WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Four Man Front: Tech Tech Boom

Episode Date: October 25, 2025

3 more undefeated teams fall,  Cignetti gets paid before taking on Skipper and Jerry, Bear’s BYU can’t stop winning. The four men discuss: Lewis is confused, Patrick is concussed, Marc and Paden are numb.

Miami, Ole Miss, and Texas Tech all fall on unofficial rivalry week. Alabama mops the floor with Tennessee. Notre Dame and BYU both emerge against their most hated rivals. And the seats have never been hotter all across the country. I'm Lewis Thune, and this is the four-man front, the show about college football and nothing else. To those of you joining us live, welcome to you, and those of you listening over podcast. We welcome you as well. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale, 101.7 FM. We got a lot right about week eight in college football. It still managed to surprise us, though. Three undefeated teams went

down this week, and here to break it all down are my co-hosts. To my left, Mark Ayers. Is it safe to say this is the 21st century's craziest ACC season? Oh, it's not close. We're entering week 8, and aside from maybe Georgia Tech, I would say this race is still wide open. To my right, Payton Hughes, BYU stood their ground in Provo this week, remained undefeated, and they now sit in the driver's seat of the Big 12 with Texas Tech falling at Arizona State. Exactly right. We called out BYU's grittiness last week. We knew it would play a factor. It did. 2421 BYU over Utah. And then across the table, this is a dangerous business we're in. We are We operate in a dangerous world.

Patrick Hamilton on last week's injury report was listed as doubtful for today's action here in the studio. In concussion protocol, lo and behold, he pulls through and here he is. How are we doing today, Lewis? I should ask you, Patrick. How are you doing today? Doing great. My U of M teams got it done. Not only the maze in blue with a big win.

Minnesota getting it done against Wandabee Mahomes, Dylan Ryola, 24 to 6. when despite being from Nebraska, no member of my family has gone to school in Nebraska, and in fact, my great-grandfather was a D-1 athlete at Minnesota. So I was so happy Friday night when the Golden Gophers pulled out a win over the Corn Huskers. Folks, we're going to recap week eight, and we're going to have to make the most of time. So much went down this week. We were expecting some great games. We got them. But we were expecting that at least some of the games would be boring. Aside from Oregon Rutgers, basically every ranked team that played this week had themselves a game. So before we get to the upsets, it was Bama, it was Tennessee, in Tuscaloosa, the high-flying

Josh Hypoil offense meets an Alabama team under Kalin DeBore, which has looked all around dominant since their opening week loss to Florida State. 3720, what did y'all see in this game that allowed Alabama to pull out by three scores? Yeah, Lewis, let me kick it off. I saw. I saw a Heisman performance from Ty Simpson, 19 for 29, two touchdowns, 250 yards. Ty Simpson put the team on his back. The rushing is just not there. You bring up an important point, which is that Alabama was nothing spectacular when it came to rushing the ball.

Three guys getting carries. None of them broke 50 yards on the day. But Ty Simpson and the passing offense was enough. I really think the Bama defense is what won in this game. To hold Tennessee to 20 points, we know what Josh Hypole offenses can do. we've touched on the point over and over again this year. Deshawn Bishop ran for 123 yards. Joey Aguilar threw for 268. Chris Brazel had seven receptions and still this Tennessee offense could not put the ball in the end zone. If you've watched Alabama football over the past decade, then you know that they have a tendency to make big plays happen when they need it.

This Alabama defense came up clutch. Tennessee had a 15 play 74 yard four minute drive. It looked like they were going to score, go into half 14, 16. on the goal line. Alabama gets a pick six, 99 yards. Agreeing with Lewis and Mark, more than the Ty Simpson point, I think the Alabama defense coming in clutch, they weren't great just from a pure statistical standpoint. They gave up more yards than the offense got for Alabama. Josh Heiple, the offense did what it wanted to, getting down the field, but it was Alabama's clutch genes that prevented Tennessee from getting any points. It was a story of bend, don't break. You're only going to be able to bend for a certain amount of time. Alabama's going to have to hammer that out of their defense as the postseason

approaches. We do need to get to the upsets. Three big games this week. Two of them we didn't even touch on. Miami falls to Louisville 2421 at home at Hard Rock Stadium. And then Texas Tech goes to Tempe and falls to Arizona State. Kenny Dillingham and Sam Levitt prove once again that the Sun Devils work some dark magic in college football, a Texas Tech team that had looked flawless. All season, one of the most complete teams in college football, as we referenced last week. We'll cut to it. Indiana, there's 6'0. At Oregon, they get a 30 to 20 win.

