January 6, 2023 • 20 mins
Welcome back to another episode of Unleashed, brought to you by BetMGM. This week, host Olivia Harlan Dekker is flying solo and is speaking with Sports Illustrated’s own Pat Forde. Pat joins Olivia to gear up for and preview Monday Night’s big National College Championship Game between the #3 ranked TCU Horned Frogs and the #1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs. This will be a game for the ages and together the duo take a closer look at what both these teams have to offer on gameday. So press play and join us for this episode of Unleashed, presented by BetMGM!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
From the King of sports Books comes the Key sports
podcast Unleashed, presented by the MGM. Here's your host, Jerry
Ferrara and Olivia Harland Decker. Hey, everyone, welcome to Unleashed.
(00:32):
Olivia Harland Decker here and we've got a little bit
different of a show for you today. Like the rest
of the sports world and beyond, our thoughts continue to
be with Bill's safety Tomorrow Hamlin. I think a lot
of us are still processing our thoughts from something pretty
unprecedented we've never seen on a football field. Jerry and
I spoke and he will be taking this week off,
So as we continue to send our prayers up for
(00:53):
Tomorrow and his family, it's a huge reminder that these
are human beings playing this game that we love so much,
that we love to talk about every week. Like all
of you, I'm hoping for a report that Tomorrow will
be okay. Sounds like some good reports are coming out
of his camp now, and despite this awful situation, it's
really been incredible to see some humanity, some generosity, outpouring
(01:16):
of love from fans and media who have already donated
millions of dollars to Tomorrow Hamlin's Chasing M's charity. If
you want to look into that and donate, that'd be
a really great way to honor him right now. If
you want to contribute for his local community in Pittsburgh,
that's really great. There's a go fund me page. And
with heavy Hearts, We've got a different show this week,
shorter show this week, all focused on the college football
(01:38):
National Championship that is coming up. Welcome to twenty three.
We have a great National Championship preview episode today as
my George Bulldogs take on the TCU Horned Frogs Monday night,
Los Angeles So Fi Stadium. It is going to be
(02:00):
so much fun. Georgia opens as a thirteen and a
half point favorite. Now it's down to thirteen as I'm
recording on Tuesday. You can also take Georgia minus fived
money line if you're interested in that. Look. We saw
the over hit in both semifinal games, so everyone's amped
about that bet again at sixty two and a half
is the point total right now, and of the handle
(02:22):
is on the over so far, so everyone's like in that.
You know, with a championship game, so many people don't
have a dog in the fight. So that's a common bet.
They just want to see a lot of offense taking
the over and I'm going to as well. I can't
wait Monday night to help us out. In preview the
big game, we're bringing in s I s Pat forty.
If you're a loyal listener, you'll remember he was on
(02:42):
earlier in the season. He's fantastic senior writer college football.
He's also got a podcast. He's all over college football.
He knows it all. So it'll be fun to hear
about the Georgia O s U semifinal game because he
was covering that one, and pick his brain on the
national championship before we place our bets. I gotta gotta
do better this time. Unprecedented semifinal games though on New
(03:04):
Year's Eve, only three of the six team playoff games
that have ever been played in history of the college
football playoffs. Obviously it's not long. They had been decided
by one possession or less. That's only three of them. Look,
I'm thrilled my Bulldogs got out of there with a
win over the buck Eyes. But from a sports book perspective,
it would have been really great to have a team
(03:26):
the team from Ohio get in the championship because sports
betting was just legalized in the state. So welcome to
the party, Ohio, sports obsessed state. I used to live
in Cleveland when my husband played for the Calves. Those
fans of their teams, they are so good, So that
is a beautiful marriage now that sports gambling is in Ohio. Okay,
(03:48):
let's break down both of the New Year's Eve college
football semifinal games. First step BSTA Bowl eight point underdog TCU.
They battle it out. They never trail to a stout
Michigan game in an absolute shootout horn Frog's wint that's
nineties six combined points. If you're doing the math, I
(04:10):
still can't believe it. Forty four points alone were scored
in the third quarter in Michigan's defense had been so
good all season. They had held opponents to like fourteen
points per game thirteen something like that all season. They
were incredible. But they could not defend Max Duggan, who
by the way, started the season as the backup to
a walk on at TCU. Just incredible. All their explosive,
(04:32):
big chunk plays. They were like unstoppable in Michigan. Offensively,
they couldn't score in the red zone in quarterback J. J.
McCarthy through two pick six is you're just not gonna
win like that. Okay, over to the Peach Bowl for
Georgia Ohio State. The Bulldogs may have played one of
their worst games in the past two years. Seriously, I mean,
stets And Bennett did not look like himself. He looked nervous,
(04:53):
by the way, something a lot of people don't realize
about Stetson Bennett. This is gonna blow your mind, just
like a blew mine. He's the same age as mar Jackson.
