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

Brian Noe, Rich Ohrnberger, and Jared Smith are back for another round on Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff Presented by BetMGM! Recapping Clemson beating Louisville last night, previewing the biggest matchups on Saturday, and much more! Plus, Parlay Platter, Prop It Up, and Rapid Fire!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Oh you ready to Witnesses football fans, Welcome to the
biggest tailgate party in the Nation's Fox Sports Radios Countdown
to Kickoff, presented by Bett eg App Maked Legendary. We're
setting you up with the information you need to watch

(00:21):
your team win. Let's go. We're here to break it
all down. Ye god, this is Fox Sports Radios Countdown
to Kickoff, presented by Bett emsg App. No, we're live
from your tailgame. Here's Brian Nook, former Penn State All American,
Rich Ornberger, and FSR betting analyst Jared Smith.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Oh what is going on? Welcome in here full slay
the ball this weekend. Oh, we are ready to go.
We got Rich Hornberger in La Let's see your the
zoom chat over here.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Very nice.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
What are you doing over there? Good morning Jared Smith
as well, But what are you doing in La there?

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Richell made the short trek up from San Diego for
my niece Lily's baby showers, So congratulations to her and Mason.
They're about to have a newborn here soon. In the interim,
I brave the rain. I did something that very few
Southern Californias have to do all that often. This is

(01:22):
very different area of the United States compared to the
middle to the Midwest, the Northeast where I grew up
in New York.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
And it was like bumper cars last night.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
I mean we sat in four hours of traffic because
people were just slamming into each other. So yeah, but
I made it no worse for wear. And then I'm
gonna be driving right back down today for kickoff at
seven thirty between San Diego State and Boise State. We
got a Mount West Conference showdown that may decide who

(01:53):
hosts a title.

Speaker 5 (01:54):
Game in the conference. I'm gonna be on the call
for that.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
So it's a busy, a busy weekend of many celebrations
for the Ornberger over here.

Speaker 6 (02:04):
Okay, very nice, it's awesome.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Happy to hear that.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay, So I've got a ranch, oh boy, to begin
the show. I don't know if you guys have you know,
like wiped your your the crust out of your eyes
and you're ready to go for a you know, a
doozy right from.

Speaker 6 (02:20):
The get go. I don't know you're ready.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
Ay.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
It's actually something I love and something I hate, Okay, Okay,
so we'll start with the positive. Something I love. It
was last night's game. It was Clemson coming from behind
and the competitiveness that Dabosweeney showed. Right, So we take
you back to last night. Clemson beat Louisville twenty to nineteen.
Clemson was trailing in the fourth quarter nineteen to thirteen.

(02:43):
They came back and won and won the game. It's
their first fourth quarter comeback win this season. They were
zero to five when trailing in the fourth quarter before
last night. It's their first win. And so with less
than two minutes to go, Louisville was trailing by a
point and they were attempting to go ahead field goal
right less than two minutes ago. It's a big kick,
kick is missed. Dabo Sweeney jumped into the arms of

(03:06):
an assistant coach, like, Clemson just won a national championship
and I loved it, man, Like he's all about competition.
You think about Clemson and the season that they've had. Yeah, right,
They were four and five heading into the game last night.
They were expected to win the ACC they were expected

(03:26):
to be a playoff team, they were expected to compete
for a national championship. None of that happened, didn't come
even close to that. There are many teams that just
be like, back with it. It's not our year, you know,
They're just going through the motions one, two, three, can
Kun not Clemson, not Dabo Sweeney. And that's to be applauded.
I loved the competitive spirit that they showed last night.

(03:49):
And I don't want to talk anymore. I want you
guys to weigh in and I'll get to what I hate.
Just keep that in mind, what you saw last night,
because that's not what you saw from another team earlier
this week.

Speaker 4 (03:58):
Yeah, that win. Look, here's what I'll say about Dabo Sweeney.
He's an opinionated guy, but there's no question about it.
He has he has strong opinions on the future and
the direction of college football. And maybe even you could
make an argument that he's a late adopter to a

(04:18):
lot of the things that the coaches who have had
recent success or continued success, they they've they've made the
amendments and the changes needed to keep up with the times.
And so Dabo's really got to do some soul searching
and some and maybe maybe some make some changes in
order to keep up with the times. Here I'm talking

(04:40):
about nil, I'm talking about transfer portal. A lot of
the things that you know, we've talked about when we
talk about Clemson's football program and the recent decline over
the past couple of years now.

Speaker 5 (04:51):
But what I will say is Dabo's a football man.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
Yeah, And when you see that level of elation and
excitement as a former player at both that level and
the NFL, I can tell you one thing for certain.
Wins do not come easy. It doesn't matter if it
looks easy because you blew a team out. It doesn't
matter if it's a slobber knocker and you somehow survive.

(05:15):
It doesn't matter if it's a pitcher's duel and you
walk off the field with a nine to six win.
It doesn't matter if it's a come from behind victory.
They're all hard. They're all hard. You put so much
effort into games, sometimes multiple weeks, if it's a bye week,
if you're gonna have short rest on the other side
of a game where you have to sort of sneak
in some practice time for a game ahead the week before. Like,

(05:38):
there's all of this planning that goes into that three
hour sometimes three hour plus moment that is going to
take place on a Saturday. In college football, on a Sunday,
Monday or Thursday in professional football. I can't express to
you how good it feels, how relieving it feels. That's
really more like good, yes, excellent, elation short, but you're

(06:00):
just relieved when the plan works. When you walk off
the field, you're like, oh, my goodness, all that effort
was justified. We did it. And the fact that at
his age, with the level of success that his program
and he himself has attained over the years, to still
have the ability to get excited over maybe what will

(06:23):
end up being remembered as a lost season for Clemson,
some random inconference win down the stretch of a poor year.
Good for Dabo because the fire is still alive in
Dabo Sweeney.

Speaker 7 (06:35):
Yeah, nobody's going to take that away from him. I
think it's more about the execution that they've had this year,
which unfortunately comes with coaching. Like the fire and the
grit and the passion, the energy that matters a ton,
and they have that in full, but they don't have
the like they were fortunate last night that Louisville missed
an extra point and multiple field goals, like.

Speaker 6 (06:57):
It really should have been they really should have lost
that game. But they didn't.

Speaker 7 (07:01):
They won, and it was a great moment for Dabbo.
But I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna, you know, throw
a parade down Main Street for you know, a one
point win over Louis but on a Friday night when
they're back to five hundred and the ACC, Like, I
think we need to keep things in perspective that it
has been a five loss year for Clemson and they'll
be fortunate to be playing in the I don't know,

(07:23):
the AutoZone Liberty Bowl or whatever whatever's Like the ACC
is like six, Like that's the part about it, Brian, Like,
you look at the ACC this year.

Speaker 6 (07:34):
Very gettable.

Speaker 7 (07:35):
I mean eight and one, seven and two would have
probably gotten them to the ACC Championship Game this year,
which kind of was the lower end of their expectation.

Speaker 6 (07:45):
But they're not even gonna come close to that. No,
they aren't.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
And the ACC is a total grease fire. Right, We've
got five teams with one conference loss. They're all, you know,
in the mix to win this thing. Georgia Tech, Virginia,
Pitt SMU, and Duke. The ACC powers that be are
like Duke, please lose, Duke, please lose.

Speaker 6 (08:05):
Duke.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Don't win Duke. If Duke wins this conference, they might
not have an ACC team in the College Football Playoff.
It's insane what's happening over here. But but yeah, I
just I look, you're right, Jared, it's been a completely
down year for Clemson, total disappointment. But you know as
well as I do. There are a lot of teams
if they're in the same position, high expectations, they're expected

(08:28):
to compete for a national championship. They can't even win
their down decrepit conference right They're not even in the
running too. There are so many teams that would be like, yeah,
Friday night game, not really feeling it, going through the motions,
not locked in, And say what you want about Clemson.
They competed last night and I love I absolutely love that.

(08:51):
Where Dabo's not like I've won titles here. This is
beneath me. I don't grind when we're four and five.
You know, He's like, there's a game tonight, I'm trying
to win it. I don't care what's happened earlier this season.
All I care about is this game right here, right now.
I love all that stuff. Now, this is what I hated.
This would be Pitt head coach Pat Nardoozi, which is

(09:15):
the polar opposite of what we saw last night from
Dabos Sweeney. Dabo Sweeney's jumping into the arms of an
assistant coach because they beat Louisville and he's acted like
it's the biggest win ever, which I adore. I love
that competitiveness. Pat Nardoozie of Pitt so Pitt hosts Notre
Dame today. It's the first time College Game Day has

(09:38):
been there at Pitt in two decades. It's been twenty
years since college Game Day is there. They're in town,
they're hosting a top ten Notre Dame team, and Pat
Nardoozi in his weekly press conference, he was asked is
this a must win game? And his answer, Uh, it
might throw you for a loop here check this out.
He feels like this is a must win for the team.

Speaker 8 (09:58):
I Pump said absolutely, no, you know, it is not
an ACC game. I'm I'm glad you brought that up.
It's not an ACC game, you know. I gladly get
beat one hundred and three or one hundred and ten
to ten in that game. They can put one hundred
up on us as long as we win the next
two After that, but again, our focus is on Notre
Dame and getting as many wins as we can.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
What a statement right there, like they could beat us
bite one hundred, and then he caps it off. He's
thinking like, I probably shouldn't have said that's but we
want to win every game. It doesn't sound like it, Coach,
doesn't sound like it at all. Where is your competitiveness?

Speaker 6 (10:33):
Are you kidding me?

Speaker 2 (10:34):
You're the leader of a team and you're like, that
doesn't really matter if we lose by one hundred to
Notre Dame. Are you kidding me? This is just such
a joke for him to have that message if he
frames it a different way and prefaces it with, hey, listen,
the acc games are of added importance. And then quickly,

(10:55):
but we want to win every game. You kid met
college game day in town. Top ten Notre Dame team.
It's a great challenge for us. He didn't say any
of those things. I think this is totally laughable. I
can't believe he said that out loud. It's a total joke.

Speaker 4 (11:08):
I wish his last sentiment was his only sentiment where
he goes, yeah, they're all important, because that's the correct answer.
As cliche as it is when somebody asks you, you know.
What I think happened.

Speaker 5 (11:21):
Here is he allowed the room to.

Speaker 4 (11:25):
Influence the plot, and you should never do that because
who knows. Maybe he had been asked a string of
dumb questions before he was asked this question, maybe the reporter.
And look, I'm not faulting the question at all. I
think it was a fine question, but maybe that he
has some sort of difference with that specific writer or

(11:47):
reporter who asked the question, which, by the way, that
happens when you cover a team. Whether you do so
fairly or not, that is your decision, and that's up
to your own discernment. We live in a country where
we have read him of press, So if you write
editorials about a team and their glowing editorials or their

(12:08):
negative editorials, that's up to you to do. But you
may end up having a little bit of a combative
relationship with a head coach of a football team. I
don't know what happened in that room or what his
relationship is with the people in that room, but you
cannot start a sentence with without having like the long

(12:30):
term plot in mind. I think he attacked the question
instead of answered the question.

Speaker 5 (12:37):
Yeah, of course, this is a must win.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
Like I mean, if he could revisit the question, this
is the way he would answer it.

Speaker 5 (12:45):
I'm sure, of course it's a must win. They're all
must wins.

Speaker 4 (12:49):
We work so hard through springball, winner conditioning, preseason practices,
training camp. We fought our ass off this season, were
ranked this year. This is a special year for the
boys out there. I'm fighting my tail off for them,
they're fighting their tail off for me. We've got a
great opportunity against Notre Dame and we're gonna give it

(13:10):
everything we have, just like we do every single Saturday,
because they're all must wins. That's the correct answer, and
I'm sure if he had editing power, he would go
back and answer it that way instead of it being
played as a SoundBite on our show this morning. So
shame on him. He probably knows better and maybe he

(13:31):
had a point that was lost. But like you know, Brian,
like you know Jared, as the broadcaster, it's it's it's
incumbent upon you to be heard the right way. There's
no going back and say well I didn't mean it
that way. No, no, no, no, you have to act like
everybody's meeting you for the first time. Everybody's hearing your

(13:54):
voice for the first time, even if you're Colin Coward,
even if you're Dan Patrick, even if you're somebody who's
been on the air or been at the podium for
your entire life. Pretend like there's a new football fan
who's hearing your voice for the first time. Pretend there's
a new recruit standing in that room waiting to be
going to the University of pitt and playing linebacker for you.

(14:17):
Do you think he's gonna want to hear you talk
about losing a Notre Dame by one hundred points. The
answer is probably not. So Again, I don't know what
happened in the room. I don't know his relationship with
the people in the room, but if he could have
those words back, I guarantee he'd reel him back in.

Speaker 5 (14:33):
And he tried to recast.

Speaker 7 (14:35):
Yeah, he's done this, but this is not a first
time Nardoozi foot and mouth moment. You know, this is
stuff he does all the time. I remember a couple
of years ago he was going off on the West
Virginia fan base, and he's had moments before where he's
done things. I mean, if you go back and you
just google Pat Nardoozi foot in mouth You'll see you'll
see plenty of this kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (14:56):
I mean it google foot in mouth all Pat Nardoozi.

Speaker 7 (15:01):
If you look up that phrase in the dictionary, you'll
see a picture of Nardozzi's face. I think he did
this in for a Penn State game once when they
were talking about it, because it was a similar situation, right,
Like it wasn't a it's not a conference game, so
it doesn't matter.

Speaker 6 (15:16):
There's a certain level of animosity.

Speaker 7 (15:19):
I think that you know, you need to have as
a as a football coach. I think you need to
have that like us against the world mentality against you know,
for every team you play, especially when you're pitt you know,
and you're a double digit underdog against Notre Dame. I
think you don't need to give that. Like usually it's
the other way around. Usually it's the favorite that gives

(15:40):
the underdog the bulleted board material.

