Countdown to Kickoff Presented by BetMGM

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ah you ready to witnesses football fans, Welcome to the
biggest tailgate party in the nay share that Fox Sports
Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
By betg the King of Sportsbook.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
We're setting you up with the information you need to
watch your team win.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's go.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
We're here to break it all down.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Look, this is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff, presented
by Bett mg app.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
We're live from your tailgate.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Here's Brian Nook, former Penn State All American, Rich Hornberger
and FSR betting analyst Jared Smith.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Welcome in. Apologies for the technical issues.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
It's Countdown to Kickoff from Fox Sports Radio, brought to
you by Bet MGM. We are working hard in the
background here to get the rest of the voices on
that you normally hear on Fox Sports Radio here in
the mornings, whether you're listening on the East Coast i
am to noon or on the West coast from six

(01:12):
am to nine am. Busy day in the NFL, I'm
sure we're going to be covering that a little bit. Obviously,
some college football popping off yesterday as well.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
Should probably start.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
With the Detroit Lions, because my mind is still wrapped
around what we saw against a division rival, the Green
Bay Packers. Dan Campbell's crew, and we have a Detroit
Lions expert who's working very very hard to get the
rest of our crew here up and running.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
Here. I think we have Jared now took.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Per Fet He was actually doing a live show in
Detroit this week, so we'll get his thoughts on this
in a little bit. But Dan Campbell has assembled one
of the I want to say, one of the classic
types of football teams, smash mouth, hard nosed, hard fought

(02:09):
victory in Division twelve, win of the season. And before
we get to the college football gyard, I want to
get your thoughts on what we saw Thursday night, because.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
That was that was just beautiful.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
That's when that's when culture meets buying. That's when players
talent meets capable clutch moments.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
That was football, man.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
It was beautiful. And I actually was watching the game
with Brian. We were watching it in one of the
local one of the local watering holes here in Sin City.
But when you it's kind of weird because a team
that's had as much success as the Lines have had,
you would think, oh, yeah, they're just kind of coasting
to the division and you know they already have their

(02:53):
site set on the playoffs and bigger and better things.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
And usually when you get to this.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Point, you're twelve and one, the division is pretty much
locked up and you're already moving on to the next
part of your season.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
But that's how good the division.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
They play it like they are in danger of getting
knocked down all the way to the five seed if
things don't go well for them over these last four weeks.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
So a lot of work left to be done for
the Lions.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
They are absolutely the best team in the NFL right now,
but there's still there's still work to be done.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, there absolutely is.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
It's pretty incredible when you see a coach really sort
of captivate a locker room the way Dan Campbell has,
but also a city, like he's really captured the ethos
of Detroit. The Lions. They're about toughness. The Lions. They're about,
you know, bringing your lunch pail to work and grinding

(03:49):
out wins and doing all the things that you know
every coach wants their football team to do. But they've
really been able to do it, not only the way
I guess you know, old school football fans love to
see it done, but also in a way that you
know it really does match the ethos of that city.
What were your thoughts being now on the game we

(04:11):
saw against the Green Bay Packers, the Lions advancing to
a twelve win season on Thursday Night football.

Speaker 5 (04:16):
Well, my thoughts were, can we get Josh Jacob's four
more rushing?

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Oh? That was rough. That was a rough beat for
us on this we get four more rushing yards? Rich
that and another one hundred yards for Jayden?

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Reed to have a babel?

Speaker 5 (04:29):
Jayden reed one target and zero anything? No, God, please, no, no.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
That was rough.

Speaker 5 (04:37):
But no, I hear you on the Lions, man, It's
like Jared and I actually watched the second half.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Of the games. Yeah, it was fun.

Speaker 5 (04:46):
And I told Jared at one point because the talk
before the game was, oh, the Lions have thirteen players
defensively on injured reserve and all these injuries, and I'm like,
it's some way that makes them even more dangerous because
of who their head coaches. I don't care who's on

(05:06):
the field, who's playing, who's halfway healthy, who's suiting up.
They're gonna fight y'all all game long. They are just
that team where you know, especially you got that the
first time when they beat the when they beat the
Packers in Lambeau was after the game, it was like, oh, oh,

(05:26):
we're a different team outdoors. They just have that chip
all the time, and it's I swear they're like the
Kevin Durant of the NFL. They listen to every negative
thing and they're like, oh yeah, oh really, And I
know they heard about the injury bug all week long
and they came out and they were just a pain
in the ass.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
And that's the ultimate compliment. They are just that team.
They are.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
They are They're the ultimate instigator. It's like, yeah, maybe
they're a little smaller on the school yard, but they're
gonna be scrappier. Maybe they are little hurt here, but
they're gonna muck it up and make it their game.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
Anyways. By the way, yeah go ahead.

Speaker 5 (06:06):
I was just gonna say, speaking of that, you know,
being I don't know, feisty that I'm feeling a little
feisty this morning.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
Boy, here we go. I don't know.

Speaker 5 (06:17):
I don't know if you no, that's not it. I
don't know if you want cantankris no to start your
I don't know if you want, you know, I don't
know outspoken no to start the show here, but there's
something I saw throughout the week that I just have
to bring to your attention.

Speaker 2 (06:37):
We hate it, we need cantakeris no off the top ropes?
Here we go.

Speaker 4 (06:42):
Yes.

Speaker 5 (06:42):
So cam Ward, the Miami quarterback, one of his quotes was,
I really doubt they watch.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Tape or not. I mean, we're a twelve ten and
two team.

Speaker 5 (06:54):
He's talking about the college football playoff Committee, right, I
really doubt they watch any tape or not. This was
similar to Lane Kiffin Ole Miss head coach talking about
their number thirteen ranking and the committee said, do you
actually watch.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
Here's my thing.

Speaker 5 (07:11):
Okay, this is a common politicking statement of do you
actually watch us play? As if that can be the
only explanation. Miami and Ole miss find themselves on the
outside looking in. There's not any argument other than that
to be made about either of them, which drives me crazy.

(07:33):
It's like, look at ole Miss, Ole Missus lost three
games Ole miss You look at their schedule, they lost
twenty seven to three. Earlier this year, they.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Lost a game.

Speaker 5 (07:47):
I'm sorry that was that's Miami, Miami. If you look
at that. They've lost two of their last three. They've
just lost. That's the last thing we remember. They lost
to two unranked teams in Georgia Tech and Sirihi. Oh
Miss has lost three games to a couple of unranked
teams Kentucky and Florida. Okay, I don't know where I
got the twenty seven or three. That's somebody else discounted

(08:09):
all that. It's probably Bama that that was the Oklahoma
twenty four three. Yeah, yeah, but but but look at
Ole Miss and Florida. They're losing down the stretch. They're
losing when they were in and now it's all I
don't think the committee watches us what so what really?
Really take care of business and stop crying. That's why

(08:30):
I have to say to cam Ward and link Kiff, Well, you.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Know what's so funny is as we as we discussed
what we thought, do.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
You think about that?

Speaker 4 (08:38):
Jared?

Speaker 2 (08:38):
I don't know if we can hear Rich right now?
You got me here be.

Speaker 5 (08:41):
And we got some uh we got some technical issues
over here. I don't know if Jared or Rich can
hear me, but we'll get everything ironed out over here,
and uh, you know, get everything squared away. Yeah, hey, yeah,
I don't know. Just in case I am. We got
a lot going on here. You know, we'll recap the
games from yesterday. We'll get you all set for the

(09:04):
six conference championship games today. Ashton genty with two hundred
and nine yards rushing last night. I can't wait for
this Georgia Texas rematch. That's gonna be a lot of fun.
What does Texas do to write the ship and not
get dusted by fifteen points like the last meeting us.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
This is bet MGM's countdown to kickoff. We are experiencing
some massive issues on the technical.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Side, so listen.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
I'm going to cut it short here and give my
thoughts on what Brian was talking about a moment ago.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
We have.

Speaker 3 (09:43):
We have politicking going on in college football. You heard
briefly what kem Ward was saying. You heard Lane Kiffin
his thoughts from Old Miss.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
Here's the deal.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
Whether you're Miami, whether you're Old Miss, whether it doesn't
matter who you are, whether whether it doesn't matter who
you are, in college football right now, you have to.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Sing for your supper.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
The reality of college football now is it's become college basketball,
and that was my thought when we expanded the postseason
in the first place, and we were headlong towards a
new brave world.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Right, this is what it looks like in college basketball.
At the end of the season.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
You have a bunch of teams who are singing for
their supper, telling you why they deserve to be in
the tournament or they got shafted in the region that
they're going to be playing out of, or why they
need to be seated higher, or why or why or
everybody's got their reasons. And guess what, College football is
no different and it will never be different. This is

(10:46):
the reality of sports in twenty twenty four, soon to
be twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
You've got a politic.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
If you're not top politicking, you're probably not doing a
good enough job as a head coach. This is what
college basketball coaches have been doing for literally decades now,
and so this is what college football teams are going
to be doing as well. All Right, we got to
get into some of these conference championship matchups.

Speaker 2 (11:12):
We will on the other side. Again, bear with us a.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Few technical difficulties as we roll along on this very
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Countdown and Kickoff on Fox Sports Radio. This is Fox
Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff and we are We're in

(12:03):
Conference Championship Saturday, and behind the scenes, just to peel
back a couple of layers of the onion, we are
having some issues, some technical difficulties. So as we are
meandering our way toward having a full crew here, I'll
be with you.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
So here's what we're looking at.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
Arizona State, the sun Devils ten and two in the
Big Twelve. They're going to be facing the Iowa State
Cyclones meeting in the twenty twenty four Big Twelve Championship game.
Kickoff Sept for noon Eastern time. As soon as we're
off the air. Here, you're going to have the Sun Devils,

(12:43):
who were the most unlikely participants in this championship, fighting
for their playoff lives. They've been on a roll to
close out the season. They won five straight games. They
had that forty nine to seven shalacking of Arizona in
the in state rivalry game last week. Now I was
stayed on the other side. They bounced back with three

(13:05):
straight wins. They fell to Texas Tech and Kansas. That
was back to back in early November. So this is
going to be one of those battles, one of those
classic battles in college football, in the conference, in the
conference final. Yet you have a situation where both teams
have been through the fires, have been through the trials,

(13:26):
and I think this is going to be one of
the funnest games that we have on the docket. Now,
speaking of the docket, I have absolutely no idea who's
up and live on the microphone right now.

Speaker 2 (13:37):
I'm here. It's Jeny Okay, here we go. We're here,
We're all here, We're here. Okay, we have backup.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
Okay, So Jared, I was just laying out how Arizona State.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Really it was what preceded the season.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
That was the trial and tribulation that overcome a lot
of I don't know, I guess you could say the
outside voices who.

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Were telling them who they were.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
And then you have Hiowa State, who had the slump,
the mid season slump, will say early November, they roll
off the shnine, finish the season nicely. Both these teams
are red hot heading into this Big Twelve championship game.

Speaker 4 (14:12):
Arizona State being here is a minor miracle, like I
think I think they will right, they will write stories
one day about Arizona State baits basically being picked sixteenth
out of a twelve and in the Big Twelve and
getting to this game, Like I remember a time when
there weren't sixteen teams in the Big Twelve. I'm old

(14:33):
enough to remember that. But they were literally picked dead
last in this conference. They were one hundred and one
preseason to win it may Their win total of four
and a half is the lowest win total of any
team playing this weekend. It is truly remarked like they
were an underdog to Texas State this year, like this
is a really impressive season. What Kenny Dilliams put together.
Obviously it's Skataboo, left right and center like that that

(14:56):
is the team. But this this is an interesting change
up this week because with Skataboo, they've also had this kid,
Jordan Tyson, who's been fantastic for them. He's not playing
this week. Unfortunately, hurt himself in last week's game and
he's out. So what the offense looks like this week
without I know Skataboo is their best player, but their

(15:17):
best game breaking receiver that can stretch the field Marcus Arroyo.
THEOC has done a great job scheming this out where
Scatabo's not facing a lot of heavy boxes. Unlike Ashton Genty,
who seems like he's got fifteen guys in the box
when he runs every single play, Skataboo has an easier
go of it. So we'll see what Iowa State does

(15:39):
schematically here. My guess is the three three five defense
they love to play, which is a defense designed to
limit the pass. You've got to come out of that
shell and you've got to commit more guys in the
box because Arizona State's down their best receiver, so it
is kind of a cat and mouse game. Also early
start time in Dallas, eleven am kick and very high

(16:00):
intense the stakes on both sides. Obviously the loser is
out and the winners in the college table playoffs. So
this game's gonna have a lot of juice to it.

Speaker 5 (16:07):
Yeah, yeah, no, I hear you on the three three five.
That's that's the key to me. Where can you change
up what you're normally doing where you're normally you know,
three defensive linemen, three linebackers, five defensive backs, so you
got a bunch of small guys on the field to
defend the pass. And it's like, well, Arizona State is

(16:28):
down their stud wide receiver Jordan Tyson, so it's like
you gotta gang up and stop Scataboo. He's a wrecking ball.
Like you can't have your your nickel and dime defense
crutinely on the field when you're trying to slow down Scataboo.
He's gonna run crazy on you. So I hope that
Iowa State can see that. That's what Listen. These defensive coordinators,

(16:52):
they know more football than will ever know in our
lifetime's combined, you know, But there's sometimes something so obvious,
like you've got to have bigger dudes on the field.
You've got to have more in the box to stop skataboo.
And sometimes these defensive coordinators won't do something that is
just so painfully obvious. I hope Iowa State is not

(17:14):
one of those teams today.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Well you have I always stay running this three three five,
but really it's a three three five.

