September 21, 2023 • 51 mins
Coach AJ Pratt has the details of who the Buckeyes are right now, and who they could be on Saturday night in South Bend. Coach Pratt breaks down the Bucks and The Irish in all three phases of the game, and answers the question, "Can both teams still achive their goals, regardless of Saturday's outcome?" Join us and share with your sports fan friends!
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(00:00):
Welcome into the Oh Show on iHeartRadio. My name is Paul James.
I am your host. I amseated next to the expert COAJJ. Pratt.
How you doing? Man? Where'sthe expert? Because right there,
right over there, you have tobe in the stadium last week. Man,
Hey, you know somebody called mean expert today she all theres a
lot of respect for our good friendFaults. Will you tell me all the
(00:21):
time? You're the second best coachin that humble pie. Man, it's
a good thing. Man having agood week. I'm having a great week.
I'm learning brand new things in mynew position with the company. And
every day when I get off myshift, my brain is sore. That's
how That's how hard I've been workingon this new position I have. It's
(00:41):
very challenging but very rewarding. Soyeah, so I'm tired and I'm getting
ready to go to third Thursday.What the heck's wrong with me? Yeah,
I'll tell you what I'm doing.I gotta get I gotta get back
to work, and then I gotto watch football tonight. I think my
wife's gonna be upsei because I'm gettingo going to a volleyball game. Oh
(01:02):
no, it's good. It's goodto see you, Paul. It's uh
yeah, today running through hell withgasoline underwear on. It's been it's been
busy. But that's a good thing. Hey, it really is a good
thing. Let's talk football. Youknow. The Big ten took their shots
over the weekend. The mac hada really good day. We'll talk up
sets here in a little bit.The Buffalos drew up more drama on what
(01:25):
some thought We're gonna be a reallykind of a whole hum weekend last week.
But really the games were pretty entertaining, especially if you stayed up till
two o'clock in the morning and everythinggoing on in Colorado. But it really
ended up being a much more entertainingweekend than everybody thought it would be.
College football delivers, I mean,the overreaction of the coming week schedule,
(01:49):
it's not that strong and it goesback. It's it's respect your opponent,
right, I mean some of thegames that we saw were the heavy favorite
was in the games in questioned thelast snaps, Yeah you you respect your
your opponent. Uh, eighteen totwenty three year olds get distracted, listen
(02:12):
to the noise, look to nextweek. We're still remember last week that
the studies being out of town,you know, anything like that. But
the other thing that's changed the gameis the portal. It's changed depth and
and and the quarterback play. Thedepth has changed because if you're a good
player and you're a two, you'regoing elsewhere to be a one. That
happens a lot. So you're startingto get where there's there's more likeness.
(02:38):
I mean, no way I askedyou last year. There's gonna be eight
teams, uh going into the fourthweek of the season out of the Pac
twelve ranked in the top twenty five. But yeah, you look at the
Big Ten, h Washington rolls Sparty, but we kind of expected that Tar
Heels whip Minnesota. That was thatwas. They took him to the shed.
(03:00):
Uh, Duke flushes Northwestern, whichwe probably expected. That Louisville gets
to Indiana and Syracuse goes on theroad to beat Purdue. So yeah,
there's some losses in the Big Tenout of conference. A gym as you
a gym over type thriller in Coloradowith Colorado fourth quarter comeback shoulder Sanders play
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again, wasn't ninety eight yards toget him back and then you look Georgia
fsu Bama struggle, and then you'vegot Florida bullying ut in the swamp.
Yeah, two thousand and three wasthe last time the Valls went to the
swamp and one, and that wasa big deal for Billy Napier. I
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know we're going to get to that. The Pac twelve man, it's strong
as hemp rope it is. It'sit's deep so far. And you could
make a case for about my ourErnie Adams and I as we speak every
week about college football, I cannotremember a season in my lifetime where I
(04:06):
literally go through the top twenty fiveand I can seriously put a finger on
about fifteen teams and say this couldbe their year. And we're about to
find out a lot this week.Oh, there's no question we're gonna find
out a lot this week. We'regonna find out a lot about our Buckeyes,
who last week beats WKU sixty three. Ten. You were there.
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You heard Ryan Day say at theskull session that his team was gonna quote
take the next step and turn everythingup against Western Kentucky. And you gotta
believe that happened, right, Yeah, So you know fortunate enough to get
to play there in O two andoh seven. This was the second time
since nineteen ninety five that I've satin the stadium. That's gotta and I
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appreciate Gary and his friendship and thegreat tickets, his friend Brent. And
then the other thing is we hadgreat friends come up from Bowling Green,
Kentucky. Our son Alex and hisgirlfriend joined us. I tailgated for the
first time since nineteen ninety five ata high state game. I went to
a skull session for the first timesince nineteen ninety five for our friends to
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see that my dad his wife werethere. It was cool. I got
to tailgate with WKU fans at theWKU tailgate and see some people I haven't
seen in a long time. ButI gotta tell you a story time with
Aj and Paul. I gotta tella quick, funny story that I was
reminded of. Looking at the middleof the field in two thousand and two.
I'm young, dumb, kind ofin all. I'm standing on the
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fifty and here comes Jim Tressell walkingright towards me. Pregame right. One
of my duties was the time thelong snapper and short snapper to see what
it was in real time if wehad a chance to get there to block
a kick and an embarrassing moment inmy coaching career. Jim Tressell comes up,
nice and cool, coach, howare you doing? Face to face,
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shakes hand, coach, good tomeet you right here center stage and
O High Stadium. He was housedthose times on those snaps. Aja,
he didn't say a j coach,and I said, pretty good. He
goes, yeah, if you wereactually on the time, the one that
actually plays in the games here,his are even better. And I felt,
I felt. I walk over tothe head coach, I said,
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man, I just got it fromJim Tressell at the fifty before they whip
us in that game. But yeah, bond memories at Ohio Stadium, that's
a true story. So look,look we can get through this one pretty
quick. Thirty five second quarter points. Very impressive. Let's see it live
in color. Calm accord, verysolid day. We've seen him get better
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each week. Nineteen of twenty three, three eighteen, three touchdowns, zero
interceptions. He looks in charge.Eight players with carries, with explosiveness.
When we are starting to see againfrom Trayvillon Henderson and train them. Trevi
on six point eight per touch,chip training eleven point two, Marvin Harrison
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junior egg BUCA nine catches and explosionplays. We get to see a Carnel
Tate touchdown from the perimeter and thenthe tight ends Kate Stover ge Scott have
seven catches in the game. Theonly question I have on that side of
the ball, and we will findout a lot on Saturday night, is
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the offensive line. Have they improvedbecause WKU can score, but they're not
very good on that side. Ondefense, good news, all touchdowns,
now field goals, all touchdowns,special teams nine of nine. It's good.
Kick nine pats, but nine ofnine they covered and a few times
that they had a lot of kickoffsI think two punts. And then you
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look at defense. Here's the bottomline. It's about points giving up.
Give me one stat it's points givenup. The Buckeyes, no matter who
they've played, they've given up twentytotal points in two games. They hold
WKU to ten and w KU canscore. They didn't. They gave up.
The defense gave up one run Paulover ten yards. That's impressive.
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I don't care who you're playing eightnegative plays on defense. That's a big
improvement. That's something I've brought upthe last every week. YEA, four
takeaways again, big improvement. Theygot off the field. WKU was three
of fifteen on third down, andI like the eye test through three weeks
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of the linebacker play and the secondary. My question mark on the other side
of the ball is the front four. It's to be determined. But it
was a good day for the Buckeyes. So without getting into what we're going
to talk about later with Notre Dame, you believe that right now, if
there's one thing that everyone should focuson Saturday, it's controlling the line of
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scrimmage on both sides. That'll proveif Ohio State is really getting better if
they can control the line of scrimmageagainst a team that's legitimately one of the
best teams in the country. Imean, it comes down to, and
I'll say it again in the show, explosion plays and turnovers are always two
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of the biggest factors, if notthe two biggest, But most games at
any level are still one and losta lot of the times up front,
and if you can win and dominatethe line of scrimmage. Typically things are
going to go well for you.Okay, well, we're gonna talk more
about that when we get to theback end of the show. Let's talk
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about the week three key games.There were a bunch of them. We
didn't think there was going to be, but they certainly did not disappoint Colorado.
Colorado State Colorado straight, forty threethirty five over time. It was
worth staying up four, coach,especially after the day you had. Hey,
let's give Colorado State credit. Imean, they showed up. The
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comments were made personal. Again,Colorado scores twenty nine points in the fourth
quarter and they're overtimes, but abig day for Colorado State. Impressed with
his play with Braden Fowler Nicolosi thirtyfour forty seven three sixty seven three touchdowns
on the flip side the play,he threw it two Colorado three times,
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which may have been the difference inthe game. The other one seventeen penalties
for one eighty two. I knewthere was a lot of flags, but
when I looked to see what thetotal number was, it's kind of amazing.
They're still in that game. Havingthat one hundred and eighty two yards
and penalties. Wow, But andstill four turnovers and they're still in it.
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But Chadour and their offensive skill man, it's it's impressive. Weaver Harrison
Horn Sean Lewis is probably setting himselfup if he continues to do what he's
doing for another head job at aplace bigger than Kent State University. That
that offense humes. Now Colorado andtheir opponent this week with Oregon, it
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has to be a concern that youjust gave up five hundred yards to Colorado's
state. They also had ten penaltiesfor eighty seven yards and the biggest you
know, obviously disappointment, and Iwas proud to hear coach Sanders, Coach
Prime defend the young man from ColoradoState for the injury to Travis Hunter.
It's just sad. You love greatplayers, and he's a great player and
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he's going to be out for afew weeks. Hopefully he recovers faster than
that they think. But terrible injuryto Travis Hunter. Oh, absolutely,
that was an ugly play all around. And absolutely we're gonna talk more about
Coach Prime a little bit later inthe show. Florida, like you said,
dominates Tennessee twenty nine sixteen Markie winfor Billy Napier. It could be
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a signature win. Yeah, thosefans win in the stadium wondering if how
fast they could get through twenty twentyfour and get rid of Billy Napier.
I'm telling you, and now theyhave hope. Here's the thing about that
game. Yeah, it was ait was a key signature win. But
what was impressive to me is howthey beat UT. They bullied them,
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They won the line of scrimmage.You could tell in the first quarter that
who was coming to play big boyball up front? The way they ran
the rock. You know your concernsfor UT is Milton, They're not dynamic.
This is a totally different offense thanwe saw last year. I'm not
talking about the plays. I'm talkingabout the people. They have to be
worried because the run game. Wesee all those explosion passes from UT last
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year, and that's what you expect, but their run game is first in
that offense. That coach Hype willsay that again penalties, but Graham Mertz
always had that what's the word Iwant to look? It was believed that
he could not take care of theball. Zero turnovers, manage the game.
