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

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you ready to witnesses football fans? Welcome to the
biggest tailgate party in the nation.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
That'd be bro.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
By betg.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Make it legendary. We're setting you up with the information
you need to watch your team win.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
We're here to break it all down. This is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bett emg app. No,
we're live from your tailgame. Here's Brian Nook, former Penn
State All American, Rich Hornberger and FSR betting analyst Jared Smith.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Oh what is going on? We are fired up over
here on a Thanksgiving weekend, full slate of ball on
a Saturday, minus the games that have already been played,
and there have been quite a few on Black Friday
that we'll get to here momentarily. Good morning, Rich, No, Jared,
just yet.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Hey buddy, how you doing. We're rocking and rolling. It
was an interesting night for me. I was on the
road calling a college football game between San Diego State
and New Mexico. For basically the season, it all kind
of boiled down to a couple last games that needed
to play out in this New Mexico San Diego State

(01:27):
game for the Mount West Conference title matchup was really important.
New Mexico obviously, with Jason Eck their head coach, resurrected
their season, as did head coach Sean Lewis and the
San Diego State Aztecs, and New Mexico won a double
overtime thriller got the job done defending their home turf

(01:48):
to remain undefeated at home this season. And now we're
waiting on the result of the UNLV game today to
decide who actually meets each other next Friday in the
Mountwest Conference championship game. And so I'm fresh off of
flight from that, my man.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Okay, so you're your bright eyed, bushy tailed the whole
thing here, or you're completely run down, sleep deprived and
just gutting it out.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
One or the other. I couldn't tell you yet.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
There's one of the two. Jared's with us now.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Very nice.

Speaker 4 (02:19):
What's going on, Jared? How are you morning? Everyone very
excited to be here today.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Eat some turkey, got some deep fried?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
What went on there?

Speaker 4 (02:26):
It was awesome? Okay, I had some family in town.
Mom was here, Mom's first Thanksgiving in Vegas. How about that?
We saw Oz too, not the new movie. But they
played the original movie at the sphere. How cool was that?
Like the original nineteen thirties movie and they did all
this like cool interactive stuff. So awesome week. But we
got ball.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
I thought you were talking about the HBO show OZ
where it was prison and people are getting shanked left
and right.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
No to do list.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
All right, I'm an old school movie.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
I got you.

Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, we'll get to some of the games yesterday. Steve
Sarkisian is hitting the campaign trails hard for Texas. We'll
get to hook him momentarily. But what's fresh in my
mind right now is Decision Day.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
It's Lane Kiffin figuring out where he's gonna coach next.
He's either gonna stay put or he's going to LSU.
My money is on him going to LSU. But we'll
get official word today. I just don't know if he's
staying at Ole miss why he would handle it the
way that he has. Why would you wait until after
the Egg Bowl for this mystery announcement to be unveiled.

(03:36):
You would just come right out and be like, hey, guys,
I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here. This is where
I want to be he didn't do that, so I
think he's on the go. But I just let me
get your thoughts because I have to get on my
soapbox for a second about the transfer portal, because I
think it's a total disservice to college football. But your thoughts,
where do you think Kiffin is gonna end up staying

(03:57):
put or going to LSU.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
I think he's gonna chase the money. So if ole
Miss all of a sudden digs deep and they find
a way to pay him an enormous sum of money
here that bests the offer from LSU, then he'll stay.
And I think if LSU is the top offer, he's
gonna go. You know, I don't want to make this
so crude and simple, but at the end of the day,

(04:20):
this isn't about allegiance. This isn't about where he feels
he could truly build a better program. Although money is
important these days in building a better program, not just
the money that gets put in your pocket, but also
the money that's given to you on the recruiting trail,
and we've heard sourced reports about there being gobs and
gobs of money waiting for him to use tore recruits

(04:44):
over to LSU. But that's what this is. This is
about a paycheck. This is about grasping at life's golden
ring when it presents itself. And as we all know,
Lane Kiffen could compete for a national championship this year
at ole Miss and starting to next season zero to
four and they would be calling for his head. So
he knows that there's no allegiance here beyond one season

(05:09):
for him at ole Miss. I mean, that's the truth.
That's that's how we treat as a society head coaches
in college football. So why should they show any school
any more you know, chivalry or or or you know,
loyalty than that. And so what I think link Kiffin's

(05:30):
doing is exactly what Lank Kiffin should do based on
the current college football system we have all supported and constructed.

Speaker 4 (05:38):
Yeah, I think there is a certain point where it's like, Okay,
we've reached enough of the spotlight. And I think to
Brian's original point, like why would he not announce he's
staying unless or like why wouldn't he announce it now
if he's not staying, Well, the answer is because he
probably doesn't know yet. I honestly think that would that's

(05:59):
the only logical reason. Let's say he does stay at
Ole Miss the only logical reason to milk this as
long as he has milked it just to end up
staying it would be twofold. Either A he doesn't know yet,
and that is possible. I think that is possible that
he just doesn't quite know yet, or B he just
loves the spotlight and this is just something he really enjoys.

(06:22):
To kind of milk this thing out to the very end,
I think it's a coin flip. I really do. I
think it is a true coin flip. I think he
is based on from what I've heard, he is. He
likes Oxford a lot, He's changed his lifestyle a little bit.
I believe he's gone sober. He's been open about that,
and Oxford, that community has helped him through a little

(06:42):
bit of that life transition, and I think that is
keeping him maybe, you know, invested in the community a
little bit more. But you're right, Rich, like there is
really no loyalty in college sports or in any sports
right now. But the problem with all of this, and
I posted this last night, and I believe this to

(07:02):
be true.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
The problem with.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
All of this coaching carousel, Brian is none of this
helps the players or the fans. It only benefits the
coaches or the agents. And at the regular season and
now at the postseason's critical point, I think we need
to move away from a system where this hubbub only
affects the coaches and the agents and benefits them, because

(07:26):
we need to be focusing on how we can get
the players and the fans to get a better cut
of the deal, especially at this.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Point in the year.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
Like it's just I feel like we're just really missing
the point of what today really is, which is teams
clinching college wable playoff berths and championship berths and all
this stuff. But Lane Kiffin has sucked the oxygen out
of the entire college football landscape.

Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, maybe he's gonna pull a Wolf of Wall Street.
You know, when it's all said and done, he's just
gonna pull one of these.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Right, say that.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
It's my favorite line from that one picture, Lane saying this, right, Like,
if he stays that's the way he's going to stay. Right,
it's gonna be with theatrics and explosions and the whole thing.

Speaker 4 (08:19):
He's gonna have.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Pyro technics and that's just how Lane rolls. One of
my main points on this whole thing is how dumb
college football is to have the transfer portal window where
it is. It's from January second to January sixteenth, and
that's the only window. That's the only one that we
have right now. That's stupid for multiple reasons. The first

(08:41):
one is.

Speaker 4 (08:42):
That it's in the middle of the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Why would you do that? Why would you upstage yourself
in the middle of your own college football playoff? Think
of the NFL. Do you think the NFL would have
free agency during the NFL playoffs?

Speaker 4 (08:58):
They would never.

Speaker 3 (08:58):
Do something like that. They want the focus on the playoffs.
They don't want Hey, before the Divisional Round eight, Jalen
Phillips signs a three year deal with the Broncos. How
about that? Like, no, they want the focus on the games.
And instead college football put the window in the middle
of the playoffs. So you're gonna have multiple chaotic outcomes

(09:20):
where they are gonna be players on teams in the
playoff that are transferring.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
And that's gonna be like, whoa, this guy's leaving.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
He's on the team, Like wow, You're gonna have all
that and the trickle down when it comes to a
situation like Lane Kiffen. If Lane Kiffen goes to LSU,
that's not a crime.

Speaker 2 (09:41):
You can do that.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
You can go from one school to the next. But
ole Miss is in a position where they can't allow
him to coach the team in the playoff.

Speaker 4 (09:49):
They have to get the new guy in there.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Because if they lose out on the transfer portal, this
is the one and only chance they get and so
they're screwed going forward. They they have to kick Lane
to the curb. They have to get their new guy
in there so they can hit this thing running. With
the transfer portal being where it is, that's the reality here.
To me, that's not fair to Lane Kiffin. He should

(10:13):
be allowed to finish out this season, but the transfer
portal window won't allow him to do that. And I
think it's really unfair to the players. The players they
don't want an interim head coach. They want their guy.
They want Lane Kiffin. Why would they want someone else,
And they're not going to be allowed to have that
should he choose to go to LSU, which is perfectly fine.

(10:34):
I hate the window being where it is. It's so stupid.
It shouldn't be during the playoff. It shouldn't be creating
a situation like this with Lane Kiffen and the players
where they're gonna pay the price if he goes to
LSU and he's not gonna be able to finish out
the year. I think it sucks for many reasons, but
college football is dumb for having the window from January

(10:57):
tewod to the sixteenth. It makes absolutely no sense.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, a couple of things. It affects the players, the coaches,
the programs too harshly, and yeah, you're forgetting LSU. It
hurts them too because wouldn't they want to boost on
the transfer portal And wouldn't if Lane Kiffen was going
to move on to LSU, wouldn't he have to make
that decision earlier to make sure that they secure all

(11:20):
the recruits they need to have a successful season in
twenty twenty six from the transfer portal. So everybody, every
team involved is harshly affected by this window. And I'll
explain this the best way that it's ever been explained
to me, and it'll make more sense to you why
it's done the way it is. This all comes back

(11:40):
to clearing house and academic eligibility because even though we
look at college football as a separate, completely separate entity
from being a student at schools now because it almost
feels like those are completely different planets that these student
athletes exist in, and they're still student athletes. And the

(12:03):
reality is, in order for a student to become eligible
through clearing house to actually play and perform for school,
there's steps that they need to clear. There's challenges from
the opposite side of campus that they need to overcome
before they can join and participate in a collegiate sport.

(12:24):
And so all that needs needs a little bit of
a front porch to get through the front door. And
so that's the reason why the window is where the
window is right now. Now. Do I think it's going
to be that way forever. No. I think that academics
and clearing house will change to suit college football and
the immense amount of money that it's bringing into these

(12:46):
universities who participate, and that change will be coming soon.
I don't know when. I don't know what soon means,
but I know that the universities will bend to the
will of college football and not the other way around,
because that is the profit generator you wouldn't have a
campus in the middle of nowhere in Columbus, Ohio, or

(13:08):
in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania, you know, for
for for Ohio State and penn State, if it weren't
for the amount of money that these football programs generate.
So I digress. That's the reason for the transfer portal window.
But to your point, Brian, that's that that is going
to kneecap these teams who are making a deep run

(13:31):
into the postseason, and it's going to kneecap the programs
that are trying to lure a talented head coach to
head their program if they have the money and the
availability to do so.

Speaker 4 (13:42):
Yet, what Brian and Richard describing to me is the
biggest issue with college football right now, it's the calendar.
We are running a calendar that is obsolete. It was
based off of the prior operating system like we've evolved.

Speaker 2 (13:59):
Like.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
It's kind kind of reminding me of when you're trying
to run your iPhone and you haven't updated it in
like five years and you're trying to continue to use
the old software to run a new piece of hardware.
It just doesn't work. It just doesn't work. We need
to figure out a better way to align the academic

(14:21):
calendar and the football calendar, because right now one of
them is kind of off kilter. Like that was the
first issue we had was the winter transfer portal and
how that impacted the Collegeurable Playoff member last year, Bo
Purpula transferred before Penn State played in their first College
Well Playoff game. It was insane. It was one of
the most ludicrous things that a football team has to

(14:44):
go through. You're about to play the most important game
of your year and your backup quarterback who wants to
be a starter is forced to quit the team essentially.
I mean, thank god Drew Aller didn't get hurt during
that run, because then it really would have been in
the spotlight. But that's just the way that the cookie

(15:05):
crumbles in college football right now, like the way that
the calendar is constructed. It now, to be fair, they
changed that rule, thank goodness, they started to make some
of these adjustments. But now we're dealing with the next
wave of this, so they need to do a massive
renovation on the calendar. And to me, this shouldn't be
that hard, Like all it is is just changing a

(15:26):
couple of you know markers, you know, crossing some te's
differently and dotting some eyes in a different color. And
I think we could figure this out. But one of
the biggest issues restricting all of this is the calendar
right now, Brian.

Speaker 3 (15:38):
Yeah, it's so dumb, Like they used to have a
couple of windows and now they went down to just one.
So the point is, you could easily have a different
window where the dates aren't what they are from January
twod to the sixteenth. They have to do that. It's
so bad for college football for the many reasons that
we threw out there, one being this Lane Kiffen trickle

(15:59):
down effect and Rich put it great, right, So think
of this. Lane takes the LSU job, and let's say,
old missus like, you know what you've done a dang
good job, Dad, gummet. You can finish this thing on out,
you know. LSU is like, uh, we need Youane, Lane.
We're paying you a lot of money. This is the
only transfer portal window here. We need transfers over here.

(16:20):
Kind of a big deal, right, We need you here, dude.
So it's not gonna work out all across the board.
It's just bad man. You gotta be able to switch
the dates. You gotta have it after the playoff. It
should not be during the playoff. That's insanity. With all
that being said, we're off and running. We got Rich Ornberger,
Penn State All American, Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm

(16:41):
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Speaker 4 (17:02):
Make it legendary, all right?

