Week 4 Upset Alerts + My Updated Top 25 & Cole Cubelic

College Football week 4 upset alerts are here. Can Illinois take down Indiana? What could Michigan State do at USC? Next, Josh updates his top 25 Commissioner’s Poll ranking. Where should Vandy and Miami be? What do we do with Clemson and Texas? Is LSU rising? Where are Alabama and USC? Cole Cubelic joins the show tonight to discuss the SEC QB picture, what we expect from Billy Napier and Florida this weekend, and biggest surprises so far this year. All that plus best bets on the Ramen Noodle Express.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
What do you think is the best sport in the country.
Where do you think the best port in the world.
I think it's college football. That's why I do a
college football show. If you agree with me, thumbs up. Yes,
I see a lot of thumbs If you agree with me,
say it with me. College football, college football, college and
football put together. You never just say football. Do you

(00:38):
notice that? Now? I'm going somewhere with this. It's gonna
be in about twenty minutes, but I'm going somewhere with this.
Where jam packed. We're high atop a sunny downtown Nashville, Tennessee.
It is beautiful. It is Thursday, September eighteenth, the year
of our lower twenty twenty five. Lick that index finger
sticking in the air. Do you feel upsets coming on?
It is Upsettlert Thursday. I'm gonna put a rate on

(01:00):
a lot of these and Jesse, I think we had
we got some eights, we got some sevens. We have
we have potential upsets on the horizon. We will talk
about that. I've got a brand new Commissioner's poll. You
asked for it. I wanted it to be one time
and one time only. And here we are every Thursday.
It's a new staple of the show. Yes, not power ratings,
ladies and gentlemen, not neutral field favorability, but my rankings.

(01:25):
Since no one at the AP is going to watch
the games, I will, and this of course will end
if I don't secure the College Football Playoff Commissioner spot
with a spot for me on the playoff committee. It's
one or the other.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
It's your choice.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Take a pick, pick a poison, and Cublick may join
us if Jesse right, if we can get the shots
set up. We don't know. No one knows. We don't know.
It's anyone's guests. I do know this. They're watching us
in San Antonio, Texas, Seattle, Washington, Athens, Ohio, and Athens,
Alabama in the live chat and Gainesville, Florida. Also Bradley

(01:59):
JC from Emphis is tuned in. JC hooked Bradley up
with the new phone. He paid full price, but still
JAC shouted us out, and so we want to shout
him out. We appreciate him for getting Bradley hooked up.
One of the last remaining people who had never owned
an iPhone now a proud owner. So we can tell
when Bradley's gotten our text messages. I am headed to
Nebraska tomorrow with Taylor and Will and the bus and

(02:22):
bowl happening up there. We're gonna do a live event
tomorrow night at a spectacular venue, a theater there in Lincoln,
so we'll be on hand for that. I'll be on
the sideline at the game Saturday. Hey, did you hear Jesse,
I'm doing some stuff with CBS Saturday morning. See our
old friends up there, and Matt Whomstead of Funk that
you know, gonna possibly share a desk with Canel. You

(02:45):
never know what can happen when you show up in Nebraska.
Here's what you do need to know. You need to
be following on Instagram at Josh pat CFB because I'll
have you a ton of behind the scenes stuff from
up there. And also, Friday Night Lines will emanate from
a nondescript hotel somewhere in Lincoln, Nebraska, and it's going
to be a traditional Friday Night Lines. I think it's

(03:05):
going to be a little bit later in the evening
after the live event and I get back to the
hotel room, so like classic Friday Night Lines, as the
Good Lord intended, after dark, and I will let you
know tomorrow. Keep an eye on the story twitter feed.
I'll let you know what time exactly. But in the meantime,
for those interested in upsets, this could be your Saturday.
Because this is being looked at. It's sort of the

(03:27):
Saturday before the Saturday it was next Saturday. I don't
want to get ahead of ourselves. We've already started prep
for next week. We've got a monstrous slate next week,
and so everyone's looking ahead and no one's realizing, Hey,
Georgia State beat Vandy last week or last year, and
they play them this week. Does does anyone even have
any idea who USC plays before they go play Illinois?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well?

Speaker 1 (03:50):
I do, and I'm looking at these games. So let's
start in Clemson, South Carolina for the road team. Here,
Syracuse getting sixteen and a half right now, they're playing
a team in Clemson that has trailed everyone so far
this year. Clemson's one and two again, just a big
number here for Clemson. Now, surely they're in desperation mode.
I mean, Dabo cut up promo earlier this week that

(04:12):
Hogan would have been proud of Austin, would have been
proud of triple h and his prime would have been
proud of. Let me ask you something. If I were
to tell you one of these teams is third in
passing yards per game, who would you have thought it
was in the preseason. Probably the guy who is a
multi year starter at quarterback returning behind a veteran offensive line,

(04:33):
got a really good stable of receivers. Right, it's got
to be k klub Nick. No, it's Steve Angeli. It's
kind of showed up at Syracuse, sort of vagabond style.
I picture a stick with a knapsack, sort of tilted
over one shoulder. Hey, fran Hey can I play here? Yeah? Oh,
third in the country and passing a few weeks into

(04:54):
the season, No big deal. Some places make it look
so easy. Clemson is not one of those. I am
concerned that they are laying this many points this week.
They have scored ten, twenty seven, and twenty one in
the games that they've played so far. They need their
springboard moment. It's not just going to be the same
all year. Certainly, there's wild fluctuation in performance levels. It's

(05:17):
college football. Maybe they get that this week, but I'm
still putting a seven on the upset alert concern scale.
This is a big number, like sixteen and a half.
That's a big number to be looking at outright. Upset.
It's Clemson, man. They got to prove it. They got
to earn benefit of the doubt. They do not own
that around here right now. Next up, I mentioned to

(05:38):
USC big game coming up? Are you talking about this Saturday? Oh? No, no,
I'm not talking about that. Well, actually I am talking
about this Saturday. Everyone else is talking about next Saturday.
Because next Saturday is when they go to Champagne and
they play Illinois. As you know on this show, we
have circled that game as the hinge game for USC

(05:58):
in the Year of Our Lord two though twenty five.
But before that, here comes Michigan State. USC is an
eighteen and a half point favorite against the Spartans in
the Coliseum. I have had a morbid attachment with Michigan State,
as I documented Tuesday. Please don't ask me why. I
have watched every snap of Michigan State so far this year.

(06:20):
They're like my adopted program for the season. And here's
what I think they can do. I think they can
sustain drives. They can haven't necessarily done it. There's been
some offensive inconsistency, but I'm crossing fingers here that eventually
Michigan State hoopsty labeled a little bit of a sleeper
team in July, can sustain some drives. Now, if they

(06:43):
do that in this game, it could get really interesting
in a hurry, because if you limit some possessions here,
if you extend drives, if you're good on third down,
you could make a game of it. And also USC
has been pretty fortuitous in the turnover battle so far
this year, but that is a very random eyd stat.
So some extended drives for Michigan State. Aiden Child's just

(07:03):
making some plays, you know, get lathered up on a
Saturday night, immunity to all of that, and he just
makes some plays and these trading shots with Jade and
Mayava and then oh, turnover here or there goes Michigan
State's way. It's a four quarter game. I'm putting a
five and a half on it because I do believe
in USC. But we took Michigan State in the points

(07:24):
as one of our best bets, so I do expect
this to be a competitive game. What about Illinois Indiana?
Someone noted the other day that we left it out.
We didn't leave it out. We saved it for Thursday.
We don't eat the entire apple on Tuesday. We take
several bites out of it, and then there's some leftover
for Thursday. Here we go, Illinois gotta win at Duke
already this year. Now, admittedly it was a very misleading final.

