January 2, 2025 • 40 mins
On tonight’s edition of The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon, Aaron Torres and Jason Martin fill in for Jason Smith and Mike Harmon. Aaron and Jason kick off the hour by breaking down the College Football Playoff matchups between Ohio State vs. Oregon and Texas vs. Arizona State. Next, Joshua Perry, analyst on B1G College Countdown on NBC Sports, joins the show to discuss the College Football Playoffs, Ryan Day, and the Texas vs. ASU showdown! Don’t miss all this and more in Hour 1!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
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Speaker 2 (00:24):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Welcome in, everybody.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
This is the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon. As
the man just told you. Jason Smith and Mike are
out Aaron torres at Jason Martin filling in until two
am Eastern time tonight. We are broadcasting live from the
Tirec dot Com Studios tirec dot com. We'll help you
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(00:51):
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The way tire buying should be Er. Tors Jason are
taking you up till two a m Eastern tonight and
into tomorrow. Jason Martin, my man in Nashville.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
How you doing.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
I'm doing all right. I'm a little frustrated. Obviously we're
not watching a Sugar Bowl the worst possible reason.
Speaker 6 (01:14):
And it's just annoying that things like this can happen.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
It really is.
Speaker 6 (01:18):
It's frustrating. There's not a good way to even put it.
But I think being mad about it is right, like
not mad that we're not watching football, but mad that
this kind of thing happens, mad that people continue to
do things like this. So I'm frustrated by that, and
I'm a little bit bummed because Ohio State Oregon was
(01:39):
supposed to be a great, awesome thing for us to
watch on New Year's and it turned out to basically
be not.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
Worth watching after the first quarter.
Speaker 6 (01:49):
With all due respect to anybody who you know, you
know had a dog in the fight. In the third
and the fourth quarter, nobody thought they were coming back.
It was over so fast. It was somehow even more
upsided than the Tennessee game, Like it felt like Oregon
put up less of a fight than Tennessee did. And
so I was I'm a little miffed. Actually, at least
we got a good finish to the first game. But
(02:10):
I am seeing again instant classic no that game. I
sent you a text early in the fourth quarter and said,
what a boring football game like it just was. It
was not interesting and not fun to watch at all.
And then you got an awesome finish. You got a
great you know, last ten minutes of the fourth quarter
or so somewhere in that neighborhood, and then you got
the overtimes.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
And so you got all of that.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
I'm still not ever gonna call that a great game,
but I'm glad that we got the last like fifteen
to twenty minutes of drama.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, so let's dive in.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
And obviously, as as j mar just said, there is
no late evening college football, as Chris Purfett told you
earlier as well. Obviously, tragedy early early early this morning
on Bourbon Street the Sugar Bowl, which was set to
kick off at eight forty five Eastern, has been postponed
until un till Thursday afternoons.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So obviously there is no late game.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
So the three games of the college football Quarterfinals are official,
with Penn State winning on New Year's Eve, and then
of course earlier today Texas in two overtime surviving Arizona State,
which we'll talk about in a minute, but do think
probably jmark the right place to start, even though there isn't,
you know, as much to break down as we anticipated.
Ohio State just laying the wood to Oregon final scoring
(03:27):
this one forty one to twenty one. And for people
that were doing stuff on New Year's Day. By the way,
Rob Parker just signed off with this sentiment and I
want to share it as well. We appreciate everybody tuning
in to us. You know, we know that not everybody
has the holiday off. Some of you are working, you're traveling.
Certainly on a day like today, you're in the car,
so we're taking you till two am.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Easter. We're going to keep you entertained.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
And obviously it goes without saying our thoughts are with
everybody in New Orleans over just the insanity that happened
earlier today that.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
Dwarves anything that we're about to do, as a matter
of fact, by by a wide, wide margin. There's no
way we can do it justice. It just it just stinks.
There's nothing else, There's nothing else to say about it.
It's just that our thoughts and our prayers and everything
is with the officials and everybody that are trying to
get to the bottom of what's happened. Trying to make
sure everyone is safe, and of course the families.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Are the victims.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
Just I can't even imagine, can't even fathom what you
were going through, truly, And if you are listening, I'm
sure you're not. But if anybody down there that has
had a really tough day happens to be listening right now,
I hope that we find a way to entertain you
and maybe take your mind off it for a couple
of seconds. But I hate, I really truly hate that
(04:44):
we are not on air in this window, with this
live football game in front of us, because of the
worst of humanity.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Don't disagree, don't disagree again. The Sugar Bowl postpone until
three local times that would be for eastern on Thursday.
That will be Notre Dame Georgia, and we'll actually talk
a little bit about that game later on in the show.
Let's stick with the Ohio State Oregon Rose Bowl game.
Did just go final, probably about a half or hour
or so ago. Final score, excuse me, excuse me, is
(05:18):
as I said, it's forty one to twenty one. But
I think that scores even a little bit deceptive j
Mart because it was thirty four noth the Ohio State.
Oregon scores a touchdown in two point conversion right before
the half, but as you said, there was never really
a moment. I guess Oregon did score to make it
thirty four to fifteen about the middle of the third quarter.
(05:38):
But even when they scored, I thought Kirk Herbstreet and
Chris Fowler, who have taken a lot of heat the
last couple weeks for some of the stuff they sai
during the last Ohio State game, I actually thought they
brought up a good point. They said, it's great that
you scored, but oh, by the way, you took almost
half of the third quarter to do it, and the
defense hasn't proven an ability to stop Ohio State's offense.
And so just a few minutes later, Ohio State scores
(05:59):
to go at forty one five And that was basically
all she wrote. There are so many angles that we
can talk about on this game. I'll just start.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
You know, you know New Year knew me, you know Ryan.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Day, I'm a believer now for people who listen to
our normal show, Jason and i Aron from eleven pm
to two am Eastern every Saturday, and obviously in that window,
especially in the fall, we talk a ton of college football.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I've been critical of Ryan Day. J Mart's been critical
of Ryan Day.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
But I'll say this, Jay Mart, even this past weekend
when we were working, he said, listen, I've seen a
lot from Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
You know, I'm starting to become a believer.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I was still in the camp of Listen, we've seen
Ryan Day coach a singular, individually good game. We haven't
seen Ohio State kind of put it together. Well, today
is what putting it together looks like. Today is what
building upon another dominant win a week ago against Tennessee
looks like. And today is what this team that Vegas
(06:57):
has had as the favorite since before the season started
has supposed to look like all along. It took a
while to get there, but the bottom line remains. This
is a twelve team playoff era. You can lose a game,
you can lose two games, maybe even three depending on
who you are, and still get into this college football playoff. Well,
Ohio State is not only in, but they look like
the dominant force after a dominant victory in a second
(07:20):
round game against Oregon, obviously a team that they lost
too earlier this year.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
I mean, like four plays into the game, it's fourteen
to nothing, and it just the two teams could not
have looked more different. And your point about Ryan Day,
I don't know what this means for him long term.
I do think that Chip Kelly has certainly gotten better.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
In the last couple of games, no doubt.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
Finally he has started to figure it out in terms
of what he wants to do with his talent and
how they've been utilizing it.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
So that's helped. The defense has really woken up.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
That money has been well spent all of a sudden,
but we knew the talent that they had.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
I think now there is an argument to be.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
Made that you better go win the National championship because
nobody should beat the team that I've seen play their
last two football games. And I am still baffled by
how you lost to Michigan, Like just I don't understand
it in any reok way.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Listen, we have to acknowledge, like, wow, whatever went wrong
against Michigan that coaching staff figured it out. But it's
also like, how did you lose to Michigan. And by
the way, I know Michigan beat Alabama in a bowl
game on New Year's Eve. I don't care it's like,
how did that?
Speaker 7 (08:38):
Like?
Speaker 5 (08:38):
One?
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Just, first of all, Jeremiah Smith, the true freshman, he
was the offensive MVP in this game. Seven catches, one
hundred and eighty seven yards, two touchdowns.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I saw.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Dan Brugler, a longtime NFL draft experts, said he believes
there would be an argument for Jeremiah Smith, a true freshman,
to be the first overall pick in this year's draft
if he were draft elible.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
He's not eligible.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
How about this until the twenty twenty seven NFL Draft.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, but I just.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Bring it up because listen, if you're an Ohio State fan,
I know it's in the rearview mirror. I know you
want to celebrate your team looking the way that we thought.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
But I'll be hot of St.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Mart A part of me still the two best games
maybe Friday's career, and I still go back to that
Saturday in Columbus and just say, how did you lose
to Michigan. So I didn't mean to cut you off,
but it's just still like, you can't not talk about Michigan,
especially why the team has looked the last few weeks.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
Yeah, and look, I think there's a lot of Michigan
fans that would say the same thing and wonder how
they beat them. Like I mean, when you really look
at it, Davis Warren had sixty two yards passing in
that game for Michigan, And then I look at Jeremiah
Smith five catches, thirty five yards.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
They barely even targeted the guy.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
He had five catches in no time in this game,
and he had like one hundred and sixty yards and
a couple of touchdowns, and he just looked like not
just the best player on the field, but the best
player in recent memory in college football, perhaps just in
terms of just everything that he brings to the table
and what he's going to be doing on the next
level is going to be insanity.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
But that's where I get.
Speaker 6 (10:15):
And I don't want to do anything but say that
Ohio State is showing why everyone was so high on
them before the season and why I had them, I
believe in my final game losing to Texas, which.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Now, first off, it's going to be in the Semis,
but past that, I don't.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
See how Texas is going to be able to score
on their defense, because that's the other side of it,
is the defense. Now, there were a couple of moments
in this game right, So it was. It was thirty
four to fifteen, like you mentioned, and they actually forced
Ohio State to punt and Oregon got the ball back
said okay, all right, now if you go down and
you score again, get a two point conversion.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
Now we're looking at a little bit more of an
interesting game here. This is still Gabriel. This is this
a high powered Oregon offense. Let's see what they can do.
