Curt Cignetti to Penn St?

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello, everybody, Welcome into the Triple Threat Show. I am
your host, Jeremy Lapedis. Today is a beautiful Tuesday, October fourteenth.
We have a lot to get into a wild weekend
and football will of course go over our big questions,
our big takeaways. Halfway through the college football season. Lots

(00:34):
of questions will go over the college football playoffs or
how I have it right now. We'll also go over
our Top twenty five, as we do each and every
single Tuesday. We have NFL questions as well. The first
coach to be fired over there, Brian Callahan out in Tennessee,
as well as James Franklin out at Penn State. We'll

(00:55):
talk about all of that. We'll even throw in a
little bit of baseball as the playoffs hit the time
Championship Series thanks to a fifteen inning classic, a marathon
of a game between the Tigers and the Mariners that
saw the Mariners advance. Now the Mariners a two to
zero lead in the Championship Series, as they seem like

(01:15):
a team of destiny right now. But we'll get into
all of that later. Let's start off with college football,
just like we do every single week, we have college
football questions. There's questions every single time, but the questions
right now I'm gonna start off with are surrounding Penn State.
You saw the thumbnail, you saw the little question we

(01:38):
put on our little football over there. It's a lot
of what's going to happen around Kurt Signetti, around Indiana
and around Penn State. So let's break those games down
a little bit. Indiana gets their biggest win in probably
school history, the second time they've ever beaten a Top

(02:00):
five opponent, the first time they've ever done it on
the road, the first time they've done it in forty
six matchups. They dominated that game start to finish. Kurt Signetti,
as he said when he was hired at Indiana, google him.
He does nothing but win. He started his career with
Nick Saban as an assistant coach. He moved to East Carolina,
went one over there, established them as one of the

(02:21):
better group of five programs. Goes to James Madison, gets
them into the FBS, has them winning Top twenty fives
year in year out, brings his James Madison squad the
top guys over to Indiana, gets the Indiana money, the
Big ten boosters the attention and the big size of Indiana,
and you turn this team into playoffs year one and

(02:43):
now a top three team in all of college football
according to the Ape Pole. Now we'll go over where
I have them at, but the questions today largely surround
Indiana and specifically Kurtzignetty, So we'll start with Indiana as
a whole. Like I said, they get that first massive win,
massive win for them, their first big win over a
program in the top five in over forty six seasons,

(03:06):
forty six years. Their second time ever beating a top
five ranked program. You have to go back to like
the nineteen forties for something like that, which is crazy.
Obviously I'm exaggerating a little bit, but they dominated that game.
They really did. Fernanda Mendoza looks really good. They shut
down Oregon, They controlled the line of scrimmage, They had

(03:28):
the offensive and defensive lines taken care of. They were
just dominant on each and every front in that game.
And despite the game only being a ten point win
for them thirty to twenty, they should have won that
game by at least thirty by the way they were playing.
They were dominant again in the trenches, and that's the
most important part. You have to control the trenches. If

(03:49):
you can do that, you can run the ball, and
we saw Indiana do that Offensively, you can get pressure
on the quarterbacks and forced mistakes two interceptions late in
the game. Oregan only scored thirteen points offensive There was
a pick six thrown by Mendoza. So this game looks
a lot closer on the box score than it did
when you were watching it. That was a dominant performance
from Indiana. So my question about Indiana are they true

(04:12):
title contenders? Well, let's take a look at this. Right,
Generally we assume that the title is going to go
through the Big Ten or the SEC, and I think
Indiana's absolutely entered that conversation to be one of the
top dogs in the Big Ten. You look at what's
happened around the Big Ten, right Michigan's having another down year.
They lose yet another game, this time to usc. We

(04:34):
just saw Penn State to lose to UCLA and Northwestern
in back to back weets and fire their head coach,
James Franklin. It's just Ohio State ahead of them, that's
the only one. Indiana most likely is going to run
the table and they're probably going to find themselves in
a championship game against Ohio State that's going to decide,

(04:54):
in all honesty, potentially the one seed in the college
football player. So that's where we're talking. So Indiana absolutely
is a title threat. We just need to see Kurt
Signetti show up at the end of seasons in these
big games. He has a habit of every once in
a while getting a little too conservative with his play calls,
trying to win these games, just not make mistakes, and

(05:16):
that can lead them to make more mistakes than they
usually do Kurt Signetti's teams. But that is just a
big what if scenario. Right now, we're still talking about
are they title contenders? And absolutely I put them as
a real title threat in college football. It runs through
Bloomington right now. They might even be the best best
team in the Big Ten. There's a real discussion between

(05:38):
them and Ohio State, but that Ohio State defense is legit,
so that's something to keep an eye on. The other
question surrounding them has to do with their coach. We
talked about Kurt Signetti his history, how he just continues
to win everywhere that he goes, But there's another opening
out there. Another massive program has an opening, and that

(05:59):
is Penn date. They just move off of James Franklin again.
They lose to Ucla, they lose to Northwestern. That is
two big losses back to back. After they take down Oregon,
a team that Indiana just dispatched. That one had to
go to double overtime. Excuse me, they lost to Oregon.
So that's three straight losses to them. They're out of
the top twenty five. I would say that their playoff

(06:21):
chance is cooked at this point. You can't lose to
UCLA and Northwestern and make your way into the playoffs.
So James Franklin is gone. He who has consistently been
a top ten program, a guy that leads this team
to just at the doorstep of glory and then can't
quite getting done. He has been so close to being

(06:41):
just an elite quarterback, an elite coach, and he just
can't quite get that last little piece that he needs.
He can't quite seem to get the last big victory
over these teams. And now he's dropping games to Northwestern,
and he's dropping his games to Ucla. So his time
was done. But Penn State is a national powerhouse and

(07:02):
it will continue to be a national powerhouse, so you're
gonna have a lot of really deep conversations. Kurt Signetti,
in his second year at Indiana, is one of those
guys that's had a lot of buzz around potentially going
to Penn State in the same conference. That would be
some crazy betrayal. Indiana would never forgive him for doing that.
Indiana just gave him a fresh, new eight year contract.

