Speaker 1: Let's go.
Speaker 2: Let I'll start to it. You to present Off the
Bench with Jacob Hester and T Bob Abert.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 2: Off the Bench with Jacob Hester and T Bob Abert.
Speaker 3: Come off the pitch.
Speaker 2: Now here's Jacob Hester and T Bob Abert.
Speaker 4: All right, Welcome into a Monday edition of Off the Bench.
One hour in the books, two more hours to go,
and then we can see the holiday on the horizon. Well,
Musso and Cassie can't quite see it on there as
and it's staring me right in the face. We get
through this day, we are off for two more days.
Hester out doing his serious XM duties covering some of
these college football playoff games. And T Bob well, does
anybody ever really know where T Bob aber is at
any given moment? Right now, though, I want to talk
LSU versus Baylor in the Texas Bowl. It is coming
up tomorrow two thirty, kickoff out there in Houston, and
depending on where you look, you will get a little
bit different a lines. But for the most part right now,
Baylor Bears are favored by three and a half and
you've seen the money kind of trend to them a
lot here in the coming weeks, and it makes a
lot of sense. Baylor comes into this game red hot.
So if you haven't followed Baylor a lot this year,
they started the season two and four, and if you remember,
Dave Randa had a disappointing season last year, a lot
of people at the halfway point of this year said
Aranda's not going to survive this. They're going to move
on after the year. They've rattled off six straight wins.
So they come into this game riding a six game
winning streak. In terms of quarterbacks in the Big Twelve,
you you look at the teams that were at the
top of the conference, right, everybody's going to look at
Schador Sanders. They're gonna look at Sam Levitt from Arizona State.
You're gonna look at Jake Rhet's laugh with BYU saw
your Robertson has quietly been really, really good this season.
He's completing arown sixty two percent of his passes, twenty
six hundred yards, twenty six touchdowns, only seven turnovers. Now
you may look at that and say, well, hell, that's
a big mismatch for the LSU defense. They're probably cooked.
There is some good news for Lshue. What is LSU's
biggest weakness been this year? It's been shutting down a
opposing quarterback that can take off and run. Sorry, Robertson
about two hundred and fifty yards rushing on the entire season.
He is not much of a runner, at least not
from the likes of you know, Jalen Milroe, Diego Pavia,
Marcel Reed. Guys like that you really really struggled against.
They do have quite the running game, though, it's just
not gonna come from the quarterback spot. They have a
two headed monster running back with bryceon Washington and Dalton Pendergas.
Those two guys are going to give you problems because
you have been susceptible of giving up big plays in
the running game.
Speaker 5: We've seen it all year long.
Speaker 6: Now.
Speaker 4: On the other side of things, their defense has been
pretty hid and miss. But you know Dave Randa is
going to have them ready for this game. He's a
great defensive mind. He's had multiple weeks to prepare for
this game, and he's going against his old team. You know,
he really wants to win this game. So while their
defense maybe up and down, I would imagine you're going
to get the best possible version of a Baylor Bears
defense in this game. LSU comes into this game a
little bit different than Baylor. They had that awful three
game losing streak in the middle of the season where
you drop games to A and M, Alabama and Florida
back to back weeks. But you won your last two
SEC games. You beat Vanderbilt at home, you take down Oklahoma,
so you're you're feeling good for the most part as well.
Speaker 5: LSU's had a ton of opt outs, though.
Speaker 4: If you look at the defensive set the ball, though,
you're still pretty well put to get as far as defense, say,
Ryan's not going to be there, JVR Suggs is not
going to be there, and reports are that Major Burns
may not play in this Bowl game as well. Outside
of those three guys, you're pretty healthy for the most part,
and you have most of your guys. Your big issue
on defense is going to be depth. For example, when
you look at the safety spot, that's obviously the biggest
hole on your team, and you can say, okay, well,
JV and Toviano has been moved to safety, you have
de Shaun Spears, you still have Joel Rogers. What are
they going to do with him. But behind those guys,
there's not a ton of depth. So you may have
your your top two or three guys that you're gonna
roll out there and see what they can do, not
a ton behind them. And if JV and Toviano has
to play that star position in place of a appsent
major Burns, then you're really in trouble at the safety spot.
I think the key to this game for me is
going to be can the D line shut down the
running back duo of Washington and Pendergrass. If you can
do that, you might be okay again. Sawyer Robertson has
been very solid throwing the football all year long. But
make no mistake about it, this is a run first team.
You go look, both of these guys get a lot
of carries. It's pretty much a fifty to fifty split
between them. They've both been excellent on the offensive side
of the ball is where I'm really worried about LSU.
Speaker 5: I think this game is going to be tight either way.
Speaker 4: But offensively, no Kyron Lacy, no Mason Taylor.
Speaker 5: You still have a lot of weapons though.
Speaker 4: You have Xavi on Thomas, you have Aaron Anderson, you
have Jilannie Watkins. Everybody's been excited to see what he
can do. You have receivers for the most part on
the outside. All of your backs are available. Josh Williams
is playing in this game. Caden Durham is going to
be playing in this game. Caleb Jackson is available. Even
though he hasn't had a ton of run as of
right now, he is still on this football team. Your
biggest issue is the offensive line. You're going to be
without Will Campbell, Emrie Jones, and Garrett Dellinger. Those guys
have been staples on your offensive line now for three years.
