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January 11, 2025 • 40 mins

Jason Smith & Mike Harmon discuss who the real biggest loser from tonight's game really was.

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hello, Welcome inside hour three the Jason Smith Show with
my best friend Mike Harmon, live from the ti rack
dot Com studios.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
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Speaker 2 (00:13):
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Tiraq dot com is the way tire buying should be. Well,
we'll get back into the National Championship game coming up
in a second, we watch the semifinal go the way
of Ohio State. They beat Texas twenty eight to fourteen.

(00:35):
But of course, tonight and all week long, our thoughts
with everyone here in Los Angeles, says the wildfires continued
to be fought. It's been four days and it's been
a day of some progress, but a day in which
it's getting worse in some areas. Now the fire, the
Pacific Palisades fire is encroaching in on Encino, which is

(00:56):
not too far from our studios in Sherman, oh Just
continue to pray, have good thoughts and whatever you can do.
At some point we have to get better luck and
stuff has to change for us. But tonight it's at
least today has been a day of some victories, but
still not nearly enough. As the fires continue to blaze,
and now you know, creeping closer and closer to Los Angeles,

(01:19):
to the city, and and you know, at least it
was a little bit colder today and and and the
wind stopped for a little bit of time. And like
I said, there was some progress, but still you know, yes,
going down from six fires to three, then we were
back up to four. All it needs is one spark
to get where it's going. And you see that we're
still trying to fight an uphill battle here in Los

(01:40):
Angeles with the wildfires.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
I already seen a couple of postponements, cancelations, but postponements
of NBA games both the Lakers and Clippers for tomorrow.
Another a number of events around the city that have
been postponed or had to be canceled because of venue availability.
On again going to air quality. And as we're watching,

(02:02):
you know, it's the old joke about the Midwest come
truly to fruition. If you think you know what the
weather is, wait five minutes, right, and it'll change. Same
thing here with a lot of the reports in terms
of containment and the resources and there's a lot of
infighting going on, and we're certainly here in Los Angeles,

(02:23):
so we're privy to the politics and politicking going on
and all of it. But all of that to say,
you know, it's a lot of people have been displaced,
buildings lost, businesses lost, and the city as a whole
and all the surrounding area trying to wrap their arms.
And you've got firefighters up from Mexico. You've got i

(02:44):
mean people just running to the rescue as best they
can in support. So you know, we're watching it and
keeping apprized of it all. But it's part of the
part of what we're going through here in LA and
weppreciate all the good thoughts, all the h the messages
that we've certainly gotten on Twitter. I told you yesterday

(03:05):
Smith family that normally doesn't come out of the woodworks
unless there's money involved. You know, they're just asking if
I'm okay. It's kind of weird. Yeah it is, you know,
I need money or I need tickets. It was just, hey,
are you guys okay? I felt pretty good?

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, I know you usually uh yeah, it's it's it
is weird.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
It is a good thing.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
You don't have family check on you, and friends you
haven't talked to check in on you.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
It's it's it's a really guy. I wish I didn't
have to.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, I wish I didn't didn't you know, Well, if
I had talking you twenty years, I'd rather not because
that means something is wrong.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
So I mean, I get it.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
I get sometimes people fade away, you know, and or
maybe you did, maybe maybe you decided, you know, there
was just not the spark anymore. A couple of the
folks that I did hear from, uh, and I appreciate them,
both my guys that went to Notre Dame. So it
was an opportunity not only to say, hey, Mike, what's
going on, but also to do a little bit of
peacocking ready for the National title game.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
Well, Notre Dame is kind of the unofficial school of
the city of Chicago.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's what's I think? You're fine? You were a Notre
Dame gear. You're fine with it.

Speaker 4 (04:06):
Once upon a time when I was a kid.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Uh, only when forced too, and then you know, eventually
Northwestern and well.

Speaker 1 (04:14):
No, you're fine.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
You're not my wife who sits here and says, I
gotta watch Notre Dame and Penn State and Ohio State
in the final four for the national champion, you know,
being Michigan until she dies. I'm like, yeah, you know what,
two of those three teams are gonna lose.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Just think about it that way. And I said, you're
the same.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
When when when Ohio State scored, they had the funeral
turn for a touchdown at the end, and I could
hear her yelling, oh, come on, I could hear it
from upstairs. Well, and I just said, I said, somebody's
gonna lose, either Ohio State or Notre Dame.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
One of them is going to lose. And I said,
just pick who you want.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
I mean, I'm not saying you gotta go wear a gear,
but obviously you know you're gonna be rooting for Notre
Dame because you don't want Tohio no matter what, you
don't want Ohio State to win, right, So okay, So
so Notre Dame. If Notre Dame wins, it's okay, all right.
If Notre Dame wins, it's all right because there's only
two outcomes for you. So understand that you know one
of these things is absolutely going to happen.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
So when you.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Get behind the one you want. You'll find out if
they win, things aren't so bad.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
But that's just it.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
If you can't be with the one you love, love
the one you're with, you figure out the the lesser
of the evils, and you move all.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
She's dressing like a leprechaun, jumping up. She may very
well be, Hey, what are you doing here with Lee Corso?

