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

Brian Noe, Rich Ohrnberger, and Jared Smith talk about the College Football Playoff games that rung in the new year, including Alabama getting torched by Indiana! Previewing the biggest NFL games of the final weekend of the season, and more! Parlay Platter, Follow the Money with Seamus Magee, Prop It Up, and Rapid Fire!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you ready to Witnesses football fans? Welcome to the
biggest tailgate party in the nay Share. That'd be bro
Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Matt e
make it legendary. We're setting you up with the information

(00:20):
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.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Look god, this is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff,
presented by Bett emsg App. No, we're live from your tailgate.
Here's Brian Nook, former Penn State All American, Rich Hornberger,
and FSR betting analyst Jared Smith.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
Oh, what's going on? Good morning to you, Happy Saturday,
Happy New Year, Happy twenty twenty six to you.

Speaker 5 (00:53):
Hope everything is off to a glorious start. A good morning, Rich,
Good morning, Jared Howard things, Happy New Year to you guys.

Speaker 4 (01:01):
Everything good? Huh? How are we doing?

Speaker 6 (01:03):
Things? Are good? We Happy New Year? Men.

Speaker 7 (01:07):
We had the Holiday Bowl here in San Diego last
night and your guy was on the call for the game,
and it was a little bit of a lackluster first half,
and then all of a sudden it became a ballgame
in the fourth quarter. But Arizona came on too late
for to really be a football game. SMU takes it,
but yeah, both teams didn't really look like they wanted

(01:30):
to win that one.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
I had one of the worst gambling days of my
life yesterday, and I'll explain it to you in two
different avenues. One bad wagers, like I had a couple
bad reads. But in the Navy game, I had a
Blake Horvat passing yards prop over one oh eight and

(01:55):
a half. He was at one oh eight. In the
third quarter, Eli Heidenreich dropped two wide open passes. I've
never seen anything like it. Like it was like, here's
the ball, and it was like it was almost like
like you know the commercial where you're like tried to
like grab the ball and it like went goes through.

(02:16):
It was the most unbelievable thing. And after the first one,
I was like, we'll get another one. It's early. Then
he got another one and he dropped the second one.
It was don't do not ever let anyone convince you
that luck is not a major major factor in how
your results are every week. Now, I'm not gonna complain
that I'm unlucky, because I've got plenty of good breaks
throughout both season two. But yesterday was I felt like

(02:39):
I was being punished by the gambling gods.

Speaker 6 (02:41):
Yesterday.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
You know, it was like one of those days where
it's like every little thing that could go, like every
coin flip goes against you. That was the day I had.
But other than that, I'm doing great happiness.

Speaker 4 (02:51):
Well, sorry to hear that.

Speaker 5 (02:54):
You know, it's uh, we're we have to rip the
band aid off because don't get no better over here,
because Bama did you no solids whatsoever on New Year's Day.
And you know, we want to review all of the
college football playoff quarterfinal games. And it was crazy, man,

(03:14):
because we've had one team that had a buy in
the first round win it's college football playoff game, one
team out of eight, and that's the Indiana Hoosiers. They're
the only team that's had a first round by that
has won a college football playoff game. All the other
seven teams have lost and the average margin of defeat

(03:37):
is nearly two touchdowns. It's thirteen point seven points per
game differential. That's what the teams with the buy have done.
They've they've gotten beaten by an average of fourteen points
per game.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
And then you have.

Speaker 5 (03:50):
Indiana is the only team and they crush Alabama by
thirty five points.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
So it's like the old school.

Speaker 5 (03:58):
One of these things is not like the other the
old sesame street vibe.

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Normally they gave you like a four box. This is
an eight box.

Speaker 5 (04:05):
And the only thing that is not like the others
is the Indiana Hoosiers, who absolutely smoked Alabama. And listen,
on this show, we're not gonna bury the lead with
Indiana because they're a phenomenal story.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
But for a.

Speaker 5 (04:20):
Minute, this has been a bloodbath of an argument for
the last month and a half, and I just I'm
curious what you guys think Obama over there, old fools
gold Bama.

Speaker 4 (04:30):
I'm just curious your thoughts on that squad.

Speaker 6 (04:33):
I mean, my.

Speaker 7 (04:34):
Thoughts really haven't changed on Bama the whole season, and
they won't now, you know.

Speaker 6 (04:40):
Even with the way they lost this game, which was hideous.

Speaker 7 (04:44):
I meant, getting thirty eight points hung up on you
regardless is embarrassing, but then only mustering three points is worse.
They just were not competitive, and we could get into
the nuts and bolts of the game, but but you know,
to speak plainly about what I think of Alabama this
year is and and I mean I've.

Speaker 6 (05:06):
Said this every step of the way. I think Bama's
a good team.

Speaker 7 (05:10):
I think it's impossible to look at a team that
has gone this deep into the season, winning as many
games as they have. And and I don't know, I
don't know how you defend calling them fool fools goal, Brian,
I mean.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
Is it we really doing this? Are we really doing this?

Speaker 6 (05:31):
Come on, man, I'm just saying. Is it is it
luck that got them this far?

Speaker 7 (05:35):
I don't know, I mean, is it just you know
they they got here on swagger and good looks. I
mean the Alabama is is a good football team and uh,
and they went up against a great football team and
got absolutely thumped. Now again, I think I think the result,

(05:55):
I mean, that's not a good result that you don't
want to lay down and only up a field goal
against against a team and a playoff.

Speaker 6 (06:03):
I mean that that's a bad result. But but you.

Speaker 7 (06:06):
Know, my, my, my, my feelings on Bama haven't changed.
That's a good team and and I think they had
some real flaws. And I've been consistent with this too.

Speaker 8 (06:16):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (06:16):
They have a poor running game, especially compared to years past.
With Alabama, My goodness, we're used to we're used to
that being the steeple of the offense, the highest point
of the offense, and it's a long way from that
this season. And then you know, you look at you
look at what they've they've done defensively, and while they

(06:37):
have plenty of good players, I don't think they never
they don't. I don't think they have really crested this
season and became what they could have been with the
compilation of talent they had on defense. And so yeah,
bad result, good team. Uh, tough season for Debor, especially
considering the expectations, because you know, you can't do this

(06:59):
very often Intialosa, You'll.

Speaker 6 (07:00):
Get run out of town.

Speaker 7 (07:02):
Nick Saban has created far too big of shoes for
anybody to fill and have these sort of you know,
sub standard results as far as that fan base is concerned.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, nothing's changed there again, no jam Miller, no l
t Overton without their two of their best players. The
issue that I have with the way that we're approaching
this argument is how about we give credit to Indiana
forgot for crying out loud?

Speaker 4 (07:27):
Yeah, well you got to focus on Indiana, I mean.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Like that, And then That's that's the part of the
argument that bothers me here, Brian, Like, it's not there's
a lot of teams that get blown out offense. You're right,
look what happened to Oregon. You know, in Texas Tech.
I mean we thought, I thought Texas Tech and that
defense was nasty, but eventually they just ran out of
gas because the offense was so bad and Baron Morton
was so bad that you just you run out of gas.

(07:52):
And that's what happened to Alabama. You gave a good
first half where they tried to, you know, hoodwink Indiana
a couple of times. You had the fake pont and
all the weird stuff, and it just they knew they
were overmatched in that game. Indiana was that good. That's
how good Indiana was. And that's the part of the
argument that we need to focus on because I'm done defending, Like,
how long are we going to have this stupid Alabama argument.

(08:14):
They were a very flawed football team that had really
good players and they peaked in October. That's the story.
A lot of teams do that, where they show you
their good stuff in October and they don't have anything
left down the stretch, and that's what happened. They gave
you their best in October, then in November it was bad.
They gave you a little bit of a bounce in
December in the playoff, and then they ran into the

(08:34):
best team in the field and they got waxed. And
that's where the argument now needs to change. Instead of
us bloviating back and forth about if Alabama was good
or not, can we give Indiana some freaking flowers. Man,
this is an unbelie like that was. That game was
way more about Indiana than it was Alabama. And I
think that's the part of the argument that we need
to switch, and we need to really focus on keep

(08:56):
our eye on the ball here because what we're seeing
with Indiana and Kurtz Signetti is one of the more
remarkable things that I've seen in college football. This is
Indiana and they are a powerhouse people. This is a
I don't want to say like generational type team because
I just don't know how good they are yet. We'll

(09:16):
find out over the next couple of weeks. But right now,
I mean I want to say that this team looks
better than a lot of the other champions we've had
in the College of Ball playoff era. And I think
it's swagger and mentality, Like they look like that Georgia
team from a couple of years ago that beat TCU
by sixty in the championship. Like they look like if
you step on in this field today, you better know

(09:39):
that you're not walking off a winner. Like it's just
this And I think Signetti really is the ringleader of it,
Like he has this nerd swagger about him that's like
unmatched and it is really fun to watch.

Speaker 4 (09:50):
Yeah, it was crazy.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Man.

Speaker 5 (09:52):
It's like Indiana is absolutely the real deal. But two
things can be true at one time, you know, like
Indiana can be the real deal and you know, Bama
can be the epitome of fools gold, Like both are
true and you can focus on whatever you want to
focus on and get amnesia now compared to the last
month and a half. That's fine, not shocking, not not

(10:14):
shocking at all. But man, the comments that have happened
since then. You go back to the game itself on ESPN.
This was Chris Fowler and Kirk Kirk Street as the
beatdown was taking place, and they just scored a touchdown him,
he scored a touchdown. They went up thirty eight to three.
That's what the final score was. This is a portion
of it from those two my bed here we go,

(10:37):
there we go, We're fired up.

Speaker 1 (10:38):
Now there's Freak's time to fight the one zone.

Speaker 6 (10:44):
Hella Beeva being humiliated.

Speaker 5 (10:47):
Then comparison, and then this is funny too. I'm watching
the bowl games. It's pretty much the last hurrah of
the bowl games outside of the playoff games that we
have left. And this was gosh, I'm trying to figure out.
So this was Aaron Murray. He was on the call.
He's the last voice silk here. This was the Armed
Forces Bowl with Texas State beating Rice. This is what

(11:10):
they had to say.

Speaker 6 (11:10):
With Indiana, that was a team. But I'd not like
that matchup.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
HEA's Alabama just a championship.

Speaker 6 (11:17):
Alabama's not very good this year. They have a lot
of is years we've seen throughout this season.

Speaker 4 (11:23):
I don't know, man, I just gotta I got a
kick out of that. But both things can be true.

Speaker 5 (11:27):
You look at Indiana, they hadn't won a bowl game
since nineteen ninety one.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
That's insane.

Speaker 5 (11:33):
This is the first bowl game they've won since ninety one,
and it's the Rose Bowl. Against Bama and they win
by five touchdowns when no other team with the first
round by has won. That's that's a month. That's amazing
right there. And the flip side of it is, you know,
roll Tide rolled. It's normally roll tide role. It was
roll Tide rolled, and that is the biggest postseason loss

(11:57):
ever from Alabama. So I think both things can be true.
You can give Indiana their flowers, and they certainly deserve them.
But at the same time, I mean, good lord, anybody
who's propping up a completely mid Alabama team, I just
I don't know how you hold on to that. I
really don't. That's just a joke to me, it's laughable.
But go ahead be my guest.

Speaker 7 (12:17):
Yeah, yeah, I just think that there's a lot of
people that could or maybe even would jump on your bandwagon.
Now after the loss to Indiana saying, oh, I guess,
I guess Brian know is right the whole step of
the way. But I remember, I remember after the comeback
against Oklahoma you saying this, and it's and feeling like

(12:38):
a much different argument.

Speaker 6 (12:40):
Now. Don't get me wrong, I give you credit.

Speaker 7 (12:42):
You've stuck to your guns the entire time and I
have given you credit that you stand alone on that island,
which you may have more company now with.

Speaker 6 (12:51):
People who like to pooh pooh.

Speaker 7 (12:54):
Alabama or when they lose, that's when they're comfortable speaking
out against them, because the Tide does have a big
and very boisterous fan base, and they can intimidate people
out of giving them too much.

Speaker 6 (13:07):
Crow Here's what I feel about it.

Speaker 7 (13:11):
Look, this is the same team that orchestrated a comeback
against Oklahoma.

Speaker 6 (13:16):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 7 (13:17):
This is the same team that, while trailing mightily at
the half against the Sooners and kind of feeling like
they were left for dead, came back and found a
way to win. Now, like I said, getting into the
nuts and bolts of the game, I am all for
it because Indiana took them apart in every possible way,

(13:38):
shut them down in the run game, were more creative
and clever, and I felt gutsy offensively had a better
plan against the defense they were going to face. All
of those things are true. Do I still feel like
Alabama's good team? Yeah, based on their season, I think
they're a good team, just like I did before the game.

(13:58):
But I think Indiana beat a good team and I
think Indiana has been doing that all season long. Like Indiana,
every single time you start discounting them, you know, Big
Ten Championship game against Ohio State, how many people were
saying they were going to get rolled. I mean you

(14:18):
heard that in that commentary just a moment ago, about
what Alabama looks like and who Indiana is and the.

Speaker 6 (14:24):
Pedigree and blah blah blah.

Speaker 7 (14:26):
Well Alabama with all that pedigree just got absolutely stomped
by Indiana and Kurt Signetti and his you know, little
old Jamu crew. Well, well that little old jam you
crew is now a national powerhouse in Hoosierville. Like, I mean,
give me a break. It's unbelievable what he's been able
to do. Now, Caitlin de Boor. Unfortunately for him, because

(14:50):
if we're going to talk about one head coach, we
got to talk about the other. The masterful turnaround that
he was able to orchestrate and head up against Oklahoma
in their opening round of the postseason, that is going
to be completely eclipsed by this collapse against Indiana, and

(15:11):
he's going to have to deal with that for the
rest of this offseason. Because you have donors and boosters
who are gonna be completely unimpressed, and they're gonna withhold
funds from the program until you get rid of Callen
de Boor, because that is unacceptable. We need a new
head coach, and you're gonna have people making phone calls

(15:31):
and you're gonna have a big problem in the NIL
space now as a result of Caitlin de Boor, because
he's not Saban and those fans want Saban, and I
don't think he's coming back. He looks pretty comfy on ESPN.
So Alabama's got a problem now, and I don't know
if the solution is firing their head coach. I don't

(15:52):
think that's the solution, but I'm letting you know that's
what a lot of fans out there in Tuscaloosa think
is the solution.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
Yeah, I don't think he's going to go in anywhere.
I think if I think that would have that would
have been I think that's a mistake to fire him
off of this result. Again, I think the story here
is not Alabama bad. The story here is Indiana good.
I honestly believe that it got out of hand late. Obviously,
you're already up twenty four to three in the fourth

(16:20):
quarter and then you tack on another fourteen and I'm
not gonna sit here, you know, defend the fact that
I think Alabama's a good team, because I think any
time you make it to the top eight in the
College football Playoff, you're a good team. Are you a
great team? No? They were a flawed team. They were
a flawed team all year. But I think we need
to move past this petty debate that we are having

(16:43):
because it's silly and we need to focus keep our
eye on the ball here and focus on Indiana's greatness.
That is the story of this game. It is, and Brian,
you could push back on it all you want and
have all the drop ins about oh Alabama's thinks, it's
not going to change, going to change how I feel
about this team.

