Speaker 1: Welcome to the latest edition of Get Off My Pilon
college football podcast. This is your host, Matt Zemik. This
show is part of the College grid Round Coast to
Coast podcast network. Follow College Grid Down Coast to Coast
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Here on Get Off My Pylon, as usual, we focus
on western college football in the United States and plenty
to talk about, and obviously, you know coming up this
weekend the big one Oregon against Ohio State. We're definitely
going to preview that game. Tee it up. Also Penn
State USC, although of course that game's lost a little luster.
We'll get into the Trojans in a little bit, but
first before we look ahead to October twelve and that
huge Saturday with all the big showdowns, and some of
them in the West, let's review what happened in week six.
Let's start with Washington Washington beating Michigan, and like that
was a game that Jedfish really had to have. It
was at home. The Huskies had lost multiple times, you know,
lost the Apple Cup to Washington State, lost at Rutgers
despite gaining over five hundred yards and holding Rutgers to
two hundred and ninety nine yards. I mean, it's again,
it's really hard to do what Washington did at Rutgers
to outgain an opponent so decisively and yet score so
few points and find a way to not win that game.
Washington gained over five hundred yards and again was like
was two of twelve third downs Like that just really
hard to do what Washington did. So anyway, the Huskies
had to bounce back, and they did in Seattle at
Husky Stadium against Michigan. So Washington stabilizes its season. That
was really important for Fish, Like the season really could
have spiraled on the Huskies, who, by the way, have
to go to Iowa and Kinnick Stadium for Fox Big
Noon Saturday this upcoming weekend. If they had, if they
had lost to Michigan, you're you're seriously looking at the
possibility of not making a bowl game. So Washington probably
saved it season in terms of at least being able
to get to a ball But like, the Huskies are
not going to be chasing any you know, premium prize,
but they at least avoided disaster by beating Michigan. And
I know we're talking about the West, but just just
because that's a Big Ten game and we're looking at
the Big Ten as part of you know, having the
four West Coast schools in the Big Ten. Just briefly
looking at the Big Ten in general. You know, Michigan's
a pretty ordinary team that that seems to be obvious
that the Wolverines don't have much of an offense, can't
figure out their quarterback situation, they were caught short. It's
worth saying that Michigan's an ordinary team only because Seguay
alert that team was good enough to beat USC. And
USC has losses over this very ordinary Michigan team and
to Minnesota. So like that's the next stop on get
off my pile, on our look at Western college football,
USC losing to Minnesota, And if you saw the USC
Michigan game, USC Minnesota was very very similar. USC does
not play well in the first half, makes great halftime adjustments,
the team plays great in the third quarter, offensive line
plays really well in the third quarter, but then in
the fourth quarter when the game was on the line,
the USC offensive line regresses, defense gives up some big runs.
Trojans lose a one score game on the road in
the Big ten. And so like that, the parallels between
USC losing to Minnesota and USC losing to Michigan, the
parallels were abundant, like you could just draw so many similarities. Now,
one thing that was different for USC in this Minnesota game.
No Eric Gentry at linebacker. That really hurt. Gentry was
US He's best defensive player. You would think that the
USC's defensive performance was going to suffer without Gentry. That
wasn't entirely true. Minnesota had just ten points with ten
minutes left in this game. The defense without Gentry actually
did really well. But then came another big injury Anthony
Lucas on the defensive line. He had to leave the game.
