WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Bleacher Boys: Upsets Jack up the College Football Playoff Picture

Episode Date: November 7, 2024

The Boys are finally joined by a guest they've been trying to get on the show for weeks: Jack Blouw. They talk the biggest games and upsets of the past week and their implications for the CFP. They also give their views on the Heisman race this season, then finish off the show with their picks as per usual.

Third and five, Howard will throw it underneath. Oh, it's picked up! 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're glad to have you back this week. It's myself and George and Matthew.

We're all back, and we're actually joined by a special guest. This is a guest we've been trying to get on the show since week one. and he's finally here. After some scheduling conflicts, we finally got this guy on the show. And please welcome in to the studio, Jack Blow. Hey, guys. How's it going today? Thanks for having me on.

I'm glad to be here. It can be a little nerve-wracking being in front of our live studio audience here at the Bleacher Boys. We've mentioned them several times, and we're going to give them another shout out. They're very respectful. They kind of keep quiet most of the show, but, you know. Every once in a while they chip in. And then, yeah, you're reminded of them, and you're like, oh, man, I can't mess up. Yeah, there's a lot of people here.

I'm a little nervous, but it should be okay. Anyways, we've got a full slate of college football to talk about and some picks to get in. Just a quick note to start off the show. Early in the week, we had a couple of Tuesday, Thursday games that were important, such as we mentioned it last week, Liberty losing, losing their undefeated record, and they lost again, and that knocks them out of playoff contention right there. It's not good for them. Yeah, I know we have a lot of Liberty fans tuning in, so, you know,

we have all the feels out for you guys, knows exactly what that's like. And there's got to be so many of them with like the 45,000 plus students they have, something like that. Massive school, but not a massive victory for them. In fact, it's a massive defeat. And at the same time, we mentioned Navy and being a ranked team this year, and they have since fallen out of the rankings, and they have lost as well for the second straight week.

So a little bit rough going for those smaller programs that had some big hope this year after their teams got off to pretty good starts. But we're going to jump right into the biggest moments of this past week, and we've got to start with Ohio State, winning that Battle of the Big Ten Titans over Penn State 20 to 13. Yeah, I mean, this was a really good game. Penn State, you know, I was backing them. I picked them last week, even though I wasn't on the show.

We'll get to our pick records later. But, yeah, it was disappointing after that strong start they had with the pick six. But ultimately, Ohio State clawed their way back, and credit to them. It really looked like Penn State is looking like Wisconsin of years gone by where their defense is holding up really well. But when you only score, what would that be seven points on offense? You're not going to win many games unless you're playing Iowa or Wisconsin. To George Point, 20 points for Ohio State.

That's much better than what they scored against the number one team, Oregon. So defense definitely did its job there and in fact scored the only touchdown for the Nittany Lions with that pick six, as Carton mentioned. So a little bit of a rough day for the offense. Drew Aller did play. I know that was up in the air leading up to the game as he's coming off of an injury. And that may have played a part, but he still did not have a great performance with only 146 yards and one interception on the day. Kind of rough going there for Penn State.

And Coach James Franklin said that he takes all the blame. He owns it all for the loss this past Saturday against a conference rival. Yeah. And I would say that Ohio State is still looking for that signature win. after losing to Oregon and then they almost lose to Nebraska. You can never be disappointed beating the number three team in the nation, but not the way they would have liked to, I don't think, especially considering their desire to jump up in the rankings a little farther.

Yeah, I would really question like Ohio State's quality as a program overall. I mean, they have a Michigan fan. That's true. I do have the Michigan bias, but they have top 10 draft pick receivers really. and like Jeremiah Smith and Emeka, Egbuka. But other than that, like, is Will Howard really that great of a quarterback? I don't know.

Their defense is obviously good holding Penn State to, like, no offensive touchdowns or any points at all other than a couple of field goals. But other than that, the running backs were projected to be really great, but I don't know. I haven't seen much from them. I wasn't on the show last week, but looking at this matchup, I was like, okay, this is the battle of the chokers. One of these teams that never wins in big games is going to have to win this big game.

Both programs, I think, have, I don't know if you can say under have underperformed, but definitely there's been some high expectations and they haven't been met. Yeah, I just can't see them holding up against an SEC team, even like in Alabama. I mean, Georgia. Yeah. Oregon, I mean, Oregon beat Ohio State, but. Well, yeah, the memes before the game were pretty incredible when a stoppable force meets a movable object. I guess that's the game that we ended up having.