Speaker 2 (17:20):
In name only.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
Now personnel wise, many times you're absolutely right, Brian, they'll
have five defensive backs on the football field. But when
you think about what that will look like, right, doesn't
mean really that it's only gonna present as a three
man defensive line, will know because what we'll they'll do
is they'll walk that that edge rusher linebacker hybrid up

(17:43):
on the football and so you have four across the
front and they'll be covering up gaps. And then you say, well,
five defensive backs, So what's that gonna look like. Well,
one of those defensive backs is actually kind of a
linebacker and he's gonna be playing down low in the box.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
Now, don't get me wrong, you're gonna be giving up side.

Speaker 3 (18:00):
If you want to play this type of personnel against
a team who absolutely wants to get to the run
with skataboo, and that's what the Sun Devils absolutely want
to do. However, I watched over the years teams like Syracuse,
or teams like Mississippi State, or teams like or San

(18:21):
Diego State who run.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
The three three five or have in their past.

Speaker 3 (18:25):
Who will blitz and they'll run blitz and they'll move
defensive linemen and they'll have different fits that all of
a sudden, offensive linemen and tight end have to sort
out on the run. And what happens, what results from
that is you have free hitters in the run game.
And now so you got to depend on guys making

(18:46):
solo tackles. There's no question about it. If you're running
the three to five and you're running a movement defense
and you're gonna try to slant and you're gonna try
to stunt and you're gonna try to stem late, and
you're gonna try to blitz in pressure, well then you
absolutely need to make tackles.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
But if the.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Cyclones are up for that challenge, and they have been
for the most part this season, a ten win season,
well then you may you may find yourself suppressing the run.
Because I've seen the three three five work shutting down
the run several times throughout the years. It just depends
on if the offensive line opposing you can can sort

(19:23):
out all the finer details of playing against a movement
defense in just a week's time for preparation, and so
this really it's really on Arizona State to come up
with the best plan or i should say, the better
plan to take away what the defense wants to do.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
Yeah, this is this is gonna be a really interesting
chess match game. I also think Iowa State's offense is
a bit of a weird handicap because their parts are
really good. Like, if you look at their dudes, they
have two elite receivers Higgins and Newel I would say
maybe one of the more underrated duos in the country.

(20:03):
The running back room is very productive. Hanson's eleven touchdowns.
You got, Sama and Jackson are quality backup. Sama had
a great year last year and it's kind of been
reduced with his role this year because that's how good
Hanson's been. The o lines only allowed fifteen sacks the
whole season. The difficult for so I'm saying on this thing,
he's like what Iowa States offense sounds sounds freaking awesome.

(20:24):
Their quarterbacks a little bit suspect back to just taking
a big step back from his freshman year, which is
concerning when you consider that the again, the sum of
the parts around him, I don't think is equaling the
production of the talent. And I would expect I would
expect Arizona States defense which is kind of like masochistic,

(20:45):
like they want you to punch them in the mouth.
It is a very interesting defense because they like their
numbers are terrible, but like their individual number. It's like
it's it's again very unique game where I think Arizona
State is the better coach team with a better scheme,
but I think Iowa State has better players, which makes
it really tough when you have a new like these

(21:07):
teams didn't play each other this year, and I think
the gap on the coaching sideline is pretty wide. Like
I think Kenny Dilleham significantly better, He'll have his team
in the right places, but Iowa State is better players.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
Yeah, it's uh.

Speaker 5 (21:21):
And also I wonder what does Arizona State's offense look like? Yeah,
especially like the passing game. We know Skataboo is gonna
do scataboo things, you know, but when Sam Levitt has
to throw the ball and he doesn't have Jordan Tyson. Again,
you look at Jordan Tyson's numbers. This guy had seventy
five catches for eleven hundred and one yards and ten

(21:43):
touchdown grabs. Like that's a ton of production. And all
of a sudden, Yeah, that guy he's out for.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
The season, lost to injury. Okay, it's it's a key
third down.

Speaker 5 (21:53):
Who's he throwing the ball to, you know, and does
he feel comfortable doing so? So I'm really interested in that.
And Jared, you bring up the Iowa State offense. I
want to see if they can hit a couple of
shock plays, you know, a couple of explosives, because Jayden
Higgins and Jalen Nowell they on a fast track like
Jerry World, they can absolutely hurt you over the top.

(22:16):
So very interested in that as well. Let me throw
a couple other games at you because I'm interested in
this one where we're looking at the mac huh Ohio
against the Miami of Ohio. Now here's the first thing
I would say. I think Chuck Martin, the head coach
at Miami of Ohio, is the anti Dan Campbell. Okay,

(22:36):
the anti Dan Campbell. Dan Campbell, the Lions head coach.
He'll go for it on fourth down at his own thirty.
He'll do some crazy things. That is not what Chuck
Martin does. He will punt the football, he will rely
on defense. He will do the conservative thing. So and
that sometimes works out well for them. That's their brand
of football. But taking on Ohio, who's nine to three.

(22:58):
But start looking closer at them and it's like they
really haven't played who's who of opponents. They missed some
of the tougher teams in the MAC. So I like
Miami of Ohio heading into this game. You guys have
a read on this one.

Speaker 2 (23:15):
Well, let me.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Say this, Ohio is the sun Devils of the Mac.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Boy.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Nobody expected them to be here.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
Yeah, Ohio was picked dead last in their side of
this division or I should say conference, and they have
soared above all expectations. They started the season with only
one returning starter on either side of the ball, one
offensive player and one defensive player. So what Tim Albin

(23:45):
has been able to do with the Bobcats this season
is nothing short of a miracle.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
So the same way we're given Dillingham all.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
Of the roses, you gotta give Alban the same at Ohio.
I mean, the Battle of the Bricks for the championship
in the MAC. Nobody saw this coming, so it is.
It is truly, Yes, I agree, I would probably give
a strong lean toward Miami of Ohio, but I will
say this, it's been a miracle run for the Bobcats.

(24:18):
They've done things this season that nobody expected them to
do all season long.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
So why not one more? It's sort of my.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
Feeling heading into this weekend's game in the MAC. Why
not one more for the Bobcats.

Speaker 4 (24:30):
Yeah, they lost a ton. The Rourk kid, of course,
came over from Indiana, came over to Indiana and that
was part of the big exodus with this Ohio team.
There's something about this game, though, that does not agree
with the Bobcats. So Miami Ohio won the earlier matchup.
It was actually a blowout for most of the game.
Ohio trail twenty four to six. Their offense not really

(24:54):
built to come from behind, and they lost the game
by ten. It was I think it was like an
October game. But Ohio is this is the fifth time
they've been in this game in the last twenty years,
and they're zero to five in this game. Like, they
cannot win this MAC title game. They cannot get over
the hump and win this game. There is some kind
of block in terms of Bobcats and MAC championships. I

(25:16):
don't know what it is. I don't know if there's
something in the water in Detroit. I don't even know
if all the games have been played in Detroit. Does
it matter. They have not fared well in this game.
But Rich nailed it. I mean, just the returning starters,
very low. Alvin.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
The win total was six and a half.

Speaker 4 (25:33):
Did a really good job kind of mustering the troops
and getting them up early. And yeah, the schedule wasn't great,
like the non conference wash they lost to South or
they beat South, that lost of Syracuse, beat Morgan State,
got absolutely destroyed by Kentucky, and Kentucky won one game
in the SEC ironically overall miss But I think this

(25:54):
is Miami, Ohio's game.

Speaker 5 (25:55):
I do kind of funny. I mentioned Chuck Martin is
the anti Dan Campbell. Like you said, Jared, it's at
Ford Field.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Morning. Yeah, all right, well we're out of control here.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
We got maction and the fun Belt in the same
same segment. Here because we got Marshall taking on Louisiana. Now,
this is at Louisiana, right, this is the only conference
championship game on the road because everything else is at
a neutral site. But Marshall at Louisiana. This is a
crazy stat. So Marshall, they're eleven and one against the

(26:30):
spread this season, eleven and one ats. Yet they are
consistently out gained and out gained by a lot. It's
like doubled up sometimes, you know, like not within two
hundred yards of their opponents, and yet they're nine and
three and eleven and one against the number. It's pretty

(26:53):
crazy right there. But Louisiana, they can't stop the rush.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
That's the thing.

Speaker 5 (26:58):
They cannot stop the rush. Marshall should have some success
on the ground. Their quarterback Braylan Braxton, he transferred from Tulsa,
so he can get it done with his legs as well.
Something to keep an eye on here. I love this
matchup where it's like these teams, right, like Marshall, they
keep getting out gained and you might keep thinking, Okay,

(27:20):
this next game is when they lose, and they've only
lost three times, so I'm curious if this comes back
to bite them against the raging Cajun's today in the
battle for the Fun Belt here.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
Yeah, listen, Marshall is probably one of the most underrated
teams in the country because of the number you just
touted there, the fact that they are you know, what
is it eleven? They're eleven and one against the number
they were expected to be. They were in eighth place
in terms of odds to win the Sun Belt and

(27:55):
here they are.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Playing for it.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
It's it's an incredible story for the Thundering I heard.
A big reason for all this success is Mike Green,
who is named the twenty twenty four Player of the
Year in the Sunbelt, who screams off the edge. He
harasses quarterbacks. I had the number in front of me.
Let me see if I could pull it up. Okay,
check this out. Sixty quarterback pressures this season. He's led

(28:18):
the country with sixteen sacks.

Speaker 2 (28:21):
Wow. Okay, So, so Marshall's pretty good at pass coverage.

Speaker 4 (28:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
Well, here's why, Mike Green.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
Because we have a guy screaming off the edge of
the defense, absolutely harassing every opposing quarterback you face. It
makes your defensive backfield look pretty good because you're forcing
early throws. You're forcing bad decisions. You're forcing a guy
to only aim for one side of the football field
because he's running for his life, so it limits the

(28:52):
routes he can throw to. So this edge rusher has
really changed the fates and fortunes for this team.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
Now.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Look, no one man can play, you know, all sixty
minutes for all twenty two players offensively and defensively. But
he is a game changer. He's a game wrecker. So
be looking out for Marshall's defensive end to impact this
game in the Sunbell Championship.

Speaker 4 (29:16):
I think a big factor in this game is their coach,
Charles Hoff Marshall's coach. One thing I learned from last
night's game between Tulane and Army is when your head
coach is flirting with other programs, it tends to have
an impact in these spots. Tulane, maybe they didn't have
anything left in the tank after the Memphis game last week,
and it was inevitable that Army was gonna just come

(29:38):
out there and squeeze the life out of them. But
Tulane looked really flat. Charles Huff is significantly flirting with
Southern mess and there's other jobs out there. This will
likely be his last game today, or maybe he'll coach
the bowl game, depending on how those you know, semantic shakeout.
But I think this will be it for him, and
I don't know what impact that has the rest of

(30:00):
his team. Brian, you mentioned the yards for play and
how they keep covering despite the fact that they're out gained.
That tends to catch up with you eventually, and when
it does catch up with you, it tends to catch
up with you with a thud. And this game has
been a hillatious blowout. There's been five sun Belt titles,
all five of them have been decided by seven or more.

(30:22):
The last two games, Troy has just cake walked ninety
four forty nine combined scoring margin in the last two
sun Belt titles by the Trojans. Speaking of John summerw
ironically enough goes from Troy to Tulane and now obviously
they're gonna move on from there. But I think Lafayette
is very live here to give you one of those

(30:42):
two touchdown plus wins.

Speaker 2 (30:44):
If the ball rolls.

Speaker 4 (30:46):
Down the hill. The quarterback Chandler Fields is a backup,
and I think that's why maybe you're getting a little
bit of a discount. Frankly on Lafayette Wolridge the starter
played well earlier this year. Now it's Fields, who's a
very experienced backup. I think the Cajuns are the side here,
I really do. I think it's tough the distractions of
him kind of going to other programs and this other

(31:07):
miss job, and just the fact that this game has
kind of been a blowout. I would not be shocked
if if Lafayette wins and they win big.

Speaker 5 (31:16):
Yeah, hey he could be right. Yeah, we'll see if
that's the case over here. And I like what you
had to say, Rich, where if you have this pass rushing,
you know, like RoboCop, I could be Sauce Gardner. You've
got that guy harassing the quarterback. You know, it helps
things out tremendously. Hey, all season long, bet, MGM's offering

(31:36):
you a second chance on your first touchdown bet in
the NFL. When a customer places an NFL wager on
a first touchdown scorer bet and he doesn't score first,
but score second, BETMGM will return one hundred percent of
their stake back in cash. We've got Rich Hornberger, Penn
State All American, Jared Smith, FSR. Betting analyst. I'm Brian No.

