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January 10, 2025 41 mins

Jason and Mike open Hour 2 discussing whether Friday's College Football Playoff matchup between Ohio State and Texas should be seen as a de facto National Championship game. They also react live as Notre Dame takes down Penn State to advance to the real National Championship. Plus, a discussion on the NFL draft stock of several players from the game.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
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Speaker 2 (00:23):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
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Speaker 3 (00:50):
Fifty two seconds left to go.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
In regulation, Notre Dame is punting away to Penn State.
Notre Dame had the football near midfield, hands to the face,
personal foul penalty gave Notre Dame a first down just
on the Penn State side of midfield. They were about
twelve yards away from a field goal. However, Penn State

(01:13):
their defense comes through. Whatever was dialed up worked. Notre
Dame's offensive line was completely overmatched. Riley Leonard had no
chance all three plays. He got sacked on third and five.
So Notre Dame has just punted. So now there's forty
seven seconds left to go. Penn State does have the
football at their own fifteen yard line. They're gonna have

(01:35):
to try to do something here because Notre Dame does
have three timeouts, so they could potentially stop Penn State
and get the football back. Just remains to be seeing
how aggressive Penn State's going to try to be, as
they're you know, would be looking for overtime. However, a
couple of big plays, you never know, we get a
time out and we can maybe kick a field goal.
First down, run gains a first down. It's a gain

(01:55):
of twelve thirty seven seconds left to go. The clock
is still ticking. I don't believe that Penn State is
calling a timeout. Whoever, it's first and ten for them now, yeah,
but I don't think I think they're gonna let it.
They reset the clock back to forty and I no timeout.
Penn State's going on the fly. So here they are.

(02:17):
A pass is just intercepted, the pass is intercepted, aller
is picked off, just inside of midfield with thirty three
seconds left to go. No tre Dame has three timeouts
and thirty three seconds for a game winning field goal.
Penn State had momentum, they got a little greedy. Aller
was running to his left. He tries to throw back

(02:40):
across the field to his right and he is picked
off in midfield.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
It is a huge play by No. Tre Dame. They
now have the ball at the.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Penn State forty two yard line, so even if they
gain no yard, you're talking about maybe a fifty nine
yard field goal to try.

Speaker 3 (02:56):
To win the game.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
At the end, Aler leaves the field with his hand
over his head. And when it looked like Penn State
it just had some time, they make a huge, huge mistake.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
That interception. Mike Carman will go down on Drew Ailah's record.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
That will be done. It does look like it will.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, it will be counted, and we will talk about
that at the end of the game. Now a game
of big haymakers and counterplays. They're looking at it to
make sure that Gray came down with it. He's got
both hands under the football when he hits the ground.
That is a Notre Dame interception, and they're going to
have the ball first and ten at Penn State's forty
two yard line. Wow, we've had big plays, we have

(03:33):
big turnovers. I mean, to see what you want. The
first half was absolutely terrible, Mike. The second half has
been great from an entertainment perspecive.

Speaker 5 (03:40):
Some absolute chaos down the stretch here, Aller felt the
pressure wings it, thinking that Amari Evans is going to
be able to.

Speaker 4 (03:47):
Break inside of Gray.

Speaker 5 (03:49):
Instead, it's a good three feet out in front of
him in a great diving catch by Gray to secure
the interception, and he hugged that thing like it was
his firstborn as he.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Was yeah, this is mine.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Yeah, I mean, in a game in which Drew Aller
has made bad decisions, that was absolutely the worst because
this is I'm gonna try to do it coming back.
I'm gonna try to do it coming back and throwing
across my body like I don't know how. You say, Hey,
that's where you get too greedy and you think, Okay,
this play is not here, and if I take a

(04:22):
sack or something happens, we're gonna wind up going to overtime.
And you got a little too greedy and you make
a bad throw. Look any quarterback trying to throw back
across his body. That doesn't work. Only a couple of
guys in the history of the NFL could make that happen,
and Drew Aller is not one of No.

Speaker 5 (04:37):
That's the epitome of the I've got a strong arm.
Watch me as my body's going one way and I'm
gonna wing it back the other thirty second turnover for
caused by this Notre Name defense on the year as
they try to bring it out, because you know what
it sets things up for Jeeta.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
The captain. The captain could come in for a game
winning field goal. Gina.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
Now, just a terrible decision by Alert. There live to
fight another day. You still have two timeouts if you
want to try to set things up. You'd gotten such
an easy first down on that run that preceded this play.

Speaker 4 (05:16):
You see the breakdown.