I just don't see any other team in college football right now that's as complete. Right now, I can give you Texas Tech. They have been dominant. 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. All it took was a guy named Sam Levitt. A tough game all around from Texas Tech, Baden. I want to make it clear to everyone listening and to my other three co-hosts at this table. This was a loss for Texas Tech. Are they as complete as we thought? Maybe not, but they're a great team

and probably the best team in the Big 12. Keep in mind, the Sun Devils losing 42 to 10 to Utah last week, was a game without Sam Levitt. Sam Levitt is a playmaker, top three in the Big 12, and what we saw out of Texas Tech was a poor performance. They were without starting quarterback Baron Morton. we saw the worst out of Texas Tech this week. I think that comes from Will Hammond more than anything else.

He's not that experienced. He's new. And there's now more film on him than there was prior. Even in the midst of the worst, you saw Texas Tech display how poised they were. Down two scores in the fourth quarter, they come back and take the lead with two minutes left and put the game in Sam Levitt's hands. And it was really a story of him coming through after Arizona State had dominated the whole game. And Texas Tech just had not stopped. That's exactly what you want to see out of this team.

You need that resilience, especially in the league of. tough as the Big 12. So Texas Tech, if this is the worst that we see out of them, they only allow 2.1 yards per rush. Even in their worst game of the season, a four-point loss to a great Arizona state team, 2.1 yards per rush. There is a weakness in the secondary. They allowed a lot of passing yards, over 300 passing yards, that hadn't been shown yet. It was Sam Levitt's ability to extend plays and extend drives by getting first downs with his legs that kept Arizona State's defense fresh, made sure they could get those stops against Texas Tech, 26, 22. in favor of the Sun Devils.

Back in Miami, 24-21, Louisville, they rightly break into the top 25. An immaculate game on both sides of the ball. Contrast that with Miami. We talked ad nauseum about how good Carson Beck has looked this season. We also mentioned that the rest of the Miami team hadn't quite lived up to that, aside from the defense. An absolute disaster there on their home field.

No rushers breaking 20 yards. Carson Beck throwing four picks. They played from behind the entire game after a fantastic first drive from Louisville, which we'll break down in the second half. Miami lets one get away from them. Mark, how did it happen? Well, Lewis, it was a comedy of errors for Miami. Miami's first touchdown was a product of two big bomb passes that Carson Beck threw and then a couple one-yard runs to punch it in. But after that, interception, interception, field goal, punt, punt, field goal, interception. And then they finally did get another touchdown and then one more interception to cap it off for Miami. Carson Beck, he threw four interceptions officially.

He really threw five, but they called it back because of a penalty. And now we've talked about how Miami tends to let up the gas late in the game and let teams get back into it. It's really not what happened this time. Louisville jumped out to a big lead early and held onto it throughout the rest of the game. And once again, Lewis, they were just simply the better team. The duality of Carson Beck. We thought he'd grown out of it six games into the season. Happy Halloween, Carson Beck jump scares the Miami fan base.

They do exist, and they're one-lost team in the ACC. This goes back to us saying that Miami isn't really that complete of a team. I haven't seen a completeness from them, specifically from their rushing game. You know that's what I look for. In each of their big win games, they go up early, they rely heavily on that Carson back passing game 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 if you take Carson back away from Miami, Miami might be a two and three team. If you don't mind me barging in here, let's keep in mind that Louisville was plus four in turnover margin and only put up 24 points against this Miami defense. So however much you want to call out Miami saying they're not complete, the defense is for sure for real. This is a great team that had an off game similar to what we're looking at with Texas Tech.

We talked about it earlier in the year. The top three teams in the ACC are probably making the college football playoff. Miami doesn't control their own destiny at this point, but if they win out, which they most likely can, they'll be in the playoff. One last undefeated went down this week. The Ole Miss Rebels came into Athens. They looked great, scored on five consecutive drives, and still lost to this Kirby Smart Georgia team.

The Georgia defense is not what it once was. I think it's safe to say. Tennessee put up 41. Ole Miss put up 35. Georgia won both of those games. A perfect second half from Gunner Stockton. Three rushers hitting 60 yards. No turnovers. Fantastic game on both sides of the ball for Georgia. I honestly don't know what Ole Miss could have done better in this game. You know what they could have done? They could have scored in the fourth quarter, which they didn't. Georgia goes on a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter. It looked like they were for sure down and out. Kirby Smart. has adapted to not having the same defense that he's had, and now they're scoring, and they're scoring well, and they're scoring when they need to.