Speaker 5 (17:02):
Again, never said they stunk. Never ever, not Once you
guys don't listen, I don't know what to tell you. Like, listen,
I grabbed one drop for you. I'll play one drop
for you, one for you, because yes, he get this.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Whole being the bear my friend.

Speaker 5 (17:17):
Every opportunity to get it wrong, you keep getting it wrong,
and I'm not getting it ever said they sucked getting
never one time. Just listen for two seconds and you
can understand maybe better.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
Up with me. So how can I listen if I'm
in the middle of talking and you're interrupting me, so
I can't finish.

Speaker 4 (17:32):
You did about it that multiple times? Okay, you did
for it. Let me know what you did. Let me know.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Just talk, Brian. This isn't going any This isn't productive.
You want to focus on the negative instead of de positive.
That's the problem I have with media these days. Instead
of everyone crapping on Bama, why don't we give Indiananda
their flowers? That's what I said in the opening segment.
It doesn't make any sense that we keep circling back
to this point where we want to talk negatively about Alabama.

(18:00):
They lost the football game to a better team. It
does not change who they were all year, which was
a team that had a very high ceiling, peaked in October,
and then tailed off late injuries issues. And I'll be honest,
it wasn't the best game plan for Debor. He didn't
really attack. It felt like they were kind of going
through the motions at least. But it doesn't change how

(18:22):
I feel about them, and Indiana is to me, the
best team in college football.

Speaker 6 (18:26):
This year.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
They are the story. The story out of this game
is not Alabama bad. It's Indiana good. And nothing. No
amount of drops, no amount of little digs, is going
to change my opinion on that.

Speaker 5 (18:38):
It's not trying to change your opinion on them, it's
trying to get you to understand what my opinion was
the whole time.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
There's a difference right there.

Speaker 5 (18:46):
So we go back to this whole thing started, this tith,
if you will, started on what November fifteenth, That was
the day of the regular season game between Oklahoma and Alabama,
and we had it out and this is what I said,
So hopefully understand, I'm not trying to say that Alabama sucks.
I'm just saying that their days are numbered. They're a

(19:07):
team that is not built to last.

Speaker 4 (19:10):
That's it.

Speaker 5 (19:11):
And somehow it got like twisted into me saying they
suck or something.

Speaker 4 (19:15):
I've never said that one.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
That is a very similar thing that what you're saying, though,
like it it's the same something that blue, but no,
it's actually Cerulian. It's not blue. It's Cerulyan. Like okay,
like you're saying a similar thing, but you're twisting it
around to try to make some kind of argument that
I still don't know well.

Speaker 7 (19:34):
And also I think at the heart of this debate,
I think really what it comes down to is, Jared,
you have a different opinion than Brian about Alabama. And
to be perfectly honest, I may even have a different
opinion than than Brian does about Alabama.

Speaker 6 (19:51):
But but the.

Speaker 7 (19:53):
Difference is, Brian, you are so ardent in defending the
fact that they are uh and have been since you
decided whenever it was early November, that they're they're not
a real football team, that they're not built to last,
whatever that really means. Because if you're asking me in
November early November, what built to last means making it

(20:15):
to the top eight, it's a pretty darn good run,
you know. I mean, like, it's it's it's just one
of it's just one.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
Of these playoff game on the road down seventeen to nothing.

Speaker 6 (20:25):
Yeah, it's just it's it's it's to me.

Speaker 7 (20:28):
We may have we may have different and I know
we do have different thoughts on what a good football
team looks like. Now, I know from from playing football
my whole life, how how difficult it is to go
out there and execute on the road in a hostile
playoff environment and get a w.

Speaker 5 (20:49):
It's done it to the time focused on Oklahoma. That's
that's the takeaway. Wait to it again, let's focus on
the Oklahoma game. This is the proper takeaway.

Speaker 6 (20:57):
I like it.

Speaker 4 (20:58):
Yes, let's do this.

Speaker 6 (20:59):
Well, Oh, I wasn't.

Speaker 7 (21:00):
I was saying for Indiana what they were able to
do against Alabama and dismantle them. I've seen that before
because I've been the road team in those situations where
you go to a home environment of an adversary and
opponent where they they're rolling and they have all the
momentum and they're charged up, and when you start that

(21:24):
fight and you start that climb, it's difficult.

Speaker 6 (21:26):
Man.

Speaker 7 (21:27):
It is hard to gain any ground or to bail water,
especially when you get behind. And Alabama had enough to
do it one time, they didn't have enough to do
it the second time around. Now, again, does that change
my opinion on Alabama, to be perfectly honest with you, slightly.
You know, the way they punctuated their season. It's another

(21:47):
data point, you know. So do I still think Alabama's
a good team? Yeah? Do I think that was a
good result? And do I think it factors into what
I think of their season. No, I don't think it
was a good resulting, yet absolutely should factor into what
I think of their season. But getting back to the
point Brian was making, and I think it's or excuse me,
Jared was making. I think it's a good one. Is

(22:10):
Indiana is like a steamroller right now. It's like watching
that Austin Powers scene where the guard in the tunnel
is shouting stop with his hand forward and everybody knows
what's about to happen, and you're just saying, well, just
kind of move out of the way, just do anything
other than stand in front of the steamroller. And unfortunately

(22:33):
nobody can get out of the way. And Kurt Signetti
he just wins. Google him. I mean, it is an
unbelievable story for Indiana right now, and it's it's only
gonna continue, it seems. I'm curious what you guys think
about Indiana winning this whole thing.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Oh, that they're the best team, And again, that is
the story here. And that's why I'm like, all right,
we can still go back and forth and argue about Alabama.
All we want to are blow in the face, Like
eventually his argument has to end. There they are who
you know, Brian thought that they were good. Job Brian,
But the story here is Indiana. It is not going
to change anything over the course of the next two weeks.

(23:12):
Indiana is the real deal, and that is the takeaway
from that game. Alabama's not as good as Indiana. Okay,
Indiana is the best team in the sport.

Speaker 7 (23:19):
Okay, Okay, all right, We've We've got rich ron Berger,
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(23:49):
Make it legendary coming up next. If you're looking for
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but it'd be hard to top this one that's on
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Speaker 1 (24:03):
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Speaker 4 (24:15):
Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.

Speaker 9 (24:17):
Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire
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All right, So more on the first round crazy what
that the nightcap? And thankfully we had this on New
Year's Day because the first game was a shutout Texas

(25:32):
Texas Tech gets waxed by Oregon. I feel so bad
for Texas Tech defense. They played great, and the Tech
offense was freaking brutal, the Tech special teams freaking brutal.
Give Oregon a lot of credit for their defense, but
my gosh, I feel bad for Tech's defense. The Tech
defense was really really good and deserved a lot better

(25:53):
in that game, and they didn't get either from the
offense nor the special teams. But the nightcap, and that
was the first game, and then Obama gets the doors
blown off him only team that got smacked by a
team with a first round by only one.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
Everybody else won.

Speaker 5 (26:10):
Everybody else won either convincingly or at least one, and
Obama was the only one. It gets smacked by five touchdowns.
So we needed some drama and we got that in
the Nightcap Man the Sugar Bowl did not disappoint as
ole Miss like they had the lead then did it.
Then they had to come back at the end. It
was crazy like they had a last minute drive when

(26:30):
it was tied and Trinidad Jambliss, my gosh, what a
stud This dude throws for three hundred and sixty two
yards and some of the plays that he made, like
one of the two turning points I think in the game.
It was when ole Miss was trailing and it's second
and long and it looks like he's gonna get sacked,

(26:52):
and he makes a play. He flips it out to
Keiwan Lacy. They pick up some positive yards. They set
up third and seven and then Georgia has a corner.
Bliz Effort is blitzing Chambless and he has to poll
a Houdini. He circles back around. He scrambled fifty three
yards and found his running back Kewan Lacy, who caught it,
got blasted somehow stayed on his feet, got the first down.

(27:15):
They go right down. Chambliss was extraordinary. They score a touchdown,
they get the two point conversion. They end up taking
a lead, and it looked like that was gonna be it.
Here come the Dogs, they come storming back, they tie
it up and then Ole Miss gets the last second
field goal and it was just tremendous.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
Man.

Speaker 5 (27:32):
Shout out to Lucas Carnero, that's the kicker of Old
Miss because he boomed a couple of long field goals
at the beginning of the game. And I was sitting there,
I'm like, well, this is to win it. This is
a different kick, different pressure, forty seven yards. Let's see
if that changes anything. And Nope, didn't change anything. Like
right down the middle. What a stud, stud performance by

(27:54):
Chambliss and also Carnaro their kicker.

Speaker 4 (27:57):
It's as good as it gets to take down Georgie.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (28:00):
And it took all of that to take down the Dogs.
That was a That was an instant classic. Man, that game.
That Sugar Bowl.

Speaker 4 (28:06):
More than made up for a couple of blowouts earlier
in the day.

Speaker 7 (28:10):
Yeah, Trinidad Chambliss, I I mean, look, I Brian is
one hundred percent right about that and everything else.

Speaker 6 (28:19):
He's right about everything. Just ask him. But yeah, that
that's good.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
Take a cheap shot, don't own Bama. Take a cheap shot.

Speaker 6 (28:27):
That's cool.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
You're doing great today, buddy, great shot, Yeah, great job.

Speaker 7 (28:31):
Yes, I don't know, I don't know what you you
want us to do because you right, you guys took
a victory lap after Bamo somehow got assisted with the
wins against Oklahoma.

Speaker 6 (28:40):
But now, but now.

Speaker 5 (28:41):
It's me being right like you guys know you guys
never take credit for being It's just me.

Speaker 4 (28:45):
It's just me. Go ahead, okay, well show you go,
keep going.

Speaker 7 (28:49):
Yeah right, So Trinidad Chambliss played a remarkable game against
an unbelievable team. I really do think that Georgia was
my favorite, uh this whole way.

Speaker 6 (29:00):
As soon as the playoffs got started.

Speaker 7 (29:02):
There was something about Ohio State and that Big Ten
championship game that really made me feel like, well, they're beatable,
and they had a little bit of an easier road
during the season than a lot of these teams that
were hoisting onto a platform, and so I thought I
thought differently about them entering the postseason. And then you know,

(29:24):
you look at the field, Okay, well there's there's Indiana.

Speaker 6 (29:28):
Indiana.

Speaker 7 (29:29):
Their their biggest win of the season came in that
big Big Ten championship game against Ohio State. But I
thought to myself, well, but they're still Indiana, And so
there I am with the dogs, thinking to myself, that's
a pretty strong, battle tested team who took their lumps
this season with a tough SEC schedule. Do I believe

(29:49):
in a team more than them? The answer is probably not.
And so what Ole Miss was able to do, and
again without their head coach from the regular season, that
changes a lot.

Speaker 6 (30:00):
If you're gonna give.

Speaker 7 (30:03):
Any of these teams Kurt Signetti and what he's done
with Indiana, if you're gonna give him credit for the
enormous turnaround, which you should uh for the Hoosiers, if
you're going to give any credit to Kalin de boor
for that unbelievable come from behind win against Oklahoma. I
know two people on this show will I know one won't.

(30:25):
But if you're gonna give credit to good stuff across
college football, it is, uh, it's it's it's going to
be one of those things where you've got to give
this Old Miss coaching staff a tremendous amount of credit
for what they did and what they've been able to do.
Ole Miss went out there missing one of the key

(30:48):
ingredients to this season, and Trinidad Chambliss took this team
on his shoulders at time and said, hey, I got it.

Speaker 6 (30:54):
I got it.

Speaker 7 (30:54):
I mean, that's what you need, that's what leadership looks like,
that's that's how that's how ghosts. Sometimes you're not going
to be handed the best situation to win, and I
think Ole Miss really wasn't.

Speaker 6 (31:05):
And I think Georgia is an excellent team.

Speaker 7 (31:07):
Like I said, my favorite to win the national Championship
championship this year. And they went out and they found
a way to keep trading punches.

Speaker 6 (31:17):
With them and beat the dogs.

Speaker 7 (31:19):
So I give a tremendous amount of respect and credit
to what the Rebels were able to do. That was
an unbelievable watch, but more important, probably the best win
we've seen this college football season.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Outside of Signetti, the best story in college football this
year is Trinidad Chamblers. This dude was playing at Division
two Farris State last year and I was fortunate enough
when I worked in Michigan to cover some Farris State
hockey and we didn't even really care about football. The
air hockey teams unbelievable. It is one of the best

(31:54):
stories in recent memory for this kid to go from
D two to now playing in the Final four. You
won't see that jump maybe ever again. Like like this
is a once in a lifetime kind of thing where
a kid gets plucked out of Division two, is the
backup for most of the year. The Simmons situation, you know,

(32:14):
kind of derailed, you know, got derailed, he got hurt,
and then Chamblas comes in and it's like, Wow, they're better.
And the funny thing is, I think it was early
in the year when Lane Kiff and he was talking
to one of the coaches. They're talking to one of
the you know, reporters on the field.

