Speaker 1: What's up everybody, and welcome to It just means more
football and coffee.
Speaker 2: I'm Rob Williams. He is Craig McMichael.
Speaker 1: You can find us as always at Rob Williams GCP
at McMichael seven on all platforms and remember, in addition
to be a part of the Last Word on Sports,
Last Word on College Football podcast Network, we are with
College Gridiron Coast to Coast presenting us as well, and
there is a host of shows that you can enjoy
there if you are in Florida, or if you're from
Florida and you want to check in on all the
teams and what's happening there.
Speaker 2: If you want to check in on the.
Speaker 1: Midwest, we'll take a look at Boise as we jump
in tonight, or if you want to look at the
service academies, so many different options the ACC and then
of course, if you're a fan of the best league
in the country, the SEC, you have come to the
right place.
Speaker 2: As it just means more.
Speaker 1: Tonight, we have the man, the myth, the legend, the mob,
I mean, the managing editor of Last Word on College Football,
Tony Syracuse. Uncle Tony is with us tonight.
Speaker 3: What's up, Hey, how you doing first? How you guys
doing tonight? Yeah, it's the first, the first Playoff Committee
rankings and and leave it to the Playoff Committee to
be completely tone deaf so as to schedule them on
election night. I mean can can considering this is the
same group that has put the National Championship game on
Inauguration Day, I think they don't really have any functioning
calendars over there.
Speaker 4: Maybe they are all political science majors like me, and
they just love politics and they just want to blend
their two loves together, bring it together.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I do have.
Speaker 4: One question for you, Rob. Did you see boys stated
as Midwest? Is Iowa Midwest?
Speaker 2: Now? Did I catch that right? If? If you are on,
get off my pyelone and it is okay?
Speaker 4: All right, we'll save election maps and geography for for
Amazon er CNN.
Speaker 1: Are we drinking anything tonight, boys? Because it Tony has
reference that it is election night. Unfortunately, we're not coming
to you live. We're gonna get this pot to you
as quickly as possible. But it is nine pm Eastern
time for me here in South Carolina. But the Maxwell
House is still steaming out of my cup because it's
going to be a long night. We're gonna stay tuned
in to playoff rankings and electoral college votes.
Speaker 2: So here we are. What you got, Craig? Anything there?
I guess, I guess the water. It's a school night.
I gotta I decided to mix in a water tonight.
I like it.
Speaker 3: I'll get I'll get back to the coffee in a
little bit. Well, I'm you know, editing, you know one
of Craig's pieces or something that gets turned in tonight night.
You know, need to stay alert through through reading one
of his pieces for Last Word on college football. In
the meantime, I'm just drinking water. But you know, who
knows how the night goes. It could be tequila later on.
Speaker 1: Do you grind your own beans like that hoity toy
guy up there on the top of his pinky up Tony,
I do not.
Speaker 2: I know, Okay, it's that you're down here with us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I got got got the bag of Starbucks and
put it in the machine and I'm good to go.
Speaker 2: Are you going dark? What flavor are you going to? Uh?
Speaker 3: It depends. I mean, you know, we tend we we
tend to start with the breakfast blend in the morning
and just depending upon the the taste and whatever else.
The rest of the day could be breakfast blend again tonight.
Speaker 2: I like it. I like it. I love boys.
Speaker 4: I'm gonna bring I'm gonna bring you all up and
we're gonna grind the beans and then we're gonna change
your mind and Rob's gonna leave Maxwell House behind.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing I don't I don't mind, you know.
I mean, I'm, you know, perfectly in favor of grinding
the beans as long as I'm not the one who
has to do the work.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, if we're being honest, I'm perfectly in favor of espresso.
But I'm just I'm not willing to make the investment.
Speaker 3: But if Craig wants to grind the beans and make
the coffee, and then, you know, more power to them.
Speaker 1: Hey, well, I'm going to hold you to that when
we finally get down to the sip for one of
these one of these marquee matchups.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get rolling.
Speaker 1: Here on what everybody came here to talk about, and
that is the college football plaoff ranking.
Speaker 2: No surprise is really at the top.
Speaker 1: We are here always talking about SEC football, but as
we get towards the playoff time we get a blend
of these conferences coming together because now everything matters no matter.
Speaker 2: Who your focus is.