Almost 300 yards passing, rushing 220. This is complete offensive dominance. Last week we talked about the completeness of teams. Something you look for when you look for completeness, and I may have said this last week also, so maybe I'm just repeating myself, long drives that end in touchdowns, game possession, control of the ball. You don't necessarily want to score. score in two plays. You want to grind the other team into dust, and this is exactly what Georgia

did. Old Miss came out guns blazing until the fourth quarter. All Miss 35, Georgia 26. Georgia then takes six minutes off the clock, 12 play 75-yard touchdown drive. Old Miss punts, three plays out. Georgia takes another five minutes off the clock with a nine play, 67-yard touchdown drive. Old Miss punts, three plays, one yard. Georgia then drives down the field again. Ten plays, 66 yards, four and a half minutes off the clock. That is how you take a team and you utterly demoralize them. You make their defense stay on the field the whole game, and when the offense comes out, you shut them down and you don't let them get anything.

Trinidad Chambliss for Ole Miss, leading Russia in addition to an impressive game passing the ball. He's made his case to be an NFL quarterback after spending three years in Division 2 at Ferris State, transfers in, assumes the Ole Miss starting job, takes it from Austin, and Simmons. He's looked every bit as good as Jackson Dart was last year. We've seen what Jackson Dart can do in the pros. This is one guy who has yet to disappoint this year. NFL teams are taking note and with good reason. I'll mention in closing. Vanderbilt beats LSU, 3125. They break the top 10 for the first time since 1947. Texas A&M escapes Arkansas, 45, 42. They remain undefeated number three team in the country. Virginia, Washington State, a 22-20 game. Texas and Missouri need overtime.

Texas 1613 against Kentucky, Missouri, 2317 against Auburn. We're going to touch on BYU and Notre Dame in the second half. Now let's look into week nine. We've got three matchups to talk about. We're going to let the pickums spill over into the second half. Oh, you, Ole Miss, Indiana, UCLA, a red-hot UCLA team we cannot say enough good things about. And then college game day in Nashville for the first time since 2008. It is Vanderbilt versus Missouri, two teams with legitimate shots at the SEC championship with their current schedules and records, which is crazy to think. Which one do you guys want to talk about first?

As a Big Ten boy, let's look at Coach Skipper and Jerry of UCLA. Let's do it. All right. Indiana enters this game as the number two. two team in the country having just extended coach Kurt Signetti, damn near $100 million extension. He's going to be staying in Bloomington for a long time. On the other side, the second coming Jerry New Heisel and coach Tim Skipper have turned UCLA to an absolute juggernaut in the span of three weeks. What are the keys to this game in your mind, Patrick?

Can Indiana's defense keep Nico Imaliyava in check? This is not a 3 and 4 team. This is a 3-0 team. They have had a complete redefinition of this program. Aside from the Illinois game, Indiana has yet to really dominate a game in all four quarters. I would not be shocked if UCLA ended up pulling the win in this game. Okay. So I'm going to shoot this over to Mark or Payton.

What is your key to this game and given that key, who are you taking? I believe in this Indiana team. I said last week that I think they're truly. one of the best teams in the nation, and I stand by that. This UCLA team is going to be a test. That I Amaliava to Gilmer connection is deadly and has been extremely successful with this new look UCLA offense, but I still believe in the Indiana defense. I think that they will be able to shut down that connection.

I really don't think that UCLA's office is particularly three-dimensional. They really don't have a rushing offense, in my opinion. I think that, you know, he is their leading rusher. I think they're going to be able to shut this team down. I think they're going to be able to really find. force Nico Iamaliava to make tough throws, throws that he really doesn't want to make. I think they're going to take away his leading receiver, and I really think that that's going to be the key for Indiana in this game.

To reinforce what you're saying there, Mark, since New Heisel has taken over play calling, Iamaliava has looked great, but the best defense they've played since then has been Maryland, in which he threw two picks and only one touchdown. So they're going up against now a great Indiana defense. They're not allowing many points, and they're stalling the quarterbacks. they're going up against. So Iamalia is going to have to play out of his mind if UCLA really wants a chance here. But in the end, I think Indiana's defense is going to be too strong. I'll take Indiana. This UCLA team has new hope. The disparity in crowd size from the week they played Penn State

as an O and 4 program to last week was immense. But this game isn't being played in Southern California. It's being played in Bloomington. And if we want to talk about New Hope, Indiana has never been ranked higher than it currently is. They just re-signed their head coach, as we alluded to, to the biggest contract in college football. Teams not going anywhere. I think Signetti has the experience to shut down Jerry New Heisel. This could be the birth of a Titan in college football.

