Countdown to Kickoff Presented by BetMGM

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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Are you college fans?
Welcome to the biggest tailgate party in the nation, Fox
Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by bat MGM, the

(00:21):
gig of sports book. We're setting you up with the
information you need to watch your team win. Let's go.
We're here to break it all down. This is Fox
Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Beat mg app.
We're live from your tail game. Here's Brian No, former

(00:42):
Penn State All American Rich Mornberger and picks Wise lead
Betty analyst Jared Smith. Oh what's going on? Everybody? Welcome
into another week of lovely, lovely ball tasty slate of
college games today. Baby very much looking forward. So we've
got Jared spit from pix wise dot com. We've got

(01:04):
Rich born Berger, All American from Penn State. That's right
ball Penn State. Right. I got a question for you
to find gentlemen over Penn State going to show up today.
Last time they were in a big game, they got
trounced by the Wolverines. Did they show up today in
a big way against Yeah? We are right out the gates,

(01:25):
aren't we? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, Red meat. Yeah, off the
top row, no problem. Um here's what I'll say. As
big of a matchup as this is, and it is,
I think it was, it's a better matchup than it
was last week. I think when you look at Michigan
and what they want to do to UH any team,

(01:48):
but especially a team like Penn State, that their strength
is their secondary. I mean, they were able to pound
the ball down Penn States throat and there was no answer,
zero answer all day long. They rush for four hundred
plus yards. It was just like you said, it was
a pounding So I I don't look at our our
Ohio State as having the same d n A as

(02:09):
a Michigan football team, and I think obviously hosting this
matchup helps you in a great way. Yeah, I I
think they got a chance here. I'm a little concerned
with Penn State's defense. I think it's fair to say
that the schedule of offenses they've faced has been pretty subpar.

(02:29):
And if you were going to ask me what is
the strength of the Penn State defense, I would lean
to the running game a little bit more, even though
they haven't really shown it at the linebacker level this year.
The secondary is a little bit and it's it's a
many daz defense. It's a different defense than Penn State's
ever really had. There are a lot more blitz happy.

(02:51):
They haven't gotten home a whole lot. But I'm a
little concerned because we haven't seen Ohio State play the
full sixty yet. They've kind of been, you know, going
through the motions a little bit. They haven't played a
great schedule either. Frankly, the Big Ten is relatively down
this year. Um I I if if Penn State, if
the game script flips negative for Penn State, and you know,

(03:14):
c J. Stroud gets off to a hot start and
they have to rely on Seawan Clifford, and I would
much prefer to lean on the running game today for
the Penn State offense. But I don't know if the
game script is gonna play out that way. So we'll see.
I'm not very excited about it, to be perfect. Just
love that I'm not exactly excited about this one. Yeah,

(03:35):
I'm a little bit scared to be perfect, Rich You're
talking about it. Styles make fights, and look, Penn State
couldn't do anything against Michigan's rushing attack. It doesn't even
seem real. Penn State gave up four hundred and eighteen
rushing yards to Michigan four eighteen. But if you look
at Ohio State against Iowa Sam's Iowa Hawkeyes, IWA Sam's

(03:56):
our trusted technical producer, the Buckeyes only average two point
two yards per carry on the ground two point two
on average against Iowa last week. So I don't expect
the Buckeyes to rush it for four eighteen like Michigan
did against Penn State. They might throw it for four eighteen,
but it is it's a different fight here, and styles

(04:19):
make fights. And to your point, Rich, I do think
this is a better matchup for Penn State, but that
doesn't mean it's still gonna be a good outcome for
the Niitney Lions. We'll see. Yeah, it definitely doesn't. And
to Jared's point about the aggressiveness of this defense, you
know that is that is what many Diaz wants to be.
It's in his d n a. He wants to be
that blitz happy, blitz heavy pressure package defensive coordinator. And

(04:46):
when you're not getting home and you're not like they
only have fifteen sacks on the season, I mean, considering
how often they pressure, that is a very low number.
And so that's a concern going into this game, is
the fact that how many of those those blitzes, how
many of those pressures actually impact the passing game. And

(05:06):
we know if you're not impacting the passing game, sending
an extra player in a blitz weakens your coverage. So
there's this all goes hand in glove. You know, if
you're gonna send pressure, you better impact the play. Now.
Pressure rates are higher this year than they have been
in years passed and all that, but but still getting
a quarterback on the ground, it changes drives, It changes games.

(05:31):
If they can get to Stroud today and they can
get him worried about getting hit, I think it it
changes the the attitude of this passing attack. I think
we could see some more rushed decisions. We could see
some turnovers. That's their only route to victory is honestly
forcing Ohio State into a situation where maybe they cough
up the ball twice and we're in the fourth quarter

(05:52):
and we have a ball game. But if they let
you know the bucket has taken an early lead, this
could be a very ugly. After doing on the East
coast early morning here on the West coast for the
Nitney Lions. Yeah, it's a shame that this isn't a
night game. I mean, and you know the way that
it shakes out with the television contracts, Big you know Fox,

(06:12):
Big Noon gets the gets the first crack, and obviously
they want this game. It's a big game. But I
think it benefits Penn State for this game to be
played at night. It benefits Ohio State for it. Now,
I promise you Rich you know this. The crowd will
still be fired up at noon for it, but I
think the atmosphere a little more conducive to upsetting when

(06:34):
we have the night game. Now we'll say this, James
Franklin six and two against the number against the Ohio State.
So they haven't won these games, but at least they've
been in them. And when you're at home and when
Jackson Smith and Jig is out again and Ohio State's
offensive line, I'm seeing here the running backs are getting
points seven yards per rush after first contact against Iowa.

(06:56):
They didn't really move get a lot of movement against
Iowa last week. And if you didn't get a lot
of movement against Iowa, I could see Penn State's defensive
line causing some havoc here and you're right, Rich, it
is that you know, blocked field goal return for a
touchdown that's going to have to be the catalyst in
order for Penn State to be in this game, because
when you're two touchdown dogs, you need some turnover luck

(07:18):
to go in your favor if you want to pull
off an upset. Do I think Penn State's gonna win today?
Absolutely not. I actually would bet Ohio State frankly, but
I obviously I'm hoping for a better result. But I
just I don't like to match up because I look
at oh Sorry go ahead. I was just gonna say
I sorry, I thought you were done. I was just
gonna say I was too giddy. I was like, we

(07:38):
need to cut up that into a sound bite, real fan.
I think that would be a great way to just
start off each episode of Countdown to kickoff for it.
Do I think Penn State's gonna win today? No, I don't,
and then we're just off and running we talk about
Syracuse or whatever. From that point. I just don't like
the matchup. When I compare Penn State's offense to other
offenses that Ohio State's defense has face this year, and

(08:01):
I think that's the part of this matchup. We're not
going to talk about a whole lot, but we should.
Jim Knowles, this is honestate defense allowing a hundred and
thirty three yards less than they were last year. So
say what you want about Jackson Smith and Jake, but
the injuries at State's offense, it's the defense for aile
State that could absolutely control the tempo in this game. Okay,
it is countdown to kickoff on Fox Sports Radio. We're
presented by bet MGM. If we move over to this

(08:24):
Kentucky Tennessee game. So Tennessee undefeated seven or oh number
three team in the country. They are eleven and a
half point favorites in this one on bet MGM. And
the thing that's interesting to me, guys, how quickly things
can change in college football. If you look at Tennessee
last year's matchup against Kentucky Tennessee one forty two. Kentucky

(08:46):
was ranked at the time. That snapped an eleven game
losing streak the Vols had against ranked opponents, and now
look at them now their world beaters against ranked teams.
But it's completely turned around. Hendon Hooker is a big
part of that He's been sensational as Tennessee's quarterback, and
they're looking for more of that against Kentucky today. The thing,

(09:07):
and this one is Tennessee's past defense is freaking brutal.
And Jared, you and I talked about this on the podcast.
If there's a time for Will Levis to show up
and show out in a big way, it is today.
That's right. He should be Will today. He needs to
have the biggest day of his life, and he should

(09:29):
be the healthiest he's been all season. You know, he's
had a week off, Um, a couple if you include
the game he missed. Um. So yeah, it's gonna be
one of those things where it really comes down to Kentucky,
doesn't it. It comes down to what they're able to muster,
how they're able to protect Will Levis. This is an
offensive line that's given up twenty five plus sacks on

(09:51):
the season. Uh, you know, getting their quarterback, you know,
grounded has been a problem for the Wildcats all season long. Um,
you think they probably want to lean more on their
run game. Chris Rodriguez Jr. Probably comes in, you know,
like like Superman out of the phone booth and runs

(10:13):
the ball tough between the tackles and and saves the
day for the Kentucky Wildcats a little bit to take
the pressure off the passing game. But I really feel
like this is going to be an offense only affair.
Like whatever the number is set at in terms of
the over under, I mean, just go ahead and click
the over, because I mean, is there any Is there

(10:33):
any game film on for either team that you can
really turn to and say, like, yeah, that was the
game where the Kentucky or the Vall's defense really bailed
them out. The answer is no, there is not. No,
there definitely is not. The one thing that scares me.
So the total actually opened at sixty four and a
half and it's actually been dropping pretty steadily. It got

(10:57):
to sixty one and then it kind of you know,
usually we get buy back in the market once the
number moves by a few points because the sharp money
will cover their action a little bit. But for the
most part, it's been you know, under moves here, which
is very surprising, and sometimes that can give you a
glimpse into the type of game it might be. Whereas

(11:18):
the underdogs taken some money here and that makes sense,
and if Kentucky wins or at least covers. You would
think it's because they're able to generate some offense and
keep Tennessee's offense, which runs at like lightning quick pace,
on the sidelines. So if the game script favors Kentucky,

(11:39):
I actually could see this one. I hate I don't
bet unders in college football except today, which we'll get
to later in the show, because it's one of those
substances that I just have to. But with a game
like this where the offenses are just sounds like an
Iowa player coming up, it will be my first under

(12:00):
bed of the season. Let's just leave it at that. Honestly,
I think you can make a lot of exceptions for
Iowa this year. This is Jared betting, and under is
definitely one of them. Um. But again, like, what's what

(12:22):
Rick's Gangarrella offense are we going to see today? Because
last year they tried to go up tempo, it didn't work,
they got beat at home. I think their offense is
worse this year. I think their offensive lines to step
below what it was last year. I think their weapons
are a step below. No Wanda Robinson, So there's not
as much you know, in the cupboard for Will Levis.

(12:43):
Then there was last year and they couldn't match Tennessee
last year, and I think this Tennessee team is better
than it was last year. So that's an interesting give
and take. And then you look at Kentucky's defense, I mean,
good luck, Mark Stoops. I don't know what to say
to slow down hand and hooker. I just I don't
know what you can do. You gotta pull some rabbits
out of your hat there at Rocky Top. But it's

(13:03):
gonna be a fun game. I'm excited to see what
Kentucky offense we get and if Will Levis is for real,
are you a top five pick? Will go prove it? Yeah.
This is a huge spot for him against a high
ranked team, undefeated and their past defense stinks. This is
the perfect set up for him to have a great game.
Whether it's a loss or not. He should have a

(13:23):
great game, and if he doesn't, I think that's red
flag city as far as the NFL goes. Not saying
he's going to be a disaster, but you gotta show
up in a spot like this when it's Taylor made.
It could not be set up better for will Levis,
specifically to go up against a bad past defense where
he can make he can make the highlights shows, he

(13:44):
can make big play. He could do all of that.
The time is now for him to do it. Hey,
we're often running. We've got rich orin Burger with this
Penn State at All American. We've got Jared Smith with
US picks wise dot Com All American. Can we say that,
Jared about All American? What was the what was the line?
I remember the Titans. You're a Hall of Famer in
my books, Brian though. Okay, coming up next, there is

(14:10):
a team that's known for slinging the football all around.
They passed the ball a lot, but their head coach
was preaching the importance of running the ball and stopping
the run. We'll dive into their matchup right around the corner.
It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff presented by
bet MGM. Welcome to the biggest tailgate party in the nation.