Speaker 6 (32:30):
During a game.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
It was early in the season, and they're like, hey,
what should we be looking out for? And they're like, hey,
keep an eye if we get this backup quarterback in today,
keep an eye on this kid Chambless. He's unbelievable. And
now all of a sudden, it just he's one of
the best stories in the sport this year. I was
totally wrong on Georgia. I don't totally wrong, like I
thought they were, you know, the most mentally tough team

(32:51):
in the field, but clearly Old miss is tougher. Clearly
Old missus tougher because what they were able to do
and maybe it was a couple of Whodini plays, and
maybe Georgia really was better for the for the duration
of that game, but it was just that one stretch
where Chambliss was kind of like in you know, uh
nba cham he's on fire, like he just had like
one or two drives or it was just like this

(33:12):
dude's unbelievable, and Georgia couldn't match. Georgia could match the
fact that Georgia had a scoop and score in that
game was up. It's kind of ironic. They were up
nine where you know, ole Miss was up nine in
the first game and Georgia comes back, and now Georgia's
up nine in the second game and Olemiss comes back.
But Olmiss being able to overcome a scoop and score

(33:32):
in that game, I thought again was one of the
more unbelievable results of bullseason. So you tip your cap
to Trinidad. Chambliss and Rich mentioned at the coaching staff
being able to overcome like what Pete Golding's been able
to do. How ironic is it. It's crystal Ball, it's Golding,
It's it's Signetti, Like these are all disciples of Nick

(33:53):
Saban that are making their hay. Same thing with Dan
Lanning making their hay in the Final four. Like, it's wild.
How the coaching and just the ability to dig deep
in these spots where they you don't really think that
they're gonna win games. It's truly remarkable. Other than Signetty,
where it was just you know, belt to ask for
sixty minutes, those were you know, back and forth games.

(34:16):
The Texas Deck one, I know got away late, but
that game was tight early and Baron Morton was just
so bad. But to me, the biggest story of the
Old Miss game is just how good of a story
Trinidad Chamblis is. And I don't know if they're gonna
be able to overcome Miami, but man, this is one
of my favorite stories of the year in the sport
of college football.

Speaker 4 (34:34):
That game was just off the rails.

Speaker 5 (34:36):
It's amazing that there were so many monstrous plays in
the second half. Like when they show the highlights after
the game, you're like, oh, yeah, Georgia did have a
scoop six.

Speaker 4 (34:46):
And you're like, how could that was a monstrous play?

Speaker 5 (34:49):
How could I even It's like you just forget about
that because there's so many huge just outstanding, unbelievable plays
in the second half, And it blows my mind many
times over where Georgia was zero for seven on third
down conversions in the second half, Like just think about that.
They didn't convert on third down once and they came

(35:10):
back from a ten point deficit in the fourth quarter,
Like how does that even happen? But I'll tell you what,
man the other turning point in that game, then I'm
all for being aggressive. But it came back to completely
bite Georgia. It was when it was third and goal
and you got to be first guessing to be able
to be second guessing.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
And it's one of those.

Speaker 5 (35:31):
Deals where it's like, if you've got an open receiver
and you want to throw the ball, if he's open,
let it rip. If you're just throwing it and kind
of crossing your fingers and you know, praying that it's
a completion, you cannot throw an incomplete pass.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
You cannot do it.

Speaker 6 (35:47):
Man.

Speaker 5 (35:47):
The worst thing that should happen is if the guy
isn't open, you just eat it and you get sacked
and you kick the field goal and you sak over time.
If you run those forty seconds off the clock with
either a completed pass that's short of the goal line,
or you just you eat it and you get tackled
in bounds. The worst case is ole Miss has under

(36:09):
twenty seconds to work with and you're most likely heading
to overtime. You have to at least secure that and
the Dogs didn't. Man, they went aggressive, they threw it,
it was incomplete, and it came back to bite them
in a huge, huge way. That was the difference in
the game. Man, But a classic and Shambliss, my gosh,
that dude. That dude was outstanding and I can't wait

(36:30):
to see what he does against Miami's pass rush. That's
gonna be a lot of fun as well. We'll get
to that coming up, where it's like, who's gonna be
the assistant coaches in this game. We don't even know
there's six guys that are going to join Lane Kiffin
at LSU. We don't know if those guys are gonna
be on the sideline for ole Miss's next playoff game.
So that's another angle that we'll have to talk about.
We've got rich O heron Berger, Penn State All American,

(36:52):
Jared Smith FSR betting analyst, I'm Brian No coming up
next to parlay platter, which have one selection for you.
We pull it together for a greater pay out. We'll
compare notes. Next, it is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to
Kickoff presented by BETMGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown
to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Every time you make
a wager at BETMGM, you earn BETMGM rewards points that

(37:14):
can be redeemed for things like bonus bets or converted
to MGM rewards points that could be used towards dining
shows and hotel rooms at over twenty MGM resorts.

Speaker 2 (37:24):
And be sure to.

Speaker 5 (37:24):
Follow BETMGM across all socials at BETMGM.

Speaker 4 (37:29):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (37:31):
Check this out, r late letter.

Speaker 5 (37:35):
All right, the platter we which have one selection for you.
We pull it together for a greater payout. And I'll
tell you what we won last week.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
How about this? Uh yeah, Jared had Penn State beating Clemson.

Speaker 5 (37:46):
Rich You had the under in the Texans Chargers game,
which I don't know what happened to Dick.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
Or The kicker is one of the most reliable kickers ever.

Speaker 8 (37:54):
It just like.

Speaker 5 (37:55):
Left a field goal and an extra point on the
field and it got there, so good pick by you.
And of course I had I had Indiana smoking or
at least covering the seven against Alabama, and we got
they covered laments compliments of Bama sucking out loud right there.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
I'm sorry, Sorry, I you being dominated. I mean to
give credit where credits to or.

Speaker 6 (38:16):
I know you would never say that Alabama sucks. You've
never said that.

Speaker 2 (38:20):
I haven't.

Speaker 4 (38:21):
I literally haven't said that. Sure, I've never thought that.

Speaker 5 (38:23):
But no, No, to start with you, Rich, I'm sorry, we
start with Drew, Jared, we start with you.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
What do you think about this parlay platter.

Speaker 6 (38:30):
Here as real?

Speaker 2 (38:31):
Well, I think we should do something a little different.
I think we should do something a little different today.
I think I thought this was a good idea. And
there's two games left, right, semifinals next week, and I
thought it'd be fun if we each did our own
little individual two leg parlay platter for the two teams
that we think are gonna win the semi finals. Right,

(38:51):
we won't be on the air again between now and
next Thursday when the game start, so I thought this
would be fun. So just give me your two teams
that you think are gonna win. Put him together into
a parlay. I heard Rich might be adding some legs,
but that's you know, he's a he's a he's a
gun slinger out there in San Diego. So I'm gonna
go very simpler. I'm gonna go Chalky. I think my
I think the old miss story is gonna end in

(39:13):
the semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl. I think Miami is
the real deal. I think defense wins. I think their
defensive line, their offensive line. I think they're better in
the trenches. I think they will be able to squeeze
trinitat Chamblers. So I'm gonna go Miami at minus one
seventy five on the money line. And listen, I think
Indiana's winning the national championship, guys. I mean this is
their year, and I'm gonna go Indiana on the other

(39:34):
side of the Beach Bowl. So Indiana Miami on the
money line. That parlay right now at bet MGM pays
out plus one forty eight. Not bad for two chalk
favorites there in the semis.

Speaker 7 (39:44):
Okay, all right, I have two dogs in the NFL.
This this show is named count.

Speaker 6 (39:49):
Down to Kickoff, and we are counting down.

Speaker 7 (39:51):
To kickoff today in the NFL, so I couldn't help myself.
I like the way the Carolina Panthers have played to
close out this season.

Speaker 6 (39:59):
They go on the road Tampa Bay.

Speaker 7 (40:01):
I'm taking them plus three or excuse me, I have
taken them on the money line to win this game.

Speaker 6 (40:08):
And then the San Francisco forty nine Ers.

Speaker 7 (40:11):
I like them against Seattle's defense, really really solid defense
by Seattle. But the forty nine ers are red hot
right now, scorching earth offensively. If they can muster anything
defensively against Sam Darnold and get him some pressure, then
I think they can win this football game. So yeah,
Panthers on the money line, and then the Dogs the
Niners on the money line.

Speaker 10 (40:32):
Nice, all right, if we're doing the college football playoff,
I mean, if we're doing a little mini parlay, I
would go iu money line and I would take the
three and a half A fle miss.

Speaker 5 (40:43):
I just I can't fade Chambless in a spot like this.

Speaker 4 (40:46):
He's just been too special.

Speaker 5 (40:48):
And listen, I know Miami is a nasty pass rush,
nasty defensive line, but if anything, if anybody can can
do work against it, it's Chambless. So that little mini
parlay would be ninety one is what you're working with.

Speaker 4 (41:02):
As far as that goes, all right?

Speaker 5 (41:03):
Coming up next this game is the real headlining act.

Speaker 4 (41:08):
Oh what is going on?

Speaker 5 (41:09):
Happy Saturday to you, Happy New Year. I hope it's
off to a fantastic start. We will get to the
headlining act here 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, and so much more.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
Man, I I I'm.

Speaker 5 (41:32):
Gonna watch all these games, it doesn't matter. But I'm
just surprised that I think the real game is Seahawks
at the Niners. Like I get that they would put
the the facto win and get in AFC North battle
between the the Ravens and the Steelers on Sunday Night football,
But I don't know, man like mid team versus mid

(41:53):
team that's doing nothing come playoff time, That to me
is not as interesting as who's gonna win the end West,
who's gonna be the one seed in the NFC playoffs
Between the Seahawks and the forty nine ers. Both those
teams have real chances to go far. Both those teams
have chances to maybe get to the super Bowl, and

(42:13):
who knows what happens if they should get that far.
And so getting the one seed is a major, major deal.
So I mean, you can have your AFC North battle.
I mean I'll watch it, but that to me is
not the headlining act. That to me is the warm
up band. That is not the band that you know,
like picture of Seattle and San Francisco, Like, hey, you
guys ready, thanks for having us tonight here Milwaukee. You

(42:36):
guys ready you ready for Raven Steelers? How you ready
for them to take the stage right now? Like that,
That's not what Seattle and San Francisco should be.

Speaker 4 (42:44):
But that's what the NFL shows.

Speaker 5 (42:47):
That's what is gonna be the headlining act on on
Sunday Night Football and NBC. It's the battle for the
NF for the AFC North. I think it's Seahawks Niners
all day.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Man.

Speaker 4 (42:56):
I think it's the bigger game.

Speaker 6 (42:58):
I'm really excited about this one.

Speaker 7 (43:00):
And like I said during the two moneyline parlay platter,
I'm one of my parlays, or I should say One
of the games in my parlay is this Seahawks Niners game,
and I'm back in the Niners. I just think that
what we've seen offensively from the forty nine ers, granted
against weaker defenses than they'll see against Seattle recently, has

(43:21):
been nothing short of masterful. Brock Purdy is playing like
a man possessed right now. And you know, similarly, you
could say a lot of the same things about Sam Donald.
I think he's more flappable under pressure though, and I
think we saw that in the playoffs last year at
times end of the season last year year with the Vikings,

(43:42):
and we've seen it multiple times this season as well.
There are moments where Sam Donald kind of freaks out
and he reverts to the guy who is a little
bit loose with the football at USC And then obviously
when he came to the league and he played for
the Jets, I mean, he couldn't help himself but turn
it over. And also that was just a poorly ran franchise,

(44:05):
and also he had a bad head coach, and also
and also and also, I mean the chips were stacked
against Sam Darnold early in his career.

Speaker 6 (44:13):
But fast forwarding to this moment.

Speaker 7 (44:15):
He's led another team successfully to playoff contention and back
to back years as a starting quarterback. Who at you know,
the start of the offseason, he didn't even know if
he was going to necessarily play for the team he's
playing for.

Speaker 6 (44:29):
It's unbelievable.

Speaker 7 (44:30):
So I love the Seattle story, but I do think
that the Niners are the better team. I think that defensively,
their injuries have mounted this year, but they found a way.
Have they stopped many offenses from doing what they want?

Speaker 6 (44:45):
No?

Speaker 7 (44:45):
No, But but are they getting healthier down the stretch
of the season.

Speaker 6 (44:50):
Yeah. They could have warnerback for the postseason. To what level.

Speaker 7 (44:53):
I don't know if it's going to be fifty percent,
sixty percent, seventy percent of his normal play, but it's
got to be be better than what we've seen over
the middle of their defense so far this season. I'm
excited about this game though, to Brian's point, I do
think it's one of the better matchups this weekend in
the NFL.

Speaker 2 (45:11):
Yeah, if you want to, you know, ask if the
NFL has an East Coast bias. This is the this
is the example of it. I guess they felt and
to be perfectly transparent. It is the NFL, not like
NBC or one of the networks that decides. It's like,
it's the NFL schedule makers that decide where these games are.
So they they're the ones that decided to put Ravens

(45:32):
Steelers on Sunday Night. I think it's because they think
it's gonna draw better ratings because it's Aaron Rodgers and
it's an East Coast you know team. I don't know.
I I agree with Brian, I would have put Seattle
samis going this spot. But I think it's they just
felt that it was gonna draw better. That's irrelevant to
who's gonna win the game. I think it's kind of

(45:53):
funny these teams last met in Week one. It's been
a minute since they say last played. The Niners were
at one point where fave how about that? And they
won the game, and now flash forward, you know, seventeen
weeks later, it's Seattle that's the road favorite. So I
guess that kind of tells you the different routes these
teams have been on this year. Seattle, though, I'll be honest,

(46:14):
kind of a tail of two years for them. Weeks
one through nine. Sam Darnold looked great third and EPA
per drop back, he looked like all the Raids. They're
running it well, doing all the things since week ten
twenty first, So over the back half of the year,
Seattle's a bottom half offense in terms of their passing game.
I think the Niners offense obviously has been unbelievable since

(46:39):
brock Perty came back second in EPA per play, second
in success right second and drop back sixth in EPA
per rush. Purty is just just throwing bullets man and Shanahan,
to me, has really understood the assignment light boxes. They're
running it, heavy boxes, they're throwing it right. Like he's
letting the defense tate what kind of offense he's going

(47:02):
to run. When you're gonna give me a light box,
I'm gonna run the ball. When you're gonna give me
a heavy box, I'm gonna throw it. And I think
there's been a lot of positive vibes for this Niners offense.
I don't know how good their defense is. I don't
know if they can hold up. But if you ask me, like,
let's just go basic handicapping here, right, coach slight edge Shanahan,

(47:23):
but kind of even but I give Shanahan the slight edge,
slightest of edges quarterback. I mean, come on, rock Berdy
has the edge over Donald And I don't care how
good Donald's numbers have been. But in a tight game,
who you trust in defense? Obviously Seattle offense San Francisco.
It feels like this is a very evenly matched game,
and you're gonna give me two and a half points

(47:45):
now to bet the Niners at home. And I know
Seattle might be statistically better their full profile, but I
feel like this is a very evenly match game, but
you're giving me an underdog price on the home team,
and I think, to me, that's really the only way
you can look at it from a betting standpoint.

