WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Bleacher Boys: The Boys Plant a Flag on the 2024 Season

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

Joined by their best guest of the season, the boys weigh in on the flag plantings across rivalry week and break down the biggest upsets of an action-packed week. For conference championship week, they give their picks for the seven biggest championships in college football. 

And he's got some rule past the 30-yard line. It's a foot race in midfield. Junior Cheryl, going to take the opening kept off back. You're listening to Bleacher Boys, where Paul, George, and Matthew break down the biggest stories in sports from the cheap seats, I guess, on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Bleacher Boys. We were gone last week, but now we're back. And, boy, we have a lot of stuff to cover this week after a heated rivalry week. Great Grames across the board and some fights to go along with it, not just some football,

but I think we've got to start off with the one that happened first, the Georgia-Georgia Tech game. How many overtimes did that one hit? Eight overtimes. Eight overtimes. You know, potentially one of the greatest overtime games of all time. It was definitely a game that I had on my calendar, my schedule, saying Georgia Tech's a team to watch out for it. I think Georgia Tech, if they had pulled this off, would have had the greatest year of all the teams available. because they pulled off so many huge wins

and they probably had so much fun celebrating those wins. Starting off the year, I know Florida State's terrible, but beating them when they were considered a top 10 team in Ireland, you get to go out and celebrate that. That was probably a blast. And then Miami as well being the first team to beat them. I thought they just had a great year. And it's a shame they didn't get to cap it off with a win over their in-state rival, Georgia.

Could argue they probably should have won that game. There were a couple of controversial calls there and a couple of overtimes. Absolutely. Probably went the way. the home team, but... I mean, did you guys see that in, like, the sixth overtime? They lined up with, like, one center and no offensive line? They tried, like, the Colts special teams play where McAfee gets it, and then they tried

rolling out. It was a goofy play, but, I mean, up until overtime started, Georgia Tech outplayed Georgia for, I mean, nearly every minute of that football game, up until maybe five minutes left when Georgia started pulling around. It was a classic Carson Beck game. He played absolutely dog-crap football for the first. first three and a half quarters, finally learned how to throw football in the last five minutes, threw a few touchdowns and got them in a position to win.

I mean, if you just look at the box square, you wouldn't think that Carson Beck had a bad game. It says that he had five touchdowns for two. Well, he also had eight overtimes. Pardon me. He had eight overtimes to pat those stats. Quite impressive that he didn't throw an interception. I know on this show we like to point out that Carson Beck likes to throw interceptions, especially since the halfway point in this year.

Can we, as we talk about interceptions. Interceptions is this time where we can transition to what I thought might be the greatest interception Radio or TV call of all time can I do that or do we wait an unbelievable interception some might say Warren looking at the goal line I believe how Jack so I here to jack so you might think that that play sealed the game or you know was a crazy athletic interception things. of the Odell Beckham one-handed catch. But Mystery, do you just want to maybe do a better color commentary in kind of what actually happened?

Yeah, Davis Warren in eye formation fakes the handoff, you know, good play action fake. Tight end leaks out right to left. And Davis Warren just kind of throws the ball right to a linebacker, not really to the tight end who was wide open for the touchdown. It was a good defensive play in that the linebacker was standing and the ball hit him in the hands and he caught it. So, you know, good, good interception, I guess. Like, there were 10 minutes left in the game. Wasn't like it was an earth-shattering play,

but I think Gus Johnson really nailed that call personally. You know what? I'll take it, though, because we were giving him crap. Well, he's been hearing the haters. He's been hearing the haters criticize his. He had to amp up the game. It was like just terrible football for pretty much the entire game. So he needed to need to give the fans something to listen to. Well, I don't think our listeners would agree with you that it was terrible football just based on the final result. Let's talk about this. This is the fourth straight year that Michigan has beaten Ohio State, and they do it in a grinded out defensive game, 1310. What do you do as an Ohio State fan booster? Do you call for the head of Ryan Day? I just want to say this one thing, and that is I have

defended Ryan Day quite adamantly. He's 40, he was up until this point, 47 and 1 against all other big 10 teams that only lost coming to Oregon a couple weeks back. And that was a game they should have won if their quarterback didn't make the knucklehead play. And they lost three years in a row, albeit but two really good Michigan teams. This is a game you have to win, especially considering the playoff implications and conference championship implications on the line. Yeah, as George is alluding to, Ohio State is not. not in the Big Ten championship game as a result of this loss that instead goes to Penn State. And it's crazy that just in the course of one game, you have one coach who maybe was a little bit on the hot seat, who knows, the flames immediately go out.