Speaker 1 (05:29):
What are you? Are you?

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Dad?

Speaker 1 (05:30):
What's happening? All right, I've.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Already got the Valentine's Day stuff and around as the
holiday holiday holiday season came to an end. Right, you
can already go buy your candy hearts and everything and
boxes of Valentines from the different intellectual properties out there, uh,
comic strips and superhero movies and all won't be long
before you can get your uh, your Saint Patrick's Day stuff.

(05:55):
So you know, you could probably find a leprechaun outfit
if you really want to go on that route.

Speaker 4 (05:59):
I was reading the whole thing about.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
My heritage, and you know, whether you know, Irish people
really do have bigger heads.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Okay, sure it's true. Okay, well, well according to the Internet,
it's true.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
No, there was a big study. Okay, is it true?

Speaker 2 (06:14):
It's a big study in Island, we have the biggest heads. Okay,
I'm been a slightly biased. I'm gonna take that as
the gospel.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
But I don't know that that's when you want to
hang your had on. Wouldn't you be trying to disprove it.
You can't hang your hat on. If your head's too big,
the hat's gonna be again, it's like, but that's when
you have a market opportunity to make bigger hats.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Now, we watched the end of this game, and it
really came down to the final time that Texas had
the football with a chance to win the game, a
first and goal from the one yard line with about
three and a half.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Minutes left to go. Uh they are.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Answering the Ohio State touchdown, and they drive down the
field very quickly, a couple of big passes from Quinn
you Rs and their face with a first and goal
from the two. They get back to back pass interference
penalties to make it a first in goal at the.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
One and there is no.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Goal line toss play that is going to be dissected
more in football history than what happened on second down
and then forced the Texas Longhorns into a situation that
made a FATA complete of a touchdown turn into an
impossibility because they run a toss play from the one
yard line and Wisner gets tackled at the eight. He

(07:34):
loses seven yards, and now Ohio State's feeling good. It's
third and goal from the eight incomplete on third down,
and then viewers get sacked. He fumbles and it's picked
up by Sawyer running for a touchdown on fourth down. Right.
We talked last hour about how the biggest play for
Ohio State, the biggest offensive play was the Scott catch

(07:55):
that turned from third to nine, getting seven yards into
a fourth and three that allowed them to convert the
fourth down and Howard gets in the end zone. But
this second down and goal play and the toss played
a wistner. I know that we're playing Monday morning quarterback here,
but I don't see anywhere where this play call makes
any kind of sense.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
But I mean, when we first guessed it, just but
it's an hour later we bring it back, but audience
always changed.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
But just I know, but I mean, but just you
think about the fact that, Okay, you're on the one
foot line. Run the ball four times, right, run it
up the run, run it up the gut four times
to get in. Bring arch Manning in again. We're doing
Monday morning quarterback. But there's a reason why can I
give you that for a play?

Speaker 3 (08:36):
The latest Pete Futech who joined us earlier. He's now
encapsulated this even better in a tweet. Okay, the Seattle
throw slash Malcolm Butler pick in Super Bowl thirty nine
is the all time worst play call ever. Texas second
and goal on the one going wide is in the
top five. That's there too, all five Texas O line

(08:56):
in our NFL starters.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
I mean, this is yeah, this is Texas is full
of NFL dudes, right, This offense is full of NFL dudes.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
And you need a foot.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
And yes, you're going against one of the top two
or three defenses in all of college football and it's
the best defense that's left. And they're athletic and they're fast,
and you decide to say, let's play into their strengths
by running a toss play to the left side. And
here's all the things about this play that make you go,
what the hell was this play call? From Steve Sarkisian

(09:28):
and company. First of all, you line up with a
strong side and you have three receivers, so Ohio State
is able to put to get all kinds of personnel
on the right side, where yeah, you're thinking about a block,
You're thinking about getting the wide receivers out there, but
there's no space right, there's no space because you have
heavy wide receiver on the left. And Ohio State sees

(09:51):
the play and they bring the DBS over. You're not
going to be able to block everybody. You have such
a short space. You can't block everybody right, So that
run into the strong side and saying we're gonna get
blocks from every one of our wide receivers and our
offensive lineman.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
You're asking for so much on that play.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
And then the second part of it, which is the
craziest part to me, They pitch the ball a Whisner
and he catches it at the nine it's it's second
and goal from the one foot line. He catches the
ball at the nine yard line, that's gonna get to
the end zone. Like, what the hell do you think
is good? You think you're It's not like you ran
a misdirection play and you decided to run it wide,
where hey, we're gonna run a play. We're gonna fake

(10:29):
the dive up the middle. We're gonna run it out
while we're gonna try to catch them all trying to
get to the middle. This is a play where hey,
not only does Ohio State see it coming, they see
it coming real easy because yours is just grabbed and
the tosses right away and instantaneously, now you have Whisker
with the ball and he's nine yards from the end
zone and he only gets one more yard.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Caleb Downs?