(07:26):
He is going to be there for a while unless
Penn State can bring out the big bucks. Look, Indiana
is a nice place, it is, but nothing talks louder
than money. As loud as the fans can get, as
successful as the boosters can be. Penn State has the
ability to bring in more money. Penn State has the
ability to bring in better recruits than Indiana. Even though

(07:46):
Kurt Signetti's gone on this nice little run over these
last year and a half, at this point with Indiana
gotten the money to make this team successful. If Penn
State comes calling and he says, and they say, you know, Kurt,
you're making about one hundred million dollars right now. If
I double that salary, you come over to Penn State,
we make you one of the highest paid coaches in

(08:07):
college football. What do you say to that. It's hard
to say no. I think there's a real conversation around it.
There's gonna be a lot of other coaching candidates, but
I think Kurt Signette's at the top of the list.
To be able to poach someone from another top tier
Big Ten school would be huge for Penn State, and
he's shown that he has the ability to win big
football games. That's exactly what Penn State needs. I think

(08:31):
there's a real chance that Kurt Signetti goes to Penn State.
Last question that I had from that College Football Week
seven halfway through this season, as we take a big
step back and we'll get to the playoff outlook in
just a second year, because the playoff outlook is kind
of fascinating, especially down at the bottom, because there really

(08:51):
aren't too many teams outside the top five six that
I think are going to be definitely a lock for
the playoffs. But as we take a look here we
get down to the bottom of the playoffs, is there
a possibility for there to be more than one group
of five school make it now? Specifically, I'm looking at
the American Conference. As much as my fandom wants to say,

(09:12):
jmu is gonna make it unless the American Conference implodes,
It's going to be an American Conference team. Right The
American Conference is the premier group of five conference. You
could even argue that they are better than the Big Ten,
excuse me, the Big twelve, or maybe even the ACC.
At this point, you have Memphis at the top two
lane at the top, USF at the top, North Texas

(09:35):
at the top. That's four teams that are probably the
top four as far as teams that are most likely
to make it to that group of five playoffs. But
especially if Notre Dame can't make it into the playoffs,
because if they lose this game to USC, they're done.
They have to win out in order to make it
in with every other team losing, they do have a
good shot right now. I know they've only lost to

(09:56):
two top five schools, but still there's a chance Notre
Dame doesn't make it into the college football playoffs this year.
If they're not there, that's kind of an extra spot
that a lot of people expect. That might be a
spot for a Memphis for two lane, for a USF
to get in, as well as the team that they
play in the American Conference title and that would involve them,

(10:19):
you know, winning out, not playing each other, and only
losing to each other in the conference game. But still
there is a real chance there that we could get
more than one Group of five school in the playoffs.
And that just shows the amount of parody and how
really good the American Conference is. It's a premier conference
when it comes to football, and we don't need to
really think too hard about what the fifth best conference

(10:42):
in football is right now. I don't think the Pac
twelve is gonna when it comes back next year, going
to really compete with them. I think it's going to
be the Power for the American and then everybody else.
The American kind of separating itself from the Group of
five right now, at least at the top tier of
those schools. But I promised it, it's in the title.

(11:02):
Let's take a look at the playoff outlook right now,
halfway through the seasons. Let's talk about the teams that
I think are going to get those buys, the teams
that I think are I guess not really those buys,
but the teams that I think are going to win
from each of the five automatic conferences. Let's start off
with the Power for you have the teams at the
top right now, Miami is going to win the ACC

(11:24):
unless there's some crazy falloff at the end. I'm riding
with Miami. I don't think they have a crazy falloff.
That defense is elite. They haven't had that in past years.
Ohio State is going to make the playoffs as well,
if they win the Big Ten or not. If they
lose to Indiana, They're gonna find their way and I
have them penciled in as Big Ten champions right now.
They are that they are going to be that next

(11:46):
team in. I have Alabama coming out of the SEC.
I know you have a couple teams ahead of them
as far as the SEC champions, but the way that
Alabama's playing, they've survived some tough tests. They've just played
really great football. And I love the way that their
quarterback playing as well. He's an underrated Heisman candidate over there.
Texas Tech, I think the undisputed king of the Big

(12:06):
Twelve right now. They've dominated everyone, including their best competition,
probably the Utes out of Utah, who just destroyed Arizona
State forty two to ten. I know Arizona State didn't
have their starting quarterback, but still I don't think even
with Sam Levitt, they were putting up forty two points
against a really good Utah defense. Outside of that, those

(12:27):
are the power for conference winners. I've penciled in, and
there's a couple more that I think will make it.
The group of five champion is gonna make it. I've
got that as USF. South Florida I think is the
best group of five team right now. I think they
run the table and I think they take care of
business in the American Championship. But then you have Indiana,
who I think is a lock, Texas A and M
who I think is a lock. I think Oregon finds
its way in, they'll probably win out. I know they've

(12:50):
had a tough loss against Indiana this week, but Indiana
is a very good team. I'm not too worried about them.
Georgia will find their way in, and then this is
where it gets murky. I think Ole Miss is going
to find its way in all the day. They've got
a tough schedule down the stretch. That's two more spots
to go. Can you put another ACC team in there?
Can you put another big twelve team in there? Is