Speaker 6 (11:04):
They had back to back plays before they ended up
punting it away, and then Ohio State scored again and
it was over where they showed it. They put the
camera behind the offense. They put it behind Dylan Gabriel
by about ten yards, and we saw the play after
the snap, and of course herp Street is breaking it down.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
But I'm just watching it.
Speaker 6 (11:24):
I'm not even listening to what's happening because my daughter
is very loud at three years old, so I'm not
even able to really pick up on the nuance of
what he's saying.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
But I'm looking at it.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
And I'm just saying, where is Dylan Gabriel supposed to
throw the ball like there is no one open? And
they do it on multiple plays in a row. They
show this same camera angle and you can see no
one's running free, no one has any space whatsoever. Like
they that defense right there, there is no one that
(11:54):
should be able to score on them. And I look
at Texas and I'm like, good luck against that secondary,
especially with the guys that they have up front, as
well the Texas offense that I have seen for the
better part of this season and certainly the last couple
of weeks, that defense or that offense might not be
able to get into double digits against this Ohio State team.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, it's really interesting.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
FanDuel has released a has released an early point spread
Ohio State a two and a half point favorite over
Texas on a neutral field.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
We'll break down that Texas.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
ASU game a little bit from now, because man, oh man,
oh man. Was that not only a crazy game, but
I think there's also a conversation we had, j mart
about exactly what you just said, which is, you know,
Texas three or four weeks ago maybe look like a
team that could compete with anybody. I don't think they
can if Ohio State is playing the way that they
did here on New Year's Eve nights, So Ra Torres,
(12:50):
Jason Martin, we are broadcasting live from the Tireck dot
Com studios, filling in for Jason Smith and Mike Harmon.
Tell you what we'll do. We'll come back when we
come back. Do we want to bring on a guy
who knows the Ohio State program very well? So Joshua
Perry played for Urban Meers twenty fourteen national championship team.
He now does commentary for NBC Sports. He's gonna discuss
(13:12):
what the heck is the difference with Ohio State, how
did they figure things out? And is can anybody beat
him at this point? Because it's looking just about impossible.
Ertors Jason Martin fill in for Jason Smith and Mike
harmon Fox Sports Tridi.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio. Ertrus Jason Martin. We
are filling in for Jason Smith and Mike Harmon. Jason
and Mike will be back tomorrow. We are taking you
up till two am Eastern time this evening, and you
want to go straight to the phones. Joining us now
former Ohio State legend national champion. He is now on
(13:58):
the Big Ten College Countdown NBC Sports Every Saturday, Josh
Perry is on the phone.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Josh, what's going on, man? How you doing?
Speaker 8 (14:07):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (14:07):
Happy New Year. I appreciate you having me. It's been
an interesting college football playoffs here. I'm excited to talk
about it.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
So we're gonna get to all the college football playoffs
stuff and especially do you want to get your perspective
on this Rose Bowl. Listen, you know it's a new year, Josh.
I don't want to be glasses half empty to lead
things off. Why did it take until the Tennessee game
for everyone in the Ohio State building to realize that
no one can defend Jeremiah Smith and just throw him
(14:36):
the football every freaking time.
Speaker 7 (14:39):
It is one of the wildest things that I have
ever seen. And it's funny because, like you get on
Ohio State Twitter and there are these people who are
trying to sell this idea of like, oh, they were
playing the long Con. The regular season doesn't matter, one
of'm my guys, the rivalry game will always matter. So
like playing the long Con at the expense of getting
a win in that game, particularly against that Michigan team.
(15:00):
That's crazy. But like again, you know, I think that
teams go out there and sometimes they say, Okay, these
are the set of plays that we think will work
best against a certain team, what their defenses are, what
their personnel is, instead of looking and saying, all right,
we got this guy that nobody can cover, so we
should probably throw it to him as often as possible.
(15:20):
Once they started doing that, it opened up everything else
for that offense. They've been running the football much better,
they've been able to protect Will Howard much better. But
it really starts with the idea that Jeremiah as an alien,
nobody can guard him, and so he should be like
focal point number one in the game plans.
Speaker 6 (15:34):
So Josh, what about the fact that they don't even
really have to run the ball? That can just kind
of be the fail safe because of I mean, we
don't even have to talk about a Buka who's also
a stud. But when you've got those two guys out there,
when you've got those kind of pass catchers, then you
can just have Henderson and Judkins just kind of be
mop up guys just to keep them honest against the
(15:55):
pass game.
Speaker 7 (15:56):
And it's been important, right like Ryan Day has talked
about this idea, well, we have to keep balance in
our game plan. I think he wants to be able
to run the ball just so teams can't tend their ears.
I do think that's important. But to your point, they've
gotten Quinn Shawn and tray Beon involved in the throw
game as well, you know, throwing the swim passes, checking
the ball down to them. They found ways to get
(16:18):
those guys the ball in their hands. It's not necessarily
running it too, which is important with the state of
that offensive line. But you look at the game against Tennessee.
Both those guys had explosives against Oregon and the Rose
Bowl one hundred and eighty one rushing yards I believe
was the number there, and Trayyon had the sixty six yarder.
Like when you are able to loosen up secondaries, when
(16:39):
you're able to manipulate defensive lines to think that they're
going to rush you and run up the field, now
you can get some inverted teams and when those running
backs have the ball in their hands, they're really dangerous too.
I think it's a frustration for a lot of people
watching Ohio State where they say you've got better guys
than everybody, and you just need to find the proper
(17:00):
ways to get the ball in their hands, and once
you do, it's game over.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Joshua Perry joining us.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
This is the Jay Suspicion of Mike Carmen, Jason and
Micro Out, Aaron Torres and Jason Martin fillin until two
am Eastern time. Joshua Perry Big Big Ten College Countdown
on NBC Sports every Saturday. Also a former house date
Buckeye national champion, josh Let me ask you this. Obviously,
you know today is you know, just an incredible day whatever,
(17:26):
But I do want to go back at it. And
I don't mean to be in all serious as negative
about the Michigan game, but I am curious from the
people that you talk to, did something change in that
building after the Michigan game, because listen, it is clearly
a completely different team in the last two weeks.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
They're playing with more confidence.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And what's kind of crazy is like it feels like
the biggest narrative after that game leading into the Tennessee
game was Ryan Day saying like, hey, you know, the
focus has always been on the playoff. You want to
win the game, but our focus is now solely on Tennessee, Like, like,
do you think something fundamentally changed, because obviously this is
the last two weeks. This is the best version of
Ohio State we've seen maybe under Ryan Day period.
Speaker 7 (18:05):
Yeah, I agree with the idea, is the best version
of them that we've seen. It's funny too, right, because
of course the players and the coaches in that building
want to spinning forward. I think if you're a faner,
if you're somebody in the media, you have the luxury
of looking back at what happened and lamenting and HARKing
on all the things that went wrong. I'll tell you
what changed is you have the coorus of people, and
(18:26):
some would call them fringe lunatics. I would call them
fans and supporters of that program that have standards and
expectations and understood what it could look like. Who got
pretty loud and they were like, listen, if this thing
does not work, if they cannot pursue a title, twenty
million dollars into this roster, some of the best players
in the country, it's probably time to ask do we
have the right guy in the front of the room.
(18:47):
Ryan Day is not insulated from that stuff. I'm sure
he heard that, and so it's like this idea of Okay,
I got to have my a game on because we
told everybody was beat Michigan, win a Big Ten championship,
win a national title. The first two things are out,
but we can still do the last one. I think
that was important to them. But then you start looking
at the players where Jack Sawyer these last two games
(19:08):
has been phenomenal, and Lathan Ransom is looking like Earl
Thomas coming downhill and smacking people in the face. And
I mentioned Trayvon Henderson coming back, and I know the
focus is on Jeremiah, but a Mecha Buka has been
phenomenal in moments during this run as well. Those were
all guys who returned for a last year, and they
said they had unfinished business, and up until this point
(19:29):
they hadn't really done a ton. They hadn't won in
the rivalry game, the postseason wins weren't what they needed
to be. They understand the opportunity to win a title
and to salvage a legacy and really become legendary in
many ways because it's been a decade since there was
a title in Columbus. I think all those things really
matter to them, and it basically became this new focus
(19:49):
of what can we do on a game by game
basis to make sure that we have the best game
plan where best prepared as possible. Give Ryan Day a
little bit extra time going into these games, He's usually
able to cook up something pretty solid from a game
pan perspective, and that's what we're seeing right now.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
So Ryan Day, James Franklin, these are guys that this
show has battered around, to say the least, over the
last couple of years. I want to look at Dan Lanning.
He's just finishing his third season here, but you look
at the games that he's lost, It's been a lot
of the biggest ones. It's been a lot of the
most important ones. Is it fair to criticize Dan Lanning
(20:24):
after this game for not having his football team ready to.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Play or ready for Ohio State?
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Or is this just a case where Ohio State had
a lot better Jimmy's than Joe's and that's just how
it was Now I.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
Think it's the criticism is fair. And like I made
the joke in the preseason that Ryan and Dan Lanning
were the same guy in my opinion, because they're really
talented Rocksters. They're both very good ball coaches, but like
to your point, they win all the games it's supposed
to win, and then they get up against their rivals,
they get into the big games, the wins aren't there.