Speaker 5 (05:17):
Great pass rush from Notre Dame forces the early decision
by Aler and just wings it terribly into the arms
of a waiting Gray. And now we've got twenty nine
seconds remaining for a trip to the championship.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Now I want to say this, twenty nine seconds left
to go time out on the field. Notre Dame really
approaching field goal range. Now Ryda Leonard has a run
for five yards. This is a great game, right, This
is a great game. It's competitive. These are two of
the best teams in the country. I have a hard
time believing either of these teams can beat either Ohio

(05:52):
State or Texas. I mean Ohio State, man, because Ohio
State's a better team than Texas. But you never know,
something crazy could happen. Texas has been really good all year,
but these two t they just seem so limited compared
to the compared to Ohio State in Texas almost like
tomorrow night, that's the de facto national that's the de
facto National championship game with Ohio State and Texas because boy,
you know, not tre Day, neither team really has enough offensively,

(06:15):
and you're gonna have to do stuff because look, Ohio
State's gonna bludgeon you with running packs down the field
and Texas can throw you see what viewers can do
going up and down the field, the playmakers.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
They have a wide receiver.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
I really I have a hard time believing either of
these teams can stay on the field with either Ohio
State or Texas. I mean, it's great, it's great opportunity
to get here and get to the national championship. But
I'm looking at tomorrow night like this is the de
facto national championship game.

Speaker 5 (06:39):
No, I appreciate the sentiment, but remember once upon a
time Ohio.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
State did lose to Michigan.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
They did, they did, But as Michigan, are they playing
Michigan tomorrow, Mike Carmon if they're playing Michigan.

Speaker 5 (06:51):
But then you still have to get to the twentieth Right,
there's still a week and a half from there. We
got a whole football game to play. Craziness that ensues,
it's gonna be a very hard hitting sixty minutes of
football plus. So you know, walking out of those games,
I'm not predicting pain, devastation and injury on anybody.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
But I think you are.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
I'm a realist, and I think you're predicting pain and devastating.

Speaker 5 (07:15):
You got to get through that game, and then you've
got a week and a half to prepare, find a wrinkle,
find a play. And in this one, you've watched Notre Dame.
They dispatched of Georgia. And yes, I know Carson Beck
coming back to school didn't play, but you took down
Gunner Stockton in company. All right, Georgia was supposed to
be the best, and look, that was not an aesthetically

(07:36):
pleasing game. We can all stipulate to that, but succeed
and proceed ugly it up.

Speaker 3 (07:43):
So what is happening right now in the game.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
There are fourteen seconds left to go and Notre Dame
is deep in Penn State territory. They have a first
and ten. Now second and ten at the Penn State
twenty five. After spiking the football a big third and replay,
Penn State sends three rushers from the from the left,
from the left side, and Riley Leonard is able to

(08:08):
run to run left and keep enough time to hit
Jaden Greathouse for a pass for a first down. Great
House gains ten yards, so that gave them the first down,
just enough escapability to be able to make that play happen.
So now Jetersburg will come out for a potential game
winning field goal. There are ten seconds left to go.

(08:29):
Notre Dame still has a time out left. Penn State
has just taken their second time out. I say they're
gonna come out for a field goal because on second
down and ten, Riley Leonard just took the ball and
moved a few yards to the hash mark that Jeter
would want the ball on. So I can't believe they're
gonna run. Maybe they run one more play of just hey,
you know, straight ahead, now we do something because we

(08:51):
have the time out left. But you know clearly that
play was just set up where the field goal wanted.
They want the ball in the right hash. So with
time out on the field right now, it looks like
Notre Dame's gonna just try to go ahead for whatever
extra yards they can get here, straight ahead, and then
it's going to be Jeter out for a game winning
field goal.

Speaker 5 (09:05):
Yeah, they just put four seconds back on the clock.
Maybe that changes the math in this in terms of
we've seen crazy stuff, bears of things that can go
wrong on potential hail Mary's and such. I know they're
only fifteen yard penalties at all in college football, but
you know all of that to say, leave nothing to chance.

(09:27):
So they do run the ball and move it ahead
a couple of yards here, get a couple more ticks
off of the clock. But yeah, just absolute insanity. Edge
of the seat. I'm actually now starting to stand up here,
I'm you know, tapping the toes. The adrenaline starts going
because college kickers, man, they just put up the graphic

(09:48):
as if to say we want overtime.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Leonard runs for two yards.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
It look like they had a wide formation, almost looking like, hey,
maybe we could actually throw the football here. But then
Leonard runs under center, gets the snap, goes straight ahead
for two yards like we said was probably gonna happen.
So now it's going to be a forty yard field goal,
likely for the National Championship game because Penn State will
get the but there will be a kickoff. They will

(10:14):
get the ball back at some point because the officials
just keep putting time.

Speaker 4 (10:17):
Back on the two second put back.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
It was ten seconds left and they put four seconds
back on for fourteen seconds, right, Leonard runs it for
four yards, okay, time out Penn State. Then now they
put two seconds back on the clock. How is that
only a two seconds?

Speaker 3 (10:30):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (10:32):
So now there he's down whatever.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
So there is officially twelve seconds left in the game
and Mitch Jeter is on for field goal that could
potentially send Notre Dame to the National Championship.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Game twenty four to twenty four.