New Heisel in three games has shown himself a better play caller than half of the country, but he's not quite the master yet, and Kurt Signetti is. Give me Indiana in this game. Let's us three bounce over to the SEC as concussion protocol carries Patrick away for a moment. We have Vandy, Mizzou, and OU, Ole Miss this week. Give me both your picks. Tell me why. I love this Vandy Mizzou matchup. This is a great matchup between two of those teams that you typically think of in the SEC as being kind of like

the scrappy underdogs. Both of these guys are just good at this point of this season. I think that's safe to say. However, I love Vanderbilt. I love Diego Pavia. I'm such a big fan of what's going on down there in Nashville, but I still think that this Missouri offense, combined with their pretty impressive defense, is one of the better complete units in the entire SEC. I think it's a little interesting that Vanderbilt's number 10 in the country. I probably would not have them there in my rankings because I simply don't think that they're the 10th best team in the entire country. I think Missouri's better, and I think Missouri's going to win this game, give me the Tigers. This Ole Miss Oklahoma

matchup is really intriguing. Despite the loss to Texas, which I'm going to chalk up to rival game hijinks. Oklahoma still has one of the best defensive units in the country. Old Miss, on the other hand, has one of an arguably maybe the best offensive unit in the country. This is going to be immovable object versus unstoppable force, but I really do think Old Miss is the better team here. Give me the rebels. Yeah, going back to that Missouri Vanderbilt game, I totally agree. This is a clash of teams that are normally the underdogs that you always root for in the SEC. I'm calling the Tigers for the reasons that I've enumerated the past few weeks. This rushing defense is legit, but more than that, I'm also calling them because of their defense.

Alabama showed how to stop the Vanderbilt Commodores, and that's through stopping Diego Pavia. He's their leading passer and they're leading rusher. They have a one-dimensional offense, and I thought LSU was going to be able to stop it because their defenses looked great. They weren't able to. Pavia is just too good. But Missouri has allowed more than 20 points once in the last five games, and that's to Ty Simpson's Alabama team. I respect that so much that I'm going to take the Tigers here. They're going to win rushing. They're going to win the passing game. Bo Probula's probably going to have one or two interceptions, but I don't think it's going to be enough for Vanderbilt because Missouri's just going to be able to lock Pavia down. We're probably

looking at 20 to 14 win for Missouri here. Oklahoma Ole Miss. I think Texas showed us that Red River was in fact a fluke going into overtime to beat the worst team in the SEC Kentucky. They came to Oklahoma with a plan. Steve Sarkeesian knows how to beat Brent Venables. That was obvious. It seems like Oklahoma had a fluke and Texas had a fluke. I want to take Oklahoma here. I know that Ole Miss is probably the more complete team, the better team, but this Oklahoma defense is just too strong. If they can just get one, maybe two turnovers, I think Oklahoma is going to probably end up winning big. Their defense is going to hold Ole Miss below 20, 25 points-ish, and that offense is going to be able to score three touchdowns. I think John Mateer can put up

21, 28 points. These are probably the two hardest games I've had to pick this year in the SEC. Vanderbilt, Missouri, I don't even know where to start with this game. Everything about it tells me I need to pick Missouri. Between a fumble and two interceptions from Beau Pribula, Missouri was still able to play Alabama to a field goal game. Josiah Trotter, whose dad was an absolute dog in the NFL, is one of the best defensive players in the country.

They're anchoring the Missouri defense at linebacker. something about this Vanderbilt team. It's not just Diego Pavia. Just something about this team tells me that they're going to be able to attack Missouri where they're best. Clark Lee at Vanderbilt has a habit of instead of attacking teams where they're weak, he attacks them where they are strongest, and he's somehow able to beat them in ways they're not expecting. He might choose to run the ball directly at Josiah Trotter for four quarters and succeed.

Diego Pavia might throw six passes this game, he could throw 50 passes. I don't see this being heavily skewed to one team or the other. It's going to be a close game no matter what. I would not be surprised at Missouri's up this entire game, but Vanderbilt's going to find a way to pull it out. In Norman, I've said, Oklahoma finds endless ways to disappoint me.