A couple of weeks ago, everyone was wondering what is
Emory Jones going to do? He was kind of the
key to keeping this offensive line together, not just for
this game, but for next season. He ultimately announced he's
not gonna play in this game. He's preparing for the
NFL Draft. Video its surface, reports, its surface out of
bowl practice. Here's your starting lineup right now in bowl practice.
From left to right on the offensive line, Tyree Adams
left tackle, Paul mcbeinga left guard, Dj Chester at center.
Then you have bow Board a line at right guard.
Miles Frazier moves from right guard to right tackle. So
your most experienced guy is Miles Fraser, but he's not
even playing the position that he's been starting at at
this school for the past two years. DJ Chester's obviously there,
but he's had an up and down season to begin with.
And then Paul mcbinga has played in four games now.
He's graded out a little bit higher in each game.
His worst game is A and M. He got a
little bit better against Alabama and so on and so forth,
but he's still not one of those guys where you're like,
he's a plug and play, we can count on him
to make plays down in and down out.
Speaker 5: He's still leaving a lot to be desired.
Speaker 4: So when you take into consideration the opt outs for LSU,
the makeshift offensive line that I mean, you have two
starters from this season one and one of them is
playing out of position. You look at Baylor for the
most part, they're very limited on their number of opt outs.
The two headed monster in bryceon Washington and Dawson pinder Gass.
Sawyer Robertson, who has I mentioned twenty six hundred yards,
twenty six touchdowns, seven interceptions, quietly been one of the
better and more efficient quarterbacks in the Big Twelve, which
is a conference that actually features a lot of really
good quarterbacks, is up and down as that conference has
been a lot of people have a lot of opinions
on whether or not that is still a quote unquote
elite power conference in college football. They've been really good
at the quarterback position pretty much top to bottom in
that league. Sawyer Robertson has been one of the better ones.
I think this is going to be a back and
forth game. Now as far as who I want to
pick in this game, you know, Baylor comes into this
game the six game winning streak. LSU comes in they've
won two in a row, but they're not far removed
from that awful three game skid that tanked your entire seies.
For that reason, I want to lean Baylor right. They're
the hotter team, they have less opt outs, they have
a lot more depth coming into this game, both established
quarterbacks and Nelsemeyers obviously playing for LSU. Sorry Robertson for Baylor,
but when I look at LSU, sometimes a positive trend
doesn't even have to be on the field. And I'll
explain what I mean. You were on that three game skid.
You beat Vanderbilt, you beat Oklahoma, but neither of them
were e lead football teams this year. When you lost
out on Bryce Underwood, it seemed like for most LSU fans,
this is the lowest of the low it can possibly
get new worse.
Speaker 5: Something happened with LSU.
Speaker 4: Whether it was Brian Kelly, whether it was the coaching
staff as a whole, whether it was the donors that
are donating money for nil and your recruiting budget. A
switch was flipped after that, Bryce under would be commit.
Speaker 5: What did you do?
Speaker 4: You win and got every single player you were targeting
for National Signing Day. During that early signing period, you
have dominated in the transfer portal. You ranked number one
or number two, depending on which recruiting service you look at,
but you are, without a doubt a top two transfer
portal class. You have the number seven recruiting class in
the country. It just seems like LSU's done a lot
of winning recently, and not even necessarily on the field.
So while Baylor comes in they're hot, You're on a
two game winning streak as well, and this program is
certainly trending in the right direction. So regardless of the
outcome of this bowl game, It does not take away
from all the positives that has happened the last month. Right,
You're still going to go into the offseason with a
returning quarterback, which is the biggest thing you can do.
In the SEC. You still have Cayden Durham back, you
still have a lot of weapons. Offensive line is going
to be an issue. But I trust this coaching staff
to get it right. I trust Brian Kelly, I trust
Brad Davis to evaluate you guys. You brought in a
lot of guys, whether it's transfer a portal or in
high school recruiting, that you think could potentially play right away,
A lot like a Will Campbell and an Emory Jones.
Did I desperately want to pick LSU to win this
game because I think that Again, I don't think losing
this game is going to necessarily take away from the
momentum you have going into the offseason. But a win
in this game really establishes that this program is heading
into the right direction. You win your last two SEC games,
you dominate high school recruiting, you dominate in the transfer portal,
and you get a win over a really good Baylor
football team in the bowl game. You head into the offseason.
You don't have that bad taste in your mouth. You're
feeling good going into spring football. However, with all the
opt outs, with the injuries, Baylor coming into this game
having a lot of depth, I think this game is
going to come down to depth as far as your
frontline starters go. Outside of the offensive line. For LSU,
I think you're okay. Offensive line is a big question mark,
but I mean I just mentioned it. On defense, most
of your starters are back, you just don't have a
ton of depth behind them. Baylor, on the other hand,
they pretty much have their full team available in this game.
So for that reason, unfortunately, I am going to pick
the Baylor Bears to win this game. I think it's
gonna be close to I'm thinking, you know, thirty five,
thirty one, thirty seven, thirty four, somewhere along those lines.
But I do think that the Baylor Bears are going
to win this game. However, I hope that I am wrong.
Not just from someone who's a fan of LSU who
covers his team all the time, but I really think
that all the positive momentum you built up in recruiting
and the transfer portal, paired with a bowl win in
the Texas Bowl over a good team like Baylor can
really catapult you into spring and really get you feeling
good about the twenty twenty five season. So the game
obviously coming up tomorrow two thirty kickoff out there in Houston,
ALISU Tigers Baylor Bears is doing battle. I am picking
Baylor to win this game in a close one. But
we'll see what happens. All right, Look, we're going to
step aside when we get back, Me and Musso, we're
gonna kind of give one final preview of Round two
of the college football Playoff. There are four big games
coming up. As far as those final eight teams, we'll
talk about it. We'll break it down. We'll make our
pick's neck here on off the bench, top.
Speaker 1: The bench, go to All Star Toyota of Baton Rouge
dot com. All Star Toyota of Baton Rouge your one
stop baker shop.
Speaker 5: You need to buy new. You want a Toyota s
Uzic or you so get excellent warranty. You need a rinse.
What about Lee scene?
Speaker 1: I never thought it would leave, you know, And then
I went in there and I had a number. So
just the budgets that I can afford right now. I
had a police and Camry for three years and it
was great. It was great andn't even better. I upgraded
to another seeing the minivan. If you have not seen
the Cena minivan, guys, you need to so whatever it is, though,
you want to truck, hybrid anything, go to All Star Toyota.
Speaker 5: Baton Rouge today.
Speaker 7: If you're going to watch the Tigers play in College
Station in Colombia and Fayetteville in Gainesville. I don't know
why you choose Gainesville, but if you did, you could
rent a Toyota for that trip, something bigger than you
currently have, something smaller, something better on gas mileage.
Speaker 5: Whatever it is, they have it available.
Speaker 8: Check it out online All Star toylet at vanerus dot com.
Speaker 2: Back to sports talk maybe Off the Bench?
Speaker 4: All right, Welcome back into a Monday edition of Off
the Bench. Taylor Sharp sitting in the host chair for
an absent Jacob Ester and tibab Abear.
Speaker 5: All right, right now, I want to look at.
Speaker 4: The college football playoff because we got some big games
coming up in the next two days. The first games
will begin tomorrow. I want to bring in Musso here,
Mussar want me and you to kind of go head
to head. Here, we're gonna we're gonna pick these games.
We're gonna see who's right, who's wrong. And right now
we're just gonna start Penn State Boise State. Now you know,
I've gone back and forth on this game a lot.
I look at Ashton gent and everyone says, okay, well,
we haven't seen him do it against power for opponents.
The one time we did was against Oregon, the number
one team in the country, the team that is undefeated.
He ran for two hundred yards and three touchdowns, and
he did it on about seven and a half yards
per car. On the flip side of things, Penn State's
defense has been really good, and it's the it's the
play of everyone around Ashing Genty that worries me. Nobody's
been able to bottle up Genty. That's obviously easier said
than done. But if Penn State is able to do it,
I don't really trust Maddox Mattson to do it because
everyone's going to say, okay, well, they performed really well
in that game against Oregon.
Speaker 5: It was a three point game.
Speaker 4: Maddox Madson was seventeen to forty in that football game.
That may have been the difference between them winning or
losing that game. Uh, I'll make my pick in just
a minute of Moose. Where you feeling in this game?
You think Penn State is a better defense than Oregon,
I don't know. Well, if you do, I tend to
say no. But they've looked really good the past few weeks.
Speaker 6: They've looked really really good the last CD. So I
was gonna say, if you do, then this is gonna
be the best defense Ashing Genty and Boise State faces
all season long. He's gonna get his The problem is
kind of what you said. Everyone around him. This is
what I will tell you. Drew lar hasn't been a
world beater this year, but he's been incredibly more efficient
and more impactful than he was a year ago. I mean,
it's over three thousand yards, it's almost seventy percent completion.
He's got great weapons around him. I mean Tyler Warren
at tight ends, one of the best in the country.
Boise State has to avoid the fate of an SMU.
They can't start slow in the game because they rely
so heavily on Ashton Genty. Yes, that's one reason, but
more so is Nick Singleton and k Tron Allen. For me,
those are two bruising backs who behind that offensive line
from Penn State can just chew up the rest of
the game. They can really grind it out when they
get a lead of two three scores. So I mean
that's I think Boise State will put up a fight early,
but once Penn State gets up by two scores, I
think that's all she wrote in this ball game.
Speaker 4: Well yeah, I mean, and that's that's kind of my
main point, right because it's not like you could say, oh,
Boise State has no shot in this game, they're completely overmatch.
To your point, if they can get ahead and they
can run the ball and they can lean on gent,
they got a shot to win this game.
Speaker 5: I just don't know if they can do it.
Speaker 4: To your point about Drew Aller, he obviously hasn't been great,
but he's won close games this year. I mean, you
go look at the game against Minnesota. Should that have
been a one point game? No, But he does what
he needs to do. They win that game twenty six
to twenty five. At a close game against USC in
early October, a thirty three to thirty game, he even
brought his team back when they were trailing big against
Oregon and really made that a game. I mean, Oregon
won that game by eight points. Not to say that
Maddox Madson can't do it, we just haven't seen him
have to do it. Drew Aller has had to do it,
and he's done it successfully. So yeah, for that reason,
I'm picking Penn State. I'm actually bicking Penn State pretty
close in this game. I think Boise State does keep
it close. I think their defense is a little underrated,
but I do like the Nitney Lions. All right, next game.
Speaker 5: One other thing.
Speaker 6: Inn State statistically as the best defense in the Big Ten.
Speaker 5: There you go, So they are.
Speaker 4: Better than they are better than organ and especially last
couple of weeks, like you know, earlier in the season,
because like, okay, if you look at it earlier in
the season, they were giving up Okay, so they gave
up thirty to Oregon, they gave up thirteen to Wisconsin,
but then in their big games they give up twenty
to Ohio State.