Speaker 6 (48:02):
I don't.

Speaker 5 (48:03):
I look at it differently just because listen the first part.
I'll agree with you. It's crazy where these two teams
met in week one and now they're meeting in week eighteen.
They're literally bookending the regular season with each other. And
how many times do you see this in the NFL
where two teams will play each other like two out
of three weeks, so it's like jam packed together. So

(48:26):
it's so weird that it's the complete opposite with the
Seahawks and the Niners week one and then week eighteen.
That part of it's just funny to me. But what's
interesting to me is Sam Darnald. You go back to
last year. I mean, let's cut to the chase we
saw week eighteen, same scenario, his team, the Vikings on
the road against the Lions. If the winner winner gets

(48:49):
the one seed and the divisional crown, and Sam Darnold was.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
Brutal, just brutal man.

Speaker 5 (48:56):
He had some wide open receivers in the end zone
at times, couldn't hit him, taking sacks. He was just bad,
had terrible performance. And then the next week, in his
only playoff start in his career thus far, he was
even worse against the Rams. He took nine sacks in
that game. And so we've talked about this with Darnald
on the big stage, and man, he wets himself and

(49:18):
comes up small, and yet his team is favored by
two and a half. So to me, this isn't like, oh,
this isn't just like respect for Sam Darnold. This is
a total lack of respect and rightfully so. And the
forty nine ers defense, specifically their non existent pass rush,
they are dead last in sacks and it's not even close. Man,
they are trailing everybody by a good margin. If you

(49:41):
just look at the sack numbers and who they're looking
up at, Like, the Niners have eighteen sacks on the year,
the Broncos have sixty four.

Speaker 4 (49:51):
Now the Broncos are at the top.

Speaker 5 (49:52):
So if you want to look at just who's ahead
of the Niners, the Jets do the Jets have like
this crazy pass rush like pin their ears bag, like
oh gosh, the Gang Green crew is getting after you. No,
the Jets have eight more sacks on the season than
the Niners do. Miles Garrett himself has more sacks than

(50:13):
the Niners do collectively. So this isn't darnold faith. This
is a lack of faith in the forty nine Ers defense,
specifically their non existent pass rush. Now, I give them
credit to be that banged up, to lose Nick Bosa,
to lose Fred Warner, and to be a twelve and
four football team with the chance to win a home
game and get the one seed, that is remarkable. So

(50:34):
I give the Niners a lot of credit. But it's
very similar to what's your formula for success? It's okay,
our defense has to hold on for dear life. That's
not a good place to start. Our running game has
been pretty iffy all season long. It's been good lately,
but against Seattle's defense, if you're not running the ball,
you're banking on Purty and Purdy's been really really it's

(50:57):
been great the last three weeks. But if you look closely,
it's like, Okay, it's against the Titans defense, the Colts defense,
the Bears defense, like this is a major step up
against the Seahawks defense.

Speaker 4 (51:12):
So I know, as bad as Sam Donald was in Week.

Speaker 5 (51:15):
Eighteen last season, I think this is a totally different fight.
Styles make fights, and I'm laying it with the Seahawks. Man,
I just think they're the better team. I know they're
the better team, so I'm taking the better team even
in a spot like this, I would have agreed.

Speaker 6 (51:28):
With you on the Seahawks earlier in the year. I
found this stat.

Speaker 7 (51:34):
Over the first nine weeks of the season, the Seahawks
ranks second in EPA per dropback, with Sam Donald having
sixteen touchdowns and just five interceptions, with that outstanding twenty
one to four. Actually, I don't want to get into
the advanced analytics. We'll leave it there. Since week ten,
they've fallen to twenty third in the league. So that

(51:58):
EPA per dropout was outstanding, one of the best in
the league, and they've dropped to twenty third. Now, why
has that happened? Well, In my opinion, this is because
of Kubiak's offense. It's not simple, but it is predicated
around some simple formulas that I think defenses have finally
caught up to. He uses a tremendous amount of heavy personnel.

(52:23):
They are reliant on those deep play action pass routes.
They're gonna try to surprise you by taking shots downfield,
and Sam Donald is plenty good enough to connect with
players downfield. But if you can if you can stop
the run against Seattle using either a lighter box or
not committing too many bodies to the line of scrimmage

(52:45):
where you don't have to be in man all the
time and you could have some deep support in zone coverage,
you can stop some of those deep throws, those chunk
plays that Sam Donald really hung his hat on through
the first nine weeks of the season. Since Week ten, again,
they've dropped to twenty third on EPA per drop back
because they're not as efficient when Sam Darnol drops back. Now,

(53:08):
a lot of defenses know what's coming and they can
see it, you know, whether it's tells or tenancies with
personnel groupings, whether it's formationally on certain down and distances.
Tendencies are a hard thing to break, especially when you've
had success doing that. And Gary Kubiak, I mean he's
doing or I should say the offense is doing a

(53:30):
great job. The play calling has been good for most
of the season, but it has come back down to
earth and they haven't adjusted yet. Now you talk about
San Francisco's defense, can they stop it? That remains to
be seen. They've been playing hurt and injured and haven't
been playing well down this stretch games, but their offense
is on fire.

Speaker 6 (53:49):
So in this.

Speaker 7 (53:50):
Situation where I can nitpick both sides and I can
find reasons to make an argument against who do I
trust more? Well, I do? I do trust Rock Purty
more in bigger game. I absolutely trust Kyle Shanahan in
these regular season games. In the postseason, little bit of
a different story with Kyle Shanahan, and we can have
that discussion plenty, But in the regular season he's proven

(54:12):
to be able to come up clutch in these moments.
And then in terms of Sam Darnold, Yeah, we saw
late season collapse last year. What's to say that that
isn't kind of the modus operandum. Until he breaks that tendency,
we'll see and.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
That's the whole thing, right, Like Brian mentioned it, like
the game last year against the Lions in the final
week of the year, what was the storyline at the
end of last year with the Detroit Lions. Their defense
is banged up. They can't do anything defensively, can't rush
the pass or can't stop the run.

Speaker 6 (54:44):
Dated.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Okay, in that Week eighteen game, they figured out to
way to hold Minnesota to nine points in that game,
and then they got absolutely blasted in the divisional round
by Jade Daniels, like destroyed complete belt.

Speaker 6 (54:57):
To ass.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
I've I've seen this story before and it kinda is
in a weird way what we just saw in the
Orange Bowl between Texas Deck and Oregon Texas Tech's defense man, jeez,
I mean that front four was unbelievable, but they could
not overcome Baron Morton. It didn't matter how good the
defense was, they could not overcome poor play at the

(55:22):
quarterback position, and I'm not gonna make that same mistake
again where I'm going to bank on the defense to
do the scoring. And I don't think Texas Tech's defense,
or I should say, I don't think Baron Morton is
as bad as Sam Darnold is, who's still a very
adequate quarterback in the NFL. But there's just something about
this time of year where he turns into a pumpkin

(55:44):
man and he I can't I can't, like, rightfully, in
my right mind, I can't risk my money on him
knowing that I'm gonna be watching him and he's gonna
make one of those frantic throws that's gonna wreck the game.
And maybe he doesn't, maybe he you know, figures it
out and any you know, if he fools me in

(56:05):
this spot, I'll tip my cap to Sam Darnold. But
I just saw this in the Orange Bowl two days ago,
where the Texas Tech defense, just like the Seahawks defense,
is a lights out unit. Eventually, if your offense continues
to struggle, the dam will break. And I think that's
where I really struggle with getting to Seattle in this spot.

Speaker 5 (56:26):
Hey man, I get it, and it's the NFL Man,
would it be crazy if the Niners won a home
game as home underdogs.

Speaker 4 (56:33):
No, it wouldn't.

Speaker 5 (56:35):
But man, I just think that although we've seen this
movie before, it could absolutely be a different movie this time,
you know. And I look at it this way too,
And it's gonna be difficult because it's like an NFL
college thing.

Speaker 4 (56:48):
It's you know, but I think you'll understand what I'm saying.

Speaker 5 (56:51):
The forty nine ers defense in the NFL, with all
their injuries, all their deficiencies, it's not the same thing
as Oregon's defense college football.

Speaker 4 (57:01):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (57:01):
Like as bad as Baron Morton was, he's facing a
real defense. Like Sam Donald is going up against the
defense that is held together with duct tape, and it's
like the mcgiver defense, you know.

Speaker 4 (57:13):
It's like, Hey, give me a corner.

Speaker 5 (57:15):
Give me some toothpaste, and give me some silly string,
and I'll figure a way to get some stops and
like we can string together a win over here. Like
that's what the Niners defense is. And I also think
like there are two ways this is gonna go. Either
Sam Donald, you know, starts this game off and something
goes bad and it just snowballs, and it's just like
the Lions game last year, or against a defense that

(57:38):
doesn't have a pass rush that has deficiencies. Sam Donald
is well aware of what happened in Week eighteen. He
really wants to rewrite that whole narrative and not have
that play out again. And this dude is focused, he's sharp.
He looks worlds better than he did last year in
the same spot against a much lesser defense.

Speaker 4 (58:01):
That's how I see it.

Speaker 5 (58:02):
Man, I just think that collectively, the Seahawks are the
better squad. They have the better defense, they have a
comparable running game. Neither of these running games are any
good throughout the course of the season, and man, I
just think that going with the better defense is the
way to go. And that could end up being wrong

(58:22):
because easily in this game you could see, well, at
least like if you just look at offense versus offense,
you gotta like what the Niners bring to the table
more than the Seahawks. But the problem is the Seahawks
offense is going up against the Niners defense. The Niners
offense is going up against the Seattle defense. That's the thing,
and that's why styles make fights.

Speaker 7 (58:43):
Yeah, I mean, if you want to take a spread
either way, like you said, and I agree with it.

Speaker 6 (58:48):
It's the NFL. Anything can happen.

Speaker 7 (58:50):
Can the Seattle Seahawks win on the road, you know,
in a game where they're pretty closely matched with their opponent, Yeah,
of course they can.

Speaker 6 (58:59):
Can Sam Darnold end that playing an exceptional game? Yeah?
And could honestly could it be his defense that lets
him down?

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Sure?

Speaker 7 (59:07):
I mean the results are wonky in the NFL because
these guys are all pros. Everybody's getting paid out there,
and you know, sometimes we see aberrant things because any
given Sunday, any given Saturday, you can have a player
or a couple of players make standout plays and it
could be the result that or it could or it
could really spin the result into something you didn't forecast. Now,

(59:29):
if you want a really good sweat, because look, I
like the Niners on the money line, you like taking
taking the points with or or given the points with Seattle, Brian,
this is the sweat taking the under here because you
have this forty nine ers defense that's broken and battered,

(59:50):
but a predictable Seattle offense that has way come back
down to work the final weeks of the season.

Speaker 6 (59:56):
You have this red hot forty nine ers offense.

Speaker 7 (01:00:00):
But as you pointed out, Brian, I mean, they're going
against a really really sound defense. And when they've gone
against really really sound defenses, they've struggled against the worst
defenses in the league and some of the worst defenses
in the league, which is some of the recent games
they've played, they've had a tremendous amount of success. But
against the Browns, the Browns outgained them in that game.

(01:00:22):
The Browns held them to four yards per play in
that game against the Carolina Panthers perty through three interceptions.
You know, so against some of the better defenses they've faced,
prety struggled, and this offense has struggled to put up points.
So if you want a real good sweat on this one,
the under is in play.

Speaker 6 (01:00:41):
Even though it doesn't seem like that should be, it
absolutely is.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
I agree, actually, especially because if you are Kobiak and
Frankly Darnold you want to avoid what happened last year,
well just don't throw it that much, right, like run
the ball too very capable backs. You think your offensive
line is good enough to block this Niners defensive line.
In fact, when we get to the prop it up

(01:01:06):
segment in about twenty minutes. I've got a prop that
is aligned with this thinking. I won't give it away.
I will tease that segment at the end of this hour.
You'll have to tune in for that bet. But there
is a very strong vibe to me here. Of let's
for Seattle. I think the Niners are trying to extend
this game as much as possible and keep their defense
off the field as much as possible. But for Seattle,

(01:01:29):
you're trying to run the rock Man like you're trying
to grind this game out. You don't want rock Party
on the field. You know that is the stronger unit
for San Francisco. Well, what's the best way to keep
the Niners offense off the field. It's Charbonnet, It's Walker,
it's run, run, run, maybe play action off of it.
Hit JSN over the top, get your tight ends involved.

(01:01:50):
But it is not spread it out, throw the ball
fifty times. That is not the recipe for Seattle in
this game, because a you want to protect Darnold from
making that big mistake. But be you want to keep
that Niners offense off the field. You know if the
Niners offense off the field. Their best player, their best
unit is on the sidelines. So that would be my
strategy is how can we shorten this game. We're on

(01:02:12):
the road, We're in a hostile environment. Everything is at stake.
I mean, the swing in Super Bowl odds for this
game is massive. You go from one seed home field
to five seed playing a road game for the entire
postseason unless you get some craziness and you know, the
lower seeds win late. But I think this is a
very easy strategy in terms of how can we protect

(01:02:33):
Sam Darnald, And it's very simple.

Speaker 5 (01:02:34):
Run the rock well, and that's the thing that's the
counter to it for the Niners. Defensively, it's don't let
them run the rock, right geezer said, than done, But
this is not a dynamic seattle rushing attack. Don't let
them run it effectively. Make Sam Darnald beat us, and
then don't let Jackson Smith and Jig but kill us. Like,
make it be Cooper Cup Rashid Shaheed the tight ends,

(01:02:56):
like make them earn it that way. But JSN, if
they get burned by JSN, they should be bracketing him,
doubling him. This should be a Belichick special. Right, you're
gonna have to beat us with your secondary punch. It's
not going to be JSN. That should be the deal
with the forty nine ers, but we'll see how it
plays out. All right, We've got rich oron Berger, penns
Date All American Jared Smith, FSR betting analyst.