Oklahoma had a rush or break 100 yards this past week. I was really happy about it against South Carolina, no less. The defense looks strong. John Mateer was back in form. I think they actually will. find a way to win this game. I won't be surprised if they lose, but I'm signing with Oklahoma here. Yes, I like some confidence out of you. Purely because I think this is a team that's able to adjust when it gets its weaknesses exposed, unlike in previous years under Riley, under Stoops,

where we simply trust that we're stronger here than we are weak there. Venables and Arbuckle and this roster have shown they're able to roll with the punches and get to what's real, if you'll forgive me the Van Halen reference. So I will take Oklahoma in this game, and that's where we're going to leave off this first half. I'm not sure how we're going to be able to get through the second half. We've left ourselves so much to cover, but Patrick will be back from concussion protocol, and we're going to have to hit it hard. So I will wrap this up. Ladies and gentlemen, you're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. We will be back for the second half of 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. As the second half kicks off, joining us after coach yanked him halfway through the second quarter for concussion protocol is Patrick Hamilton. Patrick, how was the layover? There's no better feeling in the world hearing thousands of people change your name as you're coming back out of the tunnel from the locker room. Coach has cleared me. We're good to go, so let's get into the second half. I don't know about thousands of people, but we can give you a Patrick. Patrick, Patrick, Patrick, Patrick.

Chanting with me there to the left is Mark Ayers. We talked about how much grieving you were doing last week as a Florida State fan this week. Just sealed it. I'm numb now, Lewis. Nothing more can hurt me. Lincoln Park has begun playing in the background. Mark is entering his emo phase. Florida State betrays him yet again.

To the right, Payton Hughes, who, I mean, we think Mark has it hard. Payton, it has been a hellish season in Stillwater. It really has, but just like Mark, I'm numb. And the only thing that I can look forward to and that I'm always looking forward to now is the greatest student section in college football. Oklahoma State. Resilient fan base. Banana line. Banana conga line.

No shirty one. I mean, they have set such a high bar for themselves that they're going to have to outperform, that their student section is going to have to outperform itself week on week. I don't know how they're going to do it. I don't either. It's just hilarious to see. Must see television. And hey, zero zero mentality. They're beating Texas Tech this week, right?

All right, folks. Let's hit these week nine pickums so we can get them out of the way and talk about some bigger stories. So week nine, five games up in the air could go either way. First off, Paul Bunyan Trophy, Michigan. Michigan State. This game is being played in Lansing. send it around. Michigan State is

terrible. Give me Michigan. That is just music to my ears. Michigan, we will see if Justice Haynes is back, but Jordan Marshall has picked up the slack. Huge win for Michigan. Let's not overthink it. Michigan's good. They need a statement win, though, if they want a shot at the college football playoff. So give me Michigan.

November 26th, 2022, the top 10 Oregon ducks come into Corvallis. Oregon State QB Ben Goldbrinson throws for 60 yards and two interceptions, and Oregon State wins 3834, by running zero pass plays the entire second half and rallying a 21-point deficit into a four-point win against Oregon. Jonathan Smith is now the head coach in Lansing. I'll send you back into the past once again to get my feelings on this game.

It will be the Michigan State Spartans. who come up and beat down the Michigan Wolverines. Sell it, Sue him, Lewis. Strange things happen in this rivalry game. Watch Aidan Child's shock the world. Yeah, guys, it's Sparty all the way. Michigan State is winning this game. Wow.

I said it at the beginning of the season. Now that Michigan is so insanely injured, and as much as I love this team, as much as I love Coach Sharon Moore and Bryce Underwood and how exciting this team is going to be in the coming years. This just isn't the year. The injury monster came and he came with a vengeance. Yeah, can I get concurrence from Mark and Patrick again?

Can we all just look at Lewis right now and say, you are wrong? And let's note this for next week. You are wrong, Lewis. Another team that's interesting, not because they're that good, but because they have a very easy schedule and have lost to the number one and number two teams in the country. Illinois probably have a guaranteed spot.

in the playoff. They're heading to Washington this week. And I think they leave with a W. I think Illinois wins this. They continue to win out. They won't be playing for the Big Ten Championship, but they will for sure be playing as probably one of the lower seeds of the college football playoffs. To quote Lewis Thune, DeMond Williams Jr., the man with demon in his name because he brings hell with him, give me the Washington Huskies. There are few teams that I trust less than the fighting aligni right now. I still do. believe in Demand Williams, it just looks like a scene out of the little giants right now for Washington. The man has no offensive line protecting him. He's a tiny person. He has been running for his life

all season. Jed Fish just can't protect him. And because that's the case, Washington can't score this season. I don't think this game's going to be any change. Okay, wow, we are extending the pickum segment. All right, quick, A&MLSU. This should be hard. A&M. Oh, Texas A&M. Texas A&M, the most complete team in college football. Two scores. A&M, definitely. Baylor, Cincinnati. Don't believe in Baylor. Cincinnati's look good.

Give me them. Baylor's a trap team, but give me Cincinnati, they look great. Yeah, since he's at home, we talked about Scott Satterfield last week. Great coach. He has this team. They believe, they believe, they believe. And with Texas Tech going down, they've got a shot at the Big 12th championship game, they're not going to let this one slip, Cincinnati.

