cain Country,' Will and the Host of 'Crain and Company,' Jake Crain dig into the biggest stories early on in football. They debate Arch Manning’s shaky start at Texas, evaluate which teams are true national title contenders, and revisit preseason quarterback hype versus breakout stars. They also preview the weekend’s top college matchups, including Florida–Miami, Indiana–Illinois, and Auburn–Oklahoma, before turning to the NFL to ask whether Josh Allen has overtaken Patrick Mahomes as the league’s best quarterback. Subscribe to 'Will Cain Country' on YouTube here: ⁠⁠Watch Will Cain Country! ⁠⁠Follow 'Will Cain Country' on X (@willcainshow), Instagram (@willcainshow), TikTok (@willcainshow), and Facebook (@willcainnews) Follow Will on X: ⁠⁠@WillCain (00:00) – Arch Manning’s struggles at Texas(06:30) – Which teams are real national title contenders?(15:00) – Overhyped vs. breakout QBs this season(24:00) – Weekend preview: Florida–Miami, Indiana–Illinois, Auburn–Oklahoma(34:30) – NFL talk: Josh Allen vs. Patrick Mahomes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pumpkin is here at Starbucks and we're making it just the way you like. Handcrafted with real ingredients like our real pumpkin sauce and rich espresso sprinkled with pumpkin spice. It's full of real flavors you'll keep coming back for. Made just for you at Starbucks. Is Archmanning a bust? Is Cade Klubnick a bust? Is John Matier?

the best quarterback in college football. We break it down with Jake Crane of Crane and Company. It is Will Kane Country. Streaming live every Monday through Thursday at the Wilcane Country YouTube channel, the Fox News Facebook page, Terrestrial Radio, and available on demand at Spotify. or on Apple, as is this episode, this Friday edition of Cane on Sports.

It's a good weekend to get away, to get your mind off where we've been in America. Nothing is better to do so in time with family, friends, and football. College football this weekend has a slate of games that looks to begin to answer the questions that we have to ask about some of the most famous and best players in college football. And here's a thought experiment. What would it take? Under what scenario could Steve Sarkisian at the University of Texas bench Archmanning? That's one of the many questions, plus a game of buy, seller, hold I put to the host of Crane & Company at the Daily Wire, Jake Crane. What's up, Jake?

Well, thanks for having me, my friend. And yeah, it's a great time of year, football season, NFL and college. So we're ready to rock and roll, been rock and roll. over at Cranet Company. All right. I know you guys are. I know you always do. And it's a great relief for many of the things

that are weighing heavy on all of us as a society. But it's nice to have a little bit of normal life back and to talk a little football. And it's not the most exciting weekend in college football, but there are a few games

we want to pay attention to. We also want to talk about a few teams that have made us second-guessed our assumptions before the season and a few players. I think the place we have to start is in my own backyard. Let's start with Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns. Let's start with First Arch.

So buy, sell or hold, Jake. Archmanning is a bust. Well, look, I'm going to hold, to be honest with you, though. Like, there's never probably been a better time to buy Arch Manning stock when it's this low. Because eventually, I think he's going to be fine. He was never going to be what Paul Feinbaum and some of these other people made him out to be on such a small sample size this quickly. It takes time. But, you know, watching Archplay quarterback right now, it's like watching Jimmy Kimmel try to be funny.

It's painful. It's not rhythmic. It seems off. You know what he looks like? He looks like a young quarterback that is finally the guy that is playing competition that is moving too fast for him. He's having to try and process information and move at a level that he's never had to do it before. And that's going to take time regardless of the talent around him. So just like we weren't hyping up Arch Manning, like most people in the world saying he's basically an Avenger before the season,

I'm not ready to put him on the raft and push him out yet. He's going to figure it out. You watch the whole shot he threw against Ohio State. There's some clips where you can see it, but it's the layups. It's the easy throws. It's the routine things that he's not doing right now. and typically that's where a young quarterback struggle. So I'm going to hold.