(07:48):
It looks like a blowout. I think it was Jesse.
What was the final? Was it forty five to sixteen
forty five somewhere in that range, and yet I think
Duke outgained him. It was just a bunch of turnovers.
Which credit to Illinois for causing that forty five nineteen,
Credit to them for causing it. In the betting world,
what you want to do is you want to take
a mental note of that, because of course it's what

(08:08):
you would call a misleading final, and then down the
road you think maybe some lines would be inflated because
that looks like a blowout, and then you can take
advantage of it. Well, I'm not sure the market fell
for it, because Indiana is favored by six and a
half here, and so I looked at the model. The
model disagrees. The model actually thinks this is Indiana minus two.

(08:31):
When I say the model, For those of you who
are new around here. I mean our own in house
model here, and it is circling this game. This is
the taste of what Friday Night Lines sounds like. By
the way, a game I haven't talked about all week,
someone would ask about it in the live chat. I'd
have a couple of monitors pulled up in front of me.
There'd be some hotel blinds drawn behind me. It'd be
really sketchy. Lighting wouldn't be nearly this good. But I

(08:54):
would be looking at FanDuel Indiana minus six and a
half it look at the model up here, my goodness,
Indiana minus two. We differ by four points, four and
a half points with Vegas across multiple key numbers there.
That qualifies Illinois as a best bet. That's what Friday
Night Lines sounds like. I've got concern for Indiana because
I don't really know who they are. They could be

(09:15):
just as good as they were last year. I don't
know that. I do know that in the battle tested category,
relatively speaking, Illinoi's got a little bit more of that.
I just think the competitive profile of Brett Beelima's Illinois
team is such that if you're giving me nearly a
touchdown with them in these kinds of games that I
think they're gonna keep close. I'm taking it because I

(09:36):
think they could win the game. And this is not
like a point spread thing. This is not a cover thing.
But when the spreads under a touchdown, if I think
you're likely to cover, I think you could win the
game as well. So I'm gonna put an eight on
that one. I don't think it'd be a huge upset, honestly,
but Indiana is favored by nearly a touchdown, So give
me Illinois at an eight on the upset alert concern

(09:56):
scale to pull it off. Next up, Tulane on the
road at Ole miss Ole, miss Lay in twelve and
a half. Ole miss would be favored by more than that,
probably against a couple of SEC teams, although this year
in the SEC I'm not sure. Talk about that more
with Cublic later if he shows up. You need to

(10:17):
get used to seeing John Summer all against SEC teams
because he's going to be in this league in the
not two distant future spoiler alert. In the meantime, Tulane,
Little Old Tulane has gotten wins over Northwestern and Duke,
and they are kind of like the light version of Tennessee.
That sounds disrespectful. It's fine. It's fine. If they feel disrespected,

(10:38):
they can go beat Ole Miss. So how about that.
I look at this, and I look at Jake Rhetzlaf
who just kind of fell in their lap because of
a conduct code violation at Brigham Young and he is
taken off. It's a good player, kind of like Tennessee
got Joey Agilar falls in their lap after spring No
one planned that. That's not a play hypel runs. Let's

(10:59):
just ditch our quarterback can get a new one after
spring ball. Well, John Sumral didn't plan on this, but
Sumrall had his starter bought out from under him and
went to Douke, and then he beat him last week,
and then he's got after spring ball. Oh, bring him
Young's quarterbacks available. We'll just take him and he'll start.
So far, and it's early in the season, he's already

(11:21):
got two one hundred plus yard rushing games. Two Lane's
a top twenty five rushing offense. Dare I pop the
paper and inform you Ole Miss is one eighteen one,
one hundred and eighteenth in rush defense so far this year. Again,
it's very early in the season. Some of these stat
categories are a little warped, so absolutely take it to

(11:43):
the bank. You also should know that Old miss has
got LSU on deck. They know it, so why shouldn't
you know it? Yeah, this is a seven for me.
Two Lane could flat out win this game. This is
a seven for me. Now, what I'm not concerned about
is which quarterback Ole Miss starts. It's Lane. I'm just
not worried about it. It's Lane. I'm far more worried
about some starters in the SEC than I am Old missus. Backup,

(12:05):
It's a sad, sad state of affairs at various outposts
in the SEC. Next up right here in Nashville, Tennessee,
Georgia State's coming to town at Vandy. Vandy is a
big favorite, favored by twenty seven and a half. This
game happened last year Georgia State won. That can't be Josh.

(12:25):
Vandy had a great year last year, yep, but it
included a loss to Georgia State. Remember it was the
Model's shining moment because they went down there to Atlanta
and I sat here and I rung the upset alert bell.
I think we put a ten on it and everyone
thought with drugs. There were drug accusations, and then Vandy
goes down there and loses. And this is the same

(12:47):
Vandy that went on to beat Alabama not too long
after that. This game was tough for him last year.
You know who else was tough, ted Hurst. We don't
do much in the way of breaking down the wide
receiver room of Georgia State on this show for what
I think are obvious reasons. But ted Hurst tore them
up last year. Seven catches, one hundred and twenty eight yards,
two scores. He's still there. I know they've got both

(13:09):
eyes on him this Saturday. That's the kind of guy
late in the game, if you're looking for a backdoor cover,
that could get you that. But also if this just
becomes a competitive game in the fourth quarter, that's the
kind of guy who has once again gone off and
you're looking at him saying, why is he not on
a better roster than that? Shame on you if you
think that. Look, I think it's a natural letdown spot.

(13:30):
They're coming off back to back road games, coming off
back to back wins over Virginia Tech and South Carolina.
There is no big opponent next week. All due respect
to Utah State. So I'm gonna put a two on this.
Vandy's mature enough to handle business. I think it may
be ugly. I don't exactly expect forty five to three
at halftime or anything like that, but I do expect
Vandy to handle business. So I'm gonna put a two

(13:54):
on that one. And the last one I wanted to
get to is South Carolina at Missouri. We didn't talk
about that one Tuesday night either, because we were saving
it for Thursday. One more bite out of the apple. Hey,
just between us, what's happening here. Missouri was favored by
twelve or thirteen. And just so you know out there,
if you're looking at this line, Missouri minus nine and

(14:16):
a half and you're thinking, oh, that's called Sellers is
not playing. No, it was Missouri minus twelve or thirteen.
And then rumors started to float around that Sellers will play.
I expect them to play. That's baked into the number.
So Missouri is still over a touchdown favorite. With Lenora
Sellers projected to start at quarterback for South Carolina. It's

(14:38):
a pure desperation spot for South Carolina. You know what
I can't shake. I can't shake that image of them
going to Oklahoma last year in a kind of similar spot. Now,
they were coming off a near loss on the road
at Bama. Then they go back on the road to
Oklahoma and they blitz them a bunch of turnovers and