(13:12):
Notre Dame gonna make it. What about that group of
five school that we talked about, right, that's four schools
probably for two spots. And here's what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna say the ACC loser of the ACC title
game gets in, and I'm penciling that in as of Virginia.
And maybe that's a hot take, but that just leaves

(13:33):
one more spot. I like the way Virginia offense is going,
the way that Chandler Morris plays football. I think that's
a very very good football team and that's one to
watch going forward. They're ranked in the top twenty in
the nation and I think they have there a pretty
easy schedule. They don't have to play any of the
super top dogs in the ACC. They've already taken care
of Florida State, they took care of Louisville. That one

(13:54):
blemish on their record against NC State. That's a tough one,
but still I think they find their way in at
the end of the day. That leaves one more spot.
One more spot is Notre Dame gonna win out. Probably
Notre Dame gets in if they win out, but let's
run with the scenario where they don't win out. I
think that's where you get a real chance to see

(14:16):
Memphis get in the playoffs. Memphis is my first team out.
I'm going Notre Dame to get in. I want to
make that very clear, but Memphis my first team out.
I'll run through the twelve playoff teams I have real quick,
and then we'll move on to the NFL questions. Miami,
Ohio State, Alabama, Texas, Tech, and USF as the five
champions Indiana, Oregon, Texas A and m Georgia, Virginia, Notre

(14:41):
Dame and Ole Miss all as these five plus seven.
Those are the plus seven there and the first team out.
We are going with the Memphis Tigers. Group of five
has a real shot of getting two in. But I
did say we're gonna take a little look at the
at the NFL because the college football is not the
only one that has major questions right now. We just

(15:04):
had our first coach fired in the NFL. Brian Callahan
of the Tennessee Titans no longer a member of that organization,
fired midday yesterday. That is something to keep an eye
on over there for him. He is replaced by co
offensive coordinator of the Titans, the guy that they had
that he handed off play calling duties too. Despite having

(15:28):
that first overall pick, cam Ward now joins a really
elite list of quarterbacks. The last three quarterbacks picked, In fact,
the last five quarterbacks picked number one overall have had
their have had their head coach fired Dayton all the
way back to Urban Meyer with Trevor Lawrence. Of course,
you had Caleb Williams last year, Kim Ward this year.
You can go back again. The last five quarterbacks to

(15:50):
be drafted number one overall have had their head coach
fired in their first season, didn't survive the first season,
fired in the middle of the first season. Wild and
that's to be expected in a lot of bad teams.
But the question stands, who's the next head coach to
get fired in the NFL? The first one comes after

(16:10):
Week six. Brian Callahan simply was not a great coach.
He just wasn't. It was not an inspiring hire when
it happened. Not a great leader, not a great play
caller because he came from Zach Taylor, and Zach Taylor
is not a guy that has proteges because he is
not a good head coach himself. Regardless of all of that,
Brian Callahan out of a job four and twenty three

(16:32):
in his first excuse me four to nineteen in his
season and a half that he was a member a
coach of the Tennessee Titans. Lots of changes happens. The
Titans have continued with their flip flop fire a GM,
fire ahead coach, fire a GM, fire a head coach,
over and over and over again. Up next the GM.
Maybe they should just fire both and have both of
them start over. Although you can't do one and done's

(16:54):
in the NFL, so I guess GM's gonna be there
for one more season. They've got to get this for
cam Ward, who I think has a little bit of talent.
But again, the question stands, who is the next head
coach to be fired in the NFL. There's a couple
different options. We talked about Zach Taylor, and I think
Zach Taylor should be the next head coach fired, except
for one fact. The Bengals simply do not fire head

(17:18):
coaches in the middle of the season. We saw Marvin
Lewis go way too long with the Bengals, and it's
not just the fact that they don't fire coaches in
the middle of the season. They don't fire coaches unless
the contract runs out, they simply don't. The Cowboys did
it last year. They let the contract run out on
coach McCarthy over there, Mike McCarthy no longer the head coach.
Now it's Brian Schottenheimer. He's doing a pretty solid job,

(17:40):
by the way, Shout out to him. But that's what
they did to Marvin Lewis. They just said, you know what,
we're not going to renew your contract. You're done. Zach
Taylor's contract runs through the twenty twenty six season, so
he has one more year after this one to be
the head coach of the Bengals. That's how long he's
gonna be there. So usually, if the Bengals were any
or any other runization, one that would I don't know,

(18:02):
make a decision that would help their team get better
as opposed to trying to save a little bit of
money at every single corner, he would be the next
coach fired. In fact, he wouldn't have a job right now.
But that's not how it goes, right, That's not how
it goes with the Bengals. They're trying to save a
buck at every single place that they possibly can, so
Zach Taylor will not be that next head coach fired.

(18:23):
Who are the other guys on the hot seat right now?
Mike McDaniel of the Dolphins seemingly on the hottest seat
in football, but the Dolphins aren't really quick to make
decisions like this either. Right. He's a good coach, don't
get me wrong. It's Tua. It's the offense. It's the
defense that just has not been the answer. Not having

(18:44):
Vic Fangio anymore, running him out of town really hurts.
But McDaniel's gonna find a place to go. He's gonna
be an offensive coordinator somewhere after this job cycle, and
he'll probably get another choice. But everything with the Dolphins
is just done. He's probably the next coach to get fired.
But there are also other coaches on the hot seat
right now. Right Brian Dable is on the hot seat.