Speaker 6 (15:42):
Like yeah, you know, we're you know, we're looking past
this team or we're not.

Speaker 7 (15:46):
It's rare that the double digit underdog gives the favorite
bulletin board.

Speaker 6 (15:52):
Material like that. Like it's just it's like, I don't
understand your your approach here.

Speaker 7 (15:58):
It's like a strategy that I wouldn't person use, but
for you, Brian, as a Notre Dame fan, you've got
to love it because it's given your Irish a leg up. Now,
I do think the matchup is fascinating.

Speaker 6 (16:11):
I do think.

Speaker 7 (16:12):
I saw there's a linebacker that's coming back for Pitt
today who's been a really good player. I think that's
gonna be the part of the matchup that's that's interesting
to watch is Notre Dame's run game against his Pitt
rushing defense, because that has been the strength of Pitt's
defense this year, and the strength of Pit's team has
been their run defense, and obviously Notre Dame can run.

Speaker 6 (16:30):
The heck out of it. The other side of the
ball will be fascinating.

Speaker 7 (16:33):
Pitt's got this freshman quarterback that's kind of been, you know,
hot to trot since they benched Holstein. I don't know
if Desmond Reid's gonna play, but I do think Pitt
is live in the game. However, based off of Nardoozy's comments,
I want nothing to do with betting them.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, no, I think that. Listen, Derek Jeter was the
master right Derek Jeter when he was playing. He's asked
a direct question and he was sad. He knew, ooh,
direct answer to this direct question is not the path
I want to take here. You know, it's like, Derek,
what do you think about a rod taking steroids over here?

(17:09):
And he would just, you know, Barry Sanders his way
spin move his way out of that question, and he
would talk about random things, and you're like, is he
even answering the question. No, he's not answering the question
because he knows there's not a great answer to that
particular question. That is not what pat Nardoozi did. That
is you know, savvy interviewing one oh one, and he

(17:30):
didn't pass the class. Right there. He's asked the direct
question is this a must win game? And I get
his argument, but it sounds horrible. So all he had
to do was Barry Sanders his way around that question.
Don't say no, it's not a must win game. He
should know better, Like, that's not gonna play well at all,
So don't even answer that part of it. Just just

(17:53):
get into your outlook of this game and your outlook
of the ACC and whatever. But oh man, he compiled
completely stepped in it. He didn't just step in it.
He bathed in it, like he stepped in it. He's like,
oh what, let me just get on down there, take
a bath at it.

Speaker 4 (18:08):
That's what.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Oh gosh, that was such a bad job by Pat Nardoozi.
But in any event, it's a good fighter to get
off and running. Here on a Saturday morning, we've got
Rich Ornberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith FSR betting analyst.
I'm Brian No. Register with BETMGM to get instant access
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(18:28):
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it legendary, all right, coming up next. You expect this
team to stop the rush. But it didn't happen last week,

(18:51):
It's probably not gonna happen today either. Well details for you.
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to kick Off, presented
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code countdown if they don't win their first bet. That's
code countdown in the bedmgm app we got ranked versus ranked.
Here midday, we got Iowa against USC. USC favored by

(20:19):
six and a half. Total is ticked down just a
bit to forty eight and a half. I don't know
about you, guys. I would expect you the same. You
expect Iowa to stop the rush, right, this is Iowa.
We stopped the running game. You're not gonna run it
down our throats over here? Well, Oregon did last night.
Oregon rushed for two hundred and sixty three yards. That's
seven point three yards per rush against Iowa in the rain, right,

(20:44):
like that passing game that work in the same way
it normally would, and Oregon was able to run it. Now,
Oregon has a really good running game USC today. USC
has a really good running game too. You might not
think that just based on reputation. Lincoln Riley, they throw
it around all over the place, can run it. You
look at King Miller, it's a former walk on. He's
now got three games with at least one hundred yards

(21:05):
rushing he's been really really good. And USC they rank
inside the top twenty five in the country in rushing
yards per game, and they're also top ten in rushing
yards per attempt. So I think it starts. It's funny,
right Like Iowa, they got to find a way to
slow down USC's running game. But I think that's exactly
where we are with this game. I think that's a

(21:26):
big chunk of how it's going to play out.

Speaker 4 (21:28):
Yeah, I'm expecting quality drives for both teams. I think
we can say for certain two things about both of
these teams. One, they both have solid quality at very
least run games, and they're gonna have to rely on them,
the reason being because of the rain expected in the

(21:49):
second half.

Speaker 5 (21:51):
I think Iowa, look Iwa.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
Mainly runs out of those two tight end sets, and
that's going to be a real problem against a USC
team that struggles against the rush. I mean their rush
success rate allowed. They rank oh.

Speaker 5 (22:07):
Boy, one hundred and twenty six in the country.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
Wow, So if you want to have quality drives against
the Trojans, run the football now. They haven't seen too
much twelve personnel over the course of their season, so
it's hard to judge how they're going to respond. But
my guess is not well, not well, because it's all
Iowa wants to do, and so they're going to jam

(22:31):
the ball down the middle of the field or really
you know, on that edges.

Speaker 5 (22:35):
They Iowa loves that outside zone stuff.

Speaker 4 (22:38):
The matchup bodes well because you mentioned King Miller has
been fantastic. So the reason why the total is ticked
down is because the handicappers are expecting this to be
a heavy run game. It's going to be heavy rainfall
in southern California, so be on the lookout for just
a game of survival of the fittest and it's going

(23:00):
to really come down to who has the fittest run
defense and rushing offense.

Speaker 7 (23:06):
Yeah, that your your hunters, right Rich. That's why we
saw the total takedown this week. Definitely, the weather, Definitely
the style of play. The game script perhaps is going
to be a little bit slower.

Speaker 6 (23:15):
I'll be honest, though, I think the rain does favor Iowa.
I think that that.

Speaker 7 (23:21):
Kind of environment favors the Hawkeyes because what USC really
wants to do is throw it. I mean, that's that's
what they're that's what their bread and butter is Jade
Mayav has got twenty five deep completions this year. That's
second most in the country. He's got a top ten
passing grade on throws twenty or more yards downfield. So
they want their their two stud receivers. I'm calling them

(23:43):
Lemon and Lime. Lemon and Lane fantastic, two of the
best in the country. I would say, right up there
with maybe Auburn's duo. A couple other duos in the
country of receiver threats that I think are kind of
right there, but I put USC's two against any of them.
The The thing for Iowa that I love is I
was gonna run the heck out of the ball.

Speaker 6 (24:04):
Guys, what as iwould do? Hey run the football over
fifty percent of the time. That's a top five run
rate in college football. Now when I watched so.

Speaker 7 (24:14):
I went back and I put on the tape this
week of Notre Dame at USC, or excuse me, USC
at Notre Dame, and Brian, you would have enjoyed my
film study experience this week because it was a lot
of smashing it right down the Trojans throats. I noticed
two things in that game. First, I really like Notre
Dame's running game. That's first thing, but we already knew that. Secondly,

(24:40):
USC is very stubborn.

Speaker 6 (24:42):
What do I mean by that?

Speaker 7 (24:43):
So when I watched USC defend the Notre Dame run game,
I noticed two things. First of all, the second level
the safeties, the linebackers, they take really bad angles, they
don't tackle very well. And second, I don't know what
banton Linn was defending against, but but he played two
high safeties the whole game, like first and ten in

(25:05):
the red zone at the sixteen yard line, and Danton
Lynn's got two high safeties, Like what are you defending
against at the sixteen yard line on first and ten?

Speaker 6 (25:12):
Like what do you think Notre Dame's gonna do? First
and ten in the red zone? They're gonna run it?

Speaker 7 (25:16):
And I think that's gonna be a fascinating chess match
in this game.

Speaker 6 (25:21):
Are we gonna see Danton Linn.

Speaker 7 (25:23):
Relent and bring that safety down into the box to
try to stop this IOWA run game? If he doesn't, well,
go look at the box score for what Notre Dame
did against USC. It's probably gonna look very similar in
this game because Kamari Molten and even the quarterback Gronowski
they can really beat you with.

Speaker 6 (25:39):
Your legs, so with their legs.

Speaker 7 (25:41):
So I'm concerned that Danton Linn maybe is not going
to bring that safety down. And if he doesn't, I
think I was gonna have a lot of success running
the ball in this game.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
You might be right. And that's the thing. I don't
know if you guys feel the same way. My guess
is you do. My guess is rich you certainly do.
There is nothing more demoralizing for a defense that just
can't stop the rush. You just have no answers. It's
like third and eight and the other team is like, yeah,
we're just gonna run it. We're probably gonna get a
first down, and you're like, we can't stop them on

(26:12):
third and eight from running the ball for a first down. Uh,
it's the worst, man. But you might see both teams
struggle mightily against the rush. Normally you don't see both
in the same game. You might see it in this game.
I wouldn't be surprised. Let me shift it over to
Florida against Ole miss On. You here interesting sec matchup, man.

(26:33):
You look at the points spread throughout the week, lot
of Gators' money here, right, Like Jared, you probably know
where this line originated. It was as high as you know,
fifteen and a half ole Miss, maybe higher, but it's
down to eleven and a half now I know where
it is now. I don't know where it began, but
I know where it is now. Ole Miss only eleven
and a half point favorites, much heavier favorites, you know,

(26:54):
over two touchdowns earlier in the week. But it's ticked
down quite a bit here Ole Miss. So with Lane
Kiff and a lot of rumors to see the next
Florida head coach, that's another little angle that is interesting
to pay attention to in a game like this. But
Florida is so weird, right They've had a down year.
They're sort of like the Clemson of the SEC, if

(27:16):
you will. There are some people betting on their national
championship odds, the Florida Gators here, but they fired their
head coach. We're on to the We're on to the
interim head coach. You know it's the new Bill Belichick.
We're on to Cincinnati. We're onto the interim. That's where
the Florida Gators are right now. And man, they still
have a lot of talent. DJ Lagway has really underperformed

(27:36):
this season, but we're talking a one game scenario here,
and Florida wrecked Old missus season last year. Yeah, that's
why I think ole Miss is gonna be out for
blood today. I'm just surprised that the line movement throughout
the week, knowing what the backstory is and knowing who
the better team is, ole Miss is so much better
than Florida this season. It's not even close.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
Yeah, I agree with that. I think ole Miss is
a much better team and that defense is gonna feast.
We'll get into that in a second, but yeah, the
emotional turbulence of this season is something to highlight. They
hung tough against Georgia, they defeated Texas, and then they
lose thirty eight to seven to Kentucky. I mean just
completely bottomed out offensively. And this is kind of like

(28:22):
a result of a process that was going awry for
weeks leading up. I mean, they struggle to sustain drives.
They've been ranking in the bottom third nationally. Third down
conversion rate is awful for Florida. So I really think
the biggest matchup is, and you'll see this early in

(28:43):
the game, this Miss defense against the Florida Gators offense.
If Florida can't move the football early in this game,
don't expect them to be able to move the football
late in this game, because you would assume if that's
the case early, Ole Miss is going to pile up
some points on them and then they're they're a bad
passing team, like they really struggle to a crew yardage

(29:07):
through the air. So this game could get out of fast,
out of hand fast, similar to the Kentucky game.

Speaker 7 (29:13):
Yeah, it was high as seventeen earlier in the week. Ye,
so we have seen a significant move towards Ole Miss.
Like I make the game seventeen, so maybe sixteen.

Speaker 6 (29:23):
And a half. So I don't.

Speaker 7 (29:25):
I don't really see it from the Florida perspective unless
there's some kind of weird mojo between Lane and the Gators,
because if you go to you know, some of the
prediction markets right now, I mean, he is the favorite,
a pretty significant favorite, to be the next Florida head coach.

Speaker 6 (29:43):
Very unique scenario.

Speaker 4 (29:44):
I don't.

Speaker 7 (29:45):
I can't recall this ever happening off the top of
my head. I'm sure it's happened at some point where
a guy who, first of all, like that's the other
part about this game that you know, maybe we're failing
to grasp fully, Like Ole Miss is a top ten
team getting ready for the playoff. Like if they drop
a game all of a sudden, the playoff race becomes

(30:07):
very interesting for them. I mean they only have one loss,
so they could potentially drop a game and still make
the playoff.

Speaker 6 (30:13):
And they play Mississippi State in two weeks to close
the year.

Speaker 7 (30:16):
They're on by next week, So just a really weird scenario.
I don't know why this line has moved this much. Yeah,
that is a lot of points for a line to
move midweek without there being a quarterback or personnel change,
which to my knowledge there's not. So I don't know
why people are betting the game on why people are

(30:37):
betting Florida like they already know the final score. Because
the points that Rich made about the Gators offense and
the issues that they've had and All Miss just being a.

Speaker 6 (30:49):
Really really solid offense this year.