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Did I think Caleb Downs lined up actually in the
Texas backfield? He was so close to that ball, and
you see a couple of guys in there to make
the play, and and the mismatches that they had on
the blocking, this play had absolutely no chance. And and
for me, I go back to you load up that
side of the field and then you give the ball
to you're running back at the nine yard line, you're

(11:10):
on the one, you're on the one yard line. You
need you need less than a yard. And still let's
give a guy the ball the nine yard line. In
what world does that turn out to be something that, Hey,
this is what's gonna work. We're gonna give the guy
the ball nine yards unless It's like when it's your
older brother and you're playing in the backyard and he
gets the ball so we can get a big running
start so you can run you and your tiny friends

(11:30):
over because you know, you guys are all in fourth
grade and he's in eighth grade, and he's gonna get
a big running start.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
Where that's not gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
I don't see how that was a players like, yeah,
let's run the toss play to the strong side where
they're easy to sniff this out. And they sniff it
out right away. It's toss play and everybody and the
defensive backs can read it and they're all in the backfield.
But at the end of the play, when he's tackled,
there are five Ohio State guys who are in the
who are defenders, who are in the in the play,

(11:57):
in the in the screen that could have made the
play on him. I don't get how when you need
one yard we're going to start from the nine. I
really just makes that makes absolutely no sense.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
Old rule of thumb man, don't get cute, right, you
have the horses, you have a defense that's flying around
against you. You watched it the entire first half the
way Ohio State dominated the line of scrimmage. How many
hits they get on Quinn years before halftime. They're getting
to the ball, they react well to everything to the edges.

(12:29):
You're not getting there. And to pitch this this out
as they did is unconscionable. Right, this is the guy
that's supposed to be your wizard, right, Sarkisian. We were
hearing last week teams might be lining him up to
bring him in as interview number thirty seven in one
of these places, Bears, Jets, you name it. But just

(12:51):
the idea of stock has risen based on what they've
been able to do this season. And then you go
and you get cute with it, like there's just no reason. Right,
it's not you brought in Manning. You've got a misdirection,
Like it's just a straight out pitch to the edge,
Like dude was wearing a cloak of invisibility Harry Botter

(13:11):
style and said, dah, I'm already in your backfield, or
he was John Cena and then he waved at you, no,
that would get you fifteen yards. That would have gotten
you back to the uh, you know, negated the loss. Uh.
If he'd done the taunting move like that. But all
that to say, you were at the doorstep right every opportunity,

(13:33):
you had a couple of pass interference calls to get
you those extra couple inches closer to the goal line.
Run behind your hogs man you got, you got seven
hundred pounds of beef right in front of you. Go
and instead you get cute and then you open the
door for Sawyer to come and make the play he did.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
Just don't I don't get it. I don't get it.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
I mean, yeah, you have NFL dudes on the offensive
line up up, you know, to go four times, four times,
you know, like we talked about, like bring Arch Manning
in right, Hey, how about Arch for a play where
he can sneak it or do something?

Speaker 4 (14:11):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
This is what he does, right, He's fast, he'll put
pressure on the defense. You can't really just you can't
bring everybody to the middle because you know Arch could
take it out like faster than Tyreek Hill. He runs
forty seven miles an hour, you know, something like that.
But just the the the somewhat needed to pull the
emergency brake on the Texas sideline and go wait, wait,
hang on, hang on a toss play.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
He's gonna catch the ball nine yards from the end zone.
What are we doing. We're all gonna do that.