Speaker 1 (10:45):
And his kick looked like it was gonna maybe dovetail
a little bit to the right, but it stays true.
Seven seconds left, Jeter's field goal is good. Notre Dame
is celebrating in the stands. James Franklin is looking around,
like what happened to us? So in post game, yeah,

(11:07):
I mean Jeter's field goal. Look like you saw the
ball just kind of take one of those real weird
dovetails off to the right. You're like, oh, it's gonna
dive and then it stays straight and then it's dead.
So perfect actually gets through right in that that was
probably like three tenths of a second. That took lives
off of every Notre Dame fans life. Like when that

(11:29):
ball that that that three tenths of a second where
that ball just ditched to the right a little bit,
it's like, oh, my goods.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
Oh it's good. Okay, okay, okay.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
So we have a kickoff coming and maybe it's the
final play, maybe it's one play after that, but Notre
Dame has to defend seven seconds and they will be
on to the National championship game.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
Yeah, coming into the game, we're not talking about a
guy who'd been operationally efficient throughout the year. So a
little bit of a roller coaster, but he knocks it
in here, first kicker in the playoff history to kick
a go ahead field goal successfully. They were zero for
four before that attempt.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
He was Mitch Jeter was six out of twelve for
field goals in the regular season.

Speaker 4 (12:14):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
But like Jeter in the playoffs, Jeter was great now
in the playoff.

Speaker 5 (12:19):
Hisstory January, let's go come on now, and I em and.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
I am oh man, I mean that, I.

Speaker 4 (12:29):
Mean that's cheetah.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
So Jeter coffee John and Penn State's gonna let the
ball bounce into the end zone. No time off. They
actually put another second back on the clock, so there's
eight seconds left now for Penn State. They went from
fourteen to ten, from ten to twelve, from twelve to
to seven, and now to eight. So likely it's going
to be one last play for Penn State. Eight seconds left.

(12:53):
They have no timeouts. They have the ball at the
twenty five yard line, and we are going to be
one crazy hook and ladder lateral kind of play away
from Notre Dame running on the field and celebrating here
again twenty seven to twenty four at the Orange Bowl.
Eight seconds left to go the under completely it was
was blown out. After the big run in the fourth quarter,

(13:17):
drew Aller throws incomplete, tried to get one more to
the sideline. Looked like they were trying to set up
one quick one to the sideline and then maybe a
hail Mary. However, Notre Dame is on it. He had
to throw it away. So now four seconds left. This
will be the baring I always like to say, barring
a penalty, this will be the final play of the game.

Speaker 5 (13:36):
Absolute chaos as you broke, which we've seen many times,
many times we've we've seen that chaos happen, and you
know it's it's it's it's.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Gonna wind up being one of those big lateral plays.
And the lateral play is over. Notre Dame are your
winners of the Orange Bowl. They try to throw a
big hooking ladder play. The pass goes to Warren. Warren
pitches it back to a receiver who tries to throw
it all the way back across the field, except he
throws it out of bounds little too far. The ball

(14:09):
is out and now No Tre Dame is in the
National Championship game for the first time since twenty thirteen.
The Golden Domers are on the field, the Golden helmets
are flying. Marcus Freeman and James Franklin are talking at midfield.
What a journey from losing to Northern Illinois and thinking
this Notre Dame team stinks, it's over. They can't do anything.

(14:31):
Raise your head if you said backs I did. I
said it right after that game. You don't come back
from losing the North in Illinois. I don't care for
la Shawn Johnson is playing or not. However, they have
shown nothing, but we are taking care of business from
that moment on and here they are in the National
Championship game. I don't care that in playing a conference,
I don't care that in play anywhere else. They won

(14:51):
their way through. They had a disadvantageous schedule when it
came to playing many more top twenty five teams, and
you would expect. But that's what No Tre does. It's
how they play the schedule. They have dangerous games. They
make it through the gauntlet there in the National title game.
And you know, now we wait and see who they
play tomorrow night.

Speaker 5 (15:08):
Now, when it's all said and done in this process,
Notre Dame, for all the people crying like James Franklin
tried to do in the precursor to this, right before
he tried to son Marcus Freeman like he was talking
about conferences and all this stuff, like when you have
clout in any walk of life, in your job.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
You use it. And Notre Dame certainly has.

Speaker 5 (15:29):
Adding more to the coffers here, Pirate Steve's gonna come
out with a giant chest of cash and gold coins
here in a minute, Drew Aller eleven of twenty two
in this game one thirty nine and the interception, what's
interesting about it? Not a single reception by a wide
receiver for the Penn.

Speaker 4 (15:47):
State and Nitney lines tonight.

Speaker 5 (15:49):
Congratulations to Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame fighting Irish
getting through and now awaiting and whatever's going on in
the locker room. Flu flu bug, big game, Jitters, whatever
it is, you got a while to wait for your
next opponent.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
So Jeter in the playoffs, Jeter like Jedd, like the captain,
like the cat.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Didn't you live in space? Didn't you a Hall of Famer?

