Penn State Comes To The Shoe on Saturday With a Lot To Prove, Can The Bucks Prevail?

Ohio State and Penn State is the hottest ticket in all of college football, so far, this season. The Lions are coming in hot to Columbus, but the Buckeyes will be ready. Who has the advantage and what does Ohio State need to do to go 7 and 0? Coach AJ Pratt has the nuggets of gold for you to know how things will go on this B1G Noon Kickoff match-up!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome into the Oh Show on iHeartRadio. My name is Paul James. I
am your host. This guy sittingnext to me is my Saturday rage texting
buddy Coach A. J. Prattand you you really make my Saturdays so
much more fun. Just our textback and forth. And you know,
whether it be joyous, whether itbe I can't believe this official did this,

(00:23):
or I can't believe this. MySaturdays are made. Man, we
have a good time. Yeah,I enjoy it too, and it's it's
good to see you. But Ididn't expect to say this front end of
the show. But when you saythat about text and I was just talking
to Ernie Adams on the way over, Sure, I think I'm going to
start another book. Coach Kuzioh andI talked about this every Friday at the

(00:48):
high school, the collegiate and theprofessional level. Is the clock and game
management right now blows me away.And we'll get to that when we're talking
about a particular game. But no, Paul, we got a short week,
short game week. We're in hereon a Wednesday instead of a Thursday,
so that meant late nights between Saturday'sgames and getting here today to be
prepared. But I got to tellyou I got a few things here for

(01:11):
you before we get into the show. My side hurts. Did I send
you the trick play? You did? You did? You did so?
When I saw that, I rememberedit once I saw and I just started
laughing. Well, I started sendingit to my buddies that are coaches across
the country, like I sent oneone team that is killing it offensively collegially.
I said, hey, since youguys are struggling so bad offensively,

(01:34):
here's my suggestion for a way toget a score this week. But if
you haven't seen it, go toBarstool Sports. It's the Colts. It's
the worst trick play in history.And that comes from late night meetings when
you're a coach and you watch whata game you just played and you're thinking,
what the hell were we thinking puttingthat play in. That was a
late night when we got to thatconclusion that that was a good idea.

(01:57):
But no, this week, Paul, I mean week ten of high school
football, at least here in thestate of Ohio. You got a Thursday
thriller last week with a Hail Mary. You've got a Friday a team overcomes
in college football a twenty nine pointdeficit. Sunday was Funday, all day
and all night as we're texting andwatching a lot of football, and then

(02:21):
you got the Browns are greater thanthe forty nine ers and the Jets are
greater than the flipping Eagles. AndI have to mention this, did you
see the SNL coach Primes? Idid? I did see the SNL.
Come. I mean, I've hada lot of chuckles this week, but
here's my stat of the week.Paul Iowa is three and one in the

(02:45):
Big Ten, five and one overall, despite they are three and out on
offense sixty percent of the time sofor far this season, which is unbelievable.
And you know what, you lookat that schedule, they're probably we're
going to be eleven and one andplaying in the Big Ten. Jap probably
are because of what happened last week. But the last thing is we've kind

(03:07):
of got story time. I gota story for you, and then we'll
get right into where we need togo. DNPS is the head football coach
where a Kent State we're playing atBowling Green State University. It's Doug Martin
who became the head coach as theoffensive coordinator. And our quarterback is a

(03:28):
guy some people may remember the nameby the name of Josh Cribs. So
we're second goal on the one tightball game. Doug calls trap option.
Well, trap option means there's aguard pulling past the center. So there's
one thing you don't want to dois quarterback sneak when you've got a guard

(03:49):
pulling into your ear hole. Sohe calls trap option. Cribs sneaks it,
gets ear holed by the guard.Right. So Hug calls down and
says, hey, listen, tellhim to run the flipp and play.
I'll keep it clean. And hegoes run the freaking trap option to not

(04:10):
sneak it. So now it's thirdand goal from the one. What do
you think happens? He sneaks itright in, He sneaks it again,
doesn't get in, gets ear holdby our guard. Now we're fourth and
goal on the one, and myman goes Doug Martin is a pretty calm
guy. He went ballistic. Icouldnot repeat this even though it's a podcast

(04:30):
what we said. So he coststime out to get Josh over on the
sideline and I've got the phones onand I swear to God. He goes,
Coach, I can get it,I can get it. He kept
arguing with done, he goes,but I can get it. We call
trap option a third time, hisfourth and goal on the one, and
what do you think he does?He snaks it. He sneaks it,

(04:51):
and he did get it. Hedid get it. But he and I
laugh about that story a lot.It's funny. But Josh was such a
great competitor. He wanted to takeon the world, even though it was
not the best idea. And lovehim till today. And now he's one
of the most beloved guys in theCleveland area in credible. Now he's got

(05:12):
he's got just a podcast. It'sscoring all over the country and he shows
up at all these different events andhe's just really he's kind of mister Cleveland
right now. I think that's socool for him, Very proud of him.
But that's that's not a great memory. But we look back and we
laugh about it all the time.Did you win the game? We did
one? Gain? See there Iworked out, okay, it was all
right. When you were eating pizzalater on that night, and then next

(05:35):
day everybody got screamed at, probablya little bit. Coach, let's talk
a little bit about where we're atlast week. I was really excited because
you laid out some really important pointsand you said, look at we're playing
Purdue. We know what they bringto the table. We know what we
bring to the table. So let'slook at what's important for Ohio State against

(05:56):
Perdue to get accomplished so that wecan go to the penns game and feel
like we're ready. And you startedwith some points and I'm gonna hit each
one of them. And the firstone was the fast start. Coach Day
said at halftime he was happy abouttheir start. What were your thoughts?
Yeah, I mean the first half. It's twenty to nothing in the first
half. Only really bad play thathappened that half was the co McCord funboy.