Speaker 2 (14:36):
We're gonna get nine yards nine yards when they see
the play coming and it's and and everybody's moving, and
you have you have three wide receivers who have to block.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
Like I don't. I don't.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
You're not Don shul who always had great wide receivers
who could block down field with the Dolphins in the nineties.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
I don't understand that. I don't. I really don't get it.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
And you know, you could say, oh, it's Monday morning, quarterback,
but this is a play that that not only had
no chance, but the the possibility of disaster was there.
And when now it's third and goal from the from
the eight, it's your advantage is gone. You've just run
two plays where no game up the middle. Okay, that happens.
That happens on first down. Did they get scared after

(15:14):
first down? Well, he just ran, didn't get keep pounded.
You see it in the NFL all the time. The
guys get stop first down, second down, third, We're still
going in on fourth out up the middle, over the tackle,
over the guard is what we're gonna do and and
I really and everything fell apart for Ohio for Texas
from there, because then suddenly, hey, wait a minute, now

(15:34):
the momentum has gone. Ohio State's feeling good, they're feeling confident,
and a third down pass from viewers has no chance.
And then fourth down, it's it's an all or nothing play.
He gets sacked and stripp and Sawyer goes in for
the touchdown, like, I really, I don't see that. And
that's why this is gonna be like the most scrutinized
you toss play from the one we've ever They'll be

(15:56):
talking with this play in Texas forever, right, because this
is because if Texas wins this game, Texas, Notre Dame.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Guess who's a touchdown favorite in this game?

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Texas. Guess who if they execute their offense play as well,
is gonna win the national championship.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
Texas.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
So this is that kind of play where, hey, we're
tied at the end and potentially we're still playing and
maybe we win, and instead we went home because of
this play, right, This play set up the two plays
after and the touchdown. But and this play call. If
I'm Texas, that's the play I look back at and
I go, that's the one I want back. I don't
want the fumble and you weers on fourth down. I

(16:29):
don't want to I want this playback because that play
call was just abysmal, all right.

Speaker 3 (16:33):
Josh Newman, University of Texas beat for Texas lone Star
Live tweeting out Sarkesian notes, hey, they went to heavy
package on the Jared Gibson run first and goal with
the one, and he defended the second down toss play, saying, hey,
if he gets a block correctly, all the way that
it works.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
So what he's saying is if the play gets in
the end zone, it's successful.

Speaker 4 (16:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:57):
If that guy gets his block all right, and that
you could say it's like Ocean's eleven when Carl Reiner,
let me get this straight. If we go pass that
and pass the guy with the guns and pass the
locks and pass.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
Exactly, it's like you could say about anything. Well, if
if that play where Aaron Rodgers through the interception, if
the tackle is able to block the defensive end and
DeVante Adam is able to shake free and get over
the middle of the field, and Rogers throws it, and
then the cornerback on the other side misses the tackle,
that's a touchdown. Like I understand, Like, if all that happens,

(17:30):
that's that's what you're saying. Basically, all of it's blocked.
Of course, if offensive, if plays are executed correctly, you win.
But the other side is trying to that's it, don't
They don't get like the other side is just a
bunch of mannekins that are saying, well, if we block
it correctly, yeah, because the other side is trying to.
And it's also the most athletic defense in all of
college football. It's that good. They got NFL dudes there too.

(17:51):
When it when it, when you need one yard, you
should be able to get one yard on four plays
up the middle somewhere that should be able to happen,
and and and and that strategy and that explanation is
just like what do you mean if against block correctly?
Of course, But but again the other side is trying
to remember that, Mike Carmen, The other side is always
trying just as hard as the side tried. You sure

(18:13):
put that out.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
I'm telling like I am.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
They always are.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
They always are, you know, I you know, I think
about it because I always think thought about that and
I never really did. And when I thought about Ron
Darling told a great story about how one night when
he realized he needed to do something like when he
was pitching and he like could hit a wall or
something in his pitching, and he started to get hit
a little bit and he was like, I don't understand.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
You know, my.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Fastball, my curveball is this, this, this, this and this.
And it was really simple because the pitching coach came
out to him and said, you know, you know the
other side's trying to write. You're like, you can't just
throw your stuff and expect it's always going to be.
You know, the other side is trying to So you
gotta have something a little bit extra every time you
deliver the ball, and you gotta be And that's how
he said that got his mentalities. He was always a

(19:01):
big thinker, always knew where he was throwing with his pitches,
what he wanted to throw, what he wanted to throw it.
But you gotta understand the other side's trying to right,
like the other side's trying where this is where you
go If the other side, the other side, Ohio State's
trying to they believe it or not They're not gonna
be okay with getting blocked. They're gonna use their NFL
dudes and calep Down's gonna try to He's in the

(19:21):
backfield before the play is even snapped.

Speaker 1 (19:23):
Of course he's gonna be get to get there. Man.
I'll tell you, I'll tell you.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, Lot the Dire Act.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Dot I may not be m.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
We'll have more on Texas at Ohio State coming up next,
as well as the beginning of our preview of all
the big NFL action this weekend. Hours away from the
start of the NFL Playoffs, we start with our picks
our analysis coming up next. Right here, Jason and Mike,
you are listening at to Fox Sports.

Speaker 1 (19:55):
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio, Radio Radio Radio.