It's too early to tell, just like it was too early to tell, based on him lining up and basically being a wildcat quarterback last year in spots. Yeah, I'm going to hold as well, but I'm going to be more honest about my reasons, not that you're dishonest, but my reasons are for hope. I'm having a hard time rationalizing where the buy opportunity is, other than hope and hype. And I'm rooting for Arch. The problem is what I see right now isn't easily explained away through rationalization.

Like, I want to believe everything you said. But on the other hand, man, I think to myself, well, he's been at the University of Texas for three years. He got to be an understudy to Quinn yours. He's been working with Steve Sarkisian for two years. And he is supposed to be someone that has down. his fundamentals. And that's the exact thing that's betraying him. I expect and understand a little bit of adjustment. But at this point, like the, oh, he played against low level high school competition and he's a young quarterback doesn't hit home with me because for two years he's

been practicing against national championship and with national championship level talent at Texas. And so I start to go, well, when is he going to put it together? And he played well against Mississippi State and lower level competition last year. So I'm either at this place, Jake, where I'm like, well, he was way oversold, and there's a reason that he didn't start over Quinn Ewers. And there's a reason that he ran the Wildcat last year. And those reasons were clear to Steve Sarkisian. But then I say, well, then why did you push Quinn Ewers out the door? If you knew this was where we was, wouldn't one more year of Quinn Ewers have been the right decision for what I think is a national championship roster otherwise.

Maybe he's just rattled. Maybe Ohio State game and the environment just got him. But he throws his fundamentals out the door. He makes dumb mental plays. I agree with you. He doesn't see the field. It's all going too fast. That interception that he threw against U-Tip

where he actually went against the field, like that's middle school level stuff. They say, don't throw it across the field, across your body. And so, man, I'm really concerned. I'm holding, but I'm holding for hope. Yeah. Well, the concern is warranted. And, you know, I live in a world, and I know you do too, where two things can be true at once.

He was oversold. We spent the last year and a half on our show telling everyone that this guy is not, at least to this point, where some are saying that he is. And Will, you know this as well. It's one thing to do it in practice. It's one thing to do it at La Mn Roe. You can be an understudy on Broadway for two years. years waiting if the lead actor gets sick or whatever, but until you're out on that stage and it's go time and the lights are on and it's real, that's when you really find out.

I mean, at coach college football for 10 years, we had some guys that were terrible in practice, awful in practice. You put them in the game, though, and they shine. It's just the makeup of how they are. We've had other guys that were great in practice. You throw them out in the game and they fall apart. But at the end of the day, it hasn't all been bad from arch. And to be honest, when you against Ohio State, I don't think the play calling was great from Sark. I think Sark protected him a little bit. I thought Hartline did the same at Ohio State a little bit for Julian Sane, but it's still too early for me to go ahead and say, this guy can't do it, because all it takes is a couple good games, a couple big moments to get that confidence

that a new quarterback needs. So that's why I'm still in a holding pattern, don't want to go too far either way. But having said that, Willie, better start to figure it out because it's not like the schedule is going to get you. There's not a lot of U-TAPs left on the schedule. You're going to get tested, but that's what you want. That's why you signed up. It's going to be interesting to see, but it's a tough spot for Arch right now. Let's take a quick break, but we'll be right back on Will Kane Country. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot track side. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and

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Please contact ConX Ontario at 1-866-531-2,600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Welcome back to Will Cain Country. Okay, I've got a fun game for you, Jake. Not fun for Steve Sarkisian or Archmanning. But you can reject the premise if you like. But I think Texas is a national championship level team. What I mean by that is everywhere else on the team, they're really, really, really good. And they're playing well.