(31:57):
Coming up next the parlay platter with a bit of
a twist, new theme today. We're trying it out limited
a schedule here with six conference championship games, so we're
gonna hit you in another direction. It's kind of like
Iowa State's three three five defense. You know, maybe they
change up the look a little bit based on the
matchup in scatteredbo Right there, I.

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Will have that for you. Coming up.

Speaker 5 (32:19):
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by BETMGM.
Every time you make a wager at BETMGM, you earn
BETMGM Rewards points that can be redeemed for things like
bonus bets or converted to MGM rewards points that can
be used towards dining shows and hotel rooms at over

(32:40):
twenty MGM resorts.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
Check this out far late letter.

Speaker 5 (32:48):
Okay, the platter has a different theme this week, Jared,
why don't you lay it out for us, Buddy Tuddy
time Maybe?

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
Obviously, underdogs are a little scarce today and going forward
in college football, that not as many games left. Unfortunately,
that's what happens when the season dwindles. So we little curveball, right,
you go to the old uncle Charlie. Here we are
giving you touchdown scores today. We're gonna combine them together
and do the usual parlay platter.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
I am going to the unicorn of college football.

Speaker 4 (33:18):
There's always sunshine and rainbows surrounding this gentleman. He is
Tyler Warren of Penn State. Not biased at all, but
he is the best tight end in football. And maybe
maybe Penn State's becoming tight end you. They just flipped
the oldest kid from Oregon yesterday, Theo Johnson, Breton Strange,
Friar mood Yosekee Jesse James. I know Iowa's got their
state to tight end university. But Tyler Warren has been

(33:41):
unbelievable this year. He has scored in eight of twelve games.
He has six receiving touchdowns for rushing touchdowns. You can
win this bet multiple ways. Minus won twenty to score today.
You can catch, you can run the wildcat on the
goal line, a six foot six, two hundred and fifty
seven pound unicorn, Tyler Warren. Your first touchdown score in
the first touchdown. No, just the first touchdown of our parlay,

(34:06):
the first touchdown.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
I think it's like five or six to one, But
do you know, holy cow, first touchdout? All right?

Speaker 3 (34:14):
How about Cyclones receiver Jayden Higgins.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
He plays across from Jalen Noel. Uh, they've got a
dynamic duo at.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
Receiver for rock Opeck to throw to, who, by the way,
has been a consistent performer on this Cyclone's offense that's
put up over thirty points per game, and many of
those points through the air.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
It's a balanced attack. Uh, that's what they like to do.
They want to run the football, they want to pass
the football, but they.

Speaker 3 (34:43):
Don't want to overdo either side of it. So I
am going to expect a lot of the ground game
involved as well. But when they need to get one,
they throw it to Higgins and they've gotten him a
touchdown in the last five games they've played. So give
me Jayden Higgins with the Cyclones taking on the sun Devils.

Speaker 5 (35:02):
Today, Okay, I'm gonna go to the mac on. You
give me Miami of Ohio running back Keon Mosey. He
had a really strong performance the first game this season
against Ohio. I don't look for things to change dramatically
at all. Miami of Ohio had some success running the ball,
and I really think that Moses do for a good game.

(35:26):
And I'll take him to get into the paint over
there at Ford Field in the iMac Championship.

Speaker 2 (35:31):
So we're we looking at payout wise.

Speaker 4 (35:33):
Yeah, these are all pretty good touchdown props. They're all
kind of in the minus one ten, minus one twenty
ish range plus five twenty three on the three team
touchdown parlay.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Over m I like it rich. He was initially thinking
about Scataboo.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
It was a pretty expensive. Uh yeah, that's the free
square in the Bengal.

Speaker 5 (35:54):
Cart today, right right right, let me find something with.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
The big Yeah. Yeah, I was like, I was like scataboo.
That that sounds like a lock. I like where your
head's at.

Speaker 4 (36:04):
It's just the sportsbooks like it too, and they're making
it hard for you to bet.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
By the way, what what's this?

Speaker 5 (36:09):
What's the payout look like if we sprinkle a skataboo
on top?

Speaker 4 (36:13):
Oh you want to put on top?

Speaker 2 (36:14):
Actually?

Speaker 4 (36:14):
Yeah, well that we're really getting Oh hold on, I
gotta I gotta do a quick reload here.

Speaker 2 (36:19):
I think it would.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
It would probably be around eight to one, probably a
little lesson they probably.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Around seven to one.

Speaker 4 (36:25):
Yeah, because we got to put Higgins, we gotta put Skataboo.
I gotta go back, get.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Mosey in there.

Speaker 4 (36:31):
Yeah, let me on, let me Mosey onto the Mac
Championship game, and then we've got to get penciate. You know,
there's actually a couple of other FCS games today that
I haven't looked at. We might have to ask U.
We might have to ask our friend. Uh, that shame
is about that we have Oh you know what, they
won't let you do it because it's the same gamer
on Higgins in Scataboo. Gotcha, gotcha? Yeah, but you can
do a Higgins in Scataboo solo and that might be

(36:53):
an interesting same game parlay.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
Actually, yeah, you could do that. You can go with that.

Speaker 4 (36:58):
You could get splus money.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
By the way, By the way, while we're beating crazy
over here, what would a Tyler Warren first touchdown?

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Score?

Speaker 4 (37:07):
First Tyler warrens is seven to one? Yeah, seven to one,
and then if we go Higgins, see this is.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
What I love.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
We can just like cook this up on the fly
over at that MGM and you were.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Talking about like super weird.

Speaker 4 (37:19):
Now like, yeah, it'll be really good. Yeah we had
it's gonna be twenty six to one one if you
go Tyler Warren first touchdown seven to one Mosey, which
is minus one thirty five Higgins minus one to five.
That's twenty six to one.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
I mean, I said it, I spoke it into existence.
Wouldn't that be amazing? Yeah, I'm putting ten bucks on it?

Speaker 4 (37:38):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Okay, So here's the thing, Penn State.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
If they lose to the Ducks and ty Warren doesn't
score a touchdown, I mean that's I I mean, I.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
Don't know how you left Franklin back in the state.

Speaker 4 (37:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
If they do beat the Ducks, it's because Ty Warren's
in the end zone. I'm fairly certain. So I like
it either way. But first time a spicy.

Speaker 4 (38:01):
I'm also gonna do I was gonna do this anyways
for myself. I'm gonna do a Nicholas Singleton Tyler Warren
touchdown parlay for myself.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Okay, there you go, get crazy. We are coming up next.

Speaker 5 (38:13):
They came to eat in the first matchup. Do they
have their big bun today?

Speaker 2 (38:18):
Ah? Good morning.

Speaker 5 (38:19):
We are less than two hours away from kickoff. Real
fast line movement. We've got Iowa State now a one
point favorite. Ooh, Arizona State is a one point dog
now at bet MGM, so that line is basically flipped.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
For what it's worth.

Speaker 5 (38:38):
Now, I do want to focus in on Georgia taking
on Texas. This is at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta,
right for the SEC title game. And this was the beginning, right,
This was after the regular season game where Texas went in.

Speaker 2 (38:56):
Uh well, they were at home and they.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
Watched Georgia stomp all over them. Right, they got doubled
up thirty to fifteen. Georgia beat Texas in their own place.
And after the win, this is what Georgia head coach
Kirby Smart had to say.

Speaker 2 (39:10):
What was arn Tim when we walked on the field.

Speaker 3 (39:12):
Arn Tim was not to take pictures, not to do
all the superstar stuff.

Speaker 4 (39:16):
Arn che Arrn Tim was to eat. Arren Tent was
to come eat and be hungry.

Speaker 5 (39:22):
Yeah, and that's how they played the first matchup out. Now,
what can be different this time around? This Texas offense
they found their running game big time with Wisner. Good lord,
this guy we talked about Skataboo. This is a different
kind of running back. But three hundred and fifty rushing yards.
The last two games against Kentucky and Texas A and M.

(39:44):
Those aren't Joe blow defenses, and Texas ran it all
over them with Weisner. Texas absolutely dominated A and M.
They should have won that game going away. But that's
the question is first off, can Georgia's shaky run defense
can they slow down Wisner? Because if they can't, that

(40:06):
just opens everything else up, no.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Question about it.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
First and foremost, Texas since taking that loss to Georgia
five straight wins, I mean, so that woke up a
monster in Austin that has not rested since. Meanwhile, George's
taken two losses, one to Alabama and one to Ole Mis.
You know, you look at the tail of the tape.

(40:30):
Texas really took its lesson, I would say, from that
loss against Georgia, and they ran with it. And maybe
Georgia felt themselves a little bit. Maybe even though Kirby
Smart in that spot, in that moment, seemed like the
bigger dog on the yard, they couldn't keep the flame

(40:51):
stoked throughout the end of the regular season.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
So I love this matchup for the SEC.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Also credit to Texas and from coaching all the way
down to staff and players and trainers and everyone involved
in this season. Your first time in the SEC and
you're playing for the championship game and you had the
season you had. There's so much new, there's so much
turbulence that is involved when you're playing against brand new competition.

(41:19):
And I know a lot of the faces will change
throughout the years in college football, and you know, maybe
this is going to be the story of college football
that everybody's playing everybody for the first time here pretty soon,
as it's such a fluid environment now. But I love
this storyline because I think it's good for the sport.
If you're going to join a conference, go out there

(41:42):
and join it the right way. And Texas did. I mean,
the SEC is real, big time football and they stepped
up to the plate leaving the Big Twelve and joining
the conference that everybody lauds is the best in the country.

Speaker 4 (41:54):
Yeah, isn't it crazy? We could have a PAC twelve
team win the Big Twelve. We could have a PAC
twelve team win the Big Ten, Big twelve team win
the SEC and an American team win the acc that
all of those things could happen today.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
What world are we?

Speaker 4 (42:08):
No?

Speaker 2 (42:08):
I think when you hone it on this game.

Speaker 4 (42:10):
When I watched so, I did a brief deep dive
over the first game.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
Can you do a brief deep dive?

Speaker 4 (42:18):
It's hard. I watched the condensed I watched the condensed
version of the game, and one thing really stood out
was the defense Georgia played against Texas, and I don't
know if they can do it again, like that defensive
effort on the road in Austin, holding that Texas team
to under one hundred yards rushing. It was the only

(42:38):
time all year they were held under one hundred yards rushing.
I don't know if that's repeatable. And what Kirby did
it was genius. It was a stroke of genius. This
is why Kirby smart, as Kirby smart people. So they
ran the Bear front, which is a five down lineman front,
made famous, of course by the eighty five Bears.

Speaker 2 (42:57):
But what they.

Speaker 4 (42:58):
Did was they took the fifth defensive lineman, which is
typically a linebacker, and they used the nickel corner.

Speaker 2 (43:06):
Why did they do that?

Speaker 4 (43:07):
Well, it gave them a little bit of ability to
rush the edge with a little more speed, and they
blitzed the heck out of Texas in that game. But
it also allowed them flexibility to defend the Texas short
passing game, which is what Texas loves to do. They
throw it, they spam it, the screens, the draws, the slants,
the hitches. Over sixty percent of quinn yours As passes

(43:30):
this year have been within ten yards of the line
of scirveage. So when you play with a nickel corner
as your fifth defensive lineman, it gives you again a
little more speed off the edge, but it also gives
you that flexibility to defend the short passing game.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
Genius. Here's the problem. Sark saw it. It's on tape.
They've had sixty minutes of it. Can you do it again?
I think no.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
I think Texas is gonna win this game, and I
think it's a little bit of adjustments to that. But
I also think the Texas de deserves a ton of
credit because they have been playing lights out, and I
think it's the Texas defense forcing a turnover. Now, there's
not gonna be seven turnovers in this game like there
was in the last game. I think there's gonna be
more points, more offensive flow. But I don't really trust

(44:15):
I trust yours more than Carson Beck right now, which
is kind of crazy to think, but that's how I
feel about the Georgia offense at this point.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Well, that's the thing. It reminds me a little bit.

Speaker 5 (44:23):
Remember when it was Georgia against Old Miss and Ole
Miss's defensive line is for real, and it's like Carson
Beck doesn't handle pressure very well.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
That that's been.

Speaker 5 (44:34):
A consistent theme this season. When he's facing a pass rush,
when he's under pressure, his numbers dwindle significantly. And so
that's what I wonder in this matchup for Carson Beck.
Let's say they can't run the ball. Their offensive line
has been banged up, their running back's been banged up.
They can't run it. So it's like, okay, Carson Beck,
you gotta generate some offense over here. And if Texas's

(44:56):
defense is getting after him and he hasn't, he hasn't
handled pressure well all season long, advantage hook him big time.
So I want to see Carson Beck, who was thought
to be a first round pick and now you watch
him throughout the season and it's like, oh no, Brock Bauers, No,
Lad McConkey. The offensive line hasn't been as good. He

(45:17):
doesn't handle pressure as well as he did last season,
not even close. So yeah, I have major questions about
Carson Beck in this matchup.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
He regressed from last year. He is not as good
as he was a year ago.