(06:19):
Right. They outgained produced two sixtynine to seventy three. They were
six of seven on third down toproduce one of seven. So Number one,
check fast start. There you go. Number two was the offensive line
in the run game. Injuries inthe run in the running back room,
Hayden might have to give up hisred shirt, but by golly, he

(06:42):
did Okay, as a team,they did one hundred and fifty two yards
three point nine per care So where'sthat at. It's check sorta okay,
and that'll carry over to this week'sgame. Is you know, the Buckeyes
have one hundred and thirty six firsthalf rush yards, which was part of
the reason they had a fast startwithout as we've know, Trevon Henderson,

(07:03):
Mayan Williams, which I still don'tknow where Mayan Williams is. But that
offensive line also allowed three sacks andsix negative plays. Check sorta and then
chip train them. We're not realsure what his situation is. Like I
said, no one's saying anything aboutthe health of anybody coming into Penn State.
But okay, there you go.Third down conversions eight of thirteen,

(07:24):
Yeah, third downs again, firsthalf six of seven, eight of thirteen,
sixty two percent. You're gonna takethat as a coach. That was
a big improvement. Check. Let'stalk about the defense. Linebacker play Simon
and Eikenberg led the team that youhad each eight tackles and a tackle for
law. Yeah. I think it'sa check too, because it was more
than just their production numbers. You'reseeing more Cody Simon and less steel Chambers

(07:46):
by the way, and with thethree linebackers combined with twenty tackles. But
the only butt is is Devin Makabeedid average six point one yards per carry,
so one hundred and ten yards cardstotal in the run game for Maccaby.
But yeah, check mostly Maccaby isan above average or average runner in

(08:09):
your estimation. Oh, no doubtabove average because I talked to people there
and they thought last year as soonas they got there that he had a
good first year. Yeah. Absolutely, he had a real good first series
on Saturday against the Buckeyes. Thefront four getting pressure. That was another
one. Jtt and Sawyer each hada second and a half. Tyleek Williams
two tackles for loss. He waseverywhere. Yeah, that's funny you bring
that up. The secondary, inmy opinion, is the most improved part

(08:33):
of this football team. Right ondefense. The d line helped obviously last
week with twelve negative plays making fora tough day for quarterback Hutson. Card
They got after him. They heldhim to thirteen of thirty two only three
point nine per attempt. That's notgoing to do it. But again,
yeah, I did have it asterisk, tyleek, TYLERK Williams hasn't been impressive

(08:54):
to me. But those guys aregonna have to show up this week.
And what was there one? Morespecial teams? Yeah? Were they average?
Were they better? The penalties wereugly. I this is the one
that's not checked for Yeah. Absolutely, because of what you said the penalties.
The positive is Jesse Murco is playingwell at the punter position, but
he had the penalties and we stillhaven't seen that explosive play that you may

(09:18):
need in a game like that's comingthis Saturday. Well, let's talk about
those penalties a little bit, andlet's talk about the emotion that came from
Ryan Days during that game. Youand I texted back and forth a little
bit about that. We've seen somepeople talking about it, saying that you
know, they're saying that Ryan Dayhas been way more animated on the sidelines
this year because he knows the potentialof this team and they're not getting to

(09:41):
the potential. I mean, that'sjust people's feelings. But man, he
was not happy about those penalties,and they were really bad penalties, So
I get it. Yeah, Imean, stupid penalties tick you off.
I mean aggressive penalties. You canlive with those every once, but the
delays of game and not just oneor two over and over again. Yeah,

(10:01):
and that's procedural. And again Istill think they're figuring things out with
who's on the sideline, who's inthe booth. There's no Kevin Wilson.
We still have a young quarterback.And look, urban Meyer said it.
We've talked about on the show.You can't lose a game at Ohio State.
Yeah, I can't. And thatthat episode about lou Holtz immediately after
the game, I mean he's feelingthe pressure man. Yeah, and you

(10:26):
get more on edge. And obviously, I'm sure because of the reactions you
saw, it was probably something theyfocused on in practice all week that we're
not gonna have penalties and then youstill get them after you focus on it,
that that'll pish you off as acoach. Well, they also heard
you talking on the show about howpenalties are good, you know, gonna
doomia one way down the road.We talked about that last week. What

(10:48):
are your other thoughts about the game? Man? Now? The only other
things because we got a lot ofgames to get into and this one wasn't
close. Obviously, the forty oneseven victory for the buck Eyes. But
you know that the one concern tome is they were negative to in turnovers
and didn't have a takeaway on defensethis past week. Uh and just as

(11:09):
big a concern as we saw itlast year. I am not speculating.
I have no idea why. Butthat's a big ten coach. No is
the durability questions at the running backposition right absolutely. I'm not saying this.
I'm not speculating, but I havecoached in teams where the injuries we

(11:33):
talked about this last year become contagious. Look you're you're not You're not the
best player if you're not on thefield. I challenged our offense one year
at Kent State because we lost ourrunning back. We lost our I called
them out at the beginning of theseason, first meeting. I said,

(11:54):
you stand up our best running back. You missed five games last year.
You stand up our best receiver.You missed three or four starts last year
because of injury. Quarterback, standup, you're supposed to be our guy.
You missed three starts last year.You know how many of those missed?

(12:15):
Those three guys missing that season.I'm gonna say zero zero, yeah,
zero, because you got to payplay through pay now if it's an
ACL I mean you got I mean, there's reasons that are injuries you can't
play, but that I'm not goingto be the dead horse. But that
is a little bit concerning to meif I'm a Buckeye fan. Yeah,
and and you know, I lookat things and then you look at the

(12:37):
fact that they wanted to red shirtDalan Hayden and he's made no, he
has not minced his words. Theywant to red shirt Dallan Hayden this season.
They've got what three more games thathe can play, right, he
can play four, right, sohe's already played one. But here's the
deal. He was effective last week, albeit against Purdue, but it just
seemed like he was he was runningthe way he won to. Doesn't that

(13:01):
make you feel a little bit thatmaybe he needs to get the ball a
little bit more that he wants itand the other guys maybe don't. We
just don't know the reasons. Imean, they may be playing it safe
with Travon Henderson and in the inthe public really shouldn't know what the injuries
are, right, I'm all forthe Bill Belichick. Way sure is why
would I tell you what's going onwith my roster, But again it's it's

(13:24):
been at one position in the lasttwo years, So it'll be interesting to
see what happens, especially going intothe biggest game of the season, which
is what they say. Tickets areon online. Seven hundred and sixty five
dollars is the average ticket place Ihad him. I sell them, cow,
you're done right, you would yougot a better seat? It all
that's true, and you don't haveto listen to all the guys in the
crowd that don't know anything about football. Week seven. Let's look at some

(13:46):
of the games from last week.Washington and Oregon. Coach you and I
texted back and forth that entire timecollege football does not disappoint. Is Pennis
in the driver's seat for the Heisman? Yes? Yeah, wow, wow,
I mean these big time Texas Oklahoma. That's why I'm very, very
confident at PennState of High State's goingto deliver. We're on the trend right