Speaker 1: And so I want to start off Tony for you
covering the ACC. The number one thing that jumps off
the board to me is SMU coming in at thirteen.
Speaker 2: And that means, as.
Speaker 1: The committee use it right now, is is they're a
leaned towards the SEC. I mean the a SEC being
a one bid league. What's there? And look, why in
the world are they not in the top twelve?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, look, I mean I think if if if
Jim Phillips ever had any fire in his belly, which
I'm not convinced he does, he'd be pretty irritated at this.
SMU has got one loss by three points, all the
way back in Week four to a currently undefeated b
YU team. I mean, this is this is astonishing to
me that and look to me, the game is always this.
All right, fine, you want to move him up, then
who do you who do you bounce down? Right? Because
they've got to replace something. You can't just say they
deserve to be higher. That's not good enough. Who do
they deserve to be in front of? And my candidate
is notre Dame. When you look, when you look at
the comparables between the two. The one loss that we
talked about for SMU is a three point loss all
the way back in early September to BYU. And they've
beaten TCU, They've beaten Florida State, you know, and you
can say whatever you know. Notre Dame is going to
beat Florida State this coming week. They've both beaten Louisville,
they've both beaten Stanford, and then Notre Dame's loss at
home unforgivably, Dan Iu. It's just unimaginable. And Notre Dame
has just as many weaknesses in its schedule, you know,
playing Miami of Ohio as SMU does with some of
its early games. I think when you look at the wins,
they're comparable. The losses or the loss for each of
them is not comparable. Frankly, SMU's is a lot more
forgivable than is Notre Dames. And I would have, you know,
I would have SMU. I would drop Notre Dame out
of the top thirteen in order to push SMU up
to I guess that would probably make him number twelve.
I'd put him up there and just drop Notre Dame
out of the top thirteen. Notre Dame's remaining games, Virginia Army,
and USC. I mean, really, does anyone think they're going
to lose any of those? You know, it's it's so
you get kind of a so what about that? Look,
SMU just knocked off Pitt, which, in case anyone wasn't
paying any attention, Pitt was undefeated going into the game.
Speaker 2: I was paying attention, Tony.
Speaker 3: I know you were. I know you were Pit seven
one and in the top twenty five, in the top
twenty even for that matter. So I just look, I
think the top four certainly made a lot of sense.
The top ten, Yeah, maybe the placement of some of them,
I might, you know, take issue with SMU belongs in there,
and there is really no way for SMU to climb
back in to the twelve without losses from somebody else.
They can win out and it's not going to matter.
H They need somebody else in there to lose and
to drop down. And so, you know, to the original question, Rob, yeah,
we're looking at a potential one team acc representation.
Speaker 2: So what what man would say about?
Speaker 4: Oh, go ahead, go ahead, Rob, So that was gonna
win a big twelve.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, what Ward Manual say about the eye test,
because if I'm looking, what role is that playing? Because
if clearly the opponent doesn't matter, because you have a
one loss Notre Dame against NIU, you have a one
loss SMU against an undefeated highly ranked BYU team. I'm
looking at SMUs just score.
Speaker 2: Totals at least.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have to go all the way back really
to Week one against Nevada to really find something that
sticks out to me as maybe they didn't perform as
well as they should have.
Speaker 2: They're putting a lot of points on the board, you
have a high.
Speaker 1: Offense, and I think they're beating the teams they should
beat pretty handily.
Speaker 3: And if you're going to take word Manual's position and
accept it as reality, which I'm not sure I do,
and they come to each week with a clean slate,
which I also think is impossible. But you look at
that eye test and you point out that was a
five point win over Nevada, that was with a different quarterback.
They changed quarterbacks in week three, And if you really
are looking at an eye test, you have to take
that into consideration. What team are you looking at now
versus where was it, you know, right back when the
resume started in early September.
Speaker 4: So my question on the eye test is are we
looking at the play on the field there? Are we
looking at the helmet because you know, I'm gonna I'm
because he was talking about Miami, right He's talking about
you know, Cam Moore. It has been explosive for that
and Miami right now four, Yes, they're nine, and it's
been helter skelter, a little bit scary, kind of you know.
Speaker 2: Kind of through out there. But you look at it.
Speaker 4: The offense has been great, but that defense is scary,
and that defense had that tendency to kind of go there.
