Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff Presented by BetMGM!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You got into witness greatness.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Football fans, Welcome to the biggest tailgate party in the
nation that Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by
betg make it legendary. We're setting you up with the
information you need to watch your team win.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Let's go.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
We're here to break it all down. God, this is
Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Bett mg app. No,
we're live from your tailgame. Here's Brian Nook, former Penn
State All American, Rich Hornberger and FSR betting analyst Jared Smith.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Oh what is going on? Welcome in Happy Saturday. We
get to all set for a full slate of college football,
well fullish, and we do have bye week from all that.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Here we have like four of the top.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Ten teams are off.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
This leads got a false late false advertising, but really
good slate got three ranked on ranked games. Here we'll
preview all the big stuff. Good morning to you, Rich,
Good morning to you Jared.

Speaker 5 (01:11):
Everything good, everything's good.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
In the in the hood, man, we we we trick
or treated the kids filled up with candy and man,
you know it is a throwback when you wander the
neighborhoods and you realize that all the dads who were
shepherding their children around when you were a kid, what

(01:33):
they were talking to each other was the World Series score.
What they really wanted to do was get back home
in front of a television that was that was some
game last night.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
What did your kids dress up as?

Speaker 3 (01:48):
We had? We had a mutated fly wearing a lab
coat and then a police officer. So all right, yeah
we have we have one more eccentric one and we
have one more or just play clothes officer.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
Yeah, okay, sure, yeah, like like the uh the old
school like chips sunglasses type thing.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Is that what they went with?

Speaker 3 (02:09):
Yeah? Actually the uh, the the one who went as
the the police. He dressed up in full tactical gear.
He looked like a like swat team. It was very
very fun, very nice.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
All right, yeah, Jared, Halloween, good for you.

Speaker 5 (02:24):
Yeah it was good, Jackpot, Uh you know, scared away
all the trigger treaders. Oh, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
It was.

Speaker 5 (02:30):
It was a relaxing night. Actually, I didn't get as
many as I expect, so I just moved into a
new house in Summerlin. So I was curious if it
was gonna be a you know a lot of kids
running around, but it was only you know, a couple
of a couple of couple of us stray knocks on
the door. But it was a good night. I mean, honestly,
the uh, the Dodgers game kept me occupied.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
It was I feel like he gave away full sized
three Musketeers bars.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Right, you got it.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
I gave away protein bars. That's I gave away protein bars.
The you know, I'd like.

Speaker 4 (03:04):
To start on a positive foot, but I have to
be critical here to start the show, all right, I
would just like to say shame, you know, like Game
of Throne. Shame, shame on Kevin Burkhardt. Yeah, so the
Fox Sports broadcaster does a phenomenal job. He was wrapping

(03:25):
up the postgame coverage on Fox Sports after the Dodgers
won Game six, they beat the Blue Jays three to one,
and he said, what's bigger than Game seven? And I'm
staring at my TV like this freaking guy called super
Bowls and he's saying, what are we doing here?

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Like we've been on this for how long? Now, you know?

Speaker 4 (03:46):
And it's it's more of a fun thing than anything.
But I tell you, the the two second greatest words
in sports are Game seven the two best words in
sports that would be super Bowl.

Speaker 5 (03:59):
I have a buttle to this extually. I was doing
some math last night and it's it's not You're not
wrong on the premise, but I think the World Series
is different. And here's why. These two teams. If you
combine the amount of games that they've played this year,
the Dodgers tonight will play game number one seventy nine

(04:21):
and Toronto will play game number one eighty if you
include the regular season, So that's three hundred and fifty
nine combined games that the teams will have played this year,
and the championship will come down to a single game.
If you divide that by the amount of games in
an NFL season, let's say seventeen game regular season, three
games in the playoffs, it's essentially eighteen seasons of NFL games.

(04:48):
So you have to ask yourself, Brian, is this better
Game seven of the World Series? Better than eighteen Super Bowls?

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (04:55):
That's bad math, right there, I got it's math.

Speaker 5 (04:58):
It's science, you cann it's that horrible math.

Speaker 4 (05:01):
You can't listen. It's one hundred and sixty two game
regular season compared to seventeen there's no comparison.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
I got math for you right here.

Speaker 4 (05:09):
You could combined every game seven from baseball from basketball.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
And you know me, I love the NBA.

Speaker 4 (05:18):
You can combine every game seven in a given year
with NBA. Oh we got a we got a game
seven in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, all right, Great throw
that in the gumbo.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Hey, we get a game seven World Series?

Speaker 5 (05:30):
All right?

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Great throw that in the gumbo too. Hey we got a.

Speaker 4 (05:32):
Game seven Nlcyes, Great throw it. You could throw all
that in and it's not gonna come close to equaling
the ratings of one Super Bowl, not even close. Like
this game, it's a mammoth game. I'm not trying to
undercut it. But Blue Jays Dodgers Game seven. You think
it's gonna draw one hundred and twenty million dollars? Not
even close? Like it's not the event, it's not the magnitude,

(05:55):
it's not even freaking close.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
What's so crazy is we talk so much in baseball
about how important certain matchups are in the postseason, right,
like a regionally that's gonna have some interest, but nationally nah,
you know you hear the same thing in the NBA,
Like who Okay season the finals, it's gonna hurt because

(06:18):
how many Okaysee fans are there, you know, Like it's
when it comes to the Super Bowl. It could be
I mean, it could be Tampa Bay taking on the
Colts and people would be fired up, you know what
I mean. Like if you think about how tiny the
market of Green Bay, Wisconsin is, if Green Bay was

(06:40):
in taking on you know, you name it the Jackass.

Speaker 5 (06:44):
Another relatively small market.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, but I'm saying even smaller, Like like like, think
of the smallest afecy Is it the Jaguars? I don't know,
but think of like one of the smaller AFC.

Speaker 5 (06:55):
Market Kansas City actually ironically.

Speaker 3 (06:57):
Not, Yeah, right, well, and that's one of them, that's
for sure. Like who really cares? And this is no
offense to the great folks in Missouri. Who really cares
nationally about what's happening in Kansas City? The answer is
no one really except for people from Missouri or Kansas.
I guess, you know, maybe there's something that crosses the

(07:18):
border in terms of interest, but like nobody really cares
but the chiefs. How many Patrick Mahomes Jerseys do I
see living on the West coast? The answer is a lot,
a lot, and that's the difference between the NFL. To
support Brian's point, I get what you're saying, Jared, and
I do agree. The toil of a baseball season, the

(07:39):
culmination of mounting all of that effort and distilling it
down to one nine inning performance, Holy cow. I mean,
there is something truly as a sports and that's impactful
about delaying the gratification through three hundred and sixty plus
games all the way to this final moment. That's crazy.

(08:00):
But the Super Bowl even still, if it's Jags Green
Bay or if it's Colts Tampa, there's gonna be sixty
million people in their seats turning on the television screen.

Speaker 5 (08:13):
And for the record, I agree with Brian the best
two words in sports are super Bowl. But World Series
Game seven does come really like because of all of
that volume that we talk about. It's it's right there.
But the ratings, I mean, the ratings are going to
be the ratings. Obviously, a Super Bowl is going to
absolutely destroy the television ratings of a World Series Game seven.

(08:37):
But there is something really special about a World SEO.
This is what makes baseball so unique, and it's frankly
you know, a brutal regular season, I mean, it just is.
But then you compile all of these games and you
realize that these teams have now battled again three hundred
Tonight will be the three hundred and fifty ninth combined
game for the Blue Jays and the Dodgers, all of that,

(09:01):
and the champion will come down to a single, nine
inning game. Like it really is a remarkable sport in
that capacity.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
Noah, no doubt about it.

Speaker 4 (09:09):
And look, man, it's like the championship round of a
prize fight. You know, think of the biggest fight you
can imagine, and somehow it's tied heading into the final round.
Like that's literally what you get tonight in Game seven
of the World Series. And it's been a really good series.
You look at last night's game, it's three to one

(09:29):
pretty early in the game, and that's it. That's that's
the end of the scoring, you know, the defensive masterpiece
from that point on. How about the Blue Jays runners
on second and third with nobody out ye ninth inning
and they didn't score a run, not even we had
the blue Jays.

Speaker 5 (09:45):
On the run line plus one and a half.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
Oh, that's disgusting.

Speaker 4 (09:51):
Double Yeah, it gets wedged in the right there. That's brutal.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
Yeah. Is that the most impactful wedgie in the history
of baseball? I mean, if that ball bounces anywhere else,
is it runner on third, tying runner and third, nobody out?

Speaker 3 (10:05):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (10:06):
Right, yeah, have been Yeah, and they didn't get one run.
It's crazy that the double play at the end. It's
funny because I I was running to the store to
get something. I was getting a little rotisserie chicken, if
you must know. But I was I had the game
on my phone and uh, it was the like the
game day, you know is the and it just said
double play And I'm like, that kind of weird double

(10:29):
play with runners on second and third.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
And I made it back to.

Speaker 4 (10:32):
See it, right, but uh, and that's the most unconventional
double play you're gonna see. There's a line out to
left field, Key k Hernandez is running in. He makes
the catch and Barger, I don't know what happened.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
What is he doing?

Speaker 4 (10:45):
And he gets doubled up at second base. Was trying
to score on a bloop, you know, I get it,
but you cannot get doubled up to end the game.
You got two runners in scoring position.

Speaker 1 (10:57):
What are you doing?

Speaker 5 (10:59):
Who's winning? I know we're not going to do a
big you know, preview on it, but you know we
can give you some early picks here. Do you think
Dodgers wol take it home? They're gonna be.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah, it's so hard.

Speaker 5 (11:10):
I mean yeah, I think either the Dodgers are winning,
I really do.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
I'm checking the betting line real quick.

Speaker 5 (11:17):
It's like it's like a dollar forty favorite. I think
somewhere in that range, dollar thirty five, somewhere in that range.

Speaker 4 (11:22):
Yeah, yeah, dollar forty man, Max Scherzer.

Speaker 5 (11:25):
That just didn't even look right.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
No, I.

Speaker 5 (11:29):
Think the last night was the blue Jays chance. I
think Game seven, I think Dodgers will.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
Which do you like better?

Speaker 4 (11:35):
You like the Dodgers to win outright minus a dollar
forty or do you like the blue Jays on the
run line plus one and a half at minus a
dollar fifty.

Speaker 6 (11:45):
No.

Speaker 5 (11:45):
I can't do that, not after last night. I can't
take I can't.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
Take back to the eighteen inning game and it's like,
oh man, it's sofating for the Blue Jays and then
they came and smacked them the next one.

Speaker 5 (11:56):
What are the Dodgers on the first five with Otawny.
I think I think that's a decent bet, right, you
would think that they're gonna be even at least right like, well.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
No Dodgers minus a dollar fifty five.

Speaker 5 (12:08):
Like I think I'd be willing to lay the extra
fifteen cents and take Otani over Shuzer. That feels like
a really safe bet in the pitching world.

Speaker 1 (12:15):
Man, I don't know, I don't know how long.

Speaker 4 (12:17):
I mean, Sures is gonna get yanked the first sign
of trouble probably oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
Man. I mean it's hard to repeat though, Like you know,
if we just think about statistically and you just zoom
out for a second, you forget the matchup. But like,
how how many repeat champions do.

Speaker 5 (12:34):
We have happened since the Yanks?

Speaker 4 (12:37):
That would be a good thing to get the you know,
the baseball hanks that try to preach like MLB has
like NFL style parody.

Speaker 1 (12:46):
It's so stupid.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
But they'll point to it's like, well, how many repeat
champions in baseball?

Speaker 6 (12:51):
Huh?

Speaker 1 (12:51):
How many?

Speaker 4 (12:52):
It's a legit argument to make, but we all know
that MLB does not have even close to the parody
that the NFL.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
Can we agree on that. Are we on the same
page when it comes to that.

Speaker 5 (13:02):
Yeah, yeah, the good teams tend to win, but it
is it's really hard to repeat because of how long
the season is. It's just something goes wrong for most
of these teams at some point.

Speaker 4 (13:13):
By the way, before we get it right back to
the college football previews, shout out to you.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Rich Hornberger, you were right.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
You're right.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
Last week we're previewing the LSU game and I'm like,
it's Brian Kelly really coaching for his job. That's exactly
what he was doing. God man, I fired audios no more.
Brian Kelly at LSU buyouts around fifty four million dollars.
And my favorite note of the week there, their athletic

(13:43):
director has gone as well. The interim ad at LSU
is a guy named verge Ousbury.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
I don't know why that's so funny to me.

Speaker 4 (13:54):
That sounds like a guy who is destined to be
a governor and ad something to the verge Ausbury. He's
the guy calling the shots right now on an interim basis.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yeah, and the Louisiana state governor stepping in and saying, like,
what a mess that the misappropriation of funds hiring these
awful coaches. I'm taking over the You're gonna have the
council members takeover like it's really yeah, you know, just
to go back to rewind to last week when you

(14:28):
asked that question, In my mind, it was a no brainer,
because college football, this season, especially but very recently, has
become so what have you done for me? Lately? It's
mimicking the NFL in the sense that we're gonna see
more turnover now at head coaching positions than we ever
have in the history of the sport. And in fact,

(14:51):
I think these contracts are going to start to reflect that.
I think a lot of these universities aren't going to
sign up for these enormous buyouts. What you're going to
see is a ballooning of the monies that these coaches
are going to make over the length of their contracts,
maybe longer term contracts that might be front loaded, and
then the salary's tail off on the back end, similar

(15:14):
to like quarterback contracts in the NFL. Because universities aren't
interested in paying these enormous buyouts, they'd almost prefer pay
it up front. And so that's what I think we're
gonna start seeing in college football. It's gonna mimic more
of the NFL setup.