Trevor et N twenty three carries oneseventy two. I mean he was
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that that old line in him obviouslywere difference makers in that game. And
their defense holds UT to one hundredrushing yards, which is good to see
for the Gator defense. So theexpectations are very high on Florida as they
continue through the season. Florida StateWow thirty one twenty nine over Boston College.
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BC lost this game because of penalties. And do you feel like Florida
State was looking ahead to the biggame this week or no? I mean
they got disinterested in the second half. Yeah, they've played LSU on the
biggest stage they got. They playat Clemson this week and the u JCC
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battle. BC has struggled for thelast two years. And you're up a
couple scores in the second half andyou get disinterested. But yeah, they
let them back in a late Alittle sloppy couple of turnovers for FSU.
Third down was a loss for them. They were one for nine and their
defense, you got a question markfour fifty Seven's what they get up.
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The good news for BC is theyhave a quarterback Thomas Castellano's put on a
show with his arm and his legs. Three oh five past ninety five run.
He is a playmaker. Here's thesad thing. What's the chances I
have no idea. It's speculation.What's the chances if this kid's as good
as he looked, that he's stilla BC taking snaps next year. I
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mean, it's the world we livein, but it's hard to overcome.
Eighteen penalties. Eighteen penalties for BCfor one hundred and thirty one yards.
Too many penalties this weekend. Thatis a lot. And you want to
talk about a show, and youwere in Columbus at the time. I
had a chance to watch it.Jaden Daniels to Malik Neighbors. LSU blows
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out in Mississippi State forty one fourteen. Holy cow. They both looked really,
really good. Hey, LSU playeda bad half. Yeah, against
against Florida State, a bad half. I told you all fair this this
was a wood shed domination. Man. Oh yeah. Jayden Daniels thirty of
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thirty four. That's a pretty goodday. Fifty four rush, three sixty
one pass, four touchdowns, tworunning, two passing. Malik Neighbors eighteen
point four per touch, thirteen catchesfor two thirty nine and two touchdowns.
It's a video game stuff. Andplus LSU creates eleven negative plays. Here's
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what I see at Mississippi State.Means Zach Arnett's got to be his own
man. But the no air raid, they're trying to be more balanced,
more physical running the football. WillRodgers looks awkward out there. It does
like, you know, he doesn'thave control of this offense. And they
have two hundred and one total yards. That's not going to cut it.
But again credit LSU. They werealso held at three to thirteen on third
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down and that defense gave up fivethirty two LSU. Wow, Well we
saw LSU's defense. It's legit.Penn States, we saw their defense.
Two. Penn State is really reallygood. Coach thirty to thirteen over Illinois.
James has a football team. Itlooks like it. You know,
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anytime you go on the road,it's it's it's a good win. Every
win's a good win. But yeah, many d has his defense with five
takeaways in this game. Yeah,you know, it's kind of a pedestrian
performance by Drew Aller. You know, he threw for less than fifty percent
at sixteen out of thirty three,but Penn State only allows Illinois to rush
for seventy eight yards. The defensedominated the day. It was it was
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tough for Illinois defense because they're backsagainst the wall all day because of all
of the Illinois turnovers. But theyneed to be more bounced on offense and
obviously they got to take care ofthe ball to win games this year.
One of the big upsets this weekend, Missouri walks it off on a sixty
one yard field goal right at theend of the game. They knocked Kansas,
stayed out and maybe took away someopportunities for them playing more mark key
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games at the end of the season. You know, I got to meet
and speak to him a little bitthis this off season's coach drink wits.
This was a huge win for themand that was cool to see. A
huge day for their quarterback. BradyCook played outstanding twenty eight to thirty five,
two touches, zero turnovers, anda huge day for the biggest recruit
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probably in Missouri football history with LutherBurden at receiver with the seven catches,
one fourteen and two touchdowns. Playersmake plays. Will Howard was solid but
costly turnovers and the KSU penalties hurtthem as well. But oh yeah the
sixty one yard field goal, whichI believe is an SEC record. Yeah
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yeah, Harrison Mavis fun, thatwas I enjoyed watching that. A lot
of drama going on down in Tuscaloosa. Alabama beats USF seventeen to ten.
Coach, you always tell me,if you have two quarterbacks, you probably
don't have one. They had threequarterbacks, only played two because some people
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think one of them was suspended andhad issues with the coach. But they've
gone through three quarterbacks and they can'tseem to figure it out. It's three
three at half, Paul, Yeah, there's no offense. Alabama at South
Florida. It is three three athalf. Alabama's defenses. I had had
to win that game, and theydid, and you know, South Florida
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battled their tails off. But look, roy Dale Williams, Jas McClellan.
The run game was a positive attwo hundred and three yards for the in
the run game, but look TommyReese, Tyler Buckner awful. I mean
it was hard to watch. Yeah, you're like, what is going on?
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And this is Alabama? Thanks justdon't look right. I mean that
they don't look as physical, theydon't look as athletic. Buckner never start
was a star. I mean hewas injured. But and you're like when
when they took Buckner this offseason,You're like, what is up with that?
I know he played with Tommy Reese. Well this is Alabama Nick Saban
offense. It's not Tommy Reese's offense. And then you know, Ty Simpson
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goes in there and he competed.It was it was better, but for
mill Road to never come into thegame. The way they played offensively,
it was no. It was hardto watch. I guess Milroe is supposed
to be the quarterback. He's theman. So we'll see what happened.
They had. They have to theyhave to. They have to plan to
play offense that suits his type ofgame period. I get it. I
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get it. So you referenced itearlier. Beat down North Carolina thirty one,
Minnesota thirteen. Coach Drake May throwsfor four hundred plus. Again,
this guy does nothing but but justair it out. It's fun to watch,
you know. Uh, He's he'sa special talent, man. I
mean he's going to play on Sundaysmay play on Sundays for a long time.
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Arguably even with Caleb Williams this andMichael Pennocks who I love ya is?
Drake May Yeah and he he Hehas been turning the ball over.
That's the concern, but not enoughto hurt him this week against Minnesota.
Look, Minnesota struggling on offense.They have lack of big plays, chunk
plays to help him get some quickscores. But Jeane Chiswick's defense got off
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the field and the difference in thegame was third down. Minnesota is three
of twelve on third down, Un C twelve of seventeen. You get
those numbers, you're probably gonna winevery time. Coach you talked about how
much you like him. Michael PENNOCKXjunior while Washington blows Michigan State out of
the water forty one to seven offense, offense offense, and oh, by
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the way, Michigan State couldn't movethe ball. You know, we kind
of knew because of distraction at EastLansing it probably wasn't going to go somewhat
this way. But this game's thirtyfive nothing at half, forty one nothing
at the end of the third quarter. Washington rolled in all phases. I
mean, I love watching their offenseplay. They're coached and I don't know
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if you see another team that hasso many big shot plays in the past
game. It reminds you a littlebit of C. J. Stroud in
Ohio State last year. But widereceivers Roman o'dunzi, Jalen Polk, Jaylen
McMillan, Jack west Over the tightend had three tight hit three touchdowns in
that game. Their offense average iseighteen and a half per catch. The
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only the only knock, the onlyknock on Washington another team too many penalties
at eleven forty one seven. Thatwas a pretty good game. Slow start
for the Horns, but a verystrong finished. Texas beats Wyoming thirty one
to ten. Don't discount Wyoming.That's a good football team. Well they've
got they've got that first win ofthe year against Texas Tech. Yeah,
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and this was a disappointing hangover forTexas. Gift Wyoming credit. They came
to battle. Sure, it's tenseven Texas at half, it's ten ten
heading to the fourth quarter. Butwe see how Texas can play at a
place like alabam on the road andQuinn. You ers, he was whole
hum Saturday. He was eleven oftwenty one for one thirty one. They
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were four twelve on third down.Now they finished twenty one points there in
the fourth quarter. And a shoutout to the running back for Wyoming,
which Texas gave up running yards theyrushed for one fifty five and Harrison Whaley
of Wyoming one ten. Hey,give Wyoming credit. They went on the
road to battle, and you gottagive Texas credit because they did finish that
football game. They didn't have to, but they did, and that was
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that was awesome to see. Coach. You gotta be proud of your boys
in the mac Miami upsets Cincinnati thirtyone, twenty four. Ohio. You
just takes care of Iowa State tento seven. Those were some fun games,
man. You know, those arethe no win games for you see,
it's like High State playing you see, it's a no win game for
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High State. You can't lose thatgame. And I think it had been
like two thousand and three, twothousand and five since the last time Miami
had got him as in their annualbattle. But hey, Brett Gabbert's legs
three touchdown passes as well from Miami. Big deal Joe Wilkins, the offensive
tackle that catches the touchdown pass havingsome fun on offen touchdown. But this
was a bad loss for coach Sadderfieldbefore Oklahoma this week. Yeah, despite
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them running for two hundred and seventythree rush yards, they could not overcome
again another team. Ten penalties,two turnovers. But two big plays in
this game before Miami got it inNo t was a fake punt by UC
I think on their own twenty twothat worked in the first first half,
second quarter, and then the blockkick by Miami allowed them to get overtime
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to win their games. Great winfor the Red Hawk That was fun.
And then oh you over I willstay we find out now Iowa stayed as
ranked as one of the worst teamsin the country. That's not because of
OU. Oh you played well.You know the thing I hate about this
this happened to Gary Blackney. Yougotta stay ahead of the posse. Gary
Blackney supposedly was offered a certain job, declined it because his hopes was to
(24:03):
always be the head coach to OhioState when he had it rolling at Bowling
Green State University back in the earlynineties. That didn't happen. He stayed
too long because there was a declineand the shine was off. That's happened
at Iowa State and Matt Campbell.Yeah, I mean his name came up
for almost every job that opened up. And now we've had about a two
and a half three year window wherethings have went south. And now you
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go on the road to a macschool, which Tim Alban's Ohio University is
maybe be the league champ. Imean they're good, but that was an
awful miss field goal call. Iwas the field goal attempt that makes it
a ten point score for Iowa Statewas in the goal post and they caught
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it. No good. Yeah,I mean it's cleared as day. I
mean that that can't happen to kids. But again, Iowa stayed a struggling
on offense, three of eleven onthird down, two turnovers. They don't
take it away. They rushed forthirty eight yards. Credit OU holding them
to thirty eight yards and OU getsout of it. Not one time did
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they give the ball away. Wow, that was some fun stuff. Coach,
any other games from the weekend thatthat you watch that you want to
mention, Yeah, we'll roll adeexis. We'll click these off like a
oozy here. Georgia. It's fourteenthree South Carolina at half. South Carolina
showed up, They showed up ondefense. Georgia wakes up. They dominate
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the second half to win twenty fourto fourteen. Georgia Tech twenty three at
Ole Miss Ole miss with the wina big second half. Offensively, they're
humming, especially on that second half. They have a big game this week.