Their defense is incredible. their wide receivers and running backs are studs. The offensive line has a few questions, but I think they've been playing actually pretty well. At some point, you have to say, well, is my quarterback holding back a team that could otherwise achieve at possibly very high levels? At any other football team, maybe at any other circumstance, there would be a consideration at some point if we can't figure this out, then we're going to have to make a change

at quarterback now they recruited a kid from troy who's a senior who's got a lot of starting experience i think some of those backups have been exciting in spring ball um but i can't imagine a scenario i can't imagine the situation where steve sarkisian benched archmanning and you think about why there's like so many things that go into that calculus beyond who gives me the best chance to win obviously his last name your ability to continue to recruit five-star quarterbacks your relationship with the Manning family, the implication that you are not developing somebody with so much talent. Can you imagine a scenario where Steve Larkeesian was cold enough to do that to bench Arch? I mean, yeah, if you're going to stay true to your word, because here's the problem.

It's not just Arch that's on the team. You've got a hundred other guys on that roster. And if you treat guys differently, you lose respect in that locker room. How can you sit here and look at the rest the team and say, hey, Arch can play bad. We're not going to bench him. Arch can hold us back. We're not going to bench him. But right guard, oh, you missed that block. We're going to let the second team right guard start this game this next week against Florida. So to me, you've got to keep the same energy for everybody. And I would rather, if I'm going to fall on the sword, I would rather fall on the sword of I treated all my guys the same to keep the respect and culture I have in that locker room as opposed to, well, he's a manning. Well, we promised he was going to be

amazing, he was supposed to be the next guy, so we're going to give him more chances. This isn't like Major League Baseball, where you draft a guy really early and pay him a lot, and he may be hitting 280, and there may be another guy that you drafted in the 22nd round that's hitting 300. Well, you're probably going to call up that guy you're paying the most that you drafted the earliest that's hitting 280, even though he's not hitting 300. I understand that. And I know there's NIL in college football, but football is the ultimate team sport. And when you're responsible, responsible for that many human beings in the locker room and this team has to move as one organism with 11 guys on the field the first time because nobody can smell a rat like an 18 to 22 year old or a 17 year old or even kids in high school because they see it every day so you run the risk of losing the locker room or losing your credibility to the locker room if you continue to let a player play that is hurting you but the question now becomes then is the backup better because if the backup was better or it was even close I think you would have seen more of a competition before this season not just hand in the Lamborghini keys to arch and say go drive around the

neighborhood with the top off and wink at girls like at some point though you have to put your foot like Josh hypo with Nico Josh said all right that's fine you want to go you go we're going to treat everybody the same it don't matter if you're the starting quarterback it don't matter if you're the backup outside linebacker so that's what I'm interested to see with steve because while it sounds black and white it never really is that much but eventually you got to make a decision well let's do a couple other guys same thing so buy sellhold DJ Lagway Florida quarterback is a bust I'm gonna I'm gonna say by right now because he was the starter for almost half the season last year and did well but when I look at

DJ to me there is something going on with him from a not just going through your read standpoint not just being organized as a quarterback but he's still playing like he's in high school and he can get away with things that he shouldn't be able to get away with. Now, at the end of the day, do I think he's a little beat up? Yes. Do I think it's multiple things? Yes.

And what I don't understand is why Florida, with the run game they have, with ball, who's an NFL back, with an offensive line that's pretty good on the run-blocking standpoint, they're still throwing the ball as much as they have with DJ. I mean, you look at the second half

of that LSU game. The amount of balls that he's putting in harm's weight after having that experience, right now I think he's mentally shot. I think there is mentally something going on with DJ Lagway that is not easily fixed, and I think it's going to rear its head again at Miami, especially if they go down 10 points, double digits somewhere at the end of the first half going into the second half. I would go ahead and buy that DJ Lagway is not going to work out at Florida.

