WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Four Man Front: A Hoosier Duck Hunt

Episode Date: October 18, 2025

Indiana arrives with a win at Oregon. The Oklahoma hype train derails. Lewis, Marc, Patrick, and Paden debate what it means for the second half of the season.

Indiana breaks the top five with a win at Oregon. Alabama beats Missouri in Columbia. Texas shuts down Oklahoma in Red River. And Penn State fires James Franklin after a loss to Northwestern. I'm Lewis Thune, and this is the four-man front, the show about college football and nothing else. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, as we welcome you back to the show.

Week 8 of college football is fast approaching. Week 7 is in the books. 11 matchups last week to even more coming down the pipe this week. We're going to have a lot to get to. So I'll send it around the room real quick. To my left is Mark Ayers. Mark, how are we feeling this week? Dejected and downcast.

Our season is officially cooked. We're both entering this week on a bit of a low note, but it was a low note we both saw coming. We were able to prepare for the disappointment. Yeah, it was exactly the type of game I was expecting to lose, but maybe we rebound this week. We'll see. Across the table is Patrick Hamilton, our boy from the Big Ten,

who's also on a bit of a downer after Michigan lost to USC in the Coliseum this week. Yeah, three score loss. There's no excuse. You could say the officiating. You could say, you know, Lincoln Riley coached a good game, which is true. But, man, Michigan, we got out coach, we got out played. And then Justice Haynes suffers a rib injury. Brutal.

That just kills you as a fan because Haynes was half. a spectacular season. As a running back, probably the top running back in the Heisman race, goes down against USC in a game where you would love to have him against a very good conference opponent. You can go make a statement win in a great atmosphere. A lot of holes there to plug for Michigan. To my right, Hayden Hughes, our Big 12 fan, and although his Oklahoma State Cowboys continue to look like a dumpster fire, it's safe to say that the Big 12 is proving it is for real. with BYU, Texas Tech, Utah, all looking very good this week. Looking very good.

Don't forget Cincinnati. They had a staple win as well. And now, I think for the first time, each of our teams has lost in the same week. That's really depressing. I'm wondering if Arshel has something to do with it. Feels a little curse to see all four of our programs lose. It feels appropriate that we dive into it. We picked 11 matchups on last week's episode.

I went 8 and 3. I did predict that my Oklahoma Sooners would lose to the Texas Longhorns. I'm assuming that's a game we love to talk about. But is there anything else you saw out in the college football landscape this previous week that you would like to call attention to? Yeah, it turns that I was right about that Utah game, Utah Arizona State. I called this one to be a bounce back for the Utes who are suffering from their Texas Tech loss. We saw that was a close game. Utah dropped out of the rankings. Peyton, you talked about how that 34 to 10 lost to Texas Tech loss,

was really not representative of who Utah was as a team. It turns out they were right. Dominant 42 to 10 victory over a good Arizona state team. Utah appears to be back in well in the running, I would say, for the big 12 championship. Do you agree, Peyton? Oh, for sure. I still have them as my number two, and we're going to look at that BYU Utah game later. You look at Utah's rushing this week. They had three rushers with over 10 carries, and each of whom at right about 50 yards or more. They ran the ball just like we've talked about through multiple runners and dominated Arizona state of the offensive line. Moving us to the feature matchups that we talked about last week. We had Alabama, Missouri, we had Ohio State, Illinois, we had Oklahoma, Texas, and then we had Indiana, Oregon.

I think we have to go to Red River. I'm just going to come out right. I was way too hot on Oklahoma. I loved the defense. They played 38 minutes of great defense holding Texas to three points. Archmanning couldn't do anything. I said that last week. But then Oklahoma's offense could do nothing. John Mateer could not complete a good pass, and he could not put the ball where he's wanted to put it. And I know Lewis has said this in the past. He's mentioned this, that John Mateer puts the ball in risky situations. Oh, yeah. It showed this week with three interceptions at Texas.

Watching it, I was wondering if the recently broken thumb was an aspect. You saw it bleeding throughout the game. You saw him getting it retaped a couple times. I don't think that game falls at the feet of John Mateer when John Mateer had very little help. I've said throughout the year Oklahoma can't run the ball. That was shown on full display at Texas. Nothing in the way of running. It was terrible.

The Oklahoma running backs room has been thoroughly unimpressive ever since Bob Stoops left. I think that comes down to size, the unteachable and tangible, that Bob Stoops was able to recruit and no offensive coach since his departure has been able to recruit. We got Jaden Ott transfer from California this year, highly touted, projected to be one of the top five backs in college football. he hasn't broken 20 carries. The coaching staff at Oklahoma is thoroughly unimpressed with his output, which begs the question,

why did they target him? I don't think it's something Ben Arbuckle can fix alone. And until Oklahoma figures that out, they're going to lose very winnable games. We've seen the flaws of this Texas team. I pointed them out, and yet I still picked them somehow because I know if it comes down to Oklahoma

having to find a way to lose a game, they'll do it. They only had one sack. Texas had five sacks. Texas went 10 for 17 on third downs. Oklahoma only went six for 17. You watched against Auburn with Cam Coleman just absolutely burning the secondary. The Oklahoma secondary leans heavily on the defensive line in order to get stops.