And it's like, this is the challenge I think of
board manual, you know, of of those of those commissioners
talking to talking to the media, is they say one
thing about a team and then we say, well what
about this team? And in this case Miami and SMU,
it doesn't quite jive, It doesn't quite make you know,
it doesn't quite make sense.
Speaker 2: Jef.
Speaker 4: Miami is nine and fantastic, but I think we can
all see them losing at any point in the next
few weeks or even that conference championship game.
Speaker 2: And again muddying the water for the SEC only making
it one seam.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, look, you when your reward manual or
when you're Rich Clark the executive director, you talk about
the eye test when it suits your purposes to talk
about the eye tests. And I'm not putting it off
on these two. Look, this is my sixth conference call,
you know, sixth the year of conference calls with the
Playoff Committee, and they've all done this, you know, the
eye test, the eye test. Look, there are certain things
that the committee is not going to say. They're not
going to say that the ACC officiating handed Miami the
Virginia Tech game. They're not going to say that ACC
officiating hand in Miami the col game. There are certain
things they're just they're not going to say because it
would be inappropriate for them to say. So the eye test.
I was on a show I think probably pretty close
to when the season started, and we were taking some
calls and there were some Miami fans had some questions
for me, and I made the reference that Mario crystal
Ball is a good recruiter, he's not a good game
day coach. He and this isn't just over what happened
with the Georgia Tech game last year. This was when
I was out on the West Coast and covering the
Pac twelve and he was at Oregon. There were Mario
Cristo ball coaching mistakes that cost him then also, and
so I made the reference that if he's a good recruiter,
a great game day coach, it's kind of like a
guy that I would let go do the grocery shopping
but not cook the dinner. And he became dubbed by
me that day to something I've had to live with
the entire season when I called him coach instacart that
he can do the shopping, but keep him out of
the kitchen. Well, Miami fans every week check back with
me routinely. I hear from them, Hey, is he allowed
to cook it? And I'm like, Eh, he's assistant sioux
chef right now. You know, we elevated him from dishwasher. Look,
the point being, Miami has a relatively easy path through
the rest of the regular season up to the conference
championship game right now would be against SMU, especially you know,
since Clemson lost in Miami and Clemson don't play each other,
that would be the toughest game that would be out there.
So the next tough game, if you will, would be
the conference championship game. And Miami is beatable by a
good offense because the defense is still a high wire act,
as is evidenced by the fact that Cowl was in
the game up until the last play of the game. Uh,
when you know Miami got away with three offensive linemen
beyond the line of scrimmage. Uh you know the fact
that it took that you know, overturn call against Virginia
Tech on a touchdown and it wasn't a touchdown, but
there also was not enough evidence to overturn the call.
Miami is beatable. And either way, though the ACC is
headed towards a one team selection for the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Does that apply to offenses only? Right? You know what?
Speaker 3: On the call with Warden mannual with Rich Clark, and
it's always funny to call him Rich Clark. I sat
down with him at ACC media days, And for those
who don't know him, he is a retired lieutenant general
who played his football at the Air Force Academy in
the mid eighties, didn't play that much and went on
to his military career. When I referred to him as
Lieutenant general. He said, don't do that. He said, I
appreciate it, but I'm retired and when people refer to
me by my military title, I don't feel retired. And
I literally told him, I said, look, man, I'm just
some random guy with my microphone and you know, my
recording device here, and you're a lieutenant general. This is
you know, And he said, it's just Rich. That's that's
good enough. So anyway, Rich was on the call, and
Ward Manual, the athletic director from Michigan, was on the call,
and they're going to again, they're going to say what
they need to say to get through it. But when
they talked about the eye test, to your point, Rob,
all they ever mentioned was the offenses. It really was,
you know. They they mentioned the Ohio State defense a
little bit because they talked about the inconsistency of the
Ohio State offense. It's not as high powered as it
could or should be with the talent that it has
every week. But they didn't say, well the eye test
on defense. They just said the defense is the most
consistent part of Ohio State right now.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So my quick question, I think this kind of
goes into both the ACC and the big twelve. When
you look at Boise State that when they were twelve,
correct the twelve ranking, yep, I see them as in
prime position because what's interesting about it now with the
new college football playoff format, four conference seeds get that
first round by and right now it looks like Big
ten sec haven't for sure, and it looks like it's
about a three way battle now between the ACC, Big
twelve and now Boise State. So if we have a
Miami slip up, if we have a BYU step slip up,
and again they've got Utah this week, and I know
Utah hasn't been very good, but that is a very
impassioned rivalry. They also have Houston then the season which
is now starting to get hot, so you know, not
out of the realm with possibility. You do see the
possibility of Boising if they're able to maintain control, get
up into one of those top four spots. And I
think that's the thing that is going to be most intriguing,
because I do think ACC is going to be a
one bid.