Speaker 5 (15:30):
College football right now is the love child of ballers
and billions period end of story. One hundred and seventy
million in buyouts if you count Kelly and Franklin and
Napier and then there's a few other smaller ones that
you trickle down the list. I mean, it's insane.

Speaker 3 (15:46):
It really is.

Speaker 5 (15:49):
Pretty soon, right, we got private capital money coming into
college football. If there's any more of these buyouts, it's
gonna be a government bailout. There going to be asking
for soon. I mean, it's it's it's it's an insane
amount of money that is just being thrown at debt
right called talk dead cat money, dead coach money. Like

(16:09):
it's it's remarkable. Yeah, we it does feel like this
is a turning point year because of the name. I mean,
you have two coaches that are a fifty million You
have to one hundred million with two coaches. It's it's
it's really it's it's aggressive and it's too much. And
I think at some point this year being the year,
right you reach the breaking point. The LSU situation is

(16:33):
really remarkable though, because of the ad You rarely see
the ad and the head coach fired like it's like
a it's like a GM head coach. Very rarely you
see that happen in the same swoop. Usually you see
it happen like what the Dolphins did. Right, You do
one and then you'll do another one later. You rarely
see both of them the same week like that. That
is all right, something's wrong behind the scenes. There is

(16:55):
a fundamental issue with how LSU brings in these coaches,
hires them, structures the contracts, and it's a fundamental change.
I think it's going to be, as you mentioned, Rich
and I agree, a fundamental change across the entire sport.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
You know what's funny is it just popped into my head.
Remember when the NFL, I think it was the owners
meetings around when Deshaun Watson got his mega deal with
the Browns and contraclusion, right, yeah, the collusion case. The
NFL was giving a presentation like you know, like slides, guys,

(17:29):
you really don't want to give fully guaranteed contracts.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
This could be a whole problem.

Speaker 4 (17:33):
And they put the kebash to that that was no
longer like the going rate, and you would think that
would have happened in college football at some point right
where these schools would say, yeah, we need this head coach.
But look, man, we're not going to have a buyout.
That's that huge, that's just crazy, right. But these agents
are like, hey, if you want this guy, that's the
going rate.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
And it's never changed.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
It hasn't gone the other way where it's a modest
buyout for a.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
Big name coach.

Speaker 4 (17:59):
And I'll tell you what, but the coaching carousel this
offseason is going to be really really interesting because there
are some huge elite job openings and there's a lack
of like huge elite coaching candidates to take over those jobs. So, man,
the musical chairs, it's gonna be really really interesting this
offseason in college.

Speaker 5 (18:19):
Do predictions like we do rapid fire, We should, you know,
go through all the programs and see who's man.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
That'd be funny.

Speaker 4 (18:26):
That's why I'm worried about my guy, Marcus Freeman. You know,
like he's a big name at Notre Dame.

Speaker 5 (18:31):
I think he's staying.

Speaker 4 (18:32):
I hope he's staying, man. But that's what makes me
worry is when you get these power jobs LSU Florida,
like the Penn State.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
The list goes on and on.

Speaker 5 (18:40):
It's like, Wow, I think I know who Penn State.
I have a list of three guys for Penn State.
I think I have a list of two guys for LSU.
The rest. I think you're safe on the other ones.
But I don't see Marcus Freeman leaving to take the
Florida job or the Oklahoma State job.

Speaker 4 (18:53):
You gonna be hilarious if you left to take the
LSU job.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
That would be now.

Speaker 5 (18:57):
If LSU calls, right, I think think there's Honestly, I
think there's four coaches in the country that if LSU calls,
you don't listen. I think Sarks one of them. I
think the Bore. I think Kirby Smart and Ryan da
I think those are the core four. I think everyone
else has to take the LSU call. Wow, it has
to crazy.

Speaker 4 (19:14):
All right, We've got rich Orenberger Fenn State, All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst, I'm Brian and No. Register
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(19:36):
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Speaker 1 (19:42):
Make it legendary, all right?

Speaker 4 (19:43):
Coming up next, it's only a matter of time until
this team starts out better, right, I think that's the case.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
We'll get into that game.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Coming up.

Speaker 4 (19:52):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to kick Off, presented
by BETMGM.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
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Speaker 3 (20:00):
Again.

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Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio dot com
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Speaker 4 (20:08):
Hey is Covino and Rich from Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
Now.

Speaker 7 (20:11):
In addition to hearing us live weekdays from five to
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Speaker 4 (20:21):
Yep, that's right.

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Speaker 4 (20:39):
Fox Sports Radios Countdown to kick Off presented by bet MGM.
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(20:59):
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In the bet mgm app, We've got Georgia against Florida
here today. And how is this not still known as
the world's largest outdoor cocktail party? How is that not

(21:22):
a that should be a thing until the end of time?

Speaker 3 (21:25):
Like?

Speaker 4 (21:25):
Why why are we rebranding thiscle correctness?

Speaker 3 (21:28):
So stupid? But why what?

Speaker 5 (21:30):
I don't even know? I don't get it.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
But yeah, I don't. I don't get who this one offended.
Maybe the shrimp big shrimp cocktail.

Speaker 5 (21:37):
Got shrimping industry.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yeah, they said no, no, no, that word belongs to us.
If there's gonna be cocktails outside, they will have shrimp.
And if not, you shout that we our copyright Lawrens
will have you up to your eyeballs and litigations. Damn shrimp.

Speaker 7 (21:53):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
Georgia favored by seven. Regardless of whatever this. You know,
this game has been entitled now Georgia minus seven.

Speaker 1 (22:02):
It's interesting.

Speaker 4 (22:02):
Shout out to one of my buddies, Jay from back
Home and back Home again and Indiana. You know I
love the Indy five hundred stuff. But he texted me
the other day and he was like, dude, I gotta
bet Georgia.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (22:18):
Florida plus two and a half in the first quarter.
George is getting off to all these slow starts.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
You look at.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
This been a common trend all year long. Georgia, Like
Tennessee led Georgia by fourteen points in the first quarter,
Auburn Auburn led by ten points in the first quarter,
Bama led by fourteen in the second quarter, Ole misled
by nine points in the third quarter, and Georgia came
back to win all but one of those games like
they come back. But the common trend is starting real

(22:48):
slowly and I'm curious what you guys think. I texted
him back, and I'm like, look, man, it might hit again,
but man, at some point it's gonna change. And Georgia
has to be preaching.

Speaker 3 (23:00):
Be smart.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
It's got to be preaching to his team, like, guys,
we got to start better. It'll be a good spot
to start better against Florida. You know that, like interim
head coach, they might be feeling stuff out and getting
on the same page early on. What do you think
if you had to make a bet, would you go
with Georgia minus two and a half in the first
quarter or Georgia plus.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
Two And how is that?

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Georgia minus two and a half or Florida plus two
and a half in the first quarter. Sorry, it made
that way more difficult than it should have been.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
I sided with your buddy, I did. I would take Yeah,
I think I would take Florida plus two and a half.

Speaker 4 (23:34):
You gonna put that in rapid fire? Rich huh youna.

Speaker 3 (23:36):
You know what after hearing him talking about it and
hearing how low the spread is, Honestly, I might because
it's it's amazing. This this isn't just a twenty twenty
five problem. This followed Mike Bobo from twenty twenty four.
I look, and that's the DNA of certain teams. They

(23:57):
are slow starters, and it's hard to change something unless
you change something. And what I mean by that is
is what is Kirby doing at practice differently? And if
he hasn't changed something major on the practice field, then
you can't expect different results just by saying something to
a team. I remember one time I was talking to

(24:19):
a head coach in college football this couple of years back,
and I was like, man, you know, the turnovers are
down this year, and it's just it's a curious thing.
And I said, how do you fix that? And he goes, well,
you don't. And I'm like, well, well, what do you
mean by that? And he was like, in my opinion,
that's not something you can change. And I thought to myself,

(24:40):
what an interesting thought, Like is that true? And then
I started thinking about all the drills you could set
up to try to encourage people to punch a football out,
you know, all the drills that you could do to
sort of you know, dive on a loose ball. You know,
you know, the sort of practice mentality of all defenders

(25:00):
running to wherever the football is. Like, some of the
things that I saw on film in my brain at
the time were absolutely correctable and could have led to
more turnovers. And it's but it's hard to convince a
coach sometimes that, especially when you're having a successful season, Hey,
you got to change something to make this one aspect

(25:21):
of your game better. I think Georgia is just a
slow starting team, and they have a tremendous run game,
and they have a lot of things you could say
nice about their defense. They're great tacklers. But but they
do have their falling down points, and one of their
falling down points is they get off to a slow
start and then in the second half, Man, they pile
it on and they have bunches of explosive plays. Offensively,

(25:44):
they have two outstanding running backs, and they really do
obliterate teams in the second half of football games. But
that first quarter spread, I'm taking Florida.

Speaker 5 (25:55):
Wow, Yeah, I'll be honest, I'll be very fascinating to
see how Florida comes out here. Right this is we
haven't seen him in two weeks coming off the buy
interim coach Billy Gonzalez, the interim head coach for Florida,
it'll be Russ Calloway, the tight ends coach, getting promoted
to the offensive play caller offensive coordinator role. Calloway is

(26:16):
an interesting guy. He's kind of a Florida lifer. He
actually was originally brought into the program way back in
the Urban Myer days. He was the receivers coach on
those great Tim Tebow teams. Then he went to LSU
for a while, and then when Dan Mullen got the
Florida job in the late twenty teens, he came back
to Florida and he's been there pretty much since then.

(26:38):
So he's kind of a Florida lifer. Very different road
than Billy Napier obviously, who bounced around a lot of
different head coaching jobs and then ascended to that perch,
whereas Gonzalez has kind of been, you know, in the wings,
in the background of the SEC, in the background of
Florida for a number of years. So it'll be interesting
to see how the team. Anytime you get a coach

(27:00):
that is fired mid season, it is always fascinating to
see how the team responds the week after, or in
this case, two weeks after the first game after. There's
still a lot of talent on this Florida team. And
that's the interesting part, right, Like this line, if you
would have asked me before the summer, like when the
summer and these lines come out, Georgia was a nine
and a half point favorite in this game. And if

(27:22):
you would have told me all of the tumult that
the Gators have gone through, right, you know, Lagway is hurt,
he doesn't practice a lot in the spring and in
the summer, and then they get to the season and
he's banged up, and you know, Napier can't figure things out,
and then we get to game day and it's actually
a shorter line. Georgia's look pretty good, Like I know
that again, they've struggled in early games, but they're still

(27:43):
winning games, and they still look like one of the
best teams in the country, at least in the top five,
top ten. And the line is shorter despite all of
Florida struggles, it's only a seven and a half. It's
even kind of inching towards seven here. So I think
there's a little bit of optimism if you are a
Gators fan, that they might come out with some smoke here.
And I'm very fascinated to see what the vibe is

(28:04):
of this team.

Speaker 4 (28:06):
Yeah, it's funny if you look at a very talented
team that's lost a bunch of games. There are a
few teams that fall in that category. Florida, to your point,
Jared would be one of them. I'd say South Carolina
is another one in the same conference. I'd say you're
Niitney Lyons or certainly on the list as well. So
some of these teams like they're live dogs with all

(28:27):
that talent and just you know, sucky results that have
snowballed because of higher expectations, right. That happens all the
time in football. Which Big Twelve matchup are you more
interested in? Are you more interested in Ranked on ranked?
Which is Cincinnati against Utah? Or would it be Texas
Tech against Kansas State upset minded Kansas State over Which

(28:48):
game is more interesting to you, guys?

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Hmmm?

Speaker 3 (28:51):
You know, Cincinnati just because of their ascension and the
conference realignment always always a curiosity to me. I look
at Cincinnati, the Bearcats from yesteryear, and I think how
far they've come and what this means to the fan base,

(29:11):
the alumni, those players who help build this. I'm in
the midst of seeing this happen in real time, and
it's a very interesting process. Right San Diego State. I've
been on the call for their broadcast for many years,
and I'm watching them join the PAC twelve in a year,
and I've seen the whole process of, you know, sort
of the debutante process of like looking at other Power

(29:35):
five leagues and batting their eyes a couple of years
ago and saying, well, what about us? How about how
about allowing us to join you all party, you know,
And it's very funny, like, but that's all of these teams,
all of these programs, I should say, they're trying to
find their landing spot. They're trying to find their chair
in the game of musical chairs. That's happening across college football.

(29:57):
And Cincinnati did it first, kind of you not first first,
you know what I mean, but most recently first, and
that really kind of kicked off this widespread, this widespread interest,
or I should say it might have been the first
snowball that rolled downhill and turned into the avalanche. So
more interest in the Cincinnati game for sure.

Speaker 5 (30:17):
Here the market is a very intriguing handicap in the
Cincinnati game. Right Cincinnati's undefeated and the big twelve seven
straight wins, and they're a double digit underdog against Utah,
who's lost you game? Right Like, again, the gambling lines
sometimes point you in a very interesting direction. Also, Soorsby

(30:37):
the quarterback for Cincinnati, he's having a year that no
one really expected, really good year for Cincinnati's offense. Soorsby's
one of the highest rated passers in the country. So
it'll be interesting though, right Like anytime a team like Cincinnati, like,
I'd be willing to bet that every single member of
that Bearcats team has never played a game at this altitude,

(30:59):
at this environment that they're going to experience at Salt Lake. Right,
You've got game day in town. So I think the
markets selling the Utah is gonna win that game. Did
they cover? I think so, But I definitely think there's some,
you know, questions about how good the Utah offense is
and how much distance they can put between themselves and
the Bearcats because Cincinnati's again, Cincinnati's had a really good year,

(31:20):
their linebackers are fantastic. Utah likes to run the ball.
But the market, again with a double digit spreads telling
you that Utah is gonna win this game, Texas Tech.
Kansas State's interesting, right. Kansas State had the expectations coming
into the year, fell off the map, but there's still
a really talented offense Taver Johnson's a guy who could
make you hurt. And Texas Tech had all the buzz

(31:42):
coming into the year with their roster. The problem is
they're one loss this year on the road against Arizona State.
Was Sam Levitt running around making all those plays. I
could see Avery Johnson doing that tonight. The problem is
for Kansas State is they have a big mismatch in
the trenches. Texas Texas Tech is bigger, fast, stronger O line,
D line, but Kansas State's got the Avery Johnson X factor,

(32:04):
So that one's gonna be fascinating too.

