Oregon Rewind, Ohio State News, and Texas Preview

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:20):
Well again, everybody, a happy New Year. It's time once
again for the Silver Bullets podcast. I'm Michael Citrow and
I'm chipping in it. Chip. We have a little crow
to eat this week in the first weekend of the
new year. As we we had to select it or predicted,
I should say that Oregon would in fact beat Ohio State.
I had twenty eight twenty six, you had thirty one

(00:42):
twenty eight, but the Buckeyes decided to make fools of
us by winning big in really a game that was
never close from I think three plays in Ohio State
scored and Oregon never really recovered from that, and the
final score was forty one one. Bluck.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Guys, Yeah, I completely agree with what you just said
about three plays in. I mean it was I guess
if this was a boxing match, the referee would would have,
you know, basically waved off Ohio State and said this
is over, because I mean, that game was done almost
from the very beginning. Just the continual sideline shots of

(01:22):
Dan Lanning with the facial expression of not knowing what
to do. It was just that was probably the most
dominating Ohio State performance I will say probably since Ohio
State destroyed Wisconsin ten years ago in the twenty fourteen

(01:42):
Big Ten Championship. And this is not meant to be
I apologize for any Wisconsin people who may get wind
of this. Oregon was and is a vastly superior talented
team and compare listen to that twenty fourteen Wisconsin team.
So the fact that Ohio State just thoroughly dominated them

(02:05):
from start to finish, I mean, that was, like I said,
I'm kind of stammering my words here, but that was
probably the most impressive Ohio State performance that I've seen since.
Like I said, ten years ago.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
I don't think you need to soft pedal it. I
don't think there are too many Badger fans out there
that think that Badger team was better than this year's
Oregon team. I could be wrong. There's probably a few,
but I don't think there are many if they're being honest.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Well, the one thing I mean, just kind of my
quick trip down memory lane, that what I do recall
about the week leading up to that game, and you know,
keep in mind with everything that Ohio State, you know,
they had lost JT. Barrett and Cardial Jones was completely unproven,
and I remember Urban Meyer his press conference listening to it,

(02:51):
and at one point, I don't know who the reporter was,
but they asked him his thoughts about Ohio State being
an underdog, and I remember Urban Meyer hearing him say
we're the underdog, We're the under like and he it
was like, okay, you all you did was just give
that guy fuel for the fire. And Ohio State and
the circumstances were completely different. Let's let's not forget the

(03:13):
fact that Ohio State knew they had to run up
the score in order just to get into the fourteen playoffs.
So the fact that Ohio State was even more dominant
against the number one team in the country in the
Rose Bowl. Like I said, it's just one of those
things where I think Ohio State that all the praise

(03:35):
that they are that they are getting from the from
the national media now is well deserved.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Now Oregon finishes the season thirteen and one, but I
think we really have to talk about I know everybody
wants to blow this twelve team playoff up in one year.
With one season's worth the data points, there's really nothing
you can take from one time something happening. But what
you can take away from this is that all four

(04:03):
teams that advanced the semifinals were teams that played in
the first weekend. All the four teams that won their
conference championships and had a longer layoff did not play well,
particularly this weekend, and all of them got beaten. I
will give Arizona State a ton of credit. We'll talk
more about the other Bowl games in a minute, but

(04:24):
I'll give Arizona State because they not only played into overtime,
but honestly got jobbed in that game and could have
won it in regulation and really did a dumb thing
in overtime that cost themselves ultimately probably that game. But
they gave everything they had. But the thing, the fact
of the matter is they still got off to a

(04:44):
slow start and were behind in that game.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Right And to your point about making changes and blowing
this up after the first year, I think one of
the most underreported aspects that came out after last weekend games.
Say what you will about Heather Dnich at ESPN about
you know, I am certainly in the camp of people

(05:10):
that believe that ESPN has been you know, far, far,
far too much in the in proclaiming the SEC, you know,
as being this dominant conference where it's been evidence that
they are not. But Heather Dnis is kind of her
responsibility or her primary focuses on all things college football playoffs,
and she made the point that I think a lot

(05:31):
of people have either ignored or like I said, it
just hasn't been really widely reported, is that if there
are going to be changes that between now and like
the next iteration, it would be like it's basically this
is the fulfilling of the original playoff contract. In twenty
twenty six, there will be a different one that Heather

(05:55):
Dnish reported that it has to be unanimous, meaning like
all the college conferences have to agree. So the likelihood that,
all right, that there will be I mean, I'm not
disagreeing that. I think the teams that as as we
saw with the with the games, the way everything turned out,
I think the notion that oh, okay, well maybe we

(06:18):
shouldn't have such a long layoff, or maybe we shouldn't
have these certain teams getting automatic bids or whatever it
might be, that to get a unanimous vote of all
these different conferences, it's it's probably unlikely. So say what
you will about the way it's presently constituted, I think
at least through next year. I think everything that we've

(06:40):
seen so far with the twelve team playoff, it's going
to remain the same.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, I think so too, and I think it should
because again, I don't think you can get take one
set of data points and make sweeping changes because this
we don't know if this is an outlier, it's it's
one year. So anyways, the bottom line of it all
is that the things happened the way they did it

(07:07):
really kind of some of the things that they could
do is they could eliminate conference championship games and that
will move up the timeline and there's no long layoff.
That might help if this is deemed to be a
problem again after more data is gathered. And then the
other thing too is you know the way that the

(07:28):
teams were seeded, it didn't have to take place that way.
It was up to the committee. The committee decided to
put Penn State over Ohio State. That nobody made them do.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
That, right, Yeah, I mean I certainly of the opinion
that the seating needs to be better contemplated. You know,
it was one of these things where, let's face it,
you know, one of the teams that's still in you know,
like I'm just going to say, like in the running

(07:59):
for the national championsh UP is notreed name. One of
the things that they in their concession when when the
twelve team playoff was being formulated was that they would
never be one of the top four teams even if
they were undefeated, because that was reserved for conference champions. Well,
all right, there's some thought that, all right, maybe that, okay,

(08:22):
what we should one of the tweaks should be that
if you're a conference champion, that you are guaranteed a birth,
but not necessarily a buy. So, like I said, it's
it's going to be interesting to see what kind of modifications,
if any, take place after this season.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
Yeah, but I also think this is you have to
look at this on a macro level. You have to
look at it in the fact that you can't assume
that a conference champion is worse than a team that
finished second in another conference. You can't just assume that
this season proves that what the Big Ten did comparatively

(08:58):
to the SEC proves that just because you think the
SEC is better, that doesn't mean they are better. So
I definitely think more discussion needs to take place before
you go messing with things and you know, I think
Arizona State proved that they belonged, So I don't think
you can take that as anything other than justification for

(09:21):
having them, you know, get into that next round and
have that opportunity because they they held up their end
of the bargain. It was other teams that didn't hold
up to their end of the bargain.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Certainly I agree with that.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
All right. So forty one to twenty one. The buck
guy scored three plays into the game. Took one minute
and a forty five yard catch and run Jeremiah Smith
from Will Howard seven to nothing Buckeyes. They added that
defense came out lights out where they were just terrorizing
Dylan Gabriel to start this game. Shutting down the run
completely didn't hurt. It didn't help Oregon that James got

(09:57):
hurt early in this game. It went out. I believe
they a also lost a receiver, had at least a
receiver dinged up in this game, one of their good
top wide receivers, but the buck Eyes jumped on him.
Agbuka scored on a forty two yard pass. It was
an absolute dime from Will Howard seven and a half
minutes into the first quarter, So halfway through the first

(10:19):
quarter as fourteen to nothing, and that pass even hit
the defensive back's hand and Agbuka made a one handed catch.
Unbelievable start for the Buckeyes.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Oh, without question. I mean it was as we said earlier,
I think it was just the way that they came
out with the Jeremiah Smith touched. I mean, like, let's
let's not ignore GC. I mean, like the very first
play g Scott down the sideline. I mean it was
they scored a touchdown a minute into the game. And

(10:52):
then as you as you said, Michael, the fact that
the defense was completely lights out against Oregon and the
next thing BUCA scores. That's kind of where I've I
will freely admit I've enjoyed the rewatch on the Big
Ten Network many times since since. And just the look

(11:13):
of just complete fulfuttlement by Dan Lanning about all right,
I don't know what to do, and because we're just
still in the first quarter and we are getting run
out of this stadium.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
You know, there's been rumblings that maybe Larry Johnson and
Jim Knowles haven't always been on the same page defensive
for Ohio State. This defense was amazing in every facet
of the game. And eight sacks against this offense, an
offense that has limited sacks the last few years. Just

(11:46):
an incredible performance. Buckeyes kept going, they kept the defensive
pressure up. They kicked the field goal early in the
second quarter to make it seventeen to nothing. Then they
had another pass Jeremiah Smith forty three yard pass twenty
four to nothing. And this this was the play chip
that I go, oh wow, busted coverage. And then I

(12:07):
watched the replay from the other angle and it wasn't
a busted coverage. It was the safety was supposed to
take Smith, and Smith made such a body lean and
headfake that it sent him five yards the wrong direction.
Smith cut back the other way and the play was over.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Yeah, I mean it was. I couldn't believe it watching
it at first, Like you said, you know, if anything,
if there would be a criticism of the Oregon defense,
maybe not necessarily a blown coverage, but the fact that
he got off a clean, clean break right from the
line of scrimmage, like there was no jam from you know,
from any cornerback, Like he got off clean and was racing,

(12:47):
and like you said, it was a you know, a
simple simple headfake that that that was all it took.
But yeah, I mean Jeremiah Smith, the game for all
intensive purposes was was over. I mean before the end
of the second quarter.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, so I made it twenty four to nothing. And
I will not to not to argue with you too much,
but not just a headfake from I mean, if you
watch the end zone look from that and you see
the body lean that Smith had to his left, that
is that is wide receiver play from like an NFL veteran.