Speaker 1 (16:14):
Jeter showing that if your name is Jeter, you have
to show up in the playoffs, and he does no
Tre Dame are your Orange Bowl champions. We'll break down
this game coming up next, including we'll talk about the
play that sparked all of this, The moment in this
game where Notre Dame literally came back from the dead
to win this game against Penn State. What was it?

(16:37):
It's not what you think, but we'll tell you about
it next. Jason and Mike, you are listening to Fox
Sports radio.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
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Speaker 2 (17:44):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (17:55):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Harmon
Live from the tirack dot Com studios, where we just
watched an absolute thriller No tre Dame headed to the
National Championship game Jeter eight twenty seven, twenty four and
you know, you know what I wanted, Mitch Jeter with
a field goal to win the game on the next

(18:17):
to last play. You know what I really wanted. I
thought about this obviously we had fun with you know, hey,
you can have a jag regular season like Mitch Jeter
was six out of twelve field goals in a regular season,
but he's been seven out of eight in the playoff.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
Right, he's been phenomenal.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
Can you can have that if you if your name
is Jeter, you can have a really pedestrian regular season
because you know you're a Hall of Famer in the playoff.

Speaker 5 (18:40):
And coach must really love your ass. Man, you must
really be a great locker room guy.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
Whatever.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Man, We're visiting Chetersburg tonight. Leave your phones, everybody. We're
good party at Chetersburg. We're gonna be at Cheetah.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
Leave those phones, leave your keys.

Speaker 4 (18:54):
We're gonna have fun.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
It's Chetersburg.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
What I really wanted was a play by play call
because I thought of back to the World Series. You know,
Freddie Freeman hits the Grand Slam, and and and the
and the and the great call of of h of
give me meat, Freddy, right like I wanted when the
field goal going through, I wanted Derek meet Mitchie.

Speaker 3 (19:13):
Jeter's field goal is good. I really wanted a Derek
meet Pitchy.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
I really want Maybe somewhere somebody said it, but I
really want I.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
Thought, Derek meet Mitchie.

Speaker 4 (19:23):
The field goal is good. You never can't tell such
lots of all day, you know what. That's what we
do here. We mix audio, we mix.

Speaker 5 (19:32):
It's basically TV Funhouse, the old gag from Saturday Night Live.
Uh here every night for four hours. So yeah, it's
some beautiful thing. And now I really want a giant
bowl of oranges just for decoration.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, I that they come out, Yeah, yeah, you know that.
You know, the giving out the trophies. Now Riley Leonard
is on stage.

Speaker 5 (19:48):
I think they fit everybody on the stage that wanted
to be here this time they did.

Speaker 3 (19:52):
I don't think anybody's getting turned away. I don't think
there's sorry, there's a roof you on the stage. But
I'm the quarterback. I'm sorry you can't go on the stage.
But I love that they did. Hey, you know, we
gotta have the big ball of oranges.

Speaker 4 (20:02):
Hey man, like what there and sell sell Sell, brought
to you by the Orange Group. Let's let me ask
you this, what.

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Would you rather see? What would you rather see? Like
the bowls of oranges or just one big orange?

Speaker 3 (20:13):
Like? What would you rather say? Well?

Speaker 5 (20:14):
I got that in the maskot too, so I get
but the best of both worlds. No, I like the
bowls of oranges. I think there's something special there because
now you're gonna be able to say, hey, players, go
chuck these people in the crowd.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
You get it, you get it.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
You're not you're thinking too small.

Speaker 1 (20:29):
Here's what I would do is I would say, hey,
after it's over right, we're taking everything down.

Speaker 3 (20:33):
What are we doing with these oranges?

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Someone's gonna say, ah, whatever, I go and I take
them and I put them on eBay and Notre Dame.
I can say, ok, these are the on field orange
kind of the orange bowl. Yeah, one hundred dollars apiece,
and there's probably about what about you? I don't know
about thirty oranges there? No, you got a couple hundred overall.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Yeah, I'm making I mean, what's what's to what's two
hundred times one hundred? What is that? Was that twenty grand? Yeah?
I make twenty grand? Pretty easy, right, look at that math.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
I just didn't look at you.

Speaker 5 (21:00):
You I'm so good at man, I've been learning you
for a decade.

Speaker 4 (21:03):
Plus money.

Speaker 1 (21:05):
I really, I really not, But that's an easy money
to make. I'd say, these are the oranges that would
get a picture of me with my arm around them.
And you know, pointing at them, so they know that
these are the real oranges, trust me, and I would
send about it would I wouldn't do stuff like free
I'm not gonna go, you know, spend money to like
freeze drive instide, and I would say, look if they
if they get moldy, they get moldy, but there you're
going to keep them forever. It's an orange from there, right,

(21:26):
whatever you want.

Speaker 4 (21:26):
To do, either that or now a new sponsor Orange Julius.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Let's got But like if I took like hair spray
and like spray it all around with that like shellacket and.

Speaker 5 (21:38):
Like the baseball thing where they turn like some mute
and brown to us. So now they're chucking them into
the their teammates. But you get an rang. It's not
even on the slices at this. You look the guy
giving out slices the games.