Now, long term, we'll see he has the ability, but I am not confident right now in anything that is going on in his head and in that pocket. Okay, Florida versus Miami is one of the best games of this weekend. Miami might be the best team in the country by sell-hold. Carson Beck is the best quarterback in college football. Oh, I don't want this to be a cop-out. I'm going to hold because I picked John Mateer to win the Heisman, and we actually did our quarterback rankings with our buddy Josh Pate yesterday,

and I've got Mate at one. I know the Texas man, you're going to love that probably. I had Oklahoma going to tend to. I agree. He's number one, John Matier. Yeah. He does a lot of good things. You know, when I look, though, it's so funny, and it just shows you the irony of college football that Carson Beck leaves Georgia, goes to Miami, and has a better run game and better pass protection. Because at the end of the day, if you give Carson Beck time in the pocket,

he's going to carve you up like a Thanksgiving turkey. And this Miami offensive line gives him time. He's going through. progressions. What they did against Notre Dame against man coverage was a borderline war crime at the end of the day, especially on third down and medium to third down and long. But people forget last year at Georgia, they couldn't run the ball. That was one of the biggest disappointments. Georgia, LSU, and Alabama were supposed to have these amazing offensive lines that could line up and smash you and mush you and do all this, but they struggle to run the ball. Carson Beck's got the full menu now. It's not the brunch menu. It's not the lunch

menu. It's not the dessert menu. Hell, it's not even the happy hour menu. It's the full menu, baby. Waffle House. Anything you want, you can get it at any time. That's why I agree with you right now. I think Miami is the most dangerous team in the country. And Carson Beck has fit in and meshed well enough at Miami with his personality. That's way different than Cam Ward. And you see that machine starting to go. And I think that confidence is bleeding not only through offensively, but defensively as well, because they're flying around knocking people's teeth through the back of their throwed on defense too. Miami's a problem with Mario. Hopefully, though, Will, there's no need where he needs to take a knee an important time.

They keep playing the way they're playing right now. They may be able to take knees in the third quarter at the end of the day. So I'm going to hold Carson Beck at two, but it's a borderline 1B, not even a two to John Mateer. Well, we just discussed, I was going to ask you about him, but we basically just discussed John Mateer, who I would have sold on Carson Beck being the best quarterback in the country because I have to buy that with John Mateer. But Beck's success does make me revisit the choices of Quinn Ewers,

drafted in the seventh round by the Miami Dolphins, whether or not coming back to University of Texas or going to someplace like, say, Oregon, I think it's clear that Quinn Ewers would have benefited professionally and developmentally by coming back to college football for one more year, like what's happened with Carson Beck. So that's a good transition to this. We talked about Miami, but currently Miami is number four,

the AP poll. The lowest, well, there's a couple of undefeateds that come in in Illinois and Texas, A&M, Oklahoma, and Iowa State. But one of the undefeateds that is ranked, I think, a little too low. So my question is, buy, sell, or hold, the most underrated team in the country right now is number six ranked Oregon. I'm going to sell. I don't believe, Will. I don't believe in that front seven on defense. I like Dante more. I think old Duke can boogie. They got some wider decorian decorian's a problem on the outside. Oregon's always going to have receivers. But what's shocking to me is go watch that defensive line in that front seven against Northwestern. Because it's not like they've played murderers row to start out the season. The lack of ability to play on the other side

of the line of scrimmage against Northwestern worries me against Penn State. James Franklin watching that film of Oregon versus Northwestern. It's basically Sherman Clump going to a golden corral mouth open, drooling, how many plates can I get? They may not throw it. Penn State may not throw it. We watched them last year in a game, not throw it in the second half. They're going to line up and give that ball to Singleton and Allen may work some play action in there. But if you look at the track record, and this is what's crazy, Will, and we talk about this all the time on the show of Dan Landing at Oregon, what's been their problem in big? games. It's the defense. They can't stop people. They can score. But Dan Lanning's a

defensive guy and they've continually in big games struggled to stop people, even in games that they've won. Go back and look at the Big Ten championship game last year. So the front seven to me looks worse than it was last season. And when you get into these games, especially in the Big Ten, and everybody out there knows this, that is a pure line of scrimmage league. That is a pure ground game defensive front seven league. I actually think Oregon's a little bit overrated. Well, I'll go opposite with you on that one. We'll be right back on Will Cain Country.