(13:23):
That's not a play that a college freshman makes. That
kind of body lean to where your everything your body
is doing is telling that safety. Oh, he's definitely going
to the corner.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
Oh, certainly. I mean just the the NFL comparisons that
were being elicited to Julio Jones and uh, you know
the fact that I mean just in terms of like
his physical characteristics, the fact that Chris Fowler was saying,
he looks like, you know, like an NFL veteran wide
receiver out there, and he's only a college freshman.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
And he's you know, with the with with formations, with motion,
you can you can get opportunities to where they're not
jamming him, and even if they jam Smith, he's so
much bigger and more physical than most receivers, it's probably
not going to be that effective anyway. So anyway, twenty
four to nothing, and then one more touchdown on the
next drive, which is a one play drive with Travon

(14:13):
Henderson going sixty six yards to the house to make
it thirty one to nothing. And then at the end
of the second quarter, Jaden Fielding adds his second field
goal of the game. It's thirty four to nothing. And
then unfortunately, Oregon gets a touchdown on the very last
play of the half to stop the bleeding for them,

(14:36):
Trayshon Holden five yard touchdown passing the back of the
end zone. He's kind of forgotten about, but that that
play really shouldn't have happened. There was just a ridiculous
amount of holding, and I know that it's it just
sounds like sour grapes at this point, But if you
look at the statistics and you just go back and

(14:58):
look at at how long it's in Cince, Ohio state
defensive ends were held, it's it's not even possible to
believe it. It's not even possible to believe it. I
think Tony Gerdaman posted online how many snaps it had
been for Jack Sawyer since he'd last been held, and

(15:18):
nobody on the defense for Ohio State has been held
in ten straight games.

Speaker 3 (15:25):
Well, a few things before we get into the the holding,
which which obviously I completely agree with the Trevion Henderson
touchdown that his father dubbed a Crimson avalanche.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
So my response to that would be high tide. Then
Jaden Fielding is, in all fairness happy for him that,
you know, considering how rough everything was after the Michigan
game that he had those two field goals. You know,

(16:00):
the fact that he played well when called upon. Obviously
Ohio State would have scored, preferred to score touchdowns, but
the fact that he was able to score those those
field goals, you know, pretty much smack down the center,
you know, was good. And then to your point, which
I completely agree with, even uh mister sec Kirk Kurbstreet
was pointing out in the broadcast about oh Orion getting

(16:22):
away with holds on this. I'm not trying to guilt
you into this, but I'm guessing for like the grumpy
old butt guy column, you know, like a theme, you know,
like maybe for your article or you know, because again,
like you said, it's it's gonna be when you win
so convincingly, it's gonna be difficult to find things to

(16:43):
complain about. But that's a legitimate one. So again, it's
just a it's just a thought, you know, like if
you if you're, if you're if you're still contemplating, maybe
you already have your article written.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
So yeah, I wrote it and it ran. Uh, it
ran after the game at the end of last week,
so I won't I won't have him Monday column this week.
But okay, okay, yeah I ran already. But I did
have a mini rant about holding in the in this
week's second Grumpy Old Buck Eye of the Week actually
talked about the fact that it had been ten straight

(17:16):
games without an opponent being penalized for holding. In fact,
Ohio State has been penalized in two separate games this
year for offensive holding, more times than their opponents all
season have been penalized for offensive holding.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, I mean when Ohio State did get a holding
call on willcast Merrick for basically just okay, like a
great handcake block that he you know, later on in
the game. I mean, I could see how incredulous. Ryan
Day was. But yeah, I mean it's just the double
standard or the lack of standards, I should say, when

(17:53):
it was applied to Ohio State defensive linement and not
being able to, you know, get legitimate holding calls hauled
against their opponent. I mean it is a legitimate right.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
It's a it's a myth that this is the number
one defense in the country statistically, because it can't be
because they're not good enough to ever be held.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Very good point.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
I mean, they're so bad, they're so easy to block
that you never have to hold them. That's right, just
just ridiculous. It was Western Michigan and Michigan State were
penalty were flagged for offensive holding, and those penalties were
wiped out by fouls on Ohio State. The Western Michigan

(18:36):
holding penalty was offset by a very questionable Denzel Burke
targeting call you might remember, and the Spartans holding penalty
was nullified by a defensive holding on the same play.
So yeah, that offensive holding once officially penalized one time.

(18:57):
The Marshall game just unbelievable, like that is not they
There cannot be a single team in all of college
football that can match that that has only been held
one time all season. It's just I refuse to believe
that's the case. Anyway, I agree when you when you

(19:18):
let them play, what you're really doing is letting the
team with the inferior skills have an advantage on the
team that can just use their size and strength and
speed to beat you. But you know, we're not gonna
We're not going to solve this problem overnight, and I
don't think it's going away. I think this is just

(19:40):
just how it is with Ohio State. But anyway, a
thirty four to eight at halftime, and probably should have
been a shoutout at the half in fact that there
was a big play on third and very long that
Ohio State gave up that jump started that drive and
then Oregon came out of the second half, and Ryan
Day talked about it at halftime, how he won his
team to start fast and defense had to get a

(20:02):
stop and not allow any momentum. That didn't happen because
Oregon went down the field again, had to convert a
long third down. There was a very blatant hold on
the long pass and it ended up as being getting
down inside the five and Noah Whittington scored from two
yards out made it thirty four to fifteen, but then

(20:23):
order restored as Ohio State's defense clamped back down and
the offense scored. Trayvon Henderson from eight yards out made
it forty one to fifteen, and Holden scored a cosmetic
touchdown with ten minutes to play and just forty one
to twenty one, a complete utter domination. Like I said,
eight sacks in this game. I don't think we talked

(20:47):
about the score predictions. You and I both predicted Oregon
would win this game, and I think we messed this
up so badly. We can't even really say either of
us was closer than the other one because I had
lower scores and you had the higher scores, so you know,
they kind of cancel each other out.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
Like I said, I mean, the fact that Ohio State
was up twenty one nothing on the on the I
don't want to say unanimous, but it is I mean
pretty much across the board. Like, okay, the belief that
Oregon was the number one team in the country. I
mean as as you know, the fact that they had
gone undefeated in the regular season. Now granted, uh, you know,

(21:32):
Ohio State only lost to them by one point back
in October, which is why everyone, including you and I
were so highly anticipated, had highly anticipating this game. But
I mean, I sit here and freely admit never saw
this coming. Like I and I met. I referenced Urban
Meyer earlier Urban Meyer on the Big Ten Network. Afterwards,

(21:55):
sitting there with Kenyon Barner, former Oregon player, he really admitted, Okay,
he thought oh would win, but buy like a touchdown.
Nobody saw this coming. Nobody saw this kind of a
dominant performance coming.

Speaker 1 (22:09):
And I think that's why everybody's now thinking, oh wow, well,
there's got to be an excuse here. It's got to
be a reason for this. So the reason must be that,
you know, it's the long layoff or whatever it. Ultimately
it doesn't matter because everybody had to deal with the
rules the way they were and you can't do anything
about it but go out and play the game. So

(22:29):
Ohio State wins it, and we'll get to our picks
to click. Now, chip and this has never happened before,
but one of us had as their picks to click
the offensive and defensive players of the game. Yeah, that
would be That would be me. I had picked Cody
Simon and Jeremiah Smith. And obviously Jeremiah Smith is a

(22:53):
you know, a pretty good, pretty good decision anytime. And
Cody Simon, you can't say enough about his game. He
was amazing in this game. Tyler Williams was on fire.
Both defensive ends played well. I think especially Jack Sawyer
in this game. If he wasn't sacking the quarterback, he
was knocking passes down he was, he would have been
an amazing pick. You picked Caleb Downs, he clicked. He

(23:16):
had a great game as well. You know, he was
the guy who was kind of charged with kind of
locking down the middle of the field. And I really
feel like Dylan Gabriel had a lot of problems finding
receivers in this game.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
Yeah, I mean at one point, Caleb Downs, you know,
just Dylan Gabriel. I want a vivid memory of this
game for me, is Dylan Gabriel early in the game,
or they were already down, Dylan Gabriel moving to his left,
fired a pass to the sideline that Caleb Downs batted away.