Jackson Dart is playing really well,high level. And then we're gonna
find out number nineteen Oklahoma sixty sixpoints. It's been sixty or something seventy,
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I mean, and we don't know. And they beat toss of sixty
six seventeen. But we're gonna findout more about Oklahoma. And then the
backyard brawl. This is a hugewin for Neil Brown. Pitt goes to
West Virginia. West Virginia finds away to win. Now they're at two
and one. That's a big dealfor West Virginia and Neil Brown. The
(26:14):
big road win by Jmu sixteen fourteenat Troy. Troy, we sang all
their praises. They've had a toughstart. They're sitting there at one and
two, Jmus three and oh,by the way, and then Syracuse.
You've got a Syracuse team that what'sthe expectations. Huge day for Garrett Strader
at quarterback, one of the bestperformances in the nation. One ninety five
rush, one eighty four pass,four touchdowns, The defending Big ten West
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champ is sitting there at one andtwo. Now Syracuse is sitting there at
three and Ozero. And lastly,he's had a good couple of years.
Kalani Sataki squad to three and ohat b Yu go on the road beat
Arkansas thirty eight thirty one in acrazy finish. Yeah, and Arkansas has
got a wild win coming up thisweekend. And let's talk about those games.
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We four key games. There area bunch If if your DVR makes
it through the weekend, coach,I'll be surprised. I think you'll be
getting you'll be getting a new onenext week. Maybe, I don't know.
Yeah, you've got I'm gonna calland see if I get paid for
this spot. I've got YouTube TVnow because you know that there's another company
really ticked me off. Yeah,absolutely, And it doesn't that you can't
(27:23):
delete recordings, and my wife's like, really it records like thirty four games
a week from me auto pilot.So yeah, it looks what a slate
of games we have this week?They're unreal. I mean, beginning tonight
through the weekend. Who to thoughtWeek four was going to be this good.
(27:45):
Let's get started and talk about FloridaState at Clemson. A lot of
people think that is the marque gameof the weekend. You and I both
know that's not true, but itis setting up. It's embarrassing. I
may take the cake for the mostuseless human being on the planet on Saturday,
September twenty three. Yeah, sotwelve pm ABC, let's kick it
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off the Florida State seminoles. Arethey back? Is it is the Dabbo
era of dynasty in the ACC?Is it coming to a close they get
to defend it at home? Isit back to Bobby Bowden? Is it
now going to be Mike Norville?Is are they going to take claim of
the Accat FSU's great second half againstLSU, who are they on the road?
(28:32):
The big question Florida State two anda half point favorite at Clemson is
what does clayde club Nick in theClemson offense. Do they show up.
They're in Death Valley, right,it should be a fun one. Colorado
at Oregon. Coach Prime taking histeam down what three touchdowns? They're a
twenty one point dog going to Oregon, number nineteen. Colorado. Look,
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Oregans looked really really good bo Nicksoffensively, defensively in Eugene, Colorado having
to go on the road. No, Travis Hunter, here's the concern for
me for Colorado this week. AndI do believe Coach Prime, so don't.
I'm not being a hater. Theygot to play better defense man.
They have to defend, and thatwould be a real concern for me going
(29:18):
to Organ to play that organ offense. Right now? Twenty one points is
the is the spread right now?Oklahoma at Cincinnati another game I think at
the beginning of the season people didn'tthink would have a spread like it does,
but right now people think Oklahoma's gonnasteamroll them. Fox at noon.
Here's the question. We don't knowhow good is Oklahoma. Yeah, a
(29:40):
year out from coach Finnables for sure, we really don't know. I do
know Dylan Gabriel is a really goodplayer, and they're a lot better with
him in there, But is Oklahomaa real player in the national scene?
Fourteen and a half point favorite onthe road, and look now you see
put themselves in a position they've gotto avoid a second straight law US at
home Ucla at Utah that could bea very intriguing game. Absolutely, another
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team I don't know number twenty twothree and O Ucla three thirty on Fox
at three and O Utah Utah isa four and a half point favorite.
Is Ucla a player in the Pactwelve? I don't want We're gonna find
out Saturday. And who's back forUtah? They've had more than just Cam
(30:30):
Rising not playing because of injury?Is how many of those guys are back,
especially the one that's the trigger man. Yeah, so Lane Kiffins taking
the bus into Alabama, They're justthe drama of Lane Kiffin driving into Alabama
is enough to watch that game.His tweets this week, his comments him
questioning who's really calling the defense.It gets coach Saban's attention that he actually
(30:56):
has to say in a press conference, this is Kevin's steal is the defensive
coordinator? He is calling the defense? Even to get that reaction, and
then I think to tweet I sawtoday it's him sending a heart to Alabama
football, thanking for coach Saban forgetting him back, giving him a second
chance to get back in football.You don't know if it's sincere, You
(31:17):
don't know if it's head games.I mean, he he's kind of became.
I used to not like coach Kiffenat all. Yeah, I think
he's grown up. Does some ofthe stuff that comes out of there reminds
you of some of the nonsense thatSteve Steve Spurrier. You loved him in
the game just because you knew youwere going to get something. But look,
(31:38):
Melrose starts this is Ole miss Overs Alabama d That's the two strengths
of this football team. Lane's beensnipping. Saban responds, My question is,
as anybody that can see Ray Charlesis asking this week, does Alabama
have any resemblance of a good offense? They got to show up on offensive.
(32:00):
It could be a long day inTuscaloosa. Oregon State travels to Washington
State. Four years ago, you'dwent, why are we talking about this
today? It's huge? That istwo very good football teams getting together.
You got that right, and here'sthe thing, seven PM. Pack two
(32:20):
Bowl. Yeah, you got it, the Pac two Bowl. DJU is
playing Paul and Jonathan Smith. Histeam is playing good in all three phases.
I say it about every week.They play physical brand of football.
Don't count out Jake Dickert at homeWashington State his crew. We know they
got They've got a quarterback with camWard. Yeah. Three point favorite for
Oregon State. This I think isgoing to be an outstanding game. And
(32:44):
these two guys are starting to positionthemselves for other jobs, maybe in the
SEC or Big ten, and apretty good Big ten job just opened,
is probably opening up here soon.So yeah, a lot playing on that
game. Do yourself a favor.I did this today. I took a
little break from from my work andI watched I watched Mike Leach God rest
(33:06):
his soul when he was at thepodium as the Washington State head coach and
he was asked which mascot in thePac twelve would win if they all,
if they all had to get together, And it is one of the greatest
things you'll ever watch from a postgamepress conference. Just just google it.
Mike Leach, Washington State head coach, which mascot wins, and it will,
(33:29):
it will get you fired up forthat game. I watched that this
week. I know I did.I mean, God, I miss him.
Treasure he was. He was atreasure, There's no question about it.
And he had those Cougars playing welljust like they are now. Iowa
at Penn State. On paper,Penn State takes him to the shed.
But Doesiowa's defense show up seven thirtyat night on CBS the annual Penn State
(33:52):
Nitney lyon white out. It's goingto be loud and that is absolutely a
home field advantage. Penn State's sittingthere at number six, seven fifteen point
favored against the twenty four ranked IowaHawk. Guys, you got two really
good defenses. Iowa State again playingIowa playing at a special level in special
teams. I think they had ablock punt last week. But look,
(34:15):
we know, Paul, we knowwhere the attention is gonna go in this
game. As many das has thoseguys flying around and taking the ball the
way and all of the pressure againon Brian Ferns, Kade mcnaffair. Does
this off offence have enough firepower tostay up with Penn State. It's going
(34:37):
to be interesting to see Arkansas atLSU. Arkansas not playing well right now,
LSU maybe the best team in thecountry today. Interesting matchup. Well,
I told you that, all fair, that's the team that The two
teams that impressed me most last weekprobably are LSU and Washington High State dominated.
(34:59):
But I'm just saying that that's whatit looked like to me last week.
Arkansas is sitting there at two andone. You got LSU sitting there
at two and one, ranked twelfthin the country, seventeen and a half
point favorite in their Death Valley.You got kJ Jefferson versus Jaden Daniels at
the Quarterback Show. But a oneof these two teams is gonna be two
and two in the SEC West,and it is not fun to play in
(35:22):
Death of Valley at night, andthis is a night game. There you
go. So the Longhorns get togo across town and head over to Waco
and take on Baylor. Texas atBaylor intriguing matchup. As bad as Baylor
has played well, all road gamescan be tough, right And you got
number three Texas kicking off seven thirtyABC, fifteen point favorite at a one
(35:44):
and two Baylor. All I'm gonnasay about this game is this, Paul,
you have a wounded animal with DaveRanda and this Baylor team because they
are on a bad stretch going allthe way back to last season. They
have to find a way to getthis game so they're not sitting there at
one and three. Coach one.Other games this weekend really intriguing. Well,
Big ten noon, it is thereturn of big gym up there at
(36:06):
the Big House. You've got athree and o Rutgers that's going to play
hard at number two Michigan. Michigansitting there at a twenty four point favorite.
Well, I don't make predictions.We'll see what happens there. ESPN
Noon, three and O Auburn atTexas A and M. Two and one
Texas A and M. A andM's a seven and a half point favorite
at home. You Freeze is backin the SEC West action. This is
(36:30):
a little sneaker. I mean he'sAuburn in Texas A and M. And
that's like down the totem pole gamesthis week. It's amazing. Three ESPN
three thirty, you have a threeBYU going to a three and o Kansas.
That's eight and a half point favorite. And then you have FS one
eight pm. Another intriguing game tome. Three and O. UCF goes
(36:52):
to two and one because of aloss last week at Missouri Kansas State.
Kansas States sitting there at a fourand a half point favorite. Great matchup,
cass Shoes got to avoid a secondstraight loss. But we'll see if
John Rice Plumbly can make enough playsto pull off the What they're saying is
an upset on the road at kState. Coach, if Kansas wins this
(37:15):
weekend, do they put themselves rightback in the conversation That quarterback is really
good. That's a good football teamwhen they're helped Daniels, We'll see,
you know a little bit, hopingit's not fools gold. Every year it's
a different team. But remember thisteam started five and oh yeah last year.
So but then he got hurt.Yeah, so so that that was
(37:36):
the thing. He stays. Hearthycould be interesting, coach. The best
part of the program. I lookforward to it every week and I never
know what you're gonna say. Itmay have something to do with your tailgate
party at the Buckeye game last week. It could have something to do with
coach Prime and some of the thingsthat he said this week. But coach,
(37:57):
I want to know who won theday last weekend, Well, I
got three finalists that didn't win it. Here's your three finalists. You got
Harrison Mavis. The SEC record winat home Place goes crazy. Harrison didn't
pay for any of his drinks oncampus this week. He may be under
age and that doesn't happen, buteven if it was Coca Cola's, he
(38:20):
wasn't paying. How about this one? Troy Taylor leaves Sacramento State to be
the head football coach at Stanford rDC. Andy Thompson at Sacks State gets
elevated to be the head football coachat Sacramento State. And what does coach
Thompson and Sacramento State do. Theygo to Stanford this week to beat his
old boss, winning thirty to twentythree. That's a pretty crazy story.