Let that sink in for a minute. We have one
more game of Stetson Bennett Monday night, So five Stadium.
It's gonna be so good. Uh. Somehow the Dogs just
rallied to beat the Buckey's forty two forty one. Stets
(05:14):
And Bennett really at the end of it, though his
numbers were good, gutsy coaching all around on both sides,
there was nothing held back. It was just a joy
to watch. But Ohio State really had control of the game.
They were up thirty in the fourth quarter going into
the fourth quarter. Quarterbacks E. J. Stroud was amazing. Um.
I heard that they did like fifteen hundred reps offensively
(05:38):
preparing for this game. They were just incredible. They were prepared,
they were well coached, all these things that we did
not see a couple of weeks ago. Last time, we
saw a High State against Michigan. So this was a
completely different Buckeye team and they lost players throughout the game.
They still had a shot on the leg of their
kicker fifty yard field goal, though, guys, I'm not sure
(05:58):
how fair that is for college kicker with the national
championship birth on the line. He missed the fifty yard
kick at the stroke of midnight. I know you've heard
it because everyone's using this term, but it's so good
I have to use it too. He kicked the ball in,
it landed in. Okay, now that we've set the table,
let's bring in our guest Sports Illustrated senior writer Pat Forty. Okay, Pat,
(06:30):
before we get into the matchups. For the casual college
football fan, can you explain how improbable it is for
TCU with a head coach in year one to make
it to the national Championship. And I know Larry Coker,
Gust mills On, they've done it, but those are a
major programs that were built to go to the distance
and we're talking about little TCU. Yeah, I think Olivia.
(06:50):
It's the most unlikely playoff team period and now to
make the championship game all the more unlikely. TCUs a
legitimate program in the Big twelve and sitting in a
hot out of talent and football passion in Dallas Fort Worth.
But they were five and seven last year. Nobody has
ever gone from unranked to the playoff. Yes, new coach
(07:11):
who had had some success at SMU but really hadn't
shown the chops to maybe compete for a national championship.
There picked seventh preseason in the Big twelve, and now
they're one of the last two standing for the national title.
So it's it's a wildly improbable, very fun story. This
sport doesn't really allow many cinderellas. If we're gonna call
TCU a Cinderella, why is that? This sport, as we've seen,
(07:34):
especially in the playoff era, there's a very small number
of programs that have even competed for a title. It's
been Alabama, it's been Clemson, it's been Ohio, State's been Georgia,
it's been Notre Dame, although Notre Dame hasn't made a
championship game. So to crack that's very small club is
hard to do. And it's interesting. Tc has come a
(07:55):
long way in a pretty quick amount of time. But
they were in four different conferences in the mid ninety nineties.
They were kind of a vagabond looking for their place.
Their facilities weren't very good, and then they invested and
they started building and you go down there now, I mean,
their stadium is just a treasure. It's fantastic. It's not huge,
you know, maybe, but it's beautiful. It's well appointed. The
(08:17):
suites looked like something out of like the Roman Empire. Uh,
they're so opulent and all the other facilities that go
along with it. They have those two and I think
if you've got that, and you can sell that in
the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex and surrounding area, you're gonna
get players because there's a million of them there, and
so they have the ability to overcome that that underdog
(08:39):
label that they've carried. So you were in Atlanta, you
were covering the Georgia Ohio state game. How did you
watch the Michigan TCU game. I know sometimes they have
it on the JumboTron, but that had to be consuming
your thoughts at the time. Yeah, for sure, And yes,
I was at the stadium and it was kind of
interesting that Mercedes Been Stadium is a great place and
they do have like the the ribbon video ribbon basically
(09:02):
goes around the upper level and so you could see
it up there and it's huge and bright. But I
also had on a little screen next to me in
the press box, and so you're kind of watching in
both places at the same time. But the interesting thing
about it was as the Ohio State fans started to
come in, every time TC you did something big, they
would roar because they wanted to see Michigan lose. So yeah,
(09:24):
it was it was an interesting dynamic. And the players
down on the field, We're starting to warm up and
at one point, like TC is making big play after
big play, and the Georgia kickers and sports staff are
all looking up and Steps and Bennett's just doing nothing
but warming up, throwing passes and stretching, and like he's
totally oblivious to what was going on around him, which
is I think one of the reasons he's been successful. Well.
(09:44):
Sticking with Steps and Bennett, you've covered him so much
in fact, the beginning of the season, that's when we
brought you on to talk about your cover story on him.
It was a great article. What did you see from him?
