Rolling Over The Tide

Episode Transcript
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(00:49):
not available in all areas. What an epic beatdown delivered
by Clemson and Dabbo Sweeney on Alabama to a talk
about low everybody else on the Crimson Tide. I gotta
be honest with you. I'm out here in San Jose, California.
I watched the game in person, and I'm still kind

(01:09):
of in shock over what I saw. There were a
couple of moments that I thought were integral and instrumental
in the outcome of the game. But I want to
start by saying this, Trevor Lawrence has the potential to
be the most famous college football player of all time. Now,
some of you out there rolling your eyes are like, oh,
this is Clay Travis. You're engaging in hyperbole. You're immediately

(01:30):
reacting to what you just saw in a national title game.
I don't believe we've ever seen a true freshman performed
like he did on the biggest possible stage against one
of the best college football teams that has ever existed
in Alabama. Now, so people stuyd not the best college
football team has ever existed. They lost, well, Clemson's fifteen

(01:50):
and know Alabama's fourteen and one, Alabama's pretty dug one good.
Every bounce went Clemson's way in this game. But Trevor
Lawrence went out and grabbed control of this game. He
owned it. He on third down was phenomenal and there
were a lot of big plays in this game, but
almost all of them were made by him and his

(02:10):
young cadre of wide receivers who made incredible catches. I
thought this game was really decided early in the second half,
when Alabama was driving, made a disastrous decision to fake
a field goal. I thought it was Nick Saban being desperate.
I thought it was Kirby Smart esque by Nick Saban.

(02:31):
Maybe the worst decision in a big game from a
coaching perspective that Nick Saban has ever made. It was
fourth and seven. In that situation, you needed to be
able to get a touchdown there. A field goal made
no sense at all because it was thirty one to sixteen,
so you're gonna make it a thirty one to nineteen game. No,
it made no sense. You have to who you believe
as a Heisman Trophy caliber quarterback on the field. You

(02:54):
have an opportunity to go forward on fourth and seven there.
If you want to do it, fine. I hate with
a thousand furies the idea of bringing in somebody on
the special teams to run a fake punt. I didn't
like it when Mike Tomlin did it in the game
against the New Orleans Saints. I didn't like it when

(03:15):
Kirby Smart did it. If you want to go forward
on fourth down, I'm all about going forward on fourth down,
but do it with your best players, give them an
opportunity to make a play that I thought was an
incredible and instrumental changing turning point in the game. The
same thing was also true on the next drive, Alabama

(03:35):
is holding Clemson. I believe I'm correcting this. On the
next drive, Alabama is holding Clemson. They put Trevor Lawrence
into third and long and then he hits a big
time play as Alabama's I'm not sure what the official
injury is gonna be, but basically the Alabama defensive back
just went down and got carded off, and that was

(03:56):
the touchdown that really, I think effectively ended the game
to make it a twenty one point lead for Clemson. Alabama.
You don't even see down that many points. I'm still
kind of in shock over what we saw. I'm in
disbelief over the beat down that Clemson was able to deliver.
I think now there's a legitimate challenge that Dabo Sweeney

(04:18):
has made for the crown of best coach in college football.
He and Nick Saban have gone head to head four times,
and Dabbo is one two and Nick Saban is one too,
and I think Dabbo has trying to think it's like
Dabbo is the end to Nick Saban's yang. He is
the sunshine to Nick Saban's darkness. They seem to run

(04:41):
programs in entirely different manners. If you look at the
pure joy that Dabbo Sweeney coaches with, it's like every
day for him as a gift. He wakes up on
the shiny side of life. You know, you have people
in your own life, maybe people in your family. Their
personality when they jump out of bed is they're like

(05:03):
a puppy. Every day is an exciting new beginning for them.
That's how Dabo runs this program. And I think when
you look remember for a long time, the idea was, oh,
Clemson's gonna Clemson. They are a good program, but they're
gonna lose to an inferior team. And I think the
culture that Dabo Sweeney has instilled of one of buoyant optimism,

(05:25):
of one of we're gonna have a good time. It
reminds me a lot of the culture that Pete Carroll
had at USC. Nick Saban is a different kind of culture.
It is a culture that is based on fear of
being replaced by someone else, and that could be a
very effective culture. And I think Nick Saban has created
the greatest dynasty in the history of college athletics. Winning

(05:48):
is fun, but I don't think the Alabama Crimson Tide
plays with an effervescence and joy about them in the
same way that it seems like Dabo Sweeney has instilled
his program. Having said all that, I thought I ran
you through a couple of big time plays there. I
also thought there was another really big play, and that
was when Alabama was lined up it's about to go

(06:11):
up twenty fourteen, after they had come storming back, they
had gotten a couple of stops, They have a second
and goal at the one, they almost get in on
first down, and then they got a false start penalty.
I think there's zero doubt that Alabama would have scored
there if they don't get that false start penalty to
go up to fourteen. And I think they might have

(06:32):
taken a little bit of a breath there. They might
have paused instead of going up sixteen to fourteen, take
a little bit of a breath, and hey, we're gonna
be okay. Because Alabama on offense came out like a
house on fire. I mean, they were incredible. They had
two and twenty yards of offense in the first quarter,
and then Clemson caught up with them, figured out what
they were doing, and started to slowly take away everything

(06:53):
on the Alabama Crimson Tide offensive side of the ball.
But the thing that I can't stop thinking about is
Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence, if he were able to come
out right now, you saw the throws that he made.
If he were able to go pro right now, he
would be the number one overall pick in the NFL

(07:15):
Draft in April. I don't think there's a doubt in
my mind, there is an a doubt in anybody's mind
who would have the picks the first quarterback, at least
if the team that ends up drafting number one overall
doesn't want a quarterback, he was gonna be the top
quarterback taken. He would be. I think the number one
overall pick. I really do. I think somebody would trade
up for him. They would fall in love with his height,

(07:36):
with his size, with his arm, with everything that he
can do. And because of NFL rules, he's gonna have
to come back and stay on campus for two more years.
This dude is not you know, sometimes you have like
a player who's famous and they don't really stand out,
you know what I mean. Like, you can have a
great running back who might be you know, six ft

(07:57):
two pounds, but he can look a lot like everybody
else on campus. Right Big basketball players can't do it.
Most of them only stay for one year. Trevor Lawrence
a huge dude with funky hair, very recognizable face. This
guy's got to stay on a college campus for the
next two years. I can't even imagine. I don't think
we've ever had anybody who was going to be his

(08:19):
level of fame. You remember Johnny Manziel after he won
the Heisman Trophy, and he couldn't even go to class
because everybody would just swarm him everywhere he went, wanting
him to sign you know, magazines wanting him to sign
all this different texas A and M paraphernalia. Remember the
controversy over whether or not he could sell it. You
talked to Johnny Manzel about what that experience was like.

(08:42):
It was otherworldly. Very few people in life have ever
gone from as unknown as Johnny Manzel was too, as
famous as he was after he won the Heisman Trophy,
but he was a red shirt freshman. Tim Tebow was
a unbelievable, huge superstar on a college campus. But Tim
Tebow was the backup quarterback his freshman year Peyton Manning.

(09:04):
I mean, there have been a lot of guys who
came in and played early. I don't think we've ever
seen a true freshman quarterback have the performance that Trevor
Lawrence did on the biggest stages here in order to
take his team to fifteen. And oh and I just
think that the the the amount of sheer attention and
overwhelming media buzz. And also just you're a college kid,

(09:27):
and everywhere you go for the rest of your time
on our college campus, which could be three years, everybody's
gonna know everything that you're doing. I just I can't
even imagine what his lifestyle is going to be like
over the next couple of years. But again, to me,
the biggest takeaways are the battle of light and darkness.

(09:48):
I really do think Dabo is light and Nick Saban
his darkness. The Yen and the yang, the eternal quest
for college football dominance is down to these two guys.
I think there's a good chance that a Obama will
lick their wounds, go back into the offseason, and make
a decision to recommit on a different level, and I
think there's a chance we see these two teams play

(10:09):
again for a fifth year in a row in the
College Football Playoff, and that will be the rubber match
to see what exactly ends up happening in this unbelievable series.
I want to bring in Jason Martin now he is
uh with me as we do the show live from
San Jose reacting to Alabama and Clemson, the game that
we saw happen last night, the shocking outcome Clemson Tigers

(10:32):
dominate the Alabama Crimson Tide when their second national title
over Nick Saban in Alabama in the last three years,
and as a result, I mean, Jason Martin, are you
isn't in as much of shock as I am about
the results here? I'm stunned. Uh, just what Davos when
he has been able to do, and I absolutely love
the guy. If Alabama is gonna lose to somebody, I'm

(10:53):
glad it's Clemson. And I agree with your light dark comparison.
It's like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader if you want
to take it down that Pathway Star War analogy. Yeah,
Clemson has won even to the father son deal with
saving and Davos. Whennie Clemson has won ten plus games
in eight eight straight years and they've won two national
titles in the last three, it looks like the most

(11:14):
fun place in the world to go play football. Yeah,
it's a demanding environment, especially if you're on the defensive
side and having to deal with print venables. But you're
gonna win a lot of football games and you are
going to be loved on when the time comes. I
heard herb Streets say that on ESPN last night. It's like, Yeah,
Debbo is tough, but he also will love on you.
And that's what you saw in that postgame press conference

(11:35):
forty four to sixteen? Are you kidding me? And Alabama
moving the ball early too, have made a couple of mistakes,
but generally speaking, Alabama was moving the ball and then
Clemson just took it to a completely different level. And
I'm sitting there thinking about it, and I tweeted late
in the game from Matt J. Mart Zone on Twitter,
I said, I just want to know what the response

(11:56):
to this would be. And within like fifteen minutes of
me tweeting this, I over a hundred people respond to me.
I said, if you I don't know who your NFL
team is. You can tell me, But if you had
the opportunity right now to swap your guy at quarterback
for Trevor Lawrence today, would you do it? And it
was overwhelmingly yes. There were some Chiefs fans that said no,
there were Packers fans that said, yeah, Aaron Rodgers is

(12:19):
almost done, We'll take Trevor Lawrence. It was absolutely incredible.
Trevor Lawrence he has to stay in school. But because
of his age and as you mentioned, his recognizability and
all of the things that kind of make him stand out.
He's kind of like Lebron James in college football because
we're gonna sit there and we're gonna pay attention to
what he does. His skill set is absurd. Dude, six

(12:41):
six to fifteen athletic can run. The way he throws
the football was absolutely outrageous. Those wide receivers are are fantastic.
And look, it's not like Alabama is some slouch. That's
why I'm sitting there watching the game with you on
the field. Two years ago, Jalen Hurt scores that touchdown
on the ound, I looked at you and said, I
still think there's too much time, and Watson ends up

(13:03):
throwing the renfro and winning the game. That was two
teams on an even playing field that could have gone
either way. That's how it felt this. You could make
the argument this felt like a changing of the guard
in some ways, if you want to make the argument
that Dabbo is either I thought he was pretty close
to Nick Saban anyway. I thought it was one and two.
You can say Dabbo is better at this point, at

(13:25):
least right now. And we may see another matchup between
these two teams next year. I think it's very, very
possible that we will. But if they played ten times
with Alabama win five, I don't know, honestly, because Clemson
so summarily outclassed and out coached Alabama outcoached him into
a spot where it's Saban went for that fake, which

(13:45):
is something how in the world. And and even worse,
Clemson came out in their defense when you see that,
you call it times. They were ecstatic, they were ecstatic
to hold them to a field goal. There you're up
thirty one to sixteen. A field goal to make it
thirty one nineteen, like it was nonsensical to begin with, right,
So you're gonna kick a field goal. You're down two scores,

(14:07):
so you're gonna kick a field goal, so you're still
down two scores. Like, I don't ever understand when the
team makes that kind of decision. Yeah, me either. And
then the lead blocker was the kicker against Clemson's guys.
I don't think that's a high percentage play, Claig, Maybe
I'm wrong, but I would put somebody out to block
that's not the kicker against Clemson's defense. Maybe Nick Saban

(14:28):
just wanted the kicker to get killed because he's so
angry at Alabama's inability to make field goals. That was
just Savan putting him out there to to be semmarily decapitated.
I don't know. It's a great question. We're gonna continue
to break this down. Uh, Jmart out kick you can
follow him or used to be Jmard out kick. Jmart zone.
Now I think he's sitting in with me here as
we break down Alabama against Clemson. I'm live out in

(14:49):
San Jose. We're gonna be joined by Joel Clatt today,
we're gonna be joined by Petros Papa a kiss. We
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continue to break down Alabama Clemson talk about the wildness
of Clemson taking control of the college football universe. This

(16:12):
is Outkicked the Coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Be sure
to catch live editions of Outkicked the Coverage with Clay
Travis weekdays at six am Eastern three am Pacific on
Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app. Welcome back, Geico.
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(16:33):
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True Cash offer not available in all areas. Are we
talked out of the break here and I'm gonna bring
in Eddie Garcia find out what shake in the world
of sports. And then I'm gonna give you some crazy
stats on exactly how rare the beatdown was that Alabama

(16:55):
just took from Clemson. But first, Eddie Garcia, what's shaken
in the world of sports? Well, of course, we start
with college football's national championship game, and Clemson left no
doubt who was the best team in college all this
year with a forty four sixteen drubbing of Alabama. Tigers
led fourteen to third teen after the first quarter, then
dominated the rest of the way, outscoring Alabama thirty to
three in the second and third quarters. Clemson quarterback Trevor