And Dan Lanning goes through this season beat Ohio State,
(21:00):
beat Penn State for a Big Ten championship, and I
think a lot of that conversation kind of faded away deservedly.
So now you get on the big stage, of course,
and there are many factors that go into this. The
long layoff, I think is very difficult, and for a
younger coach and Dan Lanning, it is much more challenging
than some of the more seasoned veteran guys in handling that.
And their draw was really unfortunate for being the best
(21:22):
team in college football all year long that have to
get Ohio State plan the way that they were. When
you look around, as you mentioned James Franklin, you get
SMU and you get Boys and State, it certainly feels
like a more favorable draw there. All that to say,
I do think there's some criticism that is deserved there. Also,
Dan Lanning's pretty new at this thing, and it's going
in the right direction. But he's got to be one
(21:44):
of those guys now where it's like, you know, the
twelve and oh thirteen to Oh, it all fuels really good,
it all sounds really good, but then you get into
the tournament you got to make some noise there. So
I'm curious to see what the pivot from the approach
looks like for him, because he's built it very well,
He's recruited extremely well. I think he's got a pretty
good coaching staff, and now it's just about when you
get into the big moment, can you press all the
(22:06):
right buttons to get the job done.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Joshua Perry joining The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon,
Jason and micro out Eric Torres, Jason marner In. Joshua,
of course a Buckeye national champion, now the host of
the Big Ten College Countdown on NBC Sports. Also make
sure to follow him at mister Joshua Perry on Twitter.
Last one for me, josh You know, Jason just mentioned
Penn State in addition to, of course the two Big
(22:28):
Ten teams that were playing today.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Penn State.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
You know, first of all, I'll ask you, like, do
you believe another team has a flip switched have they
figured something out or have they gotten two pretty advantageous matchups.
And I think you can even now go back and
look at that Big Ten Championship game a little bit
skeptically of saying they put up thirty eight points five
hundred yards of total offense. But maybe that Oregon defense
wasn't as good by the end of the year as
(22:53):
we thought. So I guess big picture with Penn State,
we obviously don't yet know who their opponent will be,
given the unformuch in circumstances in New Orleans today.
Speaker 7 (23:02):
Yeah, and then I wanted to say, thinking about all
the people down there and that was a necessary tragedy,
is very sad down in New Orleans. But I'm torn
on this Penn State thing, and there are two ways
to approach it.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Is.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
People said that James Franklin can't get in the playoffs,
can't win games in the playoff, can beat the top
ten teams. So we've got two top ten wins in
this postseason. Certainly he's got the two playoff wins there.
Now he's looking at an opportunity in the semi finals.
I'm one of those people that always felt like James
Franklin beat the teams that he was supposed to beat.
(23:38):
If there was a game where he was favored, it
was very likely that he was going to win it.
When he got into those games against Ohio State, when
he got into those games against Michigan, a lot of
times this team wasn't favored, and I think people were like, Okay,
we're going to pay you eight, nine, ten million dollars,
like we need you to be able to pull off
an upset in one of these big games. So I'm
really looking at what they do in the next round
(23:58):
to kind of make the decision on how we should
feel about this postseason run. It would be like the
start of the four team playoff from past years with
this next game for Penn State, and of course it's
going to be a much tougher opponent than what they've seen.
The real skeptical people will tell you that they beat
the group of five champion of Boise State, and they
beat a team that just came out of the group
(24:19):
of five, and that's on you.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Now.
Speaker 7 (24:20):
I think that is a really negative approach to take
to this thing. I think that the performances have looked good,
but I'm a little bit torn myself on how I
should judge this. I do congratulate them for they can
do with what the drag that was given to them
was right, go out there, win the games. But I
also kind of have this thought in the back of
my mind that I really want to see what they
(24:41):
look like against the Notre Dames, who's played great football
since the NAU lost against the Georgia team that we
know is talented, with the head coach understands what it's
like to be in this circumstance, how do they perform
on that stage? And now I think the narrative might
shift a little bit if they can get that one.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
So obviously this would be the last one for me,
but the game hasn't been played the Sugar Bowl. The
big question is what is Gunner Stockton going to be
able to do for Georgia. We know he's talented, we
know he can throw the ball, we know that he
can actually run as well, but what is there Do
you have any thought, any idea what he is going
to be able to bring for Georgia or are you
(25:18):
just as fascinated as the rest of us to see
how he comes out and plays well.
Speaker 7 (25:22):
I'm extremely fascinated, right like when he had to step
in in the SEC Championship game. And keep in mind here,
Georgia went into the locker room trailing in that game
and he brought them back. So a lot of credits
do there. They adn't ask him to do it. Ton
the yards for attempt was somewhere in the five yard range,
is not very impressive. But one time he kind of
had to make a little magic, made the pocket try
(25:44):
to throw a deep he ends up throwing an interception. Right,
So he looked like a guy who had been a backup.
But Kirby Smart's been talking about how he elevates everybody's play,
talking about how the guys are excited for him. Here's
the thing about Georgia. Their wide receivers don't catch the
football very well, and they've been in in the run game,
and so I think that's a really tough spot to
be in when it comes to a new starting quarterback.
(26:07):
I look at their defense and they've been kind of
boomer Bus where they're aggressive, they like to move around,
they give you different looks in the front. They can
create havoc plays TFLs and sacks, but they also might
create some seams where offenses can make a little bit
of money. They're not the best against the run, certainly
not a bad team. I look at Notre Dame as
a team like, we know they're going to run the football.
(26:28):
I'm curious what that matchup actually looks like. But from
the standpoint of Stockton, I think they're confident in him.
I think it was a benefit that they had all
that time to really get him prepared for this game.
I was the guy who went through a postseason on
our third quarterback, and I can tell you that the
time between the Big Ten Championship game and when we
(26:48):
played Alabama in the semi final was huge in terms
of getting Cardile Jones ready to rock and roll for
a postseason run. So certainly can be done, but I
am skeptical just from the way that this offense is built.
Once again, not the greatest running team, but the wide
receivers drop everything that's thrown their way. It's just a hard,
hard offense to be successful in.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
He is Joshua Perry, as you just heard, a twenty
fourteen national championship with national champion excuse me, with the
Ohio State Buck guys, also co host of the Big
Ten College Countdown every Saturday, on NBC Sports leading into
their big game. Make sure to follow him on Twitter
as well at mister Joshua Perry, Josh Man, We appreciate
the time man, Happy New Year, and you know, listen,
(27:28):
I know you're an unbiased media member, but congrats to
your bucks Man because they look pretty unbeatable going forward here.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
I appreciate you guys. Happy New Year to you as well,
and see big Buckaston put together a continued run here
take care of guys.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Thank you, Josh.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
That was Joshua Perry, twenty fourteen national champion with the
Ohio State Buck Guys, recapping a busy day of college football.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Here's a great news.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
We got three and a half hours left to continue
to do just that era towards Jason Martin filling in
for Jason Smith and Mike Carmon.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Tell you what.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Jmart will come back and react to some of the
other quarter final action and news and notes before we do. Though,
for the first time this evening, let's toss it over
the news desk. Chris Purfet, what is trep?
Speaker 8 (28:08):
Hi?
Speaker 7 (28:08):
Aaron?
Speaker 9 (28:09):
Hi, Jason, how's it going, guys?
Speaker 8 (28:10):
What's up?
Speaker 9 (28:11):
Happy New Year to all of you, and let's talk
some Sports has been talking about. Ohio State has punched
their ticket to the Cotton Bowl to be played on
January tenth against the Texas Longhorns. Forty one twenty one
running over Oregon in this game. Jeremiah Smith one hundred
and eighty seven yards two touchdowns, the wide receiver for
(28:33):
the Buckeyes, putting his stamp on the game, and quarterback
Will Howard addressing that there is just so much still
to do.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
We got two more so we're not done yet.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
We still got unfinished business.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
We got two more games away.
Speaker 9 (28:44):
Earlier today, the Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni addressed
that he is sitting his starters, including Saquon Barkley, who's
going to end the NFL season about one hundred yards
short of the single season rushing records set by Eric Dickerson,
so that record shall stand for yet another year. New
Orleans interim head coach Darren Rizzy addressing the media saying
(29:05):
that all Saints players and organization members are safe following
the attack on Bourbon Street by a terrorist that has
taken the lives of fifteen people and dozens more injured.
As the New Orleans police find multiple explosives around the
French Quarter and the Sugar Bowl being delayed until four
(29:25):
pm on Thursday. One of the lives that was taken
in that attack was related to the world of college football.
Ex Princeton. Ex Princeton football player Tiger Beck was killed
in the attack. His brother Jack Beck, who plays who
played for TCU, addressed this on X and said, love
(29:46):
you brother. You inspire me every day now that you
get now you get to be with me in every
moment I got this family. Don't worry, this.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Is for us.
Speaker 9 (29:54):
Tiger Beck after a last played for the Princeton Tigers
in twenty eighteen, he was he had gone on to
be a stockbroker, was enjoying holidays in New Orleans and
so a very tragic story.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
There.
Speaker 9 (30:07):
One more bit of informa of news here from the NBA.
Piston's point guard Jade and Ivy had a very nasty
collision and seem to appear to have suffered a significant
leg injury against while playing against the Orlando Magic. He
had to be stretchered off of the court. So we
await ward on Jaden Ivy's status moving forward, and the
(30:28):
Detroit Lions have started the workout clock on linebacker Alex Angeloni.