Speaker 5 (20:01):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live Fox.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best friend
Mike Harmon.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
It's that kind of night, that kind.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Of a little bit of levity in your life. Another
no how States going to the title game. People are pissed.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
Another crazy train night here with us on Fox Sports Radio.
So we'll get back into Ohio State's win over Texas
coming up in a few minutes, because you know, the
biggest loser tonight really was in Texas. Much like last
night it was like, oh, it was the biggest loser
Penn State. None of the biggest loser was Brian Kelly. Uh,
the biggest The biggest loser tonight is the biggest loser

(20:48):
again today it's not Texas. It's something else entirely. We'll
get into that coming up in a few minutes. But
we are now on the cusp of the first big
law on great weekend of NFL playoffs. We have two
games on Saturday, we have three on Sunday, we have
five on Monday night, eleven on Tuesday. It is a great,

(21:10):
great week coming up, and two games tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
And before we get into the the the.

Speaker 2 (21:17):
Chargers and the Texans, I just want to tell you that,
you know, we both picked this game last night, the
Ravens over the Steelers. And look, the Steelers offense is
just on vapors now. It is it's no good, it's limited,
and they're clearly this is not the team that Mike
Tomlin thought he was gonna have.

Speaker 1 (21:36):
He thought he was.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
Gonna have some kind of sledgehammer offense with Russell Wilson
at the helm, and he was gonna make all the
veteran plays and all the pictures that are taken after
the game you see on the inn, it's gonna be
Tollin with his arm on Russell Wilson's shoulder as they
confer in the third quarter of a win. That's not happening.
Russell Wilson has washed. He had a good first few
games out of the gate when they got into the
end zone, a little bit more than with justin Fields.

(21:59):
But now they've they've they've collapsed at the end of
the year, and now they're gonna face a team that's
gonna boat race them, and they're gonna watch Lamar Jackson
do whatever he wants to do because he is on
that Michael Jordan with the iPad, I took that personally
sort of sort of push for this playoff.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Right and.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Understand this, Mike Tomlin potentially is coaching for his job
tomorrow because if Pittsburgh loses, and they they could lose
bad and the offense looks bad, there's gonna be a
change and Mike Tomlin's either gonna get let go or
he's gonna get traded because there's not a lot of
great coaches and Tomlin's still a great coach. But hey,

(22:41):
there is something to be said for your message is
growing stale, the team is not getting better, where we're
kind of spinning our wheels. And a team like the Steelers, yeah,
they judge success differently than everybody else, right for you
and me, the Bears and the Jets, I'd love to
be a team that was playoff Cali every year.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
The year maybe we could make it and we lose
in the first round, I don't care. I'd have a
fun seventeen weeks. Man.

Speaker 3 (23:07):
Until that's been the case for a decade plus and
you're not getting over I got to wonder in Pittsburgh
to a degree. You know that whole thing is jumped
the shark. That's great. We're competitive in December, we play
in January.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
When are we winning?

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, there's many teams that would love that, But Steelers
are different, right, they hold things to a different standard.
And Art Rooney kind of sounded the alarm a little
bit after last season saying, hey, we got to see
something a little bit more this year. Yes, they did
give tom On the contract extension, but Tomlin went all
in on, don't Russell Wilson's our guy. Russell Wilson justin fields,

(23:44):
but Russell's our guy, trust me.

Speaker 1 (23:46):
And he was thumping his chest when Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (23:49):
Comes in and they're winning games, and hey, I told
you we could win every week sixteen to ten. Look
how great we are. Yeah, it's not happening anymore. He
went all in on his guys and and find again,
find someone who loves you as much as Mike Tomlin
loves Russell Wilson. But this game goes bad and Wilson
is bad, and you have to watch Lamar Jackson have
an amazing game. The Steelers are gonna say, you know what,

(24:11):
it's just time for a change. It's it's not anything,
it's just this strategy, this philosophy is no longer working.
And honestly, Mike Tomlin, the NFL has kind of passed
him by, right. I mean, his way still works, but
it's not nineteen eighty five where you don't win with
clutch quarterback play, running the football every sing, you know,
two out of every three plays, and just playing great defense.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
If it was the eighties, you'd be great, man.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
Mike tom will have like four Super Bowl rings and
every magazine cover would be him holding up the four
with the ring on every finger. But it's not that way,
and you can see that when you're limited, you're only
going so far. You don't squeeze out a super Bowl, right,
you don't squeeze out what?

Speaker 1 (24:50):
No, you don't.

Speaker 2 (24:51):
You win when you are more dynamic offensively than everybody else.
This is the way the NFL works now. Even the Chiefs,
who we're winning a different way when they need to be,
they can be dynamic.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Right.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
The fourth quarter is them. They moved the wall up
and down the field. Mahomes is heating up now a bit.
Look at the reason why the Lions are the overwhelming
favorite in the NFC. But it it doesn't mean that
Mike Tomlin's a bad coach. It just means that, hey,
we've been spinning our wheels now for a long time.
It's not good enough to just get into the playoffs
and then maybe we have a game and we go home.