(19:05):
With the way that Jackson Dart is playing, he probably
has really cooled off his seat a little bit, and
I'm not too worried about him getting fired in the
middle of the season. In fact, I don't think he's
going to be fired at all if Jackson dark keeps
playing like this. But Kevin Stefanski, his rookie quarterbacks aren't going.

(19:25):
He clearly did not approve of that Joe Flacco trade.
He has some kind of vendetta against Shitter Sanders, who
I will say probably not ready to start football games
right now. He didn't play great in the preseason. Dylan
Gabriel's looked pretty solid. He just threw fifty two passes
in a football game. That's not the way you want
to get your third round rookie quarterback into it against

(19:46):
a really good Steelers defense. That's just not a recipe
for success. Stefanski's someone that is definitely a great coach,
but is currently on the hot seat. Talk about John
Harbaugh a little bit. He's on the hot seat for sure.
The Ravens one in fire. There's been chatter a lot
about the Ravens moving off of their core, off of
their head coach, their longtime head coach. He just doesn't

(20:07):
seem to have the answers right now. They need to
get healthy, though, so I don't think he'll be fine.
So the answer to the question of who the next
head coach to be fired is is very simple. We've
gone through a lot of the candidates, but it's Jonathan Gannon.
Jonathan Gannon of the Arizona Cardinals is the next head
coach to be fired. He not only has continued this

(20:28):
trend of not winning football games, he's a defensive head
coach with a not great defense. Kyler Murray is not
doing him any favors. That offense not doing him any favors,
and injuries for sure not doing him any favors. But
I think that final nail in the coffin that makes
him my hottest coach or the coach that I think
has the hottest seat, I should say, is the way
that he his sideline interaction went down with a Mari

(20:50):
de Mercato right, the way that they lost that game
against the Titans. That's just kind of a little bit
on coaching, I think, right, your players make mistakes, sure,
but the coaches need to get that figured out. They
need to get better game plans. They need to coach
into their players not to do that, not to drop
the ball just to fall on it instead of slapping

(21:11):
the ball into the end zone in a game situation
like that. There's lots of mental mistakes that are being
made by the Arizona Cardinals right now. You go back
to the game on Thursday Night football against the Seahawks.
You play a great game, you take the lead with
forty seconds left, and then you kick a kick off
out of bounce right. Again, it's not necessarily on the coach,
but it does come back to the coach a little bit.

(21:32):
I think Jonathan Gannon the next head coach to be fired.
That leads me into yet another question for you, guys.
Are the Chiefs the best team in the AFC? Let's
talk about this a little bit, because you look at
me after I say that question, You say, Jeremy, that's
a little bit crazy. The Chiefs are not the best
team in the AFC. There's a lot of teams ahead

(21:52):
of them. What about the Bills they just lost? What
about the Colts? Do you really think that Daniel Jones
and the Colts are a better team than THATFS team
right now? With the way that they're playing offense, and
when you have Chris Jones who's motivated. You saw how
big of a difference that can make against the Lions
as opposed to what he's kind of been all season.
Are they the best team in the AFC? I'm inclined

(22:14):
to say yes right now. Are they better than the Bills?
I think the way that the Bills are playing is
really scary. I thought they were just playing with their
food a little bit, and after that loss against the
Patriots they would turn it up a notch. But injuries
are destroying them offensively. Josh Allen has nobody to throw
the ball to, and that defense just simply isn't good enough.
They lose Christian Bendford again and whenever he's not there,

(22:37):
they get torched because of the rest of that secondary
just is not up to par. The Colts are playing
great football, so maybe it's the Colts, but again, that
just is not a super inspiring Colts defense. And as
long as you can shut down the run game a
little bit, which no one really has been able to
do against Jonathan Taylor, I don't think Daniel Jones is
a guy that can really control this offense enough to

(22:59):
be that best team in the AFC. The Jaguars make
too many rookie mistakes. They do Terrevor Lawrence turned the
ball over too much, they get lucky a couple times.
They just can't really convert the way that they need
to to be considered the best team in the AFC.
The Chargers are too injured on that offensive line when
they're fully healthy. You can probably make the argument that

(23:19):
they are, but right now they're just barely scraping by
against the Dolphins. That's not best team in the AFC.
Material the Texans, their offensive line atrocious, they can't lock
for CJ. Stroud right. The Broncos nearly lost to the Jets.
The Ravens are one in five. The Patriots are not
the best team. They're playing great football, but they're not
the best team. Don't kid yourself. The Steelers are five

(23:40):
and one, but again, they're not the best team. They're
just playing against a really weak schedule right now. And
then you start to get to the Browns, the Raiders,
the Dolphins, the Bengals, the Titans, the Jets. I think
the Chiefs are the best team in the AFC right now.
It's close, but there's not really a runaway team at
the top of the AA. It's super murky. And when

(24:02):
it's murky, that's when superstars emerge. And that's when Patrick
Mahomes says, guys, I'm still here. I never left. The
Chiefs are the best team in the AFC right now.
Let's talk about the NFC a little bit, because I
do want to talk about the Giants. Maybe that's just
my Giants bias coming out, but Cam Scattabow and Jackson

(24:22):
Dart have come out and made this team something exciting
to watch. Right. This is a team that has not
been exciting forever, Like even when they made the playoffs,
it wasn't a super exciting team. But now you have
a fun team to watch. Jackson Dart is not the
greatest quarterback in the world. But are the Giants good?
They just took out the Eagles. They took out the Chargers.