He was limited in practice today and the Lions hoping
to get defensive hell back before their showdown on Sunday
night against the Minnesota Vikings for the number one seed
and the end the NFC North Division crowd. Aaron, Jason
back to you. Thank you very much, Chris Prefet. This
is the Jason Smith showed Mike Harmon. Jason Smith and
(30:50):
Mike Harmon are out. Eric Torres, Jason Martin are filling
in really quickly goes without saying, no college football right
now because of the awful, awful tragedy that Chris just
addressed in the update in New Orleans. Jason, Chris, myself,
everybody here at Fox Sports Radio is thinking about the
families and people that were impacted in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Tell you what, Jason will come back.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
We'll keep it upbeat and we will continue to talk
to the college football conversation. Want to talk the New
Year's Eve game with Penn State and a very interesting
twist with their star quarterback. We'll discuss that next Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Welcome back, everybody.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
This is the Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen. Jason
Smith and Mike Harmon are out. They will be back
on Thursday, January second, so tomorrow, but we are taking
up till two am Eastern. Aaron Torris Jason Martin filling
in for the guys. J mart We talked a lot
about the Rose Bowl today. Obviously, I think everybody knows
(31:55):
the Sugar Bowl has been postponed until Thursday at four Eastern.
Tragedy in New Orleans. We've said it time and time again.
Our thoughts are with everybody impacted in that city, beyond family, friends,
et cetera. We're aoun until two am, just trying to,
you know, bring a little bit of you know, levity
to an otherwise, you know, just just awful day in
(32:16):
New Orleans. But we are talking college football in the
NFL till two am Eastern, and I want to switch
gears to another game for the college football playoffs. We'll
get to the Peach Bowl maybe the top of the
next hour ten pm or eleven pm Eastern, eight Pacific.
I do want to go to last night's Fiesta Bowl,
so that would be the New Year's Eve game, And
(32:37):
we just had Joshua Perry from NBC Sports on, and
I want to ask you, Jy Mart, really two parts
to the Penn State stuff. We'll talk about Drew Aller
in a second, because I think there's an interesting conversation
emerging about him, but quickly, Penn State is kind of
a team that, as josh just said, as you and
I have said for years, Penn State kind of beats
everybody that they're supposed to, doesn't really beat the great, great,
(32:58):
great teams well that they're I have to play one
starting next round, either Notre Dame or Georgia, and then,
of course, if they were to beat them, would play
either Ohio State or Texas.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Has anything changed.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
In your opinion with Penn State or is it still
kind of a wait and see. I need to see
them beat somebody elite before I give them too much credit.
Speaker 8 (33:16):
It's changed a little bit, but you do have to
look at the path that they've had so far, and
it's unfortunate for them, not that they've been able to
play teams that they can beat, but that they've played
teams that everyone thinks they should beat.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
And as such, you're not going to give them that
much credit. The only thing you would do is dog
them out if they had lost. You can't lose the
Boys State if you're Penn State. You can't lose to
SMU if you're Penn State. But they're still going to
expect you to go lose to Georgia or Notre Dame,
I think, But I do think some things have changed somewhat.
(33:50):
You know, Singleton and Alan or I mean, those two
guys really can carry the football for you when you're
creating space for them the way that you have. I
do think that Evans has become a better receiver throughout
the course of this season. They have more than just
the tight end now, and of course the tight end
is a man among boys.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
He's going to be I think he's gonna be a
great pro.
Speaker 6 (34:13):
I don't know that these brock Bowers, but Tyler Warren
is an outstanding player who made an incredible catch last
night that very few people in the country could make.
And I think that your six or five quarterback is
coming of age a little bit now. His stats don't
pop all that much. There's still some rawness to his game.
He's still a little bit inaccurate here and there, but
(34:35):
it ain't bad. I mean, he is showing a lot
to you right now. And I just look at Penn
State and I say this, if I believe that Texas
could win a championship, I should believe Penn State can.
And it's because I think that Penn State right now
is a better version of Texas. Because I like Aler,
I like Aler better than yours. I think they run
(34:55):
the ball better than Texas. I think the tight end
is better than any receiver. I like Golden and I
like Bond, but Warren has just been really, really special.
And then you look at the defense. Texas's defense has
carried them throughout this season. Penn State's kind of had
the exact same thing, except I think that they probably
have a couple guys that might go higher in the
(35:17):
draft off of their defense, maybe than most of the
guys from Texas. But I think that they're fairly even
in terms of how you would view them. But I
think Penn State's just better at certain things than Texas
is at this point. So if I think that Texas
has any shot, or if I go into this thinking
that they're a contender, then I have to think the
same thing about Penn State, and I'm not sure I
(35:38):
did before the playoff. So I'm trying not to be
biased too much by what I've seen them do in
these two games. But at the same time, I look
at the rest of what they've done during the season.
They can only play who you know, who they have
battled against and who they've played against, and they've been
pretty good throughout the year. Now I look at that
USC game and I saw an EyeT because I'm still
(36:00):
trying to figure out exactly why that was so difficult
for them to actually get through. But you know, everybody
is going to have one of those days a lot
of the time. And this is the most important thing
to me. They lost to Ohio State by a touchdown.
I mean that right there by itself. Yeah, and then Oregon,
(36:20):
I mean they put up thirty seven points against the Ducks. Now,
the Ducks don't look as good today, but six hours
ago that meant something, and I think that it still does.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
So I actually have kind of turned a little bit
on Penn State.
Speaker 6 (36:33):
I look at them and I say, that is not
the team that you want to play right now. I
understand that Ohio State is the top of that list,
but I look at Penn State, and I'm just like,
I kind of do believe in them, at least ten
to fifteen percent more than I did before this playoff started.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Yeah, I do happen to agree with you on that,
and I think my opinion has changed on them a
little bit. Speaking of opinions changing, I wanted you take
on this. And by the way, we can revisit this.
We're on until two am Eastern. But State quarterback Drew
Aler has publicly said, hey, I'm coming back next year.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
He's done the graphic, he's done all that.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
But I saw this from Dane Brugler, who is a
NFL draft expert for the Athletic and it's ironic because
it's a thought that has popped in my head. I
was actually talking texting with our buddy Brandon Deutsch, who
works in the back. We're texting during the Penn State
game the other day, and I said the same thing
to him. This is what Dane Brugler put out about
Drew Aller, the Penn State quarterback said quote. This was
(37:27):
obviously during the Penn State boys game. I know Drew
Owler quote intends to return to Penn State in twenty
twenty five, but dot dot. There are several NFL gms
who believe Aler could enter the twenty twenty five NFL
Draft with a strong playoff run. Teams are still heavily
scouting him for the twenty twenty five class. All I'll
say is this jmart a couple things. One, you know,
(37:50):
we all know people in this business. I've kind of
asked some people around Penn State. They say that I
think the family kind of feels like, you know, is
he really ready to kind of be the face of
the franchise, have every everybody kind of relying on him.
That was really why they kind of put a kibosh
on it early, which is we just don't think he's
maybe emotionally ready. But I bring it up because he
certainly has all the physical tools. It's a bad NFL
(38:13):
draft class, and listen, I don't have the sourcing that
Drew Aller does or that Dane Brugler does in NFL
front offices. But there are plenty of questions about Shor Sanders.
There's plenty of questions about cam Ward we see, but
I forget those guys. By the way, there's so many
teams in the top ten that are going to need quarterbacks.
I just think it's kind of interesting that he has
(38:34):
publicly said that he's coming back. I think if they
be either Georgia or Notre Dame, I think it really
ramps up of should he come back because that stock
is going to be soaring.
Speaker 6 (38:45):
Yeah, I think that that discourse is going to grow.
I heard Andy Staples and NARRII Washerman having the same discussion,
and I think it's I think it's an app discussion
to have right now because if Drew Alller goes out
there and balls out against whoever they play in the semis,
whether it's Story to Notre Dame, this is even gonna
get more interesting.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
But so he said this what sixteen days ago, seventeen days.
Speaker 6 (39:06):
Ago, ye, yeah, before the playoff, And I think that's
the critical point now is again, his numbers haven't been
just stellar, but you've seen the kinds of things that
would make NFL scouts drool. He's got the size. He's
like six ' five two forty. He's not a statue.
I'm not suggesting he's Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen, but
he can.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
Move if he has to. He's got a pretty looking
ball like.
Speaker 6 (39:30):
He definitely has some accuracy things, and I actually think
it's the maturity that that is the question mark. He
does kind of jaw a lot, he winds a lot,
He kind of he definitely that's.
Speaker 5 (39:40):
Something where he could grow.
Speaker 6 (39:42):
But I think the important point is this is a
very weak quarterback draft and you never know what it's
gonna look like when you do come out. Maybe if
you come back and they build around you like I
think they are, they're committed to nil, so they're gonna
spend some money, bring in some targets for you. If
they do that, Aller could end up being the number
one overall pick if he sticks around and he's gonna
(40:02):
make nil money. I think the other important point is
if I do stay, my price tag has gone up,
Like I'm gonna go back and be like, yeah, I
committed to stay, but we didn't set a number. We
might need to add. We might need to add a
couple mil to keep me here. But I do think
nil might keep him there, says.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
The Jason Smith showed Mike Harmon.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon out Air Tours and Jason
Martin are end will come back, peach Ball, Wild Game,
Fox Sports.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
Are you
Thanks for listening to The Jason Smith Show with Mike
Harmon podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
ten pm to two am Eastern seven to eleven pm
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio. Find your local station for
The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon at Foxsports Radio
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iHeartRadio app by searching FSR lea's give this part.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
You're listening to Fox Sports Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Welcome in, everybody.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
This is the Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon. As
the man just told you. Jason Smith and Mike are
out Aaron torres at Jason Martin filling in until two
am Eastern time tonight. We are broadcasting live from the
Tirec dot Com Studios tirec dot com. We'll help you
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(00:51):
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The way tire buying should be Er. Tors Jason are
taking you up till two a m Eastern tonight and
into tomorrow. Jason Martin, my man in Nashville.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
How you doing.