(14:33):
You're locked into Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff Touchdown
and it's presented by beat MGM, the King of sports books.
Once again, Here's Brian no, Rich Hornberger and Jared Smith.
Welcome back to the Fox Sports Radios count Down to Kickoff.
Presented by bet mgm. New users download the bet mgm

(14:56):
app today and use code countdown for a special offer.
That's co countdown in the bet mgm app. Were approaching
two and a half hours before a kickoff today. Let's
get to this one big twelve matchup of the deck.
It's a good one, number nine Oklahoma State against number

(15:18):
twenty two Kansas State. And uh the quote from Mike Gunn,
the Oklahoma State's head coach, stood out to me the most.
I love this. This was after the game against Texas
last week. So Oklahoma State gave up a ton of
rushing yardage to be Jean Robinson in the first half.
They tightened up in the second half, and so Mike
Gundy said, you know, unless you're playing Mike Leach, you've

(15:41):
got to stop the run. You've got to run the
ball effectively. And that's a big heat today going up
against Kansas State. What's the deal at quarterback is Atrian
Martinez in He played a couple of plays last week
against TCU and then he was out of the game
with an undisclosed injury. So the assumption is Atrian Martinez

(16:02):
is going to play today. Whether it does or not,
the ground game for Kansas State is going to be huge.
So another test for Oklahoma State's rush defense today going
up against dou Spawn. Yeah, no doubt, you know. And
and it's such an overwrought and overused term from head coaches,
a cliche. Hey, we gotta stop the run. Listen. We've

(16:24):
got to find a way to slow down the run. Listen,
there rushing it. If we can limit what they can
do to us on the ground, will have success. We've
heard it a million different ways. We hear it every
week in college football and frankly in the NFL too.
But it is so true, and it's really true in
this matchup. If you can find a way to slow

(16:45):
down the run game, you're gonna have success. It just
is what it is. If you can make an offense
play left handed and you force a college quarterback to
go out and win you a football game. Look, there's
only a handful of them that are worth anything in
the NFL year, right, you know. And so we're talking
about underclassmen. Many time we're talking about seniors, but some

(17:06):
who are afraid of like the high profile games or
can't rise to the moment to win you football games.
And maybe we'll eventually throw it to your defense. So
in college football, I mean, that is the truest statement
you can make, especially in this matchup. So I look,
Mike Gundy says a lot of things. He's a man,

(17:27):
he knows how football games are. One have to run. Yeah,
this has been a Mike Gundy masterpiece season. Really, I mean,
you lose Knowles to Ohio State, the defense takes a
big step back. Spencer Sanders has been in and out
of lineup with injuries. This I'll be honest, this is
one of the better coaching jobs I think of the

(17:47):
entire you know country this year. Now, the one thing
the Sharps had hated his Oklahoma State team all season
and that's no surprise this week. So Oklahoma State Open
is a small favorite. Not the lot is flipped. It
does look everything I see. It looks like Martinez really
is a game time decision. So I'll be honest based
off of that, And you saw it on Friday. It

(18:09):
was Thursday. Excuse me. The Cameron Rising situation bizarre and
that's not this situation because we know that the quarterback
is injured. But it's so tough to bet on games
with these injury issues. I mean, if you were holding
a Utah ticket from Thursday, you feel cheated in a sense.

(18:30):
So I don't know who's going to start a quarterback today.
I can tell you that Will Howard looked pretty darn
good and his four drives scoring touchdowns last week against
pc U, and then that game just fell off the rails.
Oklahoma State's really banged up defensively too. This is going
to be a very intriguing game. I think both of
these teams are kind of in the mix right now.

(18:50):
I like this Kansas State team. I think you've got
some nice wins this year. And again, Mike Gunny, I
mean kudos at tip for a coaching job this year
for you. By the way, As a side note, I
don't know what's up with TCU against backup quarterbacks. They
starggled against Kansas backup quarterback. He's doing the double barrel

(19:10):
lexing on him. Yeah, Bean had a day. Bean was
flying all over the play. Yeah. And then last the
hands of States back up they had their third string
guy in there. They picked up the first string guy.
So the quarterbacks. Yeah. But I'll tell you what, talk
to a lot of college football coaches because it's such

(19:32):
an unknown quantity at this level. It's not like in
the NFL, where you have college tape. You have you know,
everybody in the NFL was a starter somewhere and played
against similar talent that you're going to see at the
league level. Obviously, you know, college football is basically the
minor leagues of the NFL. But you get my point.
You have some tape on what a quarterback does well
and doesn't do well. So if you have a good

(19:53):
defensive coordinator, he's gonna have a plan for the backup
as well as the starter. In the NFL, But in
college football you don't get that, you know, because I
mean whatever your backup could come out of, you know,
the state of Wyoming, you know what I mean, where
he played, you know eight on eight, you know high
school football. You have no idea what's coming off the bench,

(20:13):
and so you ask any defensive coordinator what the nightmare
scenario is is to have a pocket passer in the game,
or even a guy who can run a little bit
as a starter, and then here comes off the bench
like a true young dual threat stud from the boonies
of Pennsylvania where you you have zero good film on

(20:34):
him and you're in for a long, hard day. You
just hope that injury happens in the second half you
can limit the damage well, and that's the crazy thing
for betters. Also, you know, if we combine all of
these statements, you're just saying right there, Rich and also
what you're saying, Jared, we've talked about this before. Are
we going to see more information with the explosion of
gambling leading up to these college football games where you're

(20:58):
just like, oh, okay, came rising is not playing cool.
I guess I lose then if I laid the points
with Washington State. But we hear the term playing it
close to the vest. There's no vest. There's not even
a vest over it. You don't have to tip your
hand at all, who's healthy, who's not, who might be
under center, who might not be. You don't have to
do any of them. And I'm just surprised that's where

(21:20):
we are still right now in college football. Yeah, I
don't want to sit down at a soaker table with
Kyle whitting Let's just leave it at that. I don't
know how that went completely unreported, untalked about, not any man.
And again, not to get off track too much with
the topic at hand, the big twelve matchup of the day.
But that particular instance is a very good example of

(21:43):
the disconnect with amateur sports and rich you know this.
I remember when I got my first job as a
sports information director at Florida Atlantic and there were some
interviews happening with the football team after the game, and
we knew what the injuries were, and my boss was like,
do not say at work, like you do not say
a word, They're gonna ask you. You don't know hippo rules,

(22:06):
all those things. Amateur sports, it's it's a gray area
with the influx of gambling now to the sports. So
I don't really know what the right answer is. I
think these kids deserve to be protected in some way,
but the information also needs to be disseminated fairly because
there's thousands millions of dollars that line every week. Yeah, yeah,

(22:27):
And and it really does open the door for you know,
malfeasance and you know, insider trading so to speak. I mean,
all those things are gonna occur because that's the reason
why people will try to get close to players at
the college level who have nothing to do with them
other than trying to pump them for information and the bigger,

(22:47):
the bold, bigger program, the more you're gonna see that.
And with the n i L wide open, these players
are gonna be talking to more and more people. Man.
So I don't know if anybody hit on Youtah, but
maybe maybe, But he did you know that that knew
what the quantity was behind rising or what have you.
It's it's such a confusing time for sports better Frankly,

(23:11):
it's such a confusing time for coaches, players, staff. You
just talked about sports information directors. Everybody's lost. It's the
wild West right now. Then it's something that Utah Line
did not budge. It was before, there's no doubt, and
it's something to keep your eye on. With Adrian Martinez
today in Kansas State because going back to last week's

(23:31):
game against TCU, he was out of the game right
away and Tim Brando, who's doing the game on FS one,
he kept on saying over and over again, this must
have been an injury from earlier in the week. We
didn't know anything about it, Like it's just crazy fine
on the sidelines, he was hanging out in his penny
like like I didn't notice any like you know, injury,
like he wasn't limping. It was a bizarre situation, clearly

(23:53):
the most bizarre situation I think of the year with injuries. Yeah,
we go from a bizarre situation to a non bizarre
situation by the name of Isaac lowin Krown and he's
spinning us around the sporting landscape. What's going on? I
Low being labeled non bizarre, Yes, non bizarre Low and Kron.

(24:14):
I think it's the new nickname right there. Unfortunately, so
many people on social media might disagree with you. By
the way, I was just inspired. Morbid curiosity made me
just do some random searching, and I just found a
file on YouTube that I think I might play for
you guys later. F AU baseball highlights that sound familiar

(24:36):
to one of you. Yeah, I know that that you
you're gonna love. If you want to hear my voice
crack because right now I'm under the weather, it's a
little bit horse if you want to hear it, crack
like a you know, schoolboy play. That looks like a
victory over nineteenth and Western Kentucky in the mix. So
we will, we will perhappen. I was a walk off.
That was the best car I've ever had. Honestly that
that that was the peak of my career. It's all

(24:58):
downhill from there. We will we will at that ready
for later. And speaking of baseball, quite a night. In
Game one of the World Series on Friday, the Philadelphia
Phillies falling behind the Houston Astrost five to nothing after
three innings, but then they rallied JT. Real Muto, tying
the game of the two run double in the top
of the fifth inning. Score was still tied at five
in the top of the tenth when real Muto came

(25:19):
to the plate again. Kick some deals that it swung
on hit well to write, going back on a tucker
to the track at the wall, he chops, it's gone.
Just see you with an opposite field whole round, just
out of the reach of a leaping Kyle Tucker, and
the Phillies take the lead here on the top of
the tenth inning. The call on w I p as

(25:39):
the Phillies pulled it out in Game one, six to five.
In the NBA on Friday night, Brooklyn Nets owner Joe
Side tweeted a statement condemning Kyrie Irving's decision to promote
an anti Semitic film and book on social media side
tweeted quote, I'm disappointed that I re appears to support

(26:01):
a film based on a book full of anti Semitic disinformation.
I want to sit down and make sure he understands
this is hurtful to all of us, and as a
man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based
on race, ethnicity, or religion. Unquote. On the floor Friday
night at the Los Angeles Lakers fell to oh and

(26:23):
five Louising in Minnesota one eleven two, one oh two.
Rudy Gobert scored twenty two points and one rebounds. The
Lakers played without Anthony Davis because of low back tightness.
Fellas all yours, thanks Hilo. It's Fox Sports Radio's Countdown
to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. For sure to check
out the new looking features and the bet mgm app.

(26:44):
It's fast and easy access to the sports you love,
whether it's live betting, that daily Lions boost, or the
cash out feature. And new users can use the code
countdown for a special offer. That's code countdown in the
bet MGM app. Nice matchup today had notre Dame against
number sixteen Syracuse. I just laughed because I think of

(27:04):
both you written Barrett saying whatever they're calling that dome
over there in Syracuse, like forget his name. Yeah, it's
something wireless. I think now it's no longer the Carrier dome, whatever,
the rich something. Yeah, you're right, it's like something wireless dome. Ye. Well,

(27:30):
that is the site for Notre Dame four and three.
I do love hearing the fight song in the background,
even though there are four at three against Syracuse. Who's
six and one? The thing and this one, guys, we
talked about it earlier with the Penn State Ohio State
game styles make fights And although Notre Dame has been
very disappointing this season, let's not forget they were a

(27:51):
top ten team before the season began and now they
have three losses, not even getting a single vote on
the outside of the top twenty five. Looking in, they
might be able to run the ball effectively against Syracuse today.
It's been a mixed bag this season. At times they
can run it well, at other times they can't run
it at all. But Syracuses rushed defense is not very good.

(28:13):
It's really bad, actually, and you saw it last week.
You saw Clemson run the ball like crazy. Will Shipley
had a day So I think if Notre Dame can
run the ball effectively today, they got a great chance
to win this game out right, Yeah, I mean they
better because they're going into the teeth of their schedule

(28:33):
and this team still is in Bowl eligible. I mean,
that's at this point, coming off of being a preseason
top twenty five team. For Notre Dame really recover, They're
gonna need to tear off at least one important win
and and somehow fight their way into the national conversation again,
which I mean it is that likely. Probably not, but

(28:57):
is it possible maybe? Um? Yeah, I agree with you.
I think they got to lean on their on their
run game. I think that putting the game in Drew
Pines hands against this Syracuse which has been the highlight
of what this team does, is probably a mistake. Disappointing
season for for Notre Dame. Yeah, fighting fighting for post

(29:17):
season where you can be an argument that they could
have been a team who was going to fight for
one of those four top spots in college football. In
the preseason. It's been a tremendous great I'm saying this,
I just just thinking lower and lower. I'm sorry. So

(29:38):
there's a couple of things here that I'm fascinated with.
First of all, and they say this a lot. When
you face Alabama the week after sometimes could beat you.
It's like one and a half losses. You face Alabama,
you get your butts kicked, and it lingers a little
bit because of the physicality involved in that game. Well
that's what Syracuse had last week against Clemson. Very physical
football game and Shipley ran all over left, right and center.