Speaker 4 (32:05):
I think, yeah, it's funny, right, we were just talking
about talented teams that still present a problem. But they've
they've lost a handful of games, you know, like the
Penn States and the LSUS and Kansas State is kind
of one of those teams as well. And they've been
good the last couple of weeks. Right, they beat TCU,
they beat Kansas Now they're facing Texas Tech, so we'll

(32:27):
see Avery Johnson running a lot more presents a lot
of problems. I love that Cincinnati Utah matchup. I mean that, like,
Cincinnati is a tough team.

Speaker 3 (32:36):
Man.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
Their offensive line is really good. They can play smash mouth.
You detailed Soresby over there. Jared, he's a good quarterback.
He's had a hell of a year. And they're ten
and a half point underdogs on the road. I know
you cause a tough place to play, but man, really
that's a lot of points.

Speaker 3 (32:54):
Yeah, it is. And you know, here's the funny thing
about the Bearcats, because I was talking about how years
ago I talked to this college football coach who was
talking about the turnover issue that his team was having
and how it didn't feel like they could fix it.
The Bearcats are in a little bit of the same
situation this year. Their inability to force turnovers has really

(33:16):
reared its head through the early portion over the halfway
point of this season, and they've fixed it recently. They
forced two turnovers in each of their last two games.
They've only generated one interception this season so far. So
when you look at certain teams and how opportunistic they
have been with the opportunities presented, you say, well, how

(33:38):
are they where they are, But if the Bearcats find
a way, they could be this year's Arizona State. You
remember how fun that was to watch Skataboo and the CFP,
And there was heartbreak in the CFP, like real heartbreak.
I mean they went down to the wire and that loss.
But the Bearcats are kind of city in that cat

(34:01):
bird seat where they need a couple of Hallmark wins,
a Big twelve championship, and this could launch them into
a situation where now the nation needs to pay attention
to the Bearcats again, and so they'll be ready to
play this one. I'm curious to see what happens when
they're given those opportunities, though. Do they cash in? Do

(34:23):
they get the turnovers? Do they turn those turnovers into points?
This could be a closer game than anybody is comfortable
saying on the front end here if that is the case.

Speaker 5 (34:35):
Yeah, one of the reasons why this line jumps, sorry, Brian,
is Evan Pryor being out with injury. He's one of
Cincinnati's best runners, But I don't know how much a
running backs really worth against the spread. And they've got
Savie Walker who's also a secondary back, kind of one
a to one B, So I agree with you. I
think it is too many points. I wouldn't lay it
with Utah. But man, the Cincinnati road games this year

(34:56):
at Kansas was a crazy game that they barely won,
and an at Oklahoma. State's the worst grades team in
power for so they haven't really been tested on the
road yet.

Speaker 1 (35:05):
That's true.

Speaker 4 (35:05):
But the rush defense is leaky for the utes over there,
and Soresby he makes a lot of stuff happen with
his legs, so he's gonna have to do that tonight. Man,
ten and a half to cover for Utah. The way
they've looked, they've been boom or bust this year, right,
They've blown out some teams and they've gotten worked pretty good,
uh in the two losses that they've had there. I

(35:27):
just think this too, like real fast and closing. I
think brand name matters, Like you can see brand name
is just like fingerprints, brand name all over this, you know,
like elevated point spread.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
Like when you close your eyes and think.

Speaker 4 (35:41):
Of Cincinnati Bearcats football, what comes to mind?

Speaker 1 (35:44):
Like what do you think of?

Speaker 4 (35:46):
I mean, really, most people are just like to tumblewheed,
just floating by the screen right there, Like if this
is Uh. If you put these this Cincinnati Bearcat's roster
in more of like a brain, like a brand name school,
I think you look at them much differently than a
lot of people look at the Bearcats right now. I

(36:07):
think they're a really good football team. So I'll happily
take to ten and a half. All right, We've got
Rich Orenberger, Ben State All American, Jared Smith FSR, betting analyst.
I'm Brian No coming up next, little parlay platter action.
We each have one selection for you. We pull it
together for a greater payout. If our picks are right.
If our picks are wrong, then it's a zero payout.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
Is what it is.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
But we'll see if we can get some winners here,
a collective winner if you will. That's right, let's join
forces here, let's go. It's like the old school mask
cartoon right where we all were going in on a mission.
Maybe you guys haven't seen it bad reference well each
compare notes.

Speaker 5 (36:45):
Coming up next.

Speaker 4 (36:45):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM.
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by
Bett MGM. Every time you make a wager at BETMGM,
you earn BETMGM rewards points that can be redeemed for
things like bonus bets or converted to MGM rewards points
that could be used towards dining shows and hotel rooms

(37:05):
at over twenty MGM resorts. And be sure to follow
bet MGM across all socials at bet MGM.

Speaker 1 (37:13):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
Check this out our late letter.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
That is correct.

Speaker 4 (37:20):
We each have one selection for you. We pull it
together for a greater payout. Jared, we start with you,
what do you like?

Speaker 5 (37:27):
Well, I'll give you a dog here. And we have
to promise even though Brian's already said that the cat
is out of the bag for this dog that we
don't tell Seamus in about forty five minutes when he
comes and he comes out of the show. But I'm
fading Uva today. They're on the road. They're at cal Listen.
The Wahoo's have a real chance to play college with
while playoffs spoiler here. If they went out and get
into the ACEC Championship game and keep Miami out, it's

(37:49):
gonna be really interesting to see what the committee does. However,
Virginia's kind of been skating by by the skin of
their teeth over in the last few weeks. Right, four
straight wins by a single score, started with the overtime
at Florida State. They needed overtime last week against UNC
and I like this COUNT team. I think this COUNT
team is the perfect underdog team because their ceilings really high.
They've got a freshman quarterback. We've talked about him before,

(38:11):
Jks Jaron Kave Songa, Polo Telly. I should get extra
bonus points just for pronouncing that name. The one thing
that scares me, though UBA's run game solid, Kyle does
have an issue stopping the run. They've got a linebacker
you probably never heard of, caid Uliave who is fantastic
this year. I need him to play really big. I
need the freshman quarterback to play big. I think Cal
at home plus one eighty on the money line. I'll

(38:33):
give you the Bears to end Virginia. CFP hopes later tonight.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
Okay, we got an interim coach in Florida, Billy Gonzalez,
who used to be a co offensive coordinator at Mississippi State.
I think Florida's gonna come out playing fast. I think
they're going to come out playing with tempo Georgia has
been a slow starter this year. We discussed this earlier,
so I'm going to put my money where my mouth

(39:00):
this I said, I like the first quarter spread for
Florida two and a half points. Give me the plus
two and a half with the Gators. I'm going with
be Know's Buddies pick. I think this is actually a
really good selection. Will it appear on Rapid Fire maybe not,
but as part of the parlay platter, I really do.
I do like this bet, and I think Florida's had

(39:20):
two weeks to think about how they want to start
this game. Everybody knows. Everybody's ready for their first game
as a college football coach, as a head coach, you know,
game two, Game three, Game four, Okay, who knows? Who
knows that Billy Gonzalz has the staining power, but he's
ready for this one. I like Florida's starting fast.

Speaker 4 (39:39):
All right, I'm gonna go I feel bad going with
a favorite here. You guys are both going with dogs
over here. Jared's going with the money line dog.

Speaker 1 (39:46):
I feel bad.

Speaker 5 (39:47):
I'm gonna get these dods up.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
Right, Yeah, I'm going with Houston. Houston Cougar's are a
pretty good football team. They've turned their season around. I'm
gonna lay thirteen and a half against a just crep
at West Virginia team. West Virginia is freaking bad, and
you look at what Houston's doing. They've lost to Texas Tech.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (40:07):
That's the end of the resume as far as the
losing goes. They're a seven to one football team. They're
defending the run, they're rushing the passer. And also you
look at West Virginia. They can't run the ball and
they can't protect the passer. How are they gonna score
against Houston. So I've got Houston covering the thirteen and
a half against West Virginia.

Speaker 5 (40:27):
I like this one, all right? We get the odds
boost bet MGM should give you an odds boost today.
They do it every Saturday. At least for me, at
least maybe I'm just special. Odds boost gets us to
plus eleven fifty two, almost twelve to one on this baby.

Speaker 3 (40:40):
Not bad?

Speaker 1 (40:41):
What is it without the boost?

Speaker 3 (40:42):
Jared?

Speaker 5 (40:43):
It's nine to one ninety one? Yeah I'm bad. No,
I'm not bad at all for a three legger.

Speaker 4 (40:49):
Not bad if you're a non boost participant. But man
if you're a boost participant. Boom, we love the boost.
All right, coming up next, this game is good for
is good, but it's also suck versus suck. We'll have
details for you.

Speaker 5 (41:09):
Oh what is going on?

Speaker 4 (41:10):
Welcome in, Happy Saturday to you, Happy November.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
We're here.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
This is the nitty gritty football weather, right is when
we get down to it. Here a lot of interesting
matchups today too, when you're thinking about the college football
playoff race where these teams kind of in the middle
tier where you might have one loss, maybe in some
cases two losses and bro it is go time or
it's not happening.

Speaker 1 (41:34):
So one of those games really.

Speaker 4 (41:36):
Is Oklahoma at Tennessee both six and two football teams.

Speaker 1 (41:42):
You can't lose this. You're eliminated.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
You know, eliminated is going to be the deal. Whoever
loses this game, no playoff for you. And I'll tell
you what it is. It's good versus good. When Tennessee
has the ball, Tennessee's offense really good. Oklahoma's defense has
a lot of you know, a lot going for them,
some impressive statistics if you will.

Speaker 1 (42:03):
It's the opposite.

Speaker 4 (42:04):
When Oklahoma has the ball, Oklahoma's offense has been rough.
It is basically the John Mattier Show. If John Mattier
has a shaky game, it's like, well, I guess we're
gonna suck offensively collectively, there's so much on his plate,
on his shoulders. And Tennessee's defense.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
Wow, are they bad?

Speaker 3 (42:24):
Mad?

Speaker 4 (42:25):
Some of these numbers are just like what happened to
this defense? Ninety fifth in points per drive, that's what
they're giving up. They rank ninety fifth in that stat So, yeah,
it's good versus good when Tennessee has the ball. It's
bad versus bad when Oklahoma has the ball.

Speaker 3 (42:42):
Yeah, yeah, that is one correct. I will say one
thing about the Sooners defense, which is, as usual, a
pretty good group up front. They they missed a lot
of tackles last week against Ole Miss they missed seventeen tackles.
They miss a dozen a piece against South Carolina and Texas.

(43:05):
So this has been a problem for the Sooners. They
can't give up big plays as a result, And then
if we want to turn it back to their offense
for a moment, Mattier hasn't really materialized as a rushing
quarterback threat that he once was with the Cougars. That
part of his game has sort of evaporated, disappeared since
he's signed up with the Sooners, And you look at

(43:26):
the volunteer side of this thing, Joey Agalar, who now
ranks seventeenth amongst FPS quarterbacks with on target throws. So
now with these advanced analytics, we're starting to see where
completion percentage isn't really the end all be all stat anymore.

(43:46):
Where it's not like, hey, you know, this guy had
a fifty percent completion rate over the past two games,
and I'm making up that that hasn't been Joey Aguilar
actually has been on the money twenty for twenty six
against was it who is that? Kentucky was the last
game they played, right, Yes, did a nice job there. Look,

(44:07):
here's the thing though, when you have a quarterback that
has low completion percentage, oftentimes you turn and you you say, well,
that's a quarterback who's struggling this season. Well, maybe not.
You know, maybe there's a lot of drops. You know,
maybe there's a lot of situations where you know a
player is is thrown open but trip coming out of
the break of their route, and you say, is that

(44:29):
really on the quarterback or is that on the field conditions,
or that that that receiver not coming to you know,
stuttering his feet coming out of the break of his route.
You know. So I appreciate these advanced analytics looking closer
at the football, at the game itself, and not just
at these these hard and fast stats. With all that said,

(44:54):
I kind of like the Sooners. I really do. I
like them to cover. So I mean, if if I
have a lean one way or the other in this game,
it would be on Oklahoma plus the where they again
plus three right now?

Speaker 4 (45:07):
Yeah, hey, let me say something real fast shared before
you go, because what Rich was saying about the completion
percentage was pretty interesting. Where Look, I think we always
hear this. Styles make fights, you know, like, what is
your style? Offensively? If you look at Tennessee, they throw
the ball downfield, right, those are typically lower percentage completion

(45:28):
type throws. And so if Aguilar's completion percentage is a
little bit lower, but he's hitting these explosive plays, yeah,
you're coming out ahead, right, So listen. Completing passes is important,
But are you better off with one of your quarterbacks
completing a bunch of like like screen passes like two
yard outsitt like or throwing the ball deep down field

(45:50):
and you hit one of two of those, like, you're
better off with those explosive plays. So you got to
keep that in mind too when you're thinking about those
completion percentages.

