Speaker 1: Welcome to the Solid Verbal.
Speaker 2: I'll that for me.
Speaker 1: I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard so many players say, well,
Speaker 1: I want to be happy. You want to be happy
Speaker 1: for day Edith State is that? Whoo whoom? And Dan
Speaker 1: and Tye welcome back to the Solid Verbal. Boys and girls,
Speaker 1: my name is ty Hildebrand, joining me as always over
Speaker 1: there and beautiful NYC my man. The one and only
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Dan Rubensteiny's back, sir, how are you?
Speaker 3: I'm good. This was sort of a surprise twos cruise.
Speaker 3: We didn't plan on doing this specific episode as a
Speaker 3: twos cruise, but I gotta tell you with I don't
Speaker 3: know what we're comparing it to the Queen Mary, the Titanic.
Speaker 1: Hopefully hopefully not the Titanic, hopefully.
Speaker 3: Not the tell Well, maybe somebody may be the Titanic
Speaker 3: in this game, but I don't know what it is.
Speaker 3: Because today's show is dedicated to the National Championship matchup
Speaker 3: between LS you and Clemson, and I guess Matt Rule.
Speaker 1: Leaving for the Caroline.
Speaker 3: I don't know we're actually gonna spend time talking about that,
Speaker 3: but my heart is beating.
Speaker 1: My blood sugar feel super out of watch. You said
Speaker 1: when we connected up that you were feeling a little
Speaker 1: bit of a blood sugar spike. I don't know.
Speaker 3: I just I do feel a good amount of excitement
Speaker 3: about this matchup. That is that is honest to God,
Speaker 3: the truth you're.
Speaker 1: Getting the I am.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed watching both of these teams. I think probably
Speaker 3: LSU more so this season because of their the games
Speaker 3: they actually played and the opponents that they had. But
Speaker 3: it was a pleasure to watch both of these two
Speaker 3: teams in the UH in the semi finals. But I
Speaker 3: just I also, I don't know. I mentioned this on Twitter,
Speaker 3: but I got even more excited watching There's a YouTube channel.
Speaker 3: It's run by a guy named Murph Baldwin.
Speaker 1: I sent this to you. Yeah, yeah, I think it's
Speaker 1: top Billin. He's coming on in the offseason. He doesn't
Speaker 1: know it yet, but we're gonna invite.
Speaker 3: He doesn't know it yet, but he does a fantastic
Speaker 3: job doing x's and O stuff with college football. So
Speaker 3: if you like that sort of thing with video, top
Speaker 3: Billin is the move to make. But that got me
Speaker 3: even more excited about this matchup. So here we are tie, Here,
Speaker 3: we are are here, We are welcome.
Speaker 2: One.
Speaker 1: Welcome all now if you're just joining us for the
Speaker 1: first time. Yeah, I'm Ty, He's Dan. We did three
Speaker 1: episodes every week all throughout the season. We had Tuesday episode,
Speaker 1: the one that dropped on Tuesday, we called the Twoes Cruise.
Speaker 1: Normally we would do Sunday and Wednesday. Sunday we'd recap
Speaker 1: Wednesday or I guess Thursday we would drop the show.
Speaker 1: We would preview the coming week's games. But nestled in between,
Speaker 1: we had a little show we called The Twoes Cruise,
Speaker 1: which of course was cheesy in that it was very
Speaker 1: nautically themed, but we committed, we fully committed Marty Smith
Speaker 1: style to the bit right and alas we could think
Speaker 1: of no better time to do another Twos Cruise then
Speaker 1: on this very special occasion. It is the bull Barge, right,
Speaker 1: that's what we're calling this. It's sort of an abbreviated
Speaker 1: Two's Cruise.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's an abbriev all. I don't know how long
Speaker 3: the show's gonna go, but yeah, we're still sticking with
Speaker 3: the bull Barge. And I suppose we have a sound
Speaker 3: that we do like if you want to play it now.
Speaker 2: Well, now, DOCR New Orleans for the National Championship. If
Speaker 2: you believe in the Bye Bengals, she's exit fur Side.
Speaker 2: If you believe in Domos Boys, he's exit Starbard.
Speaker 1: Here's the Dark Horn. There's the Dark Horn. So it
Speaker 1: is one of those fun matchups where both are the Tigers.
Speaker 1: If you want to be cheeky about it and pick
Speaker 1: the Tigers to win, mm hmm, by all means, go
Speaker 1: for it. We're gonna do our best here over the
Speaker 1: next forty five minutes or so to cover as many
Speaker 1: angles as we can. We're gonna do so in as
Speaker 1: fun a way as we can, in as nautically themed
Speaker 1: the way as we can, because the last we need
Speaker 1: to stick with our twos cruise theme.
Speaker 3: If for only one more episode, Yes, can we I
Speaker 3: think this is an old radio term, but can we reset?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I want I want to start from the beginning because
Speaker 3: these two teams have had very different paths to this point,
Speaker 3: neither better nor worse. But I want to start here.
Speaker 3: What was your opinion of each of these teams preseason
Speaker 3: and how much, if at all, did that opinion evolve?
Speaker 1: Well? The LSU one is is far easier because headed
Speaker 1: into the season I was very skeptical, very skeptical that
Speaker 1: all this rigamal role we heard about on the offensive
Speaker 1: side of the ball was going to prove legit. And
Speaker 1: I believe my point when we previewed the sec West
Speaker 1: back in like August whenever, it was was just that
Speaker 1: how many times have we heard this before that LSU
Speaker 1: is going to revamp its offense. We had heard time
Speaker 1: and again that they know they have the talent, they
Speaker 1: know they know that's the one missing piece they need
Speaker 1: to modernize, need to modernize, right, And certainly there was
Speaker 1: a fair amount of skepticism when at Orgeron took over
Speaker 1: that he would be the man to kind of lead
Speaker 1: LSU through that revolution on offense and get them to
Speaker 1: the promised Land. And well, here we are, Yeah, here
Speaker 1: we are. It's clear that they've found the right people
Speaker 1: to do that. They've clearly got the right quarterback to
Speaker 1: do that. Being so we won the highs bin, They've
Speaker 1: got a running back, they've got a good cast of receivers,
Speaker 1: a pretty good line, So it's all there. On the
Speaker 1: offensive side of the ball. I never had a doubt
Speaker 1: about their defense. Maybe that's something we'll get into a
Speaker 1: little bit more as we talk about the matchups. Specifically
Speaker 1: Clemson's offense against this defense, but the offensive component on
Speaker 1: LSU's side was specifically what I had the most skepticism about.
Speaker 1: Clearly that has been proven wrong, and good for them
Speaker 1: that it has. Yeah, I'm trying to figure out.
Speaker 3: I am right there with you and that you're like, Okay,
Speaker 3: we've heard this before, that they're modernizing, that they're trying
Speaker 3: to evolve their offense, and it probably took me until
Speaker 3: that Florida performance to fully come around. Not that I
Speaker 3: always pick them this year, because I probably should have.
Speaker 3: They went undefeated if I wanted to be one hundred percent,
Speaker 3: But the fact remains that you're just like, Okay, well,
Speaker 3: I get it. They did it against Vanderbilt, they did
Speaker 3: it against Texas, they did it against Utah State. But
Speaker 3: that Florida win the way they separated themselves later on
Speaker 3: in that game from the Gators. I think they dropped
Speaker 3: forty on a good Florida defense at home and then
Speaker 3: responded even with a pseudo clunker the next week at
Speaker 3: Mississippi State and a letdown spite you understand that they
Speaker 3: still won that game by I think twenty plus points.
Speaker 3: They won another uneven offensive performance against Auburn, but they
Speaker 3: won their clunkers and then the rest of the year,
Speaker 3: I think they scored what forty plus, Maybe they came
Speaker 3: just short of forty against Georgia, but separating themselves from
Speaker 3: both really good teams like Georgia and I think A
Speaker 3: and M is an okay team, but completely demolished them
Speaker 3: getting past Alabama the they did with Tuas still on
Speaker 3: the team, or to a still starting at quarterback, albeit hobbled,
Speaker 3: still able to slice and dice that LSU defense that game.