(30:02):
And if it wasn't for that DJ you fumble six
at the goal line. I think Clemson covers that game.
And I think when you look at this Syracuse defense,
their defensive coordinator Tony White likes to play this lightbox,
the three three five. He calls it the mob. Well
I'm a little concerned, um about Notre Dame just being

(30:24):
able to crack this mob because to me, when you
look at Notre Dame's offensive line, seventeenth and line yards
created tenth and stuff right, they get off the ball,
that's the strength of their team. And I think it's
strength on weakness here because I think Syracuse is going
to They have struggled to stop the run. They struggled. Really,
I think you know Notre Dames offensive line probably a
little bit more physical, maybe a little bit more cohesion

(30:46):
than Clemson. I really like the matchup here, and I
think the line movements telling you that you know Notre
Dame is quote unquote the sharper side, whatever that means,
the sharp sides and the public. The public has been
doing great with the NFL this year. College football has
been a little more up and down. But I just
I don't really like the matchup for Syracuses defense. I
think Notre Dame should be able to establish the run

(31:08):
and it should open up the play action and that's
how you get Drew Pine comfortable. Whichever team runs it better, though,
we'll have success in this game and we'll see what
Shawn Tucker's mental state is. I don't know if you saw,
but after the game last week he only had five
carries against Clemson, he tweeted out he was a little
bit upset that he didn't get the ball more. And
I understand his frustration, but I don't really think it's

(31:32):
a good spot to make that public. You were in
that game against Clemson, you almost could have won that game,
and I don't I think the Syracuse train is about
to fall off the wagon here or off the tracks.
I think it's been a nice year, but I think
Syracuses an average team and probably playing a little ahead
of their skis. I still think it sounds like the

(31:54):
message in Dobee for this flick. You know what I
mean that Syracuses by song right there? I was gonna
say average season, but like way above average. Fights are right,
this is fantastic. Cusa one and a half point home
favorite today on Ben MGM. The total is forty seven

(32:16):
and a half. First blush that seems a little low.
Seems a little low, basically a running clock in this game,
I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know. I could
see that going over. That might be one of my
picks right there. Oh okay, can I tell a little
closer to the flame than us? Yeah yeah, my I

(32:42):
have two out of my three picks. Just boom, boom,
just like that. What do you think? There are not
a lot of weeks where you you want to say
notre dame in the over, like, yeah, that's maybe the
only you haven't had a year that's been coming out
of your mouth. True, Let's give it a shot this one.
See what happens. We've got rich Orinberger the Penn State

(33:03):
All American Jared Smith lead betting analysts from picks wise
dot com. I'm Brian no alright, coming up next. Our
main man swings for the fences, and he's swinging for
the fences on one team that I think has something
to do with the ugly side of analytics. I'll explain

(33:23):
around the corner and we'll get Jared's picks as well.
It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff presented by
bet MGM. Kickoffs are coming, Sue, and we're leading you
up to that. This is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff,
presented by bett MGM, the kick of sports books. Once again,

(33:45):
Here's Brian no, Rich Hornberger and Jared Spen. It is
Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Bett MGM.
Let's dive on in check this out r late letter. Alright,

(34:07):
A parlay platter is brought to you by bet MGM
orfty bonus. By signing into bet MGM and clicking on
refer a friend to invite a friend, and just a
few simple steps, both you and your friend will receive
a fifty dollar bonus. Bet MGM, the King of sports books,
the King of par lays Okay, Jared Smith, Time for
the par lay platter. Three picks, we sew them together.

(34:30):
Everything's gotta be right to cash. What are you thinking
this week, Buddy oh Man? Eventually we're gonna hit one
of these guys. I promise. Actually no, I don't promise.
I don't want to do that. Um, but I think
I hope eventually we will at least get close. Last
week we went one and two with the money line bets,

(34:51):
so if you just bet them straight up on the
money line, you ended up being just slightly down. Uh.
This week, I've got one big money line for you
and then two little baby mone the lines all underdogs
will start in stores. It is homecoming in stores. Beautiful
campus at Yukon today and the Huskies are off to
buy and they're at home against BC, and I think

(35:11):
this is a good spot for Yukon to get a win.
BC has been beaten down the last few weeks. They
got trounced by wake Fort team last week. They've been
out scored a hundred and fourteen to thirty nine in
their three road games this season. The Red Slayer getting
hot today. We're taking Yukon money line plus two forty.
We're putting Louisville money line in the parlay. I bet
Louisville straight up against the number, and you might hear

(35:33):
a little bit more about that pick later. But this
line is curiously short considering Wake Forest as a top
ten team, and this is one of their last real
big tests before they hit a tough gauntlet of games
against North Carolina arrivals u n C, n C State
All on tap. Kind of one of those sleepy spots
where I can see Wakes slipping up a little bit.

(35:55):
And listen, the last time these two teams played last
year in Winston Salem, Malik Cunningham went off yards, passing
two touchdowns to rushing tockdowns. I just don't see Weight
getting a lot of stops here. I think Wake's offense
is gonna be in this game too. We'll see how
Louisville defense fairs, but we are going to put louis
Bal money line into parlays well, and we'll close up
with the ultimate Bilo spot. This is the ultimate Bilo

(36:17):
spot on Texas and m who aren't home today facing
all miss Listen, it's ugly right now for Jim Bow.
Three losses in a row there are sub five team,
but again they're facing an Ole Miss team that's seven
and one and they're a slight underdog almost to pick up.
So the lines kind of telling you that A and

(36:37):
M is gonna be in this game. We'll see how
it plays out. Yukon Louisville, Texas, A and M all
three money lines. Fifty bones wins almost eight hundred. It's
about a sixteen to one parlay this week, bron you
love these money line parlay's, Jared, that's the way to
get the most value out of this. I mean, listen,
we we could parlay favorites and you know, make a

(36:59):
hundred bucks off of fifty. But when we hit it's
gonna happen. Maybe it's this wist, thank you, show me
the money. And I think though, it makes a better
tweet when it does hit. You here, Yeah, fifty to
win one, that's nice, but Jared smith Lake fifty to

(37:19):
win seven like that, that's a better tweet, right there,
much better tweet. Listen, the day that we hit one
of these, and maybe we won't, maybe maybe the last
week of the season, we'll just do like the biggest favorite,
just to say that we hit one. Now listen. It's
so this is a strategy that um, I think you

(37:40):
should implore if you are looking for her entertainment. This
is not a strategy that you should implore if you
are looking to make money. This is a strategy over
the long haul. Parlays are the biggest whole percentage that
the sports books collect, Meaning for every dollar that I
think it's about a twenty or twenty hold, So that
means for every dollar you bet on a parlay, even

(38:02):
if it wins, you're still giving up on average twenty
five cents on that dollar to the sports book before
the games even start. That's the whole percentage on these parleys.
That's why we only do one per week and we
try to make a splash because there's entertainment value that
is incorporated and baked into these games, baked into these bets,
and I think it's really exciting too. If we get one,

(38:26):
social media will explode for us. We're very selective. But
by the way, real fast parlay question for you, is
it worse for you personally to miss the first leg
of a parlay or the last leg? Which is worst?
I agree, But the first leg I'm like, I wasn't
even freaking close. And then especially if everything I still
keep track, if everything still hits and I'm like, oh,

(38:49):
that first leg, the first leg is underrated, I think, yeah,
I mean, definitely that's up there. But how would you
feel it's like the ultimate tease you get all the
way and I don't know. I think the A and
M game is the last game on the time slot today.
Yukon is an early game. Louisville I think is mid afternoon,
and I think Texas A and M is the later game.

(39:11):
So if we make it, let's just leave with it.
Does if we get to the late game at some
point it's still alive, it's it almost feels like a
win already for maybe time to head right there. If
that's the I will say this real fast too about
A and M. The recruiting rankings that we always hear
about Texas A and M is three and four right now.

(39:32):
They've been a disaster. And I'm not against all things
recruiting rankings, don't get me wrong, Jared, But the amount
that we hear about it, it's overdone. I think it's
a little bit like analytics. There's certainly something to analytics
that isn't all BS but it's talked about ad nauseum
so much. I'm just saying it's not the end all
be all because Texas A and M they got a

(39:54):
bunch of four and five star guys. They're playing like
two and three's. So when was the last Texas A
and M player that's made a splash in the NFL,
especially on offense with Jimbo Fisher. Well, that's hey, coming
up with the next teams that might be moving up
or sliding. We'll get to that. Fox Sports Radio has
the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all

(40:14):
of our shows at Fox Sports Radio dot com and
within the I Heart Radio app search f s R
to listen live. Oh good morning everybody. Hope you're enjoying
your early Saturday festivities. Getting y'all set for a lovely
day of ball. Three ranked versus ranked matchups in college
football today. Some tasty matchups not featuring ranked versus ranked

(40:38):
How about that nugget from Isaac Loewen, Kron, Jared no,
Jackson Smith and Jig but today four Ohio State. That's
a huge deal going up against your Nitney Lions today,
Massive and listen. He's been in and out of the
lineup a lot this year. Man, I want I want
Penn State to play so well today, nothing would make

(40:59):
me happy year. Then to ruin Ohio States season, that
would just make me such a happy person. But in
this racket, we don't bet on what we want to happen,
who we've been on what we think will happen based
off of data and analytics and numbers and situations and
trends and all that fun stuff. But I just this

(41:22):
is just such a bad spot for Penn State's defense,
and I'm I'm concerned with the secondary just being exposed.
And I'm also very intrigued to see how good this
Ohio State defense really is. We talked about that in
our number one. There is a little bit of, you know,
off the radar vibes with this Ohio State defense, because

(41:44):
we're gonna talk about, you know, the Ohio State offense
first and foremost, we're gonna talk about Sean Clifford playing
his last real meaningful game at home in the Penn
State uniform. And I just don't know what we're gonna
see from this Ohio State defense that has been very
very good in some very comparative spots, and the numbers against,

(42:06):
so the analytics against with their game against Michigan State,
that's the most comparative offense I can see. With where
Penn State's offense has been this year, they're kind of
on the same tier as Michigan State, and Michigan State
struggled at home to move the ball against the Ohill State.
They scored twenty points. One of them was one score
was a pick six, the other score was in garbage time.

(42:26):
So for fifty five minutes of that game, Michigan State
was held to just one score and Ohio State force
of three and out on fifty five percent of possessions.
So the offenses are going to be intriguing, especially for
the Buckeyes. But what do we get from Ohio States
defense and Compenn State have any success offensively? It was
a struggle to watch last week. Yeah, as far as

(42:50):
Michigan excuse me right, Yeah, As far as Jackson Smith
and jigbu Goes, we saw him get banged up against
Notre Dame in the first game of the season for
Ohio State and he's been in and out of the lineup,
hasn't been able to do a whole lot. The other
receivers have stepped up in his absence, but still not
having him on the field in any capacity today, that
still is a big deal for Ohio State. So certainly

(43:12):
something to keep your eye on when you see this game.
You're right kicking off at noon. It's on Fox, Like
we get it underway right away, but uh, the sun
is gonna be out, it's gonna be daylight. You know,
we're used to seeing uh this in darkness and in
prime time, but uh, quick kick early kick time here
with Penn State hosting Ohio State. How about this as well?