Speaker 1 (21:52):
All of this, all of this money is being lost
by because they're taking oranges out and thrown to people.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
Look at all this money. How many of these guys
actually take them back to their You.

Speaker 1 (22:01):
May as well be throwing one hundred dollars bills out
here with that going on, make it rain and throw
all over the place. Notre Dame's twenty seven to twenty
four victory came with so many twists and turns in
the second half, right, No, Notre Dame scoring twenty four
points in the second half, Penn State fourteen in the
fourth course, a thirty one point fourth quarter withch just

(22:23):
killed the under which I am side just.

Speaker 3 (22:25):
It was so it was difficult me see.

Speaker 4 (22:26):
Did you bet the first half under?

Speaker 3 (22:28):
Though?

Speaker 1 (22:29):
If you had the first half under, you were good. Yeah,
you were feeling good as long as you've been. You
want to talk about what the biggest moment of this
game was, and there was a lot of big plays,
right you had. You had the big great House touchdown,
the field goal by Jeter, the interception in the final minute.
You know, Drew Aller coming back to Penn State going now,
I got to come back in and complete a pas
to a wide receiver yea. At the end of the

(22:52):
first half, Riley Leonard gets hit and has to come
out and go to the medical ten. At this point
in the game, Notre Dame had nothing going on, absolutely nothing.
Penn State was throttling them. It was a ten to
nothing lead. It should have been more. You had a
drop pass in the end zone. It was ten to
nothing and Penn State was just a minute and a

(23:12):
half away from going in, and Notre Dame would be
asking themselves, what can we possibly do here in the
second half?

Speaker 3 (23:19):
We did nothing worked for us in the first half.
They were just.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Absolutely just throwing stuff up against the wall and seeing
what was going to work, and nothing was because Penn
State's defense balled out. They played better than I even
thought they were going to play.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
This was it.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
And then Riley Leonard goes to the tent to get
looked at and he's out for the rest of the
first half. Well backup Steve Vangeli comes in and the
second or third play, when he completes that slant for
fifteen yards in a first down, you could just see,
for lack of a better way to explain it, the
air go back into the Notre Dame balloon because they

(23:55):
had just watched Riley Leonard and Notre Dame barely survived
the first half. They're going in down ten nothing. It's
this is this is about as bad as it could be.

Speaker 3 (24:03):
Man.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
We are doing nothing right and we can't get anything
done offensively. But Angelly comes in and the best way
for a guy for a backup to come into the game,
is hey, no time to warm up, no time, you're
right in, you're right in. Throw And we were not
just gonna give you time to We're gonna run the
football a couple of times.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
Give you a safe pass.

Speaker 1 (24:21):
No, get in throw, Get in and throw it because
we're down ten to nothing and we have a chance
to maybe get to halftime with some points because we
have the ball near midfield, and that's the best time
for a guy to come into the game. And he
comes into the game and he starts throwing the ball
really well, six out of seven on the drive, and
they get a field goal before halftime, which.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
Is the world.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
It's the world to Notre Dame because suddenly the color
was back in their cheeks. They were done, you know,
biting their nails and digging into their palms because that's
where you were for Notre Dame. They were at the
point of just being just disappearing from the game because
Penn State was dominating in every aspect. They were running
over nored the only thing holding him back. Aller didn't

(25:02):
have a great day throwing the football to drop pass
in the end zone, but Penn State was doing what
they needed to do on the ground. This was a
complete and total domination and the air went back in
the balloon when Angelly comes in at the end of
the first half and leads him on that scoring drive.
And I'll be honest, Mike, I was surprised they went
back to Riley Leonard so fast to start the second half,
because hey, they had done nothing in the first half.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
Here comes the backup and bang, bang bang. He goes
in and he this is a touchdown.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
This is if you're a coach at half done, going wow,
it's really hard, but sometimes you got to make tough
decisions at halftime the game that could send you home.
But they went right back to Riley Leonard. Leonard gets
them down the field beginning of the third quarter, they
score a touchdown, the game takes off from there and
they win. But Angelly coming into the game and then
you know, you think about Marcus Freeman saying, no, Riley
is okay, We're going back to him. And Leonard turned

(25:49):
out to have a pretty good game after that, throwing
the football two twenty three in a touchdown and and
did have a couple of picks, but still got them
down the field ran for a touchdown that turned out
to be the call. But just that bit of Angelly
coming in really just just put all the win back
in their sales, and they were a different team and
the game was different from that moment on. They go

(26:10):
in at halftime down ten to nothing. Who knows what
happens in the second half. Penn states out and they're
full of confidence. They're flying around the field. I don't
know if not Today even gets back in the game,
but there is such a thing as momentum. You could
see it, and it changed on a dime for Notre
Dame from that moment on.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah, and Jelly comes in.