Speaker 4 (01:03:18):
I'm Brian No.

Speaker 5 (01:03:19):
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(01:03:41):
up next our main man, Seamus McGee from BETMGM. He
drops on by. We'll talk some week eighteen NFL playoff scenarios,
College football playoff stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:03:50):
The final four is set. That's on the way. It
is Fox.

Speaker 5 (01:03:52):
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Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
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Speaker 4 (01:04:23):
That's code countdown in the betmgm app. All right, let's
do this.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Follow the money, real good money.

Speaker 4 (01:04:32):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (01:04:32):
We're following the money with our good friend Seamus McGee,
team lead of Sports Trading at BEDMGM. Good morning to you, Seamus,
Happy New year to you as well. Okay, in terms
of the two college football playoff games we have on
deck and also Week eighteen, if you put it together
in one big clump, what would be like the top

(01:04:53):
need and the second biggest need for BETMGM.

Speaker 8 (01:04:58):
I'd say the the biggest need for the NFL slate
today that we have right now, it's looking it's very
close between the Niners outright and the Panthers plus two
and a half. A lot of money have come in
on the Seahawks to win the game, and a lot
of money's come in on Tampa Bay to cover two
and a half. So right now, as the stands, those

(01:05:20):
are the two biggest needs right now.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
That doesn't surprise me too much. Maybe a little maybe
a little bit Seattle San Francisco, but the Carolina Tampa one.
I mean, I feel like people just are loving to
fade Bryce Young, but I don't get it. I mean,
Carolina has looked good over the last couple of weeks.
With the college will playoff, you get the opening numbers,
did you guys see a big push right out of

(01:05:43):
the gate? How has the cadence been for these semi
final games? I know the public typically bets late, but
because of the grand nature of the games, did you
get a lot of early action once the lines dropped
the other day?

Speaker 3 (01:05:56):
A lot of money has come in on Indiana minus four,
A lot more than I really expect at this point
of any opening game, even the college football playoffs semi final.
But a lot of love for Indiana after what they
kits Alabama last week.

Speaker 8 (01:06:11):
And Miami too. Miami, you know a good shunk. Money's
coming on them at minus three. Line did move to
minus three and a half, so we did move off
that number, but it's early. Love for the favorites next week.

Speaker 6 (01:06:24):
Get back to the NFL, Seamus, You know I do
this all the time with the end. I think it's fun.
Talk me off of this if you want to.

Speaker 7 (01:06:32):
All right, San Francisco forty nine Ers, Seattle Seahawks. Obviously
Seattle a little bit of a struggling offense, forty nine Ers,
big time, banged up defense. I feel like the Unders
in play here right now. Bet MGM has it at
forty seven and a half. I called it probably the
best sweat of the weekend, or at very least today.

Speaker 6 (01:06:55):
If you want to take it, I don't know.

Speaker 7 (01:06:56):
If I can, but maybe with the little X you're
urging from, Seamus, if you think that's the smart play here,
I don't know. Under the forty seven and a half
total in the Seattle Seahawks forty nine Ers game.

Speaker 8 (01:07:09):
I definitely see the argument for the under. These divisional games,
you have to get real tight, you know, even with
a lot of injuries and with so much at stake today,
I'm fifty to fifty on that one. Yeah, really close one.

Speaker 5 (01:07:27):
All right, Seamus Man, I'm an NFL junkie. I'd love
to ask you fifteen NFL questions. But I mean at
college football playoff games on deck here, you know, Thursday Friday,
who do you like the most if you go with
you know, aside in either of the two games or
a total in either of the two games. Is there
anything that you really like?

Speaker 8 (01:07:46):
At this point, I can't get off this whle mistrain
kind of Miami looked awesome last week, one of the
best games you'll see a team play this year. But
I mean Shambliss, I think he's been great all year.
I think he's a few games away, a couple of
games away from being on the stage for the Eisen Trophy.

(01:08:08):
But I really like Ole Miss plus three and a half.
I think Indiana minus four is probably a right play.
I wasn't super impressed with. I mean, the defensive Oregon
looked really good against Texas Tech, but I mean Texas
Tech was surprisingly in this game in the fourth quarter.

(01:08:28):
I just think Indiana is too good. But I think
o Miss could surprise the people next week as well.

Speaker 2 (01:08:35):
Yeah, I don't know how much of the Orange Bowl
was good Oregon or bad Baron Norton? Yeah, I think
he was so bad? Like that was one of the
worst quarterback performances at the Orange Bowl I've seen since
Drew Rowler last year. Sorry, I had to go there,
all right. The biggest like WTF line of the week

(01:08:55):
in the NFL for me is this Chicago Detroit game.
The Lions have been awful down the stretch of the season.
The Bears need this game because if they lose, then
all of a sudden, the Eagles can steal the two seed,
and based on how the playoffs have shaken out, I
would not be surprised if those two teams play each other.
And home field obviously matters. So the Bears need this game.
They're an eleven win team, they're the NFC nor champs,

(01:09:16):
They're at home against the Lions. It's a Ben Johnson
revenge game, and Chicago can't get off of a three
point favorite. Like, how much is the market disrespecting Chicago
in this spot, Seamus?

Speaker 8 (01:09:27):
There only would appear that there's a lot of disrespect,
and I mean public has taken a stance on the
Bears minus three. We'll probably gona end up needing the
Lions because of all the stats they you mentioned there,
But I mean the Bears, they're the luck box team
this year. They've had the proverbial horseshoe up the rear
end all season long, every game that goes down to

(01:09:50):
the last play with this team, and they've been on
the right side almost every time outside of the Niners
game last week. But it's I think that's why you
see the line like that. This is it looks like
this is the luck box.

Speaker 7 (01:10:02):
Team this year last one for me Seamus on college football.
In this playoff practice, we have remaining you know, I
know results matter, So this is kind of an unfair question.
But if Oregon wins, if somehow they and somehow they're
a good team. But if Oregon beats Indiana, who do

(01:10:22):
you think wins the national championship?

Speaker 8 (01:10:27):
I'd have to pick Miami at that point. I think this,
I mean, I just I did just say that. I
like all this next.

Speaker 2 (01:10:33):
Week, but.

Speaker 8 (01:10:36):
I really think Miami is that good. I think I
like Miami more than I like Oregon. To be fair,
I don't know what it is about Oregon, Like this
team feels different than last year's team that you know
went undefeated. I just think Miami defense I like a
little bit more than Oregon. And I think Carson Beck
has got you know, a lot of disrespect this year.

(01:10:58):
I don't know it was fully deserved.

Speaker 5 (01:11:01):
Interesting, all right, Seamus, that's that time, Seamus Special. We
roll out the red carpet, so you can roll out
the red carpet. What do you have for us, buddy?

Speaker 6 (01:11:09):
All Right?

Speaker 8 (01:11:10):
College football is almost coming to an end. We got
to start, you know, honkering down on our college hoops
before March Madness. We're gonna go with East Texas A
and M plus seven and a half at Nickels State
formerly Texas A and M Commerce.

Speaker 5 (01:11:23):
Okay, all right the artist formerly known as love That
all right beautiful Seamus.

Speaker 4 (01:11:28):
Well, hey, good luck.

Speaker 6 (01:11:29):
With that play.

Speaker 5 (01:11:30):
I'm sure plenty of people will tell you they make
money doing so. And I hope you have a great
rest of the day. Man, Thanks for the time. We'll
catch it soon.

Speaker 8 (01:11:37):
Thanks guys, having you here.

Speaker 6 (01:11:38):
Same to you. There.

Speaker 5 (01:11:39):
He is Seamus McGee, team lead of sports Trading at BEDMGM.
We just have a couple of minutes. I gotta sneak
this in. Man, there's something I absolutely hate. You might
understand where I'm going with this. This transfer portal window, man, yep,
it's open right now from January tewod to the sixteenth.
And you look at the ripple effect with Ole Miss
in particular two stories. One their quarterback who's now the backup. Now,

(01:12:03):
Austin Simmons was the original starter, he got hurt, and
now Chambliss is just all world right. So Austin Simmons
is like, I think I got to find a new home.

Speaker 6 (01:12:13):
Man.

Speaker 5 (01:12:13):
I don't think I'm getting on the field anytime soon.
This chambless guy, my gosh. So he's planning the transfer.
It might be him going to Missouri, but he's planning
to stay with Old Miss throughout the college football playoff.

Speaker 4 (01:12:26):
And it's like, wait a minute.

Speaker 5 (01:12:27):
The window closes on January sixteenth, the championship game. Should
Old Miss win their next game, the championship game is
January nineteenth, So we got the window closing on the sixteenth.
Championship game is the nineteenth. I don't know how Austin
Simmons is gonna be able to stay with Old Miss.

Speaker 4 (01:12:44):
I don't even know how that works.

Speaker 5 (01:12:45):
But what I do know is I'm guessing that Austin
Simmons doesn't want to be a distraction and would rather
not announce that he's transferring while the college football playoff
is going on. But this is the only time he
can do it. This is the only movie he can make.
They has to say, yeah, I'm planning to go elsewhere
while they're in the playoffs. And the other part of
this is we mentioned it briefly, but we don't know

(01:13:07):
if six assistant coaches on the old Miss staff are
gonna be on the sideline for their next game. Those
six guys are going to LSU to join Lane Kiffen,
and we don't know if, like the offensive coordinator Charlie
Weiss junior, the passing game coordinator Joe Cox, we don't
know if they're gonna be on the sideline for the
next game. The Rebels might not have their OC. This

(01:13:30):
window has to be moved, man. There has to be
a better solution where you have NFL free agency going
on during the NFL playoffs, right, Like that's what you
have in college football. The NFL would never do that.
They've got to find a better way than this.

Speaker 7 (01:13:44):
Yeah, I completely agree with you, and so I think
what we're all or we all should be rooting for.
Is that the worst case scenario happens for ole Miss honestly,
that they lose a lot of players in the portal,
you know, backups or guys or you know, despondent with
their standing on the team and wish they had a
bigger role and are chasing some huge dollars nil wise.

(01:14:08):
You know, these coaches, many of them leave in a
mass exodus and sort of leave Ole Miss for debt. Now,
I don't wish that for any fan base. I don't
obviously wish that for these Rebels players who have done
an incredible job this season, answering the call at every turn.
But unfortunately, I don't think anything's gonna change until there's

(01:14:28):
a huge impetus for change and there's a huge reason
and almost like the the catalyst for that change.

Speaker 6 (01:14:37):
And I think it would have to be something that dramatic.

Speaker 7 (01:14:41):
I think, based on clearing house and transfer rules and
you know, the semester and the and and the way
the way new students get added to roles as a
result of these not being professional athletes but student athletes.

Speaker 6 (01:14:59):
It's gonna take something dramatic for all of this to change.

Speaker 7 (01:15:04):
And I don't necessarily think that's the only thing that
needs to happen for it to change. I completely agree
with you, Brian. It's it's a broken system, and you
can't blame any player for chasing huge amounts of money
in the transfer portal. But it doesn't feel good, it
doesn't feel right. It feels the same as any of
these coaches who switch teams, you know, while their teams

(01:15:26):
have postseason or bowl game aspirations.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
Yeah, there's really no argument for it. Frankly, I don't
know what we do to fix it, but there is
no argument for the current calendar as constructed. It just
seems like everyone's waiting around for someone else to do
something about it. I don't even know who would be
the person or the entity to fix it. It just seems
like it is just like it's like that scab that

(01:15:50):
won't heal that you just keep picking like nobody. I
don't like who would even be Like is there's like
a this is why they need a college sports commissioner,
Like I don't know who even would fix it? Like
how do we even fix it? Like what is even
the source of the problem? How do we fix the
con I have no idea, but I agree that it
needs to be changed. I just don't know how to
fix it.

Speaker 6 (01:16:09):
All right.

Speaker 5 (01:16:09):
We've got rich oron Berger, Penn State, All American chair
at Smith FSR betting analyst. I'm probably in no Be
sure to subscribe to the Fox Sports Radio YouTube channel.
Just search Fox Sports Radio on YouTube and you'll see
our best videos from all of our shows. And don't
stop there. Hit that thumbs up icon and comment away.
Let us know whose takes you like and even whose
takes you don't like. Just search Fox Sports Radio on

(01:16:30):
YouTube and subscribe. All right, Coming up next, prop it
up the prop betting market. We'll each have one play
for you and compare notes. It is Fox Sports Radios
Countdown to Kickoff, presented by BETMGM.

Speaker 4 (01:16:41):
It is Fox.

Speaker 5 (01:16:41):
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. For
over forty years, ti Raq has been helping customers find
the right tires for how, what and where they drive.
Ship fast and free back by free road hazard protection
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dot Com the way tire buying should be. And it

(01:17:01):
is time for the tire Rack Player of the Day.

Speaker 2 (01:17:04):
Shoddy Clayton Johnson is the running back in an I formation.

Speaker 6 (01:17:07):
Stone Evie is the full back. I like under center Kevin.

Speaker 4 (01:17:10):
Jenny skips with the Stone Evey running right on.

Speaker 2 (01:17:13):
Pushed into the end zone by shoddy Clayton Johnson.

Speaker 4 (01:17:16):
Touch that SVW. There you go.

Speaker 5 (01:17:19):
There's a rich Phillips from lear Field, which gives you
an idea the quality of the bowl games. Yesterday, Hey,
shout out SMU taking down Arizona.

Speaker 4 (01:17:29):
But uh yeah, it's why did they have these.

Speaker 5 (01:17:32):
Bowl games after the playoff games? We have four playoff
games in a row, and then we get like, you know,
the Liberty Bowl and the Armed Forces, But what are
we doing here? But hey, I just think you're putting
those teams in a bad spot.

Speaker 4 (01:17:45):
But that's just me. All right, let's get to this
prop it up player plays. All right, prop bets galore, Jared,
we start with you. What are you like?

Speaker 2 (01:17:58):
Well, if the goal today is for Seattle to win
a football game on the road and get the number
one seed, I think the best way to do that
is to protect your pumpkin of a quarterback of Sam Donald.