(43:35):
So you've got the first playoff rankings being unveiled on
this day, and so I think this is very interesting
if you do this exercise, which teams do you think
will gain ground? Which teams do you think will lose
ground in the top ten when the committee's rankings come out.
Because we've seen this time and time again where they're like,

(43:56):
oh that's nice, you have your little a people cool.
They're not beholding to it at all. They're like, oh,
you have this team ranked ten. We think they're number four.
So there's that. Is there anything Jared, We'll start with
you that stands out to you in terms of a
team that you think could be on the rise or
could be on the fall. In the committee's eyes, compared

(44:17):
to the A P Pole, Tennessee could be on the
downward trend. Again, you look at their wins. They're nice.
The Alabama win is nice. That game was bonkers, So
I I would expect I wouldn't be shocked if Alabama
was in front of Tennessee. Let's just leave it at that.
I'll go from there. Maybe I'm really Maybe I'm maybe

(44:39):
I'm crazy. I mean, would you like if if you
had to pick one to put in the playoff today,
you picked Tennessee over Alabama? Yes? You know. The thing
is like, I mean, are they really going to have
a first poll that has two big ten teams in
the poll? I mean that's another thing. It's like you haven't. Yeah,

(45:02):
like you have an eight no Clemson team just waiting
in the wings to overtake them, and I think they will.
I think. Look, and this happens every single year, and
they're very smart about the way they legislate this. They're
trying to encourage reaction. What they want you to do
is say something like, how could team X be ahead
of Team Y? Because it's good for them as long

(45:25):
as you're talking about it. It's a made for TV product. Anyways,
they know that that raises the Q rating, that raises
the interest to get sports talk radio show hosts and
panel guests all fired up about it because you know,
I'm we're gonna bring on like you know, to use
your example, you know, for former QB volunteers, great um

(45:47):
on the show, and we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna
have a whole you know, cry fest over the fact
that Tennessee dropped out of the top four. That's what
they want. It doesn't matter until it matters. It doesn't
matter until the last ranking comes out and Tennessee plays
Georgia next week, so that it will sort itself out.
Next week, one of those teams will be out of

(46:10):
the unbeaten ranks. I'm assuming it's going to be Tennessee,
but stranger things have happened, of course, And then so
that it's a forward thinking argument. So yeah, maybe Tennessee
today is in the top four, but there is going
to be a moment a game next week that is
going to you know, thin the herd. So to say, yeah,

(46:34):
I think something maybe with the one lost teams, you
might see the committee value Oregon a little bit more
than the APE pole does. Right, Oregon fascinating? Yeah, and
they had a statement win last week against U C
l A. Obviously, so hey, maybe the playoff committee they're
higher on the Ducks. Maybe they have them over an

(46:55):
unbeaten TCU team. Obviously, the games today have a big impact.
But if you take the top ten teams, assume pretty
much that they hold serve the top ten teams win today,
how will the committee look at them differently than the
way the A P pole looks at them. I'm stunned
by this. To Clemson, somebody voted for them as the

(47:16):
number one team in the country that control job. I
hope it is someone in the Associated Press, probably lost
a bet to somebody like I have no idea how
you can look at what Clemson has done full body
of work this year and think they are a head
of Georgia Ohio State. I mean, that is totally bonkers

(47:40):
to me. And that's why the AP pole is completely meaningless. Frankly,
all of these polls I think are meaningless. I I
don't think we should even have polls until the College
Football Playoff comes out with one, and that should be
the only poll that we have. I don't know why
we do these rankings. They don't make sense to me,
especially the preseason. Well, how do you have any idea

(48:01):
what these teams are? People love organization, you know what
I mean. Everybody loves neatly organized where they're supposed to be.
And you know, in this this world where there's so many,
so much confusion and everybody's coming at things from different standpoints,
the fact that we can even put together a comprehensive
list each week in terms of anything including college football,

(48:24):
shocks me altogether. But here we are, you know, and
you stare at it, and there's problems up and down
this list, even in the top ten. But yeah, to
that point, none of these matter. The preseason polling doesn't matter,
you know. And as you can see, and and not
to pick on Brian Know's favorite team, but you know,
the the Irish, I mean, nobody could have forecasted that

(48:45):
it would look as bad as it has, you know,
especially considering their preseason ranking. But were they actually a
top twenty five team or weren't there? And this happens
to Penn State, and this happens to Ohio State, and
it happens to USC some years, any years actually, um
where you know, early in the season we think they're
better than they are and then obviously things shake out

(49:07):
during the football season that changes those opinions. But yeah,
to your point, none of this matters until it matters.
None of this matters until the week before the national
championship is never they scheduled those games for the playoff,
just like our way of like arguing about things. Yeah,
I would just like the record to show rich I
don't disagree with with Notre Dame preseason number five, preseason

(49:31):
number six Texas A and M was that was the
one I was gonna go to preseason number nine Oklahoma. Right,
so there are three teams that are unranked right now
that we're top ten before the season started. I call
the A people the friends with benefits pole. That's what
it is. It's not to be taken seriously. It's just
a fling. It's just for fun. Like it's sprucing up

(49:52):
matchups early in the season where it's I don't know,
what would it be, number number two Ohio State hosting
number five Notre Dame. That was the actual matchup. That
sounds better than Ohio State hosting Notre Dame, and I
do like that the playoff committee they do their own thing.
They're not like, oh, with the A people. They've got
Alabama six, so we can't have them higher than five

(50:14):
or lower than seven. Like, they just do their own thing.
They might have Bama number nine and just be like,
that's what we think they are, so deal with it.
So I like that the playoff Committee, they just think
their own way and they aren't beholden at all to
the A people. If they were, to your point, Jared,
I wouldn't like that, but they aren't. So I'm cool
with the Friends with Benefits pole. I don't hate it.
I think it's I think it's good for everyone. You know,

(50:37):
when you look, it doesn't matter, absolutely not, but does
make it more interesting, I think. So. You know, look,
I know exactly what they're doing to me, but I
can't help myself. Right. I know that Tuesday, when this
pole comes out, I'm gonna be mad about something. I
have no idea what it is, but I know I'm

(50:58):
going to see something that makes me upset. And I
know that I know that I'm going to get upset
over something that it's meaningless, but I'm still going to
get upset, which is good vision. It makes for good radio,
it makes for good fan reaction, makes for better matchups,
it makes for interest across the college landscape, and if

(51:19):
there's college in it. So yeah, you know, to your point,
friends with benefits pole meaningless until the last two weeks
of the college football season. However you want to describe it.
It is good for the support because it gets more
attention to the support. It's really tough. I think the
point Brian made about how we view the conferences is

(51:43):
the most fascinating thing for me. Where does the committee
put this trio of one lost pack twelve teams, which
is really hard to separate all three of them. You know,
they've all kind of beaten all up on each other.
And how does the committee feel about Alabama Tennessee? Because
I know, I know Tennessee beat Alabama. I get it,

(52:03):
and they deserve to be ahead of them. But I
would not be shocked if it was Tennessee four Alabama five,
and it was like right there, you know, that's you know,
where does the committee view And it's almost like a
poker that you're we're we're calling the committee for the
first time, you know, we raised they went all in

(52:23):
and we called you know what, where do we view
these conferences comparatively speaking to the other teams that they're facing,
because that's always the toughest grade is the one loss
PAC twelve against the one loss SEC, like what how
do we you know slot that in or the undefeated
SEC you know, Tennessee, that's the upstart against the one

(52:45):
loss pactice. I mean it is. It will be a
fascinating discussion. It always is. There will be plenty of
oart takes. I'm sure. I think it's interesting what Rich
is talking about with basically a troll job by the
Playoff Committee and maybe we do this. We call it
the Skip Bailiff pull. You know what I mean. Skip
is just fishing for something that touches a nerve. And
when he touches that nerve, West Brick, Oh okay, that

(53:07):
didn't like. Is that what the Flayoff committee is doing.
They're trying to touch nerves over here by slatting teams
higher or lower than they should be something like well,
and I think what they do also is they may
take a closer look at some of the things that
look Jared and I know this speaks to your soul um,
You're you're driven by analytics and you have a great

(53:28):
game plan when you go into selecting your bets. I
I think that the playoff committee is way more interested
in analytics than say the coaches or the media. Are
the media votes, it seems emotionally the coaches have no time,
so it's their sports and information directors who are just
checking boxes and moving on to the next item on

(53:49):
their to do list for the week. So I think, like,
for example, your argument about Alabama, I think that's the
one because if you look at strength of schedule for
the two season, I mean, it outweighs that of Michigan's,
you know, So you can make the argument that they'll
find themselves in in the top four, and maybe the
volunteers too because they have a win over them. But

(54:10):
you'll have a lot of upset Wolverine fans, you know,
especially if they have a big win this weekend. So
there's all those things that sort of hang. The devil's
in the details and I and I don't look at
the a P list, whether it's a media or the
coaches polling, as being particularly detailed. But I do look
at the college football Playoff list as slightly more detail

(54:31):
and analytic driven. So I'm really curious how they shake
things up. Yeah, it will be fascinating. Also, the futures
market will likely get a cholt in one direction or
the other. If one team, especially those Pack twelve teams,
one team ranked a little bit higher right now. You know,
I'm seeing USC and Oregon and U c l A
all in the fifty one range. Kind of is one

(54:54):
of those teams going to get a boost? Michigan is
the intriguing one. I I could see Michigan being a
faller here. Their strength of schedule hasn't been good. They
haven't really played anybody I could and especially if they
struggle today against Michigan State. I mean their best wins
over Penn State and that game was just so weird.
So I could see Michigan falling. And how does the

(55:15):
committee rank the Big ten? Is Ohio State the number
two team even though they're undefeated. I don't know. We'll
see how they played today. That would be a great
troll job. A one loss Obama team ahead of Yeah,
ahead of Alabama is going to be a lot higher
than people think there. I think they're seventh or six
in the eight people they will be higher than that

(55:36):
in the College will Playoff rankings. I think I could
see him as high as five. I can't think. I
think Tennessee should be four and five should be Alabama.
That's how I would rank that Alabama four. Said about that,

(55:56):
I could see it too. But it's gonna have to
lose this party or defense. State's gonna have to pull
a shocker. You're gonna have to see one of these
top five teams lose. Clemson's on a bibe. You have
to see one of the other teams lose today for
Alabama to be in the time to sort itself out.
Because State's gonna plays and George is gonna play Tennessee,
Alabama play someone in the SEC Championship. I mean, that's

(56:18):
the beauty of this specific format. There actually is a
finning of the herd that just happens naturally throughout the
course of the season. This rankings that we're gonna see
is literally just for fodder for the media. Oh yeah,
there's a lot of fodder right there. There's no doubt
about that. Hey, we're off in running here. We've got
Jared Smith from pix wise dot com. We've got rich

(56:39):
Arin Burger Penn State, All American. I'm Brian no. Hey.
Every time you make a waitre at bet MGM, you
earn bet MGM Rewards points that could be redeemed for
things like free bets and risk free tokens. They can
also be converted to MGM rewards points that could be
used towards dining shows and hotel rooms and over twenty
MGM resorts. All right, cut it up. Next, rivalry games.

(57:03):
We've got some huge underdogs. But in these rivalry games,
thanks by get a little tighter then you think. Heading
into today's action, we'll preview a couple of those games.
Right around the corner, it's Fox Sports Radios Countdown to
Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Welcome to the biggest tailgate
party in the nation. You're locked into Fox Sports Radio's

(57:27):
Countdown to Kickoff Touchdown and it's presented by beat MGM,
the King of sports books. Once again. Here's Brian no
Rich Hornberger and Jared Smith. Yes, it is Fox Sports
Radio's Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM. Hey. Every Thursday,
be sure to check out our Countdown to Kickoff presented

(57:49):
by bet MGM original podcast. It features yours truly, Jared
Smith and Bill Krackenburger. We give our texts on all
the key lines and get you set for the weekend
in betting that every Thursday, just search Fox Sports Radio
wherever you get your podcasts. Alright, fellas, we got a
couple of rivalry games here today. How about Michigan State

(58:09):
against Michigan. Michigan is a twenty two and a half
point favorite to night game seven thirty pm Eastern Time.
And sometimes we forget Michigan State one. Last year they
won thirty seven to thirty three. That was Michigan's only
regular season loss heading into the College Football Playoff. But
Sparty one last year? Of course, you saw Kenneth Walker,

(58:32):
who's ripping up the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. He
was the guy who rushed for five touchdowns last year.
Big difference this year. Michigan State's rushing offense good for
number one sixteen among FBS teams. They cannot run the
ball and that's not a good thing going up against
Michigan who just runs it all day, all night. Right
down your throat? Can you see Sparty keeping it within

(58:56):
three touchdowns today against the Wolverines A man, I don't know.
I don't think so, because this is strength on weakness.
The Wolverines rushing attack obviously led by Blake Coreum with
his over a hundred sixty six yards per game. He's
averaging almost six yards per carry. And this is a

(59:19):
sparky defense that can't stop the run, I mean at
all in the conference. Their bottom of the rankings. Um,
they're very middling team. If you look at the national
averages in terms of rush defense. I feel like the
Wolverines are just going east. Especially during a home game,
especially home game at night. Yeah, I I could see.