(14:09):
now. But look in this game, how about we got two first half
successful two point plays by both teams. How about to show that Michael Pennox
junior and bow Knicks put on atquarterback and the game was like tennis the
whole time. I'm like, who'sgoing to break? Who's serve? Right?
If we can get a stop andget a score. Yeah, And

(14:31):
look at Oregon bow Knicks thirty threeor forty four, three thirty seven,
two touchdowns, zero turnovers, BuckyIrving. To be a good back,
you either got to get yards aftercontact or you got to make people miss,
and he can make people miss.Twenty two carries one to twenty seven.
And then you've got Troy Franklin,huge game one, fifty four for
Oregon. And then you go overand look at what Michael Pennox in that

(14:54):
Washington offense does twenty two of thirtyseven, four touchdowns. He did have
that one pick. His deep ballaccuracy is phenomenal, and he's struggling in
the pros a couple of years agoMac Jones for Alabama when they were rolling
with the Vonte Smith. The deepball accuracy that he Pennix is unbelievable.

(15:16):
With that, and then you've gotmaybe the best receiver arguably him and Marvin
Harrison, Romo Doonzay. The playsthat he makes phenomenal. One hundred and
twenty eight two touchdowns Jalen Polk.I mean he had an average day,
what one eighteen in a touchdown,But here was a key to this game.
Paul Washington scored all touchdowns. Thatlate Washington touchdown that missed Oregon field

(15:41):
goal at the end to end thegame. But the most talked about thing
in this game, other than thestellar play by those offenses, was Dan
Lanning's decisions fourth down. Analytics,analytics, And here's the thing. We
don't have time for me to Maybewe'll talk about analytics another time. A
very good Hall of Fame coach contemplatedleaving early in retirement because of analytics and

(16:07):
the pros. You got a bunchof people sometimes that haven't really played the
game or coached the game, andusing data to make decisions. There's a
you can look at the analytics,but experience knowing how your football team is
playing that day. Is my quarterbackseeing it today? I mean, there's
a thousand reasons that you make adecision. It's not just well, analytics

(16:32):
says do this. That's crazy tome. Now, he said the reasons
he did this was he wanted tobe aggressive, that he was committed to
being aggressive before the game started.Okay, there's also making smart decisions and
the three that happened before the half. Take the points, man, it's
a two for one because you gota whole other half of football to play,

(16:56):
and you get the ball to startthe second hand, you get the
ball to start the second half,this second half inside the five. Going
for it on fourth down, Okay, there's another three points. Is it
one hundred percent? No, butit's about ninety eight point five you're gonna
make both of those kicks or sixpoints. They got beat by three,
right. The only decision that hemade that I didn't have a problem with

(17:17):
was the last one. Because it'sfourth and short, they don't make the
play. But if you get thefirst, the game's over, and I
do not want to give Michael Pennoxin that offense the ball. Again,
absolutely, I thought that was thecorrect call. But again, Washington was
two of three on fourth down.Oregon was zero for three on fourth down.

(17:38):
That was the difference in the game. Yeah, absolutely, it was
fun. It was fun to watch. This one was fun to watch two
for a while. Notre Dame fortyeight USC twenty Williams I N T's took
him probably into second or third place. You say Heisman, you think Archie's
okay. I think Archie's okay,and he's throwing the ball board the guys
with gold helmets and the other wayaround. Yeah. Number ten. USC

(18:02):
goes to Notre Dame and gets beatforty eight twenty twenty four to six Notre
Dame. At half, it's thirtyone to thirteen in the third quarter.
It's not a close game. USCdefensively actually only gave up because we've been
riding them. Everybody's been riding them. They only gave up two hundred and
fifty one yards of offense and theyheld Notre Dame to three of ten on
third down. But one of thebest coaching jobs of the year was Al

(18:22):
Golden and what he did with thatdefense, he has given college football a
template to defend. You se inUSC and Caleb Williams five takeaways, six
sacks, eleven tackles for loss,Caleb Williams first three interception game in his
career. Al Golden brought five guys. Every snap. You ain't sitting back

(18:47):
there, it ain't gonna be sevenon seven. I'm gonna make you get
off your spot and you're gonna haveto make some throws. The problem really
for usc is they were not goodenough upfront. They also had nine penalties
and Theian Price ninety nine yard kickoffreturn big special team play to help him
get going there. At Notre Dame, you had to be proud that Hartman

(19:08):
was able to turn all three ofthose interceptions into touchdowns. That was probably
what put him away early in thegame. Yeah, I mean it was
twenty one points right there, andhe had a short field all three times.
That's correct and big news. Iguess he shaved his beard this week.
I don't know what's going on,but they're getting ready for another one
after that and win. Why wouldyou do that? But No, seriously,

(19:30):
that defensive performance and that was abig game for Marcus. Freeman agreed,
he's had a couple of big wins. He's had some tough losses that
the fan base didn't like, likethe previous week at Louisville, but they
bounced back and delivered. And Iliked his comments at halftime when he focused
on the little things, if youcaught it or not, in that he

(19:51):
was so upset that his players werecelebrating when they should have been getting ready
to play football, and it endedup costing him points. And he goes,
that's a kind of stuff to takesyou out of the national title game.
I thought that was great. Hesat right up there walking in there,
so God bless him for that.He learned that in Columbus, Ohio,
there's no doubt. North Carolina fortyone Miami thirty one. Coach Drake
May to tes Walker dangerous and fun. Yeah, that's that's a big deal,

(20:18):
by the way, But don't letthe score score thirty one forty one
fool you, because this game isthirty eight seventeen before too late. Miami
scores lack of Miami Ballance Van Dykethrew for three ninety one, but he
had the two critical picks. Theyonly run run for ninety one yards and
because of being behind in the sticks, their third down conversion rate was three

(20:42):
out of eleven. That ain't gonnado it. But yeah, Paul Drake
May, the percentage wasn't great,seventeen to thirty three, but four touchdowns,
zero picks. He continues to takecare of the ball. Three headed
monster of Marion Hampton twenty four rushes, one ninety seven that's balance. And
then we get to see tes Walkerplay and he puts on a show with