So if the defensive line can't get the QB's jersey dirty, it's only a matter of time before that secondary gets picked apart. And you saw Archmanning do just that. He was able to move around in the pocket. He was able to move out of the pocket when necessary. Find a guy when the secondary broke down and deliver that pass. It didn't have to be pretty. there were times you were watching that game. It felt like Arch Manning was a little panicked,

but in the crucial moments, he got the ball out of his hand, and he turned that Oklahoma D-line into a non-factor, and when that happened, Oklahoma's defense didn't have it. But let's not focus on the Oklahoma defense too much. You have to look, Lewis, what was the score 37 minutes into the game? Six to three. Six to three, Oklahoma with the lead. Texas had zero momentum.

It was Oklahoma's game. They were doing fine. We thought this was going to be a one-field goal game, maybe 12 to 9 or something like that by the end. And then the defense breaks down. They're tired. They're not getting off the field. And Oklahoma can't convert on a third down.

This Oklahoma offense needs to be able to put at least two touchdowns up on a good or great defense if they want to be a top five team in the SEC. Clock management was a big problem. You saw at the end of the first half. Very much so. 30 seconds left on the clock. Fourth and two, about a 40-yard field goal. And Venables decides not to call a time out until 15 seconds have ticked off the clock.

takes a shot for the end zone because now he's limited himself to one play instead of kicking the field goal. It's picked off Texas heads into the half down six three and it almost felt like a momentum shifter for them. They put up three points in the first half and it felt like they still had all the momentum heading into the second. Mityer threw 39 times had 54% completion rate. No offense should throw 40 times and then turn around and have 48 rushing yards. On 30 attempts. Just unacceptable. If you can't run the ball, you lengthen the game.

You weaken your passing offense. One-dimensional offense isn't going to take you anywhere. We learned that with Oklahoma. Two very multi-dimensional offenses took the field in Columbia this week. Alabama, Missouri. An excellent game on both sides of the ball. Two technically sound teams looked complete. Missouri looked like they hadn't been there before.

Alabama was able to pull out 27, 24, staving off a late comeback. Mark, what allowed Alabama to win this game? Really, Lewis, the Alabama. defense stepped up big time in this one. Missouri, a team known for its rushing, again, put on a pretty good performance, 28 rushing attempts for 163 rushing yards, 5.8 yards per rush, that's a pretty good number. Passing game was also solid. 16 for 28 for 16 for 16 yards per pass, another decent showing. But in clutch times, in clutch moments of the game, the Alabama defense was able to force the Missouri offense into a third and out, a six and out,

them from crossing the first down marker and keeping the drive alive. Listen to this. Third down efficiency for Missouri, one and 11. Absolutely terrible from Missouri. They could not, if they got to third down, their drive was almost surely dead. They scored one touchdown on three plays. They scored another touchdown on six plays. Chunk yardage, quick strikes. But when the time came to make a short yardage clutch play, the Alabama defense stepped up and was able to force Missouri to punt or turnover on downs. Yeah, Mark, Missouri has to be clutched when it comes down to the moment. You're looking at Beau Probula in the fourth quarter driving downfield.

They're in Alabama territory, and Bo throws an interception right when they're driving. But what happened on that drive? I think they had two or three fourth downs that they had to convert on just to keep the drive going. Bo Probula could not make the smart choice, ends up throwing two interceptions in the fourth quarter. This was Missouri's game from every statistical margin outside of third down efficiency. were never out of this game. They were never out of this game. This was two complete teams. I loved watching this game. It was great. I know we want to get to Oregon, Indiana. I'm actually going to

save that for the second half. We're going to discuss this Indiana team. Are they the most complete team in college football? There's some competition there with Ohio State and Miami. Speaking of Ohio State, 3416 win, comfortable victory in Champaign against Illinois, knocking the fighting Aligni out of the top 25. Offense did what was needed of it and nothing more, and the defense shut down Brett Bilemm's team. I'm going to shoot us through the results of our pickums. Notre Dame beats NC State 36 to 7. Their toughest remaining game is USC coming up this week. We'll talk about that in just a minute. Tennessee, Arkansas, 34, 31 game, a close game. If you recall, I initially picked Arkansas two weeks ago. I ended up switching my pick last week to Tennessee, purely because Arkansas fired Sam Pittman,

and there wasn't that internal conflict to drive everyone anymore. 34-31. The Tennessee defense came through when it mattered most, but that's a really weak unit. It's definitely scary. I know we were all high on Tennessee a few weeks ago. They've looked great. That's scary going up against two and four Arkansas. Yeah, and we all had talked about Arkansas as being one of the bottom tier teams in the SEC. You'd think a Tennessee team that very nearly took down Georgia would have no problem. They clearly struggled. Something's gone wrong in Knoxville. Reminds me of the day Josh Hyple was.

offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. As long as you're outscoring the opponent, because the defense isn't getting you any help, you're all good. Texas A&M, dominant 3417 against a Florida defense that had shown itself to be very good throughout the first couple weeks of the year, even with a bad offense. 34 points put up. Excellent game. A&M looks complete. Honestly, there are only two teams I trust right now, and it is A&M and it is Texas Tech. Two 20 to 10 results in the SEC would appeared to be a Jackson Arnold touchdown putting Auburn up 17-0 to us and 100,000 Auburn fans and Jordan O'Hare was ruled a turnover and Georgia ball on the one-yard line in possibly the most controversial officiating decision of the decade. Let's take a listen to what that sounded like,

courtesy of ESPN. Georgia folks are probably asking if this was a fumble, I think that's a touchdown. After further review, the run and lost control of the ball prior to reaching a plane of all. Oh, boy. I have no idea. Georgia beats Auburn with a little help from the officials. Auburn is getting the short end of the stick this year. Just a little, Lewis. And LSU besting South Carolina, 20 to 10. LSU's going to Vanderbilt.

They got A&M the week after. Then they have Alabama. At the end of the season, they go to Oklahoma. They're not coming out of this as a 10-and-2 team, probably not even as a 9-and-3 team. They're definitely not in the SEC championship, and they got a long way to go to get to the playoff. Bad game from Lenora Sellers.

I don't think it's representative of him as a player, That shows, I think, that he's wise to stick around where he can get developed and not where he can win. I think it's going to make him a very good NFL player later on in his career. Admire the commitment. Do not admire the output right now. We mentioned Utah. Solid win against Arizona State. BYU, on the other hand, needed double overtime to pull away from Arizona. What they lacked in the air, Bear Bock Meyer, 12 for 29 and two picks. They made up four on the ground, rushing for well over 200 yards between L.J. Martin and Bear Bair

Bachmeyer-Paden. This team may not be able to throw the ball, but they run it better than just about everyone in the Big 12. Are they going to be viable late season? You've mentioned they have a tough schedule. Is this change your mind at all? They have the toughest schedule. I think what I loved the most out of BYU this week was their grit in being able to go through two overtimes, not allow a touchdown from Arizona with Noah Favita, who's been a great quarterback for most of the season. If they lose that game, they're probably out of the Big 12 championship. They dug their heels in. They were able to win. This rushing offense looks real just like Utah, just like Texas Tech. It's going to come down to whether they can beat Utah this weekend in the Holy War. We've got an unofficial rivalry week coming up.

Four games to pick. Let's dive right in. You mentioned BYU. We talked about Utah just before them, the Holy War this week. As you said, this game is going to be played in Provo, BYU Stadium. They're hosting Utah. Coming into this game, ranked number 15. Utah broke back into the top 25, number 23. Payton, as the Big 12 expert here, who were you picking in this game and why? I think the odds on ESPN have BYU had a slight favorite, 51%. I'm going to take Utah. This Utah Texas Tech game was a fluke in the fourth quarter.

That was a one-score game, and Texas Tech is by far a top 10 team in the country, if not top five, which I think they probably should be. Utah is for real. They're definitely more than the number 23 team in the country. They are going to mall Bear Bachmire. BYU is not going to be able to pass the ball at all. and Utah is going to be able to dominate that offensive line in a similar way to what they did against Baron Morton and Texas Tech up until the fourth quarter. Utah was able to run the ball

against a good Arizona state team as much as they wanted. This is going to be a lower scoring game. You're not going to see as many rushing yards as you would expect. It's going to get loud. It's going to be rowdy, but I am taking Utah. Yeah, I'm also going to take Utah here just because what I've seen from them, I've really liked the game that they play. But here's a stat to look at. BYU's offense overall is 29th in the FBS with 448 yards per game. Their rushing offense, though, is pretty good. 238 yards per game, that's good for 11th in the country. Utah's defense, their rushing defense is 61st in the country.

They give up 139 yards per game, and that's a matchup that I'm really looking forward to. Can this rushing offense with a good matchup against Utah's poor rush defense get a breakthrough? for BYU. That's something to look for. I'm still going to go with Utah here. I think they're the more complete, ready team, but watch out that rush game. This is a great matchup. I'm really excited to watch this game. Have this one on your radar. BYU, this team is not there when you call, but they are there when you need them. They win close games. They're good down the stretch. I've seen Bear Bokmire put up 351 passing yards against West Virginia, and then I've seen him turn around and run for 89 and two scores against Arizona.