Because he looked nervous, it was uncharacteristic. Yeah, you know,
I think that that there was some stuff that well,
i'll Stay threw at him that they were not prepared
(10:04):
for or comfortable with. You know how Stay changed up
a lot of their defense from when we last saw
him against Michigan. They played a little more soft in
the back on the secondary, covered a little bit more
there as opposed to just go on hell bent to
try to rush. And I think that he was expecting
some open throws that weren't there. And the laundry he
had to stand in the pocket and hold the ball.
(10:25):
You could see that stress kind of getting to him.
And he did not play well. He said afterwards, he said,
I think I played about thirty minutes of just bad football.
And I you know, I don't think anybody would necessarily
disagree with him, But as is always the case with
Stepson Bennett, about when you're ready to say, oh he
can't do it, he doesn't, do you know, if there
was any Pappy Van Winkle consumed after does he wait
(10:46):
till you after he wins a natty? For that? That's
definitely gonna be a post natty thing. I think that's
what it was last year. He had a friend from
home that brought the pappy and I would imagine there
will be another bottle of Pappi in l A on
reserve if they do win. I imagine. So how do
you think, based on the vibe in the stadium really,
how the momentum changed after the no targeting call that
(11:08):
knocked Marvin Harrison Jr. Out of the game? And did
you agree with the call? I did agree with the call.
I thought they did a good job. I thought you
call it in real action, real real, live time. You
go back and review it. The replay official, the ESPN
analyst Matt Austin both agreed, and I agreed with them
that it was close, like a matter of inches, but
it was not targeting. For one thing, he didn't launch,
(11:31):
you know, he did not leave his feet to to
to go attack the head with his head. He hit
mostly shoulder two shoulder on Marvin Harrison. It was a
vicious hit, but I think it was a clean hit.
I think it was the right call. And absolutely could
helped change the game. For one thing, he prevented Marvin
Harrison from catching a touchdown. Second, he took their best
player out of the game, and you hate to see that.
(11:53):
You hate to see an injury, but it was a
legal football play. And then thirdly, the fact that it
was not targeting was huge because it did not give
them a first down. Then they had to kick the
field goal. And then after that, Ohio State's offense struggled
a bit too. They couldn't finish drives and and Georgia
slowly prepped back into the game. On the note of officiating,
if you're a Michigan fan, do you have a valid
(12:15):
argument that officiating kept you out of the championship? I
don't think so. I mean, you can be really angry,
first of all about the the overturned touchdown, which I
think that was a bad call. But you get the
ball first and goal on the one and you fumble
it without being hit, that's that's on you. And then
everything that transpired after that, in terms of not being
(12:36):
able to stop TCU and throwing other interceptions, that's on you.
The non targeting call at the end, look, that probably
could have been called but that doesn't win the game
for him, and it extends the game and gives them
a tiny smidgen of chance of a chance, but I
don't know whether it really helps them that, you know,
win the game. So look, there there's always controversial calls,
bad calls, close calls, and if you're Michigan, you can't
(13:00):
sit there and say that cost us the game. They
were favored by seven and a half points, They had
many chances and they couldn't get it done. Yeah, it's
it's crazy watching it back that TCU never trailed. It
didn't feel like it watching it. But uh, two great
games and really unprecedented seeing this on New Year's Eve,
only three of the six team playoff games in history
(13:21):
had been decided by a possession or less, and we
got our money's worth on those two. Now that you've
kind of sat back and reflected a bit on those
two games, which outcome seems more unprecedented, more unlikely, I
think i'd have to say TCU winning. Look, I was surprised.
I thought Georgia was gonna roll and I thought Michigan
was gonna roll. Like you said, they were both phenomenal
games and kind of what we've been waiting for ever
(13:42):
since the playoff came into being, So that was great,
But I think the the real surprise to me was
Michigan screwing up enough to lose and TCU just taking
advantage of it and taking hold of the game and
making the big plays, you know, so many of them.
I mean, the pick sixes were Hujo obviously, and those
were really nice defensive plays, but their defense made several
(14:04):
other big plays in the moment where they just were
not going to get run over by that Michigan running game.
And then they hit a couple of huge plays of
their own on offense, and they just rose to the occasion.
And that's kind of who that team has been. I mean,
I've loved watching them all year. They you know, they've
they've hearded with losses so many times, and then they
finally did losing the Big twelve championship game, and I
(14:25):
probably like a lot of other people, but well, all right,
they're out of pixie dust, and you know, they're a
good team, but they're not good enough, and they're they're
still really good team. They're really they're excellent, and so
that was it was very surprising but really cool to
see them win that game. On that note, what are
your thoughts on these games being played on New Year's Eve?