(21:04):
one thirty two to three touchdowns.Too many negative plays for you and see
offensively. But again I said thislast week, one of the most important
units in college football to where thisseason goes is that U n C.
Jane Chiswick defense. They gave uptoo many yards this week, especially giving
up some third down conversions. Butif they continue to improve, you got

(21:29):
the best player in every game,Drake May. They can run the ball,
and now you've got one of thebest receivers, not just in the
ACC maybe college football. Yeah,fun stuff, man. How about Missouri
thirty eight year Wildcats twenty one?The Tigers are quietly putting together a season.
What about that fake punch? Holycow? Hey, coach coaches an

(21:51):
lsu away coach Drinkwitz of being atseven and oh they're sitting there at six
and one. Now a bad secondstraight loss, this one at home for
the CA. That's you know,the game starts, it's fourteen nothing UK
and you're thinking, okay, they'rethey're full pissing vinegar tonight because of what
happened last week in Georgia. Andthen coach at midfield calls a fake punt

(22:12):
in the entire game. I mean, how about that. How about that
punter, I mean he throws athe punter throws a touchdown strike. That
was Luke Bauer. It was likea thirty eight yard pass. It was
awesome. And this starts in Missouri, Missouri thirty eight to seven run.

(22:33):
It's a three quarter route on theroad. Brady Cook continues to be solid
at quarterback from Missouri. Another week. It's I'm beating the same drum.
Where is Devin Leary? Another pedestrianday for them in that pass offense,
one with two picks to his twotouchdowns. But this was a good bounce
back win after a tough LSU lostagain. UK. You can't do it.

(22:57):
They give it to They give upthe big play on the on the
on the fake punt and they havethree turnovers. Yeah, can't win.
They got another big one Saturday.Coach, I think they're one of the
best four teams in the country.Florida State forty one, Syracuse three.
Keon Coleman is the name you needto etch into your brain. He was
spectacular. Hell you can find him, Yeah, you can find a scary

(23:23):
moment there with Jordan Travis taking thelocker room in the first half, you
didn't know if it was a shoulder, but he comes back. Another good
day for Jordan Travis. Twenty threethirty seven, three eighty four touchdown,
zero turnovers. It's run by committeeby the Seminals for one hundred and ninety
one yards. But you have putthe big asterisk next to Keon Coleman,

(23:45):
who so far has the best portalget award in college football amen a seventy
two yard punt return, a circuscatch, nine of those one hundred and
forty a touchdown, and something tonotice, a lot of touches for a
lot of people. Nine players withreception for the Seminals. That means Jordan
Travis is distributing the ball in thatoffense. This defense can get after yep

(24:10):
front, they've got some guys.Coach Norvel has done a terrific job of
putting together that roster. But thisis a dominant Florida State performance. Five
point thirty five to two sixty one, dominates third downs, and they win
it in all three phases, andthey are set to win every single game
until they end up in that championshipgame, which more than likely will be

(24:33):
against North Carolina, which will bea great game to watch. But I
mean Florida State's set up, Imean they're ready to run it. I
mean it'll be interesting to see whathappens. I really believe they're one of
the best four teams in the country. Oregon State thirty six, UCLA twenty
four. Coach Dju, your buddy, he is actually becoming the quarterback that
recruiters five years ago thought he wasgoing to be. You know this game,
if you didn't watch, it wasnot as close as what the score

(24:56):
is. This was thirty six seventeenOregon State in the third quarter. But
you know this is You're right,Paul, another cool We'll call it rebirth
of a quarterback. The story forDju finds a new home, finds a
new staff, finds new teammates,and the same thing that we saw with
Mike, we've seen with Michael Pennox, that we've seen with bow Nicks that

(25:19):
maybe we're struggling at Indiana and Auburnand now they're going to be in New
York more than likely in December.Absolutely, But Dju, what he's doing
that he didn't do in Clemson.He's taking care of the ball seven games,
Paul fifteen touchdowns to his four interceptions. I'll take three to one all
day long, all day long.Now, a little concerning Usually Oregon State

(25:41):
shuts down the run. UCLA canrun the ball two hundred and eighty seven
yards five point six per rush.But it's another week where he had a
great beginning of the season. Freshmanquarterback for UCLA, Dante More His one
touchdown is not going to overcome threeinterceptions. But Oregon State has to be

(26:02):
better on defense, third down,defending the run for sure. As expected
if you didn't watch, this wasa physical football game. Yeah. Well,
you know, when you're playing rankedteam against ranked team, as they
were. The stats and those areimportant, but when it comes down to
it, you win the ballgame againstanother ranked team. I mean, that's
really what gets you your props.And Oregon State's got it going on right

(26:26):
now. The Tide escapes again,you kind of start thinking they got a
little u USC in them. Idon't know, twenty four to twenty one
over Arkansas, but man, youjust feel like one of these teams is
going to bite them. But Idon't know, Here's this is the fourth
single score loss for Arkansas, andI say it every week their schedule and

(26:51):
then people with Sam Pittman's not theguy. Give me a break. But
here's the thing with this win,a three point win. If you watch
the first haack Well I texted you, I say, Bama looks good man,
it's twenty four to six. Alabamagets a stop, but there's a
stupid defensive penalty gives Arkansas the ballback and the game totally changed. But

(27:14):
this is the best Alabama defense I'veseen probably in three four years. They
hold Arkansas to two hundred and fiftyyards. kJ Jefferson is strong man cut,
he is strong. But here's this, Tommy Reese, I thought Nick
Saban sat Nick was going to havean aneurysm or a stroke on the sideline

(27:37):
in the second half, especially inthe fourth quarter because of all of the
self imposed mistakes by that offense.Personnel issues, delays and the other thing
that I do not understand. Yeah, pre snap penalties, they having to
use timeouts. It's bad game management. And that is on Tommy Reese in
that offensive staff. I have saidthis for weeks. Why Jalen Milroe and

(28:03):
they don't have a vertical run gamefor him. It makes no sense to
me. I mean, he arguablyis their best running back and they're not
using his legs at all unless it'shim on a scramble. But again,
too many penalties in the game.Coach, we got to talk about Rocky
top Hypel's got a defense. Myboy, was that punk return? Fun?
What was it? Fielder then ona forty four to forty five yard

(28:26):
line just put it in the endzone. Well, we're getting back to
the drama in Texas because Texas Aand M is now sitting there at four
and three. UT wins a bigone look. UT can play defense,
yeah they can. They hold Aand M to fifty four rush yards.