Speaker 7 (30:51):
I mean they're All Miss is a top twenty five
team in like every single category, Like I can't find
a category where they're like outside the top twenty five.
I mean, they're a legit team with really good players
and really good coach, and for some reason, the market
hates them this week. So I cannot put my finger
on it, but it does kind of give me weird

(31:12):
vibes that something's going on behind the scenes between Lane
and the Gators.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah, it's well, that's the thing I've heard quite a
bit throughout the week is, well, if Lane Kiffin is
gonna be the next head coach of Florida, does he
take it a little bit easy on Florida? Like? No, really,
like play that out, you think, Lane, I don't know.
Up seventeen late, he's like, you know, if we score
a touchdown or even kick a field goal and we're

(31:37):
winning by twenty plus, that's a bad look for me
being the next head coach of the Florida Gators. Let's
let's go conservative. Let's punt right here, you know, let's
let's not run it. You really think that enters his mind?
If anything, he wants to blow the doors off him
even more. You think that's gonna wreck his chances of
being the next head coach. It doesn't even make any
sense to me. I don't know why on earth anyone

(31:59):
would buy into this thought that Lane Kiffin is gonna
take it easy on Florida just because he might be
the next Florida head coach. Blowing them out like fifty
five to fourteen, it's probably gonna enhance his chances, like
make them even more desirable to be the next head coach.
So I don't buy that angle at all. That lane
is maybe gonna go a little bit light on the
Gators because he might be their next head coach. That

(32:21):
doesn't even begin to make sense.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
No, that narrative is very confusing. You want to beat
them by a million, and then what you want to
say is nice things about their athletic department and about
their recruits who are committed over there, and their fan base,
like you know, hey, we know it's gonna be an
exciting year coming up for the Florida Gators as they're

(32:43):
shaping back up after this tough loss and this tough season,
and we wish them the best. And man boy, the
fans out there, gosh, we we tons of respect even
I mean that they they it's the game in I
think it is at Old Miss right, Yeah, yeah, look,
I mean the Gator faithful.

Speaker 5 (33:02):
They even came all the way out this way to
visit us.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
You know, you just ti Nardouzi is basically what you're
doing right now.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the try not to Nardouzia approach. Yeah no,
it's it's true. You say you beat them by a million,
you say all the nice things about Florida Gator fans,
and you'll win hearts and minds. If that is in
fact link Kiffin's thought process. Who knows what his thought
process is. Who knows what o'll miss his thought process is?

(33:31):
Because this recent success, maybe they're going to back up
the brink truck. You never know. College football, the payments
that these teams are given to coaches, it is the
wild West these days.

Speaker 7 (33:42):
Yeah, honestly, and not to completely derail the conversation, but
the coaching carousel and college football guys, I think it's
more interesting than the games half the week. Like so,
we have an unprecedent. So last year there were zero
coaches fired in the SEC, none not at nilch The
buyout money was about thirty five ish million across the

(34:04):
entire college football landscape because there just weren't a lot
of coaches fired last year.

Speaker 6 (34:08):
This year we're up to.

Speaker 7 (34:09):
Two hundred million almost Wow, it's more than the GDP
of several small countries. It's insane. It's really insane. I
said this on my podcast last week. I said, the
college football coaching landscape right now is the love child
of ballers and billions.

Speaker 6 (34:26):
It's ridiculous.

Speaker 7 (34:28):
James Franklin looks like he's about to sign with Virginia Tech.
That's the news that dropped this morning, and that is
obviously going to shake up the landscape and the recruiting
department because for those on a where Penn State gets
a lot of their recruits from the DC, Maryland Virginia area,
and Virginia Tech was never really a big rival of
Penn State on the recruiting trail. But that's about the

(34:51):
change if they signed James Franklin to be their next
head coach. Obviously you have the Penn State situation. I
think it's gonna be drink What's That's what the prediction
markets think, But you never know what these things they
could change. You've got SEC coaches like Elko and Kiffen
that are in playoff races that are getting you know,
pulled into their respective corners for you know, this job

(35:12):
and that job and all these other jobs. It is
the most you have Auburn, you have Florida, you have
I think if drink Witz leaves, you'll have Missouri, Like,
you have multiple SEC teams that are going to be
looking for head coaches. You've got UCLA, you know, big
powerhouse in the West that's going to be looking for
a head coach. Like it's insane right now, the college

(35:32):
football coaching carousel. It is going to impact a lot
of playoff races. And I think over the next couple
of weeks, when you see that first domino fall, like
we might see James Franklin sign over the next few days.
Usually that's the indicator that the moves are about to come,
because if one domino falls, it's a big game of
musical chairs. You don't want to be left without a coach.
So we're about to be in this very weird coaching limbo.

(35:55):
I think over the Thanksgiving break and then into the
first month of December, as we are into the first
week of December, as we get to the collegeurball playoff announcements,
I don't even know where we're gonna land.

Speaker 6 (36:07):
I mean, it really is one of the most remarkable
college football.

Speaker 7 (36:10):
You know stories of the year. Is this coaching carousel
and how fast it's been.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
Well, I think you got to add the NFL into
the mix too, right, I read job openings and you
heard this week like, hey the Giants, they got to
pick up the phone and talk about Marcus Freeman, right, Like,
see if he's interested. I'm like, go away, go away,
get away from get away from my precious Marcus Freeman
over here doing a fantastic job with the fighting Irish.

(36:35):
So yeah, it's to your point, Jared, like the the
combination of college football coaching vacancies and now NFL coaching vacancies,
and that list is just going to grow and grow.
And so you got a lot of power openings and
not a lot of great candidates just left and right.
So the game of musical chair is gonna be really interesting.

(36:56):
All right, We've got Rich Hornberger, Penn State, All American,
Jared Smith FSR, betting analyst, I'm Brian No Coming up next,
it's the parlay platter. We each have one selection for you,
we pull it together for a greater payout. We compare notes.

Speaker 4 (37:09):
Next.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
This is some would say like our rapid fire dirty laundry, right,
like the parlay planner. I'm not gonna put this in
my rapid fire picks here. That is a good one
for the parlay platter. We'll see if we can get
a winner for you here today it is Fox Sports
Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Every

(37:33):
time and 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 at over twenty
MGM resorts. And be sure to follow BETMGM across all
socials at bet MGM. Alright, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
Check this out parlay flatter.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
Okay, we each have one selection for you. We pull
it together for a greater payout shared. We start with you.
We're on the search for a winner here. Let's get
it going here. Let's start us off in the right direction.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (38:09):
Fun fact, Kamara Maulton's only scored two touchdowns all year long.

Speaker 6 (38:13):
I mean, this is one of the best backs in
the country Iowa.

Speaker 7 (38:15):
I'm gonna give a shout out to all five Iowa
offensive lineman because I love the old lineman. We love
the old lineman on the show Locke Stevens Jones, the
center is gonna be a He's gonna be a pro.
On Sunday Piper and Dunker, I mean, this is the
best ole line in the country. I think they're gonna
win the Joe More Award. And Maulton has not scored
a lot of toun Now. Iowas scored a lot of
touchdowns this year, but Moulton himself only two touchdowns on

(38:39):
the season. So I think he finds the end zone
today against USC. Again, the USC safeties have not tackled well,
specifically a number nineteen Bishop Fitzgerald. I mean he was
all over the tape against Notre Dame and just was
taking terrible angles. Could not tackle Jeremiah Love or to
Darien Price. So I think Maulton finds the end zone today.
Plus one seventy good price for an Iowa back to

(39:01):
find the end zone.

Speaker 6 (39:03):
I hope he gets a start with a win.

Speaker 4 (39:05):
Here on the Parla Clart awesome. Actually, I'm looking at
the other side that same matchup. I'm gonna take the
over on a rushing total. King Miller ninety nine and
a half now USC they have two tough tests left
to keep control of their CFP future. Iowa here and
then they have Oregon next. I would just got beat

(39:26):
by Oregon, and if you remember what happened with Penn State,
they got beat by Oregon and then they sort of
tumbled off because they lost control of their college football
playoff hopes and destinies and dreams of being a top
ranked team. It really was the beginning of the end
for James Franklin. So I'm not sure what Iowa team

(39:47):
we're going to see against USC. And with Wayman Jordan Hurt,
King Miller has been fantastic. He's had over two hundred
and fifty yards and two touchdowns across the past two weeks.

Speaker 5 (39:57):
So give me the over on King Miller USC back
ninety nine and a half.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Okay, let's go. If you win that, you know, it's
always fun to yell king me, king mancheckers or something.
It's a great way to celebrate a win. All right,
I'm gonna go with and imagine this scenario here. I'm
gonna go with the Boise State San Diego State under
forty one and a half. Now, for a few reasons,
San Diego State They're off an embarrassing loss at Hawaii,

(40:26):
so I think they're gonna be grinding this game out.
And you look at Boise State quarterback Maddox Madson. He's out.
So Boise State probably gonna struggle a bit to throw
the ball like they normally would be able to do.
That's how you beat San Diego State. So if the
passing game isn't as good as it normally is for
Boise State, I can see this turning into a grinder.

(40:47):
Imagine the scenario, Rich, You're on the call tonight and
this is the last leg needed for a successful car
Lay ladder. What a scenario. I know it all right?
Coming up next, this team is all about yack oh,
good morning, welcome in here, Happy Saturday. We are two

(41:07):
hours away from kickoff here, which that early window does
include the Notre Dame fighting Irish, you know early it
is very good. Patn Ardoozy is not excited for that one,
but a lot of people in the Pittsburgh area, sure are.
You know College game day over there, everybody's going crazy.

Speaker 5 (41:27):
How about this one?

Speaker 2 (41:27):
This is a good one too. It's in the late window,
number ten Texas against number five Georgia and I mentioned
just a few minutes ago, this team is all about yak.
That would be the Texas Longhorns. And we know Steve Sarkisian.
You throw it short, you let your playmakers playmake right,
you force a defense to tackle in space, and Texas

(41:49):
has had a lot of success the last couple of
weeks doing that. Some of these stats with arch Manning,
where you know he's throwing a bunch of passes five
yards within the line of scrimmage, they're going for one
hundred and seventy two yards, right Like, that's how much
yards after the catch yack that they're racking up here.
So they're gonna force Georgia to tackle well. One of

(42:11):
my main questions today is are you gonna see arch
Manning and Texas throw the ball downfield a lot more
than we're used to seeing. We know that the short
passing game is gonna be there, that's their calling card.
But if you look at Georgia, they do not have
a good pass rush, and so arch Manning should have
more time than normal, which begs the question. With that

(42:31):
extra time, you're thinking about taking a few more shots
than you normally do. But I wouldn't be surprised to
see Texas throw the ball downfield a little bit more
in this particular matchup against Georgia. Not a good pass rush,
leaky pass defense, so keep your eye on that. It
might not just be short, quick stuff all game long
from the long Horns. You might see a long ball
here or there from them.

Speaker 4 (42:51):
Yeah, it's possible, and they'll uncork it every once in
a while, though they don't like to do that. We'll
get to arch Manning in a second here, because he's
had an interesting past couple of games. But Georgia, they're
coming off five games in a row and the most
recent victory of forty one twenty one thrashing over miss State.
But they have a little bit of a slow starter's mentality,

(43:16):
so they can either get behind or they can play
down to the level of competition early in games and
then have to battle their way back and then overwhelm
teams with their talent.

Speaker 5 (43:26):
They have a talented roster.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
And then you look at Texas, who have rattled off
four straight, but they had a slow start to the season.
They opened with that fourteen to seven loss at Ohio
State and then fell to Florida earlier this year. Quietly
though over the past couple of games, arch Manning has
had some success. He's thrown a bunch of touchdowns at

(43:50):
six six tds over the past two games. And also
if you look at the PFF like advanced analytics, he
hasn't thrown a turn worthy ball in the past two games,
which is really important. He's learning to read the defense,
protect the football better and also as coaches are doing
a good job of putting him in positions where he's

(44:13):
going to have more successful throws. And part of the reason,
Brian is because they're keeping the ball close to the
line of scrimmage. And I think in years past you
would have to really worry about a Georgia team's pass rush.
They were terrifying, and behind that pass rush they had
a smothering defense coverage unit that is just going to

(44:35):
make up for all of the blemishes upfront from maybe
getting a little over your skis and pursuing your quarterback
too hard. You had this excellent coverage unit behind it.
That's not the cas this here for Georgia. You know,
they're really having to do a lot of work offensively
to make up for some of their woes defensively, and
they do and Like I said, they're deep and talented roster,

(44:56):
both on offense and defense. But defensively, this isn't your
father's dogs. This is They're different. They don't play as
smothering of defense. So I look at this as being
kind of a closer game. I'm really interested taking the
points with Texas today.

Speaker 6 (45:12):
Yeah, that was honestly my best side of the week.
I gave that out right.

Speaker 7 (45:17):
I do two videos a week for BETMGM that get
posted on the Fox Sports Radio social feeds. The first
one is usually a college game on Wednesdays, and that
was the first one I gave out was Texas plus
six and a half. It really does need to be
an arch manning game, and I've noticed the same thing
Rich has. So I'll give you the numbers since Week seven.

(45:37):
Twelfth best passing grade in the country, eighteenth best adjusted
completion rate, and only one turnover worthy play.

Speaker 6 (45:43):
He's played really well.

Speaker 7 (45:44):
And I think what happens sometimes in college football is
we get lost.

Speaker 6 (45:49):
In the early narrative. Right, the early narrative was Arch thinks,
like literally, we went from.

Speaker 7 (45:55):
Crowning this kid the Heisman Trophy to he stinks in
like a month, and by the time we hit you know, Halloween.
He was an afterthought, like it was like, all right,
arch stinks, Like we can move on to the next
thing in college football this year because we're not really
focused on arch manning anymore. And I actually think that
was the best possible thing for him. Now they weren't

(46:18):
playing murderers row during this stretch, like Kentucky and Mississippi
State and these teams that aren't, you know, gonna really
contend for anything. But again, that was probably the best
case scenario for him because you watch these games in
the SEC every week. All these teams can play. They
all have good players. It's just some teams have better
players than others. Some are better coach, and the vibes
are just different when you're playing Mississippi State and Kentucky

(46:41):
and and now you gonna you're gonna go on the
road and play Georgia, Like now you get the spotlight again,
and how does he handle that spotlight. I think he's
gonna handle it a lot better than he did the
Ohio State game earlier this year. And that was a
seven point margin, and this line's six and a half.
And I think Ohio State's better than Georgia, So I

(47:01):
feel like taking the points here makes a ton of sense.

Speaker 6 (47:03):
Brian.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
You know what's funny is with you mentioning that with
arch Manning, and you're right, we want microwavable results and
football isn't microwavable most of the time, where we're just like,
all right, arch Manning highly touted, let's go time, hardly
any experience whatsoever that it's like, we want amazing results immediately,

(47:26):
and we didn't get those, and we're like, this guy sucks.