(17:17):
Lawrence had three touchdown passes and running back Travis eight
and had three scores as well to rushing and one receiving.
For Alabama, quarterback to talking about la had four in
receptions on the season coming into the game. He had
two in the national title game. One was returned for
a touchdown that was the first score of the game.
Clemson went its second national title in three years and
third overall. For Alabama, they were looking for their sixth

(17:37):
national title, but head coach Nick Saban instead suffers his
worst loss in twelve years as head coach of the
Crimson Tide. Clemson ends of your fifteen and Alabama at
fourteen and one couple of notes from the NFL Green
Bay Packerds reportedly gonna hire Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Matt
Lafleur as their next head coach, and the Tampay Buccaneers
reportedly gonna name former Arizona Cardinals head coach of Bruce
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(18:19):
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every state. Now back to Clay Travis and the OutKick
the Coverage Studios. Thanks Eddie, I am Clay Travis and
this is OutKick the coverage. We are live out in
San Jose, California. Early the next morning, after a beat
down that was delivered by Clemson over Alabama forty four

(18:42):
to sixteen, the Clemson Tigers won the National Championship in
the battle between Good and Evil, Luke Skywalker versus Darth Vader.
Darth Vader has got two wins, and now Luke Skywalker
has got two wins. It's wild to think about as
we kind of contemplate. The question coming into this game
was how big of a dynasty does Alabama have? And

(19:04):
in the wake of this performance, I think now the
question you have to ask is is Alabama still a
dynasty or has Dabo Sweeney risen up and challenged the
Alabama dynasty to such an extent that in the last
four years he's actually won two of the last three
Aimes that have been played for a national championship. Now,
last year, Alabama came back and delivered a beat down

(19:25):
in the Sugar Bowl. This year, Clemson came back and
delivered a beat down in the National Championship game. And
it kind of put into context how rare one of
these beat downs is how rare it is for things
like this to happen to Alabama. I've got some wild
stats for you here, all right, are you ready? This
is the first time Alabama has lost a game by
more than twenty points since a twenty seven to three

(19:49):
loss to l s U in two thousand three. This
is the first time. And by the way, do you
know who the coach was of l s U in
that game? Nick Saban? Uh. The last time Alabama lost
a game by at least sixteen points before Monday came
in two thousand four, when LSU beat Alabama to ten.
Do you know who the coach was at LSU? Then,

(20:10):
Nick Saban. The twenty eight point margin of loss was
the largest since Alabama lost to Virginia Tech in the
Music City Bowl. I mean, I knew it had been
a long time since we got a beat down like that.
This is the worst loss in Nick Saban has ever
had at Alabama. I think that kind of brings home

(20:31):
to a lot of people who are sitting around right
now and saying, Okay, well, we know Alabama lost, but
to lose in this magnitude, in this way, on this
big of a stage, we just frankly have never seen
it happen to Alabama before under Nick Saban, No, we
have nine. It's ridiculous. Somebody in the media asked me
Clay whether or not or what the last time Alabama

(20:54):
looked that discombobulated now class was, and I said the
Mike Schula era, Like it had been that long long
since a team looked that good. And I think we can,
you know, you can break this down from so many
different levels. One question I have myself asking uh that
we have not brought up yet is if Trevor Lawrence
had started from day one, like if there had never
been a Kelly Bryant situation and Trevor had been starting

(21:15):
from day one to see the Heisman Trophy winner right now,
because I mean, he wasn't a finalist because he obviously
didn't have the gaudy stats, and Kyler Murray was fantastic
and so it was tah But Trevor Lawrence looks better
than both of them right now, and Trevor Lawrence is
more of a stand up pocket pass or. Clemson's offense
struggled at times early in the season with Kelly Bryant.
You get Trevor Lawrence for an entire season. What could
that dude have done as a freshman that we will

(21:37):
never know because we didn't see him for the first
several games of the year. Yeah, I mean, it is
utterly wild to contemplate how good he is was last
night and also how good he's gonna be in the
years ahead. And I say years, because he can't leave
and go pro for two more years. Can we change
that rule? Is there? It's time to change that rule? Well,

(21:58):
I mean, it is a rule that I've been in
again for a long time. If you remember, Maurice Claret
challenged it in a court of law, and I think
it was if I remember correctly, Michael Williams, the former
what was the name of the USC wide receiver, Milliam
Mike Williams, right, and uh and both of them initially one,
I think, at the at the federal court level, the
trial court level, and then they lost in the court

(22:20):
of appeals and the Supreme Court didn't pick it up.
But a lot of people wonder, Okay, what is that rule?
Why is it in place? It's because the NFL Players
Association has agreed in conjunction with the NFL that you
have to wait three years to be able to go pro. Right,
So you can't go pro until you're graduating. Class has
been out for three years, So in theory, you can

(22:41):
be a sophomore, a red shirt sophomore, and be eligible
to go pro. That was, for instance, Johnny Manzel. Johnny
Manzel set out his red shirt year. It's one reason
that teams, I think in general, typically do red shirts
less and less because they're afraid that if they do
a red shirt year, then a guy might only play
with them for two years. And remember how controversial it was.
I mean, Debo Sweeney got ripped quite a bit by

(23:03):
people for making the decision to go to Trevor Lawrence
over Kelly Bryant. But I think anybody who watched that
game last night would have to say, well, yeah, of
course he made that decision. Trevor Lawrence looks like a
transcendent and otherworldly talent, whereas Kelly Bryants just a good
quality college quarterback, nothing wrong with it, and obviously he
won a lot of games at Clemson. But that is

(23:24):
a that is a substantial difference in terms of the
quality of performance that can be put forward when you
roll out Trevor Lawrence and see what he's capable of.
But again, it's not just what is shocking to me
about this result is not that Clemson won. Right two
years ago, we were in Tampa, Jason Martin and we

(23:45):
stood on the field and we watched Hunter Renfro make
that catch thrown by Deshaun Watson with one second left
on the clock, and Clemson literally beat Alabama on basically
the final play of the game. And it was an
incredibly even game. Clemson came back, they made a bunch
of plays down the stretch. Deshaun Watson was electric. I
think for a lot of people, that's when they started thinking, Hey,

(24:05):
this Deshaun Watson guy is gonna be pretty good in
the NFL. And obviously he has been. He was he
was at the game last night. He was he was
there on the field. They interviewed him. I don't know
if they interviewed him on television, but they interviewed him
on the JumboTron at the game at Santa C. Yeah,
perfect purple hoodie that he was rocking out there. Um.

(24:26):
But I think a lot of people at that point
in time said, Okay, Deshaun Watson looks like the kind
of quarterback who could be dominant in the years ahead.
Potentially in the NFL. But it was a close game,
and it was one where you go back and you
watched it, and if you were Alabama Alabama fan, you said, Okay,
we lost this game, but there were a lot of
different points you could, you know, kind of use as

(24:47):
evidence to suggest that maybe you shouldn't have lost that game.
Both Scarborough breaks his leg, right, they can't run the ball.
Jalen Hurts is a true freshman, and maybe Clemson was
able to exploit a little bit the fact that he
wasn't a great passing quarter back at the time. You
felt like, if you were Alabama losing to Clemson, you said, Okay, well,
they have a senior Heisman Trophy caliber quarterback who's gonna

(25:07):
be a first round draft pick. Meanwhile, Alabama is breaking
in a true freshman, maybe a little bit ahead of
where they could expect to be. What was so shocking
about last night's result was not again that Clemson one.
It was that they delivered the worst beating to Alabama
in twenty years, the worst beating that Nick Saban has
taken as a head coach in his history at Alabama,

(25:29):
and the worst beating that Alabama in general has taken
since Nick Saban was delivering those beatings while he was
coaching at l s U. This was the kind of defeat, frankly,
that Alabama doesn't ever have, and certainly that Alabama doesn't
have in a big game. I mean, if you're an
Ohio State fan, you can point to a lot of
times when Urban Myers teams have gone out and gotten whipped. Right,

(25:50):
Clemson whipped him a few years ago. I think it
was thirty one nothing in the College Football Playoff if
I'm not mistaken, um, and you know, you've seen what
happened at Iowa, you saw what happened at uh at Purdue,
you saw in the near loss at Maryland where you
gave up all those points, and most college football teams
you can point to and say, Okay, they've had a

(26:10):
no show kind of performance where they've just gone out
and gotten blitz cread. The one thing you could say
about Nick Saban in Alabama is that never happens to Alabama.
And even if Alabama lost a lot of times, it
was like the old miss style loss when they turned
the ball over six times or they just made a
lot of mental errors, the ball didn't bounce their way
this was a beat down. And so I guess my

(26:32):
question for you, Jason Martin, is is this symptomatic of
a passing of the torch? Is the Alabama dynasty in
any way in danger of being extinguished? Or do you think, look,
Clemson's got to, Alabama's got to. We got a rubber
match potentially coming up in uh In in the fifth
match up, where everybody's basically back Trevor Lawrence certainly back

(26:53):
to us, certainly back. And there's the possibility that Alabama
just put forward their worst game of the year and
Clemson put forward their best and it isn't necessarily reflective
of anything more than that. I think that's where you
read the tea leaves here and try to figure out
what the future is. Yeah, I think it's tough because
if you played ten times, would this be five five?

(27:14):
Do you now think Clemson would win more of these games?
Do you now believe in that team overall being better
than Alabama? You know, we were talking about the light
in the dark and I made the Star Wars analogy.
I think another thing that you can look at, and
you mentioned fear and and things like that as it
comes to Alabama, I look at it as playing at
Alabama is all about intimidation, Playing at Clemson is all

(27:35):
about encouragement, and it seems that way. It does seem
like it's a lot more fun to play at Clemson.
Was it a passing of the torch? I don't know.
It felt like it could have been a changing of
the guard because it was so dominant. I mean, Alabama
led the game sixteen to fourteen, and then thirty points
later Clemson beat him forty four to sixteen. You know,
they had a two point lead and then did not

(27:55):
score again. You just don't see that very often. And
you think about this, us last time we saw Bill
Belichick in the Super Bowl he lost to a Philadelphia
Eagles team with a back up at the two most
important positions on the field and a head coach that
didn't have a ton of experience at the time. And
now you're seeing Nick Saban. Saban and Belichick are always

(28:15):
inextricably linked and mentioned together when you're talking about it.
And now Nick Saban, the last time we saw him
in the National Championship Game, he was beaten by a
team that looked like it was fun to play for.
Patriots never seemed like they were too fun to play for.
Alabama never looked like it was too fun to play for.
Clemson's is like being in an amusement park, unless you
cross Brett Venables, who sort of worries me a little

(28:36):
bit with just how intense he is. But I don't know,
but I do feel like We're probably gonna get these
two teams again, and I'm fine with it. I mean,
they are the class of college football right now. Is
somebody gonna be able to step in? I don't know.
Is Oklahoma there? I will say this, I guess maybe
we need to apologize just a little bit to Notre
Dame because Notre Dame got murdered because of their arm

(29:00):
It's against Clemson, and they lost by less points less
and they played them better, and they're something. I guess
that's true. But Notre Dame got shellacked and people said, oh,
look at this talent discrepancy. It still exists. Well, Clemson
looked like the faster team, the more athletic team, the
more hungry team, the better coach team. They outclassed Alabama

(29:24):
and basically every facet of this football game, and we
crushed Notre Dame and felt vindicated in doing so, and
saying they shouldn't have been in the College football Playoff.
Now you look back on it and say, you know what,
maybe we just didn't give Clemson quite enough credit for
how great they actually were. They were an undefeated team
and we gave them respect, but Notre Dame. You know,

(29:45):
maybe they weren't quite as bad as we initially thought. Yeah,
I mean, I think I tend to think when I
look back over the you know, box score, for instance,
because I think sometimes your eyes can deceive you. Alabama
to me in in the time, if you're going back
and looking at this game, an integral play that a
lot of people are gonna overlook now because it came

(30:07):
relatively early in the game. Alabama had the ball down
fourteen thirteen after they did what Alabama does and missed
an extra point. They got the stop, they drove down
the field, and they had a seconding goal from the
one with a chance to go in and go up
theoretically fourteen and kind of take a breath because they
threw the early interception. Clemson gets the pick six. Uh.