(28:47):
UT can run the ball two hundredand thirty two yards four point five per
carry, but the defense gets twotakeaways from Max Johnson with the two I
in T's. If I'm a UTfan, my concern is Joe Milton in
this UT pass game. The guyhas a human rocket. It's attached to
his shoulder. But there is aproblem in the past game there and for

(29:11):
whatever reason now they don't have thedudes they had last year when they had
that magic going with Hindon Hooker andthose guys on the perimeter. But here
was the play of the game,and I TEXTEDK you and a few other
guys. Was the Jackson Ross puntby Tennessee to the A and M goal
line changed the game. They gethim stopped there and coming out and what

(29:34):
happens on the A and M puntreturn for a touchdown is what you alluded
to. That followed with that dWilliams thirty nine yard punt return for the
touchdown. But it was two puntsthat changed the game. God blessed coach
Trestle. It's the greatest play inthe game of football, and that's the
punt. LSU blows out Auburn fortyeight eighteen. Coach, I know you're

(29:55):
a fan of Jayden Daniels. He'san athlete, man. Yeah, and
again, this one's thirty four toten after three quarters. Anemic Auburn offense
Peyton Thorn only average four point fourfor pass attempt. LSU defense was improved.
It needed to be. They holdAuburn who has struggled offensively, but
still you have to show improvement tothree and twelve on third down. If

(30:19):
he stays healthy, you can takeit to the bank. Jaden Daniels will
be in New York City in December. LSU offense has five hundred and sixty
three total yards. That's not goingto cut it for Auburn's defense. But
Daniels three twenty five passed Paul He'selectric with his legs as well. Ninety

(30:40):
three run, three touchdowns and anotherbig day for those wide receivers and Lacey
and neighbors on the on the sideline. But you're always look on the perimeter,
but you're always looking for something toscream and yell and be upset about,
even when you're playing well, likeLSU did eleven. These gave coach

(31:00):
Kelly enough reason to be upset.Yeah, sure, I'm sure it did.
Pitt thirty eight, Louisville twenty one, coach twenty four unanswered points in
a shutout second half. You gotto give the Pittsburgh guys a little bit
of credit. That a little horribleloss for a little bite. I mean,
how many times have you seen it. You have a huge win in
the next week, you get basyou just kind of sit around and wait.

(31:22):
You remember nineteen, it would havebeen nineteen eighty, nineteen ninety,
nineteen ninety one Notre Dame in theGame of the Century, beats Florida State
and Bobby Bowden at home, andthe next week they get beat I think
by Boston College, who was ahuge underdog. How many A coaching friend
of mine, great guy, hewas the king of one liners. And

(31:45):
I would tell player he did agreat job. Next snap he gives up
a sack. You tell kid aftera game, hey man, you had
a great, great game today,he'd say, pat him on the back.
You're gonna crap in your hand,That's what they'd say. Now he
didn't say he used another. Yeah, coach, he tells me Pat Narducci.

(32:07):
Randy Bates defense made Louisville one dimensional. Only eighty Louisville rush yards,
two iron t's off Jack Plumber onefor a MJ. Devonshire pick six.
They played in Louisville's backfield all nightlong. Four sacks, eight tackles for
loss, pit only gets two hundredand eighty eight yards, but plus three

(32:28):
and turnovers. You defend like that, you're going to have a good day.
And then the miss Louisville field goal. All of those things will get
you right. But yeah, thatwas my win. Today was Louisville.
Yeah, that city, that program, coach brom And then I teed it
up for him. Then, yeah, you absolutely teed it up for him.
They knew it. Arizona rout ofWashington State. Coach. What others

(32:51):
you want to mention for our quickhitters, Well, yeah, Arizona forty
four jet a dominant performance by JetFisher's Wildcats, and Washington State obviously has
lost their way offensively. In myopinion, Arizona is one of the most
improved four and three teams if youhaven't watched him. Quarterback who was not

(33:14):
their their starter to begin the year, know if a feat of playing at
a high level. But cam Ward, who we praised at the beginning of
the year, is the one that'sstruggling right now at Washington State. Arizona
with lots of chunk plays. Theyconverted on third down all night long.
Their defense was dominant with three takeaways. A great win for Arizona. All
right, So go back real quickthrough last week Thursday Night's game. Dana

(33:38):
Holgerson was at West Virginia. Heleft to go to Houston. You know,
this was a huge game. Hisjobs on the line, A hell
Mary miracle guys knock the ball down. Knock the ball down. So Houston
comes away with a no time winwith that touchdown pass one in four stand

(33:59):
for I go home after Friday nightpost game started from the beginning. It's
twenty nine to nothing at half,it's all coach Prime and it's Colorado.
So my buddy asked a good question. He goes, why did you stay
up that late on a two inthe morning when they're up to twenty nine

(34:20):
nothing. I was like, that'sa pretty good question. But I stayed
up and watched it, and hereit came. You gotta finish Shador Sanders.
There's that second ot I in tto end the game. Ashton Daniels
for Stanford had that three ninety ninefour touchdowns. But how about elc I
a minor, unreal maybe player ofthe week thirteen catches, two ninety four,

(34:49):
three touchdowns, twenty two point sixyards per catch, real quick tu
Lane gets to five and one withthat thirty one to twenty one. Big
win in the American over Memphis,NC State, E gets rocked by a
Riley Leonard lest Duke twenty four tothree. It was a dominant win.
Kansas now a second loss thirty twois Oklahoma States kind of got it right.