Speaker 5 (45:59):
I agree, and that's why the advanced analytics are very helpful.
For example, Pro Football Focus has a category called big
time throws, where even if it's not necessarily completed, it
still counts if it's on target and it's down the field.
And that's where Joey Aguilar has really been positive over

(46:20):
the last few games, especially last week against Kentucky. Right,
he had five big time throws against Kentucky. In his
first seven games of the year, he only had eight.
So I think you're starting to see, right. He came
over from app State. We know about the Nico drama
in the offseason. It took Joey some time to kind
of get acclimated to this system, but the talent's there.
The one thing that he does really well is he

(46:41):
puts the ball in spots that some quarterbacks are afraid
to put it. Some quarterbacks, like we talk about Dylan
Ryol at times too not as aggressive getting it down
the field. Where this Tennessee offense is very aggressive, and
they've got you want to talk about weaponry. I think
Tennessee might have the best resis even group in the country.
Chris Brasel, I think is going to be the first

(47:03):
X receiver drafted six five, two hundred pounds, seventeen yards
per catch, eight touchdowns this year. And then on the
other side, right, Tennessee runs that wide choice offense. What
is wide choice? Essentially, it is when you put the
receivers all the way outside the numbers, and the choice
is the opportunity for that receiver to go vertical or
to hit the comeback. So basically you're reading what the

(47:24):
defensive back is doing, and on any given play you're
outside the numbers, you could take it deeper, you could
come back, depending if you're getting a favorable coverage. So
this is a very dangerous Tennessee offense to defend because
they will stretch you vertically down the field, and they've
got a quarterback who's not afraid to put it there.
Mike Matthews is that other outside receiver a little bit shorter,
but still sixteen yards per reception this year. I mean,

(47:47):
these guys take you deep, and then they've got a
really good slot guy Brayln Staley, redshirt freshman, starting to
play a lot cleaner football out of the slot. So
they've got all the positions covered. I don't fully trust
Brent Venables after a loss six straight up, after a
loss at his time at Oklahoma. So this is going
to be one of those matchups where they need John
Mattier to be elite. And he has not looked fully

(48:09):
healthy since coming back from the hand injury. And maybe
he is healthy enough to play, but Brian, there's a
difference between playing and playing well. And the big time
throw rate has gone down considerably. The turnover worthy play
rate has skyrocketed for ma Tier over the last three
games since he has come back from that hand injury.
So rocky top at night.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
On the road.

Speaker 5 (48:31):
You know college will playoff alim a nation game like
this is, and we know Tennessee's defense has struggled, but
this is going to be a big test for this
Oklahoma offense.

Speaker 4 (48:38):
I just hope that the wide choice offense catches on,
like the West Coast offense or something like that. You know,
I hope it's you know, very common. I love what
a great the wide choice offense isn't it?

Speaker 5 (48:49):
It's offense to watch too. It really is because they
stretch you outside the numbers. They really do.

Speaker 4 (48:53):
Yeah, they make it work. And that's the thing. If
you look at Oklahoma's past defense, they're susceptible to give
it up big plays and it's like, oh gosh, and
you're playing Tennessee.

Speaker 5 (49:05):
Huh.

Speaker 4 (49:05):
Like Josh Heipel is like a you know they removed
from Halloween.

Speaker 5 (49:10):
He's just like former Oklahoma quarterback's right, Oh yeah, go
deep baby, Yeah, absolutely, And you brought up I'm glad
you did.

Speaker 4 (49:17):
Jared John Mattier, who was sensational at the beginning of
the season and then he had the hand injury and
then he rushed it back against Texas. He played badly
and he hasn't been right ever since. And it's not
just air mailing passes, you know, like accuracy hasn't been good.
Some of the decision making hasn't been good. That's the thing.

(49:39):
It's like it's his decision making. It's not just the hand.
It's like why is he throwing it there? Good hand
or bad hand? Like what is he doing? So he's
had a lot of those head scratching moves. And I
also think behind an offensive line that has been shaky.
They haven't been able to run the ball effectively pretty
much all season. They had a big shock play last week,

(50:02):
but that's about it for their running game. And you
look at their offensive line. They have two freshmen tackles,
that's right, a freshman left tackle, freshman right tackle. And
you're on the road in one of the most electric
atmospheres in all of college football at Tennessee. So that's
a lot to deal with. And the Oklahoma's offense is
not doing a good job taking pressure off of John

(50:24):
Mattere and listen, Tennessee's defense sucks. So maybe Oklahoma will
have more success taking pressure off Matier because he needs
that to happen. He's just not comfortable right now at all.

Speaker 3 (50:37):
Yeah. Yeah, well, that's that's actually what I was going
to focus on, because your everything you said about John
Mattiir is one hundred percent correct. He he has struggled
since returning from the handry injury. And by the way,
a hand surgery like this wasn't just a guy who
sprained a ligament in his finger. He legit ultimately broke

(51:00):
a bone when under the knife. Two weeks later he
was back on the field and and conventional wisdom about
surgeries and healing times for bone which was involved in
this surgery, and and how your osteo sites at the
microscopic level have to accept whatever, you know, metal implements

(51:23):
that they're putting in there to strengthen the area and
support the area that you you shattered or broke like this,
this is a serious This is a serious surgery, and
it was done on a player's throwing hand. I mean
imagine if this was a college or professional pitcher we
were talking about in baseball, this guy wouldn't be back

(51:44):
for five months. That's just it's a different sport I
understand it. And it's a different level of uh, what
what do I want to say, rip strength or you know, yeah,
different level of group state strength. And also like there's
there's more mar gin in football. Like in baseball, pitching
is so exacting that if you're off by a fraction

(52:06):
of an inch, if your spin rate is you know,
a couple of revolutions slower, like, those things can be
turned around into huge moments for an opposing offense. Whereas
you can hide more with ten more guys on the
football field, it's not always relying on John Mattier's throwing
hand to get the job done. But I digress to

(52:26):
talk about how awful this volunteers defense has been. They
have been terrible. They can't stop the run. Brian no
would rush for fifty seven fifty eight yards in this game. Yeah,
I mean they can't. They're so bad against inside zone
they give up and get this, they give up an
explosive run play one in every eleven rushing attempts against Wow,

(52:50):
that's how bad the volunteers have been on the ground.
And in terms of red zone defense, it's it's Swiss cheese.
Of twenty nine opponents, it's within the twenty yard line
of the scoring zone. They've only stopped five Okay, twenty
four of twenty nine opponent's visits to the red zone

(53:11):
has resulted in scoring. It's atrocious. I mean, you gotta
have a backstop somewhere the volunteers do not.

Speaker 5 (53:20):
Yeah, I agree. Like And to be perfectly transparent, like
I gave out Tennessee earlier in the week. We do
the videos for bet MGM, I do Wednesday Friday crack
those on Mondays and Thursdays for the NFL. I gave
out Tennessee on my Wednesday video. And obviously their defense
concerns me. I can't push back on anything Rich is

(53:40):
saying because the defense is a big red flag. However,
the one thing that got me to Tennessee in this
spot was is Oklahoma's offense in a position to take
advantage of that? Because we know that if your defense
sucks but the quarterback is not accurate with his deep
balls or just accurate period because of that injury, is

(54:02):
it as big of an issue as it normally would.
And the one thing that Tennessee's defense does really well
is rush the passer and contain the passer. They've got
some really good dudes on the edge that can keep
Matier in the pocket, eliminate the run game, and force
him to be a downfield passer. And if he is
inaccurate with his throws, that to me is kind it's

(54:24):
kind of a neutral. It kind of negates that weakness
in the Tennessee secondary. I'll give you the matchup that
I think is gonna decide this game, and it's gonna
be the Oklahoma defensive line. Our Mason Thomas, one of
the best pass rushers in the country, against a young,
but very talented Tennessee offensive line, and I'm gonna give
you the right tackles named David Sanders. He's a freshman.
He's six to six, he's over three hundred pounds, former

(54:46):
five star, he was hurt to start the year. He's
come on really strong the last few weeks. When I
watch him on tape and Rich can allude to this,
he has one of the best anchors I've ever seen
in terms of a freshman tackle. He does not play
with his head over his feet, and when you're facing
a pass rusher that can get you with the speed
with the bull rush, like our Mason Thomas Can, I

(55:07):
think that anchor is going to be very important. I
think the other side of the Tennessee offensive line with
Herd the left tackle, is really solid. He's their most
experienced offensive lineman. So I think the bookend tackles for
Tennessee are going to allow Aguilar to push the ball
down the field. And now you're talking about a tennis
match here, Brian, where Tennessee I think is going to
have success throwing it deep. But his mateir and that

(55:28):
injured hand going to be able to match Serve for Serve,
I would lean.

Speaker 3 (55:32):
To the no.

Speaker 5 (55:33):
And I know Tennessee's defense has been bad, but I
think the injury to the thumb kind of superseds that.
And I like Tennessee's offense, especially their deep passing game,
and I do think that's what decides this.

Speaker 3 (55:45):
Man.

Speaker 4 (55:45):
I just had a horrible flashback. I needed Auburn to
anchor down against old furm Mason right there when he
was he was getting a safety in the end zone
to cover this spread. Oh my gosh, that was terrible,
great breakdown. I think we covered our bases here. Let
me just say this. I hear the voles quite a bit.

(56:07):
It's the volunteers. It's the vowls. Can we make that
a thing, right?

Speaker 5 (56:12):
Like? Did I mispronounce that?

Speaker 3 (56:14):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (56:14):
No, no, no, no, I don't. I don't think you did.
I don't think you did. It's just somewhere. It was
probably my notes here. I was reading it and it
just says the Volves gave up thirty four points last week, YadA, YadA,
And I'm like, it's the valves. I hear voles all
the time. It's not the volunteers, it's the vowls. It's
the freaking valves. It's just like Gonzaga it's the Zags.

(56:35):
It's not Gonzaga. Right, they're the Zags, So it's Gonzaga.

Speaker 3 (56:40):
What are we doing here? Right?

Speaker 5 (56:41):
Like happy day? By the way, to those who celebrated yesterday,
Oh really, yeah, I go. It was a thing that
the Golden Knights played a noon game or one o'clock
game to celebrate. I don't know. It was the day
that Nevada became a state, and they do it every
year they play an afternoon game.

Speaker 4 (56:54):
Oh wow, I had no idea it was a thing.

Speaker 5 (56:57):
Not Happy Nevada Day, though. I want to say that.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
Oh, absolutely not. You know, it's funny.

Speaker 4 (57:03):
I'm glad you said that because I remember Nevada played
Notre Dame years ago and they said on the broadcast.
It's in their media guide where they're like, it's Nevada.

Speaker 5 (57:13):
Oh they get serious state.

Speaker 1 (57:16):
Yeah, they absolutely big deal.

Speaker 4 (57:18):
All right, We've got rich Oronberger, Penn State, All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
I'm Brian No.

Speaker 4 (57:25):
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(57:48):
Coming up next our main man, Seamus McGee from BETMGM. Man,
I'll tell you what he tried to rip my head
off when I just talked about his Virginia Cavaliers, like
storming the field against Florida. He's gonna be really upset
with me when I tell him against his Virginia squad.
What is he gonna say? We will find out next

(58:09):
that hang on the way phone. It'd be funny if
you just walked off. He's like, I'm not even doing this.
bet MGM.

Speaker 1 (58:18):
Smells like ball.

Speaker 4 (58:20):
bet MGM. Throughout the entire football season, bet MGM will
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All right, let's do this.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
Follow the money, real good money.

Speaker 4 (58:43):
That's right, we are following the money with our good
friend Seamus McGee, team lead of Sports Trading at bet MGM.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
Good morning, Seamus.

Speaker 4 (58:50):
You know I typically am not a tattletale, but I
will make an exception in this one category, this one instance.
How about our guy Jared's taking cal money line today
against your Virginia squad. What do you make of that there, Seamus.

Speaker 6 (59:08):
I may have a part to play in this. I
think I did text him after the game last week
I said we might be the biggest fraud in the country.
Love you. It was a real tough watching Chapel Hill
last week. A lot of luck bounce is our way.
I'm just so happy this game isn't a ten pm kick.

(59:29):
They catch a little bit of a break with a
three eastern. Yeah, but we'll see, we'll see.

Speaker 5 (59:37):
Should be interesting, Seamus. I think I think when you
look at this Cale team and we can get into
this game a little bit later. But I do think
Virginia's is not is not ready for the big stage,
at least when they get to the Culture Wall playoff.
If they do, or are they able to get to
the AC championship game. Kind of a weird week. I
think some of the teams that I want to look

(59:57):
at as kind of contenders, We're gonna find out a
lot more. Is there one specific game where you're like, Okay,
this one is circled and if this team loses, they
are eliminated from collegewell playoff contention and they will be
talked about no more as a contender.

Speaker 6 (01:00:11):
I mean, we got a few kind of de facto
playoff games here. I think Oklahoma Tennessee, you gotta circle
that one. I think loser goes home there. Uh, Big twelve,
you know, Cincinnati, Utah, That's definitely one. Cincinnati's got to
be one of the quietest teams, you know, sneaking around
this is the country right now. Brendan Soresby I think

(01:00:32):
is like a legitimate Heisman contender right now if they
run the table. He's statistically been one of the best
quarterbacks in the country. So those are two at least
I have circled. As far as playoff complications go, it
is a weird week. You know, before the season, you've
you looked at this slate being like, WHOA got to cancel?
My plans Saturday, November first. Uh, but you know, Florida

(01:00:54):
falls off the map hen State is in their whole
thing right now. So yeah, it's interesting.

Speaker 3 (01:01:03):
Georgia Florida. Florida has a new head coach after a
two week break. I kind of like Florida early in
this game, we were talking about a first quarter cover
of the plus two and a half. But what do
you think? What do you think about the Gators right
now with Billy Gonzalez taking over.

Speaker 6 (01:01:22):
I just don't know what Florida team I'm going to
get on a weekly basis, Like Blackways, am playing a
little bit better, But ye know, Georgia have to keep
winning games, and you wonder it is a rival game.
Florida should be up for this game, but I mean,
george does have to lay it on. I'm just not
sure about this game. On the line is a bit weird.

(01:01:43):
You would have think Georgia favored by more with Florida,
you know, no head coach. But here we are at seven.

Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
What's on the wish list today, Seamus? If you magically
could wave the bet MGM wand and get you know,
two three results in your favor, what would you choose up.

Speaker 6 (01:02:00):
Two would definitely have to be Penn State magically covering
eighteen and a half. I don't know how we get there,
but we're gonna need to get there. And then I'm
a bit surprised. We've taken a lot of Texas money
this week. We're gonna need Vanny three.

Speaker 5 (01:02:17):
Wow.

Speaker 6 (01:02:18):
Vanny's been a very popular team publicly the past few weeks,
so I am a little surprised with how WHOA. I
feel like everyone is on arch manning in Texas that
they're buying the Longhorns this week.

Speaker 5 (01:02:30):
Yeah, I think the arch Like if I was to
handicap it from a stock market perspective and I was
going on like CNBC or something, I would say, yeah, Art,
this is a bilo spot for our training for sure,
as as almost now less than a field goal favorite
at home against Vandy. How about that. I would never
would have expected that ending into the year. We get
these lines sometimes, Shamus, we talk about them all the time,

(01:02:52):
that just they make you scratch your head. We were
mentioning this game earlier. You talked about Cincinnati and Soresby.
They're undefeated in the Big Twelve. They've won seven straight games.
Their one loss was a tight one week one to Nebraska,
and yet they're a double digit dog against Utah. It's
got quarterback issues, right. We don't know if Van Pierre
is one hundred percent and Utah has had a couple
more setbacks this year. But the numbers telling you that

(01:03:14):
Utah is the significantly better team. Do you buy into that?
You know, fagazy market narrative that on paper, that.

Speaker 6 (01:03:23):
Would you would think that's true, especially you've taken your
preseason priors into account. But I mean, Utah has been
getting action all week. We're gonna need Cincinnati plus ten
in this one, but you gotta look at some external factors.
This is a big road trip for Cincinnati. They got
to go out west in the altitude at Utah. Everyone
likes to talking about Colorado, but it exists up there
in Utah, and it's a late kicked at ten thirty.

(01:03:45):
So I mean, there's a few things going into this
number here. Utah does have I think a bigger home
field advantage than most people like to believe.

Speaker 3 (01:03:53):
What's the handle look like right now? With the Heisman candidates.
I sort of feel like the fact that arch Manning
is no longer anywhere near this conversation, and maybe even
names like Drew Aller or John Mattier who have a
little bit more I guess, brand recognition attached to them
than some of the names at the top of this list,

(01:04:14):
like Fernando Mendoza, who's a transfer to Indiana lighting it up,
or even a Diego Pavia who's a popular choice right
now but maybe only just recently kind of bursting onto
the scene at Vandy. What does that do the handle?
I mean, does that affect how many people are even
willing to put a little, you know, a little sprinkle
on the heisman this early in the season.

Speaker 6 (01:04:36):
The handle's great this year because wide open. Our book
also looks great right now. I mean before the year,
everything was on arch Manning. He falls off, you know,
hours before we're talking, hours before Oregon kicks off against Indiana.
We took a really sizable wager on Dante More to

(01:04:57):
win the heisman, pretty much putting all the liab on
the book on him, and then Mendoza goes in and
beats Oregon. So the books looked great ever since Pavia
moved in shorter, so we kind of dodged a lot
of some long shot liability. He may have had when
he was around, and you can get him like forty
or fifty to one, I believe, and then you know,

(01:05:17):
Mendoza we were pretty quick to be short on as
well as Simpsons. So the book's looking great right now
for a BETAMGM and you know, Handle gets better every week,
so it hasn't been open. I think Mendoza might run
away with it if they just keep, you know, laying
the hammer on teams. But we'll see how it goes.
Ti Simpson has been playing very well as well.

Speaker 4 (01:05:37):
All right, Seamus, it's that time you're seamous special.

Speaker 1 (01:05:40):
What are you going with this week?

Speaker 6 (01:05:42):
We're going to go to some proper football here. We're
going to Liverpool, England. Liverpool has lost four Premier League
matches in a row, the reigning champs from last year.
For those who don't know, they are playing an aston
Villa team who have won four matches in a row.
Everyone is fading Liverpool. Everyone's down on Liverpool. So we're

(01:06:04):
gonna take the minus one and a half today. They
rested a lot of their players and their Caravel Cup
fixed to at the midweek. They're zeroing in on this
game in Ancer. It's a must win for Liverpool today,
and I think they really get back on track.

Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
All right.

Speaker 4 (01:06:18):
The minus one and a half with the Liverpool, really.

Speaker 6 (01:06:22):
If you'd like to lay a dollar fifty, go crazy, Bud,
you know, reach o the goal line a little bit
here with minus one and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:06:28):
I like it.

Speaker 4 (01:06:29):
You know, go big or go home, Seamous. You know
it's got to be the slogan for you over there,
no doubt. Well, always good to chat with you, man.
Hope you enjoy the day, Seamus. We'll catch you next week.

Speaker 6 (01:06:39):
I'm a going guys, enjoy the games you two.

Speaker 3 (01:06:41):
There.

Speaker 4 (01:06:41):
He is Seamus McGee, team lead of sports Trading at
bed MGM man talking smack about his own Virginia squad.
You know that's got to carry out weight right there.
I think, right, all right, how about this, let's go
to the big ten. Let's go with USC at Nebraska.
You look at SCY they're still a four and a
half point favorite, but this number has come down down

(01:07:03):
down just a little bit, ever so slowly, people buying
the Nebraska Cornhuskers in this one. I think in a
lot of ways to look at this game. If you
look at Nebraska's pass defense has been pretty good. They're
a top ten pass defense in terms of yards per dropback,
but USC's passing offense is elite, their third in terms of,

(01:07:26):
you know, averaging average yards per drop back. So it's
strength versus strength when USC is throwing the ball. The
one thing though, when Nebraska's on defense, they can't stop
the run. Their rush defense is really suspect, and USC
can run the ball. I think that's very overlooked with SC.
Where you think Lincoln Riley they're throwing the ball all
over the place, they can line up and just pound

(01:07:48):
the rock. So that's something to keep your eye on
when USC has the ball at least.

Speaker 3 (01:07:54):
Yeah, look USC coming off of bye, it gives Lincoln
Riley and his staff extra time to scheme up against
some of Nebraska's obvious defensive tendancies. And look, at this
point in the season, it's a long college football season.
I know it's much shorter than the NFL, but but

(01:08:14):
it gives your your players a chance to rest and recover.
I think with fresh legs and that offense you were
talking about, and I would say a decisive advantage that
goes towards the biggs. On the USC side of defense,
I think they just have a better unit upfront offensively
in terms of their line and defensively. Yeah, I think

(01:08:36):
if there's a lean for me, the USC side of
defense on the spread is where I would lean in
this game. I think I think they could. This could
be one of those games where Lincoln Riley puts a
little bit of a pounding on a conference opponent, and
you know, USC obviously not the year they're hoping to have,
but this could be a little bit of a mini

(01:08:57):
statement here as the season.

Speaker 5 (01:08:59):
Grows, Like, Yeah, I've been a big disappointment for Rayola
this year. I'm glad that Matt Rule signed his extension
with Nebraska this week so he will not be the
new Penn State coach. I know everyone in Happy Valley
is actually happy about that because you just look at Yeah,
I know, and he was the name that was really

(01:09:20):
floated as the main the main candidate when you know,
all the James Franklin stuff went down. Obviously, rules connection
to Pat Kraft, the're best friends and and you know,
bringing Rayol I think would have been at least a
nice transition to from Drew Aller. But I just think
it would have been a lateral move and I'm glad

(01:09:42):
it didn't happen. I know, I echo a lot of sentiments.
I posted it the other day when the extension hit.
The hit the news wire, and a lot of my
Penn State brethren were also up in arms with the
excitement that it wasn't gonna be rules. So we'll see.
We can discuss who, you know, the next Penn State
coach will be, but it won't be Rule. I think
this is a bad matchup for Nebraska. I think you

(01:10:04):
look at what USC does effectively. We know they can
run it, but it's really Mayava and the passing offense
that's been the you know, the bread winner for this
USC you know team this year, and the Nebraska offense
is the weak link. So it kind of reminds me
of the Tennessee Oklahoma game in a sense where I
think Tennessee is going to have success throwing it down
the field like I think USC will. I just don't

(01:10:27):
know if Nebraska has the horses to keep up. And
their offense has been very much dink and dunk for
some reason. Even though they brought in dan Key I
think from Kentucky, they brought in a couple of other
receiver transfers to kind of beef up this outside passing game.
They have been very conservative throwing it this year. We
know they can run it with EMT Johnson. I like

(01:10:47):
their run game a lot, but I don't know if
they're gonna be in a position to run it here
because I think USC Mayava is the only quarterback in
the country. He's you want to talk about, soors we
having a good year at Cincinnati. Jordan mayavas having or
Jade Mayava, excuse me, he's having a fantastic year. UC
only quarterback in the country averaging at least ten yards
per temp. So they are a very aggressive offense. They
will throw it right down the field. We know how

(01:11:08):
good the receivers are, and I just don't know if
Nebraska has the firepower to go blow for blow with
this USC offense.

Speaker 3 (01:11:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:11:15):
No, it's fair and it's funny, right Like if you
look at when Nebraska has the ball, they're good between
the twenties, Like they can move the ball pretty well,
but they're not good in the red zone because they
can't run the ball very well.

Speaker 3 (01:11:27):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:11:28):
And if you look at USC, they're the opposite. On defense,
they're not very good between the twenties. They allow explosives,
but they're pretty good in the red zone. So I
think Nebraska's red zone offense is something big to watch
in this game. When they get the ball, like past
USC's twenty yard line, they get into that red zone area,
are they scoring touchdowns or are they settling for field goals.

(01:11:50):
That's a big deal because, like you said, Jared, when
you're matching points with USC, you need some touchdowns over
there that threes aren't gonna do it. So can they
secute Nebraska in the red zone? I think it's a
big deal. By the way, we've got real fast. A
couple of minutes, Jared and you were talking about the
coaching carousel, and you've got the list whittled down to
maybe two names at LSU and maybe a couple of

(01:12:12):
names elsewhere. You want to go rapid fire just calling
your shots. Who you think is gonna get these gigs?

Speaker 5 (01:12:18):
Sure, I think uh Lan Kiffin's gonna get the LSU
job just a hunch. Okay, I think Penn State's down.

Speaker 3 (01:12:23):
To Brahm.

Speaker 5 (01:12:26):
Hind Heartline. I think you throw a drink what's his
name into the mix too. I think Heartline's really interesting
for me. The offensive coordinator at Ohio State. Ryan Day's
a lot younger than you think, Like, I know, he's
been there a while, and he's won a championship and
and you know, but he's I think you want honest say,
he's like not even fifty years old yet. So that's
the he's at the top of the barrel. Like the

(01:12:47):
Ohio State job. It doesn't get much better than that.
Maybe Bama, maybe Georgia. But Kirby smartin deborn't going anywhere
for a long time, and I don't see Ryan Day
going to the NFL. So there's a there's a stop
gap at the top of the Ohio State program. And
Brian Hartline has high aspirations and I think that would
be a really interesting hire for penn State. Young offensive
minded guy who you would imagine should be able to

(01:13:09):
maybe bring some of that offensive explosion from Ohio State
over to penn State. And the recree is a good recruiter.
He obviously knows that area very well. You know, the
Pennsylvania Ohio area is huge. You know, Ohio goes into Pennsylvania,
Ohio State goes into Pa a lot and takes kids
in Pennsylvania, goes into penn State, goes into Ohio a
lot and takes kids, so I think that's an interesting dynamic.

(01:13:29):
The Florida job, I don't know. I think some are
all at to Lane's an interesting candidate. I thought Lane
would have been, you know, a good candidate for the
Florida job. But I do think LSU has got his
their sights on him. So those would be my predictions
right now. I think Heartline at Penn State, I think
Kiffin at LSU, and I think some are all at Florida.

Speaker 4 (01:13:49):
By the way, is that at the top of your
wish list for your Nickney Lyons?

Speaker 1 (01:13:52):
I know you're not interested in.

Speaker 5 (01:13:54):
I Likedram a lot too.

Speaker 3 (01:13:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:13:57):
I give Jared a hard time because it was a
week or two ago. I'm like, man, there was a report,
you know, like a you know, an alert and you
get like these sports update alerts whatever, and it was like, man,
Penn State's going to take a run at Marcus Freeman.
And I was like, stay away from my head coach,
you know, you nitty lion bastards or whatever I put,
I don't know, And Jared's like, I'd rather have this

(01:14:19):
guy Kurt Signetti, which I get, but he was just
like it's Marcus sloppy seconds Freeman over here.

Speaker 5 (01:14:25):
You know, he's just like you know, Freeman would be
what it might have been my second choice. But it's
funny because first you didn't want us to take him,
and then you were upset that I didn't want him.
That's why it was funny. No, I don't.

Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
I don't want you guys to take him at all.

Speaker 5 (01:14:36):
I love No, he's a really good coach. I think
anyone if if they probe Marcus Freeman away from Notre Dame,
whoever gets them is going to be really happy.

Speaker 3 (01:14:43):
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah. And just going back to your
Penn State pick because that being my alma mater. Two
and the heart Line pick is an interesting one because
I'm I'm well aware of who he is and where
he's been because I competed against him for most of
my college career. He was a receiver at Penn State
my entire time. We overlapped. We were actually both drafted

(01:15:05):
in the fourth round of the same exact draft.