(23:51):
And Trey Shawn Holden you saw him get so frustrated
and like kind of like grab his helmet and frustration
on this and they showed him on the sideline like
not that he wasn't. I don't think Holden was angry
at Caleb Downs. He was just frank just the frustration
of I can't believe, like we can't get anything going. Yeah,
you know, like Caleb Downs just that you know, that

(24:14):
back and forth, like the ability to kind of I
don't want to say that he freelances, because that would be,
you know, insulting too much. I'm I basically believe he
just has just such tremendous recognition and athletic ability to
be able to get to where the play is happening.
I mean, he's a surefire tackler, his coverage, the fact

(24:35):
that he was batting away passes, I mean yeah, I
mean Caleb Downs has definitely been everything that I hope
for when he came to Ohio State last year after
Nick Saban's retirement.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
Only had three tackles in the game, but he also
had three passes defense. On another day, he might have
had three interceptions because he got his hands on all
three of those.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
I think he reminds me of a position that pretty much,
I think a lot of teams still use the position.
Don't ever call it this anymore. I believe it was
Sonny Gordon that was the guy at this position years ago.
Rover he was kind of packing Rover.

Speaker 2 (25:16):
M Yeah. He reminds me I realized, completely different team.
But I've heard the comparisons Detroit Polamalu and I'm not
saying that that's bad. I just think of Ed Reid
when I see him just kind of flying around just
I mean, being disruptive. I mean, to be compared to

(25:38):
either of them is fine. But I yeah, I definitely
say that that roverback position that you know, like you said,
you don't hear it often enough, but I mean he
certainly has demonstrated, I mean, just being just in complete
control of that Ohio State defense. In the secondary, we.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
Didn't go four for four though a Carnel tape one
catch for ten yards didn't quite make it to the
click area, but pretty good. Three out of fours pretty good,
and just looking at the stats real quick, Traveon Henderson
had ninety four yards and two touchdowns on eight carries.
He averaged eleven point eight yards. And it's been pretty
clear for the last four or five games that Travon

(26:20):
Henderson has a little more juice. It's a little concerning
that he doesn't get more carries. Quinn Chawn Judkins carried
the ball seventeen times for eighty five yards. He averaged
five yards, which is fine, But maybe if you've got
a guy averaging double digits, maybe you just never stopped
giving him the ball until they prove they can stop him.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, I think that they just kind of I think
that the High State coaching staff, it might be a
matter of all right, just making sure that each guy
is still fresh, that they you know, that the rotation,
I'm not disagreeing that. I think Traveon Henderson seems to
have certainly, as evidenced by that long touchdown run, his

(27:04):
acceleration and explosive speed in the open field, that I
think that they've kind of realized, like, Okay, we're going
to use them both, And you know, maybe it's a
matter of what they believe, like the player who for
certain situations we're going to run between the tackles, they
want to use Judkins and maybe more for on the
peripheral with Henderson. But yeah, I mean it's I just know,

(27:30):
as an Ohio State fan, I'm happy to see that
they are using their running game creatively and obviously, the
results speak for themselves on the field.

Speaker 1 (27:39):
Yeah, average five point eight yards per carry as a team.
I'm not asking them to give Tray the ball thirty times.
I'm just saying maybe instead of seventeen eight, maybe that's
like a fourteen to twelve or something like that. Sure,
Will Howard went seventeen of twenty six, three hundred and
nineteen yards, three touchdowns, no picks, was not sacked.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
Chip He's he certainly has elevated his game since the
Michigan game, I mean the Tennessee game. This game, I mean,
he's playing extremely well.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
Yeah, there was a lot of talk before this game
about how Jordan Birch didn't play the first time that
these teams met, and you know, he got a little
bit of a quarterback pressure early in this game, but
other than that really was not a factor.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
No.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
The and let's give credit to the offensive line. I
mean the way that you know that that they've responded
in the wake of you know, the you know, we're
going to be critical when they don't play well. We've
got to we've got to give them praise when they
do play well. The fact that, like you said, it's like, uh,
you know, we were just complimenting the running game, the

(28:52):
pass protection, all of that. It all starts up front.
You know, the fact that you know, even with it,
you know, like you don't have necessarily like the same
five because Luke Montgomery has been inserted in, you know,
in you know various ways, you know, at both left
and right guard. But they're playing extremely well against you know,

(29:14):
pretty good defensive linemen.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, that was that was a big question mark going
into this game, is how they're going to hold up
against the Ducks front four. And I thought they held
up really well. I think there was It wasn't perfect.
I know there was at least one tweet where I said,
Luke Montgomery's not going to want to see that in
the film room a play where he just absolutely got discarded.
But and Shibola had a couple of snaps like that

(29:39):
Josh Bryer did. But overall, when you look at the
whole game, you couldn't ask any more from them. They
opened up run holes and they gave Will Howard time
to do what I said, go seventeen of twenty six
without a pick, no sacks exactly, So good stuff from everybody.
The special teams played well. We had we had field

(30:01):
goals going in, we had kickoffs that were sailing out
the back of the end zone. It's a beautiful thing.
And then you know, like I said, defensive side of
the ball was amazing. In addition to Cody Simon's eleven
tack eleven tackles, two sacks, three TFLs, one pass breakup,
Lathan Ransom had seven tackles, a sack, a TfL. Jordan

(30:23):
Hancock had five tackles. Talked about Jack Sawyer only two tackles,
but there were two sacks, both tackles for loss, broke
up three passes.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Again, I mean, everyone's playing really at a high level
on that side of the ball.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
And had to do it while being held every single down.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
The fact that they got those eight sacks despite being
held again just a tribute to the talents and their tenacity.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
Two sacks also for two Molowhole and one for Kayden
Curry and know Ty Hamilton came close a bunch of times,
like Williams came close a bunch of times. They were
very disruptive and and even short yardage for Oregon was
very very difficult. So hats off to everybody and a complete,
complete victory over the Ducks.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yeah, I mean in Oregon, I realized that, you know
that it was a very disappointing end of the season
kind of in a way. You know, it's kind of
the fact that that there was no h Like you said,
the fact that they came into this with that long

(31:37):
layoff and probably thought, all right, we're gonna have a
we're gonna have a battle with a high state and
then we're gonna move on to the next game. And
the fact that it didn't even come remotely close to
happening has to be disappointing. But if I was an
Oregon fan, I'd be sitting there thinking, all right, we'll
be back. I mean, like the Dan Lanning has that team.

(31:58):
This is not in This is not meant to sound
like I'm taking shots at what you know Oregon used
to be. But you know it was pretty much like okay,
you know, like real fast offenses, and then when they
would play against the physical team, things would happen where
like they really couldn't cope. This Oregon team and this program,

(32:21):
I think is built more to be like a physical team.
That is obviously you know the fact that they won
the Big Ten Conference in their initial season the recruiting,
the transfer portal additions all that, I really do think
Oregon would be a likely playoff team next year, even
with a lot of the talent they're going to be
losing this coming off season.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
And speaking of losing talent, didn't take long for a
five star quarterback commit to enter the transfer portal for Oregon.
They had a guy they just signed and portal opened
and he's out of there.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
That's that's just I mean, if anything, I think that
that's just kind of, you know, one of these things
where by and large, who knows what what goes through
the minds of these young men. I know the first
name escapes me. I do know that the last name
is Sagapolo Telly. And the reason why I can say

(33:19):
that so confidently is because the defensive lineman that used
to play for the Cleveland Browns that for all I know,
they that that's how they could be related. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (33:30):
That.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Being said, I know that Oregon has a qualify a
quality backup by the name of Dante Moore, who previously
played for Chip Kelly at u c l A. Maybe
he just kind of during the Bowl prep kind of
started thinking, you know it looks like it's Dante Moore's
job to you know, to win. Who knows. But it

(33:53):
is kind of disconcerting to see somebody that signed in
December already entering their name in the in the transfer port.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
First name is Jaron. It's a hyphenated name. I've seen
some people just call them Giron and other people call
them Jiron, Keyway, kiahwe Sagapolitelly. But and that's not just
suggest that Oregon doesn't have outstanding recruiting anyway, even without
this kid. But you're right, Dan Lanning's got this team

(34:22):
go in the right direction, doing the right things for
sustained success. I expect them to be challengers for your
succume and they will always recruit well because they got money.
You got it, all right. Well, plenty of other things
to talk about, Chip, including the other Big Ten schools,
not just in the College Football playoffs but throughout the bulls.