(14:59):
they won a game, and it felt like it changed
the course of the season. And I say that because
the desperation mode, you know, the d gaff mode they
kind of took on the road last year in that game.
I think we could see here. But I just even
if Lenora Sellers plays, you got to keep that team
from looking at number sixteen hoping he's superman like other

(15:21):
folks got a shoulder the load. Someone's got to step up,
multiple someones have got to step up. Because as much
as you're looking at it saying, oh, hopefully we can
get right here, like hopefully we feel disrespected, Hopefully we
can go on the road and we can rally the troops,
Missouri is still looking to make a statement. Missouri's best
win is Kansas. Missouri may be sitting there ranked or

(15:42):
power rated or whatever. Most people think they're totally anonymous,
so you are. You are just another opportunity for them
to flex in conference play. I think this is a
six because I respect the athletic profile of South Carolina's team.
But I look for a reason to pick the outright upset.
I couldn't find it. Six. Best I can do is

(16:04):
a six. Quick Trip is fueling our journey this Saturday,
which will actually be tomorrow. We're gonna head up to
Lincoln tomorrow. Jet fuel, quick trip, jet fuel, which you
don't need. You probably just need good old fashioned car gasoline,
car food if you will. They've got that too. They've
got human food, and they got cold brew on tap.

(16:25):
We just gave away a couple of tanks of free
gas today to random viewers. There is no random viewer here,
special viewers. Why Because we felt like it, and they've
given me the green night to give away a ton
of free stuff. So I've been doing that Quick Trip
fueling the fall don't lie tour. They can fuel your
tour wherever you go. You don't have to be in
Nebraska this week. You could just be driving around the
neighborhood for all I care. Just make sure you visit

(16:47):
our friends at quick Trip along the way. We appreciate them,
We love them, they know it, they love us. We
know that. Everyone loves each other. All right, we've got
we've got to do this every week. Now, we did
it once, you said do it every week. I'm gonna
do it every week. I'm tired of the AP poll.

(17:08):
People who claim they ranked teams have no clue how
to rank them properly. I do Power ratings on Tuesday,
and half the world intentionally misses the context there. So
Thursdays is where we go. Rankings, rankings, rankings, read the sign.
These these are rankings. These are rankings. So your win
loss record matters to me on Thursday nights. What you

(17:31):
deserve matters to me. Results on the field matter to me.
You better believe Florida State's going to be ahead of
Alabama on this show on Thursday night. You better believe
Notre Dame is going to be nowhere near the top
ten on Thursday night. I don't care what FanDuel says.
This is what the future commissioner of this sport in
his polls say, immunity. Let's start at number twenty five.

(17:51):
Nebraska is ranked. Of course they're ranked. I'm going to
see them this week. They're gonna beat Michigan. At least
that's the rumor. And in that case, they would be
a lot higher than twenty five. It's got Southern cal
at twenty four. Give me Mississippi State at twenty three.
Alabama has re emerged after a pretty dominant win against
Wisconsin at number twenty two. Still trust, but verify. I

(18:14):
don't know if I'm even trust in Alabama yet. I
need to verify and then trust. So we're gonna go
verify and trust method on Alabama. Luckily they go to
Georgia next week. Did you see, you know, just a
little time out here for anyone questioning why the JP pole,
which is you know, more odds maker based neutral field favorability.
We have Bama four the other night, and people were

(18:37):
looking at that saying, oh, no, I understand what the
JP poll's about, but even I think it's insane to
have Bama number four. And I said, why is that?
There aren't many teams that would be favored against them
even now? And people thought I was lying, Hey, hey,
guess what. Guess what I wasn't And FanDuel already has
the Georgia Alabama game up, you know, cause they're both

(19:00):
off this weekend, so they already got the game up.
Now Georgia just went and got a big win at
Tennessee on the road. Bama got drug on a neutral
on the road at Florida State week one. So what
would you suppose that line is it's at Georgia's in Athens.
What would you suppose that line is Georgia minus three

(19:20):
and a half, which is basically home field for Georgia.
So the implication there is even match up on a
neutral field. I don't care if you bet your house
on Georgia. I may bet Georgia. What I'm telling you
is from the JP pole perspective, Bama's really high. Bama's
where they need to be. From a rankings perspective, Bama
has no business up there. So we're putting them number

(19:41):
twenty two because that's where they deserve to be. That's
the difference in power ratings and rankings. Kids. I did
not drop USF out like the AP did. The AP
hated USF to begin with, so they were looking for
any reason. I'm pretty sure some people turned in their
ballots at halftime of the USF Miami game and they
dusted their hands off in the pro Well not me,

(20:01):
not me. I still got USF there, because you know
who they've still beaten Boise in Florida, which is a
better resume than most of you out there. Let's go
top twenty, Bradley, I got Auburn at twenty. Tennessee, I
dropped six spots, but I've still got them top twenty
as well. They're number nineteen. Texas Tech's good and they
got a big challenge in Salt Lake City Saturday. Go

(20:23):
get you an egg McMuffin head of the stadium because
it kicks off at ten am. Got Texas Tech at eighteen,
Missouri's at seventeen. Texas I've got at sixteen. The AP
has Texas at eight. And I ask you, if I
were to take this logo, this little bull's logo here
and give it Texas's resume, I think you and I

(20:45):
both know that little bull logo would be nowhere to
be found. But it's not. It's got horns, but it's
the long horn logo, and so it's all the way
up there at number eight. You were drugs. If you
think Texas has a eight resume in college football right now,
Not even Texas fans think that. Texas fans were the
first ones to come out and say, yeah, we don't

(21:06):
really belong top ten right now, get us out of there,
put us behind the curtain, let us work on ourselves. Please.
So I got Texas number sixteen, Top fifteen, time Ole,
miss don't think that's controversial. Utah, Iowa State, don't think
it's controversial. There was a rumor I took some shots

(21:26):
unjust shots at Illinois the other day. I didn't. I
used them as an example of a team that the
AP had in the top ten, whereas they had Georgia
Tech and Vandy not in the top fifteen. I thought
maybe Georgia Tech and Vandy's resumes were better than Illinois.
I still think that it's not a knock on Illinois
got them at twelve. I think the AP has them
a couple of spots higher. Illinois deserves everything they're getting

(21:48):
right now. It's just I think a couple of other
teams deserve something too that they're not getting. More on
that in a second. Oklahoma at eleven, YEP top ten.
All right, This is where I really differ huge detach
from the AP pole. I've got Vandy ten and Georgia
Tech nine. The AP has Vandy at twenty, in Georgia
Tech at eighteen, and I think the key difference there

(22:09):
is I've actually watched both of them play, and I'm
not sure most of the voters in the AP have
either that or they're just actively hating Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech. No,
like I said the other night, it's a party, and
there are some invitations sent out in the preseason, and
Vandy's and Georgia Tech never arrived because they never got

(22:29):
an invite, and they've had the audacity to show up anyway,
and the AP has no idea what to do with them.
It would be rude to just send them home like
they knocked on the door. Hey, hello, we just beat Clemson,
your preseason national championship pick. By the way, we just
beat Clemson. Where should we sit? Oh, go over to

(22:51):
the chair number eighteen. Over there is open Go over there,
Stay quiet, please, And no, we don't have any food
for you. You can eat here, Georgia Tech. Our table is open.
Pate State welcomes Vandy and Georgia Tech at ten to nine.
Number eight Team Texas A and M is a top
ten team. Best team in the state of Texas, I