(38:45):
Last runner up college football fans theweekend slate and having the most possible contenders
to be in the final four thatwe have ever seen, soak it in
and enjoy. Tried to be lessuseless than me Saturday, but try to
soak it in. But here's ourwinner. I mean this guy, he
(39:10):
is smiling like the chesshire cat.He has a permanent smile on his face
that may never be able to beremoved. His science project has worked better
than anyone could have even guessed.And that is Rick George. Who is
Rick George? That is the guywith the perma smile. That's the athletic
director at Colorado. They've sold outevery game for the entire season. You
(39:36):
can't get in to see a gamewith it. It's like five hundred bucks
to have a chance to get inthere. He is the cock of the
walk. He is the man.He can run for governor right now of
Colorado. But Rick George, youare the winner of win the day.
Absolutely. I mean he hired Primewith no way of paying him. He
(39:58):
had no way of paying him.He went, you know, I'm gonna
give you X amount of millions ofdollars, but we don't have that money
in the budget. And they've gotthe money in the budget now. I
mean they had every major morning showanybody that. I mean, they spent
days, Yes, we have spentdays there. Last week they made tons
you got the rock. I meanit was first take, it was game
(40:22):
days. Things on their way inMichael Herven. I mean it's it's it's
like USC used to be when theywere rolling and you looked at all those
stars on the sideline. You knowwhat. My buddy compared it to you,
he said, all I can tellyou is and he goes, and
I get it, you know,the rock and everybody, but they really
look like the you back in inthe day. And I agree, and
(40:45):
yeah, so Rick George, youare the man. Here's the only thing
I want to say about Colorado.I know, people, this guy's drank
the kool aid all the way.It's about the show. Now, what
they're about to face the next fewweeks, their schedules. I mean it
is rolling ball razor blades coming athim. So I mean, yeah,
(41:05):
we got Oregon, that's okay.After that, we got USC. I
mean it's you got him coming atyou. So we'll see where we are
in a few weeks. But rightnow, Rick George, enjoy the win.
Brady Quinn said, and I thoughtit was very interesting and I and
we'll probably talk about it in thenext couple of weeks. Not necessarily his
absolute words, but Brady Quinn said, we're gonna find out how good of
(41:27):
a coach Deon Sanders is in thenext three weeks, he could lose all
three of those games. It doesn'tmatter if he loses all three of those
games. We're gonna find out howgood of a coach he is and how
well he can keep his team togetherand the world together. He may turn
around and win him all. Buthe said, in three weeks this team
could be three and three. Andif we see the same don in three
(41:51):
weeks today that we do right now. He said, then that guy's winning.
And he said, I think we'regonna see that. I think they're
gonna struggle in the next couple ofweeks. We're gonna see him battle,
and we're gonna find out how goodof a coach he is. And he
goes, I think in three weekswe're gonna go it's guy. It's a
pretty good football coach that comes outof Brady Quinn. So we'll see.
(42:12):
Yeah. Last thing before we getthis butt guy game and rep wrap the
show up is the love back andforth between Dion and coach Saban. This
week has been pretty cool to see. It has been cool to see,
I mean, how much he respectsI think he said he's forgot more football
than I know he did, andNick Saban gave it right back and says,
Deon Sanders is a heck of afootball coach, so pretty good.
(42:32):
I guess their friends beyond the commercialsand he had he had Shador on that
podcast and Tom Brady says, getout of that car and spend time watching
film, and Dean said, thankyou, And That's what I'm telling him
to do. So absolutely, we'llsee if that all pays off. Coach,
this is our marquee game Saturday night, seven thirty NBC, Ohio State
(42:53):
going to South Bend. Ohio Statehasn't lost to Notre Dame since the thirties.
Notre Dame is very, very goodall three phases. They've scored forty
plus in five games in a row. Coach, they're good. I sat
this morning and listened to Brady Quinntalk about how nobody who is an Ohio
State fan has any idea of theweapons that Notre Dame has, and he
(43:19):
pinpointed five weapons on that team thatnobody in Ohio has any idea how good
they are, and he said theymight be some of the best position players
in the entire country. Now,obviously Brady Quinn is a homer for Notre
Dame. I love it. Ithink that's fine. But this team is
really really good. So seven thirtypm n BC, the number six Ohio
(43:40):
State Buckeyes a three point road favoriteheading to the Golden Domers number nine Notre
Dame. Marcus Freeman year two andthe Trance for Portal Winner with Sam Hartman.
Yeah, they have a quarterback,and you would have to say going
(44:00):
into this game, the team thathas the best quarterback is Notre Dame.
He's experienced, he's accurate, heexecutes, he leads, He's talented.
Indie offense plus at quarterback, runningback Adrick Estime and many Jerome Bettis.
They run physical offensive line, oneof the better offensive lines in the country.
(44:23):
You got the first team All Americanleft tackle and Joe Ault. They're
better on the perimeter, players likeChris Tyree and I Jared Parker has slept
on the couch at our home.Good old boy from Louisiana or Louisa,
Kentucky. Good guy, sharp guy. But I've been very impressed with how
(44:45):
he's calling. They're multiple on offenseand personnel. They're physical, they're balanced.
He mixes it up with not justperching personnel launch point for the quarterback
to keep the defense off of Hartmannor at least to help him. Very
impressed with what they've been doing offensively. Then then we go to the defensive
side of the ball. This algolden defense multiple mostly three four personnel,
(45:07):
but you're going to see even inodd fronts, they change the fronts up.
Typically every week you're seeing new pressures. Can they get him accord because
they're coming If you want to takesomething to the bank, they're going to
come after the young quarterback on theroad and try to get after him and
(45:27):
make him make mistakes. Here's thequestion and another reason. They have to
help the Notre Dame secondary against theperimeter skill of the High State Buckeyes.
They have to. They're solid andspecial teams. Here's the biggest end game
matchups that I see. I've alreadyalluded to it at the beginning. The
(45:47):
s U O line versus that Notrename front seven or all eleven and pressures
and the Notre name secondary against thatskill in space. To me, those
are the two matchups that are socritical in this game. Neither team can
allow the other to be balanced onoffense. That's if Notre Dame can run
(46:07):
and pass, it's gonna be atough night for the Buckeyes. Vice versa.
If there's a Notre Dame fan,call me right now. There you
go. If you are Notre Dame, you can't be able to hand it
off and make explosion plays. Ifso, it's gonna be a long night
(46:28):
for the Irish. Both teams haveto limit the other offense from explosion plays.
Ohio State, in my opinion,has the advantage with that because of
all the skilled kids that they haveOffensively. Notre Dame's goal has to be
more physical with the line of scrimmage. You brought that up earlier. We
talked about it most games, otherthan explosion plays and takeover takeaways, is
(46:52):
who is the most physical winning thegame at the line of scrimmage. And
obviously Notre Dame has to get aftercal McCord. But real quick, the
four last points. Here's what Isee as keys for our High State to
be successful on the road in oneof the biggest games this weekend. Can
they handle the crowd noise because it'sgonna be loud. It's gonna be a
difference. They have not faced themccam accord has not faced that. Yeah,
(47:15):
so they'll have to eliminate pre snapmistakes and penalties. Two again,
not trying to beat a dead horsehere, O line shows up to protect
and execute, They're gonna have todo that. Three, you have to
take defense. Coach Holts would saythis, when you go on the road,
you better take pack your defense.You better pack your special teams.
(47:38):
Can they win in the special team'sphase along with going up there to win
a big road game? And asalways, I am beating this horse.
If we come in here next Thursdayand we start to talk about the Buckeyes
were minus two and turnovers and wedidn't see the big plays out of Marvin
(48:01):
Harrison at Bucca Harrison Fleming Stover,that's going to mean it's going to be
a tough night. Now. Ifwe come in here next week, the
Buckeye defense, who's given up twentypoints all year, shuts down a very
good offense with a very good quarterback, and they're plus two and takeaways.
(48:22):
Buckeyes win. Buckeyes win. Myquestion, I know you can't really answer
it, but I just want tosend this out there because next week we
probably will take the team that losesand ask that question, the team that
loses this game, and I knowwe have to watch how they play.
I get it takes them out ofthe opportunity to win the national title.
(48:43):
Or no, do you think ifyou lose this game you can still win
the national title? Both those teams, can they get their goals for the
season. Whoever loses this game.Yeah, because I think you're going to
have teams beat up on each other. I mean, I don't think you're
going to see a bunch of undefeatedteams this year. I don't. I
mean the Pac twelve. I meanthey could all give each other a cup
(49:04):
of two losses and take their entireconference out of a chance to be in
the playoffs. Still have the bestteam in the country. I mean,
we're just starting to play in theSEC, in the Big Ten. I
will say, Paul, as wewrap up, I think Ohio State has
Notre Dame schedule. They still gotClemson, they still got USC. I
mean, their schedule is tough.They still got Duke. Don't sleep on
(49:28):
Duke. And then you've got theBuckeyes. I mean, I look at
their schedule. Still we haven't beenodd by Wisconsin, but we I am
a little bit odd with Penn State, and we know where the last game
of the season's played, so yougot to respect everybody. But yeah,
you can't get whipped. But ifit's a close loss, especially for a
(49:50):
high state on the road, andthey end up winning out, the Buckeyes
will be fine. Yeah. Andyou feel like if Alabama loses this week,
their chances are done. Uh yeah, because of how they've looked and
it's a second loss, and they'retwo losses compared to the way other teams
have looked and look football fans tendto overreact. Like Eric was talking before
(50:14):
we left, the Brown season isover. They're one on one, right,
But fans tend to overreact when thereis a loss. I mean,
Alabama has one loss. If thingsget right, they could be sitting there
with one loss at the end ofthe season. That's what I'm saying.
There's fifteen sixteen teams right now thatI'm thinking they got They've got a legit
(50:37):
chance and makes it fun. Mancoach, thank you, it's fun.
I know I held you over afew minutes. We've got a goal on
on our time and here I amasking questions when when we're getting there.
I just I just some interesting stuff. Enjoy the games, have fun with
them. Yes, keep your wifehappy. Hey, well you two.
If I'm not I ain't hard tofind, You're gonna know where I'm at
(51:00):
here right, we will be texting, there's no question. Thanks for joining
us on the O Show on iHeartRadio. Tell your friends, share it,
put it out on Facebook, whateveryou might want to do. Most
importantly, if you're just finding thisshow, hit follow so every week you
can get that guy's expert analysis onthese games. Expert
Welcome into the Oh Show on iHeartRadio. My name is Paul James.
I am your host. I amseated next to the expert COAJJ. Pratt.