Speaker 4 (47:29):
We weren't.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
But that's what most of the time when you heard
people talk about Texas football, that's what they were saying.
But I go back immediately to this is right around
the San Jose State game. He was wincing in the
San Jose State game and he didn't play well in
that game. And remember Steve Sarkisian, the head coach. He

(47:50):
was asked if arch Manning was hurt or not, and
he gave this very memorable answer. But check this out.

Speaker 9 (47:57):
Arch Manning seemed to be having some throwing pains by
the according to who arch arch said that to you, No, oh,
according to who, it just looked like he was he
doesn't have.

Speaker 6 (48:07):
Any that is there an explanation to why he was
it looked like that. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
I've never filed I've never filmed any of you guys
when you're using the bathroom, so I don't know what
faces you make when you're doing that. But really think
about this. This is one of the things we often
overlook in football, is is a guy playing while hurt,
you know, and when arch Manning is throwing the ball
and then like like wincing that that's a red flag

(48:35):
right there. And listen, I'm not trying to absolve all
wrongdoing and putting it solely on injuries. I have that
burned into my head. Jared where the first game of
the year against Ohio State, arch Manning threw a worm burner,
you know, like you skipping a rock like the games
like ding like on the water right there. So like

(48:55):
he's not hurt then, right, and the play wasn't great,
but he's at the horseshoe. It's for it's you know,
a lot of pressure on him. I'm not trying to
make it sound like, hey, hey, let's let's treat arch
Manning with kid gloves. All I'm saying is there's some
nuance to this stuff. It's not microwavable. He's not gonna
be a stud most likely out of the shoot with

(49:16):
that much hype. And it took him a while to
really get comfortable, and that's understandable, I think. And he
might have been gutting it out through an injury that
was bothering him and affecting his play to some degree.
I think all of those things are fair. And you
look at his play right now, he's greatly picked it
up the last couple of weeks. So ask yourself the reverse,
how has that happened? And I think it's a combination

(49:38):
of getting more experience and then maybe getting a little
healthier as well, And so I think both of those
things absolutely factor into him playing a lot better here now.

Speaker 4 (49:47):
Absolutely, I'm gonna I'm going to make a comparison that
everybody will be aware of because of fantasy football and
obviously the proliferation of the NFL. It's everything to a
lot of people. There's a quarterback who joined the NFL
back in twenty eighteen who threw for fifty two point

(50:07):
eight completion percentage. Yeah, through for two thousand and seventy
four yards, ten touchdowns, twelve interceptions.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
That's right, I know exactly who it is.

Speaker 5 (50:16):
Yep, awful.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
And then he followed up that season, by the way,
with a year where in twenty nineteen, slightly better passing
yard it's slightly better touchdown interception rates, so over three
thousand yards twenty touchdowns to nine interceptions, but still under
sixty percent completion percentage, and a lot of people, if
you perform that way over two seasons, you might say, hey,

(50:38):
that's not very good quarterback. Even though he's getting better,
he's gonna he's gonna cap out somewhere, and this team's
made a dreadful mistake in the first round. Well, in
twenty twenty four, he rushed for a ton, scored a
bunch of touchdowns on the ground, and then he completed
sixty three point six percent of his passes for three thousand,
seven hundred and thirty one yards twenty eight tds through

(51:00):
the air with six interceptions. His name is Josh Allen
of your Bruffalo Bills. Yeah, yeah, he was the league's MVP,
you know. And here's the thing, like football is not static.
So Josh Allen came into the NFL as an underwhelming
project as a late first rounder and was built up

(51:22):
to become one of the most prominent quarterbacks on the planet.
Like that's hardstop, Like there are maybe four other arms
on planet Earth who can compete with Josh Allen. Right now,
he's amazing, but he wasn't amazing back in twenty eighteen
and twenty nineteen when he was just learning how to

(51:43):
play at that level. And getting back to arch Manning.
What we're going to write off arch Manning because he
had a couple of clunkers out the gates. This is
college football. This is vastly different from high school football.
I don't care what your last name is, I don't
care who your uncle, your daddy is. It's hard. It's
really hard, and the pressure makes things all the more difficult.

(52:06):
What we expect him to roll out of bed a
Heisman candidate. Yeah, there were certain people who did think
that was going to be the case. It's hard to
do that. It takes special people a long time to
become special football players, just like Josh Allen, just like
Peyton Manning, who, if you go back to his rookie
season with the Colts, led the league in interceptions. So

(52:30):
arch Manning when he's a week one doeide freshman or
second year player at Ohio State, trying to cut his
teeth against the Buckeyes who are going to run the
table this year and potentially went back to back national championships. Yeah,
he looked a little wobbly on those deer legs. But
look at Arch manning this week against Georgia. I'll tell

(52:53):
you what.

Speaker 5 (52:54):
This could be a statement game.

Speaker 4 (52:56):
This could be against a vulnerable Georgia defense with Steve
Sarkeji and he just heard there highly. I mean, he's
gonna defend his guy. He's going to make sure that
he corrects any narratives that he has control over. He's
going to put him in a position where he has
the most success because a it benefits him as a
head coach, but b because it benefits Arch and he

(53:19):
is the future of this Texas Longhorns program. So this
is one of those games where Texas side is very interesting.
And also maybe the total going over is interesting because
I think Georgia's defense can be had. I think it's potential,
like you brought up earlier, Brian, that this Texas Longhorns
offense may be willing to test the depth of this

(53:42):
Georgia defense a little bit more often. So we could
see some offensive fireworks. Georgia may be having to you know,
throw the ball around the yard a lot more and
play a little bit pacier of a tempo to keep
up with the Longhorns at times.

Speaker 6 (53:56):
Yeah, that was the tightest game hast it's played all year.

Speaker 4 (53:58):
Yep, yep victory.

Speaker 7 (54:01):
They haven't played a game with a shorter margin than
eighteen the whole year. Besides that one, really the only
game that they've been sweating. I know, the Penn State
game was tied at half, but then they really put
some distance between themselves and the Nitny Lions in the
second half. So today will be arch Manning's twelfth career start.
That is one college football season today.

Speaker 4 (54:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (54:23):
Two of those prior eleven starts came against Mississippi State.
So again, like we just need to reframe this. I
think Brian put it well. Microwavable opinion on arch Manning,
like we just need to give this kid some time.
The numbers have been really good the last few weeks. Now,
to be fair, it has been a little paint by numbers, right.

(54:45):
The average depth of targets one of the shortest in
college football at six and a half yards. Sark has
been calling a lot of screens. We mentioned the yak,
but that's something Georgia doesn't defend well. So if that's
something where Arch feels comfortable in that style offense, right,
maybe get his legs going early. I think that's the
one thing I've noticed is when you get his legs
going early in the game, you call some design runs,

(55:07):
you get him a few hits. I know that doesn't
it sounds counterproductive to intentionally get your quarterback hit, but
sometimes that kind of settles you. It grounds you a
little bit in the football game. It gets you ready
to go when you take one of those big hits
early in the game. So that's how I would call it.
I would have at least one or two designed runs
for Arch on the opening script, and then I would

(55:27):
start to nibble at that Georgia secondary, which has been
very susceptible this year. Now, we got to give some
love to the other quarterback, because I be honest, Gunner
Stockton's had a great year yea fourth in the country
and adjusted accuracy right when he's not pressured this year,
he has.

Speaker 6 (55:41):
Really been effective.

Speaker 7 (55:42):
The Georgia offensive line's done a good job keeping him clean.
They'll be tested this week. Texas has a top ten
pass rush Colin Simmons is probably one of the best
edge rushers in the country, and Gunner's efficiency falls off
dramatically when under duress. Texas top twenty five pass rush
team good at stopping the run on this will be
a challenge. Like that's the one negative to me to

(56:04):
betting the over. I agree with Rich's overtake. I do
think we will have some points in this game. But
if you want to talk about a subplot that goes
against the over, it is absolutely Texas's defense shutting down
the run, which is something they've done great all year.
In fact, I think both teams are gonna do a
good job shutting down the run in this game. But
can Gunner Stockton avoid that pressure and be the better quarterback.

Speaker 6 (56:26):
Let's be honest.

Speaker 7 (56:27):
The talent level at the quarterback position greatly favors Texas
in this game, but I do think Gunner Stockton has
this gamer quality to him where we could see a
bit of a ping pong back and forth in the
second half where both of these quarterbacks.

Speaker 6 (56:41):
Are stepping up into the moment making big plays. This
is a fun one.

Speaker 7 (56:46):
I mean, remember this game last year. Right, Georgia went
into Austin, Texas was the number one team. They sacked
quin Ewers five times, he fumbled it twice. I think
arch is gonna be a little bit more stable with
the football here, not gonna take as many sacks, go
to fumble it as much, not going to commit the turnovers.
The question is can he stay on schedule and keep

(57:06):
this Texas offense on the field, because I do think
Georgia has an ability to move the football as well.

Speaker 2 (57:11):
Brian, Yeah, listen, man, Texas's defense I like, I like
their defense, but they've been leaky the last couple of games, right,
allowed thirty plus points in back to back weeks, allowed
over three hundred and fifty yards to Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.
So we'll see what Texas's defense looks like today against Georgia,
and I'll tell you what, Man. As far as winning

(57:33):
a game, going between the hedges and taking down Georgia,
it is not easy to do. And I love this sound.
It's my favorite sound of the entire year. You know,
edging out closely pat Nardoozi and his pathetic spiel about yeah,
you can beat us by one hundred notre dame.

Speaker 4 (57:47):
What do I care?

Speaker 2 (57:49):
But I love this from Kirby Smart. This was the
fourth quarter comeback earlier this year against Old Miss, and
Kirby Smart had this to say.

Speaker 4 (57:56):
I just told the guys that's a culture win because
you don't win that game if you're not physically tough,
mentally tough. We call it hard to kill. And the
one thing we are, we're hard to kill. We won't
go away.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
Man.

Speaker 2 (58:10):
I would hug that audio if I could. You kidd me,
that is a great description of the dogs they are.
They're hard to kill this season in particular. Man, But
that's what Texas is going to have to do to
get a win on the road. It's a good matchup. Man,
can't wait for this one.

Speaker 6 (58:24):
All right?

Speaker 2 (58:24):
We got Rich Rodberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No. Register with BETMGM to
get instant access to the best variety of parlay selection features,
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(58:47):
and more. Today again, the bonus code is countdown BETMGM.
Make it legendary, all right? Coming up next, No interview
this week, but but in its place I have two
hair raising for you. Okay, one of them requires a
lot of explaining, but uh, you tell me if you're
you're on board it's crazy enough to be true or

(59:08):
you think this is just utter foolishness. We'll get to
that coming up next. It is Fox Sports Radios Camp
Down to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Camp Down to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM.
Be sure to subscribe to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see
our best videos from all of our shows. And don't

(59:29):
stop there. Hit the thumbs up icon and comment away.
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, no Seamus McGee today, I'm sorry,
but but in Seamus's absence, I do have two spine

(59:50):
tingling takes for you. Okay, Now you tell me if
you think this is crazy enough to be true or
just total poppycock. All right, so the first one, and
this requires some explaining. I think Ohio State is overhyped
and overrated. Now, now here's the first thing you gotta do.

(01:00:13):
You gotta open your mind, all right, like cleanse your mind,
you know, like really open your mind, open your soul,
open your football heart to this possibly being true. Okay,
let's look at the Ohio State resume to date. If
you look at Ohio State's resume, impressively, they beat Texas

(01:00:36):
fourteen to seven at home first game of the season.
Texas was the number one team in the country.

Speaker 4 (01:00:43):
And that's it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:44):
That's the end of their impressive resume. Here, you stop
me when you hear an opponent that is actually a
good team. Okay, just let me know Grambling, Ohio, Washington, Minnesota,
Illinois with scon, Penn State, and Purdue. Oh wait, they

(01:01:04):
have UCLA and Rutgers on deck. What a joke of
a schedule. And we're convinced this is like the Juggernaut
of Juggernauts. I'm not buying it now.

Speaker 4 (01:01:15):
I know they have talent.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
They have talent all over this roster. Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs,
They've got linebackers, They've got edge rushers, They've got all
kinds of talent on this roster. But you know as
well as I do, why everyone is convinced that Ohio
State has the goods and they're towering above the field
right is because of last year. That's what it really is.

(01:01:39):
Ohio State got hot at the right time. They won
a national championship. They did. If we're critically looking at
this though as it relates to this year, I take
nothing away from them winning a title last season, but
as it relates to this year, if you go back
in the hot tub time machine, Okay, they lost to
Oregon on the road, then they lost at home to
a five lost Michigan team, and then it was go time.

(01:02:00):
They blew the doors off of a flawed Tennessee team
at home in the shoe. They smoked the Oregon That
was impressive. And then what they do. They survived against
Quinn Viewers in Texas, and then they held on for
dear life against Notre Dame. And we're just convinced that
they're the goliaths of the college football world right now.

Speaker 6 (01:02:23):
I don't buy it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
I don't, and I think when the competition gets a
lot tougher, come college football playoff time. I don't think
that they're they're gonna repeat. I don't think they're gonna
be repeat champions here. I think they're overrated. And the
last thing I'll say is a lot of people struggle
with what overrated means. A lot of people think you're
saying they suck. I'm not saying that at all. They

(01:02:44):
have talent all over the place. What overrated means is
that the reputation is greater than the reality. And so
what's Ohio State's reputation. It's it's like the the Gregorian chant,
it's oh Ohio State. Look at all the tailent. Another
win will look at this defense a Matt Patricia math Man.

(01:03:05):
It's all it ever is, And I think the reputation
is far greater than the reality. They are the definition
of overrated. They will not repeat. That's what I say.