And then Ryan Day, as if he's sitting in a puddle of gasoline, you know, all their, maybe they can resurrect it. I think if he wins the national, I think anything short of a national championship this year, though. and they're going to think of this season as a failure, not winning the national championship, and then losing to the team up north. Yeah, it's devastating loss, and they are just going through it right now in Columbus. But it would have been really nice if they had some offense,

and I think they had a quarterback who actually had a pretty good game, but he's no longer on the Ohio State roster, and that would be Kyle McCord, who bawled out for Syracuse in their stunning upset of the Miami Hurricanes. There was a new story out that Syracuse's sideline reporter, a 20-some-year-old woman was hit on by Miami's mascot. And it was during the fourth quarter. It was a close game. Not a good look.

And the internet is divided on this. So I'm going to pose the question to you guys. Was it good that he shot his shot, you know, especially he's covered. They don't know who he is. What is your guys' opinion? You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. He's shooting. I mean, he's out there bawling.

He's living the dream. I mean, any of us would drop a lot of what we're doing to go be the mascot for the Miami Hurricanes right now. So, you know, her loss. The guys in a costume, and usually these college mascots, they're kind of like a little bit built. You know, they're jacked animals. And if you look at the ibis, you know, he's kind of got a pretty fit build. So maybe he was feeling himself, you know, in that outfit. He's like, yeah, I got this.

But alas, it was not to be. I think it was probably an effort to be put on the same level. We think of the elite mascots like the Nittany Lion or Cosmo the Cougars we've so often talked about. And I think if he ends up getting the girl, you know, I think that elevates probably the competition to become Miami's mascot. You get better athleticism there. if people think that they can pull better.

And now I think it works the opposite way in that, you know, seriously taken down a peg for Miami. Yeah, if you land the sideline reporter as the Miami mascot, that's like all-time legendary mascot status, I think. But not Cosmo the Cougar level, though. Dude, I don't know. It might be. The committee is going to have to take this into account.

I mean, if he'd gotten the number. It'd be close for sure. I mean, we did talk about Cosmo's mishap. He hit his head of trying to flip over a golf cart. He's definitely slipping on the power rankings. Anyways, devastating loss for both Miami and its mascot, as they both come up devastatingly short. But that loss for Miami knocks them out of their championship game,

and that instead goes to Clemson, who will face SMU in the ACC championship game. And all of these championship games, we will be picking. So stay tuned for that one, as you are listening to the Bleacher Boys on, Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Are we going to talk about the Clemson game because that was another wild game for rivalry Saturday?

Yeah, let's go ahead and dive right in there. The battle for the state of South Carolina, I don't know if they got an official name for that one, but South Carolina eeks it out. They've just got a bunch of playmakers on that team. If you guys were watching that game, you couldn't help but notice Lenora Sellers just doing everything possible

from scrambling around and picking, up yards when it almost seemed like the play was busted and Clemson defense was going to get a sack. Just impressive effort from him. Yeah, and we have that call that we're going to put at the top of the hour for this show of that pick right at the end of the game. Clemson driving well within field goal range and somehow South Carolina comes up with a pick.

Was it a tip ball? I can't remember. But very unfortunate for Clemson that now is in a must-win game. to have a shot at the college football playoff. Did you see Ole Miss and what Lane Kiffin reposted on Twitter? Mystery. I did see that. Did you see the Illinois head coach response to it?

I did not know. So, yeah, Lane Kiffin posted about how they had, what, the 20th strength of schedule? Or the 30th strength of schedule? I don't remember what it was. A lot of gymnastics were going on. He was trying to do, yeah, some mental gymnastics to make. a case for why Ole Miss really has a, in his mind, a pretty clear shot to be one of the 12 teams. And then hilariously, the Illinois head coach, like, retweeted it, quote tweeted it.