(59:41):
I could see the Wolverines covering up this point spread
and then some Yeah what was the score last year?
How many points did Michigan States score last year? Divide
that by two. They'll be lucky to get there today. Um,
I don't see a path to victory first party here.

(01:00:01):
So the revenge angle first of all is just I mean,
it's staring you right in the face. And then the matchups,
the top to bottom nature of how good Michigan is
compared to how bad Michigan State is. I mean, this
is a Michigan State team that has some really rough,
rough losses on their resume this year Maryland Minnesota. They

(01:00:22):
got beat up bad by Washington, so I don't really know.
I mean that Minnesota game was ugly, thirty four to seven.
I think Michigan is better than Minnesota, so I don't
see a path here for I think this is one
where I would actually consider laying the point. You could
possibly divide that thirty seven point total from last year

(01:00:43):
by three, maybe you fight it by four today. You know, like,
how many points this party gonna score against Michigan shouldn't
be a whole lot. We'll go quickly around the room
on this one. Also another rivalry game, Florida taking on
number one Georgia. Georgia a healthy twenty four point fae
for it. How about Florida their defense? They gave up
five d and twenty eight yards to l s U

(01:01:06):
And then also you look at Anthony Richardson, the Florida
quarterback six touchdowns on the season, seven interceptions. They gotta
be a whole lot better against still a very tough
Georgia defense. Not looking like a great matchup for the
Gators today, doesn't really, Yeah, especially with the Bulldogs hosting
the Florida Gators. Richardson did put on the show against

(01:01:28):
the Utes. You could say he got better even in
losses to send Tennessee and uh L s u um,
you know. And and he threw for four fifty two
and two touchdowns in the loss to the Volunteers. So look,
I'm not saying that the Gators have a chance, but

(01:01:48):
I'm saying if you're going to if you're gonna put
some faith in a quarterback, giving a team a shot,
a puncher's chance on the road, this is a huge
point spread, you know, or so than I like, say
an underdog in Michigan State. I like the Gators in
this spot. So this is the biggest spread in the

(01:02:08):
history of this rivalry. But all the way back to
nineteen o four. I mean, that's it's crazy when you
think about the teams that Florida's had frankly too, I mean,
they've had some really good teams during that stretch. So
I'm concerned with Florida's defense here, and that would be
the one unit that when you look at George's offense,

(01:02:31):
we don't immediately think explosion and points and can they
cover three touchdowns plus? But they're off the buy. They're
getting Kendall Milton back at running back, and I really
strugg this Florida defense. So they went out in the
transferport and they tried to get a little healthier, a
little help in that interior, and they kind of struck out.

(01:02:52):
And that kind of tells you how they felt about
their team. We saw Utah in Week one dash them in.
Utah's running game hasn't been as good as it was
last year. There's been some really rough games for this
Florida defense. I think Florida's defense is going to be
what decides whether or not they covered this or not.
The U g A's offense, again not as explosive, but
their offensive line is elite top ten in adjusted line yards.

(01:03:15):
George's rushing yards are before first contact. That just shows
you how much push that offensive line is getting. And again,
if you set this game up into the game script
of Georgia getting a lead and then Anthony Richardson having
to come back with a you know, underwhelming cast of

(01:03:36):
characters at wide receiver, I could see this one getting
out of hand. I really could. You could see that.
By the way, I've been reading a bunch of stuff
about needing a like a Moniker for this game, because
it used to be with the world's largest outdoor cocktail party.
You know, it's chunged everything these days. My goodness, that
was perfect. It's like this, this rivalry needs a name.

(01:03:57):
It had a great name, like so fact that. All right,
let's let's go to somebody else who has a great name.
He goes by Isaac Low and Cron and he's here
to give us the latest into sports world. What's up
by Low? A Yes, one of the few references to
me that I've heard over the years that can be
repeated over the air. Check my mentions for the others.

(01:04:20):
Great start to the World Series last night fellas the
Phillies rallying from five nothing down to the Astros after
three innings, coming back to win an in ten inning,
six to five. JT. Real Muto the game tying to
run home run, the game tying to run double rather
on the top of the fifth inning, and then the

(01:04:40):
game winning home run in the top of the tenth inning.
Game too coming up tonight, NBA. On Friday night, Brooklyn
Nets owner Joe Side tweeted a statement condemning Kyrie Irving's
decision to promote an anti Semitic film and book on
social media on the floor. On Friday night, the Los

(01:05:01):
Angeles Lakers fell to oh and five, losing at Minnesota
one eleven two one oh two. Anthony Davis did not
play because of low back tightness. Rudy Gobert did. He
had twenty two points and one rebounds. In college football,
Ohio stage star receiver Jackson Smith in Jigbo will not
play today against Penn State because of a hamstring injury.

(01:05:22):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by
bet MGM. Let's dive into this follow the money, good money.
All right, We're here to follow the money with Shamus McGee,
our friend, team lead of trading at bet MGM does
a fantastic job, Shamus. We almost got there last week
with you t Martin on the road against Tennessee plus

(01:05:46):
I think a hundred million points. I almost got there,
and uh, I hate that it didn't work out. Backdoor
cover was open, didn't work out. But what stands out
to you today? You're looking at all the movement, all
the trends, all the money coming in, anything catching your
eye right now? Hey, guys, thanks for having me back.
Before I get into that, I just want to say
I think I played in a band in college called

(01:06:08):
the Cardiac Owls that could be wow, but like layer covers,
some Lamb of God stuff of real real Indy punk,
very eclectic wow, but stands up to me on the

(01:06:28):
board today. I mean, we've got a couple of really
good games with the Ohio State, Penn State in Tennessee, Kentucky.
A lot of money coming in on those games, for sure.
Lines really haven't moved too much in those games. I'd
say one of the sharper games I've seen his side
on is Notre Dame today. Going into Syracuse, we opened
that line of uh, Syracuse minus three and that's been

(01:06:50):
bent down to Syracuse minus one and a half right now.
M m yeah, that Notre Dame one looked a little
bit funky. Another one that looks funky tonight. A and
m ol miss I mean A and M is just
they're awful right now for lack of a better word.
They're going to start a true freshman at quarterback. But
that line again is under a field goal, and it's

(01:07:11):
one of those that makes you curious, which is the
right side are the rebels as a short favorite on
the road, Is that the way you would lean here, Jamus.
We took a lot of A and M money plus
two and a half earlier in the week. Now we're
seeing a lot more two way action come in on

(01:07:31):
the minus two side. Um, I think this is a
team that I don't I don't think people really trust
old miss all that much. That which is why I
judging from all the money we took on A and
M coming in this week, UM just a weird one.
Almost didn't look particularly good at all for the last
three quarters of that L s U game. So A

(01:07:53):
and M was I would trouble backing them to considering
all the turmoil it's surround that. Is there a game
or games that you're seeing a ton of line movement
on and you have an explanation for it. I mean,
it's it's a weird slate. There's been a few sharp moves.

(01:08:16):
Auburn and Arkansas has one that opened up at four.
We just took a sharp bet on that to go
to three on that line. But I mean some of
these lines notre name Sarcus again was one that kind
of moved around like all a week. Um, sharp money
came in on Georgia. We opened them three touchdowns that

(01:08:38):
outline sits are on two twenty three and a half.
But really a lot of these lines have been there's
been sharper action, I'd say, throughout the year. You know,
the shame is it's more of a broad question, but
how often does it happen where a lot of people,
just conversation wise, will say, oh, man, the books Vegas.

(01:08:59):
They're not buying Syracuse And you might be in the
position to be like, whoa, whoa, it's the betting public
that's not buying Syracuse. Does that happen often with you guys? Yeah,
it's you see it a lot. We just we hang
a number, we listen to what uh are sharp betters
with us tell us and we go by there. And

(01:09:19):
there's a lot of guys who come to us with
big bets that may not even move the line just
because we take that action for a reason. Uh, But
I definitely exists exists, uh when it comes to us
taking action like personally, like my personal opinion doesn't come
into many of these lines too often. We really let
the betters try to tell us where they move Alonge. Yeah,

(01:09:41):
that's a great way of explaining it. I like to
the sharp betters might not be right all the time, Shamus.
But they're kind of the market indicators and I let
them dictate where the line is going to move and
then you base your action accordingly. So that's a very
interesting way to frame it. Another very interesting game today
that I'm I'm on. This Louisville team is a home dog,

(01:10:02):
and again I'm seeing these ranked teams as very short
favorites against unranked teams, and I'm always curious why the
line is so short? What are you seeing between Wake
and Louisville? Big is like the super Bowl for Scott
sadderfield today. It's a good point. Wake is actually a
team that saw some sharp action. Louisville opened up around five.

(01:10:25):
That number currently sits around a field goal. Yea. So
people are really buying uh Louisville and the Cardinals, but
we're still seeing a lot of public money coming in
on Wake Forest. Is that is that one of the
bigger public sides so far today? Or is is there
another line that you've seen move and and the public
is really pounding it. The two biggest public sides are

(01:10:51):
still probably Ohio State in Tennessee and uh Georgia seems
very public today as well, And that line moved. It's
Georgia's favor, you know, Shamus. I think that there are
three sides here. I think there's the public side. I
think there's the sharp side, and I think there's the
shamous side. You know what I mean, That's what I

(01:11:13):
want to know. What's the shamous side? Today? I don't
think I could even touch the FCS FBS extra game
this week. Robert Morris getting half a hundred at app
State play. But I was I was really trying to
scour the board for something. I I try to do
my homework for you guys. Give out a good pick.

(01:11:35):
I'm you know what sticks out? Rice is laying double
digits for the first time in twenty years. Um, I'm
holding on to a new Mexico State over two and
a half wins. Ticket they play at U mass today.
Huge game. I'm gonna go out of the box from
what you guys may expect and I'll go power five here. Um.

(01:11:55):
I think U c l a Is going to roll
against Stanford today. I think that number is good. Up
to three touchdowns. I think this is a good stop
for you. Like coming off a tough loss up at
Ore again, I think they get back on track. Stanford
should not have three wins. I don't know how that,
how that happened. Does David shaw I have a lifetime contract.

(01:12:16):
He was really good a while ago and he's had
some lean years. But uh, I think he's there until
he wants to go somewhere else. It's a good point
in the last the last like five years have been
so weird for the Stanford team. And I don't know
when that seat gets one for sure, I really don't. Yeah. Yeah, well,
hey Shamus, great stuff as always. Man to appreciate you,

(01:12:38):
jumping on good luck today, enjoyed the games. We'll catch
you later. Thank you guys, Thank you. There he is
Shamus McKee, team lead of trading at bed MGM. I
love that. I love Yeah, what's standing out to you? Shamus?
Rice getting points here kind of stands every three scores.
So it was funny. I was looking at the ratings

(01:12:59):
of that FBS FCS game and the total was actually
lower than Appalachian State's number, like the projected total, like
it was one of those games that you really can't touch.
You really can't touch that one of their Yeah, all right,
we got a lot to gets to here. We've got
rich Orin Burger. He's over there in the great city

(01:13:21):
of Fresno, California. Fun fact, rich I did radio there
for about two and a half years. The vog. Yeah,
I apologize for the shoddy internet over there in the
Central Valley color TV the year. You know, like that's
it's all right. It sounded great though. Rich Or Burger,
Penn State All American, Jared Smith lead betting analysts from

(01:13:42):
picks wise dot com. I'm Brian No. Okay, coming up next,
there's a top ten team. They've been treading water, but
did they sink today? We'll dive into that. It's Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to kick offf presented by bet MGM.
KF coming suit and we're leading you up to that.