(25:23):
So we need something. Tomlin needs this win tomorrow. He
needs to play great. He needs the Steelers to play really,
really good. Because if this goes south, and it goes
south badly, Yeah, I guess what You're gonna see teams saying, hey,
the second round pick for Mike Tomlin, second and third
round pick. Second round pick this year, third round pick
next year, and the Steelers are gonna say, Okay, we're

(25:43):
gonna go get somebody else.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
And suddenly the Steelers' job is open. It's whoa, whoa, whoa.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
Every single coach in the world is gonna line up
for this job. The Steelers change coaches every twenty five years.
You want to talk about security, There's been three coaches
since nineteen sixty nine, since I've been alone. If the
Steelers have had three head coaches, I'm gonna go there
and be there for the rest of my life. Suddenly
Ben Johnson says, no, that's where I'm going. Mike Rabel says, no,
that's where I'm going. Jim Harbo says, I'm leaving the Chargers.

(26:10):
I'm going at Pittsburgh. I mean, you are seeing everybody,
all the best candidates will say, whoa, whoa whoa Steelers
is open.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
That's the job I want.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Certain teams will have that, and that's what the Steelers
will have coming in next year because it will just
be time to move on because of tom Mike Tomlin philosophy. Okay,
we've seen it for a long time now. He's been
here since two thousand and seven, and the last few
years it's just not the same. And he went all
in on Russell Wilson, and Wilson's not the answer. Can
we trust that he knows for the next quarterback? They

(26:40):
could have gone out and got Kirk Cousins this year
anybody else. No, No, we're gonna We're gonna go with
a couple of guys, where the other team said, no,
we're we're happy to see them go away.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Right.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
The Broncos said, we're gonna let run. We're gonna eat
eighty million dollars in draft picks, and we're letting Russell
Wilson go. The Bear said, we're letting Justin Fields go
despite the fact he runs for one thousand yards a year.
We are letting these guys go. And this is who
we're happy saying, this is what we can go, this
is what I can win with. When you go to
the wall and it doesn't work out, you're gonna pay

(27:10):
with your job. And if it goes bad tomorrow for Pittsburgh.
That's gonna happen in my time.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
Oh but that's been one of the main questions in
the background of all of this, because remember Toma did
get chesty. This is why I get paid the big
bucks and all that when he had a couple of
good runs with Arthur Smith and Russell Wilson earlier in
the year. But also Omar Kahn the front office. How
much say in that process did he have veto power

(27:34):
and whatever else? Curious dynamic in that organization. But all
of that to say, I mean, this is a game
that has probably more weight to it than any other
game in the NFL because think about it. At Baltimore
loses as a double digit favorite. Now you can get
into that game for under a hundred bucks. That's how
often they play this game. Even the people of Baltimore

(27:55):
are like, ad, I don't want to go see that again.
So if you're out in that area, you can go
see a game pretty cheap. But all that's sake because
if it goes badly for Baltimore, think about everything that
comes back on Lamar Jackson again, right, all of the
stuff that gets pushed away with another great regular season
talking about all pro votes, MVP conversations, whatever else. You know,

(28:18):
that side of it is really interesting for Pittsburgh. It's
really still just for me trying to figure out in
that room of Rooney's and whoever else is there in
those discussions at the long kingsman like table to have
that discussion who's Sir Galahad and whatever else, that they

(28:39):
would suddenly go away, even with what Rooney had to
say after last year, that suddenly, after all these years,
it would be like, Nope, we really do need to
make a change now. Perhaps they'd pick up the bat
phone and if the Bears or someone else had some
giant trade offer that they'd be intrigued. But it's always

(29:01):
the what are you gonna go get in the marketplace
that's better than Tomlin? Even if it's diminished some there
ain't many, right, no, no, And that's the the hard part,
the sticky, wicked as it were for the Steelers, because
you're looking around going, hey, look at these clown shows
with all these guys they're interviewing. Wait, if we get

(29:22):
rid of Tomlin, we gotta go interview one of these clowns.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
Hey, you clown, you gotta come on in because see
if you can make a bicycle, can make a bicycle.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
I gret you're a coach.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
Let's say in the job description head clown.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Oh no, no, I'm not a cloud. I'm the head cloud. Okay,
you treat me with respect. You put some respect on
that name. I'm the head clown.

Speaker 1 (29:47):
That's me.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Exit out about a fresca accent stolend o in the
Jason Smith Show with Mike Carbon Trust me, Mike Tomlin
coaching for his job tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (29:55):
Pittsburgh needs a big.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Effort right now. A guy who is always giving a
big effort. It's specially delivery, Steve to say, or he's
got what's trending in the wide world of sports.