Speaker 4 (01:03:17):
Okay, all right, I will answer this question or I
will answer this statement in two different ways, one defending
your point and I'll spend more time there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
Nice, let's go.

Speaker 4 (01:03:34):
They, i would argue, are probably one of the least
tested top teams in college football. Yeah, I mean, just
like you said, if you look at some of their
close wins. If you look at some of their blowouts
and you look at the quality of the opponent at
that time, it's it's inarguable they've they've they haven't been

(01:03:56):
tested as much as other teams who are one loss
or two loss teams in the entry who could face
off against them in the college football Playoff. Their offensive
line I think benefits from a better than normal quarterback
at his age. Julian Sayan has made up for a lot,
and that's saying a lot for a guy who hasn't
played very many games at the college football level. He

(01:04:19):
has a quick release and that covers up a lot
of the pass rush. Blemises that they'll give up pressure
and the pressure can't get there because both from an
offensive coordination standpoint, but also from just a standpoint of
the arm talent of Julian say and he's getting rid
of the football really quickly. Also, they have issues on
their defensive line. There's some depth issues there. They really

(01:04:42):
haven't had a signature win. You know, if you think
about it, Texas, is that it when both both teams
are rolling out of bed at the start of the
season and you know, I mean you're hosting that game.
It is an enormously pressure filled moment for arch Manning,

(01:05:03):
and you could say the same thing for saying but
it wasn't We all know where the narrative was pointing
with arch Manning versus Julian saying so, I really feel
like what you said holds a lot of weight. However,
saying all that, this is where I'll disagree. Your record
is your record, and the most important thing about football

(01:05:24):
is the results. Now, do I think the results are everything? No,
Because I'm a process guy. If you've got a good
If you have a good process and bad results, just wait,
because I think the results will be the lagging indicator
of a good process. At some point, maybe you need
to inject better players, Maybe you need to inject you know,

(01:05:45):
another assistant coach who's going to take you over the edge.
If you have a good process, good results should be
a lagging indicator. If you have a bad process and
good results, again, just wait because you'll get found out.
Even now, I think I think Ohio State has good
process and good results. I'm not trying to doubt any

(01:06:07):
of their success. I think this is a team that
is built to make a deep run in the college
football playoff. I really do. However, I will agree with
the the one sentiment that they're overrated, because teams who
are undefeated can get overhyped like they're gonna run away
with this college football playoff because they haven't lost yet

(01:06:29):
this season. This is a down year for the Big Ten.
Whether you like it or not. This conference is not
as good as you think it is. I mean, the
only two teams that are really really like separating is
Oregon and.

Speaker 5 (01:06:43):
Ohio State Iowa. Are you a believer that Iowa can
win a national championship this year?

Speaker 4 (01:06:50):
I'm not. I mean Penn State they fell off a cliff.
There were a bunch of teams that had a lot
of steam heading into the season that fell off in
a big way. And so I don't think this conference
has posed a big challenge for Ohio State. So yeah,
I think I agree with the sentiment. But the results
are the results, and they are the best team in

(01:07:10):
the country in terms of the results.

Speaker 7 (01:07:12):
Yeah, this is a fun convo because you can make
the case that they have not been tested. Now, usually
when this happens and you have these scenario, it happens
in college football a lot because you just don't play everyone,
unlike the NFL where you kind of play everyone.

Speaker 6 (01:07:28):
I rely on the advanced numbers, and the advanced numbers.

Speaker 7 (01:07:31):
Still tell me that Ohio State's one of the best,
if not the best, teams in the country. So I'm
not gonna, you know, run to the their overrated bandwagon
just yet, but I will follow up with these two questions.
A do you think they're better than Indiana, Brian? And
do you think they're better than the best team in
the SEC Alabama or A and M? Based on the

(01:07:51):
ratings right now, where would you put Ohio State in
that conversation?

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
You know, I'm not sure if they're better than Indiana.

Speaker 6 (01:07:59):
There are three and a half point favor right now
in a neutral against India right in the Big Ten Championship.

Speaker 4 (01:08:03):
Look at it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:04):
I don't like how Indiana's They've suffered a couple of
injuries on their O line, their defense a little bit
leaky lately. Ohio State might be better with Wolf, they
might be better than Indiana, they might be better than
the best SEC team. I just don't think there's as
much distance between Ohio State and the two examples you mentioned, Jared,

(01:08:26):
as a lot of people think they are right. I
don't think there's that much difference. I think they can
be had and they might be favored going into a game. Sure,
they certainly have a ton of talent, but I don't
know that they're emerging with wins even though they're favored,
you know.

Speaker 7 (01:08:40):
I mean, I've had Bama over Ohio State as my
national championship pick since August. That has been the pick
that I've had. I've had Bama's my national champion since then.
I'm not going to waiver on that anytime soon, unless,
you know, Ty Simpson gets hurt or something crazy happens
over the next few weeks. That will be the opinion
that I likely take with me into the college football playoffs.
So I am not in the Ohio State undefeated bandwagon

(01:09:03):
they're the best team ever that that is not my
opinion on Ohio State.

Speaker 6 (01:09:07):
I think I was a.

Speaker 7 (01:09:08):
Little bit down on saying coming into the year, and
I think that opinion has changed. I think I'm higher
on him now after watching him then I was before
the season started, when I was very unsure. But it's
hard to ignore the fact that they have the best
player in the country on both sides of the ball.
Like that's really hard to ignore. And when college football

(01:09:32):
is still you know, one player can make a big difference,
whereas in the NFL it's a little bit more balanced
because all of the players are really good. But when
you have Caleb Downs on one side and Jeremiah Smith
on the other side, like, it's really hard to say
that that's not the best team in the country. I
agree that there. I don't think they're as good as
last year. I thought last year's team was better coached.

(01:09:54):
I thought Chip Kelly had a better scheme, although that
hasn't played out in the NFL this year. I thought
Jim Knowles's scheme was solid, although that hasn't played out
at Penn State this year.

Speaker 6 (01:10:04):
I'm wrong a.

Speaker 7 (01:10:05):
Lot, but I did. I thought last year's team was better.
I don't think this year's team is going to be
as prolific in the playoff because I know, you know,
they held on for dear life against Notre Dame and
they barely got by Texas. But when you're beating teams
in the playoff by multiple scores, like, it's impressive, it
really is. And their run last year to the championship
game was damn impressive.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
I do.

Speaker 7 (01:10:28):
I can get behind the fact that they're not as
good as last year, but I absolutely believe that they
right now deserve to be the number one team in
the country.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
That's hey, that's fine. It just man, when the playoff
rolls around being completely untested all season long in terms
of facing quality opponents, right, Like, all we do is
talk smack about Texas and arch Manning. They barely beat
that team barely at home first game of the year.
Arch Manning barely started any games before that, fourteen to seven.

(01:10:57):
And that's like, that's that's the one, Like whoa, oh wow,
that's a resume builder right there now, man, and they've
been untested throughout the season. So come playoff time. I mean, listen,
I think that Ohio State is probably better than Georgia,
but in terms of being battle tested, Georgia is light
years beyond Ohio State in terms of quality of opponents

(01:11:18):
and tough games and tough fourth quarters, the key situations,
high leverage spots. This gonna be really interesting with Ohio
State come playoff time. Now my second take, and I'll
make this quick because we're low on time and I
might lose one of you as a friend here. Hear
me out. Alabama is total fools goal. I don't buy

(01:11:41):
Bama at all. The more I dug in and really
looked at this team critically, let's look at it. No
running game, Their offensive line has been a disappointment. Their
defense is just okay. That's not good enough to win
a title, to go deep in the playoffs, not good enough.
Alabama almost let Georgia Zuri South Carolina all complete second

(01:12:02):
half comebacks. So that sound like a national champion to you.
South Carolina almost coming back on them in the second half,
come out. You get crushed by Florida State. Yes, I
know it's the first game of the year, but I
can't let that go. I mean, you got dominated on
both sides of the ball in the trenches by Florida State,
who is a joke now, Like, I can't let that

(01:12:22):
go completely. I think they're way too overreliant on ty Simpson,
who's been great this year. I take nothing away from Tye,
but to be like, all right, ty do your thing again,
eventually that party is going to end. I think Alabama
is a complete fraud. I think they have no chance

(01:12:42):
to win a championship this year, and I don't see
a deep run. I see an early exit from the
Crimson Tide is what I say, don't buy them at all.

Speaker 4 (01:12:52):
All Right, well, this one I completely disagree with because
I don't think they're complete frauds. I will say, another
surprising argument to be made against against a team who's
looked like everything you want in a potential college football playoff,

(01:13:15):
or I should say, a team that could go deep
in the college football playoff. Here's the reason why, again
I could support a take like this. They are a
little inconsistent upfront on the offensive line. They've had to
shuffle some pieces around for a variety of reasons, and
ty Simpson has been overwhelmingly good regardless of those results.

(01:13:38):
But against better defensive lines, against better teams pass rushes,
you've seen some of the weaknesses in.

Speaker 5 (01:13:46):
The armor, so to speak, or cracks in the armor.

Speaker 4 (01:13:49):
Against SEC opponents, They've had some close games, you know,
and you know that Missouri win. Let's see you mentioned
South Carolina taking them down the wire. It definitely look
it's worthy of discussing how dominant of an Alabama team
they are. Also with some of the key features of

(01:14:11):
what's made Alabama elevate from just college football team to
like college football lore, like the looming, brooding defense that
has helped supply field position and second chances for a
rushing offense that was overwhelming opponents for years and years

(01:14:33):
and years at.

Speaker 5 (01:14:34):
The college football level.

Speaker 4 (01:14:36):
I mean that is what has been the backbone, the
spinal cord of this program. Over time, they're less consistent
in the run game and their defense is less consistent
against the run. So now teams can control the line
of scrimmage against Alabama like we haven't seen in frankly decades.
So there are some cracks in the armor. Again. Having

(01:14:57):
said that, if you compare the level of competition they
play against in the SEC against what teams are facing
in the ACC, what teams are facing in the Big Ten,
I mean, there's no comparison.

Speaker 5 (01:15:10):
They are they are battle tested.

Speaker 4 (01:15:13):
So if they're one of the top teams in the
SEC and entering the CFP, they're going to be one
of the hardest, proven teams. So I don't think they're
complete frauds. Do I think they're as having as good
of a season as some people say, including my buddy
here Jared Smith. Maybe maybe not, but he's right. He's

(01:15:33):
like a WWE wrestler on the turnbuckle, like tag.

Speaker 5 (01:15:36):
Me, yeah, and here it is, go Jared sick sick
of Well.

Speaker 7 (01:15:41):
You guys didn't leave me with any time we're up
against the break. I think Brian did this intention. I
would give me a chance to rebute.

Speaker 1 (01:15:47):
Here.

Speaker 7 (01:15:49):
They have the most wins over current ranked teams in
all of college football, Like, like what, I don't understand
what else they have to do? Like it, I think
that's an insane take to call them a fraud. It's
absolutely insane take. Now, does that mean they're gonna win
the national championship?

Speaker 6 (01:16:04):
No, it's football. Anything could happen.

Speaker 7 (01:16:06):
Ohio State lost to Michigan last year and and then
ran through the entire college football world like it was
a hot knife through butter. Like I, I just don't
understand what sport you're watching if you think they're a fraud,
Like it's insane. Ty Simpsons the most talented quarterback in
the SEC. They've got a great defense, They've won ever
they've they've gone through. We haven't had a team going

(01:16:26):
to feed it in the SEC in three years. And
that was that Georgia team that was like the best
team ever. Like, I just don't understand what else they
have to do Brian, Like, you're very it's very it's
a very high bar you're setting for these teams, Like,
is there anyone good in college football this year? Because
if bam ain't good, then no one's good.

Speaker 2 (01:16:45):
Uh, we'll pick it back up because we have no
time and Chris Burfett's gonna start throwing rocks at us here.
So yeah, yeah, no, it's uh, there's a counter argument
right there. To me, I would just put it that way. Hey,
Throughout the entire football season, bet MGM will offer all
different types of no sweat tokens and odds boost tokens.
Be on the lookout for no sweat same game parlay tokens,

(01:17:06):
parlay boost tokens, and so much more. All Right, we've
got Rich Orenberger, Penn State, All American. We've got Role
Tide Jared Smith FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 8 (01:17:15):
I am.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
I don't know what I would say anti Roll Tide, Brian,
though I guess this season at least. All right, Coming
up next, we've got prop it up the prop betting market.
We will compare extensive, copious notes, get you a couple
of plays.

Speaker 4 (01:17:29):
We'll do that.

Speaker 2 (01:17:29):
Next it is Fox Sports Radios countdown to Kickoff presented
by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios count Down to
Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Just fist pumping over here.
You know, let's get out the glow sticks. We'll have
a party or raven over here. BETMGM players will receive
college Football odds boost tokens and college Football parlay boost
tokens throughout the season to use on college football bets,

(01:17:52):
score extra winnings and your if your bet with the
token applied wins. Check it out in the bet MGM app.
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 5 (01:18:02):
Prop it up player plays all right.

Speaker 2 (01:18:05):
The prop betting market shared. We start with you with
something you like.

Speaker 7 (01:18:09):
Yeah, I'm gonna go with a bad matchup today for
Brendan Soresby, We're gonna go under twenty six and a
half passing yards. They face Arizona today, and this is
an Arizona secondary that plays a ton of man coverage,
a top twenty five man coverage rate in college football.

Speaker 6 (01:18:24):
This year, they have the eighth best coverage grade when
playing man.

Speaker 7 (01:18:28):
And since these two losses this year to Nebraska and
Utah heavy man's schemes and this season, Cincinnati doesn't do
well against man coverage.

Speaker 6 (01:18:36):
Sixty ninth and yards per a tramp one hundred and
fifteenth in explosive play rate.