(34:43):
And we've got some Ohio State news, and of course
we've got to get to our preview because Ohio State
will next play Texas in let me check my notes Texas.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Yeah, well that's unfortunate, but this is the nature of
how everything was set off.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Yeah, it's the nature of how everything was set up
was that Ohio State would have the toughest road through
and that includes venues. So we'll talk about those things
right after this and Chip, we are back and let's

(35:23):
hit some news before we get to our Texas preview.
And one of those pieces of news. First of all,
just one other note from the game, and that is
that Jeremiah Smith I was remiss in pointing out the
fact that he set another record because he now in

(35:45):
that game had one hundred and eighty seven receiving yards.
That's an Ohio State freshman record.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Yeah, and what was great about that that game not
only the performance by Jeremiah Smith, the fact that Chris
Carter arguably, you know, like the greatest wide receiver in
Ohio State. I mean, it's going to be it's gonna
be difficult to kind of, you know, the way that
everything has been going with wide receivers over the last

(36:12):
several years to kind of say who who is the
best wide receiver. Jeremiah Smith is certainly going to be
in the conversation if he continues on the pace that
he is, but Chris Carter being there to witness Jeremiah
Smith's performance I thought was tremendous.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
Yeah, Carter was a tremendous freshman wide receiver, as evidenced
by all his previous records. Yes, and you know, you're right,
it's been an embarrassment of riches. It's you know, it's like, oh,
who who's going to be better than Chris all of it? Okay? Well,
then who's going to be better than Garrett Wilson? All right,
no one will be better than him? Oh maybe Jackson
Smith and Jergy Okay, I can't get any better in this. Oh,

(36:50):
Marvin Harrison Junior is definitely better. But that's that's it.
That's the absolute ceiling. Okay, Jeremiah Smith might be the ceiling.
At some point, we're going to at the ceiling, right, you.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Got to think so, But I mean it's right now.
I think Jeremiah Smith is one of these guys that
everything that I've seen so far is like he's in
a category all by himself that it's it's going to
be unfair for future incoming freshman, you know, or you
know to okay, like, well, this guy has the potential

(37:25):
to be as good as Jeremih Smith. Don't put that
kind of a burden on any young man, because I
mean Jeremiah Smith. The fact that I mean, I I
the reason I'm kind of stammering over this is that,
you know, we always joke about the fact that, like
when it comes to recruiting, we don't really like follow
it as intensely as other sites do. And you know,

(37:46):
it's one of these things where all right, it's it's
quite common for you know, hyperbolic statements to be coming
out about all this guy is going to be this,
and then all right, you know, well what happened, you know,
like it did the person and didn't live up to
the hype, and it's not really fair to the player.
And it's like, well, when you think about Jeremiah Smith,
the hype was completely justified. I mean, if anything, you know,

(38:10):
like it started almost immediately as soon as he was
on campus, and he has done nothing to discourage fan
anticipation about like what was he going to do next?

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Yeah, we and we talked about this. We thought, well,
Jack Saware is going to be the next Joey Bosa.
That's unfair to say, and he hasn't been. But in
this case, yeah, Jeremiah has been every bit as good
as everybody else before him. It's gotten to the points
tip where I don't even I don't even think about
kJ Hill as one of the all time greats anymore,
which is ludicrous.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
Right, I Mean, it's just again, it's just one of
these things where you know, we just have to kind
of enjoy what we're seeing, yeah, you know, and not
be in such in such a rush to compare and
contrast players with like who preceded them or you know,
where they possibly stand in relation to like all time greats,

(39:07):
you know, like I think Jeremiah Smith, like I said,
the fact that he's you know, continually turning heads in
a positive fashion as a freshman, I think is just
something that I'm trying to make myself remind myself to
enjoy it while I have it.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
Yeah, speaking of records, Chip, Travon Henderson's sixty six yard
touchdown run was an Ohio State roseball record as well.

Speaker 2 (39:31):
I did not know that.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Yep. So good for those two individuals for setting some
records for a school that's been playing football for over
one hundred years. Yeah, amazing, all right, more news, Chip,
the game was watched by twenty one point one million people,
and that is the most watched non NFL sporting event

(39:53):
since last year's college football playoff final, So a lot
of people were interested in this game, thinking it was
going to be a really good one, and then Ohio
State said we're going to make sure it's not.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Yeah, I think, I mean, we kind of talked about
this before, like this was I mean, when when looking
at the brackets, it was kind of like, okay, you
know they had at Ohio State Oregon rematch. How good,
how great of a game it was in the regular season.
You know, the fact that I'll just say it, the
fact that it kicked off at five pm Eastern, you know,

(40:24):
in Ohio State's always always a big draw no matter
what time of day that they played. But the fact
that they were playing at a good time, considering the
fact that, you know, just the way that the calendar
fell this year, you know, with January first, you know,
being a Wednesday, and people having to go back to
work on the second. Speaking for myself, you know, it's like, okay,

(40:47):
like it was, it was an ideal time to be
able to watch that game. So yeah, I'm not surprised
that the ratings were high for what was a highly
anticipated rematch, and.

Speaker 1 (41:00):
As it turned out it was the last game of
the night.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Unfortunately. Yes, you know, like I'm you know, if anything,
I know, we'll talk about the Notre Dame Georgia game
here in a little bit. But the fact that, you know,
safety is always should be a foremost concern, and I
was happy to see that the authorities were treating that
situation with the urgency that it that it that it

(41:27):
required and necessitated.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah, it's a little aggravating for me because it started
early the next day and I will, I know, I know,
all right, more news. My point was twenty one point
one million. That's a lot of people, a lot of
people oh yeah in this game, and a lot of
people pointed to this game as maybe a de facto
national championship. You can't really look at it that way.
There are two games left to play if you're going

(41:50):
to win a title, and as as Ryan Day said,
there's a lot of football left exactly. All right, let's
go to the scoreboard to check out the other college
football games since you and I last met that involved
the Big Ten and that started on Monday the thirtieth,
because we recorded on Sunday night, so Monday the thirtieth,

(42:11):
we talked about Iowa Missouri, and I didn't think Iowa
would be able to hang with Missouri. They not only
hung with Missouri, they led after the first quarter and
after the second quarter and after the third quarter, but
in the end they lose twenty seven to twenty four.
I really surprised Iowa was able to put twenty four
points on the Missouri defense. So I think that again,

(42:32):
maybe that just speaks highly about where the Big Ten
is in relation to the SEC.

Speaker 2 (42:40):
Yeah, I mean, it was just kind of a puzzling
way to end the game. I mean, I mean, I
want to give credit to Missouri. I mean, they won,
but in the final few moments of the game that
you know, Iowa was down and Kirk Farrens decided to
punt the ball and then they got the ball back
and then a fourth down play that it just still

(43:02):
has everyone kind of wondering, like, really, that's the best
you could do, like to try and to get the
first down, and you know, so that's how Iowa lost
that game. But yeah, I think you know, Iowa is
one of those teams that Kirk Ferrens always has Iowa
well positioned within the Big Ten. It's just if they
could just figure out what they want to do offensively

(43:24):
and be consistent about it. You know, maybe they could
be even better.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
All right, let's talk about some bowl games. On the
thirty first New Year's Eve, as Washington played against Louisville
in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, Louisville had a
couple of touchdown lead in the second half of this game.
Washington storm back and went for two and didn't get it,
losing thirty five thirty four. So credit the Huskies for

(43:51):
getting back in that and wanting to get the win.
I will never be the guy that doesn't kick the
extra point and go and take my chances with that
momentum in overtime.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
Yeah, I guess so. I just to me, I think
the bowl games nowadays, maybe I'm wrong with opt outs,
with you know, a lot of the you know, it's
just one of these things where I think, I think
the coaching, you know, considering the playoff, the playoff is
going to be kind of like the pre eminent thing

(44:22):
that the bowl games are going to become secondary. I think. So.
I think it's one of these things where rather than
all right, let's you know, kind of what we saw
with Pitt and Toledo. You know, it's like all right,
like going into overtime, you know, like and it seemingly
never ended. I think coaches are going to probably be
more like Jetfish and be like, hey, let's try and

(44:43):
win this and get out of here.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
Yeah. I'm not saying don't try to win it. I'm
saying I don't go for two until I have to
go for two. That's basically what I'm saying. And I
think that that can work. But to satistically, not going
for two unless you have to have to works pretty well.
So anyway, kudos to them for making that a game.