(01:14:02):
This is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by
Bett MGM, the King of sports books. Once again. Here's
Brian No, Rich Hornberger and Jared Spitch are only about
an hour and ten minutes away from kickoff. It is

(01:14:24):
Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Bett MGM.
Be sure to follow bet MGM across all socials at
bet MGM. Let's dive into this. Be prepared for any
situation that may arrive the situation room. All right, the
situation room, Jared will start with you. You're looking for

(01:14:46):
a spot to back a team, and you're honing in
on those Horned Frogs treading water, still undefeated. They're taking
on West Virginia today. What do you see in this one?
I hope you guys are hungry sandwich time. Um, and
it's actually a quadruple decker. I mean, I'm usually a
triple decker guy. This is a quadruple decker because you've

(01:15:06):
got Oklahoma, Kansas, Oklahoma State, k State. Four very difficult games,
all victories for the horn frog Next week they play
Texas Tech, in state rivalry. The week after that they
play Texas, another in state rival This week they had
a little Morgantown to take on the Mountaineers. I could

(01:15:29):
see them looking past this West Virginia team, which numbers wise,
does not really pop off the page. But funny things
happen on the way to country roads. Be very careful
with the horn Frogs this afternoon. I guess West Virginia
like it bare. I mean, if you listen to Shamus,

(01:15:50):
his one is um U c l A right. Yeah,
coming off of an emotional loss going to Stanford. He said,
that's good. Up to three touchdowns. I mean, so you
want to talk about a situation Shamus as as spotlighted
for our next segment. I like it. We've got more
situations here. Let's dive into this not live yet live

(01:16:14):
that okay, So we're looking for spots when these games
do kick off for potential in game wagers. Right, So,
if an underdog scores a touchdown right away, maybe you
want to back the favorite at a reduced price. Things
like that. Same things work with the over or under

(01:16:34):
hot start. Maybe it back the under vice versa. That
sort of thing. Anything on your radar first year, Jared,
that pops out to you. I would get that. Notre
Dames games and treatment lower total game basically a pick
them whoever scores first. Let's say it is Notre Dame.
They're not gonna You would think run away and hide.

(01:16:55):
So that could be an interesting spot. If you want
a higher total game where we could see a trading
of offenses. Maybe the ny Liners get off to a
fast start and we see Ohio State creep back into
the game, So that would be too. I would look
at you. You might be able to get some value
on the dog. If the other team scores early, I
like it. You know, I'm looking at Kentucky and Tennessee,

(01:17:16):
where the total is crept down throughout the week. Let's
just say, for whatever reason, it's a slower start. Let's
say Kentucky gets the ball first and it's a longer drive,
they kick a field goal. There's just not a whole
lot of fireworks right away. I'd be looking at the
end game over because I think there's gonna be a
lot of points in that game today. Mine is if

(01:17:37):
you you love the Ducks today, but you don't love
three scores. Cow. They're very slow starters this season. They've
got zero first quarter points in the last three games.
But if they score early, who knows, maybe you could
catch the Ducks at a lower number. All right up next,
the top matchups and the Dumbest Dumbest commented the week.

(01:17:59):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox sports
Radio dot com and within the I Heart Radio app.
Search f s R to listen live. Oh, good morning,
Welcome in everybody. We got a full slate of tasty
college football action. Here. One of the games that stands

(01:18:19):
out right now we'll get to the ranked versus ranked matchups.
But call me a homer, guys, I'm from South Bend,
but Notre Dame. The money is pouring in on the
Irish right now. They are at bet MGM as we speak.
They are a one point favorite Syracuse so action, Yes,

(01:18:41):
backing the Irish here against the Ques. Interesting. I mean
at this point it's all sharp money, probably because the
public's on Syracuse. M. Yeah, that's right, Yeah, I mean
it's a pick um to begin with. You you kind
to look at it and you think to yourself, like

(01:19:02):
who do you like in the game? And Syracuse, like
you said, they're running back their star of the season offensively,
you know, kind of an emotional you know, discussion postgame
talking about how we wish you had more carries. The
defense obviously let them down. Um, I'm very curious with

(01:19:22):
the outcome of this game is gonna be now because
that that line shift, that late line movement favoring Notre Dame.
You're fighting Irish. I mean, that's that's not home cooking.
You're backing that up with facts. Someone with a wheelbarrow
of money just back the Irish. Call that the bagman.
I have a friend, former bookmaker. He said he used

(01:19:43):
to be a guy. He just bring a bag into
the sports book every week, drop it on the table.
Maybe it was old mattress Mac. Maybe it's counting his
money with the Astros already back in the Irish today
he is like the ultimate mush right like if well,
if he's on your side of the bet, you're in trouble.

(01:20:04):
And he doesn't care if he wins or loses, because
he wins either way exactly, That's right, which makes it
even harder to dictate where he's going. Man, Wow, complete
line flip. I'm seeing Notre Dame now point and a half. Yeah,
it's just it's continuing to move. I wonder where it's
gonna end up. An hour from now, it'll pro I'm
assuming we'll get some some of that sharp money that

(01:20:27):
will push Syracuse back. Anytime you see a line, now,
I got three? How about that? I got Notre Dame
plus three at one of the local shops here in
Vegas very early in the week. And I'll be honest,
I'm actually considering a Syracuse plus one and a half
bet here thinking they're like, yeah, maybe middling there. Yeah,

(01:20:48):
it always feels good, always feels good with your handicapping
if it works, just like you explained Jared, where you're like,
I got a plus three. It feeling pretty good about
myself over here. But that's really important to sort of
not just feel out the game, but feel out how
the line's gonna move. That's really important in betting. Also
the market for sure, and we're seeing A and M
move as well after the news that true freshman Connor Wiegman.

(01:21:12):
Wigman will start today. So I don't love my I'm
already upset about my parlay platter putting A and M
money line in there. I don't think it can be
worse than what we've seen center for A and M today.
You know, it might just be on par who knows.
With his first action. Let's get to UH number two

(01:21:33):
Ohio State against number thirteen Penn State. We've talked a
lot about this game for good reason. You look at
the Nitney Lions, huge underdogs. We're talking fifteen and a
half points right now at bet MGM. I just think,
and we've said this to begin the show, styles make fights,
and although Michigan just absolutely ran the ball right down

(01:21:53):
Penn State's throat. Ohio State isn't going to do that,
So maybe they're a little bit better against the past
and CJ. Strout today compared to against the run and
Blake Corum. At least that's the hope if you're rooting
four Penn State today. But they played Ohio State tough regularly,
and when you get him at home, I could see
them giving them a test. Right, Ohio State hasn't been

(01:22:16):
the bulldozers that we anticipated heading into this season. So
we'll see if Penn State can keep it close here today.
Are you guys, I know you're rooting for that. Are
you expecting it from Penn State? Though? I'm not expecting
them to win, but I definitely think that they have
a puncher's chance. And I'll say this, I think it's
very possible we could see a close game here and

(01:22:37):
and for a lot of the things that we know
about this matchup, not only historically, which doesn't really matter
in college football, but also recently. I mean, like you said,
Ohio State gets tested every time they play Penn State
home or road. It feels like and yeah, they're not
gonna get ran all over like they did against the
Wolverines because that's not to do. This is gonna come

(01:22:59):
down to Penn State Secondary against C. J. Stroud and
the Lions. They've broken up a nation's best fifty eight
passes and they've intercepted seven of them. So that's a
good unit on the back end. If they can provide
any sort of pass rush up front with the pressure
packages that we know that defensive coordinator Many Diaz are

(01:23:19):
going to throw at the Buckeys, this feels like an
opportunity for Penn State. I don't know if it's an
opportunity to win, but absolutely keep it close in the
first half and maybe you can make a game of
it in the second half. So here's what scares me
for Penn State in this game. And listen, you're not
gonna find a bigger homer than me. I am gonna
have my Nitney line saxon and all buttoned up, ready

(01:23:43):
to go for this one and in about in an
hour or so. But Penn State's only faced one top
thirty offense all season. It was Michigan, and they did
not force a three and out the entire game. And again,
I know you're right. Styles make fights. We're not going
to see slam it down your throat kind of offense
like we did see in that game against Michigan. But

(01:24:05):
man defense travels defense really sets the tone. And this
is not ain't your papa's Penn State defense. This is
not the Penn State defense that Rich played with and
the Penn State defense that I grew up watching. This
is a little bit more boom or bust. They're not
a solid upfront, and they don't do the little things
as well as they did when it was Bradley as

(01:24:27):
the defensive coordinator or even recent times when they had
a little more starch up front. This is a Penn
State defense that can be had, and that scares me
because we haven't seen Ohio State string together the full
sixty yet. Now that being said, Ohio State hasn't played
anybody either, especially offensively. They have the seventy four schedule

(01:24:47):
adjusted efficiency of opposing offenses this year. So I could
see Sean Clifford making his statement here this is one
of those games where this is really his last big game.
So we'll see that looks like for Penn State's offense.
We'll see if the offensive line can protect. I mentioned
Jim Knowles, Ohio State's defensive coordinator, Buckeyes allowing a hundred

(01:25:08):
and thirty three yards per game less than last year.
That's a huge difference. He has made a massive impact
on that defense. So there's some you know, we all
know c J. Stroud and the offense for this Ohio
State team is prolific. What does it look like on
the defensive end for Penn State and Compenn State's offense
do anything against an Ohio State defense that has been

(01:25:29):
pretty good this year, even though again the strength of
schedule I think for both teams frankly, has been relatively poor.
This is one one of the things I absolutely love
about football is these mind games of you're just trying
to pick a winner, or if you're betting, you're trying
to pick on who's gonna cover the spread and all
of that. If you look at Penn State, We've talked
about it, they got absolutely bold dozed by Michigan. So

(01:25:49):
you still have that in the forefront of your mind,
especially if you took Penn State in that game for instance, Right,
But then you also have there's just something in the water, right,
You have that there's just something in the water. When
Penn State plays Ohio State, they typically play them tough.
So it's that that balancing act of I just saw

(01:26:10):
a Penn State get crushed, but for some reason they
play Ohio State very tough, and then you play the
next mind game is well, that's all well and dandy,
but this goes back years ago. There's not a soul
on either of these teams from some of these matchups
where Penn State played Ohio State tough. So I just
love how that breaks down the here and now versus

(01:26:32):
what's happened over the course of the last few years
in this rivalry. And you use all that and it
does make you a crazy person. It drives you crazy
when you're trying to pick the right side on this one.
But that's the way it goes in bad I will
say this though, I mean I completely agree with you,
but hey, they to those games. Like if you think
about it, at anytime you're hosting Ohio State in in

(01:26:56):
in Beaver Stadium and Happy Valley, you're bringing all your
recruits to that game because historically, like you said it,
not only is it almost always a big game. Now
they also almost always play close games with them or
win against them. So that is a big reason why
why you do that And then also, a lot of
this roster from Penn State comes from Pennsylvania, so they're

(01:27:19):
well aware of the recent history. So I know what
you mean. And I and we hear that talked about
a lot in college football, like, well, throwout the history
books because it's a brand new season. Well kind of,
except a lot of these kids grew up in the
near about region and they know exactly how important this
matchup is. I don't really think Penn State has a
natural rivalry in college football. They're kind of unrivaled and

(01:27:43):
that's really their slogan. But if there was one, it
feels like Ohio States becoming in Yeah, that's a that's
a slogan. You know. The thing that scares me when
I watch, When I, you know, do some prep for
this game. I didn't see one matchup advantage for Penn State,

(01:28:07):
Like where does pen besides home field and excitement? You know,
throw that out, you know, let's play this game in
a vacuum. You don't like Sean Clifford better than C. J. Stroud,
you know, like like what I mean, like honestly, objectively speaking,
where is the advance? Like what can Penn States say
that's our strength? We're gonna hammer that because it's Ohio

(01:28:28):
State's weakness. There really isn't one that scares me when
there's not an obvious matchup edge in any of the
four phases offense, defense, special teams, you know, both sides.
So that scares me here, I mean, listen, I like
I said, I would love to see make an argument
from massive defensive secondary against the receivers though, right, I mean,

(01:28:48):
you can at least make the argument that states offense.
It's not or no, no, no, no, not receivers against receivers.
I'm talking about Penn States secondary against Ohio States receiving corps.
If Joey Porter Jr. Plays the game of his life, yes, absolutely,
he's gonna have to. It's gonna be a tough ask.