Speaker 7 (01:18:39):
They will be without their second leading receiver, Caleb Goodie,
doubtful with an undisclosed injury. Since he's favored in the
game positive game trip, I think Soresby stays under his
passing yards prop today. Very important game for the Bearcats,
but I don't think it's gonna be.

Speaker 6 (01:18:53):
A good game for Brendan Sowarsby.

Speaker 4 (01:18:55):
Okay, I'm gonna go to this Duke Virginia game. Duke's
defense is having a bad season. To say, the leaves
can't stop the pass, can't cover, can't get off the
field on third down. You look up the other side
of the field. What does this mean for the Duke
Blue Devils offense. They're gonna need to throw the ball
ton and their quarterbacks on a keta Right now, he's
thrown a bunch of tds.

Speaker 5 (01:19:16):
He's protecting the football.

Speaker 4 (01:19:17):
Well, he's great against the coverages he's predominantly gonna see
against Virginia today. So give me the Duke Blue Devils.
QB Darien Mensa over two hundred and eighty one and
a half yards against Virginia's d I think he's gonna
be throwing the football ton I think he sales pass
that passing yardage total.

Speaker 5 (01:19:39):
Okay, I like it.

Speaker 2 (01:19:42):
Give me John Mattiir. Let's fest off all John Mattier
over here. Let me go with his rushing yards here.
I'm gonna go over thirty four and a half rushing
yards against Alabama. Fraudulent Bama team. They struggle against mobile quarterbacks.
They routinely give up plenty of rushing yards against guys
that can move on the ground use their legs. This

(01:20:04):
is picked up quite a bit. Was that twenty six
and a half last night? It's now thirty four and
a half today. I don't love all that movement, but
I think Mattir I think he's going to be looking
for time to run the ball. I think he's gonna
have success. You do have to, you know, like squint
your eyes, like throw the ball, just throw it away.
Don't take a sack. The sack yardage counts against us.

(01:20:25):
That's brutal. But I think Mattiir gets there. By the way,
how about a correlated play with your Sowresby play, Jared,
what do you think about Sowresby over forty four and
a half rushing yards.

Speaker 7 (01:20:36):
Yeah, I mean, you know how I feel about the
rushing yard props up quarterbacks, but I do agree the
legs are gonna be a big factor, tore big factor.

Speaker 4 (01:20:44):
Oh what is going on?

Speaker 2 (01:20:45):
We are one hour away from kickoff?

Speaker 4 (01:20:48):
Over here.

Speaker 2 (01:20:49):
We're gonna get you all set, set the table, get
everything ready, get the steak, knive and the fork. And
by the way, a fun fact, I've done this for
a while now, me being weird, will set the knife
and the fork upside down. I have them facing you
instead of like facing out.

Speaker 4 (01:21:06):
I don't know why.

Speaker 5 (01:21:07):
Oh that's just that is I mean, that is crazy crazy.

Speaker 6 (01:21:11):
It's crazier than your bamitak.

Speaker 4 (01:21:13):
Oh yeah, right, the bamita is bad, but the Damitake's
completely well no, no, now we need it's right on point.
I'm gonna have you committed for that. Who on earth
told you to point the knife in the foot?

Speaker 2 (01:21:28):
I just felt it, rich, I just felt it.

Speaker 7 (01:21:30):
I do.

Speaker 4 (01:21:30):
I mean, this is such a disagree I'm you know what,
Jared takeover.

Speaker 7 (01:21:35):
A right, It's the rain, It's it's the knives, it's
the forks, it's everything.

Speaker 5 (01:21:40):
It's crazy, crazy time toy at you hey.

Speaker 2 (01:21:43):
Throughout the entire football season, bet MGM will offer all
different types of no sweat tokens and odds boost tokens.
Be on the lookout for no sweat same game parlay tokens,
parlay boost tokens, and so much more. Okay, we get
into wow, what do you know? Oklahoma at Alabama?

Speaker 5 (01:22:01):
How could this have happened? It's always like it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:02):
Was played out this way? No, it's okay, So we
look at Oklahoma against a very flawed, completely fraudulent Alabama team.
Everybody who's been watching football knows this, right, Like all
kidding aside. If you look at Alabama, they rank fourteenth
in the SEC in rushing, near the bottom of their

(01:22:23):
conference in rushing. They rushed for against LSU. They rushed
for fifty six yards on twenty six attempts last week.
Can't run the ball at all. That is not a
good formula. That's the whole thing. I'm not trying to
say that Alabama sucks. I'm just saying their days are numbered.
They're a team that is not built to last. When

(01:22:44):
you're against Georgia and it's a fifty to fifty ball game,
literally could have gone either way, Kirby smart goes for
it on fourth down, they don't get it. Props to
Obama for stopping them. If he kicks the field goal,
Georgia might win that game. Who knows you. Look at Tennessee.
Tennessee has an awful defense, one of the worst. If
you're just clinging on too all. They beat the most

(01:23:05):
ranked teams. Look at Tennessee, They're barely ranked. Tennessee has
one of the worst defenses in all of college football.
I'm not gonna get giddy about Bama's playoff chances because
they beat a ranked Tennessee team, not impressed, and against
South Carolina, you're lucky to beat a three and sixteam. Like, sorry,
I'm not buying anything Alabama has to sell over here.

(01:23:28):
They're way too overly reliant on Ty Simpson throwing the ball,
and with an okay defense and no running game, you
are not going deep in the college football playoffs. It
is not happening.

Speaker 4 (01:23:41):
Well, that could potentially be true. It's a far cry
saying that from complete fraud, though, And that's.

Speaker 2 (01:23:50):
Where that's why I think they're frauds.

Speaker 4 (01:23:52):
Well, I understand, and I think maybe, like like Jared
said earlier, and I'll let Jared jump in quicker so
he has some room to stretch his legs on some
Bama love because Brian now has piled on. But what
I will say is is Bama, I don't think they're frauds,
but I don't think they can run the ball, and

(01:24:12):
they will.

Speaker 5 (01:24:13):
Not run the ball against Oklahoma.

Speaker 4 (01:24:15):
Oklahoma's defense is really good against the run. They're really
good defense, one of the best in the nation, and
so Bama's got their handful there. I will say this
in support of Alabama. They squeak out a win against LSU.
Special teams helped out, and they did so with an
uncharacteristically poor knight from ty Simpson, who's been a Heisman

(01:24:38):
candidate for good reasons. He's having a great year, but
it was it wasn't off night, and that'll happen. And
the fact that they still win that football game even
though he's struggling, it bodes extremely well for Alabama overall
because his consistency has been measured and weighed and he's

(01:25:00):
delivered in some really clutch moments for Bama this season.
So if he gets back off the schneid, if it's
just a one game kind of out of pocket moment
against the Tigers where they needed everything they had to
beat them, and and they they mount any sort of
rushing attack to balance out this offense whatsoever. I could

(01:25:22):
see them beating Oklahoma, as they've beaten just about every
team they faced so far this season. I will say
this could there is there upset alert on this game? Yeah, yeah,
for sure. I think I think that's uh. I think
that's fair as well.

Speaker 7 (01:25:37):
Yeah, I'll just I'll just break the game down because
I'm not trying to, you know, get into the hot
take war about how good Bama is or how good
they aren't. I'm not wavering from my opinion that I
think you're way to win the national championship this year.
I've been on that take since August and I haven't
seen a reason.

Speaker 6 (01:25:55):
Not to be on that take. I mean, I don't
care how you win games in college football? Can you
win games? And if the take is they're relying too
much on their quarterback, well that that's fine. That's I'm
fine with that. Like he's the best quarterback in college football.

Speaker 7 (01:26:11):
I'd be perfectly happy if that's the guy that they
rely on every week to win them games.

Speaker 6 (01:26:16):
From the neck up.

Speaker 7 (01:26:16):
He's playing the position better than I've ever seen a
player this year play it, and I think that will continue. Obviously,
I'd like to see more from their run game. I
think when you analyze their offensive line, they're talented at
the tackle spots, but they can be had by by
good rush ends. Oklahoma had that until our Mason Thomas

(01:26:39):
was announced he wasn't going to play today. It's a
big Now Oklahoma's defense is a little bit less pressury.
I think that's a huge miss for Oklahoma today. He's
one of the best pass rushers in the country and
he's not going to play today, So.

Speaker 6 (01:26:53):
Huge, huge boost there for Bama.

Speaker 7 (01:26:55):
Ty Simpsons great has dropped significantly when pressured this year,
no doubt, and he's faced a lot of pressure this year.

Speaker 6 (01:27:00):
He's only throwing one pick.

Speaker 7 (01:27:01):
He's had more issues with fumbles than interceptions, and that's
something he's got to clean up. He has to be
a little more aware in the pocket when those rush
ends are coming, because that's again Procter, the left tackle.
He's like three hundred and sixty pounds. He is a
massive human, but when you are speed rushing him off
the edge, that is where he's vulnerable.

Speaker 6 (01:27:19):
We saw. That's why they struggled against South Carolina.

Speaker 7 (01:27:22):
It's because South Carolina has an elite pass rush that
can speed rush off the edge, and they faced a
ton of pressure in that game and he struggled to
push it down the field.

Speaker 6 (01:27:30):
Same thing with Missouri.

Speaker 7 (01:27:31):
You want to talk about going on the road and
facing arguably the best defense, one of the best defenses.

Speaker 6 (01:27:35):
In the country. I mean, go look at the Missouri dude.

Speaker 7 (01:27:38):
This is why I'm so excited about Eli Drinkwitz going
to be the next Penn State head coach, because get
some of these dudes to come to Penn State. I mean,
Zion Young is an absolute rock star. Damon Wilson probably
be starting at Georgia this year. Nope, he's starting at Missouri.
He got Damon Wilson to leave Georgia and play for
Kirby Smart to go play in Columbia. And I know
this isn't a Missouri segment, but I think that is

(01:27:59):
why Alabama struggled in those games. They went on the
road and beat Georgia place nobody win. Nobody wins at Georgia.
Bama won at Georgia this year, so I think that this,
oh well, they're not winning by enough, they're not looking
as impressive as they should like they're winning games in college.

Speaker 6 (01:28:14):
Well, you know how hard it is to go on
the road in the SEC and win games. They're at
home today.

Speaker 7 (01:28:19):
John Matteer's thumb has looked a little bulky since the surgery.
I don't think that's gonna be a weak thing where
all of a sudden, in a week or so, he's
gonna look better.

Speaker 6 (01:28:28):
I think that's like a six month type of healing process.

Speaker 7 (01:28:31):
For example, I had a little bit of a tiff
with Jackpot, got into a fight at the dog park,
and the other dog bit me on the thumb. Oh
and that was back in June. This was back in June, guys.
I had to get two stitches on my thumb. It
still hurts five months later.

Speaker 6 (01:28:46):
And so and that was my right thumb, and I'm
left handed.

Speaker 7 (01:28:49):
I can't imagine what Matier's going through, having to go
through thumb surgery like a month and a half ago.

Speaker 6 (01:28:55):
It's gonna take a while for that to heel.

Speaker 7 (01:28:57):
So I think Bama's defense is gonna probably back off
the line of scrimmage, you know, make forced him to
try to throw it downfield and stop the run, because
that's what Oklahoma's done effectively this year. I feel like
this is one of those games where if Bama gets
out to a lead, it's gonna be tough for Oklahoma

(01:29:17):
to match because I just don't think John Mattier has
that throwing capability in him. But to Brian's point, Jackson
Arnold last year in this game rushed for a buck
thirty five minus sacks. I mean, they really took it
to this Bama defense. This is a big revenge game too, Right,
Bama was on two losses last year coming into Norman,
and Oklahoma gave him their third loss and basically knocked

(01:29:39):
him out of the College Football playoffs.

Speaker 6 (01:29:40):
So it's kind of the role reversal this year.

Speaker 7 (01:29:41):
Right, Oklahoma comes in to tuscal Loosa on two losses
and if they lose this game, they're probably out of
the out of the CFP race.

Speaker 6 (01:29:48):
So it's a fun matchup. I wish us later. I
wish Thomas was.

Speaker 7 (01:29:53):
Playing because Brian, I think that changes the dynamic for
Oklahoma a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:29:57):
Yeah, listen, without Thomas in there a big deal. Like
you said, Ty Simpson, not the same quarterback facing pressure
is when he's clean. That's the case for a lot
of quarterbacks, right, So we'll see in this game. Man, Oklahoma,
their defense is fantastic, and I don't think that Bama's

(01:30:17):
going to have any rushing success at all in this game.
So I think it's going to be another one of these.
Hey Ty Simpson, do your thing, you know, like take
us to the Promised Land brother, you know, and he
might be able to do it again. But I want
to see what this Bama defense can do. You saw
Oklahoma step up last last time we saw him play,

(01:30:37):
it was against a terrible Tennessee defense. And so I
mean Bama's like the eighty five Bears compared to that
Tennessee defense. But goodness, but Bama's won eight straight. This
is the one thing I want to say, though, is
because I halfway agree with you, Jared, halfway tepid agreement
where I've had this rant for a while where there's

(01:30:59):
nothing wrong with an ugly win. Okay, we've become in
we've gotten to this realm of style points, like well
you got to win impressively, you got to win by
enough points or who cares, and we're just dismissing wins
way too often and I don't agree with that, and
so it sounds like I'm doing that with Bama. But
what I'm doing is, on one hand, giving them props

(01:31:21):
for winning these games. That's the bottom line is did
you win the game? Did you find a way to win?
Maybe it wasn't a Picasso, it wasn't the Mona Lisa.
It was ugly, it was gritty, but you found a
way that matters. But I also have to look at
this and say, is that built to last? That's the
key question there is is this formula fifty to fifty

(01:31:42):
game against Georgia, lucky to beat South Carolina crushed by
Florida State? Is that built to last? I don't think so.
You can't move the ball in LSU. I don't think
it's built to last. So it sounds like I'm not
giving them any credit whatsoever for winning games. What I'm
really doing is I'm crediting them for winning these games.
I don't care how it looks you won the game,
but I just don't think that's going to be sustainable

(01:32:05):
at all.