Speaker 3: I just I came away so impressed and wanted to
Speaker 3: think that there was just going to be a down
Speaker 3: week where the new offense just didn't click, And you know,
Speaker 3: maybe there were those weeks, but the fact remains, I'm
Speaker 3: still much more impressed with what they did before the
Speaker 3: Oklahoma game, right because I don't think both with what
Speaker 3: the Oklahoma defense was or really was not this year,
Speaker 3: how they played against LSU. I don't think that is
Speaker 3: the most important takeaway game from the Tigers, but just
Speaker 3: for them to be at this point, to be led
Speaker 3: by this offense, to be talking about the overshadowed LSU defense,
Speaker 3: it's such a new way of talking about this program.
Speaker 3: That I'm thrilled to have underestimated this team going into
Speaker 3: the year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I am as well. I'm looking back on my
Speaker 1: notes when we did our SEC preview, and this was
Speaker 1: in late August. The question I had for you on
Speaker 1: LSU was just that they went nine to three, won
Speaker 1: the Fiesta Bowl over UCF, and they had a really
Speaker 1: good year last season despite an offensive line that drastically underperformed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they basically had to remix their offense on the fly
Speaker 1: to account for it last year. As we entered the
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen season, how confident were you that the position group,
Speaker 1: specifically again offensive line would be able to improve. It
Speaker 1: has improved, no doubt about it. The offense as a
Speaker 1: whole has drastically improved.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: I know we have a question later on where we're
Speaker 1: going to talk more specifically about about that line. So
Speaker 1: I don't want to go too deep down that rabbit le,
Speaker 1: but let's shift gears if we could, to the Clemson
Speaker 1: side of things. Now, sure, Clemson clearly came at this
Speaker 1: from a much different standpoint, being so they haven't lost
Speaker 1: the game in two years? Yeah, well I guess now
Speaker 1: they haven't. Now they haven't lost the game in two years,
Speaker 1: but prior to this season, they were defending national champions. Obviously,
Speaker 1: an incredible performance twenty eight point victory over Alabama in
Speaker 1: the Championship that was on the heels of a twenty
Speaker 1: seven point victory over Notre Dame in the College Football
Speaker 1: Playoff semifinal. Trevor Lawrence had burst onto the national stage,
Speaker 1: maybe in a way that he hadn't prior to either
Speaker 1: of those games. Being so, he was incredible and unstoppable
Speaker 1: in both of those playoff performances. Entering the season, Clemson
Speaker 1: was a prohibitive favorite, maybe not to win the national championship,
Speaker 1: but certainly to be in the game.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: That was the conversation, Alabama Clemson, come and fight me.
Speaker 1: If you don't think it's one of those two teams.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was Alabama Clemson. Everybody else? Have these two
Speaker 3: teams separated themselves with as well as Ohio State and
Speaker 3: Georgia have recruited in Oklahoma constantly in the playoff conversation,
Speaker 3: are we you know in the way that the NBA
Speaker 3: sort of became a evelnd Golden State for what was
Speaker 3: it four straight years? Like some it had become a
Speaker 3: bit of that where Okay, what are we talking about here?
Speaker 3: Is this a sport that is now whittled down to
Speaker 3: these two halves?
Speaker 1: The talking points on my side of the Clemson argument. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it's not really an argument because we were both
Speaker 1: all in on Clemson. We didn't think they were going
Speaker 1: to lose during the regular season or in the ACC
Speaker 1: title game to whoever they played like. We knew this
Speaker 1: was going to be the cream of the crop in
Speaker 1: the ACC. But we also knew that they were going
Speaker 1: to be a smidge thinner than their twenty eighteen version,
Speaker 1: at least on defense, because they had to replace four
Speaker 1: incredible defensive linemen, their top three linebackers, five of their
Speaker 1: top six tacklers. They also had guys like Hunter Renfro
Speaker 1: and Mitch Hyatt gone from their offense. For most teams,
Speaker 1: that's a lot to replace. You can't recover from that
Speaker 1: in one season, but it's way easier when you've got
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence, Traves, c E. T. T. Higgins justin ross.
Speaker 1: The line has been pretty good for them, despite the
Speaker 1: fact they lost a key contributoring Mitch Hyatt. So it
Speaker 1: was just like, to what end is defense going to
Speaker 1: bring this team down? Knowing full well going into the
Speaker 1: season that the ACC isn't going to be the strongest
Speaker 1: of conferences, right, and.
Speaker 3: We had seen Clemson defenses of yr you know, lose eight, nine, ten,
Speaker 3: eleven starters whatever. I don't know if they lost eleven
Speaker 3: starters in a year, but a majority of starters and
Speaker 3: bounce back as if nothing had changed. And that's, you know,
Speaker 3: partially due to the fact that there's just crazy continuity
Speaker 3: on this coaching staff that Brent Venables has been around forever,
Speaker 3: the fact that they play their twos and threes so
Speaker 3: much in these blowouts that it's nothing new for a
Speaker 3: guy to start because he's getting thirty forty snaps a
Speaker 3: game as is. So it is quite impressive to see
Speaker 3: what Clemson on defense, losing what they lost and to
Speaker 3: not miss a step. Granted, the ACC was not having
Speaker 3: itself a year this season, no, so it was fully
Speaker 3: it was almost impossible to say, well, this Clemson defense
Speaker 3: hasn't missed a beat because outside of the North Carolina game,
Speaker 3: they didn't play a team that scored more than twenty
Speaker 3: against them. And it wasn't fully a surprise given where
Speaker 3: NC State fell to, given what Wake Forest looked like
Speaker 3: late in the season, Florida State, Louisville, these teams were
Speaker 3: not built to score with Clemson, so that wasn't fully
Speaker 3: a surprise. And then when we saw Ohio State score
Speaker 3: what twenty three, Yeah, that's when you're like, Okay, there's
Speaker 3: something going on with this defense, especially when they start
Speaker 3: out scoring fourteen to sixteen points whatever and not able
Speaker 3: to do much after so so after that, so I
Speaker 3: just man an incredible, incredible year for Clemson on both
Speaker 3: sides of the ball, even with some the slow start
Speaker 3: that I think Trevor Lawrence had. We saw it sort
Speaker 3: of culminate with what he looked like early on in
Speaker 3: the Louisville game, but he threw those you know, that
Speaker 3: grip of passes. It's been just lights out impossible from
Speaker 3: Clemson on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: So as we turn the corner now and steered directly
Speaker 1: for this game, we have on January the thirteenth, at
Speaker 1: eight pm on the ESPN Family of Networks between LSU
Speaker 1: at fourteen and oh and Clemson at fourteen and h
Speaker 1: let me steal a little bit of your thunder. I
Speaker 1: know you had this topic planned a little bit later
Speaker 1: on in the show but Clemson is actually the lower
Speaker 1: seeded of the two teams. They are the defending national champions. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we know that because of that playoff seating, and maybe
Speaker 1: because of Dabos Sweeney's comments along the course of the
Speaker 1: season here that he has tried to fashion them as
Speaker 1: a bit of an underdog. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's always what he does, even when they're,
Speaker 3: you know, fourteen point favorites. Stil say, nobody believes we're
Speaker 3: really fourteen point favorites. That's just nonsense.
Speaker 1: But in this case, they are the legit underdog. They're
Speaker 1: a five and a half point dog headed into the
Speaker 1: football game. We know Clemson's a fun team to root for,
Speaker 1: it's never short on personality. But can you fully subscribe?
Speaker 1: Are you fully subscribed to the notion that Clemson is
Speaker 1: a real true underdog going into this game? Oh?
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, they are an underdog. Inasmuch as so
Speaker 3: much attention has been poured on LSU because it's a
Speaker 3: better story right now, it's a news story. There's something
Speaker 3: novel about this program that could never get it together.
Speaker 3: On offense, hiring a young dude to be paired and
Speaker 3: Joe Brady with Steve Bensminger, the older, more grizzled coordinator.
Speaker 1: So they have this.
Speaker 3: He's a passing game coordinator and he's there to sort
Speaker 3: of help out with everything. It clicks, it works. Joe
Speaker 3: Burrow is just an assassin. These receivers are out of control.
Speaker 3: Randy Moss's son is there at tight end. The line
Speaker 3: comes together. Clyde Edwards alaire when nothing is really fully
Speaker 3: working all the time with the passing game. There he
Speaker 3: is to hand the ball to and he's local to
Speaker 3: what Baton Rouge in Louisiana. I just there's the novelty
Speaker 3: to LSU has shined a spotlight on. I guess the
Speaker 3: Tigers in Baton Rouge that there's nothing. It's easy to
Speaker 3: overlook Clemson because they're not a new story. This is
Speaker 3: not an excited we've seen Clemson on this stage. So
Speaker 3: it's sort of like a forgot about us kind of
Speaker 3: situation where Dabo can say, well, I guess we're not
Speaker 3: the sexy new thing anymore. I guess everybody's forgotten about us.