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Be like goldfish. Welcome back to Wilcane Country. Let's keep this going, and there's a couple of different angles to talk about underneath this one. This was at the beginning of the year. So at the beginning of the year, I would have asked you buy, seller, hold. Clemson is a national championship contender. So we'll address that one again right now. And I think it also leads us into a conversation about not only Cape Klobnik,

but all the guys we talked about preseason, like Klubnick, Manning, and Lasaurus-Snellers at South Carolina, Lenora Sellers, at South Carolina. So first of all, let's just address Clemson. Sell. Sell all of it. And I believed, Will, I believe. And the irony that LSU finally wins an opening game

and probably their hardest opening game in the last six years when they lost the first five. And it's surprising in multiple ways. Now, look, I know Antonio Williams has been out, and that's been their go-to guy. But they've got Westgo. they've got other pieces. Kade Klobnik's 45 years old

and has been with Garrett Riley now going on three years. When you look at Clemson offensively, what held them back previously was lack of explosive playmakers on the outside, right? That's kind of what got K. Clubnick in trouble in the past where they were trying to manufacture big plays and they just couldn't get separation. That's not the problem anymore.

Now, they ran the ball okay against Georgia Tech, but I think the offensive line's been bad and the books out on Clemson's offense, especially without Antonio Williams. Just heat up Cade Klubnick. Just heat him up, bring pressure on him. And I think Nussmeier kind of has this problem sometimes, too, where you over-anticipate, trying to get rid of the ball too quick.

You're kind of seeing ghosts out there. It feels like Cade's trying to force it. But once again, on the defensive side of the ball, with all these NFL players, with T.J. and Peter Woods and Sammy, I can go through the list. Clemson can still not stop the run. There is no confusion on what Georgia Tech was going. to do. They were going to line up, run the ball, mainly with Haynes King off power read, zone

read, cue counter, cue power, that stuff, and run it right at you. And I knew that, Clemson knew that, you knew that, God knew that, everybody knew that, and they still couldn't stop it. And you bring in Tom Allen, who's an incredible defensive mind to fix it with all these great players, and it's still not fixed. I think Clemson's confidence is out the window. Now, could they turn it around in the ACC? Yes, they kind of backdoored their way. into the college football playoff last year, but it looks, it's the opposite of complimentary football, right? It's the opposite of what we're seeing from LSU, good defense, good ground game, don't make mistakes on offense, go win the football game.

Clemson right now looks out of sorts in two out of the three phases, and that's why Daba is getting up there at press conferences, making threats about going somewhere else when nobody said he should be fired. It's just there is, there is something inherently wrong with Clemson from a physical level, a physicality level, with the personnel that they have. have. And that's a tough, that's a tough switch to flip. Like, you either got that or you don't with older guys. So I'm going to sell Clemson, and I'm probably not going to get a lot in return for it right now, where if I'd have sold it at the beginning of the year, it'd probably looked like a pretty good short. So by Seller Hill, we got the quarterbacks all wrong. So

every NFL mock draft, absurdly one year out, but I still love them. One year out would have had your quarterbacks in the first round as Manning, assuming he came out. No. Usmeyer, Drew Aller, Lenora Sellers at South Carolina, who might I be forgetting? But we didn't have Carson Beck, John Mateer, who else has lightened it up right now? We, unless there's a huge turnaround, it's going to be entirely different names. And by the way, I think that's actually happened for a couple of years now, where that one last year makes a massive difference in how we view quarterbacks coming out in the NFL. But it's a way different list than the one we started with. So I guess the question is, will those list of guys, Nussmeyer, Aller, sellers,

assuming Manning returns to college, end up being the top guys in the NFL draft, or will it be the Beck's and the Mateers? I think there's a good chance that Mateer probably goes first or second. It's funny because Carson Beck was kind of put in the category of Quinn Ewers, right? Kind of a more statue guy that would probably go later compared to the others. Will, I throw Cade Clebnik in there, too. I mean, you look at some draft boards. Cade Clemmick was away up there.