(01:29:10):
I mean, this is, this is There are some intriguing
things here with Ohio States defense. But you're you're right.
If Penn State can figure out a way to slow
this offense down, then they've got a shot. I do
like it. Where you know, going back to last week,
Ohio State only rushing the ball on average for two
point to yards per rush against Iowa, averaging only two

(01:29:32):
point two. Let's say Penn State is able to make
Ohio State one dimensional c J. Stroud is still capable
of winning the game against Penn State even if they
are one dimensional. But I think it could start with that.
If you're able to slow down the rushing attack and
it's just pass pass pass, pass pass, and you can
anticipate that, you can pin your ears, you can rush

(01:29:52):
to J. Stroud hopefully get some pressure on the gap,
maybe for uced to turn over. I think that's one
of the things is if you can start to make
a team one to mentional, especially on the road, in
that atmosphere, weird stuff starts to happen. We'll see if
Penn State can do that today. And that is where
Jared's right, that's when your secondary really has to play

(01:30:12):
the game of their life. If you're going to depend
on voting up the box and having a man coverage
on the outside um and forcing the get through that
r then yeah, I actually like the idea. But see
if in actuality is the game plan, and if it is,
if the secondary can hold up. It's the best matchup

(01:30:33):
in my mind going into this game. If I'm gonna
lose the ball game, I'd rather lose testing my secondary
against their receivers and trying that, especially in the first half.
That would be my plan. But it's a risk, man.
I mean it is a risk because that Buckeyes offense
is they're high powered. Yeah, here's what scares me to

(01:30:53):
So the one thing Penn State has been well below
expectation on this year is the interior rushing defense. Tyler
Elsdon and I don't want to call anyone out specifically,
but these numbers are pretty eye popping. Out of seven
hundred and seventy five linebackers that Pro Football Focus grades
in terms of their rushing defensive efficiency, he is grading

(01:31:18):
out seven hundred and fifty five. I mean that's the
Penn State middle linebacker that is usually linebacker you So,
I that just scares me. When you see softness in
the middle of Penn States defense, it's so against what
they normally are. Our strength is the strength, like can

(01:31:39):
they overcome that? In ken Ohio State take advantage if
the run sets up the pass and Ohio State gets
off to a fast start. I I fear that this
one might get out of hand. I really do. Hey.
Every Thursday, be sure to check out our countdown to Kickoff,
presented by bet MGM original podcast. It features yours truly,
Jared Smith and Bill crag Kenburger. We give our takes

(01:32:01):
and all the key lines college football and NFL. Get
you all set for a full weekend in betting. That's
every Thursday. Just search Fox Sports Radio wherever you get
your podcasts. Okay, we got a lot more to do here.
We've got Jared Smith from picks wise dot com. We've
got rich Orinburger, hen State all Americans. I'm Brian No.
Coming up next, We've got some quickie previews for you,

(01:32:24):
number of games we want to hit on fast. And also,
this has to be the dumbest comment of the week
in the college football world. We'll let you know what
that is as well. It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown
to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. Are you ready for
some football? Welcome to the biggest tailgate party in the nation.

(01:32:46):
You're locked into Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff touchdown
and it's presented by bat MGM, the King of sports books.
Once again, Here's Brian No, rich Orinburger and Jared Smith.
Only about thirty seven minutes until kick off. Welcome back
to Fox Sports Radios. Countdown to Kickoff presented by bet MGM.

(01:33:09):
New users download the bet mgm app today and use
code countdown for a special offer. That's code Countdown in
the bet MGM app. All right, there was just a
comment that I had to mention to you guys. So
college football they're talking about expansion. It's gonna happen. It's
just a matter of time. So when they do expand
it to a twelve team playoff, you might have to

(01:33:31):
go head to head with the NFL. And so there's
a there's a comment by a a C. The ACT
as I call it, the American Athletic Conference ACT Commissioner,
mikea Resco. He says, we're not afraid of any of it.
Bring it on, NFL. If we need to compete with you,
so be it, bro, Are you serious? Right Now's the NFL.

(01:33:55):
They've ruined Christmas Day, You've got the World Series Baseball.
They're not playing on Sunday night or Thursday night. They're
not going up against the NFL. That's smart when some
of these leagues, the w n B A, they were
playing their championship game on a Sunday. Well, it's just
a full slate of NFL action or NASCAR when they
have a race at like one pm Easter, What are

(01:34:17):
you doing so college football? That is the dumbest approach
you could take is bring it on. We matter too.
It's like you don't want to play that game with
the NFL. I think that's stupid. Yeah, I completely agree
with you, Brian. And you mentioned some other sports where
are they're a bit more niche, like w n b A.
They have their crowd and you know, maybe they at

(01:34:40):
close to the same ratings they would if you have
it on an NFL Sunday or for that reason, or
for that matter, NASCAR, Like you know, you're you're plowing
a bull. Who may there's more crossoper than audience that
NFL NASCAR. You got a pointed, But this is college football.
Like most people who are interested in college football are

(01:35:04):
as interested or more so, in the NFL. This is
a awful idea, awful idea, And let's be honest. You know,
we we we we've seen the rankings. You know, we've
seen the selection committee put their best foot forward at
times and put their foot in their mouth. Um. I
don't really know how to respond to this other than why,

(01:35:26):
of all the days of the week they want to
put a college football playoff game on a Sunday. That
is asinine. Yeah, no other words for it. Besides that,
it would make absolutely no sense at all to do that.
It's they're talking about maybe playing on Thursdays when you're
talking about that first week of college games and that

(01:35:48):
Thursday game might be better than the NFL product though.
I will say that, yes, and at that stage, Thursday
night football would be done when we get to Yeah
that's true. Yeah, that's true. Would you stand alone? Like
that makes way more sense. That does make a lot
of sense. Wait, and you're right. It would be in January.
You're going up against the NFL playoffs right right, Week eighteen,

(01:36:09):
wild card weekend, Like, no bad idea, abort the mission.
Let's not do that. Mike arrest Saturday on Breaking on NFL.
We're not afraid of you, dude, not not smart. I
want to get to some of our quickies here. There's
no nob but I I just a thought, like father
thing that the NFL is veryre of is who's talking

(01:36:32):
about them, like, who's trying to compete with them? This
is not good for the n c double A for
any of these conferences to have a commissioner go off
half cocked and started talking bad about the NFL because
of a sudden You're gonna have old Jerry Jones get
on the phone, be like, hey, yeah, Raj, we gotta
have a talk about this. Rest go when we need

(01:36:54):
to put him back in his place. Okay, let's get
that done, Thanks so much and whatever. Jerry, that guy,
I mean, Jerry is my favorite because he's just somebody
who just gets stuff done for the league. Easton, I don't, no,
I would say, no, he probably doesn't. Yeah, And look, man,

(01:37:17):
we know that college football it goes sort of hand
in hand with the NFL. It feeds the NFL machine.
So the NFL might not want to crush college football
as much as it wants to crush say the NBA
on Christmas Day or whatever. But when when you're like
picking a fight with them, the NFL does take pleasure
and crushing everybody in its way. And I think that

(01:37:40):
would include include college football if it came right down
to it. Okay, as far as our our quickie matchups here,
let's mention number eight Oregon at Cal today. We've talked
about this quite a bit. Homebo Nicks bow Nicks has
been really good this season, especially at home on the
road against Cal, good defense, coming off of a huge

(01:38:00):
performance against u c L u c L A maybe
a little let down here tonight. We'll see what happens
with Oregon. I love him to win the game, but
I'm keeping my eye on road bow Knicks because, uh,
maybe it's a road SEC bow Knicks and not a
road Pack twelve bow Knicks. But we get a little
bit more information about bow Nicks on the road this evening. Yeah,

(01:38:23):
and it all comes down to him. Um, after being
a less than sixty percent passer during his three years
in Auburn, he has inflaced statistics over seventy on this season. Um.
I think he's the reason. Actually I know he's the reason.
He's the engine that drives the Ducks and and Cow.

(01:38:44):
They're not a very good team. They're a slow starting team.
The Ducks are a fast starting team. You see this
game potentially getting out of hand early. Uh, and then
the Ducks maybe getting some rest in a Pack twelve
appointment here on their way towards you know, the best
half of their season. Casual. Yeah, kind of a weird
I will say this, It is a weird spot. For Oregon.

(01:39:06):
They beat you ci A last week and they go
to cow now and this is these are the spots
that Justin Wilcox have actually excelled in. How about this
trend seventeen and three against the number as a dog
of seven or more for Justin Wilcox. So if if
a road Bonix interception rears its ugly head, I wouldn't

(01:39:30):
be surprised if cal maybe had a chance to keep
this one closed. We'll see. It is a big number though,
seventeen and nine. I know the uniform thing with Oregon.
It's been done and done and done. But what do
you think last week like the pink numbers. I liked it.
Nice message there there they they literally invented swag up

(01:39:50):
there in Eugene. Yeah, it was a nice look. By
the way, Another quickie here, how about old Miss Old
Miss slides down to number fifteen in the country after
getting really trucked by l s U All Miss taking
on Texas A and M A and M is three
and four. Jared, you mentioned the quarterback change going with
the young gun today for the Aggies. Hopefully they are

(01:40:13):
hoping gets them on the right track. But I just
keep going back to these recruiting rankings, of course they matter,
but they aren't the end all be all in Texas
A and M is the shining example of that. Right now.
They are below five hundred football team, and all we
heard about was their recruiting rankings. The recruiting rankings. It's like,
we got to see that actually on the field. Because

(01:40:34):
you might be a four or five star guy, that's great,
doesn't matter at all if you're playing like a two
star guy. And that's what we're seeing a lot of
times with Texas A and M this season. Yeah, Texas
defense is going to get a real test against the
number offense in the country mrs averaging two hundred fifty
two yards on the ground per game. That that's like

(01:40:57):
a military academy with twenty x rushing touchdowns. I mean,
just absolutely ogeous. That's going to be the matchup to watch.
Can A M slow down the ground game from the rebels? Uh?
And if they can, That's all she wrote. But this
should I mean, should they have an opportunity? Should they?
Should they challenge them in any way? That would be

(01:41:17):
a close game. Ole Miss gave up twenty eight un
answered in the second half to l S last week. Yeah,
this is a funky line. I mean, now it's back
to three after the quarterback change. We'll see what Wigan Wigan.
I apologize my mispronounced his name has today true freshman

(01:41:37):
played a little bit last week. It's actually up to
three and a half um at one of the shops
here in town. But I'm seeing mostly threes that MGM
is painting at three across the board, which is seems
to be in line with the rest of the market here.
I wish I didn't lock in my parlay platter before
I knew who was playing quarterback. An I'll just leave
it at Yeah. That's the one thing about lacking in

(01:41:59):
those bets. You can't go back to the window like
camp Rising is not playing. Can you top bet bag?
Of the people that wanted refund on that one get
in man, no doubt. Hey, we're gonna lock it in
with Isaac lowen Kron right now with the latest what
is going on I low Fellas. Let's start by locking
in on a memorable Game one of the World Series.