Speaker 6 (30:05):
Well, we did have a semi final in the college
football Playoff tonight. After all Ohio State wins it, they'll
meet Notre Dame in the National Championship Game Monday in
the twentieth in Atlanta. The last time before this season
that we had two straight years of the College Football
Final with no SEC team in either one. You'd have
to go back twenty years USC Texas Classic and the

(30:28):
year before was USC Oklahoma in the National Championship Game.
In fact, the last time we had two quote Northern
schools winning back to back national titles was Nebraska in
the mid nineties. Well Tonight's game went to Ohio State
in Arlington, beating Texas twenty eight to fourteen. Trevion Henderson
a seventy five yard td just before halftime, quin Shawn

(30:49):
Judkins two TV runs and the Buckeyes with about two
minutes left got a touchdown on an eighty three yard
fumble return. Texas on fourth down conversions one for three.
Georgia transfer quarterback Carson Beck committed to Miami. Former Colorado
football coach Bill McCartney has passed away at the age
of eighty four. Two NFL playoff games tomorrow starts with

(31:11):
the Chargers at Texans. Chargers franchise has one playoff win
since twenty thirteen. Next season, the Chargers will be hosting
the Texans during the year. By the way, the NFL
announced the Cleveland Browns are one of the teams they
are going to play in London next season, along with
Jacksonville again Overseas and the Jets. Brown's quarterback Deshaun Watson
ruptured his achilles again and had another surgery. Yesterday. We

(31:34):
had news from the Packers and the Eagles, who will
face each other on Fox TV Sunday at four thirty Eastern.
Packers quarterback Jordan Love is off the injury report. Eagles
QB Jalen Hurts clear concussion protocol to the NBA Clippers
and Lakers home games on Saturday night have been postponed
due to the LA fires. New Orleans suspended Zion Williamsons

(31:55):
for tonight's win at Philadelphia. He was late to the
team flight, among other problems like being late to practices.
C J McCollum thirty eight points in a one twenty three,
one fifteen decision for the Pelicans. A win at Philadelphia.
New Orleans was seven and thirty one. Coming in Milwaukee
got a win, a close one at Orlando one oh nine,

(32:15):
one oh six Giannis ANTENACUNMPO forty one points. Paulo Benco
did return have thirty four points for the Magic. He
had missed most of the season with an oblique injury.
Indiana over Golden State one O eight ninety six for
Golden State. Buddy healed six of nineteen shooting for his
seventeen points. Steph Curry was out this evening due to
knee injury management. Oklahoma City wins easily. At New York

(32:37):
won twenty six one oh one the Thunder thirty one
and six. Shay Gilgis Alexander scored thirty nine points in
twenty nine minutes. He was fifteen of twenty one from
the floor, the knicks from three point range four of
thirty two. Sacramento won.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
A game was.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Canceled in the fourth quarter when the floor got too wet. Steve,
you get you keep leaving that part out of it.

Speaker 7 (32:58):
Actually, because they blew bulbs in the scoreboard. The game
is canceled by the short quarter. Sacramento one at Boston
Chicago over Washington. Denver took the late game against Brooklyn
College Hoops. Maryland sent UCLA to a third straight loss.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
Back to you, Thank you, Steve O.

Speaker 2 (33:15):
The Jason smithser with Mike Carmen live from the Tirack
dot Com studios.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
Coming up next. Yeah, who was the biggest loser tonight?

Speaker 2 (33:22):
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Speaker 5 (34:26):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
Fox Sports Radio The Jason Smith Show with my best
friend Mike Harmon live from the Tirack dot Com studios. So,
who is the biggest loser following Ohio State's win over
Texas tonight?

Speaker 1 (34:52):
Is it Texas? No, it's not Texas. Is the Steve Sarkezan,
No it's not. Sorry, is it Mac Brown? No, it's not.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
Is it any coach that is tangentle related to Texas?

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Kind of like Brian Kelly last night with Note Today.

Speaker 4 (35:03):
No, it's not.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
The biggest loser, and it's erroneous. But the biggest loser
is the SEC, right, because what are you seeing all
over the place now? Oh, second year in a row.
SEC team's not gonna win the national championship. They're no
longer their pre eminent conference. The Big ten is so
much better. Yeah, two years in a row, we're not

(35:26):
gonna have an SEC team win the national title and
suddenly the SEC is done. Let me just take you
back to two thousand and nine, let's say, or two
thousand and seven, or actually two thousand and six, where
the SEC run of dominance has come and the national
champion two thousand and six SEC, SEC, SEC, SEC, SEC

(35:49):
SEC SEC. I'm in twenty thirteen. Now Florida State wins,
Ohio State wins SEC, ACC, SEC, ACC SEC, SEC, SEC SEC.