Speaker 6 (01:18:08):
How do you do that?

Speaker 2 (01:18:09):
Well, just don't throw it a whole lot. So let's
go under thirty and a half passing attempts for Sam Donald.
First of all, he's gone under this in four of
the last six. And if we do think Seattle is
going to be in a positive games grip, they are
favorite on the road the market thinks are.

Speaker 6 (01:18:21):
Going to win.

Speaker 2 (01:18:23):
I would not allow Sam Donald to throw it forty
times today. That is not the recipe for Seattle to
win this game. So I think it is going to
be more of a conservative game plan, especially on offense
for the Seahawks. You don't want to put Donald in
a bad spot. So I think under thirty and a
half passing attempts for Donald minus one ten odds at
bet MGM, very good price, best price in market. I
would bet that today my favorite prop bet of the day.

Speaker 7 (01:18:45):
Okay, I am going to take Rock Parties interception over all. Right,
So obviously for Brockferdy to throw an interception on BETMGM,
it's a half interception, you got to pick over or under.
I'm gonna go over on this.

Speaker 6 (01:19:01):
It's it's it's minus one fifty five on the half.
Here's the funny thing about it.

Speaker 7 (01:19:07):
He's averaged just over a interception per game. He's had
two in the past two weeks, I think, like you said,
Seattle is probably gonna be in a positive game script
for most of the game.

Speaker 6 (01:19:22):
Forty nine Ers could find themselves chasing points.

Speaker 7 (01:19:25):
You've got seventeen interceptions generated by the Seattle defense over
the course of the season, so I think he's primed
for the fucking year.

Speaker 6 (01:19:33):
Give me the over on the.

Speaker 7 (01:19:35):
Half interception thrown by Brock Perdy in the forty nine
Ers sex pretty pick.

Speaker 5 (01:19:40):
Okay, I'm pretty alrighty, I get it, it could easily happen.

Speaker 6 (01:19:44):
Give me.

Speaker 4 (01:19:45):
I'm gonna stick at the same game.

Speaker 5 (01:19:46):
Wow, I didn't know what we were gonna do this,
but I'm gonna go with Christian McCaffrey, who I think
very very highly of, But I think more highly of
that Seattle rush defense. So I like CMC under sixty
six and a half rushing yards. Seattle has the third
best rush defense in the league, and so I just
don't see CMC. They're gonna get him involved in the

(01:20:07):
passing game. That's where I see him making an impact.
He's been a phenomenal receiver all season long. The receiving
yards has made a huge impact for this Niners offense.
So I think he's gonna be a bigger weapon when
it comes to that. But in terms of just straight
running the football, I don't see a big impact from
McCaffrey today. So I will take the under sixty six
and a half rushing yards for him.

Speaker 7 (01:20:29):
See mc Yeah, I think that that's a solid guest.
We could actually partner ours for a same game parlay.

Speaker 6 (01:20:37):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (01:20:37):
How about that. I did not expect all three of.

Speaker 4 (01:20:39):
Us toms years without the SGP. I like it right,
Coming up neck my favorite bet of the entire season.
Oh what is going on? Happy Saturday to you, Happy
Week eighteen to you. Heck, Happy New Year to you.

Speaker 5 (01:20:51):
You know, we're just checking boxes here with happiness, is
what we're doing on today's show. All right, we get
to week eighteen and we get a doubleheader today in
the NFL, two really good games. And I'll tell you what, man,
this is my favorite bet of the entire NFL season. Wow,
And it is the Carolina Panthers plus three. I also

(01:21:14):
love him win the game outright, But you're giving me
three points. I will happily take it. And to me,
I'm curious how you guys think about this game. But
to me, this goes beyond like the x's and o's,
beyond just the football stuff. Right, we could go back
and forth and we will with well, when you know
Tampa's secondary is iffy and Carolina's pass game is if

(01:21:36):
he But you know, I give the advantage here and
you could go through all the football stuff that you
want to me.

Speaker 4 (01:21:41):
It goes beyond that.

Speaker 5 (01:21:42):
If you look at Tampa Bay, they have lost seven
of eight games, and I think what we do when
we're like looking at the next game, I think we
overlook what that has felt like for the last two
months for Tampa Bay.

Speaker 4 (01:21:57):
Think about that. It is a whole process.

Speaker 5 (01:22:00):
Rich can talk about this more than anybody on this show,
obviously being a former NFL player.

Speaker 4 (01:22:06):
It's a process to gear yourself.

Speaker 5 (01:22:08):
Up right, Like you gotta get your body right, you
gotta get your rehab right.

Speaker 4 (01:22:11):
You're nursing these injuries, you banged up.

Speaker 5 (01:22:13):
This is week eighteen, you know, and you're gearing up
week in and week out in the second half of
the season.

Speaker 4 (01:22:19):
It is lost, all right, Let's get him the next.

Speaker 5 (01:22:22):
Time here, Get my rehab, get my sleep, get my nutrition,
Let's let's do it. Loss, Like the weight of losing
is like being in the sauna for the last two
months and they're just trying to just snap out of it.
I don't see it happening. And I grabbed some audio
for you guys. No, it's not me, you know, this

(01:22:43):
is different audio. It's Kevin Garnett. Yeah, this is me
from earlier today. Babbit doesn't suck. Yeah yeah, right, well
I never said they suck, you guys, don't.

Speaker 4 (01:22:55):
So Kevin Garnett.

Speaker 5 (01:22:57):
Remember KG when he was with the Timberwolves, he did
this interview.

Speaker 4 (01:23:01):
I will never forget.

Speaker 5 (01:23:02):
He did a sit down interview with John Thompson, right,
former Georgetown head coach, and uh Thompson was with John
Thompson was with TNT at the time. And KG does
this interview and he's so emotional, and I think this
is exactly how it feels for Tampa Bay. Right, Listen
to KG. Listen to the pain of losing.

Speaker 4 (01:23:23):
Check this out.

Speaker 6 (01:23:24):
What's driving you? You play hard and I'm losing. I'm losing.

Speaker 4 (01:23:33):
I'm losing, right, you can feel the pain. I'll give
you one more. This is only like twenty seconds. Check
it out.

Speaker 5 (01:23:40):
More from KG and the pain of losing. What that
feels like week in and week out the pain.

Speaker 6 (01:23:46):
It's getting me up all hate that I'm liking just
in front of you right now, Man, I respect you
for showing these emotions. I don't just respect you one bo.

Speaker 7 (01:24:04):
You're putting the burden of his team on your shoulders,
aren't you?

Speaker 6 (01:24:12):
Like?

Speaker 5 (01:24:12):
The last part of that that's losing in a nutshell
is this.

Speaker 4 (01:24:17):
It's it's like it just takes the life out of you.

Speaker 5 (01:24:22):
And that's where I start with this is if you
look at both teams, Tampa losing seven of eight, and
look at these losses, man, like, I'll shut up in
a second.

Speaker 4 (01:24:30):
I'm sorry, I'm taking this much time.

Speaker 5 (01:24:32):
No, no, no, take your time, like you look at
what they've done. They lose to the Patriots, right this
is Week ten. This is what started the losing streak.
They're at home, they lose to the Patriots. Remember Trayvon
Henderson had a couple of long runs. They lose a
close game, then they lose to the Bills. They give
up forty four points to the Bills. Then they get

(01:24:52):
smacked by the Rams thirty four to seven. On Sunday
Night football. They don't even feel that good. They squeak
by Arizona, who's greasefire twenty to seventeen. Then they lose
to the Saints. They somehow lose to the Falcons when
they had a big lead at home on Thursday night,
they lose to the Panthers. They lost to my Dolphins
last week. With Quinn Yours on the field. They are

(01:25:15):
just losing and losing and losing and losing. And that
feels like walking around with the squat rack on your
back and your legs are just buckling under that. That's
what I see from Tampa. I don't see them pulling themselves.

Speaker 4 (01:25:29):
Out from this.

Speaker 5 (01:25:30):
It'd be fitting if Tampa won, and you know, like
Atlanta wins, and you've got three teams that are eight
and nine in the NFC South, no one has a
winning record. But I just see Carolina winning this game,
and I love them plus three.

Speaker 7 (01:25:44):
You know, I have no idea how much football you've
played in your life, Brian, but that was extraordinarily poignant
and really well put about losing, especially.

Speaker 6 (01:25:57):
The process of football. You're waiting a week for your
next appointment. You don't get to go out there in
game two of a three game.

Speaker 7 (01:26:06):
Series and dust off the last one after a couple
of beers and some cold ones and maybe even going
out with some of your opponents, like baseball players get
to do or in the NBA, hey man, that was
a tough one, and yeah, we're on the road, so
we got long travel back. But then you gear up
for a practice the next day, and then the next
night you're hosting another Western Conference team and off to

(01:26:30):
the races you go. I mean, forty eight hours, you
get to flush it. With football, it is a seven
day process. Sometimes you play on a short week and
then it's a ten day process until the next opportunity.
I mean, it is brutal when you're going through it
the way the Bucks are going through it.

Speaker 6 (01:26:47):
And you heard KG and I think it's smart to
play that that sound.

Speaker 7 (01:26:51):
Because losing is so disagreeable to his system.

Speaker 6 (01:26:57):
It makes him cry. Okay, the greats have that reaction.
Like do you remember.

Speaker 7 (01:27:02):
How mad Jordan would be after losing or a losing streak.
He would be incensed, you know, I mean his face
would contort, Kobe, Kobe, his face, he would it looked
like he was chewing iron nails after losses, like he
was just his mouth would move around uncomfortably as he's answering,
you know, questions from media members he actually likes, and

(01:27:25):
they're asking good questions about what's happening and what's wrong
and take us inside the locker room. And he didn't
want to deal with it. All he wanted to do
is get out there and correct what was done. You know,
the greats have this horrible disagreement with losing. Tom Brady,
Peyton Manning normally pretty jovial, nice guys. You get them

(01:27:46):
on a losing streak.

Speaker 6 (01:27:47):
My god.

Speaker 7 (01:27:48):
I mean the feeling of foreboding in the room when
they would take the podium. I mean, playing with Tom
Brady for three seasons, I saw it. I mean I
didn't see a lot of it because we were we
were good teams. You know, we went out there and
we want a ton of games. But if you ever
had a tough stretch man, it wasn't fun to be
around that building in New England because Tom Brady and

(01:28:11):
that staff especially. But Tom did not like to lose.
And so that's true with the Greats, But what about
the rest of them? Okay, because that locker room's filled
with a lot of people you got to depend on,
and there are certain people in locker rooms, even at
the professional level, who just sort of get used to
the status quo. Well, I guess we aren't that good. Well,

(01:28:35):
I guess this season is over. Well, I better start
making my plans for that flight to Can't Kun.

Speaker 6 (01:28:42):
I'm not even kidding, like.

Speaker 7 (01:28:44):
Those sort of conversations start entering the fold. I've been
in the hot tub with guys who were talking about
vacation plans while we still have a chance.

Speaker 6 (01:28:54):
It's hard.

Speaker 7 (01:28:56):
It's hard to play in the NFL, and it's hard
to keep yourself up and positive.

Speaker 6 (01:29:00):
It's hard. And so I'm with you.

Speaker 7 (01:29:02):
Look, I took in our parlay platter earlier Carolina on
the money money line because I think that's a motivated
team going against the team who may have some of
those doom sayers.

Speaker 6 (01:29:12):
And and and and and I'm not gonna call them
there do wells.

Speaker 7 (01:29:15):
They're they're well intentioned football players who are trying their
hardest still, but in the back of their mind they've
lost the hope and they've lost And when you lose
hope on the journey, when you lose the belief behind
the journey, you're on, man, You're not gonna make it.

Speaker 6 (01:29:30):
You're just not gonna make it.

Speaker 7 (01:29:32):
So I think you hit a lot, You pressed a
lot of the right buttons there, Brian, Because Tampa Bay,
can they turn it around in this game? Absolutely? Could
they shock us all? Absolutely? But do I think they will? No?

Speaker 6 (01:29:45):
I don't.

Speaker 7 (01:29:45):
I feel like I feel like this this season might
be in the books Jens and and I feel like
they they've they've pretty much. I mean, I'm sure there's
certain guys who have already packed up their rental houses.
They're ready to get out of Tampa. I mean, that's
just the way it is at the end of seasons
that look like this. So, yeah, that's a that's a
really strong argument you just made about the Buccaneers.

Speaker 2 (01:30:07):
I hate losing more than I want to win. That
was my favorite line in the movie milley Ball. Yeah,
with Brad Pitt right about Billy Bean and the Oakland
A's and the moneyball. You know, just a awesome line.
I think Jalen Hurts said that at some point too.
It's very uh like our natural like our brains always

(01:30:30):
gravitate towards the negative when things start going wrong. It's
never rarely. It takes a certain level of you know,
mental strength and fortitude to say I'm going to turn
this around like it, and how how often I'll put
it in an average Because I never played in the
nfl R, I don't have that bad experience. But how
often are you wagering on a game? You have a

(01:30:52):
bet going on a certain game, and then one thing
goes wrong and then another thing goes wrong. And it's
not even things that you know are like you know, layering,
things are just like little little edges, like you know,
you get one bad break and another bad break, and
then your brain immediately goes towards I can't win, Like
I'm losing.

Speaker 4 (01:31:08):
Right, I can't buy one, Yeah, can't buy one.