Speaker 3 (45:29):
And then you look at Texas, who is the more
successful team over the course of the season offensively, the
more successful team over the course of the season defensively,
And also they have two elite quarterbacks. I mean, so
Carson Beck I like him as a player, I don't
love him. You know, when you compare just the quarterbacks,

(45:52):
which inarguably is the most important data point in football,
and you say, okay, who has the edge, Well, Texas
does times too, because it doesn't matter whether you put
viewers or manning in the game, both of them are better.
And so it gives you the power of a switching

(46:14):
things up if you have to, I mean, and you
may have to depending on injury situation, or it gives
you the availability to do it on purpose, like you
could get into a point in the game where the Bulldogs,
whatever they do defensively ends up working against Texas. Maybe
maybe they get into some different fronts, maybe they show

(46:36):
some different pressure packages. Maybe maybe they show up with
a completely different game flow than they did in the
first meeting. Well, guess what you could do that midstream
as well. You could come out of intermission at halftime
and you could go out there and you can start
a completely different quarterback. I mean, that is the availability

(47:00):
that Texas has that virtually no other team in the
nation has available to them, and that is going to
be potentially a data point that they'll exploit.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
Now would I if I was Texas? Probably not. I
probably wouldn't, But it is a possibility for us to
see this. Now. Listen, Georgia's defense is still elite.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
I don't want to sit here and say that Georgia
are some you know, slack jaw dummies on that side
of the ball. That's not the case. These guys are
willful defenders. They've kept this team in every single game
they've played, even as the offense has failed them several times.
The Bulldogs lead the nation in explosiveness allowed, which should

(47:43):
affect yours' ability though to launch the long ball.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
That's that's the one part of this that I.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Do think could could really tilted in Texas's favor. Do
I think that it's going to be long Long Horns
by a million?

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Now?

Speaker 3 (47:55):
Do I think it's going to be a close game?
I absolutely do. I think it's going to be one
of those matchups where, though if it starts to get
away from for example, Texas, they'd have an easier time
getting back into it than if the game got away
from Georgia.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
Yeah. No, it's a good way to put it.

Speaker 4 (48:16):
I like that.

Speaker 5 (48:16):
And that's a crazy thing about football. You know, you
don't you don't know how it's gonna start out. It's
kind of like a game is like building blocks, you
know what I mean, And depending on how the game begins,
which is tough to forecast, sometimes where does it go
from there?

Speaker 2 (48:34):
But I like how you put that.

Speaker 5 (48:35):
I also wonder if arch Manning, if we see a
good helping of arch Manning not just sprinkled in here
and there where, Hey, if Quinn yours isn't playing good football,
they might.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
Say, hey, we like the matchup with.

Speaker 5 (48:49):
With Manning anyway better anyway, So you might say that's
something else to keep in mind with the prop market,
you know, can we do the latter in reverse?

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Jared, can we do under under you want to do that?

Speaker 4 (49:01):
Yeah, we absolutely could, And you maybe want to throw
a I would say an arch Manning touchdown prop in there.
I don't even know if he's listed. I don't even
think he's listed. How about that they didn't even list
in arch Manning anytime touchdown drop up on.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
That list them.

Speaker 5 (49:16):
If it's it's not a two way market, you know
what I.

Speaker 2 (49:18):
Mean, it's Yeah, that's an interesting one.

Speaker 4 (49:20):
I think the other question I have here, and you
mentioned it, Brian, that the start of the game, how
much juice do you think there's gonna be in this game?

Speaker 2 (49:28):
And I know it's an SEC championship game. I know
it's Texas versus Georgia.

Speaker 4 (49:31):
I know it's two top ten teams, but these teams
are both in the Culturaball Playoff. Regardless, Texas could lose
by one hundred today they're in the Culturaball Playoff.

Speaker 2 (49:39):
Georgia probably can't lose by a hundred.

Speaker 4 (49:41):
But if they lose the game by a reasonable margin,
let's say within two scores, they're in the College ball playoff.
And this game is a tight number, It's right, it's
a three point spread for Texas, so we don't expect
to palacious blowout on either side. I don't know if
this game is gonna feel like the one in October,
which was high stakes Georgia needed the game like blood

(50:04):
Texas was undefeated, or if it's going to feel a
little bit more like a scrimmage, like we are putting
the SEC on display and there isn't that.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
Like, for example, when you.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
Watch Iowa State Arizona State, and you compare the intensity
of how especially Arizona State plays defensively and just their
overall intensity that they play with, and then you transpose
that onto what we're gonna see later in this SEC game.
I know the athletes might be better, but I don't know
if the intensity will be as high.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
We'll see.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
It'll be an interesting start to see who captures that
momentum early and if there is as much juice because
it's not as high leverage of.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
A game as let's say the Big Twelve. Yeah. I
like what you're thinking there.

Speaker 5 (50:50):
I would go back to remember the Bowl game last
season for Georgia and they smacked Florida State and they
had big time guys playing that game like Georgia didn't,
and that was the ultimate spot of who cares? It's
not even a New Year's six Bowl game. I guess
it was, but it wasn't a playoff bowl. It wasn't

(51:12):
a playoff game when Georgia was on the cusp of
that and they played their guys, you know what I mean.
So I think the only way I hear you, Jared,
trust me, I do. It's not probably gonna have the
same intensity, it doesn't have the same win. And you're
in feeling because to your point, they're both in already.
But I think that Georgia, they're just they're cut from

(51:33):
a different cloth, man.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
I think.

Speaker 5 (51:35):
I think the only way it turns into like this
scrimmage feeling is if somehow Georgia was just losing dudes
left and right, because it isn't in vogue yet to
sit out your conference championship game when you're already in
the playoff, Like this is the first year it's happened,
and I don't expect Georgia to be the first team
to raise its hand and say, hey, you know, we'll

(51:56):
just kind of take this game off. I just don't
think they're wired that way.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
Yeah, yeah, I don't either.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
Now I will say this because what you said is true,
and everybody in the building knows that, including the coaches,
and everybody knows that even though a conference championship game
is important, the most important thing is what happens in
the postseason.

Speaker 2 (52:18):
Now.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
So if things are going really bad for one team
or another, and I'm talking about any team here, maybe
not any team, but like Penn State, Oregon, Georgia, Texas, look,
it can have an influence on what a losing team
will do in a second half all of a sudden. Similarly,

(52:41):
how we could see a team that is out to
a big lead poll starters early, you could see the
same thing with a losing team because at some point
you got to put your foot on the brakes and say, hey,
what are we here to do? Are we here to
win one game or are we here to win a
championship where you know, come February, we're hoisting a trophy

(53:03):
that actually matters. So that dud I'm saying, it's hovering
somewhere in the background. Everybody's prideful, everybody wants to win,
But that thought process, that bubble is hovering somewhere in
the background, and it could rear its head in one
of these games.

Speaker 4 (53:18):
It would be wild if Georgia won the SEC this year.
This has not been their best team, No, it hasn't.
But night close.

Speaker 5 (53:24):
They're on the doorstep. Isn't that crazy? They're right there again?

Speaker 4 (53:27):
All right?

Speaker 5 (53:27):
We've got Rich Jorenberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian No. Be sure to check
out the new looking features in the betmgm app. It's
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Speaker 2 (53:44):
Boost, or the new bet slip layout.

Speaker 5 (53:46):
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Download the betmgm app today or visit betmgm dot com.
Use code countdown to receive up to fifteen hundred dollars
back in bonus bets if that bet lose is all right.
Coming up next our main man, Seamus McGee. He'll preview
the Conference Championship games here today. We've got six of them,

(54:09):
and he might break down FCS games left and right
as well.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
You know he might.

Speaker 5 (54:15):
I would say the odds are I'd put it at minus.

Speaker 4 (54:17):
Two hundred Montana sou Dakota State Game of the Day.

Speaker 5 (54:20):
Yes, that minus two hundred. That it's an FCS Montana
State Seamus special.

Speaker 2 (54:26):
Be an FCS Shamus special, or he'll have a good
feel for those games.

Speaker 4 (54:30):
Lee Hi plays Idaho today? What else are we doing?
Come on, guys, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 5 (54:35):
He'll definitely have something to say about the FCS, no
doubt about that.

Speaker 2 (54:38):
That's on the way.

Speaker 5 (54:39):
It is Fox Sports Radio's Countdown to Kickoff presented by BEDMGM.
Throughout the entire football season, BETMGM will offer all different
types of no Sweat tokens. Be on the lookout for
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(54:59):
bet MGM across all socials at bet MGM. Harley, do this.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
Follow the money, real good money, all right.

Speaker 5 (55:09):
We are following the money with our good friend Seamus McGee,
team lead of Sports Trading at BETMGM. You know, first
things first, here Seamus, with conference championship games, we get
the Doctor Pepper tuition giveaway. Okay, now, if you were
involved in one of these things, are you going basketball
chess pass through the Doctor Pepper can opening? Are you

(55:33):
going traditional overhand football toss? If you're involved there, hey guys.

Speaker 6 (55:40):
Going to be back. Now, it's important to realize this
is you get no style points in this. You have
to go chess pass. It's I don't know how you
do it the other way. It has to be the
chess pass.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
I love that Seamus use the term style points because
in college football we use that term all the time. Now,
like how you win is important in college football except
that half, except at halftime when your scholarship or your
tuition is on the line, and then it's just WS
and l's baby.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
It's it's really a great point, well played, sir.

Speaker 6 (56:15):
The problem is they need new counters at halftime. I
feel like every year now there's a scandal with who's counting.
It's the worst. Every year that's my scholarship on the line.
I'd be infuriated if that was the case.

Speaker 4 (56:30):
Yeah, we need to get we need to count all
the votes there when you're doing the Doctor Prepper. It's
actually funny. I've seen a lot of people tweeting about
that this morning. Very exciting. Championship Saturday usually means another
Doctor Prepper scholarship, all right, Scholarship's always on the line
on the football field, Shamus, I think the SEC title

(56:51):
has been an intriguing watch this week.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
From a market perspective.

Speaker 4 (56:54):
It doesn't feel like we want to get off three.
We've been magnetized towards that number all week. Do we
see a late push. People are gonna look at Georgia
and say, hey, I'm getting points with Georgia. I already
won this game. But I think it's fair to say
Texas been the better team this year, and I know
they are very popular bet today.

Speaker 6 (57:13):
Yeah, it was a lot of Texas money early in
the week, but there's been some Georgia money in the
past forty eight hours or so, mostly on the money
line here, So right now it's a weird spot. We
got to thread the needle here for where we like
to see Georgia cover but not win at two and
a half. But I think come kickoff. I think this

(57:34):
book will end up being pretty balanced because we're starting
to see money come back on both sides here. So
I think my kickoff will be all right as far
of a need goes on this game, but you know
we'll see.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
A shamus. How about this?

Speaker 5 (57:49):
When we're looking at this Penn State Oregon matchup and
you get three in the hook? Are you interested in
backing we are and small game James who can't beat
top five teams to save his life?

Speaker 2 (58:01):
You know?

Speaker 5 (58:02):
Or or do you say, hey, I'm laying it with Oregon.
Now three and a hook is different than winning out right?
How do you feel about the point spread in this one?

Speaker 6 (58:09):
Now?

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Better?

Speaker 6 (58:10):
Is a ben mgm marn't bothered by the hook at all.
They are all over Oregon minus three and a half,
so we'll be rooting for the Penn State. I myself
have a Penn State money line that year, so I
do believe in small game James.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
Okay, okay, small James.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Hey the MAC Championship game.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
I may be the only person who's passionate about this
game on the plannet, but I really love what Alvin
has done at at at Ohio. I remember I was
on the call for an Ohio Bobcats game a Bowl
game years ago, and I love Mac teams. I just
love the culture of that conference. I like this championship game.

(58:57):
I don't really have a dog in the fight other
than I've loved that in one season, the sort of
renovation that has been done to that roster and the
explosion that they've had there. Everybody's on Miami of Ohio.
Can you make an argument for the Bobcats?

Speaker 6 (59:15):
Sure, this is a crazy conference. Anything can happen. Only
two and a half points spread. I mean, we moved
this from a point and a half to two and
a half in Miami Ohio's favor, but the book is
definitely giving a rink for the Bobcats today.

Speaker 4 (59:30):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I think the
Clemson SMU game is interesting because Clemson has been the
dominant team in this conference for years.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
I think they're eight and one in this ACC title game.

Speaker 4 (59:42):
Obviously, SMU has been the upstart team this year. I
was a little surprised when I saw the immediate shift
towards SMU in the market when this line dropped on
Saturday night Sunday morning, and it looks like the Mustangs
are going to close a favorite in this game.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
I know this hasn't been a.

Speaker 4 (59:58):
Patented Clemson season, but this is an interesting spot because
they have the experience. It's kind of a home game
for them in Charlotte, but they are the underdog here.

Speaker 6 (01:00:08):
It feels like one of those weird ones because it's
been a lot of Clemson moneyline, Like right now, we're
actually hoping SMU just swings this game out right. Nothing
really major as far as the need goes to the
spread here, but yeah, a lot of Clemson money line.
H SMU money on two and a half is starting
to come in now, So this could be a This
could be a weird one where we just kind of hope,

(01:00:30):
you know, SMU wins by two. But we'll see that game.
We have so much football to play before we even
get to eight o'clock right now. But sm it comes
in such a weird team because it feels like everyone's
hot on them, then they're cold on them, and now
it seems like a lot of people have just bought
back in on the money line if they're betting them today.