How you doing? Man? Where'sthe expert? Because right there,
right over there, you have tobe in the stadium last week. Man,
Hey, you know somebody called mean expert today she all theres a
lot of respect for our good friendFaults. Will you tell me all the
(00:21):
time? You're the second best coachin that humble pie. Man, it's
a good thing. Man having agood week. I'm having a great week.
I'm learning brand new things in mynew position with the company. And
every day when I get off myshift, my brain is sore. That's
how That's how hard I've been workingon this new position I have. It's
(00:41):
very challenging but very rewarding. Soyeah, so I'm tired and I'm getting
ready to go to third Thursday.What the heck's wrong with me? Yeah,
I'll tell you what I'm doing.I gotta get I gotta get back
to work, and then I gotto watch football tonight. I think my
wife's gonna be upsei because I'm gettingo going to a volleyball game. Oh
(01:02):
no, it's good. It's goodto see you, Paul. It's uh
yeah, today running through hell withgasoline underwear on. It's been it's been
busy. But that's a good thing. Hey, it really is a good
thing. Let's talk football. Youknow. The Big ten took their shots
over the weekend. The mac hada really good day. We'll talk up
sets here in a little bit.The Buffalos drew up more drama on what
(01:25):
some thought We're gonna be a reallykind of a whole hum weekend last week.
But really the games were pretty entertaining, especially if you stayed up till
two o'clock in the morning and everythinggoing on in Colorado. But it really
ended up being a much more entertainingweekend than everybody thought it would be.
College football delivers, I mean,the overreaction of the coming week schedule,
(01:49):
it's not that strong and it goesback. It's it's respect your opponent,
right, I mean some of thegames that we saw were the heavy favorite
was in the games in questioned thelast snaps, Yeah you you respect your
your opponent. Uh, eighteen totwenty three year olds get distracted, listen
(02:12):
to the noise, look to nextweek. We're still remember last week that
the studies being out of town,you know, anything like that. But
the other thing that's changed the gameis the portal. It's changed depth and
and and the quarterback play. Thedepth has changed because if you're a good
player and you're a two, you'regoing elsewhere to be a one. That
happens a lot. So you're startingto get where there's there's more likeness.
(02:38):
I mean, no way I askedyou last year. There's gonna be eight
teams, uh going into the fourthweek of the season out of the Pac
twelve ranked in the top twenty five. But yeah, you look at the
Big Ten, h Washington rolls Sparty, but we kind of expected that Tar
Heels whip Minnesota. That was thatwas. They took him to the shed.
(03:00):
Uh, Duke flushes Northwestern, whichwe probably expected. That Louisville gets
to Indiana and Syracuse goes on theroad to beat Purdue. So yeah,
there's some losses in the Big Tenout of conference. A gym as you
a gym over type thriller in Coloradowith Colorado fourth quarter comeback shoulder Sanders play
(03:24):
again, wasn't ninety eight yards toget him back and then you look Georgia
fsu Bama struggle, and then you'vegot Florida bullying ut in the swamp.
Yeah, two thousand and three wasthe last time the Valls went to the
swamp and one, and that wasa big deal for Billy Napier. I
(03:44):
know we're going to get to that. The Pac twelve man, it's strong
as hemp rope it is. It'sit's deep so far. And you could
make a case for about my ourErnie Adams and I as we speak every
week about college football, I cannotremember a season in my lifetime where I
(04:06):
literally go through the top twenty fiveand I can seriously put a finger on
about fifteen teams and say this couldbe their year. And we're about to
find out a lot this week.Oh, there's no question we're gonna find
out a lot this week. We'regonna find out a lot about our Buckeyes,
who last week beats WKU sixty three. Ten. You were there.
(04:29):
You heard Ryan Day say at theskull session that his team was gonna quote
take the next step and turn everythingup against Western Kentucky. And you gotta
believe that happened, right, Yeah, So you know fortunate enough to get
to play there in O two andoh seven. This was the second time
since nineteen ninety five that I've satin the stadium. That's gotta and I
(04:55):
appreciate Gary and his friendship and thegreat tickets, his friend Brent. And
then the other thing is we hadgreat friends come up from Bowling Green,
Kentucky. Our son Alex and hisgirlfriend joined us. I tailgated for the
first time since nineteen ninety five ata high state game. I went to
a skull session for the first timesince nineteen ninety five for our friends to
(05:15):
see that my dad his wife werethere. It was cool. I got
to tailgate with WKU fans at theWKU tailgate and see some people I haven't
seen in a long time. ButI gotta tell you a story time with
Aj and Paul. I gotta tella quick, funny story that I was
reminded of. Looking at the middleof the field in two thousand and two.
I'm young, dumb, kind ofin all. I'm standing on the
(05:38):
fifty and here comes Jim Tressell walkingright towards me. Pregame right. One
of my duties was the time thelong snapper and short snapper to see what
it was in real time if wehad a chance to get there to block
a kick and an embarrassing moment inmy coaching career. Jim Tressell comes up,
nice and cool, coach, howare you doing? Face to face,
(06:00):
shakes hand, coach, good tomeet you right here center stage and
O High Stadium. He was housedthose times on those snaps. Aja,
he didn't say a j coach,and I said, pretty good. He
goes, yeah, if you wereactually on the time, the one that
actually plays in the games here,his are even better. And I felt,
I felt. I walk over tothe head coach, I said,
(06:21):
man, I just got it fromJim Tressell at the fifty before they whip
us in that game. But yeah, bond memories at Ohio Stadium, that's
a true story. So look,look we can get through this one pretty
quick. Thirty five second quarter points. Very impressive. Let's see it live
in color. Calm accord, verysolid day. We've seen him get better
(06:45):
each week. Nineteen of twenty three, three eighteen, three touchdowns, zero
interceptions. He looks in charge.Eight players with carries, with explosiveness.
When we are starting to see againfrom Trayvillon Henderson and train them. Trevi
on six point eight per touch,chip training eleven point two, Marvin Harrison
(07:06):
junior egg BUCA nine catches and explosionplays. We get to see a Carnel
Tate touchdown from the perimeter and thenthe tight ends Kate Stover ge Scott have
seven catches in the game. Theonly question I have on that side of
the ball, and we will findout a lot on Saturday night, is
(07:26):
the offensive line. Have they improvedbecause WKU can score, but they're not
very good on that side. Ondefense, good news, all touchdowns,
now field goals, all touchdowns,special teams nine of nine. It's good.
Kick nine pats, but nine ofnine they covered and a few times
that they had a lot of kickoffsI think two punts. And then you
(07:51):
look at defense. Here's the bottomline. It's about points giving up.
Give me one stat it's points givenup. The Buckeyes, no matter who
they've played, they've given up twentytotal points in two games. They hold
WKU to ten and w KU canscore. They didn't. They gave up.
The defense gave up one run Paulover ten yards. That's impressive.
(08:13):
I don't care who you're playing eightnegative plays on defense. That's a big
improvement. That's something I've brought upthe last every week. YEA, four
takeaways again, big improvement. Theygot off the field. WKU was three
of fifteen on third down, andI like the eye test through three weeks
(08:33):
of the linebacker play and the secondary. My question mark on the other side
of the ball is the front four. It's to be determined. But it
was a good day for the Buckeyes. So without getting into what we're going
to talk about later with Notre Dame, you believe that right now, if
there's one thing that everyone should focuson Saturday, it's controlling the line of
(08:56):
scrimmage on both sides. That'll proveif Ohio State is really getting better if
they can control the line of scrimmageagainst a team that's legitimately one of the
best teams in the country. Imean, it comes down to, and
I'll say it again in the show, explosion plays and turnovers are always two
(09:16):
of the biggest factors, if notthe two biggest, But most games at
any level are still one and losta lot of the times up front,
and if you can win and dominatethe line of scrimmage. Typically things are
going to go well for you.Okay, well, we're gonna talk more
about that when we get to theback end of the show. Let's talk
(09:37):
about the week three key games.There were a bunch of them. We
didn't think there was going to be, but they certainly did not disappoint Colorado.
Colorado State Colorado straight, forty threethirty five over time. It was
worth staying up four, coach,especially after the day you had. Hey,
let's give Colorado State credit. Imean, they showed up. The
(09:58):
comments were made personal. Again,Colorado scores twenty nine points in the fourth
quarter and they're overtimes, but abig day for Colorado State. Impressed with
his play with Braden Fowler Nicolosi thirtyfour forty seven three sixty seven three touchdowns
on the flip side the play,he threw it two Colorado three times,
(10:20):
which may have been the difference inthe game. The other one seventeen penalties
for one eighty two. I knewthere was a lot of flags, but
when I looked to see what thetotal number was, it's kind of amazing.
They're still in that game. Havingthat one hundred and eighty two yards
and penalties. Wow, But andstill four turnovers and they're still in it.
(10:41):
But Chadour and their offensive skill man, it's it's impressive. Weaver Harrison
Horn Sean Lewis is probably setting himselfup if he continues to do what he's
doing for another head job at aplace bigger than Kent State University. That
that offense humes. Now Colorado andtheir opponent this week with Oregon, it
(11:03):
has to be a concern that youjust gave up five hundred yards to Colorado's
state. They also had ten penaltiesfor eighty seven yards and the biggest you
know, obviously disappointment, and Iwas proud to hear coach Sanders, Coach
Prime defend the young man from ColoradoState for the injury to Travis Hunter.
It's just sad. You love greatplayers, and he's a great player and
(11:26):
he's going to be out for afew weeks. Hopefully he recovers faster than
that they think. But terrible injuryto Travis Hunter. Oh, absolutely,
that was an ugly play all around. And absolutely we're gonna talk more about
Coach Prime a little bit later inthe show. Florida, like you said,
dominates Tennessee twenty nine sixteen Markie winfor Billy Napier. It could be
(11:50):
a signature win. Yeah, thosefans win in the stadium wondering if how
fast they could get through twenty twentyfour and get rid of Billy Napier.
I'm telling you, and now theyhave hope. Here's the thing about that
game. Yeah, it was ait was a key signature win. But
what was impressive to me is howthey beat UT. They bullied them,
(12:11):
They won the line of scrimmage.You could tell in the first quarter that
who was coming to play big boyball up front? The way they ran
the rock. You know your concernsfor UT is Milton, They're not dynamic.
This is a totally different offense thanwe saw last year. I'm not
talking about the plays. I'm talkingabout the people. They have to be
worried because the run game. Wesee all those explosion passes from UT last
(12:35):
year, and that's what you expect, but their run game is first in
that offense. That coach Hype willsay that again penalties, but Graham Mertz
always had that what's the word Iwant to look? It was believed that
he could not take care of theball. Zero turnovers, manage the game.
Trevor et N twenty three carries oneseventy two. I mean he was
(12:56):
that that old line in him obviouslywere difference makers in that game. And
their defense holds UT to one hundredrushing yards, which is good to see
for the Gator defense. So theexpectations are very high on Florida as they
continue through the season. Florida StateWow thirty one twenty nine over Boston College.