I think he's falling off. Sellers is so physically talented. And of course, you know, he had the head injury last week. I wouldn't put him in the pile of Mannings or some of the other guys that have slipped down too far yet. He is such a physical specimen. And he's so, God gave him so many gifts. And he's a great dude as well. Aller, I don't think ever was going to go super high.

Now remember, Drew Aller doesn't go to the Manning Passing Academy camps, any of this stuff as well. I never thought Alar was going to go high. I don't think he's going to do enough to go really, really high. The ones that interest me are the guys that are kind of coming a little bit out of nowhere. Like you look at Bo Probula at Missouri. I mean, the way he's throwing the ball right now, you have some Penn State fans. I think they got rid of the wrong guy at quarterback with the way he's playing at Missouri. Is he a guy that sneaks up there?

Look at Dante Moore. You bring up Oregon and his ability. I think he's got a ton of ability. I love the way he's able to layer the football. I thought he was smart going to Oregon, sitting behind Dylan Gabriel. There's always a couple that kind of sneak out of nowhere, but this to me could be the most upside down year from a preseason projection draft standpoint that you brought up to where it ends at the end of the season because, and this is why when these guys are

making the decision whether to come back or whether to go pro, they know how much is riding on this season. And everybody goes, oh, it's about injuries. It's not about injuries. Though it's the last thing that these scouts see is going to be your last year where you're expected to go ball out. And then you don't and it hurts you. So it makes it more fun to me. I don't think it's the craziest thing ever, but it seems like it's to a degree that we haven't seen in a while where everything at the top is moving to the bottom and vice versa. One of those quarterbacks that sort of flew under the radar is it's Mendoza, right, at Indiana. And that transitions me to talking about the games this weekend.

I mean, I don't think you'd ever have sold me on one of the games I have to watch, but it is one of the games you have to watch, not just because everything's terrible this weekend, but is Indiana versus Illinois, two undefeated teams. And it's the first time I think that they've ever played each other in the last 50 years when they've both been ranked. these are two programs, and I know what happened last year with Indiana, but these are two programs that have been bad for about a century. And right now we're about to find out if either of these two programs are real. Man, I, again, never thought we'd be at a point where one of the biggest games of the weekend,

regardless of the slate, that doesn't involve a basketball, is Indiana and Illinois. And you bring up Mendoza. To me, I thought he was one of the most underrated guys in the, the country when we talk about getting in the transfer portal and Signetti being able to get him. I watched him as a young guy walk into Jordan Hare with an OK Cal team, which basically had me and four guys I could find at the Daily Wire office playing on the offensive line and pull Auburn's pants down and spank him in front of everybody in Walmart. So you knew he had talent, and I think he really fits the system over there. I think their wide receivers are legit too

that Indiana has. It's not just him. But when you look at Beelma, look, Luke Altmeyer's a guy too will that there's some scouts that really, really like what Luke can do and kind of his style of play. So I think these are two good football teams. I'm shocked the spread is six. I thought there was no way this one would get above four, four and a half. Last time I saw it, it was at six. I think Illinois is a great dog bet in this one at plus 195 the last time I saw it. But I think this is going to be more low scoring than what people think. And it is going to be determined by who was able to run the ball, to set up play action, to set up the intermediate, and then obviously the vertical routes down the field. But I just, it shows you football cyclical that we have

Indiana and Illinois playing, and it's one of the biggest games on the slate this weekend. I can't wait to watch it. It's going to be a little, a little version of some old school football for some that are used to seeing this throwaround dink and dunk style. This is going to be a line up and find out who's really about it type game, and I'm all for those. Let's take a quick break, but we'll be right back on Will Cain Country. Bank more oncores when you switch to a Scotia Bank banking package. Learn more at ScotiaBank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply.