(24:43):
Maybe not quite full strength Chargers, but those are two
teams that were sitting in the top five slash top
ten of power rankings at the time when they lost
these games. The Saints they lose to because turnovers and
turnovers are brutal. You have to control your turnovers. But
when they don't turn the ball over, this is a
good Giant. That defense is elite. And like I've said
all season long, if the Giants can put up twenty

(25:04):
seven points a game, which is, to be fair, a
lot of points per game. That's top ten offense in
the NFL points per game. If they can put up
twenty points per game, they're a five hundred team. If
they can put up twenty seven points per game, this
is the Giants team that won't lose a game for
the rest of the season. I'm dead serious about that.
I don't ever see that Giants defense giving up more
than twenty seven points in a football game. And I

(25:26):
know they did it already against the Cowboys, right, but
that was with Russell Wilson at quarterback. They're playing with
new energy. I just don't really see it happening again.
And that was also just a really weird game where
everything was just going wrong for both of those defenses.
Long game early in the season. I just think that
Giant Giants defense is too good to make this team
bad if Jackson Dart and Campskataboo can keep playing football

(25:49):
the way that they are right now. Outside of that,
let's talk about some other teams that could potentially be
good or not. The Patriots and the Seahawks have had
two great seasons. The Patriots destroy the Bills, right, and
then they beat the Saints, and Drake may looks like
a great quarterback and he is a great quarterback, but
there's a lot of questions for that team still. How

(26:10):
are they gonna hold up against you know, non division rivals,
the great teams in the NFL. How is Drake may
going to go up when he has to face a
lot more pressure than he has and that that offensive
line has been playing great Mike Rabrals got that team
going and they have a very easy schedule. But when
it comes playoff time, are the Patriots going to be
true title contenders or are they just going to be

(26:33):
a team that sniffs the playoffs and then heads home
for the year. I'm thinking the latter more than the former,
but still there are real chances that this is a
Patriots team that could go all the wet. Another team
out there in that similar boat both of may Rob's teams. Actually,
the Seattle Seahawks are a team that I think is
really interesting. Shout out to Sam Donald egg on my

(26:55):
face for that one. Sam Donald has come out and
proved that last year wasn't a fluke. Even behind an
offensive line that hasn't given him a lot of favors,
He's been able to stay calm, avoid the pressure, and
hit deep throws down the field, hit all of these
timing routes. He has been amazing. Sam Donald completely resurrected
his career. He's someone that deserves a lot of praise
for what he's doing over there. That defense, while it's

(27:18):
banged up, is still really really good. Right. You have
Leonard Williams, you have DeMarcus Lawrence. You have a lot
of great guys at all three levels of the of
the excuse me, a lot of guys at all three
levels of the defense that are going to be considered
all star, all pro level, not necessarily all Pro, but

(27:39):
definitely Pro Bowl level guys at all three levels of it.
This is an elite defense coached by a really good
defensive coach. The Seahawks another playoff level team that are
going to be a tough out in the NFC. Outside
of that, right, who else is going to be the
big question? I think the big question for me after
this week is it time for a quarterback change in

(28:01):
New York. Now we've already seen one New York team
change their quarterback. Jackson Darda stepped in and breathed new life.
The Jets don't really have that young guy that everyone's
excited to see. But after Justin Field's performance in London,
do you leave him over there across the pond and
move on to Tyrod Taylor? There's been internal rumblings that
Tyrod Taylor a better quarterback than Justin Fields right now,

(28:23):
and I'm not necessarily one to disagree. We've seen Tyrod
Taylor play one game, that one against the Bucks that
was their best offense all season long. They nearly won
that game. Baker Mayfield pulled out some MVP level magic,
but that was one that the Jets legitimately looked good in.
Justin Fields isn't making the throws. He's scared to turn

(28:44):
the ball over. He's scared to do it because he
can tell that that leash is short. At least that's
my read of this situation. Right they're zero to six
right now. He held that ball way too long against
the Broncos defense. You have to take the short underneath routs.
You have to be able to trust your eye when
you're reading the field, and Justin Fields just simply doesn't
do that. He's a great athlete, he's a great runner,

(29:06):
he's great when he has the ball in space. But
he's not a great quarterback. He just doesn't process the
field the way that you need to be able to
process the field if you're going to be a successful
NFL quarterback. The game is too fast, and you're seeing
it as a result, him holding the ball way too long,
him passing up open, looks him taking way too many sacks,
him finishing against a good Broncos defense with negative ten

(29:29):
passing yards net. Right, he finished with forty five overall,
but with the nine sacks that he took, nine sacks
that he took nine, nine sacks, negative ten passing yards overall.
I think it's time for Tyrod Taylor to make his
appearance as a starter for the Jets. But I'd love

(29:51):
to hear your thoughts on any of these questions. It's
time to get into our triple threat Top twenty five,
as we do every single Tuesday. The college football week
has wrapped up. We're halfway through this season. Now it's
time to see where every single team stands. Let's start
off as we do with the G five T five,

(30:13):
the group of five top five. Who are these teams
that are quite close to being in the playoffs? Who
is going to be their representative? Navy and JMU just
miss out. They're in the six to seventh spot over there.
The North Texas Mean Green after a brutal loss to
USF sixty three to sixty three, to thirty six. Crazy

(30:36):
loss for them, too many turnovers. They're down to the
fifth best team. I think that offense is still great,
they need work on that defense. UNLV continues to win games.
They're up to number four. Tulane has had a really
tough schedule and they've only really come out of it
with a slight scar that against a great team in
All miss They're up to number three Memphis, a team
that i've just outside the college football playoffs. At number two,