(13:16):
BC lost this game because of penalties. And do you feel like Florida
State was looking ahead to the biggame this week or no? I mean
they got disinterested in the second half. Yeah, they've played LSU on the
biggest stage they got. They playat Clemson this week and the u JCC
(13:37):
battle. BC has struggled for thelast two years. And you're up a
couple scores in the second half andyou get disinterested. But yeah, they
let them back in a late Alittle sloppy couple of turnovers for FSU.
Third down was a loss for them. They were one for nine and their
defense, you got a question markfour fifty Seven's what they get up.
(13:58):
The good news for BC is theyhave a quarterback Thomas Castellano's put on a
show with his arm and his legs. Three oh five past ninety five run.
He is a playmaker. Here's thesad thing. What's the chances I
have no idea. It's speculation.What's the chances if this kid's as good
as he looked, that he's stilla BC taking snaps next year. I
(14:22):
mean, it's the world we livein, but it's hard to overcome.
Eighteen penalties. Eighteen penalties for BCfor one hundred and thirty one yards.
Too many penalties this weekend. Thatis a lot. And you want to
talk about a show, and youwere in Columbus at the time. I
had a chance to watch it.Jaden Daniels to Malik Neighbors. LSU blows
(14:43):
out in Mississippi State forty one fourteen. Holy cow. They both looked really,
really good. Hey, LSU playeda bad half. Yeah, against
against Florida State, a bad half. I told you all fair this this
was a wood shed domination. Man. Oh yeah. Jayden Daniels thirty of
(15:03):
thirty four. That's a pretty goodday. Fifty four rush, three sixty
one pass, four touchdowns, tworunning, two passing. Malik Neighbors eighteen
point four per touch, thirteen catchesfor two thirty nine and two touchdowns.
It's a video game stuff. Andplus LSU creates eleven negative plays. Here's
(15:24):
what I see at Mississippi State.Means Zach Arnett's got to be his own
man. But the no air raid, they're trying to be more balanced,
more physical running the football. WillRodgers looks awkward out there. It does
like, you know, he doesn'thave control of this offense. And they
have two hundred and one total yards. That's not going to cut it.
But again credit LSU. They werealso held at three to thirteen on third
(15:46):
down and that defense gave up fivethirty two LSU. Wow, Well we
saw LSU's defense. It's legit.Penn States, we saw their defense.
Two. Penn State is really reallygood. Coach thirty to thirteen over Illinois.
James has a football team. Itlooks like it. You know,
(16:06):
anytime you go on the road,it's it's it's a good win. Every
win's a good win. But yeah, many d has his defense with five
takeaways in this game. Yeah,you know, it's kind of a pedestrian
performance by Drew Aller. You know, he threw for less than fifty percent
at sixteen out of thirty three,but Penn State only allows Illinois to rush
for seventy eight yards. The defensedominated the day. It was it was
(16:29):
tough for Illinois defense because they're backsagainst the wall all day because of all
of the Illinois turnovers. But theyneed to be more bounced on offense and
obviously they got to take care ofthe ball to win games this year.
One of the big upsets this weekend, Missouri walks it off on a sixty
one yard field goal right at theend of the game. They knocked Kansas,
stayed out and maybe took away someopportunities for them playing more mark key
(16:53):
games at the end of the season. You know, I got to meet
and speak to him a little bitthis this off season's coach drink wits.
This was a huge win for themand that was cool to see. A
huge day for their quarterback. BradyCook played outstanding twenty eight to thirty five,
two touches, zero turnovers, anda huge day for the biggest recruit
(17:15):
probably in Missouri football history with LutherBurden at receiver with the seven catches,
one fourteen and two touchdowns. Playersmake plays. Will Howard was solid but
costly turnovers and the KSU penalties hurtthem as well. But oh yeah the
sixty one yard field goal, whichI believe is an SEC record. Yeah
(17:38):
yeah, Harrison Mavis fun, thatwas I enjoyed watching that. A lot
of drama going on down in Tuscaloosa. Alabama beats USF seventeen to ten.
Coach, you always tell me,if you have two quarterbacks, you probably
don't have one. They had threequarterbacks, only played two because some people
(17:59):
think one of them was suspended andhad issues with the coach. But they've
gone through three quarterbacks and they can'tseem to figure it out. It's three
three at half, Paul, Yeah, there's no offense. Alabama at South
Florida. It is three three athalf. Alabama's defenses. I had had
to win that game, and theydid, and you know, South Florida
(18:19):
battled their tails off. But look, roy Dale Williams, Jas McClellan.
The run game was a positive attwo hundred and three yards for the in
the run game, but look TommyReese, Tyler Buckner awful. I mean
it was hard to watch. Yeah, you're like, what is going on?
(18:40):
And this is Alabama? Thanks justdon't look right. I mean that
they don't look as physical, theydon't look as athletic. Buckner never start
was a star. I mean hewas injured. But and you're like when
when they took Buckner this offseason,You're like, what is up with that?
I know he played with Tommy Reese. Well this is Alabama Nick Saban
offense. It's not Tommy Reese's offense. And then you know, Ty Simpson
(19:06):
goes in there and he competed.It was it was better, but for
mill Road to never come into thegame. The way they played offensively,
it was no. It was hardto watch. I guess Milroe is supposed
to be the quarterback. He's theman. So we'll see what happened.
They had. They have to theyhave to. They have to plan to
play offense that suits his type ofgame period. I get it. I
(19:27):
get it. So you referenced itearlier. Beat down North Carolina thirty one,
Minnesota thirteen. Coach Drake May throwsfor four hundred plus. Again,
this guy does nothing but but justair it out. It's fun to watch,
you know. Uh, He's he'sa special talent, man. I
mean he's going to play on Sundaysmay play on Sundays for a long time.
(19:51):
Arguably even with Caleb Williams this andMichael Pennocks who I love ya is?
Drake May Yeah and he he Hehas been turning the ball over.
That's the concern, but not enoughto hurt him this week against Minnesota.
Look, Minnesota struggling on offense.They have lack of big plays, chunk
plays to help him get some quickscores. But Jeane Chiswick's defense got off
(20:15):
the field and the difference in thegame was third down. Minnesota is three
of twelve on third down, Un C twelve of seventeen. You get
those numbers, you're probably gonna winevery time. Coach you talked about how
much you like him. Michael PENNOCKXjunior while Washington blows Michigan State out of
the water forty one to seven offense, offense offense, and oh, by
(20:37):
the way, Michigan State couldn't movethe ball. You know, we kind
of knew because of distraction at EastLansing it probably wasn't going to go somewhat
this way. But this game's thirtyfive nothing at half, forty one nothing
at the end of the third quarter. Washington rolled in all phases. I
mean, I love watching their offenseplay. They're coached and I don't know
(21:00):
if you see another team that hasso many big shot plays in the past
game. It reminds you a littlebit of C. J. Stroud in
Ohio State last year. But widereceivers Roman o'dunzi, Jalen Polk, Jaylen
McMillan, Jack west Over the tightend had three tight hit three touchdowns in
that game. Their offense average iseighteen and a half per catch. The
(21:21):
only the only knock, the onlyknock on Washington another team too many penalties
at eleven forty one seven. Thatwas a pretty good game. Slow start
for the Horns, but a verystrong finished. Texas beats Wyoming thirty one
to ten. Don't discount Wyoming.That's a good football team. Well they've
got they've got that first win ofthe year against Texas Tech. Yeah,
(21:44):
and this was a disappointing hangover forTexas. Gift Wyoming credit. They came
to battle. Sure, it's tenseven Texas at half, it's ten ten
heading to the fourth quarter. Butwe see how Texas can play at a
place like alabam on the road andQuinn. You ers, he was whole
hum Saturday. He was eleven oftwenty one for one thirty one. They
(22:06):
were four twelve on third down.Now they finished twenty one points there in
the fourth quarter. And a shoutout to the running back for Wyoming,
which Texas gave up running yards theyrushed for one fifty five and Harrison Whaley
of Wyoming one ten. Hey,give Wyoming credit. They went on the
road to battle, and you gottagive Texas credit because they did finish that
football game. They didn't have to, but they did, and that was
(22:30):
that was awesome to see. Coach. You gotta be proud of your boys
in the mac Miami upsets Cincinnati thirtyone, twenty four. Ohio. You
just takes care of Iowa State tento seven. Those were some fun games,
man. You know, those arethe no win games for you see,
it's like High State playing you see, it's a no win game for
(22:51):
High State. You can't lose thatgame. And I think it had been
like two thousand and three, twothousand and five since the last time Miami
had got him as in their annualbattle. But hey, Brett Gabbert's legs
three touchdown passes as well from Miami. Big deal Joe Wilkins, the offensive
tackle that catches the touchdown pass havingsome fun on offen touchdown. But this
was a bad loss for coach Sadderfieldbefore Oklahoma this week. Yeah, despite
(23:15):
them running for two hundred and seventythree rush yards, they could not overcome
again another team. Ten penalties,two turnovers. But two big plays in
this game before Miami got it inNo t was a fake punt by UC
I think on their own twenty twothat worked in the first first half,
second quarter, and then the blockkick by Miami allowed them to get overtime
(23:40):
to win their games. Great winfor the Red Hawk That was fun.
And then oh you over I willstay we find out now Iowa stayed as
ranked as one of the worst teamsin the country. That's not because of
OU. Oh you played well.You know the thing I hate about this
this happened to Gary Blackney. Yougotta stay ahead of the posse. Gary
Blackney supposedly was offered a certain job, declined it because his hopes was to
(24:03):
always be the head coach to OhioState when he had it rolling at Bowling
Green State University back in the earlynineties. That didn't happen. He stayed
too long because there was a declineand the shine was off. That's happened
at Iowa State and Matt Campbell.Yeah, I mean his name came up
for almost every job that opened up. And now we've had about a two
and a half three year window wherethings have went south. And now you
(24:26):
go on the road to a macschool, which Tim Alban's Ohio University is
maybe be the league champ. Imean they're good, but that was an
awful miss field goal call. Iwas the field goal attempt that makes it
a ten point score for Iowa Statewas in the goal post and they caught
(24:47):
it. No good. Yeah,I mean it's cleared as day. I
mean that that can't happen to kids. But again, Iowa stayed a struggling
on offense, three of eleven onthird down, two turnovers. They don't
take it away. They rushed forthirty eight yards. Credit OU holding them
to thirty eight yards and OU getsout of it. Not one time did
(25:07):
they give the ball away. Wow, that was some fun stuff. Coach,
any other games from the weekend thatthat you watch that you want to
mention, Yeah, we'll roll adeexis. We'll click these off like a
oozy here. Georgia. It's fourteenthree South Carolina at half. South Carolina
showed up, They showed up ondefense. Georgia wakes up. They dominate
(25:29):
the second half to win twenty fourto fourteen. Georgia Tech twenty three at
Ole Miss Ole miss with the wina big second half. Offensively, they're
humming, especially on that second half. They have a big game this week.