Speaking of a more immovable force, what about Florida putting up a big fight against Georgia? What do you think, Paul, being a Florida fan, were you disappointed in the performance? I was very sad that they lost the game. It's one of those games where you have a lot of hope while the game is going on up at half, 13 to 6, I believe was the halftime score.

But a lot of things went wrong for Florida, such as losing our quarterback in the first half, did not have most of our starting defense in the game. We were on our second and third string running backs, and I believe we didn't have our wide receiver number one. So a lot of stuff did not go right for Florida in terms of players on the field. But we did play well enough, forced three picks from Carson Beck. And it was just one of those games where it's like, you know, maybe we could do it after choking away that Tennessee game. And Georgia's just kind of in that second half kind of turned it on because we're on a third string walk on, preferred walk on

quarterback in Aiden Warner. And he did as good as he could have, in my opinion, but just playing the number two team in the country in Georgia is just a tough challenge to come in as your first game in college football. Well, you got to be a little concerned if you're Georgia the way that Carson Beck has played versus AP top 25 teams. He's thrown five touchdowns to six interceptions and, you know, month of November, two touchdowns to three interceptions. That was only last week's game. But if you're a top program, that's one thing that I think is lacking of these top schools for Georgia, Ohio State, and Penn State, you know, three of the top six teams is top quarterback play that I think might propel Oregon, Miami, and Texas over the top come playoff time. To that point of Carson Beck struggles, he has six picks in his last two games. They had an off week last week, but the week before they played Texas and he threw three picks in that game as well.

And there's a lot of questions around that team. I honestly don't think Georgia should have stayed there. The score is a little bit deceiving, a 3420 win for Georgia, but that game was tied in the fourth quarter, and then Georgia just somehow flipped the switch. The defense really took over, and I mean, Florida couldn't move the ball when you have most of your offense being your secondary backup players.

It's hard to do that, especially against the talent that Georgia has on defense. And I think that Kirby's definitely got to get his guys to, you know, clean some stuff up because that's not what you want when you have all that talent that Georgia has and you're looking like this on the field and barely getting away with games against unranked opponents. I feel like Miami's in kind of the opposite position as Georgia. Like they have a great quarterback in the running for the Heisman, but they don't really, they're undefeated, so credit to them.

They haven't really played anybody. We don't really know how good they are, but they got their quarterback and then, you know, who else is on that team? Who are they going to be? I don't know. I can't see them lasting against a good team. They might not have a good team or you think a good squad to go into the playoffs. They do have the greatest song in college football.

Let's take a listen. I don't know about that one, George. Yeah, I've never heard that before. I've never heard the U song? No. I'll stick with Michigan's hail to the victors. Quite a bit better. It's definitely not your traditional fight song.

Well, it's not their official fight song. It was used for a 30 for 30, I think, and like some band had made it. But I definitely get your point nonetheless. I mean, Miami, to Carton's point, they have not played. They do not have a ranked team on their schedule, aside from maybe Louisville, who was ranked for about a third of the year. They did beat Clemson, though. Yeah, they did just beat Clemson.

Florida State started the year ranked, but nobody considers them a top 25 team or anywhere near that. I would say the best team remaining on their schedule is Syracuse, and they play Georgia Tech and Wake Forest as well. So they will most likely stay undefeated to end the year, but they have the opposite problem. Terrible defensive play, allowing everybody to score 30 plus points a week against them. it seems like while they will outscore you generally because their quarterback and their offense is so good.

But definitely some struggles for those top 10 teams and undefeated records out there. Well, it's too bad that Miami is playing this year in the 12-team playoff because it could have been the second straight year that an ACC football squad went undefeated and still missed the playoff. They're hanging out at four right now, but, you know, with the committee and their love for those longhorns down in Austin probably get left out. We talked about some games that went the way of the favorites, but there were a lot of upsets this week. It was kind of upset row is what we're going to go through as that alarm sounds.

As we mentioned previously, Louisville did beat Clemson 33 to 21. It's a huge blow for the Tigers as they looked to take over that ACC championship game against Miami, but that's going to be a little bit harder now that they've lost. Louisville steps up. I believe they ended a losing streak that they were having and beat the Clemson Tigers. There wasn't a whole lot from it. I mean, Clemson has a good run game. Phil Mafa had like 30 carries, 171 yards, two touchdowns,

and Cade Clubnick's stat line was not too bad. But it looks like they just kind of struggled down the stretch and Louisville kept kind of driving, getting some field goals, keeping the lead. Yeah, Clemson scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Trying to push in late and that was just, they came up short. Louisville blocked a field goal and took it for a touchdown. That was a big moment for them in this game and kind of set them up and changed the momentum. They were ranked, like I said, for a third of the year.