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Coming up next, Everyone seems to love this team except
the committee and also Sark is campaigning really hard. We'll
get to that as well. It is Fox Sports Radios
Countdown to kick Off, presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.

Speaker 5 (17:32):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing
the same tired narratives down your.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Throat every day.

Speaker 5 (17:43):
Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest
sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at
the sportsbook, and all the best guests. Do yourself a
favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre on
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 3 (18:03):
It is Fox Sports Radios. Countdown to kick Off presented
by bet MGM. Be sure to check out the new
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access to the sports you love. Speaking of fast, how
about some say in the background, how about they creak
it up?

Speaker 2 (18:17):
Alex?

Speaker 3 (18:18):
That is beautiful right there? You kidding me, Alex ty
Shirt hanging out with us.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
It's a party, yes, sir.

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(18:46):
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Speaker 4 (18:51):
That's a great, great poll by Alex. Yeah, that is
a fantastic.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
After it on a Saturday morning. That is right.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
We're letting our hair down early here. All right, We're
gonna get to Miami. That's a team that everybody seems
to love, but the committee is not on board with that.
We'll get to the Canes in a second big game
for them, ranked versus ranked Miami at Pittsburgh. But I
wanted to talk about Steve Sarkisian first and what happened
last night. Texas with a big home upset over Texas

(19:23):
A and M. So they just beat an undefeated team
by ten points. And uh sark was interviewed right after
the game, and he went straight from hey, it was
great we beat Texas A and M. To we belong
in the College Football Playoff and these are the reasons
why he was ready to go. And I don't hate
his argument, but I'm gonna push back in a second.

(19:44):
Here's what Sark had to tell Molly McGrath on ESPN
after the win last night.

Speaker 6 (19:49):
If you really look at the body of work, and
you look at the Southeastern Conference of what we have
to go through every week, we.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
Look at the non conference schedule.

Speaker 6 (19:56):
We played to go to Ohio State and week won
and lose by seven.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
We out ain't about nearly two hundred yards.

Speaker 6 (20:01):
We got a really good football team, and it would
be a disservice to our sport if this.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Team's not a playoff team.

Speaker 6 (20:07):
But we want to schedule that non conference game because
if we're a ten or two team, it's not a
question we were willing to go play that game.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
So is not what college football is about.

Speaker 6 (20:16):
Don't play anybody and just have a good record for
play the best and put the best teams in the
playoff and we're one of the best teams.

Speaker 3 (20:23):
It's a good argument, you know. It's the best thing
I can say, especially in sports radio. Right if there
are I'm arguing my point, someone else is arguing their point.
If you just bring a good argument to the table,
that's all I'm asking for.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Right.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
I don't agree with this argument, but that's a really
good argument. If you're gonna argue for Texas, Sark did
about as good of a job as you can do.
My thing is, don't lose to Florida. Don't lose three games,
you know, like someone's gonna get squeezed. We can't let
everybody in here. And if you've lost to Florida and
that's one of your three losses, that's too many losses.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
And I hear you.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
If you were ten and two dot dot dot, guess
what you're not. You're not ten in two. So sorry,
I get the argument. If you didn't play Ohio State,
you'd be in the playoff because he'd probably schedule someone
who isn't as tough, and chances are you would have
won that game and you would be there. So I
get the argument. But we can't just let these teams

(21:22):
in that have too many losses. And yeah, you could
argue it, say it's a disservice to college football. Who
wants to schedule up going forward? Just look at Texas.
Look how Texas gets screwed this season, so forth and
so on. But hey, so be it. Someone's got to
get squeezed and it's gonna be hook them. They're not
gonna be in the playoff.

Speaker 2 (21:40):
They're not and they don't deserve to be. And even
though it is a good argument, because he raises the
point that when you're scheduling and you happen to schedule
based on the strength of your conference, but also stepping
outside of your conference to take on Ohio State, the
likes of Ohio State, Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas, A and M
and Vandy in the same season and you go three
and two through that run. I mean, that's a damn

(22:03):
good record against those teams who are all in the
top ten. Right now, here's the problem is you did
have that other whoopsies. And when you do have that margin,
if you were one of the teams on the inside
looking outward at a different team, like say it was
Oklahoma who was pleeing their case, or say it was

(22:24):
an m who was playing their case, and you would
have you would be Texas one of the first teams
out if they jumped in to the playoff. How would
you be? He would be making the opposite argument, like
he would say, no, that's a three loss team. I'm sorry,
but the record's the record. Look, what he's doing is
he's singing for his own supper, and he's placating anybody

(22:49):
who will listen to buy the argument, because this is
the side of the coin he's on right now. He's
on the outside looking in, so of course he has
this opinion. But I don't think that Steve Sarkisian is
going to stick to his guns next year. If he's
trying to fend off a three win team or excuse me,

(23:09):
a three loss team that's trying to fight their way
into the playoff, he's going to point to their record
and say, hey, look, the record's not good enough. The
record's just not good enough, So don't buy it for
a second. It's not like he's loyal to the ideology
or loyal to the argument. He's loyal to the argument
this year because it's the argument that suits Steve Sarkisian

(23:31):
and the Longhorns.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
Yeah, and don't get me wrong, Texas does have a
really solid resume, But if we're using the quality loss argument,
then you just really can't put them in the playoff
with the loss of Florida. I think, you know, it's
almost like you're going through the pros and cons of
dating someone and you just ignore the gigantic red flag

(23:55):
because all of the pros outweigh them, like, for example,
only team to beat three culturable Playoff Top ten teams
at the time of the game. They're the only team
in college wopball to do that. They're the only team
with two wins against teams currently ranked in the Cullegeurwable
Playoff Top ten, the first team since the LSU National
Championship team to beat three ap top ten teams at
the time of the game. I mean, the resume is
really strong on the pro side, but then there's that

(24:18):
red flag that's just staring you're right in the face.
And unfortunately, I don't think the committee can ignore it
because of the precedent they have set in years past
where they care about the quality of your losses. Now,
to be fair, I do think there is a path
for them to get in. It involves a whole lot
of chaos. It involves Oklahoma losing to LSU. It involves

(24:41):
Alabama losing at Auburn. It involves Oregon losing at Washington.
I think they need two or three of those things
to happen. They need Vandy to lose to Tennessee. I mean,
I think they need like at least two of those results.
I think to take place. They need BYU to get
smacked by Texas Tech in the Big Twelve Championship game
and to put them on two losses. I mean, maybe

(25:03):
even Miami to lose to Pittsburgh today. Like they might
need three or four of those things to happen in
order for them to get into the playoff. But I
do see a path, like I think because of the
recency bias narrative that is going to seep into this conversation.
If two or three of those things that I just
mentioned happened today and then you got Texas sitting there
and the last thing the committee saw was them beating

(25:25):
an undefeated A and M team, then yeah, I do
think there's a possibility. So I'm not gonna slam the
door shut. I'm not gonna, you know, like at Jehovah's
Witness comes to your door and Sark's trying to sell
you on all this stuff. I'm not gonna slam the
door in his face. I'm gonna listen to him. But
I do think at the end of the day, it's
gonna take a lot of help in order to get
the Long Horns into the playoff. Yeah, it's not happening.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
There's not like a I hear you, Jared, Like technically
if the planets aligned and this team loses and that
team loses, and this other team and that other team
and maybe one other like if all that happens, yeah, sure,
it's not kinda it's not viable path for them to
make the playoff.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
Nor should they.

Speaker 3 (26:03):
I just I don't think that they have the goods
And listen, they've got a resume where you can play
this game where it's.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
Like, ah, just ignore.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
That, but look at this, look at this, look at
look at all these, and Texas has that. Texas has
some great things on their resume that you can point
to last night being the best thing. They just been
an undefeated team by ten points. That matters. But what
also matters is losing to Florida. Like the example Jared
pointed out, if you're looking at this girl to possibly
date and you're like, like, like Texas's resume, If it's

(26:34):
this girl you're thinking about dating, it would be like, man,
she's really smart, she's beautiful. The only the only drawback
is she doesn't have a nose, and it's like, what
that would be the loss to Florida. She doesn't have
a nose, Like, how could that be?

Speaker 4 (26:48):
It's blowing my mind.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
You don't even have one, right like that, you can't
ignore the loss to Florida, Like, get out of here. Hook,
I'm sorry, Better luck next year, win more games. I
don't know what to tell you. We moved to Miami
against Pittsburgh and Miami's number twelve, Pitt is number twenty two.
Pitt is a seven point home dog here. And you know,

(27:10):
as far as just the game, we'll look at the game,
then look at the big picture here. I think Miami's
pass rush could really mess up Pitt's whole offensive attack.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Here.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
They're very reliant on the passing game. They broke out
running the ball, but that was against.

Speaker 4 (27:24):
Georgia Tech last week. That's not gonna happen against Miami.

Speaker 3 (27:27):
And when you saw pitt get blasted by Notre Dame,
a big part of that was Notre Dame's pass rush.
It completely discombobulated Mason Heidinchel and that passing game. So
I look for that to possibly be the formula today
and also the bigger picture. Man, it seems like everybody's
gung ho on Miami except the Committee. The Committee's like, yeah, yeah,

(27:50):
we'll figure it out. Don't worry, we got this. But
every argument I hear is just how can you leave
the canes out? And I hate to say, you guys
know this about me. I'm more on that side of
the argument. Head to head has to matter more. And
in this situation, I get it. If Notre Dame, you know,
if they had these glowing, huge wins and okay, like

(28:13):
maybe head to head doesn't matter as much. But the
resumes being what they are, Notre Dame, Miami, these teams
are comparable. I don't know how the Committee can say
they're not even comparable. We're not even really comparing them.
That's insanity. The schedules being what they are, who they played,
who they beat. Notre Dame has better losses, Miami has

(28:33):
the best win. They beat Notre Dame head to head,
that has to matter more. I'm more against the Committee
than with the Committee on this one. So what do
you think about the game? What do you think about
Miami and the playoff coming up here?

Speaker 2 (28:44):
Rich? Yeah, I mean Miami in general, I feel like
they could be sitting pretty and they really could feel
better about where they were if they would have performed
better against Louisville and SMU. But you know, they let
both of those games slip away late, and you know
you are what your record says you are. And that's

(29:06):
kind of the same problem the Longhorns have right now.
And I mean that in two ways. It's both the
losses you have, how pretty or bad those losses are,
and also the strength of the schedule you play against.
Like both of those things are considered, and both of
those things will matter when your reputation is being weighed
and balanced against the other best teams in the country

(29:29):
to decide who goes and who stays home. So yeah,
I again, it's an unfair world for teams that didn't
take care of business. But them's the breaks, and this
game look still very important because there is a way
they could still vie for an ACC championship game, and
there is a route there. They need some help. But

(29:52):
you look at Miami against Pitts specifically, I think the
matchup that you're going to focus on if you're real
football nut and you love to see the nuts and
bolts work themselves out, is this pit offensive line against
this Miami defensive line. I think that's where the game
is gonna be won and loss. Miami. That is the

(30:12):
strength of their team. There's no question Pitt's gonna have
a long, hard day trying to run the football. I
don't think that's gonna be their plan. But they're also
gonna need to get the ball out of their pretty
talented quarterbacks hands quickly here today. So we'll see if
they can handle the rush and we'll see if they
can get the ball moving at all on the ground.
I'm talking about Pittsburgh on offense, but I do think

(30:34):
that's gonna be the matchup to watch.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
Yeah, again with the Miami getting into the playoff talk,
it's the same issue as Texas, just a little bit different.
It's the quality loss discussion, like if you eliminate the
head to head and I'm not saying the head to
head shouldn't matter, but this is how the committee's framing
it because again, they've given us this precedent, they have

(30:58):
shown us what they care about based off of last year.
That doesn't mean they can't change their mind, because they're
human beings and they changed their mind all the time,
but based off of what we've seen they care more
about quality losses. Well, Miami loss to Louisville and SMU
Notre Dame loss to Miami in A and M It's
to me it's obvious which team has better losses? Should

(31:20):
that matter in a playoff where it could go down
to one on one? And I think the reason why
I think the committee does, I'm trying to think of it.
I'm trying to look at it from their perspective. There
isn't always a cut and dry head to head matchup
that you can grade, so the committee defaults to quality
losses as kind of that differentiator. I understand that because

(31:44):
how how often are we comparing two teams like Notre
Dame in Miami and they just happen to play each other,
and the team that happened to win has the worst
losses later on the net season like it like the
way that it played out this year with that scenario
is very you. But I do think head the head
should matter. It's the first tiebreaker in almost every scenario

(32:07):
when you grade teams, especially in the NFL. So I
think we need to adjust the way we frame these teams.
But again, I only have the information that's in front
of me, which is based off of how the committee
has graded teams in the past. Miami is on the
outside of this conversation because of the quality loss narrative.

(32:29):
To be fair, though lack could change today and all
of a sudden by next week based off of carnage.
Similar to the Texas argument, it might not matter because
Miami is so far in the field because of all
the other crap that happens around them. About this particular game,
I think Pitt's a little live here, I do. I
think the weather.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Could be a factor.