Speaker 2 (01:31:11):
That's how I felt yesterday, gambling right, like Eli Heidenreich
drops two open, wide open passes, like can't get my
Blake quarterback passing yards prop across the finish line he
loses by the hook, Like it's just like and in
my mind, I'm like always it's negative, Like it's just
our brains just gravitate towards the negative because it is
just human nature for us to do that. And if

(01:31:32):
you don't think these athletes are humans, well then you're
not watching the same sport that I am, because their
brains work the same way. That ours do, and it
is hard to turn it around. It takes a very
strong grit and determination to turn that around. Now, I
will argue that Baker does have that attitude, and if

(01:31:55):
there is one guy who can maybe turn it around
for the Bucks, it is Baker. But but then I
start to look at the numbers, and I start to
look at the analytics, and I start to look at
some of the the baseline metrics that he's put forth
over the last few weeks. The Bucks offense has just
fallen off a cliff and the metric that I look
at the most that I think is very telling about

(01:32:17):
maybe there's an injury or maybe there's something else going
on with Baker. His catchable pass rate, which was over
fifty percent through the first six weeks of the year,
is now down to twenty seven percent since Week seven.
Like he is not throwing catchable passes, which tells me,
and he's a usually pretty accurate quarterback, that tells me
that there's something else going on. Maybe it's his mechanics,

(01:32:40):
Maybe he's overcompensating for another injury. Right, it was one shoulder,
and when one you know part of your body is hurt,
you overcompensate by trying to throw a different way, like
we saw that happen. There's quarterbacks right when you get
you know, if your one left leg is hurt, you
try to overcompensate throwing you're right, Like we saw this
with John Mattier a little bit throughout the course of
his injury with his thumb, Like all of a sudden,
your mechanics get all thrown off. So I don't know

(01:33:01):
what it is, but his mechanics, his ability to throw
catchable passes has just plummeted over the last two months.
And unless he turns that around today, I don't know
what else to say. I mean, it does seem like
the Bucks offense strainding out. Maybe their defense pulls it
out here, like maybe this is just a really grinded
out defensive game and Todd Bowles pulls a rabbit out

(01:33:22):
of his hat and Bryce Young makes a big mistake
and Tampa Bay's able to pull it out. But if
you're looking at their offense and what Baker's been able
to do, it just seems like there's something wrong with
his delivery, his mechanics, something's going on behind the scenes,
because his overall efficiency has plummeted over the last two months.

Speaker 5 (01:33:42):
Yeah, man, it's it's one of those deals where you're
looking for small edges because this is a divisional game.
These are two pretty evenly matched teams, So you're looking for,
like what could make the difference. Hey, like you just said, Jared,
maybe Bryce Young stinks it up again. He had fifty
four yards against the Seahawks last week. Fifty four yards

(01:34:04):
and he looked bad. It was a bad interception to
Julian Love like he had a tear. Could he have
another stinker? This is a much lesser pass defense, But
could he have another stinker? Absolutely he could. So yeah,
we're not saying no chance, no how with Tampa. But
when you're looking for small edges. The interesting thing to
me with Tampa, we've said it, they've lost seven of

(01:34:25):
eight games. If you look at the last ten games
for Carolina, they've gone win loss, win, loss, win loss
every week the last ten games. They have a one
game losing streak in that span.

Speaker 6 (01:34:38):
That's it.

Speaker 5 (01:34:39):
Like they haven't lost two straight games in the last
ten that they've played. That makes a huge difference. Like,
these aren't robots, these are human beings. And when you're
talking rich about Jordan and Kobe and these competitive maniacs.
What it feels like to just lose a game, let
alone seven of eight games in the NFL. That's like

(01:35:00):
dog gears compared to NBA games, you know what I mean, Like,
it feels like way more than that what you put
into it, what you're not getting out of it. It
like like Baker Mayfield last week against the Dolphins. He
was on the bench at one point in the game
and it looked like like it was the aftershot of
someone just coming up and punching him in the stomach.

Speaker 4 (01:35:18):
They're just like, hey, Baker, wamn. I mean, he's like, oh,
he's just sitting there on the bench.

Speaker 5 (01:35:23):
It's the emotional pain of losing and losing and losing
some more. And that's the edge to me in this game.
Like Tampa if they're down by seven, that's much different
losing seven of eight than Carolina down seven on a
one game losing streak.

Speaker 6 (01:35:40):
It's night and day, man, It's it's so true.

Speaker 7 (01:35:45):
And then also you gotta flip it around, like, say,
Tampa at some point during this game is playing with
a lead, Like how much more important that lead is
to Tampa than it is to Carolina. You ever, you
ever hear the line, you know, this is more like
when you're dating, almost like when you know and it's
been a long time for me, I've been married for

(01:36:06):
a long time. But like you can't over pursue, right,
because you'll scare them off.

Speaker 6 (01:36:11):
Right, you know that?

Speaker 5 (01:36:12):
Like, but I love her, you're right, yeah, yeah, yeah,
but everybody.

Speaker 2 (01:36:19):
For all three of us, I've been there.

Speaker 7 (01:36:21):
Oh yeah, look this this is usually advice for guys,
but there are some some ladies out there in the
audience listening who are probably nodding along with us, where
they fell in love with a guy and they texted
him too much and scared him away, or they started
talking about commitment too soon, or you know, with a guy,
you know, there's a lot of times where you're feeling
all these emotions and she's completely unsure about you, and

(01:36:42):
then you say the wrong thing or you call too
much whatever it is, like like sometimes when you really
care about something, you screw it up because you're over
concerned about losing it.

Speaker 6 (01:36:53):
And so Tampa also playing with a lead.

Speaker 7 (01:36:57):
I mean, all of a sudden, you're like, oh my gosh,
it's we've been waiting for this moment and it's like
you start doing too much, you know, and that can
happen too.

Speaker 6 (01:37:07):
Look, I've been there.

Speaker 7 (01:37:08):
I know how it feels on a football field when
you're like, we are a bad team, we have no
business being in this game, and you screw it up
because you start either believing you better than you are
or or trying to do too much because you're overcompensating.
I've also been on great teams where you know you
can look past opponents and things like that, and you
know you get into the other side of that too.

(01:37:30):
What's easier being a great team playing down or being
a bad team trying to play up? Trust me, every time,
it's easier to be the great team playing down because
you can reverse cores and it's easy to revert back
to the meme, which is you're a great team before
before bad team playing up. What's the mean what's the
regression to the meme? Well, it means you can play

(01:37:50):
some pretty bad football at some point in that game.
So yeah, I think this is I mean, look, if
there's anybody right now listening to us who are like, like, man,
I'm all over the bucks. We're not trying to talk
you out of it.

Speaker 6 (01:38:05):
We're not.

Speaker 7 (01:38:06):
It's just that's that's just that's just the feeling I
personally have. Clearly you guys share a lot of it too.
It's it's it doesn't feel right for the Bucks in
this spot.

Speaker 2 (01:38:18):
Yeah, I think under is my stronger lean of the
game between the two sides. I think based off of
what we're talking about here, like let's try to apply
this into a gambling wager, Like both of these teams,
especially Tampa feels like they're walking on eggshells. Carolina probably
feels like they're the better team. Like if I'm coming
into this game and I'm Carolina, You're probably you probably

(01:38:40):
feel a little bit disrespected. You're like, wait, maybe we
just beat Tampa. We were an underdog in that game.
Now we're an underdog again in Tampa. Stinks like what's
going on here? And if you don't think these guys
know the points bread? They they know what the points
bread is going in every game. They know if they're
supposed to win or supposed to lose. They use it
as motivation very often. But I think the better betting

(01:39:00):
in this game, Like I think you give Tampa a
little bit of an edge for being at home, you
give them a home field, but Carolina is clearly playing better.
So that's why we're at three, and we're kind of
drifting on and off the three. Right, I see some
two and a halfs and then it gets me back
to three. It looks like the market says Carolina plus
three Tampa Bay minus two and a half. It looks
like that's the sharp angle in this game. So it

(01:39:20):
feels like the side's a pick them. But I do
think on the defensive side of the ball, especially for Tampa,
if they're looking at Baker Mayfinx and Art like Baker's obviously,
this offense is kind of a shell of it's a
Tom Herself like, we're not We're gonna have to play
the game of our lives. And if you're Carolina and
you did what you did last week with Seattle and
it just was it was a disaster, maybe you're trying

(01:39:42):
to shorten this game. And I think Carolina, if you
ask me what the strength of this Carolina team is
on the offensive side, I think it's Rico Daddle and
Chewba Hubbard. I think it's run the ball, I think,
and I think Daubtle's one touchdown away from a big incentive,
so they're gonna try to get daddle the rock, and
I would say that would be my lean gambling wise
in the game where I think the side is price
pretty well between Carolina and Tampa. Like I think Tampa

(01:40:03):
deserves to be the favorite, but not a significant one.
I think three is war will Land. But to me,
the under in the game, especially like a Bucks team
total under which I think is twenty three and a half,
I think that would be my preferred wager in the game.
Like if you're looking at fade Tampa in this game,
but you're like, you know what, I don't fully trust Carolina,
I would say the under on Tampa's team total because
I would be very shocked if both of these teams

(01:40:25):
spread it out open it up air a today, Like
it is just getting across the finish line, getting that win,
getting into the clubhouse, and then the irony is with
this game, Brian. Even if Tampa wins the game, yeah,
the weird fluky tiebreaker scenario, they might not even be
in the playoffs because of the Atlanta New Orleans game
on Sunday. Atlanta has to lose. So let's say Tampa

(01:40:48):
wins if Atlanta wins on Sunday, all three teams Carolina, Atlanta,
Tampa will all be tied at eight to nine O
top the standings, and the three way tiebreaker goes to Carolina.
So not only does Tampa have to win the game,
but they also need New.

Speaker 6 (01:40:59):
Orleans to win.

Speaker 2 (01:41:00):
And they're a big under not a big but a
three and a half point underdog on Sunday. So there's
like another layer to this that is completely out of
the Bucks hands and that probably makes them feel even
more helpless.

Speaker 5 (01:41:10):
You know, I'll say this super fast because we got
to go, but I almost never do this with a
football game.

Speaker 2 (01:41:16):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:41:17):
I'm all about you know, x's and o's edges, like
football stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:41:22):
I take the football stuff in this game Carolina and Tampa,
and it's almost like throwing out the Christmas tree out
the front door. I'm just like, way, just heave it
on LA, all right. That's that, Like, that's how I look.
This is psychology to me, man. The psychological ed edge
by Miles is with Carolina because they haven't lost seven

(01:41:44):
of eight. And to your point, Rich, it made me
think of one thing real fast. Steve Fisher, former head
basketball coach at Michigan and then also at San Diego State.

Speaker 4 (01:41:53):
Spent a lot of years at San Diego State.

Speaker 5 (01:41:55):
But the thirty for thirty, the doc that was the
Fab five about the five great freshman at at Michigan
and they lost the title game back to back years.
He had a great, great example and painted a picture.
He was like, it was almost like our hand was
out and there's a feather falling in the air, and

(01:42:15):
instead of letting it fall in our hand, we're like
grabbing it and trying to and it's causing the feather
to fly away even more. And that's that's probably how
it feels for Tampa Bay right now. It's hard to
just relax. You want it so bad that sometimes you're
getting in your own way and weird stuff is happening
because you're pressing to a fault. That's what I see

(01:42:38):
from them, and that's why I'm happy to fade them
in this spot.

Speaker 6 (01:42:41):
Man.

Speaker 5 (01:42:41):
I just I just don't buy the spot for Tampa.
But we'll see, we've got go ahead. Oh sorry, I
was just gonna back up your point.

Speaker 7 (01:42:49):
It's like, you know, there are plenty of people who
can talk with their friends and they're really good. They're
really good conversationalists, but you put them in front of
a crowd, they clam up like because all of a sudden,
the energy of the moment just consumes them. That's what
I think of when it's like stage fright, when you're
having a tough time and you go out there and

(01:43:11):
you're trying to do something you do all the time.
Like everybody can talk. It's just right now, I'm having
a hard time talking. Man, That is Tampa Bay because
they can play football. All those guys are pros. Yeah,
but it's like when the time comes on Sunday or
Saturday in this case, but when the appointment time comes,
for whatever reason, it's been going wrong and that's a
hard mental hurdle or clear no doubt.

Speaker 4 (01:43:32):
That's rich O Wenberger, Penn State All American.

Speaker 5 (01:43:34):
Jared Smith FSR, betting analyst with US, I'm probably no
bet MGM players will receive college Football odds boost tokens
and college Football parlay boost tokens throughout the season to
use on college football bets. Score extra winnings if your
bet with the token applied wins. Check it out in
the bet MGM app. All right, coming up next, we

(01:43:55):
look forward and man it's hard not to see this
team doing special things when we look into the crystal ball.

Speaker 4 (01:44:02):
We'll get to that coming up.

Speaker 5 (01:44:03):
It is Fox Sports Radios count Down to Kickoff, presented
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(01:44:25):
Fox Sports Radios. Fox Sports Radio is one of your
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Speaker 4 (01:44:32):
It's funny.

Speaker 5 (01:44:32):
I'm just like, I'm in autopilot mode, like doing some
fill ins for FSR over the last week. I was
in for Big Ben Mallor a couple of nights, and
I come back from break and I'm just like, it's
Fox Sports Radios. I'm like, oh, shoot, it's not countdown
to kickoff. Man, It's yeah, my bad, it did that
a couple of times.

Speaker 6 (01:44:51):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:44:51):
I'm like, sorry, my bad, whoops.

Speaker 5 (01:44:54):
All right, we've got We got college football playoff games
around the corner as well. And if you look at
these games IU minus four against Oregon Ole Miss, well,
I should say we'll go with a favorite, Miami favored
by three and a half against Old Miss. And when
you start to break these games down, the first thing
I think of is what's going on with Old missus

(01:45:16):
coaching staff?

Speaker 4 (01:45:17):
Like is their offensive coordinator going to be coaching in
this game?

Speaker 8 (01:45:20):
Right?

Speaker 5 (01:45:21):
Like six assistants are following Lane Kiff into LSU, and
LSU is like, hey, we got this thing called the
transfer portal, right, Like the window is open right now.
We kind of need our staff to be our staff
and like do their due diligence and you know, like
fight for LSU.

Speaker 4 (01:45:38):
So it's a whole thing.

Speaker 5 (01:45:39):
Right now, we're still in a holding pattern, Like are
these assistants gonna be there for Old Miss We don't
even know that yet. Chambliss has been electric and man
IU is a freaking wagon right now. So to go
up against Oregon again, you look at the initial game
or Oregon had a tough time against the pressure of Indiana.

(01:46:01):
They got to the quarterback, they affected the quarterback Dante
more So, if it's you know, no pun intended. If
it's more of that, that's that's gonna be tough for Oregon.
I'm not gonna count them out at all, But man,
Indiana just looks like whoa, that looks like a runaway
freight train. The way they're playing right now and the
way they played the whole season.