Speaker 5 (01:00:51):
Okay, Seamus, this might be a two part question. I'm
guessing it is maybe a one part, But which of
the six FBS conferenceampionship games today do you feel the
most confident in and what is your shamous special.

Speaker 6 (01:01:07):
Most confe is tough because I have a few games
I like, but nothing I really love. But my shamous
special I guess today is if you if you know me,
I am a card carrying member of the Matt Campbell
fan club, and today is coronation day for Iowa State.
Matt Campbell. I think they finally win their first Big
twelve championship.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
There you go.

Speaker 4 (01:01:30):
I'm actually surprised it's not an FCS game, to be honest,
it was minus two hundred that there's so many great options,
even incarnate word plays today.

Speaker 6 (01:01:39):
Oh man, I was looking at the incarnate word East
texasan and basketball game looking for something there.

Speaker 5 (01:01:49):
We're always looking for something shamous. We'll take anything like.

Speaker 4 (01:01:52):
The Iowas stay pick. I agree, we saw some We
saw that game flip the last hour, so I'd say
you get some sharp money.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Is that the I think the tight end for i
State's gonna play. That was why we saw that.

Speaker 6 (01:02:03):
Yeah, a lot of we just pushed this to a
pick them. I think was in the last twenty minutes.
So could be some news coming out of Ohio State,
out of Iowa State as well, and it's it's just
been moving there all week.

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
It feels like twenty twenty seven National Championship.

Speaker 3 (01:02:17):
Do we have odds on Bill Belichick hoisting the trophy
for the North Carolina tar Heels, Bill or Steve.

Speaker 6 (01:02:24):
I'll talk it over with my team. Maybe we could
cook something up for you, guys.

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
I love it Bill Belichick win a championship in college football?

Speaker 2 (01:02:32):
Yes or no? That's wow? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:02:35):
Well hey, Seamus, always great stuff, buddy, Hope you enjoyed
the games today.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Man, We'll catch you soon. Thanks, guys, have a go
on you too.

Speaker 5 (01:02:42):
There he is Seamus McGee, our guy, team lead of
sports trading at bet MGM. Now here's the thing. Seamus
is still my guy, but he started off with the
wrong answer. Okay, Doctor Pepper tuition giveaway in these basketball
chest passes.

Speaker 2 (01:02:59):
You're not in the basketball freaking hate every single year.
The rules within it.

Speaker 4 (01:03:08):
Now, if they made a rule that says you can't
do it, then then I would obviously be okay with
no doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 5 (01:03:15):
It's kind of like the hack of shack, you know.
It's it's the powers that be that allow it that
it is the strategy that's used. Granted, we got to
move this back to ten yards. At least five yards too,
But I'll tell you this, I would freaking destroy the
chemistry major.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
That's going basketball chest path.

Speaker 5 (01:03:35):
You don't have to go completely over the top, Go
go Philip rivers, go a little three quarter.

Speaker 2 (01:03:39):
If you're worried about that.

Speaker 4 (01:03:44):
I think it's harder than it looks because it's a
very low like target like usually like it's like almost
eye level, and you want when you're throwing it, you
want it to be.

Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Above your head.

Speaker 4 (01:03:54):
I don't know, I understand. I would do it chess
beast too.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
I know you probably hate me underhand, like old school
peach basket three throws.

Speaker 2 (01:04:03):
I was just between I'd be like the flint tropics
out there. Yeah, I'd be making it rain. Yeah. Can
we can we make this happen?

Speaker 5 (01:04:15):
Can we somehow do this as a challenge?

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
I would love it, love that so much.

Speaker 5 (01:04:23):
But yeah, keep the traditional football throw alive, you know,
hashtag that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:29):
That's my whole movement.

Speaker 5 (01:04:31):
There's very few of us left.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
If they throw it over him.

Speaker 4 (01:04:36):
Yeah, yeahentivicentivized player contract incentives.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
Let's do it. Come on, doctor pepper Rich.

Speaker 5 (01:04:43):
You mentioned this to Shamus Bill Belichick, so he's talked
to North Carolina twice at least twice about their head
coach opening Ye, no Mac Brown, and so they're gonna
go young here, no more seventy five year old Mac
Brown to get the seventy two year old Bill Belichick.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
What do you what? I heard this? Where was like, Okay,
he interviewed that. Oh that's weird. He's only what like fourteen.

Speaker 5 (01:05:08):
Wins away from topping Don Shula for the most NFL
head coaching wins ever, and now he's gonna go to college,
maybe at UNC.

Speaker 2 (01:05:20):
I just don't see it happening at all. What do
you guys make of this? I I just I just
don't think. I just don't think it's gonna happen.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
And listen, I don't want to say that age is
going to be the only, the only factor that determines
the outcome here, but but I do sort of feel like,
because he's seventy two years old, I feel like most
college football programs are gonna say, yeah, I mean, we're
we're in the business of having future prospects like Oregon,

(01:05:54):
like USC thought they were getting with Lincoln Riley. And
we'll see what the more near term looks like as
they move on from this year. And move into twenty
twenty five. But like, I think that's what every program
around college football is chasing. This feels a little bit
more like a positioner for his son than it does

(01:06:14):
for him. You know, So Steven, what was he defensive
coordinator for the Huskies this year?

Speaker 4 (01:06:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:06:19):
Yeah, Okay, so he was at you dub and they
had a pretty let's just say it wasn't a good season,
and so he moves on from that experience. And Bill Belichick,
I mean, just like any other good father is looking
out for his kids before you know, he lays his
sword to rest, and so he's trying to I think

(01:06:43):
this is just my opinion.

Speaker 3 (01:06:44):
I have no idea. I'm just reading the source reports
like everybody else. I think he's trying to provide a
launch pad for his son before he goes back to
the NFL and tries to topple Don Shula.

Speaker 4 (01:06:54):
I see it the same way. That's exactly how I
read it. And again I don't have any insider in either.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
But I think I think it's twofold.

Speaker 4 (01:07:05):
I think that that is part of it, and I
would not be surprised if that is a the big reason,
like the seventy five eighty ninety percent reason why he
is in bed with the Tar Heels. I also think
there is a small there's a small part of me
that believes the NFL has kind of moved on from
Bill Belichick in terms of the coaching sense. I know

(01:07:26):
that sounds crazy, but didn't work out with the Falcons,
and let's be honest, it's not like Rahee Morris is
coming there and renovated that team. I don't know what
it would look like under Belichick this year, but that
was obviously a very close flirtation. They were in bed
together and maybe they even got as far as agreeing
on some kind of a deal before it all kind

(01:07:47):
of fell south. And I do think there is a
part of me that believes the NFL in general, with
Crafts still kind of pulling strings behind the scenes and
just the club nature of being a head coach in
the NFL. I don't know if he's going to get
back into those circles, and he might he might see
that too, and he might say, Hey, my best chance

(01:08:09):
to have a lasting legacy outside of media down this
twilight of my career is to be a coach in
college football. And I could see it being successful I
could see him going to UNC, bringing Steve garnering the troops,
getting some recruits and having some short term success and
then kind of going out, you know, with some kind
of positive, you know view.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
But I think it could be both. But I think
it's more getting his son involved. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:08:36):
It's funny to me because I've heard a lot of
chatter that North Carolina should say no, and I'm like,
it's North Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
Yeah, I would just say no to Belichick.

Speaker 5 (01:08:47):
Which is more likely that Belichick goes there and does nothing,
or that they hire somebody else instead and he does nothing,
and five ish years from now, you're like, man, why
didn't we hire Belichick? If he really does want to
be there, you'd have to. It'd be like being a
normal guy, just Joe Schmoe and a Brazilian underwear model

(01:09:11):
is interested in you. You're an idiot to be like,
I don't see a long term future in this. Who cares?
Who freaking cares? It's Bill Belichick, you're UNC. If he
really wants to be there, you have to say yes,
have to?

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
Do you think the Falcons would have been better this
year with Belgian? Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
I think Bill Belichick is still one of the best
coaches on the planet. I think the biggest difference between
Bill Belichick back in say twenty nineteen and Bill Belichick
when he made his exit last season was Tom Brady.
And that's not to offend Bill Belichick. That's not to
detract from anything he's done. But look across the history

(01:09:53):
of time and space in the NFL, all these great
coaches that we lawed and we say, oh my gosh,
they were in incredible Look at their quarterbacks, Like I mean,
we all say such nice things about Andy Reid, Yeah,
because he has Patrick Mahomes. What about Andy Reid when
he had Donovan McNabb and he wasn't winning Super Bowls.
People had a lot of concerns about Andy Reid and

(01:10:14):
his clock management and his usage of timeouts at the
end of the half. But now with Patrick Mahomes, he's
a genius. I mean, look what we've said about Pete
Carroll with the Seahawks when Matt Flinnwood was his quarterback,
versus when Russell Wilson in his prime was his quarterback.

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
Look different conversation. Right, Look at Bill Walsh. I mean,
he's heralded as a genius and he is. He's an
innovator of the West Coast offense.

Speaker 3 (01:10:40):
But or but he had Steve Young and Joe Montana,
most importantly Joe Montana.

Speaker 2 (01:10:46):
So I get it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:47):
Yes, when we're going to talk about about Bill Belichick
and whether or not he fits in the NFL, the
answer is yes.

Speaker 2 (01:10:56):
But just like any other coach, he needs a quarterback.
And so I think I think that if Bill takes
a job, it's going to be a job with a
team that has a ready said go, we already have
an elite quarterback in place. Let's go win a bunch
of games together. Because I have a system that works
when we have greatness at quarterback.

Speaker 4 (01:11:17):
I like it. Yeah, I agree. I think the Falcons
would have had a better year with Belichick. I think
they've they've kind of shown you their true colors the
last couple of weeks and Cousins just I think it
could be Cousins a little bit banged up too. Still, Yeah,
there's a certain element to this that if it happens,
it will be one of the bigger Like Bill Belichick.

(01:11:37):
Going back to coach college, nobody had that on the
Bengal card, absolutely nobody, And it looks like that's the
FAE that's the favorite right now.

Speaker 2 (01:11:44):
I think I saw the text alert and I'm like.

Speaker 4 (01:11:46):
What, I know what? And then it and then it
was like and it wasn't just like a rumor, and
then it was like the double down by other reporters,
and then the and then once the Steve Belichick caveat
got thrown into the mix, then really made sense.

Speaker 5 (01:12:01):
Yeah, right, well, we'll see how it unfolds here. There
will be as every year, a handful of NFL openings,
you know, So, I know the Jets need a coach.

Speaker 4 (01:12:10):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
I tell you where Bill Belichick's not going that. I'm
sure the.

Speaker 5 (01:12:18):
History that's not gonna happen. But they are one of
a handful of teams that will need It feels like
a perfect fifth of the Jets, right guys, Hey our
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We've got Rich Hornberger, Penn State All American. Jared Smith,
FSR betting analyst. I'm Brian Nell coming up next. Ah,

(01:13:00):
prop it up the prompt betting market will compare notes.
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Speaker 2 (01:13:33):
All right, let's do this.

Speaker 1 (01:13:37):
Prop it up plays all right?

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
Prop bets galore, Jared, I know you got some stuff circled.
What do you have for us?

Speaker 4 (01:13:46):
Yeah, I'm excited about this one. Phil MafA under eighty
one and a half rushing yard. So according to Dabbo,
he's the Clemson running back. Dabo says Phil is battling
a bit of an injury and it's kind of shown
on the field over the last couple of games, averaging
just two point two yards per carry against FBS opponents,
twenty for sixty six against South Carolina, seventeen carries seventeen

(01:14:09):
yards against pitt That was a really ugly performance. And
this SMU defense is a havoc defense their top ten
across the board against the run. They like to get
up the field and penetrate. It opens up run lanes
for I think the quarterback k club Nick's legs might
be a factor in this game. But they held Jay Not,
who I love Jay Not, one of the best running

(01:14:31):
backs in the country, to just thirty seven yards last week.
So this is a very fierce SMU defense. I think
they will be up for the challenge tonight. Phil MafA
under eighty one and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:14:41):
Rushings I hate my prop this week. I hate it.
That's a good sign, though, right is it?

Speaker 4 (01:14:47):
Over eighty one and a half resting yards with.

Speaker 2 (01:14:51):
No that would really no?

Speaker 3 (01:14:54):
Hey, So listening, gang, this is good. We got bad
news for you though. Under one nineteen and a half
rushing yards for Skataboo.

Speaker 2 (01:15:03):
Oh man, yeah, yeah, so listen. This feels like a
sweat free over.

Speaker 3 (01:15:09):
But the funny thing about Skataboo is this season with
Arizona State, when he's missed the number, he's missed him
like tragically, like in the five games where he's fallen short.
Let me see, he's averaged sixty three yards in those games.

Speaker 2 (01:15:24):
So it's it's hit or miss. It's a little feast
or famine. And you know what Iowa State is gonna do.