They lost to a Notre Dame team. That's pretty good. They lost to Miami, as we mentioned earlier. So that's two of their losses. I think you've got to be pretty frustrated as a Clemson fan because that all but takes out their chances of making the college football playoff. How does the ACC playoff structure work? and what are they ranked in the ACC? Do they have a chance to beat Miami and get in?

So they're not right now sitting in the ACC conference championship. That second spot would go to SMU. As SMU is undefeated in conference play, their only loss coming to BYU. It was also one of those undefeated teams. So that would be a battle between SMU, a new ACC team, and the Miami Hurricanes. And SMU has a really easy schedule down the stretch,

playing Boston College, Virginia, and California, all three of which are not close to being ranked. Oof, yeah. It's definitely the ball is in the court of SMU and Miami as they approach the end of the year in conference championships. But the ACCC was not the only one that had big upsets. Now we're going to move into the Big 12. There were two of them in the Big 12.

First of all, the biggest one I would say is Texas Tech clutches up and finishes off the upset of the formerly undefeated Iowa State Cyclones, 23 to 22. This is what happens in the Big 12. You got teams that look really good, and then down the stretch, they, like, lose games that they shouldn't. And then you just end up with a whole bunch of, like, two or three lost teams, and one of them wins a conference championship game. I mean, yeah, we saw it with Iowa State here. We saw it with Kansas State.

We'll get to that next. But, I mean, it was just a good scrappy game by tech. And, yeah, Iowa State just lost it on it. Was it the last second field goal, I think it was? It was a touchdown at the end of the game. Oh, with a two-point conversion? Like 20 seconds left. 20 seconds left.

Okay. Well, they missed the two-point conversion, but the touchdown gave them the lead. They won by one point. They were going to go for two to make it a field goal, but 20 seconds left, Iowa State only got off six plays, and none of them came up with anything. And so Texas Tech held on, and that's kind of a Texas Tech team that's been pretty decent all year. I mean, they're not anywhere close to being ranked until this past week, where they beat, obviously, the number 11 teams. team in the country. And they have another tough test coming up this week, and we'll talk about that a little bit later as they face the Buffaloes of Colorado. So interesting back-to-back week for them.

And then as Carton mentioned just prior, K-State lost as well. The other favorite to end up in the Big 12 championship game was stunned by a pretty below-average Houston Cougars team with a late fourth quarter comeback. The final score in that one was 24 to 19. The Houston Cougars scored 14 points in the fourth quarter, two touchdowns to pull ahead and shut out Kansas State in that fourth quarter as well to steal that win. Yeah, I mean, this one was just frustrating as a Kansas fan to lose. How are you bringing Kansas into this? Well, I'll tell you, I'll swing it back. Kansas actually, so they played Kansas State last week, had a buy this week.

And then the next two weeks are Iowa State and BYU. I mean, Kansas is like obviously out of the running at this point. But, I mean, they're a good team, and if they can figure out how to win in the fourth quarter, like there's some championship implications that they could mess up for some teams. But, like, Kansas lost on a 51-yard field goal by Kansas State. And all over Twitter, they were like, oh, yeah, special teams, you, yeah, this is what we do. And then in the Houston game, they just completely, they muffed the snap on a field goal, and they just weren't looking good.

And it's just, it's frustrating because, I mean, Kansas handled the Houston team. Kansas State didn't. And Kansas State right now is, if the season were ending today, they would not be in the Big 12 championship game. But I'll bet my bottom dollar that Kansas beats just the right teams to send Kansas State to the National, to the Big 12 championship game. And that would not be an ideal scenario. So the two teams that would be in the championship game would be the Iowa Cyclones and the

BYU Cougars with Colorado Buffalo being right behind them in that third spot. Speaking of good teams, you're listening to a great station. WRFH Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Speaking about another shocking upset, let's go over to the SEC where there are no longer any teams who are undefeated in conference play in that conference. South Carolina kind of shocked everybody by just trouncing Texas A&M at home, 44 to 20. Guys, did you have to happened to catch that game. Yeah, I mean, South Carolina just looked great and Texas A&M just didn't. And that was, I mean, that was the most shocking part about it, I think, is that Texas A&M, what were they ranked? Like, they weren't top 10, but they were pretty close, right?

I think they were top 10. They were top 10. Okay. From a top 10 team this late in the season, I mean, a meltdown like this just isn't something that's in the cards. So that's kind of shocking. Well, we saw it before the game, Paul and I when we picked it. The fact that Texas A&M was only a two and a half point favorite on the road. Being a top 10 team playing against a South Carolina team, he kind of wondered, was there some matchups that were not going to favor well for Texas A&M as they go to South Carolina?