Speaker 5 (26:25):
He hits that fourteen yard pass and they almost give
it away right away because he gets sacked. They're able
to recover the Angelly fumble. Then there's a time out,
stop the world right clear, the mechanism full on Billy
Chapel moment, and then the drive ensues to a field goal.
Opportunity helped also on a third and six where they

(26:47):
got a offside penalty on a defensive lineman and then
pick up a first down from there, eventually allowing for
the Jeter forty one yard field goal. As the clock expires.
But you know the old roll of Tom Jason, you
got to dance with whom you and Leonard had been
so special in the prior playoff appearances, using his legs,
using the veteran savvy, all of that. Didn't have the

(27:09):
perfect game. You know, you didn't have to pitch it.
See what I did there, right back to the Billy
Chapel moment. But they go eight plays in that first
drive of the second half, seven runs, and then he
has a beautiful thirty six yard ball to a Nias Williams.
That was the first big play they'd really had, right
explosive play to open things up, and all of a

(27:31):
sudden we knew they came out swinging second half prize fighter.
They got the smelling salts and came out with the
sledgehammer there and we watched the big second half unfold.
More burmanisms. You can have Angelly with the heavenly session
in relief of Leonard to and the half, all of
those things. He'll get a game orange and we'll move

(27:52):
on from there.

Speaker 3 (27:53):
So again a.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Surprise come from behind victory by Notre Dame. Sometimes it's
that one moment that changes the game because at that
point on. Notre Dame went on and they scored all
twenty seven points. Right, It was nothing up until the
final minute of the first half. From then on, the
offense looked a little bit better. It didn't look great
all the time because Penn State still was able to
find ways to make plays.

Speaker 3 (28:14):
Defensively, Penn State played.

Speaker 5 (28:15):
A really inexplicable the interception that that Leonard threw when
they traded interceptions or yeah, looked like they were gonna
trade interceptions. Uh, just terrible. Didn't see the lineman drop
into coverage and threw it straight into his arms. But
all all in in a great performance to walk away
with the twenty seven to twenty four win, and Marcus

(28:38):
Freeman moves on after being sunned at a press conference. Yeah,
how you feeling, Frank, I'm gonna send the band right
next to him right here.

Speaker 3 (28:46):
I'd want to do. Hey, can we do that joint
press conference again? You and I like it?

Speaker 1 (28:50):
Can we we just sit next to me, James and
tell me about all the great stuff about you know,
how we need to play in a conference and.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
All that stuff. We do that, James, because yeah, we
just won, James.

Speaker 5 (28:56):
I'd have the guy dressed like the Leprechaun do the thing.
Remember Batman, the nineteen eighty nine classic, when they're on
the steps and they're doing the press conference and then
all the mimes and and clowns.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
Start walking in.

Speaker 5 (29:07):
That's what I'd have the Leprechaun go do in front
of James Franklin as he questioned, start unfolding.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Oh is that is that? When when when Jack Nicholson
goes town needs an edemo?

Speaker 4 (29:16):
No, no, earlier, Yeah, it's earlier in that one.

Speaker 5 (29:19):
This is when he says, hey, it's trunkle bingo, time
to pay the check and he throws the quill into
the dude's neck.

Speaker 4 (29:25):
We don't need to go quite that graphic, but we
can at.

Speaker 5 (29:27):
Least have the dance by based on, you know, setting
up a bunch of little moments that ultimately Notre Dame
gets to cash the twenty million dollar.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Check, Notre Dame moving on to the national championship. We
got more coming up in ninety seconds, but right now,
time to find out what's trending in the wide world
of sports from the happiest person in the.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
World, because you bet the overall this day, it's Monty
Belango's She's got it.

Speaker 6 (29:54):
All right now, Mansey, Yeah, I did also pick Notre
Dame to win this one, guys.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Great, I am feeling pretty great.

Speaker 6 (30:01):
No, yeah, And I'm just happy that the game was
so much more exciting than the second half because the
first half was an absolute snooze fest, so it completely changed.
I'm glad you mentioned the backup quarterback coming in getting
that field goal for Notre Dame.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Because you're right.

Speaker 6 (30:17):
Who knows what would have happened if the score would
have been ten zero at the half, honestly, like right,
so amazing. Congratulations to Notre Dame headed to the National
Championship for the first time since twenty thirteen, defeating Penn
State twenty seven to twenty for a forty one yard
field goal from Mitch Jeter.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Is what did it?

Speaker 6 (30:35):
Very exciting. I already text Brian no I said you're
headed to the Natty because he was out there all excited.
The quarterback Riley Leonard ended fifteen of twenty three for
two one hundred and twenty three yards of touchdown two interceptions.
He had a rushing touchdown. Nittany, I hate saying that word. Nitny, nittny,
nitty nit Nitney Lyons.

Speaker 3 (30:55):
Yeah, like that.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
I gotta tell you, Lancia, I've been I've been watching
football now for about fifty years. Yeah, I have never
heard anyone say Nittany, Nittany.

Speaker 3 (31:09):
No, it's I It's Jessey.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Even people who like to pronounce the teas because they're
like that, you know those people. I always want to
pronounce the name. Jason Witten was a good tight end Nonada.
Everybody still says. Nobody says the Nittany Lions.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
I know Lions.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Maybe maybe in London they tell you bring it, they
say Nickny, nitty law, you do it.