Speaker 3 (01:15:30):
Who's got a tremendous pass defense, They're awful against the run.
They are going to load up the box and the
Cyclones are gonna say, if you beat us, it is
not gonna because we got ran all over.

Speaker 2 (01:15:43):
You're gonna beat us through the air.

Speaker 3 (01:15:45):
And so I think the plan is to play every
single defender at the line of scrimmage, stop the run game,
see if the sun Devils could beat you through the air.

Speaker 2 (01:15:53):
I'm taking the under on the one nineteen and a half.

Speaker 5 (01:15:57):
I like the thought process, and I'm hoping that's exactly
what Iowa State does, because, like you said, if Levitt
throws it on you, you tip your cap and you say, hey,
down your stud wide receiver, good job by you. But
you can't leave the field at Jerry World and be
like man Scataboo got us again.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
Yep, I guess we should have. I don't know, loaded
the box. Let's stick with the under theme over here.
Give me you guys will love this. We are.

Speaker 5 (01:16:25):
Give me the Oregon running back Jordan James is a
good one. Give me under ninety five and a half
rushing yards this Penn State rush defense. I don't think
they give up close to one hundred against Jordan James
and plus Oregon multi dimensional, they can throw it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
You know, Dylan Gabriel can do his thing.

Speaker 5 (01:16:44):
So maybe game scripts you know what Oregon tries to
do offensively. Maybe it's not a heavy heavy dose of
Jordan James. And even if it is, I still think
we got an out with Penn State's rush defense. Good
rush defense. I just I don't think Jordan James gets
to one hundred or close to it. I'll take the
under ninety five and a half for him.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
I like it.

Speaker 4 (01:17:06):
By the way, if you wanted to do another parlay
under eighty one and a half, mop up under one
twenty three and a half Scataboo under ninety five and
a half James plus five fifty three over at bet MGM,
there's another happy unit.

Speaker 2 (01:17:18):
Sprinkle. What if we add a Tyler Warren first touchdown song?
Now you're just getting That's why I want I add
to everyone's like you're trolling.

Speaker 4 (01:17:27):
Me at this point with this.

Speaker 2 (01:17:28):
So it's so good.

Speaker 4 (01:17:30):
Bet Tyler Warren first touch he's scoring every touchdown tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:17:33):
Yeah, yeah, there you go, there you go. Can't wait.

Speaker 5 (01:17:36):
Well, we'll get to that Penn State game coming up
here pretty soon. We'll get to a question. Oh, a
cutting edge question around the corner. And will this guy's
nickname begin to change tonight? A lot coming at you
coming up next? Ah, welcome in less than an hour
away from kickoff?

Speaker 2 (01:17:57):
Fired up for it.

Speaker 5 (01:17:58):
Now, I'll tell you what the carrot I'm dangling in
front of you, Penn State A lums here is we're
going to talk Penn State Oregon in just a couple
of minutes. Okay, But I have a question for you
and a concise discussion here and then we'll get to
Penn State. All right, this, I know I can count
on you to be concise here. Always could be like,

(01:18:19):
I agree, Brian, let's talk.

Speaker 4 (01:18:20):
We are.

Speaker 5 (01:18:22):
Here's the question I have to throw at you. Okay,
because we were all on the wrong side.

Speaker 4 (01:18:26):
Last week.

Speaker 5 (01:18:27):
Ohio State got embarrassed by Michigan. Embarrassed by Michigan again.
They're actually mission again because Ohios they keeps losing to
them every year. But the conversation after that, I've heard
so much lost season, failed season, even if Ohio State
went a championship failed season?

Speaker 4 (01:18:46):
What what?

Speaker 2 (01:18:49):
Run that by me again? And this is what it
leads to.

Speaker 5 (01:18:52):
Here's the question for you guys. Would you not trade
a loss to your hated rival for a champion? You
wouldn't make that trade? Are you kidding me? Like for
Eddie Forreddy diehard Ohio State fan. Behind door number one,
you can beat Michigan. Okay, I know what it means
to you. Behind door number two. You win a national championship,

(01:19:15):
You're taking door number one.

Speaker 2 (01:19:16):
You're out of your freaking mind.

Speaker 5 (01:19:19):
We talk about Nick Saban, how many championships he won,
not his Iron Bowl record.

Speaker 2 (01:19:24):
We don't talk about.

Speaker 5 (01:19:25):
Jim Harbaugh losing the Ohio State anymore because he won
a national championship. Like that is the eraser to a
loss to a hated rival. If you choose the win
against the hated rival over a national championship. I don't
want to talk football with you ever again. And I
know what it might mean to you, but that is
just the dumbest trade of all time.

Speaker 2 (01:19:46):
If that's what you choose, one hundred percent agree, one
hundred percent agree, And yeah, I promise you this isn't
just to get to the Big Ten championship game matchup quicker,
But you've said it all, and you said it perfectly
and succinctly. If you would trade a rivalry game win over.

Speaker 3 (01:20:07):
A national championship, I guess pack my pipe with whatever
you're smoking because you're on Mars.

Speaker 2 (01:20:15):
You are on Mars. That is that don't do drugs.

Speaker 3 (01:20:18):
I guess that's really that's really the end of that
sentences or the paragraph is don't do drugs.

Speaker 2 (01:20:24):
That's all.

Speaker 4 (01:20:25):
Yeah. I think ego and pride run amuck amongst college
football fans. To have that take is squarely ego. That's it.
And now the only pushback is, well, Ohio States already
won a national title recently, and if you're comparing it

(01:20:47):
to like how a Penn State fan would feel, I
would if you tell me that we win the national title,
I lose every game to a hostate Michigan for the
rest of my life, right, Like, I wouldn't care, But
I don't have that hatred towards the two teams like
they have towards each other, right, So it's hard for
me to frame it that way. But I think any

(01:21:08):
one regular season game is not compared to May And maybe.

Speaker 3 (01:21:13):
You know, and Brian, maybe you could jump in and
correct me if I'm wrong. But Notre Dame the team
that you throw behind Penn State, mine and Jared's alma mater.
It is a little bit of a different conversation in
terms of the rivalry conversation because they are kind of
unrivaled programs.

Speaker 2 (01:21:31):
There is no natural rival.

Speaker 3 (01:21:33):
I guess you could say, in your case, Notre Dame
the fighting Irish and the USC Trojans. There's something there, sure,
but but and I don't want to say it's manufactured
because it's not.

Speaker 2 (01:21:44):
It's real. But but there it doesn't feel like there.
There isn't that like like it's not Hoosiers Irish every year,
like we gotta see it. It's not like Penn State
pit every year.

Speaker 5 (01:21:57):
We got used to be that it used but not
It's true, it's not on the same level. Notre Dame
USC even Notre Dame. Michigan was a great rivalry, but
not the Iron Bowl, not you know, the Michigan Ohio
State rivalry. But here's the thing, like, imagine if you
win that game, right, let's just say, let's take Ohio

(01:22:17):
State for instance, they beat Michigan, great Michigan six and six.
Most people say, that's what you should have done. You're
favored by about twenty points. Yeah, you know, it's no
big deal. I mean, it's a big deal for the rivalry.
It's not like a national big deal. And then you
go get waxed in the college football playoff. That's what
you choose, that's what you'd rather have. You're out of

(01:22:39):
your mind. You're choosing the battle over the war. And
it might be a great, great battle, great rivalry, but
the goal is to win a championship.

Speaker 2 (01:22:48):
Yep.

Speaker 5 (01:22:48):
And if you can do that, you you'd rather throw
that away and say, no, I'd rather beat Michigan. That's
how much it means. You're freaking crazy. Sorry, there's no
other way to say it. Now, Okay, State Oregon as promised. Yeah,
if small game James gets it done, James Franklin, He's
zero and eleven. He's lost eleven straight against top five teams.

Speaker 2 (01:23:12):
I haven't heard that one before. Yeah, I know, sorry.

Speaker 5 (01:23:15):
Breaking doos Here, he's known as small game James because
he can't get it done against top five teams. They're
facing the number one ranked Oregon Ducks. If Penn State wins,
I know, it doesn't automatically change his nickname, but it
is a step in the right direction to changing that nickname.

(01:23:35):
Do you guys agree with that because someone will say, wow, Oregon,
they wanted the five seed, they didn't show up. Like,
if you beat Oregon, that's a big deal for Penn
State to finally right the ship and beat a top
five team.

Speaker 2 (01:23:48):
I think that'd be a huge deal for them.

Speaker 3 (01:23:50):
Yeah, it is a little bit of a little bit
of the conversation we were just having, which is, you know,
I mean, if if Ryan Day did away with this,
hey he can't beat that team up North Moniker but
loses in the playoffs, what is it really matter?

Speaker 2 (01:24:08):
It's it's almost like the flip with James Franklin.

Speaker 3 (01:24:10):
It's like no, no, no, like you have to do this,
like like there's like there's no there's no rivalry situation
here where where you know, Uh, there's a moral victory.

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
You have to win this game, James. You have to
try to fix this script against you against the Nitney
Lions under your tenure. Otherwise I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (01:24:35):
I don't want to make bold proclamations here because this
was a successful season.

Speaker 2 (01:24:39):
There's no other way to look at it.

Speaker 3 (01:24:42):
But if you flame out late here when the heat
gets hot, and the end result of this season is
Penn stay Big Ten Championship, uh Big Ten Championship game
against Oregon Ducks lost that one Ohio State regular season.
They had plenty of opportunities to score. They didn't score

(01:25:05):
when they needed to. In the red zone playoffs, maybe
they even win a game, but they get knocked out
all of a sudden.

Speaker 2 (01:25:13):
It's gonna be the same note. And when you're a
coach and you're hitting the same note year after year
after year, they get rid of you. Unless that note
is I'm winning championships, they'll get rid of you.

Speaker 3 (01:25:26):
That's the reason why Marty Schottenheimer was fired after a
fourteen win regular season with the San Diego Chargers all
those years ago, because he was making it to the playoffs,
but they weren't winning in the playoffs. And look, that's
why playoff coaches get fired routinely. It doesn't seem fair.
But even in LA they were calling for Dave roberts Head.

(01:25:49):
The Dodgers were unbelievably successful, but they weren't winning championships.

Speaker 2 (01:25:54):
So what was the story on the Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (01:25:56):
Well, the story on the Dodgers is one hundred win
regular season lost in the divisional series.

Speaker 2 (01:26:02):
Oh wow. Yeah, Well, I'll tell you what the problem is.
It's the manager. So James Franklin has.

Speaker 3 (01:26:07):
Got to win this football game. He's got to or
he's got to win a national championship. Otherwise the scene's
gonna get awfully hot for Franklin.

Speaker 2 (01:26:16):
Yeah. I don't know how much urgency this game is.

Speaker 4 (01:26:18):
I know it feels like.

Speaker 2 (01:26:21):
Penn State has to win. I think it's the playoff.

Speaker 4 (01:26:24):
More like, I would trade a loss here for a
win over an SEC team in state college in two weeks.
I would trade that. Unlike Michigan fans or Ohio State fans,
who would not trade their game against the other team
for a national championship, I would trade. I would get
embarrassed in this game. I would be willing to be embarrassed. Tonight,

(01:26:47):
if you promised me that when we play Bama in
two weeks or whoever we play in state college, it
might be you know, Iowa State, which would be a
really favorable matchup, but I would trade that because I
think the playoff does supersede it. But Oregon is flirting

(01:27:08):
with history. This would be a historic win for Oregon.
They're the first FBS team since the Jamis Winston led
Knowles to be the only undefeated FBS team through twelve games.

Speaker 2 (01:27:20):
It doesn't happen often.

Speaker 4 (01:27:21):
Usually there's either multiples or there's none, and this year
there's none. It's it's just Oregon the only undefeated, the
only unblemished team. I think they are a much different
team with Tedes Johnson, and I think that's what makes
tonight's game very interesting is he has looked. He looked
good in the game against Washington. He was hurt for
a few games earlier in the season. Of course, Oregon's
kind of been through this up and down where the

(01:27:44):
first few games it was like sacks left and right
and they couldn't move the ball and they almost lost
the boise and then they kind of locked in and
Dan Lanning's on a mission this year like they've They've
made a lot of improvements to this defense. It's not
an elite defense. They can be run on, and I
think that's the key for State tonight. Can Nicholas Singleton,
who finally showed you some burst last week, can Penn

(01:28:06):
State get into favorable down and distances on third down?

Speaker 2 (01:28:09):
Can it be third and three?

Speaker 4 (01:28:11):
Because if it's not, if it's third and eight, third
and nine, that's where Penn State and Drew Aler get
into trouble because they don't have a separating receiver on
their team. It's Tyler Warren and it's Nicholas Singleton, and
that's pretty much the offense, and they need Colt.

Speaker 2 (01:28:24):
Nickotty to be in his bag. As the kids say, yeah,
no doubt.

Speaker 5 (01:28:29):
That's largely what it comes down to for Penn State's offense.
They just don't have those receivers. They don't have that
explosiveness to their offense. So you got to run it now.
The good news is Oregon's run defense is vulnerable. They
have not been good. There are yards to be gained
against them. So yeah, if Singleton and Alan, if those

(01:28:50):
guys can get it done, you're cooking to with grease
all of a sudden, because I like Penn State's defense.
Some say they're overrated, but you've got NFL dudes there
and Carter King Harris every level of the defense. Let
me throw this at you too, to put a bow
on this. There's been so much conversation about, hey, the
loser probably gets the five seed and that might be better.