(30:58):
they're undefeated, They're at the top of the American Conference
right now. They're gonna be a tough out. But USF
I still have as number one. They're my representative from
the group of five. They have one of the best
resumes in the country. They're only lost right now is
to a Miami team that's either one or two or
at worst three in the country right now. For you,

(31:19):
that's a really good team. USF is going to be
the representative for the group of five right now. Let's
take a look at the teams that are in the
actual top twenty five. Four more teams. For the second
week in a row, four teams fall out of the
top twenty five. Here, that's Illinois, Michigan, Arizona State, and

(31:39):
Florida State. All of these teams take bad losses. Florida
State they're third straight loss. Now, that is a tough
way to go, but let's get into number twenty five
for us. Here, the Nebraska corn Huskers make their appearance
on the top twenty five for the first time all
season long. They've had a really great year. They've only
lost one game, was to a very solid team. Nebraska

(32:03):
beat Cincinnati, who I have in my top twenty five.
I had him in there last week, and maybe that's
an overlook for me, but I do think that Indiana
is probably that best Excuse me that Cincinnati is probably
still that better team overall than Nebraska. Really great offense
for Nebraska. Washington similarly only one loss, that to Ohio State,

(32:24):
arguably the best team in college football. They're really great.
They're up there. They're at number twenty four. I'm keeping
Memphis in they weren't ranked last week. They are into
the top twenty five for the first time. Same with
all three of these first teams. They are here for
the first time all season. Memphis again undefeated. They have
a couple big games coming up, including one against USF.

(32:44):
That's gonna be huge. Cincinnati up three from the number
twenty five spot. They just continue to win football games.
Big fan twenty to eleven win over UCF. I would
have liked to see him win a little bit more dominantly,
but still a solid win is a solid win. Texas,
after winning the Red River Shootout, back into the top
twenty five at number twenty one. This is a great

(33:06):
Texas team. Arch Mannon can still make some throws. We
saw him hit a couple really tough ones, but overall,
that defense is the thing that's carrying them. They're gonna
be dangerous. They're not out of the playoffs yet, but
it's gonna be real tough for them to get in
South Florida. With a dominant win against sixty three to
thirty six over another great group of five team in
the Mean Green from North Texas, they're up three more

(33:26):
spots to number twenty, their highest ranking since they lost
that game two Miami BYU up another three spots. It
was the first real test of the season and I
thought they were gonna lose it. They survived. They had
a big comeback thirty three to twenty seven, a win
over Arizona not something that I thought the coops really
had in them, but new quarterbacks has continued to win

(33:47):
games for them, and byu up another three spots. We
talked about Virginia earlier. They're up two spots to number
eighteen on my list. They were idle last week. A
couple big games coming up. They have to stay hot,
but they're kind of in the driver. They kind of
control their own destiny as far as making it to
the ACC title game. Oklahoma falls nine spots. This is,

(34:08):
of course, after a loss to Texas, a loss that
they looked really bad in six to twenty three. John
Matteer gets rushed back from that thumb injury, and you
can tell three interceptions that defense is great. But when
you give up a big punt return touchdown, when you
throw three interceptions, when that run game isn't working, Oklahoma
is just tough. They're still a great team. And that's
a great loss to have. As much as I hate

(34:29):
that term great loss, it's a true it's truly a
good loss. But Oklahoma loses a bunch of spots, down
nine to number seventeen. Vandy idle last week. They're up
three spots because other teams fall. I'm a big fan
of what they've started to do over there. Missouri with
a tough loss at home to number to Alabama number
eight last week in the Apeople, they're climbing even more now.

(34:53):
Missouri hadn't lost at home to hadn't beat Alabama really
in forever, and it looked like they had a chance
to do it. They couldn't quite hold on. They make
it close twenty seven to twenty four loss. They only
fall four spots for that. Utah up three more spots
a dominant win forty two to ten over Arizona State,
who was a contender in the Big Twelve this year.
They were ranked a real high at the beginning of

(35:15):
the season. They've now fallen completely out and they were
ranked last week not ranked any more. Tennessee similarly up
three spots thirty four to thirty one win over Arkansas
and Arkansas team that no longer has a head coach.
I would like to see him win by more, but
they're putting up points offensively. The defense continues to be
a big concern for me. Georgia Tech up three spots

(35:38):
as well, thirty five to twenty a win over Virginia Tech.
Virginia Tech. You should probably not allow to score twenty
points on you. But we also saw Georgia Tech barely
escape with a win against Wake Forest the week before.
As long as you win games, you win games. Like
the way that the top of college football is going,
winning games is super important. So if you win games,
you're gonna rise. But oh, it has not been pretty

(36:01):
for Georgia Tech all season long. Speaking of not being pretty,
Notre Dame. They're up two spots. They're up to number
eleven at this point in our power in our excuse me,
in our top twenty five rankings. Notre Dame. They've only
got two losses. Again, they lose to Texas A and
m by one point. Arguably should have won that game,
and they lose to Miami. Those are teams that are
in the top five overall in college football. Those again,

(36:25):
I'm gonna use that term that I don't like good losses. CJ.
Carr playing great football. They dominate North Carolina State despite
a little bit of a slow start, they still win.
That defense is playing better than it was at the
beginning of the year. They have a big game against
USC coming up, a rivalry game for them. That's gonna
be huge if they win that game. They've got a
pretty clear path to the playoff as long as they

(36:45):
win out. But USC, a team that is just barely
outside of my top twenty five, is a dangerous one,
and they're in the top twenty five in the Ape pole.
LSU up two spots entering the top ten. They've returned
back up. The reason I'm so hesitant to put LSU
up here, and I know people aren't gonna super like that.