And let's also remember that bar Alexander is in the
transfer portal, or at least has intended to enter the
transfer portal, So he's no longer playing for USC. He's
red shirting. He wants out of the program. So without
Gentry and without bar Alexander, this defense was able to
hold the fort. But you know that at some point,
when you keep losing bodies and attrition continues to get worse,
at some point there's going to be a straw that
breaks the Campbell's back effect. And losing Anthony Lucas in
that fourth quarter, already missing Eric Gentry, already missing Bear Alexander, well,
Anthony Lucas was the straw that broke the Campbell's back
because after he left with an injury, USC's run defense
just finally couldn't hold up against Minnesota. Now it wasn't
the defense that lost the game, but attrition, lack of
depth on defense. It finally did catch up to USC,
as anyone who covered the program feared might happen in
the offseason. Like you just you could deal with one
or two injuries, but three three big players unavailable. That
was the tipping point. And so USC's offensive line by
allowing pressure on Milar Moss that was specifically Mason Murphy
us the offensive lineman getting torched or an outside pass rush,
which was a consistent problem for him in this game
against Minnesota. Minnesota was lining up its pass rusher wide
and was making his speed move from the outside. Mason
Murphy couldn't handle that outside speed rush and on the
third and four play early in the third quarter, early
in the fourth quarter that led to Miller Moss's interception.
It was a speed rush. Milr Moss had no chance.
This was not milar Moss's fault. Guy gets right on
top of him, hits his arm as milar Moss is
releasing the ball. The ball doesn't get to its target
and it gets picked off. That was the game changing play.
Minnesota dominates after that play. You know, if USC avoids
that interception, it would at least have been able to
kick a fifty three yard field goal or go for
it on fourth and four to get a first down.
If USC either makes a field goal or gets a
few more first downs on that drive, Trojans are winning
the game. That becomes a USC win. But the USC
offensive line, You'll remember, USC had the ball with five
minutes left and a four point lead against Michigan. Offensive
line gets dominated by Michigan on that series of downs,
and people you know noted Lincoln Riley for the play selection,
which is fair to a degree, But the main thing
is USC's offensive line is coming up very small in
important game deciding moments, and USC's offensive line is also
not playing well in first quarters and first halves. The
USC played a great third quarter. Offense played as well
as it had all season long. Twelve played ninety one
yard touchdown drive in the third quarter. It was USC's
best drive of the season. But USC's offensive line is
playing like twenty to twenty five good minutes per game.
Why can't do it for at least forty five minutes,
if not all sixty? You have to ask that question
of offensive line coach Josh Henson. So the offensive line
is not helping out more Moss, it's not helping out
the team. It's not helping out what really is a
defense that is playing well overall, but could not afford
to miss too many key pieces, and it missed too
many key pieces in that fourth quarter with Anthony Locas,
Eric Gentry, and bar Alexander all out, USC was just
not able to handle that. So USC has a very
ordinary team as it prepares to play Penn State this
upcoming weekend. Continuing with our review of Week six western
college football in the United States, we have to look
at cal Cal had that incredible game day environment in Berkeley.
College Game Day finally visits the Berkeley campus that had
never done so before. The slate you know, in week
six was not spectacular. So why not go to Berkeley
and why not highlight the new world of the ACC
where you have Miami going to the West coast for
a late night game, a ten to thirty pm Eastern
time start, and that's a conference game, that's an ACC game.
I think ESPN was throwing the ACC a bone. Obviously
all the lawsuits that are flying in the ACC and
member schools are dissatisfied with the ESPN contract. It's a
very ESPN friendly contract. So College Game Day, for various reasons,
goes to Berkeley. It's an absolute sensation. The calgorithm Cal
fans with their signs were just an absolute smash hit.
And then Cal played like a house on fire for
the first fifty minutes of the game thirty five to
ten lead, still led thirty eight to eighteen early in
the fourth quarter. And then and after playing like a
house on fire, Cal burned the house down. It was Arson.
It was Cal just destroying what it had established with
an absolute meltdown. And credit to cam Ward in Miami
for scrambling late, as they so often have done this season.
Can Ward has that neck, He's able to thread the
needle in the game's most important moments. But if you're Cal, hey,
you've scored thirty eight points in a little over three
quarters against Miami and then you can't even get a
first down late in the game to seal the deal.
You had multiple chances thirty eight, eighteen thirty eight to
twenty five, thirty eight, thirty two, like you had all
those possessions with a lead in the fourth quarter. If
you just get two first downs on one of those drives,
it's ballgame, and Cal could not do that. Cal also
allows a very very long completion to Miami. Me the
Hurricanes started near their own ten late in the game,
they're able to get like a sixty yard play to
immediately flip the field and make one of their touchdown
drives more manageable. One other point that definitely has to
be dealt with in the Miami cow game, that late
non targeting call. And when you look at that play
and I understand the view that that should have been targeting.