Houston, Arizona State, two teams. They also have a chance at the big. 12 championship despite having one loss apiece. I think Arizona State keeps this train rolling. Gets another win. Yeah, give me Arizona State. Give me Arizona State, but do not be surprised if Houston manages

to pull this game out. Sam Levitt has struggled with injuries this year. This Houston defense is formidable. I think Sam Levitt might go down again in this game. Miss a good enough portion of it that Jeff Sims has to play, and if Jeff Sims has to play, it's Houston's game, so I will take Houston.

All right, two teams. We absolutely must talk about because the clouds have parted on their paths to the playoff with victories over their biggest rivals. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish began the year 0 and 2. In week four, we discussed their path to the playoff despite the opening losses. And just like that, they've overcome their toughest remaining challenge with a 34-24 win at home against their biggest rival, the USC Trojans. Their remaining games are Boston College, Navy, Pittsburgh, Kuse, and Stanford. Beside them, still enduring some very harsh and blatant disrespect in the college football world are the number 11 BYU Cougars 7 and 0 not inside the top 10 2421 victory in the holy war over Utah and still

not favored to win this week's game against Iowa State. So my first question, what does BYU have to do to earn respect? The problem that the AP voters are seeing and that the big 12 fans are seeing is that BYU isn't winning dominantly. In their non-conference games, they are killing it. They're running two to one on score differential. But in conference, BYU hasn't been winning big. They have a two-score win over West Virginia, and then you have a one-score game against Colorado, a one-score game against Arizona, and a one-score game against Utah.

Compare that to Texas Tech, who has had two to three-score wins against every Big 12 opponent up until Arizona State. So yes, BYU is 7-0, but they haven't been dominant in that 7-0. So they might have that grittiness, but grittiness doesn't get you votes in the AP poll. I don't think they're going to be getting a lot of love for these next couple weeks. It's no secret. I am absolutely in love with this BYU you program. I was the only person who picked them last week. They have a quarterback starting as a true freshman who wears number 47.

True freshman quarterbacks to start their career 7 and 0. 2016 Jalen Hertz, 2017, Jake Fromm, Trevor Lawrence, 2018, Clemson. and then we take a huge gap to 2025 Bear Bachmire. He's thrown the ball 166 times this year and run 82 times. As a team, 1600 rushing yards on the year, that's second to only a very choice few programs in the country, most of which are triple option teams. They just win, as you said, Peyton.

It does not matter what is required of them. They get it done. It might not be convincing. It might not be flashing. it might not be fancy, but they win close games. And that's more than can be said for a lot of teams in the country. BYU wins close games consistently. You have Iowa State in Ames, Texas Tech, in Lubbock, then you get TCU at home. You have to go to Cincinnati and then you get UCF at home. You can lose two of those games and you're still a playoff team. On the topic of dropping two games,

One rank below BYU is 5 and 2 Notre Dame. Marcus Freeman lost to Marshall in 2023. He lost to Northern Illinois last year and ended up as one of the top four teams in college football. This year, he drops back-to-back games to open the season and once again pulls the rabbit out of the hat. And he has the fighting Irish barring upset there undoubtedly in the college football playoff. How does he do it? He just has that magic touch, Lewis. I don't know what it is.

After a certain point, it would be hard to do poorly with the amount of talent that Notre Dame has on their roster every single year. And admittedly, those first two games, very close losses to Miami and Texas A&M, who's number one in the SEC right now. He lost by combined four points. Looking forward, though, Boston College, Navy, Pitt, Syracuse, Stanford. Watch out for that Navy game. We're going to try and be it that game. Yes, we are. I'm going to have to cut it off there.

We're going to get to hire, fire, higher. That is, hire a man who should keep his job at the moment. Fire, a man who is a bad fit and should lose his job at the moment. Hire, bury the career, a man who does not deserve his job and should not be given any other job in college football. The first set. Lincoln Riley at USC, Luke Fickle, Wisconsin, Mike Norville, Florida State. Go. I hate to say this.

Hire Lincoln Riley. I'm sorry, he's the one who has the most consistent success. Probably fire Luke Fickle. And the only reason really I'm saying this is because I'm saving the pyre for Mike Norville in 23 with one of the most talented teams in the country. You took multiple games to overtime and were only saved because of the absolute heroics of Jordan Travis. You then had the worst falloff of any college football program since World War II.