(30:29):
Then the Clemson comes back and takes a fourteen to
seven lead. I believe it was Alabama fights their way
back to tie it. Basically, even though they missed the
extra point and they're at the one yard line, I mean,
really just a hair's breadth away from driving in and
taking the lead, and instead they get a false start
there and Clemson gets the stop and they are able
to force Alabama to kick a field goal there to

(30:51):
go up sixteen to fourteen, the only lead Alabama was
gonna have. I do feel like if Alabama had gone
in there and scored that maybe the outcome of this
game could have been somewhat different, because if you just
look at the total yardage, first of all, Clemson was
infinitely better on third down. And I know what's gonna
drive Nick Saban crazy when he looks at this tape

(31:11):
is how good Trevor Lawrence was not just on third down,
but third and long at converting on them. So Clemson
went ten for fifteen on third downs. Alabama was four
for thirteen. But in total yardage, Obama had four hundred
and forty three yards and Clemson had four hundred and
eighty two yards. The total yardage does not reflect what

(31:33):
happened here. Now. Alabama also had two turnovers, and I
would say the second the first turnover was obviously huge
for the pick six, but the second turnover may have
been more frustrating from an Alabama perspective because they were driving,
they were near midfield, they had run it all the
way right, they hadn't even thrown a pass. They have
Clemson thinking that they're going to run the ball again,

(31:54):
and they too. It makes an awful decision to throw
into double or triple coverage and they get picked off there.
Even after that situation, they were driving, they could have
potentially been up at the half um and then look
when Nick Saban starts to do the fake field goal,
you know they were panicked and they had basically lost
um and uh and I think that's just where he

(32:15):
was in general, right um So I am uh. I
am kind of utterly fascinated to see whether this is
emblematic of something larger or whether it was just an
aberrational result and Alabama's gonna come back and run rough
shot over the rest of college football next year when
they returned an awful lot of talent when we come back.
I want to also discuss this, is this result really

(32:38):
really good for college football? If you were sitting around
and trying to sketch out the best possible outcome for
college football? Is there anything better than Alabama getting waxed?
Because I think that's probably the one result that just
about everybody listening to us right now didn't anticipate. As
I said, it's been twenty years since somebody beat Alabama

(32:59):
this bad. The last person to beat Alabama by sixteen
or more was Nick Saban, So it almost doesn't happen
that Alabama ever loses a game like that. We will
discuss is this good for college football? Is the Evil
Empire getting whipped like they did going to make college
football next year a lot more entertaining? All that and more.
This is out Kicked the coverage Alive from San Jose

(33:21):
as we unpack Alabama Clemson on Fox Sports Radio. Welcome
bout Geiko out Kick Studios, brought to you by Discover.
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discovered dot com. Slash credit scorecard limitations apply. I believe

(33:45):
this is the best thing that could happen to college
football because if Alabama wins and they beat Clemson, the
number one thing that people would have said is I
hate college football. It's so predictable. Why do you ever
pay attention to college football? Why should I ever invest
my time when I know what's ultimately gonna happen is

(34:06):
Nick Saban in Alabama's gonna win the national championship. And
you could point to uh in defense, you could say, well,
Clemson won a couple of years ago, and you could
say and the person would say, yeah, yeah, but that
was with DeShawn Watson. They were really lucky to win.
That was a close game. It doesn't happen very often
that Alabama loses. And I think that this result, not

(34:27):
just at Alabama lost, but that the way they lost
is the best thing that could happen to college football,
because one, it's now a legitimate battle royale between Dabo
Sweeney and Nick Saban, And so much of college football
is about the coaches because the players are here and

(34:48):
gone so quickly that what what kind of lingers is
the tension, whether or not it's real or just perceived
between top coaches and certainly the best I would say
rivalry that existed from the coaching perspective in college football,
even though they didn't play a ton of times was
Alabama and Nick Saban against Urban Meyer in Ohio State.

(35:10):
And Urban Meyer retires now or he's gone for a
couple of years, whatever he's gonna be, but he's not
gonna be going head to head with Nick Saban, and
so you needed that person to step up onto the
pedestal and compete with Alabama. And I think the result
that we got last night Alabama with their worst defeat
in twenty years, Alabama getting uh the worst beat down

(35:32):
they've gotten since Nick Saban was coaching against them for
l s U was utterly shocking and fantastic for college
football as a whole. For Nick Saban to get a
come up and in some way for Alabama not just
to lose, but for them to get whipped, I think
there are a lot of people out there who enjoyed it,
and I think there's also now a great deal of

(35:56):
interest in what might happen going forward with Alabama and
Nick Saban. I think most people right now would say, well,
Debo Tweeney, you get your second national championship. Right It's
so hard to win national championships. Right now, we only
have a handful of coaches that have ever won National
championships coaching in college football right now, right with Urban
Meyer retiring, you've got Dabbo now with two, you got

(36:17):
Nick Saban with five or six or eight or whatever
the hell he's got. Now you've got um Jimbo Fisher
with one. And really that's it, right, I mean, the
college football universe is not filled with hardly anybody. Got
Bob Stoops, who has retired and obviously won a National championships.
Spurrier retired a few years ago. There really isn't this
large number of championship winning coaches. I don't know who's

(36:39):
gonna be the next coach to win one, but I
think this is utterly fantastic for college football as a whole.
Am I crazy for believing that? Jason Martin? No? But
I think the best thing now for college football would
be for a third team to emerge. I think that
the more parody the better, as long as it's not
parody through mediocrity. What's the best thing could happen for

(36:59):
the NBA right now? The Warriors not to win and
Lebron maybe not to win either, but someone else to
emerge that actually has staying power. It can't just be
a fluke that shows up and then disappears. Clemson winning
is better for college football and better for the interest
level than Bama winning again, because as good as dynasties
can be and as good as the Goliath is, eventually

(37:20):
the David has to win or you stop reading that story.
So you have to find somebody else. But let's say
Ryan Day and Ohio State are really able to make
a move any absence of Urban Meyer, or finally Oklahoma
finds something defensively, or there's some team out there that's
on the precipice of being great that maybe we don't
see right now, just as Clemson was six or seven
years ago and all of a sudden they elevate. It's

(37:42):
better to have to than one, But if you can
get a third, then you actually have a lot more intrigue,
especially if it were to come from another part of
the country that seems right now I think to be
sort of distillated and distant away from relevancy in college football.
One of the problems with California and on tickets this
game is nobody cares that much about pro sports out there,

(38:04):
and they have no relevancy out there. I will say
the crowd was pretty fantastic. There was a lot of
talk about the fact that people were not going to travel.
I looked around at kick off, the whole thing was
sold out. Um, now, it may have been difficult for
Alabama and Clemson. And I will say this too. You
go to the Super Bowl and you look around a
Super Bowl stadium, the vast majority of the fans that

(38:24):
are in that crowd are not wearing any gear for
the two teams that are playing. It's a corporate environment.
It's a you know, like you might enjoy watching football,
but there's very little of the fan element there. Almost
every single person in Levi Stadium last night who had
traveled all the way out to the Bay Area, mostly
because these people are from you know, the South, from
Clemson and from Alabama was in either Alabama Crimson Tide

(38:49):
or Clemson Orange. So almost the entire stadium you looked around,
everybody had a rooting interest. So even though it's a
long way to go, I think it was a impressive turnout.
But I think one reason why the challenge certainly existed
here was not just because of how far it was.
It was because these teams continue to win. And I
think because there's a lot of Alabama and Clemson. People

(39:11):
out there who thought, Okay, if I don't go to
this national championship game, I'll go to the next one,
And most fan bases don't get that opportunity. Right, It's
hard to win a national championship, so your team even
playing for one is so rare for most fan bases
that they're like, oh, I gotta be there. This might
not happen again in my lifetime. Right for Alabama and Clemson,
they're like, uh, if we don't go to this national

(39:33):
title game, we'll go to the next national title game
when it's in a better location for us, which is
I think the height of arrogance, but also justified given
how good they have been throughout Alright, our one just
about to be in the books here in San Jose, California.
I appreciate all of you waking up early with us.
It is very early obviously out here as we react
to last night's game between Clemson and Alabama. Our too, Well,

(39:57):
you're gonna have a fired up Joel Clatt joining us,
and then an hour three we're gonna have Petros Papadakis.
We're gonna have a lot of fun. Make sure that
you download the podcast and that you don't miss us.
My name is Clay Travis. This is Outkicked the Coverage.
Congratulations the Clemson Tigers, your national champions. We'll be back
Joel clatt next on OutKick the Coverage. Why from the

(40:21):
guy go out Kick Studios, which happens to be in
San Jose, California. As we wake up early the morning
after Alabama and Clemson, the beat down delivered by the
Clemson Tigers fifteen minutes could save you fift or more
on car insurance. Visit guy Coo dot com for a
free rate quote. And we're brought to you by True Car.
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(40:43):
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Last night, as I was contemplating how good Trevor Lawrence
had been. And by the way, if you're just waking
up with us, we're gonna be joined by Joel clatt
He's a fired up, angry Joel clatt Um. He's going
to join us here an hour two and our three,

(41:05):
as we always are on Tuesday. In the final hour
of the show, we will be joined by I guess
I think you guys will enjoy. His name is Petros Papadakis.
But I put up a poll question late last night
early this morning, depending on what um uh time zone
you were in, and I said, would you rather have
Trevor Lawrence, who I think put forward an unbelievable performance

(41:29):
last night against Alabama? Probably the greatest given the circumstances,
probably the greatest true freshman quarterback performance we have ever seen.
I said true freshman because immediately I'm gonna get blown
up on Twitter and a lot of people out there
are going to say, you know what, Uh, well, Clay,
what what are you talking about? Like Johnny Manzel was

(41:50):
really good as a freshman. There's a lot of red
shirt freshman who have been good, but an actual true freshman,
and that he was in high school the year before.
I'm not sure that we have seen very many of these.
And this idea came to me, Jason Martin, because you
tweeted about it, asking people whether or not they'd rather
have Trevor Lawrence or the current quarterback of your NFL
team for the next five years. And look, I think

(42:11):
the interesting part of this now is the next five years,
right because if you're let's say you're in New England
Patriots fan, Well, you got Tom Brady right now, he's
pretty good, he's forty one. Do you think Tom Brady
is gonna be a quarterback at forty six? And say,
Philip Rivers, you really like Philip Rivers, he's thirty seven.
Say like Drew Brees, he's thirty nine. So even teams
with pretty good quarterbacks might not necessarily think, oh, that

(42:34):
this is an easy call at all. In fact, you
probably have to go to Trevor Lawrence. I'm not even
sure how many NFL teams right now. If I say,
for the next five years, maybe I go with Russell Wilson,
I think I probably would, Maybe I go with Deshaun Watson.
Maybe maybe I don't think. I think I'd rather have Trevor.
Like how many quarterbacks can you name right now that

(42:55):
you would rather have for the like based on what
we've seen from Trevor Lawrence and what you can project
that he could be capable of by the time he
becomes the number one overall draft pick in the draft,
which I think is a foregone conclusion at this point
if that were to happen. How many guys out there
are you kind of like, would you rather have Jared

(43:16):
Goff or Trevor Lawrence Lawrence? I'd rather have Trevor Lawrence
and Jared Goff make it to the Super Bowl this year?
Would you rather I'm trying to think of young quarterbacks
Jared had Aston Wentz. Would either have Carson Wentz or
Trevor Lawrence? Think I'd rather have Trevor Lawrence. Pat Mahomes,
I think you can make the argument, and I think it.
Trevor Lawrence is the best quarterback prospect to come out

(43:37):
since Andrew Luck in terms of how much hype is
gonna be on him and how teams are gonna lose
to try and get them. I think they're very comparable
and how they're gonna be seen. But Lawrence is ahead
of schedule. You started to notice Luck a little bit
later on, and you're already red shirt his first year
to Yes, I think he did. Uh, we can look
that up and confirm it, but I'm pretty sure that

(43:57):
he did. So Okay, Yeah, Patrick Mahomes a good and
I think you'd have to say, look, the guy strowing
fifty touchdown passes in the NFL. He's twenty three years old.
He's still not gonna be thirty in five years. I think, Okay,
Kansasy Chiefs fans can say, yeah, I'd rather have him
than Trevor Lawrence, probably Andrew Luck if you can stay healthy,
assuming he stays healthy, what is it like now, like
twenty eight years old. Baker Mayfield is another one that

(44:19):
you could at least make an argument for. He looked
really good in Cleveland, but you know, he's a little
bit smaller in stature. Trevor Lawrence is six six to
fifteen and could really wing the football. Looks to be
extremely accurate as well. But I think that Cleveland fans
I had Cleveland fans sending me tweets back saying, no,
we'll keep Baker Mayfield. The three guys that were pretty
universal were Mahomes, Luck, and Mayfield. All Titans fans, of course,

(44:44):
all Texans fans, it seemed like, also said no, Deshaun Watson,
Dak Prescott. No. Even a couple of Patriots fans said, look,
I thought we were gonna run Tom Brady into the
ground as long as possible, but maybe we want Trevor
Lawrence in a couple of years in New England, and
I think he was taking now for sure because the
age I think you say yes, I think you say
five years. It knocks out all of the elite Hall

(45:06):
of Fame level quarterbacks that are at that the tell
into their careers, no matter how many more years they got,
whether it's Brady, whether it's Breeze, whether it's Eli Manning
who maybe a borderline Ben Roethlisberger, uh, Philip Rivers, Guys
who are really good and have won Super Bowls or
won a lot of playoff games that you feel very
confident about this year and maybe next year too. But
I think that almost takes everybody out of the out

(45:27):
of there. I mean, it's it is a why it's
a great question that you had in the wake of
his performance and how good he was, and also just
I mean, he's nineteen right now, and he doesn't even
he looks like a nineteen year old a little bit
right Like, he's tall, he's kind of gawky, like if
you look at his arms. He's obviously going to spend
a lot of time in the Clemson weight room over
the next couple of years. He's probably a fraction of

(45:51):
what he's going to be by the time he is
coming into the NFL and a couple of years. Yeah,
let's play a quick game. I'm gonna name the quarterback.
You say yes or no, Roethlisberger five years. There's no
doubt I would rather have Trevor law Mahomes. We already
went over Matt Ryan. Rather have Matt Ryan's like thirty
three or thirty four. Now, I don't think it's any
doubt I'd rather have Trevor Lawrence. Jared Goff I would.