Speaker 2 (01:29:12):
Count me out on that one, agreed.

Speaker 5 (01:29:14):
Because you're talking about winning four games to win a
national championship compared to three, and I don't think your
path is so much more favorable as the five seed.
Granted you'd play the twelve and then if you survive,
you play the four seed. That's favorable, but that extra game,
who knows who gets injured? The attrition starts to take

(01:29:38):
shape right like you're tired. You're trying to win a
championship to win four games compared to three, I just
don't think you're in a better spot as the five
compared to the one seed.

Speaker 3 (01:29:48):
Buddy, you said it all. Here's the only thing I'll
add is what is okay the risk reward? I kind
of look at life through that lens a lot. I
always think to myself, Okay, what am I risking versus
what I'm gaining if I make this decision. And that
works personally, but it also works professionally. It also works
when you're talking about individual and a business or a team.

(01:30:13):
Think about what you're risking playing one more game. What
happens if you lose Ty Warren? What happens if Singleton
gets banged up? What happens if you lose one of
your important members of that defense that has been lauded
throughout this season, but it's a lynch pin.

Speaker 2 (01:30:27):
Well, guess what. That five seed doesn't look so good anymore,
does it.

Speaker 3 (01:30:31):
Even if the draw works out better and your bracket
shapes up nicely on paper, the game isn't played on paper.
So all these analytics gurus who are overthinking the room
get lost. Because football is a violent sport where people
are running into each other. Okay, things happen. Okay, the

(01:30:52):
ball is oblong shaped, it bounces funny sometimes. Okay, the
wind gust could blow on a forty yard field goal
and it could change the fortunes and fates.

Speaker 2 (01:31:03):
Of football forever. So lose me on the lose the
Big Ten championship and fall to the five seed because
it benefits us. That is that is, that is as
dumb as wanting to win a rivalry game of championship
go Ordburger. I could see him in my monitor.

Speaker 4 (01:31:22):
He has fired up.

Speaker 2 (01:31:22):
He's got his faces rather than a tomato. I love it.

Speaker 4 (01:31:25):
I like this fire because you're one hundred percent right.
The only people saying that are people that aren't playing
in the game. Like I bet if you asked anyone
in that locker room tonight for either team Penn State
or Oregon, they'd be like, we don't want the five seed,
we want them, we want the steak in one seed,
Like come on. But also, I can't really sum it

(01:31:47):
up any better than what you guys said, Like, there's
so many things that could happen. You are playing an
extra sixty minutes. It is an easy to see if
you're giving me the choice. If you're giving me a choice,
can you be the one and the bye or the
five and the easy matchup?

Speaker 2 (01:32:05):
It's like not even a choice.

Speaker 4 (01:32:07):
Now. If I don't have a choice and I can't
be the one and I can't get a bye.

Speaker 2 (01:32:14):
Which seed? Which path is the easiest?

Speaker 4 (01:32:18):
Yes, the five seed is the easiest path, But the
easiest path is not to play a game that weekend
is to be sitting on your took us and watching
other teams play. And that's an SMU is the one.
That is the argument that I can't stand this week.
The SMU is being punished argument is the dumbest argument

(01:32:40):
I've ever heard. So let's say SMU is Notre Dame
and they don't play this weekend, and their.

Speaker 2 (01:32:50):
Options are okay.

Speaker 4 (01:32:52):
You can either play Clemson this week a game you're
favored in on a neutral field, win that game, get
three weeks off, and then go play Fiesta whoever on
a neutral you get three weeks off. Or you could
sit around and do nothing this weekend because you're being
punished for playing in the AC Championship game, and then

(01:33:14):
you can go to State College or Columbus or South
Bend in late December and be a touchdown dog in
the first round.

Speaker 2 (01:33:22):
What would you choose?

Speaker 4 (01:33:22):
I would choose the path of Clemson, and then three
weeks off that would be the path that.

Speaker 2 (01:33:27):
I would choose.

Speaker 5 (01:33:28):
Man, this was a ranting segment, It really was.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
That's been bothering me all week.

Speaker 4 (01:33:33):
Oh, SMU is being punished, No, they're not win the
stinking game and take three weeks off that question.

Speaker 2 (01:33:39):
Woke up. Can't tankeris Ormberger? Man, I can't play. You
did the show with can't Take Ris know we got
all the way to can't take for his arm.

Speaker 5 (01:33:48):
Full circle man, that was great. I was therapeutic the
whole thing.

Speaker 2 (01:33:52):
Man. That was awesome. Hey.

Speaker 5 (01:33:53):
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Speaker 2 (01:34:04):
All right, we've got.

Speaker 5 (01:34:06):
Kintankerous rich Ornberger, Penn State All American kintankerous Jared Smith
fired up today. That's right, FSR betting analyst. You can
always count on kntankerous Brian though. That's just that's tried
and true. All right, come it up next? Is this
team the new version in the trenches that their opponent

(01:34:27):
used to be? It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to
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comdown to receive up to fifteen hundred dollars back in
bonus bets if that bet loses. All right, fellas, we've
got Clemson taken on SMU. That's tonight, eight pm Eastern kicktime.

(01:35:14):
It's at Bank of America Stadium over there in Charlotte,
North Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:35:18):
Now here's the thing.

Speaker 5 (01:35:19):
The first part of this is SMU is better with
their defensive line than Clemson is. And so the question becomes,
is SMU what Clemson used to be? Now, now, I'm
not saying Clemson they used to be dominant. They've got
dudes all over the NFL that used to star as
defensive lineman over there. Christian Wilkins was the first round pick,

(01:35:43):
Brian Brazy was the first round pick. The list goes
on and on. They've had dudes. I'm not saying SMU
is on that level, but for SMU to have the
better defensive line against Clemson is eye opening here. But
SMU's got some dudes on that d line, and you
can say they haven't faced a who's who's schedule. But

(01:36:03):
Jared laid this out and prop it up. He likes
them to slow down Phil Maffa and this Clemson rushing
attack with good reason. Man, SMU can get after it.

Speaker 2 (01:36:12):
Yeah, yeah, they absolutely can.

Speaker 3 (01:36:14):
SMU almost dropped the game to Duke because of six turnovers.
If you look at Clemson throughout the season, they survived
the close one against Pittsburgh a few weeks back. I mean,
so there have been hiccups for both of these teams recently,
But when I think about the path that it's taken

(01:36:38):
both of these teams to get here, isn't it amazing
how different we feel about these two programs. SMU first
year in the conference, inaugural season, playing for the championship.
They're back, They're on the national scene, and go figure,
it took allowing players to be paid for SMU to

(01:36:59):
be back in the nation conversation not shocked, h and
then Clemson Clemson their path to this game, even though okay,
they their their game against Georgia earlier this season boosts
their the view of their schedule, it was kind of
cookie cutter, you know, there's I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:37:19):
They you have to play who you play in the conference.
But it was in a great schedule outside of the
Georgia matchup.

Speaker 3 (01:37:27):
And so you look at these two teams and you
say to yourself, you say to yourself, the feel for
for Southern Methodists is like it just feels better for them,
Like it almost feels like like when you when you
see a stadium act performing in clubs, you know, whereas

(01:37:49):
when you're you're seeing a rising star playing clubs, you
feel differently about those those two performers, like the rising
star twenty four four years old, it's a garage band
that has finally got its its first studio album and
they're gonna be touring in arena soon, versus the stadium

(01:38:09):
act who's hit the heights yeah, but has fallen down
back to the clubs and it's trying to recover its image.

Speaker 2 (01:38:16):
That is the story of SMU and Clemson. I love that.
It's like Guns n' Roses is playing the County Fair
what what he? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:38:25):
And they can't they can barely play the guitar because
they're so old and I'm just kidding, there's there's obviously
a little bit of home cooking here. Games in Charlotte.
Clemson's is basically a home game for them, and it's
funny SMU. They put out their social media poster for
the game and it was like cold, like mountainous terrains,

(01:38:45):
like did they are they in the right place? Like
they know they're going to Charlotte for this game right now.
I think there's a there's a certain level of familiarity
with this game for Clemson. They've eate they're eight and
one straight up, they won eight straight as He's a
games like it just they know what to expect. SMU
does not. Now the element of surprise is definitely a thing.

(01:39:06):
Smu schedule has not been very difficult this year. They
have kind of skated by on the outskirts of a
bad ACC conference.

Speaker 2 (01:39:15):
They're one loss to BYU.

Speaker 4 (01:39:18):
Not aging so well. It looked good earlier in the year,
now not so much. I don't know if they are
up for that mental task. I think they are physically better.
I think they're better coached. I think they have better players. Dabos.
You've seen the fall off. They didn't hit the portal.
They've gone the traditional route. You're starting to see why

(01:39:39):
that's not a smart path in today's college football. They
are just not as physically gifted as they have been
in years past. But there is a certain element to
this game that I do think is going to be mental.
I think Clemson's defense is what scares me the most
about back at three, you think, oh, you gotta bet
Clemson plus three.

Speaker 2 (01:39:58):
It's screaming yet to face. But then you look at
their defense.

Speaker 4 (01:40:01):
Pitt's quarterback through for over three to fifty, the backup
quarterback through for over three to fifty. On this Clemson defense,
they let Leonora Sellers look like Michael Vick last week.
I mean, just running left, right and center and Kevin
Jennings can have that effect on you. And I just
don't know if Clemson's defense, like when we think of Clemson,
we think of smash mouth football.

Speaker 2 (01:40:23):
They're not really that.

Speaker 4 (01:40:24):
Their offensive line is a little bit weak. Their defense
is giving up a ton of yards they're out. I mean,
this is a team that is sixtieth in yards per play.
Clemson's defense is outside essentially the top sixty in yards
per play allowed. This year. So can SMU handle the
early nerves in the road environment. If they can, I
think they win this game. But I think that's the

(01:40:44):
intangible that I'm not sure about.

Speaker 5 (01:40:46):
No, it's it's a good breakdown. I like everything right there.
And like you said, Kevin Jennings, can he channel his
inner sellers?

Speaker 2 (01:40:54):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:40:56):
Listen, that's that often is And and Kate Klubnick in
that pit game he had the long touchdown run. Some
of these quarterbacks making plays with their legs, man, that's
the that's the the wild card against certain defenses because defensively,
you can do everything right, you have won that play,

(01:41:17):
and then a special quarterback just makes something special happen
running the ball. And so we'll see if Kenny Kevin
Jennings does that today because there are some plays to
be made and I want to see, Like if you
look at Brishard Smith, SMU's running back, he's a stud.

Speaker 2 (01:41:34):
The running game isn't that reliable, that efficient, but he
is a home run hitter. Yeah, yep, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:41:40):
And that's the tradeoff is would you trade, you know,
running into a brick wall for a quarter and a
half for a home run hit?

Speaker 2 (01:41:48):
Absolutely? I would.

Speaker 5 (01:41:50):
And that might be what SMU experiences tonight.

Speaker 3 (01:41:53):
Yeah, he reminds me a little bit of what Sai
Kuon Barkley was for Penn State when he is playing
college ball, playing behind a bad offensive line, but man,
he was patient and he would take loss.

Speaker 2 (01:42:08):
I mean, look up his numbers.

Speaker 3 (01:42:09):
They were bizarre because it would be loss of two,
loss of four, loss of six, seventy three yard touchdowns, right,
I mean it would be wild, but that would be
what four rushes would look like for Sakuon Barkley. SMU
and Clemson both play really staggeringly good defense, and again

(01:42:30):
against a weaker ACC this year, granted. But I'll tell
you what SMU is vulnerable to a lot of what
you were talking about. They're they're they're vulnerable to explosive plays, especially.

Speaker 2 (01:42:42):
In the run game.

Speaker 3 (01:42:43):
So if k Klubnick can get get moving here, or
or if or if Jennings opposite him, you know, can
get moving here, I mean you could see the ball
thrown over the Mustang head, or you could see SMU
giving up explosives in the run game. I could see

(01:43:06):
either of those things happening. I'm leaning toward a lower
scoring game, but I could see explosives being what factors
the most in this game. I could see both defenses
playing basically three and a half quarters of great football,
But it's like it comes down to two or three
plays where you say, if they just could have those back,

(01:43:27):
they would have won this game.

Speaker 4 (01:43:29):
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of variants with this game
because both teams have played bad schedules. When you have
two teams that have played bad schedules and you don't
have elite data points to compare, it's really hard to
figure out which side of the aid.

Speaker 2 (01:43:40):
This one's gonna go on.

Speaker 4 (01:43:41):
I will say this, though, you look at this SMU
offense and I think they are going to have I
do think they're gonna have some success against this Clemson defense.
Clemson's explosive run rate this year is pitiful. I cannot
believe how many they've given up twenty four runs of
twenty or more yards this year. That is one hundred
and twenty fifth in the country.