(35:09):
They're four and two and everyone gotback to back wins at with k
State and Kansas there for coach Gundhy. Michigan State up twenty one point allows
twenty one unanswered points in the fourthquarter. Coachiano's team kept chopping wood.
They come away with a twenty sevento twenty four victory at home. They're

(35:32):
five and two. Don't sleep onRutgers man, sleep on the scarlet nights.
I'm telling you, hey, here'sa guy that caught a lot of
heck into Big ten the last twoyears. That's got a new home.
A big win for Florida now fiveand two, going to SC and beats
them forty one thirty nine. SCis now two and four. Coach Biember

(35:52):
didn't like it. He broke hisfoot and a little harsh on his players
after the game with the media.But it is what it is. Because
Paul Graham Mertz is thrown for nineteenhundred yards, twelve touchdowns, only two
interceptions, wow, through seven games, and that used to be every almost
every game before. So that's agood turnaround. Last bad loss for Maryland,

(36:19):
Oh, horrible loss for Maryland.You and I were texting about that
twenty seven, twenty four home lossto Illinois, who's been struggling. This
is two in a row after theyget come off the loss to the Buckeye.
And there was a critical call inthat game. Coach Locksley right before
half, Illinois kicking a field goalI think it was on the three or

(36:39):
four yard line. Yeah, andhe cost time out to freeze the ice
the kicker, and coach Bielama says, you know what, let's go ahead
and go for it, and theyscore. And that was a critical play
in that game. One of ourlisteners text me this, so this is
not my material. There was agame played in black and white. It

(37:01):
was Iowa fifteen at Wisconsin six.And they're probably the leader in the Big
West, in the Big ten West. But yeah, that's that's funny.
Take the under. Take the under. They have taken the game back eighty
years. Uh, but they're they'reyeah, there was gonna probably keep And

(37:22):
didn't that game start with a touchdown? Yeah? Yeah, that game started
with a touchdown and Liberty Air forceJMU win to stay undefeated. And we
enter this week with eleven undefeated FBSteams. Remaining. Yeah, we'll probably
be in single digits by the endof the weekend. We know we'll be
at ten because Ohio State and PennState are both undefeated. But there's a

(37:45):
good chance we'll be in the singledigits on undefeated. It's come Monday,
but we'll see where we're at.Let's talk about those Week eight games.
Washington State goes out of the fireright into the fire. Oh my gosh,
they got to go to Oregon afterthat beating they took last weekend.
Yeah, three thirty ABC Washington Stateat number nine Oregon. Oregon's a twenty

(38:07):
point favorite with a sixty two overunder the sudden Washington State offensive struggles to
go to face a pissed off OregonDucks. All is still there for Oregon.
Yeah, they can still they canstill go where they want to go.
Absolutely, Yeah, and it's ifyou look at it. We've been
talking about that way with Alabama,but their home, they've got UT coming

(38:29):
in and Tennessee's got a chip ontheir short The soon to be extinct three
thirty CBS SCC Game of the Weekfive and one, UT seventeenth in the
country at a six to one numbereleven Alabama. The Tide started as a
nine point favorite. I think it'sdown to eight over unders forty nine.
You got two stout defenses, ahuge rivalry. Bama definitely do. Hasn't

(38:53):
forgot what happened last year in Knoxville. What offense can figure it out in
this game, that's the question.The advantage has to go to the Tide
because they're playing at home and theyhave that crowd to help them. But
again, it's all what offense figuresit out in this game is going to
determine the difference. Can't wait getoff my shift at three o'clock. I'll

(39:15):
make an old fashion, grab mesome nachos, and be ready to settle
in by three point thirty. I'mlooking forward to that one like you wouldn't
believe. Michigan at Michigan State coachesshould be a blowout for the Wolverines.
Right seven thirty NBC Number two.The Michigan Wolverines are a twenty four point
favorite in a rivalry game to atwo and four Michigan State. When you're

(39:35):
twenty four point favorite in the overunders forty eight, that tells you something.
The question is is can Michigan Statefind any juice juice at home in
an in state rivalry to at leastmake it competitive in the on a cold
and wet night too. It's supposedto rain up there on Saturday nights,
so it could be interesting. Ijust think, Michigan, it'll be dry
in our living room. It willget your darn right. It's why we

(39:59):
sell our tickets, right. Ido want to ask this question, Duke,
as good as they are, theygo to Florida State, Florida State's
an eighty nine percent chance to winthat game because Florida State's really that good.
Well, same thing, Duke's goteverything that they wanted to play for
in the ACC because their defeat wasto Notre Dame. So they're two to
zero in the ACC. We knowFlorida State sitting there at six to zero.

(40:20):
The seven thirty ABC game, FloridaState's a fourteen point favorite and a
forty nine over under. But again, when you look at Travis Benson and
Coleman offensively, that defensive front forFSU can play. I trust in Mike
Elko's defense and how that team's playingright now. They're only giving up nine
point three points per game, bythe way, But again, the expectation

(40:43):
is because of the ankle injury,there's still no Riley Leonard to help the
duke offense Winningham's not going to tellus, but will we ever see Cam
rising again? This season? Utahgoes to USC, and we know that
Utah's defense is as good as anydefense in the Pact. Well, eight
pm, Fox five and one,number fourteen, Utah at number eighteen USC

(41:05):
Southern Cal at home has started ata six and a half point favorite of
fifty six over and under. Look, this is a fascinating game to me
because of what you just said aboutUtah's defense against now an exposed USC offense.
Right, all they got to dois see what coach Golden did.
And there's no better copycatters in theworld than football coaches. Right, And

(41:27):
Utah struggles on offense versus a USCdefense that's been questioned all year. They
played better last week, But yeah, this is this is a fascinating game
to me. Clemson at Miami isthis where Miami finally stands up and says
we want to be somebody and we'regoing to prove it. Well, this
is off of bye week for Clemson. I believe I think I'm right on
that. Yeah, the eight pmACC network. Clemson's on the road,

(41:49):
a three and a half point favoriteat Miami. Is this a must win?
You got two four or two teamssitting there in the ACC. Is
this a must win for both ofthese teams to go to the direction they
wanted this season to go. Miami'sd at home. Kate Klubnick, by
the way, if you haven't paidattention, has had a solid year fourteen

(42:10):
hundred yards, eleven touchdowns and onlytwo picks. This is a game that's
the same thing, a game thatmust win. Oklahoma State at West Virginia.
West Virginia season is on the brink. Oklahoma State has a chance to
really tell some people they're good.Yeah, I mean three thirty ESPN Oklahoma
State as a three and a halfpoint dog at West Virginia. Oklahoma State,

(42:34):
we've talked about the last two weekswins against Ky State and Kansas.
They're bouncing back. We had concernsfor this team a couple of weeks ago.
West Virginia just comes off a devastatingHail Mary loss. Favor West Virginia's
defense at home versus OSU offense.That's kind of where I'm leaning everybody has
been beating up on Auburn. It'sOld missus turn. You think they'll do