(45:09):
I didn't know how that game was going to go,
and it ended up being. There have been a lot
of really really great bowl games, and that ended up
being one of them. We've been fortunate, in this era
of opt outs and transfer portals that so many of
these games have been so good.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
Chip exactly exactly, especially on New Year's Eve.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
So jed Fish goes to a bowl game in the
Big Ten and doesn't quite get it done. Illinois, though,
took care of South Carolina, one of the teams that
people said maybe was deserving being in the College Football
Playoff over a team like Indiana but couldn't get past
the Alini and this game ends twenty one to seventeen

(45:48):
fighting a line I win. And for me, the most
entertaining bit of any of these bowl games was watching
South Carolina's coach Shane Biemer come absolutely unglued at Brett Bailima.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know how much I mean
that was performative theater. I mean again, I think South
Carolina for you know, for all these teams that were
I'm just gonna say, whining about not getting in the
college football playoffs, they didn't represent themselves well South Carolina.

(46:25):
I mean, I I think Illinois. You know, say what
you will about Brett Bielima and wins. Guy wins ten wins,
best coaching job outside of Kurt Signetti, and probably under
appreciated by the national media in terms of the fact
this is the first time Illinois has won ten games

(46:47):
since two thousand and one. So, you know, considering, I
truly thought at the beginning of the twenty twenty four
season Illinois would be lucky to be Bowl eligible. The
fact that they got to ten wins, you know, I think,
if anything, that's a credit to Bela one.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
Yeah, and We talked about how he would be a
good fit at Illinois when he got hired there, and
I think that has borne out and I don't expect
them to change. I expect that Illinois will be in
that eight to ten win range every year. That's good. Yeah,
I see them now. So anyway, they beat the Mighty
SEC team had to head in the cheese at Bowl.

(47:25):
I just weep when I think of the waste of
all those cheese. It's getting dumped over feeling his head
that I could have been eating anyway. Entertaining game, and
Illinois wins it to finish at ten and three. Washington
finished at six and seven. Chip. I did not think
Alabama would absolutely blow it against Michigan, but that's what happened.

(47:46):
In Michigan team that hardly threw the ball beats Alabama
nineteen thirteen in the Relijah Quest Bowl and scored sixteen
of their nineteen points in the first quarter. And Alabama
just had nothing in this game. They they I don't
know if they didn't want to be there that I'm

(48:06):
certain that they'll they'll sort of spin it that way,
but the fact of the matter is they couldn't be
an eight and five Michigan team. So don't tell me
they belonged in the playoff ahead of Indiana.

Speaker 2 (48:17):
Oh, that's exactly, That's exactly it. I mean, that's the typical,
the typical Alabama response, going back to Nick Saban, whenever
they would get beaten in a bowl game. You know,
that wasn't in the playoffs. It's like, oh, like we
have guys that didn't want to be here. I mean,
just the amount of excuse making and like I said,
whining from the SEC. It was to me, that was

(48:40):
I will say that was gratifying that Michigan. Let's give
credit to the fact that you're right that Michigan capitalized
on Alabama mistakes converted into points very early. Michigan had
a lot of players opt out. They had you know,
Kloma mullings are they're their top uh, you know, running back,

(49:02):
both both their top running backs out. The fact that
Polsta Loveland declared for the NFL draft, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant,
so Will Johnson, you know, all these all these top
players on their team and they still were able to
Now it wasn't pretty, but they were able to defeat
this team. And personally, I mean, I'm sure that he

(49:25):
is getting advice that he perceives as good. But Jalen
Milroe declaring for the NFL draft is a perplexing one
because I certainly did not see anything worthy of a
high NFL draft choice by his performance against the Wolverines.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
Well, I mean, Anthony Richardson went high, so it's not
a big year for quarterbacks, so this is a good
year to come out. That's why I was really surprised
that kid, uh that Klubnick from Clemson didn't go out,
because I feel like he might have been one of
the top guys to be taken.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
All I know is if you're looking for a quarterback
and the Cleveland Browns are one of those teams, you
better not draft one early because you're just going to
be drafting another one early in a couple of years
because there is nothing really to get excited about.

Speaker 1 (50:10):
Yeah, all right. The big game everybody was watching on
New Year's Eve was the college football the first of
the college football Quarterfinals, and that was Penn State against
Boise State. Boise State got the bye and Boise State
is bye bye as the Broncos. As you and I
kind of suspected, they weren't going to be able to

(50:32):
handle the physicality of Penn State. They could not. Kitron
Allen ran for one hundred and thirty four yards. Both
Penn State running backs played well and ran well in
this game. And you know, it didn't help that they had,
you know, a good running back. That Boise State had
a good running back and a good quarterback. And I
think they acquitted themselves well in that game. But even

(50:53):
with Abdul Carter missing most of that game, it just
was no challenge. Boise State ever posed a real threat
for Penn State. Madison Matt Maddox Madson threw three interceptions
in the game, did throw for three hundred four yards,
and Ashton Johnty did get one hundred yards one hundred

(51:13):
and four. You and I think I talked about how
he might break a couple of decent runs, but I
didn't expect him to run all over Penn State. And
that's kind of how it borne out.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Yeah, Penn State, if anything, I think that they I mean,
it was it was only you know, let's just say,
you know, like Penn State was up late in the
fourth quarter and then it just seemed as though, like
all of a sudden, like the light clicked on that. Okay,
let's just run the ball and wear these guys down.

(51:45):
And another thing, like a side topic more Lewis Riddick please,
as a as a commentator, thought that he did a
tremendous job. I thought, I mean, that's exactly you know,
I thought, just the way he was diagnosing the play
that we were seeing on the field. So anyway, Yeah,

(52:07):
Penn State, I think, you know, I think that their
formula is to run the ball and run the ball
and run the ball some more and you know, and
not try to, you know, overcomplicate things.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
Yeah, they didn't need to throw the ball a lot
in this game, and they didn't do it well. Drew
Aller was only thirteen of twenty five.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
Yeah, I you know, you were just talking about quarterbacks
and I realize, you know, we're we're Ohio State centric.
I have not seen I've seen people say, oh, like
Drew Aller might reconsider and come out for the NFL Draft. Again,
don't do it. Don't do it, You're not ready. Would
be a horrible mistake. But yeah, Drew Aller, I think

(52:47):
he needs this. He needs to stay at Penn State
and trying and certainly get better with the passing game
because you know, so far, I have not seen what
all the hype is about.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
Out Yeah, and he won't have Tyler Warren, who had
six of his thirteen completions and two of his three touchdowns,
did throw for three touchdowns no interceptions, which is good
but not a good completion percentage. And it did take
James Franklin a while to realize, like kind of like
Ohio State in the Big Ten title game against Northwestern

(53:23):
a few years ago, if we just keep running the ball,
they can't stop us.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Yeah, I mean that. If anything, I think k Tron Allen,
you know, we talk about like the differences between you know,
like Ohio State with you know, Henderson and Judkins. You know,
like Kateron Allen is definitely like that more physical. That's
not to disparage Nick Singleton is a running back, but
I think Kateron Allen is definitely the guy that wears

(53:48):
down the opposing defense.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Yeah, and Singleton had eighty seven yards and a touchdown.
He had a big day too, So they could just
run it will if they wanted to. And maybe there
were on some things for the next round, but that
puts by my count, Chip two two Big ten teams
in the in the semifinals.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
All right, let's move on past New Year's Eve, go
to New Year's Day. We've already talked about Ohio State Oregon.
Let's talk about Texas and Arizona State, the other college
football playoff game. Uh before we continue on with the
Big Ten. But Texas wins this in overtime, thirty nine

(54:32):
to thirty one. And honestly, this game should have been
done and dusted. Texas could not put Arizona State away.
Jumped on them early. They had a seventeenth three lead
at the half. Arizona State got five points. That's not
a that's the that's absolutely correct, five points in the
third quarter, and it was then seventeen to eight entering

(54:54):
the fourth quarter. Texas got a touchdown the fourth quarter,
Arizona State puts sixteen on the board, force overtime stopped.
Texas got the ball back chip And I don't know
what it is about SEC teams in college football playoff games,
but until they rip someone's head completely off with the
crown of their helmet, there's just seemingly no way to

(55:17):
call them for targeting that.