Speaker 3 (31:31):
I don't know what nitney is. What sounds pretty good.

Speaker 7 (31:33):
Nittany Nitney Drew Atler was twelve of twenty three for
one hundred and thirty five yards, one interception that came
in the final minute of the game, giving the ball
back to Noorder Dames, setting them up for that game
winning field goal. Penn State running back Nicholas Singleton had
fifteen carries, eighty four yards and three touchdowns in the loss.
Notre Dame leads the nation in takeaways thirty two. Penn

(31:55):
State also did not have a single catch from a
wide receiver into night's game.

Speaker 6 (32:00):
They also had one hundred and forty one rushing yards
in the first half, ended with just two to four.
In the NFL, Monday's wildcard game between the Vikings and
Rams has been moved from Sofi Stadium to State Farm
Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, because of the fires happening in
Los Angeles. Former Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll, who met
with the Chicago Bears today Thursday about their head coaching vacancy,

(32:22):
we'll interview with the Raiders next week. According to multiple reports,
the the New England Patriots interviewed Mike Rabel for their
head coaching vacancy, and apparently Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn
declined in interview requests from the Patriots, but is going
to interview with the other five teams that have a
head coaching opening Jets head coach.

Speaker 4 (32:41):
Former Jets head.

Speaker 6 (32:42):
Coach Robert Sala interviewed with the San Francisco forty nine
ers about their defensive coordinator position. Yes, the position he
had before he went to the Jets, he goes. Quarterback
Jaalen Hurts was a full participant in practice today. He
still needs to pass concussion protocol to play on Sunday.
Ravens have ruled out wide receivers A Flowers for their
wild car matchup on Saturday against the Steelers.

Speaker 4 (33:02):
And in the NBA, the Heat just.

Speaker 6 (33:04):
Took down the Jazz ninety seven ninety two, while the
Suns beat the Hawks one twenty three to one point fifteen.
The Cavaliers have one twelve in a row. They took
down the Raptors one thirty two to one twenty six.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
Back to you, guys, thanks a bunch, mons, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mike Carmon
live from the tire rack dot Com Studios coming up next. Well,
after watching this game, Hey, when you're looking at next level,
one person just saw their draft stock really really take
a tumble, and one just saw it take a huge
leap so much I want to draft them now.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
I don't want to wait. I want to draft them now.
Who are those players?

Speaker 1 (33:43):
We'll get to them next, right here, Jason and Mike,
This is Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific, Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
The Jason Smith Show with my best friend Mineke Carmon
live from the tirerack dot Com studios. Hey, don't forget
if you miss any of our show, Our Best of
podcast goes up right after the show is over. Just
search Jason Smith and Mike Harmon wherever you get your
podcasts from, and bang, it'll be there. Right after the
show is over, it goes up. Don't forget. Rate us,

(34:19):
give us five stars. We love putting this content out
for you every single night. Again, the Best of podcasts.
Right after the show is over, it'll be put up iTunes,
iHeartRadio app again. Wherever you get your podcasts from, Just
search Jason Smith and Mike Harmon. It will be there
for you. And of course, a lot of it's gonna
have to do with this huge win that Notre Dame
just had over Penn State twenty seven to twenty four.

(34:42):
Notre Dame moves on to the national championship. Pete Feutex's
gonna stop by with us in about fifteen minutes. College
football Insider Maybe he thinks Notre Dame has a chance
against one of these other teams tomorrow night.

Speaker 3 (34:53):
I don't think so, but maybe they do.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
However, when you want to look ahead, there are two
players tonight from this game, one whose draft stock took
a huge tumble, so it's good he's coming back to school,
and one who's took a huge leap and I wish
he was eligible now. Drew Aller kind of shocked a
lot of people when he decided to come back to
Penn State for next year, making that decision about a
month or so ago. Aler would have been in the

(35:15):
mix one of the top three to five quarterbacks taken.
After you get from past cam Warden, Shade or Sanders,
it kind of gets to be who, just who do
you like? Maybe you like you ors maybe, But he
would have been in that mix, and he decided to
come back to Penn.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
State, and boy, after tonight, it seems.

Speaker 1 (35:31):
Like that was the right call. He was befuddled all night.
There were not any There were no big plays. He
made bad throws all night. He had an interception that
should have not been taken off the board, go down
at the goal line.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
And he got a lucky break.

Speaker 1 (35:46):
But he threw some bad passes tonight, none worse than
the across the body pass that got picked off at
midfield with thirty three seconds left in the game, giving
notre Dame a chance to kick the game winning field goal.
You know, part of it is Mike. You know, I
spend a lot of time last night we talked about
the defense. Is how good Notre Dame's back seven is
right good?