Speaker 3: And while it is obviously cliche to say nobody believes
Speaker 3: in us, we're the underdog. That sort of thing can
Speaker 3: work in a brain escusually a nineteen year old brain.
Speaker 1: Well, it can work as a motivational device if you're Dabbosweeney,
Speaker 1: no doubt about it, if you're trying to get your
Speaker 1: team up for the game, as if there's going to
Speaker 1: be any trouble getting them up for the national championship.
Speaker 1: But I'm saying to you and I specifically, I can't
Speaker 1: convince myself that there're any kind of underdog here. H
Speaker 1: maybe five and a half points is what Vegas says, Right,
Speaker 1: they haven't lost a game in two years, but twenty
Speaker 1: nine and zero last two seasons. I went back in, Look,
Speaker 1: they've lost like three games in four years. That is
Speaker 1: not an underdog story. I don't care how you try
Speaker 1: to paint it. So I am excited for this game.
Speaker 1: I'm not necessarily looking at it in terms of underdog
Speaker 1: and favorites. In that storyline, it to me goes out
Speaker 1: the window because Clemson has been a powerhouse in college
Speaker 1: football for the last at least five years running.
Speaker 3: But this year's team specifically, do you feel like there
Speaker 3: is an underdog element to the fact that, yes, they
Speaker 3: have the struggle against North Carolina, but also we didn't
Speaker 3: really see them tested after that we didn't really see
Speaker 3: them against great competition until Ohio State, and there is
Speaker 3: just more data. It's on LSU maybe no matter how
Speaker 3: long it's been since they've lost. I mean it's been
Speaker 3: a while since Northdakota State too.
Speaker 1: There is a difference between undercovered and underdog. Sure, undercovered,
Speaker 1: you could certainly make a legit case for that, right
Speaker 1: being so they're in the acc being so, like you said,
Speaker 1: there were flashier stories around college football that maybe garnered
Speaker 1: a little bit more attention. But underdog, no underdog's a
Speaker 1: tough sell for me.
Speaker 3: Okay, I mean, I think the biggest killer in this
Speaker 3: game is still LSU's offense.
Speaker 1: I would agree with you. I would agree with you.
Speaker 3: That to me already means that, Okay, we're looking at
Speaker 3: the best single thing in this game being what Joe
Speaker 3: Burrow is able to do with the ball in his hands.
Speaker 3: The Heisman winner, the guy who won the Heisman pretty
Speaker 3: much out of nowhere over the presumed favorite or one
Speaker 3: of the presumed favorites, and Trevor Lawrence going into the season.
Speaker 3: So there is that idea of supplanting the obvious champion
Speaker 3: in Clemson, the idea that LSU has established itself because.
Speaker 1: Of this offense.
Speaker 3: As what again, I think we both believe to be
Speaker 3: the best single thing in this game that could change
Speaker 3: Clemson's defense, I have no doubt in my mind is remarkable.
Speaker 3: They are on all three levels. They are very very good,
Speaker 3: and they are stout, and they are deep, and they
Speaker 3: play with an insane amount of focus and care. So
Speaker 3: that to me is why Clemson is the underdog simply
Speaker 3: because Joe Burrow wears purple and gold. Let me Paris
Speaker 3: Marshall and Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase of course, the
Speaker 3: blittnikof Award winner wear purple and gold.
Speaker 1: That is why. Let me let me round out this
Speaker 1: discussion and turn the corner and actually go into this
Speaker 1: game just by saying that, I think LSU is probably
Speaker 1: the easier team to root for, being so they are
Speaker 1: newer to this football game, Yeah than Clemson. Yeah, even
Speaker 1: though Clemson is technically the underdog by five and a
Speaker 1: half points.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think people are always going to
Speaker 3: love the story more than they are the repeat. I mean,
Speaker 3: for as much success as Clemson has had, Clemson is
Speaker 3: not a decades long spotlight team like I think going
Speaker 3: back to when Nick Saban was at LS sort of
Speaker 3: the beginning of the modern era where I think there
Speaker 3: is a bigger and wider familiarity with LSU football, given
Speaker 3: the personality of less Miles, given all the NFL players
Speaker 3: that have come through there the last twenty years, as
Speaker 3: opposed to this latest five to seven year run from Clemson.
Speaker 3: So I think John Q public has an LSU story
Speaker 3: awareness more than Okay, I understand the Clemson has become
Speaker 3: this elite machine, So I think there's that element to it.
Speaker 1: It is the College Football Playoff National Championship presented by
Speaker 1: AT and T. They played in New Orleans. Yeah again,
Speaker 1: LSU fourteen to zero, a five and a half point
Speaker 1: favorite over the Clemson Tigers. So as we now look
Speaker 1: head on into this football game, the obvious question is
Speaker 1: whether an elite Clemson defense can slow an elite LSU offense,
Speaker 1: and conversely, can a really good LSU defense slow. I
Speaker 1: would still say an elite Clemson offense are very good.
Speaker 1: Sure all they're amazing. When you pop the hood on
Speaker 1: both of those scenarios and look at all the advanced stuff,
Speaker 1: you could zoom in on a few things that are
Speaker 1: very intriguing. To be honest, most of that stuff favors Clemson.
Speaker 1: So you can take that at phase value if you want,
Speaker 1: and that's perfectly reasonable, or you can add the extra
Speaker 1: layer to it and ask does it matter?
Speaker 2: Captain Toy wants to know.
Speaker 1: Does it matter?
Speaker 2: Dan?
Speaker 1: That was such a good transition. You're just such a pro.
Speaker 1: Does it freaking matter? Clemson has a good pass rush.
Speaker 1: It's different than it was last year, but statistically, very
Speaker 1: good pass rush, very good sacrate. LSU was just okay
Speaker 1: at protecting Joe Burrow, the Heisman Trophy winner. That would
Speaker 1: seem like a big advantage for Clemson. But will it matter? Dan,
Speaker 1: I'm yelling into my microphone. Why do you say they're
Speaker 1: just okay at protecting I'm looking at I'm looking at
Speaker 1: advanced stuff. I'm just looking at numbers. Okay, sacrate that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. Okay, Statistically they're kind of in the middle. Okay,
Speaker 1: that would seem like a big advantage for Clemson. But
Speaker 1: will it matter? We saw teams try to pressure Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow all year. Nothing seemed to face them. Will it matter? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I LSU took on Georgia and their incredible defense and
Speaker 3: it didn't seem to matter. You know, he flushed him
Speaker 3: out of the pocket. He made plays pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: Dan, Clemson is the best pass defense in America. Yeah, statistically,
Speaker 1: it's the best LSU's seen all year. Will it matter?
Speaker 1: LSU hung sixty three on Oklahoma. Even if you slow
Speaker 1: them down, they're still putting it hill. That was sixty three.
Speaker 1: That was scoring fifty and a half. Yeah, right, even
Speaker 1: if you slow them down a little, it's still what
Speaker 1: thirty five forty points on the board.
Speaker 3: Will it matter? You get the drift here? Yes, I
Speaker 3: get the drift. I'm waiting for you to ask me
Speaker 3: for an answer. I'm just yelling here. I know you are,
Speaker 3: and I love it. The big question that is hidden
Speaker 3: inside your question is what will the back of Clemson's
Speaker 3: defense look like to make the front of Clemson's defense
Speaker 3: look even better in their pursuit of Joe Burrow Because
Speaker 3: that back end just with what they're able to do
Speaker 3: in concert with the Brent Venables defense that they run
Speaker 3: and how well they can disguise, how well they can
Speaker 3: run with receivers. We saw them do an incredible job
Speaker 3: with Ohio States receivers implementing that true killer big play
Speaker 3: that is going to make the front of their defense
Speaker 3: and how many different things players like Isaiah Simmons and
Speaker 3: Tanner Muse can do to disrupt and confuse. That, to
Speaker 3: me is the better question of will it matter? And
Speaker 3: I think ultimately it will matter. I don't know if
Speaker 3: it's going to decide the game, but it's going to matter.