Speaker 4 (32:48):
It's cold. It's a cloudy, miserable day in Pittsburgh. I
don't think there's gonna be any rain. But I don't
think Miami likes thirty degrees. I know Carson Beck certainly doesn't.
He likes it nice and warm. That's why he transferred
to Miami and not Boys. And Heinschel's been very high
and low. I mean, if he gives you his plus
game today and Miami struggles to get after the passer, yeah,

(33:10):
I could see Pittsburgh hanging in this game. But Miami
is so good in the trenches. I think Malakai Tony
has a big game. That was the bet I made
in this game I made Tony over seventy two and
a half receiving yards. He is one of the highest
graded receivers in the Power For Actually, this might shock you,
he's the third highest graded Power for receiver behind Jeremiah
Smith and McKay lemon. I mean, he's a freshman and

(33:31):
those two other guys are NFL first rounders. So I
am very impressed with what I've seen from Tony third
in yak third and miss tackles like he's one of
the best receivers in the country this year, and Pittsburgh
has struggled in the slot at the cornerback position. That's
one of their weaknesses. So I think Tony could be
in for a big game on the other side of
the ball that defense for Miami's nasty Mesador and Baine.

(33:54):
I mean that could be, like he might Bay might
be the number one pick in the draft next year, guys.
See as crazy as that sounds, her well could be.
And they've got just a bunch of dudes up front.
Pittsburgh's own lines about average this year. I think that's
the matchup on that side of the ball is pressure
on Heinchel and he can kind of be a little
turnover prone, and Miami's done a really good job generating

(34:15):
pressure this year.

Speaker 3 (34:17):
I don't know that the committee is thinking of it
like this, but I know a lot of people on
the outside looking in or thinking about it like this.
I can't even believe I'm gonna say this. All right,
there's an argument for Notre Dame, the team I love,
the city that I was born and raised in. There's
an argument for Notre Dame that is just freaking awful. Okay.

(34:39):
The argument is, well, hey, if these teams met on
a neutral field right now, I think Notre Dame would win,
as if what we're putting Notre Dame in the playoff
because of that? Like here, here's the thing. I think
that Notre Dame right now is a better team than Miami.
I also think that on a neutral field, Notre Dame
would win. But guess what that could be freaking wrong?

Speaker 2 (35:01):
All right?

Speaker 3 (35:01):
I thought Ohio State was gonna blow the doors off
Michigan last year. They lost at home. Like, there are
surprises all the time in football. And we're gonna sit
here and say Notre Dame should be ranked higher because
we think they would win on a neutral field. Are
you out of your mind right now. That is insanity.
We can't put a team in the playoff because you

(35:23):
think they would win on a neutral field. Now we
gotta go by what actually happened on an actual field
instead of this theoretical new matchup on a neutral field.
That's insanity. I hate saying I'm wearing a Notre Dame
shirt right now. I hate myself. But that's the truth.
That's a terrible argument.

Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yeah, yeah, and it always will be because you're operating
in fantasy and you're looking at you're looking at things
too qualitatively instead of quantitatively, like we have data. We
actually have raw data that shows us who who you
are as a football team, and we're going to trust

(36:03):
this ethereal imaginary land where if these teams face each
other and we sprinkled the little fairy dust, the outcome
would look like this. It's like, okay, yeah, that's great.
But if that is all it was, then why do
we have a regular season. Let's just fast forward to
the playoff and just assume who's gonna be the best

(36:25):
teams based on rosters, the same way we do with
preseason polling, which, by the way, how often does the
poll in January look anything like it did in August.
The answer is they look vastly different, and there is
a reason because all of a sudden quantitatively, teams factor

(36:46):
themselves out, They get hurt, they get worse, teams get better.
Things change. So you cannot convince me that the right
way to look at this argument is, well, if these
two random teams who didn't face each other did face
each other in Valhalla, like in this ethereal world that
floats somewhere above our imagination, the outcome would be closer

(37:10):
than whatever happened week three of this season. It's like, okay, great,
but Week three of the season did happen and the
Canes did lose that game or Texas did lose that
game to DJ Lagway and company, like we saw the result,
So you have to punish them or give them their
their props accordingly.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
Yeah, no doubt. That's Rich Ornberger, Penn State All American.
We've got Jared Smith FSR betting analyst with us. I'm
Brian No coming up next to parlay Pladder, which have
one selection for you.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
We pull it together for a greater payout. We will
compare notes momentarily.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM.
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(38:08):
over twenty MGM resorts. And be sure to follow BETMGM
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is Metal Saturday. I don't know a better. Alex Tyschert
is in today. Man, he's an metal head over you.
I love this beautiful all right, Let's get to the
parlay platter. Let's dive into this.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
Check this out r lay flatter.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
All right, Jared, we start with you. We each have
one selection for you. We pull it together for a
greater payout.

Speaker 4 (38:40):
What do you like today? Well, I was looking at
this Vandy Tennessee game, and I think we're in the
point of the year where I would prefer to bet
unders where I can just because of you know, whether
in the vibes of the season everything's getting tighter. But
I see shootout vibes. With this game. You have two
of the three highest graded quarterbacks in college football, Diego
Pavia and Joey Aguilar, and Vandy and Tennessee I think

(39:03):
are gonna be slinging it all over the yard. I
don't like the Tennessee pass rush in this game, and
I think that is where Pavia you get that Heisman vibe,
and I think he is gonna be chasing that. So
I don't think there's gonna be a letoff in this game. Obviously,
Vandy still has hopes to make the Collegeable playoff. Joey
Aguilar and the Tennessee offense goes quick, quick, quick, quick tempo.

(39:24):
So I'm gonna sell a couple of points here. The
total sixty six and a half, we're gonna go over
sixty eight and a half, So hofef we get sixty
nine nice for plus one oh five first leg of
the parley platter.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Okay. I like this UNLV Nevada game going over the
fifty three and a half total. And here's why UNLV
needs this win, like blood to stay in the conversation
for the mount West Conference title game. You have a
great UNLV offense, very efficient offense going against a very
poor Nevada defense, and then you have a poor Nevada

(39:56):
offense that ugly but just good enough to put up
some points in some of their matchups this year. Going
against a defense for the Reps that's really struggled this year,
I think this game has serious implications of going way
over and so, yeah, I liked over on that fifty
three and a half number.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
Yeah, I'm gonna go with this Miami pit game. I'm
looking at the first half. I've got under twenty four
and a half. I just don't see points galore early
in this game. I don't see points galore throughout the game.
Miami is a really tough defense. I don't think Pitt's
gonna be able to run the ball very effectively. And
Mason Heinschel, who I like a lot. He's had a

(40:34):
lot of success. He threw for like a buck thirty
against Notre Dame because the pass rush gave him all
kinds of fits. I think the same thing happens with
Miami today. I don't think Pitt's gonna gain a ton
of yards score a bunch of points in Miami's offense
on the road, cold conditions, I don't think they just
start hot right out of the gate. So I've got
the first half under twenty four and a half in that.

Speaker 4 (40:56):
One, eight to one after a nice little parlay boost all.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
Right, coming up next. This guy receives all the blame
and it does not make sense. Ah, yes, what is
going on? Happy Saturday to you. We are two hours
away from kickoff, hopefully two hours away from Pitt playing
great against Miami to help out Notre Dame. Hopefully we're
two hours away from that. I don't know, maybe we're not,
but we're two hours away from kickoff. I do know

(41:23):
that we're gonna get to a man, maybe the most
hated man in the NFL this season, that comes your
way in just a couple of seconds. 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,

(41:44):
and so much more. I think Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator
Kevin Petulo is the most hated man in the NFL
this season.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
Truly.

Speaker 4 (41:54):
Only someone told you that before the season started. In
a in depth film study about the Eagles.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
All yes, I know all the problems are because of
Kevin Petulo, Like this is this is the thing to me,
all right, Kevin Petulo stinks.

Speaker 4 (42:05):
Let's start with that.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
As Jared detailed in his twenty five minute video, you know,
breaking it down, He's not good. This offense is way
too simplistic. So make no mistake. I'm not sitting here
telling you, hey, you guys get it wrong. Patulo he's
got the goods. I'm not saying that at all. What
I am saying is he's blamed for everything that is
wrong with this Eagles offense. So they lost to the

(42:29):
Bears yesterday on Black Friday, twenty four to fifteen. Same
old story with the offense, you know, choppy, not getting
it done, not scoring enough, The defense got ran all over,
but they only gave up ten points through three quarters.
A good offense, you have the lead, you might have
a comfortable lead at that stage against a bad Bears defense.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
But the truth is this Eagles offense is broken right now.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
And all I hear is all Patulo. But that's my
new running joke. Any mistake. Even though it's not Patulo's fault,
it is Petulo's fault. Right, Like, if Jalen Hurts missus
Devonte Smith wide open across the middle, it's a walking touchdown.
If he just throws a simple pass. Oh freaking Petulo.
You know that's my new running joke where if Jalen

(43:14):
Hurts fumbles on a tush PUSH's that's Petulo's fault right there.
If Saquon Barkley drops a screen pass that's gonna go
for at least fifteen yards late in the game when
they have to have it, Oh, it's Petulo's fault right there.
That's the thing. Petulo's blamed for everything, and it's just
not the case. It's not true, it's ridiculous, it's misplaced blame.

(43:34):
The truth is with the Eagles, the offensive line is
greatly regressed, partly because of injuries. They don't have the
same running game at all. And Jalen Hurts is just
a guy without a good running attack. He's just average
without a great running attack like last year when Saquan's
rushing for two thousand yards. That's the truth with the Eagles.

(43:55):
So they still have limitations offensively that extend beyond Petulo.
Yet Patulo is blamed for everything. I think it's ridiculous.
He's the most hated man in the NFL this season,
and I think it's the dumbest take of the entire
NFL season to blame everything on Patuloh. But here we are.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
I agree with almost everything he said. I really do.
I like here's the reality. I think that Jalen Hurts
even when the Eagles are good. If you ask people honestly,
even Eagles fans, honestly, would you replace Jalen Hurts with

(44:33):
quarterback X, The answer would be yes, a lot more
than if you did this exercise with a guy like Mahomes,
a guy like Josh Allen, even a player who hasn't
had as much playoff success like a Justin Herbert, just
based on talent. Because Jalen Hurts I don't think is
one of those elite talents in the NFL. Do I

(44:56):
think he's a great winner? Yeah? Do I think it
has everything to with his talent? No, I think he
has been drafted into a very good circumstance with a
pretty stable head coach who's done a nice job is
surrounding him with talent and a staff that can coach
up that talent. And defensively, they've had a really strong
defense and offensive line wise throughout the majority of his career,

(45:20):
they've had a really strong offensive line and a run
game wise, they've had a really strong offensive or excuse me,
run game throughout most of his career. So I think
that takes the pressure off of a young developing quarterback
into a quarterback who can win and have the confidence.
And he came from a winning program and we know
all that. But getting back to Patula, I talked to
Wade Phillips once and during the conversation, I just asked

(45:44):
him about systems that work in systems that don't, and
what he thinks separates the winning coaching systems from the
losing ones. And he goes, Listen, there's a lot of
great offensive and defensive systems out there. But if you
have a great system that great players can't play Graydon, well,
then you got a bad system and you got to

(46:05):
throw it away and you got to figure out a
new system. And I think that's what's starting to unveil
itself in Philadelphia. They've had coaching changes. Unfortunately, Heavy is
the head that bears the crown. When you have a
good team, you're gonna get poached and you're gonna have
a brain drain every year or every two years. You're
gonna have your coordinators stolen from you and they're gonna
go become head coaches at different places around the NFL.

(46:28):
We saw that with Shane Steichen. We saw that with
Gannon after they won the Super Bowl. When you have
new coordinators, you need to coach them up or you
need to trust that their system is going to accommodate
your best players on the field. Otherwise you have a
bad system. If you have aj Brown on your field
and you can't find a way to keep him engaged,

(46:51):
if you can't find a way to get him the ball,
if you can't find a way to have success with
him and Smith and a quarterback who's talented enough like Hurts,
and a running back like Saquon Barkley, and a good
enough offensive line, not great, not as good as they've
been in years past, but a good enough offensive line. Well,
then you got a bad offensive system. And that's what
the Philadelphi Eagles are dealing with right now.

Speaker 4 (47:13):
Yeah, I agree Brian that you can't blame Petulo for
the execution of the plays on the field like that,
I think feels like a fair argument. But there also
is a level of I guess buy in from the players,
and when not everyone's fully bought in, that's when you
do see some of these inconsistencies on the field. Instead

(47:37):
of giving you my opinion, I will give you the
opinion of an Eagles reporter who I trust too. I've
been back and forth with all summer. You know, I
sent her the video and she's, you know, gave it
to a couple of our people. She's like, yeah, everyone
you know in our room agrees that, Like, it's just
not quite what we expected with the offense so far.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
She said.

