Game On Rewind: Dalton Wasserman of PFF joins the show! 2024-11-7

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We're talking college ball here now. Dalton Wasserman is back
on the program. You can find his work at Pro
Football Focus, and we'll plug all he does on the
college football front at the end of this interview. As always, Dalton,
welcome back, man. How you doing.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Bill's great to be back. Man. It's been a fun
season so far, hasn't it? Oh? Man?

Speaker 1 (00:17):
You know what, It's been controlled chaos. As I've come
to this conclusion that, yeah, chaos is good and within reason,
it's been a nice old buffet of You get these
ultimate stories like Vanderbilt just coming out of nowhere and
having this storybook season, having these crucial wins against huge teams,
even down here the game Cocks beating Texas A and
m Clemson getting boat raced by Georgia going on that

(00:40):
big run. And then here comes Louisville out of nowhere.
It's a crazy year. Let's start with these two teams
in South Carolina, in particular Clemson. First, look, they fell
to twenty third in the rankings. Things were looking really
good for a minute. But I think Louisville give them
some credit. That wide zone run attack and the speed
they had just kind of jolted and early on.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, Honestly, Louisville's had a very dangerous offense all year.
And I love their freshman running back Isaac Brown too.
I think he's going to be a really good player.
Right He's a really good player right now, I should say.
But you know, I thought also it was kind of
a missed opportunity for Clemson and it was there. It
was their toughest test since that Georgia game, and I
thought the Louisville secondary was something that Kate Clubneck could
have taken advantage of. It's kind of the one unit

(01:23):
for the Cardinals that have been struggling all season. You know,
he saw Miami put up fifty two points on them,
and it looked like Klubnick in those previous six games
that started to turn a corner, especially throwing the ball downfield.
But it really went back to the same old thing
on offense that they struggled with last year and in
that Georgia game. And that's just, you know, it just
seems like every play something just one thing goes wrong
out of the eleven guys, right, you might get ten

(01:44):
guys doing their job and then one doesn't. They're also
you know, two blocked field goals and all sorts of
mistakes at the end of drive. So it was a
real step back for Clemson. It was I thought, I
think they still have a lot to prove down the
stretch here. If they're still going to make the playoff,
and they're going to need some help. I think it's
very possible that they have to win the ACC to
get in.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
I think you're right, and they're going to need help
to get there because you got Smu of course, Pitts
in the Knicks in Miami and cam Ward. We'll get
to that team in a minute. South Carolina, I know
they're on the outside looking in and they're probably not
playoff down this year, but boy Shane Beemer, we continue
to be so impressed by what he's doing down there
in Columbia and to get the win over Mike Elko's
team every year. I know they haven't been playoff already

(02:24):
quite yet, but they seem to have a statement win
every year down there in Willie Be and that builds
some culture, right.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, And I think they're building the culture really this year.
I'll tell you what. This defense is unreal. That's one
of I think the five best defenses in the country.
That's a unit that can play with anybody, if there's
any team that could play. Spoiler, we already saw it
once with A and M and now and and m's
on some thin ice. And you mentioned the Clemson game,
you know coming for them, and you go, that's not

(02:52):
by any means some pushover for Clemson. South Carolina's defense
can cause any team's problem a problem. And then I think,
you know, Leonardo Sellers, he's improving. I think it's been
kind of a slow, gradual improvement, but I think you're
seeing a little bit better every week. We know he
can run, we know he's a really good athlete. You're
starting to see a little improvement as a passer. I
think the future is right there in Columbia.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, I think so. And I think Shane Biemer has
weathered that storm. There were some doubts after last year,
and I think the way they've responded this year with
that defense in particular. As you said, we talked to
Max Chadwick, your buddy, about this, and he was all
over it. Let me tell you of another team that
Max was very high on. And I'm assuming that you
guys doing the show together, you probably thinking similarly in
terms of cam Ward in Miami. I know he has

(03:34):
sung the praises since week one about this team. Where
do you see this team? How did you have them
handicapped preseason? And can they be stopped? Will they lose
another game until playoff time?