Speaker 1: Yes, will it matters. So we've got a whole list
Speaker 1: of bullet points here, yeah, that we wanted to go
Speaker 1: through and determined. Well, I'm not going to be so
Speaker 1: cynical that I'm going to sit here and say that
Speaker 1: none of this stuff is going to matter. I think
Speaker 1: ls's offense by and large is so good that a
Speaker 1: lot of it won't. But certainly some of this will.
Speaker 2: It has to.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's do it first and foremost. Dan Clemson probably
Speaker 1: prepared a lot more for LSU than they did for Oklahoma, right.
Speaker 3: I would imagine. So, yes, the advanced scouting probably heavily
Speaker 3: leaned toward LICO LS.
Speaker 1: You probably had to split up their advanced preps. So
Speaker 1: the question would be how much does that how much
Speaker 1: does that matter? How much does that factor in here?
Speaker 3: I think it's interesting, but I don't think it matters.
Speaker 3: I think Brent Venables is so good on the fly
Speaker 3: at diagnosing and communicating that to his team that ultimately,
Speaker 3: I don't know if there's anything that LSU can do
Speaker 3: that will catch them off guard that they haven't seen.
Speaker 3: But the skill lies in their ability on the fly.
Speaker 3: So no, I don't think it matters.
Speaker 1: Fully, I would agree with you, and I would add
Speaker 1: the point of Alabama and Clemson. What we've seen from
Speaker 1: them amid this incredible run preparation has certainly been very important.
Speaker 1: We hear about it all the time as we watch
Speaker 1: college football, and the dedication in the hours that assistant
Speaker 1: coaches and head coaches put in on this, the adjustments
Speaker 1: almost matter more. Yeah.
Speaker 3: By the way, if you haven't read it, and they're
Speaker 3: not a partner of ours anymore right now, Andy Staples
Speaker 3: and Bruce Feldman wrote pieces with Clemson and or I
Speaker 3: guess regarding Clemson and LSU speaking to opposing coaches who
Speaker 3: coached against them this year anonymously. But a lot of
Speaker 3: really cool insight if you really want to deep dive
Speaker 3: this game.
Speaker 1: So I think it matters, but I think adjustments are going.
Speaker 2: To matter more.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Another bullet point, Joe Burrow has not had to
Speaker 1: go wired to wire on a stage quite like this, has.
Speaker 3: He No, and Trevor Lawrence has Now, it's not Joe
Speaker 3: Burrow's fault that LC was so incredible against Oklahoma that
Speaker 3: he really hasn't been in this pressure type of situation though.
Speaker 3: SEC Championship against Georgia, you know, playing Alabama, playing Auburn,
Speaker 3: playing Florida the way, those are huge stages. This is
Speaker 3: just something different. This is non sports fans, This is
Speaker 3: non college football fans. This is in the Superdome, which
Speaker 3: is again I don't think it's on our bullet point list,
Speaker 3: but I think that's interesting because LSU has sort of
Speaker 3: recently played in a national championship at the Superdome and
Speaker 3: it didn't goes super well.
Speaker 1: Interesting. I think it's.
Speaker 3: No, I don't think the stage matters as much as
Speaker 3: the opponent, so I'm going to say ultimately it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, there was a semi final back on
Speaker 1: December twenty eighth where Joe Burrow threw for seven touchdowns
Speaker 1: in one half. Yeah, I'm not sure the stage is
Speaker 1: a real issue here. Oklahoma though, Oklahoma, that's a good
Speaker 1: Let me add another one in here. It's not on
Speaker 1: our list, but you brought it up. Is there a
Speaker 1: home field advantage? Sactly. I'm trying to figure that out.
Speaker 3: Does that MA try to figure out if there's a
Speaker 3: home field disadvantage that could play into this as well. Oh,
Speaker 3: you're going to reverse jinks, it will sort of. I
Speaker 3: think it's nice to go away. I think it's nice
Speaker 3: to get locked in. I think it's nice to, you know,
Speaker 3: take that sort of business trip mentality where you're away
Speaker 3: from distractions. You are you know, you're in a hotel
Speaker 3: doing your run through. It's not just taking a bus.
Speaker 3: And I understand they're probaly, I'm sure they're going to
Speaker 3: be in a hotel in New Orleans for days and
Speaker 3: days leading up to the game. But there is a
Speaker 3: different element of not going away. And I'm positive the
Speaker 3: Superdome is going to be very LSU friendly.
Speaker 1: What is what is? I just wonder if that's added pressure.
Speaker 1: What's your bet for first college football media member to
Speaker 1: tweet out? It's like seventy thirty in favor of LSU
Speaker 1: down here. Oh yeah, people love the purportal. That feels
Speaker 1: like a Danish dot tweet at maybe eight oh two. Wow, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that seems right, all right? Next one. Okay, so Clemson,
Speaker 1: Well maybe Stu Mandel I could see Stu could do that.
Speaker 1: That's definitely his two thing. Clemson has started slowly against
Speaker 1: most of the quote unquote good teams on their twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen schedule.
Speaker 3: Yeah, North Carolina, Louisville, Texas A, and m Ohio State
Speaker 3: slow starts, quick start against Virginia.
Speaker 1: I go a step further that a fair share of
Speaker 1: their close calls in each of the last four regular
Speaker 1: seasons have come against the better teams on their sched
Speaker 1: So the Auburns and Louisville's, NC State, Texas A, and
Speaker 1: M's pitt U NC this year. Like it's not just
Speaker 1: in the vacuum of the twenty nineteen season, it's been
Speaker 1: a recurring theme. It has not mattered much. Will it
Speaker 1: matter here?
Speaker 3: I think it will matter, yes. And it looked like
Speaker 3: it was going to matter against Ohio State, and they
Speaker 3: ultimately couldn't convert a number of opportunities they had in
Speaker 3: the red zone, you know, plays in which it looked
Speaker 3: like they were going to score or get very close
Speaker 3: to score. And I don't know that Clemson can get
Speaker 3: away with that two games in a row. I agree
Speaker 3: with petition this good. I think I agree with you.
Speaker 3: I'm going to say, yes, it will matter. I'm going
Speaker 3: to say yes, it's going to be very difficult to
Speaker 3: be poised early in the Superdome with this kind of crowd,
Speaker 3: no matter how LSU themselves look. I just think even
Speaker 3: with Trevor Lawrence playing on the stage, it'd be impossible
Speaker 3: not to have a little bit in the way of butterflies,
Speaker 3: a little bit in the way of getting your head
Speaker 3: on straight until you can sort of figure out your
Speaker 3: time and place. So I'm going to say it will
Speaker 3: matter that the slow start is going to is going
Speaker 3: to be something that Clemson, even if they pull it out,
Speaker 3: will be something that they come to regret putting themselves
Speaker 3: in a position with next one.
Speaker 2: Dan.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we talked about Joe Burrow not being on a
Speaker 1: stage quite like this. What about coach Orgeron. It's true,
Speaker 1: we know Dabosweeney's been there. He was there last year,
Speaker 1: He's been there I don't know how many times now
Speaker 1: in the last couple of years. But coach Joe is
Speaker 1: at home. That'll help. But he hasn't quite managed a
Speaker 1: game like this, He hasn't been on a stage like this.
Speaker 3: As a head coach, no timeouts and going for it
Speaker 3: on fourth down and you know, figuring out if you
Speaker 3: should spike it with fifty two seconds left before halftime
Speaker 3: or just keep his foot on the gas. I don't
Speaker 3: know the last I mean, I do know the last
Speaker 3: time they played a game that came down to it.
Speaker 3: That was Auburn, right, yeah, I guess now Alabama came
Speaker 3: down to it. Yeah that was back in Alabama.
Speaker 1: Yeah Alabama, sure.
Speaker 3: But yeah Auburn in Alabama. That's incredible. Opponents, teams, defenses, whatever,
Speaker 3: But this is certainly different. They had Alabama, I think
Speaker 3: in tusk looser, right, yeah, on Auburn at home. So
Speaker 3: challenge is all the same. But I don't think it matters.
Speaker 3: I don't think it matters because I think the team
Speaker 3: is so squarely locked in on that the gas being
Speaker 3: pushed at all times. We saw it at the end
Speaker 3: of the Texas game and what week two on the road,
Speaker 3: where they could have just tried running it and punting
Speaker 3: it into sort of hoping for the best to run
Speaker 3: out the clock, and they didn't. And that was the
Speaker 3: continued theme that this team is here to be aggressive.