Do you think that's a good scheduling move. I know
(14:46):
they're talking about changing it. I'm not a fan at all,
and I remember I was there. Yeah, you know, I
was at the announcement whenever it was twenty twelve or
whatever they were going to the playoff and Bill Hancock
from College Football if So there said we are going
to remake the paradigm of New Year's Eve and basically
(15:06):
America watched college football on a night when America parties.
And look, I'm sorry that was arrogant, because you know
they were there were how many people, I mean, I'm
sure you heard from him who literally the Ohio State
field goal at the end was kicked in, two landed in,
(15:26):
and people are like, screw that. I want to watch
the ball drop. I want to celebrate the New Year.
And so the conflict there, which was created by the
playoff committee, which was created by ESPN, just I think
was was a very disservice to a lot of fans,
especially casual fans that aren't going to build their whole
life around watching two football games. I heard on your podcast,
(15:47):
Actually the story of the balloons dropping in a Columbus
bar and people couldn't see the outcome, and then they
started stomping balloons once they heard terrible. That's tough time
to try to celebrate a new year right there in Columbus.
It is. It is. Yeah, you're not getting your New
Year's kiss after that one. I don't think. Let's talk
real quickly about the matchup. Georgia opened as a thirteen
(16:07):
point favorite. Do you view this as David vers Goliath
is the Pixie Desk, like you mentioned, gonna run out
on TCU? Yeah, I think thirteen points too much. Have
you seen TCU? They're really really good. And again there
one loss, well, they scrapped and fought to get it
into overtime. They did get into overtime and came up
a half a yard short of at least extending the game.
(16:29):
So I think thirteen is a lot. I do think
if Georgia plays, it's a game. Georgia is better, and
Georgia will win and maybe win handing, maybe maybe win
by fourteen. I don't know. But we also and and
and the Georgia players like we're unanimous, like kind of
discussed that They didn't play very well against Olhouse State,
so they know they can play better. We've all seen
(16:50):
him play better. But TCU has some abilities to exploit
what Ohio State did, what l s U did in
the SEC championship game. I mean, they can throw the ball.
They they've got a quarterback who can do that. They
have a mobile quarterback as well. That Georgia defense in
the secondary particularly doesn't play better, it's gonna look a
lot like the game against Ohio State, I think, where
(17:11):
it's like whoever can make one big play at the
end of the game. We saw so much scoring in
those semifinal games. Both over is hitting comfortably. Do you
think we see more defense in the National Championship? The
over under right now sixty two and a half, sixty
two and a half, I'd be leaning over. I think.
I just think Georgie's defense is good. But what we've
(17:31):
seen against really good offenses here the last couple of
weeks is they've been able to expose the last couple
of games expose some of the shortcomings. They did lose
five first round draft picks off that defense, so to
ask them to come back and be able to just
shut teams down against probably too much. They look good
enough in the regular season that you just think they
(17:51):
just keep churning them out. But it's not quite the same.
And so you get up against elite personnel, elite scheme,
elite quarterback, and it's tough. And so I expect TC
you be able to move in score. But I also
expect Georgia to be able to move in score. And
that's you know, one thing that has sometimes been a
little bit lost is I mean, George's offense is really good.
They've got players, three running backs, five wide receivers, two
(18:14):
tight ends, we'll see whether Darnell Washington's coming back, and
a really good quarterback. So I think there's gonna be
a bunch of points. I would say over you know,
mid sixties in terms of a point total, would would
probably sound right to me. It's interesting what you were
just saying about the Georgia defense. When I covered them
in the SEC Championship. They kept saying, we're competing against
last year's Georgia's defense. You know, we're not competing against
(18:36):
other defenses in the country. It's it's interesting. They definitely
had a chip on their shoulder. It'll be interesting to
see how they come out Monday night, and so far,
do you have the final score prediction? I'm gonna say
Georgia thirty eight, TCU thirty one, and we get a
reaming for the first time in a decade. Alright, alright,
(18:57):
Pat forty, thanks so much for joining us. We promised
would get you on one more time before the Natty
and this is a lot of fun. Thank you, my pleasure, Olivia,
thank you. Uh. Pat is so good. We're so glad
(19:23):
he's a recurring guest. We had him early in the season.
It's great to have him right before the National Championship.
Make sure to follow all of his coverage at s
I and on Twitter. Follow him at by Pat forty.
He is a fantastic follow and great writer in the
sports so it's really great to be able to follow
him and have him on the show. We're really glad
he joined us. Next week. Jerry Ferrara, my co host,
(19:45):
he's back. We can't wait to get back into our
Entourage segment. I have a lot of watching to do.
I've got to get back. I've been slacking over the holidays,
not watching my entrage. It's gonna be a lot of
fun follow bet MGM on all social media and on YouTube.