Speaker 4 (01:32:06):
Fair. Yeah, yeah, I look, I I'm here's here's what
I'll say. I think that we're we're doing different things.

Speaker 5 (01:32:14):
Me and you and Jared.

Speaker 4 (01:32:17):
I think Jared is a complete believer in Alabama. I
think he sees a team that can win a national championship.
I think, Brian, you're holding them to that standard and
you're seeing something that's less than that. And I'm just
merely marveling at the fact that this team against ranked
after ranked after ranked opponent, has had incredible success. I mean, again,

(01:32:40):
it's hard to win football games, period, hard stop at
the high school level, college football level. Professionally, it's never
easy to win football games. And they've done it at
a pace against competition that I don't know if there's
a tougher schedule that any team has had a better
winning percentage against this season, And I would put up

(01:33:00):
their strength to schedule against most across the country, especially
when you look at margin and victory in some of
those games. Now, have they had squeakers, Yeah, but I
think they've had some close wins against some really talented rosters,
Missouri being one of them. In this game. If I'm
being perfectly honest with you, the side I would lean

(01:33:21):
more toward is Oklahoma Cats. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I
because because when when when I when I do I
think Bama's gonna win most likely. But do I think
they're gonna win by a touchdown? I see it as
more being a field goal decision, you know what I mean?
I think they win my you know, three or four
points here. I don't think it's gonna be one of

(01:33:43):
those games where you walk away and go whoa Alabama
jam Miller finally woke up, you know what I mean?

Speaker 6 (01:33:51):
Like whoa?

Speaker 4 (01:33:52):
The the Bama defense shut down the run and really
bottled up MATERI. I don't think it's gonna be that.
I think it's gonna be like what oh, another down
to the wire win for Alabama. They squeak by Oklahoma
to stay on this hot streak against conference opponents.

Speaker 3 (01:34:10):
That's what I think it's gonna be. Could be, This
is gonna be a fun game. Sorry, go ahead, Brian, No,
you're right, yep. I would yeah, it could be the case.
Wouldn't be shocked at all. Go ahead, last word, you.

Speaker 7 (01:34:21):
Got No, I think this is going to be a
close game. I'm not I trust the market movement here.
You know, we open a touchdown and now we're less
than that. Obviously, the r Mason Thomas injury changes things,
but Bama's not dominating teams in yards per play, like
they're not winning sexy at all, And I don't frankly
think that matters as much. But they're not blowing teams out,

(01:34:43):
So to magically think that they're gonna blow out like
Venables is gonna throw the Kitchen Sync a tie Simpsons today,
I mean they are going to blitz the heck out
of him, and how he handles that is going to
be a huge point on whether or not they win
this game. I think the reason that they win is
it's more negative against Oklahoma's offense. Like I just I

(01:35:05):
think if if Matier is not able to throw it
downfield and they become one dimensional, I really think it's
it's a tough ask to ask Oklahoma to go on
the road and beat anybody in the SEC. Right now
was essentially you know, you know, fifty percent of maybe
full capacity if Matier can't really throw it downfield.

Speaker 2 (01:35:23):
By the way, if if Alabama ends up facing Ohio
State in the playoff, whoever loses, I would be like
I told you so, I told you that, you know, right,
like Bama was flawed or Ohio State was overrated. That's
how I'll get down by the way. You know, I
thought about this. I missed a golden opportunity this year,

(01:35:44):
Like we're doing some predictions during the show and all
that stuff. If I would have seen it coming, if
I would have just called out and said, Penn State
is a total fraud. They are a grease fire waiting
to happen, the things, the ugly unchristian things that both
of you would have said. I would have had fifty

(01:36:05):
sound bites ready to fire, to drop after drop after drop.

Speaker 1 (01:36:09):
Year.

Speaker 6 (01:36:09):
I was really high on them.

Speaker 7 (01:36:10):
Everyone was just like Clemson, Hey, you could have done
that with Clemson this year. You could have done that
with a lot of teams this year.

Speaker 6 (01:36:16):
It's hard.

Speaker 7 (01:36:17):
You have to watch them play first, after those first
three games against those cupcakes, and they really weren't separating.
I think that the writing was kind of on the
wall that they weren't going to be as good as
maybe we expected.

Speaker 2 (01:36:30):
That was the golden opportunity that I just missed out.

Speaker 4 (01:36:34):
But hang on, hang on, And I will point this
out because I'm not trying to help Brian's argument here,
but just what you said right there proves a little
bit of Brian's point with Alabama. So you looked at
Penn State's early affairs and you said, even though they're
winning and it's hard to win at the college football level,
that's right. You didn't like the way they were winning.

(01:36:55):
That's all Brian's saying here is he's respecting the fact
that Alabama's won these football games, but doesn't love the
way they're winning that.

Speaker 7 (01:37:03):
Yeah, but it's different against Nevada FIU and I forget
the other team than when it's Missouri on the road
and Georgia on the road and Tennessee like a little
bit of a different Yeah, that's fair, that's fair.

Speaker 2 (01:37:14):
It is, but it's still like, what's your formula, what's
your formula for success?

Speaker 7 (01:37:17):
It's Ty, It's Ty Simpson, and it's I honestly think
you're a little bit too negative on their defense. I
think their defense has some serious players. I just think
the scheme can get a little bit wacky sometimes where
they're bend but don't break, and so it appears as
though they're giving up a ton of yards and that's
why their yards per play margin hasn't been good this year.
But I do think when push comes to shove, their
defense has some serious players on it. Some real big

(01:37:39):
time players on that defense.

Speaker 2 (01:37:41):
All right, We've got Rich Orenberger, Penn State All American,
Jared Smith FSR, betting analyst. I'm Brian No. It is
time for the tire Rack play of the day. Curry
tips a, rebounds to himself, steps around. Jalvin Johnson takes
the cross half, takes the bump, goes up, whips it
up on the way back in.

Speaker 6 (01:37:58):
He baked it in, flipped it up, took the hit them.

Speaker 4 (01:38:01):
Calvin john just just threw it up.

Speaker 6 (01:38:03):
And it went it off the glass.

Speaker 2 (01:38:07):
Oh and I'll Curry magic here deep in the heart
at Texas. Yeah, a little road win. Imagine that for
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(01:38:28):
tire installation, tire rack dot Com. The way tire buying
should be all right, Coming up next, This is something
you say after a loss, not before the game is
even played. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff,
presented by BETMGM it is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff,
presented by bet MGM. With the iHeartRadio app. You can

(01:38:50):
stream us wherever you happen to be. Catch us in
all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty four
to seven in the new and improved iHeartRadio app. Just
searched Fox Sports Radio in the app. Stream us live
all day, every day, and be sure to select Fox
Sports Radio as one of your presets in the iHeart
app so it'll always pop up at the top of
your screen. All right, So we get to number nine

(01:39:13):
Notre Dame taking on number twenty two Pit and Pat
Nardoozy is not too fired up about this game apparently,
but everybody else seems to be in Panthers nation if
he's like the only guy not fired up for this one.
He had the infamous SoundBite. I still can't believe he
said this. By the way, Notre Dame up to a
thirteen point road favorite and the total is fifty four

(01:39:38):
and a half. But this was Pat Nardoozy asked if
this game against Notre Dame is a must win game?

Speaker 6 (01:39:44):
Here you go, you feel like this is a must
win for the team, Absolutely not.

Speaker 8 (01:39:49):
You know, it is not an ACC game. I'm I'm
glad you brought that up. It's not an ACC game,
you know. I gladly get beat one hundred and three
or one hundred and ten to ten in that game.
They can put one hundred up on us as long
as we win the next two after that. But again,
our focus is on Notre Dame and then get as
many wins as we can.

Speaker 2 (01:40:08):
It is just such a dumb statement, it really is.
How else can you say it. You're the leader of
a football team. This is a top ten Notre Dame team.
It's a huge opportunity for you, guys. And he's like, well,
it's not an ACC game.

Speaker 4 (01:40:23):
Who cares?

Speaker 2 (01:40:24):
They could beat us by one hundred really, like, where's
your competitiveness? And I thought about this too. This the
whole statement would make way more sense if this is
after Pitt has just lost to Notre Dame, right, Like,
imagine Notre Dame wins today and then you hear this
pat and our doozy SoundBite. It would make a whole
lot of sense. If he's trying to sell the team.

(01:40:46):
I'm like, hey, guys, we still have our ACC games left.
We can still win a conference championship. Here we can
still make it to the playoffs. Like, don't worry about
the one hundred point loss to Notre Dame. There's still
a lot in front of us. It would make way
more sense if he said this after a Pit loss.
Should they lose, then before the game is even played.
I can't believe he said it before the game. But

(01:41:10):
at any event, Man, they do have a stud freshman quarterback.
Pit does and pittswan five in a row. Mason Heinschel.
He's been crushing it and the offense has been humming.
He's got three games run for at least three hundred
yards and three touchdowns. Pretty good as a freshman quarterback,
true freshman quarterback. So Heinschel is the guy for a

(01:41:30):
Pit that Notre Dame's pass defense gonna have to contend
with today.

Speaker 4 (01:41:34):
Yeah, you know, look, Pitt's ranked for a reason, and
we covered this earlier in the show. But you know, look,
new listeners every single hour, every single minute when you're
on radio. So I'll repeat what I said about paton
Ardoozy here for the new listeners who've jumped on. That's
just inexplainable stuff. And I think at one point he

(01:41:55):
caught himself at the end there and went, oh, whoops,
what the hell am I saying?

Speaker 2 (01:41:58):
Right, Yeah, we're gonna try to beat Notre Dame is
what I'm meant to.

Speaker 4 (01:42:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And by all that, what I
mean is we're going to really fight. Well, you should
have said that in the first place. So yeah, I'm
sure if you could have all those words back, he
would send them out differently a second time around. What
I'll compare it to is if you are going to
make a comparison that a lot of people make, that's

(01:42:22):
kind of apt because you know, in war and football
there's a tremendous amount of strategy. You're dealing with a
lot of you know, people in fixed positions where you're
going to try try to find ways to attack the
platforms that are being presented, and then when the ball

(01:42:43):
is snapped, everything can change. Right when the first shot
is fired, everything can change. So you can either stick
with the plan or crumple it up and you know, improvise.
It's up to you as a strategist. And that's why
we always hear those comparisons between the military and football.
I mean, do I think they're one hundred percent apt to?
Obviously not the military. These are brave men and women

(01:43:06):
who are risking their lives for you know, our well being,
Whereas in football, you're playing a game and you're risking
life sometimes but mostly limb you know, the risks are
much lower. But I digress to keep up with the
comparison and say, you know, look, if you're a war
general and you are readying your troops for battle and

(01:43:30):
you say something like, hey, this is one we're willing
to lose, what the hell do you think the level
of effort is going to be from these brave men
and women. Do you think they're going to go out
there just a full throttle, helmets buckled, ready to fire
away on the enemy because you've given this impassioned speech.

(01:43:51):
Or are they going to be terrified hiding in their
foxholes because they're about to get slaughtered.

Speaker 5 (01:43:57):
I mean, it is the worst possible message.

Speaker 4 (01:44:01):
To send for the sake of the Pittsburgh team. I
hope none of them were listening to that mess, and
I hope that it is all maybe cover for what's
being said behind closed doors, like maybe he's gonna say, hey, boys,
I'm gonna tell the media this and that about how
we don't care about the outcome of this game. Wink.

(01:44:21):
We all know how we really feel about this game,
am I right, Let's go beat the Irish.

Speaker 5 (01:44:26):
I hope that's the case.

Speaker 4 (01:44:27):
Because otherwise, if you're one of those players who's reading
yourself for battle, or if we're gonna compare it to
war or military action, if you're one of those war
fighters who are going to put it all on the line,
and your general goes to the podium and says mess like.

Speaker 5 (01:44:41):
That, Yeah, yeah, give me a break.

Speaker 6 (01:44:44):
Yeah, this is an interesting matchup.

Speaker 7 (01:44:46):
Two. I do think this Notre Dame offense is I
don't want to say better than expected, because we didn't
really know what to expect with CJ.

Speaker 6 (01:44:55):
Carr, But I'm impressed.

Speaker 7 (01:44:58):
I really like the development that he's been able to
make as a passer downfield, and I think they're trusting
him a little bit more than maybe they did early
in the year. And that's the difference between this year's
Notre Dame and last year's Notre Dame, where you could
stack the box, take away the run and you weren't
really worried about getting beat downfield, and this year you
can't do that because you've got car who can throw

(01:45:19):
it downfield, and you've got an elite trio receivers fields
and Fhaseon and Pauling, and it's gonna be really interesting
to see how Nardoozy, who likes to run these exotic
blitz schemes and really heat you up on passing downs.

Speaker 6 (01:45:30):
It'll be interesting to see how he plays it.

Speaker 7 (01:45:32):
The Pittsburgh linebackers heart and soul the team, Kyle Lewis,
Brandon Lovelace, Cameron Lindsay. I mean, these are really good linebackers.
I think they're getting a linebacker back from injury today too,
who is an All acc player last year. So that's
kind of the game within the game. How Pittsburgh handles
this Notre Dame run game. Do they commit extra bodies?
Do they take the Danton Lynn approach and say you

(01:45:53):
can run it on us, but you're not gonna beat
us deep. I wouldn't take that approach. We've seen how
that worked out for USC. And on the other side,
you mentioned Mason Hinchel five and zero since they went
to him a ton of arm talent but still learning
how to play the position.

Speaker 6 (01:46:08):
Ten big time throws since Week six.