He does what's required of him. I think this is going to be a close game. We've seen Utah and close games against Texas Tech. They fumbled away that fourth quarter. So I trust BYU here. They've shown themselves trustworthy in the clutch. Give me BYU. I'm going to have to pick Utah for this one

just because I've really liked what I've seen from them. All right. Moving on, three more games we want to touch. We might have touched LSU Vanderbilt, but as before, we are not going to talk about two teams until they demonstrate that they deserve to be talked about. Two matchups in the SEC this week worth noting. We've got Ole Miss, Georgia, number five, on number nine,

and then we've got Tennessee, Alabama, number 11 on number six. These games are in Athens and Tuscaloosa, respectively. Give me both your picks. Give me a short answer as to why. Ole Miss almost got snake bit by Washington State. Georgia's looked real. Give me Georgia. Tennessee doesn't have a solid defense.

Ty Simpson is going to carve it. up. He's going to put up way over 300 yards passing. This is going to be Alabama's game probably by 10 points. Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you on both picks. Tennessee really struggled, and they have been struggling. Ty Simpson probably is the best quarterback right now in the SEC. So I think that Alabama's going to get this one. Old Miss looks like a competent team. They're 6 and 0. I'm going to have to go with Ole Miss on this one. Two times this year, Georgia has trailed by multiple scores at halftime. Against Tennessee, they trailed 21 to 7. They fell 17 to 7 against Alabama and couldn't dig themselves out of that hole. Now this Ole Miss

offense is spectacular. They are very, very good across the board. They're going to overwhelm the Georgia defense early. I think that Lane Kiffin is going to come out with a scheme that Kirby Smart can't quite figure out for at least the first half. And even if he does in the second half, I think it'll be too little, too late for Georgia. Now moving it over to Tuscaloosa, I think Alabama has this one. I think they're really hitting their stride right now. A lot of those issues that we talked about in that early season opening lost to Florida State, I think they're gone. I think the discipline issues, the decision-making, it's all gotten much, much better for Kalin DeBoer. I really think that this game will be a, even more than the Georgia game was. I think

this game will be their signature win of the season against Tennessee. They have a real chance to make a big statement, and I think they're going to give me Bama. I've sung the praises of Gunner Stockton many times on this show, but I think this game is going to come down to the Georgia defense. Ole Miss has won far too many one-score games yet this season. We've seen Georgia's ability to stop good teams and clutch moments. Ultimately, it's boiled down to them having possessions late and just not being able to punch it in. I think Georgia's got this game. Kirby Smart wants to beat Lane Kiffin after what happened last year. Not a close game at all. Kiffin had his number. I think Smart's motivated to turn it around this year. In Tuscaloosa,

Tennessee's defense is a five-alonged fire, but I trust their offense more than any offense in college football right now, an absolute juggernaut between Joey Aguilar, Deshaun Bischop, Chris Brazell. They can hurt anyone anyway. Josh Heipal is having his way with SEC defenses. He can't win a game with his defense, but he can win it with his offense. In Tuscaloosa, I think he's going to win this game. Ty Simpson, great quarterback. Alabama's offense has looked unbeatable to this point in the year, with the exception of obvious. the ugly loss at Florida State. It's going to be an arms race. It's one I see Josh Heibel winning. Give me Georgia. Give me Tennessee. All right. Last one, reviving an old rivalry game, Notre Dame, USC, two teams that are ranked trying to reestablish tradition. Who is it? USC really surprised me last week with that win against Michigan. I honestly thought Michigan's defense would hold up better. We know USC's got a good offense, but here's the thing, though, Lewis. In my opinion, Notre Dame is still

one of the top tier teams in the country. I think they're really going to prove it against this USC team. Notre Dame's defense will really step up big time and put the beat down on USC. I think Notre Dame is the more physical team, the more complete team. I think Jeremiah loves going to have a good game. Give me the Irish. I love to hear that. I've made my thoughts on Lincoln Riley manifest.