(23:12):
think so. Right now. Penn State is number seven, Florida
State is number six. Now I noticed something. The commissioner's
pole is having an effect. We're not wasting our time here.
The commissioner's pole is having an effect because when Florida
State beat Bama in Week one, the Commissioner's poll immediately
vaulted Florida State. The AP was cautious, but then they

(23:34):
got drug for it. Florida State has played East Texas
A and M and had a bye week. Since then,
the AP has quietly bumped them up seven more spots
from the spot they had them the week after they
beat Bama. I'm not saying I'm just saying, top five.
What do we have? Oregon at number five, and that's

(23:56):
just a byproduct of them having not played anyone yet.
That is rapidly going to change. But your resume is
what your resume is. George is at number four, big
win over Tennessee. I've got LSU at number three. LSU's
offense has been nothing to write home about lately, but
that's only a third of what they do. American hero
Blake Baker also has to be factored in here. That

(24:18):
defense has been phenomenal, So I got him at number three.
Hopefully nus Meyer can be one hundred percent at some
point this year, fingers crossed there, because that could be
the number one team in the country. If so, I
got Ohio State at number two. I want earplugs down
in Coral Gables. I want this censored. I don't even
want this to be broadcast south of Orlando. But Miami

(24:39):
is the number one team in the country right now.
I don't even know how you argue with this. The
only argument would be Ohio State and a lot of
that would be we beat Texas and also we deserve
benefit of the doubt until we lose. I don't really
do the second part. The first part I get, but
Miami's resume is more impressive right now, and I don't
think it's fool's gold. Like they look really good. Do

(25:03):
not embarrass me this weekend. You got Florida coming in. Okay,
they're already.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
Oh oh oh.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
They're leaning over the cliff. You just got to kick
him in the forehead and then down they go, and
there's street pizza at the bottom on the rocks, way
on down there. That's what you gotta do. You just
got to kick him in the forehead. That's all you
gotta do. Yeah, Miami number one hoops to defunket right.
Carson Beck so washed that he's number one in the country.

(25:31):
It's a good thing. I don't believe everything I see
on the internet in the preseason. Academy Sports and Outdoors
available on the internet. Academy dot Com is there. But
if you don't want to live on the internet, and
in case you haven't noticed lately, it's a very toxic
place to live. Live in the real world because we
got Academy Sports and Outdoors locations all over the place.
And if you don't have one in your backyard, I'm
working on getting one in your backyard. And you go

(25:53):
to Academy and you can get camping gear, or you
can get gear for fall football leagues, flag football or
real life eleven on eleven tackle. You got it there.
You need to get some big lead chew in the
checkout line. That's not a question. That's just an a
piece of advice that I would give you greape if

(26:14):
you're like me. But Academy Sports and Outdoors has been
a long time partner of ours. They help make the
show free, they help keep the lights on around here.
They help all that, and they can help you and
your quest for filling your cart with things that you
need anyway, just visit a place that has helped us
and been a partner with us for a long time.
Because if you're gonna buy it anyway, why not buy

(26:35):
it from friends. That's my policy. One thing before I
get kublic in here that I just need to touch
on immunity. Bradley, did we have a Twitter question about
this nonsense today? Yeah, Kenneth hit us up from Morgantown,
West Virginia. Huge win, by the way, in the backyard
brawl last week we had West Virginia plus the points

(26:58):
they want outright, Rich Rodriguezz got like one hundred and
thirty seven new players on that team, So good for them. Anyway,
this is where it goes downhill. Kenneth hit me up
and said they're taking more and more college football games overseas.
Is that as dumb as I think it is? I
don't care how dumb you think it is, Kenneth. It's dumber.
No matter how dumb you think this is, it is dumber.

(27:20):
So if you missed what happened today, friend of the
program Scott Hamilton with The Post and Courier reported that
they were embarking on a multi year deal for something
called the Union Jack Classic, which will take place in
Wembley Stadium. It's a series of games starting next year.

(27:41):
It's going to be in Week three, not a kickoff game.
Week three. Wembley Stadium is in London. For the unwashed
masses out there, me included, Kansas and Arizona State are
going to play in this thing in week three. Now,
I already know how dumb that sounds to you, but
trust me, it's a whole lot dumber. International college football

(28:02):
games are among the dumbest things that decision makers in
this sport, who are very prone to dumbness do. International
college football is dead on arrival as a concept. To me,
I get you want the money. I'm not stupid. I
get that you're wanting the paycheck. But I would also
suggest to you that there is a line in the

(28:23):
sand past which you sacrifice the very integrity of the
product you're looking to cash in on. Case in point,
we've had meetings just this afternoon for this very show
where we left large sums of money on the table.
We leave a ton of money on the table every
year for this show because there are companies, they're brands

(28:44):
that would love to be in business with us. There
are initiatives that are offered to us that we could
take and we could cash in. We don't, And do
you know why we don't Because we're not hurting for
money anyway, and we would sacrifice the integrity of the
show in the process of the payday, which makes it
not worth it. This is not a complicated concept. However,

(29:07):
you can picture this as well as I can. You
can picture someone or many Someone's just I picture this
boardroom table. Mahogany probably is some kind of wood that
is not native to the United States of America. I
picture this boardroom table, and I picture all of these
suits gathered around it. And someone asks what makes college

(29:33):
football great? And oh, they're like clapping seals, ooh, ooh, pageantry, ooh, tradition.
I have a third one. You know what makes college
football great? College That's what makes college football great. Campuses
that's what makes college football great. The European mind cannot

(29:53):
comprehend many things that America has to offer. But one
of the hardest things to comprehend has to be when
we send a college football game over to Wimbley Stadium,
Because they get NFL games sent over there, so they've
seen the best athletes playing this sport in the world.
They have no clue about the tradition in pageantry you

(30:13):
speak of about college football. All there seeing is a
second rate football product on the field. I watch as
people make the bad faith counter argument, Well, Josh, European
soccer teams come here all the time. Pro soccer teams
come here all the time. What teams did you say?
Pro teams? Oh, yeah, you mean kind of like the
pro football teams that we send over there to play.

(30:34):
I don't have a clue about European soccer. What is
the second rate version of it? Because if they came
here and played in Jodas Park just down the road
here in Nashville, I'd look at it and I'd say,
I barely understand the main event soccer that they send
over here. But I do get that it's a big deal.
Why would I pay any money or pay any attention

(30:56):
to the second rate product. Now you're listening to me
say that, and you think, oh, that's very disrespectful to
college football, and it's not second rate to me. It's
the best sport in the world. But I grew up
in Harris County, Georgia, so Auburn was right there, Georgia
was right there, Alabama was right there. I was immersed
in it. I get it. So when you ask me
about Georgia football, about nine things come to mind before

(31:19):
the play on the field, because that's what makes college
football great. The college and the people who make decisions
like these have not the slightest clue what that even means,
because they didn't grow up in it. They're not immersed
in it. You cannot take college football to Europe because
once you take the product off campus, you have removed

(31:40):
the college portion of the football. And at that part,
when you've stripped away all that, you're just taking a
second rate football product over there. The European mind has
no clue about daboswenty running down the hill. They got
no clue about the big house or to shoot. They
just know we get to see NFL games occasionally. Someone
called Michigan is coming over here, someone called Arizona State's