Speaker 2 (55:20):
It was blatant, the fact that even ESPN, their rules
analysts thought for sure that that was going to be
called targeting and it wasn't. It's just to me, I mean,
you're you're more of the international soccer guy. This this.
I think it's a legitimate concern. Player safety should always

(55:43):
be paramount. But the reason I'm talking about international soccer
like the idea of like instituting something comparable to like
the yellow card, red card something, because the way it's
being completely mismanaged and handled. I it's a disgrace to
the players and to the coaches, and you know, the

(56:04):
fans are just incredulous at whenever it is called because
there's just there's no consistency across the board.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
I saw referees tweeting out about how it met every
criteria of the rule and somehow still wasn't called on
the field or overturned on review. You had to launch,
you had a defenseless receiver, you had helmet to helmet contact.
You can debate what the crown is, but it was
certainly at least the forehead driving into the receiver, and

(56:34):
it was and it looked very much intentional. So every
part of that looked like the targeting, and that doesn't
necessarily win Arizona State the game, but it pushes them
into a long field goal range with plenty of time left.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Yeah, I mean, it just everything about I mean, if
I was an Arizona State fan, you know, it just
was the way that that all happened. I mean, Kelly
Kenny Dillingham's facial expression when he was told why it
wasn't targeting, I mean, I think it's well volumes.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
Yeah, it was a ludicrous no call, and it just
it just brought me back to that Ohio State Georgia
game when Marvin Harrison Junior got hit in the head
helmet first in the end zone and no call, and
that definitely impacted that game. So if you don't want
to make a call because you don't want to decide
the game with a penalty, you're still deciding the game exactly. Anyway.

(57:30):
Arizona State still could even should have won this game
in overtime after scoring first, and they had Texas in
a fourth and I believe it was a fourth and
twelve or fourth and thirteen on Texas's first overtime, and
an Arizona State defense that I quitted itself well all
day in its base defense for whatever reasonship. They brought
seven or eight guys on the blitz and Texas picked

(57:53):
it up, and you weres just threw right down the
middle and scored, and then they went on and win
in the second overtime. So I feel like Arizona State
really really made a mistake. I feel like in that situation,
you got to play back, keep everything in front of you,
and just play to prevent the thirteen yards and obviously

(58:13):
you're going to defend the en zone because you're going
to be starting deep. So I feel like that was
a massive mistake by the coaching staff.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
I would agree with that anyway.

Speaker 1 (58:22):
Arizona State did show that the sun Devils belonged to
They finish eleven and three Texas thirteen and two. Texas
is an SEC team now going into the semi finals.
They will be all alone from the SEC because Notre
Dame defeated Georgia twenty three to ten in a game
that honestly didn't feel that close.

Speaker 2 (58:41):
Sometimes no, I mean baything. I really respected the article
the day after by Bill Bender of the Sporting News
Who you know? He basically said, you know, Marcus Freeman,
a former player under Jim Trussell. This is the kind
of game that Jim trus also probably would have loved
to have had for himself because it was won by

(59:04):
great special teams, play by a strong running game, strong defense,
everything that you know. Ohio State kind of personified, you know,
when Marcus Hereeman was a player for Jim Tressel at
a highest state.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
Very tight game and Notre Dame took a big lead
because they scored seventeen points in a fifty four second
span that included the opening kickoff of the second half.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
Yeah, Like I said, strong special teams play.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
Very good defense too. I feel like they have. If
it's not Ohio State, then Notre Dame is the best
defense remaining in the college football playoffs.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
It's that's what's going to make the next round of
games that interesting because I think Penn State Notre Dame
both are strong defensively, both are strong running the ball.
So I think this is going to be a knockdown,
drag out fight in the in the Orange Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
Yeah, that's going to come down to quarterback. Which quarterback
makes more plays. Riley Leonard is not a great throwing
quarterback in this system, he doesn't seem to be, but
he makes plays with his legs, and he makes enough
plays with his arm that once he gets scrambling, he
you know, he creates problems for the defense. Do I
come up and try to try to stop him, or

(01:00:22):
do I maintain my coverage until I'm absolutely sure he's
beyond the line of scrimmage. You know, these things are,
these indecisions are what can change plays and change games.
So congrats to Marcus Freeman, and our condolences to Kirby
Smart because what an awful week his family had, not
only losing the game, which is way way behind everything

(01:00:44):
else to happen, obviously the terrorist attack that moved the game,
and then his father fell and had surgery and the
surgery was too much and he passed away.

Speaker 2 (01:00:55):
Yeah, my sincere condolences to the Smart fan. And you know,
like you said, we're a terrible way to begin twenty
twenty five, all.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Right, Chip. January third, the Duke's Mayo Bowl took place
at the annual most disgusting Bowl game of them all.
Minnesota played Virginia Tech and played Virginia Tech off the
field in the second quarter, went on to win twenty
four to ten, and Big Ten gets another win. Minnesota

(01:01:27):
finishes eight and five. And I believe getting a duke's
mayo bath after the game is some kind of violation
of the Geneva conventions. But that's what happened to PJ. Fleck,
and better him than me, I say, I'll say this much.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
PJ. Fleck took that. I mean he was all. I
deliberately stayed up to watch it. It was something to
be said, to be seen. You know the fact that
flavor Flave was was there for part of it. I mean,
it was everything that you know you can only hope for.

(01:02:03):
He I mean, he took it. I showed pictures of
it after the game to my wife and she became
almost physically ill just the thought of being housed in
that much mayonnaise.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
But yeah, I can relate.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
Yeah, it was. It was impressive. Say the least. He J. Fleck.
Say what you will about Minnesota. He does a great
job having his team prepared for bowl games. I think
that they they won pretty much every bowl game since
he became their head coach.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
Yep, good job, Minnesota. I think they've won nine straight
bowl games.

Speaker 2 (01:02:34):
Yeah, exactly, good job.

Speaker 1 (01:02:36):
Go first, all right, Jeff, that is all of the
Big Ten news, and let's turn our attention toward Ohio
State News. Just some quick transfer portal happenings. A couple
of more names in the portal since our last show.
A tight end slash fullback Patrick gerd is in the portal,
an offensive line with George Fitzpatrick into the portal as well.

(01:02:58):
I didn't realize George Fitzpatrick had been around as long
as he had, but he is gone as well. And
then we've got a couple that we've previously announced. We're
in the portal. Zen Mahowski will go to Indiana and
we'll see him again, and Jayden Bonds, who is going.

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
To pit And as we're recording this tonight, Mitchell Melton
has announced his intentions. So as we're recording this, no
idea in terms of, you know, obviously, when it comes
to you like Mitchell Melton or you know, I believe
like Zenma Hallski, you know, like in terms of all right,

(01:03:32):
are they gonna stay with Ohio State? You know through
the you know, through the playoffs. You know, no idea,
but best wishes to all of them as they made
their decisions that they think, you know, are in their
collective best interests, and thank you for everything they did
for their high state program.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if Zen Mahowsky is
ends up being a starter for the Hoosiers and facing
his old teammates.

Speaker 2 (01:03:57):
Well, that's the thing I mean, when it comes to
Zen some of the challenges that we saw when he
was called upon against you know, you know, in the
aftermath of Josh Simmons getting injured, Zen Mahaalsky didn't play

(01:04:18):
well against Nebraska and battled injury, you know, the remaining
remainder of the season. How much of this is just
he just decided he needed a fresh start. We'll see.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
Yeah, all right, Chip the Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl.
I think it's absolutely ludicrous that it was set up
so that if Texas got through, they'd get to play
basically a home game. I've lived in Texas for two years.
Nowhere near Dallas, nowhere near Austin, nowhere near any of
the major population centers. I can tell you. Ut is

(01:04:50):
is it? They are top dog throughout the state. So
it's gonna be a little rough going to the Cotton
Bowl and having to face basically a road environment. But
that's what Ohio State's got. They will also have to
face a Texas Longhorns defense that's second, I'm sorry, fourth
in the country in scoring defense, allowing fourteen and a

(01:05:11):
half points per game on average. That's only two point
four points below top ranked Ohio State.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Yeah, I mean it's going to be it's going to
be a challenge, But I think Ohio State, what they
have demonstrated in their first two games, I think that
they're up for it. I think if anything, you know,
nobody will be able to say that Ohio State, if
they come out of this game that they have not earned,
you know, they're legitimate spot in the National championship game,

(01:05:40):
you know, considering like you said, it's basically a home
game for Texas.

Speaker 1 (01:05:44):
They are also third in the country in yards per
game given up. That's total defense to seventy seven point seven.
Ohio States score racked up five hundred yards against Oregon's defense,
knocked Oregon down quite a few notches in the national
rankings for both scoring and the total defense. If you

(01:06:08):
were looking for some way that you can get at Texas,
they're fourteenth in the country in rushing defense. They are
averaging allowing one hundred and eleven and a half yards
per game on the rushing side, passing defense much better.
Good good defensive backs, pretty good pass rush. They're third
in the country, allowing just one hundred and sixty six

(01:06:29):
yards per game. The only two teams that are allowing
fewer passing yards per game the Buckeyes one fifty two
per game and Iowa State one sixty five per game.