I have negative confidence in him. Don't trust him. I don't really trust Marcus Freeman that much either. But I trust Marcus Freeman a lot more than I trust Lincoln Riley. Lincoln Riley is going to lose this game. Notre Dame all the way. Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with you on the Lincoln, Riley. I think he ended up out coaching Michigan last game. USC look good. Yes, Notre Dame is a four and two

team. Their two losses are both the top 15 teams that have proven themselves well established teams. They've lost by combined four points in both those two games. They're going to see a USC team, Notre Dame at home. They're going to take out their rivals. Hopefully we don't have any Notre Dame linemen punching USC defenders in the face. But we'll see. This is a big rivalry, but give me Notre Dame. Yeah, I'm going to. take Notre Dame here just because we've known that Michigan doesn't have a great defensive line. Oklahoma was even able to show that in, what, week two, but USC is not going to be able to do the same thing that they did in Michigan to Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is known for their strong offensive and defensive lines. They like to play bully ball. That's not the game that Lincoln Riley plays. Give me the Notre Dame fighting Irish. We are pressed for time, so that's where we're going to have to leave it for this first half. In the second half, we are going to get into disaster in Happy Valley. what's next for Penn State football. Are the Indiana Hoosiers the new big dogs in college football?

And of course, the intentional grounding. For everything we need to get out of our hands before the next week of college football kicks off. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, and this is the four-man front. Stick with us. We'll see you in six. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM, and this is the four-man front,

the show about college football and nothing else. I'm Lewis Thune. back to the second half of the show. 22 more minutes to prepare you for week 8 of college football. I'll send it around the room yet again. To my left is Mark Ayres. ACC football, no-it-all. Mournful Florida State fan.

We're going to talk about the coaching carousel mark. Any preliminary thoughts? I don't think Norville's gone this year, but man, I kind of wish he was. Across the table, Patrick Hamilton. Patrick, it was a tough week in Happy Valley. What's next for Penn State? Make Happy Valley happy again. And finally to my right,

Paden Hughes, a man who knows coaching struggles, a man who never knew coaching struggles until this year. Payden, any counsel for those of us like me and like Mark, who are dealing with coaching struggles in our programs right now? There is no hope. All will perish. Well, I'd like to say it's not all doom and gloom, but at this point, I don't see a lot of silver lining.

After 12 seasons in Happy Valley, James Franklin managed to lose three straight games, the first to Oregon, to UCLA and the last one this week at home, 22 to 21 against the Northwestern Wildcats. He is now gone. Penn State has terminated his contract enriching him by $49 million over the next eight years, condemning Penn State football to the Valley of Doom and Gloom for the foreseeable future. A lot of jobs open. The current speculation is that win or lose Billy Napier at Florida will be fired in the coming week. There's clamoring at Florida State to fire Mike Norville.

my own beloved Oklahoma Sooners and their fan base are very dissatisfied with Brent Venables in close games. Let me ask you, gentlemen, what is the most eligible head coaching location in college football, and who is the most eligible candidate? Who should target whom? I've got two spots on my mind right now. Now, they might not be the most common,

but I think that they could be legitimate. The first off is USF Bulls head coach, Alex Golish. has turned this USF team completely around. They might end up in the college football playoff this year. If he leaves USF, maybe he can go to a Florida state, stay in the state of Florida, maybe he can go to Oklahoma State, maybe he can go to Arkansas. He can stay in the southern region. He can build another team up that's looking to return to greatness, just like he did at USF. Now, shifting to the Big Ten, this might come as a shocker. I'm looking at Matt Rule going to Penn State. Matt Rule. He already left Baylor to go into the NFL and,

fail and come back, go to the Big Ten and go to Nebraska. He has shown that he is willing to leave a school that he built up. He built up the Baylor program to a 10-win team. He left. He came back to Nebraska. If he leaves Nebraska, he could go back to his playing days at Penn State. He's been there before. He can return and he can build this program back up just like honestly he's done with Nebraska this season. They haven't been able to do anything the past three decades. And it seems like they might have a team this year. This interests me. I didn't realize Matt Ruhle played at Penn State. A lot of guys still have loyalties from their playing days. That's right, Lewis. Well, not only did he play at Penn State, but he also met his wife there and is a great friend with Patrick Kraft,

the current athletic director at Penn State. There's a lot of connections there already. And he's on record to say, Coach Ruhle, I think I probably had a Penn State shirt on when I was born. Now, Dylan Raiola came out and said that he's not going anywhere. That's the quote. That's the headline. I don't think he's going to go anywhere yet. I think this is going to be an end of season change. I don't think Matt rules the type of guy to just leave midway through the season, but at the no, he's going to want evidence. They're going to want to see evidence of him going 10 and 2, maybe 11 and 1 with Nebraska before they want to bring him on at Penn State to coach to coach that they're not going to be happy with their coach unless he's going 10 and 2 or 11 and 1 in the Big 10. So they need success

and they're going to want to see success. So the one thing we should be worrisome about rule is rule is 2 and 23 as a head coach against opponents, ranked in the AP top 25, and he was 018 since he's left Temple in 2015. He in three years turned Baylor around from 1 and 11 to 11 in 3, 2017 to 2019. Massive turnaround there at Baylor. Should he go to Penn State? And it's possible he might do the same thing with Nebraska here.