And as Carton said, they just really didn't pass even the smell check. Like that 44 to 20 score line wasn't running up the score late. That's kind of what it was. In that first half, the quarterback for South Carolina, Lenora Sellers, he was running all over the field, evading the defense, and just helping that team.

But here's the thing that I noticed. Just a quick glance at the box score. It was a pretty close game at half. I mean, Texas A&M was a tie game at half, 2020. But South Carolina shut out Texas A&M in the second half and just their offense continued to score points. And that's kind of the result that we have with the 24 point defeat for Texas A&M.

Like I said, Lenora Sellers had 106 yards rushing, averaging 7.1 yards of rush, as well as 244 yards in the air, and two passing touchdowns. So, like, massive game for him leading his team to a massive upset. And South Carolina's kind of been a media favorite for upset watch ever since Shane Beamer has been there as their coach. Everyone was very hyped on them when they played LSU, and that was a close one. They almost beat Alabama. Yeah, they almost beat Alabama.

They played it close with them. So it seems like they're always, like, there, like, people want them. them to pull off the upset and, you know, be that really good team that just, like, shocks the world and takes over the SEC. But they're always so close, but this time they did not make it close, and they just trounce the Aggies. Really rough one for the Aggies, but that is their first loss in conference, and they only have two losses, so they can still win out, and ESPN has them at a 19% chance to make the playoff. So, you got to pick up their defense if they want to do that. I mean, as you said South Carolina kind of had their way with whatever offense they wanted to go for.

Everybody had big stat lines there. It's going to be exciting as we get the restoration of the rivalry in Texas between Texas A&M and the Texas Longhorns, and that'll be a crucial game for both those teams as I believe their playoff fates will hang in the balance in that game. Yeah, I got a friend who's an Aggie's fan who's flying home to Texas to go be at that game. So that'll be rocking for sure. Yeah, it's going to be a wild scene out in College Station, but that's not until the last game of the year. So we have to wait a couple weeks for that one.

Finally, we'll touch on this. Minnesota beating Illinois 25 to 17. I personally didn't pick this game that way. I didn't see it coming. But Minnesota, the Golden Gophers, they do it, and they beat Illinois. Minnesota's been a pretty respectable team. Some would say they got robbed against a certain team in Ann Arbor, but I think we'll just leave that there as... No, I don't think so.

We'll let bygones be bygones on that one. That one sends Illinois out of the ranking, and in their place pops in the Vanderbilt Commodores, so they are back in the rankings. They're back. After a short stint off of them, fun times. They play South Carolina this week. That's going to be a fun game.

That's going to be a fun game, and I, in fact, believe that we are picking that game, so... Oh, all right. We'll get to talk about that a little bit later. Finally, can I talk about something that I got a letter in the mail? Go ahead. So I got a letter in the mail. It said, Dawn from Ohio.

And Don from Ohio, he asks, I know you guys record on Monday nights, Dawn, that I just want to, you know, stop there. I don't know how you know that, but you're right. And he said, Or are you? Tuesday, there's a very big event going on. And I want to hear the guy's prediction of, that major event.

So Don, I'm going to make a prediction just for you. Quick question. Quick question. Yeah. Where exactly in Ohio is Don't from? I don't know. He didn't. He just said Don from Ohio on the letter.

So Don, this is for you. I know Tuesday is something that every American is worried about. So my prediction is that Central Michigan will beat Bowling Green in that Big Mac showdown. He got me. I wasn't thinking college football. was coming back here. No, we got two games tomorrow night. And I mean, the eyes of the nation are going to be on ball state in central Michigan as

they look to level their record in the Mac. Two games? That sounds like a perfect split screen for Tuesday night. That's what I'm saying. Definitely won't be tuning into anything else Tuesday night. Anyways, I think it's also important to note that this week, the college football committee came out with its rankings on Tuesday. and it's the first of several that will let us know what the committee is thinking as they set the new 12 team playoff

and we'll probably hear a lot of controversies and arguing about which team should be in that last spot and which team should be out. So we'll definitely be covering that as well on this show as we go forward. 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. Before we get to our picks, I want to cover the biggest award in college football, and that's the Heisman Trophy. I'm looking right now at the odds for Heisman Trophy winners,

and right now Cam Ward sits at the top, the clear favorite, especially after his performance against Duke, right behind him in second is Travis Hunter, followed by Dylan Gabriel, Ashton Genti, and then Jackson Dart, after not being in the top five, sneaks up to the top five after a dominant performance against Arkansas.