(46:13):
I would take Trevor Lawrence luck we already said I
would take Andrew law Rogers, Aaron Rodgers like thirty four.
I would take Trevor Lawrence. Me to Tom Brady and
this and again people out there like, oh, you're crazy.
Five years five years, So you gotta have these guys
for five years, so you have to factor in the
age in a big way. Um, Aaron Rodgers, I would
take Tom Brady, no doubt. I would take Trevor Lawrence,

(46:35):
Philip Rivers and Eli Manning. We know, same difference or
the same same deal. Kirk Cousins. I would owe Trevor
Lawrence absolutely Deshaun Watson. I think you could make an
argument Deshaun Watson does look very good. I would take
Trevor Lawrence. I would take Trevor Lawrence to Derek Carr,
Trevor Lawrence, Drew Brees. We already said another kind of
nine years old, he'll be forty four and five years

(46:57):
You take Trevor Lawrence. Now, I'm gonna just run through
guys until I get to any that are even questionable.
Case Keenum, Dak Prescott, Matt Stafford, I'm taking Trevor Lawrence,
Baker Mayfield. You can talk Russell Wilson. I'll probably take
Russell Wilson, can Cam Newton not definitely, take Trevor Lawrence.
Mitch Trobiskie, not even close. Carson Wentz. I'm taking Trevor Lawrence.
I'm not even gonna say jamis his full name, Sam Donald.

(47:20):
That's intriguing. You could maybe make a Donald argument because
he's in the NFL. Now they're somewhat similar in age.
We don't know what his ceiling is gonna be. I
think that's possible. Okay, Bortles, Why did I even mention
that Andy Dalton not even close, Mariota not even close,
Joe Flacco not even close. Fitzpatrick not even close. If
you want Lark Jackson, Nick Mullins, Jimmy Garoppolo. I'm taking

(47:43):
Trevor Lawrence. So we got like five guys right now.
That's it. I just think them. Josh Rosen is the
only starting quarterback. I didn't mention Rosen. Maybe you can
make an argument if he gets a real coach. But
Trevor Lawrence right now is better than I would say
twenty seven of the quarterbacks in the league two years
from today. So is he lebron I think major Maybe

(48:04):
the closest thing since Andrew Luck for sure, But is
he gonna be even higher on the level than Andrew Luck?
Because there were some skeptics based on the Stanford angle
on Andrew Luck and everything else. I think there's a
good chance there's gonna be a lot of NFL teams tanking,
and unlike in the NBA, where you have the lottery,
you know what you need to do to get the
number one overall pick. This is gonna be fascinating to
see Joel Clatt up next. We will have him break

(48:25):
down everything. He'll come after me with a flamethrower. He
hates me. This is out care the coverage on Fox
Sports Radio. Be sure to catch live editions of out
Kicked the Coverage with Clay Travis weekdays at six am
Eastern three am Pacific. Look about Geiko, out Kick Studios.
Car shopping and be confusing with terms like dealer price,
a list price, and envoys. True Car shows you what

(48:46):
other people paid for the car you want, so you
can recognize a good price when you're ready to buy
a newer use car. Visit True Car to enjoy a
more confident car by Experience. About to be joined by
Joel Clatt, But first let me toss in Toddy Garcia.
Find out what's shaken in the world of sports. Well,
we started, of course, with college football's National championship game,
with Clemson leaving no doubt in at sixteen win over Alabama.

(49:07):
Tigers had a fourteen thirteen lead after the first quarter,
then dominated in the second and third, outscoring Alabama thirty
to three. Alabama quarterback to A Tonga Valola had four
in receptions on the season coming into this game. He
threw two picks in the National title game, including one
that was returned for a touchdown That was the first
score of the game. Clemson with that victory has won
two national titles in three years and three overall. Clemson

(49:29):
ends the year fifteen and oh. They're the first team
to go fifteen to know since the University of Pennsylvanian
eighteen seventy nine for Alabama and stuff of their worst
loss ever underhead coach Nick Saban and they fall to
fourteen and one to end the season. In the NFL,
the Green Bay Packers reportedly gonna hire Tennessee Titans offensive
coordinator Matt Lafleur's anyway coach. Tampa Buccaneers reportably gonna name

(49:49):
former Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians as their next
head coach. The NHL season continues tonight with the Columbus
Blue Jackets against the top team in the NHL, the
tamp Bay Lightning at seven thirty Eastern. It's are Discus
over Card key matchups. Speaking of matchups, become a new
Card member and Discover Card will match all the cash
back you've heard dollar for dollar at the end of
your first year and learn more at Discovery dot com.
Slash match limitations apply. We'll be back to the OutKick

(50:12):
the coverage studios in ten seconds. But first, this word
from farmers. From a dog accidentally flooding a living room
to a dog taking a enjoy ride. We've covered it.
Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two. Because
we've seen a thing or two. We are farmers under
written my Farmers truck fire insurance exchanges and affiliates products
unavailable in every state. Now, Mr Click Travis in the
OutKick the coverage Studios. Thanks Eddie. Joined now by Joel Klatt,

(50:35):
who is up early or up late, as the case
may be, depending on how you want to classify it,
because he is so giddy to be able to come
on and tab dance on the grave of the SEC. Joel,
that was the biggest pass kicking. I'm gonna be honest
with you. You know I'm a big saving guy saving
got his ass kick. That was Dabbo Sweeney delivering a

(50:59):
beat down on Nick Saban that I have not seen
in almost a decade. I mean, for the it's not
just at Alabama lost right the way that they played.
I want to start before you even get to the
SEC A C. C Angle. I want to start with
this question because you played quarterback in college football and
I remember We've had some conversations about, like after a
big Colorado Buffalo win, like how wild it would be

(51:21):
on campus when you're a starting quarterback. And but you
were not like an eighteen year old starting quarterback. You
had played minor league baseball. You were fairly mature for
your age. Can you imagine what Trevor Lawrence's life is
going to be like on Clemson's campus for the next
three years? Joel three years? And this guy, it's unbelievable
for me to even think about what his life will

(51:43):
be like because he could probably come out if he
were able to and be the overall number one NFL
draft pick right now. But to have to play three
years and and to win as a true freshman and
play like he did on this stage in front of
this many people. He's already a legend at Clemson, and
he could barely he could barely you know, get like
what like you can't even rid of car? Yeah, he

(52:06):
can't even buy a beer. Yeah, you can't even get
a beer. I mean, I can imagine what his his
life is like. I don't know what it will be like,
but I mean, my goodness, Uh, he's such a talented guy,
and I know that. And and even last night they
were they were talking a lot about him. But I
gotta tell you a lot of the passes he threw

(52:28):
or I mean they were good, they were good, right,
but he got bailed out a few times by just
spectacular catches by other great wide receivers. They are great
young players. So that whole core of of nucleus of
young offensive talent. I tell you, man, that's that's gonna
be tough to beat in the future. And you gotta
lead with a lot of stuff. But yeah, this was

(52:49):
the biggest beat down I've ever seen, save and take.
And to me play what it what it was is
you're you're seeing Dabbo fight. Like let's say that this
is a boxing match. Well, you're seeing Dabbo and and
and Nick Saban. And yet Nick Saban's got a completely
new corner every year because his his assistance to turn

(53:11):
over turnover turnover, and in to some degree, I feel
like that caught up with him because Clemson doesn't be
with that. It's the same guys all the time until
they've got continuity on their staff. They've got continuity within
their programs, and I get it, like this is this
is not by any stretching imagination like the end of
the Bama There's no way that that that is the case. However,

(53:33):
it seems like Clemson took a giant step to the
point that they are not even just equal, but even
now they're the ones on top of the mountain. Then
Clemson's excuse me, Alabama is going to have to come
after them. And I think a large reason why they're
on top of the mountain is because of the continuity
on the staff which has not been afforded to Nick Saban.
His assistance change over constantly, and I think you saw

(53:56):
that caught up with him tonight because the game plan
was not up to part It just wasn't schematically tool
was not ready to play that defense. Clemson had answers
for everything, in particular on third down, and I thought
that the assistant coaches for Alabama got their butts absolutely
kicked and wiped the floor with by the assistance for
the Clemson tires. There is an argument I started off

(54:18):
the show this uh this morning talking about it that
Nick Saban is like represents the darkness right and that
Dabo Sweeney represents the light. One coach, it seems coaches
with fear and anger. It seems like there's an effervescent
quality to Dabo Sweeney. He's the kid who wipes up
every morning and is excited and that his team has

(54:39):
that culture that they have bought in. And this felt
in some way like a war between Luke Skywalker and
Darth Vader, right, Like, I know you hate Star Wars,
but I know you're at least familiar enough with Daring.
I'm getting into it because, oh, okay, so what do
you think about that? Aging Like, I'm waiting to see
the movies and I'm gonna see it for the first

(55:01):
time with my sons when they see that's actually going
to be pretty I do like, I do like the analogy.
I think that I thought that and I can't remember
who it was off the top of my hair. Is
just so early right now. But the player that basically
grabbed the mic from Rhees Davis at the end and
and basically gave like a recruiting pitch. You never see

(55:23):
one great players getting to their senior year at Alabama.
They're trying to get out of there as quick as
they they can. I think Alabama is more of a
factory and Clemson might be more of a family, and
I haven't. I haven't spent a ton of time around
either program because we just don't have a contract in
those leagues. But that's the way it feels, Clay, that
that the guys that go to Alabama and choose Alabama,

(55:45):
they're there for a specific reason and they are there
to use Alabama as much as Alabama is using them,
whereas the Clemson players. And I talked to with Christian
Wilkins a long time at the Impact Trophy when he
came out to here to l A and I hosted
the ceremony, and all we kept talking about was the
family atmosphere in the program, and I've never gotten that
sense from an Alabama player. They talked about the process.

(56:08):
I'm not saying one is better than the other. It's
just different. Like you said, it's very different. And and
it is so fascinating that two ends of the spectrum
have gotten themselves to the mountaintop to where they are
the clear pre eminent programs in college football. And it's
not even close right now. I mean, Ohio State in
Oklahoma are the closest things for these two programs, and

(56:31):
they're not even close. And I didn't put George up
there because they just got show ACKed by texting. That's
a bad look. By the way, for the SEC. This
is and and Clay, here's the thing. You live by
the sword, you die by the sword. And all u
SEC honks have lived by the sword for so long
about these bowl games and national championships and the top
of your conference matters more than anything. And the two

(56:53):
teams that were at the top of your conference went
out and got taken behind the shed and their two
biggest games in the postseason. How much did you love that?
I mean, I don't think. I mean, I don't take
pleasure in it. The only thing that I take the
only thing that I like to see is I like

(57:14):
to see when when that narrative elite at least gets
a leak into it, right, Because I'll be honest, Bama
fans don't drive me nuts. Georgia fans don't drive me nuts.
Most every other fan base in in the SEC can
be frustrating for those of us on the outside of

(57:34):
the SEC because they are coattail writers. And and I
think you would admittedly so, right, I mean, the SEC
chance and this and that, and it's like listen in
the bowl season, they're about a conference in the non
conference are about a five conference, just like everybody else.
The defenses in the Big twelve tend to overperform against
SEC offenses in the bowl season, and vice person when

(57:56):
you're talking about offensive defense for the SEC um and
and so I just don't think that the narrative is
quite what what the fan base is down there drive
now what What is absolutely the case is that there's
more support. It does mean more of the fan bases
and and as a whole, I think that they have
better players. Um but I think all of those things

(58:20):
can be true, and you can be frustrated when the
middle of that conference, you know sits there and wants
to beat their chest and it's like, well what have
you done? Quick? You know, get off the coattails and
Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide. What happened with
two of Like what did you see? He did see it?
I don't. I don't think he saw it. You know,
there there are some games and I know that's that's

(58:40):
that's maybe a bad explanation. But as a quarterback, I've
I always thought that more than your technical ability, more
than anything else, is that your ability to recognize and
react and diagnose is paramount. And and there are some
games when a team is doing something different than they

(59:02):
have shown all season long or things, you know, things
are just not the way you expect them. And that's
the way it felt for two it tonight. He wasn't
seeing the blitzes. Uh, he wasn't seeing the corners when
they were falling off a coverage. Twice he threw interceptions
to a corner that fell off of his initial route.
He just didn't see it, you know. The second interception

(59:22):
threw down the field. Yeah, yeah, awful decision. And he's
got a wide open wide receiver you know, down the
field or excuse me as short in the flat in
the field, and and sometimes you get into those moments.
I think he was just trying a little bit too hard,
and so when you try too hard, you're trying to
force looks that are not there, and that forces you

(59:43):
to not see it. I just didn't think that that
he was reacting and reading what Clemson was trying to
do to him, and therefore they were really struggling that.
And then I'll couple it with this, I felt like
the play calling was suspects for Alabama I thought that
they could have run the ball all night long. I
weird about the same thing, Joel. They weren't stopped on

(01:00:03):
the ground all night long, and then all of a sudden,
it would be like second and four and they would
throw a pass it being complete, third and fourth, throw
a passing complete, and they would have to like punt
or try to field goal, or then they would go
for it on four down. I'm like, if you just
ran the ball on second down, it's the first down.
And so to me, I felt like they're the forced