Speaker 4 (47:55):
I think it's easy to blame the OC, but in reality,
these issues have happened on some level every year. Nick
is been OC and Jalen's been quarterback. Also, offensive line
banged up, doesn't help Saquon not himself, Stupid penalties. I mean,
I think that sums it up pretty well. Devin Kaney.
She does a great job covering the Eagles for one
of the radio stations. Aaron Philly gave me that, you know,
her opinion on the struggles this week, and I think

(48:17):
that is on point. Like, I think you do have
to at some level, and this is just the way
football is, Like we're talking about it with the link
Kiff and stuff like it. It all falls on the
coaching staff at some point, and that's why, like someone
has to be the scapegoat always. We always need somebody

(48:37):
to blame, and in this particular instance, Petulo is the
easy target because he wasn't the OC lost ter when
they won the Super Bowl. He hasn't been an OC
in his entire career. He's the new guy, you know,
in the play calling room. I know he's been on
the staff for a while, but obviously this role for
him is different. And there were a lot of question
marks when they brought in Scott Loflein in the offseason.

(49:00):
I mean I was ringing the bell, like, why are
you bringing in a guy who has been a head
coach and an offensive coordinator at the highest levels of
not only college football but also in the NFL and
you're bringing him in on a team that already has
the nucleus in place, Like that was a gigantic red

(49:21):
flag for me that they don't fully trust the guy
they just hired who to call the plays, and that,
to me, has played out exactly the way it looked
like when you're bringing in a guy like Scott Loefler. Again,
for those unfamiliar, Scott Lawler is the quarterbacks coach of
the Eagles. He's arguably, besides the offensive coordinator, the most

(49:42):
important person in that offensive room in Jalen hurts his
ear and you hire him from Bowling Green, like the
most random places of all places to hire an NFL
top notch assistant, and you bring him into the room
in the summer, and now you're seeing kind of I

(50:03):
think the reason why they made that higher because it's
just not fully right. And I'm not saying Petullo's to
blame for everything, but I think the initial reaction was
they don't really trust this guy, and I think they're
looking to pivot at some point. Maybe it won't happen
this year, maybe it'll happen in the off season. We'll
see how the rest of the year plays out for Philly.
But yeah, they need to play better too, Brian. But

(50:24):
I do think at it at the core, there is
a bit of a communication issue with the offensive play
calling and how things are being executed on the field.

Speaker 3 (50:33):
I just as a joke, I blame puttu Low for everything,
not just watching Eagles games. I blame him for like
everyday life type stuff where if I go to if
I go to the grocery store and the eggs cost
too much, freaking put tou low. You know, I just
blame him for everything because that's the fashionable thing to do.
Right here, The truth is, right, there's some truth. If

(50:53):
they they just kicked him to the curb and they
brought in an offensive play caller that has the goods,
you know what I mean, you would see some positive
impact on the Eagles. It would jump start them in
certain ways, but you would also see the glaring deficiencies
that they're dealing with right now. Right even the best
offensive play caller, he'd be like, all right, so offensive
line is regressed, and we're having a hard time running

(51:15):
the ball, Okay, all right, well that's gonna be challenging.
And well let's throw it here. And we've got Jalen Hurts,
who's really average without a good running game, you know,
So you're gonna have limitations with that offense, with whoever's
calling plays right now. That's just the truth of the matter.
I want to get the Chiefs in here because and
we're not just gonna talk smack about Philly We got
to talk smack about the Chiefs as well, right, like

(51:37):
what is going They're.

Speaker 4 (51:38):
Six and six.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
The Chiefs are six and six with the healthy Mahomes
all season long. Is amazing to me. And it's the
same thing against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving, these unforced errors
where it's a one score game. We're in the fourth quarter,
about nine and a half minutes to go, Chiefs down
by seven, and they've got the ball around midfield, third

(52:01):
and eight, gotta have it wide open Rashie Rice over
the middle. He just drops it, just drops the ball
like this never happened before for the Chiefs committing big
mistakes in key moments, but they've done it time and
time again this season. It just blows my mind. Man,
in today's NFL, if you have arguably the best quarterback

(52:22):
in the game in Mahomes, teams just don't miss the
playoffs with an advantage like that, you know.

Speaker 4 (52:28):
And it's not like they've got this the.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
Bengals defense or you know what I mean, like the
worst offensive line in football. It's amazing that this team
is six and six here. But that's where we are, man,
with a healthy Mahomes and without like huge injuries up
and down the roster. They're a six and six football team.
That blows my mind.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
I agree with you. I think there's something, I think,
from a motivation standpoint, very much wrong with this team.
I remember when I was playing in New England and
this was the down years, the quote unquote down years
for the Patriots. We still went to the playoffs every year,
was there. It was two thousand and nine through the

(53:11):
twenty eleven season. We had a Super Bowl berth. That
was the second loss in the twenty twelve Super Bowl
to the Giants. And this again, this was considered the
down years for the Patriots. Still winning the division every
year or getting in as a wildcard and making deep
playoff runs and all that stuff. So anyways, I remember

(53:33):
every single year feeling as much on eggshells as I
did my rookie year. And the reason was because Bill Belichick,
regardless of how you feel about him now, but when
he was at the head of the class with Tom
Brady in that room, he made it very clear that
whatever the results were the year before did not matter.

(53:57):
It was brand new season, it was a brand new team.
You didn't earn anything, yet you are nobody's doing nothing
until you do something, and I remember that feeling was
very tenuous, and it put everybody. It put everybody on watch,
everybody on warning. It didn't matter if you were the
best player in the room, it didn't matter if you

(54:18):
were the fifty third player in the room. Everybody had
their job and if you didn't do your job, you
got gone. During my time there, Randy Moss got gone.

Speaker 4 (54:26):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
And Randy Moss was two seasons departed from one of
the best seasons and the NFL wide receiver had ever
had ever and he was gone. And so the precedent
was the precedent. The method was set, it was the
Patriot way, and if you didn't do it the right way,
you got out of that room. And I think somewhere

(54:49):
along the line the Chiefs have lost that whatever that is,
whatever it is with championship teams. Now, can they recover, Yeah,
but right now they look like they're a drift a
little bit. They need to get back to whatever that
is that special teams are able to cultivate. You know,
for years, the Lakers had it with Kobe for years,

(55:11):
the Bulls had it with Jordan for years, the Warriors
had it with Curry for years. Well, You can't really
say that about Lebron's career because he's been a little
bit of a you know, a fly by nighter. He'll
move to wherever the championships are. Kevin Durant, same thing,
but Brady with the Patriots and Mahomes so far with
the Chiefs, it's been that way. But this year it

(55:34):
doesn't feel like everybody's bought in and cares as much
as they have in years past. And I can't put
my finger on it, but that's what it looks like
from the outside looking in.

Speaker 4 (55:44):
Interesting for me, it just looks like the balls not
bouncing in their direction. Trevor Lawrence falls down, gets back
up and scores.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
Like that was a nutt he finish at Jacksonville. Yeah,
it was.

Speaker 4 (56:01):
And I'll be honest, that might be the game that
keeps them out. I mean it honestly might because Jacksonville
is in the hunt for a wildcard spot and that
unlike college football, the head to head does matter and
the tiebreaker for the Chiefs, Like, that's that's the problem
right now for the Chiefs. Right They lost to the Bills,

(56:21):
they lost to the Jags, they lost to the Chargers.
Guess who the three wildcard teams right now are in
the AFC, right, Chargers, Jags, Bills. Yep, like you got
so now you've got to finish a game in front
of all three of those teams in order to get
the tiebreaker out of the equation. So I'm not saying

(56:42):
the Chiefs can't run the table. I'm not because they can.
They can absolutely go eleven and six and be the
five seed and nobody even like we don't even remember
this conversation happened. Texans, Chargers, Titans, Broncos Raiders. Wow, I
think three of those games feel like wins. I think
they beat the Chargers at home in the return matchup.

(57:02):
I think they obviously beat the Titans. God, God, with
God forbid they don't. They don't beat the Titans, then
we got a problem on our heads here Kansas City.
And obviously they're gonna beat the Raiders here in Vegas
in week eighteen. So the two games that are gonna
decide it next Sunday night at home to Houston. Oh man,
is that a massive game for both teams? That game

(57:25):
right there is likely a play off game. I think
the loser of that game's out, and then the Broncos
at home. It looks like Christmas night.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
Whoa boy?

Speaker 4 (57:37):
Yeah, I mean you're talking about and this is let's
be honest, guys, let's be honest. The NFL is loving
this they've got. Let's say Houston, they beat Houston next Sunday.
I think they will. I think they win their next
three and I think they're nine and six heading to
that game against Denver on Christmas Night. Game Denver could

(58:01):
be thirteen and two at that point. That game on
Christmas Night between the Chiefs and the Broncos is going
to be like a mini AFC championship game. I love
that game is going to be awesome, and I hope
it's nine and six Chiefs against thirteen and two Broncos
because who baby buckle up for that one.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
I think the Broncos are such frauds. I agree, but
it hasn't shown up yet. I think they have a
really high floor, and I think they have a low
ceiling right that. Their formula high floor, solid defense, great
offensive line, don't give up sacks, sack the other team's
quarterback like more than anybody, like distancing yourself. That formula,

(58:42):
you're gonna win a lot of games in the regular season.
And that's what they've done. But come playoff time, man,
you got to bring more offense than they have. So
I think they have a limited ceiling. But you're right right.

Speaker 4 (58:53):
That game on Christmas Night could have huge stakes attached
to it.

Speaker 3 (58:57):
I think two super quick points. We got to get
the shit. The ball not bouncing their way, there is
something to be said for that, Jared. You think about
last year, the ball bouncing their way like Likely's big
toe is out of bounds. The first game of the season.
Oh yeah, you know, the Broncos have a field goal blocked.
Could have been a loss easily. The Raiders fumble a

(59:19):
shotgun snap when they're not looking for like, on and
on and on and on.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
They're winning these games.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
And the game on Thursday against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving
George Pickens fumbles. There's nothing but Chiefs around and out
of nowhere, here comes Turpin just sliding into like that
wouldn't have happened last year. I don't know how to
explain it. It just wouldn't have. So it's crazy how
that does happen. I was thinking, I'm like, are they

(59:45):
just mentally spent? You know, they've been in the AFC
title game nine straight seasons. Is that partially why they're
just making these errors when they never used to? Like
maybe at times there might be something to be said
for that. But then I go back to Rashi Rice.
He drops that pass over the middle.

Speaker 4 (01:00:01):
It's like, this is year three.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
He only played four games last year due to injury.
He was suspended for the first six this year. That's
not a guy who's just like mentally spent. That's just
a guy dropping a ball. That's all it is. So
I don't know. It's a mixed bag with them, but
it's a concoction of bad which turns out for them
to be a six and six football team. There are
a lot of things going wrong. It's wild, But here

(01:00:24):
we are, man, all right, We've got Rich Hornberger, Penn
State All American, Jared Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No.
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(01:00:46):
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the bonus code is countdown BETMGM. Make it legendary, all right?
Coming up next, speaking of legendary, Seamus McGee, team lead
of Sports Trading at BETMGM, gets you all set for
a full day of college football. I'm sure he'll have
some strong stances, strong opinions, and a shame of special
as well. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff

(01:01:09):
presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to
Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Be sure to check out
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(01:01:30):
hub with all of your personalized rewards, and new players
can receive up to fifteen hundred dollars back in bonus
bets with bonus code countdown. What they don't win their
first bet, that's code countdown in the BETMGM app. Alright,
let's do this. We got a little Shamus McGee with

(01:01:52):
us here follow the money with our team lead of
sports trading from BETMGM here in just a second. He's
just fired up. He's a little bit too giddy. We
got to calm him down. There was Mega Death playing
in the background. We know, we know how big of
a fan that Seamus is of Dave Mustain and Megadeath,
So we need to just calm him down just a
little bit, you know, a little breathed in, breathe out

(01:02:16):
some zeb.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
He's as upset as Steve Sarkeesian is over the Longhorns
getting omitted from the CFP rankings for playoff consideration right now.
Maybe he's banging a drum somewhere for Miami, although I
doubt it because I'm sure he's more on the Virginia bandwagon.

Speaker 4 (01:02:34):
Right trying to figure out how the state head coach
is going to be because I have no idea who
it's gonna be. I thought it was gonna be Eli Drinkletz,
and then all of a sudden, Miszoo gave him a
big raise. This is the year that James Franklin gets
everyone in college football rays.

Speaker 3 (01:02:47):
By the way, how that is correct? How crazy is that?
Just how the landscape has changed. It's wild with Ni
l this this like back years ago, this never would
have happened. You've got LSU Florida Penn State Open, and
you've got Eli Drinkwitz like I'm gonna stay at Missoo.
You've got Clark Lee saying I'm gonna stay at Vanderbilt

(01:03:08):
right like these guys and he's about to flip the
number one quarterback.

Speaker 4 (01:03:11):
Yeah, And it's it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:03:13):
That's the thing. It's it's a different day and age,
and you don't have to go to like the quote
unquote power schools to be able to recruit, like get transfers,
nil money. It's really changed a lot. I've got Seamus
McGee with US now team lead of sports Trading at
bet MGM. I just assumed that you were you had
to be settled down after Megadeth was playing. Is that correct, Seamus,

(01:03:37):
the metal head that you are. Where's metal in the
power rankings for you? Genre wise of music? Seamus, I
need to know.