So Ashton Gentie, with the kind of season he's having at fourth, is honestly a disgrace. And I think people should take a long, hard look inside themselves and recognize Ashton Genty's greatness. Like we said before, we know, Gentie, we've got your back. We know you listen to the show. Just know, go out there next week and know that the guys in Bleacher Boys have your back. I got to go with Carton on that one. I mean, how can you be so close to Barry Sanders' statline the year he won Heisman trophy and not be like, one or two on that list. Okay, Travis Hunter plays two-way. But he plays for Colorado. I mean,

so here's, I think, where there's a little bit of concern for Genty is the last two games, I believe he's averaged under five yards of carry, which is a huge change from the over 10 yards of carry that he was averaging to start the season. We haven't quite seen that same explosiveness. He still had 149 yards and two touchdowns. Yeah, rather, rather his long was 35 yards in the receiving game. It was 16 yards. But I do agree he should be higher up, but I think you can say that about every running back who's been recently in the Heisman conversation. Monta Ball didn't win it when he scored 37 touchdowns for the Badgers. Melvin Gordon didn't win it when he had 406 yards and three quarters in over 2,000 yards in a season. And then let's think back to the great Jonathan

Taylor, who just also happens to be another Wisconsin back, who for three straight years went over 2,000 yards didn't even win the Heisman in any one of those. Yes, I do think Gentie is the most valuable player in football. We've talked about this a lot, but based on past years, I think Cam Ward is definitely far and away the favorite. I will say, though, Indiana quarterback Curtis Rourke, the fact that I don't even know how to pronounce his last name shows how much of a sleeper is, has the second best quarterback rating in NCAA 19 touchdowns to three picks, 2,200 yards. I think it's kind of a sleeper, especially if he shows out in the last few games of the season. Well, he's definitely leading his team very well, and that's a team we didn't really mention

undefeated in the Big Ten, and they have a big test coming up soon against Ohio State. But I got to go with Cam Ward on this one. He's just been dominating and single-handedly keeping that team undefeated. His odds are just incredibly low. He's head and shoulders above the pack. It's hard to doubt what he's doing, but I do have to agree. I think Gentie should be above. at least Dylan Gabriel because of him single-handedly just destroying defenses,

and one of those defenses being the Oregon Ducks. Are we even talking about Boise State at all if Ashton Genti isn't playing for them? They are seven and one. That's in large part two Genties play, but their quarterback did have a really good game against San Diego State this past week. He passed for four touchdowns and 307 yards. But I think that part of that is you're so concerned about the run that, you know, you may be loading the box and then it just creates massive openings for the passing game to just

slice and dice. Yeah, averaging 3.9 yard per carry on October 25th and November 1st, averaging 4.8 yards of carry ain't going to get the job done. I'm sorry. I don't know. What do you guys think about Travis Hunter though? Maybe I haven't been reading enough, but I feel like popularity-wise he's got to be up there in the top. I really don't like the idea of him winning Heisman. just maybe I'm a little biased. I'm not a huge Colorado fan. I kind of tried to hop off the hype train for Shadur Sanders and Travis Hunter very quickly, but I don't know.

I feel like the committee when it comes down to it might have a little bias just based on popularity for Travis Hunter. I mean, how exciting would that be for so many people to see like a guy who plays receiver and cornerback wins the Hysman? They've been quietly having a good season after their initial two losses, the first one being at Nebraska. and the second one to Kansas State. I mean, they're now in the rankings at 21. So they're no slouches, but every week, it seems like Cam Ward rescues his team from being upset because their defense can't stop anyone, it seems like. As bad as I have railed on the Colorado defense this year, it seems like Miami's is so

much worse because everybody has scored 30 plus points against them. I mean, he's having a good year. He's definitely one of the top talents in the game right now. The way I'm looking at it is you've got Travis Hunter, and Colorado without him is still going to have Shudor Sanders. They probably won't do as good as they are doing, but I feel like Colorado still has a pretty decent year if Travis Hunter isn't a factor. And then you're kind of left in my eyes with Cam Ward and Ashton Genty. And what Cam Ward is doing in Miami is great. Paul's right, he's single-ededly keeping them in games.

but Ashton Gentie is also doing that. Four yards of carry. I mean, Ashton Genti is doing that for Boise State. And to be able to do that at running back is so much harder than being able to do that at quarterback. Like at quarterback, you have so many more opportunities to kind of put the team on your back.