Speaker 1 (36:01):
Last year Big Ten with Michigan.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
How many times did I say an SEC was a
national title in the last near twenty years? Every other
more than three out of every four years, an SEC
team is winning the national championship?

Speaker 1 (36:15):
Has the Big Ten gotten real? Yes? Is the bit? Yes,
but this whole SEC.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Just stop with that, man, You sound stupid, because the
SEC is exactly the same as it's been for the
last twenty years. You had a mini LSU dynasty, you
had a mini Georgia dynasty winning back to back.

Speaker 1 (36:34):
In twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
Right, and you had mainly Alabama winning every three years.
The only difference in the SEC from what it is
now to what it was a few years ago is
that Alabama is not the same. And it really shows
you how much Alabama dominated college football that when Alabama
is not winning title, all the SEC stikes nas seas

(36:57):
the one two out of the last three national three
out of the last four were in the last five
national championships. But suddenly two years and an SEC team, oh,
by the way, goes out tonight.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
In the in the in the final four game and.

Speaker 2 (37:08):
Sudden the SEC's bet. Just stop, just stop with that.
The SEC is every bit as good as it was.
You still have different teams that are achieving, that have
different levels of a bit of a dynasty. You had
SEC teams ranked in the top in the playoff this year.
But Alabama is not Alabama. And that's a difference, right,
it's a difference. But it's one school that is not

(37:28):
winning every single year suddenly, because Alabama is not winning
every year. Now they've won a title in five years.

Speaker 1 (37:34):
Oh, they're done. The SEC is done. That's just stupid,
all right.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
It's Alabama is not who was, but everybody else is
really good and they still find a way to win
national championships. They still find a way to get to
the final four championship of college football.

Speaker 1 (37:47):
The SEC is just fine.

Speaker 3 (37:48):
Just stop in my tribute to one of the great
cinematic experiences people had this year.

Speaker 4 (37:55):
Not me. I thought it was mid.

Speaker 3 (37:58):
Ding Dong Way, which is dead bing bang. It was
a new day yesterday, but it's an old day now.
We've got a changing landscape. Does it mean they're dead, No,
but they're certainly not the jugger not they have been
put back into the pack.

Speaker 4 (38:17):
I mean, I know kirkurb Street and everybody else said.

Speaker 3 (38:20):
Hey, if winning didn't matter, Alabama might have been in here,
and maybe they would have gone on a tremendous run
and showed you whose boss. Oh, problem is they didn't
get into the tournament. Problem is they were left home,
just like the rest of the SEC teams who fell
off one by one. And with the transfer portal being

(38:40):
what it is, we're gonna watch the Bowl things even
out like they didn't once upon a time.

Speaker 4 (38:46):
Talent's getting spread out.

Speaker 3 (38:47):
Hell, we're talking about guys from Syracuse at the back
end of the first and second round. It's a new
world order, Jason Smith. It's a new world order. You
don't get to rule like you did once upon a time.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
And which is dead. Look, and it doesn't mean that
Alabama is not. It doesn't mean Alabama is dead not
coming back.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
It's just okay the last couple of years.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
Look, and he made it to the semi final last
year they lost in the rose Wall on the final
play of the game. I don't know, but clearly no
look at loss. Yeah, but they had the bad loss
this year to Michigan and Jalen Milrose headed to the
NFL and they haven't won a title in five years,
which shows you the level of excellence that Alabama is at.
Where they go a year with out of title, everybody

(39:31):
gets kind of antsy, Hey, what's going on?

Speaker 5 (39:32):
Man?

Speaker 1 (39:33):
What are we doing here?

Speaker 2 (39:34):
But that's the level. That's how much they won at
That tilted the favor into the SEC that you know,
it became, well, all these really good teams and oh Alabama,
every other team is still the same. I mean not
that all the teams are always content, but every year
either LSU or Georgia or Auburn, what.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
The right really good? Right?

Speaker 2 (39:55):
Because we've seen LSU win a couple of national titles.
So Georgia just went back to back titles. The SEC
is fine, man, It's like, you know, oh, they haven't
won the title in two years. Let's say they're dead now.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
No, Well, it's a new world of college football and
the show is tonight, So they're dead. It's now ruled
by the Big ten and young whipper snappers.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Hi. James Franklin, like Marcus Freeman.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
James Franklin is ruling. He is ruling third. He's ruling
that exit about a Fresca exit swollen dome.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
Jason Smith, Mike.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Harmon Coming up next, more in the big Ohio State win,
and we remember a college football legend.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
That's next right here, Jason and Mike Fox Sports Radio,
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