We have every episode if you want to watch the episodes,
it's a lot of fun. You can kind of see
our reactions in real time. But happy New Year to everyone.
(20:08):
Thanks for joining for this college football National Championship preview
and we will see you next week.
From the King of sports Books comes the Key sports
podcast Unleashed, presented by the MGM. Here's your host, Jerry
Ferrara and Olivia Harland Decker. Hey, everyone, welcome to Unleashed.
(00:32):
Olivia Harland Decker here and we've got a little bit
different of a show for you today. Like the rest
of the sports world and beyond, our thoughts continue to
be with Bill's safety Tomorrow Hamlin. I think a lot
of us are still processing our thoughts from something pretty
unprecedented we've never seen on a football field. Jerry and
I spoke and he will be taking this week off,
So as we continue to send our prayers up for
(00:53):
Tomorrow and his family, it's a huge reminder that these
are human beings playing this game that we love so much,
that we love to talk about every week. Like all
of you, I'm hoping for a report that Tomorrow will
be okay. Sounds like some good reports are coming out
of his camp now, and despite this awful situation, it's
really been incredible to see some humanity, some generosity, outpouring
(01:16):
of love from fans and media who have already donated
millions of dollars to Tomorrow Hamlin's Chasing M's charity. If
you want to look into that and donate, that'd be
a really great way to honor him right now. If
you want to contribute for his local community in Pittsburgh,
that's really great. There's a go fund me page. And
with heavy Hearts, We've got a different show this week,
shorter show this week, all focused on the college football
(01:38):
National Championship that is coming up. Welcome to twenty three.
We have a great National Championship preview episode today as
my George Bulldogs take on the TCU Horned Frogs Monday night,
Los Angeles So Fi Stadium. It is going to be
(02:00):
so much fun. Georgia opens as a thirteen and a
half point favorite. Now it's down to thirteen as I'm
recording on Tuesday. You can also take Georgia minus fived
money line if you're interested in that. Look. We saw
the over hit in both semifinal games, so everyone's amped
about that bet again at sixty two and a half
is the point total right now, and of the handle
(02:22):
is on the over so far, so everyone's like in that.
You know, with a championship game, so many people don't
have a dog in the fight. So that's a common bet.
They just want to see a lot of offense taking
the over and I'm going to as well. I can't
wait Monday night to help us out. In preview the
big game, we're bringing in s I s Pat forty.
If you're a loyal listener, you'll remember he was on
(02:42):
earlier in the season. He's fantastic senior writer college football.
He's also got a podcast. He's all over college football.
He knows it all. So it'll be fun to hear
about the Georgia O s U semifinal game because he
was covering that one, and pick his brain on the
national championship before we place our bets. I gotta gotta
do better this time. Unprecedented semifinal games though on New
(03:04):
Year's Eve, only three of the six team playoff games
that have ever been played in history of the college
football playoffs. Obviously it's not long. They had been decided
by one possession or less. That's only three of them. Look,
I'm thrilled my Bulldogs got out of there with a
win over the buck Eyes. But from a sports book perspective,
it would have been really great to have a team
(03:26):
the team from Ohio get in the championship because sports
betting was just legalized in the state. So welcome to
the party, Ohio, sports obsessed state. I used to live
in Cleveland when my husband played for the Calves. Those
fans of their teams, they are so good, So that
is a beautiful marriage now that sports gambling is in Ohio. Okay,
(03:48):
let's break down both of the New Year's Eve college
football semifinal games. First step BSTA Bowl eight point underdog TCU.
They battle it out. They never trail to a stout
Michigan game in an absolute shootout horn Frog's wint that's
nineties six combined points. If you're doing the math, I
(04:10):
still can't believe it. Forty four points alone were scored
in the third quarter in Michigan's defense had been so
good all season. They had held opponents to like fourteen
points per game thirteen something like that all season. They
were incredible. But they could not defend Max Duggan, who
by the way, started the season as the backup to
a walk on at TCU. Just incredible. All their explosive,
(04:32):
big chunk plays. They were like unstoppable in Michigan. Offensively,
they couldn't score in the red zone in quarterback J. J.
McCarthy through two pick six is you're just not gonna
win like that. Okay, over to the Peach Bowl for
Georgia Ohio State. The Bulldogs may have played one of
their worst games in the past two years. Seriously, I mean,
stets And Bennett did not look like himself. He looked nervous,
(04:53):
by the way, something a lot of people don't realize
about Stetson Bennett. This is gonna blow your mind, just
like a blew mine. He's the same age as mar Jackson.
Let that sink in for a minute. We have one
more game of Stetson Bennett Monday night, So five Stadium.