Speaker 2 (01:43:59):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (01:43:59):
And again, this is Clemson's defense we're talking about here.
This is what they do, which is shut down the
run and make you into a one dimensional team. And
then on the other side, you mentioned it, Brian and
I do think Kate Clubs Nicks, Kate Club Knicks legs. Wow,
try saying that five times fast is going to be
a big factor in the game as well. I was surprised.
So when I broke down the numbers of the of

(01:44:21):
the South Carolina Clemson game last week, I was shocked.

Speaker 2 (01:44:25):
Shocked.

Speaker 4 (01:44:26):
South Carolina, who has two absolute bookend NFL defensive linemen
on the edge, they only had a fifteen percent pressure
rate in that game against Clemson. So Clemson's O line
held up okay, And I think a lot of it
is they ran they They've run these like weird draws
that like really keeps the defenders honest, and I think
that took its toll throughout the course of the game.

Speaker 2 (01:44:47):
And Clubnix legs are a factor. I don't love the
receivers for Clemson.

Speaker 4 (01:44:52):
They've got this Williams kid who's kind of a touchdown hog,
but they're not exactly efficient on the outside. And as
we talked about, don't think Mafa's gonna have a huge game.
He's a little bit nicked up. Like this is this
game is going to fall squarely on the shoulders of
Kate Clubnick And let's be honest, he was brought in
to be the number one quarterback type guy. This is
if Clemson wants to ascend to any kind of or

(01:45:15):
I guess reascend to any kind of national prominence, it's
gotta come on the arm and legs of Kate Klubnick.

Speaker 2 (01:45:21):
He is going to be front and center in this
game tonight.

Speaker 5 (01:45:24):
By the way, let me take a random left hand
turn on you and we'll get back to the previewing here.
But there was a headline from earlier this week that
I just had to mention on the show today with
you guys where UCF.

Speaker 2 (01:45:37):
God bless him, they're aiming high.

Speaker 5 (01:45:39):
They targeted USC head coach Lincoln Riley to be their
next head coach. UCF inquired about the availability of Lincoln Riley,
and now Link said, yeah, I'm good. I think I'm
good here at USC. Compared to UCF, here's the thing,
here's the comparison I would make. UCF reminds me of

(01:46:00):
one of those American Idol contestants, you know, the ones
where they can't sing a lick and they think the
judges are out to get them.

Speaker 2 (01:46:08):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (01:46:09):
They just have no self awareness whatsoever. It's half entertaining
and half annoying, where it's that's UCF.

Speaker 2 (01:46:17):
Yeah, like they have no self awareness.

Speaker 5 (01:46:18):
They proclaim themselves national champions, which I freaking hated.

Speaker 2 (01:46:23):
No self awareness.

Speaker 5 (01:46:24):
I do kind of love that they have no self
awareness to reach out to Lincoln Riley like link's gonna
be like.

Speaker 2 (01:46:31):
UCF, Hell yeah, my bags are packed, Let's do this.

Speaker 5 (01:46:35):
I love them and hate them at the same time.
That's UCF. They are the American Idol contestant.

Speaker 2 (01:46:41):
It's a little bit of shoot your shot, right, And.

Speaker 3 (01:46:47):
I've been there before, like sometimes you have no business
being in on the conversation, but you're like, a screw it,
But what's the worst that could happen?

Speaker 2 (01:46:56):
They laughed me out of the room.

Speaker 4 (01:46:58):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:46:58):
You know what UCF kind of remind me of is
Kanye West.

Speaker 3 (01:47:02):
Like Kanye West jumps on the stage and he talks
about how Beyonce should win things instead of Taylor Swift.
Kanye West he throws himself into you know, politics, and
he's running for president.

Speaker 2 (01:47:14):
All of a sudden, It's like really, you know, like
there's just a couple of moments where you're just like, really, Kanye,
all of a sudden, he's married to Kim kardash and
he's making children.

Speaker 3 (01:47:24):
You're just like, really, all of a sudden, he shows
up in a boat in Italy. There's things happening. You're like, Okay,
what is going on? But he keeps his name out there,
he keeps people talking about and whether you love him
or hate him, you can't argue with the fact that
this guy is.

Speaker 2 (01:47:40):
Completely notable, Like everybody knows who you're talking about when
you talk about Kanye West because he's forced the zeitgeist
to pay attention to him.

Speaker 3 (01:47:50):
That's what UCF is doing. So whether or not they
belong in a conversation that involves Lincoln Riley, who by
the way, is a coach who's currently under contract, it
doesn't matter because they're like, hey, Beyoncetate deserves that award,
So I guess you belong on stage two. Okay, UCF,

(01:48:11):
welcome to the conversation in the middle of the Conference
Championship talks.

Speaker 2 (01:48:15):
Where have you been all season long?

Speaker 4 (01:48:18):
One word, Riz, that's really it.

Speaker 2 (01:48:24):
That's a great break. I love that for you, Rich.
That was very well done.

Speaker 5 (01:48:27):
Okay, if we go back to the conference championship games,
six of them today, I know you guys are Penn
State Hawks. Okay, but put that to the side for
a second. Which game are you most looking forward to?
Put just your football fan maybe your sports better hat
on right, put your Penn State allegiance to the side,
because I know you're itching for that game against Oregon.

Speaker 2 (01:48:49):
How could you not be the first one team we
got rich? Who's the number one the watch for you? Okay?

Speaker 3 (01:48:55):
Yeah, so I'm itching to say Oregon Penn State. But
I will say this because of the turbulence of their
season on George's side, and because of the recent war
path that Texas has been on basically since they played
against Georgia and loss to them earlier this season.

Speaker 2 (01:49:20):
It's the SEC championship game. I think it has. It
has so much.

Speaker 3 (01:49:25):
Look, I mean, it's undeniable. Whether or not you love
football or not. You're watching the Super Bowl right it's
on in your house. Whether or not you love the
fact that the SEC is touted as the best conference
in football or not, You're turning on the SEC Championship
game if you're a football fan, because there is an

(01:49:46):
awareness that this game, this conference championship, means a little
bit more than most And so I'll give it to
the Longhorns and the Dogs today. That game has my
attention also because of the quarterback conversation too, Manning and yours.
The season that yours has had battling injury, Manning looking

(01:50:06):
like an elite backup protege to the program, and then
what we've seen with Beck. You know, can he pull
a rabbit out of his hat even though it's been
kind of a down year for him and it's been
a very different feel around the Georgia Bulldogs program this year.

Speaker 4 (01:50:21):
There is zero doubt in my mind that the best
aesthetically pleasing watch of the day is Oregon Penn State.
The uniforms, the colors, the schemes, I mean, it will
be a really good watch. But for the lack of bias,
I will tell you that Kenny Dillingham and Arizona State
playing in this game in the victory championship today is

(01:50:43):
nothing short of a minor miracle. You need to appreciate
these types of seasons when they happen, because with all
of the parody in college football, for a team that
had a win total of four and a half in
the preseason that was one hundred to one to win
the Big Twelve like this is member TCU a couple

(01:51:03):
of years ago. It's reminiscent of that. I know tc
was undefeated heading into this game, a little different vibe,
but the just completely off the radar. Nobody had this
on their Bengal card. A lot of people have Texas
and Georgia in the game. A lot of people had Clemson, obviously,
not a lot of people had Penn State, a lot
of people had Oregon. To see Arizona State play in

(01:51:27):
a Power Conference championship today is just it's remarkable. It's
just unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (01:51:33):
No, that's great, and I'd have to say I'd go
with the SEC title game. That's what I'm most looking
forward to because look, Georgia stomped Texas the first go
around in their building, and now all the steam is
on Texas. This one from a pickum the Texas minus three.
That's a huge amount of steam, and so I want

(01:51:55):
to see if Texas makes the adjustments Kirby smart, Georgia
does a nut on SEC team come in year one
and win the SEC Championship game. That's what Texas has
available for them today. I can't wait for that. And
I'm also looking forward to an overhand thrower of the football,

(01:52:15):
beating chest pass guy or girl, and the Doctor Pepper
tuition challenge. I'm hoping for that. I've got my fingers
crossed that happens hey shortly after the show, our podcast
would be going up. If you missed anything on today's show,
be sure to check it out. Just search Fox Sports
Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and be sure to
also follow, rate and review it again. Just search Fox

(01:52:36):
Sports Radio wherever you get your podcasts, and you'll see
the show posted right after we get off the air.
We've got Rich Hornberger, Penn State All American, Jared Smith
FSR Betting Analyst Slash Penn State Alum.

Speaker 2 (01:52:49):
Huh, let's go.

Speaker 5 (01:52:50):
I'm Brian No, No Penn State ties for me. He
got the weekend off. Yeah, Baskig and Ball over here
with nothing on the line, rapid fire. We each have
three selections for you. We'll share them with you coming up.
It is Fox Sports Radios Campdown to Kickoff presented by BETTMGM.
It is Fox Sports Radios Countdown to Kickoff presented by

(01:53:12):
Bett MGM. Props to the crew, our trusted producer Bo Benson.
The Dodgers Zone Podcast, our technical producer, extraordinary Chris Burfett,
Pride of Detroit podcast and on digital shout out to
our guys. Sauger puts the videos together, post them on
social media, does a great job. Top of the Hour,
up on game, LaVar Arrington, TJ. Hushman, Zada, Plexico, Burist,

(01:53:35):
They've got you covered. They come your way in just
ten minutes from right now. Keep it locked on Fox
Sports Radio. All right, we got some picks to make.
Let's do it, rap it fire.

Speaker 2 (01:53:49):
All right, mister Jared Smith, what do you have for
us today? Budd?

Speaker 4 (01:53:51):
All right, I'm taking the shame of special not a
lot of games today to choose from, but I like
Seamus's take on this game. I'm betting Iowa State minus
one against Arizona State. We saw the line flip. Iowa
State now favored. I think injury is a factor. Jordan
Tyson out for Arizona State. Benjamin Brahmer, the tight end
for Iowa State is back. He hasn't Playton's mid October
averaging nearly eighteen yards per reception. He will be a factor. Higgins,

(01:54:13):
Noel Hansen, Sama Jackson like, Iowa State just has better players,
and I think they will execute in this game.

Speaker 2 (01:54:20):
Give me the Cyclones.

Speaker 4 (01:54:22):
I'm also taking Luisa and Lafa yet minus five and
a half against Marshall in the Sun Belt Title. I
think the head coach for Marshall, Charles Hall, flirting with
all these other teams Southern miss He's up for that job.
We saw this play a factor with Tulane yesterday and
John some roll. If the head coach is not locked in,
I think it filters down to the rest of the team.
I like this Lafayette team. The Sun Belt title is

(01:54:43):
typically a blowout. All five of them have been decided
by seven or more points. Troy has just rolled the
last two years, so I think the Cagens get a
big win over Marshall. And I'm betting the over tonight
in the SEC title game, Georgia Texas over fifty and
a half. I don't think George is gonna be able
to put together another sixty minute elite defensive performance, and
I think Texas, with the weapons on the outside, we're

(01:55:05):
gonna see the Georgia run game get going a little
bit too. They're a little healthy on the old line,
so I'll take the over fifty.

Speaker 2 (01:55:09):
And a half. All right, I got all dogs.

Speaker 3 (01:55:13):
They're gonna go to heaven this weekend. In the conference
championship games. Let's start in the Big twelve Arizona State,
Kenny Dillingham. Let's see this thing finish out the right way,
the way the story book ending we're hoping for now.
Maybe the story's not over because this will gain him
entrance it to the postseason. But I got Arizona State

(01:55:33):
dog by a point. Give me the points there.

Speaker 2 (01:55:36):
Moving on to the.

Speaker 3 (01:55:37):
MAC title game. Nobody saw the Bobcats coming. Nobody thought
they had a chance to do what they've done this season.
Here they are in the conference final. They're dog by
two and a half against Miami of Ohio. It is
the the Battle of the Bricks. Give me the Bobcats
in that one. And how about our.

Speaker 2 (01:55:57):
Penn State Nitney Lyons small game.

Speaker 3 (01:56:00):
James finally reverse his course and he gets himself a
bye week to open the postseason. I got the Lions
dog three and a half in the Big Ten championship
game live from Indianapolis.

Speaker 2 (01:56:14):
Let's go Lions.

Speaker 5 (01:56:17):
Okay, all right, so uh man, this is this has
been unprecedented. Here never happened. I'm team Jared, I'm on
Iowa State minus one today. No, Jordan Tyson is massive,
huge and in the same rapid fire. I am Anti Ornberger. Wow,

(01:56:37):
give me Miami of Ohio minus two and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:56:41):
Oh boy, okay, give me a have you left it?

Speaker 5 (01:56:48):
Chuck Martin says, break and break it on. You're kidding me,
And then I'm also prepare for this one. Give me Quinn,
you weres under two hundred and thirty three and a
half passing. Okay, I'm gonna run it a little bit,
make it a little arch manning, make it a decent amount.

Speaker 2 (01:57:06):
Of arch manning.

Speaker 5 (01:57:07):
Give me under two thirty three and a half for Quinn.
Yours should be a fun day, guys.

Speaker 2 (01:57:12):
Huh yeah, hope, yeah, we we are. Let's say plus
three and a half. A lease

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