In 2020, he goes 5 and 7, 2024, he went 7 and 6. Now he's 5 and 1 with the schedule of decently winnable games left to go. Penn State would have talent that he was unable to get anywhere else during his career. So the 0-1-11 against top 10 teams, Baylor isn't bringing in the type of talent that's going to get you elite wins, especially not in 2019. Right. Right. And he makes that point in the world of $30 to $40 million NIL teams. Nebraska or Baylor just, they just don't have that alumni or support.

So they're, they're certainly, they're certainly not going to compete with Penn State for recruiting, for recruiting talent. Penn State perennially is one of the greatest recruiting talents. Yeah, absolutely. And so it's very possible that if he went to Penn State, he could be successful there. But really, it's all speculation at this point. He has neither confirmed nor denied any rumors about leaving for the Penn State job. The only thing he has said is he came out and gave a statement about how much he loves Nebraska. He refuses to quash speculation. And that. That just kind of leaves us all wondering what happens next. Another name I'll throw out, person who's turned some heads early on in his career and is now getting some well-deserved attention would be Scott Satterfield at Cincinnati. He was at Louisville before jumping ship to Cincinnati. A lot of folks wondering why he did that after Luke Fickle left the Cincinnati program spent one down year rebuilding Cincinnati. And now they are back in full force, just broke the top 25. good solid ranked win against Iowa State a week and a half ago. This is a good coach.

This is a guy who can create a winning culture on a team, and what's greatest about him is that he is a developer of talent. His recruiting game, it's nothing special. He gets players, he gets them to believe in themselves and one another. He turns them into college football talents. He's not going to attract a lot of future NFL talent. There's not a lot of guys who are going to come through a Scott Satterfield team who are going to go be elite players in the NFL. What he's going to do is he's going to take

average college football players and he's going to turn them into very good college football players. And I wonder if that was the issue for him at Louisville, you know, pretty mediocre career while he was there. But like you said, you know, not really attracting that elite tier talent, but really more of a developmental coach. He's got a lot to work with at Cincinnati and it seems to be working out just fine. And you saw the problem with James Franklin at Penn State is he got elite talent like you do at Penn State and he did nothing with it. He spoiled the career of Sequin Barclay and Drew Aller. Everyone who came through that James Franklin Penn State program reached their ceiling later on in their career if they got to play later on at all. And that's why

they've wowed people. It had nothing to do with James Franklin. Satterfield, if he can get even an ounce of the talent that James Franklin was able to get Penn State, which rest assured he will, he'll be able to turn those guys into better and better players, maybe turn. in this Penn State team from a joke into a contender, and what he showed at Cincinnati, he can do it very fast. It's far too many hot seats and not enough eligible candidates in college football. The carousel is going to hit harder than ever. Every team wants Kurt Signetti right now, but Kurt Signetti is not going anywhere.

He has turned programs from cellar dwellers into top talents. He's done it by beating very mediocre teams. A lot of people thought this man a poser until this past week, where he's done. stormed into Eugene Oregon into the loudest stadium in all of college football, not because the fan is great, but the architecture is great. And he beat the Oregon Ducks 30 to 20, breaking the top five for their highest ranking in program history. They are right up there with A&M, Ohio State, and Miami for the title of most complete team in college football. Now, let's define what we mean by complete here. That is, sound on both sides of the ball in all position groups.

A lot of great teams have holes. I like to think of Oklahoma's running game or their secondary, which is often accounted for by people like John Mateer or the defensive line. Great teams don't tend to have that problem. They tend to be complete. We've certainly seen Ohio State and Miami look complete this year, though Indiana might not be the most talented team in college football. I want to ask you guys, in your opinion,

are they the most complete with what Kurt Signetti's been able to do? You know, Lewis, when you're looking for a completeness and a team, you don't want to see things like a single receiver getting all the goods, right? Or a single running back who's got all the load on his shoulder. Like, I can think about last year, Boise State with Ashton Janty. They were a good team, but clearly he was bringing them above and beyond where they should have been otherwise. Definitely.

You don't see that here within. Indiana, you see across the board a spread of, now obviously, offense being commanded by Fernando Mendoza, who's been doing very well, but he has weapons everywhere. The rushing game is led by four rushers and then the QB. Each one of those guys, those top four rushers, has more than 25 carries. Each one of them is averaging more than five yards per carry. That's excellent. Excellent. Two of them are averaging over seven yards carry. Their top guy, 84 carries for 421 yards, averaging 5 yards per carry. Very good. You love to see it. They have a great stable of running backs that they can cycle through. They've got chunk guys. They've got

power guys. Receiving end, he has his top three wide receivers, Elijah Serrett, Omar Cooper Jr. And E.J. Williams Jr. Each one of them has over 100 yards on the season. The top two have 533 and 466 yards respectively. Each one of those guys is averaging over 10 yards per reception. seven and six touchdowns respectively. The receiving core is getting lots of touches all across the board. Mendoza is spreading the ball across the field. He's doing it effectively. It really isn't a hole in this receiving offense.