Scotia Bank, you're richer than you think. Hey, I'm Trade Gowdy host of the TradeGatty podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com. Welcome back to Will Kane Country. Okay, the big game of the weekend should be Auburn versus Oklahoma. We've talked about John Mateer.

They're calling it at the athletic the Jackson Arnold Bull. Oklahoma quarterback Jackson Arnold transfers to Auburn. Let me set that game aside because I want to ask you, accepting that game and the ones we've already discussed like Illinois, Indiana or Florida, Miami, I will be in Fort Worth for the last Iron Skillet game, SMU versus TCU. which is one of your big games of the weekend, but you've also got Michigan State, USC, both still undefeated. You've got South Carolina versus Missouri.

You've got Michigan versus Nebraska. Which game are you most interested in this weekend, Jay? Oh, man, it's like picking your favorite kid. You also have, by the way, Texas Tech, Utah is a big game as well. That's going to be a good one. I would say the one that is the most intriguing to me is Michigan, Nebraska, just for the reason of, I want to see if they let Bryce Underwood spin again. You know, Biff Pogie was the interim coach last week.

So Chip Lindsay, because the rumors are that Sharon Moore's handcuffing, Chip Lindsay, the offensive coordinator, therefore handcuffing Bryce Underwood. You saw a little bit of that, I think, against Oklahoma. And I know they played Central Michigan, scored 63 points, but it was a lot more open. The offense seemed a lot more open. A lot more liberal, I guess, is a good way to put it from a play calling standpoint. I want to see Riola if he'll push the ball down the field.

That's the one thing with Dylan that we haven't seen yet. A lot of it's been underneath. It's been dink and dunk. At some point, you've got to go up to her and ask her for a number. You can't just stare at her the whole time at the bar. But with Bryce Underwood, with Biff Pogi being the interim coach again, what if they go out there and this offense drops 45? What happens then?

And then Sharon comes back and you put the governor back on the golf cart and you're scoring 24 to 27. It may be the first ever interim coach while the head coach is still their controversy that we've ever seen in college football. So I want to see if they'll unleash Bryce. You brought up Texas Tech in Utah. The way Kansas State looks right now,

man, this feels like kind of a de facto playing game to the Big 12 championship to me. Devin Dampier is one of the most least talked about transfer quarterbacks in the portal that went from New Mexico to Utah. He is a perfect fit in what they want to do. They're not worried about Cam Rising, a broken hand and like losing a leg or whatever went down the past two years.

That one really, really intrigues me as well. But I'd say Michigan, Nebraska, to me, is the most intriguing with this young quarterback battle still. I still don't know what to make about the top two teams in the Big 12. Because at the same time, you could argue that there's another, let's call it, Big 12 semifinal in Arizona State versus Baylor this weekend. And I think TCU and Josh Hoover are underrated right now. They're playing good football.

But like I said, the big game is Auburn versus Oklahoma. This is the last college football game we'll do here. This seems, this is my expectation. It is, despite expectations for Oklahoma, which were low, this is the John Mateer coming out party. This is going to be the Oklahoma that no one in Texas wanted to see. I'm just now a believer in Oklahoma. Yeah.

Well, look, you know, as a guy from. Auburn, Alabama, from Lee County, Alabama, I would love to sit up here and tell you that I just, you know, it brings me personal blossoming joy the way I feel about Auburn going into this matchup against Oklahoma, but I don't get paid to tell people what I hope happens. I get paid to tell people what I think happens. I had Oklahoma winning this game in the college football playoff, and I feel like this game, and take the Jackson and Arnold narrative out of it, right? I think Jackson's just going to go play. Once the ball snap, nobody's ever sat in the pocket and thought, man, Oklahoma disrespected me. I'm going to make sure this is a great throw. That's not how that works. It goes into the preparation for the game, and I think he'll be fine. But the problem will is that Auburn's defense,

they're a man-coverage defense that's not good in man. And that's an awful scenario to be in. DJ Durkin, because these coaches go to these clinics, and they're like, oh, that's the man-coverage exotic pressure guy. That's what he's built his resume up on. But then when it doesn't work during the year, these guys are slow to change it, because they don't want to take a reputational hit.