Speaker 3: So I think they're always going to air on the
Speaker 3: side of aggression. They have that identity built into their
Speaker 3: DNA at this point, So I'm going to say maybe
Speaker 3: early it matters a little, but ultimately, over the course
Speaker 3: of four quarters, if they lose, they lose. But I
Speaker 3: don't think it's going to be because of game management.
Speaker 3: And because I agree is too big, I would completely
Speaker 3: agree with that. Took the words right in my mouth. Yes,
Speaker 3: another one here. You're gonna have to explain this in
Speaker 3: a little more detail because you came up with these
Speaker 3: LSU pretty late in the year, keeping track of mobile quarterbacks,
Speaker 3: dealing with mobile quarterbacks. What what examples are you referring
Speaker 3: to here for our listening audience. The official SEC West
Speaker 3: quarterback of the of the solid verbal John Reese Plumbley
Speaker 3: ran all over the LSU defense and that's just situationably, situationably,
Speaker 3: situationally somewhat understandable. That was the week after BAMA their
Speaker 3: second consecutive game on the road, and I, you know,
Speaker 3: I feel about the double roads, but there is that
Speaker 3: element of okay, we can pick on the middle of
Speaker 3: LSU's linebacking cores a little bit sidelined to sideline, and
Speaker 3: we saw, you know, Sam Allinger moved the ball some
Speaker 3: in that Texas game. They Kellen Mond was completely stifled.
Speaker 3: And he is a mobile quarterback.
Speaker 1: I get that.
Speaker 3: And obviously Jalen Hurts ran some but ultimately not in
Speaker 3: a difference making way. But there is that element of
Speaker 3: you know, Grant Delpit was heard and when he showed
Speaker 3: some of that. The injury effects was not great in
Speaker 3: the open field tackling. But okay, hold, they give up points,
Speaker 3: they give up yardage. You can run on them. Some
Speaker 3: you can run on them. But we're talking about mobile
Speaker 3: quarterbacks here. Would you classify Trevor Lawrence as a John
Speaker 3: Reese Plumby kind of runner. I think he's better. He
Speaker 3: ran in a sixty some id yard touchdown against Ohio State.
Speaker 3: He is a dual threat quarterback in a dual threat offense.
Speaker 3: You would classify him as a running quarterback. I would
Speaker 3: classify him as a quarterback who is able to run
Speaker 3: at a high level. Not Lamar Jackson, not Johnny Manziel.
Speaker 3: But he is able to pick up third and eight's
Speaker 3: with his legs. He is able to turn a four
Speaker 3: yard run into a thirty one yard run. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: would say his athleticism is absolutely an aspect of his game,
Speaker 3: and those are two threats, passing and running.
Speaker 1: So yes, dual threat plumbly ran the ball more than
Speaker 1: twenty times, and it's a different aspect, but yeah, over
Speaker 1: half of his starts this year. It's a much much
Speaker 1: different system. Trevor Lawrence, by comparison, ran it sixteen times
Speaker 1: in that semi final against Ohio State to a great avail,
Speaker 1: very good over what six and a half yards to carry,
Speaker 1: so clearly very effective.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I don't know if that includes sex, but yeah, nonetheless,
Speaker 3: very fun game is part of very offense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the first time that I can remember,
Speaker 1: and Clempton fans might lampoon me for this, but that
Speaker 1: was the first time I could remember using Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 1: in that capacity.
Speaker 3: Yes, and no, I mean they're not going to run
Speaker 3: him against No Wake and NC State that way.
Speaker 1: But he's very He's very athletic. He can do it
Speaker 1: if he has to. I just he strikes me as
Speaker 1: much more of a guy that they like to keep
Speaker 1: in the pocket and utilize his arm.
Speaker 3: No, it's a different offense, and it's a rich rot
Speaker 3: offense for all miss but Trevor Lawrence against I'm saying
Speaker 3: it's North Carolina. He had eleven carries. This may include
Speaker 3: sacks against Louisville ten carries Ohio State's sixteen carries. Generally
Speaker 3: he's under He's single digit carries against the UH not
Speaker 3: meat of their schedule if I'm being kind. But yeah,
Speaker 3: back to the days of Chad Morris and Taj Boyd
Speaker 3: and Deshaun Watson and Kelly Bryant, all these guys, they
Speaker 3: are told, you know, so you keep the ball on
Speaker 3: this sort of option when you see this and here's
Speaker 3: a draw here near the goal line. Here's a draw
Speaker 3: here on first and ten. We saw in that the
Speaker 3: final drive that the run game, the quarterback run game,
Speaker 3: was part of Clemson. So if it's part of the game,
Speaker 3: part of that offense, then it's part of the offense.
Speaker 1: I don't think this is a huge threat. I think
Speaker 1: they were able to use it effectively against Ohio State.
Speaker 1: I'm not buying it as something that matters a whole
Speaker 1: lot here. I think it matters all right.
Speaker 3: I think Clemson is going to have success on the
Speaker 3: ground with Trevor Lawrence, maybe not Travis etn He's struggled
Speaker 3: against some of the better defenses Clemson his face and
Speaker 3: has kept some game closer. But I think Trevor Lawrence
Speaker 3: and his ability with his legs is going to be
Speaker 3: a not insignificant factor.
Speaker 1: Moving on, Daniel, Here's something that we talked about earlier.
Speaker 1: We teased we'd be talking about later. The LSU offensive line. Yeah,
Speaker 1: is it vulnerable, particularly on the edges? And does that matter?
Speaker 3: My answer is yes, they're vulnerable. My answer is also yes, Clemson,
Speaker 3: while they don't have the world beaters up front, that
Speaker 3: allowed Brent Venables to be crazy flexible in the back
Speaker 3: end of their defense like they had last year even
Speaker 3: without Dexter Lawrence in the playoff. I think the athleticism
Speaker 3: at linebacker, I mean Isaiah Simmons is they might be
Speaker 3: the best defensive player in the country. The flexibility, the
Speaker 3: variety of looks that Clemson can throw at LSU and
Speaker 3: LSU's front, I think it's going to matter. I think
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow is going to be forced into some uncomfortable situations,
Speaker 3: which has generally not bothered him, but I think it's
Speaker 3: going to have an effect on this game. Clemson's ability
Speaker 3: to confuse and get home a couple times in key
Speaker 3: moments against LSU. Yeah, yeah, I think it matters too.
Speaker 3: And we know that Brent Vivennables is very creative. He
Speaker 3: comes up with ways to generate pressure. The larger question
Speaker 3: is will that pressure matter for Joe Burrow, who's been
Speaker 3: very good in the face of pressure all year. Well,
Speaker 3: they did. They had some trouble with Auburn. Auburn threw
Speaker 3: like a weird three to one seven defense at them,
Speaker 3: And maybe this is something else we can get into
Speaker 3: with another one of these bullet points. But Clemson is
Speaker 3: not going to be able to get home with their
Speaker 3: front four like they have been able to do, like
Speaker 3: we saw, you know, just the best defenses of the
Speaker 3: past one hundred years of football. The fewer guys you
Speaker 3: can get home with, the more just the crazier from
Speaker 3: you know, Miszoo's defense with Craig Kulangowski. Alabama's recent defense is,
Speaker 3: Auburn's recent defense is Washington when they went to the
Speaker 3: playoff almost never blitzed. Clemson doesn't have that ability. But
Speaker 3: I think you're right. I think what Brent Vennables is
Speaker 3: able to do with confusion and stunts and slants whatever,
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna matter. I think LSU's offensive line
Speaker 3: is good. I just don't think it's incredible.
Speaker 1: I think I agree with you, okay on that one.
Speaker 1: Let's do one or two more. You seeing you on
Speaker 1: here that you want to make sure we cover.
Speaker 3: Here was one thing I was curious about. I don't
Speaker 3: even know if it's a doesn't matter, but it's just
Speaker 3: I was trying to figure out if somebody had experienced
Speaker 3: succeeding against either one of these offenses or defenses. And
Speaker 3: as we've seen in years past, sometimes these guys will
Speaker 3: go to the facility very quietly and consult. Kevin Steele,
Speaker 3: the Auburn defensive coordinator, looks to me to be the
Speaker 3: only person who's actually succeeded against recent Clemson and this
Speaker 3: year's LSU. Now, obviously Auburn didn't play Clemson this season.