(01:00:23):
by Locksley, the coordinator on his way out. The forced
passing game I thought hurt them tremendously after it was sixteen.
It's it's a good point because even when Clemson came
down and went up one to sixteen, Alabama got the
ball back drove and they hadn't either. They'd run the
ball in every single play and then they went to

(01:00:44):
the pass and to a through the interception like they
were running at will on Clemson on that drive. Because
taken off another couple of minutes, I think at a minimum,
would have gotten some points there, may have taken the
lead back as they went into the half. All Right,
here is a decision that I think is maybe the
worst decision I've seen Nick. How much how much time
we got on this interview, I don't know because there's

(01:01:05):
a subject matter that I'd like to get to. Yeah,
last last question for you about the game. Um, the
decision to fake the fake the field goal. I think
it's the worst decision I've ever seen Nick Saban make
in a game. Uh, your position, your perspective on that
it is, it's it's three or four fold. One. I
thought it was panic. There was a panic decision, and

(01:01:26):
maybe it was born out of the fact that he
just cannot find a kicker. And I know that's something
that you've lamented for a long time. Achilles seal that
Alabama has had throughout the Nick Saban dynasty is they
have consistently been poor in the kicking game. And and
and so there was panic. Whether it was the kicking
game or just the overall dominance that Clemson was showing,

(01:01:47):
one of the two things that there's some panic. And
then to there there is an element of why in
the world would you try to fake when they are
literally waiting for the fake. They weren't rushing the kick,
they were lined up in like a prevent field goal defense.
They were ready for the fake and they still attempted it,

(01:02:10):
which makes no sense to me whatsoever. So on the
other tears of that is, do you really put in
a phase that if the look isn't there, you can't
one call a time out from the sideline, or two
the players on the field knows that they can't do
it and let's just kick it, Like, how is there
no one adjusting? How is no one in the box
saying here, we can't do this? To me, that that's

(01:02:31):
a failure. That is a failure from from a coaching standpoint,
that one you called it out of panic, and then
two there were no measures where you could fix the
call once it was clear that it was not going
to work based on Clemson's defensive look. All right, we'll
go to your other topics. Earlier or Friday. Early on Friday,

(01:02:52):
I wake up and I see you tweet to me
Joel Clad at Joel clad on Twitter. We're talking to
Joel Clad Fox lead College. No, no, no, you can't
start with my tweet. Okay, by tweet, I'll start with
my tweet. My tweet is it goes out yesterday morning, uh,
Friday morning, Uh what what? I don't even know what
day it is? Monday morning. I can't even keep track

(01:03:13):
of anything when we have Monday night football in college football.
All right, so, uh Monday morning? Uh why I tweeted? Well? Well, well,
Ohio State fired Greg Siano as defensive coordinator. Luckily, according
to the National College Football media, he will soon have
a billion job offers to be head coach, given what
an amazing candidate he is. Now, let me before I

(01:03:33):
get to your response, I will say I put a
bullet in Danny Cannell. Did you see that? Because if
you didn't see this, okay, So, so Danny Canell also
jumped into our conversation. Yeah, I don't. I don't dislike.
I don't dislike Danny Canell. But sometimes, you know, when
you have a great line, I'm like, I just gotta

(01:03:54):
use it. It's too hard not to use it. So
Danny Cannell jumps right into our conversation. I'll get to
your tweet here moment early, but first I have to
put out the put out the fire on Danny Cannell here. Um,
Danny Cannell jumps in and says, because I'm talking about
how Tennessee had done, and Danny Cannell. Danny Cannell uh
jumps in and sorry, let me see, let me find

(01:04:14):
you basically said like, wow, wait, way to go. You
saved the five and seven programs, basically saying like what
what in the world did you save them from? Because
that was the Dannell steps steps into our conversation and says,
clearly the fans were right, as evidence by Tennessee's Monster
five and seven season with three huge wins over Charlotte E,

(01:04:35):
t s U and uteph Way to go. We'll all
get that apology letter out soon, because I said every
single person who ripped them should have to write a
personal apology column addressed of all fans. So that was
Danny Cannell's response. I then put a bullet in Danny
Cannell because I said, I said national media, Danny, not
unemployed SEC trolls, and if you want to be entertained
on Twitter, go look at the responses since then. So

(01:04:58):
so Danny Cannell is d I apologize on killing him
on Twitter. Um, but I love this stuff. Joel comes
at me, um and uh and comes off the top
rope and says, all right, I'll read your tweet now.
And here's the deal. If if, if this subject is
gonna come up, and I've told you this. Listen, you
and I, you and I are friends, but I told

(01:05:19):
you when this subject comes up, I'm coming with blowtorches.
Do you know that? Yes? Yeah? You know. What's funny
is I actually get Yeah, I get d M from
people and they're like, does Joel like does Joel really
hate you? Like? So here, Yes, You're coming with blowtorches,
which I love. And so here's your tweet for the thousands. Yeah,

(01:05:40):
you're gonna burn the house down for the thousandth time,
you idiot. We said that using a third party, unsubstantiated
reference from a civil suit deposition to submarine his character
because you thought he wasn't a good coach was wrong
double exclamation points. You can think he's not a good coach,
but what you and your mob did was despicable. Um.
So this is like, is this the most popular thing

(01:06:00):
that you ever tweet? Because I'm looking at this right
now and it's got seven thousand likes And here are
the first responses that immediately come up. Doesn't come any
worse than Clay Travis forty likes. Um I I uh
Clay Travis eats paste a hundred and forty three likes. Um,

(01:06:21):
I mean, just everybody like ish thing. But no, I
don't want you to pack yourself on the back about
my tweets and say that that that's the most popular.
I tweet out more popular things than that, but that's
certainly one of them. When when when I when I
body bag you on Twitter, it tends to be very popular.

(01:06:41):
And and listen, uh, Clay, I will continue to do
that if you bring this up, because you continue to
make this about like just the coaching acumen, and like
we have talked about several times, you can absolutely hold
that position. You can absolutely hold that position. But what
but what you did one is the exact same thing

(01:07:02):
that like a lot of the people you lament like
crazy on your show did Kavanaugh You it's a it's
a it's a very it's a when you go on
the Kavanaugh angle, you it's a strong argument. You can
make a strong argument that I was unfair to Greg Ciano.
That's a fair position to have. I would argue that
it all me And look, I mean it's kind of

(01:07:24):
the same thing that Democrats did to Kavanaugh, right, Like
I think the reality was they didn't want him to
be a Supreme Court justice, and so they found whatever
they could to justify him not being a Supreme Court justice. Now,
to be fair, I said I didn't want greg Ciano
at all before I ever started going into Greg Ciano's past.
I didn't like what happened at at Tampa Bay, the
way he left there. I also didn't really like the

(01:07:46):
way that Butch Jones ran Tennessee. And I think there
are a lot of overlaps in terms of the culture
that they would have created between greg Ciano and uh.
And also I think this was just a mechanic fair argument.
Those are fair arguments as soon as you bring up
like you basically dug and dug and dug and then

(01:08:08):
took something that was unsubstantiate that was later discredited by
the same witness who gave that civil suit deposition in
the criminal deposition. I mean, what's gonna happen with every you.
I'm gonna boy, you're gonna come with the blow sords.
I I respect, I respect, I respect. You bring in

(01:08:29):
the blow shorts, you bring in the nuclear bombs, the
plastic explosives. What is going to happen with reader readers
of Republicans by sneakers to really should when they think
about it. You're sitting there right now, you've read the book,
and you think about it, You're like, man Juls kind
of right on this one. It's a strong attack. Like
if you were if you and I were running a

(01:08:49):
political campaign and you could find something to attack me on,
I think this is the one you would come at
me on. I think that is a I think you
can make the attack that there is a disc an
act between the way I defended Brett Kavanaugh and the
way I attacked Greg Ciano. I think that's a strong
argument on your part. Uh. My distinction would be that

(01:09:09):
Greg Ciano I think was a panicked higher right. The
process that led to the selection of Greg Ciano was
I think a bad one, whereas I think the selection
process for like Brett Kavanaugh, whether you are a hardcore
Supreme Court watcher or not, he was an eminently qualified person,
one of the best qualified, if not the best qualified,
for that job. So what happens with Ciano now you

(01:09:33):
can get to the NFL. This is why I'm gonna
blow towards you at any point, because now I think
that he is because of perception somewhat of you know,
an untouchable in the college ranks, and so I think
that he's he's going to have to be an assistant
in the NFL ranks, and I think that he'll probably
go there. If you talk with NFL personnel like I

(01:09:55):
do during the draft time, Clay, what they'll tell you
is is one of the reasons Ohio State defensive backs
have been drafted so high you go, like Denzel or
when people were surprised you in the top five, is
that Greg is one of the few, if if not
the only defensive back coach in college football that was
teaching players how to defend like an NFL corner and
how they were trying to defend from a technique perspective,

(01:10:18):
like the fade route or so on and so forth.
So he's gonna have an opportunity, but I just don't
think it's going to be at at a position which
I do think he's qualified for. See, I would argue
that he is qualified based on what he did at Rutgers,
and you can disagree with that, all all well and good,
but that's part of the frustration. Is what because because

(01:10:39):
of the of the mob that you lad he's somewhat
of an untouchable and that's wrong. I don't I would
also say this, you know me at least in this way.
I don't look over my shoulder to see who's behind
me when I have an opinion. So I think that
the response in many ways to Greg Ciano would have
been almost identical even if I hadn't been involved at all.

(01:11:01):
I think you know my opinion because you follow me in,
because you know that I have a certain audience. But
I think the Tennessee fan based response would have been
just as vociferous in a negative way even if I
hadn't been involved. And look, there could have been a
lot of people. There's a lot of opinions that I
have on this show on a regular basis, where people
are driving into work every morning and they're like, Clay
Travis is an idiot. You know, like from one moment

(01:11:22):
to the next, they can be like everything that guy
says is dumb, and then I say something. It's like
the Alonso morning gift that every everybody like tweets were
Alonso Mornings shaking his head. I love it. And then
he just suddenly stops and he starts shaking his head.
The other way. Um, you know, when you're in the
opinion business, sometimes people think that, you know, you sound
like an idiot, and then they're like, but you know what,
he's right about this one. And so I think that
still would have been a major issue. Regardless, I don't

(01:11:44):
know that I was instrumental in changing the outcome of
that story. Like you know, I'm cocky for me to say, Hey,
I wasn't the number one person in this story. I
think this story was bigger than me. I do think
it would have been bigger than me. Was I a
part of it? Did I like get it more national attention?
Maybe yes, But I still I'm not sure whether if
I had let's say I've been on a cruise and
I didn't have WiFi, I think that still the outcome

(01:12:06):
might have been the exact same. Maybe, but we don't
know because the only time I'm really not on social
media is when i'm on the reason why I used
the cruise example is when I'm out of you know,
like reach of WiFi or being able to hop on
Twitter or whatever else. So how does the last question
for you? How disappointed do you find yourself on a
morning like today when we have such a long off

(01:12:29):
season in college football, Like, I just feel so bad
when I wake up in the morning. It's so long
of an off season about that. Yeah, the the game
ends and I was like, oh man, I mean, it
really was such a great performance right from from Clemson side,
and so you're kind of basking in the glow and
you're seeing these kids enjoy and Dabbo, you know, was

(01:12:51):
was so good on the stage, and then it dawns
on you like there's nothing more to debate, there's nothing
more to talk about. There's nothing like nine, I know,
and it's brutal. And now we have to Yeah, we
just have to wait. And now it's like the draft time,
you know. So it is a bummer from that standpoint,
but I'm looking forward to the next year. It should

(01:13:12):
be interesting. These two teams will be favored to be
right back in the same position. I did a way
too early top ten. Yeah, you can go on social
media and check it out. Uh And and I'm gonna
put based on last night's performance, I'm gonna put Clemson
at number one in the preseason, with their quarterback back,
with those young skill position players back, even replacing some
of those defensive blindman Alabama is going to be number two,

(01:13:33):
and then behind them. I think it's kind of a
big hodgepodge of teams, like out of this handful play.
I think it's kind of like the Georgia, Oh you
Ohio State Texas. Maybe if it's kind of that next year,
I can't wait. I'm already ready for the kickoff and
then we've got eight months to sit around and wait
for Joel class. It's always fun. Go follow Joel on

(01:13:53):
Twitter at Clay Travis. You never know when he's gonna
break out the blowtorch and come after me. So to
make sure you don't miss that's the thing you specifically, No,
there's one thing, well one thing, but you have to
be honest. At some point the Shianos story is going
to fade in terms of being able to talk about it,
and the number one you'll still find something else. You
want to find another thing? Then? Uh, he is Joel

(01:14:18):
clad Go follow him at Joel claud on Twitter. I
am Clay Travis. This is OutKick the College later, by
the way, later today, I'll be unlock it in later today.
Oh that's right, okay, Well you know what, I won't
be unlock it in today because I gotta fly back
from the Bay Area, so you can just take shots
and left right, Yeah, Whitlock is gonna be Whitlock is
gonna be sitting in I can't make fun of his collars. No,

(01:14:43):
that's right. It is convenient that I'm not gonna be on,
so I'll just have to find out the interview. Ever,
I appreciate the time. Then alright, that's Joe clad at
Joel Cloud on Twitter. I'm Clay Travis is OutKick the
coverage on Fox Sports Radio. Welcome back, get go out
Kick Studios. We're brought to you by True Car. When
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(01:15:03):
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gotta tell you right now that a lot of you
are tired this morning. You're dragging on your way to work,
you're dragging on your way home from work. Maybe you
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(01:15:25):
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(01:16:07):
prime with M drive. And you know who had too,
who definitely found his prime Last night, it was Trevor
Lawrence and we talked about this at the top of
the hour and I said, you can go vote in
our poll question would you rather have Trevor Lawrence or
the current quarterback of your NFL team for the next
five years? And I put this up last night because
I saw you talking about it on Twitter, Jason mart

(01:16:30):
and I thought, hey, this is a good poll question
for us. It's pinned to the top of my page.
You can go jump in and vote yourself. Right now,
fifty five percent of you are saying you'd rather have
Trevor Lawrence, which is pretty wild. Fifty five to forty five.
What did you think? By the way? Uh? And you
and I ran through all the quarterbacks? Encourage you to
go download the podcast if you haven't already listened to it.