Speaker 5 (01:15:08):
Oh wow, I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:15:09):
Yeah, yeah, he was a few picks ahead of me,
but he was earlier in the fourth I was later
in the fourth round, and similar length of playing careers.
He went the coaching route. I went the broadcasting route.
And he's only coached at Ohio State. This guy was
born in Ohio, played in Ohio, went to Ohio State,

(01:15:30):
finished his NFL career a career, went back to the State,
actually finished his NFL career with the Browns. He was
drafted by the Dolphins, finished up in Ohio, goes back
to Ohio State as a coach, and so for the
first time outside of a brief stint in Miami where
he was drafted to, this guy is going to accept

(01:15:50):
a head coaching job with a fierce conference rival. I mean,
there have been some wars between Ohio State and Penn State.
Really curious, like internally for for Brian Hartline. Like you said,
there's a hard cap at the top of the Ohio
State buck Guys program right now, Ryan Day's going nowhere,

(01:16:10):
Like what will it do to him internally? This Ohio
kid putting on Penn State. It's like a wolf in
sheep's clothes, you know, are sheep and wolf's close? I
don't even know I'm mixing my metaphors, because that's got
to be a strange feeling for Brian Hartline to have
to swallow all that and go there and be like we.

Speaker 5 (01:16:29):
Are really are you a good fit?

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
Though?

Speaker 5 (01:16:32):
I mean, I know I agree with you the Ohio
thing is weird, But in terms of what Penn State
is looking for right now, I think Signetti was clearly
their top guy. That's why he got the extension right
out of the gate.

Speaker 3 (01:16:42):
Oh yeah yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:16:43):
Then you filter down like, who's the next Signetti? Well,
maybe it's a guy who is an offensive minded guru
who is coming from a Big ten program, right like
it kind of he's kind of like a junior Signetti
in a sense.

Speaker 4 (01:16:56):
I think, yeah, we've got rich Orenberger Penn State, All
American cheer at Smith FSR betting analyst, I'm Brian No.
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(01:17:16):
in a new rewards hub with all of your personalized rewards,
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don't win their first bet. That's code countdown in the
bet MGM app. All right, coming up next, Prop it up?
That's right, the prop betting market. We will compare notes.
I am going with King me.

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
I'll explain.

Speaker 4 (01:17:39):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by BETMGM.
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(01:18:00):
Let us know whose takes you like and even whose
takes you don't like. Just search Fox Sports Radio on
YouTube and subscribe. Okay, let's do this.

Speaker 2 (01:18:13):
Drop it up player plays Ah.

Speaker 4 (01:18:17):
Yes, the prop betting market love this. It's like putting
on your favorite robe at a hotel.

Speaker 3 (01:18:23):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:18:24):
Always start with you, Jared, with something you like.

Speaker 5 (01:18:27):
How about a terry cloth row, we'll see. I think
DJ Lagway is in for a big day to day
against Georgia. I'll to give you his passing yards crop
over two forty and a half. So coming into the year,
I think DJ Lagway maybe had the most upside of
any quarterback in the SEC. He was a sleeper Heisman candidate. Obviously,
lack of consistency, poor health, it kind of derailed that
to the Billy Napier disaster. But now he has the

(01:18:49):
bye week new voice in his ear calling plays. Georgia's
defense been gettable this year. Outside the top ninety and
ePaper pass outside the top one hundred, pressure eight, the
Dogs have been torqued by quality quarterbacks. Our Simpson Chambli
is all averaging over three hundred passing arts per game,
and Lagway four and out of the over at this
number against SEC opponents. So I think the Gators quarterback
has a decent throwing day against the Doves.

Speaker 3 (01:19:12):
Oklahoma Tennessee. I'm gonna look toward the backfield in Oklahoma,
and it's not really because of what Oklahoma has done
from a rushing standpoint. It's more of what Tennessee has
done hasn't done from a rushing standpoint. They don't stop
the inside zone. I think Oklahoma is going to use
that to their advantage. Play a little keep away here

(01:19:33):
from a very dangerous Joey Aglar who's on the opposite
side of the field, heaving the football downfield in that
high powered balls offense. So give me Tory Blaylock over
the forty seven and a half rushing total. I think
he's gonna have a day out of the Sooner backfield.
He's two games away from rushing for over one hundred yards.

(01:19:54):
So I like Blaylock over forty seven and a half.

Speaker 4 (01:19:57):
Okay, I'll stick with the running back just like you.
I'm gonna go with USC's King Miller. That's right, King
Meets give me over eighty three and a half rushing
yards against Nebraska in their shaky rush defense. I think
US can line up have some success in the running game.
We've got a couple of running backs who are banged up.

Speaker 3 (01:20:15):
That helps King.

Speaker 4 (01:20:16):
Miller and his usage rate. He averages eight point one
yards per carry. So I like King Miller today. And listen, Jared,
you're looking at DJ Lagway. This is a little bonus one.
You're looking at DJ Lagway over his passing yards and
I get it. But George's rush defense been really good.
I kind of like jaden Baugh under sixty two and
a half. I just don't think Florida is gonna be

(01:20:37):
able to run the ball very effectively today, So they're
a little bonus for you.

Speaker 5 (01:20:41):
Don't hate it all right?

Speaker 1 (01:20:42):
Coming up next?

Speaker 4 (01:20:42):
This team was supposed to be the real deal, but
instead it's their opponent today.

Speaker 1 (01:20:52):
Oh what is going on?

Speaker 4 (01:20:53):
Happy Saturday to you, first day of November. We are
less than an hour away from kick off over here,
very much looking forward to it. How about in early
noon kickoff Eastern time. That'd be number nine Vanderbilt against
number twenty Texas. Texas is a three point favorite. They're
at home now. Texas was supposed to be the real

(01:21:15):
deal preseason number one team in the country, but they
they're that great. They've lost two games. They've had a
couple of close overtime calls the last two weeks. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt,
they've only lost one game on the road at Alabama
seven to one on the season top ten teams. So
Texas was supposed to be the real deal, and at
least thus far, Vanderbilt has been better. Now this matchup,

(01:21:39):
I'm curious what you guys think. I don't think it's
a great matchup for Vanderbilt. Doesn't mean they're gonna lose,
but one of the things that you can do against
Texas's defense, and they've got a really really good defense.
Is they can be exploited when opponents throw the ball downfield,
and that's not really what Vanderbilt wants to do. It's
not to say that Diego Pavia can do that, but

(01:22:01):
they're not just airing it out like Tennessee, you know.
And so I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:22:05):
Vanderbilt is really.

Speaker 4 (01:22:06):
Gonna test Texas's weak spot defensively. And this is by
far the best defense that Vanderbilt has faced thus far.

Speaker 1 (01:22:16):
It's at least at the top of the list.

Speaker 4 (01:22:17):
Maybe not by far, but Texas's defense can get after it,
and it's gonna be a tough test for Pavia and
company here today on the road against hook them.

Speaker 3 (01:22:27):
Yeah, I completely agree. I cannot wait to see the
matchup of Vandy's offense against this Texas defense, especially with
the emergence of Macklin Young out of the Vandy backfield.
Because already Diego Pavia, who's a rushing threat, and then
Vanderbilt's running back Alexander Cidric Alexander, but with Young too,

(01:22:48):
now they have kind of this dual headed monster out
of the backfield with Pavia, who is a capable rusher,
and they become very difficult to defend because no matter
who's on the field, they can hurt you with explosives
in the run game. And then what Pavi has been
able to do, obviously, like Brian alluded to, not pushing
the ball down the field, but doing a nice job

(01:23:10):
of being a distributor and a game manager in the
passing game has really helped this Vanderbilt team roll along
and have great success and get Pavia's name a bunch
of Heisman hype. Then you look at Texas's defense, and
this is no slouchy group. I mean, upfront, they are
alive and have a shot at the college football playoff

(01:23:32):
only because of their defense and frankly their special teams
as well. Their offense has left something to be desired,
but they do a great job creating a pass rush.
They're great tacklers, which limits explosive plays. So that's gonna
be a little bit of a cat and mouse game
with Vanderbilt, and so I think this is going to

(01:23:54):
be the matchup to look at is when Vanderbilt's offense
has the football kent text slow them down, and then
you know, you look at halftime adjustments If that is
the case in the first half, what kind of new
wrinkles are we gonna see out of Vanderbilt in the
second half.

Speaker 5 (01:24:11):
Yeah, I'm fascinated with this matchup. I think if you
go back and you analyze this game from three months ago,
you're like, Wow, Texas double digit favorite, this is game.
Oh you blowout Arch Manning Heisman campaign like Vandy's. You know, good,
not great. The narratives on these two teams has completely flipped.

(01:24:32):
Whereas you know, to be fair to arch like he's
going through concussion protocol this week. We'll see how much
practice time he got. But I do think he's kind
of I don't want to say turned a corner, but
I think he's settled down. People forget this is his
eleventh college start to last year. This will be his
ninth this year, not even a full season of starts

(01:24:52):
under his belt, and yet we are crowning him as
God's gift to college football. I think we need to
pump the brakes. I think Archie was right. He's gonna
come back next year. And next year might be the
year of arch but this year is the year of growth.
It's the year of development, and I think for Texas
to win this game. Like Texas is very both of

(01:25:13):
these teams. This is another College foball play ifflimination game.
Vandy is obviously very live with one lost, Texas's too,
but Texas only has one SEC loss. Likely they're also
live to make the SEC championship games. So I think
this is a huge stepping stone game for Texas. They've
been kind of on the ropes the last couple of weeks.
You want to knock the fact that they couldn't cover

(01:25:34):
against Kentucky and they needed overtime against Mississippi State, and
sure they should have, you know, put some distance between
themselves and those two teams, but maybe let's just baby steps.
Like arch Manning led comeback in you know, a big
comeback against Mississippi State. They were able to grind out
the win against Kentucky even though they didn't have their
best off, Like, winning games in college football matters, and

(01:25:57):
I think the fact that they were able to win
those games even they weren't as impressive, weren't as sexy
as maybe the odds makers would have wanted. I still
give them a lot of credit for that. I love
the Texas front top ten in pass rush grade and
rush stop grade, So I don't know where Vandy's gonna
really find that consistent offense. The one thing I need

(01:26:19):
to see from Vandy is their offensive lines the eighth
lowest graded a line in the Power for this year.
They struggled to protect Pavi last week against the really
good Massoo front. Texas's front is in that category. So
Pavia to me, is gonna have to be a dude
in this game. Like we talk about this from the
Texas Tech Kansas State perspective, Texas Tech has the big
edge in the trenches, but Kansas State has the great
equalizer and Avery Johnson who can make plays with his legs.

(01:26:41):
That's what Diego Pavi is gonna have to be in
this game. And I think I need to see more
from the Texas run game too, arch Manning with his legs.
I need to see Wisner and Baxter get going. But
this game, to me, is going to be won in
the trenches, and which quarterback makes fewer mistakes.

Speaker 4 (01:26:57):
Mightd not be a ton of points in this game
right kind of walk through it. Texas has no running game,
shaky offensive line. Arch Manning was in concussion protocol throughout
the week based on last week's game, you know, hit
his head on the field pretty hard.

Speaker 1 (01:27:13):
And how about Texas.

Speaker 4 (01:27:15):
They needed overtime against Kentucky and Mississippi State. Both those
teams are winless in the SEC. They're oh to nine
combined and tennis, and Texas is going to overtime with.

Speaker 1 (01:27:25):
Both of those squads. So I won't go quite you know.

Speaker 4 (01:27:29):
Like nineteen eighties big ten slobber knocker here, you know,
or like low scoring ten to six. But I just
don't see a whole lot of points in this one.
But it could still be a lot of fun. It
doesn't have to be a high scoring game to be
a fun game.

Speaker 3 (01:27:44):
Yeah, twenty eight to seventeen, that'll still be. That'll be under.
I think it was a total forty six and a
half right now. I mean that would just sneak under
the line. I could see that. I could absolutely see that.
I could see Vanderbilt. Look, Vanderbilt is still scrappy in

(01:28:05):
this conference there, even though they're getting a lot of
they're being lauded nationally and they're getting a lot of publicity.
I still look at them as where they where they
aren't Texas is the depth of their roster. Where they
aren't Texas, or they are in Alabama, or they aren't
Georgia yet, or you know, I mean going to a

(01:28:28):
different conference, you know, world away. But Ohio State is
the recruiting like Vanderbilt still is a school that's no
more for you know, the scientists that they produce in
the world than football players. You know, it's the Harvard
of the Midwest or the South, whatever they call it.
Like it's not. It's not necessarily one of those football

(01:28:51):
factories yet. Now, can that culture change? Absolutely, We've seen
this before. Can Vanderbilt continue on the success for years
to come? But focusing on this year, I just don't
think that they necessarily have the dogs in the fight yet,
But they do have the fight in the dog and
this is a this is a team that knows how

(01:29:11):
to win. Like I said, they have an emergence of
another problem you have to solve offensively out of that backfield.
I just think that Texas can overpower them in certain situations.
So you know, going back to what Jared just mentioned
about the war and the trenches, I do think that
this game could be one up front and I do
think for the most part, you would have to give

(01:29:33):
that edge to Texas because Texas is a more dominant
team both scheme wise but also in in in the
athletes that they provide up front. There's there's you can't
teach size and strength in season. You either have that
or you don't.