Speaker 3: Obviously there's the overlap of I think both of these
Speaker 3: teams played Texas A and M, and both of these
Speaker 3: teams shut down.
Speaker 1: Texas A and m's offense. But the Kevin Steele thing
Speaker 1: is interesting. I looked.
Speaker 3: I didn't see him do any interviews or I don't
Speaker 3: think anybody that I could find has written anything using
Speaker 3: what he is, what he's been able to do at Auburn,
Speaker 3: both in shutting down Clemson with both the Shaun Watson
Speaker 3: and Kelly Bryant and what he did this year in
Speaker 3: holding LSU to twenty three points. But I wonder, because
Speaker 3: Kevin Steele was both at LSU and at Clemson, I
Speaker 3: think he's on better terms with Coach O because I
Speaker 3: think Dabo. I mean, they called it not a firing,
Speaker 3: but it was. It was not a great end to
Speaker 3: Kevin Steele's tenure with Clemson. After the Orange Bowl against
Speaker 3: West Virginia, I wonder if there's some Kevin Steele whispering
Speaker 3: to Coach O about the Clemson offense. I wonder Dave Randa,
Speaker 3: not that Dave Randa isn't capable himself, and we haven't
Speaker 3: even talked about the LSU defense. I wonder if there's
Speaker 3: something going on.
Speaker 1: Okay, I kept stealing anything else here.
Speaker 3: I mean, we didn't mention the LSU defense. That's sort
Speaker 3: of the one thing we haven't mentioned. And talking about
Speaker 3: Clemson's offense and Trevor Lawrence, and we didn't mention his
Speaker 3: targets and those offensive weapons. But the LSU defense has
Speaker 3: allowed points this year. I think they're pretty drastically improved
Speaker 3: from where they were mid season as they've gotten healthier,
Speaker 3: especially as some of the freshmen like Derek Stingley, has
Speaker 3: gotten a really good amount of important experience. But the
Speaker 3: fact remains, outside of the dual threat thing, they've allowed points,
Speaker 3: they've allowed big plays, They've been thrown on, they've messed
Speaker 3: up in big situations, they've been run on, both by
Speaker 3: quarterbacks and otherwise. Is there Does LSU's season of uneven
Speaker 3: results on defense matter to you against an offense is
Speaker 3: talent to disclaim absolutely?
Speaker 1: Okay, absolutely absolutely, And it's part of the reason why
Speaker 1: I think there are a lot of points in this game. Sure,
Speaker 1: I think it's probably a shootout. I think we see
Speaker 1: points in this game. I think both offenses are so good,
Speaker 1: so good that neither defense is going to have an answer, right,
Speaker 1: So I favor a lot of points here. But specific
Speaker 1: to l s U, absolutely it matters, definitely.
Speaker 3: So I guess, can we can we play? I don't
Speaker 3: know if this is a game, but I asked you
Speaker 3: to rank the outcomes. Do you want to do that
Speaker 3: now or do you want to we could close?
Speaker 2: Thing?
Speaker 1: Is this a dive deep sound play the dive Deep
Speaker 1: we're still deep.
Speaker 2: Dive Captain time, Lieutenant damn, you have clearance? Dive deep?
Speaker 1: Is that fine? Bomb underwater?
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It might be some sort of underwater ghosts.
Speaker 3: Who how does this work? So I there are six
Speaker 3: pretty obvious outcomes in this game. Well they're sick. There
Speaker 3: only are in this game. It's either one of these
Speaker 3: teams winning, small, medium, or big. So I would imagine
Speaker 3: like if you go back to the was it twenty
Speaker 3: twelve Notre Dame Alabama? Yeah, the most obvious blowout would
Speaker 3: have It was impossible to think about Notre Dame blowing
Speaker 3: out Alabama if they're going to win, it was going
Speaker 3: to be ugly with you know, led by defense winning
Speaker 3: the game, you know, seventeen thirteen something like that. So
Speaker 3: the most likely blowout that year was Alabama. Right to
Speaker 3: you before we get in, The most likely blowout is
Speaker 3: who over who?
Speaker 1: In this game? Most likely blowout is Whoever?
Speaker 3: If somebody wins this game forty two to twenty, who,
Speaker 3: would you be more surprised or less surprised however you
Speaker 3: want to word it?
Speaker 1: To see as the victor, I would be stunned if
Speaker 1: LSU blew out Clemson. Wow, Okay, And I say that
Speaker 1: because I was stunned last year when Clemson blew out Alabama.
Speaker 1: Just didn't see a blowout coming.
Speaker 3: So one point less than what Clemson beat Notre Dame
Speaker 3: or one point more one point more, yeah, right.
Speaker 1: The Notre Dame's differential. Yeah, So I guess, just with
Speaker 1: that in mind, I would be much more surprised if
Speaker 1: LSU did it than if Clemson did it, because we've
Speaker 1: seen Clemson do it against a really good opponent.
Speaker 3: I went back and forth on this. I think you're
Speaker 3: probably correct because in order to blow a team out,
Speaker 3: it has to happen on both sides, and I think
Speaker 3: Clemson has the ability to both shut down and take
Speaker 3: the other defense to the woodshed. So I think that's
Speaker 3: probably right. But I also don't think it's the most
Speaker 3: likely outcome. I know it Ison is blowing out.
Speaker 1: So what is the most likely outcome for you?
Speaker 2: Then?
Speaker 1: So if we think of it in terms of LSU
Speaker 1: by a small margin, what do we consider a small margin,
Speaker 1: a medium margin, and a big blowout margin?
Speaker 3: So I have eight points are fewer so one possession
Speaker 3: game as a small margin, and then medium I have
Speaker 3: nine to fourteen, and then large if you're winning fifteen plus.
Speaker 3: I know fifteen and sixteen are two possession games, but
Speaker 3: it's pretty You see a final score of thirty five
Speaker 3: to twenty, You're like, that's a very comfortable win.
Speaker 1: Okay, so both teams by a small, medium, or large margin.
Speaker 1: Which team do you think is most likely to win?
Speaker 1: And by what margin?
Speaker 3: I have the most likely margin as LSU small, as
Speaker 3: do I? I have that as the most likely margin,
Speaker 3: LSU winning by eight or fewer points, because even with
Speaker 3: Clemson as the more seasoned, more complete team, I'm still
Speaker 3: going to roll in with the thing I believe the
Speaker 3: most in, and that's the LSU offense and how impossible
Speaker 3: and futile it seems for defenses to stop as talented
Speaker 3: as Clemsons is. They also fell behind sixteen nothing to
Speaker 3: another excellent offense, and that's an excellent offense in Ohio
Speaker 3: State that I don't think is as good as LSU's.
Speaker 3: So yeah, i's my answer. I agree with you on
Speaker 3: LSU small. I think if I'm betting, I bet the points,
Speaker 3: I take Clemson plus the points.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of history there. Clemson's been on this
Speaker 1: stage before. If you're telling me that this game comes
Speaker 1: down to a field goal, comes down to the last
Speaker 1: second play, It's back and forth. Joe Burrow's got the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands. He wins by four. That makes
Speaker 1: a lot of sense to me. What does it make
Speaker 1: sense is ls minus anything. I would take Clemson plus
Speaker 1: five and a half and I'd be happy to be wrong.
Speaker 1: Just don't bet your life savings on it. But that
Speaker 1: being said, I think LSU wins, and I think LSU's small.
Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think that's the most likely outcome here.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I have LSU small number one, I have
Speaker 3: Clemson small number two okay, and then I number three.
Speaker 3: I actually have Clemson big okay. Because of my continue
Speaker 3: the clear most concerning thing is the LSU defense, as
Speaker 3: strong as they are at various points in that defense,
Speaker 3: I think from what we've seen, you know, with them
Speaker 3: against Alabama even early on, and I don't think this
Speaker 3: matters all that much, but Texas did score on them.
Speaker 3: I think that is that is my answer that things
Speaker 3: like last year can get out of hand with. I mean,
Speaker 3: the best defensive back in this game is still probably
Speaker 3: aj Terrell, just the best and most seasoned lockdown defender.
Speaker 3: To me, I guess it depends on how you classify
Speaker 3: Isaiah Simmons because he plays a little bit of everything.