(01:16:52):
We're signed up for our podcast great Stuff, uh. In
our one Great Stuff an hour two, an hour three,
We're gonna have Petros papadegus on. But you and I
already ran through the whole roster of available quarterbacks, and
basically we found like five guys that we wouldn't for
the next five years. What did you think? By the
way of Joel Clatt, where would you put him on
the anger scale there? For the interview we just did. Man,

(01:17:14):
he was on fire. I'd give him a solid eight.
He tried to sort of back off there at the
end and be friendly to you. I mean, when the
Shiano thing first blew up, I remember sending you a message.
I was still your executive producer at that point in time.
I was just like, what is up with Joel? Clatt
and you were kind of trying to feed the beast,
and you were basically tell me, yeah, and he's unfollowed
me on social media and the whole deal over the

(01:17:35):
great Siano mess, and he's just not gonna let it go.
There are people in the media that are going to
go to the well on this Shiano thing until there's
no water left, and then they're just gonna dive in
head first and crack their skulls open at the bottom,
like it's it's absolutely outrageous at this point, you know,
you and I disagreed to some extent on the Shianna thing,
not that he was gonna be a good hire, because

(01:17:56):
he absolutely was not going to be a good hire,
but in some capacity in the that it ended up
going down. But yeah, Clatt was pretty fired up. I
think that maybe he wasn't as angry as he could
have been because he was still so thrilled that the
SEC guy I love, Yeah, I love Joel trying to
pretend that he's not rooting for the SEC. There is

(01:18:16):
a hundred percent chance that Joel Clatt was sitting with
his pants off for the fourth quarter of that game,
treating his body like a roller coaster. Um, I am
telling you right now, he was just an amusement park.
Was that line from amusement Park? All right? So I
blew the line. Um. But if you watched Seinfeld and
saw George with the Glamour magazine, I think it was Yes, yeah,

(01:18:39):
Mrs Costanza found him. Uh, that's how Joel. That's how
Joel Clatt was enjoying that game. There's no doubt at
all about it. Uh. We'll talk to Petros Papadakis by
the way an hour three, who I know was also
enjoying this. He's gonna wake up early with us as
well in the West Coast to revel in the to
dance on the grave of Alabama. Um. But but I
do think that's a fascinating question that you have. And
again the pole question up at the top of our page.

(01:19:01):
Make sure you don't miss it. Uh. You can go
vote as well. And again, it's five years because some
people are gonna say, oh, my guy is really good
for the next year. No, no, no no, no, for the
next five years. If you had to pick, would you
rather have Trevor Lawrence or the current quarterback of your
NFL team for the next five years? That's how good
he was, and again thousands of people rolling in. I
pinned it to the top of my page, and of

(01:19:22):
people are saying they would rather have Trevor Lawrence than
their own teams NFL quarterback over the next five years. Um,
we have got a lot to get to as we
roll into our three of this show live from San
Jose early morning, late night, depending on where you might
be uh listening to the show. We appreciate you hanging
out with us. Congratulations the Clemson Tigers the national champion

(01:19:43):
in college football. It's only about eight months until we
actually get another argument to start with college football, and
that is what's tough about college football in general. It's
both the uh, the shortest season and the longest offseason
of any major sport in America. So we have got
a lot of time to sit around in our you
about who's going to be the champ next year. But
for now we know the champ and it is the

(01:20:04):
Clemson Tigers for the second time in three years, Dabo
Sweeney imprinting his DNA on the overall landscape of college
football and maybe in the process, effectively ending the dynasty
of Nick Saban. This is out kick the coverage on
Fox Sports Radio. Well why from the Guico out Kick Studios,
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(01:20:26):
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out Kicked. The coverage third hour of the show early morning,

(01:20:49):
late night, depends on your time zone. Right now, we
are sitting in the five am hour on the West
coast in San Jose. It is eight am on the
East coast, and the sun has risen on a Clemson
National Championship, the second in three years. Is the Nick
Saban dynasty? Over is Uh Debo Sweeney's dynasty beginning? Could

(01:21:10):
Nick Saban retiring Debo become the new coach of Alabama?
You want to talk about a crazy a crazy turn.
What if next week or the next couple of days.
Nick Saban was like, you know what, I've had a
good run, but I just don't have the energy to
keep it up. And then Debo was announced as the
next Alabama coach within a couple of days. I don't
know what's gonna happen. That's been the talk for a
long time, but he's starting to build his own dynasty

(01:21:31):
at Clemson. And to me, what is so interesting about
this UH, this most recent four year UH matchup between
Alabama and Clemson that has been tied at two games apiece,
is in order to beat Nick Saban, a lot of
people try to out Nick Saban Nick Saban, And what
I mean by that is Kirby Smart is effectively trying

(01:21:53):
to out Saban. Nick Saban, right George's football coach. Kirby
Smart has got the discipline and the scheme and the
process of Alabama and he has brought it to Georgia
and he is trying to beat Nick Saban byout Nick Saban,
ing Nick Saban. And there are a lot of people
that have tried to do that, and there's certainly been

(01:22:13):
a lot of hires that have been made predicated on, Oh,
this person was close to Nick Saban, So I'm gonna
go hire him and he's gonna be able to be
the next Nick Saban, and the closest to being the
next Nick Saban so far has been Kirby Smart. What
is fascinating to me about Clemson is that Dabo Sweeney
is trying to be nothing like Nick Saban. He's trying

(01:22:36):
to run a joyful, effervescent program, a place where people
seem to genuinely enjoy playing college football. And the closest
thing that I can remember of a guy who had
some success against Nick Saban was Less Miles. If you
remember before Less kind of went off the rails and
l s U fell apart. L s U had some

(01:22:58):
success against Alabama, and one than they did, I think
was because Less Miles was running a program that was
somewhat different than Alabama. It's hard to beat Nick Saban
by out Nick Saban and Nick Saban, but I think
Dabo has become the Luke Skywalker to his Darth Vader.
There's something different about the way these two men run
their programs. And if you watch this game last night,

(01:23:22):
when you watch Dabo sprinting down the sideline when his
team was making big plays, when you looked at the
number of smiles on the Clemson sideline and you compared
them with the Alabama sideline. Alabama, as Joel Klatt said,
seems like a factory. Clemson seems like a family. And

(01:23:42):
maybe the way to beat Nick Saban is not to
build a more efficient factory, It is to create a
more familial environment where when big time games come around,
you can play at your highest possible level. Because that's
what Clemson did last night. Come putting into context what
happened last night. First of all, Dabbo made Nick Saban

(01:24:04):
not perform like Nick Saban, and that was nothing more
self evident. I didn't believe than when Alabama faked a
field goal down thirty one to sixteen on the first
drive of the second half. It made no sense to
kick a field goal there to make it a thirty
one to nineteen game. You're down two scores and you're

(01:24:25):
gonna keep it at two scores, and made no sense.
That was Nick Saban becoming desperate. If he was gonna
go for it on fourth and seven there, he should
have left two on the field and taken his chances there. Instead,
they went for it, they got stopped, and it was
just the latest example of I think something that almost

(01:24:45):
never happens, which is Nick Saban beating himself, and then
to put into context what we saw, Trevor Lawrence was
out of this world such that I've got the poll
question that's penned at the top of my Twitter feed.
You can go vote in this right now. Would your
either have Trevor Lawrence or the current quarterback of your
NFL team for the next five years fifty four? This

(01:25:07):
keeps bouncing around as thousands of you are voting on
what the outcome of that would be that you'd rather
have Trevor Lawrence. And I think that was emblematic of
how well he played. But it wasn't just that Clemson one.
It was that this is the biggest loss ever for
Alabama under Nick Saban, and that Alabama had not gotten

(01:25:28):
beat like this since Nick Saban used to beat Alabama
like this when he was at l s U. And
in fact, the Tide has not lost a game by
more by twenty eight points in twenty years. So this
was a seismic potential reordering of the college football landscape.
Caliber win for Dabo Sweeney, not to mention he's infinitely

(01:25:50):
younger than Nick Saban. And to me, the wildest part
of this now is Trevor Lawrence maybe the most successful
true freshman quarterback in the history of college football. I
think that's a legitimate argument you can make again, true freshman,
not red shirt freshman, and he's got to spend two
more years on the campus at Clemson. I can't even
imagine what the next couple of years of his life

(01:26:11):
are gonna be like. Remember Johnny Manziel after he won
the Heisman Trophy in his red shirt freshman season at
Texas A and M said, by his red shirt sophomore year,
every day on campus was a zoo. He couldn't even
go to class without being swarmed by autograph seekers. I
can't even conceptualize what it's gonna be like for Trevor
Lawrence on the Clemson campus when he's a big, tall

(01:26:33):
guy that everybody's gonna be able to see that hair
stands out. This is gonna be, I think, a different
caliber of fame than we've ever seen before in college football.
And you can certainly make the argument, and it's one
that will be talked about a lot over the next
couple of years. I think that it makes no sense
that Trevor Lawrence can't go pro if he wanted to
go pro. It's the same lawsuit that Maurice Claret had

(01:26:56):
Mike Williams, the USC wide receiver. They challenged the age
restrictions that are put in place by the NFL Players
Association and said, wait a minute, this makes no sense.
Why would we ever allow something like this to take place.
We should be able to go pro were adults. We
should be able to make a living. You'd let us
join the military, you'd let us make basically any other
lifestyle choice that we want to make. Why should we

(01:27:18):
be restricted from playing at the highest level of football
instead of being required to play UH football for free effectively?
And I think that's a strong argument. I think every guy,
everybody who's eighteen years old, should be able to make
a living doing anything that they want to. I don't
believe in age restrictions for the NBA or college football,
for the NFL, for any of that. I think you
should always be able to go pro. But I want

(01:27:40):
to bring in Jason Martin here, and by the way,
we're gonna be joined by Petros Papadegas to break down
a lot of this stuff next. And if you haven't
already downloaded the podcast, how about you start off twenty
nineteen by making sure that you download the OutKick podcast
because millions of you are doing it. And we had
incredible interviews, uh in our two with Joel Clatt, great
breakdown overall of the game that we just between Clemson

(01:28:00):
and Alabama. In our one Jason Martin, former executive producer
of the show. Uh. We also have been debating this
this game obviously as we react. I'm out in San Jose,
Jason Martin with me in Nashville for a couple of
days here. What do you think about this game? What
is your primary takeaways? Everybody wakes up on the West
Coast and kind of suddenly realizes, Wow, we've got a

(01:28:20):
new era in college football. Nick Saban just got a
beating the likes of which we've never seen before. What's
your biggest takeaway now as you wake up on the
morning after the biggest game of the year in college
football and maybe one of the biggest surprises we have
seen in college football in a long time. Alabama kicked
off as a five point favorite. They lost by twenty eight,

(01:28:43):
thirty three point difference compared to what actually happened versus
what Vegas expected to happen. Yeah, I think it really
is just how dominant Clemson was. It's not that they won.
I said, Look, I wouldn't be shocked if they won.
I took Alabama forty one to thirty one. I had
no idea that Clemson was going to dismantle Nick Saban

(01:29:05):
to the extent that Nick Saban turned into Kirby Smart
on that fake, which is as bad as you've ever seen.
And what that signified was we cannot stop them. But
for some reason, they still went with a low percentage
play of of doing a fake instead of just leaving
the offense out there and going for it. I would
have been fine if they had left the offense out
there and went for it, especially with Clemson out there

(01:29:27):
in real defense looking for the fake, and then you
run it behind the kicker as the lead blocker and
it gets stuffed and it looks absolutely brutal. We do
reads here in the Geico Alt Kick studios, and we've
done them from day one about how Geico can save
you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. Well fifteen
minutes into this game, we're all tweeting how much fun
this is. Because we're going back and forth up and

(01:29:49):
down the field. There's tweets about how Clemson's defense is
about to get tired because look at the dominance in
terms of the yardage that Alabama's putting up two or
through the pick six came immediately back into that big
bombed to Jerry Judy, who won the bullet the cough
and it looks like, all right, we're off to the races.
We're watching Rams Chiefs. This is gonna be an absolute blast.
And then a funny thing happened because Rams Chiefs turned

(01:30:12):
into Saints Eagles in the regular season, and all of
a sudden, Dabo swinging's on sideline and he hears, oh,
did you say it's gonna be fun? We love to
have fun at Clemson and then scored thirty unanswered in
one of the most stunt look you could call this
Tyson and Buster Douglas, except Clemson is not Buster Douglas