(42:55):
it when they go there Saturday.You know this one, the seven PESPN
game, Old Miss is off ofby sitting there at five and one,
they're six and a half point favoritesat a three and three Auburn that struggled
to score. Something's up with thisspread? Man? Yeah, Vegas knows
something that I don't know. Imean, they know a lot that I
don't know. By the way,Yeah, I'm very surprised Ole Miss is

(43:19):
only a six. Auburn's a toughplace to play. I get that,
but Ole Miss has been playing wellon defense. We know they can score
points, and they're only a sixand a half point favorite. And uh
yeah, that's a surprise to mebecause Old Miss is the eighth best score
offense in college football, averaging fortyone point seven a game. And what
you've got here is you got aspread or you've got an over under that's

(43:40):
fifty six and a half. Yeah, it's surprising. How about that over
and under for the Iowa game thirtyone? Did you see that? What
other games you're interested in coaching?Well, we got the Thursday seven pm
eat ESPN game. This is good. This is a good game to watch
because you've got an undefeated JMU that'sa three and a half point favorite at
a pretty solid four and two Marshallthree thirty sec network. This team desperately

(44:07):
needs a win. You got twoand four South Carolina going to a team
that's six and one, a twentythreeank Missouri who's a seven point seven point
favorite, and then you got threethirty NBC. This is the one.
Yeah, Paul, you just mentionedthat three and three Minnesota at number twenty

(44:28):
four Iowa over under thirty one.Yeah, and I was a three and
a half point favorite. You don'thave to score a lot. I mean,
you tell your guys, guys,we find three scores, that we
score seventeen points, chances are we'regonna win this game because Minnesota is pretty
good on defense. The Big Tennetwork a critical game. One of these

(44:49):
two teams will be four and threeafter Week eight Northwestern at Nebraska, and
obviously you would be shocked. Iwould be shocked, and I would be
very proud of Northwestern's efforts if theycan get the four and three. But
the game is at Nebraska. Andthat's all I got this week. Paul,
There's plenty of material there. There'ssome really good stuff. Coach my

(45:13):
absolute favorite part of the program.We've got to find out who the semi
finalists are and who is coach AjaysWin the Day Award winner. Well,
here's this week's barely didn't make itall right Win the Day. The suspects
are the first one. Almost theunbelievable feeling for the non expecting Browns and

(45:38):
Jets fans. They have had tofeel like they were on medication to make
them feel good all weekend and thisweek never saw it coming. Next one,
you can make a case for allthese Stanford wide receiver again Elick Iron
Mounter thirteen catches, two ninety fourthat game as unbelievable what he did in

(46:00):
that second half to help his coachTroy Taylor down twenty nine zero at Colorado
at Verse Prime and they find away to come back and win that game
in two overtimes. Great job forhit by him, his staff and those
kids. And then I just haveto change one letter. We're going to

(46:22):
go from Troy Taylor to Tory.Yeah, Taylor, do you know who
Tory Taylor is assisted by his goodfriend Brian Farrence to help him as the
punter to win the Ray Guy Awardforty five punts two and seventy five yards

(46:42):
a's forty eight and a half yardaverage. He has more yards punting than
Brian Farren's offense does for the year. These are facts. So this one
almost won because it is great byBrian Farrence assisting and helping his guy Tory
Taylor win the Ray Guy wore andmaybe get drafted. Who knows right,

(47:05):
But last but not least the winner, It ain't. It really wasn't close.
It's tes Walker versus the NC doubleA. They got new evidence.
Paul. Yeah, it's a miracle. They found something they didn't know about.
And what I think that was isthey heard Johnny Cochran or he's got

(47:27):
these. Johnny Cochran's going to gopresent the case in NC DOUBLEA. We
ain't win in that case. Soit was right and great to see tes
Walker back where the kid should havebeen and Mac Brown blistering the NC double
A, which he should have.But what does tes Walker do. He
gets to go do what he shouldhave been doing, and he goes and
lights it up. And helps NorthCarolina and now he's on a team that
has the possibility to be in thefinal four. So great job tes Walker

(47:51):
and Johnny Cochran agreed. And I'lltell you if you want to see a
great video, if you play aroundYouTube at all, do a search of
tes Walker getting told by Mac Brownthat he got reinstated. That's a video
that right now, I got thehair standing up on my arms. That's
a great video because that young mangot a chance to go back and do
what he because he should have beendoing it anyway anyway. At least the

(48:14):
NCAA got it right eventually. Right, big noon game in Columbus on Saturday,
the sixth unbeaten team to challenge theBuckeyes. It's Penn State. They're
the best ones so far by farright coach. How does Ohio State beat
the Nitney Lyons at noon on Saturday? Well, both of these teams starting

(48:36):
six and zero. The Buckeyes,as of the me leaving work late this
afternoon, is a four point favoriteat home with a forty six and a
half over under. So here's whatwe got with Penn State. You got
the number four score offense in thecountry averaging forty four point three. The

(48:57):
Buckeyes are sitting there strength versus strengththe number three score defense in the country
at nine point sixty seven. Flipit. The second score defense in the
country, giving up only eight pointsa game is Penn State, where there's
a little difference here where the scoreoffense for the Buckeyes is twentieth good,
but it's not a top ten offensecompared to the five and two that you

(49:19):
saw for the for the Nidney Lions. The Nittney Lions are number two in
turnover margin in college football plus ten. Yeah, the Buckeyes are number thirty
or thirty six at plus two.Number one oh eight in pass passing yards

(49:40):
are Penn State at ten point sevenper pass where the buck Eyes are temph
There's a big difference there for sure, Marvin Harrison, Yeah, fifteen point
two and explosion plays. Penn Stateis fifty fourth yards per rush verse the

(50:00):
buck Eyes that are fifty eighth atfour point two yards per rush. So
let's look at Penn State coach JamesFranklin year ten Manny die as former head
coach, the defensive coordinator and formerOhigh State assistant Mike Yourrisich as their offensive
coordinator. Now what I've heard allweek, and you know, I know

(50:22):
coach Franklin pretty well. I wantedto get this because I've heard all week
and it's a fact. And you'rea fan of coach yoursie too, and
a fan of coach Das. We'regoing to get to that, but I
wanted to This is pretty cool.So this is the one thing that we've
heard all week about James Franklin.He's two and one on the road verse

(50:45):
top twenty five teams. He's zeroto nine on the road versus top ten
teams. He's one and eight againstthe Bucks, and he's one and eleven
verse top five teams. Okay,well, you can't have it both ways,
because I will tell you this.There are six co coaches in college
football that have coached a minimum often years as a head coach that have