Speaker 3: But I think there is that element of Clemson comes
Speaker 3: out a little more comfortable because of where they've been
Speaker 3: and jump out to an early lead, and LSU was
Speaker 3: a little bit rattled and a little bit pressing and
Speaker 3: playing from behind like they haven't been able to do,
Speaker 3: and it just it goes from bad to worse. So
Speaker 3: I think I agree with you in that a Clemson
Speaker 3: blowout is more likely than an LSU blowout. So that's
Speaker 3: my number three. Let me ask you this. The over
Speaker 3: under here is sixty nine and a half. Yeah, would
Speaker 3: you go over under that? So that's like a if
Speaker 3: my quick math works out, that's like a thirty seven
Speaker 3: to thirty two type score in favor of LSU. Yeah,
Speaker 3: if it's right on there, nobody really scoring forty if
Speaker 3: it's you know, adheres to that five is spread five
Speaker 3: six points for.
Speaker 1: The record, Just so you know, LSU put up forty
Speaker 1: eight point nine points per game, which was first in
Speaker 1: the nation, and Clemson forty five point three, which was
Speaker 1: fourth in the nation.
Speaker 3: And Clemson's defense I don't think allowed a team to
Speaker 3: score more than twenty. North Carolina scored twenty. Everybody else
Speaker 3: was like.
Speaker 1: Twenty three in the playoffs, but beyond that, no, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
Speaker 3: During the regular season, yes, twenty three in the playoff
Speaker 3: against Ohio State, which holding to Ohio State to twenty three.
Speaker 1: Holy wow. I think I'm inclined to take the over. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would be too. I think shootout, I think I
Speaker 1: think a lot of points, and you know, to my
Speaker 1: earlier point, I see a back and forth game. I
Speaker 1: do think LSU wins because of that offense. Usually I
Speaker 1: don't like to pick base solely on offense, which is
Speaker 1: probably why Clemson ends up winning. But it never take
Speaker 1: the under. It's not fun at all. It's not fun
Speaker 1: to take the under. I see a back and forth game,
Speaker 1: a lot of points. I could definitely see a scenario
Speaker 1: where LSU gets one extra possession and they score, And
Speaker 1: for that reason, I make second most likely LSU medium.
Speaker 1: My order is LSU small, LSU medium, Clemson big wow
Speaker 1: or medium more likely.
Speaker 3: That Clemson is just so very clearly better than they
Speaker 3: are barely better.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, I'm gonna go out on a limb. Wow.
Speaker 1: I like that LSU small, LSU medium, Clemson Big, Clemson medium,
Speaker 1: Clemson small, And I think the least likely outcome here
Speaker 1: is LSU big because of that Clemson defense. See, I
Speaker 1: have LSU big at number four, okay, and then LSU
Speaker 1: medium and then Clemson medium. I have LSU big because
Speaker 1: we know what that looks like. This is not something
Speaker 1: we have to form out of the ether. We know
Speaker 1: what happens when Joe Burrow is supremely confident in what
Speaker 1: a defense is trying against him and what his own
Speaker 1: team's counter punch is or yeah, they have no ability
Speaker 1: to stop us. Now, Oklahoma's defense is nowhere near Clemson's defense.
Speaker 1: But the heights of LSU's offense to me, says, if
Speaker 1: they're clicking and they figure out this Clemson defense early
Speaker 1: and they have the counter punches, if it's Joe Brady
Speaker 1: versus Brent Venables and Joe Brady has all of you know, whatever,
Speaker 1: he's stacking receivers like he does or running the option
Speaker 1: routes like he does out of the slot, there is
Speaker 1: a world in which LSU.
Speaker 3: We've seen it recently. We've seen them pour almost fifty
Speaker 3: on Bama. Now, granted's not Alabama's best defense of the
Speaker 3: last decade. But we've seen a world in which LSU
Speaker 3: just pours it on a team offensively, and it's a
Speaker 3: healthier LSU defense. Again, I'm they're the most concerning element
Speaker 3: of this game. It's still a really good defense, very
Speaker 3: good deal Rashad Lawrence. Inside, it's still Claven Chase, and
Speaker 3: on the edge it's still Derek Stingley and Grant Delpit.
Speaker 3: This is a team that can turn over a team.
Speaker 3: This is a team that can stack pick sixes in
Speaker 3: short fields. There is a world in which LSU wins
Speaker 3: this game forty five to twenty six or something like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So my next question here, we got to give
Speaker 1: our picks of the week as we bring it home
Speaker 1: here on our final preview show of the twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: twenty twenty season. Give me a final score, give me
Speaker 1: a prediction, and tell me why.
Speaker 3: So, if my least likely out come is LSU small,
Speaker 3: that would make sense for me to take LSU small.
Speaker 3: I'm going to take LSU to win the game forty
Speaker 3: one to thirty four. Forty one thirty four. I think
Speaker 3: they're a touchdown better. I think it's back and forth.
Speaker 3: I think maybe there's a special team situation that changes things.
Speaker 3: I know LSU in the uh what the kick coverage
Speaker 3: game hasn't been amazing when at least when teams have
Speaker 3: been able to return the ball. I think there's a
Speaker 3: special team situation that changes the scope of things. I'm
Speaker 3: hopeful that Clyde Edwards Alaire is fully healthy and recovered
Speaker 3: from his hamstring issues. Otherwise I've become a little bit
Speaker 3: more worried because he was that keycog against Alabama. But
Speaker 3: there's something about Clemson that I'm not fully there with
Speaker 3: and I don't know why. I don't know if it
Speaker 3: was the start, I don't know what it was against
Speaker 3: Ohio State where they needed some things to break their
Speaker 3: way to come back, and I think it's a little
Speaker 3: bit more difficult against this LSU offense. So forty one
Speaker 3: thirty four in one of the all time great national championship.
Speaker 1: Games, I think it's going to be an amazing football game.
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna be a lot of points. I've
Speaker 1: got LSU winning at the gun forty five, forty two, again,
Speaker 1: a lot of points. Joe Burrow, Joe Burrow has to
Speaker 1: lead the LSU Tigers down the field to score in
Speaker 1: New Orleans to win the national championship.
Speaker 3: I have no idea why we think this Clemson defense
Speaker 3: is gonna give up so many points, But I honestly
Speaker 3: think Joe Burrow is what he's done this year. It's
Speaker 3: a generational performance. So let's put it this way. If
Speaker 3: anyone's gonna do it this year, it's gonna be Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, I think a lot of points uncharacteristically, so for
Speaker 1: the Clemson defense. Maybe I'm nuts, which is entirely possible
Speaker 1: from doing this all year. But I've got lis you
Speaker 1: by three on taking Clemson plus the points, and I
Speaker 1: agree with you that there may be a special team
Speaker 1: situation here. It's the only thing, one of the only
Speaker 1: things that jumps out on paper as a pretty big
Speaker 1: disparity between LSU, which has been pretty good on special
Speaker 1: teams by and large, and Clemson.
Speaker 3: Man, we've gotten this whole show, not even talking about
Speaker 3: t Higgins and Justin Ross and Travis y Ten and
Speaker 3: their ability. I mean, they've won the National Championship. We've
Speaker 3: seen what Justin Ross is able to do on a
Speaker 3: stage like this. Ah Man, what I just the receivers
Speaker 3: in this game. I'm not going to go through year
Speaker 3: by year to look at the receiving course from what
Speaker 3: we've seen, I remember Oregons was very beat up. But
Speaker 3: the I mean, if you're going Justin Ross T Higgins,
Speaker 3: Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson, Terris Marshall. I know Clemson doesn't
Speaker 3: have a world beater at tight end, whereas LSU has
Speaker 3: kind of a matchup Nightmare and Thad Moss at times.
Speaker 3: But what if you like receivers, if you like receivers
Speaker 3: on corners, this is this is pornography, ty, Yeah, I
Speaker 3: can't wait, and like we can talk about the fact
Speaker 3: that you know Clemson's secondary and I mentioned Tanner news earlier,
Speaker 3: maybe he's a weak point. I'm curious to see if
Speaker 3: LSU can generate some mismatches in the slot against Tanner muse.
Speaker 3: I'm curious to see what Clemson's able to do with
Speaker 3: their receivers against an LSU secondary that I mean, they're
Speaker 3: they're painted on receivers every week. Sure, this is I
Speaker 3: it looks to be an incredible collection of matchups outside.