(01:30:32):
because we knew they were good. But I do think
that many people saw Alabama as Mike Tyson and have
seen him that way. Clemson punched them in the mouth
and just never let up. They never took their foot
off the gas. It was just a stunning From as
soon as Clemson took over this game, you kept waiting

(01:30:53):
to see Alabama make a comeback, and it absolutely never happened.
They were dominated on both sides of the ball. They
were out coach, they were out schemed, they were out efforted,
they were out athletic. That's not even a word. It
was just absolutely unbelievable to watch. I don't know how
much money I would have lost if you had told
me when Alabama went up sixteen to fourteen, one of

(01:31:16):
these teams is going to score the next thirty straight points.
If I would have put that to get me to
put that money on Clemson, you know, like you said,
I mean, if Alabama had gone on to win after
they had gone up sixteen fourteen, if they had scored
the next thirty points and they had won, you know,
forty six to fourteen or whatever the math would have
been on that situation, I would have been like, Okay,

(01:31:37):
I can kind of see that happening because we've seen
Alabama do that to so many teams over the years,
but to have it happened the way it did. I'm
still kind of in shock over what happened last night.
And again not that Alabama lost, because we saw them
lose to Clemson and Alabama frankly loses sometimes, but when
Alabama loses usually it's an excruciating, tough defeat. It's the

(01:31:58):
kick six, it's Hunter Infro catching a ball with one
second left. Alabama hadn't lost by twenty eight points since
n The last coach to put a beating like this
on Alabama was Nick Saban. It just doesn't happen to Alabama.
It happens to Ohio State. It happens to a lot
of other teams that are good. It doesn't happen to

(01:32:20):
Alabama until it just did happen last night, and now
Clemson is the king of the college football universe. We're
gonna be joined by Petros Papadakis up next. But first,
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Some features not available in all states. Up next Petro's Papadakis.
This is Outkicked the Coverage. Thanks for spending your morning
with us word to live in San Jose, California talking

(01:33:25):
about Clemson's big win. We'll find out what Petros thought
about it. Next, this is OutKick the Coverage on Fox
Sports Radio. Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk
lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at
Fox sports Radio dot com and within the I Heart
Radio app. Search f s R to listen live. Welcome back,
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(01:33:47):
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Joined now by Petro's papad Acas. I want to start here. Petros,
you join us every single Tuesday, and soon we're gonna
be able to talk about the Bachelor report because the
Bachelor is often running again. But the Bachelor goes head

(01:34:10):
to head on Monday night with the college football playoff?
Which did you watch? Oh? I watched the college football stuff,
and then a little later today, I'll get a little
boned up on the Bachelor and be uh in good
shape for afternoon radio. But I didn't need to do
the Bachelor right on time last night, so I watched

(01:34:30):
Clemson's full on asswhoopon of your Alabama team. That's right.
I talked to you yesterday on your show five seventy
am l A Sports with your very successful Petros and
Money show. I was live in UH in Santa Clara,
standing there at the stadium. I thought that Alabama would win.
I thought that Alabama would cover. I thought that Alabama
would score a lot of points. All of those things

(01:34:51):
were wrong. Clemson kicked their ass. Yeah. It was really
unbelievable because we've always said that teams like Ohio State,
who are great, but they're still susceptible to going down
to Iowa and given up sixty points or fifty points
and we're getting beat very badly by Purdue. We just

(01:35:12):
didn't think this Alabama team was vulnerable in this kind
of way. And not only were they vulnerable, but man,
they could have given up fifty points in this game.
They all of a sudden looked like the slower football team.
They were not sharp. Everything Clemson dialed up, whether it
was Venables or Dabbo or whoever was working and it

(01:35:36):
was a clinic, they looked absolutely unstoppable against a team
that a lot of people hit thought was the greatest
in the history of the sport, and obviously that was
proven wrong tonight. Yeah. Look, I mean Clemson and uh
in Deabo Sweeney. So I want to start this. I
asked Joe class this last hour. I said, Joel, you

(01:35:56):
can imagine what it's like to be a starting quarterback
on and you know, on a college campus because you
did it but you were a little bit older. Can
you imagine you played running back at USC Can you
imagine what it's going to be like for Trevor Lawrence
to be on Clemson's campus the next couple of years
having won a national championship as a freshman. I mean,
to be that much of a celebrity at nineteen years

(01:36:18):
old in a place that venerates and loves college football
like they do at Clemson, can you even imagine what
that would be like. I would say that in a
very different way, because he's a very different kid. It's
a lot like Johnny Manzel winning the Heisman as a
redshirt freshman at a place like College Station Texas and
the SEC, which obviously you know about. I mean, this

(01:36:40):
was an unbelievable performance by an unbelievable young man, but
he seems pretty unflappable, and a lot of kids are
that big, and a lot of kids are that athletic
playing quarterback, not all of them can throw the ball
that way. That ball comes out in a really, really

(01:37:03):
impressive trajectory, and he does a lot of good things
on the field as far as absorbing contact and just
seeming in control. I haven't been this impressed with a
quarterback since I watched Andrew Luck really closely and Sam
Donald really closely. This kid is just as impressive, if

(01:37:23):
not more impressive, because of the stage he was on
tonight and who he was up against it was. It
was really just amazing to see his performance under the
bright lights and to see it has happened as a
true fresh member. Johnny Manziel was at least a red
shirt freshman. He was a little bit older. Tebow the
championship as a freshman, but he was the backup to
Chris Leak. So he was famous, but he wasn't like

(01:37:43):
other worldly famous. Um was Chris Leaks back up? Yeah, right, exactly. Um,
So it was a little bit yeah, Uh, it was
a little bit different of a vibe for them. They
could ease into it a little bit more. But I
just I can't even imagine what it's gonna be like
for him on campus. What do you think? So you
played at USC, you know, like cultures matter and all
those things. Is there any truth at all to Nick

(01:38:06):
saban Um basically being the Darth Vader of college football? Uh,
a ruler, but one who rules with not a lot
of joy um in his life. And he's going up
against a Luke Skywalker like figure in Dabo Sweeney who
embraces the wider side of life. Uh do you see
that at all? Like in the culture and the effervescence.

(01:38:26):
It seems to me that Clemson plays football with and
the way that Dabo coaches as opposed to Like, there
was that moment when Alabama's defensive back went down with
the injury and you could see like Saban kind of
curse when the guys laying there writhing on the field,
and it took him a while to walk over and
check and see how he was, whereas Dabo like almost
immediately would have been out there like beside him checking

(01:38:47):
on him. And look, I don't begrudge Nick Saban. I mean,
I think that's just kind of the way he is. Um.
But do you see that at all? And in terms
of the cultures and the two respective programs, well, I
saw the tweet last night and I thought it was
pretty interesting. It does seem like Dabbo knows how to
cultivate all the best things about a program like Alabama

(01:39:08):
and stay away from kind of the dark. I guess
the word you used was joyless side of it, And
I think that's a pretty good word. I would I
would like him because we talked so much n B
A and and make so many NBA comparisons to everything
because the NBA's on everybody's mind all the time because
ESPN shoves it down our throats. I would I would

(01:39:29):
like in playing for Nick Saban like playing for Lebron.
You mean, you're gonna win a lot of games, but
you might not be that happy doing it, and you're
gonna get and not just playing for him, coaching for
him too. You know you're gonna have the badge on
your chest of having been at Alabama under Nick Saban,
basically having learned attention to detail from the best, but

(01:39:54):
you're probably not going to enjoy your stay very much.
And that's kind of the song you here assist and
sing over the years. Guys want to be there because
they want to learn, but they want to move on
as quickly as they can and use it as a
stepping stone to another job. I don't get the vibe
that Clemson and I haven't been inside either of these buildings,

(01:40:16):
Clay I do. I do Big twelve, Big ten, and
Pack twelve. So I've never done a Clemson game. I've
never done an Alabama game. I've never been inside those buildings.
But the vibe I get and from all the talking
is Alabama beats up their players. They have very tough practices.
They prepare you, but they also grind you down. Nick
Saban's not that much fun of a guy to be around.

(01:40:38):
He he obviously doesn't seem like it. You can see
it on TV. And Dabo Sweeney is kind of a
dancing fool and doesn't care. He's like St. Francis ASISI.
He's God's fool and everybody seems to enjoy it around him.
And his team played with joy. They played almost effortlessly
tonight and looked completely and totally sharpened in control and enthusiastic.

(01:41:01):
I mean, it was a great commercial for what Clemson's
got going, and it was a huge I mean, I
don't think Nick Saban has been dominated like that. I don't.
I don't know what they were saying as far as
records during the game, but I've never seen it happened
before you saw it in person. Is it good? Yeah?
I did. Uh, And we're out in San Jose doing
our show this morning reacting to it. Appreciate Petros Papadegan

(01:41:22):
is getting up early with us, as he does on
many Tuesdays. Uh, in the course of the year. Is
this good for college football? Because the evil Empire of
Alabama of Nick Saban goes out and they beat Clemson
for the third time in four years, and they win
another national championship, and uh, you know the third and
four years or whatever the math would have been, everybody

(01:41:43):
just kind of says, oh, you know, there's no need
to watch college football because we already know what's going
to happen. I think this is good for college football
overall because at least now we start to believe that
Alabama has a rival that maybe the Nick Saban dynasty
isn't going to continue forever. Are you in that boat
or do you think it's still Alabama Clemson and there's
still such a gap that a lot of other teams

(01:42:04):
don't feel like they're close to being able to contend. No.
I think with this, with Alabama giving up all these
points to a team, I mean, I don't know if
Clemson was was forty four points better than Alabama or
you know, forty four to sixteen better than Alabama that
they certainly were last night. And I think it gives
everybody else hope that anybody can be dominated on any

(01:42:26):
given day. Ay, And I think, b I think you're
you're onto something. I think it's a more energetic, fun
more vibrant model that Dabbo Sweeney has going, and it's
kind of like Pete Carroll, but he's he's a lot younger,
and he doesn't have like that weird cutthroat nature or

(01:42:50):
weird NFL history. He just seems like a great coach
for a great place for football and beating a more methodical,
seemingly angry, weeping, moaning, mashing of teeth sort of program.
Is He's definitely good for college football. It's good to
get it away from the SEC. I think the SEC

(01:43:12):
ended up six and six in bowl games, which certainly
isn't great. So I think it's really good for college football.
I think the more parody we have the better, and
I think, more importantly, like you touched on when we
first started talking, Trevor Lawrence is a young star that
they're going to have for two more years to talk about.
And that's really something to celebrate because he seems like

(01:43:32):
a hell of a kid. Here's some wild stats for
you talking about the context of Nick Saban's loss. So
the first time Alabama's lost a game by more than
twenty points since they lost twenty seven to three to
l s U in two thousand three, l s US
coach in that game, Nick Saban, which is pretty wild. Uh.
The last time Alabama lost a game by at least

(01:43:53):
sixteen points, uh, came when L s U beat Alabama
to ten in two thousand four. Were Nick Saban also
the coach at l s U at that time. The
last time Alabama lost a game by twenty eight points,
which was the margin of the game last night, was
at the Music City Bowl. So that puts into context

(01:44:15):
how long it has been since Alabama has taken a
beating like Clemson put on them last night. Yeah, and
things just really seem to get away from them. And
I remember something you said during the I think it
was the Ohio State Michigan game. How slow and lethargic
and human the Michigan defense looked against Ohio State who

(01:44:38):
was just relentlessly pounding them and just got on top
of them. And I think the same thing happened. And
who would have thought it would have happened to Alabama tonight.
I mean, I didn't see that coming. I don't think
anybody saw that coming. But I think it's a good
thing for college football. I I don't think Alabama is dead,
but I think it's a huge blow to the immortality

(01:44:59):
of Nick say Been and maybe a little bit of
a blow two him staying around in Alabama for ever.
It seemed like, I don't I don't really know what
it means for his future, but this is, uh, this
is gonna be a tough one to to to stand
up from Alabama got hammered into the turf. There's no

(01:45:21):
doubt at all. Petros babad Aegis. I know you've got
a busy schedule. Thanks for waking up early this morning
with us, and uh look forward to talking to you
next week. Well, it's my pleasure and good luck figure
it out. Cliff Kingsbury. Yeah, by the way, what while
you mentioned it, What in the world's going on there? Oh? You?
I mean I asked you yesterday what I know? I mean,

(01:45:41):
USC has botched this. I mean, he should have never
signed there in the first place, knowing he would have
all this interest from the NFL. But I guess he
just figured USC would follow protocol like I don't know
everybody else in the history of college football and just
let him do a pro football head coaching interview. And
when they blocked it and they let it happen, it

(01:46:02):
just made them look really, really petty. And then of
course it only seemed to raise interest in Kingsbury, who
really seems like a hot coach. And then it hurts
USC for trying to hire hot coaches in the future
that aren't head coaches. But overall it's just this weird,
awkward stuff to protect Clay Helton. Kingsbury should have never

(01:46:24):
taken the job in the first place, but it should
never have come to this either. When a guy gets
ahead football coaching interview in the NFL, you take it.
It just goes to show Lynn Swan doesn't seem to
really know administratively which way is up by the way
to I ask you this all the time too. I
might as well mention it. Now. Two of the eight

(01:46:45):
teams remaining in the NFL are in the l A area.
The Charge that's right, Chargers, who have four fans, and
the Ramps you have some fans, but that the Dallas
Cowboys may well have more fans for them. We'll have
a watch party at Hermosa Beach on the station that
you're on right now for the Chargers on Sunday. How amen. Well,

(01:47:08):
I hope they win that and I hope the work
watch party in Hermosa goes great, But how much excitement
would you say there is for having of the NFL
playoff teams remaining now right now in Los Angeles. I
think it's pretty exciting, But I also think you're gonna
have about Dallas Cowboy fans bearing down on the Rams.