(32:02):
coming over here. Those guys look smaller than the pro guys,
they look a little bit slower, They drop more footballs.
Why are we watching this? That's the European mind. Now,
as your future college football commissioner, I don't mind trying
to grow the game. But the way I want to
grow the game is go get folks from Europe. Bring
them over here. It's a nice vacation. Take them out
to Sun Devil Stadium, or take him to Athens, or

(32:24):
take him to Columbus or Ann Arbor and show them that.
You imagine taking someone from London to Eugene, Oregon and
showing them that place. That's college football. That's college football.
Not what they're sending them over there. What they're sending
them over there is just football. It's not college football.
That's all I have to say on the matter. Jesse,

(32:45):
what's the status of cublic? By the way, Oh we are,
Well that's a surprise. Well. In the meantime, Fandel the
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(33:06):
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(34:10):
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(34:50):
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(35:44):
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Speaker 1 (35:45):
Uh, I'm gonna tell you something, Jesse. I'm gonna do.
SeatGeek during cublet. That's all there is to it. Bring
him in here, pop him in. Where is he? There?
He is? Cole Kublick of the Birmingham area is joining
us on the show. And you joined us on the
show at SEC Media Days in July. And I remember

(36:07):
with the Hall of Fame in the background. You and
I were sitting there handheld mics, and we said, might
this SEC picture be way more compacted than it normally is?
How are we supposed to try and figure out what
Tier two is going to be? Well, if you go
with my four shelf grocery store theory of college football
team so far, but we're using SEC teams. I don't

(36:29):
know if I've got anyone on the top shelf yet.
I don't know if I've got anyone on the bottom
shelf yet. I just got a whole bunch of shelf
two and shelf three in the SEC. And I want
to take great pride along with you. Fifty to fifty
maybe fifty five, forty five either way that we sort
of called this, did we not.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
A little bit before we get into that Saint Anselom
at assumption tomorrow night, two one in one teams going
at it. You're just leaving them off the list. Hold on,
we're not even gonna we're not even gonna approach that.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
It's fine model slightly in assumption, very slightly.

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Yeah. And part of this, too is a couple of
those teams that we thought were Tier two, and maybe
we weren't confident that they were at the top of
Tier two or starting to get there some that are
in Tier one, or maybe at the bottom of Tier two.
Texas down, Tennessee up. This is gonna sound really weird,
but I actually left more confident in Tennessee than I

(37:26):
did George. I should probably say I gained more confidence
in Tennessee than I did Georgia. Last week. I didn't
have a ton of concerns about Georgia. I didn't think
they were incapable of throwing the football down the field.
Now I still have some concerns about their tackles and
their pass protection and the consistency on offense and if
a team's gonna blitz at safety from fifteen yards on
the first play of the game so you can hit

(37:47):
that one on one. But I actually gained a ton
of confidence in Tennessee, Josh, because that was the first
time since maybe the former era, that I looked at
Tennessee on film and said, they are almost toe to
toe with the Georgia Bulldogs from a physicality standpoint. I mean,
they trade. I'm jealous that you were at that game.
By the way, that was one of the few games

(38:07):
I watched on film and said, man I can't believe
I didn't get to watch this live, much less in
person because they were trading paint. Face masks were dented.
Tennessee's offense is knocking guys on their rear end. Georgia's
offense is knocking guys on their ear end. Both defenses
are knocking guys down. The physicality was about even, and
that has been far from the truth the last four
or five years. When these two teams have played, I

(38:29):
mean two whatever three years ago in Athens, it was
I mean, hell, Tennessee played four in the box the
whole game, or Georgia played four in the box and
Tennessee still couldn't run the ball. So I didn't bring
Georgia down at all. But I gained immense respect for Tennessee.
And if we did have a Tier one here in
this conversation, they might be in it for me, even
with the loss. I think Alabama is making their way

(38:49):
back up there. I would be okay with them being
in Tier one. I understand what happened in the Florida
State game, but I like what I've seen since, and
I like the potential that lies there. Want to see
some guys get healthy, specifically, on the defensive line. I
think they need Tim keenan back and he just stay healthy.
They've lost a couples. Latham missed the game, but it
just doesn't have that clear picture of these are the
three or four at the top. We can forget them

(39:11):
and then start talking about everybody else, because I don't
know if I have LSU in Tier one right now.
They don't have the capabilities of running the football, and
I understand the BK got upset about that after the game,
but what are the one team in the league has
fewer rushing touchdowns and fewer rushing yards per game. I
think they're last in the league and explosive plays, so
that's got a change. Garrett Neusmeyer has made four or

(39:33):
five of the best throws that you'll see this year.
But the reason that they have been the best throws
Josh is because he's eluding pressure, having to get it
out way early because there's a free runner at him,
and he's having a side arm at step into the
side because the guy's coming in his face and it
just happens to be right there where the receiver's gonna
end up outside of his break. So defense at LSU,
I love it offense got some work to do, no doubt.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
What is the thing you've seen around the league so
far this year that's disappointed you the most. I'm not
tall talk about stuff that you look back and you say,
I just flat out misread this. I over hyped this
person or this team or this unit. That's on me
I'm talking about I'm looking at Florida. Obviously, for me,
I had very high expectations for him, But I really

(40:15):
don't think it was unwarranted. I don't know how in
the world you watch how they finished last year, how
you look at what they should have on the offensive line,
tailback position, quarterback. I do think in retrospect, I really
underestimated what him missing springball, DJ Lagway missing spring ball
probably meant for them. But I mean, Carson Beck miss

(40:36):
springball at a new program and it's just boom, boom boom.
He's a nineteenth year starter, so that's a little bit
different than Lagway. But I do not think my expectations
were out of whack for Florida. But I've heard you
talk about Florida as well. You know, everyone's you torched
the bar and kill the rats. Let's go find a
new head coach, and you've laid it out a lot
more all twenty two style analytically, and you're talking about

(40:57):
how it's not a disaster, but it's things here or there,
and it's very undisciplined penalties and stuff like that. It's
nothing that can't get corrected. Problem is you're having to
correct it. You're having to try corrected driving like really
really steep uphill right now because there is no break,
there's no stretch of three opponents. You're favored by three touchdowns. Again,
So Florida is my huge disappointment. Uh, if you got

(41:20):
another one, okay, but either way, I want you to
talk about Florida.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
Well, here's the thing with Florida. It's almost worse than
how you described it, because no, it's not a disaster,
but it's disappointing. And I think when when disappointment hits,
it's because you felt there was a really good chance
that you weren't going to be disappointed and those expectations
were going to be met, and the reality of those
expectations being met was there has been there. You can

(41:44):
see that light at the end of the tunnel. That
light feels a lot further away, and it's bleak, it's dim,
it's not near as bright as it once was. There's
a there's an aspect of chemistry with that group that's
not there being on the same page because if you
just watched the plays, it's it's easy to get excited
about or feel pretty good about. But it's the sequencing,
it's the mistakes, it's shooting yourself in the foot, those

(42:06):
things that are holding them back. And I think you're
right about Lagway. I think spring practice is probably something
that's becoming a little bit more important across the board.
We're not talking about. Cayden Proctor will be another example
of that. You know, everybody just at Alabama automatically said
number one overall pick, best left tackle in America. Well,
he didn't go through spring ball for the second straight year.
He's having his struggles, not saying he can't climb his

(42:27):
way out of it. Might end up being a great
player this year, might end up being one of the
best left tackles this year. But I think the springball
Josh is when you get better individually. Now, the team
can still get better, the team can grow, position groups
can grow, but that's the time that you focus on
yourself the most. And if you miss that, that's where
some of those things are taken away. And then you

(42:48):
compound that with quarterback receiver chemistry, offensive line continuity, defensive
backs having that nonverbal communication, just the understanding, the wherewithal
the know how of I don't have to lean this
way in this coverage because I know he's got it,
or he knows that I'll be there in this place.
We don't have to look over at me and get
a check. He knows we're going to cover two here,
and everything's gonna be okay. All those things happen in

(43:10):
spring ball, and when you miss it, I think it's
gone backwards just a little bit. So I would be
with you on Florida. I would throw Texas into the mix.
It's easy, it's low hanging fruit to sit here and
just say arch Manning's not good. Arch Manning's not playing well.
He's not playing anywhere up to his capabilities. I don't believe.
But when you look at the guys around him, that
becomes utterly disappointing as well. The offensive line giving up

(43:33):
free runners. And if we're going big picture here, it's
probably protection. And I know I'm the offensive line nerd
in the room, But goodness gracious, the free runners at
quarterbacks Oklahoma, Auburn, Florida, LSU, every team. Missouri's got free
runners at Perbulah three, four or five times a game.
I don't understand how you can just let guys run
at your quarterback. Eventually he's gonna get killed. It's gonna happen.

(43:56):
And so that's one of the things too, that I
look at with Texas, like, you can't let run free
off the edge. You can't get confused. I should I
slide inside outside? Who do I take here? You've got
to protect your quarterback. There have been some drops, there
have been running backs. I don't think are finding the
right holes in the most disappointing part, and maybe this
shouldn't be an expectation, but I thought Utip, Yes, Utip

(44:20):
had the best tackling performance by a defense in an
individual game that I have seen this season against Texas
last week. One on one, one on one, out in space.
Corner on running back, linebacker on tight end, linebacker on receiver, screen, corner,
fights through a stock block, makes a tackle. I'm sitting
here going who is this defensive coordinator and what are

(44:43):
they feeding these kids? Because it was one on one
tackle after a guy in the hole blocked perfectly, Bam,
here comes backside linebacker makes a play for two yard gain.
It was unbelievable. But where I'm going with that, Josh
is last year that was a fifteen yard game. That
was a nineteen yard gain and eight yard gain and
it was second and four, or it was second and two,
or it was just a first down and we're rolling,

(45:03):
we're moving. I think the players around arts Manning all
have to raise to their capabilities before I can sit
there and say that he's the worst quarterback in the
league or the most disappointing guy in the league. I'm
not seeing the offensive line play well. I don't think
they're getting near the work at the line of scrimmage
from the tight end position they did last year, and
the playmakers are just not making the plays once they
get the football in their hands.

Speaker 1 (45:24):
Let me ask you this. You were talking about disappointing
play around quarterback position. You're talking about maybe a lack
of cohesion, chemistry, et cetera. At Florida. I feel that
when I watch Clemson offensively, specifically, I feel that I'm
not in that locker room like I don't do the
body language thing. I just sometimes you watch a group.

(45:45):
It's not hard to watch a group and tell, like
I know, Vanderbilt locker room number one to eighty five,
or howver many scholarship guys they have, they'll just go
to war for their quarterback. They'll go to war for
Diego Popy. I got no doubt about that. I don't
feel like that when I watch Clemson. I don't know
what it is, but I look at that and I'm

(46:05):
not saying that's what's holding them back. I am saying
there's an intangible factor there. There's a way that I'm
used to watching Clemson play. I don't even just mean
the talent level. I mean I'm used to watching those
guys and it's like watching the movie three hundred. You're
not really going to separate one from the packet. They
just all feel like they're one unit. Martin in the
same direction. And I watch them against Georgia Tech, but

(46:25):
I've watched it all year, and I feel like the
pieces I thought were there, these are the pieces that
I thought were there. I didn't pick them to win
the title, but like I expected them to be the
best team in their conference. And even when good things
are happening. I don't know, man, It's just it doesn't
feel like this. It feels a little looser. And again,

(46:45):
you got to be a fly on the wall in
the locker room to really know what that dynamic is.
I just think some groups are tighter than others. I
don't feel like that one really.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
Is pressure I think is big in today's college football
because kids get it from all over the place, and
it's not just you know, your uncle that was trying
to steer you to a school anymore it can It's
now your agent and people around him, your agency. You
have marketing agents that are hitting these kids. Guys in
the portal thinking about the NFL is still a real

(47:15):
thing that's been there for a long time, but now
you have guys that are maybe thinking about getting out
going and doing something else, playing somewhere else. There's just
a lot that goes into it. Some guys handle that well,
some guys don't. For me, it's it's I'm glad you
brought up Vanderbilt because I think they are a perfect
example of the flip side of this. And I'm not
gonna put any accusations on Clemson because I haven't had
them this year, so I haven't been around that staff

(47:37):
or around those players to have those conversations. I agree
with you. When I watched them from a distance, you
can feel that, but I want to when I watched Miami,
when I watch Oregon, when I watch Vanderbilt, and I
did have a chance to get up close to them
this past week, so I got a different look, a
different view of maybe what they are and who they are.
There's a couple of things that come to mind and

(47:58):
make you think that's why what they are. Confidence is
number one, Trust is number two, and number three is
the easiest part in this game that we all forget,
and it's probably with today's college football, Josh, the easiest
to get away from. And it's having fun. Do you

(48:19):
see a bunch of Clemson dudes that look like they're
having fun when they're out there playing football? Because at
the end of the day, it's a game, and if
it's not fun, what's the point. I understand there's a
lot of money at stake. I understand there's championships at stake.
I understand there's eighty some thousand people coming to watch you.
But it's still not gonna work if it's not fun,
because then the pressure multiplies and what the people are

(48:40):
saying magnifies, and what you think you have to do
yourself to win games also magnifies. And that's not the case.
Still do your job and then work together as a unit,
work together as a side of the football, and then
work together as a team. That's how it should all flow. Well,
you can put a damn in front of all that
really quickly when you're not having fun and then you

(49:02):
don't trust the guy next to you, or you're worried
about doing your own thing, and you don't have confidence.
The number one word that I heard coming out of
the Vanderbilt coaches, players and people around that program through meetings,
warm ups, during the game, after the game was confidence.
We're confident we can do this. We're confident we can

(49:22):
run that coverage. We're confident we can get away with
those pressures. We're confident that we can run these plays
against that defense over and over and over. And sometimes
when you hear that, you can tell it's fabricated. And actually,
we had a couple of players tell us that we
feel like last year, what it was maybe a little
bit of false confidence that we were believing some things
that weren't real. But the part of that that makes

(49:43):
me know it's real is Josh, they have an edge. Man,
That team has an edge. They have points to prove,
they have people that they have messages to send to,
and they're out to send them. You could hear it
on the sideline when I was standing over there covering
the game. You can hear it warm ups. And I
don't think it's just the quarterback. They went and got
a couple offensive linemen like I've never seen Vanderbilt have before.