Speaker 3: I just don't know how either defense covers their opponent's
Speaker 3: wide receivers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, sixteen minutes worth. I don't know how you do it.
Speaker 1: I really hope they each just like, really get up
Speaker 1: and press, just press.
Speaker 2: And it's.
Speaker 1: With a safety.
Speaker 3: I'm not hoping for that, but I am hoping that,
Speaker 3: you know, you get, you know a lot of fifty
Speaker 3: to fifty moments that just the game hinges on so
Speaker 3: many different, tiny, tiny little seconds.
Speaker 1: That's the best. I don't know how you cover these
Speaker 1: receivers for sixty minutes, and I don't know how you
Speaker 1: cover them with the constant threat of two really good
Speaker 1: running backs Edwards where Travis et totally ignoring Travis Etn,
Speaker 1: who's been perpetually underrated or undercovered at least as a
Speaker 1: star player for the Clemson Tigers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was mostly shut down by Ohio State and
Speaker 3: still managed to have arguably the biggest moment in the game,
Speaker 3: or the maybe two biggest moments, yeah, in the game
Speaker 3: for Shoransen.
Speaker 1: So there you go. We are both taking LSU Damn
Speaker 1: by a little bit of a larger margin than I
Speaker 1: they cover. Yeah, you think they cover. I'm not willing
Speaker 1: to go there. We will be watching the game together
Speaker 1: on Monday evening. I am driving up to your homestead
Speaker 1: shortly after I get out of the mysterious day job
Speaker 1: on Monday afternoon. We are going to convene and record
Speaker 1: our recap episode early on Tuesday and drop that hopefully
Speaker 1: before lunchtime. Get that out into the college football ether
Speaker 1: so you can digest it on your ride to or
Speaker 1: from work. Yeah, and then we're gonna hang out and
Speaker 1: enjoy the season that was this past I don't know,
Speaker 1: five or six months.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's our own personal rat party. That's it cool.
Speaker 3: I'll be making the solid verbal, the official dip of
Speaker 3: the solid verbal, the chorizo dip.
Speaker 1: Should I bring anything? You want me to bring anything?
Speaker 3: I mean, do you make anything that you're particularly proud
Speaker 3: of that you think that would make a good addition.
Speaker 3: I don't know if there will be other people watching
Speaker 3: with us.
Speaker 1: Do you want me to make my taco dip where
Speaker 1: I pour on the tostito salsa? You make whatever you want? Sure,
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's delicious on top of a luscious bed
Speaker 1: of sour cream, cream cheese and Mexican cheese from Wegmans.
Speaker 1: I don't know if my body can fully handle. Okay,
Speaker 1: my stomach has not been a friend of dairy recently,
Speaker 1: but I'm willing to try try everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll probably also get pizza. So yeah, there's gonna
Speaker 3: be a cheese factor anyway, Why the hell not.
Speaker 1: Follow along with us on Twitter, follow along on Instagram,
Speaker 1: check out the Facebook page. Dan and I are going
Speaker 1: to be posting. We're going to be offering running commentary
Speaker 1: at some point throughout the course of this week. I'm
Speaker 1: going to post my prop selections for the coming football game.
Speaker 1: They're not all out yet. There are a few interesting ones,
Speaker 1: but I want to wait until there's a more complete
Speaker 1: offering before I offer my recommendations. I know everyone's on
Speaker 1: the edge of their seat waiting for these, but give
Speaker 1: me a little bit more time to try and calculate
Speaker 1: what I think the best plays are.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're recording this obviously Tuesday for the Tues cruise,
Speaker 3: and we have not seen a full list of game
Speaker 3: and player props. I wonder, do you know who's doing?
Speaker 3: Is there a halftime show? I should have come prepared.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know about the halftime show, but we
Speaker 1: did Simpson, we did Ashley Simpson. We did make reference
Speaker 1: earlier to the broadcast and ESPN is again doing it's
Speaker 1: Mega cast, so of course Chris vowallor Kirk kurb Street
Speaker 1: are going to be on the call. Tom Ornaldi and
Speaker 1: Maria Taylor are going to be working the sidelines as
Speaker 1: they typically do. There will also be the Field Pass,
Speaker 1: which is going to feature our good friend Adam Amin
Speaker 1: along with Steve Levy. They're going to have Pat mcnafee
Speaker 1: Dan Orlovsky on the field as well. There's going to
Speaker 1: be a coach's film room on ESPN You. They have
Speaker 1: not announced yet who those coaches will be. Hopefully it'll
Speaker 1: be Kevin Steele, that'd be neat, Tom Reese would probably
Speaker 1: be nice. One desire there. I don't even know if
Speaker 1: I have it too. The Command Center will be on
Speaker 1: ESPN News, which is where they show you all the
Speaker 1: angles and get about four different vantage points at any moment.
Speaker 1: They'll have the Data center on the goal Line Network
Speaker 1: Too Excited in case you're getting too excited. The College
Speaker 1: Shower will be the data This is the real time
Speaker 1: statsnalytics and social media commentary. And then there will be
Speaker 1: the hometown radio on the ACC and SEC networks. Oh
Speaker 1: I like that. Yeah, so they'll have the hometown radio
Speaker 1: calls featuring the Clemson Tigers Network and the LS Sports
Speaker 1: Radio Network. I do like that.
Speaker 3: We both picked LSU, so technically Dabo can add us
Speaker 3: to the pile of non believers.
Speaker 1: There is a sounds of the game on ESPN Classic. Whoa,
Speaker 1: I'm reading this off the press release. It allows viewers
Speaker 1: to imagine themselves inside the Superdome. It's a little ASMR.
Speaker 3: So it's just it's like the no announcer experience, like
Speaker 3: they've done that with NBA games.
Speaker 1: That allows viewers to imagine themselves inside the Superdome as
Speaker 1: the game presentation will feature all the natural audio from
Speaker 1: the stadium, including the band performances. I assume no three
Speaker 1: D now no three D. We have a ref cast
Speaker 1: on the ESPN app, which is the streaming from their hats.
Speaker 1: John Perry, Matt Austin, and Judson Howard provide reaction and
Speaker 1: commentary from a referees perspective, So it doesn't I don't
Speaker 1: think the hat can will be involved here.
Speaker 3: Can we set up a feed in which it's just
Speaker 3: Mama h describing the action over the phone.
Speaker 1: We could do that. Try that? Okay, Oh, that would
Speaker 1: be great.
Speaker 3: I've had I mean, I'm sure you've had this situation
Speaker 3: too where you're not able to watch a game and
Speaker 3: you're like texting with somebody furiously or on the phone
Speaker 3: like yep, nope, okay, oh oh Jason, you just have
Speaker 3: no idea what's going on? I would love to have
Speaker 3: a mama h feed going.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll see what we can do. Okay, we'll
Speaker 1: figure that out. Well. Thank you to everyone out there
Speaker 1: for tuning in, not just for this show, but all
Speaker 1: season long. Yea, we will be back in short order
Speaker 1: to recap all this and much much more as we
Speaker 1: head into the college football off season. Don't forget. If
Speaker 1: you haven't subscribed, please do so. The soliverbal will be
Speaker 1: with you all throughout the calendar year, even if they're
Speaker 1: not playing football games. Knows, there's plenty of college football
Speaker 1: to discuss as we forge a head into the long
Speaker 1: doldrums that is the twenty twenty offseason. Yeah. Can I
Speaker 1: add one more thing? Please?
Speaker 3: If you're going to this game, eat literally anywhere. It
Speaker 3: will be very happy in New Orleans because it is
Speaker 3: the best. If you want specific places, I like, I
Speaker 3: don't know. There's Willie Mays for fried Chicken, There's a
Speaker 3: Killer Poe Boys, There's all sorts of places. Sylvain is
Speaker 3: very very good. If you don't feel like specific like
Speaker 3: Cajun food, but they still have Cajun options. Bevy is
Speaker 3: sort of a little outside of all the tourist area
Speaker 3: for Poe Boys and stuff like that. But you literally
Speaker 3: eat anywhere anywhere local. Don't don't do everything you can
Speaker 3: not to eat at CPK. For I'm saying in New Orleans.
Speaker 1: That guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein, for myself,
Speaker 1: Tie hilden Brand, We'll be back at you in just
Speaker 1: a few days. Enjoy the college football National Championship and
Speaker 1: we'll talk to you soon. Stay solid, pray,