And his response was basically, if you look at Strength of Schedule, Illinois is a spot harder than Ole Miss, and they've beaten three higher-ranked teams than Ole Miss has. But it's kind of a goofy argument in Illinois has played. Every other team they played has been, I mean, worse than the worst team in college football. Yeah, and I don't know if I've ever seen a coach that has gone on the public record. Directly to the people. Yeah, it's normally, it's a type of post that you would see, you would expect to see an old miss fan account posting.

Oh, because it was almost feels like a cope. Yeah, it was kind of almost like in the notes app, just kind of a bunch of not organized reasons why Ole Miss should be in the playoff. but listen, if you have to do that, you probably could have done a little better to put yourself in a better position. Right now, Ole Miss, though they have that big win against Georgia,

they lost a three on ranked teams. And I don't know, that's just a tough argument to make, in my opinion. Yeah, and the Big 12 and the ACC were catching some heat from his comments in that post-game conference that he had. And I mean, listen, Ole Miss is like a middle of the pack SEC team.

sure they're pretty good but I don't see them like in the big 12 this year you know if they were in that conference they're dominating opponents and then just losing randomly to Houston and like some other random team that everybody else loses to that ends up at the top of the conference at nine and two just because that's how the big 12 is you know and I don't think that yeah I have some more thoughts on the Big 12 and the SEC because the Big 12 has been getting punished every single year for doing exactly what the SEC did this year. And that is just cannibalize itself, make it so that nobody stands out and everybody is fighting for spots in the championship game at the end of the year. You're right, Carton. The one Big 12 team, once they made the national

championship, they did stand out. TCU losing 63 to 7 against SEC Georgia. I'm going to glad you bring up that point. Dude, nobody was beating that Georgia team. Like, they were sleepy versus Ohio State. Oh, Ohio State almost made the field goal to advance. They almost did. If it didn't hook, they had it. See, that Georgia team is a powerhouse, and there's not a powerhouse like that in college

football this year. I'm pretty sure our flag football team wouldn't have lost 63. Well, okay, no, I take that back. We would have lost 63 to 7, but. That TCU team also was kind of lucky to get into that playoff because they had just lost to Kansas State, I think in the conference championship game. They did.

And that was just a shocker like, oh, wow, they stuck with TCU. And obviously it paid off against Michigan, but still, it was one of those, like, if they hadn't won that game against Michigan, then that would have definitely been one of the, oh, they shouldn't have been put in, like they should have put in.

Wasn't it Cincinnati that year or something? And I will say TCU that year in the Big 12, I remember watching it, Kansas started 6 and O. and they caught so many breaks. Like it wasn't like, oh my gosh, this TCU team is going out here and dominating everybody. They were, you know, balls were just bouncing their way. And sometimes that happens, you know, but I wouldn't say that that was a powerhouse. That was a team that was just as much in the Big 12 as everybody else.

Every game could have gone the other way and they just came out on top all the time. At the very least, though, I do think it really hurts the perception of the Big 12. Now we can debate how much of that is justified. But when the game that the most people are watching, your conference sends a team that it looks like the A team facing off against the B squad, nonwithstanding that they had beat a Big 10 team the previous week or two weeks,

it's just a really tough sell that looms in people's minds. Yeah, definitely hard. But this year, first year team in the conference in Arizona State coming from the PAC 12, is now in the Big 12 championship game squaring off against the Iowa State Cyclones. So we will get to that game as well. But I think the biggest thing that went around this week, and we're going to have to talk about it, is flag planting. Many of these teams won their rivalry games, and I felt like this has been something that's

happened many times in the past. Teams will go bring their school's flag to the center of the field if they're on the road and plant it right in the center on the logo at midfield. And this year it was highly contested by the losing team. The most notable one was Michigan, Ohio State. Oh, and this brings us to another Gus Johnson story. So the thing is, is I believe that you want rivalries. You have people who are playing 60 minutes.