And now, after beating Alabama, you have dropped four straight games in the ACC. You haven't won an ACC game in over a year. year. You can't develop a program. Go to the pyre. Goodbye. Yeah, I'm going to have to fire Mike Norvell. You're three and four this season. You're two of ten last season. You fell off from 13 and 1 in 2023. Fire Luke Fickle at Wisconsin. He's yet to have a really good season. He was seven and six, five and seven and now two and five. But at Cincinnati, he had some good seasons. 13 and one, 11 and 3, 11 and 2. So not bad. So that's why I'll go ahead and fire him. And yes, I agree. with Mark, you should hire Lincoln Riley in 112 games coaching. He is 86 and 26.

Yeah, I'm going to disagree with you guys completely and entirely. What I look for in a coach is someone who has one big before. Even if they have a couple down years, I want somebody who knows how to win in some way, shape, or form. Lincoln Riley went to Oklahoma and absolutely destroyed the program. Brent Venables has spent the last couple of years trying to build it back up. Then he goes to USC, gets the same media attention he did at Oklahoma, does nothing with it. They still lost to Utah every year that they were actually good. They're not good this year. They're okay. I am putting Lincoln Riley on the pyre.

I am hiring Mike Norvell because I think he has potential to win. And then I'm firing Luke Fickle. I think he still has potential. He's shown at Cincinnati that he can win. Get him out of Wisconsin. He doesn't know what he's doing there, obviously. But put him in a new environment and let's see what happened. I am going to hire Norvell, as much as it pains me to say, in the transfer portal era, he can get talent to commit. He's not good at developing it. He's not getting it good at getting it to work within a system. If you put two solid coordinators around him and you get him at a program with far less expectations than Florida State, he can take them to success. He showed it at Memphis. I'm going to fire Luke Fickle, bad fit at Wisconsin. There's no room.

for a great developer in the NIL transfer portal era of college football. I am just going to have to pire Lincoln Riley purely because I hate the guts. All right. This one has to be really fast. Three SEC coaches, Shane Beamer at South Carolina, Brian Kelly at LSU, Hugh Freeze at Auburn, higher fire, fire. Higher freeze at Auburn, fire, Beamer at South Carolina, and pyre for Brian Kelly. I'm not even going to mention the other two coaches.

I'm simply putting all my eggs in one basket and piring. Brian Kelly. He should never be allowed to coach a football program again. So please, I don't even, I'm not even going to worry about firing or hiring the other two. Just hire Brian Kelly. Yeah, I agree with Mark. Freeze is looking good at Auburn. It's just rough. They've had a couple close losses. Freeze is looking fine. Beamer, fire him, but he'll find a good job and fire Brian Kelly. All right. I am going to hire Hugh Freeze. He's lost a lot of one-score games. He can't turn this Auburn program around. He just needs to look for better quarterbacks. Peyton Thorne and Jackson Arnold are not the guys. I understand he has a lot of confidence in himself. He's not that good at golf,

even though he plays way too much. I'm going to fire Brian Kelly. He is a good college football coach. It is a terrible fit at LSU. Did fine Notre Dame can do fine at a similar program. I could see him going to North Carolina, an academically serious college with a very limited recruiting base. He can make much out of little. He cannot make much out of much. I am going to have to pire Shane Beamer purely because I don't think he's a head coach in college football. He's a coordinator through and through. And so I don't trust any team.

I don't trust him in control of any team as much as I love him as a coordinator. He deserves a coordinator job, but his head coaching career needs to be buried at the pyre. All right. New segment. Roll it. With unranked Louisville's 2421 upset of number two Miami, now is the perfect time to debut our new segment, Huddell Up, where we'll be talking about key aspects of the game that are often overlooked

to make sure that you in the viewing audience, and we here in the studio, are all on the same page. So I'll throw on the headset. All right, team, huddle up. A lot of people have heard the saying, the best team gets everyone's best shot. People interpret this to mean that opposing players are super motivated to be the best teams. It's not entirely true.

In fact, the statement is more about coaches than players. From a play-calling perspective, the entire season is, one long narrative unfolding in 12 acts. The antagonist of each act gets to study in-depth what you did to the prior antagonist. That is to say, teams watch film. So if you want to surprise them, you need to make sure that your play call hasn't been foreshadowed in any previous games. A great example of this is the goal line formation. Everyone's seen it. Two or three tight ends and a full back field. It almost always means the quarterback's running a sneak or he's handing it to the running back for a one-yard gain. Most teams also have a pitch option on this play. When the

quarterback wheels around and tosses the ball out wide where the running back beats everybody to the edge. And yet, 95% of the time, teams don't call it. Why? Because they're saving it for when they truly need it. Even if a team is struggling with a below average opponent, the odds are they can still win that game without use of the toss play. But when you match up against the biggest, baddest opponent, you pull out all the stops. Look no further than Louisville Miami to see this demonstrated.