(50:05):
We did it Monday night on Read and React. My
producer asked me, he said, I want four things about
Vanderbilt that are different this year. Can you give me
those and can we show them in clips? I said absolutely.
Number One, we're going to show counter because they're running
counter this year. They didn't run it last year. Two,
we're going to show that offensive line because they fire
off the football and they're bigger and more physical than
I have ever seen a Vanderbilt offensive line be. Maybe

(50:25):
there's one out there that I didn't pay attention to,
don't know about, but I think that's what they have.
And then they went and got some speed on the perimeter.
Now they stole one from their own defense, but they
went and recruited a couple of other guys. They can
stress the feeld vertically and horizontally now to make you
play them a different way, which sets up everything that
they want to do, and it helps them achieve their
offseason goal number one goal, which was yards before contact

(50:46):
for guys like they have in the backfield, quarterback, running back, etc.
And Roman says, oh, I got one. Roman Harper, who
if y'all hadn't watched Red React Monday night, six pm,
centuries you check it out SEC network. I said, go
for it, man. I was like, I'll do three, you
do one. And he goes and gets a picture to the
left tackle and he goes, look at this. He's got
his jersey tucked up, he's got belly tats, he's got
ponytail tats on his arm. He goes, I ain't never

(51:08):
seen a Vanderbilt. I'man have this this different. That's different
right there. I've never seen that of Vanderbilt perceptions reality,
they have an edge, man like, they're a little bit
different in mentality and how they attack things and the
things that they do. And I think it's a perfect
ending point to that discussion of all the things you

(51:29):
have to have to succeed, and if you don't have
those things, or if you're trying to fabricate those things falsely,
it's just not gonna work.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
You know, you could just as easily be describing Georgia
Tech right now.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
Give you their quarterback. Many I don't think Haines King
could start in the UFL, and I'm dead serious when
I say that. But I know this, Every player on
that team would take a bullet for him tomorrow. I
have zero doubt in my mind about that. If they said, hey, man,
Haines can't play, and let you cut your f you
cut your pinky off, they being up to cut their
pinkies off before the game. That's it. I mean, he

(52:03):
brings something different. It's you know, we talked to it.
And what's weird about this whole conversation, Josh Is last year,
what were we saying about DJ Lagway. He raised the
level of play of all his teammates when he was
on the field. Everybody else played different. Haines King is
that guy. Because you see your quarterback go take fifteen
twenty hits the game and you're like, I better get

(52:26):
out there and gets I better do something like this
is the guy not supposed to be getting hit. He's
trucking people and he's got a bruce shoulder and his
knee probably doesn't work and his back's aching. Like, guys,
we gotta get it going here a little bit. So
I yes, And I think that's trickled down effect from
their head coach as well, because I know his mentality
and the kids love him as well, and they love playing.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
For If there's one thing I'd love to see from
South Carolina this week, it's that kind of response. It's
it's collectively the way Georgia Techs guys play for Haines King,
the extent to which we've seen that at Vanderbilt. I'd
love for me to be able to turn on that
South Carolina game. It's a dog fight in the fourth
quarter on the road in Columbia, and it's because everyone's

(53:08):
not looking the number sixteen to be superman. Some people
are taking it upon themselves to maybe stick their face
and fan a little bit more as well. I know
maybe there are certain position groups that are limited there,
but there's no way the overall athletic profile of that
South Carolina team I don't care if you got Luke
Dody on the field or Lenora Sellers on the field,
has them having any business with you having to talk

(53:28):
to THEO Vaughn in the fourth quarter to keep viewers
tuned in in your home building because Vandy's running it
up on you, and now you go on the road
in pure desperation mode. You're laying nearly double digits or
you're getting nearly double digits and it's kind of an
afterthought game. I think that's a huge game for them
this weekend.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
It's massive, and first off, I don't think there's gonna
be enough possessions to go around in this game for
anybody to run it up. This game might take an
hour and twenty one minutes because I think they're both
going to run the football. I think both of these
teams tackle well. I mean, you watched Marvin Burks at Missouri.
I mean, he plays like the Tasmanian devil. It's safety
like he just literally wants to get people to the
ground and punish you while he's doing it. I think

(54:09):
the Missouri defense deserves a little bit more credit here,
and that's where South Carolina's problems are going to be
because if Leonora Sellers is not on the field, who
is your best football player on that side of the ball. Now,
I loves you'll face on and he is a guy
that is not afraid of contact, He's not going to
run out of bounds. But another player that hasn't necessarily

(54:30):
been there through everything with that team, Nick Harbor. We
know the inconsistencies, We understand that. So you've got to
find somebody else to play super Friends without the superhero
in the game. And I don't know how many of
those they have. And defensively, I think they have some
of those guys, but the maturity level needs to rise
on defense, and that's what last year they had. I mean,

(54:52):
if you got to know Demetrius Knight last year, like
you understood the calming effect he had on that defense.
Nick Emunill warried the things that he did on the
back end of that defense. They have some guys that
have been in the system for a while, but it's
the overall maturity of how to handle things, how to
handle your business, not throw punches during games, things of
that nature. So I didn't look at it last week
and say, man, Luke Doty's bad. And I've seen three

(55:15):
or four people say that this week. Go watch the
drive before the end of the half. He's throwing a
couple of darts. He's driving them down and I'm sitting
there saying, what a luxury to have a six year
guy played receiver, played tight end, and play quarterback that
at least knows how to operate your offense. And by
the way, Aaron Nolan was in the backup, so everybody
clamoring for him to come in. I don't even think
that was gonna happen after Luke Doty. So they got

(55:38):
to get that part figured out first. Then go to
what you're capable of. Because the traditional run game is
not strong enough to just say, okay, let's let face
song go or we'll split the carries for thirty five
attempts a game. You can't just open that up. And
a lot of what is opened up is because of
the capabilities that Leonoris brings. You have to respect the
red plays, you have to respect the backsides, the fakes. Well,

(56:00):
in Luke Doty's in there, you don't have to do
that as much. Yeah, he can break you down and
give you a little four yard run off his own
read or whatever, but he's not going for eighty or forty,
and that's what deep as a coordinators get scared of.
They don't get scared of a guy chipping you away
for two yards here and six yards there and three
yards there. They get worried about the guy that can
go ninety yards and Sellers can do that. And I
don't know if they have many other guys on that

(56:21):
team that when they have the ball in their hand,
are that type of threat.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
I know you watch a whole lot of teams, you
cover a lot of them in the SEC, but I mean,
you've gotten eyes on most of the teams in the
country at the higher level. I would think I would
assume you've seen Miami by now. I don't know that
I've watched a team just fly around more than Miami does. Defensively,
there may still be holes on the back end, like

(56:46):
they'll face a quarterback eventually that will test that secondary.
I'm just talking about pure athletes flying around. They look
like they're playing in such a different gear this year
than they were last year, and some of those guys
were there last year. I don't know what it is like.
Miami's jumps off the screen to me when I watch them,
right now.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Confidence trust fun. I mean, watch them play last year
and tell me if you thought they were super confident
in what they were being asked to do, or if
they trusted that the next guy was gonna be where
he was supposed to be, and that could have been schematic.
I don't know, but I mean, it's this. I don't
want to get ahead of myself, but I know what
it looks like and I know what it reminds me