They're playing their hearts out for 60 minutes. Emotions are going to run high. Michigan, you beat a rival. You're going to want to plant the flag. I think in a lot of cases, each response was pretty justified, although it probably got a little out of hand when you have to use pepper spray. But Gus Johnson, acting like he is witnessing Trinople, here is the clip.

She didn't want the game. They didn't need to plant the flag in the middle of the old. I mean, that's always, that's disrespectful. It is, but it's always part of it. Baker Mayfield did it in this stadium. It doesn't say it's right. You know what I'm saying. I get it.

He seems so aggravated. Is he a closeted Ohio State fan? I think everyone believes that now. I was looking at the Twitter comments. I mean, he watches so many of them. After that Jack Sawyer call, he must be. I mean, he calls so many of their games. He must be so familiar with that program,

meeting with the coaches and everything. But, yeah, I mean, it's wild. I remember when OU, Texas were playing. Baker. For the last decade. Baker planted the field. No one really kind of like, yeah, we got beat and you got to take that. But this year, I guess we're turning the tide and now we have to go brawl with the other team

and get pepper sprayed by the Ohio State Police because they're trying to break up the fight. Yeah, I think one of the best moments of rivalries actually comes from the Kansas game with Baker Mayfield. We're talking about the flag playing where they send out the kids to do the coins. toss and the kids keep their hands in their pockets and refuse to shake Oklahoma's hands. I then proceed to get beat by like 40. Oh, dear. Yeah, I think Baker Mayfield had a really good take on this. He was asked in the press conference after his game this weekend about it,

and he said that rivalries are what make college football so much fun, what makes it better in some ways than NFL football, especially when it's interstate rivalries. And yeah, he said, let the guys play and let them have fun. I mean, it happens every year at the Red River Showdown between OU and Texas, at least for the last decade. There's never been like a huge fight. I think that a lot of, yet, maybe next year, I don't know. We've had the cherry cap size, but that was different.

That's sooner. I think a lot of players aren't allowed to express any sort of emotion in game anymore because refs will flag anything that looks like you're excited if you have a good play. and so now we just get to the end of the game and have all this pent-up aggression for no reason. I think the Ohio State response was, I understand the emotion from some of the players. I think it obviously got out of hand. I mean, you had an Ohio State fan on the field

just running around punching Michigan players and then random Michigan players who weren't doing anything getting pepper sprayed. So it was a wild situation. I think that Ohio State is definitely to blame for it, though. Well, I definitely feel like this is a safe space for me to say this, but I definitely get the sense that Ohio State cares a lot more about Michigan than Michigan cares about Ohio State.

They cover up every M on their campus. Yeah, I mean, it's insane. It's one of those things where it's like, you know, Michigan knows, like, oh, yeah, we get under their skin. Like, it's almost like they've already won the war. So it's like they'll do a little bit of exchange with them in the battle, but they already know that Ohio State fans are going to go to sleep thinking about Michigan and Michigan's going to go, okay, we're going to think about something else. You're always more scared of daddy than daddy is of you.

Yeah. As a Florida fan, I was watching when Florida tried to plant their flag in the middle of Florida State's field. And one of the first ones out there to throw it down and chew them out was Florida State's head coach Mike Norvell. And he went off about it in the postgame press conference. It's one of those things where I believe it's fully justified. I mean, obviously it's the rival. fan of Florida, but Florida State has a tradition of cutting up the turf of their opponents whenever they win on the road and taking it back with them to their turf graveyard.

And so it just seems like if you're going to do that, someone planting their flag, especially after a rivalry game, is completely justified and par for the course. So I was a little bit miffed when Coach Billy Napier of the Florida Gators came out and said that there's no room for flag planting in the program. Because sometimes it's fun when your team plays the heel and is the bad guy because everyone hates you. Just like when Michigan has those Michigan versus everyone shirts, you know, sometimes you have to embrace that role,

especially when you are winning and beating everyone and makes it all the more fun. Well, to be fair for Florida State, they are probably a little upset. They have not brought back any turf to the turf graveyard this year going winless. on the road. Exactly.