Speaker 2 (03:45):
I mean, it was very clear. I think in the
preseason that you could argue they were the most talented
team in the ACC and it was a matter of
cam Ward kind of leveling up from the way he
had played at Washington State, which was solid, but he
had never played like this before. And right now, you know,
it's clear to satistically he's been the best quarterback in
the country. We can have the draft arguments later, but
I mean he's been incredible, multiple big comeback wins. It's

(04:07):
been amazing in the second half of these games. You know,
I think Miami, certainly, their team is not without flaw.
I'm a little worried about their secondary and getting in
all these high scoring games in the first place. But
cam Ward and these weapons. I got to tell you too,
Xavier Rastreppo in the slot, that's an NFL player, man,
I'm telling you he's one of the best receivers in
the country. I just their offense is going to get

(04:28):
them there one way or the other. I think they're
pretty clearly and I know SMU's in second place and
they might get him a good run maybe in the
ACC title game, but Miami at this point, the way
Ward is playing has to be the clear favor in
the ACC. And I think, you know what, if Ward's
going to do this all season, I don't think you
could take national title completely out of the equation here.

Speaker 1 (04:46):
Dalton, I chuckled at this tweet. It was probably my
tweet of the week in terms of my book marks.
Dalton Wasserman PFF underscore, Dalton, this was back on the sixth.
There's one thing I'm sick of when it comes to
people arguing about the college football playoff. Quote hasn't done anything,
And in all caps, winning all of your games is
doing something. It really is, though I couldn't agree more

(05:08):
like undefeated means something, right?

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Yeah, No, I think it does now. You know, I
think you know, you have a case where you could
go argue against that, like if it's something like Liberty
last year that just ran through Conference USA. But I
mean when they this was one directed to me at
at you know, even a Miami or an Indiana or
a BYU where I go, Okay, in Una, Yes, it's
been a softer schedule, but they've won every game by

(05:33):
at least two scores. They're balling teams out. They look
really good, and it feels like just sometimes it's the
eye test, sometimes it's the name brand. Sometimes it's this
or that or the other thing, and I go, they
won all their games, and they're playing, you know, in
the Big ten or in the Big twelve, and I go,
you know they you know, especially in the case of
a BYU where I go, that's not even a soft schedule.
They're the only team to have beaten SMU this year

(05:55):
maybe Kansas State, a Top twenty team, by thirty points.
I go, Eventually, I mean, I get that a lot
of college football is based in name brands, and certain
teams are gonna get you because of reputation. But yes, man,
I mean, man, oh man, you got just some of
these I'm telling you right now, Like that Indiana team,
they're really darn good. I get it. You're gonna see

(06:15):
the next couple of weeks. I think this week against
Michigan and possibly two weeks from now against Ohio State.
People are really gonna learn like, oh, that's not a
fluke at all.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Don WASSERMANPFF dot com. Uh, spit some truth here on
game on, and you look, we love the passion because
we know you know what you're talking about. This is
what you do NonStop. And I think when we look
at these rankings, it's the first iteration of what will
be several And look, people get really worked up about
a lot of things. But let's have some you know,
honest talk here. I mean, we've talked a little bit

(06:44):
about teams that are undefeated. Are there a couple teams
that you look at that are way out of place
in the top fifteen that just doesn't make sense? Or
do they do? They get it pretty much right in
your eyes.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
I think it's actually the right twelve. And my biggest
grievance to with it is b being too low. If
you want to make if you want to make the
Indiana schedule argument, fine, but right around eight or nine
is good for them. That's fine. I think their number.
I think just sitting number eight, I would splip. You
have Penn State at six and you have BYU at nine.
I would flip those two. Don't I don't get what
Penn State has done to be ahead of BYU, and

(07:17):
BYU has two better wins on their schedule at least states.
I think you could argue BYU at five or six
now they still get the fourth spot because of the
way it kind of figures with the conference champions and all.
But I think the Big Twelve is getting that's a
little bit of disrespect towards the Big Twelve, considering they've
already beaten one of the other ranked Big Twelve teams,
and they beat SMU, who right now is the first
team out.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
I would Teyso one of my good friends, and I
haven't seen him in a long time, but Deshaun Foster
doing a great job at UCLA former Panthers running back.
But before they kind of got on a roll here
and beat Matt Rules Nebraska Cornhunters, that was a very
bad offense. It went into Happy Valley and hung around
for three and a half quarters with Penn State. So
I looked at that and I said, among other things,