I've watched Auburn play man coverage mainly. You run a little bit of both, but mainly man coverage for three weeks. Baylor cooked them. Sawyer Robertson, if they had played eight quarters, would have thrown for 1,000 yards in that game against Auburn and Man Coverage. They don't leverage it well. The personnel doesn't look twitchy enough to be able to do it. And at some point, you've got to stop trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

But I don't think Auburn's going to do that this weekend. And the scariest part if you're an Auburn fan is that when you play man coverage against a mobile quarterback, it's not only even. getting to him. It's about getting him down because if he leaves the line of scrimmage and he doesn't go down, everybody's back has turned. So John Mateer, he's not a guy that's just going to hit doubles or a single. He can hit a home run from 70 to 80 yards out. I like Oklahoma 2720 in this game. I know our Mason Thomas is out for the first half because of a targeting. I know Marvin Jones Jr. Their other best pass rusher is questionable. I think he's going to play. I just think

Auburn is too stubborn defensively to not try and put that square peg in a round hole. And it's going to cost them regardless of how the offense plays. I think Oklahoma wins this one. All right, one pro football question. Last night, we watched the Buffalo Bills beat the Miami Dolphins. And there was one particular play that Josh Allen made where he basically no look shovel past it to the tight end for the touchdown that was quite honestly Patrick Mahomes. at O&2, you wonder, okay, is Josh Allen now the best quarterback in the NFL?

Has he supplanted Mahomes? And is the Chiefs Dynasty over at O&2? I'm going to say yes. And as a proud fantasy football team owner, who's my quarterback is Josh Allen, I'm really excited about the developments that we've seen early in the season. But well, to answer your question, yes. But I don't look, I don't think it's just on Mahon. though. You know, the Chiefs don't run the ball the way that they used to. I know Travis Kelsey isn't awful now, but he's not the weapon that he used to be. You've had all these problems, Rishi Rice, this out of the other, at the wide receiver position. At some point, it is an 11-man game. Like Patrick Mahomes can only do so much. But when you watch Josh Allen,

I wonder if you put Josh Allen on the Chiefs are the Chiefs O and 2. If you put Patrick Mahomes on the bills are the bills undefeated. I would rather have Josh Allen. I really believe that. what I think the biggest development that Josh Allen has made is that he's still an effective runner, but he doesn't just immediately default to that. Because there were times, and especially in the playoffs when you look, where he would escape the pocket and have a guy running wide open, but he wouldn't throw it. He would take off, run over a guy, get 12 yards this out of the other. But if you watch him now, his eyes, and you talk about the no look shovel pass, when did he do that? It was on the move. It wasn't like it was the old Utah play where

he was shoveling it like Urban Meyer used to do at Florida and Utah. He's actually doing this and keeping his eyes down the field, which as a defensive guy, scares me even worse. It scares me even worse. So, yes, I would say Josh Allen right now has to plan on Patrick Mahomes, and the Chiefs will not win another Super Bowl in the next five years. Wow. All right, you get more of hot takes and good analysis like that at Crane & Company. We love having Jake Crane on for another fun football weekend, Jake.

We appreciate your time. Thank you. Will, I appreciate you having me. God bless America. and, you know, let's let sports take our mind off this terrible stuff that we're going through right now and just praying for everybody out there. I agree. God bless America. Thanks, Jake.

Hey, Will. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. There you go. I hope you enjoyed that episode. Make sure you check out Jake at Crane & Company, at the Daily Wire. We hope you will. Subscribe. Like, bookmark, download Wilcane Country. We'll see you next time. Listen to ad free with a Fox News Podcast Plus subscription on Apple Podcasts,

and Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show ad-free on the Amazon music app. This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason in the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts.