Show Notes
On this episode, Nazario, Payton and Caden recap Alabama v. South Carolina, preview the Third Saturday in October, recap week seven and preview all of week eight.
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Wvuafm, tuscaloosa.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to 90.7 WVUaFM, the capstone. This is the game day show live on the campus of the University of Alabama. I'm Nazario Pangal here with Peyton Davis and Kaden Johnson. It's the third Saturday in October, folks. How we feeling?
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Feeling good. We've been, it's been a while since we have met as a group, and a lot has happened since, up some downs, but the exact opposite in some ways. But I'm feeling good about today, though, so far.
[00:00:41] Speaker C: Yeah, a lot of, a lot of downs since the last time we've met.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: But also Georgia. There's some of us.
[00:00:45] Speaker C: Yeah. So, yeah, that's true. That's true, too. But today's a good day for Alabama to kind of put some of those early to mid season stresses to restore.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: So on the surface, when Nick Saban retired, if you guys were told the first season after he retires that Alabama would be five and one, ranked number seven in the country, going into the Tennessee game, how would you guys feel?
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Well, that's the way I had it, honestly. Like, I mean, I had us at five and one at this point in the season, and it wasn't in the same way, but I think it's kind of just an indication of college football. In 2024, the gap is closed. It's more like the NFL. There's just more close games. There's more, there's less of a talent gap between your Alabamas and your Vanderbilts, per se. Just throwing those two teams out there for some reason, no particular reason, but yeah, it's an indication of where we are, I think, in 2024.
[00:01:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree. Especially in these mega conferences now, like the revamped Big Ten, the revamped SEC, that gap has definitely closed thanks to nil and a lot of other recruiting rules that have came out recently.
And, I mean, I just think that anybody can lose to anybody on any given Saturday.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: I'm looking at these lines and I'm seeing, you know, Texas A and M goes to just, for example, Texas A and M goes to Starkville, and they're a 19 and a half point favorite against Mississippi State. I just don't think that's where we are. I mean, I think just in the SEC play in general, even Mississippi State, who's probably the worst team in the conference, they're still, I mean, they looked fairly decent last week, formidable, at least against Georgia.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: Yeah, they made a quarterback change and they put up 31.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: Right. Exactly. So, I mean, I, you know, I'm not a gambling man, but if I were, then maybe, maybe I would, I would go after something like that. But I think it's just, you're going to see a lot more parity is what the buzzword for that is around the country.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: Yeah. And two weeks ago, we had this very cataclysmic type of Saturday, Tennessee goes down at Arkansas. Really unexpected because it was a defensive showing by Arkansas that won that game, even though most of the season they've been an offensive team. Then, of course, Alabama goes down to Vanderbilt, and last week, these two teams, so we will talk about matching up with each other. Both of them kind of slept through their matchups. Tennessee, for the second week in a row, didn't score in the first half, had to go to overtime against Florida to win. But then Alabama, they dropped the onside kick with under a minute left, and Lenora Sellers has a shot to put the Gamecocks in field goal range to win the game. But somehow Alabama comes up with a victory, 27 25 against South Carolina at home. What were our thoughts on this game reactions? Were we just happy that we got through it or were we upset?
[00:03:16] Speaker A: No, she can't be happy. And I was, you know, in the fans, really, for just observing the surroundings. I was already getting annoyed by the soundtrack of the stadium playing and people, Alabama fans smiling in the stadium. I just didn't like the look. But the real one that matters is I was kind of paying attention to the sidelines. It just seemed kind of lifeless. It seemed kind of. There was no conversations going on. There's a lot of. I think the body language of the whole team wasn't great to this point. I mean, I'm looking at this defense, and that's been the most talked about issue. Of course, Kane Womack's defense the last two weeks. I mean, they're. We're getting outscored. I have it written down. We're getting out. Scored 99 to 75 since we went up 28. Nothing on Georgia. I mean, it's pretty inexcusable and like, there just doesn't seem to be a lot of urgency to change it. I see this, I see, you know, a sack on one play and celebration by the defense and then the next play, it seems like the effort level is not the same. They're unable right now to put together back to back plays or at least a of downs of complete effort the entire time. I haven't seen it in, I mean, I guess since the first quarter draw, I guess. I mean, I've been disappointed with the effort and it's reminded me a little bit of like the USF situation last year. Not, not exactly apples to apples there, but like seeing people, you know, like a Malachi, like Malachi Moore's emotional tirade that at the end of the Vanderbilt game, that kind of reminded me like Dallas Turner last year where he's flailing his arms in the air and he's not getting off the ball in time and whatever that sort of emotion shouldn't be. That's not who Alabama is as a program. I don't care who the head coach is. They player should hold themselves to a higher standard than that.
[00:04:57] Speaker C: Yeah, I 100% agree. It's kind of ridiculous to have a loss like Vanderbilt one week and then come out the next week and still be just as flat, play, just as unmotivated. And then, as Peyton said, the lack of ability to string together like a set of downs, of high defensive effort has absolutely killed our like third and fourth down defense. It's let teams have these long sustained drives like Vanderbilt did to us all game. And like South Carolina had a few times throughout the game.
[00:05:27] Speaker B: Yeah. For me, watching this game, I was more upset with the offense and the way they played against South Carolina.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: No question about it. And by the. Just in the first half, especially, I mean, you just gave them twelve points.
[00:05:38] Speaker B: It was late in that second quarter when South Carolina got back in that game. But before that, the defense had held South Carolina without a point. You're thinking, okay, Alabama, get up, get up. 28 nothing put this team away and the offense did not do that. And in the second half they kept sputtering and it was for the first time this season we've really seen Jalen Milro struggle. It was not a good game by him. He finished 16 of 23, just 209 passing hours. But really it was the two interceptions and the intentional grounding that were just the worst plays that we've seen from him. This season looked a lot like last year, especially at the end of the second quarter. The interception with under 10 seconds left made absolutely no sense.
[00:06:17] Speaker A: You're just throwing a crossing route to Cole Adams with 10 seconds left. If that, if that hits, then you are needing the ball. I mean, you're out of time anyway. So what are you doing? I mean, it's just mental error after mental error. And just, it was especially after the onside kick recovery, I was just like, what can this team do right right now?
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Yeah. And they ran for only 2.7 yards per carry. And we know South Carolina came in with a great defensive line. We've talked about Dylan Stewart before. Kyle Kennard, though, played out of his mind as well. So we know the South Carolina front is tough. But still, when you've seen this Alabama team score against everyone they've played so far, was hoping that they would put up a better performance, especially with the offensive line. Picking up blitzes really was a problem last week.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Well, I just really, the problem to me was less of execution in the play, but more execution before the play. They weren't sliding protections, they weren't calling protections. I saw them do it a little bit better in the fourth quarter. I guess they've, you know, they found a way to pick up a blitz or whatever it might have been. But I mean, that guy, the Dylan ster, I mean, he just lived in the backfield. It seemed like he was in the backfield every single place. So he's a very impressive talent. And that we knew it was an athletic South Carolina defense going into that game. That was their strength, their athleticism. And there were, I mean, you got to be able to run the ball between the tackles against teams like that. And you just see this team, not necessarily that they can't do it. They can't do it consistently at all, but they also get away from it rather way too quickly, to me.
[00:07:38] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. Nine tackles for loss for South Carolina. Part of that came from our lack of ability to like establish any sort of run game at all.
Like Milro had 18 carries for 36 yards.
We just weren't able to get anything going offensively. And then I guess the lack of run game really forced Jalen Milro to throw some bad balls.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Not to get off on a South Carolina tangent, but they are a three point loss to LSU and a two point loss to Alabama from being five and one right now, that team, yes, they're not great on offense and they scrapped their way through, but that defense is to full of talent.
[00:08:12] Speaker A: I mean, there's no way you could have gone, come away from that game and just been like, this is not a good football team. Alabama just. No, they actually, this, every single team in the SEC is going to be a tough opponent for everyone week in, week out.
[00:08:26] Speaker B: Yeah. And we have another tough opponent coming up with Tennessee tonight. Well, this afternoon, 230 central time kickoff, going to be a fascinating game. So let's talk a little bit about Tennessee's game from last week. They played Florida. Graham Mertz, starting quarterback for Florida, plays for a majority of that game before he gets injured. And then the freshman DJ Lagley has to come in for them if not for Tennessee's defense, playing another stellar game against a slightly formidable offense in Florida. They have some talent over there, nothing crazy, but Tennessee's offense struggles, doesn't score in the first half, comes alive a little bit in the second half. Tennessee 20, 317 in overtime over the Gators. Is should Tennessee be worried after their performance last week and the week before against Arkansas?
[00:09:11] Speaker A: I think they should, and I really, you know, this team is kind of has an identity this point. They're going to play really good defense, but they're not like an explosive offense in the ways that you've seen the Josh hypoalls offense been before. These spread out receivers, they're trying to get lighter boxes so they can run the ball. But, I mean, so far in SEC play, Nico I'm ofla attracted 60% completion, one touchdown, six turnovers, and on plays beyond ten yards, he's completing only 34% of his passes. So they want to run the ball. Dylan Sampson has. He's like. He has six touchdowns in SEC play. He's averaging five yards of carry, you know, 342 yards. Like, they want to run the ball, but you need to. I mean, you need. You need to find ways to neutralize that early, and especially on early downs. First and second down, make them get behind the chains and put the game in Niko's hands.
[00:10:00] Speaker C: Yeah, it seems like that's the key. Niko has kind of proven that he still has a lot to work on while being pressured, and I think if we can really contain him and make him sit into the pocket and make some make pass his first read, throw the ball downfield, it could be a good day for Alabama. But, yeah, Tennessee's got to be thankful for Dylan Sampson. He kind of willed them out of this one. He has like 15 touchdowns already this season, which is the most by a player in the SEC through the first six games since like 92? I think so, yeah. He's been excellent for them, and that's kind of been their go to guy, at least during SEC play.
[00:10:37] Speaker B: 15.1% off target rate, 17.4% off target rate. Those are the two numbers for Joe Milton and Niko Iamaliava. Niko Iamaliava has a worse off target rate than Joe Milton had last year. How surprising is that, considering all the talk we heard about Joe Milton last season, how bad that he was, and then going into this season with Niko Iamaliava, what people were saying about him, and now to see how he has been the one who's been more inaccurate than Milton last season.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: Yeah, it's shocking, but also it's just. It's kind of looked similar to me. I mean, it just kind of felt when I watched them, I just feel a little like it's similar to the way, and especially defensively, I think they're a little better this year. They're very deep in the front seven, but offensively, I mean, it's just. It's clear, the game plan that you need to have to try to neutralize them early. Nothing, and take that, of course, raucous crowd and environment out of the game. But can you execute that if you're Alabama? I mean, have you been able to stop the ball, the run between the tackles the last few? No, you haven't. You really. And last week, it really was less of. Vanderbilt was a lot more gimmicky. There was a lot more, you know, just button plays where it was just multiple options and whatever. It was a little bit gimmicky, but they still executed it perfectly. And Alabama was not disciplined in that game. But last week was more just like, you're getting out efforted to me, and like, if you're not bringing it now, they're going to run three plays every 90 seconds, then you're just going to. You're going to wear down over time if you're not, even if you're not ready to play 60 minutes football coming out.