Speaker 5 (01:29:52):
Yeah, I think the road element is gonna matter here too.
Vandy's played two road games this year that have mattered.
Right at South Carolina, they knocked Lenora Sellers out in
the second quarter, so you kind of have to grade
that one incomplete. And then the Bama game, they got handled.
I mean that was Povey as low as QBR of
the Year. And I do think Bama's defense has some holes, right,

(01:30:16):
we talk about them. They're gettable. Kane Wamick's got this
unique zone coverage game, and they're a little creacible in
the run game. We saw Vandy hit him for an
explosive early in the game and take the lead. But
then I think I'm pretty sure Bama shut him out
in the second half of that game. I think Texas's
defense is better than Bama's. I do. And I think
if you go back and you and you look at
the stats of that Missoo game, I think, if if

(01:30:37):
it's not Zalors at quarterback and it's Bopabulah. I think
Missoo probably wins that game. So there is an element
of how good is this Vandy team when you have
to pack up and take your show on the road.
Life on the road in the SEC ain't no joke.
That's why what Bama has done this year, winning at
Georgia and at Missouri deserves a lot and at South Carolina,

(01:30:59):
which is all no picnic, it deserves all the credit
in the world because life on the road in the
SEC is very different than playing in your backyard. And
let's be honest, Vandy's home field advantage isn't exactly you know,
big house esque, So I think they're at a disadvantage
with a lot of these intangibles. But Diego Pavia is

(01:31:21):
mister intangible. He could steal this game, no doubt about it,
no doubt about it. When push comes to shove. I
would rather have Pavia than arch Manning. I would And
that sounds crazy, crazy, but at this level of clutchness,
at this level of their career, maybe I changed my
answer next year, but at this stage of their careers,
I think Diego Paby has got a little more the

(01:31:42):
it factor. However, he has the deck stacked against him
in this game. We talked about Vandy's OH line. We
know Texas's defense is elite and they're on the road
in a must win situation for the Longhorns. Vandy could
still drop this game, finish ten to two and make
the playoff. So I think there is an element of
the numbers ten all. Texas is the better team. They've
got the urgency on their side because they've got two

(01:32:05):
losses and Vandy's got one. And I think that trench battle,
I think it really favors the Longhorns here, and I
think that's what's gonna win this game for Texas in
the end.

Speaker 4 (01:32:14):
Yeah, And I think, uh, listen, I think Vanderbilt has
built up their program enough where this isn't like a
sleepy spot for Texas right Like, and the crowd, I mean,
the team is gonna be up for this game, for sure,
they have to have it. But the crowd, I mean,
in years past, it'd be like we got Vanderbilt, like,
oh gosh, and it's just a sleepy crowd. I don't

(01:32:35):
think it's gonna be like that.

Speaker 5 (01:32:36):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:32:37):
Vanderbilt is a top ten team. They're seven and one.
They've got some quality wins. Diego Pavia is a name, right, like,
so I don't think this is just like a yawning
type crowd. I think they're gonna be into it, which,
to your point, Jared, makes life tougher for Vanderbilt on
the road.

Speaker 1 (01:32:54):
I do love creasible. I do have to highlight that.

Speaker 4 (01:32:57):
What a word rut by you, increacible.

Speaker 1 (01:33:00):
You know, I'll tell you what, Yeah that is.

Speaker 3 (01:33:02):
I've been described that way in my past. Unfortunately, Yeah, this, Uh,
I agree with that. I think that the Vanderbilt's not
sneaking up on anybody, No, not anymore, right, and and
that's that's uh. And and that's where again, look, you
know how I was talking about the offensive line, the

(01:33:24):
edge going to the the the lines size and strength,
and some of their ability and play over the course
of the season to Texas. Also, just remember that any
player who went to Texas, uh, many of them four
five star recruits, many of them lauded out of high school,
transferred in because they were stars at a different program,

(01:33:48):
have been there enjoying the limelight and basking in the
warm globe of national attention. Arch Manning is there. You'll
have celebrities on the sideline. Matthew McConaughey out there, you
know what I mean. Like Texas players are used to
the spotlight, like they are used to all of this
limelight and the glimmer of national attension. The commodore is Vanderbilt.

(01:34:13):
These players have to get used to this, like it's
not easy to step into that world and then just say, man,
you know, stardom's for us. We're gonna figure it out
at the top. No, there's bumps in the road, and
this is a really active and raucous road venue when
the fan base knows it's an important game. Trust me

(01:34:34):
when I tell you the Longhorn fan base understands how
important this win would be for them if they knock
off Vanderbilt the way they're playing right now. So I
completely agree with that. That is an edge that distinctly
goes to the way of Texas in this one.

Speaker 5 (01:34:50):
What a crazy year in the SEC. I mean, I
so heading into the year, I thought parody was the
name of the game, and I'm right. The problem is
the difference between the and the have nots. The gap
is so wide this year, Like you draw the line
probably right and around Florida. You know anyone above Florida,
I'll read you the teams A and M Bama, Georgia, Ole,

(01:35:10):
miss Vandy, Texas, Tennessee, Missoo, Oklahoma. All of those teams
are sitting on two losses. All of those teams could
potentially and I know they all play each other, so
there'll be some you know, cross pollination. But I thought
under three and a half teams with ten or more
wins in the SEC was a very good bet. This year.
There might be five teams in the SEC that win

(01:35:33):
ten this year, and you cannot keep out a ten
win SEC team from the Collegewell playoff. People are gonna
be so mad when the entire Collegewell Playoff is all
SEC and Big ten at largest and the ACC gets
one team their winner, the Big twelve gets one team
their winner, and Notre Dame. Like, I really think the
SEC is just so deep this year, A and M Bama, Georgia, Ole,

(01:35:55):
Miss Bandy, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri all with two losses less
it is November, like this is a very good top
of the conference. Texas and Vandy are two very good teams,
and one of them is not going to make the
playoff because they're playing each other today and you can't
keep them both in. So I am very fascinated to
see if Texas can kind of get back to the form.

(01:36:18):
And I do think if you're asking me to buy
low on a stock, I would buy low on Arch Manning.
Am I willing to buy the peak like we were
in the summer? No, but now he's a field goal
favorite at home against Vandy. Yeah, I think I'm willing
to buy some Arch stock at that price.

Speaker 4 (01:36:31):
I want to go back to something that Rich said,
because I like what you said about Vanderbilts getting used
to the limelight when Texas they've known nothing but the limelight, right,
and it matters in a matchup like this. The one
thing I would add to that is I do like
Vandy's head coach Clark Lee, because I think he's really
well suited for moments like this where he reminds me

(01:36:53):
of Gene Hackman in the movie Hoosiers.

Speaker 1 (01:36:55):
You know, I could just see.

Speaker 4 (01:36:56):
Clark Lee saying, Hey, the football field's still one hundred
yards low, right, Like nothing changes right just because this
is a big game. It's still ten yards for a
first down, Guys, It's still the right like. I think
he would downplay, like we got to do stuff different
because we're on a bigger stage, we're playing against Texas.
I think he's just matter of fact going about his business.

(01:37:17):
I think that serves him well, like instead of saying, hey,
the baskets are still ten feet high, right like, I
think he would.

Speaker 1 (01:37:23):
Do that just in football terms.

Speaker 4 (01:37:26):
And I think that serves Vandy well because as soon
as they start thinking like, man, this is big time here, no, man,
just do your thing, Like Vanderbilt's good enough to just
do their thing against Texas and win. So I don't
think they have to do anything fancy. And I think
that starts with clark Lee. I think he does a
great job setting the tone for them.

Speaker 3 (01:37:46):
I agree. I think he's a really talented coach. I mean,
the proof is in the output, and the results are
the lagging indicator of a great process, and I think
Clark Lee has a great process. There are certain things
that you can't prepare your team for, and I know
he's aware of that too. And these may be some

(01:38:07):
of those moments, you know, going into Texas, into their
home and stealing from the candy Bowl here on Halloween weekend,
I mean, are you gonna be able to leave the
front yard when you full well knew if the sign
said take one, you took a whole handful. Right, Maybe
you took a couple of handfuls that we'll find out.
We'll find out in Austin today.

Speaker 5 (01:38:27):
Slow feet, don't eat.

Speaker 1 (01:38:28):
Hey, that's awesome, that's right.

Speaker 3 (01:38:31):
Dogs move faster.

Speaker 4 (01:38:32):
Yeah, you got rich Oronberger, Ben State All American Jared
Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No. Bet MGM players
will receive college Football Odds boost tokens and College Football
Parlay boost tokens throughout the season to use on college
football bets, score extra winnings if your bet with the
token applied wins.

Speaker 1 (01:38:52):
Check it out in the bet MGM app.

Speaker 4 (01:38:55):
All right, coming up next, This matchup was supposed to
be Tyson holy Field, but it's more like Tyson McNeely.

Speaker 1 (01:39:02):
We'll explain.

Speaker 4 (01:39:03):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM.
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETTMGM.
With the iHeartRadio app, you can stream us wherever you
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(01:39:23):
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pop up at the.

Speaker 1 (01:39:32):
Top of your screen.

Speaker 4 (01:39:34):
It's a phrase you might not have seen coming this week.
That would be money flowing in on the Nitney Lions.
How about that huh down to a seventeen and a
half point favorite.

Speaker 1 (01:39:47):
That would be the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Speaker 4 (01:39:50):
But there's been steady Penn State money coming in here,
So Penn State on the road. Penn State is three
and four, losing record Ohio State, number one team in
the country, seven to zero. But I'll tell you what
you know, I'll put my Nitney Lyons hat on. I
think the recipe not necessarily for an upset, like an
outright win that would take it a lot, but the

(01:40:12):
recipe for a cover at least, I think it starts
with Ohio State just doesn't run the ball well right,
and I don't think they're gonna have a ton of
success against Penn State today. And look, I look at
the passing game Julian Sayan has done a really good job.
He's got some great weapons to throw too. So it's
easier said than done to slow down Ohio State's passing attack.

(01:40:36):
But if you're not able to run the ball effectively
and you're just one dimensional, maybe there's a game where
the passing game just isn't clicking. That happens a lot
in football. You see it at the college level, the
NFL level, Like, man, how are you gonna slow down
this dynamic passing attack? And that game just wasn't their game.

(01:40:56):
I think of it like outside shooting in basketball. You know,
if you don't have an interior game, if you can't
get easy buckets near the rim and you're just shooting
threes and like you know, mid range long two's that
sort of thing, you're gonna be calld one game and
then what you know. So I think the recipe for
a cover it can start with Ohio State doesn't run

(01:41:18):
the ball very effectively, and if Penn State can just
build on that, you know, maybe they cover the seventeen
and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:41:26):
It would be cool to cover. It would be even
cooler to win. You know, again, speaking from the perspective
first of this being my alma mater. That's in veritable
free fall about forty three million dollars lighter while doing it.
After parting ways with James Franklin, I look, this is

(01:41:48):
an uphill climb at best to slow down an offense
that's so confident. Yeah, they're not great at everything, but
they're great at one of the most important things, and
that's scoring points. Finding ways to put the ball in
the end zone. And I don't care if it's through
the air, or if it's using gadget plays, or if
sometimes it's even special teams or defense getting the scoring done.

(01:42:10):
This team has a tendency of piling up points in
really quick fashion. And this defense, you know, they lost
Rojas from the linebacking position, which obviously fortified the edge
of the defense. But the middle of this defense, the secondary,
which is one of the more elite groups in the country,

(01:42:33):
has been had. You know, there have been some quarterbacks
who have poked some major holes through that secondary. The
running game for Penn State has been so quiet going
into the season. One of the reasons why they were
ranked so highly. I mean, it was Texas and Penn
State like one and two on virtually every list, and

(01:42:54):
it's because of Singleton and Allen, who have had some
of the quietest seasons you could ever have for a
duo as dynamic as they've been over the course of
their career. Not a lot great you could say about
Penn State. On the flip side, Ohio State, a lot
of people were questioning whether or not a young quarterback
could step into such a big role and have success. Well,

(01:43:17):
where Arch Manning has failed, Julian San has managed the
situation extremely well. And while the run game hasn't been
unbelievably supportive, he's done enough to buoy this offense. And
this defense has been outstanding, even though they lost their
defensive coordinator a year ago. Yeah, the Ohio State is

(01:43:40):
most likely gonna win by a million. Now do I
want that to be the outcome? No? But they cover,
and great teams cover, and Ohio State is a great team.

Speaker 5 (01:43:50):
This line is disrespectful. I'm sorry it is this is
this is disrespectful. This number was four over the summer four.
It opened Ohio State minus four. And again, let's put
it in perspective for a minute. Georgia opened as a

(01:44:12):
nine and a half point favorite against Florida back in
I think it was June or July. Florida has fired
their head coach. Check. Penn State fired their head coach.
Check Florida's quarterback situation. Clearly, DJ Lagway is still healthy.
He's still playing, but he has not played well. He
has clearly been below expectation, significantly below expectation. Yet the

(01:44:36):
number is seven today between the Gators and the Bulldogs.
Penn State's defense is still healthy. I know Rojas is hurt,
but their defensive line is still elite. They still have
everyone else intact, with the exception of the quarterback. Yes,
you make a significant drop off for Drew Allet or
grunk Meyer. Maybe it's a touchdown, Maybe it's four to
seven points in that range, I would say, you're still

(01:44:59):
not getting to eighteen, like, like, why has this number
moved so much? That is why the sharps are coming
in on Penn State today. It's not because they think
Penn State's gonna win. It's not because they think the
Nitney Lions are all the rage right now. It's based
solely on the disrespectful number. Now, to be fair to

(01:45:21):
Ohio State, their defense has a significant edge in this matchup.
I just don't know what the path is for Penn
State to score points. It's gonna have to be a
lot of running, maybe a couple of big plays on
defense that sets up short fields, maybe a special teams
play like it's gonna have to come from the heavens above.

Speaker 4 (01:45:42):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (01:45:44):
I don't know how Penn State's scoring today. Yeah, but
if you're basing this solely on the number, this number
is disrespectful and rich. I know you know this. These
kids know what the spread is. You don't think Penn
State's players are looking at the spread today and say,
we're how big of an underdog against Ohio State. So

(01:46:06):
I think that plays into it as well. And you
just have to play the game of your life, like
you know, you just have to go out there and
block out all the naysayers. Grunck Meyer is going to
have to figure out a way to complete a few
passes and get comfortable, and you've got to hold up defensively. Now,
there is one hope for Penn State, Brian, There is
one hope. When I watched the Ohio State's offense this year,

(01:46:29):
I have noticed some inconsistencies on their offensive line. It
is not elite on the offensive line, They're good, not great.
I would say Penn State's defensive line is the strength
of their team. So if you want to talk about
the path to covering it is turn Ohio State's offense
into a one dimensional offense where you back off the
line of scrimmage, you let your front four stop the run,

(01:46:50):
you take away the big explosive play from Jeremiah Smith
and Carnell Tate, and you hope that you can create
some kind of havoc, some kind of turnover that gives
your offense a short field. That is the path with
Anny lines today.