Was there some helmet contact, Yes, there was, Like the
helmet was part of the hit. But I have a
problem with targeting in that a lot of times when
the helmet is part of the hit, but it's clearly
not a case of spearing. Like you know, sometimes players
will lead with their helmet, like they just make the
helmet a weapon, like the helmet becomes a heat seeking missile.
That's targeting to me, all right, and we can debate
what the rule book says about targeting, but to me,
spearing just absolutely just leaning your helmet into the offensive player.
That's really what targeting should be. Relative to helmet contact.
This was not that this was the helmet being part
of an attempt to tackle of an attempt to hit,
and that attempt to tackle involve the helmet, but it
also involved the shoulder and it also had a follow
through with the arms. Now I understand the point that
the helmet was part of the hit, but I have
a problem with the idea that, oh, the helmet was
part of the hit. The helmet has to be the
only or obviously primary part of the hit to merit targeting,
to merit a fifteen yard penalty. If the helmet is
merely part of the hit along with the shoulder and
along with the arms. I don't think that should be Again,
I understand the disagreements with this, but the specific point
that I'm getting to here is I think a lot
of football fans, and I'm not gonna this is not
a criticism, This is just an observation. A lot of
football fans get into a mode where, oh, the helmet's
part of the hit, targeting the helm. It's not as
though a defensive player can somehow completely remove the helmet
from the act of making a tackle or a hit.
Like it's not as though when you're trying to make
a tackle or a hit you have to, you know,
bend your helmet to the opposite side so that your
helmet is out of the way. Like that's not a
natural act. That's not a natural part of making a hit.
Like what forget whether I have a helmet or not.
For a moment. If I'm coming at you and I'm
trying to hit you, like my body is coming towards you,
and my head is part of my body, So you
put a helmet on my head, Like, my helmet's gonna
be coming toward you, all right when I try to
make a tackle or a hit. And so the idea
that oh, if my helmet hits the opposing player, the
opposing ball carrier to any extent, that's targeting or a penalty. No, see,
I don't agree with that. I don't think that's appropriate.
And when I see that Miami hit, I did not
see someone who was leading with the helmet. I saw
someone who was in the process of making a hit. Well,
the shoulders coming closer to the to Mendoza, the cow quarterback,
the arm, the left forearm is coming closer to the quarterback,
and the helmet and the head, so like all body
parts are gonna come closer to the cow quarterback. But
that doesn't mean he was using the helmet as a weapon.
The helmet did hit part of Mendoza. I don't deny that,
but you you also have shoulder contact and you also
have forearm contact to me, targeting relative to the helmet,
you know, not not not talking about hitting someone late.
This was This was a question of whether the helmet,
uh you know what was was used as a weapon.
And by the way, this was not launching either. The
Miami player stayed on the ground. You didn't leave the ground.
To me, the helmet needs to be the clear primary
weapon such that you know, the shoulder and forearms are
not part of the act of hitting. It's basically the guy,
you know, just lowering his helmet and using that helmet
to deliver the blow. To me, that wasn't uh the case,
And and that's a really important nuance as we try
to wrestle with the targeting. I think the helmet needs
to be the primary weapon as opposed to being part
of the hit. You know, I think the helmet was
part of the hit, but it wasn't the overwhelmingly clear
central weapon used in the hit. And so for that reason,
I think the call of non targeting was okay. And
I think a lot of people looking at that play
live before we got the slow motion replay thought, whoa,
that's a great shoulder hit in the open field. That's football.
I'm not going to say that that that targeting was
the case of the ACC protecting Miami. However, However, the
touchdown clearly involved an eligible man downfield. There were multiple
offensive linemen who were more than three yards down the
field on that little flip pass to the left side
that came ward through. You can't miss that. And so
that is where anyone saying that the ACC is trying
to protect Miami is not getting Cal a fair shake.
That's the play you want to circle, because how you
know you have all those officials on the field, you're
telling me that not one of them saw that multiple
Miami offensive linemen were more than three yards down the field.
That's the play you circle. That's the play you send
to the ACC office and say, hey, what are we
doing here? Like this is just not professional, This is
just not remotely consistent. You're bending over backwards to make
sure that Miami gets to the playoff. That is the
play that we should be talking about a lot more targeting,
a lot less, because targeting is just a play that,
in my mind, college football does not know how to
adjudicate targeting penalties. To me, targeting should be a vicious,
cheap shot, like the defender exhibits no care, no discipline
at all, and is just trying to hurt or injure
or is just so reckless that there's no other choice
to be made. That Miami hit didn't fit those categories
in my estimation. And for Cal, you know, you can
complain about those miscalls or those wrong calls, I understand it,
but you know what, Cal never should have been in
that position right. Cal never should have allowed twenty five
point lead to be whittled down to one score late
in the game. We've seen Justin Wilcox blow some games
he had no business losing. This one might be the
most painful of all, just because it was a high
profile team, a high profile game, College game Day. What
could have been an amazing transformative moment for Cal football
turns into the ultimate gut punch in Berkeley. Continuing our
look at western college football, Arizona State beats Kansas, and
you know, Arizona State well on its way to a
bowl game. So Kenny Dillingham obviously like he gets it.
He's doing a great job under the circumstances in temp.
He has that program clearly on an upward trajectory. We
don't focus on Kansas as a Midwestern school under get
off my pilon, but Kansas was playing Arizona State. So
the notable item of about Kansas. You look at Kansas's
games this season, look at all the times that Kansas
has given up a time or go ahead score in
the final two minutes of a half, first half, second half.
The Jayawks have been unbelievably bad, with last two minute
defense in each of their halves, and Arizona State was
able to exploit that one more time. And one other
note about that ASU Kansas game, as we mentioned a
week ago here and get off my pylon. One hundred
and seven degrees at kickoff just after five pm and
ten p hottest start time for any October Arizona State
game in school history. It's the third hottest start time
for any ASU game period. Obviously, the hottest start times
belonged to games that were either in late August or
any time in September. But it's the hottest start time
for any October Arizona State football game ever played. Ever,
that tells you how intense the heat has in Phoenix.
It was one thirteen on October first, and it was
one to eleven on Sunday, October sixth, the day after
Arizona States went over Kansas. But ASU has a hot
team pun not intended definitely moving toward bowl eligibility. Making
a bowl game would be an absolute success. For twenty
twenty four at Arizona State, Arizona beat Utah on the road,
so you're thinking, Hey, the Wildcats are figuring this thing
out under first year coach Brent Brennan. Nope, Like they
beat Utah, he took advantage of Cam Rising being injured.
But then they take the step back. They lose to
Texas Tech on a night when their offense once again struggles.
And you know, just looking at the Big Twelve, obviously,
you know you have the Arizona Schools and Utah and
Colorado is part of the Big Twelve. But looking at
the Big Twelve more broadly, if you look at the
Big Twelve, like every week it's as though each team
has a jackal and hide and and and these teams
just basically rotate personalities each week. One week you see
the good iteration of a Big Twelve team, the next
week you see a bad version of that same team.
And just the Big Twelve just has teams that are
just flip flopping week to week. It's been, it's been,
it's it gives you whiplash. It's been fascinating to watch
that just no one can seemingly play consistently well for
more than a couple of good weeks. Iowa State might
be the one real exception in the Big Twelve. So
the Arizona Arizona Wildcats just not able to put it
together consistently. They've had their moments, but there they have
not been a steady team so far this season, and
that has to be very disappointing for the folks down
in Tucson. UH. Other stories from Western college football this
past weekend. Ashton Genty of Boise State, like he just
contains to put up video game numbers. He if there
is one player who seems like a lock right now
in mid October to be a Heisman Trophy finalist, it's
it's Ashton Genty because his numbers are just too ridiculous
to ignore. He's just in corking all of these big
runs he's at. He's you know, the number of double
digit runs that he's producing is just off the charts.
Like he is. He's already over one thousand yards for
one thing, you know, in the middle of the season.
So like he's just a rocket ship who's just you know,
going into the stratosphere. He's the Felix Bound Gardner, remember
the guy who made that huge jump from from the
lower levels of outer space. This is the Felix Bomb
Gardner of college football running backs. Ashton Genty has just
been off the charts and Boise State, remember Boise State
had a quarterback battle in camp, and Maddox Madsen got
the not over former five star recruit the transfer from
USC Malachai Nelson. I'd say it's a pretty good move
by first year head coach Spencer Danielson. Boise State is
just trucking people left and right. Boise State is just
putting up video game offensive numbers nearly every week. That
close game against Oregon makes Oregon actually look better like
Oregon beat a really, really, really good team. I know
it was close, but you know, if Boise State had
had a relatively ordinary season to this point, you'd be
more concerned about Oregon head into the Ohio State game.
But the way Boise State is playing, Boise State certainly
looks like the group of five favorite to get into
the college football playoff, and Ashton gent is very much
at the center of that effort. The other prominent Western
team in the Group of five mix, UNLV, lost a
heartbreaker to Syracuse. Syracuse is Kyle McCord had a really
good night. UNLV's defense was not up to the job.
This was not a failure of you know, v's offense.
It was the defense that couldn't make a stand against
Syracuse when it really counted, couldn't protect some late leads,
So you know V. You know, you know V will
get a shot at Boise State, so you know, V
obviously not eliminated from the playoff, but that's still you
don't want to absorb a loss early in the season
because that really reduces your overall margin for air. It
will be interesting to see how UNLV bounces back from
that loss to Syracuse. So that those are the main
stories for week six. Now let's preview the big ones
for week seven, and the undercard is Penn State USC
and of course USC losing to Minnesota. That takes some
of the sizzle out of this game against Penn State.
It's really a bigger deal for Penn State. If Penn
State wins this game, it'll be really hard to see
the Ninney Lions not making the playoffs. You know, that's
really the bigger story of this game now that USC
has two losses. It's not so much USC staying in
the playoff, even though that's narrowly true. Like if USC
hypothetically ran the table, Trojans would be in the playoff,
but how many people think that's gonna happen? Right, It's
just not the a front page story for USC getting
into the playoff. This is more about USC survival and
USC avoiding a big downward slide to an eight and
four or seven and five record. That's really more what
this game's about for Lincoln Rithery and the Trojans. The
big national story is more about can Penn State basically
punch its ticket to the playoff? Can Penn State get
half a foot in the door or one foot in
the door, I should say, to make the playoff. That's
really the big national story. But as we break this
game down, USC not having Eric Gentry, I mean, you know,
he was carted off the field against Wisconsin the week
before the Minnesota game. I have a hard time thinking
he's going to be physically ready to play. And if
he's not ready to play, and if Anthony Lucas is
not available, well we talked about earlier with attrition and
a lack of defensive depth, you think that's gonna matter
against Penn State. You know, USC needs all hands on
deck for this game US. He needs a fully fortified
team and a fully fortified defense. Drew Aller, while not great,
he's he's been good and he was. He was great
against West Virginia, hasn't been great in his other games
this season. Is Penn State's quarterback, but he's better than
what He's a better quarterback than what USC has faced
for most of the season. Now, Garrett Nusmeyer is really good.
I would say that Nussmeyer probably rates is a little
bit higher than Drew Aller overall, but ours certainly better
than the Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota quarterbacks that USC has faced.
Like Max Brozmer was really good for Minnesota at the
end of that game, but again, that's only after USC's
defense got depleted enough by injuries. Rosmer wasn't that great
in the first three quarters when Minnesota manage just ten
points against USC. Drew Aller is a definite quarterback upgrade
from what USC has been facing the past few weeks.
So unless USC's offensive line can play a complete game,
and there's no there's nothing that would suggest that's gonna
happen against a Tom Allen coach Penn State defense. Tom
Allen being the new defensive coordinator for the Nitney Lions.
He replaced Manny Diaz, who became the head coach at
Duke this offseason. Going up against a Tom Allen coach
Penn State defense. I'm having a hard time seeing a
scenario on which USC's offensive line plays well enough, consistently
enough to win this game. But if USC does want
to win, that offensive line, coached by Josh Henson, definitely
needs to pick up the slack. It definitely needs to
elevate its game. More broadly, USC just continues to be
a bad first half team. USC is one of the
best third quarter teams in the country. You look at
USC's third quarter performance across all of its games so
far this season, the third quarter has by far been
USC's best quarter in every game the Trojans play. But
that performance in the third quarter is not being replicated
in first halves and fourth quarters, especially and especially first halves.
Usse has finished a few games in the fourth quarter
the Wisconsin game, the LSU game, but it didn't finish
the fourth quarter well against Minnesota or Michigan. But first
halves have just been a big struggle for USC all
season long. If the Trojans can't play a quality first
half against Penn State and they are behind seven or
more points to the Nittany Lions at halftime, it's hard
to see how it's gonna end well for US seed.
So there's a lot of trouble in Trojan Land. And
you know, the the recruiting deficit that the program faced
this past offseason this past cycle is a direct result
of USC keeping Alex Grinch. Lincoln Riley keeping Alex Grinch
for twenty twenty three, which led to the crash and
burned that put USC, you know, well behind Oregon and
other prominent schools for top recruits. Us he is now
digging out from that deficit in twenty twenty three. The
Trojan's twenty twenty five recruiting class looks better, you know.
Putting in this new really good defensive staff has improved
the program and its future outlook. But it's still playing
catch up with Oregon. And that's because of the mistakes
made not this year, but a year ago. Those mistakes
are still affecting and limiting what USC can be. The
Trojans are still playing catch up. All right. We talked
about USC being behind Oregon recruiting. Now we go to
the really big one in Week seven, Oregon Ohio State
in Eugene, the primetime showdown number two, number three. These
teams likely to meet for the Big Ten Championship in
December in Indianapolis. Penn State might have something to say
about that. And that's also why you know the Penn
State USC game is so large. Penn State wins, you
could see Penn State getting in the way of an
Ohio State Oregon rematch in Indianapolis. If Penn State loses,
then all the more reason for this Ohio State Oregon
game to be seen as merely the first of two,
with the rematch coming in Lucas Oil Stadium in almost
two months from now. So Ohio State and Oregon. You know,
if you sized up this game in the offseason, you
probably would have thought, Okay, it's really how does Ohio
State slow down Oregon's offense? Because Dylan Gabriel he's won
at UCF, he's won at Oklahoma, he's a winner, he's
proven experienced, very talented college football quarterback. In the offseason,
it was probably about, you know, how well can Oregon's
offense perform as we enter this game. It's doesn't This
game doesn't really have that kind of feel. It's not
really a matter of ken Ohio State slow down Oregon's offense.
It's can either of these quarterbacks get out of their
own way. You know, Will Howard and Dylan Gabriel, they've
both thrown their share of interceptions this season. They have
both not played at the ceiling of their capabilities. This
game feels like a game that could become a street fight,
in which the defenses call the shots, the offenses struggle.
It could be a an old time Big ten game
dominated by field position. You know, which which punter has
the better game? Like, I don't think that's how we
were looking at this game in the offseason, when it
was a constant point of interest and speculation. Right now,
it feels like, you know, it's gonna feel like an
old school game in which field position matters and in
which it's not going to be a game decided so
much by the big plays. Though obviously any really big
play is going to have a figures to have a
significant impact. It's not gonna be the big play so
much as the big mistake. You know, which quarterback makes
the big mistake. Which offense is unable to play a
clean game? That really is the point of emphasis. It's
not what which offense can score forty points, No, it's
which offense can avoid handing over the big turnover that
could really flip the field. It can change just the
whole the shape of the game. That really seems to
be what's most centrally going to decide Ohio State Oregon.
And given how dominant Ohio State's defense has looked under
Jim Knowles, and given how much elite talent exists on
that Ohio State defense, this is not a way of
saying that I think Ohio State's offense is better than Oregons.
I wouldn't put it that way. I don't think that's
the case. I do think Ohio State's defense has a
higher ceiling than Oregon's defense, and I think Ohio State's
defense is more likely to come up with the big
game changing takeaway, turnover, the high impact play. So I
want to be very precise in how I am framing
this game. I'm not saying that Ohio State has a
better team or offense. I'm framing this game through the
lens of I think Ohio State's defense is more likely
to make the splash play, the interception, the takeaway that's
going to turn this game. That having been said, that
having been said, if Ohio State does not get a big,
high impact takeaway, you know if this game is a
game in which neither side commits a turnover, neither side
commits a really big mistake on offense, then I think
it's advantaged Oregon with Dylan Gabriel. I think Dylan Gabriel
has a higher ceiling than Will Howard does, so if
Oregon can eliminate mistakes, I think the Ducks are more
likely to win at home. I think their offense can
get more out of what they have, but I don't
think that's likely. I don't think Oregon plays the perfect
game on offense. I think Oregon's gonna stumble, going to
make that costly mistake at some point. So it's like
I'm not endorsing Will Howard over Dylan Gabriel gave. I'm
thinking that Ohio State's defense is simply has enough talent
to to either confuse Gabriel or hit Gabriel and uh
and limit Oregon's options on offense. I don't think Will
Howard is going to push Ohio State over the line
in this game, but I do think that the Ohio
State defense is going to get a turnover, which which
sets up points and tips the needle just a little
bit to the buck guys. But but again, if there
are no turnovers in this game, and if they're big
mistakes basically even each other out, cancel each other out, Uh,
then I think it's advantage Oregon. But I do think
that Ohio State's going to get the benefit of more
mistakes from the Oregon side. Based on what I've seen
so far this season, I think Ohio States defense is
a little bit more likely to to to fully put
down the Clamps, fully smother Oregon. I don't think Ohio
State's offense is going to do a whole lot against
Oregon's defense, but I think Ohio State can dominate Oregon
a little bit more when the buck guys are on defense.
When the Ducks are on offense, Oregon's going to have
to step it up compared to what we have seen. Uh.
You know, ordinary decent is not going to cut it.
Oregon's going to have to be really good on offense.
And I'm not convinced that's going to happen. But we'll
see what the Ducks are capable of. And maybe this
big game environment and also the idea of you know,
saving plays in the playbook, you know, maybe Oregon's been
keeping some things under wraps waiting for this game to
surprise Ohio State on film. That could be part of
the mix. But we have had basically half a season
to look at these two teams. You know, this is
not an early September mid September game in which these
teams are still kind of feeling their way into the season.
I think that's an important point to make. You know,
these teams have been able to go through some evolutionary stages.
October two, twelve, you should basically have your full playbook,
you know, like everything is ready and available. And I
think with that point in mind, you know, I think
that you know, what you've seen up to now should
reflect the true measure of each team. And I think
I've seen Ohio States defense operating at such a high
level it should be able to coax at least one,
if not two, really big, really impactful turnovers from the
Oregon offense. It's up to Oregon. Oregon has the greater burden.
I mean, both teams need to avoid the big mistakes,
but Oregon has the greater burden in that regard. That's
what you're gonna want to watch for this coming Saturday.
In the Big Game of the Week, Ohio State at Oregon,
the big ten game of the year. All right, so
I get off my pilon. We are sponsored by ticket Smarter,
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We'll will app. So that's another edition of Get Off
My Pylon covering Western college football for the College Gridiron
Coast to Coast podcast network. Check out the full family
of College grid Down Coast to Coast podcasts. Go to
Twitter at Gridiron Coast, go to Apple and the other
places where you listen to your podcast. So, Ohio State, Oregon,
Penn State, USC A couple really really big ones this week.
We're gonna have plenty of review material on those games
and more on next week's edition of Get Off My Pylon.
This is Matt Zemik. Thanks for listening.