Speaker 7 (01:46:22):
Really truly, you know what, it's the only fourteen zero
team in the country and deservedly so, and Kurt Signetti
deserves a tremendous amount of credit, you know. To me,
this is a little bit of you know, style make fight,
Styles make fights. In terms of Oregon Indiana, I look

(01:46:45):
at it as as a little bit of that elite
speed and efficiency is sort of the hallmarks of the
Oregon Duck season versus the discipline and really the physical
of the Indiana team that we've seen all season long.
That is probably one of the most under heralded parts

(01:47:07):
of Who's your Football is the fact that they're just
more physical than you are.

Speaker 6 (01:47:12):
And it's hard.

Speaker 7 (01:47:13):
It's hard to remember that because I think when you
think of Indiana, you think of the pushovers of yesteryear,
and the only way they're gonna really win big games
is to be gimmicky or to beat you with trick plays,
or to find a way and be scrappy. And also
the story of Kurt Signetti, he's kind of pulled out
of the mud. You know, he comes there from James Madison,

(01:47:35):
and you're just expecting, well, this guy's just gonna he's
gonna find a way through you know, trick ration and
scheme to just outscheme you.

Speaker 6 (01:47:44):
And that is not the case.

Speaker 7 (01:47:45):
Now, don't get me wrong. The scheme works, and Mendoza
is a talented quarterback. He's been winner all the things. Yes,
But also they're just a big physical bunch of dudes
who want to rough you up the trenches.

Speaker 6 (01:47:59):
If you pay attention to the line of scrimmage in
Indiana games.

Speaker 7 (01:48:03):
Those are a bunch of bad dudes on both side
of the ball with bad intentions, and they are messing
you up on play after play after play. They're they're
taking it one down at a time. And so I
really think that this is an interesting matchup. Now we
could get to Ole Miss in Miami, and I think
that's plenty interesting too, But but styles make fights.

Speaker 6 (01:48:22):
I'm really excited to see this matchup again.

Speaker 7 (01:48:25):
Because I'm curious if it looks the same way it
did or if we're going to see a different result
than we're going to see Oregon sort of find the
CounterPunch they couldn't come up with the first time round.

Speaker 2 (01:48:37):
Yeah, the pressure was through the roof. To be fair,
they had Steven Day in that game, who didn't play
in the game against Alabama didn't matter. But that's like
that they're not at full strength. But I'll be honest, man,
Like you nailed it, Rich, Like you thought Signetty was
this kind of like offensive guru coming in and that's
how Indiana was gonna win games. But it has been

(01:49:00):
that he is the best coach in college football right now.
This is the best turnaround I've ever seen of a program.
And Indiana is absolutely the hammer in every game that
they play, and the other team is the nail. And
maybe its attitude, maybe it's delivery, Maybe it's just the
overall vibe that he brings on the sideline, like he's

(01:49:21):
pointing at Pat McAfee before the game, like it's just
everything about him right now. It's just like it's it's
coming up Roses literally in the Rose Bowl. But it
I think on the other side for Oregon, I think
you can make the case that they've kind of had
the easy path in this college football playoff, and I
know facing Texas Tech defense is not an easy path.
But of the eight quarterbacks that played this week in

(01:49:44):
the quarterfinals, it is no doubt in my mind who
quarterback eight of the eight was, and it was Baron Morton.
Like he was bottom of the pack. There's an awful
quarterback performance, absolutely awful with the way that Texas Techs
defense played for Morton and that offense to not be
able to score a single point is beyond comprehension. And

(01:50:05):
then of course you had a cupcake against JMU, ironically enough,
Signetti's former team. So I think Oregon's kind of been
like the Penn State of last year, right where you
get SMU in that early game, not really much of
a fight at home, and then you play Boise and
Boise just didn't have the horses to match up. And
then all of a sudden, you play Notre Dame in
the semifinals, and Notre Dame's a real football team, like

(01:50:27):
they're doing everything right, They're checking all the boxes, little
things x's and o's. They were tougher than everyone else,
and you saw what happened. Even despite the fact De
Pens they had a lead in that game, it just
didn't quite work out for them because they were facing
the better, more disciplined, more drilled team. And that's what
Indiana is. They are the best team on the field
in this game. I don't know if they have the
best players. I think you can make the case that

(01:50:49):
Oregon's players at their ceiling might be better. But I
think if we're talking about a team eleven players looking
forward with one goal, I think Indiana team, their mentality,
the way that they go about their business, I think
is the best in college football right now.

Speaker 5 (01:51:05):
I just I've heard every cliche with that, you know,
like one heartbeat, you know, clear minds, like I heard it.

Speaker 4 (01:51:12):
I heard him, and that's what they have that.

Speaker 5 (01:51:14):
It's like Fernando Mendoza when you hear him talk. Oh,
I can't help but love the guy. It's Cloe City, right,
It's like Russell Wilson must watch this guy and be like,
why do they hate me but love him? Like he's
made We're the same guy and.

Speaker 4 (01:51:28):
They hate me but love him.

Speaker 5 (01:51:30):
But whatever, Like I just picture Russ looking like that,
But are reacting that way. But when you look at
the turnaround for IU, it's astounding, Like, like Kurt Signetti said,
like it make one hell of a movie, Like really,
this is movie type stuff. They went from nine and
twenty seven to three years collectively. Before Signetti took over.

(01:51:53):
They were a three and nine football team the last
year that Tom Allen was there, and they are this
They went eleven and two last year, made it to
the playoff, got smacked around by the Irish.

Speaker 4 (01:52:04):
But you know, no one's perfect, right, and then this
year they are perfect. They are fourteen to zero. They
dump trucked Alabama.

Speaker 5 (01:52:11):
They're the only team to win that had a first
round by all these other teams are losing left and right.
So to go from nine to twenty seven to this
amount of success, they're twenty five and two.

Speaker 4 (01:52:22):
That's insane.

Speaker 5 (01:52:23):
And the other thing I love about him is one
thing that Fernando Mendoza said after the game. Checked this
out just quickly, what are your early thoughts on a
rematch with Oregon, a team you've already beaten the season?

Speaker 2 (01:52:33):
Well, that thinks the first time actually heard the Oregon one,
it's got locked into the game.

Speaker 5 (01:52:37):
I love that, Like that that is when you're talking
about a collective focus that matters. Like if you're on
a date with Indiana, they're not on their phone at all,
like they're listening to you.

Speaker 4 (01:52:50):
They are in the moment, they are present.

Speaker 5 (01:52:52):
No one whispered to Fernando Mendoza like on the sideline.

Speaker 4 (01:52:56):
They're blowing them out like he's not even in the game.
No one was like, hey, by the way, uh you
know we got we got Oregon up next.

Speaker 5 (01:53:03):
No One just like out of left field, Holly Row, Hey, thanks,
I didn't know who you were playing.

Speaker 4 (01:53:08):
Next week, didn't even know.

Speaker 5 (01:53:09):
Like that is being locked freaking in to your job
and collectively, not just Mendoza but the team.

Speaker 4 (01:53:17):
What is your role?

Speaker 6 (01:53:18):
Do your job?

Speaker 5 (01:53:20):
Next play focused? It is not about next week, next game,
next nothing. It is about now baby, And that team
is locked in on top of like performing on the
level that they're performing on.

Speaker 4 (01:53:32):
Like that's that's gonna be really tough to be.

Speaker 8 (01:53:35):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:53:35):
The key matchups in this one, I would say, are
the the trenches, like we were talking about, especially Indiana's offensive.

Speaker 6 (01:53:45):
Line against Oregon's pass rush.

Speaker 7 (01:53:48):
Again, you know, you have a lot of talented defenders
on that Oregon side of the ball, So that's going
to be obviously a carryover from the first game. It's
it's something to keep an eye on these Oregon wide
receivers against man to man coverage of Indiana, you know,
especially when you have one on one opportunities. They have

(01:54:08):
elite speed, they have great pass catchers. That's obviously going
to be a matchup again, carry over from the first
matchup that we're gonna have to keep.

Speaker 6 (01:54:16):
An eye on.

Speaker 7 (01:54:16):
And then really red zone efficiency. I think Indiana is
gonna want to score touchdowns, not field goals. And the
bottom line here is if Oregon jumps out to an
early lead, does Indiana have the gear.

Speaker 6 (01:54:32):
To play catch up?

Speaker 7 (01:54:33):
You know, are they going to be able to be
in sort of the passenger seat or the rear seat
chasing points and having success. I'm curious because bullies like
to play bully ball, and Indiana right now they're the biggest.

Speaker 6 (01:54:46):
Dog on the playground. And so what do you do
with a big dog.

Speaker 7 (01:54:49):
You punch him in the face and you try to
get him chase in and like many of you know,
name some of the famous bully teams of the past,
like the John Harbaugh Raven you know, I mean big
time bullies on the.

Speaker 6 (01:55:02):
Playground, The Belichick Patriots.

Speaker 7 (01:55:05):
You know, love to play with the lead. Those those
types of teams. They're built a certain way and when
they're trailing, they struggle. And so let's let's see if
Oregon jumps out to an early lead. My guess is
again another bottom line here, what Indiana wants is a
fourth quarter rock fight where it comes down to who's tougher,

(01:55:25):
you know, a three point margin one way or the other,
Who's tougher, who's better conditioned, who's better in the clutch moments,
And Indiana could prevail. It's tough to beat the same
team twice. I understand that, But I love Indiana and
I think, I think this is.

Speaker 6 (01:55:40):
A hell of a squad.

Speaker 2 (01:55:41):
This season worst performance of the year for Oregons offense
by a wide margin. They were negative in almost every category.
Like when you go back and look at Oregon's offensive performances.
And Oregon played a couple of tough defenses this year.
Right on the road at Penn State, Iowa, they played
Indiana and they got absolutely shut down. And that was
it in Eugene, right, and and so I I don't

(01:56:04):
know what and I didn't love. I didn't love the
way Oregon's offense looked the other day. I really didn't.
I thought Whittington, the back, the main back for Oregon,
didn't have good eyes. I thought Oregon's offense looked very
flustered by that Texas Tech defensive line. They were fumbling snaps,
miscute like it was. It was very fortunate for them
to be on the front foot in that game. And

(01:56:25):
again when I watch, I'm gonna go back and watch
the full I'm gonna watch two films this week. I'm
gonna watch Oregon's offense against Texas Tech, and I'm gonna,
you know, make sure because I was looking at that
game through the Texas Tech lens, so I didn't really,
you know, really look into the Oregon the offense as much.
And I'm gonna go back and watch the Oregon game
from earlier this year against Indiana. I didn't love the
way Oregon's offense looked. And I'll see if I'm right

(01:56:47):
on that original opinion when I go back and watch.
But I think there's something to be said about Indiana's defense,
right Mendoza. People say it's a it's it was a
weak heisman field. I can see that argument, but I
think Mendoza's mentality and his ability to not get rattled
in these key moments, I think has been his best attribute.

(01:57:10):
Just making the right play in the right spot and
not the big mistake, and that's been his his big positive.
And for Oregon's defense, it's been shutting down these really
good attacks. Like I thought Texas Tech's offensive line and
their run game was gonna be a factor against Oregon's
defense the other day, it just wasn't. So I'm fascinated
to see how Oregon's defense handles this Indiana offense, which

(01:57:33):
is not like what do you take away from Indiana's offense.
They don't have the guy. It is very balanced, it
is very precise.

Speaker 6 (01:57:39):
I think.

Speaker 2 (01:57:40):
I just think they're the best team in the sport
this year, and I think they're gonna win this game.
They probably cover and Mendoza, right, we talked about the Heisman,
you know, curse. I don't think it's gonna be the
case this year. I think this team is absolutely nails
with their mentality and I love what I love what
I saw for I absolutely adore this Indiana team. I
love their mentality, I love their mindset, and I love
the coach, no.

Speaker 4 (01:58:01):
Doubt They're gonna be tough to beat.

Speaker 5 (01:58:02):
Obviously a big step up from fools Gold Bama to Oregon.
I think all three of us can agree on that, right,
Like Kumbai, Team one, like nothing, nothing.

Speaker 4 (01:58:13):
Just me all right.

Speaker 5 (01:58:14):
We've got rich Oronberger, Penn State, All American, Jared Smith FSR,
betting analyst. I'm Brian No Coming up next, rapid Fire,
and we're putting the wrap it in rapid Fire.

Speaker 4 (01:58:23):
Three picks from each of us. We'll share notes. Next.

Speaker 5 (01:58:25):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by
Bet MGM. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff,
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you'll want to catch the podcast. Just search Fox Sports
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Speaker 4 (01:58:38):
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Speaker 5 (01:58:39):
Right after the show, today's podcast will be posted. Be
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Speaker 6 (01:58:44):
Again.

Speaker 5 (01:58:45):
Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts,
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Speaker 4 (01:59:05):
Top of the hour, LaVar Arrington to TJ.

Speaker 5 (01:59:07):
Huschman Zada Plexico Buris in less than seven American minutes,
They're up.

Speaker 4 (01:59:12):
We got a hurry. Keep it light here on Fox
Sports Radio. All right, let's do this.

Speaker 6 (01:59:19):
Rapid fire.

Speaker 4 (01:59:21):
All right, putting the rapid in rapid fire.

Speaker 6 (01:59:23):
We start with you, Jared, what do you have?

Speaker 2 (01:59:25):
Bucks keeam total under twenty three and a half, Sam
Darnold under thirty and a half passing attempts, and I
will take the Colts plus ten and a half against
the Texas. I thought that number was a little bit
too heavy, considering Houston's probably got nothing to play for
because the Jacks are gonna be the fights.

Speaker 7 (01:59:41):
Okay, Seahawks forty nine ers under forty seven and a half.
I think this game sets up to be a rock fight. Miami.
I got him minus the points, favored by three and
a half, Indiana favored by four.

Speaker 6 (01:59:55):
That's that's it, man, that's all we have time for.

Speaker 4 (01:59:57):
I love short and sweet.

Speaker 6 (01:59:59):
Let's go here.

Speaker 5 (02:00:00):
Give me Carolina plus three. Tampa is a dead team
walking losing seven of eight. The weight of losing is real.
Give me Seattle minus two and a half. It's too
good to be true to be on the Niners. It's
like Niners at home, underdogs against Darnold.

Speaker 1 (02:00:13):
Sign me up.

Speaker 5 (02:00:14):
Not gonna be that easy. Seattle's a better team, much
better defense. In the spot, I'm laying the points and
give me the Rams minus six and a half in
the first half. Get that Tampa loss out of there.
At bad taste.

Speaker 6 (02:00:24):
They roll them.