(07:59):
I thought Penn State stock was a little high. If
nothing else, this makes for great radio. Let's talk about
some games coming up that you guys had previewed here
at PFF dot com. You can find the story here.
College Football Week eleven, Preview Week eleven. Already, Dalton Man,
come on, now here we go.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
We're getting a stretcher on now for sure, and then
it's about to get real tenses. Last four weeks.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Slow it down a little bit. All right, here we
go Miami Georgia Tech. We just talked about this Miami team.
Georgia Tech got off of that hot start. You guys
looking like you're leaning Miami here and rightfully, so how
do you see this game ultimately playing out?

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah? You know what, Georgia Tech, if Haynes King does play,
they do have a chance because I think their offense
can give Miami some problems. But I just feel like
Miami's got too much and it's at Georgia Tech secondary
especially that struggled. And honestly, I think the biggest thing
for me is Miami last week just put fifty three
points up on Duke, who might have the best secondary
in the conference. Yeah, and the second half of that game,

(08:56):
you know, cam Warden make he made many ds. This
defense look like nothing in that second half. So I
do think if Haynes King is healthy, any place Georgia
Tech has at least some outside shot in a shootout,
but I would expect Miami to take care business there.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
All right, here we go Ole Miss in Georgia. What
a game this is? And uh, look, I think you
guys agree with the way we look at this game.
It will be close. Uh will Georgia squeak it out?
Does Ole Miss? Uh? Does Ole Miss have a chance here?
Obviously it's it's a Georgia team. As you chronicled here,
they're a little wounded right now.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, you know, this is the hardest game I think
of the whole weekend to pick, because on paper, I
think if these two teams, if they were just in
like black and white jerseys and I didn't know who
they were and I was just watching the tape of
like that, I would pick All Miss. And on the
show I did pick All Miss, and I'm worried about it. Obviously.
It's just can they get over that mental hurdle of

(09:46):
it being Georgia in front of them? Because Georgia has
not played great in most of their games. Obviously their
defense is great in the Texas game, but one point
win over Kentucky last week. Honestly, if DJ Lagway plays
the whole game they might have lost to Florida last week.
Carson Beck has not looked good for the better part
of the last four or five weeks outside of like,
you know, a big game against Auburn. Yeah, it's just

(10:08):
not clicking with Georgia. And yet they're getting away with
it because they do have a lot of talent on defense,
and Kirby Smart's great and they know how to win games.
But ole Miss is really talented, their defense is better,
and their offense is started to click a little bit
in the last two weeks. I think it's going to
be a tight game. I picked ole Miss, but I
think it is the hardest game of the weekend to pick.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Fascinating matchup as well in what we chronicled and you
guys as well, A playoff elimination game. Alabama number eleven
at LSU. It will be crazy down there in bad Ruge.
It's seven point thirty on ABC. Who wins? Brian Kelly
or Kaylin de boor let's go.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
I'm taking kalnd Boor in Alabama. I think they have
just a little bit more balance. LSU's defense is inconsistent,
not that Bama's has been great, but I trusted a
little bit more and they have a little bit more
balance on offense. I trust Alabama's run game a little more.
I think they're a little more two dimensional, especially with
Milroll at quarterback, whereas LSU. Look, I really like Garrett Nussmeyer.

(11:03):
He's really good. He's going to be an NFL pick,
but they ask him to do way too much to
carry this team. I'll tell you what, if he does
carry them through this game, there's going to be people
talking about him as a first round type of guy,
but they ask so much of him. They get almost
nothing out of their run game on a week to
week basis, and their defense, I don't know if I
can trust it against Milroe. I'm leaving towards Alabama.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
Daln Wasserman PFF dot Com, PFF Underscore Dalton on X
and look, you and Max Chadwick do just this outstanding
job here. You guys basically prepped our show for us
with your article. Y'all need to go subscribe read all
their work because they chronicle everything in detail in terms
of all the storylines, matchups in advance of each week

(11:45):
in college football, and they know they're NFL too. If
you need an NFL question, they're there for you, but
they're all about that college action. Dalton enjoy week eleven.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
My man, appreciate it. You enjoy it too. Have a
good weekend.