The best team, Miami, got Louisville's best shot. It meant that Louisville was bringing out everything they hadn't used to that point in the year. and everything that they might use later on in the year was on the table because they wanted to beat Miami more than anyone else. Louisville's first drive was a smorgasb board of double QB sets, options, reverses, wildcats, and erratic motion. Louisville hadn't previously shown any of this, so the Miami defense was not able to prepare for it. The result was a touchdown drive to start out the game, with the help of a fake field goal and a lot of deceptive chunk plays. This means those exact same plays will be less likely to succeed later on in the season, because Louisville has now shown opponents those personnel in that formation with that motion.

But sometimes that's worth it to beat your biggest rival. When you're the best team, you get everyone's best shot. Play Cullors will use anything and everything to beat you and only you. Louisville wins 2421. Ready? Break. More huddle up to come as we unpack the game in ensuing weeks. And it won't always be me.

We'll let the other guys have their pokes at it. But we do need to get to the intentional grounding with the very little time we have left guys. this is going to have to be lightning fast. What's on your mind this week? You got to get out. I think that Michigan would be so much better if the coaching didn't hold them back by being so cautious. Coach Moore, honestly, he looks like he's coaching scared. Chip Lindsay, Wink Martindale.

They also are playing not to lose. I think that's the key thing. I think though this season could be great if our coaching staff would be a little bit more creative and less cautious. And go for the win. The Harbaugh brothers can coach not to lose. They're pro-style coaches. You take care of your role. You do your job. You trust the plan. And at the end of the day, no team's going to be good enough to beat you. That's not necessary at Michigan with the kind of talent they have there this year. I agree. Shuron Moore could open it up and let a rip a little more. I got to get this off my chest. There will not be a big 10 team in the national championship game. I don't see Indiana being good enough. They're going to drop a game to a trap team. team like Texas Tech, maybe BYU and the Big 12, I think those, I think that'll be a fair matchup at some point. Oregon's going to get snake bet as well. Ohio State is the only one that I'm really concerned about because the defense has looked amazing. But the offense, if it doesn't really get rolling,

which it's kind of started to, but if it doesn't get rolling, there will not be a Big Ten team playing for the number one spot in the country. Folks, don't buy the big brands. Indiana and Georgia Tech are in the top ten and absolutely. deserve to be right where they are. This is one small step for the sport, one giant leap for sports get ball. The playing field is level now. No longer is it just Nick Sabin at Alabama,

cheating by spending tons of money on his players, by giving all his players free Dodge Chargers and whatnot. I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that I may and may not have worked in some of those car shops, but that's not important to the conversation because what is important is the fact that NIL exists. NIL allows these teams to pull in players they never could have got, allows a small

name, like, oh, I don't know, Virginia. Who thinks Virginia when they think football school? Not anyone for the past two decades, I'll tell you that. And here they are, rank number 16 in the country, six and one, they might be in the playoffs. This is a new age for college football, and you're going to see teams that you have never heard of before making the playoff, making runs, having great teams. I'm excited. You should be too. I hate the NIL era of college football mark. I don't like the fact that money can buy success now. So my intentional grounding is going to follow on something that hasn't changed with NIL. He who runneth the ball, controlleth the game. There's a reason BYU and Georgia Tech are undefeated

teams. There's a reason both of them will probably be in the college football playoff. there's a reason the Navy midshipmen are one of the best group of five programs despite having zero NIL. Too often we assume these teams are worse than they actually are because they win a lot of one-score games against a lot of unranked opponents. Everyone who plays you thinks the game was a lot closer than it was. Everyone who hasn't thinks they could beat you. At the end of the day, but in the era of 12 teams, if you keep winning, the rest will take care of itself. The next time you sit down on your couch or your recliner to watch college football, I want you to join me in saying this one thing.

Run the ball. Say it with me. Run the ball. And keep running the ball. And guess what? If running the ball doesn't work, run the ball again. That's where we're going to have to leave it, folks. Week 9 will be fun.

We'll be watching. We hope you'll be watching. If the first eight weeks taught us anything, it's that the game's not worth paying attention to are the ones you've got to watch the most. So that's what we're going to do. We're going home. We're watching Week 9.

We hope you'll be watching with us. And we'll see you right back here next week to break it down. Until then, this has been the four-man front for Peyton Hughes, Mark Ayers, and Patrick Hamilton. I'm Lewis Thune. You're listening to Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM. Happy football.