Speaker 7 (01:03:45):
I think you'd be surprised it's lower than you think. Big.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
That's not surprising at all. I would have been surprised
if you're like, actually, it cracks my top five.

Speaker 8 (01:03:54):
You know, interestingly enough, you're gonna take it up with
bo I got I got the phone call and he
said the phone was on the fritz.

Speaker 7 (01:04:01):
I didn't hear any music when I came on.

Speaker 1 (01:04:02):
Oh I got you?

Speaker 4 (01:04:04):
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
That doesn't fire you up at all? Here Samus your
kidding me? Man, I just can't believe this from you.
It's amazing. Well, listen, are you fired up about your
Virginia Cavaliers?

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
Here?

Speaker 3 (01:04:21):
Looks like they should be in the ACC title game?
If you're if you're handicapping, who you think is going
to be in the title game of the a SEC
when it's all said and done.

Speaker 4 (01:04:31):
Who are you betting on here?

Speaker 7 (01:04:33):
I mean it's hard not to be fired up after
that little snippet we just got from phone there, I mean,
ready to run through a brick wall?

Speaker 4 (01:04:39):
There go, there you go.

Speaker 7 (01:04:42):
I think, So who's getting done today? I think it's
it's winning your in. I think they get there. Now
you've seen this line has moved down all week. It's
open ten and a half, eleven and a half some spots,
but down to seven and a half now. Virginia's down.
Cam Robinson the best defensive player they got, so is
he worth that many points? We'll see, But you know,

(01:05:05):
you look at every metric, it should be it should
be UVa's game to win today and the line says so,
But I think it's gonna be UVASMU. We could see
some craziness, has I know, I know Georgia techniques of
Virginia loss, which, as we've seen in this rivalry game
the past twenty five years, I mean, it's always in
the cards. So I mean it's going to be a

(01:05:27):
crazy day in the ACC if either SME or UVA
go down. So it should be interesting.

Speaker 4 (01:05:33):
Yeah, I don't know how I like. The ACC has
just been such a mix back this year. I honestly
don't even want to try to predict it until we
get like a champion, and then I want to see
who that champion is, and then I guess we'll grade
it based off of the Miami situation, because is it crazy?
Is it crazy to assume that Miami actually right now

(01:05:54):
has the best chance to make the cultural playoff in
the ACC and it'll only be Miami and the winner
of the conference champion will be left out in the cold.
Like that kind of feels like the path we're on
right now, Seamus.

Speaker 7 (01:06:06):
Come on, what are we doing here?

Speaker 1 (01:06:08):
Ah, there we go.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
Let's hear it.

Speaker 7 (01:06:11):
This is after all the committee is done to the
ACC over the last five years. If they take in
let's just say Virginuine's the ACC championship. Let's compare resumes
JMU and UVA, who have a common opponents. Let's see Wazoo.
Both teams beat Wazoo and Louisville. You ve a beat

(01:06:32):
Louisville on the road. Jami lost quite two touchdowns. That's it.
It's over. Argument's over. Hey, this is ridiculous. If we
get two G five teams in over an ACC champion.
Georgia Tech look pretty pretty fine against the number four
team in the country yesterday. I don't see a Sun

(01:06:53):
Belt team doing that against Georgia. I don't see the
ACC champions getting in. I think it's a fun thing
to talk about if you went to JMU, but I
think it's it's going to be an ACC champion.

Speaker 2 (01:07:06):
Hey, you know, returning to the Heisman conversation, we were
having that cooled off in a major way recently for
obvious reasons. Is it Fernando Mendoza's award to run away
with now or is it worth putting a little sprinkle
on one of these higher value targets somewhere underneath him.

Speaker 7 (01:07:25):
I think Jeremiah Love and Saying for that matter, are
very alive. I think Callia too. If he just like
tucks up a bunch of numbers against Tennessee, Jeremiah Loves
rushing prop today is one hundred and thirty eight and
a half yards.

Speaker 3 (01:07:39):
That's wow, wow, It.

Speaker 7 (01:07:43):
Is kind of bigd in that Jeremiah Love is going
to have a huge day to day. And I'm starting,
you know, social media, You're starting to see a lot
of clamor for Love to win this award, and you know,
you tell you can get this to you. They they
try to Pat Mendoses staffs yesterday. I mean they went
up big and they just kept running the ball. So

(01:08:04):
he didn't have like a huge game to really pad
those stats, saying we'll see he's got a big opportunity.
He lights up the board in ann Arbor today. And
you know Pavia had a strong showing last year against Kentucky.
I think Vanderbilt, if they're starting to open it up,
I think they might try to, you know, pat some
Pavia's stats.

Speaker 3 (01:08:26):
How about what you need today, Seamus. On the bet
MGM side, you know there are betters out there that
like to align themselves with the sports books, right because
as Crack says, God protects the sports books, right, So
what do you need? And the betters out there they
might need it as well.

Speaker 7 (01:08:44):
Well. The game with godsmen good to the books. The
last two days, you know, every NFL dog pashing and
then we had a huge college day yesterday with Texas
outright being a far bigger result than I thought it
was going to be for the book. It's pretty even
going in that game, but it's gonna be pretty similar,
as you know as most weekends. We're just gonna need
dogs today. Michigan definitely would be the best dog to have.

(01:09:09):
It's pretty lopsided on on Ohio State. A lot of
backers just go into the well thinking they can't lose
another one to Michigan, but you know Auburn is another one.
Not only would Auburn be great to have outright for
the book, they would throw an absolute wrench into the
college football playoffs.

Speaker 4 (01:09:28):
It would be a disaster for my Alabama over nine
and a half wins ticket and pretty much my pride
and sanity on this show, because then Brian would never
let me hear the end of it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:37):
If never, never, I will never.

Speaker 4 (01:09:41):
Be taken seriously on this show ever again. If loses
to today.

Speaker 8 (01:09:48):
Serious like a serious idiot god, a serious cloud, which
is like an oxymoron. I, by the way, jamis I
am full scent Jeremiah Love Heisman.

Speaker 4 (01:10:02):
Maybe that'll get Brian back on my side. As I
just keep touting the Jeremiah Love Heisman. I think he
is going to go out. He's a hundred. We'll get
to him prop it up later, but he's gonna have
a big day. It does appear, though, like when you
look at the rest of the college football playoff, like
we're talking about this earlier with Texas and Vandy and
all these kind of fringe teams, the committee is kind

(01:10:24):
of punting and they're just kind of hoping that this
plays out naturally and organically today and next week. I
think it will, Like I think Vandy is going to
win and get in. But where where do you stand
on the Texas conversation? Like do they still have a
puncher's chance with three losses?

Speaker 7 (01:10:42):
I think Texas is more alive than I thought they
would be like after that game, because now that resume,
it's a very interesting one because now you already see
the you know, the SEC propaganda machine in full force
today with you're gonna tell him to not schedule Ohio
State at all instan if they played a Cupcake, they'd
be in and probably right, but I still think they're

(01:11:05):
going to need some help, like like a Vanderbilt loss
would help them out a lot Utah one yesterday which
wasn't great. A BYU loss would help A pit upset
over Miami that helps. I mean, Notre Dame seems locked in.
I don't know if they're going to jump them, but
you know what IFO you lose is too they have

(01:11:26):
a head to head over them. It's just the fact
they have three losses is kind of holding them back.
The last thing they need is in Michigan win today.
If Michigan upset, I think Michigan might just be in
the playoffs. It's two losses. One is to a top
ten team right now, and then you know they dropped

(01:11:48):
another big tenure. But it's they have a win over
Ohio State, who seemingly deemed unbeatable this year. I think
it'd be hard to leave Michigan out ten and two
with a win over Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
U Oklahoma today, LSU dogs, talk me, talk me off
of the taking the dogs with the points here, because
I mean, look, obviously we know LSU season has not
gone the way they wanted. They sent their head coach
packing with his fam melly back to wherever they're from.

(01:12:20):
Clearly Louisiana was not the place for him. My question though, is,
you know, do you think with the Oklahoma Sooners getting
closer and closer to that college football playoff birth, with
LSU really with nothing to lose, just playing for pride
at this point, they can keep it close with UH
with the Sooners' it's a tough one.

Speaker 7 (01:12:44):
Personally, I liked Under in that game, but it's really
tough to gauge with LSU's motivation is for this game.
They're seven and four, they're already into a bowl game.
They got to go on the road to Norman where
Oklahoma needs to a win this game first, and they
might be going for style points too. Trying to run
this up better. Seemed to believe that we've taken a

(01:13:06):
majority of Oklahoma minus ten and a half money here
some at minus ten by and a half point down.
I have a hard time getting on with old missed
here with an interim coach on the road. You're you're
in the bowl game already. We'll see how it goes.
I just think Oklahoma's motivation just might be more of
the play here.

Speaker 3 (01:13:26):
All right, Seamus, time for your special? What do you
have for the Shamous Special today?

Speaker 7 (01:13:31):
Yeah, I've always picked the UVA Virginia Tech game. I
think the last three years i've been on this show.
I'm not making that mistake again. I've never worked out
for Virginia, but yeah, I've I've talked a lot of
craft about this Wisconsin football program and Luke Fickel as
recently as last week. They're only two and a half

(01:13:53):
points on the road in Minnesota today. That was the
line I woke up looking at like that looks very interesting.
I like Wisconsin mines two and a half. They had
a nice little win last week up sitting Illinois. It
looks like they haven't given up them this season yet.
And you know, them laying points on the road tells
me it feels like they're the side here. So Wisconsin
mine is two and a half.

Speaker 4 (01:14:14):
Okay, all right?

Speaker 3 (01:14:15):
Interesting, I've you know I've heard of Wisconsin, you know
what I mean, like the Seamous Special Sometimes I never
heard of them.

Speaker 4 (01:14:22):
Yeah yeah, all right, like a good one right there, All.

Speaker 3 (01:14:25):
Right, Seamous good stuff as always, buddy, enjoyed the day.
Good luck to your Virginia squad and we'll catch you soon.

Speaker 7 (01:14:32):
Enjoy the games, guys. Go who's all right?

Speaker 2 (01:14:34):
You doo? There?

Speaker 3 (01:14:35):
He is Seamus McGee, team lead at sports Trading at
Bett MGM.

Speaker 4 (01:14:39):
Good stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:14:39):
Hey, we go straight from that to the tire Rack
Play of the day.

Speaker 4 (01:14:43):
Let's do it.

Speaker 9 (01:14:44):
Paul in the twenty eight snap to cannob fixed the
swift rolling to his left, being chased, Gonna throw deep,
he's got come bent over the shoulder, kenz down touchdown,
Bears touchdown.

Speaker 2 (01:14:56):
Could come back?

Speaker 4 (01:14:57):
Want to play?

Speaker 9 (01:14:58):
Call by Ben Johnson head up pro perfectly timed Caleb
to Cole Bears extendedly twenty three to nine.

Speaker 2 (01:15:06):
Dumbars.

Speaker 3 (01:15:07):
That's right, dumb Bears took the words right out of
my mouth. That's a courtesy of Bears Radio Network. Bears
take down Philly twenty four point fifteen on Black Friday.
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dot Com. The way tire buying should be all right,
Coming up next, prop it Up. That's right, the prop
betting market. We'll each give you a pick. Compare notes.
All that good stuff coming your way. Next, it's Fox
Sports Radios count Down to Kickoff presented by BETMGM. That
is Fox Sports Radios count Down to Kickoff, presented by
bet MGM. Be sure to subscribe to the Fox Sports

(01:15:50):
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And don't stop there. Hit that thumbs up icon and
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Speaker 1 (01:16:15):
Prop it up plays.

Speaker 2 (01:16:18):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (01:16:19):
We're breaking the law and doing prop it up, and
we're doing a couple of things at the same time. Jared,
we start with you, what's something you like the I.

Speaker 4 (01:16:27):
Fought the law and the law one that's one of
my favorites. I'm gonna go Jeremiah Love over rushing yards here, guys,
I'm gonna keep this as simple as possible. He First
of all, this is the late late, late, late late
game out there on the farm or any wait, is
that cal or is at Stanford? That's the farm. I
forget which one. Either way, it's a late game out
there in California. And I think this will this number

(01:16:51):
will continue to get bet up throughout the day.

Speaker 7 (01:16:52):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:16:52):
We talk about this a lot, I'm sure you guys
do on the Sunday Show with the props and crack.
The overs tend to get bet up pretty high. So
you want to bet the over bett early, you want
to bet the under bet right before kick. We're betting
the over here with Jeremiah Love. He needs a buck
thirty two to break the all time record. First of all,
Like that's just right out of the gate. There's no
way he doesn't get to one thirty two today, Like

(01:17:13):
they will keep feeding him the rock to get him
that record.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
Two.

Speaker 4 (01:17:17):
There is the Heisman consideration here, and I think the
Diego pavia A narrative is interesting with his overs today.
But I think Jeremiah Love, they really like he did
he struck the pos last week. That tells you how
he feels about this race. And I think they are
going to feed him like a absolute beast today. So
give me all the Jeremiah Love props over one thirty

(01:17:37):
eight and a half rushing yards for me.