Speaker 2 (01:06:40):
Yeah, I mean Ohio State, I think they have to obviously,
you know, whatever their game plan is. You know, I've
seen some things where people are kind of worried that
Ohio State's going to revert back to the dreadful Michigan
game plan. I'm not seeing that. I think they've they've
figured out. I'm not necesscessarily saying that it's going to

(01:07:01):
be down the field, but I think that they they
concluded that the best way to get their offense going
is by throwing the throwing the ball down the field,
even like in short passes. That's going to loosen up
the opposing defense and that's going to open up their
running game. So, like I said, I think Ohio State
when they go into this game against Texas, they're going

(01:07:22):
to they're going to be well prepared.

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Yeah. Texas is seventeenth in total offense, they are averaging
four hundred and forty three point nine yards per game.
That's that's quite a bit. Scoring offense not quite as high,
ranking wise twenty first in the country thirty four point
three points per game, which is is still very respectable. Obviously,

(01:07:46):
the Texas Longhorns running the football chip that's not where
Sark has been his strongest, and that's that's definitely the
case when it comes to running or passing as the
Texas Longhorns ranking sixty second sixty second in national rushing

(01:08:07):
offense just one hundred and sixty five yards per game.
So what you want to do is you want to
take away the pass because that's where Texas has been
making its money. Is the passing offense for Texas has
been quite good, fourteenth in the country, two hundred and
seventy eight yards per game. I did see some interesting
articles and Twitter threads about Quinn yours and his perceived weaknesses,

(01:08:34):
but I think it's easy to say he's got weaknesses
and harder obviously to defend him because look where Texas
has been all year.

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
Yeah, I definitely think Texas offensively from the limited times
that I have seen them, and in the interest of
pull disclosure is primarily this last game against Arizona State.
That Yeah, Texas, I mean they are predominantly a passing
team and will go. They will be as successful as

(01:09:03):
quin viewers will make them.

Speaker 1 (01:09:06):
Yeah, I'm I'm concerned about something. They got really good
size at wide receiver, good speed. Matthew Golden is their
stud nine hundred and thirty six yards and nine touchdowns
this year, and he is a guy that will he
will present some challenges for High states defensive backs.

Speaker 2 (01:09:24):
And what we've seen so from the last couple of
games from Ohio States defensive line, I think, you know,
if they can throw off the timing, make wers throw
the ball sooner than he would like that if anything,
that just helps the secondary, Like you know, in terms
of negating any advantages Texas may have with their wide receivers.

Speaker 1 (01:09:44):
From what I've been reading, what people are recommending is
actually making quin yours hold the ball longer because they're
they're saying that he has not been adept at if
his first read isn't there, being able to make a
play and to wait and be patient. He kind of
gets a little happy after he can't get to his

(01:10:04):
first his first read so you want to kind of
find that happy medium between taking away that first read
but not giving him too much time so that somebody
can break open down the field. They've got also tight
a very good tight end gunner, helm Isaiah Bond, Ryan Wingo,
and DeAndre Moore also very capable wide receivers. They've got one, two, three,

(01:10:25):
four guys who have five or more touchdown receptions this year.

Speaker 2 (01:10:29):
I would say that my scouting report on Fin Yewers
is that in terms of the passing, obviously, you know,
like you said, I would I think there's something to
be said about the fact that, Okay, if his first
read isn't there, then that might pose some challenges for him.
He's not gonna he's not going to terrorize you with

(01:10:52):
his legs, you know what I mean, Like he's I
mean in terms of that's not to say that he's
a complete statue, but I don't look at him in
the same vain as like somebody that could. All right,
you really have to worry about if the if the
play breaks down, that he's gonna be able to pick
up significant yardage with his legs. So you might be
onto something there that, all right, make him make him

(01:11:16):
work longer and that might just frustrate him and make
him throw into tighter coverage than he would prefer to do.

Speaker 1 (01:11:24):
Yeah, well, that's that's the hope. They've They've got a
thousand yard rusher, chip Quin Traveon Wizner one thousand and
eighteen yards, five touchdowns, they have a you know, they
have a decent run game, but as I mentioned before,
it's it's pretty far down, but their their run game
is obviously helped when they set up the run through

(01:11:45):
the pass. Okay, and then of course Quen yours we
know him well, he was former Buck Eye. He's uh.
He's thrown for three nine yards, twenty nine touchdowns, eleven interceptions,
He's completing sixty six point five percent of his pass
is very respectable. I know there's there are people who
believe that arch Manning may be the better quarterback, and

(01:12:06):
maybe that will prove to be true in the long run,
but they're not going to be We're not going to
be facing arch Manning. It might face him in a
couple of situational you know times when they might want
to get a different look or short yardage or something,
but we're going to be playing Quen yours.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
Yeah, I think I have no doubt that we'll see
arch manning in certain packages. But this team is going
to rise or fall on the on the success of
Quen you Weres throwing the ball.

Speaker 1 (01:12:37):
Absolutely, that's uh, that's what we're looking at. And it
will be interesting to see how his former teammates, uh
treat him on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:12:48):
I if anything, I mean, it was just kind of
that whole I don't want to call it saga, but
that whole situation was I mean, it was just I mean,
like he came in late, you know, and you know,
and then graduated early and was on the roster and
then uh, you know, he only had those three snaps

(01:13:10):
against Michigan State, and then then he was in the
transfer portal and he was going back to Texas where
he was originally verbally committed. So like the whole situation,
I always just kind of from a looking back, I
always thought it was strange. I like you said, what
kind of relationship he has or had with his former teammates.

(01:13:33):
You know, I think if anything, it's going to be
you know, I'm sure it'll be brought up in some
of the media interviews this coming week.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
Yeah, don't know, don't know what to expect, honestly, but
we'll see because j T two him all the while,
and Jack Sawyer and Tyler Williams and ty Hamilton and
Kayden Curry, those guys are going to be after him.
If they showed us anything this past week, it is

(01:14:02):
that they've really ratcheted up there getting getting to the
quarterback these last few games. And the eight sacks was
very impressive against Oregon. But I will tell you from
from having seen Texas a few times, I am very
impressed with their past protection on their offensive line. I
think that their offensive line is very good at protecting.

Speaker 2 (01:14:25):
If anything, it's now we're going to just see if
the High State defensive line can continue the impressive performance
they've had the last two games.

Speaker 1 (01:14:33):
Yeah, Because like even on this show, I've already mentioned
the fact that Arizona State sent a lot of guys
on that fourth down play and they got picked up
and it was not even uncomfortable in the least for Quinn.
You weres on their play, he was not rushed.

Speaker 2 (01:14:49):
Good point.

Speaker 1 (01:14:50):
So that's that's where we're at so Ohio State and
Texas and it's time, Chipped for us to do the
thing that we do, which is to make our decisions
who we're going to have as our picks to click
and also who we're going to have or sorry, who
we're going to have what we're going to pick for

(01:15:11):
our final score prediction. By the way, the stats don't
back up what my eyes have shown me in the
times I've seen text. They have Texas one hundred and
fourth in sacks allowed at to point two per game. Okay,
but again, this is just the games that I've seen.

(01:15:32):
I haven't seen a lot of a lot of pressure
on yours. So all right, last time out, you and
I selected our defensive players first, So now we're going
on offense. So it's a chance for you to take
the free card if you want. What do you got.

Speaker 2 (01:15:49):
Offensive I'm taking, and I'm taking it. I'll freely admit
I know that that's kind of cheap, but again, I
think kind of you know, think looking back to the
game against Oregon and you know the play that I'm
I'm thinking of, like it was in the first half
and sideline pass and he went up amongst three defenders

(01:16:13):
and you know, came down with the ball and like
there was an Oregon defender that thought Okay, you know,
you know, like this is a cause to celebrate, and
I don't know if he didn't realize that. No, Jeremiah
Smith did catch that ball.

Speaker 1 (01:16:24):
Yeah, he came down, he stood up and he started
doing the incomplete sign like yeah, well he caught that.
But he did get that buddy. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:16:32):
Yeah. So that's that's I'm taking Jeremiah Smith.

Speaker 1 (01:16:35):
I mean, I don't blame it. I called him on
New Year's Day during that Rose Bowl game. I said,
he is a cheat code that other cheat codes envy.

Speaker 2 (01:16:46):
Yes, that's a that's very good.

Speaker 1 (01:16:48):
I mean he's just win in doubt. Give him a chance.
That's that's never a bad play. If you if you
you got to have it, he's your best player. Put
it up there, let him go get it. So a
good move. I'm gonna take Travon Henderson as he continues
to show that he's got some pop. Now, he may

(01:17:09):
not get as many carries, but he typically has been
doing more with his carries than Judkins. But obviously complimentary players,
very complimentary good and one's good in between the tackles,
one's better outside the tackles, and Henderson has been has
been popping some runs the last down the stretch of
this season with basically everything except the Michigan game. So

(01:17:31):
I like Trayvon Henderson in this game. I thought about
taking Will Howard again as a you know, because we
don't typically necessarily take the quarterback. But that's because I
think we had a moratorium. We couldn't take c J. Stroud.
We kind of said that's just not fair because c J.
Stroud is great every week. But I feel like Will

(01:17:53):
Howard's been fantastic. So I'm going to take Travon Henderson anyway,
and I'll just go ahead and I'll take the free
space on defense take Caleb down. So what you got
on defense? Chip?