Speaker 5: Twenty Ein't that.
Speaker 4: Bad, No, that's what That's what I'm saying in their
big games and then ten to SMU. They did give
up the forty five Oregon, But I mean that game
they buckled down in the second half. I mean they
were better in the second half of that game than
the first half. Down the stretch that de I mean
seven points to Maryland, ten points to SMU. That defense
has been really good. So yeah, your point, that's going
to be the best defense that Ash and Gendy has
faced all year long. Texas Arizona States the next one.
I want to look.
Speaker 5: At every part of me.
Speaker 4: Wance Arizona State to win this game so bad, not
just because Texas is coming into the SEC and they've
had a lot of success.
Speaker 5: Cams Kataboo plays this game.
Speaker 4: The right way. He's a hard runner. I love everything
Kenny Dillingham's doing. He's the youngest coach in terms of
the power for I don't know if Texas covers the
big spread, but I don't see how Texas doesn't win
this game. Their running game has just been too good
right now. I mean as good as Kim's Kataboo has been.
You have Wisner, you have Jayden Blue. Even when quinn
Ewers has not been efficient, You've had that running game
to lean on. And then we talked about it against Clemson,
their starting center Jake Majors left that game with a concussion.
It didn't matter. They slid over their left guard to center.
They put in a backup. They are so deep on
the offensive and defensive lines. They are the only defense
this season in all of college football to not give
up over three hundred and fifty yards against them in
a game, the only one Arizona State has not played
a defense like that. Sam Levick can make throws, however,
he's not what you would call an elite quarterback. So
this is a very similar to the Penn State Boise
State game. To me, you have an elite running back,
one of the best running backs in college football, You're
going up against the best defense you have played, and
you're going to be deficient on both the offensive and
defensive lines.
Speaker 6: That's where Texas thrives. I like Texas in this game
moves No, I'm the same way. I think what you
said at the end is what I was going to say.
I think it's very similar. It might actually be the
same game as Penn State Boise State Gamskataboo great player,
a lot of fun to watch, has had a hell
of a season. I think Arizona State's a good team.
I think texas Is defense is obviously the best that
they've seen, and I actually think Texas will cover this bread.
I like Texas big here.
Speaker 5: Texas is one of those teams.
Speaker 4: When I look at Texas, I'm like, if they can
run the ball and control the clock, they can win
the national championship. If they can't, then they might be
in trouble. What is quinn Ewers going to do win
the games on the line. We've seen him make the ball, Yeah,
we've seen him make We see quinn Ewers make throws
that you're like, there are not five guys in the
country that can make that throw. We also see him
throw it to a linebacker straight in his chest at
his standing flat foot. It as many great plays as
he makes, he is way too careless with the football.
But if you can run the ball, which I think
they'll be able to do against Arizona State, Texas is
going to be fine. And that's why I think they
win this game. And I agree with you. I don't
think this game is going to be quite as close,
maybe as some people think it could be. Maybe the
I wanted to save these two games because I think
they're going to be the two most hoighly contested games
over the next two days. Georgia Notre Dame. You've seen
this line kind of fluctuate. George has been in a
one and a half point favorite, Notre Dame has been
a favorite. The Lions have kind of been all over
the place. Notre Dame is coming into this game, and
it's a really bad matchup for Georgia because George's defense.
While they've been good, they have not been that typical
dominant Kirby Smarten defense you've seen in the past. They've
still been very good offensively, though they don't have the
weapons that they've had in the past. Right, they don't
have a maconk they don't have a brock Bowers, and
you also lose Carson Beck. Now, Carson Beck's performance had
been up and down for the most part this year,
and Gunner Stockton credit to him. He had to come
in there at halftime. He led him on a scoring
drive and ultimately won that game. But he left a
lot to be desired in the game. He looked like
a guy that it had his first real action. How
is he going to do when a guy who is
as good of a defensive mind as Marcus Freeman has
multiple weeks to prepare for him as the quarterback. Everyone
says he can run better than Carson Beck. That's fine.
Notre Dame's defense has been really good against the run.
Oh your long, But George is still George. They're still
going to have an elite defense. They're still going to
be physical upfront. Kirby Smart's been there, done that. He's
got the championship pedigree. Moose, who do you like? Is
Irish or the bulle?
Speaker 6: This is the hardest one for me. Championship pedigree does matter.
There's key injuries on both sides. I mean, no Riley
Mills for Notre Dame is very significant. It just for me,
it depends on which Georgia defense shows up. I mean,
you're gonna get the Georgia defense it showed up against
Clemson and h and and UH earlier in the year
as well, you know, in the against Tennessee. Or are
you gonna get the Georgia defense that showed up against
Alabama and against Georgia Tech UH and against you know,
Ole miss to some extent, that's the question. If you
get the Georgia defensive showed against Texas, I like that.
For me, it's it's it's just all in the Georgia defense.
They have to be the salty unit that we all
know they can be and have been under Kirby Smart.
Because no, Carson Beck does matter a lot. I get it.
Guy's been a turnover machine. He's also a veteran quarterback
that matters at this level. That's one think Notre Dame
has going for them, is a veteran quarterback in the playoffs.
I can't help but look at it and think, man,
there's some reason Notre Dame is a favorite. But if
you're gonnna give me points with Georgia, I'm I'm just
always gonna take Kirby Smart's team as the underdogs. I'll
take the bulldogs.
Speaker 4: I'm actually picking Georgia to win this game out right. Again,
Notre Dame comes into this game and on paper it
looks like they have the matchup advantage. I'm not picking
against Kirby Smart. I'm not picking against this this Georgia
football program. And then so many people this year, all
of a sudden, for some reason, have said, well, Marcus
Freeman knows how to win big games. Well, he won
the Round one game against Indiana. Depending on what you
think of Indiana, that may not have been a big game.
He really hasn't. I mean, sure he beat Arnie, but
they were overmatched. We saw what Navy did to them
in the bowl game. Outside of that, their best win
this year Texas A and M Week one, and neither
team looked great.
Speaker 5: It's a Week one game.
Speaker 4: I don't know how big of a game you call
that now, considering well Texas A and M ended their season.
And then if you go look last year, the big
games they played last season, he lost. He lost to Clemson,
he lost to Ohio State. If you remember the Ohio
State game, it was gold to go situation. Notre Dame
two plays in a row, had too many guys on
the field, gave Ohio State two untied downs. Ohio State
wins that game seventeen to fourteen. That was a major
coaching blunder. Now, Marcus Freeman's a year older, He's got
a year more experience under his belt. Don't take too
much stock into that. But so far, there's so many
people saying, oh, well, he knows how to win close games.
He's won one, He's won one big game. He's also
lost a handful of big games. I've seen Kirby Smart
do it. He's been there, He's done that. He has
multiple national championship wins, and I know he consistently can
win big games. I'm gonna pick the Georgia Bulldogs in
this game and the final game maybe the matchup between
the two best teams left remaining, depending on who you ask.
The Oregon Ducks versus the Ohio State Buckeyes. Obviously, Oregon
won this game at home and a nailbier earlier this year.
They're the number one team in the country. They're the
only team in this field that was undefeated. They earned
that number one spot. But now they have to play
a team they already beat in Ohio State, and instead
of playing them at home in Autsin Stadium, they're going
to be in a neutral site in Los Angeles. Ohio
State has played really good football, and you know, we
talked about Texas earlier.
Speaker 5: They're two headed monster running back.
Speaker 4: Their ability to run the football, it's not much different
than Ohio State. Mean, Ohio State has Trevion Henderson, they
have Quinn John Judkins. They are able to run the
football at will. And then when you look, because when
we got to the college Football Playoff, what did everybody say?
This is not a quarterback playoff. There's not a ton
of elite quarterbacks, maybe outside of Dylan Gabriel, but there's
one weapon for me on offense. If you take running
backs out of the equation, there is one weapon in
this college football playoff remaining that stands above the rest,
and to me, it's Jeremiah Smith for Ohio State. I
don't think there's a receiver in this college football playoff
that comes close to what Jeremiah Smith can do. He
is that big of a game changer. Oregon can run
the football, they can play good defense. Ohio State can
run the football, they can play good defense. Will Howard
has played above his head. He's been a lot better
than I thought he was going to be this year.
We know how good of a player Dylan Gabriel is,
but if somebody has to make a play on the outside,
Oregon does not have a Jeremiah Smith.
Speaker 5: Moose.
Speaker 4: I'm actually picking Ohio State to win this game. I
know you, you and I have had kind of similar
feeling on this game. What's your feeling going into.
Speaker 6: Yeah, like Ohio State, I've actually had on this one
for a long time. I thought we would get it
in the Big Ten championship.
Speaker 5: We didn't.
Speaker 6: Ohio State top to bottom, is the most talented team
in the country. I don't really think that's I mean,
I guess you can always make an argument, but I mean,
top to bottom, I think they're the most talented team
in the country. Oregon won the home game. Oregon was
a three point favorite in that game. That's home field advantage.
You knew looking at that line that if this game
would be played on a neutral field, Ohio State would
be a favorite. And ultimately they are, and I think
that they should be. They were the most impressive team
in Week one of the playoffs or the opening round,
I guess I should say, and they did it at
all in all phases, offense, defense, and special teams. Will
Howard's not gonna set the world on fire, but he's
a really good veteran quarterback who knows where to go
at the football. He knows how to operate in this
Ohio State offense. Yes, the two headed monster at running back.
When we talked about Singleton and Allen, we talked about
Wisner and Blue Judkins and Henderson might be better than
both of those. So yeah, Jeremiah Smith and oh, by
the way, they still have a Mecca Abuka two who
in stink the defense is playing really well? Yeah, I
like Ohio State win to win this game. Like I said,
I've had my on that one for a while.
Speaker 4: We did all this discussion, all this debating to come
up with the exact same picks, been all four of
these games.
Speaker 6: But you know what, like nobody to go back and
pick Notre Dame.
Speaker 4: Now that's fine, but to your point, like, sure, we
all picked the four same teams, but we could go
four and oh we could go oh to four. It
really just depends on how these teams get started. Like
for an Arizona State and a Boise State, is when
to be so important for them to start fast so
they can lean on their running game. And really that's
across the board. But look, we'll see what happens to
me and mus go four and oh do we go
two and two? Do we go oh to four? We'll
find out when we get back from the New year.
All right, we're gonna take a quick time out. When
we get back, Zach Naggy's gonna hop on. We're gonna
talk LSU recruiting what the Tigers need in the transfer portal,
and we're gonna get his thoughts on the Texas Ball
between LSU and Baylor that's coming up.
Speaker 2: They're on Off the bench, Off the bench, Welcome in
to the best morning sports this show around Off the
Bench with Hester and T Bob.
Speaker 1: Go to K to Z Window Coverings k t o
Z Blinds dot Com, kDa Ze Blinds dot Com. And look,
if you're thinking about getting a shade for outside, like
we talked about throughout the fall, right you get that shade.
So if you're if you're out there grilling doing whatever,
you keep it way cooler, make it just much more
enjoyable out there, especially during the summer.
Speaker 5: It makes a look a comfortable outdoor living area. Is
a great gift for dad.
Speaker 1: Okay, So if you have a hard to buy for dad,
you can in touch with K to z do it now.
And the other thing is most companies have a price
increase in January right now, said KDZ. But like vendors
and everything else, so now's the best time from a
price standpoint to get in as well. And if you're
searching for something to get your heart to buy for wife,
well into your window treatments. Come on now, come on now,
So trust the experts at Katz k to Z Window Coverings,
ktoz Blinds dot com.
Speaker 5: It covers it.
Speaker 4: While all right, welcome back into a Monday edition of
Off the Bench.
Speaker 5: Right now, I want to bring in Zach Naggi.
Speaker 4: Covers the LG taggers for s high Zach, what's going
on this morning?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 3: Not too much? Ready to talk to melochie football?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, we'll get into the transfer port a little bit later.
But uh, you know, kind of the news that everyone's
talking about right now, it broke on Friday. Hadn't not
a chance to talk about it yet. What are your
thoughts on Harold Perkins coming back?
Speaker 3: Yeah, man, I love the return. Obviously. Harold is an
elite athlete that provides kind of a different element to
this LSUE defense, So it's exciting to get him back
in the mix and even more exciting to see how
they're going to utilize this skill set. We know that
there's been some kind of different, kind of different uses
of him when it comes to where he's at on
the field. So for me, I'm excited to see how
they use his skill set, see how they can maximize
his potential and if anybody's gonna be able to do it.
I feel like it's going to be defensive coordinator Blake Baker,
and we've seen how kind of talented he is with
his s teams and putting players in the right position
to be successful. So now it's kind of a matter
of where do you put Perkins in order to maximize
that potential. So it's exciting. It adds a new look
to this defense, and you know a lot of the
players are excited to have him back as well. So
I couldn't be more ecstatic to have him back on
the field in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4: What do you where do you want to see him?
You know, because I was talking about a lot. You
can put him at linebacker at age a star. What
do you like Harold Perkins next year?
Speaker 3: I think when you have a guy like wit Weeks
who's really thriving at that linebacker slot, West Weeks comes
back as well, you got a youngster and Devon he's
that linebacker as well. I think that bread and butter
spot for Harold Perkins could be at that star role.
We saw Major Burns struggle to a certain degree this
season at that spot, and there's gonna be some times
where Harold Perkins is gonna have to drop back in coverage,
where it's going to be exciting to see if he
can kind of get that get comfortable and whatnot back there.
But for me, I think they're going to try to
put him at the star spot and see what he
can do from there. I think it's going to be
worth the kind of trial and error, but I certainly
think that that's where they could put him at the
start off kind of this twenty twenty five season.
Speaker 4: All right, Zach, I want to shift to the transfer
portal right now. Right after the news of Harold Perkins
broke on Friday, it was also reported that LSU landed
offensive line with Josh Thompson from Northwestern. What can he
bring to this team and where do you see him
playing because he's a lot of people have them listened
as an interior lineman, but obviously LSU has a big
needed tackle. Where do you see him lining up?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Josh Thompson has a lot of versatility of this
offensive line moving forward, and you already brought in Brailan Moore,
the Virginia Tech transfer, and that's the number one interior
offensive lineman in the portal once he committed. So for me,
when you look at a guy like Josh Thompson, I
think he can be used as a tackle. I think
he can be used inside. You're gonna want to probably
put him at tackle to start off his time in
bat and rouge, just because you're obviously losing Will Campbell,
you're losing Emory Jones, You're losing four out of your
five starters from the twenty twenty five seasons. So LSU
went out and made a splash to get him. Tennessee
was trending heavily, and then that's kind of the eleventh hour.
LSU came in and made an offer and continue to
recruit him heavily and ultimately got him to steal the deal.
But it's a player that provides tremendous versatility. Was about
as coveted as they come in the portal, and now
you can have him come in and kind of test
out where you want to put him. For me, I
think tackle could be a spot where he could come
in and make an immediate impact. But it's gonna be
fun to see how Brad Davis utilizes Josh Thompson because
he's just a player that can do it all in Tide,
stick with the offensive line.
Speaker 4: Do you think they're done with O line and the
transfer portal because we've been talking about it right, Like
Thompson can play guard and tackle, whether it's Carrie's current,
whether it's Solomon Thomas, they're kind of guys that can
do both. You don't really have that pure tackle Like
are they done or did they like the guys that
they've recruited moving them to tackle.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's exciting because I think you have a lot
of youngsters that can step in the mix as well
and ride kind of an instant impact piece. You highlighted
Carrius Kern just now, and that's a player that I
think is a Day one player who can jump in
the mix immediately and compete for a starting job. And
Brian Kelly alluded to that on National Signing Day that
this is a player that really has that sec build already.
So for me, when it comes to the transfer portal,
I couldn't imagine them kind of going out and getting
another guy. Would I be surprised? No, just because they've
proven that they're willing to go outside the box and
get just about anybody they want, So if they want
another offensive lineman, they'll certainly go and do that. But
right now, I think after going and getting Braylen Moore,
getting Josh Thompson, you have Tyrie Adams, pau Mbango, Weston Davis,
Carus Current coming in Plomon Thomas. I mean, the list
goes on and on. Brad Davis has an embarrassment of
riches to work with. I think they have the guys
that they need right now, But again, kind of circling back.
Wouldn't be surprised. I just don't think that's the route
that they're going to go in right now.
Speaker 4: As far as big as needs remaining for this team,
the position everyone's keeping an eye on right now is
the safety spot for the Tigers. Are there any names
l Yuvan should keep an eye on.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's an exciting one. And I think ultimately to
come down to that quote unquote second portal window where
you start to see players from college football playoff teams
enter the portal and whatnot. When it comes to names
right now, I don't think there's that many you can
say right now, just because players are still actively kind
of going through bowl games, going through playoff games, et cetera.
But there are gonna be some guys to keep tabs
on in the next five to six days, especially with
the window kind of the portals now closed. Now when
teams kind of end their season, they have a five
day window to enter the portals, So we're gonna see
some names under the mix very very soon. I'd expect
LSU to take two safeties here. You got to add
some depth there. Right now, you're really only working with
Javi and Tooviano, Jardan Gilbert, to Sean Spears. You're very
limited your razor sin in that safety room. So i'd
expect them to take two guys. It's gonna be exciting
to see the options that they have because I mean, man,
it seems like everybody that comes down to campus for
a visit, they ultimately steal the deal for So when
it comes to safety, certainly a position of need, you're
gonna have to knock it out of the park. And
once they do that, I mean you're looking at a reloaded, retooled,
and re energized defensive backfield and just the whole defense
moving forward, All.
Speaker 4: Right, Zach switching from Zach Maggie our guest right now,
switching from transfer portal to this bowl game we got
coming up tomorrow. LSU Versus Baylor. What do you want
to see from the Tigers in the Texas.
Speaker 3: Ball Yeah, I want to see some youngsters step in
the mix and make an impact. Really excited to see
the receiver rotation that they throw out there. I think
the names that everybody's excited to see is going to
be Aaron Anderson, Zavian Thomas, and Chris Hilton of course,
but that wide receiver four spot, the guy to come
in is going to be where I'm kind of shifting
focus towards. I want to see if they putting Kylon Billiott,
Jelannie Watkins, etc. Excited to see where they go in
the wide receiver room moving forward, because you got Barrion
Brown coming and you got Nick Anderson coming in. But
I want to see some youngsters also become impactful moving
forward in the receiving game with Garrett Nusmyer, So for me,
I'm really just looking at youngsters, true freshman etc. Stepping
in the mix and moving forward, and that also highlights
golphensive line. I don't want to beat a dead horse
here because we just talked about the offensive line, but
I'd like to see guys like Weston Davis, Tyree Adams
Paul Mabenga, etc. Get some significant run in this Bowl game,
Joe Brad Davis that they can come out and really
kind of carry the torch moving on to next season.
Because we already know Emery Jones, Bill Campbell, Dellinger, Miles Frasier, etc.
Those are some elite offensive linemen. Now it's time for
that next wave of LSU offensive lineman to carry the torch.
Excited to see what youngsters can step in on Tuesday
and really just carry that momentum.
Speaker 5: All right, Zach, you got a final pick for us
who wins this game?
Speaker 3: Look, man, you look at all the sports books right now,
and everybody's favoring Baylor two and a half, three and
a half points. And then you go and look at
the ESPN FPI and they've got LSU at the heavy favorites.
So it's split in a bunch of different aspects. For me,
I'm gonna ride with Garrett Nusmeyer. And I know it's
a home or take not of being a guy that
covers LSU. But for me, I just think garrettnus Meyer
is this severe weapon that's gonna give that defense trouble
when it comes to LSU's defense, I know that they're
lacking depth there just because the portal opt outs, et cetera.
But I think they can get the job done. I
believe in Blake Baker and having it kind of a
whole month to game plan for the most part. For
this Bowl game, I think they're gonna come out fire
on all cylinders, get that ninth win of the year,
and carry that momentum into the off season, because that's
such a luxury when you have a new look team.
Jaren Nutmeyer's coming back, you want to carry that momentum.
Speaker 4: I hope you're right, Zach. That would give him so
much momentum heading into the off season. Zach Naggy weathers
right now, Zach, I'm gonna go ahead and let you go.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 5: Thanks so much for hopping on. I've kept you too long.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 4: But going absolutely, that's Zach Naggy right there. Covers the
LSU Tigers, Sports Illustrated and LSU Country. All right, Look,
we're going to take a quick time out when we
get back. LSU men's and women's basketball both played yesterday
and SEC played nearing for both of them, We're gonna
break it down on the other side here on off
the bench, off the bench.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got okay, did you put them to that?
Org nine to eighty five the two nine two, five
eighty five and fifty two for fifty years fifty years?
Speaker 5: Uh?
Speaker 1: Is it?
Speaker 3: Hey?
Speaker 9: Arnam's grandpa earn those those some rugrats fifteen miles. Uh
you so you sich a plum dot Org nine two
five eighty five fifty two is the number for take
advantage of fifty years of plumbing experience, licensed, bonded and shired, employed,
flat rate pricing, excellent warranty coverage.
Speaker 5: Once the work is done. Central plumbing dot org. You
know once stop plumbing shop Central plumbing dot Org. Go
to the website today.
Speaker 7: See what they can do for you in the remodel
game that's at your home or your business. If you're
looking to upgrade, They've got you covered no matter what
you're looking to get done. Also, if you want to
upgrade by going tankless, go tankless today. Never run out
of hot water again. Go to the website for more information.
Central plumbing dot org.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to more sports talk. What's some other stuff
mixed in Off the bench with Hester and t Bob All.
Speaker 4: Right, Welcome back into the final segment of hour number two.
Here on a Monday edition of Off the Bench, Taylor
Sharp filling in for Jacob Hester and Tea Ba Ba
Bear who t Bob will be back on Thursday as
we kick off the new year. If you didn't watch
LSU men's and women's basketball yesterday, well I can't blame
you because they both played really bad teams and there
was a lot better things going on. But both teams
did play yesterday. We'll start with the women first. The
game is a little bit more competitive. They took on
the ALBNY Great Danes. They get an eighty three to
sixty one victory. And look ALLBNY was a team that
came into this game.
Speaker 5: Ten and two.
Speaker 4: They're one of the lower tier schools, but they're a
solid team. And when you look at LSU, it was
more of the same, right. Anissa Morrow a double double,
twenty points, eighteen rebounds. Fla Je Johnson poured in fifteen,
Mikayla Williams she had eighteen points. It was your usual
suspects that led this LSU women's basketball team. And as
far as the women go, because both of these teams
this week are going to begin SEC play. Obviously, this
LSU women's basketball team under Kim Moulkey is going to
be one of the better women's teams in the SEC.
They're going to be ranked towards the top at pretty
much every preseason SEC poll. You see their biggest issue
they haven't been tested a ton in pre conference. That's
why when you look at this team and you say,
this is an undefeated team that was ranked four two
weeks ago, now the rank six, why is that? It's
because they haven't exactly played the cream of the crop
out of conference. But that's typical for a Kim Molkey team.
This is the way she likes to schedule. Looks she
knows way more about this than I do. So they're
gonna be one of the top teams in the SEZ
they haven't been tested. Will that impact them negatively early
in SEC play? Look as the season goes along, is
as tournament talks come up, this team's going to have
played in a ton of big games.
Speaker 5: They're going to be fine.
Speaker 4: But I'll see if they aren't a little bit slow
to start out the gate just because they're week out
of conference schedule. For the men, they dominate Mississippi Valley. Look,
there's not a ton to take away from this game.
They win one, ten to forty five. Mississippi Valley had
five assists the entire game, and all of it came
from one player, Donovan Sanders.
Speaker 5: He had five assists. Nobody else on the team did anything.
Speaker 4: This team, out of the three hundred and sixty four
teams in debt rankings, ranked three sixty four, and thanks
to Hunt Palmer, we know they ranked three sixty four
in offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency. So by every metric,
this is the worst team in college basketball. So there's
not a ton to take away from this game. I mean, sure,
Cam Carter was good. He had twenty three points, Damian
Collins had fifteen, Jordan Sears had fifteen. Victoria's Miller is
your great scorer off the bench. He poured in twenty.
It's the guys, you know, they stepped up.
Speaker 5: They did their thing. The big thing with LSU is.
Speaker 4: Last year they went nine and nine in conference play,
and Matt McMahon in the offseason he said it numerous
times when he's come on this exact ship. He said
he thought they did enough in conference last season to
make the NCAA Tournament at nine and nine. He thought
they did not do enough out of conference and he
believes that's what hurt them. Well, I mean, the men's
team right now is eleven and two. They have some
big wins. You know, they have a couple losses in there,
but they have some big time wins. I mean, the
Kansas State win is one that stands out. The problem
for LSU men's it's kind of the inverse of of
what we looked at with the women. The women weren't
really battle tested, but they're gonna be at the top
of the SEC. The men they played a pretty tough
hat of conference schedule, but the SEC men's conference right
now is loaded. The worst team right now in the
SEC is No. South Carolina at nine and three overall.
That is the worst team in the SEC record wise,
and it shows Look if you want to go look
at the updated top twenty five rankings and men's college
basketball Tennessee one, Auburn two, Alabama five, Florida six, Kentucky ten.
That's five of the top ten teams are in the SEC.
And then right after that Oklahoma twelve, A and M thirteen, Ole,
Miss sixteen, Mississippi State nineteen, Arkansas twenty three. There are
ten SEC teams ranked in the top twenty five, five
in the top ten. That's going to be LSU's biggest issue.
I think they've done enough in out of conference, but
unlike last year. Look they went nine to nine in
conference played this year last season. If they can do that,
if they can finish as kind of a middle of
the road SEC team this year, I think this is
a league that's going to get probably eight or nine
bids for the SEC Tournament because I think this conference
is that good this season. Can ill as you stay
in that seven to nine range. Can they be just
a middle of the road SEC team. If they can
do that, they're going to be fine. There's certainly a
much improved team. Didn't they worry a year ago. The
problem is the conference as a whole is as well.
They certainly have an uphill battle. But Matt McMahon has
kind of built this team in his own way. He
likes his squad, he said, he feels confident in squad.
We'll see, it'll be interesting to watch his SEC play
gets started. LSU men's will start with Vanderbilt. The women
will open with the Arkansas Razorbacks. That's going to do
it for hour number two. In hour three, we're gonna
have weekend winners at nine am, Devin snow hoops on
at nine to fifteen, and we close it out with
ask the Bench here on, Off the bench, Off the bench,