Yeah. Speaking of playing the bad guy, Kansas just beat three ranked opponents in the row and destroyed all of their hopes of getting an at-large bid to the CFP and then just didn't even make a bowl game, got destroyed by Baylor. And that is the most Kansas football thing ever. I said it on the show a long time ago. I was like, it would be the most Kansas football thing ever to beat all of these teams.

and then lose to Baylor. And lo and behold, that's where we're at. I'm upset. I don't think we could tell, but thanks for making that clear. I will say for the bowl thing, it worked out really well this year. There's 82 bowl eligible teams for 82 bull spots. So you don't have to have any teams that are bowl eligible that don't make it. You don't have any five and six teams that are playing in bulls.

The math worked out very nicely. It's always fun to have one of those teams that didn't. have a bowl eligible record and then they're somehow in a bowl and you're like yeah let's get fresno state out there for no reason yeah i remember rutgers one year got a spot and then they just kind of got demolished let's just throw peru out there for honestly it would probably be wisconsin just because there's so much money and they travel so well but uh they don't deserve a bull after you know i don't know i think they might give it to kansas this year i wouldn't be mad we could use a lot of those bowl practices to develop some of our younger guys

So fun things to look forward to, and I think that it's about time that we get over to picking these conference championship games. As of our last show, our records from that show, I had a three and four week, George had a two and five week, and Matt had a three and four week. So that puts us overall, me, 52, 32, George 4638, and Matthew is a 45 and 38. How does that work? Mystery is 6 and 1. And mystery is 6 and 1. That is why mystery.

That is right. The mystery machine is back on the show. He is our... The Hebrew hammer. The Hebrew hammer. He was our most successful guest picker. The beast from the Middle East. That's right.

The most successful picker, and therefore he earns the right to be in our conference championship of picking, I guess. I don't know. So, um, if you,

You noticed his voice and we didn't introduce him. That is my bad, but he is joining the show. And that is who is on the show with us this week. So let's get right into these games. We've got some exciting games. And we're going to start off with Marshall at Louisiana. Matt, who do you got? Brother, I'll tell you what.

I have not paid attention to any of these teams throughout any week during the season. I know next to nothing about either of them. so I'm picking the favorite Louisiana. All right, the rage and gaugents. Go ahead, Josh. I have a lot of respect for Marshall. I actually have a cousin who goes there. Okay.

On the football team? No, no, no. No, no, no, just goes there. But hear about their football team a good bit. They have a great running game. Their quarterback can run the ball. They have a great running back. Top 20 on the ground, top 40 overall offense.

I'm going to take Marshall. George? Yeah, I think that Louisiana, It was the team that caught my attention because some people thought they were going to be a sleeper pick to potentially make the college football playoff. They lost late in the season. But I just think they have the better matchup against Marshall. And I like the name of the rage in Cajuns. Yeah, great mascot, you know, one of the top tier of mascots, in my opinion.

But I think I'm going to roll with them as well. They've got a pretty solid quarterback. They are at home for this game. So while most of the major conferences have neutral site games, this is in fact in Lafayette, Louisiana. So they do have that advantage. So I'm going to roll with them and go with the favorite. And next we have number 19 UNLV going to Boise, Idaho to face the number 10 Boise State Broncos.

Yeah. So unlike the last one, I've been following both of these teams. teams closely. I remember Kansas played UNLV in the early season and remembering what Devon Neal did to that UNLV defense does not bode well for them facing a team with a running back who's just better than Devin Neal, which is saying something because Devin Neal is great. Yeah, I'm rolling with Boise State and the true Heisman winner, Ashton Gentie. Yeah, I think that Ashton Jendee should definitely win the Heisman. He's shown himself to be the best player in college football. I also think that UNLV is going to win this game as the three and a half

point dogs. I think that they also held Gentie to his lowest yards per carry all season. He had just over 120 rushing yards. If their defense can stop Gentie, I think they have a good shot. They kept it close last time. I think they'll win this time. Yeah, everyone talks about Boise State and Ashton Genty in that rushing attack. UNLV actually has averaged more rush yards per game than Boise State. I go back and forth on this one. How do you bet against Gentie, though? On that blue field, give me Boise State.

Definitely a good rematch. As Josh mentioned, it was a five-point game last time. Boise State winning 29 to 24. The quarterback situation is definitely interesting, seeing how it changed mid-season, but Haj Malik Williams, I believe he took over. And last time they played, he dominated the offense for UNLV. But I'm going to have to go with Boise State.