Speaker 2 (01:17:40):
All right, I'm gonna go with Bryce Underwood, Michigan quarterback
in this huge rivalry matchup against Ohio State. Here's the
reason why Michigan dogged by ten. Michigan obviously highly successful
in this game. Here, here's here's my guess, right, Ohio
State wins this game. Michigan's trailing this game, and so

(01:18:02):
Bryce Underwood he's gonna have to throw the football a
good amount. So give me Underwood over the one hundred
and fifty six and a half yard prop. I think
he sales passed that now. Ohio States defense obviously incredible.
They're holding teams to less than two hundred ten yards
total on the season on average. They haven't played a

(01:18:23):
very strong schedule. Michigan's on a little bit of a keater,
and Bryce Underwood has averaged over two hundred sixty yards
per game through the air. So I like this Underwood
prop to go over, and it might sail pass, especially
if Michigan's playing catchup ball game even in the snow.
I think they're gonna have to air it out a
bunch against a talented Ohio State secondary.

Speaker 3 (01:18:43):
And over On Underwood I like that, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:18:46):
Oh wow, Right, I didn't catch that. Yeah, very good.

Speaker 3 (01:18:50):
We'll call him Overwood after today's game.

Speaker 2 (01:18:52):
Right, Yeah, he's cleared the line four of five times
this season. Actually, I have get the staff for you
later on, but you go, Brian.

Speaker 3 (01:19:02):
Okay, I'm gonna take Mason Hinschel. He's the Pitt quarterback.
I'm gonna go under two forty three and a half
passing yards against Miami. I like him a lot. He's
reached three hundred passing yards a number of times. I
just think against this Miami pass rush, I just saw
the blueprint play out a couple of weeks ago. Notre

(01:19:22):
Dame's pass rush gave Pitt's offense all kinds of problems.
They didn't have the same passing attack at all. He
threw for like a buck thirty two against Notre Dame,
like way way way under his passing yardage prop. I
just see the same thing playing out with Miami today.
Miami's got a nasty pass rush. I think it's gonna
overwhelm Pitt's offensive line, And even though I like Hinchel

(01:19:44):
a lot, I just don't think he's gonna have the
time that he needs to dice up Miami secondary. The
worry is if they're behind by a decent amount or
behind by anything late, he's gonna have to be throwing
it and throwing it. So it's a little bit dangerous,
but Colder can maybe a little snow flurry action over here.
Ridiculous pass rush, I think it points to the under.

(01:20:06):
I'm gonna go under on Hinschel under two forty three
and a half.

Speaker 4 (01:20:09):
I like it. Okay, game script scares me. Sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 2 (01:20:13):
I was just gonna say. Underwood has cleared the line
he's facing here at home four of his past five
home games. So it feels good. It feels good on
the the Overwood prediction today for the mission.

Speaker 3 (01:20:25):
Over Bryce Overwood. There you go, who's saying it feels good?
I don't know who's saying that, but that's what just saying.

Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
Back here.

Speaker 3 (01:20:36):
I come up next. It's not gonna happen again, right, Oh?
What is going on? Welcome in Happy Saturday. To you,
we are one hour away from kickoff. That is a
beautiful thing. We are one hour away from kickoff of
the Ohio State Michigan game. With a losing streak finally
come to an end for the buck Eyes. This is

(01:20:58):
an amazing stat. So the last last four years, Ohio
State is zero to four against Michigan, right, oh four
against everybody else not named Michigan. In that same span,
they are fifty eight and four.

Speaker 4 (01:21:12):
Isn't that amazing?

Speaker 3 (01:21:14):
So fifty eight and eight over the last four years,
and four of those eight losses have come against Michigan.

Speaker 4 (01:21:21):
That's mind blowing.

Speaker 3 (01:21:23):
When they they're fresh off winning a title, fresh off
deep playoff runs, you know they.

Speaker 4 (01:21:28):
Can't beat Michigan.

Speaker 3 (01:21:29):
It can't happen again, right, Like, they have to win
this game now, you know me, I have said that
I think Ohio State's overrated this year. That's not to
say I think they stink. What overrated means is the
reputation is greater than the reality. So when they're talked about.
Seamus even said at last hour, he was like, wow,
you know, Ohio State's borderline unbeatable, or at least thought

(01:21:52):
to be.

Speaker 4 (01:21:53):
And it's like based on what they beat Texas. That's it.

Speaker 3 (01:21:57):
That's their whole resume. They've played nobody all year, with
one exception, that being the Longhorns in the first game
of the season. They're not battle tested. This Thatt's crazy too.
Julian say in the Ohio State quarterback he's only thrown
twenty five passes in the fourth quarter this season. They're
blowing teams out left and right. So if it's a

(01:22:18):
close game.

Speaker 4 (01:22:19):
Who knows.

Speaker 3 (01:22:20):
It doesn't mean that Ohio State can't function. It's just
they're not experienced in those high leverage spots, those nip
and tuck, nail bider type scenarios. So I think that's
job one for Michigan today, Rich is can Michigan make
it a fourth quarter game and force Ohio State to
execute when it's crunch time because they haven't had to
pretty much this whole season.

Speaker 2 (01:22:42):
Yeah, they've been very protective and rightfully so, and smartly
of Julian saying and putting too much of the game
script on him. And he's young, and he's inexperienced, and
he's more experienced now than he was at the beginning
of the season, and he is in Heisman consideration for reason,
he's played well and he's arguably the best team in

(01:23:04):
the country. Here's here's here's the way you do that.
You have to find a way to get to them.
You have to find a way to to rattle his
gay his cage early in the game. And the best
way to do that is to win on early downs.
No easy feat against an Ohio State rushing offense that's

(01:23:28):
pretty good, but you gotta find a way to knock
them off schedule. That is the best game script to
get a good team or a better team behind the
eight ball is getting them into third and six plus
situations consistently. If you extend drives on Ohio State and
you force them into situations where they need to throw
the football seven eight yards to convert first downs. If

(01:23:52):
you force them into these longer twelve play drives to
score three points or seven instead of being able to
quick strike you and have an explosive play downfield or
in the run game, and shortened drives to four or
five plays to get scores, well, you're not gonna beat them.
You're just you're not even gonna hang with them if

(01:24:12):
you're Michigan. So that is going to be the task.
If I was repping anything, it was aggressiveness on first
and second down against Ohio State Buckeyes, which means that
you got to roll the dice a couple of times
and you will get burned a couple of times. There
will be chunk plays, but you have to make Ohio
State earn third down conversions if you're going to push

(01:24:33):
Julian Saying into the fourth quarter where he actually has
to throw the football. The other part of this game
that is not quantifiable, there will be no stat to
look up. This, this metric or this, this data point
is big game jitters, rivalry jitters, the nervousness that a

(01:24:54):
lot of these players who are involved in this game
are going to be playing with Michigan obviously going to
play be playing a lot looser than Ohio State because
of obvious reasons. Ohio State has a lot more to
lose in terms of the reputation department than the Michigan does.
Even though Michigan's on a low key heater. Right now,
here's the reality of the situation. Though this is Michigan's

(01:25:17):
super Bowl, this is it. This is the game that
matters to most of them this season. Ohio State's got
much bigger things in the vantage point through the windshield.
Michigan right now is going to be writing the PostScript
on their season going to whatever bowl they get into.
They've got to win this game if they're going to
be able to look at this as even something that

(01:25:39):
resembles a successful season. So it's going to be the
onus as usual over the past handful of years. Is
going to be on Ohio State to play to the colberd.
They've been playing all season long to get the victory,
and they're going to be serious nerves, especially on that
side of this matchup.

Speaker 4 (01:26:00):
Is there any other program in the country where you
can win the national championship but if you lose to Michigan,
it's still an unsuccessful season. It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (01:26:09):
It still blows in my mind. It's such a bad take.
It's like, it's crazy to me, you would rather beat
Michigan than win a national championship.

Speaker 4 (01:26:19):
That is what And I'm again I'm not an Ohio
State fan, so I can't speak from this angle, but
from the Ohio State fans I talk to, yes, it's
insanct that's exactly how they feel.

Speaker 3 (01:26:29):
That to me, Jared is you're preferring to win the
battle and you'd rather.

Speaker 4 (01:26:34):
Lose the war. Wow, that's insanity to me. It doesn't
make sense. But that's the beauty, and that's the beauty,
and that's the carnage, and that's the dance we do
in college football. That's how much of these games met.
It's wild.

Speaker 2 (01:26:46):
It really is.

Speaker 4 (01:26:48):
The irony of all of this is if Oregon loses
to Washington today, which is possible, and Michigan wins, we
would get Ohio State Michigan in the Big Ten title
game now week. That would be freakin' awesome. I hope
that happens, just for the drama of that matchup, which

(01:27:08):
would be amazing. I do think this Ohio State offense
is a little bit different than they were last year.
Last year, they were really good running it, and they
weren't as efficient throwing it, and we thought there was
some balance maybe and they were going to win the
line of scrimmage. They didn't win the line of scrimmage.

(01:27:28):
And I don't think if I think if they lose
the line of scrimmage again this year, I think they
are in danger of losing this game.

Speaker 2 (01:27:33):
Now.

Speaker 4 (01:27:33):
Bo Jackson's come on strong lately, he's a freshman, not
that bo Jacks at a different one. He's not coming
out of retirement. But he's been really good lately. His
rushing yards prop is in the high seventies today, which
again telling you that they think he's going to be
a factor in this game. You've got People's and Donaldson
and Jackson, so you've got some dudes that can run

(01:27:55):
it for Ohio State. But obviously the big ticket item
is the offense skill position, guys on the outside throwing
it down the field. Was saying, and Smith and Tate Nennis,
if I'm Michigan right, wink Martindale's defense they like the blitz.
I think they're really good off the edge. Barnum and
Moore and Ray Shawn Benny and Ernest Housman like, these
are really good linebackers and edge rushers. And I do

(01:28:15):
think Michigan's defense is going to be a factor in
this game. It's the ken Ohio State play with balance
on offense. And is Michigan again for a fourth, fifth second,
if you're going to win the line of scrimmage and
make this a one dimensional game for Julian saying, I
think that makes life on him a lot harder. On
the other side, we know Michigan wants to run it.
They're a top ten run rate team in the Power

(01:28:38):
for They're really good on both lines. They're a little
banged up. Justice Haynes out with foot surgery. The backup
Jordan Marshall also was out last week with a shoulder injury.
So how effective will Michigan be running it? To Rich's
prop coming up that we had in our last segment,
I do think there is a little bit of an

(01:28:59):
upside to Michigan's passing game lately. Andrew marsh has been
coming on really strong. Ohio State will likely stack the
box and force Underwood to throw it, So the question
is can he complete those passes downfield. That's going to
be the difference in the game. If Bryce Underwood can
step up and grow up and make some throws down
the field and loosen up that Ohio State front, I
think Michigan will be in this game. But Caden Curry,

(01:29:20):
Kenyata Jackson, Sunny Styles, Alvo Reese like these are first
rounders for Ohio State. Defensively, it is not going to
be easy sledding out there for the Michigan offense today.

Speaker 3 (01:29:28):
Yeah, that's The last part is to me, how this
game breaks down is can Michigan run the ball effectively
because that's what they want to do, and based on that,
how much success they have, how much success they don't have. Well,
then Bryce Underwood he's going to make up the difference.
Can he make the necessary amount of plays based on
what the running game is or isn't doing. And that's

(01:29:49):
the way it's going to play out for Michigan. How
much can the running game take away from Underwood's responsibilities
or how much does the lack of running game like
put a lot more responsibilities onto his plate. That's the
only way it's going to go for Michigan's offense.

Speaker 2 (01:30:05):
Yeah, yeah, Look, here's the reality of this game. I think.
I do think Ohio State wins this one, even though
we know what the past presents, and I think that
Michigan is going to have to put the ball there
as a result. But that's just what I think, you
know what I mean, Like any prediction you come up

(01:30:26):
with before a game actually takes place, Like we know
from many times watching college football, professional football, this sport
in general. The reason why it's so maddening is because
even when something makes plenty of sense on the outset,
it has no bearing on what actually is going to happen.
The ball shaped funny, it bounces funny directions. You know,

(01:30:47):
one player can ruin a play for a team's chances
to have success on any given play of the game,
and you're relying on eleven people on the field at
the same time. It's it's a crazy sport. So I
say this on the outset with some level of hesitance
that I think that this is the way it's gonna go.

(01:31:09):
If I had to put money on a prop like
we just did in our segment, I like the over
on Underwood. But the reality is when the bullets get
flying for real and and this game gets underway, I mean,
what if Michigan gets on an early tear, they steal
a couple of turnovers, and they have a two score lead,

(01:31:30):
and they're preserving it by running the football and having
long drawn out drives. All of a sudden, my over
bet starts looking pretty bad because if the run game's work,
and why get away from it? And that and that's
but that's how this game has played. How many times
has it gone completely in the antithesis of what everybody
thinks because it's a true rivalry matchup. So you know,

(01:31:53):
I know that it's such a cliche that emotions do
get in the way of performances, but it's true. It's true.
These games matter. A lot of these kids on that
roster who play for the Wolverines are from the Great
State of Michigan, and a lot of the players on
that Buckeye's roster they're from the great State of Ohio

(01:32:13):
and this matters to them. And so there's gonna be
a lot of nerves entering this game. So you can
make any prediction you want on the outside looking in,
but we won't know until probably after the first quarter
what direction this game is heading. My best g is
Michigan's trailing and they got to make up some in
the second half and they're gonna have to air it out.