And at running back, it's just harder to do. Well, we've got to move on into our picks. And first, I'm going to update our records, our nice little weekly tradition. So last week I went five and two on my picks and George went three and four. And Matt, although he was not on our show last week, he did submit some picks and he went three and four as well. So that leaves our overall records at 41 and 22 for myself. George is at 38 and 25 and Carton is at 3429.

And something we didn't mention is the week that I wasn't on the show. Was that last week? Yes. I submitted picks for that week They didn't get mentioned But I did go six and one that week Which was pretty impressive What?

On the last show you made your picks You were six and one Yeah, you were three and four last You were three and four this past week But you We got it We didn't update your record Because I didn't remember

What you had picked Thank you for setting the record It didn't get mentioned But yeah We're back in the runnings now We're getting there Let's get into the games That we have for this week

Week 11 of college football We're starting off strong with a classic SEC matchup. Number two, Georgia, going to Oxford, Mississippi and facing the number 16 Old Miss. Matt, start us off. This will be a great game. I'll definitely be watching this one. I think Georgia edges it out. Ole Miss has been playing great.

Georgia's kind of been, they were great, kind of been plateauing a little bit. I think Georgia walks away with it, but I think it's definitely going to be pretty close. I got to agree with Matt on this one. I think Jackson Dart puts up a good game. I honestly want to say I expect to see Carson Beck struggle again. I think he'll probably throw a few more interceptions. He hasn't looked great, but they have a good run game. They've got some good receivers.

I think Georgia comes away with it. Their defense always stands strong in these tough matchups. Georgia's going to be my pick there. Carson Beck is washed. Give me Ole Miss. This one's tricky, but I think I'm going to have to side with George on this one. Jackson Dart has coming off a lot better games than Carson Beck is. I mean, six picks in two games is kind of hard to look past.

and kind of to Carton's point, I think he does it again, but if Jackson Darts going to have a good game, then you're not going to win the game because that means Ole Miss is scoring a lot of points, and Georgia is not because of Carson Beck. Next, we have number 21 Colorado going to Lubbock, Texas, to face the Red Raiders of Texas Tech. I got Texas Tech in this one. I think they're playing at home. It's pretty hard to win in Lubbock. Colorado's a good team. I think they just don't quite match up as well with Texas Tech. And I think Texas Tech, and I think Texas, Tech coming off that big win, I think they keep the momentum going. I've got Tech coming out with this one. I'm going to have to copy Matt's pick again, actually. That was going to be my upset. I think Texas Tech, they're going to ride high off their win over Iowa State and knock off Colorado. I mean, that Colorado team, yeah, they have picked it up later in the season here. They have Shreda Sanders. They have Jimmy Horn, Travis Hunter, some good players. But the defense

struggles and Texas Tech proved they can be the good team last week. I think they do it again. I really want to pick Colorado to be contrarian, but I just think Texas Tech has been a sleeper team. Kind of this whole year, they had a pretty bad loss, if I remember, early in the season that caused people to write them off, but I think they're flying pretty high now. They win this game and they break into the top 25. I think I'm going to stand alone on this one. I'm going to go with Colorado. They've been playing good. They've been getting into a rhythm in Big 12 play. K-State's the only team that's been able to beat them in the Big 12. I think that their explosive offense with the combination of Jimmy Horn, Travis Hunter on the outside with

Shrewdor Sanders, lobbing that ball up to them. I think they're going to just run them ragged and be able to walk away with the win. In this one, it'll probably be close within a touchdown. I'm going to roll with Colorado in this one. Next, we're going to go South Carolina facing number 24 Vanderbilt. I'm picking with my heart on this one. I'm going Vanderbilt. I want to see Vanderbilt succeed. South Carolina is coming off, obviously, an amazing performance versus Texas Tech. Texas A&M. That's what I meant, Texas A&M. Vanderbilt, I'm just hoping for a South Carolina hangover,

and I think Vanderbilt has a chance to take it home. You know, I'm starting to get a little nervous here. All my picks have been the same as Matt's, and he is in last place. No. Saying that, I will follow him up again and go Vanderbilt with this one. I love Diego Pavia. He's a dog.

He shows up, casually beats Alabama. maybe not casually it took a little fight but he's a fun player to watch the vanderbilt team i mean they have sucked for years a terrible program there's like the laughing stock of the cc and this year they've shown up they're a squad i think they beat south carolina who's also a fun team and i think south carolina has shown they can pull it off but south carolina is scheduled they flip every week win loss and it's a big difference every time i think they're losing this week Vanderbilt's going to get a good win. Yeah, there's some teams you watch that are just so impressive to you that you can't really

pick against them. And that's where I am with South Carolina right now. They look great last week. And one question that I have is, does Vanderbilt have a better home field advantage now that they're starting to actually play well? Are there Vanderbilt fans crawling out of the wherever they crawl out of to go watch Vandy games or is it still going to be 50-50 South Carolina Vanderbilt split? But anyways, South Carolina is going to win by 14 plus.