George mentioned home field advantage. And I also want to bring up the development of Boise State's quarterback Maddox Madsen. He, when Genti has had those less than jaw-dropping performances, he has definitely stepped up. He's got 21 touchdowns and three interceptions on the year. and two thousand five hundred and fifty six yards. So he's definitely not just a guy that you can forget about as they do have a very competent, if not potent passing attack. So I'm going to roll with Boise State in this one as they're not going to force feed Gentie

if they do not have success on the run. And next up, we're going to go to the American Athletic Conference and their conference championship game is being hosted at West Point. and it is the Tulane Green Wave playing the Army Black Knights. Yep. This is an American conference. I'm choosing America's team, also known as Army. Dallas Cowboys?

Oh. No. Sorry Dallas Cowboys. I am not picking you in the matchup. Or ever. Today, well, he's got a point. Yeah, I'm sticking with Army. I think their rushing attack gets to Tulane.

I remember briefly watching Tulane play Kansas State. They didn't do a great job, you know, reigning in DJ Giddens. And against an Army team that just will absolutely run it down your throats if you're not prepared. I see Tulane having a hard time. So I'm picking the dogs. I'm picking Army. Yeah, I think that Army definitely has shown themselves with Bryson Daly to be amazing at that triple option. They just, they run it better than anybody in the nation.

Obviously, them and Navy have very similar offensive attacks. They run it a little better than Navy. The reason why I'm still going to pick Tulane is because Tulane was able to shut down a lot of that attack from Navy when they played. And I think that Army on the flip side has really terrible rushing defense, some of the worst in the nation, in terms of yards allowed per carry. And Tulane's Mackay Hughes is going to have a field day on their defense. and I think that their ability to stop Army's attack, plus their ability to run the ball down Army's throat is getting given them the advantage in this game.

Yeah, you said Army's defense is rushing defense wasn't good last time they played. Army West Point, though, giving up less than four yards per carry on average. Yeah, I mean, I think part of this is sometimes you pick what you'd want to see, and I think all of us would rather the U.S. Army, win a game, you know, win something. So we'll go with them. Yeah, Army, their triple option is definitely limiting in terms of offensive output. And Tulane just has an actual passing attack,

and I think that is going to help them in this game. They lost to Memphis, which they should have won that game, and maybe even pulled themselves in the college football, playoff, but because they lost that, they are now out of the conversation. And I just think that Tulane's going to go out there and, you know, have a chip on their shoulder after they're losing that game, they will win the conference championship. Next, we have the Big 12 championship game. Neutral sites, all of these from here on out are neutral site fields. And Big 12 is number 16, Iowa State versus number 12 Arizona State.

Yeah, and this one, I think I'm noticing kind of a theme here. It has to do with rushing attacks. And, you know, Arizona State has a very decent, if not pretty good running back in Camp Scataboo. However, Iowa State has arguably one of the best rushing defenses in college. football this year. I mean, they were able to bottle up DJ Giddens versus Kansas State last week. So for that reason, even though Arizona State looks good and can get stuff done without the run, I'm picking the Iowa State Cyclones. Yeah, I am a big fan of Sam Levitt. The fans at ASU obviously love him. I think that he's a very talented quarterback. He has a ton of upside.

I'm not going to overthink it. I'm going to go with, I'm going to go with Levitt. Yeah, just watching the passion that Arizona State had planting their little Trojan spear, Sun Devil Spear or whatever, at the center of Arizona's field after beating them 49 to 7 was pretty encouraging. I think they have a lot of vitality. And one of the players, I think, has been the most overlooked in college football and the previous two guys have mentioned it, though. Cam Scadabo, if you look at his stats, he's rushed for four. 1400 yards a season, and he's also caught nearly 500 yards out of the backfield.

He's an explosive playmaker, and I think that propels them over the top. Give me Arizona State. I just think Iowa State's going to take this. They've got a really, I guess you could call him a veteran quarterback. I think he's in his second year now in Rocco Beckt. He has just been passing up a storm 3,000 yards plus on the year. I think Iowa State just has that consistent performance. They've been good.