(37:06):
I have Notre Dame that high up overall as well,
is because LSU doesn't have Garrett Nusmeyer anymore. And that's,
you know, maybe unfair of me. They're playing great football,
that defense is elite, but the run game can't get going.
And when they run into a team like a Tennessee
potentially if they have to play them this season, that's
gonna be tough. I just truly think that they don't

(37:27):
have the offense to keep up with these top tier
teams in college football. And because of that, I don't
think they're gonna be up here for too long. But again,
you continue to win games, you continue to get raised.
That's how it goes. Oregon down seven spots after that,
loss to Indiana. That game looked a lot closer than
it was on paper. It just was bad for Oregon.

(37:50):
They got dominated thoroughly, physically, mentally, every way in their
own house. They fall seven spots to number nine. Georgia
down two spots to number eight. They win over Auburn.
I just had to do a little bit of shuffling
of the rankings because there were a lot of teams
that I thought had bigger wins. Georgia is still a
really great squad. They're at number eight overall, number seven,

(38:12):
the Alabama Crimson tied. I gotta put my branks on
Alabama a little bit. I like this Alabama team a lot.
They have a big win over Georgia, their only lost
to Florida State is continuing to get worse and worse,
which is why they really fall here. Despite winning a
big game against Missouri, that's a big win. They're down
three spots. They're still in this top ten, but they're
at number seven. For me at number six, Hatty Toddy

(38:34):
Ole miss up a spot here to number six. They
escape with a win, barely. They escaped twenty four to
twenty one against Washington State, a game that they should
have dominated a game that was way too close, but
ole Miss really did look like the better team throughout
that one. I was never really super worried about ole
Miss losing that game, but it was way too close

(38:55):
for my liking, and I'm sure for ole Miss's liking
as well. If pass interference was a spot who game
winning field goal would have gone on game tying field
goal would have gone on a pass interference at a
field at the field goal range. That's a tough look
for them. Texas Tech enters the top five. Shout out
to them. They have been dominant. Oh my god, Texas

(39:18):
Tech has been dominant. They look like by far the
best team in the Big twelve and it really isn't
much of a competition. They're up to number five. They've
dominated everybody that they've played. I think they're a real
title contender out of that Big twelve. I think you
have real title contenders out of every single power for
a conference this year, which is super exciting. Texas A
and m up a spot to number four. Probably the

(39:40):
best team in the SEC right now. The way that
they're playing football, you just have to hope that everything
continues to break their way. They've won a couple games
that usually Texas A and M loses based on you know,
their history throughout the throughout the history of the Aggies program.
But shout out to Texas A and M. Mike Elco's
had a really great team going and I think they
continue to win football game. They're at number four, into

(40:02):
the top three, and I will say I think this
is pretty indisputably the top three in college football. I
know I said that last week, but I stand by
it again. Indiana up six spots to number three. We
talked about it. Is Indiana a title contender. Absolutely, Indiana
is a title contender. Indiana is a great football team,
a great football program, and Kurt Signetti is a great

(40:24):
football coach. He's going to continue to get big wins
for this Indiana team. If they continue to play like this,
the sky's the limit. They could potentially win the Big Ten,
potentially win it all. That's what I'm saying. This is
a great Indiana team. At number two. Ohio State the
Ohio State up one spot to number two. I had

(40:44):
him at number three, probably disrespectful of me, honestly, that's
a really good Ohio State team. Again, this is Ohio
State team that has maybe the best defense in college football.
I'd like to see the offense open up a little
bit more. You have great wide receivers, you have a
quarterback that I think is good, Julian say, but they're
not really opening up the offense. Which is fine if
you can win games without opening up the offense, save

(41:05):
that for later. But I'm really hesitant to move them
up to number one because I just haven't seen that
offense explode like I want to see it do against
some of these teams. But a big win for them.
I'm a big fan of Ohio State right now, and
at number one, idol last week, Myami, the Hurricanes stay
at number one. Carson Back's playing great football, and crucially,

(41:28):
this is the crucial part, and this is the main
reason they're at number one. That defense is elite, it
really is. They're gonna run the table, gonna win the ACC.
But you have four teams and four conferences that I
think are real, real title contenders. The SEC, of course
has a chance to win Texas A and m Alabama, Ole,
Miss Georgia, Oregon, all these guys. The ACC has Miami

(41:48):
a real chance to win the big ten. Ohio State,
Indiana right Oregon. All of these teams in the top
ten that have a chance to win, but shout out
to Texas Tech. They are that Big twelve representative and
they deserve to have a name tossed into that conversation
as well because they are dominant. They are dominating each
and every single week. That is my top twenty five.

(42:09):
The teams that just missed Louisville. I continue to be
a big fan of Louisville. I know they have a couple.
They have a big loss to Virginia, but that's a
good loss. They're not in the top twenty five. Illinois
has two losses, and much like Notre Dame, those two
losses are two of the top five teams in college
football Ohio State in Indiana. The difference between them and

(42:31):
Notre Dame is how they looked in those losses. They
didn't stand a chance against Ohio State, it was not close.
They didn't stand a chance against Indiana, it was not close.
They lost by fifty points to Indiana. When you talk
about Notre Dame, right, this is a team that has

(42:52):
continued to win and even in their losses right to
Miami and to Texas A and m they lose to
Texas A and m by one point in a last
second play that probably had a penalty on it, and
Miami they were in it until the end against Miami
in that Week one matchup. These are games that they
were tight in. When you look at the way that