Speaker 4 (36:05):
They are to run around absolutely.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
And how good were they tonight? As you mentioned a
few minutes ago, zero receptions by wide receivers tonight. Aler
was zero for four throwing to wide receivers night. Tight
ends were terrific, right, Warren's terrific. A couple of the
tight ends caught balls, but he could not and did
not complete a pass to a wide receiver tonight. Notre
Dame's back seven was terrific. That one up winning the

(36:27):
game for them. His draft stock, Yeah, it's probably good
he's coming back now, because man, do you really want
to go.

Speaker 3 (36:32):
To the NFL coming off this game tonight? I don't
think you do.

Speaker 7 (36:35):
No.

Speaker 5 (36:35):
I mean, look, the other big story that's floating around is,
you know, Carson back and his exploratory things of what
he might be looking to for the NFL or transferring
away from Georgia, as we surmised a while back.

Speaker 4 (36:50):
And now you have this with Drew Aller.

Speaker 5 (36:52):
Where you'd had a lot of chatter, I guess would
be the way to describe it over the last several
days about his potential draft stock, because again, as we
look at the draft prognostication in the early mock drafts,
not a lot of love for the quarterback position. Even Shoudoor,
Sanders and cam Ward have their detractors for better, for worse,

(37:14):
real or imagined perception, reality, all of those things. We
know as we get towards the draft. As much as
we can say, hey, there's only two guys we would
consider in this position, and even those have you know,
suspect grades, I guess from some of the scouts, we
know that there are going to be teams that feel
like they need to address the position. So the back

(37:35):
end of the second or back end of the first,
early second, we start to see a little bit of
movement and guys that suddenly are light late quote unquote risers.

Speaker 4 (37:44):
Right.

Speaker 5 (37:45):
Again, all about how the media covers it all, But
for Alert, it was if he plays well in these
two games, if they get a second game, that suddenly
his draft stock could shoot up.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
And there you go.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
And clearly, when we get into these event evaluations, you
can get some harsh realities that come back on you,
and in this case, it was sixty minutes of tape
that came back on you pretty fiercely in this one.
Even in this Warren finishes with six for seventy five. Okay,
he goes over the one hundred catch mark for the year.
Very rarely had teams been able to keep him at

(38:21):
bay and not really have him do what he wanted
to in the secondary. So that's the other thing. And
the takeaways, Notre day, I am all year opportunistic. Thirty
two takeaways on the year, and they made alor pay
for any of those questionable decisions had to taken off
because of defensive penalties. But in the end, the tape
doesn't lie.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
So one draft stock down, one twenty six draft stock up,
and this is even in a down game. I can't
wait for my team to draft Jeremiah Love. He only
had forty five yards rushing tonight, but a couple of
plays that just show you just how great he is. Look,
he averaged seven yards to carry this year, notre I
mean that's I mean that that's insane.

Speaker 3 (39:02):
Sam.

Speaker 1 (39:02):
He only had one hundred and forty eight carry, still
ran for a thousand yards, but he had the one
player you saw when they were driving. He turned a
two yard loss into a two yard game because he
leaped five feet in the air over a defender who
tried to tackle him. But his touchdown run that gay,
that that that that put Notre Dame really back in
this game. There were four guys that had a shot

(39:24):
at him from two yards out. You had you had,
you had the first player take his legs out from
under him, and that should have been right, then great tackle. Instead,
somehow he stays up and then he gets stood up
by a player at the two yard line who was
joined by another teammate and a third A third guy
comes in and you're talking about three guys on him. Now,

(39:46):
this should be the right they're gonna blow the whistle.
Somehow he fights through three players on him who hit him,
and he dives into the end zone. He gets in
by the length of the football, but he finds a
way instead of being down at the two, to into
the end zone. I don't know that I've been more
impressed by a running play in college football. I watch
a lot of Ashton Genty and what he's able to do.

(40:07):
I don't have more impressed on a single play than
what he had to do on that right there. You
look at getting getting his legs taken out and then
getting stood up.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
It's how many escapes do you really have?

Speaker 1 (40:17):
And he had four guys had a chance to bring
him down, and he still found a way to get
in the end zone.

Speaker 3 (40:22):
Like you know, he's a sophomore.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
I can't. I want to draft. I want to say, no,
go go, go find a way to get him there.
I want to you're a running back. I don't want
another one hundred and fifty carries, two orner carries on you.
I want to draft you now. I want to get
you for the NFL right now. I don't want you
to play in the National title game. I want you
to leave so I can drafted right now.

Speaker 5 (40:38):
You know everybody talks about, you know, the different things
that have been opened the Pandora's box and what creeps
out unintended consequences of the new world of college football.
That's a whole other part that needs to be revisited.
Right you can stay and make a bunch of money,
but now we're looking at a whole other world where
maybe if you're a freshman or sophomore, you're raising your hand.

(41:00):
I want to go to the pros. I got an
opportunity and this is a big brig. I'm performance here.

Speaker 3 (41:05):
Unreal run by Jeremiah Love.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Uh. Does Notre Dame have a chance now in the
National Title Game? All our most trusted college football insider
stops by next right here, Jason and Mike Fox.
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