[00:12:03] Speaker C: Yeah, and that goes back to what I was saying about the importance of getting stops on third down. The defense has got to get off the field today because Tennessee is just as capable of having those long, sustained drives as a South Carolina, as a Vanderbilt. They're gritty, they play hard up front, and Tennessee would be perfectly fine with four yards of play in this game and multiple drives of seven minutes.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: Yeah, we saw South Carolina in that game. It was one play, a fourth down, long touchdown pass that really sparked them, got them going. And for Tennessee, what they need to get going is going to be one of those plays, gonna be hitting one of those. They've taken those shots, as you said, 34% on deep throws down the field. But they're getting them. They're getting guys open. They have a multitude of receivers who can get open down the field. They hit one of those and sure enough, we might be looking at a 2022 Tennessee offense. And you saw they're right there. You know what, Josh Hypol, they're probably.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: Gonna find it at some point. Niko is way too talented and he's a better player than Joe Milton, I think, for sure. But last year you kind of saw with Joe Milton in the first half, he got hot and he hit that, you know, deep, played his scroll white for the first touchdown and went up seven nothing on the first drive. And we were like, okay. And then they went up 13 nothing in that game and kind of just wore down over time. But you got to think if you're Alabama, I mean, you just. The way these things go, it feels like something where Niko, he's going to find something early or whatever, like you want to avoid any of that. You really want to get his. You don't want his confidence to be up because, I mean, we've seen it even glimpses of this season more so than Milton last year. I think early in the season, he didn't even look great from the beginning. Really, the only flash he showed was in the Orange bowl the year before. This year. I mean, Niko in non conference play, not fantastic, but definitely more accurate down the field. He's capable and you have to know that and be ready for that. And especially, I think Alvin's gonna be a little bit. A little bit banged up on the secondary. I think it seems like Keyon Savs probable is what the injury report says. I've heard different things on his status, but it feels like you're going to have Damani Jax, you're going to have Devontae Smith, I believe. But you're going to need to get your young guys, I mean, Jalen Bawkway, Zabian Brown, Zay Mincy, you need to have them ready to play every single play to not get beat down the field or make a mistake in ways that we've seen the last two weeks, especially.
[00:14:19] Speaker C: Yeah. Similar to how our young dbs are settling in. Niko is also a red shirt freshman as well.
Like Peyton said, I believe he's much more talented than Joe Milton. And a lot of people forget last year, too. I feel like Joe Milton had his best game maybe of the season against us. He ran for like over 100% against us for sure as well. And Niko is 100% capable of doing that. We've got to be able to keep him contained. He's kind of proven that he. He can use his legs when he needs to. Thankfully for Alabama, I don't think this Tennessee receiving corps is near as talented as it's been the last couple of years. They still have squirrel white, they still have guys that can make plays, but they don't have the. The Hyatt's or the Cedric Tillman's that can really like take the top off.
[00:15:02] Speaker A: It's like your Dante Thornton. That's. That's who they want. He's averaging, I think, 30 yards of catch this season. Like, that's who they want to get going down the field. So, I mean, it's just, it's, you got to keep put a cap on that stuff. And I think that the thing maybe if you're going to find anything possibly somehow encouraging about last week, I think Alvin is starting to kind of find their guys on the defensive line. I liked what I saw from Jordan Renaud when he filled in at that opposite edge position yet Q Robinson, who I think looked very, very good this season, the best of your Jack linebackers, your edge rushing linebackers, and then Lt. Overton has continued to put a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks. He doesn't lead the nation in pressures.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: He's definitely close.
[00:15:46] Speaker A: He's definitely close.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: 20 plus.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, 20 plus. And that's. You need to have that. You need to put pressure on him, especially, I think, up the middle as well. So I'm looking not only from player execution, but schematic execution, which has been a well documented thing. The scheme for, you know, against Vanderbilt, they weren't matching personnel. They were staying at four two five. Even when they were bringing on another tight end last week, it was a little bit better, especially in the first half. But you still saw that lapse, those lapses in some ways at points. And I think Justin Jefferson, I think, is a pretty important player for this team the way he's not a great in space linebacker, but he's really good in between, in the box, in between the tackles. And so that's necessary. But I think Deontay Lawson and Jahad Campbell are both plenty capable. I'm just. I'm seeing way too much jogging for both of them, especially watching the film back on Deontay loss in the last two weeks. It's been a lot of jogging from. I really do. I don't want to question his effort because I think he's a really good player, but there's been a lot of just too much jogging off the side, even while making substitutions off the sidelines and back onto the sidelines and not enough, like I said, energy around, I think, in the huddles or on the sidelines so far in the last two weeks, especially.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Yeah, we know the energy in Yelan Stadium in Knoxville. I mean, it's been going for probably multiple days. People getting down there, getting ready for that game. But we're going to break that game down even more. We're only a couple hours away from the third Saturday in October. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll be right back.
[00:17:28] Speaker A: Wvuafm, tuscaloosa.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: And we are back live on the campus of the University of Alabama. This is the game day show on 90.7 WvuaFM, the capstone. I'm Nazario Pangalo here with Peyton Davis and Kaden Johnson. And it is the third Saturday in October. Alabama, they're already in Knoxville. They're ready for this game in Nealon Stadium. The first Alabama Tennessee matchup in Nealon since 2022, when the streak ended, when the goalposts were thrown into the river. Everyone remembers the last time that Alabama was there.
[00:18:12] Speaker A: It's not like they're thrown in our face literally every week, I think feels like.
[00:18:17] Speaker B: But we talked a lot about Alabama's defense. We talked a lot about Tennessee's offense. Let's talk a little bit about Alabama's offense versus Tennessee's defense. This is a Tennessee defense. That is not the 2022 Tennessee defense. That was one of the worst in the entire country. This is one of the best defenses in the country. And that's not an understatement. Is that the right word?
[00:18:37] Speaker A: They're not. What are they? They're second in total defense, their fourth and scoring defense.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: They have been elite all season. They went into Oklahoma, made them, really got Oklahoma started on their bad offensive track. They shut down Florida last week for a majority of that game. Tennessee's defense is legit. How does Alabama find a way to score against this defense, or do we even score at all?
[00:18:58] Speaker A: I think the way I've seen it is like, you gotta get that. I mean, I think the running backs are like the biggest factor at this point. They say they want to get them more involved. They say they want to get more touches. That needs to happen. And I see I have the stat about Kendrick law coming back. He'll play today.
Jalen Milro has 52 carries, 273 yards, eight touchdowns, like five yards to carry with law, and without him, it's 25 for 46 and three touchdowns. There's a staunch difference with, he's like a game changing level blocker on the edge as a receiver, which is something that you don't really think about often. But I think something like that, if you can get the perimeter run going, then you can spread a defense out, and that's how you establish the run up the middle. But they got to stick with it. They can't go away from it early. And I think especially Jam Miller. I mean, these guys are plenty capable. I mean, you got to give them touches at some point and not slow the game down, but in some ways slow the game down. You don't want to. Alabama. I always. I think about this Alabama offense. They need to lean into their identity. They need to always have a threat down the field or some way of getting an explosive on every play because I think when you see it, when they played against Georgia in the second half, they kind of were capping themselves. I think it's something to where that needs to be your identity and that's what you do best. But here you got to keep it a threat, but you got to establish some sort of run game between the tackles especially. I mean, this offensive line is very, very good defensively for Tennessee, they've been great, but last week, I mean, Montreal Johnson, twelve carries, 85 yards, like he. They've. They haven't surrendered much on the ground, but there have been glimpses of some sort of success and tailing green against them. I think almost averaging ten yards an attempt, he averaged. He had, you know, 260 something yards of passing. Like, that's some stuff. That's something to emphasize going in. You need to. Everything needs to set up through that. It can't just be all on, you know, the legs of Jaylen Miller or, you know, trying to take big plays or take explosive plays down the field on like a second and eight or something like that. You can be better on early downs, get yourself in good situations and take the crowd out of it early. I think you got to come out strong, and I think there's plenty to. There's reason to expect how they would come out strong given Kalyn DeBoer's track record against ranked opponents.
[00:21:14] Speaker C: Yeah, luckily for us, we have the recipe for success against an elite defense like this. If we watch the first half against Georgia, we established a perimeter run game, as Peyton was saying, and use that to take the top off the defense. If we can do that early in the game, get Tennessee into some more conservative looks defensively, then we can start to establish the intermediate passes and longer runs. Got to try to get justice Haynes into open space. I feel like he could be a big difference maker in this game if we are able to get that run going and open up the deep ball passing game early.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: Yeah, and everyone's talked about the defense, but the offense has had its issues of sustaining drives as well. Sustaining drives. Just cataclysmic failure by both sides of the team. So far the past two times Alabama's faced Tennessee, they've had a running back go over 100 yards. Last year was Jace McClelland. Two years ago it was Jamir Gibbs. There has to be some sort of run scheme. As you talked about, one of the most frustrating things that I've seen from this Alabama offense is the way that they use Jalen Milro to get him in space for running the ball, but they never used him as a decoy. It seems like if Jalen Milro is involved in the run play, it's Jalen Milro running the ball, and he's one of the greatest weapons in the sport. Use him as a decoy, teams are going to be keyed in on him.
[00:22:26] Speaker A: Yeah, it sets up everything.
[00:22:28] Speaker B: As a Lamar Jackson fan, I watched the Ravens a lot, and it's one of the most frustrating things to see Lamar running a read option and pull it when he runs into three defenders because he thinks that he has to be the guy. And I see that a lot with Jalen Miro thinking that he has to be the guy. So we don't know, obviously, whether they're actually calling rpos, whether they're calling designed quarterback runs, designed running back runs. But if it is RPO style, you have to be able, if you're Jaylen Monroe, to allow your running backs to do that. And if he's not doing that, it's on Nick Sheridan, it's on kayla and DeBoer to call a straight run plan, say, okay, miller, we've got to take the ball out of your hands at some point or teams are going to be all over you 24/7 yeah, and I'm.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: The thing I've kind of been disappointed with is the scheme I think they ran. I mean, I don't have a tracking actually play by play, but like, they. To me, they run counter all way too much. The counter steam where you're pulling the two, the tackle guard around the edge, the GT counter you're blocking down. And then if you're running counter, you got to set up the one play frontside. Like, it's not. You can't just run counter every play. It's supposed to be set up. Buy that inside zone by that outside zone. Buy those buck sweeps something else. And it's like they do that.
I completely agree. They do the same. They do that stuff for mill row, getting them in space, and it's worked a lot. But if you do that and you have that as a concentrate, you have that as a threat. Every single play you think that you would have an extra man advantage on Tennessee because usually for a normal quarterback who's not as athletically capable as Jalen Miller, it's a ten on eleven sort of thing where the quarterback's just the handoff guy, but he's a constant threat himself. Whether that's when he's throwing, when he's, when he's design running, when he's, when he's scrambling like he's a constant threat. He's an extra checkdown man in the way that Jaden Daniels has been on in college and the NFL now. But you gotta, you gotta use that, like, to your advantage and take a play, a player away for Tennessee and then get a, you know, get a matchup advantage on, on the other side. You feel like it could happen, but you just haven't seen enough of it.
[00:24:26] Speaker C: Yeah. And then going back to the Georgia game, it kind of was obvious in the second half, Georgia had figured it out like most elite defenses do. They made adjustments for Milro. He was really limited in where he could go in the second half. And then kind of like you were saying, Azario, some of those plays seem to be read options, that he's just deciding to keep it on consistently over and over. There were some pretty visible frustration from Jerby Bernard because it seemed like there were three zone read sweeps that Milro kept it himself on. And we've got to get other guys, we've got to utilize these other weapons. I know at the start of the year, it was supposed to be Kendrick law that was going to come in and be that kind of like Debo Samuel or whatever receiver that could get some of these run plays going. But with his health concerns, it's kind of been Jermy Bernard throughout the year, and it'd be nice to see him get involved in the backfield a little bit.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: Yeah, that was so I also got frustrated by that against, in the Georgia game, they were doing that, those jet, those Jetse power Reeds and Miller was keeping all of them. Seemed like the source of the negative plays they were generating. So it's got to be. I mean, you've seen the way they've used the receivers in the run game the last few weeks. I mean, Jeremy Bernard, Ryan Williams, both having touchdowns and especially the emergence, I think, in general, Jeremy Bernard, he's looked fantastic these last two weeks. And Ryan Williams continues, of course, to be himself. But last week, you know, he only has, what, four catches, 32 yards? I believe it was something like that. You need to emphasize that early. You need to get him going early and everything else. Can you just have so many weapons? Like, you gotta use them all and use them and use some to set up others, like, it's pretty. It seems something that they're gonna figure out eventually. I mean, obviously they're more capable than I am, but it just. It feels like there's so much capability on this offense and we just haven't seen enough of it in some ways.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: The one thing that we have never really said with this offense yet is, oh, there was a negative play, but they're trying something different. It's. There's a negative play because you're doing the same thing over and over again. And so what needs to happen is be okay with a negative play if it's gonna get you something else, if it shows the defense something else that they have to account for, whether it's a Jeremy Bernard actually handing that off, whether it's Ryan Williams coming on a orbit screen behind Jalen Milro on the backside like Brendan Presley was for Oklahoma State last night, which worked wonderfully for them. They set it up with. I was watching that game last night, they set up the orbit screen, throw it back to Alan Bowmande. It's like they have the line dropped.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: Down and then it set up a tunnel screen of the quarterback.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: And then they had later in the game, when they needed the touchdown, they run Brennan Presley on a motion to the right, then they bring him back to the left. He stops and goes back to the right. So you have all these different things that the defense is looking at. And for Alabama, it's just getting a little bit too repetitive, what they're doing. You know what's going to happen. You know, oh, Jalen Miller is just going to take this. So we know Jalen Murrow is just going to do that. And you said last week, Jalen Milro, 18 carries. You cannot have Jalen Milro run the ball 18 times, especially if it's only for 36 yards. If you're going to use Jalen Murrow, it's got to be efficient and it's got to be gaining five plus yards of carry. That you see with running quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson, like Jaden Daniels, and with.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: Those quarterbacks, I always think, kind of like you don't want. And of course, sacks count for rushing attempts for quarterbacks. You don't want a quarter of those rushing attempts to be through sacks because you're still running him, you know, twelve more times. But if he's getting sacked for, I mean, he's just taking so many hits, it's going to wear down over time. Even an athlete as fantastic as Jalen Miller is, would wear down over time.
[00:27:43] Speaker C: He did look banged up a couple of times in the South Carolina game as well, getting up after some of those hard hits on runs.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's just the explosiveness, like, of the team, it just. There's the negative plays. You need to stay away from those today, but, like, you need to have keep the defense on their heels because a defense as athletic as South Carolina or even more so Tennessee, as deep as they are in the front seven, the way that they're going to be able to keep fresh bodies on the field and constantly have athletes out there, it's going to be something to where you're going to have to keep them on their heels. Not because they're tired, because they're confused, their eyes are in the backfield, they're going the wrong way. I mean, I know they're plenty capable of it, but you need to see more of it.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: Of course, going back to the inside zone counter distribution that we haven't seen this year, all last year, we talked about how bland the offense was in the run scheme because they just kept running inside zone and duo, and it's just offensive line, go do your thing. That offensive line, though, is used to it. Yes, we want to see mismatches, but change ups in what you call on the run game. But this offense is used to, hey, let's just double team. Let's just go up the field and see what we can do. Let them cook. Let them get their bread and butter going. Because you have Tyler Booker and now Parker Brailsford right in the middle sometimes. Just let them go to work. Those are two of the best interior offensive linemen in the country. And then Kaden Procter has made an exponential step this year. He hasn't even allowed a pressure yet this season. Let them just go downhill and kill somebody.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's just like, it's one of those things where you look at what Tennessee's formula is today on offense. If they can set up these big, you know, eight, five to six to eight yard runs, you know, on early downs, that's demoralizing. That gets you so ahead of the game. For Alabama, you have way more capability in the past game than Tennessee. You gotta. If you can get some of those plays yourself, then there's no. There's no cap on the potential that this offense has. There's no limit to it. So you gotta. You gotta find ways to have those sort of threats. And as you, you just haven't seen, you've seen it in glimpses. You just haven't seen it enough.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: Yeah. It just shows that this game seems like whoever can run the football will win this game, whether it's Tennessee setting up their run game and Dylan Sampson, him popping a couple deep runs and then Alabama has to bring people in the box and then they can bomb away. Or is it going to be Alabama that runs the ball? Then they can bomb away. So for sure, whoever can set up their run game will have just a way better chance of winning this game.
[00:30:00] Speaker A: I don't know. The average distance of third downs that have been, has been the case since the first half of the Georgia game ended, but it seemed like we're in third and nine, third and eight consistently on every set of downs. And it's just like that comes to lack of execution or preparedness or whatever it is on the early downs. I mean, it's such an important set to keep yourself at advantageous positions, to put yourself ahead of the chains.
[00:30:24] Speaker C: Yeah. And the unfortunate part of that is when playing a good defense like Tennessee, you are going, we are going to have these third and eight, third and nine situations that could be in a crucial moment of the game. And Jalen Milroy's got to be able to be careful with the ball while at the same time being able to progress through his reads, sit in a pocket maybe, if he has to, and make a good throw to Jeremy Bernard, which we did see multiple times last week. But like you were saying, Nazario, even though both fan bases are pretty confident in their quarterbacks, it almost feels like everybody's in mutual agreement that whoever, whichever quarterback has the easier scenario for this game, based on how well their team's run is established, is going to win this game. Because both quarterbacks have shown that under pressure, sometimes they can fold, they can make a bad read or a bad ball.
[00:31:11] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's interesting, we have these incredible, you know, offensive schematics, coaches in Galen DeBoer, Josh hypel, and you think about all the outside stuff, all his different eye candy that we're going to do. And then you talk about just the simple things in football. Who can win the line of scrimmage, who can get their man off the line of scrimmage, win them with a hand in the dirt, just going downhill, just come back to the simple fundamentals. And that's because it's going to win the football game.
[00:31:32] Speaker A: That eye candy needs to make those simple fundamentals great for you. I mean, that's what that, you see what the Detroit lines do in the NFL. They have more eye candy, pretty much more trickery, more deeper bag in their offense with Ben Johnson as calling plays as anyone. But they have the best offensive line in the league. So you can do all that stuff behind the line of scrimmage and then win the line of scrimmage as well. Then you're at an incredibly advantageous position and they lose. Red shirt senior linebacker Keenan Pilly early last week in that game, he was their leading tackler against Arkansas. Like he's, that's one of those things where you can take advantage of some eye discipline from a linebacker, a backup linebacker that is, and take advantage, use his eyes against him, make him over pursue and you maybe use his athleticism against him, get him flying upfield. Just something else. And I think there's a lot of, like I said, there's a lot of reason to believe they're going to be prepared. I think they're going to be a lot closer to that team we saw in the first half against Georgia. They're not going to be up 28 nothing in this game. I think that's pretty easy to, I can tell you that with a lot of confidence. But there are, there are things where you can look like the team. That's the potential. I mean, they can do that. They've shown they can do that against a Kirby smart defense. So now you got to find ways to generate the same sort of stuff. And like you said, all this eye candy do all, keep doing all that stuff. All that stuff is so, gives you such an advantage offensively, keeps you ahead of, ahead of schedule, ahead of just the game in terms of just a step ahead of the defense. But you got to find ways to use those things but not overuse them and make it just straight misdirection every single play.
[00:33:12] Speaker B: Yeah, and Tennessee also down a couple of defensive linemen, so that could be another factor in this game. How deep can they really go?
Explosive can their defensive line be when it's late in that game, when their legs are getting a little bit tired? Can Alabama's offensive line keep it rolling? We will see that game just coming up in a about. Let's see if my math's correct. 6 hours I believe. So that Alabama math. We'll be right back after this. We're going to get into our players that we need to watch out for in this game on both sides of the football. And then some final predictions for the third Saturday in October. Thank you all for tuning in. We'll be right back.
[00:33:56] Speaker A: WVUA FM, Tuscaloosa.
[00:34:11] Speaker B: Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to 90.7 WVUaFM, the capstone. This is the game day show, and it is the third Saturday in October. We are under 6 hours away from kickoff from Neyland Stadium, just about 5 hours northeast from here. Going to be a great matchup between top eleven teams. Alabama ranked number seven in the country. Tennessee ranked at number eleven. Just two weeks ago, these teams were ranked in the top five, both undefeated. And now it feels like this game could change the season for both of these teams, leading to either a downward spiral or a yemenite big run back up the hill. So for Alabama, for Tennessee, who are some players that need to step up in this game? Maybe not the obvious ones. Of course we have Jalen Moreau. Of course we have Ryan Williams, who are some players maybe we're not thinking about that need to make a big play in this game.
[00:35:02] Speaker A: I'm on, the only thing I have with Jalen is like, he's, like you said he didn't.
Last week was the first time I've seen him kind of look uneasy and shaky, especially, I think, accuracy wise. So I'm saying for him, he needs to limit turnovers quietly. He has, you know, he's got, he had two picks last week. He had a pick and a fumble the game before and a pick the game before. So that means that's. That's, if my math's correct, five turnovers and three games of SEC play. And that's tough for sure. Some aren't his fault. Some are. But he's just got to find ways to protect the ball better. He needs to make sure to set the line of scrimmage better than he has the last few weeks and then jam and justice, as we talked about earlier, I mean, they're both massive, massively important to this offenses. They're like the engine that can make it go and make it that sort of exploit. We know maybe the most explosive offense in the country probably are, but that's something where you can make that efficiency so much higher and make that big play threat so much more of a, so much more lethal when you're able to run the ball in between the tackles and then Kendrick law coming back, I already referenced him not only making plays as an edge blocker, but also, you know, the way he's able to, you know, maybe catch a ball in the middle of the field and turn up and make a big play out of it. And then the last one, Elijah Pritchett. It seems like the only really weak link of this offensive line and pass protection has been Elijah Pritchett consistently. Just besides the miscommunication facts. Everyone else across the board, Jayden Roberts has dealt with some injuries, should play today. Seems like he's going to go. Chris Caplovich actually, last week was said that he's playing through things that he never thought anyone could play through, which just speaks. It speaks to how tough he is as a player. But Elijah Pritchett, limit, you know, especially protecting that backside. They'll probably get that James Pierce junior one their blue chip NFL prospect. Probably get him matchups with, with Pritchett. He needs to hold strong on those. Maybe give him a tight end to chip. And then defensively, I think it comes down to linebackers and corners. You need to have high effort from Jahad and Deontay playing sideline to sideline and play and making sure they're ready to play every play as well as the cornerbacks, making sure they're not having mental lapses with the amount. I mean, Tennessee, they're going to run more plays in Alabama today. It's pretty, pretty. I'm pretty sure I can say that with full confidence. And so it's important for the linebackers and corners to make sure their heads are correct every single play.
[00:37:28] Speaker C: Yeah, I would definitely add onto that with Tennessee is a lot more ground pound than Alabama has been this year. I feel like. And I mean, it's going to come down to those freshmen players in the secondary making plays on third down, being able to get off the field, being able to consistently put pressure on Niko when we need to. Offensively is. I know Kobe Prentice has been questionable all game. What's his.
[00:37:54] Speaker B: He's, he's been removed from the injury report. Now he's all good.
[00:37:58] Speaker C: Okay, he's back. That's a really dependable target for Jalen Milro. He kind of steps up when he, when we need him to. He's always there. So I think having that extra weapon will be huge for Alabama today and help us kind of have more options than just Ryan Williams down deep. I know against Georgia, we got Emmanuel Henderson involved really early and it just kind of shows you how the personnel wise, how many explosive players we have.
[00:38:22] Speaker A: And I mean, I'm. The way they've accessed the middle of field using tight ends Josh Cuevas and CJ Dupree. The last two weeks has been very refreshing. But those Kobe, Prentice, Kendrick Law, those guys are also your more athletic middle of the field threat. So that's just another part of the field that you can access to get things down the field going for Ryan Williams and Jeremy Bernard, who's played fantastic lately.
[00:38:44] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it's up to the linebackers on the defensive side, and it's not just sitting there reading the defense, going up and making a play on the running back Dylan Sampson, or dropping back into coverage. I think a lot of what they're going to need to do tonight, this afternoon, is be involved in the pass rush, whether it's Deontay Lawson going through the a gap, whether it's Jahad Campbell sliding up on the edge and blitzing around the outside. I think Deontay Lawson, Jahad Campbell, but also Justin Jefferson need to play together. They played together for a good amount of the first half last week. I really loved it. Jahad Campbell was able to move around a little bit more. He's so flexible. He can play anywhere, really on the field, except for maybe one on one corner matchups. But he's just so athletic. He can go and blitz on the edge, he can set the edge on the run plays, and Justin Jefferson just flies around. I love the way he plays. And it seems like Deontay Lawson just needs a little fire lit on this. If that's Justin Jefferson taking a spot for a few plays, maybe that's what it takes. But we need to see some energy from Deontay Lawson like we're seeing from Justin Jefferson. And then Jahad Campbell just keep doing his thing. Blitz. The heck of Niko Iamaliyava is what I think should happen with those three linebackers. They all can fly around, they all can make plays in the pass rush.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: And the thing is about any college quarterback is if you get pressure in on the interior, in their face, then more often than not, they're gonna. That's gonna just make their accuracy go down immensely. And I think, like what you said, matching personnel as well. I mean, bringing another linebacker on the field, you're kind of banged up in the secondary. Maybe play with more of that to try to make, force them to try to take those outside shots. They're gonna play those wide splits with receivers. Don't make, don't let it prevent you from stacking boxes, per se. And you need to make sure that Niko has third longs to do that.
[00:40:27] Speaker C: Yeah, and like you're saying, like, go into some of these three linebacker sets. The good thing, I don't think I've really seen this from Justin Jefferson yet, but Jahad Campbell and Deontay Lawson approved. They can play in pass coverage, too. So if you want to mix up, like have some show blitz type of looks where Deontay Lawson and Jahad Campbell drop back into coverage and kind of make it hard for this red shirt freshman quarterback to read the defense.
[00:40:49] Speaker B: Yeah, we have, instead of just going three things, we have three things in this world. Death, taxes and Peyton Davis talking about getting pressure.
[00:40:59] Speaker A: It'S just, every single time, every single time, it brings me back to just Tennessee versus Alabama, 2022, when they're able to get pressure on Bryce Young. Bryce Young played fantastically that game. But what did we do to Henn and hooker? What did South Carolina do just a few weeks later? They just, they just got him pressure in the interior and that accuracy that he had showed the whole year, it just went away. Like, that's something that you have to do to all these quarterbacks and especially a guy who struggles against pressure, like Niko.
[00:41:25] Speaker B: Yeah. And that's the key to the game. And I'm going to ask you guys, pick one. Either the offensive coordinator, Nick sheridan, defensive coordinator, Kane Wommack. We kind of mentioned a little bit with Kane Wommack. We kind of mentioned some stuff with Sheridan. What is the message that you would tell them or the thing that you would tell them that they need to do this game, whether it's schematics, whether it's play calling, whatever it may be, maybe it's getting a player on the field. One thing from one coordinator that you want to see against Tennessee, I think.
[00:41:49] Speaker A: It'S just, just trust your personnel in both ways, in both, in both instances for Kane, for Nick Sheridan, trust that powerful offensive line you have up front. Trust what you see and how dominant they can be at times. Make the game easy for them and then make, let them just impose their will on front seven like they did against Georgia in that first half. And then defensively, like, just trust, trust the guy. When you have, when you find a guy who's got a hot hand as an edge rusher, as a corner, whoever it is, trust what you have. You have so much talent on that defense. I know people like to say we're a 2017 Oklahoma big twelve team. I don't believe that. I think that there's a lot of capability on this defense. And a guy that I'm looking for, again, to be that physical presence in ways that Justin Jefferson was last week. Jalen and Baquay seemed like in that second, or I think especially in that second half, he was bringing it on the, on the corner, at being aggressive at the point of attack and making tackles. You talk about him playing, I believe the husky position is the slot corner or is it the wolf? Whatever.
[00:42:51] Speaker B: Husky.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: Husky. The husky. So have him give him chances to make plays in the run game. And if you can play with fire, like you said, if you can play with fire and get runs and stop runs early, you can stack the box early, then you can take off that, that extra linebacker and bring on the extra db and play in third and nine and third and eight situations. That's how you win this game.
[00:43:12] Speaker C: Yeah, and I think for both, it's preaching the importance of this game and preaching the importance of keeping your composure to your captains. Right on the offensive end, Jalen Milro, Nick Sheridan needs to instill in him like, hey, you don't have to do everything in the red zone. I think Jalen Miller, a lot of time gets in his head. We've talked about him playing a little bit of hero ball here and there, which he is fully capable of doing. He has eleven rushing touchdowns on the season for a reason. But, you know, maybe give some of those handoffs to Jeremy Bernard. Utilize some of your backfield weapons when you're in the red zone. It doesn't just have to be a QB power to the right every time we get inside the ten yard line. And then on the defensive end, Malachi Moore, he's been out of his head a little bit the last couple of games. I saw last week a couple times where it seemed like he had had the chance to get to the quarterback on some of those nickel blitzes and he let up a little bit, which goes back to the question of effort that we brought up from the defense earlier. Like, tell Malachi Moore, you know, with that anger or frustration that you have towards this defense, lead by example and not by.
[00:44:14] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, you saw that, like everyone talks about how Saban is not here anymore. Well, there's still a lot of players that spent two, three years with Nick Saban and Malkai Moore is one of them. And, and when I see him again, especially, I think fourth and one, I don't think I know for a fact, fourth and one against Vanderbilt. You're gonna get, if you get this stop. You can take control of this game a little bit. And I saw Malachi pick up the leaking, I don't receiver leaking up the seam off that sort of fake run action. And that throw from Diego Pavia was fantastic. But I saw Malkai pick that up and I saw him jog behind him thinking that Diego, I think he just thought in his head. There's no way this guy can make this throw. But he did, and it changed the entire game. Effort plays like that and it's on the personnel, it's not on the coaches at that point. You got it. The players got to play. And it's up to Jalen Miller, Tyler Booker, who's such, so outspoken about the abandoned standard and going on the next round every single week and kind of talking about how we are mindful of all these things. And then Deontay, defensively, your two best leaders, Deontay, Lawson, Malcolm. We should be questioning those guys at first. And that's, I mean, that's, that's on them at this point.
[00:45:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So we've talked about the players, we talked about the coordinators. You know, one guy we haven't really mentioned is Caitlin DeBoer, the head coach for the Alabama Crimson tie matching up in his first game against Josh Hypel. 1st, 3rd Saturday in October. We've talked ad nauseam about everything that can happen in this game, all the players, all the coaches. But now it's time to make our predictions. Third Saturday in October under 6 hours remaining till kickoff, Alabama versus Tennessee. Who do you guys have?
[00:45:45] Speaker A: I'm going. I'm just gonna, I'm going. Bama 3124. And the way we come out, we're gonna, we're gonna come out firing and aggressive early on. I think we're gonna look pretty good offensively throughout this game. And maybe it's not much about as much about like touchdown percentage in terms of what percentage plays are touchdowns. It's more about having longer drives, having these drives where you can wear this Tennessee defense down with some of the front seven injuries that they have, very, very deep unit and they still are even with those. But you can wear them down a little bit and take their confidence away, take the crowd out of it early, I'm sure. And I just believe this. Niko is too talented. He's going to make some plays and they're going to be able to run the ball a little bit. So I think they have a few long drives of their own. But in some ways this is a field position battle as well. Who can win field position? Can Alabama not have those three now possessions to where we're punting the ball and we're giving them short fields? Can we keep it on our side of the field? Can we punt the ball? James Burnup has been fantastic this year. He's probably been the only part of the special teams besides, I mean, all the kickoff fumbles. My goodness. Get Kendrick law back there. Get Emmanuel Henderson out of there. He needs to stop fumbling. But you need to give bird up those opportunities to pin Tennessee deep because you're pinning them deep all day. They're not going to be able to establish the run. They're not going to. They're going to have to run the ball between the table just to give themselves some breathing room. So be aggressive, play fast and take control. Field position in time of possession. My goodness. I mean, 43 to 17 against Vanderbilt. I've never seen it that bad. And then last week you lost again. I mean, like, you got to win a time possession battle at some point. This is the game to do it without fast Tennessee plays. So it's all about these little nuances in the game.
[00:47:22] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm going to go 38 to 30, a little bit higher scoring. I just could see this being a very similar game to the Georgia game. Terms of we come out with scripted drives, are able to score quick early, and then Tennessee kind of copies Georgia's blueprint of being able to take the top off of our secondary. That's had some struggles. I think Niko probably does have a good game, but our offense is just too talented, I think, to be stopped by anybody in the country other than South Carolina, seemingly for a half. But I do think this one, the offenses get rolling in this game and both the quarterbacks impressed. 38 to 30 is kind of where I'm sitting for Alabama.
[00:48:01] Speaker B: And now that I'm thinking about it, there might be just the most plays run in a football game, maybe ever. The way that Tennessee like to speed it up, the way that Alabama likes to speed it up and seemingly forget to drain the clock late in the game that we just don't like to do, which is very frustrating and a different point. But there might be over 150 plays run in this football game. Both of these teams are just going to be play after play after play after play. So I'm going to go up with Kaden with more of a higher scoring. I'm going to go way up there. 4238 Alabama. If it's that high scoring, it's going to be a thrilling game. I could just be hard for you.
[00:48:36] Speaker A: We'll all be in shambles by the end.
[00:48:38] Speaker B: I mean, Kane Womack's head might get taken out after if that's the score.
[00:48:42] Speaker A: But hey, walk back to Leland.
[00:48:44] Speaker B: A win would be a win and that's all Alabama needs right now. It's both what all both these teams need. So that is it for our Alabama versus Tennessee breakdown. First hour of the show. We will be back after this to break down everything that is happening in the college football world. We had an absolute barn burner if you stayed up last night between Oklahoma State, BYU. We will talk about that and all the other games that are happening this weekend. Thank you all for tuning in.
[00:49:22] Speaker A: WVU, AFM Tuscaloosa.
[00:49:38] Speaker B: And we are back here on 90.7 wvuafm the capstone. This is the game day show. I'm Nazaro Pangalo, here with Peyton Davis and I, Caden Johnson. We just finished up our Alabama versus Tennessee preview. That game coming up in just under 6 hours. We're nearing 5 hours away from kickoff for the third Saturday in October. But now for the next 45 minutes, we will talk all of college football. And we had October 12, famed as one of the greatest Saturdays in history of the sport, and delivered, I would say it delivered as well. We've got Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, USA. We had South Carolina, Bama, Florida, Tennessee, Ole Miss, LSU. Just a full day of college football capped off by Kansas State and Colorado. What a. Just a full day of college football. You know what? I was going to say we're going to go into Ohio State, Oregon, but I'm going to let you guys pick you pick one game that you loved and talk yourself away.
[00:50:34] Speaker A: I liked Penn State, USC. I think Penn State, they're trying very hard, and they're the number four team in the country, but they're trying very, very hard to legitimize number three now. Number three now, which is kind of, like, unbelievable.
They've just been noted pretty much as just Ohio state or Michigan's best win every year for the last few years in the Big Ten, but now we.
[00:50:55] Speaker B: Have Ohio State, Penn State next week.
[00:50:56] Speaker A: That's gonna be fun, but it's gonna be interesting in the whiteout game. It's gonna be awesome. But in this. I thought USC was gonna win this game handily in the first half, but, you know, Drew Aller, I think, has just shown enough, and he's, he's put the ball in harm's way, but he has shown himself to be, I think, one of the best, maybe, I guess you could probably just say most talented quarterbacks in the country. Saying he's one of the best is probably a little far fetched, but they, they usually would lose a game like this in recent years, and they found a way to win an overtime. USC kind of blew it in the end, but yeah, Lincoln, Riley, one and three in conference in his first year in the Big ten not going to be.
[00:51:35] Speaker B: We talk about the sequence at the end of the fourth quarter, just draining the clock during.
[00:51:39] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It's just like weird, weird clock management issues. It's just things where it's like who wants to win? Who wants to lose? But one of my favorite players from last week, Tyler Warren, on that. How about that trick play where he's the leaking the tackle over play where he's the left tackle and he goes.
[00:51:56] Speaker B: Up the scene, but he snapped the.
[00:51:57] Speaker A: Ball on the play snap right and he makes just like a face catch essentially right over safety. So he was fun to watch last week. But you know, that Penn State, I'm just very interested to see who Penn State is next week because that's, we don't know right now, but that they're a very fascinating team to me either way at this point.
[00:52:15] Speaker C: A game we were talking about over the break a little bit, not maybe on many people's radars as some of the other games last week were a lot higher anticipated. But Vanderbilt went into Kentucky.
[00:52:25] Speaker A: It was on Alabama fence radar.
[00:52:27] Speaker C: So tell you that, hey, it's on my radar. Vanderbilt games for the radio rest of the year on my radar. We are Vanderbilt fans the rest of the season, tried and true, but they went into Kentucky last weekend and got a win. Covering or winning outright in a game they were projected to lose by 13, I think, and that's kind of their thing. Diego Pavia had three incompletions in the entirety of the game, two passing TD's as well, and they kind of weathered the storm. It was 20 to 13 and I mean, I want to say at one point it was 20 to ten for most of the fourth quarter to second half. I mean, this is a legit team and they need to be taken seriously. And I'm not just saying that to kind of COVID Alabama's buds, but this is a team that's going to win eight or nine games this year. Seriously. Or has the talent to.
[00:53:14] Speaker B: That's just crazy.
[00:53:16] Speaker A: It's not even. It's not even on their line going in. The season was two and a half and I saw, I saw on the SEC Network they were giving out midseason grades or something, but Vanderbilt got a b plus. I'm like, what are you saying?
[00:53:27] Speaker C: If Vanderbilt is able to make a good football team, that's an a. Alabama.
[00:53:32] Speaker B: Lost to Vanderbilt and that was their only win of the season. That is still an a plus for Vanderbilt.
[00:53:37] Speaker C: Literally.
[00:53:38] Speaker A: Offensive coordinator Tim Beck, I mean, he's someone who needs to be and he was the offensive coordinator at New Mexico State last year with Diego Pavia came over and is the offensive coordinator this year for Vanderbilt. It feels, and it looks a little bit gimmicky, but it's so fishy and it stays ahead of the chains and there's not any wasted plays and everything plays off each other. It's really nice to watch. And I think this is a guy that has a future in college football, dare I say, I don't know, coaching in New Mexico City and Vanderbilt doesn't seem like a great track. But I mean, when you're having success.
[00:54:06] Speaker B: At those places, you got.
[00:54:07] Speaker A: It has to be notable. And it is.
[00:54:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:54:09] Speaker A: So, I mean, that was fascinating to watch Vanderbilt pull that out, and I was very much cheering for it, I could tell you that.
[00:54:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:54:15] Speaker C: And then Kentucky, on the other hand, is another one of those just weird SEC teams that they feel like they can compete with anybody but also plays down to comp a little bit. I mean, this is a team that took Georgia to the wire and that's what makes this beat Ole Miss as well.
[00:54:30] Speaker A: And.
[00:54:30] Speaker C: Yeah, and be Ole Miss on the road, of course. So, yeah, weird stuff in the SEC.
[00:54:35] Speaker B: My game that I was watching the most in my quad box, as we're calling it, we were talking about off, off the radio, whatever you want to call it, but was Ole Miss and LSU. And it's just one of those games that you look at afterwards and you just wonder how the winner of the game won the football game. Ole Miss watching it for sure you could use, just thought Ole Miss was the better football team. Garrett Nussmeyer goes 22 of 51. There's two interceptions. Ole miss out rushes LSU 180 to 84. LSU did not lead until the final play of the game. So technically 0 second. LSU led in this game because it was a walk off touchdown. Just what a game. I am not a Brian Kelly fan at all, so I don't want to give him any credit. I'm giving all of the credit to LSU's defensive coordinator, Blake Baker.
[00:55:22] Speaker A: He has done a way 180 on that unit.
[00:55:25] Speaker B: They're not, you know, the greatest defense of all time by any means, but they under 30 points against Ole Miss after letting up 52 last season. I mean, if you would tell LSU fans last year, they would have held Ole Miss to under 30. They would like three touchdowns. I mean, they would have been unbelievable. So just to see their defense find ways to get stops and it wasn't like they were three and out, three and out, three and out. They had to grind, find ways to stop Ole Miss in the red zone. I don't know how many times Ole Miss got to the red zone and failed to score a touchdown, missed a field goal, whatever it may be. And LSU, they just found a way to win this football game, and now they put themselves right back in position to make a little run down the stretch and potentially put themselves in the play.
[00:56:04] Speaker A: Well, there's still rumors at this point, but it's, to me, this game just, I don't. Going into this at Death Valley on a night game, I just don't think Ole Miss as a program wins games like that, especially even when they're as hyped up as they are. And that's one of the things that could stoke the fire for Elaine Kiven to Florida. Sort of. Sort of thing. Ole misses the playoffs and he can, you know, access that signing day window and transfer portal window at a new job, then, you know, you never know what could happen. And I think. I think Florida fans have been, you know, pushing that narrative the entire season. But to me, like you said, LSU is still very flawed. I mean, Garrett Nussmeyer is 22 51. Their leading rusher has under 40 yards. Like, this is a team that had to grind out a win here. And it was a very entertaining game. But to me, with LSU, the thing that's most important, even without Harold Perkins, when their best player coming out, he's out for the season, their pass rush is still very real. And I think going into that game in a few weeks at Death Valley for Alabama, it's going to be about protecting Jalen Milro and limiting that pass rush. That's. It's a real thing.
[00:57:05] Speaker C: Yeah. Six sacks last week.
Defense is one of the most improved units on the country, I'd say, for both sides on counting both sides of the ball.
And then as for their offense, they're finally getting, like, Aaron Anderson involved. I know that he had the clip, that Alabama legend.
[00:57:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:22] Speaker C: Of Nick Saban telling him that he would play him more. And then Kaden Durham, although he didn't have a great game against Ole Miss. I feel like he's been one of the better backs in the SEC this year. And then, of course, Garrett, Garrett Nussmeyer didn't have his best game either, but he's been getting some Heisman talk. So they've kind of built this hype back up for themselves after that week. One loss, five straight wins now for LSU, and they're probably going to be going into the Alabama game with one loss on the season that's going to.
[00:57:47] Speaker A: Be a big, tough game today.
[00:57:50] Speaker C: I may have spoke too soon there.
[00:57:52] Speaker B: But I think that's a crazy. Ole Miss comes into last weekend's game leading the country in sacks, and it turns out LSU gets six sacks. Ole Miss finishes with zero. All those high prize guys didn't quite work out.
[00:58:03] Speaker A: All the transfer guys.
[00:58:04] Speaker B: Yeah, I introduced that segment talking about Ohio State, Oregon, and none of us talked about that game. So I feel like we have to talk about that game. When the number two and number two three team play in the country, it comes down to the wire like it did. Was this the Will Howard moment that we all kind of expected in a big game, or was this just a one for the ages?
[00:58:24] Speaker A: Well, I think Will Howard played pretty well, and I was, and I say that as someone who's been very questionable of their acquisition of will Howard this offseason. I think he played really well. To me, this was the best organs offense looked for. Sure. Dylan Gabriel was fantastic, got himself back into the Heisman race. And then to me, it's just. It confirms to me something that I thought, but going in, Ohio State's rushing attack was wildly overrated going into this game, and it still remains overrated. Besides that 53 yard Trayvon Henderson run him and Quinchon Jutkins combined 20 carries for 57 yards. I just. I'm not super impressed by Quinchon Juggins in the last year at Ole Miss, and I continue not to be very impressed by either of those backs, and that could be something that hurts him down. This is Will Howard, a guy who seemed to be the weakness of his offense. He was very efficient with the ball, he was very careful with the ball and three total touchdowns on the road at Austin Saban. That's a notable performance. So I was impressed by him. And then Jeremiah Smith and Amiko Bugha are both very, very. I mean, they're fantastic. One of the best duos and probably the best duo in the country at receiver. But to me it's just another little feather in the cap of the people who say Ryan day can't win big games, you can't irk out these close games. In the end, it continues to happen. I think Ohio State still a very real team, but I still have them in the Big Ten. I still have them winning the Big ten. But this, to me, is a notable loss. It's a notable performance.
[00:59:49] Speaker C: Yeah, especially you can, because one of the main things you can highlight is the tactics of Dan laning there at the end to take the twelve man on the field penalty, and it just seems like, you know, Dan Laning was the smarter head coach. He was the better, more well prepared head coach. Will Howard, on the other hand, played fantastic. And I, like Peyton, was kind of skeptical of this, of him being able to, like, lead an Ohio state team to a national championship, but he definitely proved me wrong in this one.
[01:00:15] Speaker A: But when the moment was biggest, he.
[01:00:17] Speaker C: Did make the mistake there. But all, all around performance from him was pretty solid.
[01:00:24] Speaker A: That's more than you can expect from him.
[01:00:26] Speaker C: Exactly, exactly. And then Quinn, Sean Judkins, a lot of people forget, I mean, or don't realize, like, he, he got beat out at Ole Miss, if we're being honest. Ulysses came in and was genuinely a better back.
[01:00:36] Speaker B: And Henry Parrish now as well.
[01:00:37] Speaker A: Ulysses Bentley remains to be the better back also, he's still over 100 yards this weekend again.
[01:00:42] Speaker C: Yeah. And then as for Oregon, I do agree. I mean, this and the Boise State games are definitely the best their offense has looked this season.
[01:00:50] Speaker A: But given the circumstance, Ohio State's high powered defense, the way, how efficient they were, will stein call in a great game. I was very impressed by them.
[01:00:57] Speaker B: Yeah. Everyone wants to talk about Dylan Gabriel. Oh, we can't go to the NFL. He's in college football for so long, he just went on and put 2023 out of 34 for 341 yards against an Ohio State defense that was supposed to be this incredible defense. One of the best defenses maybe of all time at Ohio State. All these different things and he just cooks them. People want to say, oh, he's a check down guy.
[01:01:16] Speaker A: I'm not ready to give 511, you know, 30 year old Dylan Gabriel NFL praise.
[01:01:22] Speaker B: I never said that. Well, he's a good college football player.
[01:01:27] Speaker A: He also got pushed out at Oklahoma like they wanted Jackson Arnold in favor of Dylan Gabriels.
[01:01:31] Speaker C: And now look, he's proven people's quarterback situation.
[01:01:33] Speaker A: Yeah, it's not good. I mean, not very good.
[01:01:34] Speaker B: Just let, let him have his flowers.
[01:01:37] Speaker A: I feel like I was pretty fair at first, but now we're going to the, he's going to be the first overall pick.
[01:01:42] Speaker C: I also think Oregon unlocks a whole different level whenever they let Evan Stewart be the guy. And, I mean, I think that kind of showed the day. I know he had a quiet start to the season, but he's picked things up lately. I mean, Evan Stewart is seriously one of the more talented and physically gifted receivers I've seen. And, and, I mean, it shows when he has a QB is experience that can make reads like Dylan Gabriel and get the ball in his hands. This offense can do some pretty special things.
[01:02:04] Speaker A: And they were, again, very good last night. Covering at Purdue, taking care of business.
[01:02:09] Speaker C: Yep.
[01:02:10] Speaker A: All you can ask.
[01:02:10] Speaker B: Not sure if you guys noticed this game from last week. Just a quick note. Did you guys see Purdue's comeback last week against Illinois? Down 27 to three, eventually lost an over time.
[01:02:20] Speaker A: How the hell did that happen? But, I mean, I was not tuning into it, but I was. I was seeing the ticker on the bottom of the ESPN screen, and then.
[01:02:30] Speaker B: We had the nightcap. Kansas State, Colorado alone on ESPN. A huge game in the big twelve. Kansas State entered one and one in big twelve play. Colorado entered 20, but the Wildcats walk out of boulder with a 31 28 victory. What a game this was to end the night.
[01:02:47] Speaker A: Yeah. And I. Look, I'm the kind of the resident Deon hater around here, and I'm going to give him credit. I think they're a very improved team this year. Shadow Sanders, also, I'm not a big fan of his, but still, again, he played fairly well last week. He took too many.
[01:03:01] Speaker B: You know, kaden, you know what those Colorado uniforms remind me of that black and gold.
[01:03:06] Speaker C: What?
[01:03:07] Speaker B: They look a little New Orleans Saints.
[01:03:09] Speaker A: Well, I mean, they're as good as the New Orleans Saints. Not saying much right now. The Saints aren't very good. Right.
[01:03:13] Speaker B: I'm just saying, could Shadura continue to wear.
[01:03:17] Speaker A: I would not be a fan. You know what? We'll fire Dennis Allen. We'll take Deon from Colorado, and then we'll draft shadow. It's gonna be great.
[01:03:24] Speaker B: And there will be a bunch of clowns, number one.
[01:03:27] Speaker A: And then we'll have to get 15 primetime games. We'll lose twelve of them, and then we'll have another top pick, and then we'll be on our way. But, yeah, I'm gonna give a little bit of credit here. Even though Sedora Sanders had nine carries for next 50 yards because he was sacked six times and he holds on to the ball for too long, still, their problems that they had last year are still evident this year. They can't stop the run. They can't run the ball. They can't protect the quarterback. Those are, if you can't do those things, you can't win big games like this. Kansas State, to me, clearly the better team. Colorado State almost found a way to win. I think that's pretty impressive on Shador Sanders on his part. And he could pretty much. He could be the QB one of this draft. I'm ready to have that conversation, but not ready to give him that distinction just yet.
[01:04:06] Speaker C: Yeah, these seem like to be the only qbs in the big twelve other than quietly like Rocko Beck, that have have been better than expectations going into the year. Avery Johnson is one of the best dual threat qbs in the country. Shador Sanders, one of the best pocket passers in the country, but does, however, take way too much time in the pocket. There's no doubt about it. You can only blame the offensive line for so long before it becomes a matter of you have to do work to help out your offensive line. But yeah, as for the rest of the big twelve, I mean, quarterbacks have weirdly been a problem in this conference. So it was nice to have a big twelve game where it was high level quarterback play.
[01:04:40] Speaker A: And the thing about Shadow, I've never seen a quarterback backpedal square his shoulders to the line of scrimmage as much as he does. And I think, I mean, given the fact that he's Deon Sanderson's son, you'd think that he's this incredible athlete. He's not very fast. He's strong. He's got a very nice arm and he's very accurate down the field. But to me, like, footwork wise, he does a lot of backpedaling and a lot of squarings and, you know, you know, pirouetting and whatnot. Stuff that he probably shouldn't do and. But still, 34 40, hard to argue against the Kansas State Chris Kleiman. Defense. Tough defense.
[01:05:12] Speaker B: Yeah. And the thing was Jimmy Horn, Travis Hunter, his two best receivers go out early in this football game and he was still able to be efficient. As you said, 34 or 40, has a lot of yards. It's maybe not always the most efficient game. That's one of the most efficient games he's probably ever played without his two best receivers. So definitely a positive note. Even though they lost going on to the rest of the season. We'll talk about their game.
They're heading to Tucson to face Arizona and Peyton's Noah. 50 McVillet.
[01:05:40] Speaker A: My number eleven playoffs, probably not going to turn out like that at this point, but yeah, I mean, for Colorado, if they can do better than 19 for 19 carries for negative 29 yards, then, and they should be in pretty good shape today.
But yeah, my no feet of prey is definitely not seemingly. It seems like it's kind of hit a rough patch here. So I've made a switch on my picks.
[01:06:00] Speaker B: You know, that's all right. We've got a whole second half of the season left. That's it for our week seven recap. But we will get into week eight. And folks, we've got a great slate of games to break down. We'll be right back after this.
[01:06:24] Speaker A: Wvuafm, Tuscaloosa.
[01:06:40] Speaker B: We are back, ladies and gentlemen. This is the game day show live on 90.7 Wvuafm the capstone. We are in week eight of the college football season. Halfway through the season already. That's just crazy.
[01:06:52] Speaker A: Yeah, it's flying by. Yeah.
[01:06:53] Speaker B: But we've got some amazing matchups to go through this week. Just a little breakdown. Miami, Louisville, Nebraska, Indiana, Auburn, Missouri. Then we got the 330 window, of course, Alabama, Tennessee, and the 630 game in Austin, Texas, the first SEC matchup between Georgia, number five in the country, versus number one Texas. We'll get to that game eventually. Let's look at the 11:00 a.m. window. What is the one game from the 11:00 a.m. window that you guys are most excited to watch and tell me why you're most excited about it.
[01:07:23] Speaker A: I'm most excited to watch Nebraska Indiana, but also, like, more also interested to watch Miami Louisville, because the way Miami's looked in ACC play, but with Nebraska Indiana, this is a real test for Kirk signally at Indiana, who's been, I mean, he's just wins. I mean, just, you gotta google him. I mean, all he does is win. But Nebraska getting six and a half points on the road, I mean, that seems like a big line for a team that has, that showed himself, I think, to be as, I think at this point, just a very solid defense. So I think they're well equipped to make this a game. But I'm just interested to see what Indiana looks like in this environment and see if they can rise to the occasion there and then for Miami Louisville, like I just said, the way that they, they should have lost against Cal, they should have lost against Virginia Tech. Those came down to some controversial calls at the end. It took a 25 point comeback to make it a game with, with Louisville and Miami. Cam Ward, really, he's, he was in the thick of the Heisman race, still is. But, you know, he's turned the ball over. He's got, I think, three interceptions in conference play. He's got a couple fumbles. He's putting the ball in harm's way a little too much. If he can control the ball, and they can, I think they can win this game by a lot. But if this is a close game, it'll again be an indication that Clemson, another 11:00 a.m. game against Virginia could be the better team in the ACC.
[01:08:41] Speaker C: Yeah. And that's one thing that I'm really interested to see, and it's kind of been a story that's progressing as the season goes on. Is, is this Miami team, obviously, we know they're legit in terms of competing in the accident, but are they going to be that top dog front runner or is this going to be another season where Clemson kind of creeps back?
[01:08:59] Speaker A: Front runner is a good way to describe them. I mean, this is a team that was, that's, you know, does the whole, like the, I don't even know what to, I don't know how to play to the listener, but the Cam ward celebration, if you know what I'm talking about, and, and, but, and they get out to these big leads, they have explosive plays. They look explosive. Cam Ward is, they look like Miami. But then when the going gets tough, I mean, they've found ways to win.
[01:09:23] Speaker C: But not in typical Miami fast when they're double digit.
[01:09:26] Speaker A: I mean, they're double digit favorites, though, at this point. They're a five point favorite against Louisville in a tough road environment, an 11:00 a.m. game off of bye week. So this is a big game for Mario Cristobal to maybe sort of get more, get more hype towards maybe a Bear Bryant award winner or win for him after he was probably on the hot seat. This all.
[01:09:46] Speaker C: Yeah, I agree, and this is the perfect game for that. I mean, you have a Louisville team that had a lot of preseason hype. They're coming in. They've struggled the last three weeks, but kind of bounced back a little bit last weekend against Virginia. And both of their losses are one possession games as well to two solid teams in Notre Dame and Snu. So this is a team that can make some noise, but if Miami were to go out and dominate in this game, it could really change that narrative back that's been slowly developing of Clemson creeping up, right?
[01:10:14] Speaker B: Yeah. And if you look at, I'm looking on ESPN here, it shows the ticket prices for each game. Just a fun little note, the Nebraska Indiana game, the most expensive priced ticket, $127. So just the fact that Bloomington, Indiana, is the center of the college football world for a window of games is just so, so awkward.
And then we got the SEC, we've got a couple matchups, Auburn, Missouri, and then South Carolina, Oklahoma. And for these coaches in these games, a loss is just detrimental. Auburn, if they go to two and five.
Excuse me. Let me just get my words under me here last year, Florida, they had one of this incredible recruiting class coming in, ranked number three in the country. Then they had a terrible season and it falls apart. Auburn right now, an incredible recruiting class, top five in the country. They've got a five star quarterback. If this season continues to unravel the way that it is, is teams are going to jump in on them, on those recruits and try to pull that away. So a huge game for Auburn and Missouri. Realistically, their playoff chances are still plenty available. They looked terrible against Texas A and M, but that game doesn't matter anymore. They're still five and one, one in the SEC, plenty to play for in their season. And then South Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, they're used to being the big dogs of wherever they play in every conference. The big twelve. Everyone says, oh, Texas coming to the SEC. Oklahoma dominated the big twelve the last 2025 years. They have a chance of going one in three in the SEC if they lose the South Carolina at home. Those Oklahoma fans would not be happy if they lose those football games. So those two games gonna be very interesting to watch on, you know, the little corner of the quad.
[01:11:48] Speaker A: Missouri is making a, you know, they're making a case for themselves. They have one of the best wins in the country, gets Vanderbilt, I mean, in overtime. And that's quite the statement. Win for them. So that, that looks great at this point. But I agree. I'm gonna be watching, definitely have my peripheral vision on these games. You want to see, you want to see how if Auburn, Missouri is only getting three and a half at home against Auburn, a two, what, two and four team at this point, they got a chance. I mean, Auburn's got, they have a chance. They've been in every game. They've looked like the better team in some games, but have just shot themselves in the foot in the end or done something in Auburn fashion, which is funny to see for all of us. We love seeing all that, but I'm interested to see how they come out today.
[01:12:25] Speaker C: Yeah, a little bit of a hate watch. Today could be the day where it's like really breaks down the Auburn fans hopes in terms of Hugh freeze in the future that he has at Auburn. And that being said, they weirdly haven't had like that bad of an offense. I know they have those turnover problems, but their receiving core feels to be better than football as well.
[01:12:46] Speaker A: Right.
[01:12:47] Speaker C: Lambert Smith, I mean, he's been a really solid.
[01:12:51] Speaker A: Quarterback.
[01:12:52] Speaker C: I mean, you can drive 70 yards down the field and then throw a pick and all of it goes for nothing. So today is a big statement day for Auburn. I think Missouri as well, they've had some struggles. I know a lot of people were harping on them after their double ot Vandy win, but now that's not looking to be as bad of a struggle when they struggled against BC early on in the year at home and then obviously the loss to a and m where they just got the doors blown off of them. So expect some of those older leaders of Missouri, Brady Cook, Luther Burden, obviously, to kind of bounce back and try to weather them win at home.
[01:13:25] Speaker A: I thought Brady Cook is one of the best quarterbacks in the conference coming in this season. He hasn't looked very good and he's got. They just gotta. They find. You gotta find a way to run the ball consistently. Offensively they're capable, but defensively they need to make sure they need to be capable. Offensively, I should say, because I don't think defensively they have much of a chance right now against a physical team as Auburn is. So, I mean, Vegas knows some and we don't. They're only getting three and a half at home, so it's interesting.
[01:13:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Defensively for Missouri, I mean, they lost a lot of NFL guys. A lot of people didn't talk about last season. Hard for them to replenish. But weird thing is, they have an NFL receiver in Luther Burden, and we've seen him score in touchdowns. He's still going to do his thing, but it seems like every time I turn on one of these highlights, it's a five yard hitch route. It's an end around that. He's taken 70 yards. Last year you saw them throwing the ball down the field to Luther Burden. Some of that needs to come out today against Auburn. Let's turn to the 230 window. Of course, we have Alabama, Tennessee, we've got Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, Michigan, Illinois, and a couple other games that are a little bit on, maybe off the radar. So what are some games in the 230 window that you guys are watching? Other than Alabama and Tennessee, of course.
[01:14:28] Speaker A: Well, probably none of them, but if I had to pay attention to one, I am interested in Michigan Illinois for sure, but also Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, one of my picks to make the playoffs this year. Nazario, favorite team in the world. But again, let us down against NIu, which looked like a fine loss when they were in the top 25. Now it doesn't, but this is another opportunity for them. I feel like they've started to find themselves a little bit more especially offensively. Especially offensively. And they could, I mean there's at the twelve spot they can find themselves back in the playoff race if have a kind of a quietly tough rest of their season slate. Like a lot of kind of interesting things.
[01:15:02] Speaker B: Thank you army and Navy for being under.
[01:15:04] Speaker A: Wow, what happened there? It's awesome to see the service schools love that. But for Michigan, Illinois, Michigan to me, I mean what are, I mean we know what they are. They're just, they got to run the ball. But, but can they, can they make a few plays in the air? They can they use Colston level in a little bit and maybe find a way to get Alex or G on the perimeter or something, just something. Or Davis, Warren, whoever it might be at this point against an Illinois team who's I think have a very tough defense and with Luke Altmyer, I like them in this game.
[01:15:36] Speaker B: If you look at Illinois, they play Michigan this week. If they win that game, they're six and one. They go to Oregon next week, they're probably going to drop that game after that. Minnesota, Michigan State, Rutgers and Northwestern, four very winnable football games.
[01:15:48] Speaker A: Ten and two team Illinois.
[01:15:49] Speaker B: Ten and two, they could legitimately be a playoff team and that's not out of the realm of possibilities. Ten and two in the Big Ten or SEC is probably going to get you in the playoff a good amount of times with a win over Michigan today, they could put themselves right into that conversation.
[01:16:03] Speaker C: Yeah, I 100% agree. This does feel like similar to how Penn State is for the Michigans and Ohio states. Typically it feels like Illinois is one of those mid tier Big ten teams that kind of gives Penn State a decent win and gives them a little hype. But that being said, Illinois does have some impressive wins on the year. I know they beat Kansas early in the year. That doesn't look near as impressive now as Kansas has struggled a lot. But their win at Nebraska is huge and that, that is going to be that win for them that gets them those talks come playoff time. And just like this game would be today if they were to beat Michigan, which I think they will, Michigan just has absolutely no pulse offensively. Illinois does have a pretty dangerous offense matched up with a really solid pass rush and secondary. So Illinois seems to be the more complete team than Michigan, to be honest. And, and they're at a home today. I like the fighting line.
[01:16:52] Speaker A: So that's a 40, 44 and a half. Is the, is the over under for?
[01:16:56] Speaker B: I would hammer the under.
[01:16:57] Speaker C: I still think it goes under.
[01:16:59] Speaker A: No, I think it's well too high. I think I have this game, 20 to 21, Illinois wins close, but Michigan, I see this being one of those games where Michigan kind of dominates. It feels like they're dominating the line of scrimmage for sure, and they're making plays, but they just can't finish drives. They let Illinois hang around and Illinois can do a lot more down the field for sure. Sub like eight pass attempts, maybe not even yards.
[01:17:20] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know why I keep getting left with the games that seem to have coaches on the hot seat, but that's what's happening. The USC goes to Maryland. As we talked about, with USC's loss to Penn State, one in three and Big ten play, it seems like that LSU win is just absolutely forever ago. If they drop another one at Maryland, I think serious questions will come out about Lincoln Riley. People have said a lot of things over the past few weeks about him. It was, oh, USC, they finally got physical.
[01:17:45] Speaker A: They got physical, they got some defense.
[01:17:46] Speaker B: But then they fall apart. And after leading 20 to six against Penn State, it's all down the rails right now. They've got to turn it around. And then Baylor at Texas Tech. Texas Tech quietly five and one. Quietly three and O in the big twelve. Baylor, Dave Aranda entered the season on the hot seat. It's scorching right now. They're two and 40, three in the big twelve and then one more big twelve game. Colorado at Arizona on the Fox. Colorado needs a big win to stay legitimately in the big twelve race. And Arizona's got to find a way to save their season right now getting.
[01:18:17] Speaker A: Two points in this game. Look, I'll say what I said weeks ago when I picked them to make the playoff. Arizona has one of the best players in the country at receiver and I think a very capable quarterback. But it's been very, very, the execution issues on offense have been very evident ever since that Kansas State game. When they went to Kansas, they, they had that opening drive, scored a touchdown, looked very good doing it, and then the rest of the game, they were just a mess on offense. They've been a mess on offense, which is something that they just were not last year under jet fish. So we'll see what happens. But, man, I mean, this is a chance for Colorado. They need to go on the road and get a win here. They need to run the ball a little bit better than they have. I mean, I think they're, what are they, third to last in the country in rushing or.
[01:18:56] Speaker B: They easily are.
[01:18:57] Speaker A: They're one of the them. They're a little bit better than Florida State running the boat football. So that's, that's a good thing for them.
[01:19:03] Speaker C: But yeah, Dallin Hayden has not lived up to the expectations this year and they were okay with losing Dylan Edwards last year to Kansas State and he's doing solid things in a really great Kansas state rush scheme. As for Arizona, I think the departure of Jed fish has been very evident this year. They do not have near that level of explosive offense. And just when you thought they were kind of turning things around or going to be that serious big twelve contender when beating Utah on the road, you kind of realize that was more of Utah maybe just not being what everybody thought Utah was. And now Arizona still struggling on offense. They have a chance today against a weaker Colorado defense to kind of turn things around, get tech going, get Fita some confidence and try to, like you said, Nazario just kind of salvage their season.
[01:19:49] Speaker B: Yeah. Not that I'm super into ticket prices, but since I'm on ESPN, they just keep popping up and you look at all the games, you're the like, oh, decent prices, you know, under $100. And then I'm randomly looking through the 630 window and you just see $410 pop out. And that's because George is playing Texas.
[01:20:04] Speaker A: That's because it's a bargain, if we're being honest.
[01:20:07] Speaker B: Yeah. DKR Texas Memorial Stadium with also with the f one race tomorrow. Any f one fans out there, that's, that's racing. If you guys didn't know, I'm not sure about that. But the Bulldogs, number five in the country, taking on the number one team in the land, the Texas Longhorns. We got to take some time to talk about this one. Georgia, Texas. What do we think?
[01:20:28] Speaker A: Well, I just thought before we even talk about the game, has there ever been an easier college game day pick for ESPN? Has there ever? I mean, really, I mean, the most evident. Well, I mean, it's Texas first game in the SEC against Georgia at home. I mean, that's, it just spells his glamour. And Texas, speaking of glamour, has been fantastic this season. They've looked great against everyone defensively. They look like one of the only teams in the country with a truly solid defense. But then you look at who they played and they played Michigan, which doesn't look great right now, and Oklahoma, who's been a mess, and Mississippi State, who's the worst team in the conference. Probably so. Has Texas been tested in ways they'll be tested today? They have not. In a similar way. Georgia, they have been tested. They have scored on Alabama. They've scored on Clinton. Well, I say scored Alabama homer. Thing to say, our defense does not look good, but Clemson, on the other hand, has looked very solid in conference play. I would say dominated them.
[01:21:22] Speaker B: I would say the defensive job by George Clemson is more impressive than their offensive side.
[01:21:26] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[01:21:28] Speaker B: Points. After how explosive they are, it looks.
[01:21:29] Speaker A: Like they've been incredibly, well, not looks like Phil Mafa cake. They look like after we came on the show and we were like, what, is Dabo going to get fired or something like that? Like it's pretty funny to watch, watch quietly. They're back in the top ten. They're back in the thick of the ACC race, so we'll see what happens there. But for Georgia, I mean, the last few weeks they've been kind of just having to grind out games. Last week I think, you know, they beat Auburn 31 to 13. That's fairly impressive in some ways. I mean, they needed that win after the Bama loss. But then last week against Mississippi State, I mean, I don't know what they were in that favorite wise in that game, but 31 31, exactly. That's the indication that was making the implication I was making earlier about Texas A and M and Mississippi State. Like you're getting a lot of points to these SEC teams. They'll find a way. And Mississippi State did find a way last week to score 31 points on a Kirby smart defense. So it's a big time statement game for Malachi starts for Smallmont and all these guys on Georgia's defense that have played in these dominant eras of Kirby smart defense, they got to make a statement today and I think they will. I'm very bullish on Georgia's chances and I don't like hearing Texas in their first year of being in the SEC as the new sheriff in town or whatever, I hate hearing that. I'm not going to listen to it at this point. I'm going to be on Georgia this game.
[01:22:42] Speaker C: Yeah, it's kind of the opposite for Oklahoma, who kind of fits that stereotype of SEC fans throughout the years of.
[01:22:48] Speaker A: You know, that's what we wanted to look like. That's what we wanted to look like for years.
[01:22:51] Speaker C: Exactly. But as for Texas, you know, they've kind of came in and dominated this year. But I will say, genuine question to you guys. What's the best offense that Texas has played this year? I mean, because their toughest games are Michigan, Mississippi State and Oklahoma. I miss their best offense they play.
[01:23:11] Speaker A: And they started Blake shaping at that point. So, I mean, especially with the Oklahoma.
[01:23:15] Speaker B: Wide receiver injuries that they were.
[01:23:16] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, they were down five guys.
[01:23:18] Speaker B: We could go play out there.
[01:23:21] Speaker A: I mean, back in the day, I mean, don't even get me started, but like this, this Texas team, I mean, offensive, they have a lot of talent. They have a lot of talent on front with Kelvin Banks, left tackle. That's as good as you're going to find the country. They have plenty of guys on the outside with our friend of the, friend of the program, Isaiah Bond, who everyone loves around here, Quinn Ewers and injuries at running back, but quietly, still pretty good room. They've looked really good on that side. And then efficiency. And I've enjoyed watching Quinn Ewers this year. Beyond last week, though, where he comes back after a week and didn't look great early. Kept getting Oklahoma short fields, but Oklahoma had no answer. They couldn't take advantage of it in the slightest way. They had opportunities early in that game to make it some sort of close game. It was seven to three for a while.
Not to be at all for Brett Van DeVille's team.
[01:24:08] Speaker C: Yeah, I've seen too many holes from this Georgia defense that kind of like got confirmed. Like suspicions that got confirmed with that Mississippi State game last week. They had the Alabama kind of thing going where they just could not put Mississippi State away.
[01:24:22] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I mean, I just, to me, when I see a coaching staff with Glenn Schuman, with Kirby Smart, like, they're going to have, they're going to find a way on that side of the ball. They're going to, that's two, that's the best you're going to find in the country. They're going to have answers for stuff that Texas is going to do. So Texas has to bring it today. The expectation is sky high for them. To me, I think a lot of people believe they're going to win this game and a lot of the, I think most of the money is on them. I think most of the pundits are on them. But like, we, you know, us sec homers, we want, we don't cheer for the dogs often around here, but if there was ever a game, I think Alabama fans would cheer for Georgia, it'd be this.
[01:24:56] Speaker C: It would be. And I really do think this game just comes down to environment. If DKR is rocking as it was against Alabama three years, two or three years ago, it's, it's going to be very hard for the dogs to pull this one out. My pick would probably be Georgia if this was in Athens or even on a neutral field. But with that with DKR, the night game. I think Quinn yours comes back motivated. I think he wants that starting spot to be solidified as his for the rest of the season. I think he has a good game tonight and then I think Isaiah Bond has a coming out party as well. I know stat. I know, I know it stinks. But he could really expose this Georgia secondary similar to Ryan Williams did with some of these deep shots.
[01:25:38] Speaker B: All right, we got, we got four minutes left. Pick one game from the 630 window other than Georgia, Texas that you will be keeping your eye on.
[01:25:45] Speaker A: Well it's. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go with Georgia. I'm gonna go 30, 31, 30 dog or 33 31 dogs in that one. But besides that I mean I'm very interested to see Kansas State. Are they going to hold serve on, against, on the road against West Virginia? I mean the way the big twelve, the big twelve is such a mess right now that it's anyone's game still and I think Kansas State could be that team. But on the other hand another game would be watching. UCF, Iowa State, UCF. This team had a lot of expectation coming in this year. They believe they'd be a player in the big twelve. They have not. They got absolutely shelled by Colorado weeks ago.
[01:26:20] Speaker B: A 13 point line in the big twelve. Iowa State's favored by that many. That's unbelievable right?
[01:26:25] Speaker A: Because Iowa State's played in close games for a while now. They've found themselves in the top ten. I'm not convinced yet. They have a chance to convince me today but I would say that. And then Kentucky, Florida is another one. Just SEC. Looking at the SEC to see if Billy and Apier can find a way. Kentucky's one and a half road favorites. Billy Napier has this team looking a little bit better than people thought it was a few weeks ago. We'll see what happens, happens today but that should be pretty low scoring there, I'd say.
[01:26:51] Speaker C: Yeah. Staying in the SEC, I'm really interested in this LSU and Arkansas game. Arkansas has a chance to upset back to back top ten teams at home and today gets to kind of prove is this an Arkansas team that can make some noise or is this going to be the Arkansas team that we saw lose to Oklahoma State at the start of the year?
[01:27:10] Speaker A: Little note on Arkansas. Taylon Green is a, he's, his status up in the air, his health is in question this game. I think they have Taylor Green 100 tailing Green tailing Green 100%. I think they could win this game outright the way we've talked about LSU struggles on, especially offensively, not being able to take advantage of a weaker Arkansas defense. And then offensively, Arkansas is incredibly athletic and they can hurt you in a lot of ways. They're really the only team that's hurt Tennessee at all and through the air. So I would like Arkansas a little bit in this game if they have Taylor Green fully healthy.
[01:27:44] Speaker C: And let's not forget they had that game winning drive against Tennessee, too, with the backup quarterback.
[01:27:48] Speaker A: I mean.
[01:27:48] Speaker C: Yeah, so it can be done. Even without Taylon Green, this Arkansas team still has the competitiveness to make this game a serious one.
[01:27:56] Speaker B: Yeah, there will be a game in 630 that none of us will be tuning into. But just to put it out there, Iowa at Michigan State.
[01:28:02] Speaker A: Iowa currently it's on peak.
[01:28:04] Speaker B: Don't watch this.
[01:28:05] Speaker A: No, to watch that game.
[01:28:07] Speaker B: Don't watch this game.
[01:28:08] Speaker A: You have to pay to watch that game.
[01:28:09] Speaker B: Iowa four and two, kind of falling off the radar. They're two and one in the Big ten. They play Michigan State, Northwestern, Wisconsin, UCLA, Maryland and Nebraska. Realistically, Iowa will be favored in every game they play for the rest of the season if they finish at ten and two, as we talked about with Illinois earlier in the show. And also if they finish seven and one in the Big ten, you could have Iowa. People talk about the Big Ten west. That's the only reason Iowa ever made the Big Ten championship. Well, they got another Big Ten west schedule. Even though the divisions don't exist, hawkeyes could still make the Big Ten title game. Just check back on Sunday morning. If they win, don't watch the game.
[01:28:45] Speaker A: See if they win. One of the more, the better stories of the season, I was offense has been able to score points and that's been the over. I mean, they've never had hitting overs. And Caleb Johnson, man, I mean that's, this is one of the best. I think you talk about like Ashton Genti clear number one, but then you got guys like Cam Scadabo and, and Caleb Johnson right behind them. I think right there in the thick of that, that under the radar running back situation in the country. And there's a lot of good backs around the country, but he's been one of the more fun watches of the season. If you think watching Iowa on offense has ever been fun, it never has, but until now, it's crazy. They found ways they do have an.
[01:29:20] Speaker C: Offense and I think Nazario, what we've kind of realized over this show is that more likely than not, there is going to be a Big Ten team that squeaks into the playoffs that truly is just benefiting off that weaker, not like Big Ten schedule of not playing any team with an offensive on the.
[01:29:37] Speaker A: Road in a playoff environment.
[01:29:40] Speaker C: Illinois or Iowa?
[01:29:42] Speaker A: I think Nebraska can make things.
[01:29:43] Speaker C: Nebraska, Indiana hopefully. Yeah, hopefully even Indiana still has that same kind of Iowa for the Saban disciple narrative.
[01:29:51] Speaker A: Kirk signally making the playoffs in his first year and he that would be story.
[01:29:55] Speaker C: Yeah. Again like that goes into his thing. All he does is win straight into Indiana.
[01:30:01] Speaker B: Yeah. So we will see. We got you guys all set up. You've got 59 minutes till kickoff for all these games today. It's gonna be an incredible weekend of football. Most notably tune in 230 Alabama at Tennessee. Gonna be a fantastic game. And then just stay on your couch. Don't even change channels because Texas and Georgia coming up after that. Thank you all for tuning in and roll tunnel.
[01:30:37] Speaker A: Wvuafm tuscaloosa.