(01:42:21):
Friday night, the Philadelphia Phillies fell behind at Houston five
nothing after three innings, but then the Phillies would rally
jt real Muto tying the game with a two run
double on the top of the fifth inning, and then
with the score still tied at five on the top
of the tenth inning, came to the plate again, kicks
some deals that had swung on hit well to right.
Going back on a tucker to the track at the wall,

(01:42:43):
he chops, it's gone. Just see you with an opposite
field whole round, just out of the reach of a
leaping Kyle Tucker, and the Phillies take the lead here
on the top of the tenth inning. The call on
w I p is. The Phillies would go on to
win Game one by that six to five score and
be a On Friday night, Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Side

(01:43:03):
tweeted a statement condemning Kyrie Irving's decision to promote an
anti Semitic film and book on social media. Side tweeted quote,
I'm disappointed that Kyrie appears to support a film based
on a book full of anti Semitic disinformation. I want
to sit down and make sure he understands this is

(01:43:24):
hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith,
it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity,
or religion unquote on the court. On Friday night, the
Los Angeles Lakers fell to oh and five, losing in
Minnesota one eleven to one oh two. Anthony Davis did
not play because of low back tightness. In college football,

(01:43:44):
Ohio State star receiver Jackson Smith and Jigbo will not
play today against Penn State because of a hamstring injury.
Kick off at the top of the hour, And finally
important college football news because Colorado offensive lineman Tommy Brown
has signed an endorsement deal to become college football's first

(01:44:05):
ever underwear model. And yeah, let's go they were they
were something. Yes, they were something. Again a reminder, Mr
Brown is an offensive line there. He also sports on mullets.
They were pretty rauch The pictures were pretty raunchy, Mr Ritch.

(01:44:27):
I hope he wears number sixty four to really complete
Mr Brown does. Mr Brown said up his underwear modeling
deal quote, I knew it was my destiny unquote. That
is awesome. Pictures were pretty funny. I have to admit
it was like George Costanza if you remember that bit

(01:44:47):
from Seinfeld. Some of these deals, remember the coldest, the
too tremendous, absolutely tremendous and yeah, Bijan Rob and Sin yeah, Dijon.
So I've had a lot of creative things here. I mean,
the names are crazy. I mean the names are absolutely fantastic.
They absolutely are. It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff,

(01:45:10):
presented by bet MGM rich orn Berger, Penn State All
American Jared Smith, lead betting analysts from picks wise dot com.
I'm Brian, No, let's dive into this. Oh yeah, let's
get trendy, all right, looking at recent trends going into
some of these matchups. Sometimes they can shed some light

(01:45:32):
on what's about to happen. Sometimes they get in your way,
and sometimes they trip you up. But is there anything
on your radar here, Jared, that you think makes sense
heading into how you handicap some of these games today? Well, friends,
it has happened. I have gotten to the window on
an under in college football, my first of the season,
and of course it's our Iowa Hawk eyes. So the

(01:45:54):
total between Iowa and Northwestern today is a fat thirty
eight how thirty seven and a half? Now, if you
look at totals that close thirty eight or lower in
college football, since the under is hitting at over sixty
twenty one, eleven and one. Now this year two and two,

(01:46:20):
one and one in Iowa games, two of the four
the totals at thirty eight or lower. But here's the
more intriguing thing. The first half under is only hitting
at about fi. So what we're seeing is more games,
early scoring, and then the second half is where things
really fall off the map. But I am at the

(01:46:40):
window locking in my wager. Iowa Northwestern under thirty eight,
my first under of the season. You know, I feel
like that deserves some applause. Clap it up, clap for
the old underwear model. I gotta clap for you with
your first underbed of the college football season. Can't wait
till it's forty five ten at halftime should be a

(01:47:02):
great time. You cash all that under money where you win.
Maybe you should need the next underwear underwear underwear. Yeah,
I'm big at it. There's crossover. How about this Florida
only losing his close games, right, you know the largest
margin that I also ten. They've done that twice. They

(01:47:26):
have to close everybody. They were blown out games in victories. Now,
I'm not saying that Georgia isn't good. I'm not saying
that their offense is in an unbelievably balanced they are,
and they've got a lot of running backs to throw
at you, by the way, and they're all good. But
this point, bread, I believe, is the updated spread that

(01:47:49):
old are favorite. It just feels it just feels like
too many points. And I know it's a home game,
and I know, and I know, and I know, but
us following the trends, it feels like the Gators keep
this one closed. They play like the half long. There's
a trend here that at least piqued my interest. Now

(01:48:11):
I like recent trends. I like the season of instead
of going back to the sixties or you know what
I mean, like this goes back to seen. So take
it for what it's worth. But if you look at
this Ohio State Penn State matchup, the over in Ohio
State road games since the start of the season sixteen

(01:48:32):
four and two. Wow. And so that's the highest over
percentage in the FBS over that span. And so maybe
you use that when you're looking at this Ohio State
Penn State game. My mind goes immediately to the spread
where it's fifteen and a Halfpence State is a home underdog.
Maybe you look at that total, maybe sixty one. If

(01:48:54):
you're thinking about that trend repeating itself or carrying through,
maybe a for sixty one is the better play today.
If you're looking at that game, I don't hate it,
don't hate it at all. I mean, listen, if you want,
if Penn State wants to keep up there have to
score some points the seven teen points which is what
they scored against Michigan two weeks ago. Or he's right

(01:49:16):
in that vicinity that ain't gonna get it done this
week against that ain't gonna get it done. What that's
the question. What do you think would get it done?
How much this Penn State have to score? The winness fifty?
I mean the total sixty one. Ohio State's team total,
they're fifteen and a half point favorites. Quick math in
my head, that's about what thirty seven twenty two, thirty

(01:49:39):
seven three sot thirty five I would say minimum for
Penn State today. Yeah, that's kind of rough when you think,
I can't believe to sit that math in my head?
Can I get it round of applause for that? That
was impressive and I'm not feeling great today, So that
was that was my best performance of the whole show.
We always have flood math here on the show. You know,

(01:50:01):
I always applaud math alright, Coming up next, it's the
moment of truth. All the analysis, all the digging, all
that stuff. We put it to the test. We make
some picks against the spread, maybe a couple of totals.
Maybe a couple of totals. We'll see if that is
part of it. Three of us with three picks each
against the spread, and Jared has his play of the day.

(01:50:23):
We get you're all set here before the game's kickoff
less than twenty minutes. It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown
to Kickoff, presented by bet MGM. Kickoffs are coming soon
and we're leading you up to that. This is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Bett MGA. The

(01:50:46):
kick of sports books once again. Here's Brian no, Rich
Hornberger and Jared Spitch. I'll just twelve minutes until kick off.
It is Fox Sports Radio's count Down to Kickoff, presented
by bet MGM. Hey, we've been giving out rounds of

(01:51:07):
applause during the show today. How about a round of
applause for the crew? Huh, Isaac Lowan Kron tremendous job.
Our producer Line Burr Shinger, Iowa Sam technical producer. By
the way, Iowa Sam has a random fundness for the
band The Darkness. Yeah, big Darkness fan. Ye see, I
told you I wouldn't lie when done. Such a great

(01:51:29):
job this year, We're not by the way, nine weeks
flies by. Huh, it's really nice. It's been flying, no doubt. Hey,
coming up at the top of the hour, up on
game t J Hushman Zada, Plexico Birth. They get you
all set for a huge weekend of ball. Looking forward
to that. Okay, it is the moment of truth. Let's
make some picks here, rapid fire. All right, we'll start

(01:51:55):
with you, Jared. Three picks for us. Where are you
honing in on here? Buddy? Okay, two in one last week,
thirteen and eleven on the year. Not too shabby. I'll
take it, but again, always room for improvement. Then I'm
taking four points with Missouri today at South Carolina. Defense
travels as Tiger's team, one of the best defense in
the country. No one's really talking about, allowing just nineteen

(01:52:16):
points per game over the last three That includes Georgia,
Barna and Man he throw that one out right, uh,
and we're selling high on South Carolina after their fourth
straight win. I just do not trust Spencer Rattler Beamer
ball down today, Missoo up catching four the hungry Otsky's
baby we talked about in parlay platter. Love this spot

(01:52:37):
for Yukon homecoming in stores. Yukon off to buy. Boston
College has and outscored a Buck four team a thirty
nine in their last three road games. Boston College is
dead last in line yards created. Don't see them getting
a ton of movement up front of this game, and
the market has been consistently wrong on these teams all year.
How about this. Yukon is six and two against the spread,

(01:52:59):
Boston College one in six. Finally a cardinal cordation, big
spot for Scott Saderfield super Bowl in Louisville today, a
top ten team coming in and Wake Forest. I'm taking
three and a half with the Cardinals again. I think
this is all about Malik Hunningham left right and center.
Last year he had a huge game against this easily
had Wake Forest defense and I think they went out right.

(01:53:21):
But I will gladly take three and hook so Missoo
Yukon Louisville. All dogs today for my rapid fire. How
about that? How about that? Alright, let's do it, and
I'll try to do it quick. Last week one in
two ten and fourteen on the year, this track game
organ ducks by seventeen a half on the cow. But

(01:53:42):
this is a hungry team. I'm feeding the ducks of
the tower. Kentucky at Tennessee. The number is set at
sixty one. The forecast in Knoxville is called for touchdowns.
I'm taking the over set at sixty one. Um. The
Vata really tough wats this season. I may take sides

(01:54:03):
against him for the rest of the year. PoTA Jose
State Spartans are favored by twenty four and a hook
hosting the Wolfpack. I got the Bay Area Spartans covering
its Oregon minus seventeen over that sixty one Kentucky and
Tennessee and San Jose State covering up twenty four and
a half. It man, I have to tell you a

(01:54:24):
quick story. I had to degenerate under first half bet
when San Jose State was playing Fresno State and they
gotta turnover in the final minute and threw a bomb
for a touchdown. The Spartans did to hit the over
by half a point just broke my freaking heart. It
was obnoxious, But anyway, I digress. Let's get to the
picks today. Give me the Irish and the over. We're

(01:54:46):
doing it here. Not are they minus one? They're a favorite.
Now the money has swung over there. A lot of
people say closing line value. Can't do it. You gotta
be like Jared Smith. Jared Smith has the Irish plus three.
That's all well and good. I don't have that option
right now. They'll take a Notre Dame minus one. They're
gonna run the ball more effectively. Ques can't stop me

(01:55:07):
running the football. Notre Dame gets to win, and I'm
taking the over. Syracuse gonna score some points. I'm taking
over forty eight as well, and then I'm gonna go
to the Pack twelve. I'm looking at you, Colorado, Buffalo's
plus thirteen and a half, Arizona States doing this weird
musical quarterback thing. I think a lot of times you
take a sucky Pack twelve team and just take the points.

(01:55:30):
These big dogs. It's worked out the last couple of weeks.
So give me Colorado plus thirteen and a half. Tonight
against a s U and they're weird quarterback changing system.
We got Emery in and now the other guy, and
now Emery and now the other guy. Give me the buffs.
All right, it's time for this. Let's do it. This

(01:55:52):
is the best play of the day. Okay, Jared, you've
been scouring the interweb and you've been looking honing in
on what is the best play of the day. What
is it for you? I went back and forth here.
I don't want to, you know, neglect our pal Shamus
McGee with his U C l A pick. I did

(01:56:12):
put a little nugget on the Bruins today. But listen,
we'd like to have fun here on the show. These
plays at the let's be honest, they have not done well.
So we're gonna do something that I haven't done all year,
and that's bet and under. In college football, Kyowa Northwestern
under thirty eight as the best play of the day
when it's forty five ten Hawkeyes at half. I apologize

(01:56:36):
in advance, but I just do not see a ton
of points between these tea two. I like it. And
by the way, just for bookkeeping, I always write down
my record and almost always forget to say it. I'm
thirteen and eleven. So there you go, thirteen and eleven.
We're the pace center. Oh no, both of us are
thirteen in the one. Yeah, there you go right there.
By the way. Do the Irish win by more points

(01:56:58):
than Penn State loses today? What do you think? I
hate to say it. I think my Ninny Lions, our
Ninny Lions are gonna be on the wrong end of
a whooping today. You're expecting to beat down today. Man,
it's a big spread. It's high for a reason. If
I had to, I would take two points. I would

(01:57:18):
take two points. I like your stage, so that gives
me a little hope. But I do like your pic though.
Rich On that Kentucky Tennessee over, I see. I like
the San Jose State pick a lot too. That's a
that's an emotional game for the Spartans tonight. Very nice.
It's gonna be emotional day for us watching a full
slate of ball. Everybody enjoy it. We'll catch you soon.

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Jonas Knox

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True Crime Tonight

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