Up against Oregon, six sacks from that D-line, two interceptions. They're able to bend, not break. Dante Moore looked great that game. The Oregon rushing game looked great. But when it mattered, Indiana walled up and they didn't allow Oregon to get through. We've seen this consistently with Kurt Signetti almost. reminds you of the Bill Belichick years in New England, certainly not his time in North Carolina. Everyone does their job and they win games. He doesn't need stars to do it. He's never had stars.

He gets the job done with what he's got because the team believes in each other. They believe in themselves, but most importantly, they believe in their coach. If I can barge in here real quick, as a Big 12 fan, my gripe with the Big Ten has always been that they're really weak out of that top few teams. And I'm going to point that out here. We've always said Kurt Signetti has weak schedules. But now we've said, okay, he beat Oregon. So he has the strength of schedule. Well, have you guys looked at who Oregon is played? Why do we believe in Oregon? Their staple win of the season was Penn State, who is now three and three not ranked and looks horrible. Let's just be honest. Oregon does not have a win besides Penn State against a team that is at least

500. They don't have a win against a currently ranked team. No. They have nothing on the schedule to show me that they're actually solid. I mean, we have the eye test against a bad team, but we have nothing that is confirming. So when Indiana goes and wins by 10 in a 50 point total game, I'm sitting here, I'm saying, yes, that that's great, they're good. But they haven't shown me that they are elite, the most complete team in football. That's what you asked. The most complete team in football. Has anyone shown you that they are deserving of that spot?

Maybe Miami there. I would argue Miami, I would argue Texas Tech. Especially with what, Florida State wins? Notre Dame win. But okay, A&M has also looked really good. I think those three, I would argue those three have looked really solid. What I will say for Miami is I haven't seen a completeness from them, specifically from their Russian game.

You know that's what I look for. They've looked good, but it's been on and off at times. Exactly. In each of their big win games, they go up early, they rely heavily on that Carson Beck passing game, and then they play clock ball like you're supposed to do. They hand the ball off, but that's not generating points for them. against Notre Dame, against Florida, against Florida State.

They got up early, and when they had to lean on the rushing game to drain the clock, they let the other team back in the game. Now, it hasn't bit them yet, but I don't think Miami has that solid rushing game that we've seen from Indiana. Let's just go back one week. If you're going to hold Miami to this standard of high rushing capabilities, let's go back one week to Indiana's, what is it, 2.7 yards per rush against Iowa. 100 total rushing yards on almost 40 attempts.

It's Iowa. I mean, but Iowa has one of the best. To be able to call this the most complete team in college football. Texas Tech hasn't had a game closer than 17 points. Texas Tech hasn't played a defense. They've played teams better than Utah. Nowhere close to Iowa. Utah is better than Iowa's defense.

I'll hold that 100%. I will say Iowa's defense is very good. It's great. They put up 20 points in 100 rushing yards. Here's the thing. And we're calling them the most complete team in college football. Yes. No. They haven't proven anything.

But that's not true. They crushed a pretty decent Illinois team. Absolutely. I'm not going to lean too heavy on the Illinois win. What I saw there was not a statistically outstanding game from Indiana. What Kurt Signetti did was he scored. And he just kept scoring. You didn't see those outstanding throws you've seen from Carson Beck at Miami. You didn't see the dominant rushing game you've seen at Ohio State.

But isn't that what a complete team does, Lewis? They don't rely on those flashing plays. Absolutely. They don't need the big chunk yardage because every drive, they're going to go down, they're going to score, it's not messy. Penalties aren't holding them back. If they are, they get over it. The fact that they're winning in tough environments, in hard-nosed and hard-fought games without need of a star is what's telling me they're a complete team. If you take Carson back away from Miami, Miami might be a two-and-three team.

If you take any single player off of this Indiana team, they're still undefeated. I think this is the thing, too, is that why we're so high in Missouri and the running game is because they have three different people they can hand it off to. Indiana has that at running back and wide receivers. Okay, yes, you can say the 20 to 15 win against Iowa, it wasn't pretty. The same standards that we've been applying to teams throughout the year, we're applying to Indiana, and we see there's 6 and 0 at Oregon. It's not an easy environment, and they show up and they get a 30 to 20 win.