Jackson Dart is playing really well,high level. And then we're gonna
find out number nineteen Oklahoma sixty sixpoints. It's been sixty or something seventy,
(25:53):
I mean, and we don't know. And they beat toss of sixty
six seventeen. But we're gonna findout more about Oklahoma. And then the
backyard brawl. This is a hugewin for Neil Brown. Pitt goes to
West Virginia. West Virginia finds away to win. Now they're at two
and one. That's a big dealfor West Virginia and Neil Brown. The
(26:14):
big road win by Jmu sixteen fourteenat Troy. Troy, we sang all
their praises. They've had a toughstart. They're sitting there at one and
two, Jmus three and oh,by the way, and then Syracuse.
You've got a Syracuse team that what'sthe expectations. Huge day for Garrett Strader
at quarterback, one of the bestperformances in the nation. One ninety five
rush, one eighty four pass,four touchdowns, The defending Big ten West
(26:38):
champ is sitting there at one andtwo. Now Syracuse is sitting there at
three and Ozero. And lastly,he's had a good couple of years.
Kalani Sataki squad to three and ohat b Yu go on the road beat
Arkansas thirty eight thirty one in acrazy finish. Yeah, and Arkansas has
got a wild win coming up thisweekend. And let's talk about those games.
(26:59):
We four key games. There area bunch If if your DVR makes
it through the weekend, coach,I'll be surprised. I think you'll be
getting you'll be getting a new onenext week. Maybe, I don't know.
Yeah, you've got I'm gonna calland see if I get paid for
this spot. I've got YouTube TVnow because you know that there's another company
really ticked me off. Yeah,absolutely, And it doesn't that you can't
(27:23):
delete recordings, and my wife's like, really it records like thirty four games
a week from me auto pilot.So yeah, it looks what a slate
of games we have this week?They're unreal. I mean, beginning tonight
through the weekend. Who to thoughtWeek four was going to be this good.
(27:45):
Let's get started and talk about FloridaState at Clemson. A lot of
people think that is the marque gameof the weekend. You and I both
know that's not true, but itis setting up. It's embarrassing. I
may take the cake for the mostuseless human being on the planet on Saturday,
September twenty three. Yeah, sotwelve pm ABC, let's kick it
(28:08):
off the Florida State seminoles. Arethey back? Is it is the Dabbo
era of dynasty in the ACC?Is it coming to a close they get
to defend it at home? Isit back to Bobby Bowden? Is it
now going to be Mike Norville?Is are they going to take claim of
the Accat FSU's great second half againstLSU, who are they on the road?
(28:32):
The big question Florida State two anda half point favorite at Clemson is
what does clayde club Nick in theClemson offense. Do they show up.
They're in Death Valley, right,it should be a fun one. Colorado
at Oregon. Coach Prime taking histeam down what three touchdowns? They're a
twenty one point dog going to Oregon, number nineteen. Colorado. Look,
(28:55):
Oregans looked really really good bo Nicksoffensively, defensively in Eugene, Colorado having
to go on the road. No, Travis Hunter, here's the concern for
me for Colorado this week. AndI do believe Coach Prime, so don't.
I'm not being a hater. Theygot to play better defense man.
They have to defend, and thatwould be a real concern for me going
(29:18):
to Organ to play that organ offense. Right now? Twenty one points is
the is the spread right now?Oklahoma at Cincinnati another game I think at
the beginning of the season people didn'tthink would have a spread like it does,
but right now people think Oklahoma's gonnasteamroll them. Fox at noon.
Here's the question. We don't knowhow good is Oklahoma. Yeah, a
(29:40):
year out from coach Finnables for sure, we really don't know. I do
know Dylan Gabriel is a really goodplayer, and they're a lot better with
him in there, But is Oklahomaa real player in the national scene?
Fourteen and a half point favorite onthe road, and look now you see
put themselves in a position they've gotto avoid a second straight law US at
home Ucla at Utah that could bea very intriguing game. Absolutely, another
(30:07):
team I don't know number twenty twothree and O Ucla three thirty on Fox
at three and O Utah Utah isa four and a half point favorite.
Is Ucla a player in the Pactwelve? I don't want We're gonna find
out Saturday. And who's back forUtah? They've had more than just Cam
(30:30):
Rising not playing because of injury?Is how many of those guys are back,
especially the one that's the trigger man. Yeah, so Lane Kiffins taking
the bus into Alabama, They're justthe drama of Lane Kiffin driving into Alabama
is enough to watch that game.His tweets this week, his comments him
questioning who's really calling the defense.It gets coach Saban's attention that he actually
(30:56):
has to say in a press conference, this is Kevin's steal is the defensive
coordinator? He is calling the defense? Even to get that reaction, and
then I think to tweet I sawtoday it's him sending a heart to Alabama
football, thanking for coach Saban forgetting him back, giving him a second
chance to get back in football.You don't know if it's sincere, You
(31:17):
don't know if it's head games.I mean, he he's kind of became.
I used to not like coach Kiffenat all. Yeah, I think
he's grown up. Does some ofthe stuff that comes out of there reminds
you of some of the nonsense thatSteve Steve Spurrier. You loved him in
the game just because you knew youwere going to get something. But look,
(31:38):
Melrose starts this is Ole miss Overs Alabama d That's the two strengths
of this football team. Lane's beensnipping. Saban responds, My question is,
as anybody that can see Ray Charlesis asking this week, does Alabama
have any resemblance of a good offense? They got to show up on offensive.
(32:00):
It could be a long day inTuscaloosa. Oregon State travels to Washington
State. Four years ago, you'dwent, why are we talking about this
today? It's huge? That istwo very good football teams getting together.
You got that right, and here'sthe thing, seven PM. Pack two
(32:20):
Bowl. Yeah, you got it, the Pac two Bowl. DJU is
playing Paul and Jonathan Smith. Histeam is playing good in all three phases.
I say it about every week.They play physical brand of football.
Don't count out Jake Dickert at homeWashington State his crew. We know they
got They've got a quarterback with camWard. Yeah. Three point favorite for
Oregon State. This I think isgoing to be an outstanding game. And
(32:44):
these two guys are starting to positionthemselves for other jobs, maybe in the
SEC or Big ten, and apretty good Big ten job just opened,
is probably opening up here soon.So yeah, a lot playing on that
game. Do yourself a favor.I did this today. I took a
little break from from my work andI watched I watched Mike Leach God rest
(33:06):
his soul when he was at thepodium as the Washington State head coach and
he was asked which mascot in thePac twelve would win if they all,
if they all had to get together, And it is one of the greatest
things you'll ever watch from a postgamepress conference. Just just google it.
Mike Leach, Washington State head coach, which mascot wins, and it will,
(33:29):
it will get you fired up forthat game. I watched that this
week. I know I did.I mean, God, I miss him.
Treasure he was. He was atreasure, There's no question about it.
And he had those Cougars playing welljust like they are now. Iowa
at Penn State. On paper,Penn State takes him to the shed.
But Doesiowa's defense show up seven thirtyat night on CBS the annual Penn State
(33:52):
Nitney lyon white out. It's goingto be loud and that is absolutely a
home field advantage. Penn State's sittingthere at number six, seven fifteen point
favored against the twenty four ranked IowaHawk. Guys, you got two really
good defenses. Iowa State again playingIowa playing at a special level in special
teams. I think they had ablock punt last week. But look,
(34:15):
we know, Paul, we knowwhere the attention is gonna go in this
game. As many das has thoseguys flying around and taking the ball the
way and all of the pressure againon Brian Ferns, Kade mcnaffair. Does
this off offence have enough firepower tostay up with Penn State. It's going
(34:37):
to be interesting to see Arkansas atLSU. Arkansas not playing well right now,
LSU maybe the best team in thecountry today. Interesting matchup. Well,
I told you that, all fair, that's the team that The two
teams that impressed me most last weekprobably are LSU and Washington High State dominated.
(34:59):
But I'm just saying that that's whatit looked like to me last week.
Arkansas is sitting there at two andone. You got LSU sitting there
at two and one, ranked twelfthin the country, seventeen and a half
point favorite in their Death Valley.You got kJ Jefferson versus Jaden Daniels at
the Quarterback Show. But a oneof these two teams is gonna be two
and two in the SEC West,and it is not fun to play in
(35:22):
Death of Valley at night, andthis is a night game. There you
go. So the Longhorns get togo across town and head over to Waco
and take on Baylor. Texas atBaylor intriguing matchup. As bad as Baylor
has played well, all road gamescan be tough, right And you got
number three Texas kicking off seven thirtyABC, fifteen point favorite at a one
(35:44):
and two Baylor. All I'm gonnasay about this game is this, Paul,
you have a wounded animal with DaveRanda and this Baylor team because they
are on a bad stretch going allthe way back to last season. They
have to find a way to getthis game so they're not sitting there at
one and three. Coach one.Other games this weekend really intriguing. Well,
Big ten noon, it is thereturn of big gym up there at
(36:06):
the Big House. You've got athree and o Rutgers that's going to play
hard at number two Michigan. Michigansitting there at a twenty four point favorite.
Well, I don't make predictions.We'll see what happens there. ESPN
Noon, three and O Auburn atTexas A and M. Two and one
Texas A and M. A andM's a seven and a half point favorite
at home. You Freeze is backin the SEC West action. This is
(36:30):
a little sneaker. I mean he'sAuburn in Texas A and M. And
that's like down the totem pole gamesthis week. It's amazing. Three ESPN
three thirty, you have a threeBYU going to a three and o Kansas.
That's eight and a half point favorite. And then you have FS one
eight pm. Another intriguing game tome. Three and O. UCF goes
(36:52):
to two and one because of aloss last week at Missouri Kansas State.
Kansas States sitting there at a fourand a half point favorite. Great matchup,
cass Shoes got to avoid a secondstraight loss. But we'll see if
John Rice Plumbly can make enough playsto pull off the What they're saying is
an upset on the road at kState. Coach, if Kansas wins this
(37:15):
weekend, do they put themselves rightback in the conversation That quarterback is really
good. That's a good football teamwhen they're helped Daniels, We'll see,
you know a little bit, hopingit's not fools gold. Every year it's
a different team. But remember thisteam started five and oh yeah last year.
So but then he got hurt.Yeah, so so that that was
(37:36):
the thing. He stays. Hearthycould be interesting, coach. The best
part of the program. I lookforward to it every week and I never
know what you're gonna say. Itmay have something to do with your tailgate
party at the Buckeye game last week. It could have something to do with
coach Prime and some of the thingsthat he said this week. But coach,
(37:57):
I want to know who won theday last weekend, Well, I
got three finalists that didn't win it. Here's your three finalists. You got
Harrison Mavis. The SEC record winat home Place goes crazy. Harrison didn't
pay for any of his drinks oncampus this week. He may be under
age and that doesn't happen, buteven if it was Coca Cola's, he
(38:20):
wasn't paying. How about this one? Troy Taylor leaves Sacramento State to be
the head football coach at Stanford rDC. Andy Thompson at Sacks State gets
elevated to be the head football coachat Sacramento State. And what does coach
Thompson and Sacramento State do. Theygo to Stanford this week to beat his
old boss, winning thirty to twentythree. That's a pretty crazy story.