They've been here. Old Guard, Big 12 team versus New Guard, Big 12 team. The rushing attack is definitely not there for Iowa State, but I think because their passing game is so good, they're going to take this game and make sure the old guard stays on top in the Big 12. and our next game is going to be the ACC championship game number 18 Clemson versus number eight SMU

yeah this one isn't going to get a lot of analysis for me I think Dabo is a great coach but I don't think Clemson has it this year I think they're a little bit overranked I'm taking SMU yeah I'm with Money Line here I think this is a pretty clear pick SMU's look dominant pony up George? I think that in big games,

coaching matters. We saw that this week with Ryan Day. Ryan Day, not a good coach. Shout out. And, well, I thought he was a good coach on Friday. On Saturday, I changed my mind. But tis the beauty with sports radio, as you can have ever-flowing opinions like Stephen A. Smith.

Yeah, I think that coaching matters. And I think Davosweeney is a top, at the very least a top 10 coach in college football. ball. I think he gets the job done because he has to get the job done. Give me Clemson. Well, Clemson has had a wild season, I would say. They started off the year against Georgia with a devastating loss, and people were all out on them, and then they just climbed their way back. And then they had a couple more losses this year against Louisville and South Carolina. All their losses have been to really good teams. I don't think that.

Louisville is not ranked, but it's still a very solid team, great passing attack, great wide receivers. And obviously, South Carolina is a top 15 team in the nation. So they've definitely not lost to teams they should beat. Now, SMU is also a really good team. And what matters for Clemson is what Cade Clubnick shows up. What version of Cade Clubnick shows up. In their losses, he has not looked good. throwing picks, which he does not have many picks, but, you know, in his losses, he's just

been torn apart by defenses and not been able to throw the ball around. But if you get the right Kade Klubnick to show up, then this is a win. And I think Dabo knows how to get the best out of his guys, as George was mentioning. So I'm going to go ahead and take Clemson on this one as well. They get their opportunity to prove the world that they're still a top program. and second to last, our penultimate game that we're going to pick is number three Penn State versus number one Oregon. Yeah, I'm going to stick with Oregon on this one. I'm going to stick with a favorite reason being Penn State has a history of just not showing up in big games. And granted, I don't remember, did they beat Ohio State this year?

No, they lost. Penn State lost. By five or so, right? It was a close game. It's their only lost on the year, and they lost... It was like 2015 or something like that. It was a low-scoring game. Yeah.

It was a classic. 2013. Oregon beat Ohio State. Ohio State beat Penn State. I think Oregon maybe has a little bit of trouble here and there, but I think Oregon gets it done. It might just be the Cowboys fan of me, having an optimistic streak thinking to the team that never shows up in the big moments

has a shot here. but I think that Penn State has a shot this year. We obviously know they're a physical team. Their D-line is incredible. I think they have the talent, certainly, to get to Dylan Gabriel. I think that their running attack has the ability to stretch Oregon's defense. And this year, I think that Aller can do enough through the air to maybe put down Oregon. I'm cautiously Penn State.

I think you've got to go with Oregon. My problem with Penn State, is in the two games they've played against ranked opponents, you have them only scoring 13 against Ohio State, and then only scoring 21 against Illinois. If you add on that recently, they only beat Minnesota by one. I just don't trust their offense to put up enough points

against a high-flying Oregon offense. And I'm predicting that Oregon is going to be the only, well, right now they're currently the only undefeated FBS team, I think they carry that into the playoff. I don't think they have the firepower to win the Natty, but for now they're going to remain undefeated. Yeah, so as Carton and Josh were, you know, chatting about Penn State not showing up in big moments,

I've always thought that Oregon was that team. Oregon was always that team that was going to win the Pac-12 and make the playoff from the Pac-12, and yet how many times do we have Oregon in the four-team playoff? Very rarely, they always lost to some Pac-12 team, whether it was Washington, Utah, or, you know, even some random like Cal. However, this year is a little bit different.