Speaker 2: I think for the most part, probably the Big twelve.
Speaker 4: I think BYU's kind of got that inside track. But again,
any any losses there, I think they get relegated out,
and so I think, to me, that's the most interesting
and the most appealing thing going forward.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Look, I think that there is a little bit of
recency bias when it comes to when it comes to
some of these guys, even though there are six new
people on the committee, you know, to the point that
both of you made earlier, are they looking at the helmets?
Are they looking at the conference?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: And they can say that they're not. Matter of fact,
they did say they don't judge the conference, they judge
the teams individually. I don't buy it for one minute
because when you look, Clemson was undefeated up until Saturday,
and they literally dropped what ten spots with the one loss.
Speaker 2: They did have one loss at the start of the year.
Speaker 3: That well to Georgia. Right forgive me, Yeah, they had
the one loss to Georgia.
Speaker 2: You're right.
Speaker 3: Then they won six in a row, right, and they
were up to number ten in the country and they lose.
They lose to Louisville and it was an ugly loss.
And man, they dropped like a stone.
Speaker 2: And it was.
Speaker 3: Because there's there are no believers in the ACC, even
within the ACC to a large degree, so I think
you've got a good point that you know, a couple
of losses and Boise State winds up up there. Uh,
pretty you know, sitting pretty well because you've got a
log jam of Big ten and SEC schools in the
top ten, top nine.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about so they got one more Tony.
So one of your writers is.
Speaker 4: Going to have to do the SEC betting lines this week,
and we're going to look at the impact of You
may have to, you know, edit this article per se.
You know, totally theoretical, but you know, if we're if
we're looking at it, you know, the spin up tonight
is the Big ten I'm sorry, the SEC one. They
have eight teams rank in the top twenty five. The
Big ten party has four. So I'm going to ask
both of you, is it quantity or is it quality?
Who won which conference?
Speaker 2: Go ahead?
Speaker 1: I think that I think it's quantity in terms of
how the narrative is going to be presented. If you
want to talk about who wins, the way that it's
talked about is just going to be. There's a lot
of SEC flavor in this top twenty five. We go
back to our we keep coming back to this eye
test peace. But I'm looking at Tennessee, who two weeks
ago on our show I picked to make it to
the playoff based off schedule, and you have them here
as we're looking at the sheet in the one Mulligan
category because they can lose to Georgia and still be
a two loss and potentially still sneak in. They look
awful from the eye test perspective. They've gotten by the
skin of their teeth every time. But I guarantee on
every show and every discussion and every highlight reel that
has b roll of them, it's going to be Dylan
Sampson's scoring running in the open field, the good throws
that Nico has, and not the missed opportunities. There may
be a blip here or there where they talk about it,
but overall, the narrative from most media outlets potentially ours
as well. Since some writers doing those SEC betting lines
and going to talk about that, is that that because
there's eight that that qualifies the SEC as the strongest
conference because they have the most teams that are there.
Speaker 3: I'm going to disagree.
Speaker 2: And if here we like Tony, that's what we're here for.
Speaker 3: And here's why, because sure, how many they have in
the top twenty five is swell, and you know, most
of them can go enjoy their you know, post Christmas,
pre New Year's Bowl games, and that's all well and good,
But what we're really talking about is the the schools
that are going to make the top twelve, that have
a realistic shot at the top twelve, and a lot
of those that were looking at after you know, in
the LSU Ole, Miss, you know, A and M, they're
they're short short of an amazing run to the conference championship,
not the conference championship game, but the actual conference championship.
Because you got two losses already, and you go to
the conference championship game and you got you take your
third loss, you're not going anywhere. They're they're going to
jump teams ahead of you, including teams from your own conference.
So when looking at the teams that are viable right now,
as we sit here and look at this, I think
the Big ten had a better night than did the SEC.
You've got to Oregon, You've got Ohio State, you got
Penn State, Indiana got a lot of love for a team,
you know whose strength of schedules ranked one hundred and
third in the country. Yeah, they're into They're undefeated. It's
a great story, you know, as I as I do
my Bear Bryant Coach of the Year voting in a
few weeks. Obviously, as we sit here today, Churt Signetti
is is the top of the heap. But you know,
Indiana got a lot of love that they may or
may not have deserved if we're looking at the actual resume.
So for those reasons, I actually actually think that today
tonight the big ten had a better night.
Speaker 4: So my what question to you on Indiana? And then
I got one on Penn State question for Indiana. I've
got them in this cautionary one Mulligan. Indiana could lose.
They've got they've got Michigan coming up. I believe they
have Ohio State as well. I think one loss they
could get in. But but what I'm thinking about is
like TCU was that TCU Baylor, Like there was all
of a sudden, you know, there was that big shake up.
Speaker 2: They were like in the top where they're in there
in there.
Speaker 4: In and then all of a sudden, you know, we
get to the final rankings and Indiana's on the outside
looking in at eleven one. They're they're they're Florida State
and Mike Norbata last year, you know, like what should
what should have cut up? Because again, some of that
I think is strength to schedule.
Speaker 2: I think the helmet test also plays the factor.
Speaker 3: That I also think it depends. You know, when we
talk about one loss, who's the one loss too? Is
it to Michigan because that's damaging because Michigan isn't good.
Is it to Ohio State? Well, it's a lot more
forgivable if if they can hang with Ohio State. So
the the one loss, uh picture, I get, I understand,
but I think it matters just as much who that loss.
Speaker 1: Is too, And I think looks like too right because
he is agreed and you lose by three, it's different
than if you lose by thirty.
Speaker 2: Agreed the eye test the test.
Speaker 4: Yeah all right, So, at the risk of Maggie getting
mad at me, do you believes sailed Craig?
Speaker 2: I know, I know.
Speaker 4: Scott Dorshman for the Athletic had a fantastic right up
on Penn State this week and what we call the
midgame mid game James, which I thought was like a
really nice, nice piece. Sure, Penn State's got Washington, Purdue, Minnesota, Maryland.
He's not gonna screw this up, Busy Happy Valley. We'll
be making the playoffs this year. What are you thinking?
Speaker 3: I actually think he can screw it up. I don't
think the Washington game is an automatic for Penn State.
I think that's probably the only one left on the
schedule that isn't an automatic. Maryland kind of comes and goes.
Speaker 2: But where's Minnesota? Is it at Minnesota? It's Minnesota.
Speaker 3: It's a Minnesota. I don't think it matters. I yeah,
I don't think Minnesota is good enough to hang with him.
Look this, they didn't lose a talent game against Ohio
State on Saturday. They lost a coaching game when you've
cut four downs inside the five and you get nothing
out of it. And it was the right call to
go for it on fourth and fourth down, but it
was the wrong play call.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 3: He just I don't know how Penn State fans continue
to be patient at any level with James Franklin.
Speaker 2: They're going to be a million reasons why.
Speaker 3: I think, well, yeah, and I and I get that,
but I'm gonna believe that Penn State can't find a
way to pony up the money, it's a bigger question
of who you're going to get if you do fire them.
I think that's bigger than the money itself. When you
can't beat Michigan and you can't beat Ohio State, then
you're nine to ten win seasons that you get every
year really watered down. And to have a game that
was so completely winnable last week at home, it's just
it's mystifying. I mean, these guys, they did what they
always do. They started the season seven and zero, and
then you lose to Ohio State that would have given
them the inside path to a Big ten championship game appearance,
and you know they can still get there. They round
the table and they can still get there and wind
up playing Oregon and that's not going to go well
for Penn State. Either Oregon's offenses is would would light
them up. And so then you're at two losses and
you get it, you're probably getting left out because then
we're back to they're going to jump other teams ahead
of you, even other teams from within your own conference,
and so it's, uh, you know it, it's a struggle
for Penn State, it really is. They're sitting there now
they're in a position to get there, but I don't
think at the end of the day they wind up
getting there.
Speaker 1: Can I ask an SEC question, that's our that's our forte,
it's your show.
Speaker 2: Let's put you on.
Speaker 1: I want to put you on the spot. Just as
we look at these, at the teams that are here,
I want to, like we said, it's supposed to be
a clean slight every week, I enjoy looking at it
as if what if this was the final the final group,
and this is who we have right now. There's four
SEC teams in the top twel does the SEC get
four in? Maybe not these four, but will they get
there four?
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, I think they will. And I think this
is the most likely for LSU and A and M
maybe find a way to sneak in. But LSU still
got to play Alabama and LSU still has to play Vandy,
which is no longer a gimme. So yeah, they can
get in. It most likely is these four. But I
said at the beginning of the year that when I
when I was talking about the ACC chances and I
said they'll likely get two. They won't get any more
than two two. It was because you're allocating four to
the SEC three or four to the Big ten. You
throw in a Big twelve school, you throw in you know,
another conference champion, you throw in you know, maybe a
group of five, and it leaves you know, the a
CEC with one to two schools, you know two at most.
They were never going to get three in. But from
the beginning of the year, I've been assuming the SEC
was going to get four in.
Speaker 2: So at the act one is there, what what's the
path to five for the SEC going back and that
losing the mark stoops. I mean that's true.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I me.
Speaker 2: To me, that's the all slavely thing.
Speaker 4: It's it's Alabama on that losing to.
Speaker 3: I mean, look, you know the path to five is
a stretch. It's less reliant on the a c C
only getting one than it is on a B Y
you dropping out. Uh kind of situation. You know so
far that there isn't a Big twelve conference champion anywhere,
you know, in the viable picture because you're the the
power four conferences are not guaranteed. It's the top four
conference champions regardless of conference. So there's a little bit
more that has to go on besides just the ACC
you know, getting beat up, but I think five is
probably a stretch. I don't remember what A and M
schedule is. I know they've got to play Texas on
Thanksgiving weekend.
Speaker 2: Texas to Mexico State.
Speaker 4: They also have to go to Auburn, which, okay, these
two knuckleheads are.
Speaker 2: I would normally give you that one.
Speaker 1: It's Jordan Hare has no power, none with you Freeze
doing whatever he's doing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, none none. So look, so it's possible A and
M still gets there. You know it would it surprised
me if Mike Elko can can beat Texas, it would
not surprise me at all. Elco is an outstanding coach,
and I had said when he took the job he
was the perfect fit for that program. I didn't think
he would get it done in year one. I thought
it would take you know, two, three years before they
were a viable conference contender.
Speaker 2: But he is.
Speaker 3: He's an outstanding coach. I've seen him the last couple
of years at Duke and he's an outstanding coachy. And
Texas Texas can lose that game. Texas's defense is what
we not even close to what we thought. It was
a few weeks ago where we were raving about the
defense looks much better than what they're getting credit for now.
The credit was appropriate. They're not that good defensively. They're
going to have to outscore everybody else on their schedule.
And you know, they'll beat Florida, they'll beat Arkansas, they'll
beat Kentucky. The A and M game is not in obvious.
Speaker 4: They have ours though, Tony. Don't forget they have arts
in their back pocket.
Speaker 3: Whatever Archie Arch is fine. Arch would have been a thing.
Speaker 2: I'm calling Kate. That's it. I'm calling Kate. Kate will
defend me on this one.
Speaker 1: My guest, Kate's on Twitter right now lobbying to get
on the show.
Speaker 2: So that's what. That's the that's the conversation you need
to have.
Speaker 3: Arch would have been a three to four star recruit
if his last name was Smith or Syracusa.
Speaker 1: Hey, So one last thing, Tony, I know we won't
let you go. And it's a busy night and a
lot of things are happening. But as you look at
these teams, obviously you were on the call.
Speaker 2: With Ward Manual.
Speaker 1: And the rest of the and the rest of the
guys there, and you know, what they said is kind
of what I expected them to.
Speaker 3: Say said, that's what's getting let me give you a preview.
It's what's gonna get said next week too.
Speaker 1: But so, what's the biggest shocker to you outside out
of SMU, because I think that jumped off to me,
It jumped off to you if anything surprises you from
how they how they laid this out.
Speaker 2: What what is it this week that kind of kind
of caught your eye.
Speaker 3: I think I think the top four were in obvious.
I think five, six, and seven were relatively obvious, although
you know, you could argue maybe they're in the wrong order.
You know, maybe you put Tennessee ahead of Penn State
or whatever. But at this point, until we get to
the seat, the actual seating at the end of the year,
it's inconsequential. Where you know where you are numbers five, six,
and seven, it really doesn't matter. I think they gave
Indiana more credit than I expected them to, again based
on A and I and I like Indiana. It's a
fun team to watch, and you know, sold out football stadium.
It's like, are you kidding me? At Indiana, you know school,
you used to be able to walk up to one,
you know, half hour before the game and go to
the ticket office and get discounted tickets for twenty bucks,
you know, to get in for the day. It's really
impressive and signetti is impressive. But their strength of schedule
is a hundred and third in the country. So I
think they got a little bit more credit than they
probably deserved. I've already talked about Notre Dame got more
credit than they deserved. You know, the committee talked about
and I'm looking at my notes and he used the
term unimaginable loss than I you, well, but you didn't
treat it like it was an unimaginable loss. You still
put them in the in the playoffs. So was it
really unimaginable? I mean, yes, it should have been. It
should be NIU should never go to Notre Dame Stadium
and win that game. But it's so oh, I think
they got a little bit more credit they deserved. You know,
Alabama is going to be there at the end. I
know Alabama fans are struggling with the idea they have
two losses at this point in the season, but they'll
take care of LSU and then they get the they
get the game. That just it drives me nuts. I
I know, I am very cognizant of the show that
I am on and who your audience is. But I
swear those out of conference games in the third week
of November drive me nuts. Play them at the beginning
of the season. Stop doing it while everybody else is
in the fight for their conference championship and you're playing
some directional school or you know, Savannah State, whatever.
Speaker 4: You know, when you play through the rigor of the
SEC schedule, you need a way to catch your breath.
Speaker 2: There is no there is no catching your breath.
Speaker 4: And yeah, they.
Speaker 3: Have they have breaks on the schedule. It's called Auburn,
it's called Oklahoma. They got breaks on the schedule already.
Speaker 1: Well, we used to have breaks called Vandy, and uh,
Jerry Kill has changed that narrative for us. So sometimes
you got you gotta schedule the Citadel. Oh wait, that's
Clemson in November.
Speaker 3: Look, and I get and I give Clemson grief. Fourth Look,
I am one of those people that and I and
I realized this is very quixotic. I realize I'm don
quixote here that everybody needs to be at nine conference games, period,
end of story done. Everybody needs to be at nine
conference games because until you have that kind of balance.
Then strength of schedule is a made up criteria. Because
you got some with eight conference games, you got some
with nine, you got some playing Mercer. You know, in
the middle of November, it's it's until until everybody is
at nine conference games. The idea of strength the schedule
is laughable.
Speaker 4: But I have but Tony, who's going to play Acron
Old Dominion?
Speaker 2: Then yeah, has got to get his wins.
Speaker 3: Okay, play playing in September where the games belong.
Speaker 1: This has been that's when we played them. This has
been an incredible discussion. Craig, I believe has our last
word as we close up.
Speaker 2: That would you play Acron or the Old Dominion? It's
not that okay.
Speaker 4: So if I'm looking at the top ten Oregon through
Notre Dame, somebody's not going to make the party come December.
I want to hear the one team for both of you.
Who's not gonna who's not going to get invited to
the dance, Who's going to be left left that home?
Brian and their tears.
Speaker 3: Who's going for this?
Speaker 4: Well, Raval go first because he's got he's got an
Excel sheet. I don't know if you knew that Tony,
but he's got an Excel sheet, and I'm sure the
Excel sheet can tell us the answer.
Speaker 1: I'm going with Penn State if I'm looking at one
through ten, and back to Tony's argument that Washington is
not a gimme, I'm gonna actually say Minnesota's not a
gimme either, and so I think there's a couple more
land mines to step on there, and they just have
the potential to step on them, and so and the
quarterback situation is questionable at best to me. I don't
color has really, you know, he has just hasn't been
all that impressive to me in terms of moving the
ball and scoring and being explosive, and there's just nobody
to throw it to, like Julian Fleming is not has
not been the guy either. Top playmaker is at the
tight end position. And that's all well and good, and
that's Big ten football. But I think he had what
was it, seventeen seventeen touches. I just don't know that
that really is a recipe for long term and success.
And I've heard I've heard that take on other shows
and I and I'm been standing on it as well.
If you go get a receiver in the portal, we
might be having a different discussion about James Franklin.
Speaker 2: I'm going to go. I'm gonna go with Penn State.
Speaker 1: And my added bonus is LSU guys have done this
weekend and they're not in the top ten, but Alabama's
out of the playoffs.
Speaker 4: Yeah, let me be for Brian Kelly's first big win ever,
but that didn't happen.
Speaker 1: Also shout out to our guy Kevin mcguffy for nailing
all these teams. The seating wasn't exactly there, but.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Ken, you know what, ket Ken is really good
at this with the bowl projections, to the point where
I now have a couple of coaches who asked me,
like under weekly press conferences, Hey, Tony, where do you
guys have us? Which bowl game do you guys have
us going to this week? I've got coaches, you know,
asking me when I talked to them during the week.
Because Kevin, Kevin is Kevin is really good at this.
I mean, he remembers conference tie ins and things like
that that I would never remember in a million years,
and he's got it down. Look, logically, I would say
Notre Dame's not gonna make it because someone's gonna jump
over them. But I'm not gonna say that because they're
Notre Dame and they apparently are going to get some
extra love and wiggle room from the committee. I'm actually
agreeing with Rob. I think it's Penn State that doesn't
make it because I see two more losses in their future.
I see a loss to Washington and if if they
were somehow to climb over Ohio State or get to
the conference championship game, they're not being regardless of who
it's against Oregon or Ohio State, they're not winning that
game either. They're a three loss team by the time
the regular season is over. So I don't think Penn
State survives it either.
Speaker 2: They would do better too, because here it goes here
it is. It's the you baby Wow.
Speaker 4: We've got Georgia Tech this week, so let's see if
we can take a knee. It's hanging back Damon Deacons
coming up eleven twenty three, Brian Brown and Syracuse and
the Orange, or they're going to get it in the
ACC Championship.
Speaker 2: Nope, here's the deal.
Speaker 4: Mario Christobaul, Just like James Franklin, I think there's a
theme here with our last word is going to find
a way to screw it up and the you will
continue to be a thing of the past.
Speaker 1: Do you has this is I'll credit as I ought
to do Jase Schreber on pointing this out to begin with.
But do you has one thing that they have haven't
had in decades and it's a quarterback? Yeah, that's the difference.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, Ward's top five in the country in pretty
much every category you can imagine. And that schedule you
point it out, I mean, goodness, gracious, they're going to
be wake Forest by forty points down in down in
South Beach.
Speaker 2: You know the doubt.
Speaker 3: Look if if if if Dave were honest about it,
which he could never publicly be, he would say, Yeah,
I'm you know, a little bothered by that one. Wake
Forest is four and four with four games left, so
they need to go to and you know, they need
to win two of them to get to Bowl eligibility,
and nobody in the program, nobody is picking up Miami
game as one of their two wins. There's no way
syrahcuse Syracuse had a nice start. I like fran Brown,
the offense has become kind of stagnant, you know, Kyle
McCord started really well, but it's become kind of stagnant.
I think Miami runs the table how they do in
the conference championship game. Yeah, you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to score. I don't know who is
there to outscore them.
Speaker 3: Craig, Yeah, I think that's a good point, Rob, I do.
Speaker 4: It's a Carrier Dome, That's what I'm saying. I'm not
going to call it the j w A Wireless Dome.
Speaker 2: I already I get.
Speaker 4: I get that thing about that from my other editor
to tell me it's always the Carrier Dome.
Speaker 3: To me, here's why you need to call it the
j w A Dome because for all those decades when
it was the Carrier Dome, Carrier did not supply air
conditioning to the dome. That place did not get a
c until last year when j w A took over
the sponsorship of it. Carrier air Conditioning did not have
its facility air conditioned. So they don't they don't get
to call it anything anymore.
Speaker 2: It wasn't in the contract. It wasn't the best didn't
negotiate that in the contract.
Speaker 1: All Right, It's been a lot of fun and it's
time to get back to the news. See what's going on,
but hey.
Speaker 2: A great time to talk college football.
Speaker 1: Special thank you to our man Tony Syracusa, the managing
editor at last Word on College Football, for his his
expertise and his insight coming right off of the college
of the College Football Playoff Committee. We appreciate you as always, Tony,
and we look forward to having you.
Speaker 2: Look forward to having you back.
Speaker 1: As we move into this playoff season and the most
exciting end to college football that we've ever had. This
has been. It just means more football and coffee. I'm
Rob Williams. He's scrap Michael. We'll see you next time.