(38:45):
Last runner up college football fans theweekend slate and having the most possible contenders
to be in the final four thatwe have ever seen, soak it in
and enjoy. Tried to be lessuseless than me Saturday, but try to
soak it in. But here's ourwinner. I mean this guy, he
(39:10):
is smiling like the chesshire cat.He has a permanent smile on his face
that may never be able to beremoved. His science project has worked better
than anyone could have even guessed.And that is Rick George. Who is
Rick George? That is the guywith the perma smile. That's the athletic
director at Colorado. They've sold outevery game for the entire season. You
(39:36):
can't get in to see a gamewith it. It's like five hundred bucks
to have a chance to get inthere. He is the cock of the
walk. He is the man.He can run for governor right now of
Colorado. But Rick George, youare the winner of win the day.
Absolutely. I mean he hired Primewith no way of paying him. He
(39:58):
had no way of paying him.He went, you know, I'm gonna
give you X amount of millions ofdollars, but we don't have that money
in the budget. And they've gotthe money in the budget now. I
mean they had every major morning showanybody that. I mean, they spent
days, Yes, we have spentdays there. Last week they made tons
you got the rock. I meanit was first take, it was game
(40:22):
days. Things on their way inMichael Herven. I mean it's it's it's
like USC used to be when theywere rolling and you looked at all those
stars on the sideline. You knowwhat. My buddy compared it to you,
he said, all I can tellyou is and he goes, and
I get it, you know,the rock and everybody, but they really
look like the you back in inthe day. And I agree, and
(40:45):
yeah, so Rick George, youare the man. Here's the only thing
I want to say about Colorado.I know, people, this guy's drank
the kool aid all the way.It's about the show. Now, what
they're about to face the next fewweeks, their schedules. I mean it
is rolling ball razor blades coming athim. So I mean, yeah,
(41:05):
we got Oregon, that's okay.After that, we got USC. I
mean it's you got him coming atyou. So we'll see where we are
in a few weeks. But rightnow, Rick George, enjoy the win.
Brady Quinn said, and I thoughtit was very interesting and I and
we'll probably talk about it in thenext couple of weeks. Not necessarily his
absolute words, but Brady Quinn said, we're gonna find out how good of
(41:27):
a coach Deon Sanders is in thenext three weeks, he could lose all
three of those games. It doesn'tmatter if he loses all three of those
games. We're gonna find out howgood of a coach he is and how
well he can keep his team togetherand the world together. He may turn
around and win him all. Buthe said, in three weeks this team
could be three and three. Andif we see the same don in three
(41:51):
weeks today that we do right now. He said, then that guy's winning.
And he said, I think we'regonna see that. I think they're
gonna struggle in the next couple ofweeks. We're gonna see him battle,
and we're gonna find out how goodof a coach he is. And he
goes, I think in three weekswe're gonna go it's guy. It's a
pretty good football coach that comes outof Brady Quinn. So we'll see.
(42:12):
Yeah. Last thing before we getthis butt guy game and rep wrap the
show up is the love back andforth between Dion and coach Saban. This
week has been pretty cool to see. It has been cool to see,
I mean, how much he respectsI think he said he's forgot more football
than I know he did, andNick Saban gave it right back and says,
Deon Sanders is a heck of afootball coach, so pretty good.
(42:32):
I guess their friends beyond the commercialsand he had he had Shador on that
podcast and Tom Brady says, getout of that car and spend time watching
film, and Dean said, thankyou, And That's what I'm telling him
to do. So absolutely, we'llsee if that all pays off. Coach,
this is our marquee game Saturday night, seven thirty NBC, Ohio State
(42:53):
going to South Bend. Ohio Statehasn't lost to Notre Dame since the thirties.
Notre Dame is very, very goodall three phases. They've scored forty
plus in five games in a row. Coach, they're good. I sat
this morning and listened to Brady Quinntalk about how nobody who is an Ohio
State fan has any idea of theweapons that Notre Dame has, and he
(43:19):
pinpointed five weapons on that team thatnobody in Ohio has any idea how good
they are, and he said theymight be some of the best position players
in the entire country. Now,obviously Brady Quinn is a homer for Notre
Dame. I love it. Ithink that's fine. But this team is
really really good. So seven thirtypm n BC, the number six Ohio
(43:40):
State Buckeyes a three point road favoriteheading to the Golden Domers number nine Notre
Dame. Marcus Freeman year two andthe Trance for Portal Winner with Sam Hartman.
Yeah, they have a quarterback,and you would have to say going
(44:00):
into this game, the team thathas the best quarterback is Notre Dame.
He's experienced, he's accurate, heexecutes, he leads, He's talented.
Indie offense plus at quarterback, runningback Adrick Estime and many Jerome Bettis.
They run physical offensive line, oneof the better offensive lines in the country.
(44:23):
You got the first team All Americanleft tackle and Joe Ault. They're
better on the perimeter, players likeChris Tyree and I Jared Parker has slept
on the couch at our home.Good old boy from Louisiana or Louisa,
Kentucky. Good guy, sharp guy. But I've been very impressed with how
(44:45):
he's calling. They're multiple on offenseand personnel. They're physical, they're balanced.
He mixes it up with not justperching personnel launch point for the quarterback
to keep the defense off of Hartmannor at least to help him. Very
impressed with what they've been doing offensively. Then then we go to the defensive
side of the ball. This algolden defense multiple mostly three four personnel,
(45:07):
but you're going to see even inodd fronts, they change the fronts up.
Typically every week you're seeing new pressures. Can they get him accord because
they're coming If you want to takesomething to the bank, they're going to
come after the young quarterback on theroad and try to get after him and
(45:27):
make him make mistakes. Here's thequestion and another reason. They have to
help the Notre Dame secondary against theperimeter skill of the High State Buckeyes.
They have to. They're solid andspecial teams. Here's the biggest end game
matchups that I see. I've alreadyalluded to it at the beginning. The
(45:47):
s U O line versus that Notrename front seven or all eleven and pressures
and the Notre name secondary against thatskill in space. To me, those
are the two matchups that are socritical in this game. Neither team can
allow the other to be balanced onoffense. That's if Notre Dame can run
(46:07):
and pass, it's gonna be atough night for the Buckeyes. Vice versa.
If there's a Notre Dame fan,call me right now. There you
go. If you are Notre Dame, you can't be able to hand it
off and make explosion plays. Ifso, it's gonna be a long night
(46:28):
for the Irish. Both teams haveto limit the other offense from explosion plays.
Ohio State, in my opinion,has the advantage with that because of
all the skilled kids that they haveOffensively. Notre Dame's goal has to be
more physical with the line of scrimmage. You brought that up earlier. We
talked about it most games, otherthan explosion plays and takeover takeaways, is
(46:52):
who is the most physical winning thegame at the line of scrimmage. And
obviously Notre Dame has to get aftercal McCord. But real quick, the
four last points. Here's what Isee as keys for our High State to
be successful on the road in oneof the biggest games this weekend. Can
they handle the crowd noise because it'sgonna be loud. It's gonna be a
difference. They have not faced themccam accord has not faced that. Yeah,
(47:15):
so they'll have to eliminate pre snapmistakes and penalties. Two again,
not trying to beat a dead horsehere, O line shows up to protect
and execute, They're gonna have todo that. Three, you have to
take defense. Coach Holts would saythis, when you go on the road,
you better take pack your defense.You better pack your special teams.
(47:38):
Can they win in the special team'sphase along with going up there to win
a big road game? And asalways, I am beating this horse.
If we come in here next Thursdayand we start to talk about the Buckeyes
were minus two and turnovers and wedidn't see the big plays out of Marvin
(48:01):
Harrison at Bucca Harrison Fleming Stover,that's going to mean it's going to be
a tough night. Now. Ifwe come in here next week, the
Buckeye defense, who's given up twentypoints all year, shuts down a very
good offense with a very good quarterback, and they're plus two and takeaways.
(48:22):
Buckeyes win. Buckeyes win. Myquestion, I know you can't really answer
it, but I just want tosend this out there because next week we
probably will take the team that losesand ask that question, the team that
loses this game, and I knowwe have to watch how they play.
I get it takes them out ofthe opportunity to win the national title.
(48:43):
Or no, do you think ifyou lose this game you can still win
the national title? Both those teams, can they get their goals for the
season. Whoever loses this game.Yeah, because I think you're going to
have teams beat up on each other. I mean, I don't think you're
going to see a bunch of undefeatedteams this year. I don't. I
mean the Pac twelve. I meanthey could all give each other a cup
(49:04):
of two losses and take their entireconference out of a chance to be in
the playoffs. Still have the bestteam in the country. I mean,
we're just starting to play in theSEC, in the Big Ten. I
will say, Paul, as wewrap up, I think Ohio State has
Notre Dame schedule. They still gotClemson, they still got USC. I
mean, their schedule is tough.They still got Duke. Don't sleep on
(49:28):
Duke. And then you've got theBuckeyes. I mean, I look at
their schedule. Still we haven't beenodd by Wisconsin, but we I am
a little bit odd with Penn State, and we know where the last game
of the season's played, so yougot to respect everybody. But yeah,
you can't get whipped. But ifit's a close loss, especially for a
(49:50):
high state on the road, andthey end up winning out, the Buckeyes
will be fine. Yeah. Andyou feel like if Alabama loses this week,
their chances are done. Uh yeah, because of how they've looked and
it's a second loss, and they'retwo losses compared to the way other teams
have looked and look football fans tendto overreact. Like Eric was talking before
(50:14):
we left, the Brown season isover. They're one on one, right,
But fans tend to overreact when thereis a loss. I mean,
Alabama has one loss. If thingsget right, they could be sitting there
with one loss at the end ofthe season. That's what I'm saying.
There's fifteen sixteen teams right now thatI'm thinking they got They've got a legit
(50:37):
chance and makes it fun. Mancoach, thank you, it's fun.
I know I held you over afew minutes. We've got a goal on
on our time and here I amasking questions when when we're getting there.
I just I just some interesting stuff. Enjoy the games, have fun with
them. Yes, keep your wifehappy. Hey, well you two.
If I'm not I ain't hard tofind, You're gonna know where I'm at
(51:00):
here right, we will be texting, there's no question. Thanks for joining
us on the O Show on iHeartRadio. Tell your friends, share it,
put it out on Facebook, whateveryou might want to do. Most
importantly, if you're just finding thisshow, hit follow so every week you
can get that guy's expert analysis onthese games. Expert
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