Speaker 1: What's up everybody, and welcome to It just means more
football and coffee.
Speaker 2: I'm Rob Williams, he's Craignate Michael.
Speaker 1: We're back with another week to discuss the best league
in the country. It is SEC Football And just so
you remember, you can find us at Rob Williams, GCP
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and Steve Carney as they talk about the service academies.
Speaker 2: Get off my pieline.
Speaker 1: Matt Zimmick is out West, all eyes on Boise out
West right now. And then you have the Big twelve
SEC Breakdown with Tyler Jones and Thomas Bridges as well.
So we have lots going on at College grid Eye
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the gift that keeps on giving. Brother College Football delivers
with another great weekend.
Speaker 2: How's it going. What's up?
Speaker 3: Uh? You know, I'm doing all right. I'm doing all right.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I just had a caramel apple with nuts. I might
have had two because they were small as you as
you're sipping on your side of there, and I tell
you it's chili. I was out there earlier this morning.
All the leaves are falling here in Michigan. It is
chris but as cold. But it did not stop your
favorite co host from rocking his shorts and fluff flops today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I get I get caught in between.
Speaker 1: In South Carolina right now, it's chile in the mornings,
chilly in the evenings, but we're still We're still over
seventy and the midday. So it's really a layer up
type of time, right, It's a layer up type of time.
So you know, we're just trying to make the most
of it. We seem to always get caught up in
the weather, but I think that's because we love good
football weather. And as the leaves starting to follow, it
really feels like we're getting into the meat of what
we love about football, and that is moving towards championships.
Every week matters, every game matters, and with a twelve
team football playoff college in the college world, now we
have more meaningful games than ever. But it is true
that the closer that we get to the to the
end of the season, the more these games seem to matter.
The SEC has packed with them every single week, whether
it's teams trying to stay alive and build their programs
and their culture make it to a bowl game. We
got some teams that are kind of teetering on the
edge there that we can talk about. We have some
upsets to talk about, and we also have again a
handful of teams that are sitting at that one to
two loss range that are still right in the middle
of player of contention. So we want to get into
that as well. Let's start with the lane train.
Speaker 2: You have on an.
Speaker 1: Oxford shirt there, I do, and it brings my mind
down to Oxford, Mississippi. They rolled against Arkansas and the Hogs.
It was a little wild, honestly.
Speaker 3: Absolutely impressive, and I know that we were chatting earlier yesterday.
I looked at that I looked at that score, and
they came right. I mean, you know, we had talked
about it last week, We talked about it on the
preview this earlier this week. Auburn Arkansas Old Miss can
get weird, it can it can get a little goofy.
I think the last time those two played in Fayetteville,
I think it froze over. They were having soup and
coffee on the sidelines for Arkansas.
Speaker 1: It was a popular upset pick as well. It was
it seemed like a trap for the rebels it did.
Speaker 3: It seemed like a trap. But my goodness, they absolutely
dropped the bomb. They did to Arkansas what Arkansas did
to Hailstate the week before. I mean, they just scored
early and often. And I hate to spoil it for folks,
but Jackson darts Back re entered the Heisman chat because
he is continuing to cook. He is the all time
I believe. Let's see, Old Miss was just gushing about
him today. He was cooking all day to day. He's
got the most wins as a starting quarterback and Old Miss, uh,
he's got them up to number twelve and most importantly,
he's got them ready to face the dogs Saturday in Oxford.
My goodness, is that one gonna be a lot of fun.
We keep asking Uncle Tony, Hey, TJ, whoever we got
Memphis sponsor these two. We need to get to city Grocery,
We need to do a life fight. We need to
get to the sep.
Speaker 1: Hey, a couple of things before we get to that,
because I have a lot excited I had. Yeah, I
know I have I have some I have some Week
eleven thoughts, but let's live in Week ten for just
a moment. Though you talked about Jackson Dart twenty five
to thirty one, five hundred and fifteen yards.
Speaker 2: Or six touchdowns through the air.
Speaker 1: I believe he was also the team's leading rusher, which
leads me to say, where's the running game, and that.
Speaker 2: That's if I'm going to find a.
Speaker 1: Concern with all miss moving forward. Jackson Dart absolutely torched Arkansas,
so you don't you didn't need to run the ball, So,
you know, just the flow of the game kind of
dictated the fact that, Hey, maybe that's why the stats
are what they are. But traditionally speaking, if you get
a big lead like that, you're gonna try to pound
the rock and run some clock.
Speaker 2: Maybe not Lane's style exactly, but he has.
Speaker 3: I don't I don't think. I don't think Lane laz Arkansas,
So I don't think that's his style. I think he
was just looking to score and chuck it deep.
Speaker 1: But but I do think that Lane is a smart
enough offensive coach that there's typically balanced to that offense.
And although you get a lot of attention for the
deep balls and some of the flashy plays, there's a
good balance of run that's always been mixed in with
his with his offense. And they've had good backs, you know,
and they have they have a they have a group
of very able backs this year. It was just interesting
to me that the run game, statistically speaking, is almost
non existent and dark just absolutely cars them on the
flip side.
Speaker 2: Five of his six touchdowns to go to Watkins.
Speaker 1: So you have one one receiver over two hundred yards
five touchdowns, absolutely goes off. You have Trey Harris dressed
on the sideline but doesn't play. Here's the the tip
of the hat to our conversation later on, when we're
looking at week eleven, if they get Trey Harris back,
that may sway the way that I'm going to pick
that game any more. Thoughts there. I don't even think
we need to talk about Arkansas at this point. I'm
really more so just looking at Ole Miss.
Speaker 3: Yeah no, I so just the thought on balance. I
feel like Lane and Steve Spurrier Junior have a tendency
where if something is working, whether it's the run or
the pass, especially the past. Yeah, that that that that
that they almost become laser focused and and they go
to that dark could do no wrong. Dart was feeling it.
I think here's the other thing. The Old Miss came out, right,
they came out motivated. I think they're definitely focused on
Georgia next week. So maybe this is maybe this is
Lane's attempt. You gotta build you gotta build Jackson up.
You know, some of the Old Miss fans were giving
him a pre scorn crap this week because they went
out trigger treating.
Speaker 2: But hey, what well pre Scorm is out as well
for the record.
Speaker 3: Right right, But but you know he got crap because
he was out trigger treated with his kid. But here's
the deal. You give Dart a big game like this
on the road at noon again, all set for an
upset and you fuel that fire. I think Lane knows
what he's doing, and I think the run game is
there if he needs it, but he wanted to make
sure his quarterback is ready for next week.
Speaker 1: I think that to that point that he's also he's
racking style points for the playoff. And I don't want
to get too far ahead of us again in this conversation,
but it goes without saying that we're getting down to
the to the point of the season where all we're
going to talk about is the playoff.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 1: We're getting dangerously close to teams who aren't going to
make it to the playoff not getting much airtime, and
then we're going to get into that early off season
period and they'll come back on to the rear to
see who's going to sneak in next year. Right, But
we're getting to this point. I want to just look
at Arkansas really quick. We don't even have to comment
on this and we'll move to the next game. But
there are five wins their last three, Texas, Louis, Aana Tech,
and at Missouri, So definitely a chance for Pittman to
go bowling, and I think a decent chance for him
to get the seven.
Speaker 2: Okay, yep, I do so.
Speaker 1: Looking at the Sooners really quickly, you have Oklahoma blowing
out your boy bananas.
Speaker 2: Tvay are there from Maine.
Speaker 1: Was not pretty at all from a scoreboard standpoint, yep.
Speaker 2: I still.
Speaker 1: I still have question marks, not that we could really
see anything turn around with Oklahoma's offense. A lot of people,
you know, are obviously of the opinion that because La
Treell was fired, that everything was just going to flip
on its head. And that's just not how it works.
The Jimmy's and Joe's are the same, whether you change
the guy calling the players or not. So, and you
still have limited playmakers due to injury, and you have
nobody on the offensive line. But the thing that I
want to look at is now speaking of bowld teams
and speaking of culture, and we've just talked about what
is the temperature on ventables and where is it going?
Speaker 2: Oklahoma?
Speaker 1: You know, they took care of business, but now now
they're at Now they're at five wins, yep. Their last
three Missouri, Alabama LSU. So I'm gonna ask the question,
are they going bowling?
Speaker 3: They may get some beer and they may want to
pack their cigarettes. But that's about the only bowling they're
going through because they are not going bowling. They're going
to be five and seven this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's gonna take something, something, and I really think
they have to pull it off. Next week, we're not
gonna talk much about this, I don't think in our
segment in a few minutes looking at week eleven, so
I'll just say this.
Speaker 2: Missouri opens us a two and a half point favorite.
Speaker 1: It is in Columbia, Missouri, and so I'm having a
hard time.
Speaker 2: I'm having a hard time five.
Speaker 3: I hate to see it. I hate to being such
a deer Sooner fan. I have about as much love
for Oklahoma as I do lsu No, I don't see it.
I don't see it. So sorry, Bananas, I really thought
you had a shot there for a second.
Speaker 1: I will save the patting myself on the back for later.
But we may may not have called that. Okay, let's
take a look again while we're in the bottom of
the bucket. Let's look at Auburn against Vanderbilt.
Speaker 3: I got a step. Give it to me, Hugh Freeze.
This is from Kyle Scarbinski. Hugh Freeze is now one
in six in sec Home games as the Auburn head coach,
Freeze is now three against Diego Pavia to the tune
of ninety seven thirty one. That's why I texted you,
Hugh Freeze wors Diego Pavia underpants. And then here's the
most shocking stat that I didn't realize. You know, we're
all excited for Hugh Freeze to come back to the
SEC from Liberty for the fifth time in seven years
as an SEC head coach, including both years at Auburn,
Freeze will not have a winning SEC record.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's pretty bad.
Speaker 1: The stat that stuck out to me is Pavia goes
nine for twenty two and the leading rusher for Vanderbilt
had a whopping twenty eight yards and.
Speaker 2: They won the game by ten. It's crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker 3: How did Freeze do at the running back?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: So Jarkos Hunter, who goes off against Kentucky last week
for two hundred plus has fifty yards this week against Vanderbilt.
Speaker 3: So how many Russias?
Speaker 1: Let's just let's just take a look it was. It
wasn't as many. It was only twelve carries. So overall,
can we look.
Speaker 3: At hanging didn't we say last week? Give this guy
twenty to twenty five carries a week.
Speaker 1: We absolutely did, We absolutely did. They had twenty They
had twenty nine rushing attempts as a team for only
eighty eight yards, so did not break one hundred as
a team. The bright spot in this game twenty for
twenty nine, two thirty nine and a touchdown is Peyton Thorn.
Speaker 2: So he was able to throw the ball.
Speaker 1: They just weren't able to really do much in terms
of capitalizing or doing anything in the red zone. And
as far as that goes, so really really ugly, ugly stuff.
And I here's the question. Yeah, we're two years in, yep.
I don't think they're going to fire. I'm not really
sure exactly what the buyout is.
Speaker 2: But here's my question. Should he just walk the buyouts
twenty point three?
Speaker 3: He ain't gonna walk because he ain't never wrong, and
walking would prove that he is wrong. My question is
for you, did they hire the wrong coach? Should that
have been Jamie Chadwell instead of Hugh Freese.
Speaker 2: You know, if we backtrack.
Speaker 1: Hindsight's obviously twenty twenty, I probably would have hired Hugh Freese.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of teams were interested in hiring.
Speaker 3: You're coming off You're coming off everything with Harson too right,
you got a lower division coach may not be ready,
but Chadwell runs that offense. It's yeah, not the same
as what Malzon did, but it's a run based offense.
It's physical.
Speaker 1: If we want to talk about this, they should have
never fired Ghost males on if we really want to
talk choices, If we really want to talk choices, I'm
always of the camp that we that.
Speaker 2: We pulled the trigger a little quick most of these coaches.
Speaker 3: As you talk about wanting to fire a guy in
the year two.
Speaker 1: I don't think. I'm not saying they should fire him.
It's Auburn though. They're psychotic, like, it's a whole different level.
It's so dysfunctional. I would I would definitely not fire him.
I think that culturally it's gotten as bad as bad
as it can get. And that's the only thing that
makes me think somebody might just want to cut bait
and walk here and maybe that issue freeze.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 3: I know you SEF probably wants to get rid of Gus,
So I mean, maybe maybe Gus is free again. Maybe
maybe Gus can go back because that's been underwhelming. You know,
shout out to our buddy Andrew who does our great
job covering them for last word, but like.
Speaker 1: They're on their fourth starting quarterback, you see, but again
not sec right, yeah, but.
Speaker 3: Because I'm coming, you know, John Rice, pull me a
forew years there and I get you kJ Jefferson.
Speaker 1: So right, well you're able to see you what Malzon
did against Saban, and I think that will stand the
test of time. Yeah, I think I think now that
Savan's done and you get this, you know, this condensed
sample size of what was Malazon's years against Alabama, you
beat him three times.
Speaker 2: That's something that nobody else really was able to do.
Speaker 3: And so I just you know, okay, getting away, put
on your Auburn booster hat. Who is that name that
would make you write the check for twenty point three
million dollars to get rid of Hugh.
Speaker 1: Because I've we've already rolled the dice on Lane. Uh
that that happened two years ago during this this same
coaching search. Yep, I think that it's a pretty big name.
I mean, I don't think that I think you're talking
about like an l s U stealing Brian Kelly from
Notre dame.
Speaker 3: Type of that's what I'm asking you. I'm not asking
for you. Listen, all I hear about is your damn
spreadsheet with how you picked all these games, right, So
so tell me who's that name that's going to make
you write that twenty three point twenty point three million dollars.
Speaker 2: Check the twenty point three million dollar check.
Speaker 1: I don't I think that I have some spicy names
in mind, like I might would call Petrino, but I
don't know that. But I don't know that I And
what is Auburn care right? But I don't know that
I he'd fit right in. Yeah, I don't know that
I have one that is absolutely Maybe you hire Kurt Signetti.
Speaker 3: No, Kurt, Kurt's going to go down ever again, I'm
going to say that I know we had talked about that, right,
Kurt's signing up either in an Arbor or Columbus.
Speaker 1: I think that the drawback with Signetti is his age,
but I just wouldn't really care at this point.
Speaker 3: Dude, they were down ten nothing this party and then
dropped the forty seven points to beat him.
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely rocked them. But since you're pressing the button,
who's your name? You go ahead.
Speaker 3: I don't know. I'm being honest, I don't. I don't.
I don't know who Auburn wants to be when they
grow up. And I'm you know, I'm having difficulty.
Speaker 1: Well, my friend, my friend and hopefully future guests of
the show. J. C. Sherbert, who is of twenty four
to seven Sports, has a term that he uses for
situations like this called caged animal syndrome where teams higher
state did it last year, but typically it's he's referring
to teams who go out and get a coach and
they break the bank for it. Now, a higher state
did it in all fast, all fasts of the game.
They broke the bank for the team. They got Chip
Kelly on the staff, like the whole thing. But when
you go out and you get you get a coach
like LSU going out after Brian Kelly. It's a program
that has had success. They've been held down for too
long USC and Lincoln Riley hasn't worked out. But it
was the case animal syndrome higher where they made a
big splash. They went and got their guy. That is
what I feel like we're the point that we're at
with Auburn.
Speaker 2: But I don't know who it is, all right, give
it to me.
Speaker 3: If SMU doesn't make the playoffs, they go get red
Lashley and they bring them back.
Speaker 2: They could for sure go get red Lashly.
Speaker 3: But I think that's that name that you're talking about.
As we think about it, that's that, to me, is
probably the most obvious name.
Speaker 1: Shameless plug Tuesday night. We're gonna get to this again
in just a few minutes. But Tuesday night we will
have the Boss himself, Tony Syracusa on the show right
after he gets off a phone call with the Slaver Committee.
Speaker 2: We know there's an election on Tuesday, and we encourage
you to get out and votes.
Speaker 1: We're not going to stand on one side of the
other and Doris who to vote morning, Just.
Speaker 2: Go do the thing and vote, Okay.
Speaker 1: And we know everybody's going to be tuned in because
it's presidential election.
Speaker 2: It's a big deal.
Speaker 1: But here causual all playoff is also a big deal,
and we want it to be a welcome distraction from
you know, sometimes politics is not the nicest world to
play round in, so let's distract ourselves with sports and
and and that's something that we can do on Tuesday Night,
and we're gonna get him right off the call with
the committee, so we're gonna get rapid reaction to exactly
what's going on. And and I look forward to seeing,
as you noted, where at Lashley's ponies are gonna end
up in that in that poll.
Speaker 3: How'd they do againstpit this week?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Man, I I did not see it coming to that degree.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna see it coming to that degree.
Speaker 3: So first question, first question, I get, all right, we
kicked it around too much? Hang up ready, here.
Speaker 2: We go back we talked.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, third consecutive multi interception game, and it's his
fourth multi interception game in his last five.
Speaker 2: He's got eleven picks in five games.
Speaker 3: He did not have any last he did not have
any multi interception games last year?
Speaker 2: What's he doing? Like, what's happening?
Speaker 3: Have you ever watched Dumb and Dumber When they talk about,
you know, getting getting the lamba out of first gear,
the guy's like, you got you got it out of
first gear?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I think that's what Carson's focused on right now because
he's not seeing the field. I mean, those first two
interceptions yesterday led directly to Flora's ten points. That game
was sloppy. Georgia was disinterested.
Speaker 1: Yeah you have Old Miss. Let's let's juxtaph juxtapose those
two perspectives. We just talked about Old Miss gearing up
for the game with Georgia, whereas Georgia is gearing down
into a matchup in Oxford.
Speaker 3: See, so this is the point, right, because that's gonna
be the narrative all week. Old Miss is excited, the
grove is ready. You know, there's gonna be all this
hype around Old Miss becks throwing the multi interceptions. It's
the thing that honestly irritates the hell out of me
writing for Georgia being a fan of the Dogs is
that they have to be interested to be engaged. They
were interested against the Clemson and drop the bomb on him.
They were interested against Texas and looked like the number
one team in the nation every other game this season.
They couldn't be bothered. And now there's no margin. We've
actually not We've got yeah, we've got Old Miss. November ninth,
the final week, you've got Tennessee and then you're gonna
have Georgia Tech, who isn't great, but they're pain in
the ass. And like last year at Bobby dadd was
not a great game. It was again one of these
games where like I don't know what, I don't know
what has to change, but I'll be honest, Georgia missus
Stetson Bennett. Stetson Bennett did not was not complacent. He
was cocky. He was a pain in the ass and
he wasn't afraid to put it on you. Uh, Beck,
I don't know what was going out the I black
yesterday like trick or treats over buddy, maybe it's time
to play ball, and you know I he's.
Speaker 2: Just trying to one up Carson back.
Speaker 1: I mean one up Jackson Dart the week before Chris
Jackson does the one side, so Carson decided to go
to the two.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let's get off of Carson Beck's case.
Speaker 4: He is a problem and you find you find at
we have to we have to, we have to keep
our eye on him because you have said on multiple
occasions that he's a liability for Georgia and it hasn't
cost them in this type of game just yet.
Speaker 2: It did cost them there.
Speaker 1: But I'm not counting Alabama because I'm putting Alabama in
the playoff category because we're gonna You've already picked them
to make it to the playoffs because you're predicting that
they're gonna be l s U. So I'm saying teams
that are quote unquote lesser the end that are not
going to be playoff teams. You haven't had that bad
loss where where if you get into a comparison situation
to see who's going to get in to the college
wall playoffs, where you may not be fair because you
have one of these bad losses on your resume. So
the thing for me that in addition to Carson Beck
is the play in the trenches. You have DJ Lagway
only throwing six passes in the game. He completed two
of six, and then he went out, I.
Speaker 3: Love that shot play after the interception.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a great call.
Speaker 3: That's like Steve Spurry or es right there, right, it.
Speaker 2: Was absolutely it was absolutely Steve Spury esque.
Speaker 1: And he said on multiple occasions that that's what he
wanted to do. Spurri Er that is, maybe he should
spending time.
Speaker 2: In Billy's office. Who knows.
Speaker 1: All right, So Lagway goes out towards the end of
the second quarter, middle of second quarter, UH and Florida
is up thirteen to six at half.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: And then they go out and they get another touchdown
in the fourth to start the fourth quarter, and so
at about the four minute mark, this is a tide game.
Speaker 2: At about the four minute mark, this is a tide game.
While Florida is.
Speaker 1: Playing former preferred walk on Yale transfer.
Speaker 2: At quarterback.
Speaker 5: Go Bulldogs, good pizza there who had an absolutely whopping
nine point five QBR in this football game for Aiden Warner,
the third string quarterback at Florida?
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me? But are you kidding me?
Speaker 3: But here's the deal. Look, look at those two touchdown drives.
It was like, oh, I guess we'll play now, and
then they do it exactly and that's the problem. Like
I said, this is what's going to bite Georgia in
the ass, whether it's these last see So, I think
they'll be motivated for Old Miss, They'll be motivated for Tennessee.
Georgia Tech, I think is going to be a stinker.
But what is that SEC championship game? We know Kirby
doesn't play well in Atlanta, so who knows what's gonna
happen there.
Speaker 1: But we have these conversations about Kirby is the ultimate motivator.
And I was, you know, hearing people waiting for the
leak of his of his halftime speech, and I you know,
I think our guys Andy and Ari were talking about
that a little bit, waiting to see if anybody would
leak it out. Who is he motivating? He's motivating no one.
And this I think also speaks to the poor culture
of the program. We've harped on the culture, the culture
of the culture off the field because of the arrests,
on and on and on they go and becoming more
intense in nature of crime.
Speaker 2: However, the argument, the counter argument has.
Speaker 1: Been on the field that the culture has been top notch, unbeatable, but.
Speaker 2: You're leaking in.
Speaker 1: It's leaking in the off the field issues are leaking
out onto the field. The culture is eroding because they
don't look together, they don't look motivated. What there's no way,
there's no way this should have been a game.
Speaker 3: But here's so, here's what I'm seeing. You've got Georgia
guys like me the cover Georgia guys that are bulldog
insiders and the narrative. The reason I get my ass
ripped on Facebook is because I'm willing to say this
team isn't right, Carson Beck is a liability. Yet they're
like Georgia's forty eight no against teams not named Alabama.
Stop with that stupid stat. Alabama still counts. Okay, I
get it, they beat people, but stop, but you're getting
these they're slappies. And it's like, but I think that's
you know, I guess that's that's your stick. You know,
I'm the Georgia insider. You know, I'm going to tell
you all the good things. And you know, my dad said, oh, well,
you know, it's better to have a ship win rather
than lose. But it's like, no, this isn't gonna work.
Speaker 1: So well, theoretically that's true, but not when you're supposed
to be one of the premier teams in college football.
Because if your goal is the national championship, eventually you're
gonna play competition that you're not gonna be able to
win against playing.
Speaker 3: That way, and this is why no one has yet
taking the crown from saving in Alabama. That crown is
still sitting there. It's still waiting for someone to take
it because Georgia has not taken it, Texas hasn't taken it.
Your Ducks are thinking about it, but I got to
actually see them win something, some sort of championship. First.
Speaker 2: Here's what we're gonna say. Here's what I really have
to say.
Speaker 1: If we're going to include saving in that conversation, nobody's
taking that crown because we got spoiled over the last
couple of decades.
Speaker 2: We're not going to see a run like that. Again.
It's just it just it just doesn't happen. It doesn't happen.
We're not going to see an NFL.
Speaker 1: Team win six super Bowls in.
Speaker 2: In a couple of decades.
Speaker 1: We're not going to see a college football team over
the course of fifteen years win six und championship. It's
not gonna happen in either case. We've lived through history.
All right, let's come back and call that game.
Speaker 3: We're thirty minutes in here. It's time to get It's
time to get to the sandstorm. I'm ready.
Speaker 2: Okay, So.
Speaker 1: This is this is I'm a little conflicted because I
think that we do have to talk about South Carolina.
Speaker 2: We do have to, of course talk about the game calls.
We have to give credit where our credit is due.
Speaker 1: An absolute madhouse of a scene in Columbia, the field storming.
Speaker 2: You know all the videos of Beamer.
Speaker 1: Love him or hate him, I feel like you have
to go one way or the other on him. I
happen to love him, But I'm also sitting in South
Carolina right now, and so I have particular affinity for
this I am and the block seat on my chest.
But here's the thing. We're getting to the point of
the season. Let me repeat myself, where the teams that
aren't gonna make the playoffs are no longer a part
of the relevant conversation.
Speaker 2: And that's been true for the past ten years.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful that that conversation is expanded because of the
expanded playoff, and some of these games now have some
more meaning. So South Carolina is going to be in
some more discussions because if as long as Clemson doesn't
screw another one up, they're still theoretically going to be
in the ACEC title race, and you're going to have
a chance to play spoiler there in the rivalry game
on Thanksgiving weekend. However, this may have been South Carolina's
last chance to get on the map in this way.
An unprecedented amount of network games this year, I know
we have an upcoming conversation in the coming weeks about
how they're slating the times and what.
Speaker 2: The network schedule has looked like. South Carolina has been.
Speaker 1: On network television, and by that I mean like on
ABC or getting primetime games on.
Speaker 2: ESPN.
Speaker 1: They've been in the spotlight with the three point thirty
the seven thirty slots four or five times this year,
more than ever before. And so it's it's exciting to
see them at the forefront. And the game last night,
the final score, I don't think really tells the story
of the game. I would give I would say ten
maybe seventeen.
Speaker 2: Points was really what it ended up being. You know,
that last score.
Speaker 1: You got to give them credit for it, but you
get a strip sack with two minutes left and you're
up seventeen on the thirteen yard line. You hand it
the Rocket Sanders and at that point he's just gonna
do it. Rocket Centers does and say it ended up
being a twenty four to nothing game in the second half.
So the thing for me, it tells the story. Let's
look at Texas A and M. And in light of that.
Speaker 3: Week's Buddy a til of two weeks for Texas A
and M r riding high inside track to Atlanta looking
at a college football playoff. Now they're on the outside
looking in. They still have a trip to Jordan Hare,
even though Auburn's a dumpster fire, and they still have Texas.
Speaker 2: I think it's going to make a really interesting thing
for Texas.
Speaker 1: A lot of people are making a lot about this
game in Jordan Hare, and I understan that normally that's
a threatening situation. I'm not just not buying it. I've
bought Auburn way too many times this year.
Speaker 2: You gave us a stat earlier. You want to read it?
Back off? What is he?
Speaker 1: One and six in home Sissy on home SSC games?
Who freeze is it's not happening. It's not happening. They
don't have the firepower whatsoever. So the things that concerned me,
Leonoris Sellers and Rocket Sanders both averaged over seven yards
per carry. Leonoris was over one hundred yards, Rocket was
at one forty four, and so they were just there
was big runs, but there was nothing where there were
big chunk plays that really drove those averages.
Speaker 2: Up other than one or two.
Speaker 1: Leonora's just gashed them all night long, and so Sellers
being able to break tackles and improvise and get seven
or eight yards. He had a couple of scrambles where
he was going, you know, for more of an explosive
run than that. But in a lot of cases he
just got what was there, and it was there consistently.
Speaker 2: On the other side the Ballah, go ahead, do.
Speaker 3: You think Stark's paying attention? Mobile quarterback against testas m
M having troubo?
Speaker 1: Here we go, here we go. Let's save that talk.
Let's save that talk, and no, this is Quinn's team.
Do I need to do the whole monologue again. On
the other side of the ball, You know, the concerns
sort of coming in where we knew South Carolina had
the edges. But to be honest with you, South Carolina,
let me be let me try not to be a homer,
but also speak objectively about this. South Carolina is an
elite defense on all three levels.
Speaker 2: We were able to.
Speaker 1: See on the edges, what's going on, what's going on
with with Kyle Kinard, the transfer from Georgia Tech, who
leads the SEC in sacks, and then Dylan Stewart, who's
just an absolute phenom.
Speaker 2: The bend is incredible coming off the edge.
Speaker 1: At the linebacker position, you have the SEC's leading tackler
from last year returning in the middle of Deebo Williams,
and then you were able to add some really incredible
speed in Demetrious Night Junior, who it was the Georgia
Tech to Charlotte South Carolina transfer. And then in the
back end you got corners like O'Donnell Fortune, who is
playing really well up in his draft stock, getting a
lot of attention. PFF had him great as the highest
corner throughout the season last week. And then of course
Nick even Worry at the safety position, who's once again
playing at an All American level. So all the way
through it's hard to find liabilities. So the question mark
was han Texas A and m run it up the
middle to get a good push there because South Carolina
hadn't seen that all year, and the defensive tackles just
absolutely shut it down, ate up space, took the running
backs out, the linebackers were able to have free gaps
to come through. You have two fourth and not even
one two fourth in a foot situations where linebacker Debo
Williams shoots the gap both times, and it's really you
got to give credit to those guys on the line
of scrimmage because they're fully engaged with their offensive lineman
and allowing him to come through, and he has a
free shot at the running back to stop stop at
both times. So that concerns me. I think that's great
for South Carolina, and I think that it bodes well
for you know, dare I say them winning out and
going nine and three in this in this season.
Speaker 3: I just I was just going to ask you what
I said from my goodness, I'm just gonna I'm just
gonna say. I'm just gonna say one word of caution.
Remember when the Roman generals used to come come back
from their great victories, riding in the chariots through ancient Rome,
they would always have someone in their ears saying, remember
thou Art Martall and all. I'm gonna say to Shane
Beemer in South Carolina, remember Diego Pavia is waiting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he is waiting, he is waiting. I'm gonna.
Speaker 1: It's South Carolina is a three and a half point favorite,
I think heading into next week again, I mean against Vanderbilt,
and so you know it's it's it's a pretty tight spread,
but we'll see what happens. I think that it's a
challenge for everybody. It's a challenge. The flip side of it,
for me, though, is really what's interesting because you have
Texa A and AM getting gashed on the ground, and
you had them not not really being able to run
the ball, plus losing their best running back for what
looks like the year. I don't know if you saw
the hit or against Le'Veon Malls in the first half. Yep,
it was nasty. His cleat stuck in the ground and
he was hit right around the knee. He came out
in sweats. I think he's done.
Speaker 2: And one of their backs too. I believe.
Speaker 3: When Texas was losing their running backs, I believe they
lost their other top backs.
Speaker 2: So yeah, absolutely, that's the question.
Speaker 3: I think that I think they gonna spend their gears
a little bit. They got two losses now, so I
would see them backsliding again. The poorest running game. Maybe
Hugh gets twenty five carries and Auburn is able to
kind of run over that and kind of make that interesting.
But sure, for sure Texas will do something. Last word,
any last words, and there was one other game you know.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and the last thing that I'll say there
is that.
Speaker 1: I think that Marcel Ree is the quarterback for A
and M moving forward. I don't think there's any reason
to go back to Connor Wigman, really, ABC, I heard.
Speaker 3: That last week. I didn't have that a self spreadsheet,
but but I heard that last week.
Speaker 2: Well you did. You did bring it up and had
him honorable mention on the Heisman pole.
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to make an appearance there again,
although you say he would come in at number five.
But you know, we're gonna go ahead start campaigning for
Leonora Sellers for twenty twenty five to win the Heisman
in South Carolina.
Speaker 2: That'll be the talk after the way that he's been performing.
Speaker 1: All right, speaking of Heisman hopefuls and young red shirt
freshman quarterbacks, let's go to Knoxville, Tennessee, where the Valls
struggle once again to get it going and come out
at ten points victor over Kentucky, who continues to reel
h this was. You know, if you go back and
you just think about it, if I just gave you
the numbers, Craig, and you see their offense is sputtering,
you would probably want to jump to Nico because we've
really kind of pounded on him all throughout the season,
but he was pretty efficient. I think that he threw
the ball well, yep, if you look at it.
Speaker 2: If you look at it, the yardage is there.
Speaker 1: He goes twenty eight for thirty eight for two ninety
two in a touchdown, so you know he had some
drops in there too. Really probably should have been over
thirty completions. But the story is Dylan Sampson.
Speaker 3: Again, Dylan Samson, Like if who got a guy and
we were talking a ton about Ashton Gentry this year.
Dylan Sampson is probably the best running back in the SEC.
He's probably number two in the country. I know he
broke the all time Tennessee touchdown record for it for
a season. He went for one two again. I think
that's the second or third game in a row he's
gone over one hundred and twenty plus yards. So to me,
it's all about Samson and the thing that's going to
benefit Tennessee when they go to play Georgia in two
weeks is the fact that Georgia's run defense is not great.
So if Samson can get it going and can provide
enough of a punch, maybe Nico can get a couple
of those deep balls in to really challenge because Tennessee's
now on that verge of seven to eleven for the
College Football Playoff. They just got to take care of business.
And I think they do have them all again against
Georgia here, but they got to take care of business
and they they it wasn't pretty, but they took care
of it against Kentucky.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so they look out a little bit closing the
schedule out because in addition to Georgia, they have missed
State and Utip, which I think they'll be able to
handle there. They open as a twenty three and a
half point favorite against Mississippi State. They get them in
Knoxville on Saturday night on ESPN, and then of course
they closed the season at Vanderbilt, and that is slated
for a noon or one pm Eastern start, and so
there could be a way there could be a trip
up game there. They've had their struggles with Vanderbilt. Now
Vanderbilt is actually good. Yeah, I can imagine it. I
mean Vanderbilt's bowling. This is a totally different Vanderbilt team.
We can't we can't talk about there.
Speaker 3: You gotta take off that garnet Sweasher you're talking about we.
Speaker 1: Can't just walk in. You just can't just talk about
them like everybodys gonna walk in and win the game.
And if anybody has struggled with them, it was it
was Tennessee. Even again, even with Derek Mason, when everybody
else was just rolling them, he still had Tennessee's number.
And so it'll be really interesting to see what happens
at Dyllon. Sampson's the key. You talk about jarkost Hunter
in Auburn not getting up carries. He has twelve health carries?
Are you kidding me? Bill has twenty seven carries. So
if we say nothing else, Hypel knows where is where
his money is, and he's.
Speaker 2: Going to keep handing them the ball.
Speaker 3: Love it, Love it all?
Speaker 2: Right, let's flip to week eleven. We've already we've already
talked about it a little bit, so let's just go
ahead and give our predictions. Craig hang On, I got
to where we're going to be.
Speaker 3: I got a quick question for you.
Speaker 1: I would love to answer your question. So is this
a fan is a fan question? I know we have
a dozen, I know we have dozens of fans.
Speaker 3: No, this is from Stu Mandel. Would you rather be
ABC and Disney, Fox, NBC or Fox, NBC and CBS
combined week week eleven games noon Texas Florida, ABC, Purdue,
Ohio State on Fox, Minnesota Rutgers and NBC probably and
also Peacock, the three thirty slate Georgia versus Ohle miss
and ABC, Michigan and Indiana on CBS.
Speaker 2: So one.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, Brad, that's their one and I bet
it's a blowout.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then you have Colorado and Texas Tech on Fox,
which I'm sorry, I love you, Andrew really And then oh,
what about the night game? What do you get the
night game? Seven f shoot Notre Dame in NBC. Damn.
That looked in the preseason.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it looks awful now it looks real bad, Like
that's the worst powerful team in the country.
Speaker 2: Fox says.
Speaker 3: Fox has Nevada and Boise State. Oh, what's that? ABC?
Bama LSU.
Speaker 2: Yeah. In a playoff elimination game.
Speaker 1: We have two playoff elimination games, yep, and they're both
on ABC and the three thirty and seven thirty. The
three thirty and seven thirty ABC slots have become the
game changing slots. It used to be Game of the
Week CBS was three thirty, ABC and ESPN.
Speaker 2: The way they've worked this out is that we now
get two Game of the Weeks every week and they
come back.
Speaker 3: To back and they give you one on ESPN.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they've got to slocked in. Okay, sorry, it's not
a question. I know that Stu is employing a little
bit of sarcasm there, but it's pretty pretty simple to say, we're.
Speaker 2: We'd love to have you stuck.
Speaker 1: Come on over, we love the athletic all right, Okay,
ole Miss gets Georgia at home. My caveat, Mister Georgia man,
you may not want to give you a pick because
you may want to save it for your article, So
you may just want to give me a key or two,
Kirk if you're calling.
Speaker 2: The game here.
Speaker 1: But I'm gonna go with Georgia wins this game because
I think I'm going the reverse route of there's just
too much hype for ole Miss coming off of last week,
too much trash talk about Georgia coming off of last week.
Kirby does get them up for these types of games,
and the talent is still there. The caveat that I
have is if Trey Harris happens to be one hundred
ninety percent healthy, then I might.
Speaker 2: Lean the other way.
Speaker 3: So this is an interesting game from an Old Miss perspective.
Georgia blew him out fifty one to fourteen last year.
It was a track meet early on first quarter and
then Georgia kind of ran away with it. But that
game was important for Lane Kiffin because what it did
is it got him and a grow collective and involved,
and he reworked their offensive line the defensive line. So
I'm curious to see what this looks like in twenty
twenty four because Lanes has a defense now to match
a high, high potent offense. Again, I can see Georgia
coming in focused and putting it on an Old Mess.
But the key to the game for me is Carson.
Carson keep Georgia out of trouble. Because of Dart's ability
to hit big plays, to hit his receivers deep bet
is going to be the key for me. What does
Ole Miss's defense look like? Is it better? Is this closer?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 3: I do think so. Ole Miss also plays really well
at Bought. They've got a twenty plus some odd game
win streak. You know, going in there. I think that
atmosphere is going to be electric. They're winning the party
in the grove. They're also winning a hell of a
lot of games with the Blot. I think this one's
gonna come down to a one score game, and I
do see the Dogs taking care of business because Lane
has now shown the ability to win these key market games.
He's come up a little bit flat against that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's where that's where I kind of lean
to until Lane shows me that I'm gonna have to
go the other way.
Speaker 2: So go Dogs. Is that how you do it?
Speaker 1: All right, let's go, Let's go. Let's go to Death
Valley in Baton Rouge on Saturday night. We got Bam
would come into town for l s U. We've talked
about this one. We had Lou on last week to
talk about this one, and so just really quickly, go ahead,
Craig and give me your thoughts. I'll close this one up,
roll hide to and a half point Favorites and Death
Valley are the tide.
Speaker 3: Yep, Nope, I I you know. We said this last
week when we talked to Lewis, which I want to
thank him again for being on the show. To me
this is a get right game. They were off for
a week. Calen de Bores gonna have I think he's
gonna be in his bag Saturday night. He's gonna scheme
it up. I think that seventeen year old is gonna
have a big game. And again, to me, I think
this is not the six game. I think I said
forty one to thirty four last week. That's what I'm
sticking to. I think this is going to be a
lot of fun, a lot of scoring. But at the
end of the day, Joe Milton will be interviewed either
by mess Laura Rutledge or by Hollie Row and he
will start the postgame interview with his famous roll tide.
That's the way it's going to go.
Speaker 1: As we've previously discussed, I'm headed in the other direction.
Speaker 2: I've been a believer in elexand get in there. I've
been a believer in LSU. I talked about them in
the preseason.
Speaker 1: They're on the spreadsheet, the spring practice spreadsheet to win
this game against Alabama.
Speaker 2: Things have changed, narratives have shifted.
Speaker 1: I got a little nervous about this during fall camp
when I heard Blake Baker talking about his defense and
we've seen them Falter, but I've seen both of these
teams play against a common opponent that I know very
well in South Carolina, and so not that I haven't
watched them pretty much every week, but really really in depth,
being able.
Speaker 2: To see them in those environments.
Speaker 1: And I think that Nussmeyer has the ability to go
out and get it done, and so you don't get
unlike Georgia and Carson Beck. We're not getting another three
interception performance out of Garrett Nosmeyer, and he's able to
throw the ball to win on the questionable Alabama secondary.
LSU gets to win at home and keeps their playoff
hopes a love Alabama.
Speaker 2: Cool question for you?
Speaker 3: What one cool question before you to the last word? Yep,
you have to win a big game. This is a
big game and you have to pick one coach. Are
you going Brian Kelly or mid game? James Franklin and
Scott Dorschmann talked about in his article this week, I'm.
Speaker 2: Going Brian Kelly all day.
Speaker 1: Brian Kelly won a national championship at a lower level
before he came up through the ranks to eventually make
his way to Cincinnati South Cincinnati South Been and then
down to LSU.
Speaker 2: So it may not have been done on this level
of football, but it's been done.
Speaker 3: I'm going to watch all the way up. I'm going
to watch the cross that's the answer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm sure you are, because it is tough but
bad Tason with James Franklin's plate. All right, it's time
for the last word. As contributors here at the Last
Word on college Football, we always want to give you
something juicy for the last word, and sometimes we talk
about the coffee and our cups. Sometimes we talk about
how we like our steaks cooked. But this week it's
playoff prediction time. Let me remind you again that if
you're listening to this on Tuesday, Election Day, that tonight
the college football playoff rankings are revealed for the first
time this season.
Speaker 2: And as soon as they come.
Speaker 1: Out, there's a conference call with the media and we
will have our Antoni Sirah Cusa right off of that
call and onto the pod with us. We'll be recording
again this Tuesday night, and so you're not getting just
this podcast, you're getting an additional it's a two podcast
type of week.
Speaker 2: Craig yep.
Speaker 1: As we forecast forward, what's your one big surprise prediction
for what we're going to see on Tuesday night, And
I'm not talking about Trump and Harris.
Speaker 3: You had old ap Gove, Craig ready to go, former
ap Gove teachers ready for you.
Speaker 1: You don't need the ap Gove or the AP pole
because it is time for college football playoff rankings.
Speaker 2: Give it to me.
Speaker 3: My biggest one looking at is where's Boise's State? Because
the ACC and Big twelve are right for picking. If
I'm Boise State, I want to see if they're in
striking distance. I still do not trust Miami, I do
not trust SMU, I do not trust BUYU. How close
is Boise State? And are how likely are they to
get into that college football playoffs? Into the top four
no longer be that twelve seed, but instead that be
that number four seed get that first.
Speaker 2: Round by.
Speaker 1: Here's what I want to see. Maybe this isn't a
big like shocking prediction reveal. I want to see how
they do the top four. Are they going to give
us rankings that are already seated? Are they going to
give us rankings of who they think is the top
twelve teams?
Speaker 2: Does that make sense?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 3: Are they going to going to give us the top
they're going to give us the top four teams because
Greg Sank and Tony Petitter are saying rank them the
way they should be ranked, not the way they should
be seated.
Speaker 1: Right, And so then there's still going to be so
much room for If they do that, then we're going
to just get so much room for debate about the seeding.
Back to your point about boys, I understand that you know,
we need to see that they're close, But if they
don't give us a clear cut view of who they
think the top four conference projected conference champions are, then
there's gonna be this ambiguity in there.
Speaker 2: I think that the biggest thing that I'll say.
Speaker 1: Is is who do they think at this point is
gonna is gonna come out of the the Big twelve?
And who do they think is going to come out
of the ACC And I think we'll be able to
look at this rankings because this is not the AP poll.
It doesn't it doesn't really fall like some of these,
like the Coach's Poll, the AP. The College of Ball
Playoff Committee has proven to be a little bit of
a different voting crew in terms of they don't have
to have the they don't have the history. They'll yank
people around. They yanked Bama up however, many spots last year.
So I don't think that we see things kind of
stay put like they do with wherever you are in
the AP, you're just locked in.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 3: My prediction Oregon, Georgia, Ohio State.
Speaker 2: Texas, And I think that's how it should be.
Speaker 3: God, you managed that there's only four teams and it
was two Big ten and two SEC teams.
Speaker 1: Well, there will be some. There will be some upset
folks that one. It will be. It'll be great to
talk to Tony, who, in addition to being the managing
edit at Last Word in College Football, covers Wick Forest
but covers the entire ACC And so it's gonna be
great to just compare conferences and look at look at
a couple of different viewpoints as this first poll sets up,
kind of.
Speaker 2: How we're looking down the road.
Speaker 1: I'm really interested in ten, eleven and twelve, yep, But
I and even begin to put my finger on what
I think they're gonna do there. So we'll wait and
see what happens on Tuesday night. Any closing thoughts, My
sider is gone, take us time for bed.
Speaker 3: Uh, tomorrow morning, I'm gonna get I'm excited. I've got
a little dope yo, not over ice. It'll be nice
and warm, ready to go. We don't put any cream
in there. There's nothing else in there. It is just
a pure dope yo. Two shots of the espresso, but
I can't wait.
Speaker 2: Sounds lovely.
Speaker 1: Craig's eyes are heavy, even though we caught an hour
last night. Sometimes the boys stay out and play. Hey
go get yourself a nice double shot of espresso and
wake up on Tuesday morning and again later this week.
But it just means more football and coffee again. I'm
Rob Williams. He's creating with Michael. We'll see you next time.
Speaker 3: Honing up