Speaker 7 (01:46:10):
That's tied for thirteenth in the FBS, but twelve turnover
worthy plays that's seventh most. Notre Dame plays a ton
of man coverage. That is something that has been a
little bit of a bugaboo for Heinschel. Right, He's got
four turnover worthy plays against man. That's tied for the
most an FBS over the last five weeks. So I'm
a little concerned that he's still putting the ball into
dangerous locations as most freshman quarterbacks will. And I think

(01:46:33):
the quarterback edge absolutely in Notre Dame's corner here, despite
the fact that Heinchell has looked good early on in
his career.

Speaker 2 (01:46:38):
How about this, Jared, just game script wise, right, who
do you think throws for more yards? Because they're passing
yards props are almost identical. Heinschel at two sixty four
and a half c J. Carr at two sixty and
a half, But you'd probably like Heinschel right, Like, just
the way the game is most likely going to play out,
I'd be surprised if Carr has more passing yards.

Speaker 7 (01:46:59):
Well, Reed's playing that's huge. I mean, he's such a
big piece for Pittsburgh's offense, not only running it but
also you know, catching it out of the backfield, so
I think that is going to allow Heinscheld to maybe
ease into the game a little bit. He's been dealing
with an ankle injury over the last few weeks. It
seems like he's healthy. One of the best and most
unherlded backs in the country. He got a great year

(01:47:20):
last year and again dealing with some injuries this year.
But it looks like he's gonna play. So that's huge
for Pitt.

Speaker 6 (01:47:26):
But the market doesn't care because we've seen a little
bit of movement on Notre Dame today.

Speaker 2 (01:47:30):
All right, how about three two one?

Speaker 6 (01:47:32):
Huh?

Speaker 2 (01:47:32):
How about the top three teams in the country if
you go rapid fire style, We've got Texas A and
M hosting South Carolina. It seems like we talk about
this every week where they get They kick off here
in about a half hour, right, it seems every week
we're like, you know, South Carolina sucks this year, but man,
they got a lot of talent. They got a lot
of talent. There're three and six, but a lot of talent,

(01:47:52):
and they can sneak up on you and give you
a game. You know, huge underdogs here, they're seventeen point
underdog's spend some South Carolina money. This was as high
as nineteen and a half. It's down to seventeen. But
what do you think, rich, Do you buy it at all?
South Carolina given Texas A and M a game. If
you say they're giving them a game, that's they're certainly

(01:48:13):
covering the spread. You think that happens today?

Speaker 4 (01:48:15):
Yeah, I you know what, I do like South Carolina
that side here, Although this isn't one of my bets today.
I lean that direction because A and M. They're not invincible.
They were in a fistfight against Arkansas a couple of
weeks ago. You know, they ended up winning and surviving

(01:48:36):
a barn Burner forty five forty two outcome. But like
you know, with enough talent on the opposing side of
the field, you can put up a fight against this
A and M team. And I don't think that South
Carolina is untalented. So yeah, if I were to lean
aside in this game, I would lean the side of
taking the points.

Speaker 7 (01:48:54):
Yeah, tough one. We've talked about this before. SEC double
digit underdogs tend to do pretty well well. But A
and M's kind of got this. They're sleeping with angels
this year and they just signed Mike Elko to a
big extension. That news just came down about thirty minutes ago,
which again pushes me more towards my prediction from last

(01:49:14):
week that it's going to be Eli Drinkwitz the next
coach at Penn State, and Mike Elko, who was up
for a bunch of gigs, including the Penn State job.
It does seem like he's going to return and become
one of the highest paid coaches in college football now
with the A and m Aggie's really impressive season for
him and that offense, which is really good. I like
their defense too. I really like their defense. I think

(01:49:34):
that's one of the more underrated units in the country. Frankly,
I did a film study on them this week. They
are just They're so instinctual. Tory and York's one of
the best linebackers in college football at the middle linebacker position.
They've got a couple of really good edge rushers. Cash
is how well the transfer from Bowling Green six to
two fifty. I mean, just really twitchy off the edge.
They're gonna give South Carolina's offensive line a lot of

(01:49:55):
problems today.

Speaker 2 (01:49:57):
Yeah, it's funny, man, you look at South Carolina just
playing murderers Row. They've played such a tough schedule, top
five strength of schedule nationally and Texas A and M's
head coach Mike Elko, who Jared's talking about. His quote
this week was, I don't know what they did to
the scheduling gods to get the schedule that they've got.
But man, they've played a tough, tough schedule, and there's

(01:50:19):
two ways to look at that. They certainly are battle tested,
but man, the attrition, it just, you know, it's like
being on a treadmill on a ten incline all every week,
you know, seemingly, and that catches up with you. So
another uphill test for the game Cocks today. How about
IU number two ranked in the country, twenty eight and
a half point home favorites against Wisconsin. What a win

(01:50:42):
for Indiana last week. And I'm not talking friendly smack
or unfriendly smack, you know, against your Penn State and
NY Lyons, but game, man, what a game. Omar Cooper Junior.
The catch in the back of the end zone sensational.
This is a get right spot for IU. But they've
got some injury on their offensive line. And how about
giving up six completions of nineteen or more yards against

(01:51:06):
that Penn State passing attack, Like what was that from
ius defense? So they got a few things to get
right and sort out as we inch closer to the
Big Ten championship game against Wisconsin today.

Speaker 4 (01:51:17):
Yeah, and I could see them being up huge at halftime.
I think this is the perfect spot for Indiana to
go out there and lay a whoop down on a
team that's really struggling. Danny O'Neill got carted off, so
he's not going to start for the Badgers. It's going
to be a backup, a third string quarterback this season,

(01:51:38):
coming in a freshman. So that doesn't bode well for
a team that's already been downtrodden this season. So I
don't know if I love a play for a side
on this game. I mean, I don't really see how
Wisconsin's going to score a whole lot of points. The
total was hovering somewhere around the mid forties. It might

(01:51:58):
have landed at forty four and a half, you know.
I mean I would take an under because I could
see Indiana being up huge in the third quarter. Call
the dogs off. The scoring will slow down. But I
don't I don't love. I don't love this game in
terms of a play, but in terms of like sharpening
and honing an edge for Indiana to resume their stride

(01:52:22):
as they get closer closer to the CFP. Yeah, I
think this is a needed spot for Indiana to get
well against a conference opponent that is unwell. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:52:32):
I bet the under in this game forty four and
a half. It's down to forty three and a half
at MGM. Now, I mean I I that's a key number,
key total, forty four in the in the total world.
But I still think that's the vibe for me in
this game. We talk about Indiana's offense all the time.
Their defense is loogit guys. They're undersize, but they're pretty man.

Speaker 6 (01:52:51):
They're just one of the toughest.

Speaker 7 (01:52:54):
Schemes that you'll face because they just they don't have
any weaknesses at any level.

Speaker 6 (01:52:58):
They're very disciplined.

Speaker 7 (01:53:00):
Their secondary is comfortable being out on the island and
not getting help. They play a lot of man, and
then they have all these unique zone blitz schemes that
they'll bring at you on passing downs.

Speaker 6 (01:53:14):
They're really really good defense.

Speaker 7 (01:53:15):
I think that's gonna be if you want to talk
about Indiana separating themselves from a legit opponent in December.
I think it's frankly, their defense more than their offense
that they're gonnaed to rely on. I mean, you go
watch that Oregon game. They shut down a good organ
a good Oregon offense for a big part of that game,
and I thought that was the most impressive part of
that game, not necessarily Mendoza and the offense, but really

(01:53:38):
the defense. And Wisconsin, I believe they're starting like a
freshman quarterback today. It's not a good situation for Wisconsin's offense,
and they're coming off of a win against Washington, So
I could absolutely see this being like a seventeen to
ten kind of slugfest.

Speaker 2 (01:53:54):
Interesting, all right, last one, real fast UCLA at number
one Ohio State those overrated, as we detailed earlier today.
Jared and Rich fully on board with that one. But
kind of interesting in the prop betting market if you
look at both quarterbacks. So Julian Sayan who's completing passes,
had an eighty percent clip. That's insane. That's good against

(01:54:15):
air let alone competition, you know.

Speaker 5 (01:54:17):
What I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:54:18):
Even though it hasn't been the stiffest it's not been
a tough, tough slate for Ohio State, unless you think
Ucla is tough. That's it's been like the common theme
over here what they've been facing in Big ten play
and outside of Big Ten play, with the exception of
Texas the first game of the year, that's all that
they have in the resume. But Julian Sayan's passing prop
is down from three oh two and a half to

(01:54:39):
eighty seven.

Speaker 5 (01:54:40):
And a half.

Speaker 2 (01:54:40):
It's gone down fifteen yards. That's a that's a lot.
And Nico Yama Leyava one thirteen and a half. That
is solo for Nico Man, Like they're gonna be whaling big,
is he not gonna go Yeah? Yeah, okay, Well but
even they haven't taken it down at the under.

Speaker 5 (01:55:02):
Yeah yeah, no, yeah, he's uh so.

Speaker 4 (01:55:04):
I mean, but that goes a long way to say
that Ohio State, you want to talk about a team,
to get a team when they are fresh for the
pluck in UCLA is giving up a ton of yards,
almost four hundred yards a game of offense. They're they're
giving up thirty one points on average per game. And
I mean it's like whatever Ohio State is favored by,

(01:55:26):
you know, just just just give up the points. That
would be the side I would play if I were
going to play aside in this game. Ohio State is
going to run through UCLA. I just don't see how
they're going to stop anything. They're gonna want to do.
Like you said, Julian's saying, is playing, I mean lights
out this Ohio State defense. I mean, I know you

(01:55:49):
used the word overrated earlier in the show, Brian, You're
allowed to take that back if you want to.

Speaker 2 (01:55:55):
It's not going to show up today, but it will
show up, will show up untested, overrated Ohio State budding
and they.

Speaker 4 (01:56:03):
Will not be tested today.

Speaker 5 (01:56:05):
They will not be tested today.

Speaker 6 (01:56:06):
No, they definitely won't be Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:56:09):
All right, we've got Rich Hornberger, Penn State All American,
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian know.

Speaker 6 (01:56:16):
Hey.

Speaker 2 (01:56:16):
Bet MGM players will receive college Football Odds boost tokens
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(01:56:37):
We got a ton of picks. We'll share them with
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(01:56:58):
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(01:57:24):
see our smiling faces. Get all of our picks, all
that good stuff. You control us. If we're wrong, I
thought you said Brandon Soorsby was a good play. No,
you know, it's never props. It's always venom and ugliness.
Knock yourself out. You know you can do that on
X top of the hour. Up on game LaVar Arrington, TJ.
Hushman's Ata Plexico Burst. They've got you covered. Keep it

(01:57:46):
locked right here. They're up in eight American minutes. All right,
we got some picks to make.

Speaker 6 (01:57:51):
Let's do it.

Speaker 4 (01:57:55):
Rapid Fire.

Speaker 2 (01:57:57):
All right, cheerble, start with you.

Speaker 7 (01:57:59):
What do you like?

Speaker 4 (01:58:00):
Hey?

Speaker 1 (01:58:00):
Three and oh?

Speaker 7 (01:58:00):
Last week, I'm still terrible on the air twelve to
twenty one, but hey, you gotta start somewhere. I was
gonna give you Texas plus six and a half.

Speaker 6 (01:58:08):
The problem is it's been bet down to four and
a half in the last hour, so I can't give
you that anymore. But I do think Texas keeps it
close today. Instead, I'll call back from the prop it
up segment.

Speaker 7 (01:58:16):
I'll bring a play that I really like into Rapid Fire,
and that's the Brendan Soores the under passing yards to twenty.

Speaker 4 (01:58:22):
Six and a half.

Speaker 6 (01:58:23):
A bad matchup for Cincy today.

Speaker 7 (01:58:25):
Arizona plays a ton of man coverage, and I think
he's gonna struggle to find the receivers are gonna find
some separation.

Speaker 6 (01:58:30):
They're gonna struggle today.

Speaker 7 (01:58:31):
Michigan State plus seven against Penn State. Terrible spot for
Penn State after the Indiana loss. May have to come
back and face that Jonathan smith let team that's fighty
as a dog. They're coming off the by I think
Sparti keeps it close. And Wake Forest team total under
twenty two and a half against unc Hey, don't look now.
The Tarios defense playing pretty well over the last few weeks,
and wake Forest offense is terrible with Robby Ashford, I
think the Geeks don't score much today.

Speaker 4 (01:58:53):
Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna take the over on this
Duke versus Virginia match. Duke has a solid passing offense,
Virginia has an explosive rushing offense. Duke plays zero defense,
but they got a really talented quarterback. So I'm gonna
take the over fifty nine and a half in that duel.

(01:59:14):
We were just talking about Ohio State against UCLA. Give
me Ohio State quarterback Julians saying over two hundred and
eighty seven and a half passing yards. He's a clip
eclips three hundred passing yards in four of his last
five games, and he's really good against bad defenses. He
doesn't play down to the level Iowa USC give me

(01:59:34):
the under for forty eight and a half. Let's not
overthink this. It's gonna be bad weather, it's gonna be
heavy run from both sides. USC runs the football well,
Iowa only runs the football. Totals forty eight and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:59:49):
Give me the under.

Speaker 2 (01:59:50):
I'll go fast, they have no choice. Give me Oklahoma
plus six against a fools gold Alabama team. I get
a tough defense, I'm getting points material uns around. Give
me the Sooners plus six.

Speaker 4 (02:00:02):
I like that play.

Speaker 6 (02:00:03):
Thank you Rich, I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (02:00:04):
Give me Sincy quarterback Brendan Sorosby. That's a Jared's guy
from Cincy. I'm going over forty four and a half
rush yards. A lot of man defense they struggle against that.
Against man, you can rush it. Give me arch Manning
over two twenty five and a half passing yards. I
think he gets it done. A lot of yak today,