Speaker 5 (01:08):
I'm doing all right. I'm a little frustrated. Obviously we're
not watching a Sugar Bowl the worst possible reason.
Speaker 6 (01:14):
And it's just annoying that things like this can happen.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
It really is.
Speaker 6 (01:18):
It's frustrating. There's not a good way to even put it.
But I think being mad about it is right, like
not mad that we're not watching football, but mad that
this kind of thing happens, mad that people continue to
do things like this. So I'm frustrated by that, and
I'm a little bit bummed because Ohio State Oregon was
(01:39):
supposed to be a great, awesome thing for us to
watch on New Year's and it turned out to basically
be not.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
Worth watching after the first quarter.
Speaker 6 (01:49):
With all due respect to anybody who you know, you
know had a dog in the fight. In the third
and the fourth quarter, nobody thought they were coming back.
It was over so fast. It was somehow even more
upsided than the Tennessee game, Like it felt like Oregon
put up less of a fight than Tennessee did. And
so I was I'm a little miffed. Actually, at least
we got a good finish to the first game. But
(02:10):
I am seeing again instant classic no that game. I
sent you a text early in the fourth quarter and said,
what a boring football game like it just was. It
was not interesting and not fun to watch at all.
And then you got an awesome finish. You got a
great you know, last ten minutes of the fourth quarter
or so somewhere in that neighborhood, and then you got
the overtimes.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
And so you got all of that.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
I'm still not ever gonna call that a great game,
but I'm glad that we got the last like fifteen
to twenty minutes of drama.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, so let's dive in.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
And obviously, as as j mar just said, there is
no late evening college football, as Chris Purfett told you
earlier as well. Obviously, tragedy early early early this morning
on Bourbon Street the Sugar Bowl, which was set to
kick off at eight forty five Eastern, has been postponed
until un till Thursday afternoons.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
So obviously there is no late game.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
So the three games of the college football Quarterfinals are official,
with Penn State winning on New Year's Eve, and then
of course earlier today Texas in two overtime surviving Arizona State,
which we'll talk about in a minute, but do think
probably jmark the right place to start, even though there isn't,
you know, as much to break down as we anticipated.
Ohio State just laying the wood to Oregon final scoring
(03:27):
this one forty one to twenty one. And for people
that were doing stuff on New Year's Day. By the way,
Rob Parker just signed off with this sentiment and I
want to share it as well. We appreciate everybody tuning
in to us. You know, we know that not everybody
has the holiday off. Some of you are working, you're traveling.
Certainly on a day like today, you're in the car,
so we're taking you till two am.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Easter. We're going to keep you entertained.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
And obviously it goes without saying our thoughts are with
everybody in New Orleans over just the insanity that happened
earlier today that.
Speaker 6 (03:59):
Dwarves anything that we're about to do, as a matter
of fact, by by a wide, wide margin. There's no
way we can do it justice. It just it just stinks.
There's nothing else, There's nothing else to say about it.
It's just that our thoughts and our prayers and everything
is with the officials and everybody that are trying to
get to the bottom of what's happened. Trying to make
sure everyone is safe, and of course the families.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
Are the victims.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
Just I can't even imagine, can't even fathom what you
were going through, truly, And if you are listening, I'm
sure you're not. But if anybody down there that has
had a really tough day happens to be listening right now,
I hope that we find a way to entertain you
and maybe take your mind off it for a couple
of seconds. But I hate, I really truly hate that
(04:44):
we are not on air in this window, with this
live football game in front of us, because of the
worst of humanity.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
Don't disagree, don't disagree again. The Sugar Bowl postpone until
three local times that would be for eastern on Thursday.
That will be Notre Dame Georgia, and we'll actually talk
a little bit about that game later on in the show.
Let's stick with the Ohio State Oregon Rose Bowl game.
Did just go final, probably about a half or hour
or so ago. Final score, excuse me, excuse me, is
(05:18):
as I said, it's forty one to twenty one. But
I think that scores even a little bit deceptive j
Mart because it was thirty four noth the Ohio State.
Oregon scores a touchdown in two point conversion right before
the half, but as you said, there was never really
a moment. I guess Oregon did score to make it
thirty four to fifteen about the middle of the third quarter.
(05:38):
But even when they scored, I thought Kirk Herbstreet and
Chris Fowler, who have taken a lot of heat the
last couple weeks for some of the stuff they sai
during the last Ohio State game, I actually thought they
brought up a good point. They said, it's great that
you scored, but oh, by the way, you took almost
half of the third quarter to do it, and the
defense hasn't proven an ability to stop Ohio State's offense.
And so just a few minutes later, Ohio State scores
(05:59):
to go at forty one five And that was basically
all she wrote. There are so many angles that we
can talk about on this game. I'll just start.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
You know, you know New Year knew me, you know Ryan.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Day, I'm a believer now for people who listen to
our normal show, Jason and i Aron from eleven pm
to two am Eastern every Saturday, and obviously in that window,
especially in the fall, we talk a ton of college football.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I've been critical of Ryan Day. J Mart's been critical
of Ryan Day.
Speaker 4 (06:27):
But I'll say this, Jay Mart, even this past weekend
when we were working, he said, listen, I've seen a
lot from Ohio State.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
You know, I'm starting to become a believer.
Speaker 4 (06:35):
I was still in the camp of Listen, we've seen
Ryan Day coach a singular, individually good game. We haven't
seen Ohio State kind of put it together. Well, today
is what putting it together looks like. Today is what
building upon another dominant win a week ago against Tennessee
looks like. And today is what this team that Vegas
(06:57):
has had as the favorite since before the season started
has supposed to look like all along. It took a
while to get there, but the bottom line remains. This
is a twelve team playoff era. You can lose a game,
you can lose two games, maybe even three depending on
who you are, and still get into this college football playoff. Well,
Ohio State is not only in, but they look like
the dominant force after a dominant victory in a second
(07:20):
round game against Oregon, obviously a team that they lost
too earlier this year.
Speaker 6 (07:24):
I mean, like four plays into the game, it's fourteen
to nothing, and it just the two teams could not
have looked more different. And your point about Ryan Day,
I don't know what this means for him long term.
I do think that Chip Kelly has certainly gotten better.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
In the last couple of games, no doubt.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
Finally he has started to figure it out in terms
of what he wants to do with his talent and
how they've been utilizing it.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
So that's helped. The defense has really woken up.
Speaker 6 (07:55):
That money has been well spent all of a sudden,
but we knew the talent that they had.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
I think now there is an argument to be.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
Made that you better go win the National championship because
nobody should beat the team that I've seen play their
last two football games. And I am still baffled by
how you lost to Michigan, Like just I don't understand
it in any reok way.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Listen, we have to acknowledge, like, wow, whatever went wrong
against Michigan that coaching staff figured it out. But it's
also like, how did you lose to Michigan. And by
the way, I know Michigan beat Alabama in a bowl
game on New Year's Eve. I don't care it's like,
how did that?
Speaker 7 (08:38):
Like?
Speaker 5 (08:38):
One?
Speaker 4 (08:39):
Just, first of all, Jeremiah Smith, the true freshman, he
was the offensive MVP in this game. Seven catches, one
hundred and eighty seven yards, two touchdowns.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
I saw.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Dan Brugler, a longtime NFL draft experts, said he believes
there would be an argument for Jeremiah Smith, a true freshman,
to be the first overall pick in this year's draft
if he were draft elible.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
He's not eligible.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
How about this until the twenty twenty seven NFL Draft.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Yeah, but I just.
Speaker 4 (09:06):
Bring it up because listen, if you're an Ohio State fan,
I know it's in the rearview mirror. I know you
want to celebrate your team looking the way that we thought.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
But I'll be hot of St.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Mart A part of me still the two best games
maybe Friday's career, and I still go back to that
Saturday in Columbus and just say, how did you lose
to Michigan. So I didn't mean to cut you off,
but it's just still like, you can't not talk about Michigan,
especially why the team has looked the last few weeks.
Speaker 6 (09:34):
Yeah, and look, I think there's a lot of Michigan
fans that would say the same thing and wonder how
they beat them. Like I mean, when you really look
at it, Davis Warren had sixty two yards passing in
that game for Michigan, And then I look at Jeremiah
Smith five catches, thirty five yards.
Speaker 5 (09:48):
They barely even targeted the guy.
Speaker 6 (09:50):
He had five catches in no time in this game,
and he had like one hundred and sixty yards and
a couple of touchdowns, and he just looked like not
just the best player on the field, but the best
player in recent memory in college football, perhaps just in
terms of just everything that he brings to the table
and what he's going to be doing on the next
level is going to be insanity.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
But that's where I get.
Speaker 6 (10:15):
And I don't want to do anything but say that
Ohio State is showing why everyone was so high on
them before the season and why I had them, I
believe in my final game losing to Texas, which.
Speaker 5 (10:28):
Now, first off, it's going to be in the Semis,
but past that, I don't.
Speaker 6 (10:33):
See how Texas is going to be able to score
on their defense, because that's the other side of it,
is the defense. Now, there were a couple of moments
in this game right, So it was. It was thirty
four to fifteen, like you mentioned, and they actually forced
Ohio State to punt and Oregon got the ball back
said okay, all right, now if you go down and
you score again, get a two point conversion.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
Now we're looking at a little bit more of an
interesting game here. This is still Gabriel. This is this
a high powered Oregon offense. Let's see what they can do.