It's gonna be so good. Uh. Somehow the Dogs just
rallied to beat the Buckey's forty two forty one. Stets
(05:14):
And Bennett really at the end of it, though his
numbers were good, gutsy coaching all around on both sides,
there was nothing held back. It was just a joy
to watch. But Ohio State really had control of the game.
They were up thirty in the fourth quarter going into
the fourth quarter. Quarterbacks E. J. Stroud was amazing. Um.
I heard that they did like fifteen hundred reps offensively
(05:38):
preparing for this game. They were just incredible. They were prepared,
they were well coached, all these things that we did
not see a couple of weeks ago. Last time, we
saw a High State against Michigan. So this was a
completely different Buckeye team and they lost players throughout the game.
They still had a shot on the leg of their
kicker fifty yard field goal, though, guys, I'm not sure
(05:58):
how fair that is for college kicker with the national
championship birth on the line. He missed the fifty yard
kick at the stroke of midnight. I know you've heard
it because everyone's using this term, but it's so good
I have to use it too. He kicked the ball in,
it landed in. Okay, now that we've set the table,
let's bring in our guest Sports Illustrated senior writer Pat Forty. Okay, Pat,
(06:30):
before we get into the matchups. For the casual college
football fan, can you explain how improbable it is for
TCU with a head coach in year one to make
it to the national Championship. And I know Larry Coker,
Gust mills On, they've done it, but those are a
major programs that were built to go to the distance
and we're talking about little TCU. Yeah, I think Olivia.
(06:50):
It's the most unlikely playoff team period and now to
make the championship game all the more unlikely. TCUs a
legitimate program in the Big twelve and sitting in a
hot out of talent and football passion in Dallas Fort Worth.
But they were five and seven last year. Nobody has
ever gone from unranked to the playoff. Yes, new coach
(07:11):
who had had some success at SMU but really hadn't
shown the chops to maybe compete for a national championship.
There picked seventh preseason in the Big twelve, and now
they're one of the last two standing for the national title.
So it's it's a wildly improbable, very fun story. This
sport doesn't really allow many cinderellas. If we're gonna call
TCU a Cinderella, why is that? This sport, as we've seen,
(07:34):
especially in the playoff era, there's a very small number
of programs that have even competed for a title. It's
been Alabama, it's been Clemson, it's been Ohio, State's been Georgia,
it's been Notre Dame, although Notre Dame hasn't made a
championship game. So to crack that's very small club is
hard to do. And it's interesting. Tc has come a
(07:55):
long way in a pretty quick amount of time. But
they were in four different conferences in the mid ninety nineties.
They were kind of a vagabond looking for their place.
Their facilities weren't very good, and then they invested and
they started building and you go down there now, I mean,
their stadium is just a treasure. It's fantastic. It's not huge,
you know, maybe, but it's beautiful. It's well appointed. The
(08:17):
suites looked like something out of like the Roman Empire. Uh,
they're so opulent and all the other facilities that go
along with it. They have those two and I think
if you've got that, and you can sell that in
the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex and surrounding area, you're gonna
get players because there's a million of them there, and
so they have the ability to overcome that that underdog
(08:39):
label that they've carried. So you were in Atlanta, you
were covering the Georgia Ohio state game. How did you
watch the Michigan TCU game. I know sometimes they have
it on the JumboTron, but that had to be consuming
your thoughts at the time. Yeah, for sure, And yes,
I was at the stadium and it was kind of
interesting that Mercedes Been Stadium is a great place and
they do have like the the ribbon video ribbon basically
(09:02):
goes around the upper level and so you could see
it up there and it's huge and bright. But I
also had on a little screen next to me in
the press box, and so you're kind of watching in
both places at the same time. But the interesting thing
about it was as the Ohio State fans started to
come in, every time TC you did something big, they
would roar because they wanted to see Michigan lose. So yeah,
(09:24):
it was it was an interesting dynamic. And the players
down on the field, We're starting to warm up and
at one point, like TC is making big play after
big play, and the Georgia kickers and sports staff are
all looking up and Steps and Bennett's just doing nothing
but warming up, throwing passes and stretching, and like he's
totally oblivious to what was going on around him, which
is I think one of the reasons he's been successful. Well.
(09:44):
Sticking with Steps and Bennett, you've covered him so much
in fact, the beginning of the season, that's when we
brought you on to talk about your cover story on him.
It was a great article. What did you see from him?
Because he looked nervous, it was uncharacteristic. Yeah, you know,
I think that that there was some stuff that well,
i'll Stay threw at him that they were not prepared
(10:04):
for or comfortable with. You know how Stay changed up
a lot of their defense from when we last saw
him against Michigan. They played a little more soft in
the back on the secondary, covered a little bit more
there as opposed to just go on hell bent to
try to rush. And I think that he was expecting
some open throws that weren't there. And the laundry he
had to stand in the pocket and hold the ball.