(51:07):
a winning percentage of over seventy percent. You know the first one, Yeah,
Nick Saban's at eighty eight percent,Dabo Swiney's at eighty six percent,
Jim Harball's at seventy eight percent,Brian Kelly's at seventy four percent. The
next two people probably would be surprised. Both at seventy percent are James Franklin

(51:27):
and Kyle Whittingham. So him catchinggrief that he can't coach as a bunch
of garbage very few times and thoselosses is he had better talent than the
opponents. And most of those timesit was Ohio State Michigan. So here's
what we're looking at, the orthe good Wisconsin team. That's right.
So the best win for me whenI look at there without a doubt is

(51:52):
we know how good I was defensivelyin special teams. Penn States beat them
thirty one to nothing. I meanthat's they handled them mightily. This one
caught my I didn't know this untilthis weekend. What defense leads the country

(52:13):
in sacks? I will assume PennState. Yeah, they're twenty seven sacks
in six games. Wow, twentyseven sacked. Now quite a few of
those came last week against hu MaskYeah, but still they have the number
two score defense. They're athletic.When we look at their defense, they're

(52:36):
athletic. They play what's three tofour, but it's a multiple front.
They're up the field. They're gonnapenetrate. You'll see times in the game
when they've got two guys with theirhands in the dirt. Sometimes three guys
with hands in the dirt, sometimesfour guys with hands in the dirt.
They're single safety, they're two safety. They've placed some man zero, they
play some man free, they playsome zone pressure. You're getting the kitchen

(52:59):
sink from manny. They're talented.Chop Robinson is one of the best defensive
linemen in the Big Ten, andhe's not the one because it's a dice
to Isaac that's leading Penn State insacks. Abdul Carter is a talent,
and klem King is one of thebest cornerbacks in the Big Ten. This

(53:20):
is a talented bunch that's playing fastand have figured out what coach Diaz wants
to do. So then we lookat them offensively. Haven't thrown an interception?
Really, Ayler hasn't eleven, twelveand twenty one personnel. They're multiple
information. You're gonna get some spread. They're going to run the zone.

(53:43):
They're gonna run RPOs, put youin run past conflict when they are more
play action. When you're getting thetwelve personnel one back, two tight and
two back or too tight end oneback, what you're also going to see
is you're going to see a youngquarterback in a stadium that he's never played

(54:04):
in, kind of like what KyleMcCord had to face when he went to
Notre Dame Andrew Roller. But thetwo backs they got arguably as good as
any two backs in the country,and Nick Singleton and k Tron Allen.
The one bright spot they've had onthe perimeter with some bigger plays is KeAndre
Lambert Smith. And you've got afirst round draft pick at left tackle in
fashion neu last phase not last thethird phase mentioned. They've got a pretty

(54:30):
good guy that returns kicks. Itcould factor in Nichola. Nick Singleton is
their kick returner, so let's notlet him touch the ball. We're gonna
wrap this up this way, Paul, because you could say this about all
big especially big games. The biggames come down to these typically six or

(54:52):
seven things. You can name him. I've talked about him with you for
five years on the show. Turnovers, explosives, Do you make them?
Do you limit them? Red zoneoffense? Are we scoring touchdowns instead of
field goals? Red zone defense?Are we holding them to field goals instead
of giving up touchdowns? Third downconversions, and special team a big special

(55:15):
team play usually a game of anymagnitude, whoever wins those right there is
going to win the game. Butalso you can say two places where games
are a lot of times decided quarterbackplay and who wins the line of scrimmage?

(55:39):
Who wins the line of scrimmage.So I'll wrap up with saying this,
they're coming after Kyle Accord. Youcan take that to the bank,
and they lead the country in sacks, so we know they can get home.
OSU needs to force aler to beatthem. I would sell out that

(56:05):
those two running backs are not goingto beat me. They've caught Heck,
you saw the meltdown by coach Franklin, the guys that have just chucked the
ball down the field because they're notgetting a lot of big plays. They've
got very few plays over twenty yardsin the past game. And hey,
you got the best defensive coordinators thatare on defensive coaches that I've ever been

(56:25):
around. Is we're going to takeaway what they want to do, and
they're good at at all costs.Are almost all costs is I think that's
what the buck eye defense has todo. They're gonna say, okay,
Drew Aller. You ain't been ina stadium like this as the starter before.
It's going to be loud. Thosetwo backs ain't beating us, but

(56:50):
last and expect a low score inthis game. By the way, my
opinion, here's where the heat is. All eyes have to be on those
five big guys the offensive line forthe Ohio State Buckeye Saturday. If they
don't play well, they're gonna getbeat. If they show up, can
run the rock and they can protectKyle McCord, they're gonna win the football

(57:15):
game. So it's gonna be interestingbecause that's the strength of Penn State,
is how they get after offensive linesand get after quarterbacks and create negative plays.
So in my opinion, all thepressure is on Ohio State's front offensive
front. You heard it here first. That's how they win that game.

(57:36):
Twelve noon Fox Saturday tickets going forseven hundred and fifty dollars on the secondary
market. Wow. I mean Ijust when I read that, it blew
up like seven hundred and forty sixdollars on a secondary market, I'm like
wow. And it might be alittle wet, it might be a little
windy, it might be a littleChili. That's the forecast right now for

(57:58):
twelve noon on Saturday. And andI'm not saying this is get High State
fans rouled up. The strength ofOhio State's offense is more in the passing
game and the perimeter Penn State obviously, as I said, is that run
game. You know, the wind'sblowing its rain, and the rain doesn't
really affect my opinion as much aswind does in the past game. In
fact, sometimes it's actually an advantagebecause the receiver knows when and where he's

(58:22):
cutting and the dB has to react. So the Ohio State's third game playing
in the rain at one point,if it happens, if that rain happens,
that's actually pretty good for you.You get this point, you're like,
geez, man, we haven't playeda game in the rain yet.
Well, High State's ready to playtheir third on Saturday. Coach, great

(58:43):
stuff as always, Man, you'rethe show pony. Look at all that
look you put the script together.And if you are just catching this podcast,
it is the oh Show on iHeartRadio. Make sure you hit follows so
you get a notification every time wepost one. That's Coach A. J.
Pratt, The Brains of the organization. You guys have a great one

(59:06):
in go box.