(01:32:35):
But I mean, honestly, who knows. Who knows? This is
such a haphazard game to try a handicap.

Speaker 4 (01:32:43):
Would I would bank on Michigan being more run heavy,
I really would. I would be surprised if they just
let Underwood rip it today. Yeah, I mean, if you
look at their games this year. Now, to be fair, hastaate,
it's got a top ten run defense, So I'm not
saying it's gonna be easy. But you look at this
Michigan team. They've run for at least one hundred and

(01:33:04):
seventy five yards and nine of the eleven games this
year and the only two games that they were held
to under one seventy five Oklahoma and USC and they
lost both of those games. So are you gonna go
with the path of least resistance, which is probably under
throwing it down the field? Like that's to me where
the better matchups will likely be. Because Ohio State again

(01:33:27):
is gonna stack the box. They've held seven of their
eleven opponents to under one hundred yards this year. Like
that's what they do. They hold opponents to under one
hundred yards rushing, they do it very very well. Not
a single team all years run for over one to
seventy So that to me is gonna be the game
within the game. If Michigan can figure out a way

(01:33:47):
to run the ball and take the pressure off Underwood
and then utilize the passing game, I think that's the
path they will go based on the line movement, and
it kind of seems like Michigan's getting a little bit
of love here this morning, come and seeing it come
off to ten down to nine and a half, despite
the fact that the entire world based on the narrative,
right everyone, everyone who's thinking, And if you're listening out

(01:34:10):
there on the radio this morning and you're like, there's
no way Ohio State can lose again, that is the
gamblers fallacy. There is a way if you walk up
to a let's say that, and I've explained this before,
I'll explain it again. Like, let's say that coin flipping
became a bet you could make in a casino and
you walked up to the coin flip table at you know,

(01:34:32):
MGM Grand and you saw the little monitor next to
the you know, coin flipper, and it said ten consecutive
flips have gone tails or I guess in this case
with Michigan and Ohio State, even though the games weren't
coin flips, four consecutive flips have landed go blue. What
are you gonna bet on the next flip? You're gonna

(01:34:54):
bet Ohio State. There's no way that the next one
can be Michigan again. It's the same odds as it
was before. It's the same stinking odds. The prior results
are irrelevant to today's game, and it's hard for the
average gambler to get that out of their mind. That's
why it's called the gambler's fallacy. But yes, there is
absolutely a path for Michigan not only to cover this

(01:35:16):
game today, but to win.

Speaker 2 (01:35:18):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:35:18):
Hey, man, if i'm Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia,
my focus is on slowing down the running Game's that's
job one, two, three, maybe four and five is slowed
down the Michigan running game because that's what they're built on.
That's their identity. It's the old Belichick thing. Don't get
beaten by an opponent when they're doing what they do best,

(01:35:41):
you know. So you got to slow down the running game.
And if Bryce Underwood beats me, if he just carves
me up, I'm betting that he doesn't. You know, if
he does, I'll tip my cap. I'm not gonna like
have no safeties on the field and like stack the
box like that. I'm gonna have some respect for him.

Speaker 4 (01:35:57):
But I mean, that is.

Speaker 3 (01:35:59):
What gets Michigan going, is the running game. By the way,
there's an NFL note to pass along this is I
think it is terrible news. This is a big deal
for the Detroit Lions. Frank Ragnow was coming out of retirement.
He's going to stabilize that interior offensive line. Adam Schefter
just tweeted Frank Ragnow failed as physical and will not
play this season for the Lions. So that's on the

(01:36:22):
heels of losing at home on Thanksgiving to the Packers,
and now what seemed to be a nice shot in
the arm with Ragnow coming out of retirement, that's not
going to happen, as it turns out.

Speaker 4 (01:36:32):
So a tough deal for the Lions right there. What
do you think he failed? What do you think he failed?

Speaker 2 (01:36:36):
Right?

Speaker 4 (01:36:37):
You've taken these physicles before. I'm curious.

Speaker 2 (01:36:38):
Well, well, it says in the tweet that it was
a great three hamstring strain, which says to me that
what happened was his agent asked him, hey, Frank, you
still ready to go any way? I could be ready
in two weeks. I mean, give me a second to
get my cardio back up. And he started running some
sprints and he started getting himself in shape, suffered an injury,

(01:37:02):
and then went in and was probably honest with the
doctors and said, look, you know, I mean, I'm okay.
To go, but I tweaked my hammy a little bit,
and they probably looked at it and went on, you know,
on second thought, Frank like, we can't, we can't risk it.
We can't. We can't waste the roster spot and then
have somebody else on the IR So we're sorry, buddy,

(01:37:23):
we can't resign you right now. And that and then
it was probably a gentleman's handstake and he left the facility.
But that's a tough draw for him because it's gonna
be a nice paycheck and potentially a playoff run and
a nice PostScript to his career. It's a tough deal
for the Lions, be ye man, oh man, they need
help up front. They do.

Speaker 3 (01:37:41):
Like Jared Goff is a fish out of water when
he's facing a dude pass rush. His numbers are great
when he's unpressured, like freaking awful when he is pressured.
And I know there's gonna be a difference with every
quarterback between pressured and unpressured. It's to the extreme with Gough,
he's bad when pressured. So getting ragged now looked like

(01:38:03):
a big deal and that's not gonna happen now, all right,
We've got Rich Orenberger, former Penn State All American, former
NFL offensive lineman, breaking down current NFL offensive lineman. Hi,
let's go. We got Jared Smith, FSR betting analyst. I'm
Brian No. Bet MGM players will receive college Football Odds
boost tokens and College Football Parlay boost tokens throughout the

(01:38:24):
season to use on college football bets, score extra winnings.
If your bet with the token applied wins, check it
out in the bet MGM app. Allright, coming up next
for a team that's trying to pull off a home upset,
I've got some good news and I've got some bad news.

Speaker 4 (01:38:39):
Share it with you.

Speaker 3 (01:38:40):
Next, 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
stream us wherever you happen to be. Catch us in
all of our Fox Sports Radio shows live twenty four
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(01:39:00):
Radio in the app to stream ust live all day,
every day, and be sure to select Fox Sports Radio
as one of your presets in the iHeartRadio app. So
It'll always pop up at the top of your screen.
Shout out to Lemmy mantal Metal Saturday has been fantastic
right now, Yeah, I'm getting I like.

Speaker 2 (01:39:19):
It, baby.

Speaker 3 (01:39:20):
I don't want to live forever.

Speaker 2 (01:39:22):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (01:39:23):
Motorhead, that's right. You ever get ready for a game
to some motorhead there?

Speaker 2 (01:39:27):
Rich Uh? Yeah, I probably had Ace of Spades on
at one.

Speaker 1 (01:39:34):
Theades.

Speaker 2 (01:39:37):
That's right. Very good, love it.

Speaker 3 (01:39:39):
Alex is doing a tremendous job here today. Very fun
to hang out with him today. All right, we got
number six Oregon at Washington. Oregon is a seven point
favorite as we speak. This line is fluctuated a little
bit like seven in the hook to like six in
the hook. Now we're at seven, we're at a flat seven.
And I've got some good news bad news for Washington

(01:40:01):
trying to pull the upset. How about this. Against lesser defenses,
they have carved them up, averaging over forty points per game,
but against good defenses, not the same scenario. And they're
facing a good Ducks defense today. So that's the first
part of this is how much offense is Washington going

(01:40:22):
to be able to generate? The Ducks Still some injury
concerns over here right, the center is going to be out.
You got some wide receivers that are banged up, gutting
through it the whole thing. So the injury bug maybe,
I mean, that's a concern. On the road, tough place
to play. But I think for me, at least, it
starts with Washington's offense. How much are they going to

(01:40:44):
be able to score? How much are they going to
be able to generate against a really good Ducks defense.

Speaker 2 (01:40:50):
I think this this game could come down to the wire.
I think I think Fish is actually a pretty good
coach when he's an underdog in games. Overall, he does
a pretty good job motivating his teams. And then you
look at just the way the way Washington has played,

(01:41:10):
They've they've gone under the radar more than just about
any team playing FBS football in a major conference this season.
They they're not a great team. I don't think they
do anything that blows you away on paper, but they
they can keep it close with good competition and have
this season. I think they put a good scare into Oregon.

(01:41:32):
I'd be very willing, in fact, this may come up
in just a little bit here on rap Fire. I'd
be very willing to take the points here because I'm
not saying I'm not a believer in Organ, but I
don't think Oregon. You want to talk about overrated teams
this season.

Speaker 4 (01:41:52):
Careful, Jared might come after you. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:41:55):
Well, I'm just saying, like, like your definition of an
overrated team earlier in the show, Brian is accurate. Where
you hear the national media and the chatter and you
watch the games and you're like, something's not aligning here.
And I think a lot of people are assuming the
Ducks are a lot better than they are and I'm
telling you this is gonna be a close game.

Speaker 4 (01:42:16):
Okay, Yeah, I'll be honest. I think in general, the
teams that we think are on the perch, and I'll
put Alabama on that category too. Listen, I'm not blind
to the fact that they haven't played well recently. I
mean they have it, and Organ's also on that list.
I actually think if Orgon loses this game, they're out.
They're not making the playoff. Their resume is not that

(01:42:39):
not that sexy this year, And this will be recency
bias matters. Again. We are grading these teams from the
human eye, the human brain. It defaults to what we
last saw. So if Oregon goes up to I think
they're playing this game in Seattle and stinks one up, yeah,

(01:43:00):
I would not be shocked if they get left out
of the field. That being said, this offense is very dangerous.
I think Jonah Coleman coming back gives me some hope.
But I actually got under on his rushing prop because
when it opened at thirty eight and a half and
I was like, man, that's like really low for Jonah Coleman,
And what it told me was he's not fully healthy

(01:43:22):
right and he injured his knee against Wisconsin the game
they lost, and he came back last week and had
four carries, assuming they were trying to get him fresh
for this game. But that's not a good recipe a
banged up knee coming off a game where he had
four carries, and now you got to face Oregon's defense,
which is the I would say one of the best

(01:43:44):
defenses in the country at preventing explosives. They only allowed
sixty five yards on the ground last week to USC
And I love this Washington offense again. I think they
have some ability to push the ball down the field
a little bit with de Mon william But let's be honest,
USC's offense is better and Jade Miyob is having a
better year than Demon Williams. So if you're able to

(01:44:07):
hold USC's offense to sixty five yards rushing when you
got to deal with Mikay Lemon and Jacobi Lane and
all these receivers, what do you think Oregan's defense is
gonna do to Washington's offense in this game? So I
think that's the matchup where Oregon has a decisive edge
in this game. I think their defense is very underrated
and they are fantastic at preventing explosives. On the other side,

(01:44:29):
Oregon's offense has been a little inconsistent. We know Dante
Moore is great, but the offensive line. Brian mentioned the center,
I'm not even gonna try to pronounce his name. Actually
I'm gonna try Ia Panee La Lulu. Maybe I got
a close who knows? Yeah, yeah, there we go. And
both both tackles World and Harky are also banged up,
so you got the whole offensive line a little nicked up.

(01:44:49):
But Washington's defense doesn't really get into you that much.
Their numbers are average, So I still think even despite
the fact that they're banged up. Oregon can control the
line of scrimmage in this game, and the real the
key for me is how that Oregon defense clamps down
on the Washington offense.

Speaker 3 (01:45:04):
That's the question for me too, is we were talking
about Michigan against Ohio State. Michigan's identity is running the football,
and we don't think of Oregon the same way because
they can throw it right. Dante More can throw it
all over the place, so they're not as reliant on
the running game. But they've got three dudes. They give
carries to, you know, over and over and over again, repeatedly,

(01:45:26):
and they like to control games with the running game.
So I think that's where it starts for Washington's defense
is trying to get into that running game, trying to
slow that down and listen, Dante More can still carve
you up pretty good, but I would rather they're not balanced.
They're more so one dimensional. They're not able to rely

(01:45:47):
on a consistent running game. I think that's when Oregon
is really really tough to deal with. So Washington's rush defense,
I think is a big deal in the game.

Speaker 2 (01:45:55):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:45:55):
We've been getting along great so far today, so let's
change all of that. We get into our next game.
Here with the number ten ranked fools gold Alabama Crimson
tied at least in my estimation against war Eagle the
Auburn Tigers. Alabama five and a half point road favorites
total is forty six and a half. I mean, for me,
the first part of this is Alabama's running game is

(01:46:18):
gonna do nothing today against Auburn, So it's gonna be
the same thing. It's gonna be Ty Simpson. Can Ty
Simpson generate enough offense? It's weird with Auburn. They've got
a really good pass rush, but they're ninety third in
terms of yards allowed per drop back. So Ty Simpson
is capable of having a lot of success. I call
him college football's Jared goff Right, and it's not quite

(01:46:41):
to the extreme of GoF where his numbers between being
pressured and unpressured are drastically different. But you see Ty
Simpson clean pocket, he is nasty, but when he's got
a little pressure, like someone in his face, not as nasty.
So really interesting to see how he handles this Auburn defense.
If that pass rush is routinely pressuring him.