(43:12):
Illinois lost, that's the main reason they're not in the
top twenty five right now. They get blown out by
these top teams. You can talk about the losses all
you want, and that's why they're still here, but it's
just not a good look. Michigan not quite there. If
they lose another game, they fall out of the top
twenty five in USC. Like I said, USC, if they
get a win against Notre Dame, which they absolutely could

(43:32):
with the way USC is playing, they're firmly in that
top twenty five and I don't think we have any
discussions about them falling out of it. I'm just a
little concerned about that way, about the way that offense
is playing, about the way they as a whole are playing.
I'm not super convinced on this USC team. But we
have to transition over to the world of baseball because

(43:56):
it is the most beautiful time of year. October is here.
That is time when the playoffs show up in the MLB,
the Mariners have been the story of the playoffs right now. Right,
the ms have, of course cal Raley Big Dumper, one
of the most fun stories in all of baseball. This year,
sixty home runs by a catcher never been done, the

(44:17):
most home runs in Mariners history, competing with guys like
Ken Griffy Junior more home runs than he ever hid
in one season, right, leads the Mariners to the first
alcs in team not in team history in over in
over twenty years. Right, they haven't been this far in
a very long time. They're looking to win their first
ever World Series and they are destined for it. It

(44:42):
seems like after a fifteen inning classic that in Game
five of the Alds that saw them win three to two,
as three of the five games final scores were in
that series, we saw, of course lots of big heroics
from all of the players around, but the pitching staffs
shout out to both of them. They really had to

(45:03):
go deep into it. The Ems, who I thought might
have a depleted arms early in that series, just it
really hasn't mattered. Right. They're up two to oho in
the series now against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue
Jays who just dominated the Yankees. They just murdered the
Blue Jays in Week one, absolutely, excuse me not Week one.

(45:23):
In Game two of that series. Right, Game two of
that series, ten to three, a Mariner's victory, absolute domination,
Game one, three to one. If you fall behind three
to oh, I mean it's happened before, you can have
a comeback, but it's gonna be really hard for a
comeback to be underway. The Blue Jays have really struggled

(45:46):
on the road. The Mariners have been great at home.
It's a big ballpark still up north, so you should
be a lot of there should be a couple of
Blue Jays fans kind of hanging around there. But the
Mariners looking control and they're trying to get not yet,
but win their first ever MLB World Series. They're gonna
have to face off against either the Dodgers or the

(46:08):
Blue or Dodgers or the Brewers. And that Game one
took place last night. The Dodgers escaped two to one.
You had a beautiful, beautiful game. It was a great
pitchers duel. Right, Blake Snell went eight innings faced the minimum,
only allowed one hit, struck out ten, no walks overall. Again,

(46:28):
got that one guy that got on base out with
a double play, faced the minimum through eight and yet
the Dodgers offense, the vaunted Dodgers offense, could not get
anything done. This, of course, was helped out by one
of the craziest plays you will ever see in baseball.
Bases loaded in the bottom in the top in the
top of the fourth inning, excuse me for the Dodgers,

(46:51):
a home run robbery tipped off the glove caught by
the center fielder thrown in. Bases were loaded with one out.
The Dodgers didn't it was a catch. Runner got tagged
at third after not tagging up from the catch, and
the Brewers keep that game scoreless all the way until
the sixth inning, when Freddy Freeman hit a home run

(47:12):
in that one, giving them a one to zero lead.
They eventually walked that game. They walked the game winning
run in in the ninth inning, but in the ninth inning,
Blake Trinon shut down the game, bases loaded, two outs,
could not quite get it done. The Brewers lose Game one,

(47:33):
and that's the big concern with the Brewers right The
offense needs to be there there. Pitching is always going
to be there. I'm never concerned with the pitching. But
when you're going up against a Dodgers team that is
as great as this Dodgers team is. Game two tonight,
the Brewers and the Dodgers, it's just tough. Yoshiyamamoto, who's
been amazing all postseason long, goes and takes on Freddy Peralta.

(47:55):
This is going to be again a huge game. You
can't fall behind two zero against this Dodgers team. But
it looks to me like we're set up for a
Mariners versus Dodgers World Series, and that one is going
to be a lot of fun. The Mariners my team
this year in the postseason. I've decided I think they're
a team of destiny. I think they're a team that's

(48:16):
just gonna win it all this year. I really do.
I'm a big fan of pitching, and I think that
cal Ralely and that offense have it all put together.
The big moves they made of the deadline. Josh Naylor
has been playing great baseball. But of course keep it
locked on the Triple Threat Show. We'll give you updates
every single day with what's going on M's up two
to zero, Dodgers up one zero in the Championship Series

(48:39):
AL and NL respectively, for a chance to win the
AL and NL pennants and compete for the Commissioner's Trophy
the World Series. But thank you everybody so much for
tuning in too. Today's episode of The Triple Threat Show.
I have been your host, Jeremy Lapedis. We will be
back tomorrow talking. We'll go over some more NFL questions.

(49:02):
Believe it or not, I've got even more of them
for you. Lots of stuff going on around the world
of football. We of course have Power Rankings every single Wednesday,
will go over the NFL playoffs, as well as anything
else that happens from around the world of sports. Today,
I've been your host, Jeremy Lapedis. Check us out everywhere
you get your podcast. That's on Spotify, that's on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Audible,

(49:28):
Amazon Podcasts, and more. Check us out wherever on YouTube
at Triple Threat Show, Twitch at Three Threat Show, Instagram
at Three Threat Show, Underscore, and on TikTok at The
Underscore Triple Threat Show. I can't wait to talk to
you tomorrow. I'll see you then. Bye. Bye,

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