(10:25):
You could see that stress kind of getting to him.
And he did not play well. He said afterwards, he said,
I think I played about thirty minutes of just bad football.
And I you know, I don't think anybody would necessarily
disagree with him, But as is always the case with
Stepson Bennett, about when you're ready to say, oh he
can't do it, he doesn't, do you know, if there
was any Pappy Van Winkle consumed after does he wait
(10:46):
till you after he wins a natty? For that? That's
definitely gonna be a post natty thing. I think that's
what it was last year. He had a friend from
home that brought the pappy and I would imagine there
will be another bottle of Pappi in l A on
reserve if they do win. I imagine. So how do
you think, based on the vibe in the stadium really,
how the momentum changed after the no targeting call that
(11:08):
knocked Marvin Harrison Jr. Out of the game? And did
you agree with the call? I did agree with the call.
I thought they did a good job. I thought you
call it in real action, real real, live time. You
go back and review it. The replay official, the ESPN
analyst Matt Austin both agreed, and I agreed with them
that it was close, like a matter of inches, but
it was not targeting. For one thing, he didn't launch,
(11:31):
you know, he did not leave his feet to to
to go attack the head with his head. He hit
mostly shoulder two shoulder on Marvin Harrison. It was a
vicious hit, but I think it was a clean hit.
I think it was the right call. And absolutely could
helped change the game. For one thing, he prevented Marvin
Harrison from catching a touchdown. Second, he took their best
player out of the game, and you hate to see that.
(11:53):
You hate to see an injury, but it was a
legal football play. And then thirdly, the fact that it
was not targeting was huge because it did not give
them a first down. Then they had to kick the
field goal. And then after that, Ohio State's offense struggled
a bit too. They couldn't finish drives and and Georgia
slowly prepped back into the game. On the note of officiating,
if you're a Michigan fan, do you have a valid
(12:15):
argument that officiating kept you out of the championship? I
don't think so. I mean, you can be really angry,
first of all about the the overturned touchdown, which I
think that was a bad call. But you get the
ball first and goal on the one and you fumble
it without being hit, that's that's on you. And then
everything that transpired after that, in terms of not being
(12:36):
able to stop TCU and throwing other interceptions, that's on you.
The non targeting call at the end, look, that probably
could have been called but that doesn't win the game
for him, and it extends the game and gives them
a tiny smidgen of chance of a chance, but I
don't know whether it really helps them that, you know,
win the game. So look, there there's always controversial calls,
bad calls, close calls, and if you're Michigan, you can't
(13:00):
sit there and say that cost us the game. They
were favored by seven and a half points, They had
many chances and they couldn't get it done. Yeah, it's
it's crazy watching it back that TCU never trailed. It
didn't feel like it watching it. But uh, two great
games and really unprecedented seeing this on New Year's Eve,
only three of the six team playoff games in history
(13:21):
had been decided by a possession or less, and we
got our money's worth on those two. Now that you've
kind of sat back and reflected a bit on those
two games, which outcome seems more unprecedented, more unlikely, I
think i'd have to say TCU winning. Look, I was surprised.
I thought Georgia was gonna roll and I thought Michigan
was gonna roll. Like you said, they were both phenomenal
games and kind of what we've been waiting for ever
(13:42):
since the playoff came into being, So that was great,
But I think the the real surprise to me was
Michigan screwing up enough to lose and TCU just taking
advantage of it and taking hold of the game and
making the big plays, you know, so many of them.
I mean, the pick sixes were Hujo obviously, and those
were really nice defensive plays, but their defense made several
(14:04):
other big plays in the moment where they just were
not going to get run over by that Michigan running game.
And then they hit a couple of huge plays of
their own on offense, and they just rose to the occasion.
And that's kind of who that team has been. I mean,
I've loved watching them all year. They you know, they've
they've hearded with losses so many times, and then they
finally did losing the Big twelve championship game, and I
(14:25):
probably like a lot of other people, but well, all right,
they're out of pixie dust, and you know, they're a
good team, but they're not good enough, and they're they're
still really good team. They're really they're excellent, and so
that was it was very surprising but really cool to
see them win that game. On that note, what are
your thoughts on these games being played on New Year's Eve?
Do you think that's a good scheduling move. I know
(14:46):
they're talking about changing it. I'm not a fan at all,
and I remember I was there. Yeah, you know, I
was at the announcement whenever it was twenty twelve or
whatever they were going to the playoff and Bill Hancock
from College Football if So there said we are going
to remake the paradigm of New Year's Eve and basically
(15:06):
America watched college football on a night when America parties.