I'm going to side with George on this one. I think South Carolina wins the game. As fun as Diego Pavia is to watch, I think Lenore Sellers can be just as dynamic, if not more. Dual threat quarterback runs. As I mentioned, he ran for over 100 yards and passed for over 200. Just an amazing talent at quarterback. Shane Beamer's great coach.

Their three losses on the year are simply just the top teams in the SEC, LSU by three, Alabama by two, and then a big egg. to Ole Miss, but still some of the best teams in the conference. As fun as Vanderbilt's been this year, I don't think they're quite there yet. So I think South Carolina takes this one. Next, we're going to roll right into number 11, Alabama, playing number 14 LSU in the classic SEC rivalry. Looking at this one, I mean, it's really just a toss up for me.

Do you want me to put a coin for you? It's in Death Valley, right? Is it in Death Valley? If it's in Death Valley. It's in Death Valley. Yeah, it's in Death Valley. Okay. I'm going to pick LSU, I think.

I think LSU is actually the underdog in this game. Honestly, this could go either way. Both teams are great. I don't see any real advantage for anyone over the other. So I'm just going to go with LSU because they're the home team. Roll tide, baby. I'm going Alabama today. Oh, he finally breaks with Carton.

Yeah, probably good news. I needed one. I was starting to get a little scared. Maybe we'll flip the script this week, Carton. I'm a big Jalen Milrow fan. I like him. He does struggle quite a bit, but LSU lost a Texas A&M. pretty bad two weeks ago.

They did. Looks like having a buy week this week, correct? So that could help them, but I think Alabama's going to go in and win this big game. You hear that? That's the sound of victory for Alabama. Roll Todd. This is a tough one. Both teams

really can't afford to lose if they want a shot at the playoff. Both teams are in the same situation. It's a rivalry game. Motion they're going to be running high. I just like Jalen Milrow at quarterback. I think he's got more talent. I think he's going to run over him and he's going to pass all over him. It just seems like Alabama's more talent and now it's up to Kalin-Bowar to get his guys to play better than Brian Kelly's.

Next up, we've got a showdown in the state of Utah. Number nine, BYU at the Utah Utes. Good old Holy War game. It's a new Big 12 rivalry. I normally would have been more excited to watch this one, but Utah's been a pile of hot garbage all year. BYU has been great, so I'm just, I'm going with BYU. No, uh, Cosmo the Cougar analysis. I don't know. I didn't see any, any highlights of him on Twitter this week, so. Well, we, here at Bleacher Boys, we have some exclusive Cosmo the Cougar content. Oh.

George, you want to hit that? Yeah, I just want to lead off by saying AI is an incredible thing that just a warning to our audience, you might not be able to tell this song as AI, but I can assure you it is. So just with a simple prompt, I was able to make this song in memory of you carton for Cosmo. George, I thought you sang this. Uh, yeah, you might not be able to tell you. able to tell, but just see if you can decipher it. You still might not believe me.

Okay, get ready for that verse three. This is my favorite part of the whole song. Let's hear it. Oh dear. And that's the type of exclusive content you'll get here at Bleacher Boys. Thanks, George, for that. Jack, what's your pick? I got to go BYU on this one. one they look like a good team i honestly have not watched much of them this year cam rising isn't he like he's hurt he's been in college football for years and he's not even playing that team is just kind of falling apart over the last couple years yeah this is like eighth year of eligibility or something yeah it's gonna see someone who's old to my dad or something out there but i mean like come on i for one

think cammerizing is a very beautiful man but unfortunately it's not a beauty pageant in salt lake city so I'm going to go with BYU. I just don't think I can go with Utah. This is one of those games where the line is a lot closer than most people would think it should be. BYU is only a four and a half point favorite in this game on the road at Utah. As we mentioned, Camarizing out, that's the majority of their offense. We've talked about Isaac Wilson being their quarterback now, brother of Zach Wilson, but I don't think that's really helped them much in their past few games.

They're just struggling to win games. And in the past, Utah was carried by their defense as well. they always had a strong defense, but that's not the case anymore this year. I think BYU, there's a reason they're number nine in the country and they prove it again. Okay, I do want to step back on something you said. Utah actually has had a pretty good defense the last two games. They've given up a combined 30 points in those two games, but still managed to lose both of them, which is actually somewhat impressive.