Speaker 2 (01:47:05):
Yeah, you know, I think one of the reasons why
I don't I don't love your full appraisal of Alabama
this season, Brian, because there were times where I think,
in defense of your point that they're overrated this year,
which I can see an argument for in certain cases,

(01:47:27):
you would even like go as far to say, I
just don't think they're a great football team. And that's
where I draw the line a little bit. Now they
lose this game, this opinion can change, and obviously results
change opinions.

Speaker 3 (01:47:39):
Then you'll finally be on the right side. Huh, you'll
see it after the fact.

Speaker 2 (01:47:43):
Well, I don't think. I don't think there's a right side.
I don't think you can look into a crystal ball
and say like, I'm on the right side because my
crystal ball says this, because I'm not talking about the future.
I'm talking about the data. I'm talking about what we've
seen to this point in the season. Alabamas played a
hard schedule and they've looked great through most of this season.

(01:48:04):
So in my opinion, hard schedule plus pretty great team
and good success rate against that hard schedule means you're
talking about a great football team.

Speaker 3 (01:48:13):
Now they're again far from great. It's not even funny.
I totally disagree with you, but that's fine.

Speaker 2 (01:48:18):
Now you can have a great football team and have
some blemishes, and they do. I think jam Miller's numbers
after contact are terrible. You know, he was supposed to
be a stud this season, and through injury and an
offense that's been fraught with issues, they've really had to
rely on ty Simpson. And you look at his numbers,

(01:48:40):
and I'm talking about advanced analytics, and he's one of
the most on target passers there is in college football
right now. He's in the top twenty five for certain
in that court. In that category. Here's the problem. If
you do rattle as cage, you can have success. So
that's where I think this game is won or lost
for Auburn. I think that this pass rush needs to

(01:49:01):
get home. I think that Auburn is going to have
to make the focal point shutting down his tight end
escape valve that he's been using. He's become a focal
point of this Alabama offensive attack, especially in the passing game.
And so if you can slow that connection down and
force him to rely on some of his other receivers

(01:49:22):
and players around this offense, I think he can force
Alabama to play a little left handed because they really
don't have a run game to go to as the
passing game gets attacked, and so that is where you
can attack a great team is meet them where they're
the strongest, fight that strength and force them to play

(01:49:44):
with one hand tied behind their back. Question is does
Auburn have the dogs to be able to do it.

Speaker 4 (01:49:50):
Let me ask you a question, Marian, I want to
understand where you're coming from a little bit. Alabama, Texas
A and M. Who's better?

Speaker 3 (01:50:00):
I mean, I think that it would be Texas A
and M.

Speaker 4 (01:50:04):
Okay, Texas A and M this year does not have
a win over an SEC team over five hundred, whereas
they don't.

Speaker 3 (01:50:12):
Have lost to Florida State either. So in the first
week of the year. Okay, so we'll throw it out
because it's the first game. It doesn't matter. But I think,
I think, I do think you have to at least give.

Speaker 4 (01:50:24):
Some credit to you on the road.

Speaker 3 (01:50:26):
Like, Okay, they don't have a win against the best
of the best of the SEC. It's not like they
don't have an impressive win anywhere.

Speaker 4 (01:50:35):
But what you're saying is A and M is better
than Alabama, but I can point to a definitive stretch
of schedule where that's just not true. So and I'm
not saying Alabama is like world beaters here, but I
think we have to give them the credit that they
deserve because they have three wins against teams above five
hundred and the SEC. One of them is probably gonna
definitely Actually after A and M losing, Georgie is going

(01:50:57):
to the SC championship game, Bama beat him the only
loss that they have this year in the SEC.

Speaker 3 (01:51:02):
Who are the other wins against in the SEC?

Speaker 4 (01:51:05):
Yeah, Vanderbilt five and two, Tennessee four and three, Tennessee
A and M does not have a win over a
team above five hundred in the SEC?

Speaker 3 (01:51:13):
Could they beat Tennessee? Would you have them beating Tennessee?

Speaker 4 (01:51:17):
Texas A and M? Yeah, sure, okay, but Bama talking
about it? So because you're saying A and M is
better than Bama, but the eye test maybe says yes,
but the results don't agree with that assessment at all.

Speaker 3 (01:51:31):
It really doesn't matter about Texas A and M versus
Alabama for.

Speaker 4 (01:51:35):
Because you're saying that Alabama stinks and they're not a
good team.

Speaker 3 (01:51:39):
That's not what I said at all, I've said they're
fool's gold. That's what I've said about Alabama. I think
they are frauds going forward. I take nothing away from
their impressive wins during the season, but what I've said
the whole time is they're not built to last. That's
what i've said. Where they have no running game, they
have a defense that's okay, good ish, right, but not dominant.

(01:52:02):
They got punked by Florida State in the trenches. They
were lucky to beat South Carolina, you know what I mean.
That's not a team that no running or down by thirty. Okay,
but that's true. They still won that game. But Alabama's
still lucky to beat South Carolina. So if you look
at their schedule from a critical point of view, couldn't

(01:52:22):
score against LSU, lost at home against Oklahoma even though
they out gained them by almost two hundred yards. That's
what fraud teams do. They find a way to lose,
and so very harsh. It's very harsh, and I think
you're true.

Speaker 4 (01:52:35):
I think you're leaning into the opinion that you have
on them and not looking at it objectively.

Speaker 3 (01:52:41):
I'm looking at it. I do think you're blinded a
little bit by the blinded by anything you said, you
are because what I'm saying right now is I actually
agree that Alabama is not a top five team.

Speaker 4 (01:52:52):
I think they're a notch below that. I think Ty
Simpson has not played to that level. See, I'm see.
There's the thing is I'm willing to adjust my opinion
based off of what's happening, or I do think you
are very stubborn on this Alabama take that they're a fraud,
whatever active you want to use, and.

Speaker 3 (01:53:10):
You're not actually about there's no no you are.

Speaker 4 (01:53:14):
You're not objectively looking at Alabama's schedule and saying they
Georgia Vandy Maszoo four consecutive weeks and you're like, no,
it doesn't matter, and M's better, Bama's a fraud.

Speaker 3 (01:53:25):
None of that is important. Look, dude, here's what I'm saying.
If I can talk for two seconds, do I can?
I talk for two seconds? So you're good with that.

Speaker 4 (01:53:32):
I haven't even had a chance to break the game
down yet. I'm just trying to gauge your perspective.

Speaker 3 (01:53:36):
I'm engauge this. Gauge this all right. If you can
shut up for two seconds, you can gauge the hell
out of this. All right, So Alabama going forward, all right,
fools Gold to me, doesn't have the goods to go
far in the playoff. I don't know that they're even
going to get to the playoff because they have to
win today to get there. I don't think their formula

(01:54:00):
is gonna work. They don't have any running game. They're
overly relying on ty Simpson, and you pointed out pressure
in his face, not the same guy. Auburn has a
good pass rush today that could give them problems. The
defense is just all right, it's good ish, it's not dominant.
That to me is not a formula that's built to last.

(01:54:21):
That's I'm not saying they suck. I'm not saying they're awful,
that they're a fraud. In terms of you think they're
gonna win a national championship.

Speaker 4 (01:54:30):
I do still think that's where you're just completely miss
whatsoever with what fact that they do have high level talent.
Do you think A and M has a chance to
win a national champion I.

Speaker 3 (01:54:43):
Think they have a chance.

Speaker 4 (01:54:44):
Like you think A and M has more of a
chance to win a national championship than Alabama, I absolutely
do see That's where I think you're completely missing what
Bama has done this year. Name the big game that
A and M's won in the last month or two,
not week two, in the last two months. In the
last two months, this team has not won a game

(01:55:04):
against a team over five hundred. They beat Missouri by
what three times an under five hundred team. In the end,
Missouri is the same team that Alabama struggled to barely beat.

Speaker 3 (01:55:17):
And they're both on the road. So I don't know
what we're talking about, Zuri, Texas.

Speaker 2 (01:55:21):
A and M.

Speaker 4 (01:55:21):
Again, if we're comparing A and M to Alabama here
and you're saying A and M has a chance to
win a national championship and Alabama doesn't because of this
opinion that you have on Alabama, I think you're not
seeing the full picture. Clearly. That's just again, that's just
my opinion of your assessment of the situation.

Speaker 2 (01:55:38):
To jump in here, I think that you both serve
good points. I look, Brian, I agree with your assessment
on the games and the play we've seen from Alabama
to point to this point of the season. I think
there are some weaknesses. I think there are some issues
with this team. However, to look at their strength of schedule,

(01:56:00):
which by almost every metric you look at any analytics
company that measures this data, they have a top ten
strength of schedule and the remaining schedule is not that
easy top twenty, you know. So you look at that
and then you compare it to a lot of the
teams who are better them than them in the CFP,

(01:56:21):
and there's not too many teams who can tout a
tougher road to get to where they've been. And so yeah,
even with those weaknesses, they've overcome them. And that's what
great teams do. Like you know, championship winning teams in
the NFL, the Chiefs, the Patriots. How many times have
we said, hey, they don't have a great run game,
this is in they don't have the right mesh at receiver.

(01:56:44):
I mean like we've said it a million times, and
they go in and win championships. Now, you may not
believe in Alabama to win a championship, but I agree
with Jared calling them frauds. It's a really strong term
to us with the team that's accomplished.

Speaker 3 (01:57:01):
Their fools gold Like, this is the thing we got
to go as the haters.

Speaker 4 (01:57:07):
What I'm saying, here's.

Speaker 3 (01:57:09):
The way I break it down. Okay, I'm gonna use
two NFL teams, all right, the Bears they just won yesterday,
the Bears nine and three, okay, and the Broncos, uh,
nine and two. They've had some good wins, like the
Bears just fresh off of beating Philadelphia, they beat the Steelers.
They've had two good wins in a row, all right,
But their formula, you could look at it well, nine

(01:57:29):
and three. I mean, look at the Bears. They've got
the goods, right, They've got this strength, They've got that strength.
What they don't have is a good defense. They're living
off of takeaways. They're having a bunch of double digit
fourth quarter comebacks. They've had five of those things. That's
a formula that is not built to last.

Speaker 4 (01:57:46):
I agree, But they're still winning games. And you have
to give them credit still for winning the nine.

Speaker 3 (01:57:52):
I'm not avoiding giving them credit for what they've done.
What I'm telling you is their formula isn't going to
be sustainable, and that's what you guys are struggling with.
I'm not like they haven't done anything this year. I've
never said that one time. What I've said is what
they've done leads me to leads me to believe they're
not going to be able to keep.

Speaker 4 (01:58:12):
But I don't think that's the same formula because Bama
actually does have a legit defense with legitimate no. No, no,
their quarterback is the best.

Speaker 3 (01:58:19):
Saying that, dude, it's it's I'm not comparing them.

Speaker 4 (01:58:22):
Just knocking the run game. You're just knocking the run
game and championship.

Speaker 2 (01:58:27):
Want to listen.

Speaker 3 (01:58:27):
You don't want to understand, like you're dugg in No.

Speaker 2 (01:58:30):
Actually I tried.

Speaker 4 (01:58:31):
That's why I asked you the question about an LAMA.
Trying to compare the teams. I'm trying to understand, but
it brought back to the fraud.

Speaker 3 (01:58:37):
I can't tell, man. I'm then We've got Rich orn
Berger Penn State All American. We've got Jared Smith overly
talkative FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No. Coming up next,
we got rapid Fire. It's gonna be super rapid because
we don't have much time. It is Fox Sports Radios
Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. It is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. If

(01:59:01):
you missed today's show, it was spirited you'll want to
catch the podcast. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you
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be posted. Be sure to follow it rate at five
stars and you can even provide a review. To search
Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your pods, and you'll
find today's full show posted right after we get off
the air. Props to the crew. Bo Benson, trusted producer

(01:59:21):
the Dodger Zone Pod. Alex Tyshirt filling in technical producer.
Great job. Shout out to our guy Sauger on digital
posting our clips. Appreciate his hard work. Top of the hour,
t J. Hushman's outa plexical burst. They've got you covered
up on game all right, we got picks to make,
no time for a fancy intro, Jared roll them on out.
What do you got?

Speaker 4 (01:59:40):
LSU Oklahoma under thirty six and a half rock fight
Daniel Hill Bama running back under thirty nine and a
half rushing yards. Jeremiah Love over one thirty eight and
a half rushing yards.

Speaker 2 (01:59:50):
All right, I'm taking all dogs in rivalry games. Michigan
plus ten. That game's being played in Michigan against Ohio State.
Washington plus seven point against Oregon hosting Oregon and VATEC
against Virginia on the road plus seven and a half.

Speaker 3 (02:00:07):
All right, I will go.

Speaker 2 (02:00:08):
I agree.

Speaker 3 (02:00:09):
Actually, I got LSU in Oklahoma under thirty six and
a half. Limited offenses, nasty defenses. Give me Auburn plus
five and a half against a fraudulent BAMA team Ashton
Daniels under one fifty eight and a half.

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