Speaker 2 (01:18:02):
All right? I realized what you said about Texas being
able to protect, but I'm going to go with the
guy that I think has been you know, like just emotionally,
you know, like the the heart and soul of the
defense last couple of games. I mean it with Jack Sawyer.
I think, you know, Jack Sawyer. We'll see if he's

(01:18:26):
able to come up with anywhere close to the kind
of game he's had the last two. But I think
Jack Sawyer is going to have a big game against Texas.

Speaker 1 (01:18:35):
Yeah, Jack is doing it. At the end of the
year like you did last year, and I thought about
taking him as well, because that's it's just he's just
been really, really solid. But Jack Sawyer, if you look
at his game splits this year and last year, you
kind of see a little bit of the same thing.
And oh, by the way, congratulations j T twoem Moliwile,

(01:18:57):
who became the first double digit sack getter for Ohio
State's defense since Chase Young a few years ago. But
Jack Sawyer is two within two of that number with eight.
But if you look at Jack's sacks splits or his
game log he had, He's got eight sacks this season, Chip,

(01:19:20):
and out of those eight, five of them have come
from the Indiana game on so the last four games.

Speaker 2 (01:19:29):
That's great.

Speaker 1 (01:19:30):
So five in the last four and he's got the
same number of tackles for loss. If you go back
to twenty twenty three, he finished with six and a
half sacks and had five of them in the last
three games. So Jack Sawyer finishes.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
Strong, Yes he does.

Speaker 1 (01:19:44):
So let's hope he's not finished in this game. And
I like the pick. So there you have it, our
picks to click. You've got Jeremiah Smith and Jack Sawyer.
I got Travon Henderson and Caleb Downs. I feel like
between the two of us, that's the start of a
pretty good college football team.

Speaker 2 (01:20:00):
Much so.

Speaker 1 (01:20:01):
All right, it's prediction time, Chip. What is going to
be on the scoreboard Friday night at the end of
the Cotton Bowl? What's what say you?

Speaker 2 (01:20:10):
I'm going to say Ohio State thirty one, Texas twenty.

Speaker 1 (01:20:13):
One, thirty one twenty one for Chip. All Right, I
am very torn on this game. I will say that
I don't think Ryan Day has put a foot wrong
in the last two games. This is the kind of

(01:20:34):
game though, that bothers me. This could be a slugfest.
These are the kinds of games where Ryan Day has
not been at his best. It's also in Texas. I'm
a little bit. Maybe it's just me being gun shy.
Maybe it's me being pessimistic. Ryan Day's won two big
games in a row. Can he do three? Hmmm? I'm

(01:20:56):
going to say, and I hate doing it. I'm gonna
say Texas twenty seven to twenty four. I think it's
a close game throughout, and at the end of the game,
something stupid happens, whether it's a missed field goal or
an untimely turnover or a slide with no time left
on the clock. But I don't like the fact that

(01:21:19):
it feels like a true road game to me. Okay,
so hopefully I'm wrong and I get to eat some
more crow like I did this week and the week before.
I don't have a great track record of late, but
I think people can. I mean, you barely picked Ohio
State to beat Tennessee. They beat them badly. We both

(01:21:41):
picked Oregon. Ohio State beat Oregon badly. Maybe I'll be
wrong again.

Speaker 2 (01:21:47):
Yeah, I just think Ohio State. I'm not going to
go so far as Rob Aller the Columbus Dispatch by
saying that the loss to Michigan was what Ohio State needed,
but I will say that ever since then and again,
I would you know the internal meeting between the players

(01:22:10):
and coaches that has been confirmed that did get heated,
I think possibly even physical with certain circumstances. Whatever was
said and done, what it just seems like, Okay, the
coaching staff has figured out how to push all the
right buttons, so that's kind of you know. I'm going

(01:22:33):
to ride it until proven otherwise, because the last two
games have been some of the most dominant performances I've
ever seen from an Ohio State team.

Speaker 1 (01:22:41):
They haven't, They've been very dominant.

Speaker 2 (01:22:42):
I am.

Speaker 1 (01:22:43):
I'm really interested in this game, in this matchup, the
Steve Circasian versus Chip Kelly matchup, to me, is is
where this game is going to be won or lost,
because I feel like whichever team figures out how to
be successful against the others very good defense, that's the
team that's gonna have the edge in this game. Because

(01:23:03):
I feel like these I think these teams are not
so far apart in terms of talent level, and Ohio
State has the is the sports car and Texas is
the is the big SUV. I don't know which one's

(01:23:23):
going to win the battle because I don't know if
it's going to be a race, you know, speed race
or it's an endurance race.

Speaker 2 (01:23:31):
Oh good point. You know. If anything, I think Texas,
you know, the fact that the way that they lost
to Georgia twice, the fact that they allowed Arizona State
to come back, I'd be you know, again, if anything,
I don't think Ohio State is coming into this overconfident,

(01:23:52):
but I would I would think that just based on
their performances in Ohio State. They're they're kind of just
well equipped for this. And the fact that ever since
that Michigan lost, I think that Ryan Day has been
pushing all the right buttons behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 (01:24:05):
I hope he keeps pushing them. I just again, maybe
I'm just scared. I'm just nervous by nature. But I
do I do hear what you're saying. Texas has been
in some close games. High State hasn't been in close
games or adversity in this postseason, and that's another thing
that kind of bothers me. Also, Texas gets to play

(01:24:28):
the nobody. Nobody believed in US card as now everybody
is like even when Ohio State was a favorite over Oregon,
I don't think that a lot of people bought that
they were really a favorite. And I don't know that
they necessarily bought into that. They just went out and
did their job. And when when I saw Texas was

(01:24:52):
a six point underdog in this, I was like, I mean,
I get it, because you see what Ohio State's done
to Tennessee and Oregon. But this is a better defense
and a more inventive offense and bigger playmakers at Ohio State.
Has had some size advantages in the last two games
that they're not going to have in this game.

Speaker 2 (01:25:11):
Exactly. Like I said, I think it should be a
great game. I think this one will be like I
said with my score prediction, I think it'll be definitely
into the fourth quarter, unlike what we've seen the previous two.

Speaker 1 (01:25:24):
All right, Chip, well, you and I will come back
next week. We'll talk about this. Hopefully we will have
one more.

Speaker 2 (01:25:29):
To talk about exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:25:32):
So with that, unless there's anything else you want to
talk about, I think we're done, all right.

Speaker 2 (01:25:39):
Looking forward to Friday night.

Speaker 1 (01:25:40):
All right? Where can people find you and your fine
work on the internet.

Speaker 2 (01:25:45):
I can be found on Twitter at Chipminik. Last name
spelled m I N N I C H. And I'm
also a contributor to Buckeye Huddle. Considering just the hype
for this game. There should be an article probably Thursday
or Friday. I'm just not sure what day it will
be published.

Speaker 1 (01:26:04):
All right. You can find me on Twitter as well
at Mike thirty six fan. You can also find me
at Landgrant Holyland dot com. And that is where I
write and it's my columns usually fall on Monday, but
because of the game. They didn't want to hold my
grumpy old Buckeye column until Monday. That would have been
a long long wait from a Wednesday game, so it

(01:26:26):
ran I think Thursday afternoon, late afternoon Thursday. So if
you want to see my thoughts, what my thoughts were
on the win over Oregon and how I nitpicked a
twenty point win over the number one team in the country,
we'll just remember every Rose Bowl has its thorns. You
can go see what I wrote on Land Grant Holyland
dot com. You can also follow the Silver Bullets Podcast
on Twitter at silver Bullets Pod. With no E in

(01:26:49):
Silver Si l v R Bullets Pod, as that is
one just one too many characters. We can't get that
other E in there, but we do have the E
silver in our email address silver Bulletspod at gmail dot com.
We'd love to hear from you. Please reach out. We'd
happy to answer any questions you might have on our
next show. So with that said, everybody go and enjoy

(01:27:12):
Friday's game, enjoy a little bit more college football before
we're done. More college football playoffs than we've ever had
before starts this week. The Penn State game against Notre
Dame is Thursday night, so we'll all have an eye
on that, and of course Ohio State and Texas on Friday,
and then we'll see, we'll see who's going to play
for the national championship. Looking forward to it, all right,

(01:27:36):
Thanks Chip, and thanks to all our listeners. The only
thing left for us to do at the end of
this is what we always do, and that is to say,
go Bucks, Go Bucks.

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