Speaker 6 (11:04):
They had back to back plays before they ended up
punting it away, and then Ohio State scored again and
it was over where they showed it. They put the
camera behind the offense. They put it behind Dylan Gabriel
by about ten yards, and we saw the play after
the snap, and of course herp Street is breaking it down.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
But I'm just watching it.
Speaker 6 (11:24):
I'm not even listening to what's happening because my daughter
is very loud at three years old, so I'm not
even able to really pick up on the nuance of
what he's saying.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
But I'm looking at it.
Speaker 6 (11:33):
And I'm just saying, where is Dylan Gabriel supposed to
throw the ball like there is no one open? And
they do it on multiple plays in a row. They
show this same camera angle and you can see no
one's running free, no one has any space whatsoever. Like
they that defense right there, there is no one that
(11:54):
should be able to score on them. And I look
at Texas and I'm like, good luck against that secondary,
especially with the guys that they have up front, as
well the Texas offense that I have seen for the
better part of this season and certainly the last couple
of weeks, that defense or that offense might not be
able to get into double digits against this Ohio State team.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, it's really interesting.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
FanDuel has released a has released an early point spread
Ohio State a two and a half point favorite over
Texas on a neutral field.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
We'll break down that Texas.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
ASU game a little bit from now, because man, oh man,
oh man. Was that not only a crazy game, but
I think there's also a conversation we had, j mart
about exactly what you just said, which is, you know,
Texas three or four weeks ago maybe look like a
team that could compete with anybody. I don't think they
can if Ohio State is playing the way that they
did here on New Year's Eve nights, So Ra Torres,
(12:50):
Jason Martin, we are broadcasting live from the Tireck dot
Com studios, filling in for Jason Smith and Mike Harmon.
Tell you what we'll do. We'll come back when we
come back. Do we want to bring on a guy
who knows the Ohio State program very well? So Joshua
Perry played for Urban Meers twenty fourteen national championship team.
He now does commentary for NBC Sports. He's gonna discuss
(13:12):
what the heck is the difference with Ohio State, how
did they figure things out? And is can anybody beat
him at this point? Because it's looking just about impossible.
Ertors Jason Martin fill in for Jason Smith and Mike
harmon Fox Sports Tridi.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern, seven
pm Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Welcome back, everybody, Fox Sports Radio. Ertrus Jason Martin. We
are filling in for Jason Smith and Mike Harmon. Jason
and Mike will be back tomorrow. We are taking you
up till two am Eastern time this evening, and you
want to go straight to the phones. Joining us now
former Ohio State legend national champion. He is now on
(13:58):
the Big Ten College Countdown NBC Sports Every Saturday, Josh
Perry is on the phone.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Josh, what's going on, man? How you doing?
Speaker 8 (14:07):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (14:07):
Happy New Year. I appreciate you having me. It's been
an interesting college football playoffs here. I'm excited to talk
about it.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
So we're gonna get to all the college football playoffs
stuff and especially do you want to get your perspective
on this Rose Bowl. Listen, you know it's a new year, Josh.
I don't want to be glasses half empty to lead
things off. Why did it take until the Tennessee game
for everyone in the Ohio State building to realize that
no one can defend Jeremiah Smith and just throw him
(14:36):
the football every freaking time.
Speaker 7 (14:39):
It is one of the wildest things that I have
ever seen. And it's funny because, like you get on
Ohio State Twitter and there are these people who are
trying to sell this idea of like, oh, they were
playing the long Con. The regular season doesn't matter, one
of'm my guys, the rivalry game will always matter. So
like playing the long Con at the expense of getting
a win in that game, particularly against that Michigan team.
(15:00):
That's crazy. But like again, you know, I think that
teams go out there and sometimes they say, Okay, these
are the set of plays that we think will work
best against a certain team, what their defenses are, what
their personnel is, instead of looking and saying, all right,
we got this guy that nobody can cover, so we
should probably throw it to him as often as possible.
(15:20):
Once they started doing that, it opened up everything else
for that offense. They've been running the football much better,
they've been able to protect Will Howard much better. But
it really starts with the idea that Jeremiah as an alien,
nobody can guard him, and so he should be like
focal point number one in the game plans.
Speaker 6 (15:34):
So Josh, what about the fact that they don't even
really have to run the ball? That can just kind
of be the fail safe because of I mean, we
don't even have to talk about a Buka who's also
a stud. But when you've got those two guys out there,
when you've got those kind of pass catchers, then you
can just have Henderson and Judkins just kind of be
mop up guys just to keep them honest against the
(15:55):
pass game.
Speaker 7 (15:56):
And it's been important, right like Ryan Day has talked
about this idea, well, we have to keep balance in
our game plan. I think he wants to be able
to run the ball just so teams can't tend their ears.
I do think that's important. But to your point, they've
gotten Quinn Shawn and tray Beon involved in the throw
game as well, you know, throwing the swim passes, checking
the ball down to them. They found ways to get
(16:18):
those guys the ball in their hands. It's not necessarily
running it too, which is important with the state of
that offensive line. But you look at the game against Tennessee.
Both those guys had explosives against Oregon and the Rose
Bowl one hundred and eighty one rushing yards I believe
was the number there, and Trayyon had the sixty six yarder.
Like when you are able to loosen up secondaries, when
(16:39):
you're able to manipulate defensive lines to think that they're
going to rush you and run up the field, now
you can get some inverted teams and when those running
backs have the ball in their hands, they're really dangerous too.
I think it's a frustration for a lot of people
watching Ohio State where they say you've got better guys
than everybody, and you just need to find the proper
(17:00):
ways to get the ball in their hands, and once
you do, it's game over.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
Joshua Perry joining us.
Speaker 4 (17:04):
This is the Jay Suspicion of Mike Carmen, Jason and
Micro Out, Aaron Torres and Jason Martin fillin until two
am Eastern time. Joshua Perry Big Big Ten College Countdown
on NBC Sports every Saturday. Also a former house date
Buckeye national champion, josh Let me ask you this. Obviously,
you know today is you know, just an incredible day whatever,
(17:26):
But I do want to go back at it. And
I don't mean to be in all serious as negative
about the Michigan game, but I am curious from the
people that you talk to, did something change in that
building after the Michigan game, because listen, it is clearly
a completely different team in the last two weeks.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
They're playing with more confidence.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
And what's kind of crazy is like it feels like
the biggest narrative after that game leading into the Tennessee
game was Ryan Day saying like, hey, you know, the
focus has always been on the playoff. You want to
win the game, but our focus is now solely on Tennessee, Like, like,
do you think something fundamentally changed, because obviously this is
the last two weeks. This is the best version of
Ohio State we've seen maybe under Ryan Day period.
Speaker 7 (18:05):
Yeah, I agree with the idea, is the best version
of them that we've seen. It's funny too, right, because
of course the players and the coaches in that building
want to spinning forward. I think if you're a faner,
if you're somebody in the media, you have the luxury
of looking back at what happened and lamenting and HARKing
on all the things that went wrong. I'll tell you
what changed is you have the coorus of people, and
(18:26):
some would call them fringe lunatics. I would call them
fans and supporters of that program that have standards and
expectations and understood what it could look like. Who got
pretty loud and they were like, listen, if this thing
does not work, if they cannot pursue a title, twenty
million dollars into this roster, some of the best players
in the country, it's probably time to ask do we
have the right guy in the front of the room.
(18:47):
Ryan Day is not insulated from that stuff. I'm sure
he heard that, and so it's like this idea of Okay,
I got to have my a game on because we
told everybody was beat Michigan, win a Big Ten championship,
win a national title. The first two things are out,
but we can still do the last one. I think
that was important to them. But then you start looking
at the players where Jack Sawyer these last two games
(19:08):
has been phenomenal, and Lathan Ransom is looking like Earl
Thomas coming downhill and smacking people in the face. And
I mentioned Trayvon Henderson coming back, and I know the
focus is on Jeremiah, but a Mecha Buka has been
phenomenal in moments during this run as well. Those were
all guys who returned for a last year, and they
said they had unfinished business, and up until this point
(19:29):
they hadn't really done a ton. They hadn't won in
the rivalry game, the postseason wins weren't what they needed
to be. They understand the opportunity to win a title
and to salvage a legacy and really become legendary in
many ways because it's been a decade since there was
a title in Columbus. I think all those things really
matter to them, and it basically became this new focus
(19:49):
of what can we do on a game by game
basis to make sure that we have the best game
plan where best prepared as possible. Give Ryan Day a
little bit extra time going into these games, He's usually
able to cook up something pretty solid from a game
pan perspective, and that's what we're seeing right now.
Speaker 6 (20:04):
So Ryan Day, James Franklin, these are guys that this
show has battered around, to say the least, over the
last couple of years. I want to look at Dan Lanning.
He's just finishing his third season here, but you look
at the games that he's lost, It's been a lot
of the biggest ones. It's been a lot of the
most important ones. Is it fair to criticize Dan Lanning
(20:24):
after this game for not having his football team ready to.
Speaker 5 (20:28):
Play or ready for Ohio State?
Speaker 6 (20:31):
Or is this just a case where Ohio State had
a lot better Jimmy's than Joe's and that's just how
it was Now I.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
Think it's the criticism is fair. And like I made
the joke in the preseason that Ryan and Dan Lanning
were the same guy in my opinion, because they're really
talented Rocksters. They're both very good ball coaches, but like
to your point, they win all the games it's supposed
to win, and then they get up against their rivals,
they get into the big games, the wins aren't there.
And Dan Lanning goes through this season beat Ohio State,
(21:00):
beat Penn State for a Big Ten championship, and I
think a lot of that conversation kind of faded away deservedly.