The vibes feel a little different around the Oregon program. They've always had good quarterback play from Marcus Marriota to Bo Nix. Now it's Dylan Gabriel. Top of the line, quarterbacks. Really potent offense. And I think that's just too much for the Penn State defense. Penn State against Ohio State's defense couldn't even score a touchdown. And Oregon had no problem scoring touchdowns against Ohio State's defense.

So I really do not see this being a challenge for the Oregon Ducks. And last but not least, the SEC championship game, number two Texas versus number five, Georgia. A rematch of a regular season game where Texas didn't look good at all. I know I've been ragging on Georgia, but Georgia is the only good opponent that Texas has faced, and Texas did not rise to the challenge. Carton does not think that Texas A&M is a good team. Did you watch the game on Saturday? I did.

They're not. Well, I think Texas also made them look very bad. That was also another thing. Yeah, I don't know. Georgia has a head-to-head victory over them already. And I think it was the type of victory that, you know, I don't think Texas was just outplayed or out-effordid. I think they were out-coached, and I don't think there's anything you can do about that. So I'm going with Georgia. That was wrong.

Everywhere that was wrong. Big Texas guy over here. This is Texas first year in the SEC. We already run it. I think that if you look at our seasons, Georgia has two losses. We've got one. They've obviously lost a team like Ole Miss. I think when you look at handling middle of the pack, SEC teams, Texas and Georgia have both done a pretty good job of it. Texas hasn't lost any of them.

I think Georgia is a great team. I think Carson Beck is going to struggle. Texas has shown, especially of the last few weeks, that we have a fantastic, ability to intercept the ball. Taffy at safety has been playing out of his mind. He, especially in deep zones, has been fantastic at reading quarterback's eyes, especially as the play develops and quarterbacks get out of the pocket. I think our D-line's going to do a good job of getting the back forcing him out of the pocket, and that's where our corners shine. Offensively, Wisner showed up on Saturday against A&M. He looked like Bijon Robinson incarnate.

And it was... Wait, isn't he already incarnate, though? Bejohn-Robin. Incarnate in college. Back in Texas? Whatever. Whatever. And, yeah, I mean, Texas A&M did nothing offensively.

They obviously don't have the strongest offense, but Texas's defense made their offense look silly. Marcel Reed didn't look like a college quarterback. He looked like a high schooler was put out there on the field. So I think that Texas wins. I don't think it's a blowaway game. I think it's a game much like the first one, except Texas scores more. Okay, I'm going to pick Texas because Ted Cruz isn't going to be there,

and then I'm going to use my time I would have spent on analysis. Going through the Ted Cruz curse, so I found this. Mystery was well aware of this. But sports bettors are now 16 and 2 since 2017 when betting the money line against teams. Ted Cruz shows up to support in person. Obviously, we don't endorse betting or anything of that nature. but he has been consistently wrong, so much so that he is blamed for many of Texas sports failures, including this that was used in his Senate race this year against him.

Let's take a quick listen in. Feeling frustrated, exhausted, defeated. Sports fans across Texas are suffering from the same affliction that Ted Cruz curse. Without Ted, the Sugar Bowl would have been sweeter. The Astros would have won the pennant. Texas Tech would have gone all the way, and the rockets would have soared to the finals. Instead, Ted's curse shattered the dreams of Texas teams. Not even Jerry World is safe from Ted.

Want to win? Lose Cruz. Quite literally, American politics is so insane, and that's not our show, but that might be the most insane political ad I've ever seen. Obviously, didn't quite resonate enough with Texas, but I think he doesn't show up to the game. and they end up taking the W. Wow. How are you going to follow that, Paul? I don't know, but Texas, if they win this game,

they win it in the trenches up front. Their offensive line creates holes for their running game, takes the pressure off of Quinn Ewers. In that first game, there was a ton of pressure on Ewers. He was throwing picks himself, and they put in Arch Manning, trying to figure out a solution, finding a spark to get their offense going against Georgia last time,

This time, I think if they can get their running game going, it's going to be all Texas. And it's still competitive game, but they will be in control if they can get their running game going and get Wysner loose. So I'm going to go with Texas in this one. Anyways, that's all the time that we have for today's show. Thank you so much for tuning in. And as always, this has been The Bleacher Boys on Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.