(01:47:29):
I I think the Rams are in better shape, or
at least should be on paper against the Cowboys, but
the Cowboys might be able to run it right down
their throat too with Ezekiel Elliott. Remember Jared Goffs never
won a playoff game, and neither Sean McVeigh. And there
was a lot of hype about offenses when the season started,
but it looks like defensive football wins out again. Sorry

(01:47:52):
NFL rules Committee. So I'd worry about the Rams and
against Dallas, but I would have worried more, probably about
the Rams against the Bears. And I think a lot
of people are rooting for Philip Rivers. Whether you're a
Charger fan or not, it's hard to root against this team.
They've gone to Pittsburgh and beat Roethlisberger, they went to

(01:48:13):
Kansas City and beat Mahomes. I mean this is all
in the last month or two Uh. They went to
Baltimore and then beat that defense and made Lamarch acts
and look terrible, look worse than Tebow in the NFL.
They they've done a lot of good things on the
road this year. So if anybody's going to knock off
the old man, Old Gargamel in in Foxborough, it's it

(01:48:34):
might be another old man in Philip Rivers. So I
think there's a lot of interest on both sides. But
I don't think anybody's gonna jump off the Vincent Thomas
Bridge if if either team loses. Clay outstanding stuff has
always enjoyed the Hermosa Beach party, and I'm not going
to the party. I just wanted to you should go
to the party. You should sew some respect for the
Chargers and show up at that party that they're putting

(01:48:56):
on for your station. I interviewed Melvin Ingram yesterday. I'm
I'm doing my part. There you go. He had that
video he put out of the driver that he was
talking with. Was pretty cool. That was Melvin Gordon. Ah,
by the way, the fact that you yeah, you're right,
that was Melvin. The fact that you have two Melvin's
on the same team and they're both really good. What
are the odds on that? That's confusing. They shouldn't both

(01:49:17):
be able to be named Melvin in the world of football.
We had three different Antoines. Yeah, but Antoine is a
more common name. I don't feel like there's very many Melvin's.
I don't know. Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm not
an I'm not an expert, but there can't be that
many Melvin's in the NFL. And to have one of
your best offensive players be named Melvin and also to

(01:49:37):
have one of your best defensive players being named Melvin,
that's a tough That's a tough combo for me to
be able to pull off consistently, especially early in the morning.
I think Westlake in Austin. This is the very first
time with Nick Falls versus Drew Brees, we've had two
quarterbacks taken on each other in the NFL playoffs from
the same high school. That's pretty crazy. Yeah, that's a
good one. And I think bay Ker Mayfield is from

(01:50:01):
Lake Travis and I'm not mistaken. Also, just one of
those schools in the Austin area. I mean to have time,
it's not exact same, but to have three guys from
basically the same, like district of football in Texas is
pretty wild and away. Philip Rivers has more kids than
Lamar Jackson has NFL starts. That's an incredible statue. Good

(01:50:23):
stuff is always Petros Papadegus. Go follow him on Twitter
at Petros and Money at the Old P and enjoy
listening to him. For many of you who start off
your morning listening to him right now with me, you'll
be hearing him in the afternoon as well. Talk to
you next time next week, my man, Thank you and congratulations.
I'm completing your sojourn west Tom jo Yeah, I haven't

(01:50:46):
quite completed it yet. Tom Jod's got to go back
to I canna take my flight later this afternoon, so
but I'm hopefully managed to pull it off. Good stuff.
That's Petro's Papadegus am five seventy Sports at the Old
P on Twitter at Petros and Money show. Many of
you'll be listening to him on five seventy am Sports
in Los Angeles to finish your day as you just
began it with him as well. But first let me

(01:51:07):
go ahead and bring in Eddie Garc. I find out
what's shaken the world sports and the support problect you
by True Car. Online car shopping can be confusing, but
not anymore. With true Price from True Car now you
can know the exact bright shop pay for your next
cars if it's a True Car and enjoying more confident
car buying experience. College football National Championship Game. Not many
people saw this coming. Clemson with a decisive forty four

(01:51:27):
to sixteen win over Alabama to capture their second national
title in three years in the third overall in school history.
Tigers quarterback freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence had three touchdown passes
in the win, and sophomore running back Travis A. T
N had three scores as well to rushing one receiving.
The Tigers defense pitched to shut out in the second half.
Clemson enzer fifteen and o, first team to go fifteen

(01:51:48):
and no since University of Pennsylvania in eighteen seventy nine.
For Alabama, Nick Saban, the height coach, is looking for
his sixth national title at Alabama. Instead, he suffers the
worst loss in his twelve years with a Crimson tide
in Alabama and the year at fourteen and one. News
from the NFL, the Green Bay Packers will reportedly higher
Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Matt Lafleur as their next head coach,
and the Tampa Buccaneers reportedly gonna name former Arizona Cardinals

(01:52:10):
head coach Bruce Arians as their next head coach. We'll
be back without kicked the coverage in ten seconds, but
first a word from farmers. From a dog accidentally flooding
a living room to a dog taking a joy ride,
we've covered it. Talk to farmers. We know a thing
or two because we've seen a thing or two. We
are farmers under written my Farmers truck fire insurance exchanges

(01:52:31):
and affiliates products not available in every state. Now back
to Clay Travis and the OutKick the Coverage studios. Thanks Eddie.
We will close out the show next by looking ahead
a little bit in college football. Do we think Clemson
and Bama will meet for a fifth straight year? Jason
Martin myself will discuss this is out Kick the Coverage
on Fox Sports Radio. What about Gey Goo OutKick studios, Men,

(01:52:57):
M drive is the supplement I use every day. You
should consider it too if you want to feel stronger,
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four men dot com today refined your prime with M Drive. Well,
certainly Clemson found their prime. Trevor Lawrence found their their prime. Uh,

(01:53:18):
Dabo Sweeney found his prime. Te Higgins found his prime.
There was an awful lot of people on the Clemson
team that found their prime last night. UM and our
poll question again, this is penned at the top of
my page. You can go vote in it as well.
Would you rather have Trevor Lawrence or the current quarterback
of your NFL team for the next five years? Thousands

(01:53:39):
of you are voting, Go hop in and make your
voice heard, around fifty five percent of you saying you'd
prefer to have Trevor Lawrence over your team's current NFL quarterback.
And of course, this is the fourth year now that
Clemson in Alabama have played. Alabama has one to Clemson
has one too. All those games have taken place in

(01:54:00):
the playoff and I think a lot of people are
asking the question will Alabama and Clemson meet again? Because
Trevor Lawrence will obviously be back. Theoretically, under existing NFL
draft eligibility rules, he will have to play for two
more full seasons at Clemson before he can come out.
I believe, and I think there's a lot of people
who agree with me out there listening right now, that
if he were able to come out this year, he

(01:54:22):
would be the first quarterback off the board in the NFL.
Looks like Dwayne Haskins may have that, uh that that
status this year, but I think Trevor Lawrence would be
a higher on that level. He represents everything the NFL loves. Big,
fairly athletic. I think he's an underrated athlete, but big, strong,
massive arm, ability to stand in the pocket and make

(01:54:43):
every throw down field. Uh, there are a lot of
reasons to believe he's gonna be a very good NFL quarterback,
particularly considering some of the throws that he made against Alabama.
So I think a lot of people, myself included, you know,
we haven't talked that much about tah. He gets beat
at the end for the Heisman Trophy by Kyler Murray.
Now I think suddenly Trevor Lawrence is gonna be your
favorite coming back into next season for who's gonna win

(01:55:05):
the Heisman Trophy. He will have a lot of hype.
A lot of times there's a sophomore slump, But maybe
the slump wouldn't be that much of a slump if
you won the national title as your as a true freshman.
Maybe you're just pretty good in your second year and
go eleven and one in the regular season as opposed
to twelve and oh. But when you look at these
two rosters, there's a lot of talent, particularly on the

(01:55:26):
offensive side of the ball. Clemson is just stacked with
wide receivers coming back. Same thing is true of Alabama.
To a who we haven't talked about very much will
be coming back. He will have to now deal with
a certain amount of adversity, right because too, if you
think about it, came in at halftime and one Alabama
the national championship a year ago, right now, Then he
went fourteen and oh as a starter. I know he

(01:55:49):
had to get picked removed and we had to have
Jalen Hurts come in and win the championship for Alabama,
so he had to get pulled, but he had a
great deal of success. Us went out and put up
big numbers against Oklahoma. This is the first real adversity
that he's ever had to deal with in his in
his career as a college football player. I think a

(01:56:10):
lot of people out there are gonna say, and I
tweeted this out immediately after the game, are we going
to get the rubber match? Do you think Alabama and
Clemson will meet in year five for a fifth straight
year in the playoffs? Jason Martin question for you, will
we see Alabama versus Clemson Part five in the College
Football Playoffs next year? I think it'd be foolish to

(01:56:30):
say no, honestly, because they just seem like they're so
far above everyone else. Could somebody else theoretically get insure
because you lose one football game and that can be it.
It's not the best of best, four out of seven
kind of situation. But you look at Dabbo and you
look at Nick Saban. Saban's gonna go back and reload
the evil Empire, and Dabo Swhenny is just gonna let
that sunshine continue to marinate down at Clemson South Carolina

(01:56:53):
and they're gonna be really good again. I mean, we
were sitting there on the field two years ago watching
Mike Williams catches passes, David Leggatt catching passes, Hunter Renfro
in his twelfth year of villigeibility catching passes, all these guys,
and these guys are better. Tee Higgins is better. Justin
Ross looks like just an absolutely incredible football player. They've
got studs everywhere on both sides of the field, all

(01:57:15):
across it. So I look at it and I say, well,
who exactly is going to challenge him? I don't know
how Ryan Day is gonna do off the jump at
Ohio State, They're still gonna be very good. Lincoln Rowy's
not gonna fall off a cliff. But if that defense
can't actually step up and be halfway decent, you can't
really like them. Is Kirbyson are gonna be able to
get it done? Well? He's made two, he's had two
shots against Saban and he looks like he's got the makeup.

(01:57:38):
But at times he plays frantic and he coaches from
a frantic standpoint. So I don't necessarily love that. I
just don't know where it's gonna come from. Maybe there's
somebody in the pack twelve. Oregon is loaded coming back
next year, but I can't take Oregon. So yeah, I'm
gonna take Clemson, and I'm gonna take Alabama again because
you just see all the talent that is coming back
and I don't see any buddy else it's gonna be

(01:58:00):
able to take them down. One question for you, Actually,
I was gonna ask you about Butch Jones being on
TV so much last night, but maybe maybe we'll do
that another time. Do you think it's interesting that Dabo
Swinney's name never gets brought up about NFL coaching jobs.
It's a it's a great question. It is a great
question that it never gets brought up. Um. And I
don't know why that is. I mean, now that you

(01:58:22):
mentioned it, I don't know if it's because people don't
really believe that he is, you know, he's more of
like a figurehead head cause it's an excellent question, right.
You hear a lot about Brent Vnables and how good
he's gonna be your Tony Elliott or whoever the coordinators
have been, and obviously he's had longer term coordinator relationships
than Nick saban has. And I think Joel Clapp made
a good point talking about that an hour two, that

(01:58:43):
Clemson is more of a family. But it is an
interesting question in this day and age where everybody is
constantly looking for the next big thing and looking for
a college coach and go the NFL and you just
keep recycling the same guys over and over again, or
you have kind of the floor situation where everybody's trying
to find the next Sean McVeigh, and if you're like
a you know, kind of decent looking guy with a

(01:59:05):
scruffy facial hair, everybody's like, oh, you're the next, and
you have any proximity at all to Sean McVeigh, Like
you're the next Sean McVeigh, and you get the head
coaching job. It is kind of interesting that I've never
heard Debo Sweeney's name ever mentioned in any way with
the NFL. SIN Yeah, it does. I mean, you're totally right.
I mean, it is an intriguing question why that would

(01:59:25):
never happen. It's a great point in debate. We could
have talked about that a lot. But you know what,
we've already done three hours and this is outkicked the coverage.
I appreciate all of you coming to hang out with us.
I will be flying back. I'll be back in Nashville,
uh tomorrow. Um headed back and we should have a
really good time this week as we get ready for
the divisional round playoff games. I want to thank Jason
Martin for sitting in with us on the past Monday

(01:59:46):
and Tuesday. He'll be in throughout the calendar year in
nineteen Sometimes when I am out, he's done a great job.
Appreciate him. I'll be back in the studio ready to
roll though in Nashville tomorrow. Appreciate all of you. Congratulate
once more to the Clemson Tigers and everybody affiliated with
that program. They took down the evil empire of Nick
Saban and Alabama. We'll be back tomorrow talking about it.

(02:00:08):
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