And look, I'm sorry that was arrogant, because you know
they were there were how many people, I mean, I'm
sure you heard from him who literally the Ohio State
field goal at the end was kicked in, two landed in,
(15:26):
and people are like, screw that. I want to watch
the ball drop. I want to celebrate the New Year.
And so the conflict there, which was created by the
playoff committee, which was created by ESPN, just I think
was was a very disservice to a lot of fans,
especially casual fans that aren't going to build their whole
life around watching two football games. I heard on your podcast,
(15:47):
Actually the story of the balloons dropping in a Columbus
bar and people couldn't see the outcome, and then they
started stomping balloons once they heard terrible. That's tough time
to try to celebrate a new year right there in Columbus.
It is. It is. Yeah, you're not getting your New
Year's kiss after that one. I don't think. Let's talk
real quickly about the matchup. Georgia opened as a thirteen
(16:07):
point favorite. Do you view this as David vers Goliath
is the Pixie Desk, like you mentioned, gonna run out
on TCU? Yeah, I think thirteen points too much. Have
you seen TCU? They're really really good. And again there
one loss, well, they scrapped and fought to get it
into overtime. They did get into overtime and came up
a half a yard short of at least extending the game.
(16:29):
So I think thirteen is a lot. I do think
if Georgia plays, it's a game. Georgia is better, and
Georgia will win and maybe win handing, maybe maybe win
by fourteen. I don't know. But we also and and
and the Georgia players like we're unanimous, like kind of
discussed that They didn't play very well against Olhouse State,
so they know they can play better. We've all seen
(16:50):
him play better. But TCU has some abilities to exploit
what Ohio State did, what l s U did in
the SEC championship game. I mean, they can throw the ball.
They they've got a quarterback who can do that. They
have a mobile quarterback as well. That Georgia defense in
the secondary particularly doesn't play better, it's gonna look a
lot like the game against Ohio State, I think, where
(17:11):
it's like whoever can make one big play at the
end of the game. We saw so much scoring in
those semifinal games. Both over is hitting comfortably. Do you
think we see more defense in the National Championship? The
over under right now sixty two and a half, sixty
two and a half, I'd be leaning over. I think.
I just think Georgie's defense is good. But what we've
(17:31):
seen against really good offenses here the last couple of
weeks is they've been able to expose the last couple
of games expose some of the shortcomings. They did lose
five first round draft picks off that defense, so to
ask them to come back and be able to just
shut teams down against probably too much. They look good
enough in the regular season that you just think they
(17:51):
just keep churning them out. But it's not quite the same.
And so you get up against elite personnel, elite scheme,
elite quarterback, and it's tough. And so I expect TC
you be able to move in score. But I also
expect Georgia to be able to move in score. And
that's you know, one thing that has sometimes been a
little bit lost is I mean, George's offense is really good.
They've got players, three running backs, five wide receivers, two
(18:14):
tight ends, we'll see whether Darnell Washington's coming back, and
a really good quarterback. So I think there's gonna be
a bunch of points. I would say over you know,
mid sixties in terms of a point total, would would
probably sound right to me. It's interesting what you were
just saying about the Georgia defense. When I covered them
in the SEC Championship. They kept saying, we're competing against
last year's Georgia's defense. You know, we're not competing against
(18:36):
other defenses in the country. It's it's interesting. They definitely
had a chip on their shoulder. It'll be interesting to
see how they come out Monday night, and so far,
do you have the final score prediction? I'm gonna say
Georgia thirty eight, TCU thirty one, and we get a
reaming for the first time in a decade. Alright, alright,
(18:57):
Pat forty, thanks so much for joining us. We promised
would get you on one more time before the Natty
and this is a lot of fun. Thank you, my pleasure, Olivia,
thank you. Uh. Pat is so good. We're so glad
(19:23):
he's a recurring guest. We had him early in the season.
It's great to have him right before the National Championship.
Make sure to follow all of his coverage at s
I and on Twitter. Follow him at by Pat forty.
He is a fantastic follow and great writer in the
sports so it's really great to be able to follow
him and have him on the show. We're really glad
he joined us. Next week. Jerry Ferrara, my co host,
(19:45):
he's back. We can't wait to get back into our
Entourage segment. I have a lot of watching to do.
I've got to get back. I've been slacking over the holidays,
not watching my entrage. It's gonna be a lot of
fun follow bet MGM on all social media and on YouTube.
We have every episode if you want to watch the episodes,
it's a lot of fun. You can kind of see
our reactions in real time. But happy New Year to everyone.
(20:08):
Thanks for joining for this college football National Championship preview
and we will see you next week.
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