So now you get on the big stage, of course,
and there are many factors that go into this. The
long layoff, I think is very difficult, and for a
younger coach and Dan Lanning, it is much more challenging
than some of the more seasoned veteran guys in handling that.
And their draw was really unfortunate for being the best
(21:22):
team in college football all year long that have to
get Ohio State plan the way that they were. When
you look around, as you mentioned James Franklin, you get
SMU and you get Boys and State, it certainly feels
like a more favorable draw there. All that to say,
I do think there's some criticism that is deserved there. Also,
Dan Lanning's pretty new at this thing, and it's going
in the right direction. But he's got to be one
(21:44):
of those guys now where it's like, you know, the
twelve and oh thirteen to Oh, it all fuels really good,
it all sounds really good, but then you get into
the tournament you got to make some noise there. So
I'm curious to see what the pivot from the approach
looks like for him, because he's built it very well,
He's recruited extremely well. I think he's got a pretty
good coaching staff, and now it's just about when you
get into the big moment, can you press all the
(22:06):
right buttons to get the job done.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Joshua Perry joining The Jason Smith Show with Mike Harmon,
Jason and micro out Eric Torres, Jason marner In. Joshua,
of course a Buckeye national champion, now the host of
the Big Ten College Countdown on NBC Sports. Also make
sure to follow him at mister Joshua Perry on Twitter.
Last one for me, josh You know, Jason just mentioned
Penn State in addition to, of course the two Big
(22:28):
Ten teams that were playing today.
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Penn State.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
You know, first of all, I'll ask you, like, do
you believe another team has a flip switched have they
figured something out or have they gotten two pretty advantageous matchups.
And I think you can even now go back and
look at that Big Ten Championship game a little bit
skeptically of saying they put up thirty eight points five
hundred yards of total offense. But maybe that Oregon defense
wasn't as good by the end of the year as
(22:53):
we thought. So I guess big picture with Penn State,
we obviously don't yet know who their opponent will be,
given the unformuch in circumstances in New Orleans today.
Speaker 7 (23:02):
Yeah, and then I wanted to say, thinking about all
the people down there and that was a necessary tragedy,
is very sad down in New Orleans. But I'm torn
on this Penn State thing, and there are two ways
to approach it.
Speaker 6 (23:16):
Is.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
People said that James Franklin can't get in the playoffs,
can't win games in the playoff, can beat the top
ten teams. So we've got two top ten wins in
this postseason. Certainly he's got the two playoff wins there.
Now he's looking at an opportunity in the semi finals.
I'm one of those people that always felt like James
Franklin beat the teams that he was supposed to beat.
(23:38):
If there was a game where he was favored, it
was very likely that he was going to win it.
When he got into those games against Ohio State, when
he got into those games against Michigan, a lot of
times this team wasn't favored, and I think people were like, Okay,
we're going to pay you eight, nine, ten million dollars,
like we need you to be able to pull off
an upset in one of these big games. So I'm
really looking at what they do in the next round
(23:58):
to kind of make the decision on how we should
feel about this postseason run. It would be like the
start of the four team playoff from past years with
this next game for Penn State, and of course it's
going to be a much tougher opponent than what they've seen.
The real skeptical people will tell you that they beat
the group of five champion of Boise State, and they
beat a team that just came out of the group
(24:19):
of five, and that's on you.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Now.
Speaker 7 (24:20):
I think that is a really negative approach to take
to this thing. I think that the performances have looked good,
but I'm a little bit torn myself on how I
should judge this. I do congratulate them for they can
do with what the drag that was given to them
was right, go out there, win the games. But I
also kind of have this thought in the back of
my mind that I really want to see what they
(24:41):
look like against the Notre Dames, who's played great football
since the NAU lost against the Georgia team that we
know is talented, with the head coach understands what it's
like to be in this circumstance, how do they perform
on that stage? And now I think the narrative might
shift a little bit if they can get that one.
Speaker 6 (24:56):
So obviously this would be the last one for me,
but the game hasn't been played the Sugar Bowl. The
big question is what is Gunner Stockton going to be
able to do for Georgia. We know he's talented, we
know he can throw the ball, we know that he
can actually run as well, but what is there Do
you have any thought, any idea what he is going
to be able to bring for Georgia or are you
(25:18):
just as fascinated as the rest of us to see
how he comes out and plays well.
Speaker 7 (25:22):
I'm extremely fascinated, right like when he had to step
in in the SEC Championship game. And keep in mind here,
Georgia went into the locker room trailing in that game
and he brought them back. So a lot of credits
do there. They adn't ask him to do it. Ton
the yards for attempt was somewhere in the five yard range,
is not very impressive. But one time he kind of
had to make a little magic, made the pocket try
(25:44):
to throw a deep he ends up throwing an interception. Right,
So he looked like a guy who had been a backup.
But Kirby Smart's been talking about how he elevates everybody's play,
talking about how the guys are excited for him. Here's
the thing about Georgia. Their wide receivers don't catch the
football very well, and they've been in in the run game,
and so I think that's a really tough spot to
be in when it comes to a new starting quarterback.
(26:07):
I look at their defense and they've been kind of
boomer Bus where they're aggressive, they like to move around,
they give you different looks in the front. They can
create havoc plays TFLs and sacks, but they also might
create some seams where offenses can make a little bit
of money. They're not the best against the run, certainly
not a bad team. I look at Notre Dame as
a team like, we know they're going to run the football.
(26:28):
I'm curious what that matchup actually looks like. But from
the standpoint of Stockton, I think they're confident in him.
I think it was a benefit that they had all
that time to really get him prepared for this game.
I was the guy who went through a postseason on
our third quarterback, and I can tell you that the
time between the Big Ten Championship game and when we
(26:48):
played Alabama in the semi final was huge in terms
of getting Cardile Jones ready to rock and roll for
a postseason run. So certainly can be done, but I
am skeptical just from the way that this offense is built.
Once again, not the greatest running team, but the wide
receivers drop everything that's thrown their way. It's just a hard,
hard offense to be successful in.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
He is Joshua Perry, as you just heard, a twenty
fourteen national championship with national champion excuse me, with the
Ohio State Buck guys, also co host of the Big
Ten College Countdown every Saturday, on NBC Sports leading into
their big game. Make sure to follow him on Twitter
as well at mister Joshua Perry, Josh Man, We appreciate
the time man, Happy New Year, and you know, listen,
(27:28):
I know you're an unbiased media member, but congrats to
your bucks Man because they look pretty unbeatable going forward here.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
I appreciate you guys. Happy New Year to you as well,
and see big Buckaston put together a continued run here
take care of guys.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
Thank you, Josh.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
That was Joshua Perry, twenty fourteen national champion with the
Ohio State Buck Guys, recapping a busy day of college football.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Here's a great news.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
We got three and a half hours left to continue
to do just that era towards Jason Martin filling in
for Jason Smith and Mike Carmon.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
Tell you what.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
Jmart will come back and react to some of the
other quarter final action and news and notes before we do. Though,
for the first time this evening, let's toss it over
the news desk. Chris Purfet, what is trep?
Speaker 8 (28:08):
Hi?
Speaker 7 (28:08):
Aaron?
Speaker 9 (28:09):
Hi, Jason, how's it going, guys?
Speaker 8 (28:10):
What's up?
Speaker 9 (28:11):
Happy New Year to all of you, and let's talk
some Sports has been talking about. Ohio State has punched
their ticket to the Cotton Bowl to be played on
January tenth against the Texas Longhorns. Forty one twenty one
running over Oregon in this game. Jeremiah Smith one hundred
and eighty seven yards two touchdowns, the wide receiver for
(28:33):
the Buckeyes, putting his stamp on the game, and quarterback
Will Howard addressing that there is just so much still
to do.
Speaker 5 (28:39):
We got two more so we're not done yet.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
We still got unfinished business.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
We got two more games away.
Speaker 9 (28:44):
Earlier today, the Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni addressed
that he is sitting his starters, including Saquon Barkley, who's
going to end the NFL season about one hundred yards
short of the single season rushing records set by Eric Dickerson,
so that record shall stand for yet another year. New
Orleans interim head coach Darren Rizzy addressing the media saying
(29:05):
that all Saints players and organization members are safe following
the attack on Bourbon Street by a terrorist that has
taken the lives of fifteen people and dozens more injured.
As the New Orleans police find multiple explosives around the
French Quarter and the Sugar Bowl being delayed until four
(29:25):
pm on Thursday. One of the lives that was taken
in that attack was related to the world of college football.
Ex Princeton. Ex Princeton football player Tiger Beck was killed
in the attack. His brother Jack Beck, who plays who
played for TCU, addressed this on X and said, love
(29:46):
you brother. You inspire me every day now that you
get now you get to be with me in every
moment I got this family. Don't worry, this.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Is for us.
Speaker 9 (29:54):
Tiger Beck after a last played for the Princeton Tigers
in twenty eighteen, he was he had gone on to
be a stockbroker, was enjoying holidays in New Orleans and
so a very tragic story.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
There.
Speaker 9 (30:07):
One more bit of informa of news here from the NBA.
Piston's point guard Jade and Ivy had a very nasty
collision and seem to appear to have suffered a significant
leg injury against while playing against the Orlando Magic. He
had to be stretchered off of the court. So we
await ward on Jaden Ivy's status moving forward, and the
(30:28):
Detroit Lions have started the workout clock on linebacker Alex Angeloni.