Well, I stand corrected then. This is a game for Carton, Iowa State at Kansas. It's not often we pick a Kansas game on this show. Well, it's not often that there's a good Kansas game to pick, to be honest. He is not wrong. Is this a good one now? Well, it's allegedly a close game. You obviously haven't watched Kansas football because you're not a Kansas football fan.

We have had a third quarter lead in every single one of our games. Excuse me, a fourth quarter lead in every one of our games. are two and six. Every Kansas game goes down to the wire and every Kansas game, the Jayhawks find a way to lose and it's very frustrating. Every Kansas football game is a game that's getting us closer to basketball season, which actually did kick off. Yeah, there we go. That song's going to be played all over Kansas. Getting to my pick, so before the Kansas State game, obviously I wasn't on the show, but I was like looking at Kansas's schedule and I was like, listen, they're going to win one of these three games versus Kansas State or Iowa State or BYU.

It's a gauntlet for sure. Can Kansas really find a way to lose all of these games in the fourth quarter? I want to say no. They probably will. It's a real possibility. But I'm going to go with Kansas. And if they lose, I'm going to go with Kansas next week at BYU. True fan right there.

I am not a Kansas fan. I have no ties to Kansas. I dislike them even more. because of their basketball program and because of my friendship with Matthew. This guy doesn't appreciate greatness. You mean second round exits? Hey, no. You also have my former Michigan pal, Hunter Dickinson, on your team.

Jack, good friend. Yeah, we're close. We're close. That's why I hate watching him play basketball. I'm going Iowa State. They're a good team. They've put up good numbers. I like watching them play.

Iowa State always is clutch. They're clutching basketball too. They do very well. There's no hope for Kansas in this one. Yeah, I was trying to do some research on what states have most alfalfa per capita. So because this is the type of game where it's, okay, who threw more square bales as a kid? And so just give me a second. I'm on this USDA website.

That'll determine my pick. This is a football game, George, not a state fair. or oh, they're still playing in a field though, Paul. Yeah.

And so Kansas, it looks like their production was up 23.3% last year. Hey,

there we go. Utah. Oh, it's not Utah. Where's Iowa on here? Just looking at Utah this

entire time. No, no, okay, Utah. Missouri, up 64.3%. This, okay, Iowa.

I'm getting sidetracked. Okay, Iowa, they were only up by 5.8%. I have to stay true to

to what I said. I'm going to with Kansas. Yeah, there you go. A few more bales in the offseason. That's some impeccable picking there, George. I, on the other hand, I'm going to go with Iowa State. I'm joining Jack on this one.

I think Iowa State is in a place where they just come off that big loss. And we saw it with Notre Dame. They lost a game that they shouldn't. And they came out and just absolutely torched. The next team they played, I think Iowa State does the same. I think they come out and torch Kansas. They can't afford to lose if they want to get into that Big 12 championship or keep their spot, which they currently hold in second place.

And last but not least, we have the undefeated number 18 team in the nation. Army going on the road to face North Texas in our last pick of the week. Yeah, this one's interesting. Army's been rolling. You know, North Texas is a good team, but I've got to roll with Army. I'm going to agree with Matt on this one. Actually, I do want to come up with a fun fact. So you know North Texas, do you know what their mascot is and what it's named after?

The Mean Green. After Mean Joe Green, famous Steelers D. Lineman who went to. there. Anyways, I think the U.S. Army should win versus kind of a niche school in northern Texas. And honestly, if they don't win, I'd be a little concerned about the state of our military. This seems to be an interesting game that we added in here. I personally added it because we haven't talked a lot about Army, but just give them a little bit of a shout out, being the number 18 team in the nation, undefeated record, undefeated in the American Conference, looking to maybe lock up that playoff spot. They definitely have a shot. ESPN lists them.

at a 20% chance. It's actually going to be a fun week watching Navy Army in that standalone week. Yeah, and look out for North Texas's quarterback Chandler Morris, who's number two in Division I for past touchdowns with 26. He's been bowling out this year, and they let him loose. If Army doesn't game plan for him, it could be a long night. And I'm going to probably roll with Army as well, though North Texas is no slouch.

In fact, they've got a couple good players, as George mentioned, but I think Army ultimately prevails. I'll say this is a close game. Touchdown or less is the difference, but Army ultimately gets it done, preserves that perfect record in 2024. Well, I think that's all that we have for today. Thank you for tuning in,

as this has been the Bleacher Boys on Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM.