Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid Verbal. I'm that for me. I'm
Speaker 1: 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 Dake Edith State.
Speaker 2: Is that woo whoom? And Dan and Tye welcome back
Speaker 2: to the Solid Verbal, Boys and girls. My name is
Speaker 2: ty hilden Brandt, joining me as always over there in
Speaker 2: beautiful New York City, my good friend and co host,
Speaker 2: the one the only Dan Rubinstein.
Speaker 1: Sir, how are you unlike our friends Tye in Athens, Georgia.
Speaker 1: I have shown up ready, okay, and prepared for duty
Speaker 1: and success? How about that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was an impressive performance before the committee. I
Speaker 2: hope they like what they saw.
Speaker 1: You know what it really was Tie to me, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you felt this too, as as a Notre
Speaker 1: Dame fan, feeling people just beating down that that storyline
Speaker 1: of Notre Dame not belonging at the very end of
Speaker 1: what was it, the final Lord of the Rings where
Speaker 1: the eagle soars in carrying our clan to the rescue,
Speaker 1: in comes Georgia's complete sloppiness and inattention to any sort
Speaker 1: of detail. To take some of that pressure off of
Speaker 1: the faithful Irish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was definitely a lifeline. I didn't get my
Speaker 2: full wish with Ohio State losing as well. Yeah, fair,
Speaker 2: But we'll talk about that game in addition to the
Speaker 2: Georgia game, in addition to a bunch of other games
Speaker 2: that we haven't had a chance to recap. Hello on Tye,
Speaker 2: He's Dan. We are the solid verbal We're going to
Speaker 2: be continuing all throughout the off season. We've got one
Speaker 2: game left that we're going to preview tomorrow, so stay
Speaker 2: tuned your podcast feed Thursday evening at some point where
Speaker 2: we'll drop that official preview show, and then of course
Speaker 2: we'll recap at some point early on Tuesday after the
Speaker 2: game between Clemson and Alabama actually takes place. Today. Though
Speaker 2: we've got recaps, we've got some college football news, which
Speaker 2: of course dropped right after we hit the stop button
Speaker 2: on our last show when we went through some other
Speaker 2: Bowl action. We'll talk about that big news from Miami
Speaker 2: as of Sunday here momentarily. But yeah, just a nice
Speaker 2: casual dress Wednesday show here.
Speaker 1: One more game, that's all we have.
Speaker 2: We are game after this.
Speaker 1: Yeah, officially passed multiple games on the same day that
Speaker 1: portion of the college football season with the final gun
Speaker 1: of Georgia Texas. Here we are.
Speaker 2: We feel pretty good. Here we are, Dan, let's do this.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: On Sunday we had p So it came out of
Speaker 2: left field that Mark Richt was retiring, effective immediately as
Speaker 2: head football coach of the my Miami Hurricanes. This set
Speaker 2: off a bit of a firestorm because again it came
Speaker 2: sort of out of nowhere. Granted, the season didn't go
Speaker 2: as expected for the Miami Hurricanes, but I don't know
Speaker 2: if anyone quite expected that Rick was just going to
Speaker 2: up and leave the job as expected. In light of
Speaker 2: this sudden announcement, there was a lot of speculation right
Speaker 2: away as to who the next coach might be. Bruce Feldman,
Speaker 2: our friend Bruce was tweeting out about all sorts of names.
Speaker 2: Well and behold. By evening, it ends up being Manny Diaz. Now,
Speaker 2: Manny Diaz was the defensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes,
Speaker 2: a native son of the greater Miami area, but he
Speaker 2: had just agreed to be head football coach at Temple.
Speaker 2: Miami acts quickly. They bring Manny Diaz back from the
Speaker 2: brink of the City of Brotherly Love.
Speaker 1: Back from the brink, like he was about to be
Speaker 1: shoved into a pool of magma.
Speaker 2: It's a little colder up there up here, I should say. Yeah,
Speaker 2: as it stands, Many Diaz is going to be your
Speaker 2: new head footbook coach at Miami. How do you grade
Speaker 2: the hire?
Speaker 1: I like it. It's interesting to me, and I do
Speaker 1: appreciate the fact that they moved swiftly, and Many Diaz,
Speaker 1: I'm sure had a moment of here is this opportunity
Speaker 1: facing me, and not unlike what happened I suppose with
Speaker 1: Willie Taggart in Florida State, except that he didn't even
Speaker 1: spend a full year or month at a new gig,
Speaker 1: just a matter of weeks. And so if he were
Speaker 1: going to make that move, you got to make it immediately.
Speaker 1: And he did he, you know, to his credit, I
Speaker 1: guess he ripped that band aid off and didn't let
Speaker 1: it get too far down the road and didn't let
Speaker 1: Miami start talking to other people if they indeed offered
Speaker 1: him upon the actual conversation they had with him, the
Speaker 1: timing was terrible. Obviously, it would have been nice for
Speaker 1: Markreek to retire, I don't know, a month ago, it
Speaker 1: would have been super good. I had my slight reflexive
Speaker 1: panic attack when Mario Christobaul's name started being thrown into
Speaker 1: the mix, obviously as an alumnus and somebody who's recruited
Speaker 1: super well and has all sorts of connections to South Florida.
Speaker 1: Not because I'm positive he is going to succeed and
Speaker 1: am fully encouraged by what I've seen, but four coaches
Speaker 1: in four years ain't for me. Time No, not my
Speaker 1: favorite thing. So I in terms of many Diaz specifically,
Speaker 1: he's on the younger side, he has energized, He's familiar,
Speaker 1: he is considered to be very intelligent and connected. He's
Speaker 1: you know, coached all over the place now. I think
Speaker 1: he was NC State, Florida State as a GA, and
Speaker 1: then Mississippi State and Texas most notably before coming back.
Speaker 1: So he checks a lot of boxes, both culturally and
Speaker 1: experience wise. I do have a kind of a question here,
Speaker 1: what has been the big criticism over the years about
Speaker 1: the USC hiring process.
Speaker 2: I think the USC hiring process has tended to go
Speaker 2: for almost the easy name. In what way they've gone
Speaker 2: for the flashy hire.
Speaker 1: Well, they've gone for the flashy higher and they've gone.
Speaker 2: For a USC guy the USC guy.
Speaker 1: Sure, somebody connected to the program that understands how things
Speaker 1: work at USC. And we've made this connection before private school,
Speaker 1: you know, having this sort of storied history of that.
Speaker 1: Miami and USC are like weird college football cousins. Miami's
Speaker 1: doing this, Miami's doing the USC thing, and it's fine
Speaker 1: if it works. But you know, with Mark Rick's connection
Speaker 1: with previous coaches, connections with Brandy Shannon, with Coker, which
Speaker 1: is understandable, they're going with Miami guys.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he's so, he's a Miami guy because
Speaker 2: he was. He was born there. He didn't go to Miami.
Speaker 2: He's a floor he did think guy technically, yes, but
Speaker 2: he's native to the area. He knows the area. As
Speaker 2: with a lot of guys from the area of a
Speaker 2: big school. They want the job, Manny Deez one of
Speaker 2: the job. He's leaving the Temple job, which you just
Speaker 2: barely started to take over. I think he struck a
Speaker 2: really good note right off the bat. It wasn't unexpected
Speaker 2: that he would dismiss basically the entire offensive staff as
Speaker 2: well as the strength coach to kind of set down
Speaker 2: a precedent for where he's looking to go. He's on
Speaker 2: the record now saying you got to get better quarterback play,
Speaker 2: which duh. We know that he's a name that is
Speaker 2: not unfamiliar to us because Manny Diaz has been playing
Speaker 2: in the Bill Connolly circles, I'll say for quite some time.
Speaker 2: He's one of the few coaches who's gone on the
Speaker 2: record as embracing the analytics movement in college football. So
Speaker 2: he's kind of a darling of at least that wing
Speaker 2: of the sport. But you know, here's what I don't like.
Speaker 2: We don't know anything about whether he can run a
Speaker 2: program this big until sure, like a few days ago,
Speaker 2: Temple was the big job for Manny Diaz. It's a
Speaker 2: pretty big upgrade to go from Temple to Miami. The
Speaker 2: reverse al Golden I think, as you said, reverse reverse
Speaker 2: al golden, these reverse al Golden. So yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: I like Manny Diaz. I think he's shown a ton
Speaker 2: of promise everywhere he's been. Didn't go great at Texas,
Speaker 2: but we'll forget about that for now. We just don't
Speaker 2: know a whole lot about how he's going to do
Speaker 2: running a program on his own.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think the being impressed with the hire
Speaker 1: immediately that feeling is crazy overrated. Because Mark Rick goes
Speaker 1: to Miami, everybody is crazy impressed. And yes, he takes
Speaker 1: them to a big Bowl game last year. But in
Speaker 1: terms of four or five years of Mark Richt and
Speaker 1: maybe something will come out, maybe there's a health element,
Speaker 1: maybe there's just something that it was untenable about Mark
Speaker 1: Rick's future. But winning that press conference, winning that tweet
Speaker 1: is completely overrated. And if Manny Diaz and Miami are
Speaker 1: going to succeed together, it's because he's a good fit
Speaker 1: and because he understands infrastructure and recruiting and assistant hires
Speaker 1: and makes good decisive moves at every turn. That's all
Speaker 1: that matters.
Speaker 2: All right. So some other coaching news here that we
Speaker 2: do need to get through quickly. Daniel Holgerson to Houston
Speaker 2: is official as of today. Holgerson's a guy with a
Speaker 2: familiarity Houston, loves Houston, apparently, and it came as a
Speaker 2: bit of a surprise to a lot of folks that
Speaker 2: he would, in their view, downgrade from West Virginia go
Speaker 2: into a group of five school. Now you can make
Speaker 2: that argument one way or the other. Maybe we can
Speaker 2: do that here briefly. But he's taking over Houston, which
Speaker 2: I think is a huge coup for the Cougars. Some
Speaker 2: of the names that are reportedly connected to the now
Speaker 2: West Virginia opening your Boy, Neil Brown, Mike Norvell, Fickle,
Speaker 2: Mike Leach as a bit of a dark horse. I
Speaker 2: saw Lane Kiffen mentioned as well. I don't know if
Speaker 2: I like that one. Any thoughts here, Dan, Butch Jones
Speaker 2: another one, rich Rod coming out of the woodwork.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, rich Rod's just signed with Ole Miss But
Speaker 1: I guess nothing is Nothing's permanence with rich Rod. And
Speaker 1: you know, when you have a head coaching offer, you know,
Speaker 1: potentially maybe small chance on the table. West Virginia is
Speaker 1: a good job. West Virginia is a challenging job. Dana
Speaker 1: Holgerson clearly recruited very well, and I don't think ever
Speaker 1: had a top twenty five class at West Virginia. Being
Speaker 1: that Morgantown is far far away from Texas and the
Speaker 1: sort of recruiting hotbed of the Big twelve. Still a
Speaker 1: very good job in just a very strange geographic situation
Speaker 1: relative to the rest of the conference. As for Hulgo
Speaker 1: going to Houston, the P five to G five move
Speaker 1: is rare if never happening. Ever, Houston a crazy attractive
Speaker 1: place with all the talent there, with a winnable conference
Speaker 1: and a dicey situation with the trigger that what is it,
Speaker 1: Tillman for Tita, they like the shadow ad, the shadow pressure,
Speaker 1: whatever it is that the Megabooster getting rid of major
Speaker 1: Apple White after a pretty poor Bowl performance against Army.
Speaker 1: It's it's interesting because we figure that Houston's offense should
Speaker 1: be great, they should have a winnable schedule. I looked
Speaker 1: up and put this down here. Their future schedules these
Speaker 1: next three years are schedules that would say, okay, if
Speaker 1: they go undefeated, maybe they are sneaking into a playoff
Speaker 1: conversation more so than UCF. Given the non conference elements.
Speaker 1: They go to Oklahoma and they play Wazoo at NRG.
Speaker 1: What do you call that?
Speaker 2: The nerve ner Yes, officially the nerk. Yes.
Speaker 1: They do travel to UCF next year in conference, they
Speaker 1: travel to Wazoo in twenty twenty. They host Boise and
Speaker 1: Texas Tech in twenty twenty one and travel to Vandy,
Speaker 1: so they will have Power five opponents. We are putting
Speaker 1: the cart way way ahead of the horse here. But
Speaker 1: given Dania Holgrison's success level and a Power five conference,
Speaker 1: it's not crazy to think he should be winning double
Speaker 1: digit plus games at Houston if that's if that's the
Speaker 1: very very floor of expectations of him.
Speaker 2: Okay, well we'll see what happens with that West Virginia opening.
Speaker 2: I don't know, feels to me like it was time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it apparently had had reached a point in Morgantown
Speaker 1: between Dana Holgris and the administration where it was just time.
Speaker 1: As you said, that he wasn't necessarily getting the support
Speaker 1: he wanted. They weren't necessarily happy with the results all
Speaker 1: the time, and sometimes it's just best to part ways.
Speaker 2: Also, I think it's nice the way that it went
Speaker 2: down him leaving for another job as opposed to an
Speaker 2: ugly firing. I don't know. Correctice has sort of a
Speaker 2: nicer sheene to.
Speaker 1: It's probably the best for everybody.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll see where West Virginia goes. The only other
Speaker 2: coaching news news that I want to discuss here, and
Speaker 2: trust me, we do have another coaching item that we'll
Speaker 2: get through after we get through the Bowlrycaps, Yeah, featuring
Speaker 2: what we want and only Brian Kelly, but Cliff Kingsbury. Now,
Speaker 2: you know, it was a big to do when he
Speaker 2: was let go by Texas Tech and there was this
Speaker 2: whole parade of teams that may or may not be
Speaker 2: interested in his services. He of course signed on with
Speaker 2: USC to be offensive coordinator. The rumors are coming hot
Speaker 2: and heavy that he may be interviewing with the Arizona
Speaker 2: Cardinals for their head coaching gig as well as the
Speaker 2: New York Football Jets for their head football coach gig Dan.
Speaker 2: You wrote down in our note sheet, quote, but why
Speaker 2: are you saying? But why from the Cliff Kingsbury perspective?
Speaker 2: Or but why from the NFL perspective?
Speaker 1: From the NFL perspective. Yeah, there's there's a I think
Speaker 1: it was. Was it Ryan Reynolds and Harold and Kumar
Speaker 1: who was the surgeon, and like.
Speaker 2: But why?
Speaker 1: That's what was going through my head. Cliff Kingsbury appears
Speaker 1: to be a very bright offensive mind, but running an
Speaker 1: enormous football franchise when there were elements that he certainly
Speaker 1: struggled with at Texas Tech is kind of confounding. It
Speaker 1: feels like we're going after the USC offensive coordinator. He
Speaker 1: hasn't coached at USC yet and at Texas Tech. He
Speaker 1: really struggled to put together a defense for many years.
Speaker 1: You know, did the best he could with some quarterback
Speaker 1: injuries this year, and certainly has the quarterbacks and the
Speaker 1: tutelage behind him of Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield to
Speaker 1: a lesser extent. But we're missing some pieces here, Ty,
Speaker 1: there needs to be something between.
Speaker 2: I admire the willingness to go out there and make
Speaker 2: a splash higher if you're a team like the Cardinals
Speaker 2: of the Jets, I admire that. And certainly Cliff Kingsbury
Speaker 2: is a name that has been trotted about for quite
Speaker 2: some time. He's a creative mind. He can bring an
Speaker 2: electric offense to really wherever he goes. I think all
Speaker 2: that stuff is very, very notable. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 2: if I'm a Jets fan if I want Cliff Kingsbury
Speaker 2: given his track record.
Speaker 1: No, you're weathering. It's not just calling place. It's not
Speaker 1: just diagramming an offense together and putting an offense together.
Speaker 1: It's the full infrastructure and culture. Not that he couldn't
Speaker 1: one day do it or can't can prove us wrong
Speaker 1: right now, But I mean what.
Speaker 2: I would much rather have an NFL retread at this point, like,
Speaker 2: give me Josh McDaniels or somebody who's got a little
Speaker 2: bit more of a head coaching resume in the NFL,
Speaker 2: given the fact that you've got a brand new quarterback
Speaker 2: and Sam, I don't know.
Speaker 1: This is an NFL show.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is an NFL appreciation show. Is the playoffs? Test?
Speaker 2: I do want to talk about the ball games because
Speaker 2: we had to talk a bunch of them that transpired
Speaker 2: on New Year's Eve as well as New Year's Day?
Speaker 2: Which game to you should we start with? Should it
Speaker 2: be the Sugar Bowl?
Speaker 1: Let's just do cheese a bowl again? More to say, yeah,
Speaker 1: you want to talk Sugar. Do you want to talk Rose?
Speaker 1: What do you want to do?
Speaker 2: I want to talk about Bevo going after Uga in
Speaker 2: the pregame of the Sugar Bowl.
Speaker 1: It was scary in that Bevo, who normally we just
Speaker 1: see sort of sitting and pooping and puffing around that
Speaker 1: he was on his feet and energized and saw the
Speaker 1: dog and saw the dog, saw Uga and sort of
Speaker 1: made a mad dash, tried to head Buttom. The horns
Speaker 1: went down. It was it seemed out of character the guy.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine being that photographer in the blue vest
Speaker 2: who was getting what he thought was just a beach
Speaker 2: ball of a photo op with and then turn around
Speaker 2: a giant steer, Yeah, bearing down on you.
Speaker 1: That's what he sounded like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're going to replay that footage on the Longhorn
Speaker 2: Network for about a hundred years.
Speaker 1: Dan, what I enjoyed about the specific situation is, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've seen the housing for Ralfi the
Speaker 1: Colorado Buffalo.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I believe it's a she.
Speaker 1: Traditionally it's a truck with the cage and confinement, and
Speaker 1: they let her out and they stomp around the field
Speaker 1: and they bring back to the back to the holding
Speaker 1: pen kind of situation where it's where it's locked up
Speaker 1: and secure. Bevo a large bowl was apparently confined with canvas.
Speaker 2: It looked like cardboard.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a little bit of rope and some flimsy canvas. Okay,
Speaker 1: that's that's one way to do it with a lot
Speaker 1: of people and children and just very very susceptible bulldogs around.
Speaker 1: It was it was a decision, but it got it
Speaker 1: was It was a bit of a metaphor ty can
Speaker 1: we say that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, for sure, an omen a bit of an omen,
Speaker 2: your final score here was Texas twenty eight Georgia twenty one.
Speaker 2: In reality, Texas had a much bigger lead. Georgia completed
Speaker 2: two short touchdown passes, one of which was with about
Speaker 2: fourteen seconds left in the game to make this one
Speaker 2: look a little bit closer than it was, but really
Speaker 2: Texas jumped out to a quick start. Sam Ellinger ran
Speaker 2: for three touchdowns. He helped build an early twenty eight
Speaker 2: to seven lead in the early part of the fourth
Speaker 2: quarter before Georgia tried to mount a charge, but it
Speaker 2: really was too little, too late. After the game, sam
Speaker 2: Ellinger went there Dan, He said, Texas is back.
Speaker 1: Texas back.
Speaker 2: This question that never ever leaves the college football consciousness
Speaker 2: was again put forth there.
Speaker 1: So they're already shirts.
Speaker 2: By the way, Yeah, we know where sam Ellinger stands
Speaker 2: on Texas being back. In your mind, does this victory
Speaker 2: by Texas say more about where Texas is at, or
Speaker 2: more about where Georgia is at, or more about either
Speaker 2: of these teams as we move forward now into twenty nineteen, Well.
Speaker 1: This is the Georgia we've seen when they've lost. This
Speaker 1: is what Georgia looks like. Where they look flat. It's
Speaker 1: not like they've they've lost these games outside of the
Speaker 1: Alabama games these past couple of years, but whether it
Speaker 1: was LSU this year or Auburn last year, there's just
Speaker 1: a flatness about Georgia that was apparent, especially when you
Speaker 1: compare them against the energy Texas had. Texas basically plays
Speaker 1: on different levels, Like you know, you go to like
Speaker 1: a hot chicken place and you can get mild and
Speaker 1: you can get a toomic and like Texas in these
Speaker 1: big games, as we've seen from Tom Herman at both
Speaker 1: Houston and Texas, they just get up and it was
Speaker 1: apparent from the opening drive where Texas had a plan.
Speaker 1: When Texas was on defense early, they were just getting
Speaker 1: after Georgia in a way that I don't think the
Speaker 1: Bulldogs were expecting. I don't think Jake fromm was expecting.
Speaker 1: I don't think the coaching staff was expecting. And Texas
Speaker 1: came out and wanted this as as much of a
Speaker 1: cliche as that is, they took every play so much
Speaker 1: more seriously than Georgia did, so I think it confirms
Speaker 1: what we already believed about the best of Texas. We
Speaker 1: will learn more about Texas moving forward when they don't
Speaker 1: play this top tier opponent. I think we will learn
Speaker 1: it when we see them play Kansas State or Baylor
Speaker 1: for Oklahoma State, one of those types of teams, because
Speaker 1: that is the step that Texas is lacking right now.
Speaker 2: Nothing big here, Yeah, consistency across their entire schedule, not
Speaker 2: just against the top of the top. This was a thing, right,
Speaker 2: We talked about it all year. Texas gets up for
Speaker 2: these big games. I don't know if there was any
Speaker 2: doubt that they would be up for the Sugar Bowl here.
Speaker 2: Clearly Georgia had a little bit more to lose, but
Speaker 2: I don't know if they cared as much, right, And
Speaker 2: we can talk about this too. I could also just
Speaker 2: assume it. But yeah, that we're going to backload here
Speaker 2: on this show, I promise you. But I agree with you.
Speaker 2: I think it says a lot about Texas. I like
Speaker 2: what it means for them moving forward. I hope they
Speaker 2: can use it as a rallying cry as they build
Speaker 2: towards the twenty nineteen season. They got a lot coming back,
Speaker 2: so they should be loaded for bear here, provided they
Speaker 2: could continue to harness this energy from the Sugar Bowl win.
Speaker 2: Nice win for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as soon as I saw when was the when
Speaker 1: did From throw an interception? I think it was early on,
Speaker 1: early second half. Yeah, he scrambles out, he's pressured, and
Speaker 1: he just sort of throws on the run as he's
Speaker 1: being hit and sort of throws it up and as
Speaker 1: it leaves his hand, you're like, this is either going
Speaker 1: to be the greatest play of Bowl season or it's
Speaker 1: going to be a nightmare disaster. And it was picked
Speaker 1: off by I think Chris Boyd. And it was that
Speaker 1: kind of play that where he seemed to be pressing
Speaker 1: so much as a typically poised rhythm throw or he
Speaker 1: does check down some, but he is so strong at
Speaker 1: sort of exuding that calm. We saw that against Auburn
Speaker 1: last year where all of a sudden he's pressing. They're
Speaker 1: down whatever, ten, fourteen, twenty, and he's just going all
Speaker 1: out and like, that's not a winning jake from And
Speaker 1: when I saw that, I was like.
Speaker 2: This, this is over. That's it. No, all right, So
Speaker 2: there you go, big, great great game from Texas, Texas
Speaker 2: and the Sugar Bowl. I think this epitomizes why I
Speaker 2: try to put all my confidence points on the early teams,
Speaker 2: on the early games, I should say, because once you
Speaker 2: get to this stage of the game. These are unpredictable games.
Speaker 2: We're gonna read through a bunch of rom here that
Speaker 2: ended up being really unpredictable in the end and maybe
Speaker 2: counter to what conventional wisdom was. So again, Texas would
Speaker 2: certainly be one of those teams. They were an eleven
Speaker 2: point dog. They end up winning out right twenty eight
Speaker 2: twenty one. Let's stay on New Year's Day and go
Speaker 2: to the Rose Bowl. Ohio State also puts up twenty
Speaker 2: eight points in victory. They tried to blow twenty five
Speaker 2: point ly. They really tried. Washington got back within five,
Speaker 2: could have been three, didn't make the two point conversion.
Speaker 2: I thought we were going to look at americal front
Speaker 2: door cover there with Ohio State returning a two point
Speaker 2: conversion the other way to get some points for themselves,
Speaker 2: but was not to be. Twenty eight to twenty three
Speaker 2: year final score. They send Urban Meyer out on a
Speaker 2: very high note. Chris Peterson on the flip side, now
Speaker 2: drops to one in four in bowl games at Washington Dan.
Speaker 2: I thought a good game for Dwayne Haskins. I thought
Speaker 2: a good game for most of the game for that
Speaker 2: Ohio State defense, which had been a bit beleaguered this
Speaker 2: season so far. Does this one to you say more
Speaker 2: about Ohio State or more about Washington?
Speaker 1: I think probably Washington at this point because we are
Speaker 1: we're used to this Ohio State. We're used in Ohio
Speaker 1: State on this stage performing pretty well when they're not
Speaker 1: being shut out by Clemson in a playoff game. But
Speaker 1: we're used to this version of Dwayne Haskins. We are
Speaker 1: not fully used to the offensive line playing as well
Speaker 1: as they did on the ground. Mike Weber I think
Speaker 1: had a really nice game, might have been the offensive
Speaker 1: MVP if not for Dwayne Haskins being a super competent
Speaker 1: quarterback for Ohio State. But Washington wise disappointed that they
Speaker 1: came out sort of skittish and conservative and really weren't
Speaker 1: trying to attack Dwayne Haskins like they did later on
Speaker 1: in the game. Weren't trying to attack downfield. There was
Speaker 1: not and this is something we're used to from Washington
Speaker 1: coming out and looking very sharp early on and Chris
Speaker 1: Peterson and scripting plays and like, wow, Washington just has it,
Speaker 1: you know, game plan perfectly. That's the sort of signature
Speaker 1: is they're just a smart team and they were just
Speaker 1: early on other than Miles Gaskin. There wasn't a lot
Speaker 1: to like about this Washington team on either side, whereas
Speaker 1: with Ohio State, they came out going right. At Washington,
Speaker 1: they threw the ball well, Haskins did a nice job
Speaker 1: getting a lot of different players involved. And so it
Speaker 1: certainly was a little too little, too late for Washington
Speaker 1: because by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, we
Speaker 1: saw that Washington had it in them, you know, attacking
Speaker 1: this Ohio State offense. I don't know, they have one
Speaker 1: first down in the second half, something crazy like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was bad, and they were harassing the Ohio State offense.
Speaker 1: They were, I mean, they had a couple of pretty
Speaker 1: bad drops, but they were they were generating open passing lanes,
Speaker 1: and it was just where was this make the whole
Speaker 1: plane out of the second half? I didn't I was
Speaker 1: confused as to why we saw the Washington we did
Speaker 1: in that first half for the first three quarters.
Speaker 2: Really yeah, I thought, actually this was a good way
Speaker 2: to go out for Jake Browning, even though it was
Speaker 2: a loss. Jake Browning looked really good down the stretch.
Speaker 2: Perhaps that's because Ohio State was mailing it in a bin.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't really care. Jake Browning is
Speaker 2: someone who I think if you ask Washington fans their
Speaker 2: opinion of him, they'll say that in the end they
Speaker 2: came away very disappointed or underwhelmed by Himly course, I'll
Speaker 2: actually said it before the game started that he's been
Speaker 2: underwhelmed by Jake Browning. He speaks for all of us.
Speaker 2: It has been the case for Browning. But he looked
Speaker 2: good down the stretch. Washington certainly did not give up,
Speaker 2: even though they were trying to come back from a
Speaker 2: pretty big deficit. It says a lot about their character
Speaker 2: that they would fight the way they did on the
Speaker 2: Ohio State side. Speaking of the quarterback position, if you're
Speaker 2: Dwayne Haskins, do you leave early?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, I think I do.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean he I think he is in a
Speaker 1: better place in terms of maturity and readiness for the
Speaker 1: NFL than Justin Herbert, who's coming back. I think he
Speaker 1: has the measurables. Still will be raw entering the league,
Speaker 1: but given this class and the coaching transition, and I
Speaker 1: did see what's Mike You're sick? Is being rumored to
Speaker 1: go from Oklahoma State the offense coordinator to Ohio State
Speaker 1: to join Ryan Day's staff. Yeah, I would most certainly go,
Speaker 1: but I would totally understand if he didn't. And now
Speaker 1: there's what Justin Fields rumors about Ohio State and so
Speaker 1: a lot of changes in Columbus. Back to what you said,
Speaker 1: I would be still disappointed. If I were a Washington fan,
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be happy with the fight or the competitive
Speaker 1: nature they were in the playoffs two years ago. Yeah,
Speaker 1: to be shut out well from getting into the end
Speaker 1: zone for three quarters against this year's version of the
Speaker 1: Ohio State defense, I'd be pretty bummed. What did you
Speaker 1: think of the punt down? I think it was down eleven,
Speaker 1: twenty eight to seventeen. Yeah, three forty six. And this
Speaker 1: won't be the first time we talk about strange special
Speaker 1: teams decisions. Go Nitney Lions. What did you think about
Speaker 1: Washington punting there down eleven just under four minutes left,
Speaker 1: basically saying we will have to score quickly and get
Speaker 1: an on sidekick rather than trying to score now and
Speaker 1: then score again quickly.
Speaker 2: Well, since we talk about the Citrus Bowl next, I'll
Speaker 2: say that I questioned the punt in the Washington game
Speaker 2: more than I did in the Penn State game.
Speaker 1: The field goal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, excuse me more than I did. The field goal,
Speaker 2: just because Kentucky was not moving the ball at all
Speaker 2: right on Penn State, whereas with Ohio State there was
Speaker 2: at least somebody of proof there that they could strike
Speaker 2: pretty quickly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it just felt like, okay, you're taking the foot
Speaker 1: off the gas. I'm not a big believer in momentum,
Speaker 1: but I have to imagine the Washington offense had more
Speaker 1: confidence than they did earlier on in the game, and
Speaker 1: certainly more confidence than the Ohio State defense had in
Speaker 1: that moment. So it sort of felt like things were
Speaker 1: screeching to a halt. I hate having to rely on
Speaker 1: the on side kick unless you absolutely absolutely need to.
Speaker 2: All right, let's go to the Citrus Bowl. Kentucky twenty seven,
Speaker 2: Penn State twenty four. Benny Snell needed something like one
Speaker 2: hundred and seven hundred and four yards to become Kentucky's
Speaker 2: all time leading rusher. He got one hundred and forty
Speaker 2: four Kentucky. He finishes with a ten wins season, which
Speaker 2: is incredible for the Wildcats. Congratulations to them, to their fans,
Speaker 2: to Mike Stoops. This is a really big moment for
Speaker 2: the football program. Also, Trace McSorley, I thought, going out
Speaker 2: on a pretty high note as well, reportedly broke his foot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, did he break his foot?
Speaker 2: I gotta believe the answer is no, but I don't
Speaker 2: know for sure. Okay, he wasn't moving like he broke
Speaker 2: his foot. He only missed one series, so I think
Speaker 2: initially it was reported as a broken foot. It doesn't
Speaker 2: mean that there isn't something broken in there. But Trace
Speaker 2: McSorley came back in and damn near led Penn State
Speaker 2: from a twenty point deficit to victory. He ends up
Speaker 2: throwing for two forty six. He was a team's leading
Speaker 2: rusher with seventy five yards. Trace did his damn best
Speaker 2: to try and win this game in his final one
Speaker 2: at Penn State, but it was not meant to be
Speaker 2: because Kentucky. Kentucky played really, really well in that first half,
Speaker 2: in the first three quarters really and gave themselves enough
Speaker 2: of a lead, held it together defensively to stave off
Speaker 2: a comeback from Penn State. Nice win for them.
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, Trace McSorley when he loses, always plays
Speaker 1: his heart out. That was just every time Penn State
Speaker 1: loses with Trace McSorley. That's oh man, you hate to
Speaker 1: see it. McSorley played his heartous. Yeah, this was a
Speaker 1: sloppy game for Penn State. This was a winnable game
Speaker 1: for Penn State. Ugly ugly special teams game for Penn State.
Speaker 1: And I didn't like the field goal thing at the
Speaker 1: end of the game.
Speaker 2: It was just, you know, it didn't bother me though,
Speaker 2: because if you were watching the full, if you're watching
Speaker 2: the flow of that game, Penn State had so much
Speaker 2: momentum dan that I think if you polled ten people,
Speaker 2: even if they weren't fans of either team, who do
Speaker 2: you think is going to win right now? Based in
Speaker 2: the feel of this game, most people would have said
Speaker 2: Penn State. They just had so much work in their
Speaker 2: direction that a field goal there didn't bother me the
Speaker 2: way it bothered a lot of people. I just assumed
Speaker 2: that they would get the ball back and score, which
Speaker 2: of course they didn't. It didn't work out, but it
Speaker 2: didn't really bug me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was something, Yes, I think what Kentucky got
Speaker 1: a couple first downs and that extended and they had
Speaker 1: to go for a game winning play from like their
Speaker 1: own fifteen. I want to say yep.
Speaker 2: And what a fitting way for Penn State season to
Speaker 2: end with a receiver dropping a ball, not even a pass,
Speaker 2: but a lateral for that to fall onto the ground
Speaker 2: was a nice fitting way for Penn State's season to
Speaker 2: end because they've had so much trouble with it this season.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a tough game for Penn State. They
Speaker 1: score what one touchdown over the course of the first
Speaker 1: three quarters. Just and this is an excellent Kentucky defense.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to take anything away from Kentucky. This
Speaker 1: was a very very Kentucky game of Benny Snell being
Speaker 1: the absolute wrecking ball that he has always been will
Speaker 1: always be and now a record setting wrecking ball. But
Speaker 1: this game was Penn State's for the taking. This just
Speaker 1: they had it.
Speaker 2: It was very.
Speaker 1: Twenty eighteen Penn State in the way as you mentioned
Speaker 1: with the drop tooken lateral that it went all day.
Speaker 2: What does this bowl result or which team I should say,
Speaker 2: does this Bowl result speak more too? I don't know
Speaker 2: if there's an answer here. It certainly confirms what we've
Speaker 2: seen all year from Penn State in that they were
Speaker 2: a mistake prone, that the offense was sluggish at times,
Speaker 2: that there would be a bit of a comeback attempt,
Speaker 2: and I think it confirms a lot of what we
Speaker 2: knew about Kentucky that there were flashes of brilliance on offense.
Speaker 2: They weren't going to get a whole lot out of
Speaker 2: their quarterback situation, but Benny Snell is clearly a very
Speaker 2: high level player at Kentucky and around the SEC, certainly
Speaker 2: in the NFL at some point soon and their defense,
Speaker 2: their defense was a bit sucking wind down the stretch,
Speaker 2: but ultimately was able to hold it together. I think
Speaker 2: this result confirmed a lot about what we knew about
Speaker 2: both teams coming in. Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, Kentucky had a really good year and Penn State
Speaker 1: had opportunities to have a better year, had opportunities to
Speaker 1: have a better game, and came up short. It was
Speaker 1: a perfect encapsulation of both of these team seasons and
Speaker 1: all it really told me about the future of Penn
Speaker 1: State is they need to get out ahead, because when
Speaker 1: it comes down to late game coaching decisions.
Speaker 2: James Franklin may not be your guy late game coaching.
Speaker 1: Decisions, he may not be your guy.
Speaker 2: This is a recurring theme.
Speaker 1: Does Joe Morahead have like a nephew? Is there a
Speaker 1: Hank Morehead.
Speaker 2: All right, twenty seven to twenty four. Big win for Kentucky.
Speaker 2: Ten win season. Let's go to the Fiesta Bowl. We
Speaker 2: had LSU forty, UCF thirty two. I'm going to say
Speaker 2: something controversial. It's really not that controversial because I'm not
Speaker 2: that controversial person, but it will be viewed as controversial
Speaker 2: from some UCF fans who listen to this show that
Speaker 2: the final score of this game is going to make
Speaker 2: it look a lot closer than it was if we
Speaker 2: could be real for a second here, Okay, UCF gained
Speaker 2: outgained by over three hundred yards, five point fifty five
Speaker 2: to two fifty Dariel Mack to be fair, a backup,
Speaker 2: a backup for UCF was eleven for thirty for ninety
Speaker 2: seven yards, thirty two of which came on that hail
Speaker 2: Mary at the end of at the end of the
Speaker 2: first half, right, And I think it's a huge indictment
Speaker 2: on the defense that Joe Burrow would throw for almost
Speaker 2: four hundred yards. Joe Burrow does not throw for four
Speaker 2: hundred yards against both teams.
Speaker 1: No, that is not necessarily a recipe for now. Let's
Speaker 1: see a winning games as their quarterback throwing for four
Speaker 1: hundred yards. But LSU after what they go down after
Speaker 1: the first quarter. There's that hit on the pick six.
Speaker 1: That was a hard hit on Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2: It was not tartle hit that was not targeting. It
Speaker 2: was I don't think it was targeted. That was not targeting.
Speaker 1: But he came out after that hit and was a
Speaker 1: full on gamer. He was so good. He completed what
Speaker 1: it's seven of eight or an eight of nine whatever
Speaker 1: right after that hit, which you know, is it mirrors
Speaker 1: the disaster that was the UCF passing game. I think
Speaker 1: Mac had ten straight in completion one point. That was
Speaker 1: his Rookie of the Year moment right there. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was rough. And so yes, this game was closer than
Speaker 1: the score indicates because LSU eventually just started mashing the Knights.
Speaker 1: They did, and that's what they should have done, and
Speaker 1: all the more impressive because LSU was down some major
Speaker 1: major talent on defense. Grant Delpit I think was ejected,
Speaker 1: Michael Divinity gets hurt, where Shad Lawrence gets hurt. Greedy
Speaker 1: Williams isn't playing in the game. So they're down a
Speaker 1: lot on defense, and it ultimately does not matter because
Speaker 1: LSU does a good job on both sides of the ball,
Speaker 1: if not a great job at times, and took care
Speaker 1: of business and ty it's a bummer that it's what
Speaker 1: it's the PlayStation festival.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's a bummer.
Speaker 1: It's not the Tostitos one because buddy, this got chippy forty.
Speaker 2: To thirty two year final here, LSU wins the same.
Speaker 2: More to you about LSU or UCF.
Speaker 1: Oh as the teams were constituted. I don't think you
Speaker 1: can take too much away other than LSU is just
Speaker 1: more talented pretty much everywhere, and good teams take care
Speaker 1: of business and now else you took care of business.
Speaker 2: So I think this says a lot about UCF. I
Speaker 2: think it says more about UCF that they would give
Speaker 2: up four hundred yards almost four hundred yards to Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was one of those alube situations where the
Speaker 1: UCF offense was doing the defense, just zero favors getting
Speaker 1: off the field as quickly as they did without McKenzie Milton.
Speaker 2: Out Back Bowl, Iowa twenty seven, Mississippi State twenty two.
Speaker 2: This is a better game than I expected. Also a
Speaker 2: bit of a statistical anomaly here. Iowa wins despite having
Speaker 2: negative fifteen rushing yards, despite going one of eleven on
Speaker 2: third downs. It was not a high flying Iowa offense
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 1: I like this this unspoken was it Northwestern versus Michigan
Speaker 1: State who won with like negative four yards and two
Speaker 1: yards rushing and then this big ten West cold war.
Speaker 1: A degree of difficulty rushing wins is great.
Speaker 2: Nate Stanley, though three touchdown passes. Yes, back and forth contest. Here,
Speaker 2: Iowa jumps out to a lead, Mississippi State comes back.
Speaker 2: Iowa then seals the victory twenty seven to twenty two.
Speaker 2: Here a big one for the Hawkeyes, Dan.
Speaker 1: Huge, Yeah, they win another bowl game they win last year.
Speaker 1: This is without Noah Fant. This was what the last
Speaker 1: game of Nick Easily, who played well. I think that
Speaker 1: was the receiver who caught a bunch. Yeah, Nick Easily
Speaker 1: played really well for Iowa. The defense looks strong, weathered
Speaker 1: a couple of streaks for Mississippi State and Bulldogs just
Speaker 1: trouble on offense, trouble just their discipline is not there
Speaker 1: the nine or ten times.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, look, they gave up way too much
Speaker 2: to Iowa. If you worship at the altar of Kirk
Speaker 2: Ferens the way most of us do. You know that
Speaker 2: he preaches the value of not making mistakes in bowl games.
Speaker 2: Its bowl games, the way he treats early season games.
Speaker 2: Thinks it's all about minimizing your mistakes. Yep, right, they
Speaker 2: minimize their mistakes in this game, Mississippi State did not.
Speaker 2: They had three turnovers. It really hurt them. Iowa was
Speaker 2: able to capitalize here and ride that to victory.
Speaker 1: No, it was a very Iowa season twenty seven to
Speaker 1: twenty two.
Speaker 2: Again your final here, let's if we could travel back
Speaker 2: in time.
Speaker 1: Better do better?
Speaker 2: Who better do? Let's go quickly through some of the
Speaker 2: games on New Year's Eve Day, and I want to
Speaker 2: start with the Red Box Bowl. Dan, Okay, how's your
Speaker 2: heart after this game seven to six in favor of
Speaker 2: the Orgon Ducks.
Speaker 1: Heart's not great, But I attribute that more to the
Speaker 1: garlic bread and chicken parm i ate during the second
Speaker 1: half because I left and I didn't think I had plans,
Speaker 1: and I was going to say, well, I'll just try
Speaker 1: not to find out what happens. I'm gonna go out
Speaker 1: to dinner and early dinner and come back and watch
Speaker 1: the second half. And I just look to see what happened,
Speaker 1: because I couldn't imagine the second half was going to
Speaker 1: be dramatically different than the first half. Ty I have
Speaker 1: a question, Yes, Dan, anything, you're very you remember like
Speaker 1: the web one point zher and you remember remember soundboards.
Speaker 1: I mean you probably have one right in front of you.
Speaker 1: You'd be like a Homer Simpson.
Speaker 2: Stuff E Baum's world. Sure.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm not going to accuse Fox of having a
Speaker 1: Brady Quinn and Joe Davis soundboard. But that was a
Speaker 1: that's a rough assignment. That is a rough like here,
Speaker 1: I'm going to try to do this, so you you
Speaker 1: just say boo, and I'm going to I'm going to
Speaker 1: be the soundboard of what this game entailed. That's not
Speaker 1: going to be enough. Stopped right away. A bit of
Speaker 1: a miscommunication. It seems nothing doing there.
Speaker 2: Okay, I get the point.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was, it was. It was bad, but Oregon wins,
Speaker 1: so there's that.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 1: I mean, Michigan State's offense was terrible pretty much all
Speaker 1: year long, and Oregon's offense was pretty disappointing against the
Speaker 1: decent defenses, if not better defenses than decent that they faced.
Speaker 1: So there's not a Ton. To take away from that
Speaker 1: other than now that Oregon's lone offensive weapon outside Dylan
Speaker 1: Mitchell has declared for the NFL drafts. The takeaway is, Hey,
Speaker 1: if you want to catch footballs, go to Eugene, Oregon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're there for you, they are, They are there
Speaker 2: in waiting. Oregon gets its cheese at Bowl moment here
Speaker 2: in seven six. It's not gonna get much of the
Speaker 2: Red Box Bowl. What was scoring game of bull season
Speaker 2: thus far. I suppose there's hope for Clemson in Alabama,
Speaker 2: though not counting on.
Speaker 1: That looks like he's short of the sticks Tye.
Speaker 2: Sun Ball almost living up to that billing as well.
Speaker 2: Fourteen to thirteen Stanford the victor over the pitt Panthers.
Speaker 2: They had just two hundred and eight total yards these
Speaker 2: teams where it combined six for twenty seven on third
Speaker 2: downs Dan so kind of exactly as we expected, not
Speaker 2: just from both these teams, but in the Sun Bowl.
Speaker 1: Yes, this was another rough watch. The Pac twelve is
Speaker 1: really specializing final game for JJ Arthega Whiteside, Sure Caden
Speaker 1: Smith declares for the drafts. Bryce Love sat this one out,
Speaker 1: So not a lot of excitement in this game. I
Speaker 1: expected more from kJ Costello, who had a very good
Speaker 1: year and struggled mightily with a not that good pit defense.
Speaker 1: And also Stanford scored on maybe my favorite touchdown of
Speaker 1: the postseason, the fumble into the air touchdown reception. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: great cool back twelve needs wins where they can get them,
Speaker 1: and they get it.
Speaker 2: They did get it. Okay, let's go to Cincinnati thirty
Speaker 2: five Virginia Tech thirty one in the Military Bowl. Seven
Speaker 2: lead changes, twenty three penalties, nine hundred and five yards
Speaker 2: of total offense. Cincinnati's backup quarterback Hayden Moore actually had
Speaker 2: to come in in this one. He threw twenty six
Speaker 2: passes all year, had to come in after the starter
Speaker 2: heard his arm ended up, throwing something like twenty five times.
Speaker 2: Didn't have great numbers in this game, but does get
Speaker 2: the job done for the Bearcats. Nice year, really nice
Speaker 2: year for Luke Fickle here as they knock off Virginia Tech.
Speaker 1: I want to say this one was a wet one too.
Speaker 2: This one was in the Roan.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Desmon Ritter starting quarterback leaves the game. Nice enough
Speaker 1: game offensively for Virginia Tech, which we can't say all
Speaker 1: that often, especially given what Cincinnati was able to do
Speaker 1: on defense all season long. Good for the Bearcats. They
Speaker 1: run the ball well. Luke Fickle has done a terrific
Speaker 1: job increasing the visibility of Cincinnati and the visibility of
Speaker 1: Luke Fickle. So I expect this this Bearcat program to
Speaker 1: even go up from here. They get to what eleven
Speaker 1: wins ten and two with the Bowl win. Very impressive
Speaker 1: and I can't imagine Virginia Tech will be terribly down
Speaker 1: for long. But I haven't seen their recruiting rankings. I
Speaker 1: don't know what they have in the pipeline, but it
Speaker 1: certainly feels just like.
Speaker 2: A gap year. Yeah. Okay, Liberty Ball. Oklahoma State thirty eight,
Speaker 2: Miszoo thirty three. A fun back and forth game, couple
Speaker 2: lead changes. Oklahoma State was up by sixteen after three quarters,
Speaker 2: but Miszoo they tried to make it interesting in the
Speaker 2: fourth quarter. They fell a little bit short. What corn
Speaker 2: Dog Cornelius four touchdown passes?
Speaker 1: I think very CornDog game. Yep, nice game for him.
Speaker 2: So Oklahoma State wins this one again. Thirty eight thirty three.
Speaker 1: Chuba Hubbard, one of the more fun running backs to
Speaker 1: watch when he's on Miszoo, also runs the ball crazy
Speaker 1: well against an Oklahoma State defense that struggled most of
Speaker 1: the season. But a fun game and good for Oklahoma
Speaker 1: State for breaking through and actually playing pretty well on
Speaker 1: the road.
Speaker 2: All right, Texas A and M fifty two NC State thirteen.
Speaker 2: Only one member of the broadcasting duo had the wherewithal
Speaker 2: the Cojones really to predict a big, massive Texas A
Speaker 2: and M victory. Cravy Travion Williams sets a Gator Bowl
Speaker 2: record two hundred and thirty six yards rushing three touchdowns.
Speaker 2: ANC State Dan could not get anything going. They finished
Speaker 2: the game oh of thirteen on third downs, just had
Speaker 2: two hundred and seventy three total yards in this one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this NC State offense was a rough watch. And
Speaker 1: it made it a little bit better that our pal
Speaker 1: when Adam A. Meme was doing this game, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think it was c J. Riley who had like
Speaker 1: a crazy touchdown catch and he got very excited for that,
Speaker 1: and I was like, okay, great, we're going back and
Speaker 1: forth with Adam. I mean excitement and it was just
Speaker 1: one way, right, It just went Texas A and M's way,
Speaker 1: And to say that probably is misleading because it went
Speaker 1: Travon Williams way, I thought A and M did a
Speaker 1: great job in all phases they got after Ryan Finley.
Speaker 1: They stopped the run offensively, Kellen Mond was out there
Speaker 1: running and broke loose a couple of times, and Travon
Speaker 1: Williams was just an unstoppable beast.
Speaker 2: Cool to see in light of this victory, and I
Speaker 2: think a good season for Texas definitely.
Speaker 1: I think it can't be qualified as anything but a
Speaker 1: success quantified.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in light of all that, as we enter twenty nineteen,
Speaker 2: there's going to be a ton of steam on Texas
Speaker 2: A and M. Oh Yeah, will there be more hype
Speaker 2: on A and M after their Bowl win? More more
Speaker 2: hype on the Auburn Tigers after theirs A and M.
Speaker 1: I think A and M's the right answer, aving A
Speaker 1: and M because of Yeah, I mean, there's two high
Speaker 1: profile coaches, but losing your quarterback, whereas Kellen Mond is
Speaker 1: just a sophomore now. And yes, I think especially with
Speaker 1: where I know Auburn has Oregon, I believe in North
Speaker 1: Texas and Jerry World. But A and M goes to
Speaker 1: Clemson in the return of the home home I believe
Speaker 1: week two or three, so especially if they perform well there,
Speaker 1: like they were very close this year. Yeah, there's there's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of when you say steam, a
Speaker 1: lot of smoke.
Speaker 2: Got steam. Yeah, more steam on A and M or
Speaker 2: more steam on Florida.
Speaker 1: Still I and M.
Speaker 2: Really yeah, I think that.
Speaker 1: I think your steamiest team, your red Shoe Diary team
Speaker 1: of the year of the off season, is probably going
Speaker 1: to be Texas Texas. Yeah. Beating Georgia in the way
Speaker 1: that they did, in the venue that they did, returning
Speaker 1: what they do, Yeah, Texas is going to get a
Speaker 1: lot of that.
Speaker 2: See, I think I ranked them in the order of
Speaker 2: Texas one. I agree with you, Okay, Florida two because
Speaker 2: they were young and they're really just a quarterback away.
Speaker 2: Dann Moan's gonna figure out.
Speaker 1: I thought Philipe Franks was good against Michigan. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm buying. I'm still not bumper
Speaker 1: high level. He was good, he was full on good.
Speaker 1: He is my Danny Etling Bowl Award winner.
Speaker 2: And I think i'd put A and M three. But
Speaker 2: there's a good chance all three of those teams are
Speaker 2: top ten entering twenty nineteen. Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, got a lot all right now, and Florida loses
Speaker 1: a lot. They've lost a lot of early declaration guys,
Speaker 1: especially on defense. But I also saw I think Jordan
Speaker 1: Scarlett declared as well today.
Speaker 2: Wow, okay, well we'll see a lot of reason to
Speaker 2: be excited about all three of those teams A and
Speaker 2: M in this case. Here a resounding fifty two to
Speaker 2: thirteen win in the tax Slayer Gator Bowl. And finally
Speaker 2: to round it all out in the Holiday Bowl, Northwestern
Speaker 2: thirty one, Utah twenty. A spectacular collapse here by Utah.
Speaker 2: They were leading fourteen to nothing hell after a quarter,
Speaker 2: twenty to three at half, and then Northwestern comes out
Speaker 2: after half. They convert three Utah turnovers into three touchdowns
Speaker 2: all told twenty eight points in total. In the third quarter.
Speaker 2: As Northwestern comes from behind, they complete the comeback. They
Speaker 2: win by eleven, thirty one to twenty.
Speaker 1: Dan leave it to a bowl game in San Diego
Speaker 1: to escalate quickly. That escalated quickly. Yeah, this was a
Speaker 1: mess to watch. This was with what Northwestern did to
Speaker 1: Utah in the third quarter with the turnovers and runbacks.
Speaker 1: It was it was watching that was the what the
Speaker 1: Ralph wigam You can see the moment his hardest breaking
Speaker 1: in slow motion, that's what the third quarter felt like.
Speaker 1: You just saw Utah completely implode and it was in
Speaker 1: pristine HD rough watch. But good for Northwestern winning their
Speaker 1: division going what they nine and five is their final record, yep.
Speaker 1: Now they play fourteen games with a big ten championship games,
Speaker 1: So especially with what their September looked like, Northwestern had
Speaker 1: a hell of inn October, November, and I guess late December.
Speaker 2: The Pac twelve conference on the whole finishes three and
Speaker 2: four bold season. They had wins by Washington State, Stanford,
Speaker 2: and Oregon. They had losses by ASU Cal, Washington and
Speaker 2: of course Utah. I think, I don't know. I don't
Speaker 2: want to be too harsh on the Pac twelve, but
Speaker 2: this was not the kind of bowl season they were
Speaker 2: hoping for.
Speaker 1: No, And perception is reality, and it's tough to paint
Speaker 1: an entire conference with one brush, but I think it
Speaker 1: sort of checked all the boxes where there was inconsistencies.
Speaker 1: There was ugly wins, and Washington came up short against
Speaker 1: a good team. And Washington State was probably the hope
Speaker 1: of the conference moving forward because of its win over
Speaker 1: a decent team, which is not always the case. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it was sort of par for the course. They didn't
Speaker 1: completely implode outside of Utah. That's good.
Speaker 2: The highlights for me and kel yeah and cal from
Speaker 2: a conference perspective, the highlights for me and low lights.
Speaker 2: I'll start with the American. I expected more out of
Speaker 2: the American. Yeah, just like two and five this bowl season.
Speaker 2: Temple loss, of course, UCF loss, Houston. I had. The
Speaker 2: Big Ten West actually quitted itself pretty well.
Speaker 1: Yeah, not bad, I mean, save for Purdue.
Speaker 2: Save for Purdue.
Speaker 1: I wonder, I wonder what the point differential is. I
Speaker 1: wonder if Purdue's loss completely submarines the Big Ten West
Speaker 1: point differential in these games. It just may like the
Speaker 1: Big Ten West may have gone like five to one
Speaker 1: with a negative point differential.
Speaker 2: It's possible, Yeah, it is possible. I'd also throw the
Speaker 2: SEC in there. I know it's kind of an old
Speaker 2: answer at this point, but just the teams that won
Speaker 2: in the SEC, I think spoke volumes about the conference
Speaker 2: still being really strong at the top. There might have
Speaker 2: been some doubt about Auburn, but Auburn not obviously one
Speaker 2: in very resounding fashion, Florida knocking off Michigan. I think
Speaker 2: much more so the West the West, but Florida knocking
Speaker 2: off Michigan was pretty big. In the East, Georgia, South
Speaker 2: Carolina not great, Kentucky definitely impressive, Florida one percent impressive.
Speaker 1: The East sort of maybe broke even. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: think you're right about the West.
Speaker 2: And I'll close out by saying that the Big Twelve
Speaker 2: with their boost of Texas winning was nice. Oklahoma State,
Speaker 2: Oklahoma State won, Baylor making a w was a nice
Speaker 2: touch for them as well. Clearly Oklahoma, which his things
Speaker 2: went differently, but I thought they acquitted themselves well when
Speaker 2: they actually played with tempo in the second half.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, it was. It was somewhat solid. You know.
Speaker 1: I had a really really nice brain fart. That is
Speaker 1: just me not trolling at all. I maybe yesterday I
Speaker 1: was like, wait, who did USC play?
Speaker 2: Like I was?
Speaker 1: I was legitimately thinking I am totally blanking on USC's
Speaker 1: bowl game. And it was not me trying to say
Speaker 1: ha haaa us s's well. No, I legitimately thought USC
Speaker 1: played somebody and I lost it. So that's that's where
Speaker 1: my brain is at in early twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2: What what other takeaways are there from bowl season so far,
Speaker 2: with one game again remaining to be played.
Speaker 1: Do you think there's anything that needs to change about
Speaker 1: the structure of the sport? Here's my loaded question, because
Speaker 1: of what we saw in the playoff and what we
Speaker 1: saw with the New Year six games. Is there any
Speaker 1: team that like now upon further reflection, like Michigan. Does
Speaker 1: Michigan need to scrap it all and start over on offense?
Speaker 1: Is there do we need to go to a do
Speaker 1: we need to go to my preferred method of going
Speaker 1: back to the old system and then voting after the
Speaker 1: facts after the New Year's six games on who's going
Speaker 1: to play in a national championship game. I feel like
Speaker 1: things are fine.
Speaker 2: I don't think there's the need to change much of anything.
Speaker 2: The one thing that I would change, and we discussed this,
Speaker 2: is how we hate that New Year's Day isn't quite
Speaker 2: the college football holiday that it used to be. It
Speaker 2: still feels very weird to me that we're not playing
Speaker 2: the playoff games on New Year's Day. I understand that
Speaker 2: there are reasons beyond our control why that is. So
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean I have to like it, and I
Speaker 2: still don't and I never will. That's the one thing
Speaker 2: to me because New Year's Day was always the one
Speaker 2: thing college football had. I wish they could restore that.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's going to happen otherwise, though. I
Speaker 2: think the system's fine now as we launch into this
Speaker 2: bigger discussion about the playoff and who should be in
Speaker 2: who shouldn't be in. I just think in general, we
Speaker 2: find ourselves every year viewing the results of bowl season
Speaker 2: as like this Swiss army knife for college football arguments.
Speaker 2: You know you can use them, however you want Notre
Speaker 2: Dame to lose this by twenty seven. It's either a
Speaker 2: disappointment or not a disappointment, or a huge failure of
Speaker 2: the system or Texas. Right, Texas is back because they
Speaker 2: wion on the Sugar Bowl, or maybe they're just lucky
Speaker 2: because they caught an unmotivated Georgia Like you could do
Speaker 2: this until you're blue in the face. I don't think
Speaker 2: any of it's too big a cause for concern or
Speaker 2: too big a cause to try and change the state
Speaker 2: of affairs.
Speaker 1: It's okay Texas. By the way, they get lsu dk
Speaker 1: R next year, which will be fun. Yeah, I'm mostly
Speaker 1: with you. I think everything is fine. Well, The thing
Speaker 1: I'm bummed about is I am trying to figure out
Speaker 1: reasons to care about Alabama Clemson. Well, and here here's
Speaker 1: my current list. What are they gonna do with Christian Wilkins.
Speaker 1: They're gonna do something fun, do something weird. Quinn Williams
Speaker 1: really fun to watch, and big picture, there aren't personalities,
Speaker 1: there aren't storylines. There's there's not much that I'm finding
Speaker 1: myself caring about beyond hoping for a good dramatic back
Speaker 1: and forth. There's there's nothing peripheral at all for me.
Speaker 2: Well, we'll talk more about this on our preview show,
Speaker 2: but that sentiment has been a bit reflected in ticket prices,
Speaker 2: which have steadily dropped since they started hitting the open market.
Speaker 2: Those prices have gone down.
Speaker 1: It should never be, by the way, in Santa Clara.
Speaker 2: Well, that was gonna be my second point. Maybe not
Speaker 2: the best site for a college football national championship game,
Speaker 2: certainly not the best stadium, but on the whole, maybe
Speaker 2: not the best site for it. There are a lot
Speaker 2: of things that I think factor in, not the least
Speaker 2: of which is this general fatigue towards Clemson in Alabama
Speaker 2: being so they're playing again again in the eyes of
Speaker 2: a lot of college football fans who at this point
Speaker 2: probably couldn't care one way or the other. You and
Speaker 2: I were kind of in this business of focusing on
Speaker 2: the storylines that we think make games interesting, and I
Speaker 2: can find a couple here. Trevor Lawrence playing in a
Speaker 2: game with this magnitude is interesting. Clemson in their defensive
Speaker 2: line playing against a really good offensive line in Alabama,
Speaker 2: that's interesting to be Tua being in the National championship
Speaker 2: game again. All that stuff's interesting to me. I don't
Speaker 2: know if it's just me though, you know, like, if
Speaker 2: I'm a fan who doesn't run a podcast, is that
Speaker 2: something that's really going to reel me in and make
Speaker 2: me want to watch this game? The ratings I think
Speaker 2: are really going to tell a pretty big story here
Speaker 2: after the fact.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess. I just and I don't worry too
Speaker 1: much about rating stuff and what people do or don't
Speaker 1: care about. I can only speak for myself, and it's
Speaker 1: just it's year over years, it's just tougher. It's just
Speaker 1: like I just I want an awesome USC team to
Speaker 1: show up, or I want, you know, a Michigan team,
Speaker 1: you know, want you want variety, tie I just want
Speaker 1: somebody and I can't blame Alabama or Clemson for just
Speaker 1: happening to be consistently excellent. It's just, you know, at
Speaker 1: a certain point, it's just like, Yep, we got it.
Speaker 1: These are the deepest, most talented teams. Cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, If anything, the playoff confirmed what we thought the
Speaker 2: whole year through.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a very h what's it called? In
Speaker 1: the NCAA tournament just sort of went chalk went chalk.
Speaker 2: It absolutely went chalk. Clemson out Obama. The been the
Speaker 2: best two teams all year. Again, we'll preview that game.
Speaker 2: That show is going to drop later on Thursday night
Speaker 2: if you're listening to us before Thursday. The other tidbit
Speaker 2: that I did want to mention here and I didn't
Speaker 2: want to litter the beginning of the show with this,
Speaker 2: but there are now rumors about Brian Kelly potentially being
Speaker 2: interested in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Dan what more does he have to prove? Ty go
Speaker 1: undefeated and lose a huge game? Comfortably done it twice
Speaker 1: now at Notre Dame. Yeah, do you think do you
Speaker 1: think it is conceivable?
Speaker 2: Is it conceivable? Sure, it's conceivable. Okay, you know, there's
Speaker 2: no doubt that there was mutual interest between Brian Kelly
Speaker 2: in the NFL a couple of years ago, to some
Speaker 2: degree that may still exist. I think if he wants
Speaker 2: to make the move, now is probably the time. We
Speaker 2: can joke about track record on the biggest stages in
Speaker 2: the college game. But he's fifty seven. If you want
Speaker 2: wants to make a move, it probably makes sense that
Speaker 2: his stock's never going to get higher than it is
Speaker 2: right now, so that now would be the time. This, though,
Speaker 2: strikes me as Brian Kelly's agent feeding a story to
Speaker 2: the media big time. His agent is Trace Armstrong, who,
Speaker 2: for people who aren't familiar with the college football agent business,
Speaker 2: Trace Armstrong sort of has a thing for playing this
Speaker 2: media game. He's really good at it.
Speaker 1: Most agents too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the reporting here is a little too vague
Speaker 2: for my liking for it to be something that is.
Speaker 1: Truly from college people, or is it from NFL people?
Speaker 2: Now it's from radio people, Okay, Yeah, you know, like
Speaker 2: most of the articles that are being written, or at
Speaker 2: least the rumors that have surfaced, are that Kelly's a
Speaker 2: quote coach of interest, right, And most of the same
Speaker 2: articles also say that the Bucks are willing to pay
Speaker 2: something like ten million dollars a year for coach. They
Speaker 2: really want to make a splash, right, But now that
Speaker 2: this has gone through one media cycle, what's happening is
Speaker 2: that both points are kind of melding together and instead
Speaker 2: of them being mutually exclusive, now it's the Bucks would
Speaker 2: be willing to pay Brian Kelly ten million dollars, which
Speaker 2: I that can't be true and shouldn't be true for
Speaker 2: him to get Pete Carroll money. Right, So, I think
Speaker 2: this is positioning itself as a leverage play by BKA
Speaker 2: to try and get some more money because he's not
Speaker 2: the highest paid coach in college football. He's getting he
Speaker 2: does pretty well. But you know this to me as
Speaker 2: the hallmark of a agent created leverage play to get
Speaker 2: more money.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm saying radio guy out of Chicago. No, So
Speaker 1: it's not a big NFL newsbreaker saying this from the
Speaker 1: NFL side.
Speaker 2: I don't know it could happen. I wouldn't blame him
Speaker 2: if he wanted to cash in his chips then take
Speaker 2: a stab at the pro game.
Speaker 1: As of an hour ago, an NFL reporter for ESPN,
Speaker 1: Jenna Lane, says there are no plans for the Bucks
Speaker 1: to interview Brian Kelly. At this time, the only interviews
Speaker 1: that she has personally confirmed are Eric b Enemy and
Speaker 1: George Edwards.
Speaker 2: Sokay.
Speaker 1: From the NFL's perspective, it doesn't seem like Brian Kelly
Speaker 1: is a bright, sparkling name for that job right now.
Speaker 1: That could change.
Speaker 2: I will believe it when I see it. He's certainly
Speaker 2: accomplished a lot at the college level. If he wants
Speaker 2: to make that move, I think now be the time
Speaker 2: for But I believe it when I see it.
Speaker 1: On the flip side, though, the Tampa Bay Bucks also
Speaker 1: do not have to join a college conference. This is true,
Speaker 1: So there's a familiarity there. Ty, This is very true.
Speaker 2: All right, anything else that we need to discuss here
Speaker 2: on tonight's show.
Speaker 1: No, do you have a good New Year's You do
Speaker 1: anything fun?
Speaker 2: Well, Dan, it's funny you should ask about New.
Speaker 1: Year's calog any toilets.
Speaker 2: In New Year's Day. I found myself on a bit
Speaker 2: of a conquest, a journey, if you will, yeah, to
Speaker 2: find stores that were open on New Year's Day to
Speaker 2: buy the toilet plunger so I could do a little
Speaker 2: amateur plumbing here at the New Homestead.
Speaker 1: Would you have for New Year's Eve dinner.
Speaker 2: New Year's Eve dinner just ordered in. Had had some
Speaker 2: Italian takeout, okay, how about you.
Speaker 1: Well that that'll clog a toilet tie as I mentioned,
Speaker 1: went out and got Italian food chicken, palm, garlic bread.
Speaker 1: Had had a sort of doughnut looking thing with dual
Speaker 1: sight alecha some caramel inside. Wonderful, and then watched half
Speaker 1: a Netflix movie with Jody with and I before she
Speaker 1: fell asleep at nine thirty. And then I watched some
Speaker 1: of the football that I miss and fell asleep by
Speaker 1: ten forty five, so I didn't make it past the
Speaker 1: ten thirty threshold, but not by much. And then New
Speaker 1: Year's Day had the in laws over made my dip,
Speaker 1: posted the picture of the dip actually a gift of
Speaker 1: the dip online if you see it. It was on Twitter feed,
Speaker 1: and watched games. That's it eight dip watch games. Can't complain.
Speaker 2: I walked back into the house with the plunger over
Speaker 2: my shoulder. A hero returns, that's right, like I was
Speaker 2: Frodo marching to Mordor Dan.
Speaker 1: We really did bookend this show Lord of the Rings references.
Speaker 1: We did, so that must mean it's a sign to end.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, yeah, as we said a couple times,
Speaker 2: we're going to be doing our official National Championship preview
Speaker 2: excuse me, college Football Playoff National Championship preview show tomorrow.
Speaker 2: That will drop as a separate show and in place
Speaker 2: of our normal Sunday show. If we drop that on Sunday,
Speaker 2: most people probably don't have a chance to listen. So
Speaker 2: that'll be out tomorrow night, and our next show after
Speaker 2: that will then be Tuesday, probably dropping late morning yep
Speaker 2: on Tuesday, as we review the National Championship game again
Speaker 2: between Clemson and Alabama.
Speaker 1: I should say ty because we mentioned it a few
Speaker 1: times that we're not going to the Bay Area for
Speaker 1: the National Championship Game and had mentioned that, well, maybe
Speaker 1: we'll do like a watch party or something in New York. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: we did try to make it happen. There are some
Speaker 1: scheduling conflicts that we really tried to move around, but
Speaker 1: it's just it's not in the cards this year. And
Speaker 1: I can speak for both of us and say we're bumped.
Speaker 1: We'll make it happened, but you're gonna have to find
Speaker 1: somewhere else and some other beautiful podcasters to watch this
Speaker 1: this game with.
Speaker 2: Yep, yep. We will do our best though through hollows
Speaker 2: to twenty nineteen to meet as many of you as
Speaker 2: we can.
Speaker 1: Yes, we're very excited for twenty nineteen. Got some big, weird, fun,
Speaker 1: cool plans. Even we say that a lot, but this
Speaker 1: year we meet.
Speaker 2: This is big for us. Yeah yeah, all right for sure.
Speaker 2: Well on that note for that, go over there, Dan
Speaker 2: Rubinstein for myself over here in East turn Pennsylvania, Ty
Speaker 2: Hillton Brandt. We will be back, I guess a day
Speaker 2: from now. Talk more to college football with all y'all.
Speaker 2: In the meantime, they solved peace