He was limited in practice today and the Lions hoping
to get defensive hell back before their showdown on Sunday
night against the Minnesota Vikings for the number one seed
and the end the NFC North Division crowd. Aaron, Jason
back to you. Thank you very much, Chris Prefet. This
is the Jason Smith showed Mike Harmon. Jason Smith and
(30:50):
Mike Harmon are out. Eric Torres, Jason Martin are filling
in really quickly goes without saying, no college football right
now because of the awful, awful tragedy that Chris just
addressed in the update in New Orleans. Jason, Chris, myself,
everybody here at Fox Sports Radio is thinking about the
families and people that were impacted in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (31:10):
Tell you what, Jason will come back.
Speaker 4 (31:11):
We'll keep it upbeat and we will continue to talk
to the college football conversation. Want to talk the New
Year's Eve game with Penn State and a very interesting
twist with their star quarterback. We'll discuss that next Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Be sure to catch live editions of The Jason Smith
Show with Mike Harmon weekdays at ten pm Eastern seven
pm Pacific.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Welcome back, everybody.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
This is the Jason Smith Show with Mike Carmen. Jason
Smith and Mike Harmon are out. They will be back
on Thursday, January second, so tomorrow, but we are taking
up till two am Eastern. Aaron Torris Jason Martin filling
in for the guys. J mart We talked a lot
about the Rose Bowl today. Obviously, I think everybody knows
(31:55):
the Sugar Bowl has been postponed until Thursday at four Eastern.
Tragedy in New Orleans. We've said it time and time again.
Our thoughts are with everybody impacted in that city, beyond family, friends,
et cetera. We're aoun until two am, just trying to,
you know, bring a little bit of you know, levity
to an otherwise, you know, just just awful day in
(32:16):
New Orleans. But we are talking college football in the
NFL till two am Eastern, and I want to switch
gears to another game for the college football playoffs. We'll
get to the Peach Bowl maybe the top of the
next hour ten pm or eleven pm Eastern, eight Pacific.
I do want to go to last night's Fiesta Bowl,
so that would be the New Year's Eve game, And
(32:37):
we just had Joshua Perry from NBC Sports on, and
I want to ask you, Jy Mart, really two parts
to the Penn State stuff. We'll talk about Drew Aller
in a second, because I think there's an interesting conversation
emerging about him, but quickly, Penn State is kind of
a team that, as josh just said, as you and
I have said for years, Penn State kind of beats
everybody that they're supposed to, doesn't really beat the great, great,
(32:58):
great teams well that they're I have to play one
starting next round, either Notre Dame or Georgia, and then,
of course, if they were to beat them, would play
either Ohio State or Texas.
Speaker 3 (33:07):
Has anything changed.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
In your opinion with Penn State or is it still
kind of a wait and see. I need to see
them beat somebody elite before I give them too much credit.
Speaker 8 (33:16):
It's changed a little bit, but you do have to
look at the path that they've had so far, and
it's unfortunate for them, not that they've been able to
play teams that they can beat, but that they've played
teams that everyone thinks they should beat.
Speaker 6 (33:30):
And as such, you're not going to give them that
much credit. The only thing you would do is dog
them out if they had lost. You can't lose the
Boys State if you're Penn State. You can't lose to
SMU if you're Penn State. But they're still going to
expect you to go lose to Georgia or Notre Dame,
I think, But I do think some things have changed somewhat.
(33:50):
You know, Singleton and Alan or I mean, those two
guys really can carry the football for you when you're
creating space for them the way that you have. I
do think that Evans has become a better receiver throughout
the course of this season. They have more than just
the tight end now, and of course the tight end
is a man among boys.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
He's going to be I think he's gonna be a
great pro.
Speaker 6 (34:13):
I don't know that these brock Bowers, but Tyler Warren
is an outstanding player who made an incredible catch last
night that very few people in the country could make.
And I think that your six or five quarterback is
coming of age a little bit now. His stats don't
pop all that much. There's still some rawness to his game.
He's still a little bit inaccurate here and there, but
(34:35):
it ain't bad. I mean, he is showing a lot
to you right now. And I just look at Penn
State and I say this, if I believe that Texas
could win a championship, I should believe Penn State can.
And it's because I think that Penn State right now
is a better version of Texas. Because I like Aler,
I like Aler better than yours. I think they run
(34:55):
the ball better than Texas. I think the tight end
is better than any receiver. I like Golden and I
like Bond, but Warren has just been really, really special.
And then you look at the defense. Texas's defense has
carried them throughout this season. Penn State's kind of had
the exact same thing, except I think that they probably
have a couple guys that might go higher in the
(35:17):
draft off of their defense, maybe than most of the
guys from Texas. But I think that they're fairly even
in terms of how you would view them. But I
think Penn State's just better at certain things than Texas
is at this point. So if I think that Texas
has any shot, or if I go into this thinking
that they're a contender, then I have to think the
same thing about Penn State, and I'm not sure I
(35:38):
did before the playoff. So I'm trying not to be
biased too much by what I've seen them do in
these two games. But at the same time, I look
at the rest of what they've done during the season.
They can only play who you know, who they have
battled against and who they've played against, and they've been
pretty good throughout the year. Now I look at that
USC game and I saw an EyeT because I'm still
(36:00):
trying to figure out exactly why that was so difficult
for them to actually get through. But you know, everybody
is going to have one of those days a lot
of the time. And this is the most important thing
to me. They lost to Ohio State by a touchdown.
I mean that right there by itself. Yeah, and then Oregon,
(36:20):
I mean they put up thirty seven points against the Ducks. Now,
the Ducks don't look as good today, but six hours
ago that meant something, and I think that it still does.
Speaker 5 (36:30):
So I actually have kind of turned a little bit
on Penn State.
Speaker 6 (36:33):
I look at them and I say, that is not
the team that you want to play right now. I
understand that Ohio State is the top of that list,
but I look at Penn State, and I'm just like,
I kind of do believe in them, at least ten
to fifteen percent more than I did before this playoff started.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Yeah, I do happen to agree with you on that,
and I think my opinion has changed on them a
little bit. Speaking of opinions changing, I wanted you take
on this. And by the way, we can revisit this.
We're on until two am Eastern. But State quarterback Drew
Aler has publicly said, hey, I'm coming back next year.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
He's done the graphic, he's done all that.
Speaker 4 (37:06):
But I saw this from Dane Brugler, who is a
NFL draft expert for the Athletic and it's ironic because
it's a thought that has popped in my head. I
was actually talking texting with our buddy Brandon Deutsch, who
works in the back. We're texting during the Penn State
game the other day, and I said the same thing
to him. This is what Dane Brugler put out about
Drew Aller, the Penn State quarterback said quote. This was
(37:27):
obviously during the Penn State boys game. I know Drew
Owler quote intends to return to Penn State in twenty
twenty five, but dot dot. There are several NFL gms
who believe Aler could enter the twenty twenty five NFL
Draft with a strong playoff run. Teams are still heavily
scouting him for the twenty twenty five class. All I'll
say is this jmart a couple things. One, you know,
(37:50):
we all know people in this business. I've kind of
asked some people around Penn State. They say that I
think the family kind of feels like, you know, is
he really ready to kind of be the face of
the franchise, have every everybody kind of relying on him.
That was really why they kind of put a kibosh
on it early, which is we just don't think he's
maybe emotionally ready. But I bring it up because he
certainly has all the physical tools. It's a bad NFL
(38:13):
draft class, and listen, I don't have the sourcing that
Drew Aller does or that Dane Brugler does in NFL
front offices. But there are plenty of questions about Shor Sanders.
There's plenty of questions about cam Ward we see, but
I forget those guys. By the way, there's so many
teams in the top ten that are going to need quarterbacks.
I just think it's kind of interesting that he has
(38:34):
publicly said that he's coming back. I think if they
be either Georgia or Notre Dame, I think it really
ramps up of should he come back because that stock
is going to be soaring.
Speaker 6 (38:45):
Yeah, I think that that discourse is going to grow.
I heard Andy Staples and NARRII Washerman having the same discussion,
and I think it's I think it's an app discussion
to have right now because if Drew Alller goes out
there and balls out against whoever they play in the semis,
whether it's Story to Notre Dame, this is even gonna
get more interesting.
Speaker 5 (39:02):
But so he said this what sixteen days ago, seventeen days.
Speaker 6 (39:06):
Ago, ye, yeah, before the playoff, And I think that's
the critical point now is again, his numbers haven't been
just stellar, but you've seen the kinds of things that
would make NFL scouts drool. He's got the size. He's
like six ' five two forty. He's not a statue.
I'm not suggesting he's Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen, but
he can.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
Move if he has to. He's got a pretty looking
ball like.
Speaker 6 (39:30):
He definitely has some accuracy things, and I actually think
it's the maturity that that is the question mark. He
does kind of jaw a lot, he winds a lot,
He kind of he definitely that's.
Speaker 5 (39:40):
Something where he could grow.
Speaker 6 (39:42):
But I think the important point is this is a
very weak quarterback draft and you never know what it's
gonna look like when you do come out. Maybe if
you come back and they build around you like I
think they are, they're committed to nil, so they're gonna
spend some money, bring in some targets for you. If
they do that, Aller could end up being the number
one overall pick if he sticks around and he's gonna
(40:02):
make nil money. I think the other important point is
if I do stay, my price tag has gone up,
Like I'm gonna go back and be like, yeah, I
committed to stay, but we didn't set a number. We
might need to add. We might need to add a
couple mil to keep me here. But I do think
nil might keep him there, says.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
The Jason Smith showed Mike Harmon.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
Jason Smith and Mike Harmon out Air Tours and Jason
Martin are end will come back, peach Ball, Wild Game,
Fox Sports.
Speaker 5 (40:26):
Are you
Hosts And Creators
Jason Smith
Mike Harmon
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