Speaker 4 (01:47:01):
Man, I'll tell you what I think for Penn State's offense.
Staying on schedule is so important, right, you guys have
basically both alluded to this where I think Jared you
said it, where Penn State's gonna be running the ball
quite a bit. You've got grunk Meyer in there taking
over for an injured Drew Aller. Grunk Meyer's passing prop.

Speaker 1 (01:47:22):
Have you seen this? It's one thirty one.

Speaker 5 (01:47:24):
And I still might go.

Speaker 4 (01:47:26):
Out one thirty one and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:47:29):
Sous to it.

Speaker 4 (01:47:31):
Yeah, So if it's if it's third and two, we're
running it. You know, at Penn State, if it's third
and eleven, it's like, oh, we're running it.

Speaker 1 (01:47:43):
We're running it still.

Speaker 4 (01:47:44):
Yeah, Man, if it's third and long, you got to
stay on schedule. Third and long is death for Penn
State today unless you know, like again, the offense is
coming from the heavens here. Ohio State's defense has been
that elite. They have been out stay. So yeah, the
path two points is a little dicey for Penn State here.

Speaker 3 (01:48:06):
Yeah. And Matt Patricia, the mad Scientist defensive coordinator, I
know he took a lot of flack, and deservedly so
because it wasn't a great outing as a head coach
with Detroit. He spent a little time obviously in the
NFL as an assistant and then a defensive coordinator again

(01:48:27):
before finding his way to Ohio State. And he's done
some really special things with this Buckey's defense and as
a result, you know, this is what I know about
Patricia as a coordinator because I was coached by him.
I was in New England with him when he was there.
He's a great game planner. So if you do something well,

(01:48:50):
they're going to find a way to make it so
you can't do that, make you take away whatever. Your
best asset is to force you to do the things
that you're uncomfortable with. Ye if you don't do something, well,
well guess what it's gonna get even harder. So clearly
Penn State doesn't want to throw the football. They don't
want to, so guess what Ohio State's gonna do make them.

(01:49:13):
They're going to absolutely pack the box. It is going
to be. I mean, you you would be ignorant not
to throw the fall. You have to throw the football.
But they know Penn State won't throw the football, and
so they're going to dare them to throw. And they're
gonna say, our athletes are better than your athletes on
the outside, and so we are not worried about you

(01:49:34):
throwing the football. We know your quarterback is gonna get
rattled because we're gonna get to them. And so it's
gonna be that kind of day for Penn State. I
don't really see a path. I was talking to my
father in law actually, who's also a Penn State or two.
He's like, is there anyway? He was like, I mean,
is there anyway? And I said, you know, I don't

(01:49:54):
think so. And I'm a I'm a I'm a glass
half full kind of guy. I'm like, the only positive
that could possibly come out of this for Penn State.
And I do mean this because there is some argument
to make is desperation. It's a stinky cologne, but it
also forces the hands of rich donors to dig a

(01:50:15):
little bit deeper. So if there is Canada A versus B,
and Canada A is asking for the moon and that
is the only reason why you go with Canada B.
I'll tell you what, Canada all of a sudden, is
looking a lot better if you sustain a three win
record throughout as opposed to if you have a late
surge under head coach Terry Smith. So I don't know

(01:50:39):
if I'm even rooting for a win. If you have
a rooting interest in.

Speaker 5 (01:50:42):
This, stop wow, I hope. I don't want them to
get embarrassed. I do think there is a level of
disrespect that Penn State will take personally. Here Again, this
line was four over the summer, it's now eighteen. I
do think it comes to a point where the market
gets too stretched. And to be fair, Penn State's actually
done well in this spot. Is a double digital I
they cover a lot as a double digit dog. I
was looking. It doesn't happen often, so they've covered four

(01:51:06):
straight as a two plus touchdown dog. It's the biggest
bread in a penns Day game since twenty twenty one,
when they were an eighteen and a half point dog
in Columbus they lost by nine. In twenty nineteen, they
were a twenty point dog against Ohio State in Columbus
and they lost by twelve or exuse me, by eleven.
So again, they tend to cover these numbers. I'll give

(01:51:27):
some love. We're not just going to go completely on
the Penn State side of the argument here. I'll give
some love to Ohio State. I think Julian saying deserves
a lot of credit. You just you're replacing a national
championship court. You know, you're a quarterback, and I know
Will Howard wasn't like, you know, the second coming of
Jesus in terms of, you know, quarterbacking. But still they
won a national championship last year. You're the replacement. They've

(01:51:49):
done a really good job in steadying this ship. This
is an Ohio State offense that doesn't have a lot
of holes, with the exception of the right side of
their offensive line. But Julian's saying fun fact, you may
or and out know this. He leads the nation in
completion rate eighty percent on the year. He is very consistent.
He is a very gifted thrower, isn't afraid to put
it in the tight windows. He takes calculated risks. The

(01:52:10):
average depth of target is not very high, eight and
a half. That's about average nationally. But again, they run
a lot of RPOs. They're very consistent with getting the ball,
spreading it out, Like Jeremiah Smith hasn't had that exceptional
season because they just have so many other weapons that
you know, saying is kind of a distributor. He won't
just target in on one guy. He likes to read

(01:52:30):
the field. The RPO game is very much read pull throw,
and I think that's something that he's done very well
this year. Mechanically, he's a really good thrower, and I
think you can make the case that he's a top
five quarterback in the country. I know that he's got
an embarrassment of riches around him, but he still has
to execute the plays and playing in the big ten's,
it's not the acc right, Like, you still have some

(01:52:51):
really good defenses that I think can get after you.
So I've been really impressed with Julian saying this year
this will be a test. Penn State will put a
lot of pressure on him. The right side of it
all offensive line is gettable, right, and I think there's
going to be some pressure on him today and we'll
see how he handles that.

Speaker 4 (01:53:06):
Yeah, and some it's funny how long a football season is.
Some of these teams that had high expectations have a
lot of talent, like Penn State, and they've lost four games.
The record is three and four, you know, so it's
I think it's twofold. I don't think it's just the
point spread. And you're right, Jared, these players know exactly

(01:53:28):
how big of an underdog they are and that doesn't
sit well with them, nor should it. But also it's
you're sick and tired of being sick and tired. You're
tired of getting your teeth kicked in time and time again.

Speaker 5 (01:53:40):
You lost a UCLA for crist I haven't won a
Power for game yet this year. It's November.

Speaker 3 (01:53:46):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 4 (01:53:49):
So I know all of the facing the number one
team on the road, this is an absolute pride spot
for Penn State, and uh, you know they're gonna come
out and fight.

Speaker 3 (01:54:02):
For sure.

Speaker 1 (01:54:02):
We're just gonna see if they can execute.

Speaker 5 (01:54:04):
I took a half.

Speaker 3 (01:54:06):
I took the point I am I'm a Penn State fan.
I obviously am a Penn State or would never bet
against them. But I'm not taking the point.

Speaker 5 (01:54:19):
I'll be honest. I know I had such a bad
year and in rapid fire. This might be the kids
of death. But I might put him in rapid fire.
I'm on the I have my I have my first
players that I know. I'm undecided on the third. I
might just do it for print. I mean, it's out
of principle. They were a four point dog months ago.
It's seven and a half, I know, but disrespectful.

Speaker 4 (01:54:42):
That's when they were thought to be like national championship favorites.

Speaker 3 (01:54:47):
They were never good. That was that was.

Speaker 5 (01:54:50):
That was a whole loadable by Northwestern.

Speaker 4 (01:54:55):
I wish I wish we had a wire tap on
that rich Oh conversation. And you know, like, is there
is there any any way rich and Richards just like
I'm not seeing it, Like I wish I had drops
of them that I could sprinkle it.

Speaker 3 (01:55:10):
D Yeah, we're driving back from like a post trigger
treating Halloween party. He was like, yeah, he's like, what
do you think? He was like, what do you think
of this backup quarterback?

Speaker 5 (01:55:20):
I'm like, he's you know, he's young, he's got great hair, right,
just trying to find something nice to say about him.

Speaker 4 (01:55:29):
Yeah, all right, Yeah, we've got Richronberger, Penn State All American,
Jared Smith FSR, betting analyst.

Speaker 1 (01:55:36):
I'm Brian.

Speaker 3 (01:55:36):
No.

Speaker 4 (01:55:36):
If you missed any of today's show, you'll want to
catch the podcast. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you
get your podcasts. Right after the show, today's pod will
be posted. Be sure to follow it, rate it five stars.

Speaker 1 (01:55:48):
You can even provide a review.

Speaker 3 (01:55:49):
Again.

Speaker 4 (01:55:50):
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts,
and you'll find today's full show posted right after we
get off the air. All right, coming up next, rapid five.
We each have a bushel of picks for you. We'll
throw them out to you pretty quickly, you know, as
we're winding down on our time right here.

Speaker 1 (01:56:08):
His kickoff is.

Speaker 4 (01:56:09):
Just sixteen minutes away.

Speaker 1 (01:56:12):
All right, picks coming your way next.

Speaker 4 (01:56:13):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by
bet MGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff.
Presented by Bett MGM. Props of the crew, our trusted
producer Bo Benson. The Dodgers Zone Pod. He's he's on
pins and needles with his Dodgers in game seven tonight,

(01:56:34):
very very crazy time. He's so stressed out and might
go see a movie during the game, is what I've
learned off here. All right, technical, Yeah, Iowa Sam sitting
in with us today.

Speaker 1 (01:56:47):
Very nice to have Iowa here.

Speaker 4 (01:56:49):
Shout out to our guy Sager on digital posting our clips.
Get Fox Sports Radio a follow on X see all
of our picks or smiling faces, the dread and these
penn State Lum's voices.

Speaker 1 (01:57:01):
You know that whole thing.

Speaker 4 (01:57:03):
Top of the hour up on Game LaVar Arrington, TJ Hushman, Zada.
They got you covered less than nine minutes away. Keep
it locked here on Fox Sports Radio. All Right, we
got some picks to make. Let's do it.

Speaker 3 (01:57:17):
Rapid Fire.

Speaker 4 (01:57:20):
Alrighty, Jared, we start with you.

Speaker 5 (01:57:21):
What do you like this week? Well, I'll preface it
by saying my picks have been terrible this year. I'm
nine to eighteen in Rapid Fire. Awful, absolutely awful. Cannot
get any worse, but maybe it will. Let's make sense.
State plus seventeen and a half.

Speaker 3 (01:57:34):
Let's go.

Speaker 5 (01:57:34):
They were putting it. This is disrespectful. This line was
four over the sung What are we doing people? Penn
State as a double digit dog has covered four straight.
I'm praying they get some kind of gift from the
football gods on offense today, I think their defense will
at least compete against that. I'll have a date offensive line.
I don't know how we're scoring today, guys, but just

(01:57:57):
if you want to fade me, I don't blame you.
My picks have been terrible. Maybe that's a bad omen
for the Ninny line. But I'll take plus seventeen and
a half. Also five cents splitz a bet MGM right
now minus one oh five, really good price right up
before kick. I'll take Texas minus three and a half
against Bandy. This line was two and a half yesterday.
Arch Manning got announced in We've seen it now push
through the key. I'm comfortable still laying to three and
a hook. I think Bandy on the road is going

(01:58:17):
to be a very different team. We saw that offensive
line struggle against Missoo. The Texas pass us should be
able to get home and I am buying low on
the Arch Manning stock. This is bottom basement bargain pricing
for Arch. I will lay three with Oklahoma later tonight.
Also five cents Splitz minus one oh five right now
at bet MGM put up her shut up game for
both teams. I think the loser is out of the

(01:58:38):
CFP rais Joey Aguilar. Those elite wide receivers will be
a factor, and I don't trust John Mattier still looking
a little bit unhealthy from the thumb injury. So I'll
take the balls at home.

Speaker 3 (01:58:48):
Okay, I took all favorites, and it starts with the
Ohio State. No, I'm kidding, man, it doesn't start. Actually,
I took one dog. I'll start with the dog. Florida
plus seven and a half Georgia coming to town, new
head coach after the bye week. I think Florida can
can hang there with Georgia. I think Lagways come on

(01:59:10):
as the season progressed. Look, Florida is not good, they're
not even close to great, and Georgia is. But that
doesn't mean that a great team can't play down in
a spot like this. I think I think coach Gonzalez
gets this one within a few against Georgia, So give
me the seven. With Florida, Texas, I like the three

(01:59:31):
and a half they're favored by. I think they're gonna
teach Vanderbilt a lesson on the road. And USA. USC
favored by four and a half against Nebraska, Nebraska and
it this year. Dylan Reyola down here, we talked about this,
and I like USC's defense, and I like them upfront
in their trenches, bolt side the ball. So I'll take
them favored by four and a half today.

Speaker 4 (01:59:51):
All right, super fast, are you okay with Florida plus seven?

Speaker 1 (01:59:54):
No hook there?

Speaker 3 (01:59:55):
You okay with that? Good?

Speaker 4 (01:59:57):
Okay, you're good with it. I like feisty rich I
love it. Give me the Bearcats plus ten and a
half at Utah. This is freaking disrespectful, So Sores be
a good rushing attack. I like Cincinnati a lot. Give
me as a team. I like him in this spot.
Plus ten and a half. Give me Tennessee first quarter
money line. It's minus a dollar thirty against Oklahoma weird offense.

(02:00:20):
It's a lot coming at you. Give me Penn State
might be one of my dumbest ideas ever. Plus ten
first half. Let's go

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