(57:25):
of them. Yeah, and it's it's there are other Miami
defenses that I've seen in my lifetime that it very
much resembles. I mean, they got assassin's on that side
of the football, Josh, I don't know another way to
sell it. They got trained killers, guys that come downhill
and want to hurt you. And I posted the clip
today when I see a linebacker knock a tackle on
his rear end then take on a pulling guard and

(57:46):
work through him and make the play at the line
of scrimmage, I'm like, these dudes are doing it different.
They are doing it different. And you took a good
Notre Dame offensive line, Yeah, a couple of injuries, and
you essentially embarrassed them on the opening night of the
season for you both. And then the thing that really
I love about him, you put the offense on. They
got this workhorse tailback that is massive, but he can

(58:08):
slither his way through these little bitty holes and then
you feel like the play is over when I'm watching it,
and then six more yards or four more yards or
eight more yards, he just he kind of worms his
way out and it's like another twelve yards. They can
lean on you that way. They have a change up
back that can hurt you on the perimeter. And this
is what a lot of college teams don't have a

(58:29):
quarterback who has absolutely no fear of challenging the middle
of the field. Down the field. I'm not talking about crossers,
I'm not talking about mess concepts four yards down the field.
I'm talking twenty thirty, twenty five, eighteen, twelve yards down
the field consistently, and Carson Beck does not care. He
will attack it and he will take it, and he

(58:51):
will change the way you have to play them defensively.
They can protect him and they can maul you. Oregon
might be close. I love what I've seen for I
actually think they're upbraded at tackle from a year ago
kid from Texas State's playing great football. I thought Isaiah
World was gonna be one of the best tackles in
college football. His right tackle might be better than him.
This year. They've got great skill and their defensive line attacks,

(59:12):
and they got a quarterback that looks like he has
a chance one day to be special. But Miami's doing
it a little bit different than everybody else that I've
seen right now.

Speaker 1 (59:20):
Yeah, I'd say if you did nothing more than put
some Georgia jerseys on that performance, that's the slam dunk
number one team in the country right now. The doubts
people have about them, which are valid by the way,
based on history, is can you sustain the consistency of
performance because you're going to get a whole bunch of
double digit spread favorite games after they get through this
little stretch there in right now, and it's just going

(59:41):
to be so monotonous. And can you watch an organization
that has not done it to this point under this
staff maintain that level of consistency because if they can,
I don't know that personnel wise, there is a better
just overall team out there in the country, especially when
you mentioned what Beck's doing. It's funny some people are
surprised by that, like he's not done it before. It's

(01:00:03):
funny to watch people be surprised at a multi year
starter when healthy that does multi year starter things well.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
And you've got and you've got an offensive corner in
Shannon Dawson with an air raid background, And I think
what you're seeing a little bit now. Listen, it's nothing
against cam Ward. That kid was incredible last year, But
I think what you're seeing is the offense when not
having to add lib, not having to move and create
or maybe not even having similar abilities to be able

(01:00:32):
to do that that when it's on time, on rhythm,
on schedule, what it can do, how it can bludget
you down the field. Now, cam Ward kind of did
his own thing and it worked and it was magical,
and we had them in the bowl game and Shannon
sat there and told us there's times that I just
leave him alone, like you just got to say what
and what? But oh, okay, yeah, you just keep doing

(01:00:53):
that and it's going to be fine. We'll figure it
out from here. Now, it's kind of this is the design,
this is how we attack. Let the ball go here. Oh,
he's got the arms strength to deliver it. Great we'll
do it. And the receivers are one of those big surprises.
We didn't really know what they were going to be.
They're playing great for that football team. And I would
say counterpoint, and I don't know what stretching this goes.

(01:01:13):
You make a great point about Miami if they win
this weekend, what lies ahead and how they react to it.
There is also the aspect of where that program has
been before and when they get that confidence. You can
call it swagger, you can call it whatever you want.
There's an aspect of wanting to step on your throat
and embarrass you. That's always deep rooted in that place.

(01:01:36):
And if they get that, I wouldn't be worried about
the next three or four games.

Speaker 1 (01:01:42):
Buddy, they go to Tallahassee in a few weeks. I
just want to have that on everyone's radar. They go
to Florida State in a few weeks. Look, I'm not
in the business of handling you immense amounts of compliments,
but this reaction show that you do over on your
YouTube channel. I know a lot of people out there
in the space watch it. I delve into it a
little bit. Well, tell the people where they can find it,

(01:02:02):
because I know it takes a lot of time. I
know you sit there on the treadmill and you watch
every snap of every game and that's not actually even
a lie. You really do it. So let's get some
traction out of this. Where can people find it?

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
A Cube show on YouTube, Apple, podcast, Spotify, wherever you
get yours. We are out every Monday now, usually Monday
afternoon evening. And yeah, we go through every SEC game,
every snap, every play, and we just tell you what
we saw. It's that simple. It's that easy on Instagram
and Twitter as well at Cube Joe.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
There you go, people rewind it if you didn't hear
them the first time. All right, you're headed to LSU
this weekend. Yeah, yep, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Interested to see just kind of where this offense is
really and truly because like I said, I think they've
got some holes. We're not going to really learn much
about them performance wise in this game, but maybe personnel wise,
maybe what the future may hold about what they can
unlock and do down the road, and can they get
back on that tier one with a couple other sects.

Speaker 1 (01:03:00):
All right, I'll send you some pictures from Nebraska. I'll
talk to you later, man. I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:03):
Well, I'm going to a rivalry game this week, an
N state ride less time for wherever you want. You
can go, have some bus and bowl. I'm going to
an in state rivalry game where hatred is going to
fuel the entire thing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:18):
I stand by everything I said, spreading that thing about
fifteen and a half. By the way, I'll talk to
you next week. Thank you if you want to go
to either of those games. As we wrap up here,
I want to remind you because we get like five
dms after every show. Hey, what was that code? Go
to Seat Geek, choose whatever you want to choose, and
go watch Monster Jam for all I care. And I'm
not knocking Monster Jam. I've watched it in person. I'm

(01:03:41):
a pro Monster truck guy. Maybe not on fall Saturdays,
but most of you are here, coach, you love college football.
If you're buying tickets, which many people are doing late
in the week, Seat Geek, buy your tickets, PAYT ten
at checkout, p at E one zero at checkout, I'm
getting you twenty percent off your purchase of anything up
to two hundred dollars. I'm getting you twenty dollars off

(01:04:02):
of your purchase anything above and beyond two hundred dollars
and that's it. There's no catch to that. I'm just
trying to help you out a little bit in this
economy and in any economy. I know they lowered interest rates,
but tickets are still pretty pricey, so I'm just trying
to get your little discount on them, which we've done.
Pay ten, Payton one zero Friday Night Lines Tomorrow night
from Lincoln. Make sure you're following at Josh pat CFB.

(01:04:24):
We're gonna have a great weekend, great weekend, first time
ever at Nebraska. Look forward to sharing a lot of
that with you, and we'll be back here Sunday to
recap the entire weekend and any upsets and notable occurrences
that may come along with it. Until then. For director Bradley,
for producer Jesse, I'm Josh Paid. Take care, enjoy one

(01:04:45):
of the few fall Saturdays full of football that we get.
Three year college football people. Take care. I'll see you Sunday,
God bless.

Speaker 3 (01:05:06):
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Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
In New York