I think that they're probably the most complete team. I just don't see any other team in college football right now that is as complete. I can give you two right now, and it's Texas A&M and Texas Tech. Texas A&M has wins over Notre Dame, win over Auburn, win over Mississippi State, went over Florida. Texas A&M has been dominant on all sides of the ball. Their defense has been solid, especially going into SEC play, when it really matters. Their offense is putting out enough points some more in these last couple weeks,

31 and 34. They're doing what we want them to do. You go to Texas Tech. They have been dominant. They have been doubling their opponents, both when they were playing in the first three weeks of the season against bad teams and going into Big 12 play, beating teams like Kansas and Utah, winning by double digits consistently. Their defense isn't allowing more than, I think, 14 or 17 points. Neither of them have any glaring weaknesses. Exactly. I'm very, I'm very, very receptive to the Texas team's points. I've been so high on Texas A&M. I think they've gotten one of the best quarterbacks in country in Marcel Reed. Definitely the best wide receiver in the country in Casey Concepcion. I think he's better than Jeremiah Smith and one of the best

two men backfields in the country. And we will see in the coming weeks as conference play ramps up and we get more of those ranked matchups if those Texas schools can hold serve. We will really get to see what Indiana is made of against Ohio State. But that's where we're going to have to leave this because we need to get to the intentional grounding, gentlemen, you know the rules. Before this next week of college football kicks off, there's something that needs to be said, either because

not enough people saying it, or too many people are saying it, whatever the case, you need to get it off your chest and out of your hand. You might get penalized for it, but it is what it is. Gentlemen, who wants to go first? Dread it, run from it.

The Crimson Tide always arrives. Folks, Alabama is, as much as I hate to say it, back. Ty Simpson is throwing incredibly well. Their defense is stepping up big time. Alabama is ever since that season opening stumbler against FSU. They have got more than back on track. The tide is rolling in Tallahassee.

You're going to see it against Tennessee. This team could legitimately go all the way. So watch out. I'm going to follow that up. I am so sick and tired of the Georgia Tech Slan. they're going to lose to Duke. I think that's ridiculous. I just can't take the disrespect. I'm high flying on the jackets. Let's go. Georgia Tech. I'm going to join Mark and looking at the SEC here. And I'm going to go back on my word that I had just a couple weeks ago. I believed in Vanderbilt. I believed in Diego Pavia.

I thought he would do more than enough. And I thought they at least go nine and three, maybe even 10 and two in the SEC. I don't see it happening. I thought this Alabama win was going to, I thought a win against Alabama was going to launch this team forward. They didn't win. In fact, Alabama showed that if you can lock Diego Pavia off from the rest of the offense, they're not going to do anything. They're only going to 14 points. So I'm going to have Vanderbilt going 8 and 4 with losses to Missouri, LSU, and Tennessee. Wow. I don't think that's a crazy pick at all. Diego Pavia is the beating heart of this team, and there's one way to stop it. All right, folks, on my intentional grounding last week, you got to hear how wrong I was about Penn State.

This week you get to hear how right I was about Oklahoma. To all of those now doubting Oklahoma, now understanding the glaring weaknesses, welcome to the club. I've been saying it since the beginning of the season. This is a nine and three team best case scenario, thoroughly weak in the rushing game and the offensive line as we talked about in the defensive secondary.

So let me present to you, the Lewis was right super cut as we close today's episode. Oklahoma should not have scored 24 points in that game. This Oklahoma offense cannot run the ball. They're relying on John Mateer scrambles. If it comes down to John Mateer having to be the sole difference maker in the passing and the rushing game, eventually that's not going to fly. Someone's going to have his number.

He put way too many balls in danger. I saw batted balls galore. If you put the ball in trouble that much, eventually it's going to get picked off. The Oklahoma Sooners defense, despite being one of the best in the country, has not taken the ball away from an offense yet. No turnovers like we saw with Cam Coleman. They're leaning entirely on their defensive line to get stops. I think this Oklahoma defense is good enough to lock down Texas. I think this Texas defense is better than Oklahoma's defense, and I think Texas wins. This team will never fail to disappoint me when given the opportunity, so I'm not going to expect

otherwise. Until they show me that they can win a close game against a high-caliber opponent, I'm just flat out not going to trust them. Are you saying University of Michigan is on a high-calibre program? This year, no. Yeah, no, I'd have to do, sadly. I wouldn't be surprised if Lenora Sellers had his breakout week, reestablished himself as the best quarterback in the SEC and beat Oklahoma. Nothing would surprise me with this team.

The D-line is going to carry the defense. The arm of John Mateer and the broken thumb are going to drag the offense along, kicking and screaming. Might win a couple games along the way, but I am no believer. However, I am a lover. That's what we're going to have to leave it, folks. As week eight rolls in and conference play ramps up, we are going to be glued to our couches. Epic action in the SEC this week in the Big Ten, rivalries. Rivalries of plenty. It's going to be fun. We hope you'll be tuning in beside us.

And until next week, we will sign off for Mark Ayers, Patrick Hamilton, and Peyton Hughes. I'm Lewis Thune. This has been the four-man front. listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. The Abby football.